Baking Boy

Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Icing

2012-01-31T09:30:00.000-06:00

I made these last night. I need to improve upon the recipe a tad before I post it. They really weren't bad by any means but they weren't perfect. I like PERFECTION. I am so critical of my baking sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. Argh.

I don't know if there's really a point to this blog post. I was feeling the overwhelming urge to post something since I haven't posted since December. I was originally going to post my recipe for biscuits that I made during the holidays but I somehow deleted my pictures. D'oh! How does that even happen? I remember emailing them to myself (I think!) and then deleting them from my phone. Why did I delete them? D'oh x 2! Now I can't find them anywhere. Not in my sent mail, not in my inbox, not in my trash box (that sounds naughty) or even my handy dandy flash drive that I sometimes put pictures on. Fail. I had two different kinds too; garlic-rosemary and garlic-cheddar. Le sigh. I guess I'll have to make some more.

Yummy Balls

2011-12-21T09:02:00.000-06:00

Get your mind out of the gutter people!

I am talking about some melt-in-your mouth amaretto and rum balls my friend Iwona made me. Look at these! They are even more delicious than they look. Oh and that rum packs a punch...mmmhmmm.

I have my ups and downs with this blog and I am consistently inconsistent with my posting. I sometimes feel defeated or overwhelmed when I haven't posted for a period of time. Other than that, this blog has brought good people into my life (you know who you all are!). Thank you everyone who reads this blog and thank you Iwona! Your balls are delicious.

These are a few of my favorite...ornaments

2011-12-19T09:15:00.001-06:00

The post title says it all. I'm feeling quite festive and cheerful so I figured I'd share some of my favorite ornaments. Happy Holidays!

Sprecher Brewery

2011-12-15T12:00:00.000-06:00

I swear I feel like Zane Lamprey lately with all these blogs about wine and/or beer. I still have things to post about my Michigan Winery tour. I blogged about my first and second stops and still have five more. Oh boy. Eventually they'll show up.

Since my Milwaukee visit is fresh on my mind, I thought I'd blog about my visit to Sprecher Brewery. I've been there once before and enjoyed it. The tour is $5 and you get four samples and an etched glass.

The tour isn't terribly exciting. Although I love this painting inside the brewery:

I also love this, my tickets to free samples:

Slurp slurp.

Hoestly, I'm most excited about their sodas. I'm not a big soda drinker but we did pick up a few bottles for the occasional soda craving. Yum x 10.

If you are ever in Milwaukee, check out Sprecher Brewery!

HI!

2011-12-14T11:03:00.001-06:00

It's been ages since I've blogged! I swear I say that all the time. Times have been busy but I've got a lot to say and share so more posts coming soon. This week has been amazing. It was Rob's birthday this past Saturday and we went to Milwaukee for a little weekend getaway. Lot's of fun as usual. Tori was playing in Chicago on Rob's Bday and since we were in Milwaukee we (obviously) didn't get to see her. BUT...I was able to attend Tori's taping of the Rosie Show Monday. Amazingness on so many levels. I'll be devoting an entire post to that experience. I'm still on cloud 9.

So much happiness. :D

PS...I snapped the above picture outside the Hi Hat Garage in Milwaukee. Delicious mimosas and bloody mary's and brunch foods.

Hipstamatic: Chicago Style

2011-11-11T15:45:00.001-06:00

I wanted to share some pictures I've taken out and about in Chicago with my Hipstamatic app. I take more pictures with this app than I do with my regular camera. These are some I've taken over the past few weeks. Enjoy, and happy 11/11/11!

View of Chicago from the Planetarium

View of Chicago near Buckingham Fountain

Takin' a break..oh yes.

Lakeshore Boulevard

Someone sit next to me please.

The alley next to my house

Morning sunrise while waiting for the train. Beautiful.

Michigan Wine Tour...Second Stop: Tabor Hill

2011-11-10T19:34:00.001-06:00

Whoa. I'm so behind with the wine tour postings. Seven wineries in two days and so far I've only blogged about one! I'll be honest, after so many tastings things start to blur. But this was only our second winery so I was still coherent. Actually, I was coherent the whole time, really. Yes, really! Samples in general aren't very big and I weigh 225 pounds so it takes a bit for me to feel the vino. So bring it on!

Am I making any sense?

Okay so, obligatory vineyard pictures to follow. But first I'd like to say again how beautiful the weather was for mid-October. I was wearing shorts!

I loved Tabor Hill. It was truly picturesque. My only complaint is that their tasting room was tiny and there were a lot of people packed in trying to sample wine. We were told they were in the process of expanding. Hallelujah! Wine lovers rest easy tonight.

Pretty, pretty vines

Wine and food. Mmmm!

More pretty, pretty vines

Tabor Hill had a complimentary wine tour. I love a good tour. Rob snapped this photo of me. Notice our lovely tour guide in the bottom left corner. I can't remember her name. I blame my age, not the wine. Ha....ha.

Wow those things hold a whole lot of wine....

My Bumpy Pumpkin Update!

2011-11-03T18:55:00.001-05:00

My carved pumpkin! I did a drawing years ago of a sleeping moon. I always wanted to carve something similar on a pumpkin. My pumpkin was not nearly as detailed as my drawing but I'm happy with it.

Sleepy Moon Pumpkin

The original Sleeping Moon drawing

So, not quite as detailed like I said. I mean, it would have taken me 7 hours to replicate that drawing so it's close enough!

Rob got creative and decided to carve the back of the pumpkin. Ha ha. The back was really bumpy and he made a scary face. A friend of mine said the pumpkin had split personality. I think she was right!

Scary!

My Bumpy Pumpkin

2011-10-28T09:54:00.000-05:00

Some of my Facebook friends may have seen this yesterday. I searched high and low for a pumpkin but it's nearly impossible to find one in the city this close to Halloween. I was super lucky to rescue this pumpkin. It was the last one at the store. No one wanted him and he had no other pumpkin friends. Sad face. So, I adopted him and carried him home a mile and a half in the rain. It was quite a bonding moment. This pumpkin and I...we are close now. Happy face.

I can't wait to be creative and carve it and make him look extra special. :D

So Hip

2011-10-21T13:20:00.000-05:00

I finally did it and broke down and got an iPhone. I've been playing around with the Hipstamatic app. It's been around a while but it's new to me so I'm having lots of fun with it. Just thought I'd share some pics I've taken. :)

A crabapple tree, I think

Lakefront

Do dogs carry wallets to keep their tokens in?

Parking lot boat

Bike racks

Tow Away

3 babies

Teefs

Pop machine

Sushi restaurant artwork

New shoes!

Michigan Wine Tour...First Stop: Round Barn

2011-10-20T12:06:00.000-05:00

Rob and I recently went on an extended wine tour through Southwest Michigan. They call it the Napa Valley of the Midwest. Conditions are great for growing because it it east of Lake Michigan. The temperature of the lake moderates the climate and weather, creating excellent grape-growing conditions.

We visited a total of seven wineries in just a couple of days. Yikes! I think my tongue is still numb from all the wine. We had perfect autumn weather. It actually couldn't have been more perfect.

Our first stop was Round Barn Winery. The tasting room is actually in the big round barn.The ceiling looked like a work of art!

I took this wine tour seriously. Very seriously. I want to expand my knowledge of wine and truly mature my palette. Can you hear the sophistication in my words? Or maybe a little bit of drama? Hey, I'll be honest, I just wanted to try a lot of different wines! And I actually did learn quite a bit along the way.I learned that I really like wine. Ha! Here I am sitting outside on a beautiful day enjoying a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. Mmmmmm....

Let's zoom in on that light fixture behind me. I loved it! I want one for my house even though I would have no idea where to put it.

And now, the obligatory picture of the grape vines! Ehhh, I guess if you've seen one grape vine, you've seen them all.

Stay tuned for more upcoming wine tasting adventures! Sluuuurp.

Apple Crumble

2011-10-12T19:57:00.000-05:00

So easy you can make it in your sleep!

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter - cold
1 cup of old-fashioned oats
3 pounds of apples - peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar and salt. Cut butter into small pieces and put into flour mixture. Using a pastry blender, combine ingredients until they are crumb-like.

3. Add oats and mix with hands until combined and chunky. Put mixture in the fridge while you prepare the apples.

4. Put apples in a large bowl. Evenly sprinkle vanilla and lemon juice over the apples and stir. Add the white sugar and cinnamon and stir again to evenly coat the apples.

5. Grease a 2 quart glass baking dish with butter. Place apples in the baking dish and evenly distribute crumb topping. Bake until bubbling, about 60-70 minutes. Be sure to put foil or a pan underneath the baking dish.

6. Remove and allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

It's great with vanilla bean ice cream. Mmmm.

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Hummingbird Cupcakes

2011-10-04T12:51:00.000-05:00

nom nom nom

This is the first time I have made hummingbird cupcakes so I used a Martha Stewart recipe. I had to omit the walnuts since I am allergic but feel free to add them if you like them! I love these cupcakes. I've been eating them in the morning (unfrosted) with a cup of coffee and they are delicious. Go make these now!

Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes roughly 24 cupcakes
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for CUPCAKES

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups mashed ripe bananas
8 ounces crushed pineapple
1 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

INGREDIENTS for CREAM CHEESE ICING

8 ounces cream cheese - room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter - room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 ounces (1 pound) powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS for the CUPCAKES

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. Using a mixer and a large bowl, beat the butter, vanilla and sugar until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well with mixer before adding the next egg. After all 3 eggs have been added, beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.

4. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas well. Add the pineapple, coconut and walnuts (optional) and combine. Add to the egg mixture and combine well. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, and combine all ingredients.

5. Divide batter evenly in the 24 cupcake pans. The batter should go almost to the top of the liners:

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes (rotate pans halfway through baking) or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before icing.

DIRECTIONS for CREAM CHEESE ICING

1. Using a mixer and a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until combined.

2. Add sugar, little by little, while beating with a mixer and combine well.

3. Put icing in a pastry bag or a heavy-duty freezer bag with the tip snipped off. Pipe icing onto to cupcakes.

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!

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Low-Fat Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake Cupcakes

2011-09-27T13:38:00.000-05:00

I'm really loving this recipe! I found a cheesecake swirl recipe from Annie's Eats and changed it up a bit to my liking. I love cheesecake but I don't like all the fat that comes along with it so I made a low-fat version. And they are delicious! My only complaint is that the blueberry taste was not strong. Next time I'll experiment with different fruit flavors (like strawberry or raspberry) and see which one works best.

