Once the holiday decorations are put away, things settle down, and the reality of winter sinks in, things can start to feel a bit glum. I combat this in two ways.

Decorate for Small Holidays

I decorate for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter. Valentine’s Day decorations go up right after the Christmas decorations get put away. I transition from that to St. Pat and then to Easter which carries me through until it really starts to feel like spring. I decorate my tabletop all-occasion tree for all of these holidays and have wreaths as well as a few things to set around the house for each. It helps me feel as if the house is not bare and cold.

Focus on Food Holidays

I look for excuses to cook fun food throughout the winter. These are the holidays that are reasons to celebrate at my house.

Feb 1 SuperBowl: We always have cheese nachos with guacamole for the SuperBowl and I also buy soda, which is generally banned in my house. We all watch the beginning of the game together and then kind of drift off to our separate areas. I usually make brownies as well so we can be as fat as possible.

Feb 14 Valentine’s Day: I always make a heart shaped dessert for this day.

Feb 17 Mardi Gras: I make a king cake for Mardi Gras, which is a sweet bread with frosting and green, gold, and purple sprinkles. You bake a charm or small toy inside and the person who finds it is the king.

Feb 18 Ash Wednesday: We don’t celebrate Ash Wednesday per se, but I usually buy paczki donuts for the gluten eating members of the family the day before and then I buy fastnachts sometime during Lent as well. I may make some gluten free this year because I miss them so much. Lent is also fish fry season here in Buffalo, but that’s another gluten bomb, so I’ve learned how to make my own beer battered fish fry with gluten free flour.

Feb 19 Chinese New Year: I make homemade fried rice, buy some gluten free dumplings, and make a third dish, often chicken lo mein or beef with broccoli. Unfortunately I can’t find gluten free fortune cookies which is the missing piece!

March 17 St. Patrick’s Day: St. Patrick’s Day is a big deal around here. Buffalo has the second largest parade in the country. I always make corned beef with cabbage and carrots and potatoes and cheese soda bread. Then we have reuben soup the next day with the leftovers.

April 5 Easter: I always make a ham for Easter and often serve a carrot dish with it.

What food holidays are on your calendar this winter?

Once the holiday decorations are put away, things settle down, and the reality of winter sinks in, things can start to feel a bit glum. I combat this in two ways. Decorate for Small Holidays I decorate for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter. Valentine’s Day decorations go up right after the Christmas decorations … Read more →

Stock ice cubes

Two things that are always rattling around my fridge are open containers of chicken/beef/veggie broth and opened jars of spaghetti sauce. I tend to use some and then the rest hang out in there for God knows how long. When I go to grab an open container of these items I never know how old it is and I often end up just throwing it out to avoid eating contaminated food. It gets quite wasteful though so I decided to take control of this situation with a two-pronged plan.

1. Labeling. When we open a jar of sauce, we write the date on the lid. The longest a jar of clean sauce (not touched by a contaminated spoon and not removed from the jar) is officially considered safe is two weeks. The acid in the tomatoes offer some protection, and some people in this house are willing to eat it if it smells ok and looks ok, but I’m just too suspicious for that. Now that the jars are dated, I throw them out after they are open for 2-3 weeks. This has also given the before mentioned people a deadline for using up the sauce they have opened and provides some incentive to use it or lose it.

2. Freezing. If I have most of a jar of spaghetti sauce left, I’ve been dumping it into a plastic container and freezing it. All the leftovers can be used up together the next time I make spaghetti.

3. Ice cubes. I asked for a set of ice cube trays for Christmas. When I open a container of stock or broth, I pour the leftovers into an ice cube tray and freeze it. The next day I dump the cubes into a zip-top bag and label it and stick it in the freezer. I can then add as much broth as I need the next time I’m cooking and I don’t have to worry if it is contaminated. This has saved me huge amounts of money since I often open a cardboard container of stock and use just a little and the rest of the container would end up getting old and being thrown out.

Two things that are always rattling around my fridge are open containers of chicken/beef/veggie broth and opened jars of spaghetti sauce. I tend to use some and then the rest hang out in there for God knows how long. When I go to grab an open container of these items I never know how old … Read more →

For my birthday this year, I decided I wanted to do what we do for everyone else in the family – have their favorite dinner at home. So I made exactly what I wanted, exactly the way I wanted it. It was wonderful to do that for myself. For dessert, I decided I really wanted an ice cream cake. And since my husband and I are both gluten intolerant, it’s something we haven’t had for years. With the help of a springform pan, my Gram’s cake recipe, my favorite ice cream and some gluten free cookies, it was actually very easy to make. The chocolate cake made a dense fudgy layer. I’m a sucker for chocolate and peanut butter together and I also love almonds, so this met all of my cravings head on!

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup Miracle Whip

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour (I used gluten free)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup boiling water

7 oz bag of crunchy chocolate cookies or wafers (I used gluten free), crushed

2 pints peanut butter ice cream

1/2 full size container of chocolate ice cream

chocolate sauce

almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix cocoa, salad dressing, sugar, and vanilla. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and alternate adding that the flour and salt to the chocolate mixture until combined.

Spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray and add the batter. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a cake tester comes clean.

Cool completely.

