'Tis that time of year again... when I take a weekend out of my so busy life and dedicate a few days to creating edible gifts to express my love and appreciation for those close to me. This year made a set of four flavored salts:

- Pomogranete
- Vanilla
- Sriricha
- Lemon Lavendar

I also handmade cards to send with these small tokens of affection. Unfortunately, I was so busy drying salt that I forgot to take pictures of the process. I am out of practice on the food blogging front. I've been a busy bee outside of the kitschen! However, the whole thing is pretty simple. Take some salt, add the flavor you want into it and (if needed) dry it out in the oven. The times when you need to dry out the salt mixture is when you add a liquid (duh!!!). Making vanilla salt is similar to making vanilla sugar... take a bean, split, scrape and mix. No drying required. When drying the other salts I pre-heated the oven to 350, spread the mixture on a baking sheet and then turned off the oven once I placed the salt inside. It usually takes less than 10 minutes in the oven but, be sure to check because you don't want your salt mixture to burn!

On the home front I tried to keep things simple. I decided to make the no knead sticky buns I made a year or so ago. I am happy to report my continued attempts to use yeast has resulted in improvement in making bread! Also, this basic dough is a gift that keeps on giving! You can find the recipe here.

First up... sticky buns! I pre-made the dough and let it sit in the fridge for a day. Then the afternoon before Christmas day I rolled out the dough and prepped the buns into a pan. This way on Christmas morning I could pull them out of the fridge to rise while we opened presents.

To bring some balance to this decadent treat I pulled out my inherited cast iron skillet and made a frittata!






I had some left over dough so I took it and made some mini-loaves of cinnamon swirl bread.





Next up for me is using my new spherical cake pan to make a pinata cake stuffed with candy! My prior attempt failed b/c I over filled the pans. Also, on my wish list is this message cookie cutter set. Happy new year and happy cooking!

So how does one really know when it's fall? Well, this year I learned fall is marked by the re-release of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. Or at least that's what their campaign led me to believe. Seriously folks... what is up with the pumpkin craze? I like a gourd just as much as the next lady but we all do realize most of these pumpkin drinks and foods don't include actual pumpkin. Just the spice... Right?

All that said, I did fall for it again this year. I spied some pumpkin spice body butter at Trader Joe's and thought, "I want to smell like pie." Bought it. I also got myself some of their frozen pumpkin waffles. Sadly, I have not been as happy with that purchase as the former. I keep trying to get my nephew to eat them. But, as I am his Aunt he's been spoiled and doesn't enjoy frozen waffles as much as other 10 year old kid. He just looks at me, "Ummm... where's the griddle? I want more of those cinnamon roll pancakes you made 2 week ago."

Gobble gobble.... It was Thanksgiving ya'll! Yes, as someone who wants to fight the cultural hegemony and legacy of cololinalism (deep thoughts yo!) I understand how difficult the history of Thanksgiving is. While I don't like that the holiday in some ways could be interpreted as a way to commemorate the forthcoming genocide of a people I do like to think I can take it and make it into something more positive on a personal level. The funny thing is... I'm not that big of a turkey fan. All those "Thanksgiving" foods? Not necessarily my favorites. Except for the mash potatoes, and I could eat those any day! I do love that the holiday gives my family a time to come together. I do love that the meal represents an abundance of all the wonderful things in our lives. I do love that Thanksgiving dinner represents a lot of what I love about food in general... a way to share culture and socialize. So let's talk about what I made!

As you may know I have a bit of a phobia of yeast. Last year I made sweet potato yeast dinner rolls for Thanksgiving and they turned out lovely. Then for Christmas I used a no-knead dough recipe to make sticky buns.... Slowly but surely yeast and I are starting to get along. So this year I want to make a roll but I also wanted to make biscuits. In the end I found a recipe that was a compromise. Lemon-y Angel Biscuits have baking soda, baking powder, AND yeast in them. The recipe claims they've got a biscuit texture with the light and fluffiness of a bread. I was curious enough to find out.

