I'm Thankful that I like to Experiment with Cooking this holiday season -- I get this from my Mom!

This Thanksgiving, my husband Randy and I were invited to share the big dinner with his aunt and uncle in NYC. We love visiting with them, and one my favorite things about them is how much they enjoy to eat and to cook.

As it will be just the four of us, we are not going to have turkey but capon, which is very French and also much moister than turkey. I will be bringing two recipes, a white bean avocado spread for crostini, and a cherry sauce to go with the capon.

If you know me and my cooking style, you know that I don't like to follow recipes. Oh, I love to look at recipes in cookbooks, on food blogs, on FoodNetwork.com and Epicurious.com, but I like to use them as templates to come up with something that is all mine. I like to experiment.

I get this from my Mom who is a talented, natural cook. She's a wonderful baker (for which you must follow recipes to a T), but she's also one of those amazing home cooks who always kind of winged it. And, we never had a bad meal at home growing up.

I am thankful for my Mom teaching me this "technique". I love to take a look at my cupboard and fridge and throw something together at the last minute. I think I'd do great on a cooking reality show where they say, "make something using Artichokes and goat cheese."

So, this Thanksgiving, I am going to share with you the two recipes I am bringing to Randy's Aunt and Uncle's house this afternoon. The bean spread is something I came up with several years ago, and I make it all the time. In fact, I had the restaurant who hosted our wedding make this as an appetizer on triangle cut toast points! The cherry sauce was inspired by the capon that Jon will be making. I looked at several recipes online to get ideas. But the finished product is all me.

White Bean and Avocado Spread
(works nice on sliced baguette rounds – crostini or as a dipper for red pepper slices or endive leaves)


1 1/2 cans of white beans
1 ripe Haas Avocado
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil (you may want to add more once you taste it)
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup of fresh basil leaves (not chopped)

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smmoth (not chunky). Taste and adjust with oil, salt and pepper and lemon juice as needed.


Heather’s Holiday Cherry Port Wine Sauce
(A Nice accompaniment for Chicken, Capon, Turkey, Duck or Christmas Goose)


1 package of frozen organic black cherries
1/2 cup of port wine
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup of chicken broth
2-tablespoons of finely chopped shallots (about 1/2 of one large shallot)
1-teaspoon of finely chopped garlic
1-tablespoon sweet butter
1-teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1-teaspoon orange zest
Sea Salt and Ground black Pepper, to taste (add to shallots and garlic once finished)


In a saucepan, add all liquids (broth, port and orange juice) and bring to a boil. Watch closely for about 5 minutes, then reduce heat to a high simmer and add the cherries. Let simmer until reduced by at least half; stirring constantly. Use the back of a wooden spoon to crush the cherries to get more juice out of them.

In the mean time, sauté the shallots and garlic in the olive oil and butter. When translucent, add a bit of salt and pepper to them.

Add the orange zest to the cherry sauce mixture, and then add the sautéed shallots and garlic to the sauce. Stir for another 5-8 minutes, still crushing the cherries with the spoon. You are finished when the sauce is nice and thick.

Let come to room temperature for serving.

Bon Appetit!

La Dolce Vita -- Back from a trip to Italy and feeling like doing nothing

The phrase "La Dolce Vita", which means "the sweet life" or "the good life," is the title of the 1960 film by the critically acclaimed director Federico Fellini. The film is a story of a passive journalist's week in Rome, and his search for both happiness and love that will never come.

But most people have come to use this term for living life the fullest, or Carpe Diem, something we almost never allow ourselves to do.

Coming back from a trip to Italy with my husband, it sends home the message that life is short, and youth is even shorter -- why waste time worrying about every little thing that has to be done?

The Italians "work to live" instead of what the Americans do: "living to work". With Blackberries taking over our lives, and being "at work" 24/7, we've lost the ability to live "La Dolce Vita".

We can't remember what it's like to just stroll down a street and look into windows without a goal in mind, or a time to get there. We've forgotten how to read a book just for fun, or sit and read the paper for hours. We can't remember the last time we spent all day cooking, to learn how to make something -- not for a specific dinner. Our days flow into years as we try so hard to fulfill our responsibilities - work, family, etc. and we just get older, not happier.

As I move towards the holidays this year --Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years -- I really want to be able to savor my life more. Join me in being more spontaneous, enjoying life more. I will try not to feel guilty for just doing nothing -- how about you?

Heather