Shaina Olmanson's Blog, page 11

Gruyère Gougères

A recipe for Gruyère Gougères appetizers, tiny crisp pastry pillows made with choux dough bursting with intense Gruyère flavor.




I would like to be the type of person that throws parties. Big, raucous celebrations with champagne flutes and confetti, music playing in that just-loud-enough way where you can dance to it but still talk to your neighbor without screaming until you’re hoarse. The lights would twinkle in the background in a magical way, guests unable to find the source of their wonder...

Eggnog Coconut Macaroons: The Macaroon Bible

This coconut macaroon recipe is spiced with bourbon and nutmeg for an eggnog cookie treat just right for the holiday season.




It starts just as the sun is tucking itself away, the snow falling as the light dims and turns grey. Then darkness settles in, soaking the color from the once vibrant landscape. The heavy flakes rest on sidewalks, their white contrasting against the black of night, catching in your hair and eyelashes causing you to blink heavily. By morning the grass is gone, covered in...

5-Ingredient Energy Bars with Cardamom and Cranberries

An easy recipe for 5-ingredient energy bars featuring cardamom and cranberries that are nut-free and gluten-free.




The travel season is upon us. Today and tomorrow will be filled with families piling into their cars and on planes lugging suitcases and scarves behind them, arms full of casseroles and freshly baked pies. From there will come the mall shopping, elbows in your sides, standing in line with piles of to-be presents, Christmas music twinkling in the background so you might remember th...

Honey-Roasted Cauliflower with Pine Nuts and Crispy Sage

A recipe for a honey-roasted cauliflower dish with crispy sage, pine nuts that would be a wonderful addition to any holiday meal.




Mine was a childhood of frozen vegetables.


While salads, cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh garden green beans, and plenty of cut-from-the-head broccoli (always with cheese sauce) were available during summer months, the staple winter dinner vegetable for my Midwestern upbringing was a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Orange carrot cubes sat amongst the peas, anemic rubbery g...

Tea Time and Books Worth Reading {Lipton Tea K-Cups Keurig Giveaway}

It’s cold, so I’m drinking tea and reading books, plus a fun Lipton K-Cup and Keurig Platinum Plus Brewer Giveaway for you!




Once the cold hits, I pull out my fingerless gloves. They quickly become a part of my work uniform, their knit wool attempting – often in vain – to hold some miniscule bit of warmth next to my skin. My legs tucked under me, keeping all extremities close to the core to conserve heat.


On the desk in front of me you’ll find notebooks open to lists and schedules and pens stack...

Spiced Pumpkin Butter Bars with Pecans

Velvety pumpkin butter with pumpkin pie spices is baked between layers of oats and flour and topped with toasty pecans in this quick and simple bar dessert recipe.




After much hemming and hawing, I finally made pumpkin butter. I’m not sure what I was expecting to find at the end of a long simmer, but I was pleasantly surprised when then the “butter,” which contains no actual butter, turned out rich and velvety and was reminiscent of both apple butter and pumpkin pie. It effectively bridged the...

Baked Pumpkin Custard with Gingerbread Granola Recipe

This recipe for creamy baked pumpkin custard with a ginger spiced granola on top makes an great pumpkin pie alternative for the season.




This morning we woke to a world covered in heavy white flakes. It sat, soggy atop vibrant yellow leaves, and it weighted down the branches of trees yet to shed their leaves, pulling them towards the ground.


I’m not yet ready to welcome the world as white. I want to revel a bit longer in orange hues mixed with brown. I want to wear my coat without a scarf coveri...

Back to Basics: Chicken Noodle Soup with Acini di Pepe, Leeks, and Radishes

A fresh take on your classic chicken noodle soup recipe, this one uses acini di pepe pasta, leeks, radishes, and a healthy assortment of rainbow carrots.




For the past week I’ve watched as leaves in shades of gold and crimson drift towards the ground. I stood under my neighbor’s towering maple as my kids walked down the street to school, listening. The branches swayed softly, rustling with the crinkle of drying leaves as they floated down around me, my shoulders turned in and my arms wrapped...

Pain d’Epi {Wheat Stalk Bread}: The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

A recipe for making pain d’epi or what stalk bread loaves, as well as a photo tutorial on how to cut the loaf. (Recipe from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.)




It is my life’s goal to do as little as possible.


Let me rephrase. It’s my life’s goal to spend as little time as I can doing anything categorized under “things that must get done” like making dinner, doing laundry, scrubbing floors. The reason is so that I have time to do all the other things: learning 3rd and 4th languages, t...

Back to Basics: Garden Vegetable Beef Soup

A hearty, made-from-scratch beef soup recipe packed full of garden vegetables just in time to warm you up from the cool autumn air.




I kissed my kids on their way out the door, closing it tight behind them, their small bodies wrapped in extra layers making their way down the leaf-lined street. I clutched a cup of steaming coffee, my fingers wrapping around the ceramic surface and pausing there, allowing the transfer of heat to my skin. I turned the water on to wash the breakfast dishes piled in...