Comfort Foods and Indulgences

I don't think I have to convince anyone how good coffee cake always seems to taste. Whether you eat it in the morning with coffee or in the afternoon with hot tea....it's just always so dang good!  This recipe is no exception. It was our little treat today.

Anytime I'm at Costco and they have great looking berries, I grab them and throw them in the freezer for when inspiration hits.  Why buy a coffee cake when they are so easy to make? I threw this one together while I was getting the boy's breakfasts made and making their lunches for school.  I am the ultimate multitasker.

Anyway, next time you see some beautiful raspberries, pick them up and give this a whirl. No mixer needed!

At one time or another, we've all had overripe bananas sitting on our counter tops waiting to be consumed. Unfortunately, most of the time they end up in the trash. I'm not a big fan of bananas in general, so that happens to me all the time. But I absolutely love using them as a device in baking. I almost purposely let them go brown just to have an excuse to use them for baking.

Banana bread is one of those confections that's always great to have on hand to offer friends when they stop by. Anyone would enjoy a thick slice spread with cinnamon butter served alongside coffee or tea. It's perfect for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon pick-me-up. Banana bread also makes a great gift at holiday time or can be shared with coworkers, especially if baked as muffins. Even if you don't like bananas, like me, you will love this banana bread. The best part about this recipe is that it uses only two bowls. In one the dry ingredients are combined and in the other the wet. All one needs to do is dump and stir. No special culinary expertise required.

This may well be our favorite appetizer. The combination of the prosciutto with the luscious fig jam is so good and then the creamy goat cheese - well, you just have to make these.  And (shhhh...) they are so easy!

All you need for these little wonders are a good fresh baguette, a jar of fig jam, some salty prosciutto, plain goat cheese and some fresh basil.  The fig jam is an item which is now found in any grocery store.  You just have to know where to look for it.  Some stores carry it with the jams and some carry it with the international foods.  I know Whole Foods has this brand of jam and they always have some tucked in with all the cheeses.

This stuff is incredible - if you've never had it, you'll want to eat it with a spoon.  Or put it on toast.  Or make a sandwich with it.  Or put it on scrambled eggs.  Okay, you get it.  For the prosciutto, make sure you buy a good quality prosciutto - because there are so few ingredients, this appetizer is only good as the quality of your ingredients.

There are some things in life that are so commonplace, you just assume that no matter where you live, they'll be there. Like supermarkets, gas stations, McDonald's, and pizza dough.

Every weekend of my life in Rhode Island, I went to Crugnale's Bakery to pick up 3 lbs. of pizza dough for $1. Like eggs and milk, it was a staple in our house.

Rhode Island – the state with the highest percentage of Italian-Americans – has an extraordinarily high number of bakeries, all of which sell pizza dough.

Imagine my shock when we moved to North Carolina and discovered that not only were there no Italian bakeries to be found, but people didn't even know what I meant when I asked for pizza dough.

I searched markets, delis, and bakeries:

Me: "Excuse me, do you sell pizza dough?"

Guy: "We don't sell pizza, Ma'm."