Archives for December 2014

Pimento Cheese Puffs

December 31, 2014 Leave a Comment

I hate to sound like a party pooper, but since having a kid, I have basically no interest in New Year’s Eve. Or, more to the point, I have no interest in staying up until midnight — for any reason.

But I still find the idea of New Year’s Eve celebrations appealing: the fireworks, the glitz and, of course, the champagne.

If I didn’t feel so strongly about ringing in the New Year with a good night’s sleep under my belt, I would definitely be breaking out the champagne, donning something sparkly and then popping a few of these pimento cheese puffs while waiting for the ball to drop….

Sugar Cookies (that actually taste good)

December 14, 2014 Leave a Comment

I used to feel about sugar cookies much the way I felt about wedding cake, which is to say that I found them pretty, festive and nearly impossible to pass up, but almost invariably a disappointment in the taste department.

Then last year, I discovered this recipe from Bon Appetit and I became a sugar cookie convert….

Preserved Lemon and Greek Yogurt Salad Dressing

December 8, 2014 Leave a Comment

This is what I did with the last of my preserved lemons.

It’s a simple little dressing with a lot of lemony flavor.

This recipe makes a pretty thick dressing, about the consistency of mayonnaise, although it does depend on the brand of yogurt that you use. I think I used Cabot, but I can’t say for sure. We go through a lot of yogurt around here and the brand varies depending on where I do the shopping.

If the dressing is too thick for your liking, you could definitely thin it down with a little water, but I like it the way that it is. …

Preserved Lemons

December 4, 2014 2 Comments

I was all set to write up a post for a salad dressing using preserved lemons, when I realized that I never got around to posting about the preserved lemons themselves.

I actually made (and photographed) these preserved lemons almost a year ago, using some of the last of that season’s Meyer lemons from my little potted tree. I had to leave the tree behind when we moved from Texas to North Carolina. The movers wouldn’t take it and, even if they had, I’m not sure the tree would have survived a week with no water on a hot, dark, moving truck.

I did, however, manage to bring some of the lemons with me, in the form of marmalade, lemon curd and preserved lemons. The jars of marmalade were simply slipped into boxes with the rest of our pantry items, but the lemon curd and preserved lemons got the VIP treatment. I packed them into little soft-sided coolers along with a few ice packs and crammed them into my checked baggage….