Soften the peanut butter ice cream and spread on top of the cake. Sprinkle the cookies on top, reserving about 1/4 cup for later use. Freeze until hard, at least 2 hours.

Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread on top of the cookies. Freeze until hard, at least two hours.

Spread the chocolate sauce on top, using enough to cover the top (about 3/4 cup). I used generic version of Hershey’s and I would recommend using something else, more like hot fudge sauce, that is thicker and will harden better.

Sprinkle the remaining cookies on top. Make a ring around the edge with the almonds. Freeze until hard, at least two hours.

Run a hot knife around the edge of the pan before freeing the springform sides. Run the knife under hot water before cutting each piece.

You can use any kind of ice cream, sauce, or nuts for this. You could also swap out a vanilla cake for the chocolate cake, but if you do, use only half a recipe so you get a thin layer.

For my birthday this year, I decided I wanted to do what we do for everyone else in the family – have their favorite dinner at home. So I made exactly what I wanted, exactly the way I wanted it. It was wonderful to do that for myself. For dessert, I decided I really wanted … Read more →

Merry Christmas! To end my Christmas tree celebration I am sharing our living room tree. We add pink lights to this as well as pearl garland which is now 25 years old, and pink bunting. The tree

Tree topper

From Scotland (thistle)

topper is Lenox and was bought the first year we were married on a Valentine’s Day trip we took to Corning, NY.

From Rockport MA

My grandmother’s

The ornaments all have sentimental meaning to me.

Plumeria from Hawaii

Many were bought on trips. Some were my grandmothers’. Others were purchased for each other or from my mom. I love unwrapping them every year

Moon gate from Bermuda

and reliving all the memories. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing all of my trees!

Carved conch shell from Bahamas

Merry Christmas! To end my Christmas tree celebration I am sharing our living room tree. We add pink lights to this as well as pearl garland which is now 25 years old, and pink bunting. The tree topper is Lenox and was bought the first year we were married on a Valentine’s Day trip we … Read more →

For Christmas Eve I am sharing the trees on our front porch. They are wrapped with pink ribbon. They came pre-lit but the lights stopped working after the first year so now we add lights to them. We have garland on the railings that has the same pink ribbon.

For Christmas Eve I am sharing the trees on our front porch. They are wrapped with pink ribbon. They came pre-lit but the lights stopped working after the first year so now we add lights to them. We have garland on the railings that has the same pink ribbon.

Here are some more dining room trees. I could do an entire month of trees (not just 25 days!) I have so many. And I’m including a photo of the entire forest as well. The chest they are on was my grandmother’s. 

Here are some more dining room trees. I could do an entire month of trees (not just 25 days!) I have so many. And I’m including a photo of the entire forest as well. The chest they are on was my grandmother’s. 

My kitchen tree is 100% fun for me. It all started when we were in Montreal. I saw a fondue pot ornament and it hit me how great it would be to have a kitchen tree. The fondue was meaningful because we always had fondue on New Year’s Eve. So I bought the ornament and then we bought the tree for it to go on! I’ve added to my collection over the years. The ornaments are all food or cooking equipment and I have so enjoyed collecting them. I have a chicken wing (we are in Buffalo!), vegetables, fruits, sandwiches, a lobster dinner, a cupcake, and even some Chinese food. A few of the ornaments were bought in Europe. At souvenir stores in many countries they sell magnets of foods of the regions. My husband rigs these magnets up with hooks so they can go on our tree. I have pots, pans, rolling pin, utensils, toaster, mixer, blender, colander, pitcher and many more kitchen items. I think the tree satisfies my childhood desire for a dollhouse – with all those wonderful miniatures!

My kitchen tree is 100% fun for me. It all started when we were in Montreal. I saw a fondue pot ornament and it hit me how great it would be to have a kitchen tree. The fondue was meaningful because we always had fondue on New Year’s Eve. So I bought the ornament and … Read more →

Another treasure from the dining room forest is this pretty tree that always reminds me of a wedding cake!

Another treasure from the dining room forest is this pretty tree that always reminds me of a wedding cake!

Just a few more days till Christmas! But don’t worry – I have plenty of trees to get us through the countdown! Today’s tree is from the dining room forest. I love how it’s loopy metal with a few jewels scattered throughout. I think I picked this up a Kohl’s when it first opened here and I had a coupon!

Just a few more days till Christmas! But don’t worry – I have plenty of trees to get us through the countdown! Today’s tree is from the dining room forest. I love how it’s loopy metal with a few jewels scattered throughout. I think I picked this up a Kohl’s when it first opened here … Read more →

It’s confession time. I own not one, but two ceramic trees. The first one I shared was made by my husband’s grandmother. This one I am going to admit was garbage picked! We spotted it at the end of a driveway in a pile of stuff when some people moved out of a house on our street years ago. We snapped it up, thinking at the very least it would be extra parts for our other tree. Turns out is works perfectly. And it fits on the kitchen counter perfectly, with the star on top removed so it will go underneath the upper cabinets.

It’s confession time. I own not one, but two ceramic trees. The first one I shared was made by my husband’s grandmother. This one I am going to admit was garbage picked! We spotted it at the end of a driveway in a pile of stuff when some people moved out of a house on … Read more →