Sparkling Roasted Peach Bellini with Candied Clementines

Hello, friend.

2016 is quickly coming to a close. Three cheers for that, am I right?! I had hoped for a peaceful and relaxing Christmas break, but that has just not happened, and there is no one to blame for this but me. I do this to myself. Not being in school on holiday break, I have more time to focus on blog work and getting the site ready for 2017. Which leads me to my big announcement: TermiNatetor Kitchen is moving! That’s right, this is my LAST BLOG POST on this site. I am moving the site over to Wix where I will be able to host the blog, my portfolio, and my soon-to-be TK store. I can’t wait for you all to see it.  With all the craziness, the ups-and-downs that the year had, I think it’s appropriate to have one last perfect cocktail to say goodbye to 2016 and hello to 2017. This version of a peach Bellini, with a little help from the good folks over at Powell & Mahoney, is that ideal cocktail

How to host an Egg-cellent Thanksgiving dinner: four recipes + a whole lot of egg puns

For Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, or any other holiday gathering you might be hosting, don’t fret because this dinner party master post has got you covered. I’ve teamed up with Eggland’s Best to bring you a simple, easy, and delicious holiday spread. I’m not egg-aggerating here, these recipes are tasty! Included are savory sides such as ‘rosemary biscuits with spiced butternut squash butter’, ‘deviled eggs with honeyed jalapenos’, and ‘herb butter stuffing’. The main event is a ‘lemon thyme hay-roasted chicken’, and for dessert is a ‘pumpkin & brown butter cheesecake with candied bourbon pecans’. The holidays never tasted so good!

Warning: This post contains an exuberant amount of egg puns. Enjoy :)

Hello, friends.

It’s less than a week until Thanksgiving. Are you ready?! When you’re reading this, I will have already left my apartment and will be at my parent's home for the holiday break. I’m pretty excited for this time off. I am in need of a break from higher education. Senior year has been a rigorous semester so far, but I’m making it through. With final exams just around the corner, I’m looking forward to this period of rejuvenation before hitting the books for the final home stretch. For me, thanksgiving break always means two very important things: No classes and a whole lot of baking! Weeks before the holiday gathering, Momma Crawford and I will sit down and brainstorm recipe ideas for the festive dinner. We think of ways to reimagine traditional side dishes or create healthy dessert alternatives that will still taste delicious. It’s always so much fun planning and prepping the Thanksgiving dinner menu with her. Lots of laughs and cups of coffee are shared. But this year, Eggland’s Best reached out to me and challenged me to create a thanksgiving/Friendsgiving dinner all by myself. You can say I was pretty egg-cited to accept this challenge.

Rose Water Cakes with Roasted Strawberry Buttercream (w/th Café, Cacau e Canela)

Hello, friend.

Note: I’m feeling incredibly lazy (and I have two exams to study for), so I’m going to make this blog post short and sweet (much like these cakes!) These mini rose water cakes are wonderfully aromatic with subtle floral notes. The slowly roasted strawberries are perfectly folded into the cloud-like buttercream making for the ideal (end of) summer dessert. A few months backs Laura from Café, Cacau e Canela and I were messaging back and forth about how we have never collaborated before and how we NEEDED TO. We started brainstorming ideas for how we were going to go about this. We decided to use the same core ingredients and see where our creativity took us. Once you’re done checking out my recipe, click on over to Laura’s site for her recipe (spoiler alert: it’s going to be a delicious one. Just sayin’)

Roasted Sweet Balsamic Peaches Stuffed Honey Buttermilk Bread

Hello, friend.

What is this?! Two recipes posted consecutively one week apart? Am I sensing a trend?? I would love to say this consistency will stay, but you all know that’s not happening! At least I’m honest with you all. That should could for something, right? The inspiration for this recipe came across during one of my many frequent midnight Pinterest scrolls. I stumbled upon this recipe for Honeyed Buttermilk Bread and I was immediately hooked. I knew I needed to make that bread. It just looked so perfect. Though, how was I going to make it my own? What could I do to elevate this already beautiful looking bread? Stuffing it with roasted peaches of course! 