Adapted from: Annie's Eats
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for the CRUST:

1 1/2 cups of finely ground graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
4 tablespoons melted margarine

INGREDIENTS for the CHEESECAKE FILLING:

2 pounds (32 ounces) of fat-free cream cheese - room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs

INGREDIENTS for the BLUEBERRY SWIRL:

1 cup blueberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar

DIRECTIONS for the CRUST:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Line 24 muffin/cupcake tins with liners. In a small bowl, stir together the graham crackers, sugar and zest. Add the melted margarine and stir until combined. Take 1 full tablespoon of the graham cracker mixture and put into the bottom of each liner. Take a small glass and flatten the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake. Bake for 6 minutes then set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

DIRECTIONS for the CHEESECAKE FILLING:

1. In a large bowl, whip the cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy-about 4 minutes. Add the sugar and the vanilla and mix for another 1-2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, while mixing and combine well.

2. Pour 3 tablespoons of cheesecake batter over each of the pre-baked crusts.

DIRECTIONS for the BLUEBERRY SWIRL:

1. Combine blueberries, lemon juice, water and sugar in a medium-sized pan. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes or until the blueberries have broken down and become juicy.

2. Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve. You want about 10-12 teaspoons worth of thick blueberry juice for the cupcakes.*

3. Using about 1/2 a teaspoon of the juice per cupcake, place 3 dots on each of the cupcakes.

4. Using a toothpick (and some creativity), swirl the blueberry mixture around.

5. Bake 325 F for 22-25 minutes or until the cupcakes have set.

6. Set aside to cool for 1 hour then put in the fridge for 3 hours to chill completely before serving.

* Save the remaining blueberry mixture to top ice cream or yogurt. It's delicious!

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MillerCoors Brewery Tour

2011-09-16T15:14:00.000-05:00

I'm not a fan of Miller beer (sorry Miller). But recently, on a visit to Milwaukee, Rob and I decided to take a tour of the MillerCoors brewery. My favorite Milwaukee breweries are Lakefront (yum!) and Sprecher. The MillerCoors was a free tour with three free samples, so...why not. It's a massive operation so it was interesting to see. That's about it...ha! Enjoy the pics. :)

The Girl in the Moon logo...hey hey!

The bottling plant...huge.

We were like a herd of cattle being directed through the long hallways...moooove.

A massive Miller sign on the side of the brewing building. I'm dizzy.

The huge brew kettles

The Girl in the Moon, inside the cave.

If you look closely...

The Fonz!

2011-09-14T19:34:00.000-05:00

So excited to finally see the famous Fonz statue in Milwaukee!

Ayyy!

Ferrante Winery

2011-09-02T17:56:00.001-05:00

My motto: Never pass up a wine tasting opportunity.

I stick to this motto wholeheartedly. So of course when my parents suggested a wine tasting at Ferrante during my last visit to Ohio, I could not refuse. I recently got back and I miss my family already. Sad face. But I have lots of great memories. Specifically, the memory of drinking all of these wine samples in the course of 20 minutes and barely being able to walk.

Slurp, slurp, slurp.

Yeah, that was fun! Can I get a "Whooohoo!"?

The temps here have been HOT. Like 95 degrees HOT so no baking the past couple days. But...there is a cool-down this weekend and I have plans to bake now that the weather will be cooler. Can I get another "Whooohoo!"? Anyone?

Summer Sunsets

2011-08-24T20:55:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to share a few photos of some sunsets this past summer. All three of these were taken on Lake Michigan.

Ahhhh, summer...you will be sadly missed.

Raspberry-Ricotta Scones

2011-08-23T09:45:00.000-05:00

Rainbows, Roberto, RES, Reading, Roses, Red-Velvet Cake, Recliners, (jump) Ropes and Raspberry-Ricotta Scones. So many great things that begin with the letter ’R’! I have been on a scone kick lately. I found this recipe for raspberry-ricotta scones on one of my favorite sites, smittenkitchen.com. I will be honest and say that these are not my favorite scones. They are not bad but, if I do make them again I’ll add more raspberries and maybe some lemon zest. The ricotta gives them a rich taste but changes the texture to be more cake-like. I like my scones to be firm. My favorite recipe for scones is my recipe for Cranberry Lemon Scones. Mmmm…deelish!

Now, I did deviate from the original recipe and I used 100% all-purpose flour as opposed to half all-purpose and half whole wheat. I ran out of whole wheat flour so I didn’t have a choice. Maybe the whole wheat would have changed the consistency? I’m not really sure. And a reminder with scones, they are always best the day you make them.

Printable Recipe

Adapted from SmittenKitchen.com

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup whole milk ricotta
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter - cold *
1 cup fresh raspberries **

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl mix the ricotta and the heavy cream until evenly combined.

3. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter to flour mixer and combine using a pastry blender. When the consistency is course and 'crumb-like', stir in the raspberries.

4. Pour ricotta mixture into flour/butter mixture and stir only until it clumps together. Set dough on a floured surface. Cover your hands with flour and knead the dough lightly, only once or twice. Re-flour surface if needed then flatten dough into a circle or square until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces.

5. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and evenly spread out the scones. Brush them with a light coat of heavy cream. Bake for 13-15 minutes until they are lightly browned. Remove and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

* When making scones, always use good quality butter. Don’t buy the cheap stuff! Good quality butter will make a big difference in taste.

** For an extra kick in flavor, add 1 teaspoon of lemon zest.

Enjoy!

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Arancini, again!

2011-08-21T08:59:00.000-05:00

Hello, happiness.

A couple months ago I had a wonderful lesson in making arancini. I made them again last week. This time I was on my own and making them from memory. They tasted exactly the same as when Rob's aunt was here. That made me so happy! And it made my belly happy.

I haven't been blogging much lately because I have been out and about enjoying summer as much as humanly possible. I will however, be posting about some raspberry ricotta scones I made a couple days ago. In fact, I'm eating one now. Mmmmmmm...look for that post soon! :)

Dune Rides

2011-07-12T15:28:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in my latest muffin recipe post, Rob and I went on a mini vacation recently. Every year, for the past four years, we have gone to Saugatuck Michigan. It's a really easy trip, only about a two and a half hour drive from Chicago. It's a great place to get away from the city and just relax. Ahhhh.

I've blogged about Saugatuck before. The most recent post was about our Fenn Valley Winery tour. That was amazing! It was a perfect autumn day. This time around it was hot and sunny. We hung out at the beach, went on a sunset cruise and went on a dune ride. I just had to blog about the dune ride because it was just so much fun and not at all what I was expecting. It's fast...very fast! It was also educational. The dunes actually formed because of The Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The land was originally thick with trees and after the fire, the town of Singapore Michigan was almost completed deforested for the wood. The lumber was shipped to Chicago and used to rebuild the city. After the trees were wiped out, the wind off of lake Michigan blew sand inland and created the dunes at an alarmingly fast rate. The town of Singapore was eventually evacuated and is now buried deep under the dunes. And now it's a perfect place for a dune ride. Whooohoo!

So here are some pictures from the ride. We had a really fun and funny tour guide/driver named Joey. He told us that the last row of seats was the bumpiest so we took on the challenge.

You can't tell, but we were actually going really fast when Rob took this picture. I am gripping onto the seat with my left hand...yikes!

Our fellow co-riders:

Our tour guide/driver:

I think his hands weren't on the wheel. He did that a couple times to scare us. Ha!

So purdy!

Construction? It's like being back in Chicago.

Our driver tried to convince us that a worker was buried in the dune. If you look closely you'll see feets sticking up. Something tells me he's lying...

Can anyone say, workers' compensation? Haha.

He took us up to the highest dune and we had some time to stop and get out to take pictures. Here I am on the dune:

This is a better picture of what was behind me. It's quite breathtaking:

If you are ever anywhere near Saugatuck, you must go on a dune ride. It was tons-o-fun.

Raspberry-Lemon Muffins

2011-07-08T09:43:00.000-05:00

Wow, I have so much to blog about! Rob and I went on a much needed mini vacation last week. I have a lot to share but I wanted my first post to be a recipe post since it's been a while. On our drive home we stopped at a Earl's Farm Market, a U-pick fruit farm. We loaded up on raspberries and blueberries. We picked 3 pints of raspberries and 10 pounds of blueberries. Yes, 10 pounds! It was quite a process picking them and even more of a process washing them and packaging them for freezing. But now I have a lot of frozen fruit for future baking.

I wanted to start out baking with the raspberries. I found an easy recipe online so I couldn't resist. They are yummy!

Printable Recipe

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

2 egg whites
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh raspberries*

*If using frozen raspberries, allow to thaw before using.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs whites, yogurt, vegetable oil, lemon juice and lemon zest. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and lightly mix until blended. Fold in the raspberries.

4. Spoon the batter evenly into the 12 muffin tins. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Cool for one hour before eating.

6. Eat 'em up!

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A Little Chipmunk

2011-06-28T09:41:00.000-05:00

I completely forgot to upload this photo yesterday on my blog post about the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I love chipmunks! So cute! Hi little chipmunk. :D

Chicago Botanic Gardens

2011-06-27T13:08:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was PRIDE weekend in Chicago. Whoohoo! Happy pride to all. An exciting weekend all around especially because of this. New York is the 6th state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage. Being such a huge state it will hopefully open up the doors and influence other states to change laws and legalize same-sex marriages. It's an exciting step but there is still a lot more to fight for so show your pride and stand up for equality! Yes!

On a lighter note, Rob and I had decided we were going to go hiking on Saturday and enjoy the pride parade and festivities on Sunday. We decided to do some hiking in the Forest Preserve, then head to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. Admission is free, unless you park in their lot which will cost you $20 dollars. We decided to cheat and we parked in the Forest Preserve parking lot and walked roughly 2.5 miles up the gardens. We were feeling very ambitious. I think we walked roughly 7 miles that day. Here are some pictures I took around the gardens. It's such a visually stimulating place!

I liked these but I forgot what they're called. Whoops.

More pretty flowers that I also do not know the name of.

Here's my little bee friend. Hello little bee friend!

I loved this sculpture.

These flowers were my favorite! Purple Alliums or "Onion Flowers"

Ahhh refreshing!

The Theodore C Butz Carillon.

One of my favorite parts of the gardens was the Rose Garden. "Stop and smell the roses", as they say. We literally did. This may sound cheesy but it was such a great moment. To admire and appreciate the beauty of nature that we sometimes take for granted. Each rose was so special and smelled completely different. I wanted to smell the roses all day! Any chance I get from now on I will definitely stop and smell the roses. :)

Ahhhhhh...

Amazing!

Homemade Arancini = Heaven

2011-06-24T11:34:00.001-05:00

Arancini. The word itself just rolls off the tongue like buttah. Thanks to Rob's aunt, I was lucky enough to learn how to make homemade arancini. (Insert many exclamation points here). This was so exciting for me. For those that don't know, arancini originated in Sicily. They are fried rice balls coated with bread crumbs. The middle contains mozzarella cheese, peas and a meat sauce. How could you not love a deep fried ball of rice with cheese in the middle?! Yuuuum.

So, three weeks ago Rob's mom and aunt came to Chicago for a visit. We were lucky to have fantastic weather that weekend. Rob's aunt is an expert in the kitchen. The day they arrived she made homemade pizzas and arancini. It was delicious! Here's a pic of us happily making the arancini:

She's a great teacher!

