I am a firm believer in the foodcation (as proven here and here). Before going on vacation, some ask friends, family, and Twitter what are the best places to stay, or see, or experience. I am more concerned about where the best places to eat are. Good weather and a full stomach are almost always going to ensure that your vacation is remembered as a good one. You can explore a city or a region through their local eateries. You see how people really live, work and play instead of being surrounded by other vacationers or passers-through.

We've all been there. Sitting in a car in a semi-deserted parking lot trying to decide where to eat. There's a group and some of you are on the verge of hanger. You must make a decision ASAP or you might not all be friends by the end of the night. At this point you are tempted to google the nearest Panera or Chipotle and call it a night, despite the fact that you vowed not to eat at places you have back home.

And this is where my new favorite foodcation planning tool comes into play. The Besty helps people all over the world find the best restaurants and food. You can create a profile and share your favorite restaurants, both local and from your travels, and also search based on location or food type depending on what you're in the mood for. The interface and feel of the website is much more streamlined than Yelp and Urbanspoon. The recommendation feature is also helpful. Have a foodie friend who never steers you wrong at dinner? Follow them on The Besty (or encourage them to join) so you can stay up-to-date with where they've been eating lately.

Want to keep up with my foodcations? Follow along here :) 

When you are traveling or looking to try a new restaurant in town, what is your go-to source of reviews and recommendations? 

I checked another item off of my 30 before 30 list this weekend. Taking a cooking class is now complete. And if I'm being honest, it is not going to be the last. If you live in Florida (or Atlanta) you can see if there is a Publix cooking school in your area. If so, I highly recommend attending one. They offer both demonstrations and hands-on classes, depending on whether you want to brush up on your knife skills or eat an entire plated meal complete with wine parings for each course.

I used proper knifes (that weren't bought wrapped in plastic), a mandolin and an emersion blender for the first time. As someone who gets giddy every time she walks into Bed, Bath and Beyond, I was having so much fun.

On the menu were holiday side dishes. If you are looking for the perfect (simple) recipe to bring to a holiday gathering, or if you are still finalizing the menu for your first year hosting Thanksgiving, here are my three favorite recipes of the night. Also on the menu were Creamy Garlic Turnip Mashed Potatoes and Crispy Rosemary Fennel.

The sides were heavy on the starch, butter, bacon fat and garlic. If you are looking to lighten up your meal, then pass these recipes over.

Creamy Three Cheese Truffle Macaroni

Serves 6

Ingredients 

2 tlbs. butter

2 large sweet onions, julienned

1/2 pound elbow macaroni

1 tlbs. white truffle oil

5 tlbs. butter or bacon fat

5 tlbs. all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

1/2 tsp. ground annatto

1/8 tsp. turmeric

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup Colby Jack cheese, shredded

1/2 cup Havarti cheese, shredded

1 cup breadcrumbs

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large skillet, melt butter on medium high heat. Add onions and cook until caramelized to a dark golden color.

Cook macaroni in boiling water for about 10 minutes until tender but still firm. Drain well. Place in large bowl with caramelized onions and a drizzle of truffle oil; mix well and set aside. 

In a deep skillet, melt butter on medium heat. Add flour to make a roux and cook, stirring, to remove any lumps. Pour in milk and cook until mixture is thick and smooth. Season bechamel with salt, pepper, annatto, turmeric. Remove from heat, stir in Cheddar and Colby Jack cheese until melted.

Add pasta and transfer mixture to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish; bake 10-20 minutes. Top with 1/2 cup havarti cheese and and breadcrumbs and bake for an additional 5 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Spaghetti Squash with Brown Butter and Sage

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 large spaghetti squash

1 ounce olive oil

4 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon sage, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Coat squash with olive oil and place, cut side down, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes or until tender. Rest at room temperature until cool enough to handle. 

Scrape cooked squash with a fork out of its skin into a bowl and set aside. In a large saute pan, melt butter on medium-high until the color starts to change to  a slight brown. Add sage and toast for 10 seconds and then add squash. Toss until coated with butter, season with salt and pepper. 

Serve hot.

Zesty Orange Cranberry Relish

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 (8 ox) can mandarin oranges

12 ounce bag cranberries (fresh)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Method

Drain oranges and reserve juice. In a medium sauce pan, combine cranberries, sugar, water, and mandarin orange juice. Bring to a boil, add oranges and reduce to a simmer until cranberries pop and oranges break down. Remove from heat, cool and serve. 

