Mother's Day Brunch

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As many of you know, my mom Barbara has been Ina Garten’s assistant for more than 20 years. What started as a part-time job working on The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook turned into an exciting, life-changing career and unique friendship. Last week my mom and I decided to have an early Mother’s Day brunch and cook together. Whenever my mother visits, we cook. Mother’s Day is no exception - she has so much wisdom in the kitchen and I’m always learning from her. We laugh and chat. If I happen to rush through things or get ahead of myself, my mom gives me the “that’s not how Ina does it” line. It’s wonderful. 

Entertaining - HÔTEL Silver

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We were so excited to get our favorite HÔTEL Silver Footed Bowls back in stock - just in time for holiday entertaining. We love our HÔTEL Silver pieces - they're all beautiful and they really do make any occasion feel special. So, we took a page from Ina Garten's book (Cook Like A Pro) and brightened up our holiday tables with some silver sparkle! We hope this post sparks some inspiration for your own holiday entertaining. 

Holiday Cookie Baking

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year…cookie baking time! I love baking for the holidays, it just gets me in the giving spirit. This year I invited a few friends (including my baking hero George Waldron) to come over and decorate cookies. We snacked on some appetizers from Ina Garten’s new cookbook and learned some simple, easy tips to decorate cookies like a pro! 

Ina Garten's Book Tour

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It’s always so exciting when Ina Garten releases a new Barefoot Contessa cookbook and we are just thrilled that Cook Like A Pro features so many of our Cassandra’s Kitchen products. But the icing on the Chocolate Chevron Cake is that I got to attend Ina’s book tour speaking series. I traveled down to Bethesda, Maryland for a lovely evening with Ina in the company of her adoring fans and fellow cooking enthusiasts.

Ina's Decadent (Gluten Free) Chocolate Cake

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We’re going through some diet trial and error here at Cassandra’s Kitchen. I was recently diagnosed with Lyme Disease and it was recommended that I eat gluten free to combat inflammation (it's working!!).  For the time being I'm eating gluten free and Cindy has been gluten free for years, so it seemed appropriate to share Ina Garten’s incredible Decadent (Gluten Free!) Chocolate Cake (it’s so good, you’ll say ‘gluten who?’).

Panzanella & Summer Garden Pasta

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The season is rolling along and we have our favorite summer recipes on repeat. Ina Garten’s Summer Garden Pasta is a summer staple – when you have fresh, local tomatoes at your disposal you look for every tomato recipe available! And this year, I finally made Ina’s Panzanella. This recipe gets rave reviews but I never made it myself. Now that I’ve made it, I may never stop.

Lemon Garlic Shrimp - Sheet Pan Dinner

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We are having a great summer, but we are busy. Traveling, camp, sports - lots of proverbial balls in the air and unfortunately, cooking a legit family dinner doesn't take top priority. Earlier this year I came across a list of ways to help simplify family routines and address the 'what’s for dinner' conundrum. Through that article, I found some recipes for easy sheet pan dinners – one pan, minimal ingredients and a healthy tasty dinner for my family. Perfect for a busy summer. This lemon garlic shrimp and asparagus was the first one I tried and it’s been a hit, so I decided to share. I’m on the hunt for more sheet pan dinner winners – so please leave us your thoughts and suggestions!

Strawberry Season

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It’s strawberry season. Last year we attempted strawberry jam (I promise we will try it again with my mom’s supervision!). This year, after grabbing our haul from Maple Acres Farm, we decided on strawberry shortcakes and Ina Garten’s fruit tart! George came back to give us his baking tips and enjoy the deliciousness of our favorite summer fruit.

Chocolate S'mores Cupcakes

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I had such a good time baking and decorating with my friend George, that I decided to do a second installment of Baking with George! This time I'm sharing these amazing S’mores Cupcakes. They are so special and were so much fun to make. My family loves old fashioned s’mores and the cupcake version is just as good! 

Baking with George & Cassandra

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I’ve always loved baking but I’ve never been adventurous with it. I love making birthday cakes for my family (they're usually pretty basic), and I’ve always wanted to elevate my decorating game. I see all these beautiful cakes that look simple to create, and they never turn out the way I want. Through Instagram, I found that my hairdresser George dabbled in baking and cake decorating - I saw his Sprinkle Cake and immediately wanted to try it! Last week George came over to Cassandra’s Kitchen to bake and decorate with me. It was a game changer. So easy and so much fun! Now I'm super excited to try new things with my baking and decorating!

In The Kitchen - Ina's Chicken Chili

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Chili isn’t usually one of my spring meals, but it hasn’t felt much like spring around here (we still have piles of snow from our latest snow storm). I always like to blog about what we are actually cooking and eating now, and now we are making Ina’s Chicken Chili. This chili is a crowd pleaser and the added bonus is how good my house smells from cooking the onions and garlic. It’s also a great occasion to use my favorite Pillivuyt White Soup Bowls - they're the perfect size. 

In The Kitchen - Healthy-ish Muffins

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Muffins. Not always the most exciting thing going on in our kitchen, but my family has grown to love them – even the ‘healthy’ ones. As I’ve mentioned before (many, many times) I do my best to offer my children healthy options when it comes to meals and snacks. But I am not a short order cook, and unfortunately we don’t live on an organic produce farm. Also, my kids like cake and donuts and anything that is offered in ‘snack size’. That’s why I am so into these muffin recipes. Lucky for you, I’m sharing our favorite recipes here!