Latest Recipes

Italian, Main, Pasta

Cacio e Pepe with a Twist

Cacio e Pepe is a pasta dish featuring cheese and pepper. This version by Giada De Laurentiis adds some pops of flavor with pancetta and arugula. I super duper love it! I used bacon because I had a pack already open from another recipe earlier in the week. This is a great pasta main, but you can also rock it out as a side. I did not use as much […]

Desserts, Holiday

Peppermint Bark

Peppermint Bark is soooooo yummy. You don’t need to fork over a fortune at Williams-Sonoma to get yourself some. Follow this easy recipe and you will have a delightful batch in no time. Please note that I crush my candy canes using my food processor, and I melt the chocolate in my microwave rather than messing with a double boiler. This bark is three layers. The dark chocolate is a […]

Appetizers, Holiday, Italian, Salads, Seafood

My Family’s Baccala Salad

Salted cod aka baccala is an Italian delicacy enjoyed at the holidays, particularly on Christmas Eve during the Feast of the Seven Fishes. The key to success is to cover the salted cod with cold water about three days prior to making the salad. Change the water out daily 2-3 times per day. In addition, boiling the cod for what may seem to be like a really excessive amount of […]

Baking, Cookies, Desserts, Holiday, Italian

Ricotta Cookies

Ricotta Cookies. I’ve been making these guys forevs. The recipe comes from the Ye Olde Woman’s Civic Club of Hammonton Cookbook that lived in my mom’s kitchen for 40 years. They are requested by the fam for many occasion – holiday or religious festivity. This batch is ginormous, so make them for a large crowd. They are quite perishable, so bake them close to when needed. Store on wax or […]

Baking, Cookies, Desserts

Confessions of a Pizzelle Guru

Truth: Baking and cooking are the only holiday chores that do not make my blood pressure rise. So it is with great joy that I can share with you holiday cookie deliciousness. Elvis on the stereo, leopard ho-ho-ho hat slightly askew, wine on the side and the kid tucked snug in his bed, visions of Legos and X-box dancing in his head. Now, this. This the Jersey Girl can deal […]