My Body+Soul Article is in Print!!!

In my other life I am a freelance writer and this month's Body+Soul is featuring my first food essay!! This particular article is very important to me as I tell the story of my grandmother's escape from Austria during World War II and how some of the only things she and her family could pack were a few special Christmas cookie recipes.

To read all about it and try out these amazing recipes brought to you from Austria, please pick up a copy of Body+Soul's December '09 issue and looking for my article, A Christmas Cookie Story. If you love it, send a letter to the editor and tell them just how much!!!

Click Here: to check out Body+Soul's website. It's a Martha Stewart publication so you know these cookies have got to be good;)

Comfort Food: Shepherd's Pie

I haven't followed a recipe in months! While I am obsessed with reading cookbooks and food magazines and other blogs, they leave me inspired rather than tied to a shopping list full of requirements. These days, unless I'm participating in a Daring Bakers or Daring Cooks challenge, the only requirement I hold myself to is that the food must be fresh, raised without chemicals and as local as I can get it. Lucky for me, I've watched my farmer's market grow from a few fruit and vegetable stands to a cheese stand, a dairy stand, a fish stand, a grass-fed beef stand, a pastured pork stand and many more! I must say, the only thing I'm really missing is some pastured lamb.

I'm a Featured Blogger on Babble

I'm a serious of fan of Babble. It's an amazing alternative to the sappy, here's how you should raise your kids parenting sites. Babble writers tell it like it is and it's often funny and sarcastic while also being warm and inviting.

Recently Babble launched Nibblers, a go-to food column featuring a bunch of very talented foodbloggers and I'm one of them! Today, my Perfect Turkey Meatballs are being featured.

Click Here: I hope you'll stop by to check out Nibblers and leave a note on what you think!

Comfort Food: Jelly Omelette

A week ago Friday, as I was cleaning out the tub for baby girl's bath, I slipped on a patch of water and fell into the tub. I dislocated my shoulder in the process and then, Lethal Weapon style, proceeded to pop it back in. That's about the only cool thing about this.

Unfortunately, I'll be in a sling for the next few weeks, unable to type with more than one hand, unable to cook and, most depressing, unable to care for baby girl like I usually do.

Sandy Sables Cookies

Just in case anyone is wondering what I did with all those left over egg yolks from last week's French Macarons, I made Dorie Greenspan's Sables cookies which are basically a delicate French sugar cookie. Think Pecan Sandy sans the pecans. Perfect with tea!

You might also be wondering why there isn't a picture of these lovely cookies. Well, baby girl is in love with the camera. She can turn it on and take pictures and she usually yells Smile! before doing something funny with it like looking at it the wrong way and fouling up the lens with her delightfully sticky fingers. Last I saw our camera, it was in baby girl's stroller and now it's somewhere else. I'll find it eventually, but that means you'll lose out on my pics!

Click Here: That's ok because here's a link to an incredible article in the New York Times featuring not only Dorie Greenspan's recipe, but some great revelations on what she's learned.