A warm and spiced breakfast just waiting to awaken your senses Christmas morning, with you surrounded by family and a plate piled high with cardamom cream stuffed French toast swimming in gingerbread praline sauce. The gifts already sit under the tree, wrapped and calling to the kids. Only the stockings have yet to be filled. For the first three days they squealed and sorted the piles into the ones with their names. They added bows to the tops from the stash in the wrapping box. Then they wrapped... more

Easy steel cut oatmeal, kissed with cardamom and cream and full of the season’s finest pears. This is one breakfast worth getting up for. The world is silent, and I, in my house, stare out at the leaves, blowing in the cool wind. It’s a wind that can ever so craftily find the seams of your coat, inviting itself through layers of wool sweater and cotton undershirt until it chills your skin. Yet the sun shines as the leaves blow, and sometimes a few golden rays are all that is needed... more

This pumpkin pie coffee cake with crumbled pecan topping will be welcome at any fall breakfast or brunch. I fought hard against the changing temperatures this year. Pretty as they are, I was not looking forward to the changing leaves. I wanted to close my eyes and stay in August forever, and then September was here, with its back-to-school busy and its cool breeze. Slowly peaches turned to apples, and as my neighbors’ oak tree in the front yard starts to shift ever so slightly to a shade of... more

An easy-to-make baked apple puff pancake is perfect for breakfast for dinner or a late Saturday brunch, and it’s just the thing to get the whole family involved and cooking in the kitchen. My very first memory took place in a kitchen. A tornado was also involved. When I got older (as in past the age of one), I started making my way up on top of the kitchen desk to where the cookbooks were lined up, taking them down and turning their pages. Up there on that shelf was Betty Crocker’s... more

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

Theodor Geisel, known to most people as Dr. Seuss, would have celebrated his 107th birthday today. We’re celebrating the rhyming riddler who brought us The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Green Eggs and Ham with our very own take on green eggs and ham: baked green eggs and ham crêpes. When I realized that it was Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week, I was instantly excited. I grew up on Dr. Seuss, and when I had my first child, the first thing I did was swipe all the Dr.... more

A brief tutorial on how to make crêpes at home, no crêperie required. Just you, your stove and a bit of batter and you’ll have a plate full of thin pancakes in no time at all. I’ve always wanted to live abroad, even if just for a short time. While the dream of leaving and exploring was there, the reality was and is that I remain fully rooted in the Midwest. In college I was a single parent. In order to declare my Spanish major, I had to get the mandatory study abroad waived. Rather... more