The Big 2-6! A birthday treat made by me, for me :)

In honor of no longer being "mid" twenties, I've decided to make myself some birthday goodies to help drown my sorrows...I mean, help celebrate this joyous day!

Birthday cake is so overrated. Anywhozer...

I was missing my family last night, in particular my mother, and grandmother. I spent the night rummaging through my "keep sake" box where I saved all of the letters my grandma wrote me, looking for a verrryyyy special card...

The one where she wrote her Cherry Creme Pie recipe :)

And...I found it!

Even though I'm dying to make a few tweaks to the recipe...I'm going to make it EXACTLY how my grandmother did. I love you Grandma Ruby.

Graham Cracker Crust

24 graham crackers

1/4 cup plus 1 tsp soft butter

Place Graham crackers in a bag.  

Roll crackers real fine.

 Add soft butter, mix well. 

 Pour into 9" pie plate.  Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.  Cool before adding filling.

Cherry Creme Pie

3 oz. creme cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 pint whipping cream

1 graham cracker crust

Cream powdered sugar and creme cheese until smooth. Mix with whipped cream (whip the cream and vanilla together until it becomes thick).

 Fold it into the cheese and sugar mixture and pour mixture into crust.

 Smooth it out.

Lick Spatula :)

Top with 1 can cherry pie filling.

 Mmmm....Cherry Creme Pie :) Just how grandma used to make it. 

Slice.

 Devour.

Happy Birthday to ME! *SiNgS*

Thursday afternoon and some Comfort Food

So, when I think of comfort food I always think of mashed potatoes and gravy.  My grandmother used to make the best mashed potatoes and white gravy. My love for cooking began as a child when I would stand on a chair next to my grandmother and help her make homemade noodles and chicken broth and pour that delicious mixture down over her WORLD FAMOUS mashed potatoes!

World famous in MY world of course :)

I decided to fulfill my comfort food craving with some homemade sweet potato fries and some "heavenly dipping sauce" as my boyfriend so eloquently named it.

The sweet potato fries are baked, so I feel less guilty about eating...well...all of them.

I peeled a sweet potato and cut it into wedges.

Threw the wedges into a bowl where I drizzled them with olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon and nut meg.

Baked them at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.

And here they are.

For my "heavenly dipping sauce" wisk together the following:

1/2 cup honey

The juice and zest of one big fat orange

1/3 cup powdered sugar (I added almost 1/2 cup just to make it thicker)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

Dunk the gorgeous sweet potato wedges into the heavenly dipping sauce. 

And please...by all means...

Double dipping is encouraged.

Brunch with Monkey and Ladybug

I love Sundays.  Not having classes or work, I can sleep in as long as I want. Or until the kittens are biting at my hair to get me up, which is typically around 5 a.m.  But today, they decided to sleep in too! I woke up at about 10:30 a.m. with one kitten on my chest, nice and toasty under the comforter, and one sharing my pillow, with her paw resting so cutely against my cheek, hehe. 

Thank you kittens for letting mommy sleep in a little.

It has been drizzling outside all morning and so I decided to enjoy a lazy day indoors, not forgetting the most important meal of the day of course, breakfast.

Or my favorite BRUNCH :) after sleeping in *yawns* it's the best way to start a day.

Neglecting to grocery shop this week, I rummaged around in my fridge and pantry to find something to make.  I had one egg, one onion, and one potato.  Hmmm...what to do with that.

A hash perhaps?

I diced my lonely little potato and sauteed until crispy and golden brown in some olive oil, butter, seasoning salt, regular salt, pepper, and a pinch of crushed red pepper.

Then I removed the potatoes from my skillet and gave my sliced onions the same treatment.  Once they were softened and turning brown I added the potatoes back in along with some green onion and shredded mozzarella cheese.

Then I topped the lovely hash with an over easy egg and one twist of my pepper mill.  I poured myself a glass of O J, which I so wonderfully drank from a champagne flute, just because I can, and took my brunch back to bed with me, along with the kittens who were curious to see what mommy had with her.  And yes, they did get a bite or two.  They love potato.

Blissful rainy Sunday morning joy.

Rocky Road Cookies

So a plain sugar cookie dough recipe is the perfect backdrop for getting creative with your cookies.  You start with a basic sugar cookie dough and then from there, you can transform it into any kind of cookie you want.  This is exactly what I did, and so...Rocky Road cookies were born. Inspired by my man who needs a manly cookie.

 Here is the sugar cookie dough recipe:

1 cup plus 2 tbs AP flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

Now for my rocky road spin:

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup sliced almonds

6 ounces of a 60% dark chocolate bar cut into bite sized chunks
powdered sugar for rolling

*Note: if you're more of a chipper person, then use any kind of chocolate chips you want. A combination of white and dark chocolate chips would be delish! But, since I'm more of a chunker (and increasingly so after these cookies) then use the chunks :) nom nom

In a food processor fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.  In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder/soda, and salt.  With the machine on low speed, gradually add in the flour mixture until just incorporated.  Then stir in the chocolate chunks and the sliced almonds with a spatula.  Roll dough into 1 inch balls.  Now for the white "marshmallow" part of this whole thing.  Roll the cookie dough balls into powdered sugar then flatten the cookies slightly on the cookie sheet.

