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A Life From Scratch.

A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

Homemade strawberry sauce.

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homemade strawberry sauce

Isn’t it just grand? Lately strawberries at the store look like strawberries. They are that deep deep red color, bursting with a natural sweetness only the warmer weather can bring on. Finally. Because strawberries in the winter, well, just aren’t worth your time.

So, what to do with all the berry goodness? A homemade strawberry sauce sounds nice. Pile them up in a pot with a little sugar, water, and lemon juice, and you’ve got yourself the absolute perfect topping for an angel food cake, waffles, ice cream… the list goes on and on.

We gobbled this up, like I was scraping the last bit onto the boys’ waffles as they fought over the waffle that had the most. That could only mean one thing. Another batch is on the stove, right now.

Homemade Strawberry Sauce
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Ingredients
  1. 1 lb. strawberries, washed, hulled & sliced
  2. ¼ cup sugar or grated panela/piloncillo - adjust more or less to your preference
  3. ¼ cup water
  4. ½ lemon, juiced
Instructions
  1. Combine all the ingredients in a small pot over medium heat.
  2. Bring to a boil and cook over medium low heat for 20-30 minutes.
  3. Serve warm or cold.
Adapted from Laylita
Adapted from Laylita
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Caprese love.

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Grilled Caprese Chicken

Honestly, does it get any better than this?

Keeping in line with the simple things, no. No, it does not.

This is one of those posts that I almost feel silly writing; it doesn’t really even warrant a recipe. And yet if there was one lost soul out there who didn’t know how to make this grilled caprese chicken, then I feel like I’ve done my good deed for today. Not a bad way to start a Monday.

Ok, so look at that picture. Convinced? And the best part is that it’s simple. It’s easy. It’s delicious. It’s beautiful. It’s pretty much going to be my go-to entertaining dish all. summer. long.

Grilled Caprese Chicken
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Ingredients
  1. 4 chicken breasts
  2. grill seasoning
  3. olive oil
  4. a couple of the best tomatoes you can find, sliced
  5. fresh mozzarella, a nice big hunk
  6. large bunch of fresh basil, ripped up
  7. balsamic vinegar - 2 TBS or so
  8. salt & pepper
Instructions
  1. Set a grill to medium heat. Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and grill seasoning and cook, roughly 5 or so minutes per side until cooked through.
  2. Meanwhile in a bowl add in your tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper. Mix by hand and set aside.
  3. The last minute or so of grilling I added a chunk of mozzarella to each piece to have it melt a bit. Once the chicken is cooked, remove, and top with remaining caprese.
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Happy Mother’s Day.

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Mother's Day

Happiest of Mother’s Day to my mom. To my mother-in-law(s). To all moms, really.

The extra large moms and the extra small moms and the CEO moms and the secretary moms and the stay at home moms.

The diaper changing, boo boo fixing, drop off a sweatshirt at school because it got cold outside moms. The up all night moms, the well rested moms (do those exist?), the organic hippy moms, the frozen pizza moms.

To the moms of one teeny tiny baby, to the moms of 2 or 3 or 4 or 5. To the time out moms, baby wearing moms, chill moms, over the top scheduling moms, SUV driving, minivan driving moms. To the moms of all boys and the moms of all girls and the mom who are mixed.

To the baseball throwing, pig tail making, room mom volunteers, homemade cookie moms. To the football moms and the chess club moms and the ACT prep class moms and the dance moms. To the north to the east to the south to the west moms.

To the moms who bite their toddler’s chub, and cheer extra loud at games, and sometimes sneak into their kid’s bed at night moms. To those who are aching to be moms and to those who are blessed enough to be a mom.

I hope I covered you all somewhere in there and, if not, happy Mother’s Day to you as well.

We are important. We are doing a wonderful job. And what we’re doing matters.

Love,
C

Sweet dreams were made of these.

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S'more bars

So, I literally dreamed these S’more bars into existence.

Let me back up a bit here. 

Last weekend was one of those perfect summer weekends which included lots of crisp white wine, endless entertaining with the best of friends and family, crazy good food, skinned knees, too late bedtimes, flip flops, and baseball. It was perfect. We even got out the marshmallows, or marsh melons as B calls them. 

And then we got a text from our contractor: ‘don’t use the fire pit for 28 days.’

Um, whoops. Too late. 

But come on. What’s an eighty degree without a s’more? Exactly. Big, big problem. Luckily the solution swirled throughout my dreams Sunday night, along with other favorite memories from that oh so perfect weekend.

So first on the agenda Monday morning, B and I hit up the store for the ingredients. They then baked away to a gooey perfection while B took an extra long (much needed!) nap upstairs and the contractor ripped up hardwood flooring a mere two feet away from me. Not exactly my most relaxing baking experience but I needed to test out the dream.

The result? They were dead on. Like, almost better than the real thing itself. Almost.

S'more Bars
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Ingredients
  1. 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
  2. 1 large egg
  3. 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  4. 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  5. 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  6. 5 full-size graham crackers, roughly chopped (about 2 cups)
  7. 1 heaping cup mini marshmallows
  8. 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
  2. In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power. Wait a few moments before adding the egg so you don't scramble it. Add the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
  3. Add the flour and stir until just combined, don't over mix.
  4. Add the graham crackers and any crumbs on cutting board, marshmallows, chocolate chips and fold to incorporate.
  5. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
  6. Bake for about 20 to 22 minutes, or until bars have firmed up in the center and edges will be set. Some marshmallows may have developed a hint of golden color. I ended up sprinkling more marshmallows and chocolate chips on top.
  7. Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
Adapted from Averie Cookies
Adapted from Averie Cookies
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

Grown up mac and cheese.

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Grown Up Mac and Cheese

What is it about the simple things in life? You know what I mean. The things that are unassumingly the best part of your day. The sun coming out exactly when you step outside, your baby’s laughter exactly when you need it, that unexpected phone call with good news, Jake still being alive in Scandal. Whew.

This pasta is that. It’s almost embarrassingly simple. We’re talking five ingredients including the pasta. It comes together beautifully; think parmesan cradled noodles, and all that’s left to do is pour yourself a good glass of wine and indulge. You just made yourself grown up mac and cheese which, obviously, has now become the best part of your day.

Grown Up Mac and Cheese
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Ingredients
  1. 1 package spaghetti
  2. 1/4 cup good olive oil
  3. 1/4 cup good parmesan
  4. 15 cracks of freshly ground black pepper
  5. few pinches of salt
  6. 1/3 cup pasta water
Instructions
  1. Cook pasta according to package directions in salted water.
  2. Whisk together remaining ingredients. Toss with cooked pasta, top with more parmesan and black pepper and serve immediately in deep bowls.
Adapted from Dinner A Love Story
Adapted from Dinner A Love Story
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

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