Take a trip to Italy with Kate Quinn's recipe for Arancini Con Melanzane (fried rice balls with eggplant) from her new book, “Cheese, Wine, and Bread.”
From Debbie Matenopolous' cookbook, "It's All Greek To Me" Here is my family’s secret recipe for the best Baklava ever. Rolling it this way, as opposed to baking it in a flat pan, ensures a light flakiness and just the right amount of the honey syrup running throughout. Around the holiday season, when I was growing up, my mom would make big batches of this so that my sister, my brother, and I could give platters of it to our teachers. Needless to say, every new school year, teachers were very excited to see one of the Matenopoulos kids on their class rosters!
Brooke is dumped right before Christmas and enlists the help of actor Joel to play the role of her boyfriend for the holidays. Brooke had described her ex-boyfriend as “Mr. Christmas” to her family and worries about keeping up the ruse when she discovers Joel is Jewish. When her family eventually finds out his background, they happily incorporate his Hanukkah traditions into their plans. Christmas and Hanukkah are celebrated side by side as they all learn more about the other’s holiday. But when their relationship ruse comes to light, the two have some explaining to do as well as figure out if they’re ready to admit their true feelings. Starring Brittany Bristow and Matt Cohen.
Aspiring astronomy professor and Christmas enthusiast Holly (Sarah Carter) is crushed when her longtime boyfriend Adam (Paul Popowich) schedules a business trip and leaves her alone over the holidays. When she decides to surprise both Adam and her parents with a Christmas visit, however, fate, or perhaps the Christmas spirit, intervenes. Holly's bumpy holiday travel makes a turn onto the road to romance when she and her bus companion, Luke (Damon Runyan), forge an instant connection over their love of constellations and Christmas. In the spirit of the season, Holly invites Luke and his brother Bull (George Canyon) to join her family and Adam for Christmas, which instantly creates a competition between Luke and Adam for Holly's attention. As sparks fly like shooting stars between Holly and Luke, will Holly decide to play it safe and stay with Adam or to thank her lucky stars for the Christmas gift of romance with Luke?
Abby Knight is a beautiful ex-attorney and proprietor of Bloomers, a quaint Illinois flower shop. When she receives a mysterious order for black roses to be delivered to the law department of the local university, Abby, having a colorful history with the school and a daughter who is currently a student, decides to deliver the flowers herself. Upon her arrival, Abby crosses paths with an old law school rival, only to find him murdered in his office shortly after their encounter. When Abby’s fingerprints are found on the murder weapon, she becomes the chief suspect in a dramatic homicide investigation, finding herself hounded by a hard-boiled detective and pursued by a relentless reporter. When things heat up and start looking bad for Abby, she decides to conduct her own murder investigation, enlisting the support of Marco, a handsome bar owner and ex- private investigator. With Marco’s help, Abby gathers and interrogates a list of suspects, including school faculty and their wives and lovers, each having a plausible motive for committing the grisly crime. With a killer on the loose – and a budding romance with Marco beginning to sizzle – the flower shop owner-turned-sleuth struggles to solve the case and prove her innocence, before it’s too late. Starring Brooke Shields, Brennan Elliott, and Beau Bridges.
