A Quiet Sarasota Christmas 2023!

With our life-changing news of baby #3, we decided to stay home this Christmas just the 4 of us and enjoy a quiet time together. The house was cozy, and we ate a lot! I baked for weeks leading up to the big day mostly cookies (and I’m by no means a baker) total sugar cravings! The kids have enjoyed my slight sugar addiction, especially frozen cocoa!

We visited some of our favorite spots like Palma Coffee, Florence & the Spice Boys, and Wild Child (St. Pete) over break. Along with trying some new places like Tzeva located in Art Ovation and PigFish at Calusa Brewing their Fish Sandwich only served on Wednesday was out of this world paired with a side of malt vinegar and sea salt potatoes! If you follow me on Instagram you know my love for food and lots of stories of it!

So all in all though Christmas Vacation in Florida looked very different than our loud, crazy days back in NJ we made the best of this year and Facetime helps!

My mom always made candy cane cookies, can’t break tradition!
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Mushroom Croustades – Homage to Mary Margaret (mom)

A family favorite with our crew!

My mom started making these Mushroom Crustades in the 90s and after she passed I carried on the tradition.

What’s so great about these tasty little bites is you can make them ahead and freeze.

I start with the cups.

You’ll need 24 slices of Very Thin Pepperidge Farm white bread, crust cut and rolled thin. Then cut each piece into fours, set aside.

Mushroom Filling:

4 Tablespoons Butter

3 green onions well chopped

8 oz chopped white mushrooms (I use food processor on “chop” setting for a few pulses)

2 tablespoons flour

8 oz heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt & pepper to taste

Chives for garnish

Preheat Oven 350

Chop mushrooms super fine of use food process (only a few pulses)

Heat 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet and finely chopped green onion cook for 4-5 minutes (keep stirring don’t burn them). Add mushrooms and cook until water from shrooms has cooked off about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add flour, once combined return to heat and add heavy cream. Heat to boiling while stirring the entire time. Remove from heat and add lemon juice, cayenne, salt, and pepper.

While the mixture is cooling in the skillet I bake the cups. You’ll need a small muffin tray(s) for this. To make life easier I now spray the tins with avocado oil, press squares into each cup, and back until the edges are golden.

Once all cups are baked transfer all cups to a baking sheet and fill each with mushroom mixture. I then place the sheet in the freezer for 10 – 20 minutes. Once frozen store in containers or plastic zip bags until you’re ready to serve.

CHEERS!

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