Jana Tolman

Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies with Dulce de Leche

May 5, 2015 By Jana Tolman Leave a Comment

Happy Cinco de Mayo! If you’re looking for an easy and festive dessert to make tonight, you have come to the right place. Mexican hot chocolate is a favorite flavor profile of mine–cinnamon, vanilla, and the heat of cayenne combine with chocolate SO beautifully. I love working that flavor profile into more than just hot chocolate. These Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies with Dulce de Leche are rich, decadent, and sure to be a hit with your family.

The brownies and the dulce de leche are both incredibly easy to make, using simple ingredients you probably have on hand. I hope you enjoy them! 🙂

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Soft Honey Oat Bread

April 21, 2015 By Jana Tolman 44 Comments

If you asked me about my favorite smell, it would probably be a tie between earth after rain (which is called petrichor–isn’t that a cool word!?) and freshly baked bread. But what I love even more than the smell of freshly baked bread, is cutting it open while it’s hot, and slathering butter and jam all over a still steaming piece of crusty, golden goodness.

This soft honey oat bread is my absolute favorite bread to make at home. The crust has the perfect, nutty chewiness to it, and the inside is soft and delicate. It’s perfect for toast, sandwiches, or eating hot with butter and jam.

As far as bread goes, this is a really simple recipe. It only has a few ingredients and the steps are very straightforward. You basically throw everything in the bowl of your stand mixer (or you can work out some tension and knead by hand!)…

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Smoked Salmon Farfalle

March 25, 2015 By Jana Tolman Leave a Comment

My husband and I participate in a weekly produce co-op. Every Saturday morning, we pick up a basket full of delicious fruits and veggies–we don’t know beforehand what we’ll be getting each week. This week I was pleased to discover two big, beautiful bunches of asparagus and red bell peppers. It was a sign–we were having smoked salmon farfalle for dinner.

This dish is one of my favorites that we served in the restaurant I worked in during high school–I still have my battered, stained pocket size notebook with the recipe I scribbled down as the chef taught me to make it. My husband absolutely loves this dish too, so anytime asparagus is on sale, we make this pasta. If we’re really craving it and asparagus isn’t in season, we’ll substitute frozen peas.

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Breakfast Burrito Stuffed Peppers

February 11, 2015 By Jana Tolman 2 Comments

Lately, I’ve been making a much greater effort to watch the amount of carbs in my diet. I of course still enjoy carbs, (I flipping LOVE bread after all!) but I’m really conscious to make sure that I’m cutting unnecessary carbs out of my diet so that when I really want to enjoy a brownie or some breadsticks I don’t feel guilty about it. I guess you could say I’m budgeting my carbs wisely. Which is why I really love these Breakfast Burrito Stuffed Peppers!

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