Good Dinner Mrs. Mellen

I love Christmas!  Christmas Magic, feeling filled with love and joy, spending time with family and friends, decorating, baking and cooking; and living in New England snow! Each year I promise that I will not go overboard -  curtain my decorating frenzy - embrace a minimalistic style -  each year I break my promise! I can't help myself as I begin opening my stored Christmas decorations-  how can I not use all my beautiful treasures lovingly collected over the years. And so it begins......  My tradition the day after Thanksgiving is not to rise early for Black Friday,(nothing wrong with a day of retail therapy) I start my day watching the sun rise and decorating for Christmas.  I begin in my dinning room with unpacking my Lenox Holiday china - gifts from my children - washing each piece I remember the Christmases when they were small their eyes filled with anticipation as I opened my special gift  - then I remove all my regular china replacing wi...

Massachusetts, abundant in cranberries  bogs, produces glorious fresh cranberries which are harvested in the fall coming to market just in time for Thanksgiving. You can get frozen cranberries all year long a wonderful alternative when fresh are out of season. I just love fresh cranberries and I buy copious quantities for making naturally fresh cranberry sauce along with breads, cakes, stuffing and with roasted vegetables. You could say I go cranberry crazy this time of year. And you have to be quick since fresh cranberries are gone from market right after the new year. As you might have guessed homemade cranberry sauce is a must, a favorite accompaniment to our Thanksgiving dinner. Each year I tweak the ingriendants for a different sauce; sometimes I add pecans for a crunch texture or lemons for a tangy sauce, this year I made cranberry sauce with chopped oranges. I like my cranberry sauce spirited adding a little liqueur; to this recipe I added Grand Marnier; a fr...

Following my blog you know that I love to bake! I baked my first cake from scratch when I was a young girl and my love of baking continues all these years later. If you have never baked a cake especially for a birthday I highly recommend you do it at least once. It is so rewarding to see the look on the recipient's face when you put a beautiful homemade cake with candles right in front of them. I think everyone needs a great chocolate cake for birthdays and this cake has a present inside, a rich, smooth, peanut butter mousse filling. Coffee adds extra flavor to the chocolate cake rather than using plain water. If you make this cake I'd love to see photos and hear from you! Ingredients 2 3/4 cups flour-  I like King Arthur's Flour   2 teaspoons baking power 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature 6 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 cups sugar 3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 large eggs 1 1/...

Brussels Sprouts that neglected and shy little bulbs have become trendy - the darling of the vegetable world. Healthy, tasty, versatile, a chameleon, changing depending the pairing - never boring or the same. Steamed, baked, roasted, raw in a salad your choices of preparation are endless. For a deliciously healthy autumn salad I love fresh raw Brussels Sprouts combined with apples, pistachios and shaved parmesan cheese- dressed with a light lemon vinaigrette.  Brussels Sprouts Salad with Pistachios and  Shaved Parmesan Cheese 4 cups thinly sliced Brussels Sprouts 2 Granny Smith Apples, chopped 1/2 cup chopped unsalted pistachios 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan Cheese Lemon Vinaigrette 3  tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/4 teaspoon fresh grounded black pepper 1/2 cup olive oil Combine Brussels Sprouts, apples...