Blackberry, White Chocolate and Lavender Scones

Hi all,

These are the perfect winter sweet treat, tea time snack or breakfast item.  With a slightly unique collection of flavors though not too out there, making these still likely to be enjoyed by a vast majority of peoples palates.  The tartness of the berries, the ever so subtle floral of the lavender, and the sweetness from the white chocolate resulting in a playful, delicious combination.  A cinch to make.  They can easily be made dairy free.  And they are quite low in sugar.  Enjoy this beautiful berry swirled recipe!

6 Ingredient Pumpkin Bread

I know pumpkin tends to be a flavor typically attributed as being autumnal and/or of the Thanksgiving nature.  However, as someone who is passionate for pumpkin and eats it any chance I am able, I believe firmly that surely we can stretch the ingredient as being applicable and apt for baking well into the winter months as well.  Pumpkin is homey, comforting, healthy, and its great in both baked goods and savory dishes alike.

With the colder months making it far easier towards packing on a few extra pounds, I thought something desserty, comforting, but healthy and low in calories would be the perfect thing.  This pumpkin bread is gluten free, dairy free and without refined sugar.

Pepper and Pancetta Piperrada

Hi all!

Get excited for this special feature guest post, written by Maxx, my partner and equally creative force behind the new weekly column: Brooke and Maxxs Culinary Crafts.  As an aside, to sample our mouthwatering, fudgy, decadent, showstopper of a chocolate cake, check out the link here.

Without further ado though, his enticing entrée and posting:

Fresh bell peppers shine in this recipe, a Spanish-influenced dish fitting for any meal.  I fixed this for Sunday brunch; the savory flavors working nicely in pairing with the velvety eggs.  If your knife skills are sharp, you can whip this up in 30 minutes, an easy preparation for sure.  The recipe is derived using this original for inspiration.

I had been seeking the opportunity to put Brooke to the test after I learned that she is somewhat picky about her Bell peppers.  I myself had never appreciated the subtleties in their flavor over the range of colors in which they are available.  A fortuitous family pack of peppers at the grocery store afforded me the opportunity to buy a quartet of them; green, red, yellow, and orange.  When preparing the dish, I reserved samples of each and administered a blind taste test.  Brooke correctly differentiated her least favorite, the green pepper, at first, before being swayed by the flavors of the orange.

Ultimately, she identified the similar tasting peppers: orange and green, and yellow and red, only she reversed her selections within those two pairs.  I was impressed overall after being skeptical in her ability to distinguish the peppers by color.

So, onward with what you’ll need to make this breakfast dish: