Food & fitness obsessed girl.
Bring on fall! The weather finally warranted wearing a sweater or jacket. I absolutely adore this season and it is by far, my favorite. Pumpkins, cool breezes, leaves changing to vibrant colors and apples! Lots of apples. Finally after several busy weekends, we were able to carve out a bit of time to hit up my favorite orchard and pick some apples, in fact 40 lbs! In the coming days I will be sharing all of my favorite recipes for everything apple. [Read more…]
— Knead to Cook
I’m still happily on my pumpkin kick. I really can’t get enough. The weather finally has a chill, sweaters are coming out and I’m happily creating recipes that warm you up on a chilly weekend morning. Painted a nice picture, didn’t I? Ha. Actually, I whipped up this breakfast because I had an extra baguette that my husband didn’t use for pasta night (I was at a meeting) and I had leftover pumpkin in the fridge. Viola! Breakfast idea for Saturday morning. So I got up early, ran my 8 mile training run, hubby went out for 15 on his bike before he actually started to freeze and we got home and put this in the oven. It smells heavenly and I’m hoping it wakes my girls up so we can go apple picking, which I’ve been dying to do but we haven’t had an opportunity.
Great for brunch or a lazy weekend morning. Top with powdered sugar, maple syrup or fresh berries. Whatever you like.
— Knead to Cook
This would be perfect for Thanksgiving dinner! Yes, I have that on my mind already. I roasted some sweet potatoes and a lovely homegrown butternut squash my friend gave to me earlier in the day and was thinking of how I wanted to transform them. Mashed potatoes came to mind and from there I whipped up a sweet version of a mashed potato combo that was so delicious I had to walk away before I consumed the entire bowl!
[Read more…]
— Knead to Cook
This recipe can be used for a myriad of recipes – soup, tacos, bbq sandwiches – the options are endless! I had four meetings yesterday and had pretty much no cooking time for dinner. I always pull out the crock pot on busy days because let’s face it, it is a magic machine that transforms any ingredients into perfection in only a few hours. This was no exception. I used it for make-your-own taco Tuesday dinner. The family loves it and it’s a great way to get your kids to eat some veggies.
— Knead to Cook
It’s fall and apple season means more than just apple pie and apple sauce making. Today, my schedule is jammed packed with appointments and a board meeting this evening. I’m rushing around but had a chance to pop over to my favorite farm stand to pick up some fresh veggies and fruit. I stumbled upon a creamed cinnamon honey that I just knew I had to buy. Finding myself home with one hour to spare, I whipped up this apple cake and used my new little gem in the recipe. While the cake is baking, I’m typing away so that I can share this recipe with you all. This recipe uses no oils and little sugar, it merely celebrates the star of the cake – the sweet apple. I hope you enjoy it.
— Knead to Cook
This weekend my husband and I hosted basically two dinner parties in honor of homecoming. The first was for my daughter and her friends and the second, was the after-party for the parents to hang out, eat, drink and be merry. I wanted a fun cookie to make for the kids and stumbled upon Baked by Rachel’s chocolate pumpkin cookie recipe and thought it would be perfect. I adapted the recipe a bit lessening the sugars/spices and they were loved by teens and adults!
— Knead to Cook
It’s Friday and I’m starting to think that instead of me cooking and baking today I should be fashioning an ark! We’ve been having quite a bit of rain, which I normally don’t mind, but now it’s impacting my running schedule which makes me antsy. So after my trip to the gym, I came home and starting prepping for our homecoming dinner party tomorrow night and planning for our pizza night (our tradition) tonight. I wanted to make a whole wheat naan (I have another naan recipe here) but wanted a really thin version for my pizza crust tonight. This version is quite easy, took no time to whip up and is a modification on a traditional naan that is cooked in a tandoor oven.
— Knead to Cook
I’ll be honest, I’ve always stayed away from the spaghetti squash for some reason, not sure why but it scared me. My self psycho-analysis is I had this fear because anything that replaces pasta could never compete with the real deal. But since my new found love of everything healthy, avoiding as many processed foods as possible- one night I bought one and roasted some tomatoes and figured I would suppress my Italian pasta girl and try this with my sauce. Funny, when I served dinner I asked my husband if he wanted to try it too with sauce and he obliged. He did half pasta and half squash. He actually loved it. YES! These little victories make me happy. Another foodie fear conquered.
— Knead to Cook
I was thrilled when I was contacted by my local newspaper to do a feature story about my participation in the Cabot Fit Team Beach To Beacon 10k this past August. I sat down with Claudia, the reporter, at a local Starbucks and we spoke for literally 2+ hours. I shared my story, my thoughts on food, fitness and motherhood with her. We laughed a lot and enjoyed the company. Today the article came out and I was so excited to see it. In fact, I never shared this with anyone but my husband that this was even happening. The article came out great and I wanted to share it with all of my friends who have made Knead to Cook what it is. I also wanted to thank Cabot, once again, for the incredible opportunity to be apart of this team and represent what I believe to be one of the best companies out there!
— Knead to Cook
With an abundance of zucchini in my kitchen and a desire to use my brand new bundt pan – I thought I would whip up a fun, yet healthy, zucchini cake with a cream cheese drizzle to make Monday dinner fun! It worked. The pretty cake was met with many oohhhh’s and ahhhh’s.
I’ll be honest, although I haven’t tried it, I’m quite certain this recipe would work beautifully as muffins or as a loaf of bread too. I removed the oil from my recipe all together and lessened the sugar- added some honey and I have to tell you – my critics, ummm my family, loved it. I still don’t think I’m the best at drizzling icing (I’m not a fan of icing) but you can work it however you prefer or just dust it with some powdered sugar as another option. Healthy enough to eat for breakfast too!
— Knead to Cook