cathyboettner

My Favorite Carrot Salad

We found this recipe originally in Southern Living, and have modified it some to suit our tastes. It is in regular rotation for cookouts throughout the spring and summer. If you think you hate carrot salad (probably because you don’t like the mayonnaise dressing, and I don’t blame you), give this one a shot. ItContinue reading “My Favorite Carrot Salad”

Apple Salad

Oh, we love this one. I was introduced to it when we did a series of “healthy meals” for events at work to try to get our employees to see that food can both taste good and be good for you. I’m not sure that worked with our employees, but I have been making thisContinue reading “Apple Salad”

Some Tablescapes for Spring

During the pandemic, I did a series of tablescapes with stuff that I had on hand. Here are some of my favorites. This is a studious table with a vase of antique rulers and scales standing in for a vase of flowers. I added vintage books, a brass candle holder, vintage box of pencil leads, smallContinue reading “Some Tablescapes for Spring”

A Cozy Comforting Crisp

I love apple crisp. Always have. We started eating this one as breakfast for Thanksgiving morning several years ago. It’s great for breakfast, but obviously is also yummy for a dessert. This is a triple make ahead breakfast: You can make it the night before; you can make the topping and keep it in theContinue reading “A Cozy Comforting Crisp”

Apple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

I have been making cinnamon rolls for years. The boys used to take them for boy scout camping trips and we brought them to all the boys’ regattas. Chris and I made hundreds of pans of them to raise money for his trip to Europe when he was in 7th grade. In fact, they wereContinue reading “Apple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls”

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Bisque

Given the weather around the country today, this seems an appropriate recipe to share with you…. Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil 2 large onions, diced 3 carrots, peeled and sliced 8 cloves of garlic, minced 56 oz. canned tomatoes (I used some that I canned last summer) 1 cup chopped roasted red pepper 1 quartContinue reading “Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Bisque”

Milk Chocolate Cheesecake

I always make whatever the birthday boy requests for their cake (and their dinner). I asked Chris what he wanted this year, and he chose a milk chocolate cheesecake from Cook’s Country. (Unfortunately, this is not one of their free recipes.) It isn’t a difficult recipe, but it bakes really low, so it takes aContinue reading “Milk Chocolate Cheesecake”

Gluten-Free “Lasagna”

For the family holiday celebration on my husband’s side, we are taking it easy by bringing in prepared lasagna and eggplant parmigiana (which will be delicious), but my oldest son’s girlfriend can’t have gluten, so I came up with the following as a substitute. The “noodles” Zucchini and Yellow Squash cut lengthwise into 1/4″ slicesContinue reading “Gluten-Free “Lasagna””

Gluten Free Black Forest Trifle

We made a double batch of a gluten free olive oil chocolate cake, and I had planned to make it into a black forest cake, but it was pretty crumbly and a little dry when I started trimming it, so I decided to use it to make a couple bowls of trifle. My husband madeContinue reading “Gluten Free Black Forest Trifle”

A Sparkly Table for Christmas

We used my toy table decoration for most of the holiday season, but I changed it up for Christmas day to a white and silver display. I cut white poinsettia flowers and sealed the ends by holding the cut end over a flame until no more juice came out and I put them in silverContinue reading “A Sparkly Table for Christmas”