Panettone Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Syrup

Chances are even if you aren't sure what a panettone is, you've seen it at the holidays. A cake in a box that everyone seems to receive from a friend. And it's much better than fruitcake!

My friend Erin was given a panettone and didn't want it, so she gave it to me. I figured it would make for a great dessert for her New Year's Eve party. I vaguely remembered an episode of 30 Minute Meals where Rachel Ray had made a pannetone for dessert and used rum. I checked out the recipe, but it called for the pannetone to be baked in muffin tins. Go figure I didn't have a muffin tin (I just bought one though). So I searched some more and found this great recipe by Giada De Laurentiis. I adapted it just a bit. Enjoy!

Spinach, Bacon and Cheese Quiche - it's what's for dinner!

One of my goals during my week of cooking was to avoid the grocery store and "use-up" items already in my pantry. A great website to check out is All Recipes. Users submit recipes and folks comment on them with feedback, improvement ideas and more. It's a great source to use if you have items you need to "use up" but no idea what to make. The Ingredients Search is a huge help!

With this in mind, I searched for recipes using eggs, spinach and cheese - all of which I had plenty of and needed to use. I found a base recipe and made a lot of changes to it. Although quiche is typically a dish served at breakfast, I made it for dinner. It was great!

Neely's Breakfast Sandwiches on Cheddar Bacon Biscuits

I saw a recipe being prepared on Down Home with the Neelys for Breakfast Sandwiches on Cheddar Bacon Biscuits. Do you ever watch the show? I'm not a huge fan because #1 I need to be able to fit into my jeans and currently I'm ever expanding and their recipes won't help my quest. But I digress, cheddar and bacon, I'm in!!!

Apple Pie Turnovers/Deconstructed Apple Pie

I found this recipe for Easy Pear Turnovers on Elly Says Opa and I knew I had to try it. Firstly, I love puff pastry (who doesn't?) Secondly, I hate pears. Wait, what? I do hate pears, always have, always will. So instead I used apples.

This recipe was so super easy to make. Great dessert for a night in for two or when company is coming over (you can make ahead and refrigerate).

Hello and Welcome!

Thank you so much for visiting! I'm Jill. I started this blog after the holidays 2009 as part diary/part taste test kitchen. If you're like me, you like food too. Unfortunately for me, I like it a bit too much. I have amazing recipes I've collected over the years and new recipes I read daily, but nowhere to chronicle them. After suffering a bit of wedding planning withdrawal, I thought a food blog would be an ideal solution.

Although I'm not a great chef and may not have the best techniques, I've always loved food, drinking, cooking and entertaining...and talking about all of it with friends and family. This new adventure will offer cooking tips I've learned over the years (mostly beginner and intermediate), step by step instructions, photos, links to original recipes and websites as well as a ton of other stuff including feedback on great restaurant and drink finds.

As this blog progresses, I'll be adding new features including guest authors and more. Please leave comments and tell me if you like the recipes, if they worked for you, and anything else you might want to say...I'd love to hear from you!

Finally, if you happen to stumble on my blog and you feel I haven't given you proper credit for something, please let me know and I will fix it immediately.

Happy Cooking and Eating!

~J