Sweet River Studios

What feels like a hundred years ago, which in reality was 2016, I took a 30 week French cooking class at The Seasoned Farmhouse in Columbus. I met a lot of people all different ages and backgrounds but what we all had in common was we liked to cook, wanted to learn different things in the kitchen and of course eat. During those weeks, our Chef Tricia, threw in a day of cooking cajun recipes, which I certainly didn't have a lot of exposure to living in Ohio.  We cooked a Chicken & Andouille Smoked Sausage Gumbo from the book of Paul Preudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen. We also made a cajun meatloaf and a shrimp etouffe but I enjoyed the gumbo the most and I decided to dust off the recipe we made and make it again in 2023. I admit I didn't stick closely to the recipe, which most southerners who know how to make gumbo would know doubt have something to say about that and I know. I'm not trying to be them. I'm just trying to make a tasty soup.  To make this tasty gumbo y...

If you're overrun with tomatoes at the end of the season and you don't want to start canning, making tomato jam is the next best thing. I admit it. I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes. I like them as salsa and especially in BLT sandwiches but I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the watery squishiness that plagues my sandwich causing my bread to get soggy or help the mayonnaise make a run for it but with tomato jam, you don't have that problem. Making tomato jam is simply taking pounds of tomatoes and cooking all the water out of them and adding a bit of sugar and spices. That's it. Trust me on this. It is awesome and I'm not a huge tomato fan. I would recommend doubling the recipe since this does't make very much and it's just so darn tasty you might want it on everything from toast, eggs, quiche and of course to accompany bacon. Store your tomato jam in the refrigerator and it should keep about a week or two but I don't know since I've neve...

Another year has passed and for me it was a fairly quiet one. We didn't go on vacation and I'm pretty sure I sewed less this year than last year and I definitely posted less. I had around 30 blog posts from bluebirds to quilts to cooking classes. There were no anniversary parties this year but I did take my grandmother to OSU Orton Museum to speak with someone about her rock collection. My grandmother is 89 and fondly remembers the time she spent traveling out west with her husband in the 1980's. During their traveling she picked up rocks from all the states they visited and they came back with the trunk full. It's a wonder they didn't break the car she has so many rocks. She loves her rocks but she doesn't really know what type of rock they are and some are very unique. She's wanted to go over her rock collection with a geologist for years and often spoke of inviting someone from OSU to her house to see her rock collection. Now that she's 89 and fee...

I can't believe I actually signed up for a 30 week cooking class! What was I thinking?! Okay enough whining. I signed up for the 30 week French cooking series offered by The Seasoned Farmhouse in Columbus and our first class was October 3 and should go through mid-May with a couple weeks off for holidays. I've never been the Seasoned Farmhouse but I knew about their cooking classes but believe me when they're announced they fill almost immediately so it's really hard to get in. When I saw this 30 week French cooking series I gave it a brief thought and discarded it. Signing up for a 30 week class isn't something to do on a whim and the cost was considerable for the class so I decided to watch it and if the class looked like it would fill then I'd sign up. One class was offered on Monday nights and one on Tuesday during the day. So I watched and waited. When I saw the Monday night class fill within a few weeks I didn't think the Tuesday class would but it s...

Since I've apparently lost my mind, I decided to make a 4 tiered 50th anniversary cake for my in-laws. Seriously, I don't think anyone sane (who doesn't already make cakes for a living) would try this. Why 4 tiers, you ask? Well, because 1) I couldn't decided on what flavors to make so I'm making them all and 2) because the design I have in mind needed to be even. See perfectly good reasons, right? I ordered some cake mixes from Global Sugar Art and they were really good. One cake mix only called for oil and water since the eggs were already in the mix but the second one called for eggs. Apparently, they are changing their formula so you may or may not need to add eggs. Just follow the instructions on their packaging. You can check out all their products here . While, looking for websites, videos and whatnot as to how to do this, I came across something call Cake Lace. This stuff is really cool. You basically smear this paste like substance into a mold, let dry ...

This has to be considered an all time great finger food.  If you haven't made one I highly recommend them.  Also, its super versatile. You can add filling and spices you want to it or change the entire thing. I usually make these around Christmas just because its still good at room temperature. Not all of my people arrive at Christmas at the same time and we all usually just wonder about nibbling at what's on the table. These are fairly easy to make once you get the rolling method down and they freeze great.  So if you make extra or just decide to keep them all to yourself instead of giving them away for free to people you may or may not really like, you can freeze them for later. When I worked, I would layout a roll before going to work and it was defrosted by the time we got home. Then we just had to heat it up. I've often wanted to change things up a bit but rarely do but you can make one with  mushrooms and caramelized onions with cheese,...

I've been perusing several food blogs and came across several and I decided that I would pick a recipe from these blogs and try them out myself. This recipe comes from Chocolate Moosey. If you click here it will take you the Chocolate Moosey website recipe for Baked Vanilla Doughnuts but I warn you. This website is like five kinds of awesome so be prepared. The recipe reminds me of a dense vanilla cupcake in doughnut form. It's pretty good but I warn you now. This recipe only made 11 doughnuts for me and the recipe says 9 so you may have to double it if you want to freeze some. I decided my large KitchenAid mixer probably would have a hard time mixing so little ingredients and figured I'd just stir it all together myself. I got my dry and my wet ingredients together. The recipe calls for vanilla bean pods and vanilla extract. I didn't have any vanilla bean pods laying around but that's okay. I use vanilla bean paste which is made from the pods and has lot...

I've recently come across a few food blogs and I hope to try to duplicate some of their recipes right here at home for me and my husband. I have to admit, I've tried some recipes off the internet and didn't have much success. I consider myself a decent cook but I'm sure there's a lot more for me to learn. I decided, I would pick some recipes from each blog and prepare them myself and post about my efforts. One of blogs I stumbled across is Half Baked Harvest. Usually this time of year, I'm thinking soup. It's winter here in central Ohio and after last year's fun with all the negative temperatures, we're not really expecting a mild or short winter for 2015 but believe me we're all hoping for an early spring. I have my tried and true soup recipes my husband and I really like, but let's face it, I like to cook and try new things. So I was out looking for soup recipes and I found Half Baked Harvest's recipe for Crockpot Crispy Caramelized P...

Hello everyone! My name is Lisa and I'm new to blogging.  That sounds more like a confession doesn't it?  Well, that's okay.  Today is my 41st birthday (gasp!) and I decided to start a blog to inflict my life's activities on everyone my blog happens to come across. I enjoy cooking, crafts, sewing, quilting, embroidery work, dogs, nature in general and photography.  I live in a small suburb of Columbus, Ohio along with my wonderful husband of 17 years and our 2 year old german shepard mix, River.  I worked as a paralegal for 12 years before a series of layoffs left me permanently unemployed. After hearing "your over qualified" or "this is entry level" from everyone who granted me an interview out of hundreds or even thousands of applicants, I realized that I just didn't have to work for someone who couldn't understand that I wanted to work, had great experience and entry level position was just fine.  I simply got tired of trying to make them ...