New Year's Musings and a Brisket

The Hungry (and Happy) Couple

As we get ready to welcome 2012, I'm in the kitchen cooking, my little furry sous chef by my side. Brian and I will ring in the new year at home, feasting on an elaborate meal, hoisting a few cocktails and snuggling together with our pup as we watch the Times Square ball drop on TV. Those may not be the most exciting sounding plans in the world but it's exactly where I want to be.

The Ultimate Chocolate Martini

Brian's not much of a champagne drinker so, with New Year's Eve coming, I wanted to make a festive cocktail that didn't rely on the bubbly. A chocolate martini seemed a good choice and I asked him to bring home a bottle of Godiva chocolate liqueur. He bought what I asked for but, as I was mixing the drink, he expressed doubt that it would be good.

Creamy Layered Pumpkin Pie in a Jar

I love the Christmas music that's playing all around and every time I hear The Carpenter's "Home for the Holidays" with the line about heading for some homemade pumpkin pie, it makes me want some. Ironically, neither of us are big fans of traditional pumpkin pie but this year I've been experimenting more with pumpkin and decided to see if I could come up with a pie we liked. I realized I don't care for the usual homogeneous flavor and that gave me the idea to deconstruct it. How did it turn out? Let me tell you, this is the most amazing dessert we never knew how much we wanted!

Glazed Ginger Scones

The flavor of gingerbread is, of course, a holiday staple. Traditionally made with molasses, gingerbread cakes are dark but this easy scone recipe lightens up the taste. With plenty of flavorful ginger and a bit of spice, a batch of these freshly baked scones won't be around for long!

Butternut Squash Pasta Bake

This tastes so completely, wonderfully, amazingly good! After we'd polished off  the Thanksgiving leftovers and every last shred of turkey was gone, I still had a bit of butternut squash left in the veggie crisper. I'd already maple glazed it and served it up in a delicious salad so I needed another idea.

A Tired Cook with a Sweet Tooth...in a Jar

It was near the end of my first week at a new job and I was exhausted. It's so stressful to be the new kid, even when you're senior, and by now I had a headache, a backache and I seemed to have pulled something in my knee. I was a train wreck pushing a cart down the aisle of the supermarket to buy some staples and decide what to eat for dinner - grilled cheese and canned soup, as it turned out. But I also felt like something baked and sweet and I was too tired to walk to the bakery.