Even with the promise of Spring down the road a bit, Winter is still just not giving up.  Many of us, especially those of us in the north are thinking about warm- weathered spring breaks.  But, in-between hopes of spring and vacations, we still have to… survive.

In Minnesota, there are many days where the light is bright but the sky is opaque.  Just now, out my window such an atmosphere is flittering snow that is dancing through the air and landing on frozen ground.  This is a day to keep Hygge in mind.

Hygge (prounounced “HUE-gah”)

A Danish word which means the feeling of cozy, enjoying life, family, friends and the deep satisfying experience of well being experienced from one’s environment, surroundings, food and company. 

So, the roads don’t feel as welcoming for a ride out for meetings and errands.  Stay home, plan a cozy time.  Enjoy a good Hygge.  Important in my mind on such a day is to keep the comforts of  home like cozy blankets and good reading nearby, and fireplaces and candles lit.  In other words, accentuate the positive of  staying in.  And, of course enjoy some good food to nibble on.

The idea of hygge is to create a sense of warmth and feeling of contentment and community.  To create a feeling of  hygge with food, create open platters of bites to nosh on loaded with cheese and crackers, fruit, and other small bites.  Warm soups and hot drinks also create a feeling of warmth and hygge.  A cookie and a hot drink by a fire is just the idea.

 Provence Platter from LoveFeast Shop 

 Almond Triangles ~ Cookie Recipe

 Masala Chai Recipe

A satisfying feeling from being surrounded by friends and savoring simple pleasures make the idea of creating hygge with food a great way to be mindful of the rituals of the simple and beautiful ways of living.  And don’t forget to light a candle!

What are your ideas for nourishment in creating a feeling Hygge?

This is the perfect time of year to share a holiday story or two, share traditions and also make cookies.  For several years we hosted a LoveFeast Table Holiday Cookie Exchange here at our table.

Grab yourself a cup of tea and follow the link to the LoveFeast Holiday Cookie Page to peruse the stories and recipes swapped over the years.

We’re sure you’ll find some good ones and be inspired to bake some favorites as well.

Still shopping for holiday gifts?  Visit our online boutique ~ LoveFeast Shop ~ for artful, unique, and inspiring hostess, party and holiday gifts!

All summer we’ve enjoyed a sparkling drink that is refreshing, light and lemony.  We enjoyed it first at a quaint Spanish restaurant in Brooklyn.  Our New York friends re-created it and now we’re  sharing it with you to enjoy ~ before the summer’s over!

 Quick summer tablescape tip ~ Lemons piled in an ironstone terrain scent a room with fresh goodness.

This Spanish soda, Kas is REALLY the best to use, but it is hard to find.  This one looks interesting HERE , but we’ve never tried it.  We’ve used San Pellegrino in a pinch.

Peel your lemon, add a splash of gin and the lemon soda to make a summer drink that is perfect for entertaining!

 We never get tired of lemons at our table.  The possibilities are endless.

You could have seen this recipe first by following us on Instagram!

Spanish Soda Splash Recipe

 

Save Print

Spanish Soda Splash ~ a refreshing summer lemon drink!

Author: LoveFeast Table

Ingredients

• Lemon Peel
• 2 oz. Gin
• Kas Lemon Soda - Spanish
• (San Pellegrino is a good substitute)

Instructions

1. Peel Lemon to flavor and garnish.
2. Add 2 oz of Gin.
3. Add Kas Lemon Soda to taste.

3.2.2708

Over the past few months, along with a few friends, we have been intentionally giving each other a weekly challenge. It’s a simple challenge, one that pushes us to think outside of ourselves and consider others. It might be as simple as, “Offer to carry groceries for someone this week,” or “Offer to clean a friend’s bathroom.” At the beginning of this exercise, everyone was invited to put a challenge into a bowl. The kids added their ideas, the moms and dads did too. This week we were challenged to, “Be open and aware of the needs of others and offer to help.”

This simple, weekly challenge has been so good for me. It has given me a tangible, intentional thing to do for a neighbor. This week, we found out that one of my husband’s new workers had a wife that went in for surgery. They have a slew of teenage boys and I can totally relate to the challenge of keeping them fed. Yesterday I whipped up a large lasagna, enough to feed their family as well as our own. It was a little thing really. I was making dinner for my crew as well. I just made a little extra.

It wasn’t a gourmet meal, but it was homemade. My husband picked up a pre packaged bag of salad and a loaf of garlic bread on his way home from work. He delivered the meal to them.

