The new pony and mom

Spring has arrived, and with it came a new Shackleford pony! I took this while touring Shackleford Banks, the uninhabited 8 mile island that is just off from Beaufort, NC and is part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore.

The weekend tourists are coming n droves! Call me if you’re coming to the island and want to spend more time seeking out amazing sights like this pony, and less time waiting in line at an overcrowded restaurant or slaving over the kitchen stove!

The new pony next to its mother

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Need help with that wonderful Thanksgiving menu for your family? Invited to a meal and don’t know what to bring? I’ve got the solution! Choose a few holiday items from the menu below, call 972-965-9921 or place an order in the feedback form below, then pick them up on Wednesday the 24th – ready to heat and eat! These chef crafted dishes are sure to please, and I don’t even mind if you take all the credit! (All items are available gluten-free as well. So don’t deprive yourself of a wonderful holiday meal!)

THANKSGIVING MENU

• Appetizers & Soups

1. Goat Cheese Crisps (2 doz.) – $20
2. Mini Bleu Cheese Popovers (1 doz.) – $12
3. Homemade mushroom soup (pint) – $8 (can be picked up earlier than 24th, mushroom soup is the perfect base for many casserole recipes)

• Breads

1. Yeast bread (loaf) – $12
2. Cloverleaf Rolls (1 doz.) – $15

• Side Dishes

1. Southern Cornbread Dressing (8×8 pan, a holiday staple) – $20
2. Triple Cranberry Chutney (pint, sweet, tart and delicious) – $8
3. Roasted Root Vegetables (8×8 pan, carrots, parsnips, beets, & onion) – $15
4. Sweet Potato Casserole (8×8 pan, with marshmallows and pecans) – $15
5. Corn Pudding (8×8 pan, a creamy delight) – $15

• Desserts

1. Pies 9″ – $20 (Honeyed pumpkin, bourbon pecan, chocolate bourbon pecan, apple cranberry, caramel apple)
2. Pumpkin Spice Cookies – $10 for six, or $16 for a dozen

CALL ME AT 972-948-2602 OR PLACE YOUR ORDER IN THE FEEDBACK FORM BELOW! INFORMATION PROVIDED WILL NOT BE POSTED TO THE SITE!

All orders due November 20th, so hurry! Pickup on November 24th.

Is your holiday favorite not on the list? Let me know! We take custom orders.

Think she really baked those?

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Downtown Beaufort on the Waterfront

For a nice afternoon out, Beaufort is a great little town, full of history, good food, and quaint boutiques and galleries. Beaufort is the 3rd oldest city in North Carolina. The downtown area runs along the waterfront and has plenty of Antebellum architecture, giving it old southern charm. Everything is in walking distance! The Maritime Museum is a must see, it holds one of the largest collections of sea shells and has a wonderful display of relics brought up from the shipwreck, Queen Annes Revenge, Black Beard’s pirate ship. For a quick lunch, I recommend Beaufort Grocery, a delicious little bistro housed in a restored house off of Queen Street.

The Banker Ponies on Shackleford Banks

I highly recommend a visit to Shackleford Banks, the barrier island just offshore from Beaufort. It is a barrier island that is completely uninhabited, except for the oldest documented wild horses in the United States. There is a wonderful tour you can take called The Wild Horse and Shelling Safari. Shackleford can only be accessed by boat, my favorite ferry company is Island Ferry Adventures. Shackleford is part of the Cape Lookout National Seashore, along with two other barrier islands: Cape Lookout and Portsmouth – both to the north. It’s refreshing to be able to go somewhere along the coast and not see condos.

Exuma Cay Grouper

If you’d like to head over to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, you’ll have to take a scenic drive Down East to Harkers Island. From there you can catch a ferry over to visit our area’s signature lighthouse on an uninhabited island with pristine beaches and amazing wildlife. Be sure and check out the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center while you are in beautiful Down East, North Carolina.

These are just a few of my favorite places to visit along the Crystal Coast. Try to imagine a fun filled day of sight seeing and beach going – and then walking into your beach house and smelling the aroma of Exuma Cay Grouper, a beautiful salad already plated, and knowing that your supper is ready and waiting for you. No shopping, no lines, no mess to clean up, just sitting down and enjoying a meal full of the flavor of the Crystal Coast!

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Nicky and Oliver over at the Delicious Days blog have a great solution:
click: 50 spice tins and counting

Organized and accessible spice tins

Smart organization will not only improve the flavor in your meals, it will add an attractive gourmet flair to your kitchen.

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I typically make the same meal every year for Easter, ham, mash potatoes, harvard beets, asparagus with hollandais, and rolls, finished with an angel food cake.  So, as I was putting together the menu it dawned on me that I never asked what anybody else wanted, I simply cooked the traditional food.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but it was interesting to find out what everybody really wanted.  Ham was over-whelmingly the winner for the meat.  It is the center piece of the meal and enjoyed by everybody.  I really wanted something other than mashed potatoes for the starch, so I picked mac and cheese.  My eldest daughter chose creamed spinach, and my youngest really wanted corn on the cob.  My husband wanted the beets, but we decided that fresh oven roasted beets with olive oil and balsalmic vinegar  would be a much better choice then doctoring up the canned sliced beets with vinegar and sugar!   A beautiful angel food cake with fresh berries is hard to beat, but I decided I didn’t want to make it this year.   Coconut cake that has layers of yellow genoise that have been drenched in sweetened coconut milk and covered in “light as air” frosting and toasted coconut would be the perfect ending for our feast! It was a great meal and everybody enjoyed their special additions. I hope you enjoyed your Easter and the traditions that your family have developed, but remember, don’t be afraid to take away or add to the meal to bring that new life of spring to your table!

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Casein and Gluten-Free Brioche

Usually, they can’t believe it.  A more recent challenge for me, has been to also remove the dairy (casein is the protein found in all dairy products).  For people living within the Autism Spectrum, gluten and casein can become drug-like when semi ingested.  For this reason, I have begun to adapt tried and true gluten-free recipes into wheat and dairy-free versions.

The latest is Brioche! It’s hard to make a bread that does not contain wheat, but to also remove the proteins in milk, that takes on a whole new challenge.  I was lucky enough to study under Chef Coppedge at the CIA.  He is the Pastry Chef instructor at the CIA and has recently become very involved in making delicious Gluten-Free pastries and breads.  In that course, I learned the chemistry behind baking.  He explained what the roles of gluten and casein are and how to achieve baked goods that were non-distinguishable from the originals. Using this knowledge I decided to try out a Brioche. Brioche is a delicious, buttery, eggy bread that is very rich but also somewhat light in texture.  It is often used in recipes for bread pudding or french toast.  My Brioche is perfect for a sandwich, french toast, or for a snack with your favorite spread!  I know this one is a winner because my kids keep coming to me and asking if they can have a slice of bread!

To learn more about my approach to gluten-free (and casein-free), click here. To enjoy some amazing gluten-free and casein free cuisine, or to learn how to make your own, make a reservation!

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The Beach at Salter Path, North Carolina

Thank goodness for Spring!!!! It has been a long, cold winter, but today marked the beginning of the warm season.  Luckily, mother nature complied and we had 75 degree weather here on the Crystal Coast.  We went for a long walk down on the beach at Salter Path, and on the way home, I began to think of a supper that’s just right for this early taste of Spring.  So we stopped at my favorite fish market, Atlantic Beach Seafood Market (they have finally opened back up for the season, another good sign of the warm weather yet to come!), and I decided on Jumbo Shrimp.

Then, it was off to my kitchen to conjure up some warm weather goodness. I made margarita shrimp, cheesy grits, and roasted asparagus – a traditional down east supper with a little Texas kick thrown in. The shrimp are a staple of coastal North Carolina as are the Cheesy Grits, but the Margarita Marinade and Glaze come direct from my Texas heritage!  A little lime and some heat scream Summer, and that was exactly what I was looking for.  The asparagus is just coming into season so it seemed like the perfect fresh vegetable to finish off our dinner.

For dessert, I played around with a family favorite cookie, the Jelly Print Spritz.  I decided to fill them with home made Key Lime Pie filling. The Spritz cookies got a little extra kick from the addition of lime zest and ginger.

It was the perfect ending to a beautiful, warm and much-needed day at the beach.

A Sandpiper stops to pose

Margarita Shrimp Skewers with Cheesy-Grits and Asparagus

Sunset over the Intracoastal Waterway in Morehead City

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