Best Chunky No-Stir Wild Blueberry Almond Granola

best chunky no-stir wild blueberry almond granola 3

My eyebrows are evil.

Okay, okay, maybe not exactly evil, but unless regularly kept in line, always look like they’re up to no good.

It really is all the left one’s fault.  That one’s what people call the “bad crowd”.  The one on the right got involved with it from the very start and it’s been bad news ever since.

All by itself, Rightie just looks a bit too serious for its own good but together, they look like they’re about to take over the ship (that ship being me). Continue reading

Cheesecake Brownies

cheesecake brownies

res·o·lu·tion

/ˌrezəˈlo͞oSHən/

Noun  A firm decision to do or not to do something.

Truth?

I’ve given up on New Year’s resolutions years ago.

Not to be a downer at all, but though well-intentioned, they’ve historically tended to be embarked upon with inspired, unabashed vigor yet have very often crashed and burned without so much as a single woot. Continue reading

Best Dill Chicken Salad Sandwich

best dill chicken salad sandwiches

It’s December 19th and you know what time it is.

It’s less than a week ’til Christmas, that’s what time it is.

Just about the time when people (i.e. me) start to freak out that there isn’t any time.

It’s about the time when you realize that that box of holiday cards you bought weeks ago is still laying untouched on the floor where you last left it … Continue reading

Cast-Iron Cornbread with Salted Molasses Butter

cast iron cornbread with salted molasses butter 3

With the holidays now in full swing, I’ve found myself getting sentimental.

Now, I am a sensitive creature by nature and commercials have (and still do) make me cry.

But this time of the year, the emotion-meter is even higher than usual.

Perhaps it’s the Christmas carols making their way to my ear in every store, or the Christmas lights twinkling everywhere I go, but it all finds me thinking of family. Continue reading

Ultimate Oven S’mores

ultimate oven s'mores

Ooh, some exciting things are a-brewing here at SKC.

It’s time to spread the love.  Food love, that is.

Starting this Friday, December 7th, I’ll be launching Food Love Fridays, a once a month Friday-of-most-months post featuring at least one food-related thing I’m loving and want you to know about.

What, exactly?

Well, it could be one of many things, like: Continue reading

Super Duper Chocolate Toffee Crunch + Holiday Bake Along Giveaway

Happy Early Wednesday, everyone!  Is anyone else getting super excited for the holidays?

I know it’s actually Tuesday, but I’m posting a day early this week to coincide with my participation in the 3rd Annual Holiday Bake, Craft & Sew Along.

It’s a November blogging bake, craft and sew-fest-athon put together by three lovely ladies to inspire us to make the holidays a rockin’ homemade one this year.

30 jam-packed days full of great gift ideas by — count ’em — 30 separate guest bloggers (and that’s just counting the Bake Along bunch).

It was such a cool idea — so full of ridiculously creative people sharing their best — that I just had to say, “Sign me up, yes!”

Now I know what you’re thinking. Continue reading

Bacon-Arugula Mashed Potatoes

I saved my plants yesterday.

From a certain watery demise.

Just between you and me, it could just be putting off the inevitable.

But I’m not telling my plants that.

You see, it’s been raining a lot here in the Seattle area.  And when I say a lot, I mean The-Second-Coming-of-The-Ark a lot. Continue reading

Baked Bourbon Pudding Cakes with Cherry Cardamom Sauce

With a year wrapping up and Thanksgiving just around the bend, I’ve lately found myself thinking about many a thing short and sweet.

Things like:

Quick trips with one’s family and my mom too.  She’s the itty bitty one in the picture … Continue reading

Best Thai Chicken Coconut Curry Soup

There are some things I won’t do.

Base jump, skydive, eat baby octopi.

Okay, that’s not entirely true.  I have eaten baby octopi, but in my defense, I had no idea they’d actually be baby octopi, look like they did, or come with my seaweed salad.  I should have sent it back the moment I realized the horror, but didn’t want to be rude, and it almost killed me.

I came close to hurling at least half a dozen times that day.  True fact. Continue reading

Gingersnap Pumpkin Cheesecake Shake

These days, I am consistently amazed by the kindness of so-called strangers.

Particularly, strangers of the food blogging-kind.

United together over the commonality of whirring food processors, natural light, clicking keyboards and all things food, we solitarily create away, often unawares that there’s a whole brother and sisterhood of people out there just like us.

The word “community” gets tossed around a lot in the blog and foodie-spheres and as much as I consider myself an eternal realistic optimist, I’ve also managed to rub up against some cynicism that’s stuck to me like a barnacle on the tail of a whale. Continue reading

Pumpkin Pancakes with Spiced Maple Walnut Brown Butter

I have a terrible habit of waiting too long to eat.  Usually by the time I do, I’m pouring ketchup on my shoe.

When I do that, things tend to go down like this:

Stage One

I notice I’m hungry, but too engrossed (okay, obsessed) in whatever it is I’m doing and forget.  Yup.  Forget.

Stage Two

I notice that I’m really hungry and think for a moment this time that I should do something about it but — much like a squirrel — I get distracted and then forget.  Some more.  But — unlike a squirrel — I don’t go get me some nuts. Continue reading

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Vegetables over Couscous

Friends?  Confession.

I’m kinda one of Those People.

Those People who have a thing about people laying down on their unmade beds with the same jeans they happened to wear out into the world all day.

Just the thought turns me into an eye-ticking germaphobe.  Maybe it’s the years of riding public transportation but it skeeves me out like no other.

The way I see it, you never know what your butt has been in. Continue reading

Quick Maple Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

Ah, fall.

The very word conjures up visions of fallen leaves in glorious color.

Cozy fires crackling in the fireplace.

Fluffy, puffy comforters.

Best-ever sleeping weather.

And … colds.

Yup, it’s official.  I’m sick.  And not just me, but poor Christopher too.  And his mom back in Minnesota. Continue reading

Christina’s Ultimate Double-Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans

I love you guys.  I really do.

I love that you stop by during your busy days to read what I write, look at the pictures I take, and leave some love for me to find.

Like benevolent fairies that put the Tooth Fairy to shame, you take time out of your own lives to touch a big part of mine, and for that I thank you.

There was a time not so long ago, where I wondered if anyone read my blog, when four out of the five hits I received in a day were my own. Continue reading

Best-Ever Brined Pork Chops with Spiced Apples and Raisins

This past weekend, the honey and I hightailed it to Seattle for a movie night and super-dinner get-together over my brother Niko’s house.

Replete with the best of friends — Sarah and Jon — we celebrated over salmon, mashed potatoes, caprese salad and wine and finished it all off with the best chocolate cupcakes ever (you rock, Sarah)!

I don’t have a picture of them ’cause they’re in my tummy.

We shaked our bon-bon, had a dance off, repeatedly tried not to accidentally step on the cat, and sang a very loud, out-of-tune rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” to Jon.  Baring the early birthday tune, pretty much “the usual” for us. Continue reading