With Coconut Cream Cheese and Fresh Fruit In the past few days, I have spent a lot of time with myself, as I know most everyone has. It was scary at first—questions, loneliness, the looming unknown. We humans need one another in times like these, but of course…six feet apart. That hurts. And in the…
Lemon Thyme Chocolate Shortbread
Cookies are the smallest and simplest of desserts. There is not much to them—a swift baking time, basic ingredients, and little patience or intuition required. They are found in abundance at bake sales and in Christmas tins. You can buy boxes of them at the store. And yet no one takes a cookie without a…
Sourdough Anise Banana Bread
Banana bread is divine. Nothing is better than warm banana bread fresh from the oven with butter and a sprinkle of sea salt (all breads are good this way, even sweet ones.) It is a scent that reminds me of my childhood, when we would make banana bread and pumpkin bread in the winter. I…
Chocolate, Orange, and Olive Oil Babka
The concept of “soul food” belongs more to Louisiana than Appalachia. It draws up steaming bowls of shrimp n’ grits, crispy fried chicken, great pots of okra gumbo, and delicate beneits with heaping drifts of powdered sugar. But if I were to choose one food that spoke to my soul—even more so than grits (because…
Wee Irish Brown Bread
Ah, Ireland. Your distant shores, with their moody weather and endless rolling hills, beckon me. Though I am a person of the mountains, there is something magical about lonely Irish cottages in the countryside. I can imagine a life tending a small garden, baking bread every few days, caring for two or three sheep and…
Sweet Potato Waffles With Maple Creme Fraiche
Thanksgiving reflections… Family is magical. It is so enchanting to sit at a long table laden with bread and full plates, talking and laughing and enjoying the company of the people you love. Rowdy uncles, smiling grandmothers, cheery aunts, and teasing cousins, all beautifully flawed and wonderfully happy to be together. I wish I could…
Chocolate Rosemary Spice Cake
When I close my eyes and think of winter, I think of rosemary. It is a breath of frigid air, boots crunching over a crust of frost and fallen pine needles, and leaning into the tree to hang an ornament—it is all of that wrapped up in a little herb. The mountains here are known…
New Updates
Hey guys 🙂 hope you all are doing well this Friday! I have been thinking about my blog lately, and the things about it that give me trouble. I have not been satisfied with many of my posts—they feel rushed, and I have noticed more mistakes that I missed because I was hastily trying to…
Recipe Review: Half Baked Harvest’s Apple Cinnamon Rolls With Chai Cream Cheese Frosting
*Note: this is not my recipe. This recipe belongs to Half Baked Harvest, a talented self-trainer blogger who focuses on comfort food and seasonal cooking. You can find her recipe here 🙂 DUUUDE! Apples! Chai! Cinnamon rolls! Cream cheese frosting! My hopes were high for these cinnamon rolls, and boy, they certainly did not disappoint….
Mushroom Pesto Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
If you weren’t convinced by steaming roasted squash tossed with creamy pesto, earthy mushrooms, crispy fried basil, and nutty toasted pumpkin seeds, you should be convinced by my dog’s face in this picture (“I want spaghetti squash! Mmm, poisonous garlic!”) Oh! How could I leave out the most delicious part? I used black garlic, aka…
The Appalachian Artisan 