Passim Educativa

The weather around here has turned gray and brisk and for some reason that makes me want to eat more than usual! I crave warm foods like hot soup and hot chocolate. Of course the best part of this time of year is all of the goodies you can cook and bake. I love baking with cinnamon because it makes the whole house smell wonderful. You can come in from working in the yard or biking in the neighborhood and just soak in the aroma. And enjoy the treats too! I recently made a yummy batch of peach cobbler that turned out better than I expected. I think it helped that I had finally purchased some good quality nonstick baking pans so the food cooked very quickly and evenly. Read more »

I have been trying to decide what to give my aunt for a housewarming gift. She’s downsizing and moving out of her big family house up North into a nice 2 bedroom patio home in the South.  She’s been doing a lot of work going through all of her belongings and deciding what stays and what goes. It’s a lot of work but I can tell she’s really looking forward to the change – especially to living in a warmer climate and having a more manageable house to live in.  When I was helping her pack up some of her kitchen items recently I noticed that her tea kettle was looking worn and had a chip in the handle. So I think I’ll be buying her this Classic 3 Quart Whistling Tea Kettle for her new kitchen. Read more »

The cheese ball may seem a bit retro, but I have found it to be a simple but tasty and elegant appetizer that’s perfect for the holidays since it can be made well in advance. Here is my favorite basic cheese ball recipe. You can very easily add just about any flavor you’d like from a hardy smoked sausage and cheddar, to the more refined Swiss cheese and almonds. Serve it up with a variety of crackers and you have yourself a crowd-pleasing dish. Read more »

We eat a lot of sandwiches in our home for lunch and sometimes even for dinner. One of our children always wants cinnamon raisin bread, another wants plain white bread, and another always wants wraps. So we eat a lot of turkey, ham, Swiss and American cheese, the usual sandwich meats and cheeses. But after awhile sandwiches can seem a little boring.  Then recently we went out to eat and had Panini sandwiches filled with herbed chicken, melted mozzarella, tomato, and crispy grilled bread – they were delicious. My neighbor mentioned that she owned a Panini grill and that she used it quite a lot, but we could borrow it and try it out. We used it that same weekend and it worked like a charm, so I decided to buy the same DeLonghi Panini Grill for our family. Read more »