Banana Bread

When I was attending BeautyCon in NYC last year I literally stopped in my tracks when I saw the Vital Proteins booth. I had read about the benefits of drinkable collagen like improved skin elasticity and moisture but I had not taken the plunge and tried it. After talking with the brand I realized how easy it is to incorporate into your daily routine and I decided to give it a try. I can totally see a difference in my hair, skin and nails plus it also adds protein to my daily diet. I have put it into smoothies, coffee, water and now this banana bread! Yes the shocker is you can use it hot or cold without “denaturing” the product. If you are looking to try collagen but haven't yet I highly recommend it, you will see results in as little as 2 weeks! Now I sound like I'm on an infomercial but I seriously love this stuff (and the banana bread it also to die for!)

Banana Bread

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2    eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
1.5 cups mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup Greek yogurt (full fat, unflavored)

2 scoops of Vital Proteins Vanilla Collagen Peptides

Preheat oven to 350˚

Butter your loaf pan, set aside

Fit your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream together the butter and sugars untilthey are fluffy (3-4 min on high)

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.

With the mixer on low add the eggs and vanilla, mix until incorporated then add the bananas and yogurt.

Keeping the mixer on low add dry ingredients and mix just until they come together (do not over mix these machines are powerful!) Add in the Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides

Pour the batter into your loaf pan and smooth the top, bake for 45 minutes, the bread is done when a cake tester or skewer comes out clean.

When the loaf has cooled slightly carefully flip it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

A Table Setting For The Mom That Does Not Do High Tea

I am so excited to share this table setting video with you! My mom is much more of a champagne and bright colors kind of woman so I thought this would be a perfect table for her. If you are more of a reader check out the feature I wrote a feature for Martha Stewart all about this table. If you want to see the video press play:

Easter Brunch Table Setting

Happy almost Easter! This year I decided to go with a table setting that was more over the top than usual. There is no room for food so you need to do it buffet style! Check out the blog article I did for Martha Stewart here.

Make These Orange Blossom Madeleines For Easter Brunch

Makes 12 Madeleines

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
    Pinch kosher salt
2     large egg yolks
1     large egg
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or extract)
4     tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1teaspoon orange blossom water

Butter the molds lightly with 1 teaspoon softened butter (leftover butter paper works perfectly)

1. Adjust oven rack to low center position; heat oven to 375 degrees. Sift flours and salt together in small bowl; set aside.

2. Beat yolks with whole egg in bowl of electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mixuntil the color changes to light yellow and gets fluffy, about 3 minutes. Next add the sugar and vanilla bean paste and beat until ribbons form in the batter, about 3 minutes. Lightly fold in flour mixture, then melted butter. ( do not over mix )

3. Spoon batter into a piping bag and pipe enough batter to just fill to the top of each mold. (oruse a spoon to fill the molds) Bake until tops are golden and cakes spring back when pressed lightly, about 8 minutes. Transfer the madeleines to a sheet of parchment to cool.

The Easy Easter Egg Bread Pudding You Can Make Ahead

Savory bread pudding or "strata" as we call it in my family is one of our favorite easy brunch go to dishes. I love this because you can customize the flavor with whatever you happen to have on hand and it also freezes beautifully for up to 3 months. Try this muffin tin version for easy to serve brunch appetizers this Easter and you will wonder why you never did this before.

Easter Egg Bread Pudding

14-16 oz sourdough cut into 1.5 inch pieces
1 pound Italian sausage
1 red bell pepper, chopped
6 eggs
4 cups half & half
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
6 sprigs of thyme
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
chives, sliced

Pre heat the oven to 350˚

Butter a 12 slot standard muffin tin. In a large skillet brown the sausage and red pepper, transfer to a plate and hold.
Mix the eggs, dijon, thyme, salt & pepper in a large bowl. Add the half & half and mix in the bread, sausage and peppers with a wooden spoon. Using a large ice cream scoop portion the mixture into the greased muffin tin and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Top with cheese and melt in the oven for 3 minutes, finish with chives.

You can assemble the bread pudding the night before and bake in the morning for an easy no fuss brunch.

You Are Making This Blood Orange Glazed Ham For Easter Brunch, Yes You!

Serves 4-6 people

1 4-5 lb. fully cooked, spiral-cut ham on the bone
6 garlic cloves peeled
8 ounces blood orange marmalade
1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
zest of 1 blood orange,
1/2 cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

Preheat the oven to 350°

In a glass measuring cup add the garlic, mustard, marmalade, blood orange zest, and blood orange juice and blend with an immersion blender. ( you could use a standard blender as well) Add the brown sugar and mix to dissolve the sugar. Place the ham in a roasting pan (smaller is better so the glaze wont burn on the bottom. Pour the glaze over the ham and bake for 30 minutes, then baste with glaze from the bottom (this gives you a mixture of hard crack and sticky) Bake another 30 minutes or until the ham is warm and the glaze looks delicious. Move to a platter and garnish with blood orange segments and bay leaves. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

Zucchini & Leek Pancakes For Easter

Mini Zucchini Pancakes

Ingredients

    3 medium zucchini
    1 leek, thinly sliced
    2 eggs, beaten
    8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking powder
    1 teaspoon kosher salt
    1 tablespoonfresh thyme, chopped
    1 teaspoon garlic powder
    1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
    canola oil

Preheat the oven to 275°F

Grate the zucchini using the large holes of a box grater. Beat the eggs, add salt & pepper. Add in the zucchini, leeks and 3/4 of the flour and the baking powder.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add oil to the pan. When the oil is hot (shimmering) lower the heat to mediumand drop small spoonfuls of batter into the pan. Cook the pancakes 2-3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned. Place the pancakes on a sheet pan and keep warm in the oven, and continue to cook the pancakes. Serve hot.

