This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Alicia here to continue my culinary adventure through France. 

This week I chose Flammekueche, which I have made before, and loved! Flammekueche is from the Alsace region on the Eastern Border of France by the Rhine river. The region has a long and storied history. Many wars have been fought over the region and it has been conquered or just annexed by France and Germany. Alsace even has it's own dialect (language) that is being promoted recently to be learned in schools. Alsace is part of France now, but the region still has German influences in its culture. 

And that's why Flammekueche sounds German, but is a French food. I figure this fusion food is perfect since we have both French and German ancestors (remember we did German food in January).

Flammekueche is a thin crust onion and bacon tarte with a cream base. But in France it's more refereed to as a pizza. And also it's really delicious!!! Full disclosure, I have made this before. Last year Adrian and I did a very similar experiment, and I made Falmmekueche. I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I don't know why I didn't make it again until now. It's actually very fast and easy. It's one of the reasons I love it. I think there's a perception that French food is fussy and difficult, but not all of it is! And this is one of those recipes that can be a regular in your menu line-up!

Last time I think I used ricotta cheese to make the cream. But this time I saw some other recipes that lightened the recipe up by using greek yogurt for the cream base. If you were in France you would probably use something likebreakfast cream, but that is not very common here in America. I decided I would just get a single serving size of 2%  plain Greek yogurt, so I didn't have to have a whole carton of Greek yogurt. It was about 6oz of yogurt and 2 heaping TBS of natural sour cream. 

​This recipe calls for nutmeg and you do not want to skip it. It is so delicious! And it compliments the strong flavor of the onion so well. 

I also used store bought thin crust dough because we were having a really busy day, but usually I use our crust recipe (and I like ours better). But store bought works in a pinch. I accidentally over-baked it the first time around in the oven, but even though the crust was more brown than I would have liked, it still came out quite tasty!

Flammekueche ( Alsatian Pizza)

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

      Because Maddy tries hard to stick to a vegan diet, when I cook for our family I try to be conscious about including things that she can eat in the menu, but it isn't always easy for me to come up with vegan ideas other than salads! For example, last night we had company over for dinner.  The main dish was a family favorite chicken enchilada casserole.  (I posted a crock pot version of it here.) So, that wasn't something she could eat.  I also made a cabbage salad that had onions, almonds, mandarin oranges and ramen in it.  It was delicious and definitely vegan, something she could eat.  For dessert we had pumpkin pie, so she couldn't eat that.  I wasn't sure if everyone liked pumpkin pie, so I decided to make No-Bake Cookies as an option.  But, as I started to make them, I realized that I had used all of the canned milk when I made the pies.  What I did have was canned coconut milk, so that got me to thinking that I could turn this recipe vegan for Maddy's sake, plus it would be something everyone else could enjoy as well. 
     I substituted the milk with coconut milk, the butter with coconut oil and I added a cup of coconut into the mix.  Maddy buys herself vegan peanut butter.  I don't know what makes peanut butter not be vegan, but I do know it has less sugar in the vegan variety.  But, I used regular peanut butter.  I didn't want to use up all of Maddy's pricey stuff, but if you are died in the wool vegan, that is an option.  Also, you could substitute coconut sugar for the regular sugar.  We didn't have enough for this recipe.   The cookies came out softer than regular no bakes, and even though there is a lot of coconut products in there, there isn't a strong coconut taste.  But, everyone enjoyed them and I hope that you will as well! 

Vegan Coconut No-bake Cookies

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

     On my side of the family, Scrabble is the family game.  I was raised on it, as were the rest of my siblings.  My mom, who recently turned 95, is always up for a game. I would venture to say that playing Scrabble all of these years has contributed to keeping her mind as sharp as it is at her age.  She is kind of a Scrabble snob, I am sorry to say.  She gets disgusted if you only use 3 letter words or if you don't get loads of points from two directions with your "S". She doesn't like it when someone always refers to a dictionary to find their words. But, even so, we have a blast when we play together!  When we play without her, the defining rule is that if my mom has used the word, it is legal in Scrabble. 
     Often, when we travel to California to visit my side of the family, the Boltons, we will gather at my brother's house and have a Scrabble Tournament, with 2 or 3 games going at once and winners playing each other in a round robin type competition.  It is always so much fun. One year, Alicia and I made everyone t-shirts that had Scrabble tile holders on them with letters like this one:

    I have noticed that Scrabble Tiles are popular things to make crafts and decorator items with.  That leads me to believe that there are many of you out there who love to play Scrabble as much as my family does.  Since today is officially Scrabble Day, our Friday Fave question is this: 

     What is a favorite item you have seen or made with Scrabble Tiles?
​

     I have seen some adorable Christmas ideas using Scrabble Tiles! Look at these Christmas trees! 

     By the way, in order to make any of these crafts, there are a couple of ways to get the tiles without raiding your Scrabble game.  

• Go to a thrift store and find old, used games that have, for some crazy reason, been donated.  
• Purchase the tiles at a craft store. (Can be pricey!)
• Order a set of 100 online from Amazon! 

    Now, when you order these, no fair slipping an extra "O" or an "E" up your sleeve for the times that you have a set of letters like the one in the game above!

     We also found some really adorable Scrabble themed items on Etsy! 
​     Look at these sweet pillows for only 4.99 a piece! 

     Who knew that these simple little tiles could enrich our homes so much! I know that Scrabble has helped me to be a better speller and problem solver! Now it helps me decorate my home as well, LOL! I love it! 
     So, maybe you can craft a thing or two with some Scrabble tiles, or if nothing else, be sure to enjoy a game of Scrabble to celebrate the day! Let us know if you have any great ideas using these letters. 

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Sorry this post is a little late, I was a little out of it last week. This year PH and I hosted Easter dinner at our house. I always like having family gatherings in our home, it's part of the reason we bought this house, it's a great space for parties. Of course, clean up afterwards is always a hassle, but I love having family in my home where we can laugh and make memories. Plus, its so much easier with a tiny one to have the event in your home. You can still stick them in their own bed for nap time and you don't have to deal with an overtired baby crying the whole way home because she doesn't understand why you won't hold her when she doesn't want to be in her car seat.

Anyway, my mom and discussed beforehand what we would have for dinner. My SIL isn't a huge fan of ham. She always tells us not to plan a meal around her preferences, but I am not a huge fan of ham either, so I was happy to opt for something else. We discussed lamb, but that can be so expensive. Well I had pork loin in my freezer, so I suggested we have that. My mom had some in her freezer so we each made one. She did a completely different recipe for hers, so it was nice to have options. Maybe she will share her recipe here.

I decided to make this Balsamic Brown Sugar Pork Roast. I had seen a recipe for something similar, but with bourbon. Well, I don't drink alcohol, and I know they say it burns off in the cooking, but alcohol is also expensive to buy and since I'm on unpaid leave at work. I decided to work with what we have. I thought Balsamic vinegar would pair nicely with brown sugar for that sweet and sour flavor. PH really loves the sweet and sours, and he asked me later if we could make that sauce and put it on everything. Balsamic Brown Sugar Everything! I don't know about necessarily putting it on EVERYTHING, but this Balsamic Brown Sugar Pork Roast was certainly a hit!

At the end of the dinner when we were cleaning up, there was only a small portion of this Balsamic Brown Sugar Pork Roast left!

The great thing about this recipe is how the meat really falls apart. You could make balsamic brown sugar pork roast pulled pork sandwiches if you end up with any left overs!

Balsamic Brown Sugar Pork Roast