Hi Everyone,
Hope you are all well. This year, Easter is early and it’s time to make the Italian Traditional Easter Pies
Pizza Rustica (savory) and Pizza Dolce (sweet).
The recipes never change so I am reposting the recipes from a previous year in case any of you are interested in baking! Traditionally we make these pies on Good Friday….
Enjoy and have a blessed Easter!
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Hi Everyone,
Tomorrow is St Joseph’s Day or Father’s Day in Italy.
I am re-posting my St Joseph’s Day post in case anyone wants to prepare a traditional Italian holiday meal and needs recipes.
Enjoy the day and many blessings and stay tuned for new posts coming soon.
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Hi Everyone,
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I hope you are all well and 2024 has been good to all of you in this first month of the year.
I can’t believe that this is the 9th year that I am posting DishingwithDiane and it has been a wonderful part of my life. I consider all of my members my extended family and I wish I could meet you all in person.
I hope in some way over the years, I have entertained you with my family stories and inspired you to celebrate life with a tablescape idea or a new recipe.
This year’s theme with the birds and birdcage was set in stone the minute I received these great whimsical drinking glasses as a gift. We were fortunate enough to be served in similar bird glasses at a restaurant in NYC and I fell in love with them.
They are the perfect glasses for a summer brunch or a special dessert. So, I decided to incorporate them into this year’s anniversary tablescape.
The glasses are a perfect accent for the china pattern that I chose this year and that is “Field Notes” by Pier I Imports.
I have had these earthenware dishes for many years and the pattern is just so soft and delicate and can be used for many occasions.
Since the background is muted shades of blues, greens, and beiges, I chose Robin’s egg blue tablecloth and since I don’t have a bird nest to accent the dishes, I chose a rattan charger plate to give me the dark color and feel I wanted.
The cutlery is brown and I chose another color from the dish and used a gold napkin and a wooden napkin ring to match the cutlery.
My table accents are a clear vase filled with branches and leaves to highlight the colors of the dish but in a deeper hue along with torrone candy as a vase filler and just for fun a dessert dish filled with Italian chocolates.
Now what bird theme wouldn’t be complete without a birdcage so I had a white wrought iron birdcage from another post and used it as a centerpiece with amber candles.
These candles are battery-operated and remote-controlled and is a great idea if any of your guests are bothered by the smell or smoke of a real wax candle. Also good with children around.
Now you can’t have a celebration without a dessert and a cocktail. So, the cocktail we chose was an Aperol Spritz and the dessert was absolutely fabulous.
This was a pistachio amarena cherry cake with chocolate/cherry mousse covered in white chocolate with pistachio pieces and a pistachio cream frosting. Kudos to Buttercooky Bakery of Huntington, LI, New York.
Absolutely a little bit of heaven right here on earth.
This was a wonderful celebration for us and now we start a new year at DishingwithDiane.com I am so excited about what is ahead…
Again, thank you for your support and comments. Please continue to tell your friends about this blog and ask them to join and become part of the family.
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Until my next post, make every day a celebration!
Stay well,
Hi Everyone,
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Hope all is well and the first week of the new year is going well for all of you.
Tomorrow is the Feast of the Epiphany or Little Christmas or to me and my family La Befana. I am re-posting my La Befana “Befanini” cookie recipe in case anyone wants to make them today to serve tomorrow.
Painting by James Lewicki, from “The Golden Book of Christmas Tales” 1956
In Italy, January 6th is a national holiday and is a big part of the Christmas celebrations. It commemorates the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men arrived at the manger bringing gifts to Baby Jesus.
In Italy, this day is especially significant for Italian children who wait for the arrival of La Befana, the old witch. La Befana (formerly called Stria – hag or witch) is the name of an old peasant lady. She had lost her husband, she had never had a child, and she lived in a tiny house alone in the hills of Italy spending her days cleaning and cooking.
One night she noticed a bright light in the sky but she ignored the light and went back to sweeping her home.
According to the Italian legend, La Befana was approached by the three Wise Men (Magi), Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar, who asked her how to get to the road to Bethlehem and they asked her to join them on their journey to bring gifts to the Christ child.
She initially refused to join them because she was too busy doing her housework.