What a process! Messy, but totally worth it. I have yet to try making them on my own but I will soon. And I may need to have Rob's aunt on speaker phone just to make sure I don't forget anything. Here she is posing with the yummy arancini:

It was a great visit and it was nice spending time with his mom and aunt. I'm so glad they came. And I'm so glad I still have some leftover arancini in the freezer. Mmmmm!

Salsa!

2011-06-22T15:06:00.002-05:00

This is kind of boring. I mean, salsa is easy to make and I don't really need to do a post about it. But as you can see, I'm going to anyway! I'm not actually a big fan of this salsa recipe so I'm hoping you (yes you!) will share a good salsa recipe. Something different, something fun. Whoohooo.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

3 tomatoes - diced
1/4 cup onion - chopped
1/4 cup cilantro - chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 clove of garlic - crushed

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix together then eat it up.

Porch Garden Update

2011-05-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

Up until this past weekend, the weather in Chicago has been completely inconsistent. There have been lots of cold days recently. But judging from the sudden warm weather and the extended weather forecast, it looks like it's going to stay warm. Finally. This makes me happy inside.

Rob and I got our porch together this past weekend and planted our little basil plants.

They grow up so fast. It seemed like yesterday they were itty bitty little sprouts.

We had a lot of little basil plants so we planted them in two containers. In the rectangular container we planted the parsley, three little basil plants and a full grown basil plant that we bought. We want to use basil right away so we bought the full grown one to use until the little guys grow up.

We planted a lot in the big round basket. We may have planted too many in there but if it gets out of control we'll pluck a few out.

Here are our impatiens:

We actually planted some a few weeks ago (thinking it was going to be warm) but unfortunately it got really cold and they basically died. So we had to buy new plants. They look much better than the original ones. Within a month they'll fill up the box.

Here's our big rosemary plant:

I love rosemary. I love touching rosemary so my hands smell like it. Ahhh...

Our landlord planted new grass. It's so green and perfect and suburban looking. Much nicer than the lawn last year. Actually, it wasn't much of a lawn last year. It was mostly weeds. After taking this picture I had a flashback of the 5 foot snow drift from the blizzard of the century. Yikes.

I love this building when it's covered in leaves. It's not fully covered yet, but it's close:

It's much better than this.

And here's a picture of our alley. Just because I like it.

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The Inconsistent Blogger

2011-05-24T10:06:00.001-05:00

That should really be the title of my blog. I guess I go through phases. Sometimes I get busy and don’t have time to blog. Other times I get a little overwhelmed at the idea of sharing my personal life with anyone who has access to this endless universe known as the internet. The latter is more applicable in recent weeks. I realistically know that I’m the one who controls what is shared about my life, but sometimes I question whether I want to share anything at all to anyone out there who can turn on a computer. I’ve also been in a funk because of the weather. It may sound silly to some people but I’ve realized that the weather greatly affects me emotionally. This Chicago Spring is 100 times more inconsistent than my blogging. One day it’s hot, the next it’s cold. Mostly cold, actually. I love this city but I am really questioning things. I need heat and sun and at this rate I’m not sure if I’ll get that this summer in Chicago. Who knows, maybe I will. I’m just not feeling optimistic right now. I am also not feeling motivated to bake so who knows when my next blog post will be. It could be tomorrow or it could be next month. Either way, it will happen again…eventually.

I do love you Chicago. But your weather stinks lately.

Bruschetta

2011-05-03T08:19:00.001-05:00

Bruschetta is so easy to make. And it's healthy. The recipe I'm posting is exactly how I like my bruschetta. You can add or subtract ingredients depending on what you like.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

3 medium sized plum tomatoes - diced
2 small garlic cloves - crushed
5-7 fresh basil leaves - chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Italian bread

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar in a bowl. Refrigerate for 1 hour prior to serving.

2. Slice bread into equal 1/2 inch thick slices. Toast on a baking sheet in a 400 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool before topping with the tomato mixture. Serve and enjoy!

This is such a great snack. Easy to make and healthy!

Note: This is an old post that got a bit of a makeover. I made some bruschetta for guests this past weekend and took a better picture than what I had previously posted. I also created a printable recipe link so I figured I'd post it again. Enjoy!

Spring Has Sprung

2011-05-02T11:36:00.000-05:00

Finally!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2011-04-29T06:12:00.005-05:00

You may be saying to yourself, "But David, these do not look like carrot cake cupcakes!" I know, I know. They look more like rolls with melted Velveeta. But I promise you they are yummy carrot cake cupcakes. My decorating vision was not well executed. I've always decorated carrot cake with little carrots made of frosting but this time I wanted to do something different. I got a little carried away with the drizzling of the orange frosting. I blame the mimosa I was drinking! Oh well. They taste fantastic so that's all that matters.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for the CUPCAKE

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups finely grated carrots

INGREDIENTS for the ICING

1/4 cup cream cheese softened
2 tablespoons butter softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS for the CUPCAKE

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups.

2. In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat together eggs and sugar with a mixer for 2 minutes or until it becomes lighter in color and a little frothy. Add the vegetable oil, vanilla and carrot and mix with a spoon.

4. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture and combine. Fill the 12 muffin cups to the top with the batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

DIRECTIONS for the FROSTING

1. In a medium size bowl with a hand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter. Once combined, beat the vanilla in. Add the powdered sugar little by little until smooth.

2. Frost the cupcakes once they have cooled to room temperature.

3. Decorate them differently than I did. Ha!

Also, be sure to 'like' Baking Boy on Facebook or follow Baking Boy on Twitter!

Natalie Merchant - Leave Your Sleep

2011-04-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

Last week marked the one year anniversary of the release of Natalie Merchant's Leave Your Sleep album. Normally I don't think twice about an album's anniversary. However, Leave Your Sleep has become one of my absolute favorite albums. She turned other people's poetry into music, 26 songs to be exact. It contains a broad range of musical styles and somehow remains completely cohesive. I find some sort of comfort in this album, something I can't explain.

I was lucky enough to see her live two times last year. Once was an intimate show last April at the Poetry Center. Such an amazing show. I also saw her this past July at the Chicago Theatre which I briefly blogged about here.

Anyone who hasn't heard this album should have a listen. Get the full version with the 26 songs. In the booklet she explains each poem and gives the background of the original poet. I just love it! So there. Haha. I think this post got a little melodramatic. Oh well. Have a listen to The Peppery Man, one of my favorite songs off Leave Your Sleep:

Also, be sure to 'like' Baking Boy on Facebook or follow Baking Boy on Twitter!

Goose Island Brewery Tour

2011-04-27T07:00:00.002-05:00

I love going on brewery tours. I've decided I need to check out every brewery tour available in Chicago. I've been to a couple in Milwaukee including Lakefront Brewery and Sprecher's Brewing Company. Both were a lot of fun so if you're ever in Milwaukee, check 'em out.

Goose Island Brewery is the biggest in Chicago so I was really excited to see what they had to offer. It's $10 for a the tour plus beer tasting and a souvenir glass. Per usual, you get a fashionable wristband:

Sleek!

You're allowed to take a beer on the tour...bonus! It's not included in the cost of the tour but you can buy one at the bar before the tour starts. The tour takes place in one room where the tour guide explains extensively their process of brewing, along with a lot of Goose Island facts.

There's the obligatory Q & A but at that point I think we were all ready to chug (I mean try) some samples, so not a single question was asked. Ha!

The tasting was my favorite part of the tour. You're probably thinking I'm a lush but, no...it was just fun. I swear! The tasting was set-up in a communal style. Very different than any other tasting I've experienced. As you can see in the above picture, you get to try 6 different beers. The samples were not as generous as I thought they would be. However, the guide went into detail about each one; color, smell and taste. Other tours I've been on are not nearly as detailed when it comes to the tasting. We also got a souvenir glass. Another bonus...

....and totally worth it!

PS...be sure to 'like' Baking Boy on Facebook or follow Baking Boy on Twitter!

Gloomy Weather

2011-04-26T07:10:00.000-05:00

I'm really considering moving to a warmer climate. Someplace where there's more sun than clouds, more warmth than cold. This Chicago spring gets 2 thumbs down. With the exception of a couple warm days, it's been cold and cloudy. Yuck. This was the view from my front window yesterday:

Cold, cloudy and barely any growth on the trees. Yuck.

At least the 7 foot snow pile is gone:

But, I need warm weather...and sun. Now.

An Impostor In My Garden

2011-04-25T16:48:00.001-05:00

My little basil seedlings are growing up so fast:

The second set of leaves are starting to emerge:

Just a couple of weeks ago they were tiny little sprouts. As long as the weather warms up in the next few weeks, they'll be ready to go outside. I took advice from Natalie and I've been gently blowing air on them each day to toughen them up a bit and get them ready for the windy outdoors.

However, there is an impostor in the garden:

That's definitely not basil! Maybe mint? Hmm...I think I'll let it grow just a little and transplant it and see what happens. But it's probably just a weed....

Grilled Tilapia with Cilantro and Lime

2011-04-22T09:50:00.004-05:00

First of all HAPPY EARTH DAY! Do something today (and everyday!) that is earth-friendly.

Secondly, Happy Belated Anniversary (yesterday) to me and Rob. Whooohooo! 8 years and counting! We celebrated last night by going to our favorite BYOB Mexican restaurant in the city of Chicago: Los Nopales. They have the best chorizo. I could literally bathe myself in it. YUM. One of these days I'm going to devote a whole post to my Los Nopales adventures.

Last but not least, let's talk about grilled tilapia. My new favorite thing to grill. We've been having a few warm-ish days here and there so Rob and I try our best to take advantage and grill. The great thing about tilapia is that it's a mild tasting fish and will easily absorb the flavors you marinate it in. You can really be creative and mix up whatever flavors you like. Here's my recipe. If you're not a fan of cilantro, you can substitute it with fresh basil or parsley.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
The juice of 2 fresh limes
The zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic

4 fresh tilapia fillets (roughly 1 pound)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large baking dish that will fit the four fillets, combine the above ingredients (but not the tilapia) and mix well.

2. Once mixed, add the tilapia fillets and evenly coat them in the mixture. Marinate the fillets in the mixture for 1 hour in the fridge.

Swim in the marinade little fishes!

3. Coat a non-stick grilling tray with a light coating of oil. Set the tray on the grill and heat grill to medium high.

4. Once heated, add the fillets and cook for 3-4 minutes each side.

Rob, the Grill Master!

PS...be sure to 'like' Baking Boy on Facebook or follow Baking Boy on Twitter!

PPS...I'm going on a Goose Island brewery tour tomorrow. I can't wait! Look for a post about it soon!

