Your Custom Text Here
Happy Birthday Jonathan!
My son is one year old today. Crazy. For his birthday party, we had family down over the 4th of July and threw his birthday party then. Here are his cakes.
(You can see his second cake in the video at the bottom of the post.)
He makes this face whenever we give him new food. Usually, anyway.
See, he likes it!
Happy Birthday Jonathan!
P.S. Thanks to my hubby, Chris, for the photos and video!
Ok, I know these are overdue, but before we get back into recipes, here are some shots of the graduation hat pops I made for my little sister's high school graduation. (Congratulations Michelle! I love you, and I'm so proud of you!) You can get the tutorial on how to make these here. Thanks Bakerella!
Read more
I LOVE quiche. When I was younger, my mom always made quiche when my dad was out of town, as he didn't like it very much, so it was elevated to treat status in my mind very quickly. After I got married, I waited awhile to break out my mom's quiche recipe, because I was afraid my dear hubby was going to dislike it, and it would be banished to when he travelled(which is not very much, we travel together when we do travel). I needn't have worried. He loves this recipe almost as much as I do. Yet another reason why I love him.
Read moreAh, the Mole sauce. Smooth, brown, curiously different from most sauces I am used to using in my daily cooking. I must confess I have a certain fear of buying condiments with which I have no experience. Once purchased, if I don't like it after all, I'm left with a large jar of something or other staring at me, which I then hate to throw out, as I spent money on it. Sad, I know, but oh well.
Read more
I did not know I liked spaghetti squash. The first time I had it, I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but I wasn't expecting the slightly sweet squashy flavor that I did encounter. Probably because the first time I had it I ate it with spaghetti sauce, which seemed logical, but it tasted horrible. (Plenty of people prefer it this way, but I couldn't get over the idea that I was expecting pasta under my sauce!) In any case, I thought I didn't like spaghetti squash because of this. That is, until I came across this recipe. It is delicious, let me tell you. Bonus, almost everything in it is absolutely fresh. (Non-fresh items? Olive oil and Parmesan cheese...not too shabby. And I suppose the pine nuts/walnuts. But I digress.)
Read more
This is a passion fruit.
I think it's ripe...
I've never eaten a passion fruit before, and when I saw them on sale at the local Super Saver, I couldn't resist.
This is what the inside looks like.
Chris and I shared this for an afternoon snack. We discovered that it tastes mostly like a tangerine, with the texture of a pomegranate....sort of. It's still all its own fruit. The thing that's most distinct to me about it was the smell. Once you smell one, you'll recognize the scent. It's used in some sports drinks and fruit juices because it smells so good.
To eat, you simply slice open the fruit, over a bowl if you want to save the juice inside, which is pretty good. Then, you have the option of either eating the fruit as is, seeds and all, or eating around the seeds, which we did, (they're quite crunchy, and got stuck in my teeth...not fun), or you can press all the contents through a sieve and then eat. It's up to you.
I don't think we'll be buying passion fruit again any time soon, simply because they cost too much for what you got, but it was a good experience, and I'd recommend that you try one someday.
I'm working on preparing a grocery list for the upcoming weeks and I thought I'd poll you, my readers. I'm looking for some new recipes that call for 100% (or nearly, not including seasonings) fresh food. Veggie recipes would be even better, but anything that calls for mostly or all fresh ingredients would be great. Any suggestions?
Read more
I loved this recipe because it was easy to throw together, and I was able to do a workout while it baked, so I felt extra productive! I didn't have skim milk, and so used 1%, but otherwise, the recipe is as is. These are the first blueberry muffins I've ever made from scratch, and I'll definitely make them again. They were gone by the next day.
Read more
First, Blueberry Almond Crumble Oatmeal. This was delicious, light and fruity. I didn't have any cherries on hand, so I substituted in some fresh blueberries. I haven't always been a great fan of blueberries, partly because I can't abide by their syrupy pie form, and partly because they're a bit too tart for me (usually) on their own. This oatmeal solved both problems, since most of the blueberries broke down a bit in the oatmeal, but there wasn't a horrible 'pie filling' syrup around them to contend with. Delicious.
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Oatmeal. I used to argue that white chocolate macadamia nut cookies could be so much better if only the white chocolate were to be replaced with milk, or even dark chocolate. No more. This was perfect. I toasted the macadamia nuts for a few minutes in a 350° oven while making the rest of the oatmeal, and pulled them out to garnish towards the end. I know I've said this before, but this is now one of my favorite ways to have oatmeal. I was even going to have this as my birthday breakfast on Saturday, but alas! I forgot to pick up the macadamia nuts ahead of time. Still, this will be a regular breakfast for me as often as I can get away with it. Yum! Enjoy!
Mmm, I love me some carrot cake. I had been looking forward to this recipe in particular, and I've made it many times since. It's just that good. A couple of suggestions, though. First of all, plan on the grating of the carrot. It takes a bit. If you want to purchase pre-grated carrot, you can, but grating isn't difficult. It simply takes a bit of time. In any case, it's not your usual 10-20 minute oatmeal. Count on almost a half hour, if your not used to the grating and do it slow.
Read more