Homemade Cinnamon Bread

This is what you want to make on a cold winter day and then enjoy the rest of the week.  This cinnamon bread recipe makes two loaves, so you can enjoy one now and freeze one for later.  The dough is a pleasure to work with and roll out.   The recipe calls for a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar on the inside, but you can add some nuts or raisins also, if you like.   Try a slice toasted, with lots of butter on top.  You could even make french toast with it.  Enjoy.

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Holiday Seafood Casserole

We're on the home stretch for the holidays now.  Our older boys will soon be home from college and there's lots of menus to plan.  They both have birthdays in December, we have our big annual Christmas Eve open house to plan for and then out of town guests coming right after Christmas.  There's a couple of favorites that I plan to include in the Christmas Eve buffet - Sicilian Arancine, Pine Nut Croccante and these wonderful Sparkling Cranberries from Heidi that are so beautiful to put out in a big bowl.  Please look to the bottom of this post for some additional holiday links that I thought you might like.  They are worth checking out.

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Parmesan Gougeres and a Virtual Dinner Party

I'm making an appetizer for this dinner - gougeres.  They are delicious little cheese puffs that are traditionally made with shredded Gruyere cheese but I've changed them a little - I made them with grated Parmigiano Reggiano instead.  If you've never made gougeres, don't fret.  They are so simple to make.  You mix up the batter in a saucepan on the stove, dump it into a food processor and add eggs. Then you pipe it or spoon it onto baking sheets.  Now that doesn't sound hard, does it.  And the best part?  You can actually make these ahead and freeze them in ziplocks.  When you need them, just take them out and pop them on baking sheets and reheat.  An appetizer at a moments notice!  With a little glass of wine and some olives, they're hard to beat.

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