Pineapple Coconut Cake: A Holiday Tradition

Chef E

This week I have asked a few bloggers and  writers to share their holiday traditions with you. Today Christy is joining us here at Adventures In The Kitchen.  Her sons are adorable!  She is sharing a few traditions from their family. Christy Anderson is a freelance writer and photographer who happily makes her home in the low country of South Carolina. She is always up for an adventure with her husband and two young sons and spends her free time leading Bible study and the women’s ministry in her church, Fireside Ministries. It’s not uncommon to wake to the clatter [...]

Holiday Traditions: Making Fattigman Cookies

Fattigman cookies

Saturday afternoon my niece and I set out for a cooking adventures with my Aunt Ginny.  We were going to learn how to make Fattigman cookies, a norwegian cookie that my Nana Thorsen used to make every Christmas. My great grandmother came through Ellis Island when on her way from Norway to America in the early 1900′s.  I feel fortunate that I was able to spend the time I did with my great grandparents.  Nana Thorsen lived to almost 101 years old.  I wish I had taken the time ask more questions but I was in elementary school and too [...]

Italian Pizzelles: One family’s tradition

Pizelles

Today is the first of a mini series on sharing Christmas cookie traditions. Trina, from the Dairy Council of California is sharing a tradition she and her boys have, cooking Pizzelles. Aren’t they adorable? These would be great for a Cookie Exchange. Paging through colorful cookie cookbooks is a December ritual that motivates my boys for the holiday baking season. We do not bake often, so this is a very special treat in our house. After paging through the recipes and photos one always rises to the top. It’s not in the photo-heavy cookbook—in fact, it’s not in any cookbook. [...]

Apple S’mores Recipe

Apple Nachos

 I am recording a fun show today about Holidays, Friendships and Traditions.  I think you will enjoy it but more about that later.  I am sharing a quick snack that I hope you will enjoy – Apple S’mores. You peel, core and slice apples.  This one make is very easy (so my niece says), I am hoping for lessons later today!  Then you just layer the apple slices and top with marshmallows, caramel bites and crumbled graham crackers. This Sunday listen to Adventures In The Kitchen radian on KKLA 99.5  Joy Creel Liefeld and Deanna White.

Pie Crust Cookies

Finished pie crust cookies

Tomorrow I’ll be back with Chile Rellenos featuring those amazing Hatch chilies I got from Melissa’s Produce.  Today I have a fun little recipe, really not even that, you can do with kids.  For the last nine years I have been cooking with my niece and nephews.  As soon as they could pull up a stool they joined me at the kitchen counter. A few weeks ago my niece was over and I was working on this recipe for Pizza Pot Pie for Pillsbury.  Have I shared with you that I recently became a blogger for Betty Crocker and Pillsbury?  [...]

Cooking With Kids: Chocolate Chip Scones

chocolate chip scones

Recently my niece called a meeting with me to discuss new recipes for us to make.  She pulled out her Pink Princess  cookbook by Barbara Berry and we sat at the family room game table.  She has become a great little baker and loves to help out in the kitchen. When I brought my coffee over she ran over to get her lemonade.  She had stickies and we marked all the recipes that sounded good.  We were hard at work. When her brothers tried to join us she said “there are no breaks in meetings!” We then prioritized which ones [...]

National Food Bloggers Bake Sale and Homemade Cracker Jacks

Homemade Cracker Jacks

What do you get when you combine a cause and a group of food bloggers?  A bake sale for a cause.  Do you live in Southern California?  Join me and other Southern California food bloggers at the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale this Saturday.  Started last year by Gaby of What’s Gaby Cooking, the money raised goes to Share Our Strength to end childhood hunger. Every cookie sold and every dollar donated can make a huge impact. Here are some examples:* $1 can help provide a hungry child with 10 healthy meals. $4 can help provide a child facing hunger [...]

Cooking With Kids: Strawberry Shortcakes

Strawberry shortcake

I promised more pictures of Olivia’s cooking party and here they are.  For dessert we made the cutest strawberry shortcakes in a pot.  I found these little glass pots at Michael’s and thought the girls would have fun making them. Here Claire and Olivia mixed the shortcake dough. Ella rolled out the dough. Lilly took time out to model for the cameras! Isabelle working on her dough! Olivia and Ella checking out the shortcakes right before they go into the oven. The girls cut off the tops of their strawberries with plastic knives and cut them off.  We put one [...]

Kids Cooking Party: Lasagna Rollups

Olivia stirring and chatting

Last week with the help of my sister-in-law Joy, I put on a Cooking Party for my niece Olivia and several of her friends. It was a beautiful day so we started outside making our chef hats.  Using letters I had cut out with my Cricut, the girls put their names on them and then designed a flower made from doilies and cupcake liners. I had seen them done here and thought they would look so cute on their chef hats. We stopped to pose for a group shot. They then ran in to start cooking.  I just love this [...]

Cooking With Kids: Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd's Pie ready to eat

Shepherd’s pie is an English dish and with St. Patrick’s Day this week I thought it would be a fun recipe to make with the kids.  Also known as Cottage Pie, it was a means of using leftover meat and creating a meal with mashed potatoes and vegetables.  Our version is based on my mom’s which they love.  I even used Trader Joe’s mashed potatoes.  Those are a great thing to have in your freezer.  In two minutes you have about as close to home made taste as you will ever find, especially when you mix in a bit of [...]