When we sat to eat our meal last night, I couldn’t help but think of them and realize it doesn’t take much to show a little love to those around us. #justonething

LoveBomb Lasagna

 

Save Print

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

 

Author: LoveFeast Table

Serves: 12-15

Ingredients

• 1 lb of lasagna noodles
• olive oil
• 1 small onion, small diced
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 lb of Italian sweet sausage
• 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 eggs
• 1 lb. of ricotta cheese
• 2 tsp. dried basil
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. cracked pepper
• 4 C shredded Italian mixed cheese

Instructions

1. Cook lasagna noodles to al dente. (Approx. 10 min in simmering water.)
2. Drain cooked noodles in a colander and toss with olive oil to keep from sticking.
3. Heat 2 Tbls. of olive oil in a saute pan, add onions. Cook 4-5 min.
4. Add 3-4 cloves of garlic and cook another 2 minutes.
5. Add crumbled Italian sausage and cook until no longer pink.
6. Add jar of spaghetti sauce and can of tomatoes and cook until hot.
7. In a bowl, combine eggs, ricotta cheese, basil and salt and pepper and stir to combine.
8. In a large lasagna pan (I used a 10x15 pan) place a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan. Then add a layer of lasagna noodles. Add half the ricotta mixture and spread evenly to cover the noodles. Add half the sauce over the ricotta. Sprinkle 2 C of shredded cheese over the sauce. Repeat the layers again.
9. Place tin foil over the pan and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
10. Serve half to your family and share half with a neighbor.

3.2.2265

We couldn’t resist the chance to re-share our Moss Mojito Recipe and a bit of green with you this day.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the LoveFeast Girls!

Moss Mojito Recipe

 

Save Print

Author: LoveFeast Table

Recipe type: drinks

Ingredients

• 1 Lime, halved
• 3 Mint Sprigs
• 1 Tbsp. Sugar
• 1 oz / 2 Tbsp White Rum
• ⅓ Cup Sparkling Water, chilled
• 1 splash Limeade
• 1 splash Creme De Menthe

Instructions

1. Squeeze lime juice from 1 lime into cocktail shaker or large highball.
2. Add lime halves to shaker, add mint, sugar and crush with spoon until sugar dissolves.
3. Add rum and stir.
4. Add ice, top off with splash of limeade and a splash of creme de menthe.
5. Stir or shake gently and serve.

3.2.2265

Valentines Day is coming up and it would not be complete without a scrumptious chocolate recipe to celebrate with.  This recipe is tried and true at our house.  If you’ve been over for any kind of dinner at our home, chances our you’ve had one of our Hot Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes warm out of the oven and sprinkled with coarse salt.  Swooooon!

Hot Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

 

Save Print

Author: LoveFeast Table

Ingredients

• 4 oz. Dark Chocolate
• 8 oz Butter
• 2 Eggs
• ½ C. Sugar
• ½ C. Flour
• 8 Chocolate Truffles
• Pinch of Flake Salt

Instructions

1. Melt dark chocolate and butter together.
2. Mix eggs and sugar for 3 minutes.
3. Stir in the melted chocolate into mixture into the egg mixture.
4. Add the flour.
5. Fill ramekins, sprayed and floured, half way.
6. Add chocolate truffle to the center
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
8. Serve hot out of the oven.

3.2.2158

I haven’t been sick in a really long time. I’m the mama of 5 kids after all and I have a killer immune system. So, when this mom goes down, it sends the house into a tail spin. The laundry begins to pile up, kids fend for themselves at meal time, my husband prepares dinner while playing guard, making sure my room stays quiet and uninterrupted. It creates as weird glitch in our somewhat smoothly run, daily routine. I know moms of all stages can relate.

Now, usually when I get sick, I can kick a bug with a few good nights sleep. But, this last one was a whopper. It was going on day 7 and my house guest said, “My mom back home in Rwanada would crush some ginger, boil it in water and finish it with honey and lemon. It worked every time when I didn’t feel well.”

Ginger tea! Seriously, it must be early in the season, because it’s one of my staple drinks in the chilly winter months. The first time I ever had ginger tea was in China. We spent 5 weeks in China about 10 years ago. When we traveled into Yangshaou County, I found I had the hardest time staying warm at night. I bought a knock off, North Face coat for the equivalent of $25, never took off my knit cap and looked for any type of drink to keep my hands warm. Ok, I have to come clean and make a confession. My husband and I carried a 5 lb bag of coffee, along with a French Press, all over China with us. It was the one thing we knew we’d have a hard time leaving back in the states. However, one can only drink so much caffeine.

Soon after arriving in Yangshaou, we discovered Ginger Tea. It took about 15 minutes to get it after ordering, but it was well worth the wait. It was always so hot and spicy and just slightly sweet. It warmed me inside and out. We tried for years to recreate that cup. We finally learned if we crushed the ginger before adding it to the water and bought Chinese brown sugar, we could get that cup pretty close to the original.

Hot Honey Ginger Tea

1 large nub of ginger, peeled, chopped and smashed

1/2 lemon

1 Tbls. honey (or 1 Tbls of Chinese brown sugar)

Fill a medium sauce pan, half full with water. Drop the ginger in and bring to a boil. reduce heat to a simmer for 15-20 minutes. Strain tea into a mug, add honey to taste and a squeeze of lemon.

Do you have any tried and true recipes for kicking a cold?

In FEAST you will all things related to feasting.  You will find inspiration for parties, tablescaping, baking and creating a atmosphere for entertaining.

You can bet that we celebrated with food this year whether gathering friends on the deck for grilling, hosting a wedding party or a group of blogging friends.  Time around the table is one of our favorite things.

Winter Whiteout Cupcakes For  A Wedding

Farm Fresh Baby Radish Appetizer 

Hearty Guinness Beef Stew

Homemade Pasta Recipe

Moss Mojitos Recipe

Feast Best Of 2012

Join us on Pinterest ~ Instagram ~ Twitter ~ Facebook or sign up for our Newsletter HERE!

Today we are gathering around the table and want to invite you to LINK UP your favorite Christmas Cookie Recipe and Story. Share a little snippet of your favorite Christmas memory…maybe one from your childhood or a story through the eyes of your children. We will keep the cocoa hot and a chair is saved for you.

It was a simple, humble package, but obviously wrapped with care. Every bit of it’s surface was covered with Christmas paper. The hand that wrapped it, had not spared any expense on covering the paper with tape either. The corners were not even and where they were stubbornly protruding, tape was there to do the work. The ribbon was lovingly added with extra flourishes of curly red tendrils. The package was placed under the tree days before Christmas. When my mom asked me who the package was from and who it was for, I responded, “I wrapped it for baby Jesus.”

On Christmas morning, I let my mom unwrap the gift for baby Jesus’ birthday. She carefully undid what my hands so carefully had swaddled. When the gift revealed itself, she looked at me quizzically and said, “Kristin, why did you give baby Jesus band-aids?”

“It’s for the cuts in his hands and feet.”

The wonder that children bring to the Christmas season will never grow old…their joy in simple gift giving and the twinkle in their eyes when they see brightly colored packages sitting under the tree.

Dulche de Leche, Bacon, Coconut and Chocolate Chip Magic Bars 

You read that right…BACON with chocolate chips AND coconut! These bars are an excellent gift to give. The mix of sweet and salty, the ever so slight bite of bacon, will leave your friends and family wanting more!

Dulce de Leche Recipe borrowed from Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 1 quart whole milk
• 12 ounces sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
• 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Combine the milk, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds in a large, 4-quart saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, add the baking soda and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered at a bare simmer. Stir occasionally, but do not re-incorporate the foam that appears on the top of the mixture. Continue to cook for 1 hour. Remove the vanilla bean after 1 hour and continue to cook until the mixture is a dark caramel color and has reduced to about 1 cup, approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to a month.

Dulce de Leche, Bacon, Coconut and Chocolate Chip Magic Bars borrowed from Grace Parisi compliments of Food and Wine

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2. 1/4 cup sugar
3. 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
4. 1 large egg yolk
5. 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6. 1/2 teaspoon salt
7. 4 ounces bacon, finely diced
8. 3 cups sweetened shredded coconut (6 1/2 ounces)
9. 12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
10. 1/2 cup salted roasted almonds, chopped
11. One 16-ounce jar dulce de leche
12. One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper, leaving up to 1 inch of overhang. Spray the paper with vegetable oil spray.
2. In a medium saucepan, cook the butter over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and browned, about 4 minutes. Scrape the butter into a large bowl and freeze just until solid, about 15 minutes.
3. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat the sugar, vanilla seeds and egg yolk into the butter at medium speed until blended. Add the flour and salt and beat until moistened crumbs form. Press the crumbs into the prepared baking pan and bake in the lower third of the oven for about 25 minutes, until the crust is set and lightly browned.
4. Meanwhile, wipe out the bowl used to make the crust. In a medium skillet, cook the bacon over moderately high heat until browned and crisp, about 5 minutes. Drain the bacon on paper towels and let cool. In the bowl, toss the coconut with the chocolate chips, almonds and bacon.
5. In another bowl, whisk the dulce de leche with the condensed milk; pour two-thirds of it in the crust. Lightly press the coconut-bacon mixture over the dulce de leche. Drizzle the remaining dulce de leche mixture on top.
6. Bake the bars for 35 to 40 minutes, until lightly browned on top. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the bars cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Carefully remove the bars from the pan and peel off the paper. Cut into bars and serve.

