MOCCA

Shopping makes us hungry! The groom-to-be recommended we try Mocca, a small cozy deli. This hidden gem is tucked away on a walk street only with cute cafe tables and umbrellas set up right in the middle of the road.

I’m a sucker for sandwiches so I tried the turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce and brie on a French baguette. I am so excited to have tried this sandwich, it is so simple and I can’t wait to make my own! Thanksgiving leftovers anyone?

The combination was delicious. I really love cranberry sauce, it added a nice tart to the sandwich and the brie was silky smooth. Yum-O!

Christmas Re-Mix

The holiday season really kicked my butt.  Sadly friends, I did not have a chance to blog about all the fun crafts that I gifted or the baked goods I made for various holiday gatherings. 

So here is my catch-up post…

This being my first year as a parent of a school-age child, I was uncertain about what to give to my son’s teachers  for Christmas.  So I did what I do best–Bake.  I gave each of the four–yes! four!–teachers tins full of delish cookies.  My husband insisted that I make peanutbutter kisses (peanutbutter cookies with a chocolate kiss pressed into them), a favorite from his own childhood.  Since that alone wasn’t going to fill the tin, I also made one of my favorites, Orange Cranberry White Chocolate Chip. 

On the first day back to school, we had lovely thank you notes from the teachers, gushing about the tastey cookies!

For my dear sweet co-blogger cousins I stamped them each their very own woodgrain pic with theirs and their loves initials in them. 

I found matching salt and pepper shakers for Caasi from Anthropologie.  And I know she’s already used them!  For Summer, months ago I was checking out  Twig & Thistle and fell for the cute little nesting dolls used as cake toppers.   I quickly ordered my own unfinished nesting dolls from Amazon.  They come in sets of 5.  It was perfect for Summer’s family!  I painted each one to sport the likeness of Summer, her husband, and each of her three kids. 

Our family celebrates Christmas early…I mean really early…like weeks in advance of the actual day.  So the actual day itself  is typically freed up to be spent with close friends.  We headed over to the Sullivan Home for Christmas dinner.  I brought a side of maple glazed carrots and some peppermint whoopie pies for dessert. 

I used chocolate cakes and the traditional marshmallow filling and then rolled them in crushed up candy canes.  I’ve seen these sold in stores like William-Sonoma, but they are super easy to do at home.  Very festive!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season!  Happy New Year!

Cranberry Bars: Take Two

Are you going to a Holiday Party and don’t want to show up empty handed? Show up with a festive tin filled with treats! Yum-O!! You can make bars, like my Cranberry ones below… or try Yvette’s brittle… I heard that people were sneaking it in thier purses when she took it to Thanksgiving dinner!

I finally had a chance to make my cranberry macadamia nut bars again! This time I used fresh cranberries. If you remember in a frantic rush to make something for a dinner party.. I used the dried un-sweetened kind. Thanks to Thanksgiving.. the grocery store has fresh ones! I stocked up! Although, another option is to buy frozen. I never thought to look there, but Yvette said that Henry’s has them. I don’t have a Henry’s near me, but I never really checked in the frozen section. Hmm…

As far as the nuts go… last time I used hazelnuts as a substitute. I really like the taste of hazelnuts, also why I LOVE NUTELLA!! Thanks to Yvette’s post on Nutella, I have a new way to eat it besides licking it off the spoon! Back from my tangent… my recipe calls for macadamia nuts, I was lucky to find some in the store this time. I guess when you aren’t running through the store like a crazy person, you can find just about everything you are looking for.

I was such a nerd and felt very infomercial-like by using my Magic Bullet! I used it to fine chop my macadamia nuts and later, my fresh cranberries. What else was I supposed to do? You try “chopping” cranberries and macadamia nuts on a cutting board! Now that I think about it… maybe I need that Slap Chop!!

The bars turned out great! The coconut, cranberries, macadamia nuts.. what a perfect blend. The other bars were good in a pinch, but these were better. The thing I didn’t like about the first batch was the color. The dried cranberries don’t give off the color that the real cranberries do after being baked in the oven. I had an impartial taste tester… my great friend Laura! She has tasted many of my baked goods and has tasted both versions of this cranberry bar. It was her dinner party that I brought the substitute bars to and I had her over recently to taste the real version…what a trooper! She concurred.. the real deal was top notch!

Cranberry Bliss

For a recent dinner party with friends, I decided to whip up some cranberry bars. I didn’t really have a game plan, nor did I have very much time. They were supposed to be Cranberry-Macadamia Bars, but in a frantic rush around the grocery store, I couldn’t find any macadamia nuts! It was substitution time!

I decided to use hazelnuts instead of macadamia nuts. I also substituted fresh cranberries for dried ones that I had on hand- unsweetened, I like them less sweet and more tart. I can’t wait until the stores start having fresh cranberries on hand… they are the best!

The bars came out so good for being a last minute, mad-dash dessert. They reminded me of my favorite Cranberry Bliss bars at Starbucks! mmmm… I will be making this again using the macadamia nuts and fresh cranberries so look for that update soon!