The best donuts in America

If your not familiar with Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, it's a show on the food network where they check out places around that U.S. that serve really great food. If I were to host this show for one day I would travel to Wells, ME and show America where to get a great american breakfast with the best donuts you'll ever eat.

The place is Congdon's. They have the best donuts in the entire country. They are way above the level of any Krispy Creme or fancy donut shop in NYC. These are classic melt in your mouth fluffy donuts in everyone's favorite flavors.

My family has been going to this place for the past 22 years. A tradition in the family is my dad will wake up at 6am and stand online to get the donuts fresh out of the oven. When we wake up in the morning, there is a dozen warm donuts waiting for us outside our hotel room, in the white and green box. He walks out of the place with at least four dozen!  My personal favorite is the classic glazed donuts. They dissolve the second they hit your tongue.

Some of the family favorites are sugar raised, chocolate frosted and the rare maple frosted.

http://congdons.com/

As we head to our favorite vacation spot this summer I will be experiencing my first gluten free trip to Maine. No donuts? To cheat or not to cheat.... If I were to ever cheat on this diet it would be with one of these donuts... no pie, no scones, no muffins, there is nothing else that compares.

I hope you'll get to visit this place on your travels.

Short Ribs and Scallops

Whenever my brother Stephen comes into town, we always plan a feast for dinner one night. It usually consists of a recipe we have never tried and a lot of complicated steps and tons of ingredients. This time around we picked a recipe from Todd English's restaurant Blue Zoo and recreated it for the family.

Stephen had this dish months ago in Orlando and I remember him calling me during or immediately after dinner to tell me about it. The dish is braised short ribs, cauliflower puree and seared sea scallops. Despite the fact that we decided to make short ribs on the hottest day of the year (100 degrees F) we really enjoyed dinner. The scallops were my favorite part.

You should have heard the two of us talking about preparing dinner. "Bring over a sieve to strain the beef stock" , "Let's do a charcuterie board and cheese plate for an appetizer" You would have though we were sous chef's for Todd English himself.

Talking about Charcuterie  (various smoked and cured meats) ...Everytime I hear that word now I think of the show Modern Family. Funny line from the show: "That's charcuterie? I've been avoiding that on menus for years! They're killing themselves with that name.

It was my job to end the meal with a dessert. My first attempt at dessert failed because my custard did not set. I felt like I was on the show Sweet Genius, coming up with a plan B. Plan B, just as delicious, vanilla ice cream sundae with salted caramel sauce, roasted peanuts and caramel corn. Oh and a few homemade mallomars I made earlier in the day. THAT'S IT...tomorrow I start a diet!

You can find the original recipe by clicking on the link below. To make this meal gluten free make sure to use GF beef stock and an all purpose GF flour. Other than that, the ingredients are gluten free.
http://www.wdwluxuryguide.com/ex/dining/dr/recipes/seascallops.php

Sweet Cinnamon Bread

Rainy Monday's..I may be speaking for myself when I say there is something cozy about a big thunderstorm, stuck at home with your little baby fast asleep and a shaky dog always by your feet. It puts me in the mood to bake something for my family. This is my go to recipe when I don't want to leave the house to buy any ingredients. I almost always have all these ingredient in my pantry and refrigerator. I make this with two people in mind, my husband Tom, who eats this for breakfast and my sister Kim, who loves this bread and always gets half the loaf.

**A good thing to always keep in your refrigerator is dry buttermilk. It comes in handy with a lot of baking recipes. If you do not have any buttermilk on hand you can use 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice plus milk to make 1 cup.

Sweet Cinnamon Quick Bread 
Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (or 4 tbsp dry buttermilk added to dry ingredients)
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Streusel Topping:
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp butter or margarine-softened

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour the bottom only of a 9" x 5" loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine all bread ingredients. Beat 3 minutes on medium speed and pour batter into prepared pan. In a small bowl, combine all streusel ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter; swirl to marble batter and streusel.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan. Cool 1 hour on a wire rack. Store in air tight container at room temperature or wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. You can also slice the bread once it's cooled and wrap and freeze each slice individually. Defrost in microwave or toaster.

Sausage, Peppers and Potatoes

"Don't tie your dog to a leash of sausages."-French proverb

This is a quick and easy meal for any night of the week. My husband prefers the hot Italian sausage but any flavor will work. You can serve this on a plate as I did in the pictures below, or you can put all the components onto a hoagie roll for a sausage and pepper sandwich. I love adding in fresh basil and a squeeze of lemon juice at the end to add freshness.

Sausage, Peppers and Potatoes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
8 sweet or hot Italian sausage links
Olive oil
1 red bell pepper-thinly sliced 
1 green bell pepper-thinly sliced
1 large yellow onion-thinly sliced
3-4 Yukon gold or red potatoes (depending on size)-sliced into thin half moons 
Salt and pepper-to taste
1/2 - 1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 lemons-halved


1. Preheat the broiler and place the sausage on a broiler pan. Place the sausage in the upper part of the oven (about 4-6 inches from the heat source) Cook 5 minutes and turn with tongs; cook additional 5 minutes on other side. Cooking time will vary depending on the sausage so check that the internal temperature is 165 degrees F. You can to keep cooking and turning the sausage until the outside is nicely brown. It could take up to 15-20 minutes.

2. While the sausage is cooking in the oven, heat a large skillet on medium high heat, heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add in the potatoes and cook until they start to brown; about 10 minutes. Stirring frequently. Add in sliced pepper and onions, season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Continue to cook until the peppers and onions are softened; about 10 minutes. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat on low and cook until ready to serve, stirring frequently.

3. Remove the sausage from the oven, leave on pan to keep hot.

4. When you are ready to serve, add in chopped basil to the peppers, potatoes and onions. Divide vegetables among 4 plates, add 2 sausage links to the plate and serve with 1/2 a lemon to squeeze on sausage.

Layla's Favorite Meals: 8 months and up

Here are a few of Layla's favorite meals. She has become a very independent eater and loves to feed herself. She doesn't have much patients eating from a spoon these days, unless its something she really loves like oatmeal or yogurt. I usually cut up fruit for her to pick up and munch on while I sneak in some spoonfuls of food in between bites.

Layla and I share a similar breakfast every morning. We eat our oatmeal with banana and cinnamon. It's one of my favorite times of day. I use the same oatmeal for Layla that I do for myself. She doesn't seem to enjoy the baby cereals anymore.

Breakfast:
-Oatmeal with fruit:In a small bowl place 1/8- 1/4 cup of quick cooking oats and add 2 parts water (1/8 cup oats with 1/4 cup water) Microwave for 45 seconds to 1 min. Add in a little whole milk and cinnamon. You can also add in mashed banana or applesauce. Wait for the oatmeal to cool before serving. 

 Lunch: 
-Avocado and Egg on Whole Wheat Toast:
-Place one egg in a pot filled with enough water to cover egg. Bring water to a boil, remove from heat and cover for 14 minutes. After 14 minutes, place egg in cold water. Set aside. When the egg is cool enough to handle, remove the shell and rinse under water to make sure all the shell has been removed. Take the egg yolk out of the white and place in a bowl. Discard or eat the egg white (do not feed the white to your baby)
-Mash the egg yolk with 1/4 to 1/2 an avocado to make a spread. (You can also add in a little plain yogurt if you have it on hand)
-Toast 1 slice of whole wheat bread and spread on mixture. Cut the toast into small bite sized pieces and serve to your baby. They will gobble up this healthy lunch. Any extra avocado/egg mixture can be fed with a spoon.