The City of Fake People

2011-04-19T14:19:00.001-05:00

A few weeks back Rob and I took a little road trip to Carmel Indiana. Why Carmel you ask? Well, for his birthday this past December I bought him tickets to a jazz show. It was a trio of performers: Nikki Yanofsky, Jane Monheit and Diane Reeves. We had 2nd row seats (which was amazing) and it was held at the brand new Center for the Performing Arts. A beautiful venue and an amazing show. I loved all three performers. Jane has always been a favorite (her voice is like buttah, just like Lizz) but I have to say Diane's performance was spectacular. She's a seasoned jazz singer and it shows.

So I was hoping that Carmel would have a fountain of caramel in the town square. I know that's very Willy Wonka-ish of me to think but I was hoping. Alas, they did not. But they did have sculptures of people all over the little town. They are all in various positions, doing various things. Frozen in time. They were creepy, seriously. We were walking around the town on Sunday and there were no 'real' people around, just these fake people. It reminded me of the movie Return to Oz where all the people were turned to stone. Eerie....

Yes I'd love to ...ummm...dance with you...?

Really deep thoughts...

Would you like to water my basil? uhhh...nevermind...

Hey! get a room!

Why the stern face? Here, let's have a photo shoot...say, "cheese!"

Turkey Chili Yum Yum Yum

2011-04-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

I officially love my Crock-Pot! Rob made turkey chili last week and it turned out so good. This picture was after we had a couple helpings so he made a full 6 quarts. We've had plenty left over for lunches and enough to freeze. I'm not going to post the recipe because he loosely followed a recipe he found online. There were a lot of changes and additions to it and I didn't keep track of all of them. Whoops! But, I've been given a lot of great recipes from people so there will be more Crock-Potting soon!

I love you little red Crock-Pot!

City Porch Garden 2011

2011-04-10T10:56:00.001-05:00

So Rob and I have started the planting for our porch garden. Through trial and error we have found that certain things grow well on our porch and certain things do not. We are limited as far as sun goes so it's a little tricky. However...Mint, oregano, rosemary and basil all grow fairly well so that's what we're sticking to this year. We use a lot of basil when cooking so we planted lots of seeds this year. Right now we have the seedlings in our front window since there is abundant sunshine:

It's so exciting seeing the little seedlings sprout!

Last year we planted parsley from seed. This is what it looked like last summer (scroll down to the end of the post). I had no hope for it. But, at the end of summer, Rob brought it in the house and kept it in the front window. Now it looks like this:

It's suddenly doing really well. It only took A YEAR! But now I have high hopes for it.

I can't wait until it's warm enough to move the plants outside and plant flowers. I love flowers! I also can't wait to enjoy my porch, herbs and flowers while drinking some mojitos. Yum!

Illustrations

2011-04-07T12:28:00.001-05:00

Long gone are the days of my little Post it note drawings. I am now using Adobe Illustrator. My old way of doing illustrations was, well, backwards. I love working in Illustrator and I'm slowly teaching myself how to use it (with a little help from Rob). Here are a couple I did recently. I didn't spend a lot of time on them so they aren't perfect but I'm pretty happy with them. And I'm excited to make new illustrations!

Blueberry Scones with Streusel Topping

2011-04-06T15:22:00.001-05:00

I found this recipe online and have to say it’s one of my least favorite scones I’ve made. It's not a bad recipe by any means it's just not a favorite (like this one). And not because of taste, but because of texture. No offense to Joy of Baking where I found the recipe. There are a lot of great recipes on that site! I just found this to be too cake-like. And the streusel topping made it seem more like a muffin then a scone. Regardless, give it a try. It was tasty!

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for SCONES

1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut up into little chunks)
1 cup fresh blueberries

INGREDIENTS for STRUESEL TOPPING

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut up into little chunks)

DIRECTIONS for SCONES

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl whisk together milk, egg and vanilla.

3. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Add butter to flour mixture and combine using a pastry blender. When the consistency is course and 'crumb-like' fold in the blueberries.

4. Pour milk/egg mixture into flour mixture and stir only until it clumps together. Pour dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cover your hands with flour and knead the dough lightly-only once or twice. Re-flour surface if needed then flatten dough into a circle until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces.

5. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and evenly spread out the scones. Brush them with a light coat of milk then prepare the streusel topping.

DIRECTIONS for STRUESEL TOPPING

1. Whisk together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the butter and using a pastry blender, mix until the consistency is course and 'crumb-like'. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons on to the coated scones.

Note: This makes more streusel topping then you need. Save it and sprinkle it on vanilla ice cream. It’s delicious!

2. Bake the scones 18- 20 minutes until they are lightly browned. Remove and place on a cooling rack to cool completely. These are best the day you make them.

I Have a Crock-Pot!

2011-04-04T12:58:00.001-05:00

Finally. It's kind of shocking that I didn't own one. My Mom (thanks Mom!!) bought me one:

Mine is red, not silver. Red is my favorite color and when I finally get my red KitchenAid mixer (hint, hint Santa) I will have a matching set of red appliances. Whoohooo. I'll be doing some Crock-Pot cooking this week. Stay tuned!

Rob's Homemade Chicken Soup

2011-03-09T19:31:00.001-06:00

He's so good to me when I don't feel well. :)

Sluuuuuuuurp

Potato Chip FAIL

2011-03-03T11:49:00.000-06:00

I think I was slightly over-confident when approaching this whole homemade potato chip making process. They did not turn out the way I anticipated…at all! I bought 2 lovely organic potatoes from Whole Foods yesterday. I had some ideas for flavors; rosemary-garlic flavor and sea salt and vinegar with black pepper.

Mistake number 1: I do not have a mandoline. I thought I could use my big hand-held veggie slicer. I tried, but I only got inconsistent chunks of potatoes. FAIL. So I had to slice by hand. I admit I’m a pretty good slicer but it’s so hard to slice them evenly and thin. They were all slightly different thicknesses so they all finished baking at different times.

Mistake number 2: I put too much vinegar and not enough oil on the vinegar/black pepper chips. They all suck to the baking sheet. I could barely scrape them off. FAIL.

Chip FAIL

Mistake number 3: I put way too much salt on the chips. I gagged when I ate one. FAIL. So to say the least I learned a lot from this. I think making baked potato chips could be really easy. I now know (well I think I know) the proper seasonings to use, I just need to get a mandoline.

Stay tuned for more potato chips posts. I will get this right one day!

Salty, but yummy

Lizz Wright

2011-03-02T08:00:00.001-06:00

Rob introduced me to her music many years ago. Her voice is like buttah. Just beautiful and calming and soulful. The first I saw her live was at Schubas Tavern here in Chicago a couple years back. I was stunned that first time. She has an amazing live voice and her stage presence is hauntingly comfortable.

We saw her again just last week. As we were waiting to get into the venue we struck up a conversation with the woman behind us in line. She made a statement that I think is so true. She said something along the lines of, "She's lived many lives to develop a voice like that". Her comment really stuck with me because I think it's true. I think she's an old soul.

I took a few pictures with my point-and-shoot. It was dark and I wasn't really close so I had to do some editing of the photos to clean them up a bit. Here are a few pics followed by a YouTube video of one of my favorite songs by Lizz. Click the pics to enlarge. Enjoy!

Like buttah!

Spring (Label) Cleaning

2011-03-01T15:39:00.000-06:00

I had an excessive amount of labels on my blog posts. I felt like a lot of recipes were getting lost in the oblivion of older posts, never to be seen again. I decided to simplify my labels to make things easier to find. They are now broken down into simple categories like, ‘scones’, ‘cupcakes’, ‘my artwork’, etc. I positioned the search box above the labels in case there are specific recipes/flavors people are looking for like, ‘pumpkin’ or ‘chocolate’ or whatever.

Since this past autumn I have been creating printable recipe pages for each post. I’ve only done this with recent posts and a few older, popular ones. My plan is to (eventually) make a printable page for each and every recipe. It will happen, soon. Now if someone could clean my windows and scrub my floors…

If at first you don't succeed...

2011-02-27T16:27:00.001-06:00

I love the recipe I recently posted for the chocolate cream cheese cupcakes so much so that I decided to experiment. Sometimes with baking and/or cooking, things don't always turn out the way you plan. And that's what happened with this experiment.

I wanted to make a similar recipe but I wanted the cream cheese part to be raspberry cream cheese. I love chocolate and raspberry together. Such a good combination of flavors! I bought raspberries yesterday. To my disgust, I opened them today and the bottom layer of raspberries were covered in black mold. Yack! Of course I was in the middle of baking so it wasn't feasible to run up to the store and take them back. Luckily I had some frozen strawberries in the fridge that I could use as a substitution.

The chocolate part of the cupcake turned out terrific. The strawberry cream cheese part unfortunately did not. It oozed and flattened out:

They kind of look like cookies in that picture. Luckily they taste good regardless of the fact that the cream cheese part oozed. I guess I'll have to keep experimenting until they are perfect. It's a tough job to taste-test but somebody has to do it. Ha! Once I get it perfected I'll post the recipe.

Also, I'm very excited about my new blog look. I designed a new banner and gave my blog a little Spring face-lift. Spring is right around the corner and I can't wait!

Blueberry Pie

2011-02-25T15:29:00.001-06:00

I love pies. There’s something comforting about having a pie baking in the oven on a cold winter day. The smell that fills the house is incredible. I decided that I needed to (finally) use up the blueberries I picked last summer. This pie used up all but one cup of my frozen blueberries. I will have to make something special with the last of them and I will definitely have to go blueberry picking again this year.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for the PIE

1 pre-made pie crust
4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

2/3 cup granulated sugar
7 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A dash of nutmeg
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INGREDIENTS for the TOPPING

1/4 cup butter softened
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Roll the pre-made pie crust onto a 9 inch pie pan. If there is any dough hanging over the sides of the pan, fold it inward so the dough is level with the pie pan. Put all 4 cups of the blueberries in the pie pan.

2. In a medium-sized bowl combine the granulated sugar, corn starch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the lemon juice, pomegranate juice and the vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour the mixture evenly over the blueberries in the pie pan.

3. To make the topping, mix together the butter, brown sugar and flour. Mix well until the consistency is crumb-like. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the pie.

4. Bake for 1 hour. The pie should be bubbling. If not, bake another 10 minutes. Allow to cool about 1-2 hours before serving.

Eat and enjoy!

Butterflies and screaming children…oh my.

2011-02-21T13:22:00.002-06:00

Rob and I visited Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum this past weekend. It was a sunny but chilly day so we thought it was a good time to check out a museum we haven’t been to. Really, this museum is not for the faint of heart. It is crawling…with children! I like kids, really I do but when there are hundreds of them screaming and yelling and throwing their milk carton thingies at me I tend to lose patience (and some of my hearing). A lot of the museum is geared towards children but there were a couple things Rob and I wanted to see. There is an interesting exhibition of lost panoramas that documented the reversal of the Chicago River back in the late 1800’s. A seemingly impossible feat! It was an interesting exhibition but rather small. I wish there would have been more panoramas.

