The essential cinnamon roll recipe that everyone needs to have tucked away in their bag of tricks. This one is Swedish in origin, a kanelbulle or “cinnamon bun,” and rest assured there is plenty of cardamom in the dough for a spicy kick. I’m the oldest of five in my family. My siblings can attest to the fact that I display many of the typical Type-A qualities people expect from a firstborn child, not the least of those being perfectionism. I am a perfectionist to a fault. The... more

I used to have to head to my favorite Indian restaurant for naan. Then it came to the supermarket. Now it’s in my very own home. Naan is a leavened flatbread that is baked in a clay tandoor oven. No tandoor here, so we’ll be baking this naan recipe in my conventional oven instead. The first time I decided to make naan I was a bit intimidated. Perhaps is was that the naan I’d been eating had always been served next to a bowl of my favorite masala at Chapati in Northfield. ... more

I’ve been enjoying having two of my children sent out the door every morning, waiting to catch a big yellow school bus at the end of the driveway with backpacks and school lunches packed neatly in bento boxes and thermal containers. The day begins for the younger two then, as they run and play together, and I watch my youngest girl turn into a dotting big sister, showing her brother exactly how to play with Littlest Pet Shops and build princess-style forts from blankets in her bedroom. As... more

I’ve wanted to start making more bread for some time now. I dream of large, luxurious loaves baking on a daily basis, making the house smell like a bakery. But I don’t. I even have Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but my fridge, you see, is teeny tiny when you’re trying to feed six people. Most days we have to play a few games of Tetris to fit the leftovers in and get the door to close and a bucket o’ dough just doesn’t fit. But oh, how I wish it would. Focaccia... more

Back-to-school is over. My kids are officially back, and that means summer is coming to a close. The sun isn’t as warm these days, and my garden is prolific for the lack of heat, not because of it. The farmers market will start changing over their produce as the season changes, and already the winter squash is showing up more and more, and the summer squash is becoming fewer and farther between. For all these reasons, I’m making peach muffins. All summer I wait for the peaches to come, and when... more

The Saturday before Mother’s Day I made banana bread out of necessity. I had, yet again, ignored the bananas. It’s something I’ve done frequently in the past month. I can never figure out quite what it is. For months we eat bananas, running out long before our next planned shopping trip and then, we simply don’t. They sit there, first with just a few brown sugar spots, and then the number increases until the yellow is all but gone. Then there is banana bread. Like many... more

A few weeks ago I purchased blood oranges. They aren’t all that common here in Minnesota, so I wanted to take advantage of the rare sighting. Then came the process of determining what I was going to make with them. Eventually, I settled on blood orange and chocolate chip muffins with a citrus glaze, but the process of getting there was a bit more convoluted. I asked for a recommendation on recipes, and boy did I get it. Maria from Two Peas in Their Pod sent me the recipe for her Pink Grapefruit... more