When she started to regret her decision a few hours later, she then filled a bag of cookies and dried fruits and went to look for them. But she never found the Magi, despite her relentless search. This is why Befana is always seen with worn-out shoes from her search.
After failing to find baby Jesus, she decided to offer the presents she had planned for him to all the other children she met. Italian children leave out their shoes or put up stockings for La Befana to fill on Epiphany Eve or January 5th.
The legend states that every Epiphany Eve, the old witch covered in soot and tattered clothes flies around the world on a broomstick and comes down chimneys to deliver candy and presents to children who have been good all year.
For those that haven’t been good, La Befana leaves coal. (some shops in Italy sell black rock candy to represent the coal so even the naughty children can still have a sweet treat).
I have included a recipe for coal cookies if you are interested at the end of this post.
The arrival of La Befana is celebrated with traditional Italian foods such as panettone and marks the end of the holiday season in Italy. In honor of the Three Wise Men, Italians go to church and enjoy spending the day with family.
In my home, it was also the day to take down the tree and all the holiday decorations.
Panettone is an Italian cake that is recognized by its tall domed shape. It is a sweet dough with raisins and candied fruit and today there are many varieties on the market and you can buy chocolate, pear, and chestnut to name a few.
Growing up, we would have panettone for breakfast on the morning of January 6th, which was a great sweet treat for us to have cake for breakfast.
My grandmother would make special cookies on January 5th to leave for La Befana called Befanini – they are traditional shortbread cookies in honor of La Befana. The original recipe included rum but I don’t have my family’s original recipe. Italian housewives would prepare these cookies for La Befana to nibble on between her deliveries.
When I was a child, we followed tradition and left a plate of Befanini cookies and a glass of wine for La Befana (this is similar to leaving milk and cookies for Santa). The cookies were always in the shape of a star to signify the Star of Bethlehem that La Befana saw through her window.
I have posted the recipe for La Befana cookies below that I have been using for years and I don’t remember where I copied it from so I am sorry to the author of the recipe that I can’t mention your name for full credit but it is not my recipe or my grandmother’s recipe- it is a typed copy from an article but very good.
This recipe doesn’t use rum but vanilla and anisette with orange zest- delicious!
La Befana Star Cookies
Ingredients
Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
In an electric mixer (the paddle attachment), cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until creamy and light.
Beat in the egg and egg yolks, one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition, followed by the vanilla extract, anisette, and orange zest. Beat in the dry ingredients at low speed to form a stiff dough. Remove the dough from the bowl, flatten it into a disk, wrap it in plastic, and chill until it is firm enough to roll for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray or line them with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces; work with 1 piece at a time, keeping the remaining pieces refrigerated. On a floured surface, roll the dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Using a floured 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, cut the dough into stars. Place the cookies ½ inch apart on the baking sheets.
Gather the scraps together and repeat rolling and cutting until you have used all the scraps; it may be necessary to refrigerate the scraps until they are firm enough to roll again.
To make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk with the cream. Using a small pastry brush, lightly brush the surface of the cookies with a bit of glaze and decorate them with sprinkles ( I use confetti sprinkles).
Bake the cookies until they are lightly golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time.
Allow the cookies to cool slightly on the baking sheets, then gently remove them with a spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.
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If you are interested in reading the story of “La Befana” to your children or just want to have the book as a keepsake, the classic story is told by author Tomie dePaola and is sold on Amazon.
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Lump of Coal Cookies – Courtesy of PassionforSavings.com
Until my next post, make every day a celebration!
Stay well,
Happy La Befana and I hope it brings a peaceful and joyous end to your holiday season.
photo courtesy of BottegaDellaNonna.com
Hi Everyone,
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Wishing all of you a happy, healthy New Year...My husband and I had a great NYE- we went out to an early dinner with friends and came home to hors d’ oeuvres and a prosecco toast to bring in the New Year….. plus some red velvet mini-bundt cakes and coffee were a sweet treat.
Hoping this year brings love, health, happiness, kindness, and the end to all the wars in the world… the world so badly needs to reconnect and be caring and kind to everyone……wishing you many blessings in 2024!
Below is a recap of pictures of our at-home celebration after the restaurant and a glimpse of the traditional foods for New Year’s Day.
From my Italian heritage, on New Year’s Day or after the stroke of midnight, we eat lentils with added spinach and sausage on the side for GOOD LUCK in the New Year. This year I added the grilled sausage pieces directly to the lentils for a change.
Good Luck in the New Year by eating lentils and some sort of pork product. Pigs symbolized prosperity so my family would eat “cotechino” which is a traditional pork product for this holiday.
Cotechino is an Italian, large pork sausage requiring slow cooking. Usually, it is simmered at low heat for several hours. It is made from pork, lard, and other spices but was never a favorite of mine because it is very fatty.
This is Cotechino (photo courtesy of google.com)
My family adds our own tradition to the holiday and I serve Cornish hens for New Year’s Day as a second course after the lentils for all the people that don’t care for lentils as a main course.
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I hope this year is your best year yet.
Until my next post, make every day a celebration!
Stay well,
Diane
Hi Everyone,
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I hope you are all well. I am so grateful to all who requested this recipe and waited patiently for me to update and post it. Since my first post a few years ago, I have revised and tweaked the recipe and also added a glaze. While I was testing the recipe, I was so thankful for your patience.
I made the revised recipe the day after Christmas and they are wonderful.
This year I had the pleasure of purchasing fabulous eggnog from a dairy in upstate, NY while passing through the town on a recent trip and it was a great find. The dairy is the Pittsford Farms Dairy in Pittsford NY and it was magnificent. I hope you enjoy the new recipe and stay well.
I served the muffins with hot chocolate and store-bought gingerbread mug hugger cookies. Enjoy
Eggnog Muffins
(Makes 12 muffins)
Serve these muffins with butter or jam … very yummy! If you plan on serving them to children, leave out the rum, increase the amount of eggnog, and add vanilla extract.
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2/3-cup sugar
1-tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup prepared eggnog
1/2 cup dark rum
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, beaten to blend
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Grease one 12-cup muffin pan or use cupcake papers
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Spoon into prepared pan.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tester comes out clean.
Cool slightly before serving.
Glaze:
1- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 tbsps. egg nog
½ tsp vanilla extract
Mix well and drizzle over muffins!
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Until my next post, make every day a celebration!
Stay well,
Diane
Hi Everyone,
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I just wanted to post a recap of the 2023 Christmas Eve dinner at my home. Following my family’s Italian tradition, we had the Feast of the Seven Fishes.— all the recipes are in the files and can be found via the search bar.
I hope you had a fabulous and wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, family, and friends, and on to a new and prosperous 2024.
Now we prepare for a new year and I hope all of your goals and dreams come true.
Thank you for being a part of my blog and I plan on posting more fun tablescapes and recipes in the new year…
Please ask your family and friends to join and they will never miss a post.
One more week to the end of the year- hard to believe how fast time is passing us by and I wish all of us a prosperous, happy, healthy future.
Until my next post, make every day a celebration!
Stay well,
Diane
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Now for the tablescape and menu….
Our first course is always a shrimp cocktail. Presentations always change from year to year but this has to be the starter….
This shrimp cocktail course is followed by the linguine with fish sauce or crab sauce. This year I chose fish sauce and it contained shrimp, tuna, clams, mussels, calamari (squid), and scallops. (Remember you have to eat 7 different types of fish throughout the entire meal for good luck).
I also added stuffed calamari to the sauce and served it alongside the linguine.
Moving right along after this course, we serve the other fish entrees.
Stuffed crabs oreganata and fried calamari. (the crab is our 7th fish so we see good luck in our future).
Baked clams.
Seafood salad. This is a cold salad with mussels, scallops, crab meat, squid, scungilli, shrimp, olives, and celery and served with a lemon and olive oil dressing.
Crabmeat stuffed shrimp.
Traditionally we serve these entrees with sauteed broccoli rabe and a cold steamed broccoli salad with lemon and lots of garlic.
When I was a child there were many more courses with a full antipasto table with a variety of breads, cheeses, pickled vegetables, cured meats, and the list went on plus a raw bar of oysters and clams, and seafood bisque soup.
Over the years the extra courses started to fade away in my family since there was always so much food left and many family members moved away or passed on and the guest list was smaller.
But no matter the meal, there is always room for dessert and this year in addition to the Christmas Cookie tray, we had a peppermint cheesecake & demitasse (espresso) to go along with my Peppermint theme tablescape.
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Now for the tablescape…
My theme this year was “Peppermint” as soon as I saw these adorable red and white dishes. They immediately reminded me of a peppermint candy so my theme was decided then and there. I hope you like the tablescape……
The tablecloth is white and silver with a modern abstract design of stars and Christmas trees so the dishes would be perfect to use with this tablecloth. I chose a plain red satin napkin to pick up the shine and sparkle along with a silver sparkle snowflake napkin ring. Red cutlery to tie it all together and Waterford glasses for the finishing touch.
I selected two charger plates to enhance the dishes. The bottom layer is a silver iridescent plate and the top charger is a clear plate that allows the sparkles from the bottom layer to shine through while giving the place setting a little more sparkle with the gold and silver filigree edge.
The matching creamer and sugar bowl.
Additional table accents along with the mini trees and candle holders are my Santa snow globe…
Good old St Nick figurine…
The traditional “Christmas Tree butter” has become a regular on the table for Christmas…..
And this year’s choice of Lenox snowman and Christmas tree salt and pepper shakers…
And a new Christmas treat jar… couldn’t resist this purchase.
Plus a beautiful Peppermint centerpiece courtesy of my wonderful husband and I added a few candy canes scattered in the flowers and put Christmas peppermints in the bottom of the planter bowl.
I hope your holidays were magical. Warmest regards, Diane
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Hi everyone,
I wanted to post this year’s tray of Christmas Cookies 2023. You will notice my standard cookies and family favorites. The recipes are in the directory and if you see something in the photo you can’t find then drop me a line…..
I have added “Peppermint Brownies” to the tray this year. Very, very simple addition, use your favorite brownie mix with 1 tsp of peppermint extract added and some crushed peppermint on the top for decoration. This can be a bake-from-scratch recipe or if time is not on your side a box mix…..
The second new addition is “Chocolate Thumbprint with pistachio filling”. Same recipe as the raspberry thumbprints but I played around and added some cocoa powder and filled the center with pistachio creme instead of raspberry jam.
I find that it is always fun to play with the recipes and add your own spin to them. No recipe is set in stone. Have fun.
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I want to take this time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. My wish for all of you is many blessings, prosperity, good health, and good times in 2024. Thank you for being a member of my blog.
DishingwithDiane is ready to add new tablescapes and recipes and have a lot of fun in the new year!
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Until my next post, make every day a celebration!
Stay well,
Thank you for visiting my blog.
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Hi Everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.
We are waiting patiently for the arrival of our first grandchild. The due date was on Thanksgiving and now the countdown is on.
Here is a little glimpse into our Thanksgiving and a re-post of my apple cake that I make every year for Thanksgiving…
I have been getting so many requests for this dessert that it was time to post it again for the new members.
It is light and not too sweet and really ties in the fall flavors with the cinnamon and vanilla. Always a crowd pleaser. I hope you try it and enjoy it.
Have a wonderful beginning to the holiday season and this “grandma-to-be” can’t wait to be back on the blog to post about the arrival of our grandson.
Apple Cake
INGREDIENTS:
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PROCEDURE:
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Until my next post, make every day a celebration!
Stay well,
Thank you for visiting my blog.
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Hi everyone,
I just want to take this time to wish you all a very blessed and Happy Thanksgiving…..
from the DishingwithDiane.com family to your family…
This year Thanksgiving is extra special for us because we are waiting for the arrival of our first grandchild due any day now. We are blessed and thrilled for this new addition to our family. A little boy to love, hug, cuddle, and kiss….
I wish you all many, many blessings this Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season, and into a brand new year ahead. The years are flying by, so be grateful for each new day and the people you share your life with.
I am thankful for all of the members who have joined this blog from day one and allowed me to continue to share my recipes, stories, and tablescapes. Thank you!
Thank you for your continued patronage of the blog, and your comments, questions, and interest. I am blessed to have you all along for the ride as my extended family and I cherish each and every member.
You have brought me such joy over the years and I plan to have more content going forward to enjoy.. We are all brought together by food and as my mother would always say, “Share a meal with someone because food is LOVE”.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
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Until my next post, make every day a celebration!
Stay well,
Dishing With Diane 