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Musings & Recipes From My Kitchen

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Ricotta Mini Chip Cookies: #CreativeCookieExchange

September 25, 2018 By Laura 4 Comments

Ricotta Mini Chip Cookies

Ricotta Mini Chip Cookies are an addictive and delicious twist on Italian Ricotta Cookies. Keep reading to check out what bake sale cookies the other Creative Cookie Exchange bakers made this month! Hi guys! I am still coughing a bit but things seem to be improving. Hopefully I have not called Murphy’s wrath down upon… 

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Filed Under: blog events, chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, cookies, Italian, Italian American, ricotta Tagged With: #CreativeCookieExchange, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chips, cookies, Creative Cookie Exchange, Italian, italian cookies, mini chocolate chips, ricotta

White Ragu with Ground Beef and Balsamic Vinegar

April 23, 2018 By Laura Leave a Comment

White Ragu with Ground Beef & Balsamic Vinegar on Fusilli Pasta

White Ragu with Ground Beef & Balsamic Vinegar on Fusilli Pasta is easy, delicious, rustic and different enough to be exciting. Affiliate links have been used to link to items I am discussing in this post. I got so distracted thinking about why it had never occurred to me cook tomatoes into a Thai curry… 

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Filed Under: balsamic, beef, ground beef, Italian, Italian American, mushrooms, pasta, pecorino romano Tagged With: balsamic vinegar, balsamico, cream sauce, fusilli, ground beef, ground meat, Italian, pasta, ragu

Pizzelles: Traditional Anise and Citrus Vanilla

January 21, 2017 By Laura 2 Comments

Pizzelles 2 ways: traditional Anise and Citrus Vanilla

Pizzelles are light, crispy and delicious Italian cookies often served at weddings and at the holidays, although they are tasty enough to serve any time! Our favorites are anise flavored and citrus vanilla, from fiori di sicilia, so we make them both ways. Affiliate links are used in this post to link to items I… 

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Filed Under: cookies, fiori di sicilia extract, Italian, Italian American Tagged With: anise, citrus vanilla, cookies, fiori di sicilia, Italian, Italian American, licorice, pizzelle cookies, pizzelles, wafer cookies

Healthy Lasagna

February 9, 2015 By Laura 9 Comments

This easy Healthy Lasagna is stuffed full of lean protein and delicious vegetables for a complete one dish meal. I am not sure if this post qualifies as sponsored, so just to cover my bases: I was paid a small stipend to appear on TV discussing the lasagna that this lasagna is adapted from. This… 

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Filed Under: beef, cottage cheese, ground beef, ground turkey, Italian American, lasagne, mushrooms, pasta, tomatoes, zucchini Tagged With: casserole, cheese, ground beef, ground meat, ground turkey, healthy, Italian, lasagna, lasagne, mushrooms, pasta, tomatoes, whole grain pasta, zucchini

Alex cooks! Simple Vegetarian Lasagna

August 30, 2013 By Laura 9 Comments

At this rate, I might need to turn my blog over to my kids! Alex has definitely shown signs of wanting to kick me out of the kitchen and take over herself. I have declared that every Sunday without Girl Scouts (it happens twice a month) will be Alex Cooks Night, so that she will… 

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Filed Under: casseroles, cookbooks, Italian American, kids cooking, reviews, ricotta, Tools, vegetarian Tagged With: casseroles, Italian, Italian American, kids cooking, lasagna, lasagne, marinara, noodles, pasta, ricotta

Uncle Chris’s “Fist Sized Meatballs”

October 26, 2012 By Laura 11 Comments

In case you are wondering, Alex named the meatballs. She has a sense for the literal, my kid. I was leaning toward “Man Sized Meatballs.”

Filed Under: beef, family recipes, ground beef, Italian American, kids cooking, meatballs, pasta, pork Tagged With: beef, ground beef, Italian, Italian American, Italian sausage, marinara, meatballs, pasta, pork, sausage, veal

Small Town Tiramisu

March 1, 2011 By Laura 11 Comments

I learned 2 things while making this tiramisu, my first ever traditional tiramisu. First, truly authentic tiramisu calls for some ingredients that are a pain in the butt to find in small towns. Second, I suspect restaurants have been making inauthentic tiramisu for forever, because my tiramisu tasted spot on for what I have been… 

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Filed Under: coffee desserts, Italian American, mascarpone

Lemon-Vanilla Pizzelles, Take 1

December 7, 2010 By Laura 21 Comments

Growing up, there were several cookies that graced our Christmas tins every single year without fail. Wedding cookies, decorated sugar cut-outs, date-nut pin wheels, pizzelles…. Some traditional cookies I have kept, such as the wedding cookies and painted sugar cut-outs. Some, mostly those involving dried fruits, I have left behind. I have never made pizzelles… 

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Filed Under: cookies, Holiday and Christmas Cookies, Italian American, lemon baked goods Tagged With: christmas, citrus, cookies, Holidays, Italian, Italian American, lemon, pizzelles

Penne with Crimini Mushrooms, Sausage, White Beans and Escarole

August 31, 2010 By Laura 5 Comments

Alex has started kindergarten. Amazingly, I can say it and even think about it without much sadness. I’ve done a lot of thinking about why. Am I a callous mom? Shouldn’t I have cried when I dropped her off? Don’t I miss her? Well I miss her a ton, but I think it comes down… 

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Filed Under: Italian American, mushrooms, pasta, sausage

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Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

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