The most fascinating exhibition was the Butterfly Haven. You’re in a jungle-like room (a very hot room) with butterflies flying all around you. It’s amazing seeing so many in one place. And they are beautiful. I was able to snap a few up-close pictures:

Pssst....these two were mating. I gave them privacy after I took this....

As we were looking around we spotted this really pretty bird right above our heads. I have no idea what kind of bird it was but I'm glad it stayed still long enough for me to snap a picture.

chirp chirp

I also loved this sculpture outside the museum. It's called Steelroots.

So aside from the screaming kids it was a fun museum trip. I got some great pictures and had a lovely afternoon with Rob so I'd say it was a pretty successful outing. All the bright colors of the butterflies inspired me. I think I should bake something colorful. :)

Healthy Blueberry Loaf

2011-02-16T12:05:00.004-06:00

This recipe is a work in progress. I still have frozen blueberries from my blueberry picking last summer and I’ve been itching to use them up. Since the holidays are long gone it’s time to start baking a little bit healthier. I decided to do some experimenting. I found a base recipe for a blueberry loaf and changed things to my liking in order to make it healthier. To my surprise it turned out really well. It’s a delicious 100% whole wheat blueberry loaf that you don’t have to feel guilty about. This is the recipe as it stands now. Go out and get the ingredients and give it a try!

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup blanched almonds finely chopped
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
2/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup non-fat blueberry yogurt
1 cup frozen blueberries

Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8 1/2” x 4” loaf pan or use my parchment paper trick shown here. In a small bowl mix together the chopped almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

2. In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder and salt. Mix well and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla and yogurt and continue mixing on low for another 2 minutes. Scrape the sides as you mix so everything is well combined. Fold in the frozen blueberries until they are evenly distributed in the batter.

4. Spread the batter in the greased or parchment covered loaf pan. The batter will be very thick. Spread evenly and smoothly. Sprinkle almond topping evenly over the batter.

5. Bake on the middle rack for 60-70 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean with no raw batter. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

You can store this in an air tight container for up to 4 days.

Yum, yum, yum.

Love, love, love

2011-02-14T08:05:00.007-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! The tomato heart is courtesy of Rob. We were making tacos the other day and I guess he was inspired by love to create a tomato masterpiece. Brilliant I say! I'm looking forward to our Valentine's dinner at one of our favorite restaurants....oh, and these. Yum.

Summer Sunshine

2011-02-10T15:09:00.002-06:00

On my way into work today the sun was beaming through the train windows. I sat in a seat where the sun was hitting my face. It was so bright and it hurt my eyes but it felt good. It was warm and rejuvenating. I could almost imagine that it was summertime. When it gets to this point in the winter I get really restless. I have aches and pains and I just want warm fresh air and sunshine. I guess it's the mid-winter blues. I long for the days of heat and sun and beaches and flowers and green grass and ice cream cones and hot cement and sweat and shorts and flip flops and Saugatuck and farmer's markets and thunderstorms and the smell of suntan lotion and mojitos on the back porch and outdoor concerts and casual strolls through the neighborhood and....SUNSHINE. Soon, very soon. :)

Wine Time (oh Yeah)

2011-02-08T13:39:00.002-06:00

So many wines so little time, right? Well I sure think so. I picked up some new wines to try the other day. I totally hate to admit this but I am drawn to the way a wine bottle looks and sometimes it influences my purchasing decision. Yes it's true! But admitting this is my first step to recovery. I really should ignore the pretty labels and look into the whole wine rating thing-a-ma-jig. Yes, I will do this. I can do this!

I picked the above bottles because they were on serious sale. Yes I buy wines because they are on sale too! Ugh.

The Coppola 2009 Pinot Noir retails for about $20 but I got it for $10. It's a good wine, not real fruity but smooth. I would definitely pay $20 for it if I had to.

The Head Snapper (I really liked the way this bottle looked...shhhh) retails for about the same as the Coppola but I also got it for $10. I haven't tried this one yet but when I do I will update.

And then there's the Flip Flop Cabernet Sauvignon. It retails for $14 and was a lot cheaper when I picked it up. It's really not too bad for an inexpensive wine.

Nothing beats my favorite wine Beso de Vino. Love that wine. It's a delicious blend of 85% Syrah and 15% Garnacha and it's also not expensive, only about $12 per bottle. The Wine Advocate gave it a 90 point rating which I've learned means it's an "outstanding" wine. I must agree.

All this talk about wine makes me thirsty. Is it 5 o'clock yet?

Snow, I don't like you right now.

2011-02-07T08:00:00.009-06:00

Yeah yeah, I know the massive Chicago blizzard of 2011 is old news but this blog is my therapy. I need this moment to complain and carry on about how fed up I am about this white stuff. (Insert 500 exclamation marks here.) I also know that there are a thousand other places that get more snow than Chicago does. I know this because I've been told many times this week but still...I must vent! So here is my moment...

The issues I have with this particular snow storm have a lot to do with the fact that I walk everywhere and take public transportation and have to walk through dirty slush and snow every day. There are numerous people that seem disinterested in shoveling their sidewalks so we all have to walk on their bumpy, uneven snow-piled sidewalks and try not to fall or break our ankles. Now I know there are worse things in the world and tragic things happening all over, but this little venting I'm doing makes me feel better and puts things in perspective. I'm lucky to have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, foods in my belly and many good people in my life. I know these are the important things. So I guess I'll deal with staring at this massive snow mound in front if my house until June when it melts completely...

6-foot tall me, in front of the big snow mound.

So all my venting aside, I wanted to share some photos I took during and after the storm. The snow can be peaceful and beautiful during and after a storm. I think if I lived in a remote part of the country I would really enjoy seeing the snow. I actually would love to have a house someplace remote. Someplace where my neighbors are a mile away and not two feet away. I can imagine myself sipping tea and staring out my kitchen window watching the snow fall over my ten acres of land while my cookies bake in the oven. Ahhh I shall dream for now.

Unfortunately snow doesn't stay pretty and pristine in a busy city. It gets mixed with salt and dirt and oil and turns a disgusting grey color. I wish it could stay pretty. I love pretty snow... I'm getting sidetracked, so back to my snow photos. Here is a picture looking out my living room window at about 10 PM the night of the storm:

Prior to taking the above photo, Rob and I decided to venture out into the blizzard. Unheard of, I know! We figured that we'd stay close to home but explore just a little. We bundled up and headed out. It was incredibly windy and chaotic. We passed a few other blizzard curious people as we explored the neighborhood but for the most part the city was shutdown. After we headed back home the thundersnow started. Then it really started snowing. So Rob and I sipped some wine and enjoyed the windy chaos outside. Then we went to bed. We woke up to almost two feet of snow and massive snow drifts.

9 am, the day after the blizzard

Here are some 5-foot snow drifts against the garage in our back yard:

Later in the afternoon we decided to walk around the neighborhood a bit to see the damage. Here is a pic of our Green Alley next to our place:

We walked down our street to find numerous cars completely covered with snow. Imagine having to dig your car out of this. I'm glad we park our car in a garage and we don't have to access it until this melts.

Here is my favorite picture from the blizzard. It's the view from our back porch. Normally this building is covered in vines, but after the storm it was covered in snow. I love how it just stuck to the building.

Hopefully this will be the last big snowstorm this year. Spring is right around the corner and I can almost smell the spring flowers. Until then, I'll be happy for the things I have and deal with this snow (and maybe quietly curse it under my breath).

Mom’s Coffee Cake and the BLIZZARD OF THE CENTURY!

2011-02-01T09:28:00.002-06:00

Doesn't this coffee cake look delicious?! It's my Mom's recipe so I'm not going to share...sorry! I made it the other day for the first time and it reminds me of all the times she used to make it. It brought back a lot of good memories. It's super moist and filled with a lot of cinnamon. Mmmmmm. This should get me through what the weather forecasters are calling the Blizzard of the Century. Dramatic? Well maybe, maybe not. We are expected to get up to two feet of snow:

Photo courtesy of the weather.com

I'm glad I baked cupcakes and cake and I'm even happier I stocked up on wine. I hope lasts...

To be continued....

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

2011-01-30T17:51:00.001-06:00

I adapted this recipe from SmittenKitchen.com and they have quickly become a favorite. I enlisted my friend Mark to help out with this fabulous recipe. It's a perfect blend of chocolate and cream cheese. A perfect 'beat the mid-winter blues' kinda recipe. It's just the kind of sweet treat I need to make it through the final winter stretch.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

For the chocolate cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cream cheese filling:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Combine well. Create a small well in the center of the mixture.

3. In a separate bowl combine water, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla extract. Pour into the the center of the flour mixture. Slowly stir, combining the flour and liquid. Do not over-stir. The batter will look a little bubbly and even just a little lumpy. That's okay as long as the dry and wet ingredients are blended.

4. In a separate bowl with a mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg. Fold in the chopped chocolate.

5. Divide the chocolate cupcake batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.

Mark, evenly distributing the chocolate batter. What a great job he's doing!

6. Evenly distribute the cream cheese mixture, on top of the chocolate mixture, between the 12 muffin cups.

Me, distributing the cream cheese batter. I'm also doing a good job. Ha!

7. Bake on the center rack for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

These are really delicious. Print this recipe, go get the ingredients and make them! Yum.

Fenn Valley Winery Tour

2011-01-06T13:40:00.003-06:00

I've been meaning to post this blog for months. Back in October Rob and I went to Saugatuck Michigan for my birthday weekend getaway. The entire weekend was picture perfect. The leaves were at their autumn peak and the weather was amazing. Aside from all the miscellaneous wine tastings and good foods my absolute favorite part was the winery tour at Fenn Valley Winery. When we arrived in Saugatuck we stopped for a bite then headed to the bed and breakfast to check in. When we walked into the room there was a bottle of champagne and tickets to the winery tour at Fenn Valley. Rob had set it all up as a surprise...I had no idea! It was the best birthday present.

The tour consisted of a tractor ride through the winery with 12 different samples (some of us snuck a few extra smaples...shhhh) and some frolicking in the vineyard. There were maybe about 18 people on this particular tour and it happened to be the last tour of the season. What luck! We headed over to the Grape Train Station...choo-choo....

All the people on the tour were friendly. I think some of them had been doing some tasting prior to the tour, particularly this group of 3 friends. They were rather loud gals and they were ready to chug some samples. Whoo hoo! We also met a lovely couple that knew the owner of the winery. They had been on the tour like 500 times and knew everything by heart. If there are winery tour trophies I'm sure they have a whole shelf of them. There was also another couple that honed in on us from the moment we stepped into the Grape Train Station. Coincidentally they are from the Chicago area and we found out they were staying at our bed and breakfast. I wish I could remember their names....Heather and Keith maybe...or Brad and Angelina...or...hmmm well anyway she reminded me of Sarah McLaughlan-just the way she looked. She chatted with us the entire tour and had lots of witty remarks. She was quite fun. Later that night they were hanging out at the bed and breakfast when we came back. They were drinking Dom Pérignon and playing some board games. They insisted we share the bottle of Dom. We couldn't pass that up! We had some good conversation and hung out for quite a while. Then off to bed we went and we didn't see them again. I guess we were just two ships that passed in the night...ahhhh...okay back to the tour...

