Taxi Sono Qui!!!

So I know this is a week to late but I have been away and I wanted to blog about my Jersey Shore Fiesta! I am a huge fan of the show so for the premiere of their season in Italy I invited some friends over for a mini pre-party and then the main event - - JERSEY SHORE!!!

To kick off the night we made the Jersey signature drink Ron Ron Juice (for those underaged we made the non alcoholic version).  The drink consists of a combination of Watermelon Juice, Cranberry Juice, Vodka and Cherries. Mix with ice and you get a sort of summer slushy.  Now I'm sure that the people on the show use way more alcohol than we did but, it was great the way we made it.  The only suggestion is to strain out the small shavings of cherry that end up in your drink, otherwise it ends up to much like pulp in orange juice (yuck!).

For the Non-alcoholic version I used sprite instead of Vodka!

For dessert I made chocolate dipped banana bites covered in coconut! They were equally delicious!

the Plain ones defrosted to quickly so it was better to roll them in coconut!

My friends and I dressed up for the event and had a blast, hopefully this season will live up to the hype!

Half and Half

I have been creating new recipes in my head as I drive to and from work, 1) it makes the drive a bit quicker, and 2) I like making new things.  So yesterday I was thinking about one of my favorite cookies; Black and White cookies (aka the greatest thing ever made) and then I thought about the sugar-free biscotti I was going to make to bring to my grandmothers.  Then while at a stop light the two ideas got crossed and I thought why can't you make a black and white biscotti.

Well today after my delicious lunch of spinach and strawberry salad I decided to give it a try.

1 cup spinach leaves,  3 strawberries sliced, one mushroom sliced, 1 tbsp sliced almonds and sunflower seeds.

I then took my mothers biscotti recipe, once all the ingredients were mixed together I separated the batter into two bowls and  in one of the bowls I mixed in coco powder and white chips.  In the bowl that I kept original flavor I mixed in some dark chocolate chips.  Then when I made my biscotti "pancakes" I put a dollop of chocolate batter and a dollop of original batter next to each other and then created one circle.   They took the same amount of time and when they had cooled they looked like the perfect combination of chocolate and vanilla.

so delicious!

Working Late, Again...

So I work at a groccery store and though it gives me great inspiration for baking is not always the most fun when it comes to hours.  I tend to work nights, and this has begun to interfere with my dinners.  Today I decided to make dinner early and to make my favorite quick meal.

Ingredients

2 cups Quinoa

4 cups water

1 zucchini

1 summer squash

4 mushrooms

1 tomato

salt/oil/vinegar

lemon juice

I sauteed the zucchini, squash and mushrooms with some coconut oil for about five minutes while the Quinoa was cooking.

Usually I will add some feta cheese which adds a nice bite to the flavor, however, we were out, so instead I added lemon juice and oil and vinegar to taste.

Just add to a bowl and enjoy!

What to make??

I am faced with a dilemma... Tomorrow I am having some friends over for swimming and a Cook Out, which will be fun, but knowing me I will need to bake something delicious to satisfy our sweet tooth's (teeth?) anyway.... does anyone have any ideas for something easy and perfect to make for the summer???

Thanks for the Sun

For those who set out to make the greatest recipe and get their ingredients ready the night before, just remember to always take out your butter. Today I was all excited to make my newest discovered recipe; Raspberry Lemonade Bars, however, despite all my excitement my butter remained in the freezer, until I realized that I needed it to be room temperature about five minutes before I needed it. Oops... Thank God for sunny days in the middle of a heat wave because I had to go old school to warm my butter.  All I can say is thanks for the sun!

my Butter warming technique

After my butter was softened enough I made the crust which was easy, just butter, sugar, flour and salt.  The crust needed to bake for 20-25 minutes and while that was cooking we began the filling.

The filling was a smooth pink, and had bits of lemon zest mixed in.

The batter took about 35 minutes to bake and then I allowed it to cool for the rest of the day, about 6 hours and then I cut them into 16 squares.

These are a gift for my moms office tomorrow, so I made sure the plating was perfect with some powdered sugar and garnish with some mint leaves.

The Finished Product!

Lets hope they get positive reviews!!!


Here is the recipe - I got it from another blog, so please don't give me the credit!

Crust
9 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick, plus one tablespoon)
1/4 cup (50g) superfine sugar (or regular granulated)
1 cup (100g) of unbleached all-purpose flour
pinch salt
- cream butter and sugar together with salt
-mix in the flour until incorporated
-flour your hands, and then line the bottom of the pan so the crust is about a half an inch thick
-if you want you can use parchment paper to line the pan but you can also just bake as is.


Filling
1 1/2 cups (287g) superfine sugar (or regular granulated)
3 egg whites
1 egg
2/3 cup (150mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 3 lemons)
2 tablespoons lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
2/3 cup (65g) unbleached, all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1-2 cups (150-275g) of frozen raspberries, defrosted
**1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar (to top)
-whisk together all the ingredients except for the raspberries
-with a sieve press out the juices from the raspberries and then add to the mixture.
-mix together and pour over the crust
-bake for 30-35 minutes
-once cooled you can cut and dust with the confectioners sugar.

Aren't you glad I didn't say Banana (muffins)

Okay so the title of this post lies because there are actually three banana's in this recipe but I finally made Banana Bread Muffins!!! Thank you thank you!!!

The Recipe (thanks to the internet and google muffin searches) and the best thing about it is that each muffin is only about 80 calories, so you can feel guilt free while eating them!!!!

3/4 cup all purpose flour 

1/4 cup whole wheat flour 

1 Tbs baking powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1/8 tsp salt 

1 cup mashed bananas 

1/4 cup sugar 

1/4 cup applesauce 

1 egg 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

preheat the oven to 350 and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes.  

As you may have noticed I added a little chocolate to the recipe just for good measure.

The adorable cupcake wrappers are from my adventure to Ikea!! greatest place if you are looking for inexpensive baking materials!

Lunch Anyone?

My "food rut" has extended to everything I eat, and it is starting to get annoying.  Yogurt with fruit and granola for breakfast, egg white omelet for lunch and something yummy that mama T makes for dinner (can't really complain there).  Yesterday, I decided that it was time I venture back into the world of sandwiches.  I blame the internet because while I was searching away I found a recipe for grilled cheese, which by itself is eh, but when you add turkey and tomato it becomes the greatest sandwich I have ever eaten.

The Recipe

2 slices of Sesame Ezekiel Bread

2 slices of American Cheese

2 slices of Turkey

one slice of Tomato

(*cook like a regular Grilled Cheese)

I bit into this sandwich expecting it to taste like any other, however, this was a BLT in disguise.  It was probably the best thing I have ever made!!

Today I decided to continue exploring new things to eat and for breakfast had a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios with blueberries, strawberries and walnuts, topped with some almond milk.

After the gym I decided that a recovery shake was what would be lunch for the day so I ordered a Mango Tango Smoothie.  If you want to make a version of this at home take orange juice, frozen mango, frozen strawberries and ice and blend.  It is quite good!!!

Now as I write this, and wait for my Banana muffins to cool I am considering all the possibilities of what I can make for dinner??? hmm decisions, decisions.

Do you have any go-to favorites or quick dinners that are your favorite???

How to get out of a Rut..?

Today I realized that I have fallen into a baking rut.  I realize that I have been making the same recipes whenever I have the urge to bake. I will be at work thinking about new and creative things I can bake like white chocolate brownies or banana bread cupcakes and instead I will come home and make chocolate chip cookies.  While I do love cookies, I find myself wanting more out of my baking.

Tonight while surfing the internet for new ideas I found my new favorite recipe.  Raspberry lemonade Bars.

As soon and I can gather all the ingredients I will post about these bars and how wonderful I know they will be.

Have you been stuck in a rut lately?
What do you do to keep your baking interesting?

Whole Wheat Review

So after a day or two of tasting the healthier version of my Chocolate Chip cookies I have to say that they have become my new favorite thing!

At first the taste took some getting used to, but now that I look back the cookies are less sweet and help curb a sweet tooth without taking in to much sugar.

Just a quick post, however, if anyone knows a healthy alternative to butter for a cookie recipe???


Night everyone!

Whole Wheat, its a Treat

So my first attempt at substituting whole wheat flour for regular flour began this evening when I got home from work.  I had my plan in mind to alter my favorite cookie recipe.

Substitutions
White Unbleached Flour - Whole Wheat Flour

White Sugar - Splenda Sugar Blend
(it cuts your sugar in half)

Regular Chocolate Chips - Chocolate Chunks
(this was just because I wanted to use chunks instead of chips)

When the batter was mixing I noticed that the butter didn't absorb as well as it usually does with the sugar, but that was because there was less sugar in the batter.  When all the ingredients were added I could see that it made the batter a bit darker and there was a different texture to it.

The cookies took the same amount of time to bake and once finished and cooled they looked like regular Chocolate Chips (perhaps the color was a little different), however the taste was not that different.  You can definitely tell that the batter is made using Whole Wheat, but its not a bad change.

I think that this is a good alternative for people who are trying to watch what they are eating because there is about half the calories when compared to regular cookies, however, for those who like to indulge every now and then I would stick to the regular recipe, lets be honest, there is nothing as good as a freshly baked cookie.

The Experiment

So I have been baking quite a bit this summer and I realize that all my recipes satisfy the sweet tooth but when it comes the aspect of health well they fail the test.  Yes, they may be delicious but it is bathing-suit season so I want to pose a challenge to myself and any reader who would like to take that challenge.  I am going to take my recipes and  "health-a-fy" them.  I did this for the first time with my Bahama Mama cookies by switching out white flour for whole wheat four, but I want to see if it works for any recipe.  Who knows, if it works I might just make the switch permanent.

Tonight I am going to do my first test with my favorite recipe, "Mama T's Chocolate Chip Cookies", this is without a doubt the best cookie recipe as is but I want to see what I can do to make them truly "guilt free"


If this works out it will completely change my baking habits from now on.  Have you changes any recipes to make them healthier?
I love comments so let me know!!!!1

Its been a while...

Hello Everybody,

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in about 2 weeks, and I must apologize.  Honestly I haven't felt that any of my recipes lately were good enough to post about but I have made a few new things so I figured why not share them with you.

There was my Double Chocolate Chip Mint cookies.  I just took a double chocolate chip cookie recipe and added mint chips as well as white chocolate chips which were pretty good, coming from a girl who doesn't like mint and chocolate together (i know its like food treason, but hey...).

There there were the Chocolate Biscotti. Which were the greatest invention ever, and I would give you the recipe but the biscotti recipe is TOP SECRET!

 



There was also the super healthy Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins which were delicious considering that they were extremely healthy.

 Instead of using whole eggs I used egg whites and yogurt.  We used whole wheat flour and splenda instead of sugar and white flour.  They had a little bit of a different taste but the taste was good, for a healthy muffin.

That is it for my baking for the past few weeks, I promise to try to be more diligent with my writing but maybe after this quick break I will have more ideas to work with.... anyway Happy Eating!!

The Breakfast Dilemma

So this morning I woke up and had a hunger, but I had no idea what I wanted to eat, something that happens more frequent than not.  I opened the fridge and amidst many tasty treats I decided to go the yogurt route.

I enjoy Greek Yogurt, I don't know what it is but I think it is just better than regular yogurt.  The only downside is that you can't eat it by itself, so I got creative and added my summer favorites to make the best summer yogurt parfait.


The Recipe
1/2 c greek yogurt (plain)
1 TBSP Agave Nectar
1 large strawberry sliced
1/2 c Blackberries
handful of blueberries
2 TBSP granola ( I like Red Mills Apple Strawberry, but any kind is good)
handful of almonds
1TBSP chopped walnuts

Not only is this breakfast healthy, it has a bit of a kick.   To go with my yogurt I had a cup of Coconut Cream Coffee with some almond milk and I sat down with my newest book The Help which if you aren't reading you need to start because it is really good.











It was the best way to start the morning.

Puppy Love

With all the Baking I have been doing I realized that I have been neglecting one very important member of the family... my puppy.  Jack watches me every afternoon while I bake my sweet treats, however he can never eat any of them.  Today I decided it was Jack's day.  It was time for Jack to get a treat, so I dug out my Dog Biscuit recipe and whipped up a batch for him.  The Batter takes about 10 minutes to prepare and it takes 35 minutes to bake, but once they are done my dog can't get enough of them.





The Recipe:

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Corn Meal
2/3 cup Chicken Broth
8 TBSP oil
* you can add Peanut Butter, Honey or Agave for flavor or you can just leave them plain.

-Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
- Mix the ingredients together in a bowl until combined
- Roll the dough out with a rolling pin and use a  
  cookie cutter to make the cookies into fun shapes
 - Place the cookies on a baking sheet and put in the
  oven for 35 - 40 minutes.

I hope these cookies come out great for you and your puppy loves them, but lets be honest, what don't puppies love.

Coffee Cake. In Mini Form.

Remember the last time I attempted to make Coffee Cake Muffins and then the power went out for four days.  Well I made another attempt and this time the gods of thunder and lightning did not stop me.  It was a risk, since I had never made the coffee cake in a smaller form and I had no clue how long they would take to bake or if they would come out right.  But in life you need to take risks, even a risk as small as turning a coffee cake into a coffee muffin.

WEll the RISK PAID OFF because these muffins were amazing.  The girls came over for drinks and cards and the muffins were the perfect thing to complete the night.

 

 Another great thing about making these muffins was that I finally had an excuse to us my fancy cupcake wrappers... Trust me I have been looking for an excuse for a very long time.

 I even got to use some of the techniques that I picked
up while watching Cupcake Wars.  Like if you use an Ice Cream Scoop to put the batter into the muffin liners you will get the perfect size muffin.

There is nothing like muffins for dessert.

Ice Can be OH Sooo Nice!!

 a beautiful summer day people usually look for something refreshing to cool them down.  Today I worked the Italian Ice Stand at the local Flea Market.  I usually spend my sundays doing nothing and hanging out by the pool but today.  I got to the Market bright and early and set up my booth.

 Isn't it adorable!!

As the customers came in it got busier and busier and at the same time it got hotter and hotter.

With flavors like Lemon, Cherry, Watermelon and Mango (the special of the day) the customers kept on coming.

 Alyssa came for a visit and after eating some ice she discovered that "Ice is Nice".

After she left I was able to people watch and see what "treasures" the people shopping had found.  I made friends with the guys working at the table across from my booth and they were very helpful during a terrifying snake incident... although it was only terrifying to me because I hate snakes.

After we ran out of Cherry Ice we brought out todays special of Mango!!  It ended up being a crowd favorite!

After a long day outside, with my hands red from the Ice I went home.  There is nothing like working outside, even if you have to deal with a few snakes now and then.

Lets take a poll... Italian Ice or Ice Cream??

Set your Clock to Island time...

Today was cloudy and rainy and cold and all I wanted was to relax outside in the sunshine.  Today would be the greatest day if I were on an Island.  In honor of my dream of the tropics I decided to create my own Island themed cookie.  I call these BAHAMA MAMA COOKIES

I was flipping through my Cookie Bible and My moms cook book and decided that combining her Famous Oatmeal cookies and the Island Cookie (from the cookie bible) would make the perfect tropical treat.

What do you need for a cookie like this???

Flour                      Baking Powder

Sugar                     Vanilla

Brown Sugar         1 Egg

Oatmeal                 Chocolate Chips

Cinnamon              Coconut

Butter                     Cran-Raisins

Oil

Baking Soda

Bake for about 10-12 minutes!!

This ingredients combined makes the greatest combination of sweet and tart and makes the perfect tropical dessert.


For all you readers a question??? What is your favorite cookie creations??