Roasted Creamy Tomato Soup + being in my first cooking class

Hello, friend.

It is almost Christmas! Do you have all of your gifts bought and wrapped? I know I don’t!  Though, if you don’t celebrate Christmas then….happy Boxing Day, I guess?

The fall semester is officially over! Woohoo! No more final exams, no more late night studying, and no more stressing out from academia (or at least for the next few weeks!). While I’m home on break, I am taking this opportunity to work in some blog posts while the time permits. I hope to have a handful of potential blog posts queued up and ready for the coming year. Will it happen? Probably not! But I can dream.

Roasted Grape & Huckleberry Jam Galette + surviving thanksgiving

Hello, friend.

I know this is my second grape recipe in a row. Don’t patronize me! Times are hard and utterly arduous as a college student. Though in all honesty, I had extra grapes stored tightly in an empty yogurt container in my freezer. I take what I can get. Soooo, it’s Thanksgiving time! I, like every other food blogger on the interweb, LOVE the holidays. There is something completely mesmerizing about the art of gathering around a big table, surrounded by the warmth of food, and having the air filled with light-hearted conversation between loved ones. The act of bringing people together is what I cherish most about this time of year. That, and the insane amount of food

Sweet Balsamic Roasted Grapes, Becoming a Columnist, & an Ode to Autumn

“Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.”

-          Robert Frost “Nothing Gold Can Stay”

Hello, friend.

Halloween was recently upon us. The holiday brings about a season of change. Autumn colors turn to bleak, white winters. Falling leaves become glistening snow. It’s a time of reflection. I find beauty in this time of simplicity. I find joy in the pace of change. Finding new light and choosing an undiscovered angle pushes me to discover and grow. The mundane revives me. It teaches me to take life one step at a time, to appreciate less and cherish more. It tells me that nothing can stay forever. No flower blooms for eternity. So, as I hold tightly to my pumpkin spice latte and listen to “Monster Mash” for the eight-hundredth time, I’m reminded that time forever ticks onward. That also means Christmas is quickly drawing near. 

Grilled-Roasted Peaches with Autumn Spiced Butter & Maple Crème + The Fear of Speaking

Hello, friends.

So it’s been a while since we last chatted. It feels like years since we sat down, sipped on osome pumpkin spice lattes, and caught each other up on what our lives have become. What is my excuse? Higher education. I recently survived midterm week and I couldn't be more excited that it's over with. The weight of textbooks and grownup responsibility pulls my tired body downward. I find it harder and harder to get up in the morning and out the door before my 8 am microbiology class. In the midst of late night study sessions and early morning practicals, I rather sleep my worries away than take another step out into the chilly cornfield jungle that is the Midwest. If I'm being honest with you, I’ve just been in an emotional lump. 

Strawberry, Roasted Pecan & Goat Cheese topped Spinach Salad with a Balsamic Vinaigrette + the World’s Tallest Wind Chime

Hello, friend.

I write this post in the rain. Technically, I’m not in the rain. It’s raining outside my apartment window as I write this. I think that’s close enough. What can I say, I’m looking for some dramatic literary effect. There is something comforting about a late summer rain. The air is a mixture of chilliness and warmth. The clouds turn black as night, a burnt coal shade of starry-eyed oblivion. The droplets of rain hit gently against the window pane kept perfectly in time to the subtle tips of my fingers on my keyboard. A gentle billow of steam comes ascending upward from my mug of decaf French pressed coffee. A take a sip. Ahhh. The fan above my head slowly spins to the rhythm of electric impulse. The apartment is hushed, and the mood is solemn. The soft notes of the alto saxophone jazz hum smoothly through my speakers. All is as it should be, thanks to the rain.