We stopped and checked out some vines. Isn't this thrilling?! Well it is after about 4 samples....

Adjacent to the vineyard was a little pine forrest, also quite thrilling!

The obligatory photo of the Fenn Valley sign:

And, the most amazing part was the sunset! Just as we were leaving and after many samples I couldn't resist snapping photos left and right of the beautiful sunset. An amazing way to end the tour!

Ohhhhh...

Ahhh....

Fenn Valley Winery...we will be back!

So much to blog about!

2011-01-05T18:58:00.001-06:00

Wow the holidays are over already. It's really hard to believe. And I have so much blogging to do! I've been somewhat consistently blogging for the past few months and I plan on keeping up the momentum and maybe changing things up a bit in the new year. Oh and speaking of...I thought I'd post a pic of me and Roberto's yummy New Year's Eve spread of delicious foods!

We went to our favorite Italian market a few blocks up the street - Piatto Pronto. We got some mild and hot sopressata, imported prosciutto, artichoke salad, a big chunk of pecorino romano and some bread. Oh I made my bruschetta too. Deelish! I also made a new winterized logo with snowflakes. I'm doing my best to accept that there's still at least two months of hard winter...let it snow! errrr maybe not....

Favorite Cookies

2010-12-23T09:53:00.005-06:00

chomp chomp chomp

Since it's the holidays I wanted to compile some my favorite cookie recipes that I've blogged about into one post. Here are some, in no particular order:

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies - This is a favorite. A great combo of chocolate and mint!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies - Ooooh these are delicious. I love peanut butter and chocolate.

Maple Sugar Cookies - A yummy Martha Stewart recipe.

My Mom's Sugar Cookies - The BEST sugar cookies in the world!

Almond Balls - A new favorite!

So when I started writing this post I really felt as though I've blogged about a lot of different cookies. Well apparently not because the 5 cookie recipes above are the only ones I've ever blogged about! So my New Year's resolution is to: Bake more cookies and blog about all of them.

No go make some cookies. :)

Almond Balls

2010-12-22T13:13:00.001-06:00

Rob has dubbed these cookies "Angel Balls". I'm not really sure why but I think it's funny and I laugh to myself every time I think about it. I tend to laugh to myself rather frequently but that's beside the point. I recently made something similar at a friend's house but her recipe was secret (shhhhhh) so I got this recipe from my mom. I think they're great for the holidays.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter (softened)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup ground almonds - blanched (finely chopped)
2/3 cup oats (chopped)
2 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar for coating

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl cream butter, sugar, salt and vanilla with mixer until well combined. Finely chop almonds in a food processor until they reach a consistency similar to flour. Beat into the butter mixture. Roughly chop oatmeal in a food processor and add to the mixture and stir. Add the flour, one cup at a time and stir by hand until all ingredients are well combined.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Take about a teaspoon of dough and roll into a tight ball. The ball should be just a little smaller than a quarter. Space the cookies one inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Since there is no leavening in these cookies they do not rise, therefore they can be placed close together. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are light brown.

Remove cookie sheet from the oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes before taking the cookies off and moving them to a cooling rack. If you try to remove them from the cookie sheet right away they will fall apart....I know this because I tried.

Once cooled, toss the cookies in powdered sugar and eat. Yum!

Let it Snow!

2010-12-20T10:20:00.002-06:00

It’s hard to believe Christmas is in five days. I am now finally feeling festive and inspired to bake (and eat!) lots of Holiday cookies. I am not a fan of snow or cold and there is snow in the forecast almost every day this week…and I’m actually looking forward to it. This is surprising even to me. I love being in my kitchen and watching the snow fall and smelling deliciously delicious cookies baking in the oven. Mmmm yum! I guarantee though once Christmas is over I will be cursing it every chance I get. But for now I shall not be a scrooge and I will enjoy it!

Let it snow!

Candle Addiction

2010-12-14T18:37:00.002-06:00

So as some of you may know from previous posts here and here that I love candles. Specifically Illuminations candles but sadly, they are no longer in business. I took a picture last time I reorganized my candle cupboard (see below). I was making room for a new candle love. Yes, I said it...I have a new love. It's hard to let go of Illuminations but I must since I have no choice. Queue the overly dramatic music. Ha! Really, I have moved on. So my new favorite is Slatkin & Co candles. So many great smells. They also burn really evenly (probably because they have three wicks) but burn up rather quickly. I'm just happy to have found candles almost comparable to Illuminations. I think I need another cupboard....

So many candles!

Apple Cranberry-Orange Pie

2010-11-08T12:20:00.002-06:00

Apples, apples, apples...so many apples. I decided to make more pie. I adapted this recipe from the great Martha Stewart and changed it a bit. She calls it Apple Cranberry Pie but I decided it was necessary to throw in the word 'orange' because the orange flavor is quite prominent. In fact, next time I make this recipe I will only use half the zest and juice that this recipe calls for. I suggest doing the same unless you really don’t mind the strong orange flavor.

Just like with the apple turnovers, I used a pre-made pie crust. Martha would probably “poo-poo” me for not making homemade but, c’mon…it’s so easy to buy pre-made!

Apple Cranberry-Orange Pie

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for FILLING

5 medium-sized apples, peeled cored and sliced
The zest of 1 orange
The juice of 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup fresh cranberries roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

INGREDIENTS for TOPPING

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 rounded tablespoons of oats
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

MISC

1 pre-made pie crust
Aluminum foil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix together all the ingredients for the filling in a large bowl. Be sure to stir well and mix evenly. Pour filling into uncooked pre-made pie crust.

Mix together all the ingredients for the topping until the consistency becomes crumb-like. Sprinkle evenly over the pie.

Before going into the oven

Bake for 1/2 hour then remove from oven. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 1/2 hour.

Depending how thick you cut your apples will affect how long it will take to bake your pie. Obviously, the thicker the apples, the longer it will take. To test, I take a sharp knife and stick it into the pie. If the apples are tough, I bake it until they become soft and I can easily stick a knife in the pie.

Once the pie is thoroughly baked, remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool.

Once cooled, eat and enjoy!

Fresh cranberries, chopped

mmmm...orange

Caramel Apple Pie...ooh and a New Cutting Board!

2010-11-04T12:27:00.002-05:00

About two weeks ago Rob and I went to Michigan. It was a perfect fall weekend. We went to wine tastings, toured Fenn Valley Winery and vineyards, ate lots of yummy food and went leaf peeping. I'll post pictures soon. On the way back to Chicago we stopped at Big Dan's U-Pick Farm to pick more apples. Yes, more apples! I've been doing so much baking with apples that I think I need an extended vacation from them. One of my favorite recipes is my caramel apple pie. I'm really selfish when it comes to this recipe. There are a lot of recipes I make up and I post them on this blog. But there are some I keep to myself, like this one. Call me selfish but I just don't want to release my baby to the world. Here she is before being put into the oven:

I love you, little pie

Of course, I forgot to take a picture after I baked it. Here's a pic from an older post. Yum...

I'm also really excited about my new cutting board. I get ridiculously excited about new kitchen items/utensils. I've been eyeing some here and there but couldn't bring myself to spend a lot of money. I wanted a really big cutting board. The biggest one I had (pictured above with my delicious apple pie) still wasn't big enough and it was starting to crack. So I went to Ikea (I love Ikea) and got this one:

Hello new cutting board!

Only $12.99! What a deal! whooohooo....

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

2010-10-19T13:25:00.003-05:00

This autumn has been amazing. I have truly been enjoying all the things it has to offer. Taking walks, enjoying the changing foliage, baking, traveling to Michigan with Rob, touring wineries, sampling wine (yum!), apple picking, apple cider, more apple picking (I have apples coming out of my ears), pumpkin carving….I could go on and on! And it’s not even over.

Since I have so many apples I’ve been making a variety of apple-related baked goods. I adapted this recipe from SmittenKitchen.com.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup unsalted butter - room temperature
1/2 white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar - packed (1/4 cup is for the topping)
1 egg lightly beaten
2/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup pumpkin spice creamer *
2 large apples - peeled, cored and chopped

DIRECTIONS

Fill 12 muffin tins with muffin cups and set aside. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Mix together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

With a mixer in a large bowl, cream the butter, white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar until it’s fluffy. Add the egg, milk and creamer. Mix well. At this point my butter/milk mixture looked odd. There was separation with the milk and butter but once I finished the next step it combined well and everything was fine.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until combined. Fold in the apple pieces and evenly distribute.

Pour batter evenly into 12 muffin tins and top evenly with remaining brown sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin and if the toothpick comes out clean remove from the oven and cool. If not, bake an additional 5 minutes then check again. Repeat if necessary.

Eat and enjoy! :)

* The original recipe called for 1 cup of buttermilk which I didn’t have. So I used the 2/3 skim milk and 1/3 pumpkin spice creamer. It tasted yummy but if you have a cup of buttermilk you can use that.

Pumpkin Carving and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2010-10-13T13:47:00.002-05:00

I'm really enjoying fall this year. This is the first time in a long time that I carved a pumpkin early. Normally I do it right before Halloween. I picked a pumpkin a few weeks back when I went apple picking. It was only $3 for a big pumpkin. If you go to the grocery store you pay over two times as much for a half rotten one. So $3 is a great deal. I'll be traveling up to Michigan soon so I hope to grab one or two more pumpkins to carve right before Halloween.

So I made a rough sketch of what I wanted my pumpkin to look like:

Yikes!

He's a little creepy huh? Well I unfortunately didn't have an erasable marker so I couldn't sketch onto the pumpkin itself so I decided to free-hand cut the entire thing (after a glass of wine). So...It didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted it to because I made a few mistakes but it's kinda close:

I put it in the window to scare people away:

Boo!

It must have worked because no one rang my doorbell all night! Okay...it's rare that anyone ever rings my doorbell but still...

This little pumpkin has so many seeds. So of course I had to roast them. I posted this recipe last year. This year I used real butter. They turned out really tasty so I recommend using butter.

Look, I made a scary face in the uncooked seeds:

arrrgh!

So, as always the seeds turned out delicious. Next time you roast pumpkin seeds use this recipe!

Yum!

Spices

2010-10-12T15:09:00.001-05:00

It always seems like I run out of multiple things at the exact same time. Like toothpaste, shaving cream and contact lens solution. All gone, at the same time! It's the way of the universe I suppose. Well that happened with my spices last week. I needed peppercorns, garlic powder, rosemary, crushed red pepper, celery salt and Italian seasoning. So I went to my favorite spice buying place, The Spice House. LOVE this place. I could spend hours and hours just smelling and tasting their spices. The thing I like about The Spice House is that I can buy small amounts of spices at a time. Since spices typically don't have a long shelf life it's best to buy them in small quantities and replenish when needed. I got all those spices for $18.50. A great deal for guaranteed fresh spices! And I love that they hand write your order. You don't see that very often.