All recipes written by the Publix Apron Test Kitchen

Looking for a dessert to satisfy your craving for fall? How about one that is literally fool-proof? If you can open cans, dump them in a pan and then set a timer and remove said pan when said timer dings, then you can make this and impress friends and family at your holiday gatherings. Also, it is quite easy to make a half recipe if you have a craving, but don't want to eat it for two weeks.

This recipe has been going around for a while and with half a cup of butter it's no surprise that it is a crowd pleaser. 

Do you have a favorite or signature dish that you bring to Thanksgiving/friendsgiving/or get togethers?

Ingredients:

1 (29 oz) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

3 eggs

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 (12 fl oz) can evaporated milk

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 (18.5 oz) package spice cake mix

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1/2 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, brown sugar, white sugar and milk. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Pour into pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the pumpkin filling. Sprinkle pecans over the cake mix. Drizzle melted butter over all.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool.

Recipe via allrecipes.com

I'm excited to be linking up with Samantha today for Cooks in the Kitchen. As you are well aware of by now, breakfast foods are my absolute favorite. Eggs and toast are eaten at all hours of the day and pancakes are acceptable morning, noon and night.

So of course, when I found a recipe for classic buttermilk pancakes on The Everygirl, I knew that I had to test it out. I am a self-proclaimed box mix pancake girl. And proud of it. So I went out on a limb taking the time to really make the batter myself. 

While it didn't turn out perfect, I'm turning to those cooking experts out there reading this that might be able to solve the problem. My guess is, I didn't take the time to sift the flour before measuring it. Whatever the problem, the batter resembled buttermilk biscuits more than pancake batter.

Even though they were extremely dense, once I added berries and bananas to the top, all doubt in the recipe slipped my mind. I microwaved frozen mixed berries until they became soft and the juice became the syrup. You can also add the berries to maples syrup as you're heating it for added sweetness.

*I will admit that I did not read all the details and about how this month's ingredient is semi-sweet chocolate. oops. But since I'm not the biggest chocolate fan, well, that's fine by me.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, sifted before measuring
1 tsp. salt
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
Maple syrup or Berry Syrup (see recipe below), for serving
Fresh fruit (sliced bananas, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries), for serving

Directions

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix egg, buttermilk, and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients. Whisk the batter to combine, until the flour is dampened and just a few lumps remain. Heat an ungreased griddle. Throw a few drops of cold water on the griddle--if they dash about briskly it's ready for use. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter quickly onto the griddle. When bubbles start to form and the edges begin to firm, use a spatula to flip the pancakes to the other side. Cook another minute or two longer, then remove. 

 

I prefer pies and Talenti gelato to a vegetable plate, especially after eating said veggies, because it's all about balance and moderation, right? I can wax poetically for hours about my favorite tarts and pastries. And let's face it, my time in France didn't help this habit. If nothing else, it made me more of a dessert snob. Rows and rows of beautiful eclairs, mille fuilles, napoleons and pain au chocolat were my motivation in French class because I didn't want to be that American simply pointing at the item they wanted to order. I wanted to know exactly what I was ordering and what to expect. In the beginning of my menu ordering days, I just closed my eyes, pointed at something I could afford and hoped for the best. And, honestly, it wasn't a half bad method of ordering, in case you ever end up in that situation.

Also, desserts just photograph much better than say, casseroles. And, for me, it's all about the presentation and my second favorite hobby, instagramming my every meal. 

Sometimes sitting down in a chair to eat breakfast is not an option. Sometimes the snooze button gets the best of you. And sometimes you hair just doesn't want to cooporate. But that doesn't mean you have to forego the most important meal of the day. These apple oatmeal muffins are the perfect on-the-go breakfast or afternoon snack. With rolled oats and not a lot of sugar, they won't break your calorie bank. So go ahead; take your time getting ready, put your coffee in a thermos and grab a muffin for the road. 

If you enjoy baking and have leftover baking ingredients, try making apple oatmeal muffins. They make a perfect to-go breakfast, afternoon snack, or Christmas gift for your suitemates. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking oats)


1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


1 TB baking powder


1/2 teaspoon salt


1/2 teaspoon cinnamon


2 large eggs, lightly beaten


1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar


1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly


1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1 finely chopped apple

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease well a 12-cup muffin tin. In a medium bowl, mix the oats and the milk and set aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, making a well in the center. Stir in the liquid ingredients and the oatmeal mixture until just combined, being careful not to over mix. Batter may be lumpy. Fold in chopped apple. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake for 16-18 minutes until lightly golden or a cake tester inserted into center of muffin comes out with moist crumbs attached.

*recipe from aggieskitchen.com

It is no surprise that brunch is my favorite meal of the day. Maybe because it is a meal designed for people who want to sleep late. Or that I see it as the perfect diet, because you only eat two meals instead of three. Although, most of my brunches include french toast, so I think that is a moot point.

Here are my favorite brunch foods: 

1. Maple bourbon french toast (in Valdosta, you can find it at Friends Bar & Grill)

Photo and recipe via Pixels & Crumbs

Need I say more? If you have a sweet tooth, you will be craving this every Saturday morning. Some of the best dishes are ones that toe the line between brunch and dessert. 

2. Croque Monsieur/Madame and Breakfast Potatoes (pictured at Tartine)

A ham sandwich with melted cheese on top leans more towards the "lunch" part of brunch, but is a great option for those of you who don't like sweets (although I have a hard time understanding you.) But to each his own.

3. Sweet Potato biscuits (in Valdosta, you can find these at Friends Bar & Grill)

Photo and recipe via Southern Living

I am not a biscuits and gravy person. If we're being honest, I really hate white gravy. So when given the option to choose between biscuits and gravy, or sweet potato biscuits and honey, the choice is pretty obvious. By adding a piece of ham to these, they make a great snack all day long.

4. And for brunch on a budget, there is always pecan waffles and hash browns at Waffle House. 

Fun Fact: The WH at Turner Field is the only non-24 hour WH. 

What are your favorite brunch foods?

For dessert on Thanksgiving day, mom and I made the apple-pecan carrot cake from the November issue of Southern Living. It's a combination of my three favorite kinds of cake, so I had no doubts that I would love it. This cake exceeded all of my expectations. By grating both the apples and carrots, you don't run into the issue of taking a bite of mushy apple. It is moist, dense and flavorful. Because it has 1 1/2 cups of carrots I tried to convince my family that it is in fact considered a vegetable side dish. They didn't buy it. 

The real stars in this recipe are the apple cider caramel sauce and the mascarpone frosting. The caramel sauce calls for regular apple cider, but all we had was spiced cider and I think it gave the cake an even better flavor. You pour the sauce in between the two cake layers and let it soak in. And now let's talk about the frosting, which is somewhere in between cool whip and cream cheese frosting and is ten times better than both of them. Because the sauce is extremely sweet, the frosting's mellow flavor is the perfect complement. 

It was decided that this cake was going to become a new family tradition at the holidays. While it was fairly time-consuming, the final product is worth the hour or two spent in the kitchen. Mom made the cake the night before and let them sit to soak in all the flavors. While she was fixing the rest of the lunch, we made the caramel sauce and frosting and assembled everything right before we sat down to eat. 

_________________________________________

Mar of To and Fro

BLOG|INSTAGRAM|TWITTER|PINTEREST

I started this blog back in 2010 as a way to communicate with friends and family when an unexpected move took us over 4000 miles from home in Toronto to the land of the midnight sun, Alaska. Alaska immediately stole our hearts and gave us both opportunities we never could have imagined, but like all good things, it had to come to an end and we decided it was time for the next adventure. I am a travel addict, animal lover, photography junkie, outdoor enthusiast and my hockey-playing hubby's #1 fan and love blogging about our adventures living in Toronto and working as a professional hockey player and environmental educator/animal handler at an aquarium.

What is your favorite Christmas song?:

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas (it reminds me of elementary school, when all the students would gather in the gym to sing carols)

What you should be reading: This Isn't Goodbye | The Ultimate Road Trip | In the Blink of an Eye

Ella of Paper Umbrella

BLOG|INSTAGRAM|BLOGLOVIN|PINTEREST

Brief description of you/what you blog about: I am a recent college grad living in Portland, Oregon. I work in a special education classroom by day, and blog by night! I love sharing DIY projects, recipes, design and fashion inspiration, music, photos of my daily life, and anything else that inspires me. I'm the type of person who will elaborately package your sandwich in washi tape and craft paper because I think it's important to put thought into the smallest details and make life more beautiful in every way you can.

What is your favorite Christmas song?: It's so hard to choose just one!...Probably "Merry Christmas, Baby" by Otis Redding.

What you should be reading: DIY Wire Rings | Anthropologie Inspired Tassel Pillows | Thai Noodle Soup

Jess of Foreign Room

BLOG | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BLOGLOVIN

I'm just a girl that believes in photographing every day life, drinking mass amounts of iced coffee, adventuring whenever possible, cuddling with my pup, enjoying life's small moments, hoarding mason jars, and blogging about it all.

Favorite Christmas song: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Michael Bublé. I'm just smitten by his whole Christmas album!

What you should be reading: Let's Talk About Stress | In the Quiet Moments: First Baby Shoot | Thankful Project: Something About My Guy