Blondies, Brownie's alter ego!

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 If you don't like chocolate then you are probably tired of hearing people swoon over brownies and chocolate desserts.  I like brownies a lot and chocolate.  So I am not knocking them, absolutely not, but we have a family member that is not that crazy about chocolate and given a choice, doesn't eat it.  This pushes me to find other desserts.  Blondies are the yin to brownies yang.  Brownie's alter ego?  Too profound?  How about they are gooey and chewy just like brownies but without chocolate (unless you add a few chips like I did here).  Sort of like a gooey butter cake but actually a bar cookie or blond brownies.  Do blonds really have more fun? (yes, I said that)  Let's find out.

Homemade Caramelized Onion Dip

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 Onion dip mix use to be one of the prepackaged guilty pleasures that my family indulged in once a year.  Add a pint of sour cream and you have heaven on a potato chip.  Having one dipped chip is not an option.

This packaged dip has ingredients that I normally do not like to eat or serve.  Nomenclature of ingredients that defies pronunciation.  Ingredients that have chemical names that I once upon a time understood from college chemistry.  I heard someone make a statement (probably someone like Michael Pollan)  about food saying "that if you can't pronounce it, don't eat it".   OK, so a couple of years ago I searched the internet and cookbooks that I own, got some ideas and came up with this recipe for onion dip.  This is now my all time favorite onion dip.  I hope you think so too.

Vanilla Bean Tapioca Pudding

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  This is the pure vanilla version of tapioca pudding, which in my opinion is quite fantastic.

There is something about the new year and January that just say old fashioned desserts to me.  Tapioca pudding is one I like to make during the winter months.  It sure says simple comfort to me.   I never had tapioca as a kid but my husband did.  I don't even know why I started making it except that  my husband was going on about it one night at dinner and I was intrigued.   Vanilla bean tapioca pudding has been a regular dessert ever since and that has been quite a few years.   My kids fell in love with it and to this day get excited when I say I am making it.  That is kinda nice.

So today I would like to share an old fashioned, not so fancy (unless you want it to be), homey pudding.  You can definitely make this with vanilla extract just make sure it is the real thing, no imitations please.

 Topped with dried apricots, cherries, raisins, pistachios and toasted walnuts.  Yum.

You might be wondering what is my secret recipe?

Broiled Grapefruit

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Ruby red grapefruit

Got Grapefruit?

I thought so.

Broil them.  Sound crazy.  Not to me.  This is one of the things that my Mom used to make when I was growing up.  I like grapefruits, but I am not crazy about them.  The tartness gets a little much after a couple of bites.  A little goes a long way.  I will say I love a grapefruit soda, grapefruit cake, grapefruit icing and ambrosia (a favorite of mine growing up!).

If you are like me, you probably received a box of fruit for Christmas that probably contains a couple of ruby reds or white grapefruit.  You can eat them plain or squeeze them for fresh juice.  Or you could make a delicious Sea Breeze cocktail  (1 part vodka, 2 parts cranberry juice, 1 part grapefruit juice and a squeeze of lime).  A cold drink doesn't sound all that appealing right now.  It is cold here and I need warm stuff to help take the chill off!  Broiling them like Mom did sounds good to me . . .

Pomegranate Cinnamon Rolls

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Aren't these beautiful?  The pomegranate seeds look like jewels.

They were really, really good.

The sad part was I did not make enough icing.  My New Years resolution is to make more icing next year.

The icing was the most important part.  Tangy and sweet and pomegranatey.  The soft, slightly sweet, vanilla flavored bread is the foundation to the deliciousness of the tangy pomegranate icing.  It is a lovely contrast, one that I love much.  I kind of have a thing for tangy sweetness.

Want to know more?

Roasted Butternut Squash, Parsnip and Red Pepper Soup

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Roasted vegetable soup flavored with curry and cumin.  This is one of my all time favorite soups.  I love roasted anything, almost anything.  Butternut squash, parsnips, rutabaga, turnips, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, potatoes and celery root.  This list is not definitive.  I am sure I have left something out or there is something out there I haven't roasted yet.  Don't worry, I'll get to it.

We were expecting a snow storm (you know that east coast storm you are probably still hearing about, flights canceled, snow not getting cleared fast enough, football games getting postponed, nation of wussies) and I needed to go to the store.  Of course the whole east coast population was there because they were out of milk too. Weird.

After holiday indulgences,  I was ready for some healthy soup.  Something hot and filling.  I must mention here that our downstairs heater decided not to work on this day so cooking was a good way to stay warm.  We do have a wood burning fireplace and thank goodness we had some wood.  The downstairs was hovering in the 50 degree range for which I am thankful.  It was not the same temperature as outside. It was cold and it was snowing which by default makes one colder and it was the day after Christmas and we were getting snowed in and I had already cooked enough.  Seriously.

Back to the soup . . .