No, thank you Eric

Apple Turnovers

2010-10-09T08:45:00.004-05:00

Since I have so many apples I'm (of course) doing lots of baking with apples. This recipe is easy, mostly because I used pre-made pie crust. All you crust snobs listen up. When you're in a pinch these do the trick! Pre-made obviously isn't as good as homemade but Pillsbury makes a really tasty pre-made crust. The same day I made these I made my caramel apple pie. So I doubled this recipe and made about 16 turnovers and froze them (uncooked) for future eating. Follow this recipe for 8 turnovers. Double if you want 16.

Apple Turnovers
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

4 apples, peeled cored and sliced (I used Golden Delicious)
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
2 flat pre-made circular pie crusts

Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter in a large skillet. I used a large cast iron skillet but you can use a non-stick if you don't have it. Place the sliced apples in the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Cook for another couple minutes, stirring frequently.

3. In a small bowl combine the cornstarch and water. Stir well then add to the apple mixture.

4. Cook the apples for another 5 minutes until the sauce thickens up. If you use apples that are juicy you may have to cook for a few extra minutes.

5. Remove skillet from heat and allow to cool about 20 minutes.

6. Unroll the pie crust then cut the crust in half, then in half again like the diagram below:

7. Brush a little water around the outside edges of the cut pieces. The water will help seal the dough together when you fold it over.

8. Add about 2 tablespoons (you might need a little more) of the apple mixture to one side of the piece of dough. See diagram below (pretend the black blob is 2 tablespoons of apples...ha ha):

9. Fold in half, where the dotted line is. Press down the edges of the unsealed sides with a fork. Poke a couple little holes in the top of the turnover.

At this point you can wrap them individually in plastic wrap and freeze for future use or you can bake them right away and eat them.

10. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and place turnovers about 1 inch apart.

11. Bake for 20 minutes then remove from the oven. Brush with melted butter then sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top. Put back in the oven and bake another 5-10 minutes.

12. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before eating.

This recipe is great! Go make some turnovers!

Apple Picking

2010-10-06T09:23:00.002-05:00

Rob and I went apple picking this past Saturday. It was a perfect fall day. Cloudy, cold and windy with the subtle smell of Autumn in the air. We drove up to the Illinois/Wisconsin border to a place called Oriole Springs Orchard. It's a 'no frills' kind of place. There aren't hay rides, corn mazes, thousands of kids running around screaming or any fun-filled family activities. It's just an orchard, with apples. I've already decided that this is going to be a yearly tradition. They had three different types of apples; Golden Delicious, Red Delicious and Jonathan. We chose to only pick the Golden and Jonathan. The Red was our least favorite of the three. We took our time picking and managed to get half a bushel which cost us $18. Not a bad price in my opinion. After our apple picking we drove down the road to Harvest Time Orchard to try their famous apple cider shakes. It was one of the best shakes I have ever had. It's worth it to drive the hour and a half up there just for these shakes. They also make apple cider and you can watch the process. So we sipped our shakes and watched them make apple cider. A perfect day! Now I have apples coming out of my ears so there is a lot of baking in my future. I've already made apple turnovers and my caramel apple pie and I still have more apples than I know what to do with. :)

Jonathan Apples

The Golden Delicious Orchard

Golden Delicious

I love a cloudy fall sky

ahhhhhh...

Fallen fruit

Martha Stewart’s Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

2010-09-28T00:23:00.013-05:00

Martha never lets me down. I signed up for her ‘Cookie of the Day’ emails ages ago. I look forward each day to what Martha has in store. I haven’t made a lot of her recipes but when I do, they always come out well. One of my favorite recipes of hers is the Lime Squares with Graham Cracker Crust which I make frequently. There’s also the Maple Sugar Cookies that are perfect for fall. I can never get enough maple and pumpkin flavored baked goods in the fall. A couple weeks ago her cookie of the day was a pumpkin swirl brownie. I knew right away I had to make it! Since it’s Martha’s recipe I’ll just post a link to it here. I omitted the cayenne pepper since I didn’t have any. I also put chopped almonds on the top instead of the hazelnuts. I have a severe allergy to walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts so obviously I couldn’t put those on top. I thought the almonds added a great crunch to the brownies and the chocolate and pumpkin tastes great together. I recommend this to anyone who likes chocolate and pumpkin.

Before going into the oven

Chocolate....mmmmmm

And Autumn Begins...

2010-09-23T08:00:00.010-05:00

Cast Iron Skillet Macaroni and Cheese

2010-09-22T12:38:00.003-05:00

I love cooking in cast iron skillets. They can last a lifetime and I find that food just tastes better cooked in a cast iron skillet. I wanted to make a baked macaroni and cheese that was lower in fat. I pretty much just made up this recipe and it turned out surprisingly well.

INGREDIENTS

13.25 ounce box of whole wheat pasta spirals, shells or elbow noodles
2/3 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
12 ounce can of evaporated skim milk
1/2 cup fresh skim milk
4 ounces shredded low fat Cheddar cheese plus 1/2 cup for topping
4 ounces shredded low fat Monterrey Jack cheese
1 tablespoon of mustard
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook pasta per the directions on the box but cook one minute less. Drain, then mix with sour cream in a large bowl then set aside.

2. In a non stick pan on medium heat combine Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat then set aside.

3. In a medium sized pan combine evaporated and skim milk and heat on medium until the milk begins to bubble. Add 4 ounces of Cheddar, 4 ounces of Monterrey, mustard, black pepper and salt. Stir constantly until the cheese has melted. Remove from heat and immediately pour into the pasta and sour cream mixture. Stir to combine then pour into a 10 inch seasoned cast iron skillet.

4. Evenly sprinkle 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese and bread crumb mixture on top. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F then bake uncovered for 15 minutes. You want to top to be a little crispy and bubbly.

5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 15 minutes before serving. Remember, cast iron skillets stay hot for quite a long time so be careful when handling the skillet.

Crunchy, cheesy goodness...mmm

I made bruschetta with this and it was a great combo. Enjoy!

Cheesy

2010-09-21T11:35:00.003-05:00

I made some yummy low(er) fat baked macaroni and cheese this past weekend...in a cast iron skillet. It was deelish! I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

Say "cheese!"

Post it Note 'How-to'

2010-09-16T18:35:00.004-05:00

Some people have asked me about the drawings on my blog and whether or not I do them myself. Yes, I do. Aside from baking I do love to draw. I'm drawn towards whimsical things and I like to give life to inanimate objects. I used to scare my friend Miranda with Blizzards from Dairy Queen. I would scoop out faces in the ice cream and then talk in a funny voice as the Blizzard. It would really scare her. One time I took it a little too far and made a really scary face with a big gaping mouth. I was talking in an evil growling tone. She freaked. She literally got out of the car and went running towards the woods. I laughed and ate my scary Blizzard.

I've been enjoying making fruits and veggies come to life. How can you not crack a smile when you see a pumpkin or an eggplant smiling?

I wanted to do a post about my process of making them. I call them Post it Notes because I sometimes draw them on actual Post it Notes. Hopefully the Post it Note people will not sue me. I'll change the name if I have to. Or offer them baked goods.

So I start out by physically drawing something. I know I could just draw it in Photoshop but I like to draw on paper.

This one had a little more detail than normal so I drew it on a large piece of paper and not a Post it Note since I needed more room. Once drawn, I scan the image and it looks like this:

It's impossible to scan it and not get little specs and imperfections so I open it up in Photoshop and clean it up, fill in gaps and fix any imperfections. Then it looks like this:

So much better! Then I start filling in colors. I always do the background in yellow because of the whole Post it Note theme. Maybe one day I will be daring and switch things up. But not today:

Oh look...he's almost finished. This part is the most fun because I can play with lots of different colors. Once I'm happy with the colors I touch up any final imperfections and then I have this:

A happy apple! Now c'mon and smile. :)

Do drop in at the Dew Drop Inn

2010-09-16T09:22:00.001-05:00

Fourteen years ago today I saw my first Tori Amos concert in Akron Ohio, The Dew Drop Inn Tour. I cannot believe it has been fourteen years. It seems like just yesterday. I was totally mesmerized by her and I was a fan before that show but that sealed the deal. I’ve been devoted ever since. Here’s the set list for that show:

Beauty Queen/Horses
Ohio/One Tin Soldier
Blood Roses
Butterfly
Cornflake Girl
Space Dog
Little Earthquakes
Happy Phantom
Lucky Ducky
Alamo
Precious Things
Caught a Lite Sneeze
Talula
Me and a Gun

Encore 1

Angie
This Old Man/Putting the Damage On

Encore 2

Tear in Your Hand
Icicle
Etienne

So many good songs. Space Dog has always been one of my favorites, especially back then. I heard it and cried. I was so happy she did it. Butterfly and Alamo were beautiful. Talula was amazing. Everything was amazing. I’ve replayed that show over and over again in my head. I don’t ever want to forget.

"She's brand new now to you"

Illuminations Part II

2010-09-15T13:44:00.003-05:00

Everyone that knows me knows that I love candles. I've blogged about Illuminations before. I'm still upset that they closed all their stores. A while back I was feeling sentimental and missing the simple fact that I could drive out to the suburbs and go to Illuminations. I decided to create a group on Facebook dedicated to Illuminations. I think I was really bored that day. As of this post it has 18 members. Whoohoo. The thing is, I cannot find any other brand of candles that smell as good as theirs did or another brand with as many unique scents. I go to Yankee Candle and granted, they have a few that smell good but literally just a few. And don't get me started on they way the Yankee jars look. No offense to any Yankee Candle lovers out there. It's just not my style. I know there are a lot of candle sites but I need to smell before I buy. I loved just being in an Illuminations store. It was dimly lit with candles and tea lights illuminating the store. Maybe I have a strong sentimental connection because I worked there. I associate scents with memories as many people do I'm sure. This is the time of year that I first moved to Chicago and started working at Illuminations. I see things and I can almost smell what I associate with that memory and vice versa.

So my mom just called me as I am sitting here typing. She's on her way to the Yankee Candle outlet store. Yankee bought out Illuminations a couple years before they closed. Some of the outlet stores still have a few Illuminations candles here and there. The last time I was visiting my parents we went to the outlet store and I stocked up on Mulled Wine candles. I think I have 7 of them stored away...shhhh. But I didn't get all they had. So mom and dad are on their way and she wanted to know how many I wanted. All of them pleeeeeeease.