This recipe should make about 12 cookies, but mine ended up being 10 extra big cookies hehe.

Bake at 325 for 14 minutes.

The cookies are chocolatey, chunky, chewy, rocky roady, and man approved! I think I just heard him shed a few tears of joy in the kitchen.

Cooking should really be fun and don't be afraid to be adventurous.  Take a regular sugar cookie dough recipe, and turn it into something made just for you!

Caprese Salad with a twist

I went to the grocery store last night and found these BeauTiFuL heirloom tomatoes. 

Gorgeous little tomato jems.

Once I saw them I knew exactly what I was going to make. I love to go into the store and just look around for what looks delicious that day. 

Let the market inspire you!

Now I love Caprese Salad which is traditionally just layers of sliced tomatoes, mozarella, and basil.  But...I love crunchy croutons on my salads also.  And so...I present to you...

Baked Caprese Salad :)

How I made it:

Slice the gorgeous tomatoey jems and place in the bottom of a baking dish.  Drizzle tomato slices with balsamic vinegar.  Then chop 1 big clove of garlic and sprinkled it over the tomatoes.  Slice lots and lots of salty mozarella and place over the slices of tomato.  Sprinkle chopped basil, salt, and pepper over the cheesey goodness.  Next, the "croutons".  Take slices of your favorite bread and top the salad.  I used an oat nut bread but anything would be delicious. Then drizzle the bread generously with olive oil.  Bake at 375 until the mozarella is ooooozing and gooey, and the bread is golden brown and crispy-crouton like. 

Then..

Dig in!

And try to resist eating the whole dish by yourself. 

I couldn't!

Not just your average Banana Bread

Usually I get very bored of banana breads and banana muffins. There aren't many ways to jazz it up. But! I did add something different, and also make a tiny change to the regular old banana bread recipe that seemed to do the trick for this batch.

Coconut! Mmmm...good.

Also...I mashed half of the bananas and left the other half in diced pieces. That way you still get the texture and a bite of actual banana. It's delish. Enjoy~

Here's the recipe:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 mashed bananas

2 bananas diced into small pieces

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder/soda and salt in large bowl.  In smaller bowl combine milk, eggs, vanilla, mashed bananas. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture just to combine.  Once combined, fold in the coconut, walnuts, and diced banana pieces.

Pour mixture into muffin tins (makes about 18 muffins) and bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

For an extra banana-y kick, top muffins with banana chips before baking. Yummy!

Fudgies

So tonight I had a chocolate craving. 

Well...that's somewhat misleading. It's not just tonight but everyday. I just need chocolate. It's my vitamin C...and probably more important to me than actual vitamins. Or breathing. 

Well maybe not breathing. If I wasn't breathing...I couldn't enjoy my chocolate. But I digress. 

To feed my chocolate craving I decided to make Fudgies--Or more popularly known as no-bake cookies.  But this is my spin on a no-bake.

1/2 cup milk

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2/3 cup peanut butter

3 to 4 cups Quaker oats (I found my perfect amount to be 3-1/4 cups)

5 tbs cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

now my little twist~

for the peanut butter, I use 1/3 cup creamy and 1/3 cup chunky

1 tbs instant coffee powder

pinch of sea salt

In a saucepan combine the sugar, butter, cocoa, milk, vanilla, salt and coffee powder.  Bring to a slow boil and simmer until the sugar has dissolved.  Stir in the peanut butter and then remove from heat.  Stir in 3 cups of oats.  The mixture should be thick.  If necessary, add more oats until it is the consistency that you want it.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Drop the mixture into heaps onto the parchment and allow the fudgies to firm up at room temperature.

Nom Nom Nom...Enjoy!

Driving in Chicago--Not for the faint of heart

When people here in Chicago find out I'm a small town gal from Oregon they often ask what the biggest difference is between Oregon and Chicago, and I have to say the driving.

In Oregon, a traffic jam is 4 cars piled up behind someone's tractor.  Or horse-back riders crossing the street...I wish I was joking.  And on the very rare occasion, someone driving their rideable lawn mower.  In Chicago...not the case.

Driving in Chicago is really intimidating for the non-born and raised city person.  Five lanes of traffic and everyone speeding by you (when you're already going 10 over the speed limit) is just ridiculous!  And what's worse is the big truck drivers do it too. I am always so scared to drive.  I honestly feel like I'm going to get run off the road.

And on top of the multiple lanes of traffic with every single person you're surrounded by speeding, are the cell phone talkers, or worse...the texters.  I mean really? Hands free means hands free to talk on the phone. It does NOT mean find another activity for your hands.  I'm sorry but until you develop eyes like a chameleon where one looks down and one looks ahead, your brain will eventually go...I CANT DO THIS!!! I am Intextificated!!! (to use one from Robin Williams's book hehe)

Luckily, I got a new car which I love.  It is much bigger than my last car and also a metallic blue, so I feel like people KNOW I'm there.  I used to drive this almost-touching-the-ground little silver car and I swear, I was easily ignored.  At least I feel a little safer with my new car.  I named her Iris! My family has a thing for naming our cars. Does anyone else do that? If so you should comment and tell me what your car's name is :)

Iris :)