Is it too soon in the holiday season to talk eggnog? Because I’m not trying to rush past Thanksgiving by any means, but eggnog season is just soooo short, and I kind of love it. I really want to stretch it out as long as possible.

Are you an eggnog fan? For me, I usually buy one carton of eggnog a year to drink and that tides me over, but oh how I love to bake and cook with eggnog. As soon as eggnog hits the store shelves, I’m buying it and adding it to pancakes, cookies, bread, coffee, etc. Eggnog adds such wonderful flavor to so many recipes!…

Read More

The post Eggnog Love {Recipe: Eggnog Cheesecake Bars} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

I’m partnering with KRAFT on this wonderful brunch recipe, and chatting about my current obsession… farmhouse living. 

Friends, if you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you know I’ve been doing a lot of dreaming lately… some may call it obsessing, but I’ll stick with dreaming.

You see, a house we have loved for the past 12 years recently went on the market. It’s a gorgeous little 1936 farmhouse with land and character and all kinds of wonderful features. The best part is, it’s still in town…just a few short blocks from where we live now. It’s one of those rare, best of both world scenarios. An old, charming house with land, still within just a short drive to Target and Starbucks and still with neighbors nearby. That’s my kind of living!

The thing is, the house is old… it has small bedrooms, a smaller kitchen, tiny closets… like you’d expect a 1936 farmhouse to have. But, we live in a very spacious 6 year old house right now. Moving to something like this would be a HUGE adjustment in lifestyle for our family. It would mean downsizing on stuff… simplifying our lives and getting rid of all the excess. The benefit though is what we’d lose for space on the inside, we’d gain 10xs on the outside, and something about that truly appeals to me. Gardens and outdoor movies on the lawn and pickup football games… tree houses and hide and seek and outdoor entertaining with white lights and long covered tables… it’s such a dream of ours. Would we be able to live smaller? Could we do it? …

Read More

The post Simplifying Spring {Recipe: Decadent Scrambled Eggs} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

There’s a little something I want to share with you, and it has to do with making your travel dreams come true. We all want to make our dreams come true, right?

Philadelphia Cream Cheese has a thriving online community of home cooks (like us!) called The Real Women of Philadelphia (RWOP). This community, with more than 66,000 registered users, has become a place for people to share recipe ideas, talk about life in general and help make dreams come true. It’s a platform for creativity that offers women a place to share their real recipes, real conversations and real dreams throughout the entire year.

This year, Philadelphia Cream Cheese has several contests for the dreamer in all of us. In fact, throughout the season, PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese will be giving away more than $100,000 in prizes, including a kitchen makeover and various other dream prizes. To start, Kraft Foods has announced its Real Women of Philadelphia contest called “Delicious Dream Trips” – a contest designed for the Real Women of Philadelphia community to submit their recipe and video of their own region-inspired dish for a chance to win one of THREE  separate dream trips to Italy, France or Greece. Three places I know I dream about going. How about you?

To enter, just register to join the Real Women of Philadelphia community and submit an original recipe (including PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, of course)  and video inspired by one of the countries (France, Italy or Greece), for a chance to win a dream getaway to France, Italy or Greece.  The winner will embark on a delicious dream trip where they’ll experience local cuisine and culture and enjoy scenic tours, wine tastings, and wonderful dining at gourmet restaurants. If you win will you please pack me in your suitcase? It sounds amazing!

When I think about traveling to France or Italy, I think of sitting outside at little cafe’s, drinking coffee or wine and eating the most delicious breads and pastries. When I think about pastries and bread and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, I think about one of my favorite, fruit muffin recipes with cream cheese as one of the ingredients. It’s not a cream cheese filled muffin, but instead a rich, indulgent muffin with cream cheese included in the batter. The cream cheese makes the difference between an ordinary muffin and these muffins.

Make up a batch of these muffins, sit down, and start dreaming up recipes that inspire you. You never know, entering your recipe in the RWOP “Delicious Dream Trips” contest might be all it takes to make your travel dreams come true. Good luck!

I have been selected by Kraft Foods to be an ambassador for the Real Women of Philadelphia. While I have been compensated for my time, my opinions are my own, and I have not been paid to post positive comments.

Print

Philadelphia Cream Chese Blueberry Muffins

A rich and decadent blueberry muffin recipe, made even better with the addition of Philadelphia Cream Cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 ounces Philadelphia Cream Cheese softened
• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 cup buttermilk I use buttermilk substitute... 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice and 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Line muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
• Place cream cheese, lemon zest and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer. Blend until smooth.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well incorporated.
• Slowly add melted butter and milk, blending for just a few seconds.
• Add the flour mixture, one cup at a time, and continue mixing until all ingredients are just incorporated (do not over mix).
• With a spoon, fold in blueberries.
• Pour an equal amount of batter into each lined muffin cup, filling about 3/4 full.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• (Note - I have a picky kid who will not eat blueberry muffins if the blueberries are on top. I simply halve the batter and add blueberries to one half. Fill the muffin cups half way with the blueberry batter and then fill the top portion with the non-blueberry batter.)

The post RWOP Delicious Dream Trips {Recipe: Philadelphia Cream Cheese Blueberry Muffins} appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Anyone out there tired of cookies and other baked goods yet? I mean, it has been a non-stop flow of cookies, cakes, brownies, breads coming out of my oven since November 1^st. I think I would be fine never seeing another baked good for the rest of my life…

OK – that is totally untrue. I love baked goods and the holiday season is pretty much my favorite time of the year because there seems to be total acceptance of all day cookie eating. In the summer if you walk outside with a cookie in your hand at breakfast time, other mom’s on the block might give you a strange look and judge the kind of parent you are. However, during the holidays? You walk outside with a cookie at any time of day and people flock to you asking for one. It’s the holidays! Cookies, cakes, candy are celebrated all day long!

There does come a time for balance though. We can’t merely survive on cookies alone. Every once in awhile, it is probably a good idea to throw the occasional apple or carrot into the mix just so your body doesn’t go into shock when you initiate your annual “I’m giving up sweets” resolution on January 1st.

I’m headed to a holiday party this weekend and am going to give my friends the opportunity to munch on some apples, grapes and strawberries. Oh – did I mention I’m bringing this fabulous Brown Sugar fruit dip along with the fruit tray? I think if I brought something too healthy, like plain fresh fruit, to the holiday party, my friends would revolt.

If you are ready to step away from the baked goods for a bit, but still want a delicious sweet treat paired with some healthy fruit, this Brown Sugar Fruit Dip will give your sweet tooth just what it craves!

Print

Brown Sugar Fruit Dip

Brown Sugar Fruit Dip

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• 2 8 oz packages light cream cheese softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

• Using an electric mixer, mix the softened cream cheese for about 2 minutes on medium speed
• Add the brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and continue to mix until ingredients are full incorporated
• Place in 2 small bowls and serve with fresh fruit

The post Cookie Overload? {Recipe: Brown Sugar Fruit Dip} appeared first on Dine and Dish.