Apricot & Spice Infused Bourbon

Few things say “Holllliiidaaaayyyy… Cellllleeeebrrraaaaate” to me more than shoving a bunch of fruit and spices into booze to make even FANCIER booze. We’ve done it before with this Apple & Cinnamon Bourbon, with which we’ve expertly crafted these Hot Toddies. But, now we’re delving into the world of dried apricots and ginger and other spicy spices. It’s a good place to be. It’s going to make one FANCY jar of booze-juice. Like, people should be excited if you’re their secret Santa. I mean… what would you rather have? A ten dollar gift certificate to Starbucks or a nice little bottle of home-infused boozy cheer?! If you said Starbucks, I don’t hate you… but, I’m not, like, totally into you right now. We can make up later. Here, have some of my legendary peace-making Vegan Chocolate Pudding. Better? Good. Now, let’s get infusing.  […]

Curried Shepherd’s Pie With Sweet Potato Mash {Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Paleo}

When my husband goes away on business trips, I have my routines. The first night I will cook myself something nice and then dive into either a TV series that he’d never go for (i.e. Hello, Gossip Girl on Netflix!), or make a misguided decision and watch a documentary that either freaks me out or makes me weep. Like, full on ugly cry weep with snot and chest heaves. This time it was this Showtime series called Time of Death. I think I dehydrated myself with the amount of tears shed. It hit me in all the feels. Lucky for me, before I started watching this series I had pre-planned with some comfort food. The weather was seriously stormy, so turning on my oven felt like the right thing to do. What happened next was this curried shepherd’s pie. Oh, and then like three hours of death-themed docu-series viewing and blubbering. I can’t be trusted to be alone with myself. On the plus side, I managed to have this comfort food ready in the wings. The last thing you need is to cry all the tears, get dehydrated and headache-y and then NOT have any food to put in your face. Never underestimate the drama of a girl who is both emotionally exhausted and hungry. Just ask my husband. […]

Grain-Free Dark Chocolate & Pumpkin Butter Cinnamon Rolls With Fleur De Sel

I’m going to ignore the fact that both Halloween and Thanksgiving have passed and try to shove more PUMPKIN down your throat. Sure, we’ve already mixed pumpkin and chocolate together — but not into a CINNAMON ROLL. Believe me, this is going to be good.

I know that typically after Thanksgiving has ended we launch straight into everything peppermint and holiday — so, I’m going to rebel a little (shocking, I know). I’m shoving pumpkin butter into some cinnamon rolls. I’m slathering them with chocolate glaze. I’m sprinkling the tops with sea salt. These feel like the holidays to me. I could totally eat one of these while snuggling by the fire with a cup of tea. Actually, that’s exactly what I did. Oh, and then I ate one straight out of the refrigerator later that night. Turns out they are good cold too. Just had to check. Sometimes I use my blog as an excuse to professionally late-night-snack. It’s slightly shameless.   […]

Apple & Cinnamon Bourbon Hot Toddy

It’s raining outside. Remember all of those complaints about how it was November and I still had a sweat-stache? Well, now those complaints are replaced with the fact that my lawn has turned into a bog, and how much my golden retriever is into mud. She’s like really really into it. This isn’t great for me. It’s also not great for her once she realizes that she’s going to be met with the cold side of a hose before she’s allowed to gallop her fancy-ass inside.

This rain also means it’s gosh-darn cozy. As a first in our little family, we purchased and mounted an entire evergreen tree in our living room before the first of December. We strung lights as the rain thwacked at the windows. We reminisced about all of the ornaments we put onto the tree. We paused when we realized how many ornaments we have are cat themed. Also, how many framed photograph ornaments of ones dog is too many? I made soup out of the leftover thanksgiving turkey and the broth that I made from the bones in my new pressure cooker. We ate pie recklessly by the fire, like a couple of Bears seeking calories before hibernation. Christmas carols happened. Then, I bought a poinsettia. Then a garland. We hung an advent calendar. I’m thinking about stringing lights in our archways. Let’s just say it all escalated quickly. And, in a fit of holiday cheer and  couch snuggling… between viewings of The Holiday and In Bruges we drank these hot toddies. We kept repeating the phrase “Toddy with a hot-body” and chuckling a lot. I don’t even know. It felt right. […]