Due to the lemon essence of this bread product I wanted to make something tasty to accompany it. And you all should know I love a compound butter! In the spirit of the season I made a cranberry butter. I took about a tablespoon of the cranberry sauce my mom made and blended it into some softened butter. Then I plopped the mix onto some wax paper and rolled into a log. Set it in the fridge to set... then we spread it onto the warm biscuits during dinner.



I know you're probably wonder what we had for dessert... we had pie and cake. I made a bundt cake. I tweaked a recipe for a bourbon pecan cake. Instead of bourbon I added pumpkin. Then I added maple syrup for to the glaze in lieu of bourbon. Be forewarned... this is a pound cake and it's not healthy.





I'ma skip a few steps here. But just know I then whipped the egg whites to stiff peaks. Then I folded them in. 




When putting the cake into the pan I did alternate layers of pecans and batter. I forgot how long it takes for these things to cook. A little under 2 hrs later I pulled the cake out and let it cool. After about 10 min. I inverted it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. While the cake cooled I whisked up the glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, a little milk.






What are some of the must haves at your Thanksgiving day table? Do you like to experiment? How do you celebrate?

This is what I used to tell my nephew in my futile attempt to get him to eat slower. I tell you, elementary school aged boys can plow through a plate of food.  But, I am saying this now to prove I eat things other than dessert. It's not all cakes, cookies, and pies in my kitchen. Sometimes I try to eat a well balanced meal. Here are some non-dessert things I've made recently....

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes!

You take buttermilk pancakes and add some poppy seeds and lemon zest. I also threw in the juice of said lemon because otherwise it would have sat on the counter making me feel guilty.

"Egyptian" Tomato Soup

I tagged this recipe last year and was able to make it as a shooter appetizer for a dinner party my friend was having. He made Ethiopian food... including homemade injera. I made this soup. I know that they're different cuisines but I figured many African nations have similar spice profiles so I'd take some liberties. I'm not sure how authentic this is. But, I will say it was delicious and super easy. Plus, I got to use my immersion blender! It's soup season... holla!





Step 3: Blend til smooth.... Enjoy!

Soup and Sammie lunch! 

Oh Rachael Ray... get outta my head with all your made up words! I didn't get either of these recipes from Ray Ray though. The Farmer's Sandwich came from Kitchen Therapy. Gotta love that blog! Since it was a dreary day I toasted mine in the oven. Who knew apples, cheese and onion makes such a great sandwich? The soup is Curried Lentil w/ Chickpea puree, and I got the recipe from Serious Eats.





So yes... I do eat things other than cookies and cakes. This is proof! I've got some more fall soup recipes up my sleeve too. As the weather turns cooler and the evenings get darker sooner what will you do to find a bit of cold weather pleasure?

14 Karats? Ummm I made a carrot cake for Christmas. It's got a bit of a twist because it's spiced with ginger AND has crystallized ginger folded into the batter. Because much like Ike & Tina I never, ever do nothin' nice and easy... My mind's big wheels keep on turnin' and hopefully my cakes are never burnin'. Hahaha! Sometimes (all the time) I crack myself up. Does anyone else's brain run on pop culture references? I truly believe we're almost to the point of over saturation much like in the book "Super Sad True Love Story." Has anyone else noticed how dated most jokes in movies/tv are these days? You've got to be up on the latest gossip in order for anything to be funny. Help those who don't know what twitter is... Or who Yeezey is.

This is why when I bake/cook for family (i.e. my gramps) I like to start with something familiar and tweak it a bit. Thus, the ginger spiced carrot cake. A golden idea if I dare say so myself. I used this recipe for the cake but use good ol' cream cheese frosting to top it off. I also learned during some googling that cold cream cheese makes for a better frosting. That's a new baking tip to put in the hard drive/memory bank. All this time I've been letting mine soften on the counter and wondering why it wouldn't hold the firm consistency I wanted.