Coconut Cardamom Date Bread

A good morning in the life of me involves a cup of coffee, mediation in the form of prayer, the food section of the newspaper, and a good breakfast. A tasty wholesome breakfast that pairs extraordinarily well with coffee or tea (I have to have my caffeine, caffeine addiction since high school, yes it happened). I can skip lunch on occasion, but I can never skip breakfast. The day I made this bread, it was snowing. The first snow of the season that stuck, but thankfully it did not stay for too long. Regardless of this matter, it was very cold, wet and snowy outdoors, so of course I decided to bake. I had a little bit of remaining heavy cream from making the s'mores cake and I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for. Tender, delicious quick bread. The bread came together very quickly, the very beauty of quick breads, and the house smelled absolutely lovely. I immediately felt warm inside as I looked out the window at the wet snow rain, as I like to call it.

Dark Chocolate S'mores Cake



Birthdays call for specialty cakes. A dark chocolate s'mores cake is a special cake alright. My sister turned 25 on Saturday and I wanted to make her a special treat for her special day. She has a love for anything chocolate, especially dark chocolate so this cake was perfect. A little combination of dark chocolate with the sweetness of graham cracker and marshmallow, how can you go wrong?

Strawberry Ale Floats

After a long day, a cold brew really hits the spot. Well for someone who is not one for beer, strawberry ale hits the spot. But tonight, I wanted to turn my ale into this a whimsical boozy dessert, as part of a birthday celebration treat to my sister. When I was a little girl, I would always go to my classmates birthday parties and there would always be the same punch.: sherbet, 7-up and lime concentrate. As a child, this was pure sugary heaven, but as an adult, there are so many more options for "punch" why would I stick to just the one? With a creative mind, the options are quite endless. We are lucky now-a-day's to have a liquor store full of flavors and flavor combinations and the same goes for sherbet, sorbet, gelato, frozen yogurt and ice cream. Every time I go into the grocery store it seems like Ben and Jerry's has a new flavor they have whipped up. For me personally, I like to go local with the products I use, which is exactly why I purchased my sorbet from work.