Rosemary, Gruyere & Swiss Beer Muffins

I found this amazing recipe from The Beeroness for cheddar beer bread muffins. I am a huge fan of cheddar, but for these muffins, I decided to change course a bit. I bought the beer first, actually, and decided to choose the herbs and cheese around that. I started with Long Trail Brewing Co.'s Ramble. It's a Kolsch "with a hint of lemon and pepper." This sounded amazing and refreshing to me - especially as I am wishing the winter to go away - and I decided to make a lighter savory muffin, thus settling on rosemary, gruyere, and swiss. This recipe makes 10 muffins.

Goat Cheese Polenta Bites

Last weekend was the Super Bowl, also known as "the only day of the year that I actually watch football and use that as an excuse to eat everything in sight." I was perusing my favorite blogs for a good appetizer to bring to my Super Bowl party & came across this delicious appetizer from The Kitchn. Because I was in such a hurry to get them over to the party, I forgot to take "finished" photos, but they looked as awesome as they tasted. This recipe makes 16 bite-size servings.

Caprese Appetizers

I made a bunch of these for a friend's party the other night. They were very easy to make (I actually prepped and assembled everything on-site) and people really enjoyed them. This recipe makes about 16-20 servings.

Hoppin' John

Hoppin' John is a traditional meal to bring luck into the new year. It is usually made with bacon or some other meat, but Thug Kitchen posted an awesome vegan recipe this week. I changed things up a bit and tossed it all in my slow cooker. I served it over brown rice, but I've also heard of it being served with sauteed greens. This recipe makes about six servings. Have a happy & fruitful new year!

Slow Cooker Herb Stuffing

Why is stuffing primarily a Thanksgiving dish? I mean, it uses up leftover bread (extra points for that, for sure) and is a truly delicious and filling side dish. I am totally an advocate of year-round stuffing. For Thanksgiving dinner this year, I was busy cooking other things, so I tossed all of this in the slow cooker (Stirring occasionally? I think I can handle that) and let it do its thing. This recipe was inspired by A Year of Slow Cooking & fills a 4-quart slow cooker. Enjoy & happy Thanksgiving!

Leftovers Club: Gouda, Parsley & Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins

I was a bad blogger this month because I didn't post my Leftovers Club post in time. I did still make a delicious recipe and will still send it to my Leftovers partner (remember Ruthy from Omeletta? We were paired again!). These muffins are super-savory and best when they are warm with some butter. I got this recipe from Taste for Adventure, and it makes 12 muffins.

Guest Post: Row House Gardening

My friend, Steve, has an awesome vegetable garden that he tends to every year and because he currently lives in a row home, I've become pretty interested in how he is so successful with it (I tried some of the veggies from last year & they were great!). He's taken the time to outline how he plants and tends to his garden throughout the warm months, and hopefully he will be back throughout the growing season to give us updates and tips!

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Spring! Finally a chance to get outside and enjoy some warmer weather. That’s actually how I got started with my garden a few years ago. Being a transplant from Texas, where there are essentially nine months of summer followed by three months of not-summer, by mid-March I’m getting antsy to get outside and do SOMETHING. While March is generally too early to plant annuals and vegetables in Maryland, I can at least get the indoor part started and get to work on my planting areas outside (…errr, not that that’s actually happened yet).

Like many in Baltimore, my wife and I live in a pretty standard-sized row house with a small backyard. My planting area basically consists of an 8’x 4’ raised planter (which was super easy and very inexpensive to build even without any carpentry skills), a 7’x 11’ in-ground planter and about a dozen large plastic tubs which I use for everything from lettuce to carrots and radishes. The tubs are 10 to 20 gallon containers and if you know a landscaper, you can probably get them for free, as they’re commonly discarded after the trees or large shrubs which they contain are discarded. You might even ask at Lowe’s, Home Depot or a local nursery if they have any extra. Help keep some plastic out of a landfill and grow a plant in it instead!