Watch how I made them:

Is your decor stuck in a rut? Phone a friend!

When you live somewhere a long time it can be hard to have perspective on how to style it. We lived in New York for two years and when we moved back I put almost everything back where it was. When you have a friend who has a leg up on decorating, offer to make them lunch in exchange for some fresh eyes. That is exactly what I did when I invited my ever so chic friend Audrey over to help me switch things up for Spring. (She brought lunch too! I owe her big time)

I had this idea that if I took all of my decorating do-dads, books, candles, vases everything and put it all on one table I could have her “shop" from them and put things in new fresh spots that I would not have thought of. When you try this yourself make sure your surfaces are bare so your friend doesn't have any pre-conceived ideas of where to put things.

But as they say change is a good thing so here are the before and afters.

Here is the coffee table which became a collection of every random thing you can burn to clear energy: sage, palo santo, candles...

Before

After

This is the entry of the cottage:

Before

After

Here is Matts bedside table:

Before

After

This Is my bedside table:

Before

After

Here are a few extra things she put together, I love how she makes everything have its own little story. I was so inspired when she started putting simple boxwood greens everywhere from the garden. Im sure a lot of us have greens lying around (or room in your ourse for some shears!)

Since we did this I actually have a new appreciation for the things we have and I am enjoying their new homes. What room in your house could use some fresh eyes?

 

Honestly your place is a mess try these 3 tips to spring clean

There are plenty of people that just love to clean, I am not those people. Regardless if you like it or not a clean space is guaranteed to improve your overall mood and probably your sanity. As I write this I have laundry to fold , a dishwasher to empty and my office could use some love. But the bed is made, and there is laundry actually in process so I guess I am ahead (I’m ahead right? If not by the time cocktail hour rolls around I will be)

The cleaning bucket has to be one of the most brilliant things because you can have everything right where you need it at all times. Choose a bucket that is the right size for your space, my house is small but has a lot of different surfaces so I went with this medium oval bucket. Fill the bucket with all of the products to get your place sparkling.

Here is what is in mine:

Windex

Floor cleaner

Bathroom cleaner

Dusters

Scrub brushes

Mrs. Meyers All Purpose Cleaner

Spot Shot

Cleaning cloths

When I was working in the kitchen at Bouchon in New York we would do a top to bottom clean at the end of every shift. Yes not at the end of the day but the end of EVERY shift! Needless to say I learned a few things doing all of that cleaning. One takeaway was working top down, start on the upper shelf, wipe down, clean reset and keep going until you reach the floor. If you have open shelving, bookcases or simply window mouldings start on those upper areas first and work your way down, the idea is that you won't be wasting time  re cleaning anything.

I am writing this tip so I can take my own advice, divide and conquer. How many of us have been “cleaning” and we wind up on the floor looking at our highschool yearbook for 30 minutes only to look up ands realise that every room is in mid clean and your house look like you were robbed. (please tell me I'm not alone here, please) To avoid this and get to things much faster start and finish one room at a time and don't stop until that room is totally done.

I hope these tips inspired you to take on a good Spring clean, I'm no Marie Kondo but

I do appreciate a clean house. Please share ANY cleaning wisdom you might have so we can all get to work:

8 ways to make you look like you know how to host a party

We have all probably been to a dinner party that was really off, like really off. Like you walk into the house and you could perform complex surgery it's so bright, or the music is so random you feel like you are in a coffee house from the 90’s.There is so much that can go wrong but when you are throwing a dinner party there are a few details that can really make you look like you know what you are doing. I don't care if you are an accountant with the creativity of a paper cup or the next Ina Garten these are the BASICS:

Tea lights- for the love of all that is good on the earth please stock up on tea lights. The gentil flicker of a candle makes any space feel more relaxed and elegant (yes I said elegant I love that word, Im bringing it back)

scented candle in bathroom- let's face it none of us really love using other peoples bathrooms so make it easy on your guests and hide all of your stuff and light a good candle. A bathroom without a scented candle is camping to me.

Music- there is no excuse for bad music these days, with things like Pandora, Spotify, Sonos the music options are endless and easier than ever. My new favorite dinner music is Peggy Lee radio (thanks Dawn from )

Dimmers- this is where I draw the line in the sand dear readers this is the place. You MUST dim and dim often. Full blast overhead light is good in one place and that is an interrogation room on CSI. So why do I drive around at night and see these disastrous lighting moments all the time, the lights are so bright I'm getting a suntan. I might just walk around one day handing out dimmers as a public service. Until then you can pick these up:

Many times I come early to a get together to help set up, it's really my favorite part. But I discovered that most people don't have cocktail napkins. This is so simple and makes a difference. I have both paper and cloth but my favorites are these disposable napkins on a roll.

Looking for a wine opener is such a waste of valuable drinking time, that's why I have 5 or more wine openers around.

Long skinny platters are great to have on hand for everything from cheese and crackers to small appetizers. You can get them with a rack and stack them to add height or mix in some silver bowls to make your dips pop.

Unless you are still in college (if so wear your sunscreen!) make sure you have enough wine glasses when you host a party (some extras too in case one breaks)There is no excuse not to have enough REAL wine glasses, they have them at the dollar store folks.

Now I want to know your ideas for making a people think you know how to host a party below: