Welcome to the EAD Living blog! We are so excited to have you here. If you are a new visitor, we'd love for you to subscribe to our RSS feed and visit our sister site, EAD Weddings. Thanks for visiting and we hope you come back soon!

Allow me to introduce you to my first foray into the wonderful world of Paula Deen. Baked French Toast with Praline Topping. I could probably say this about all of her recipes, but I can’t imagine a richer, more decadent, and more delicious way to start my day than with a hunk of this stuff.

Making this recipe was an interesting exercise in editing. I found it on the Food Network website, where, last time I checked, the recipe had 1,277 comments. While the overall rating of the recipe was 5 stars out of a possible 5, fans had lots to say about how to improve or tweak this dish for the best possible results. I actually really enjoyed the process of whittling through just a few pages of those 1,277 comments and trying to decide which tips and modifications I was going to follow (the recipe below reflects my changes).

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Welcome back to A Well-Stocked Kitchen, my ongoing series about the tools and gadgets that have helped me become a better cook and baker! This week, I’m sharing my cookware (i.e. pots and pans) collection with you.

Pots and pans were the area where I felt the most lost when registering for wedding gifts. How was I supposed to know whether I needed a 9″ or 10″ skillet?  Is Le Creuset all it’s cracked up to be? Did I really need an omelette pan? The answers: doesn’t matter, yes (drooool), and nope!

So here’s where I stand on the debate about non-stick vs. stainless steel: I have a strange aversion to metallic things, I don’t like the way some of them feel or sound. I also really wanted clear glass lids for my pots. So, for me, the nonstick was a clear choice, since it makes my skin crawl the least. But there are lots of pros in the stainless steel column too. Here’s an interesting thread on Chowhound about the differences (Zoolander anyone?).

The only thing missing from my collection at the moment is a stock pot, which I don’t have the space (or need) for at the moment. Someday, when I’m a real grown-up, I’ll be making matzo ball soup for 25 people at family holiday gatherings. In my stock pot that I have plenty of space to store.  A girl can dream, right?!

So, my friends, what’s your pick? Nonstick? Stainless Steel? Cast Iron? Mix and match?

You can find previous editions of A Well-Stocked Kitchen here:

Utensil Crock Edition
Baking Edition
Small Appliance Edition
Drawer Edition

My picks:

10″ Frying Pan

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Pumpkin is my new best friend. I made cheesecake bars, I made whoopie pies, I made pancakes, and still I couldn’t get enough. I was on the hunt for a new and different pumpkin recipe to try when I came across these muffins.

It was love at first sight.

You can’t tell from the photo, but there’s a nugget of cream cheese inside each one of these moist, perfectly spiced little guys. I’d love to try this again with my mini muffin pan to make even cuter, smaller muffin babies. This is one of those baked goods that causes involuntary smiling as a side effect of its deliciousness. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins
Adapted from Annie’s Eats, originally from Bakespace
Printable Recipe
Makes 24 muffins

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I’ve never really embraced the warm, pumpkin-y, cinnamon-y flavors of Fall (they make me feel bitter that summer’s over), but I’m coming around in a major way. This month, I’ve discovered the joys of cooking and baking with pumpkin. While kicking myself (really, really hard) for missing out on it for so long, I’ve been making up for lost time, making about half a dozen pumpkin recipes in just the last couple of weeks. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting!

(Image by me! Originally posted here)

A whoopie pie is a cake-like sandwich cookie with a creamy filling (in this case, cream cheese frosting). I had never tried one before, so I don’t have much to compare it to, but these were most definitely worthy of the name whoopie! They were also incredibly easy to make, and made me extra happy because I got to use Baked, one of my favorite cookbooks. I highly recommend Baked if you’re interested in creative twists on classic baked goods (i.e. Root Beer Bundt Cake and a cinnamon-y Red (Hot) Velvet Cake).

If you make these, I’d love to hear what you think!

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Welcome to this week’s edition of A Well-Stocked Kitchen, the series in which I’m sharing the tools that have helped me produce lots of deliciousness in the kitchen. This week, I’ll share with you the contents of my “stuff” drawer. This is my go-to small-tool stashing spot. It’s not very well organized, but it’s one of the highest traffic areas of my kitchen.

Anything I missed? What’s your favorite little kitchen tool?

Measuring cups x2. My biggest piece of kitchen-gadget-related advice is to keep 2 sets of measuring cups and 2 sets of measuring spoons on hand if you cook a lot. It makes cooking and baking a whole lot easier (and fun!), since you won’t be constantly rinsing and looking around for the measure you need.

Measuring spoons x2

{Read the rest of this entry…}

When I couldn’t be with my little sister to celebrate her birthday recently, I wanted to go all out for her. Yes, I got her the obligatory Anthropologie gift card, but I wanted to give her something else, something she loves more than pretty much anything in the world… CUPCAKES!

One of her faves is chocolate with peanut butter frosting. Even though we couldn’t be together to share the cupcakes, she was totally shocked and thrilled with the blog post I wrote to surprise her that day.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Welcome to another edition of A Well-Stocked Kitchen, where I’m sharing with you the tools and gadgets that have helped me become a better cook and baker. This week, I’m talking about small appliances, the ones that are relatively portable and can sit on your counter or be stored away when you’re not using them. These are listed in order of the frequency I use them, with most frequent first.

Which small appliance can’t you live without?

Food Processor: My #1 most used small appliance. Before I had one, I didn’t know I needed one, but now that I do, I use it constantly for cooking and baking.

Rice Cooker: Rice is my all-time favorite food (weird, I know), so this was a worthwhile investment. If you don’t eat rice too often, it’s definitely not necessary, but I make it at least twice a week. Mine is cute, little, and yellow, but it takes forever to cook the rice (over an hour for 2 cups), so there are definite pros and cons to this model.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

Have you all seen this trick? Next time you brew a pot of coffee, make an extra cup, pour it into an ice cube tray, and freeze. Then when you’re craving iced coffee on a hot summer day, you can use the coffee ice cubes instead of water ones… no diluted coffee!

You can do the same thing with tea, or even juice or lemonade. No one wants a watered-down beverage, right? It did take almost the whole tray to make my freshly brewed hot coffee suitably icy, so save these up for a single-serving special treat.

Welcome to another edition of A Well-Stocked Kitchen! This is my humble attempt to share with you, dear readers, the tools that have helped me become a better cook and baker. Today, we’re talking baking supplies. Another time, I’ll write about the ingredients I keep on hand at all times, but for now, this is the equipment that produces yumminess on an almost-daily basis.

What baking tool can’t you live without?

Silpat: This non-stick silicone baking mat/cookie sheet liner is one of those things that I never thought I needed before I had it, but now use constantly.

Muffin Pans x2: Most of my bakeware is the Calphalon Classic brand. I’ve been very pleased with the quality and durability of their products. Having 2 muffin tins has made making muffins and cupcakes infinitely easier. Many recipes make 24, and it’s quite the pain to have to bake a batch, cool, and start over with the same pan when you could be baking both at once. I recommend the investment in an extra one if you’re planning on doing a lot of baking.

{Read the rest of this entry…}

I feel most privileged and honored to have been let in on the best-kept camping secret ever by a new friend of ours, and I’m so excited to share it with you now. Allow me to introduce…hobo eclairs!

So you take a broomstick (clean and unpainted, of course) and rub the end of it generously with a stick of butter. Then take a square of Pillsbury crescent dough (2 perforated triangles together) and wrap it around the end of the broomstick, making sure that the end is sealed. Roast it slowly over the campfire until it’s puffy and golden brown. Make sure you don’t get engrossed in conversation and let it burn!

Once it’s cooked, let it cool for a minute or so, then slide the cooked dough off the stick. Squirt a healthy dose of whipped cream inside, then drizzle (on top or inside) with chocolate syrup.

Brilliant, right?