I bruleed my morning yogurt...

And I'm not sorry about it! Thick and creamy greek yogurt, bruleed with natural sugar in the raw. Serve this with stewed seasonal berries and this breakfast freaking rules.

Roasted Acorn Squash!

When there is a crispness in the air and I need to pull out my jacket and boots, it's time to roast some squash! ...What? No? It's not a weird statement, okay? It's a choice. Anyway! Roasted acorn squash is delicious, plain and simple. Maple, cayenne, sage, and rosemary bring everything together in delicious harmony.

Shout "Recipe please" if you're hungry!

Cheese and Mac!

Why not macaroni and cheese? Because the cheese is so much more prominent in this recipe than the mac. Gruyere and blue, you've never been so lovely. Oh, and the caramelized onions don't hurt either.

Want to know how I did it? Ask!

A 2 for 1 deal!

Two fall favorites, caramel apples and apple pie, turned into one freaky conjoined couple. Freakishly delicious that is. 

Caramel apple pie!

Frenchy French

This was quite the experiment! These were fun to bake but above all, they tasted delicious. Espresso french macaroons, some filled with strawberry jam, others with salted caramel. The key to these are letting them rest, and not under baking. They're better the day after they're baked!

Blasamic Fig and Ricotta Galette!

Here's a recipe I did for cityspoonful.com! Find the live article and recipe here!

Rustic Fig and Ricotta Galette!

Dulce de leche!

Dulce de leche by way of the good ol' crock pot!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red velvet cupcakes with vanilla bean and lemon zest cream cheese frosting. 

New and Improved: To Cook a Mockingbird!

     Oh the experiences I've had! It's time to share and time to try out the new direction this blog will be taking.  In the past few months I have worked as a pastry chef in an upscale steakhouse (with no formal training), catered to cupcake needs, and experimented to no end. It's been a blast, to say the least, but now I want to share everything with you all!

Okay so here's how it's going to work. I'm mixing my old food blog with my new love, food photography. I'll post pictures of my newest and classic creations with a quick description, which will allow me to update this blog more often. When you see something that sparks your fancy, holler "Recipe please!" and I will deliver!

Okay Blogspot...let's see how this goes.

Let the eyes feast.

Brandy butter cookies

Brandy spice cookies, filled with homemade dulce de leche.

Quick fresh snack.

Whole wheat toast, whipped cream cheese and mascarpone, sliced strawberries, and a drizzle of local honey. 

How do I begin? With breakfast, of course.

Homemade "pop tarts" with strawberry, blueberry, lemon zest, and rosemary filling.

Who doesn't love french onions?

Or rather, the classic dish French Onion Soup. As anyone whose ever attempted to make the deeply flavorful soup can tell you, directions are usually filled with words like "time consuming", "slow caramelization", or "2 hours of simmering". Yes, caramelization of the onions is KEY here, but I speed it up a bit and am eating delicious soup in about 50 minutes rather than 2 hours. I use two different types of stock in this, beef for the deep rich base we all know and love in french onion soup, and chicken for that lighter and salty note. Please excuse the terrible cell phone photo. It was a late night craving. Oh, and you're welcome in advance for the soup.

What you need:

3 large spanish onions sliced

3 tablespoons salted butter

3 large crushed garlic cloves

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 very large thyme sprigs tied together with butchers twine

Dash of crushed red pepper

3 cups good quality (preferably homemade) beef stock

1 cup of the same quality chicken stock

About 1/4 cup cognac

Italian bread or some day-old baguette from dinner the night before, cubed

Gruyere or much less expensive swiss cheese, shredded (hey, we're on a budget here)

Here we go:

Heat the butter in a large heavy bottomed skillet and melt. Add in the sliced onions and turn the heat to medium low, here's where we need to pay the most attention because we don't want to burn the onions. Stir continuously until the onions start to soften and color, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and red pepper.

Saute all together for about another 5-10 minutes or until the onions are nice and brown. Add the stocks. Ready? Leave it alone! Let it simmer together for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how impatient you are. Stir in the cognac 5 minutes before

the end of the cooking time.

Serve up the soup in oven safe bowls, top with the bread and cheese and throw under the broiler until they become brown and bubbly. Time varies on the broiler, mine takes about 3 minutes.

Enjoy!

I can't really think of another soup I want more on a cold winter day. Well to be honest, any day. Leftovers just gain in flavor, so I make double batches to whip out for a quick lunch or dinner.

Onion soup in about 50 minutes? Sign me up.

I've been missing!

Oh no! I've been missing!

Well you know how it goes, school happens, graduation happens, and then life happens. Where am I now? Somewhere in between graduation and life, I suppose. But that means more updates for you (and more stress about finding a job for me)! But hey, the cupcake catering is still in effect so if you want to order some let me know! New blog specifically for cupcakes and confections coming soon.

Something special for dinner tonight and I have a feeling you'll see just what it is.

I've been missing and I've missed you. Let's cook and make up.

<3

Megan.