Make Ahead

The bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days or refrigerated for up to 1 week.

We’ve had many guests over the year pull up a chair to our table and share their own favorite Christmas stories and cookie recipes, visit HERE to see more!

We don’t know about you, but this week we are beginning to create our Christmas Cookie list and scouring the internet for yummy, homemade cookie recipes. We wanted to create a quick resource for you to take a look at our past year’s Cookie Exchange.

2012 LoveFeast Cookie Exchange Guest Bloggers:

Elizabeth, Asian in America ~ Mocha Shortbread With Dulce De Leche

Bree, Baked Bree ~ Pecan Pie Bars

Laura, LB’s Good Spoon ~Hermit Bars

Sabrina, The Tomato Tart ~ Gluten Free Citrus Sugar Cookies

Theresa, Blooming on Bainbridge ~Traditional Christmas Cookies

Amy, Poor Girl Gourmet ~Gingersnaps with Crystallized Ginger

Michelle, Gluten Free Fix ~ Pecan Tassies ~ Gluten Free

Traci, Beneath My Heart ~ Christmas Buckeyes

Kacia, Kacia + Robot ~ Chocolate Double Delights

Shari, Tickled Red ~ Pineapple Cream Cheese Cookies

Rachel, Southern Fairytale ~ Dark Chocolate Cookies with a Candy Cane Swirl

Kristin, Kristin Schell ~ St. Lucia Day Cookies

2011 LoveFeast Cookie Exchange Guest Bloggers
Shari, Tickled Red ~ Walnut Wafers

Kelli, I Had A Delicious Time ~ Loretta’s Thumbprint Cookies

Heather, Heather Christo ~ Chocolate, Pistachio and Cranberry Biscotti

Adryon, Adryon’s Kitchen ~ Rum and Orange Scented Pumpkin

Rachel, A Southern Fairytale ~ Candy Cane Christmas Butter Cookies

Elle, All Things Bright And Beautiful – Walnut Cups

Cindy, Skip To My Lou – Peppermint Meringue Cookies

Kelly, According To Kelly – Santa Nutter Butters

Heather, Whipperberry – Pazookie

Amy Beth, ABCD Design – Rum Cookies

Kamille, Redeeming the Table – Apricot Rosemary Bars

Shaina, Food For My Family – Chocolate Crack Cookies

2010 LoveFeast Cookie Exchange Guest Bloggers

Brenda, A Farm Girl’s Dabbles ~Caramel Heavenlies Cookies

Michelle, Gluten Free Fix ~ Almond Lace Cookies*

Jaimie, Life’s A Feast ~ Italian Christmas Biscotti & Baci Di Nama Cookies

Kate, Kate In The Kitchen ~Sugar Plum Cookies*

Deeba, Passionate About Baking ~ Chocolate Chip & Strawberry Shortbread Streusel Bars

Rosa, Rosa’s Yummy Yums ~ Coffee Kisses Cookies

Heidi’s, Heidi’s Recipes ~ Aunt Ethel’s Sugar Cookies

Stephanie, Fresh Tart ~ Almond Triangle Cookies*

Natalie, Bake And Destroy ~ German Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

Rachael, Tokyo Terrace ~ Russian Tea Cake Cookies

Ria, Ria’s Collection ~ Nancuts~Nankatai Cookies

Kristen, High Heels And A Hammer ~ Holiday Nutmeg Stick Cookies

(*Gluten Free)

We’re changing things up a bit this year and thought we’d try something new! In the past we have invited 12 guests to join us at the table to share their favorite holiday memory along with their favorite Christmas cookie recipe. This year we want to hear from you!

On December 10th, we will be hosting a “Christmas Cookie Story” link up.

We want to hear your favorite memories of baking in the kitchen over the holidays and taste a sample of your favorite Christmas Cookie.

Would you join us?