Eggplant

2010-09-14T15:09:00.003-05:00

I have to say I’m not a fan of eggplant. Yack! Honestly though, I haven’t had it many times so I don’t have much to compare. The last time I had it was at one of me and Rob’s favorite (and convenient) Thai places called Noodle Zone. Noodle Zone is BYOB. I love BYOB places. I wish every restaurant in Chicago was BYOB. It saves mucho dinero and you don’t ever have to worry about a restaurant not having your favorite drink. Anyway, they have a dish called basil eggplant. I finally tried it recently and was not a fan. No, no, no. I’m going to stick to the basil chicken or the green curry with chicken...Mmmmmm. If anyone out there in the blog reading world has any recipes that involve eggplant that do not taste disgusting (ha ha) please share. I’m willing to try new things and give it more of a chance. Meanwhile, isn't this the happiest eggplant you've ever seen?

The happiest eggplant ever

Oatmeal Cranberry Almond Cookies

2010-09-13T09:36:00.003-05:00

Not only have I been on a scone kick lately but I've also been doing a lot of baking with cranberries. I found the recipe for these cookies here. I followed the recipe exactly but I think next time I make them I will do some experimenting with whole wheat flour and maybe some other ingredients. If you're looking for a low fat cookie then these are not for you. There is a lot of butter but let me tell you, they are so good!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup soft unsalted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup roughly chopped almonds

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt.

2. In a large bowl with a mixer, mix the butter and sugars. Beat together until the mixture has doubled. Add eggs and vanilla and beat into the butter mixture.

3. Slowly beat the flour mixture in a little at a time until everything is combined. Add oatmeal, cranberries and chopped almonds then stir with a spoon.

4. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and drop rounded tablespoons of dough evenly on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place one baking sheet on the top rack of the oven and one in the middle. Let the cookies bake for 8 minutes then switch the two baking sheets. Once switched, bake for an additional 8-9 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned.

6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Fun with chopped almonds :)

Glazed Buttermilk Pumpkin Scones

2010-09-09T13:43:00.002-05:00

I’ve really been on a scone kick lately. I recently made cranberry lemon scones that were really good and since fall is right around the corner I decided to make pumpkin scones. They came out pretty good but I think the recipe could be tweaked a bit to make them better. Here’s the recipe that I used. I’ll probably update it once I tweak it.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all purpose flour
8 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter (cut up in small chunks)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons buttermilk
1 large egg

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in a bowl and stir.

2. Throw in the chopped butter and mix together with a pastry blender until the consistency is ‘crumb-like’.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, buttermilk and egg.

4. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients but do not over-stir.

5. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture and stir only until it clumps together. Pour dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cover your hands with flour and knead the dough lightly-only once or twice. Re-flour surface if needed then flatten dough into a circle until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces.

6. Brush the top of the scones with buttermilk then place on baking sheet with parchment paper.

7. Bake for 14-16 minutes until they are lightly browned. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack to cool.

Now my favorite part…the icing!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of powdered sugar (+ 1/2 additional cup if needed)
2 & 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine all ingredients until you reach a smooth consistency. If the glaze is too watery add more powdered sugar little by little. I was really low on powdered sugar when I made these so my glaze was really thin, almost watery. Not a good thing so next time I make them I'll make sure I have enough powdered sugar on hand.

2. Once the scones have cooled completely, coat the tops of the scones with the glaze. Allow glaze to harden then eat up!

My glaze-deprived scone...still yummy though!

Goes perfect with a chai tea latte!

Autumn

2010-09-08T10:44:00.003-05:00

In just a little over two weeks it will officially be Autumn. It's truly one of my most favorite times of the year. It can be very bittersweet for me. I love the warm weather of the summer and the transition into fall is really spectacular. Crisp air, the smell of changing leaves, maple and pumpkin flavored baked goods. That is sweet to me! But the bitter part is the fact that winter is just around the corner. Yuck! Maybe on Thanksgiving I can eat myself into hibernation then wake up around April? If bears can do it why can't I? I could use a few extra months of sleep....

This pumpkin loves Autumn

Zucchini Lasagna

2010-09-07T12:59:00.002-05:00

This is a great way to use up zucchini if you have a lot of it. As I mentioned in this post, I had a lot of zucchini that I needed to do something with. Unfortunately at the moment (or maybe at all) I can't find the recipe I used for this so I can't post measurements. Grrr! Basically though, if you are familiar with making lasagna you can make it the way you normally do except you use zucchini slices instead of noodles. All you have to do is thinly slice the zucchini then boil the slices for about 3 minutes before assembling the lasagna. I absolutely loved this! And it was easier than using those annoyingly long lasagna noodles that always seem to fall apart when you boil them. I will be doing this again in the future!

Thrift Store Finds

2010-09-05T09:35:00.001-05:00

Buying something from a thrift store always makes me feel good. Like I'm recycling someone Else's stuff. I feel good about the fact that what I'm buying isn't going to find a home in a landfill somewhere. Yesterday, I went to a thrift store called The Brown Elephant. The money they make reselling other people's stuff goes to a great cause so I'm all about supporting it. I was specifically looking for some plates to use for photographing food for this blog. Most of the plates I have at home are black and white and I wanted to find some things that are more colorful and visually appealing when photographed. I founds these three plates:

New-used plates, coming soon to a blog post near you

The two with the circles came in a set of four. The other 2 were purple and pink. Not colors that appeal to me at all so I just got the green and blue ones. Total for all three plates: $1.65! What a deal! I can't wait to go back in a few weeks and see what else I can find.

Cranberry Lemon Scones

2010-09-04T20:19:00.011-05:00

I know I promised the zucchini recipe but I'm super excited about scones right now so I'll post that recipe another time. I've never made scones before yesterday and it's now my new favorite thing to make. After making these my brain started thinking about all the endless possibilities of flavors. Rob came up with some too. He's a really good 'idea' guy and thinks of a lot of great combos of flavors that I can usually throw together in some sort of recipe. While making these he suggested pumpkin ones which is exactly what I was thinking too....at the exact same time! Wow. Maybe he's a mind reader too. So I made pumpkin ones just now. They're currently cooling and awaiting their sugar glaze. Mmmmmm! It's really cool outside and smells like fall. A perfect night for baking. If that recipe turns out well (which I hope it does) I will post soon. Anyway, back to the Cranberry Lemon Scones:

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
1 large egg
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (cut up into little chunks)
2/3 cup chopped dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl whisk together buttermilk, egg and lemon zest.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Add butter to flour mixer and combine using a pastry blender. When the consistency is course and 'crumb-like' fold in chopped cranberries.

3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

4. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture and stir only until it clumps together. Pour dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cover your hands with flour and knead the dough lightly-only once or twice. Re-flour surface if needed then flatten dough into a circle until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces.

5. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and evenly spread out the scones. Brush them with a light coat of buttermilk then sprinkle sugar evenly over scones. Bake for 13-15 minutes until they are lightly browned. Remove and place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

These are great in the morning with a nice cup of coffee and the newspaper. I want to have them every morning!

Food Party Fun!

2010-09-03T12:41:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to blog about this for some time. I am borderline obsessed with this show right now. In fact my DVR consists almost solely of Food Party episodes. Rob and I watch them over and over again. When friends come over we make them watch it, we are spreading the Food Party love. It's hosted by Thu Tran and each episode is like a colorful cosmic journey with puppets, awesome recipes, a baguette that smoke cigarettes, a talking ice cream cone, a crazy corn stalker and so on. It's really almost impossible to explain, you just need to watch it. Currently the one I'm watching over and over again is the RV Episode. HYSTERICAL. I just can't get enough.

Here's a clip from the show. It's Ninja Dog in the kitchen with Thu. I really want Ninja Dog to stop by my house next time I have a lot of chopping to do:

chop chop chop

The Happy Zucchini

2010-09-01T14:47:00.002-05:00

My neighbor recently gave Rob and I more zucchini. I love having such generous neighbors! Rob found a great recipe that used up all the zucchini that we had. I'll post the recipe in my next blog but until then, here's a happy zucchini...

Rosemary Tomato Bread

2010-08-31T13:49:00.003-05:00

My plan this fall is to make different foods I can freeze that can be used for meals throughout the winter. One of those things is dough; pizza dough, bread dough, etc. I am in the process of searching for a really good whole wheat pizza dough. The recipe I'm posting here I've used before and I 'like' it but I don't 'love' it. I want to be in love with my pizza dough…well, not literally.

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
4 cups petite diced tomatoes (drained)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl dissolve the sugar in the warm water then sprinkle the dry yeast over the top. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes are up stir in the olive oil, salt and 1 cup of the diced tomatoes.*

In a separate bowl combine the 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. You’ll save the remaining half cup for when you are kneading the dough. Mix in the rosemary and stir well.

Pour the flour mixture into the yeast mixture and stir until the dough comes together. Put the dough on a floured surface using the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Knead the dough until all the flour has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.

Put the dough in an oiled bowl and turn it so the entire ball of dough is lightly covered with oil. Cover it with a towel and let it stand in a warm place for one hour. It should double in size.

After one hour, place the dough on a lightly floured surface. For thin crust, divide dough in half. For thick crust leave it whole. Compress the dough into a tight ball and put back in oiled bowl. Cover with towel and let sit for 45 minutes.

Oil an 18 x 13 inch baking sheet and spread the dough out evenly to the edges of the pan. If you’re doing the thin crust, use a smaller baking sheet because it will be really thin otherwise.

Pour the remaining 3 cups of drained diced tomatoes on the bread. Spread them evenly and push them lightly into the dough. Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese, pepper and garlic salt.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Once preheated, bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the crust. The crust should be a golden brown on the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Now slice and serve! Yum!

Rosemary Tomato Bread

*I had 2 whole tomatoes that I needed to use up. I thinly sliced them and broiled them (see top photo) in the oven for about ten minutes on parchment paper. Once they cooled I roughly chopped them and added them to the dough mixture. You can do the same if you are so inclined but the diced tomatoes work just as well.

Black Bean Soup

2010-08-27T17:11:00.003-05:00

I know it's totally not the season for savory soups. I actually made this back in January. Yes January! I was on a blog hiatus for a few months and I baked and cooked my heart out but I was apparently too lazy to blog about anything. I made this specific recipe for a group blog that I never posted to...and I feel terrible. So here I am 7 months later... This isn't a recipe I made up so I'm not going to post the actual recipe but here is a link to the original. It was really good. Time consuming but good. With any recipe I find that I usually feel the need to do something to kinda make it my own. With this one I kept the recipe the same but I seasoned tortillas, cut them in strips and baked them for garnish. It added great texture to the soup! I was quite happy.

Lingonberry Apple Mojito

2010-08-26T13:31:00.003-05:00

To me, nothing says summer like drinking an ice cold mojito and enjoying the sunshine. Mojitos are a great combination of fresh mint, lime and rum. They are tasty! Yum yum! I made a lingonberry apple mojito last weekend but I didn't use actual lingonberries or apples. I replaced the traditional club soda with a carbonated lingonberry apple juice that I got at Ikea. The flavors really complimented the mint and lime.

I'm very particular when it comes to making mojitos which I rightfully deserve since I've made so many. I've actually acquired the title: Pro Mojito Maker Extraordinaire. So watch out! Ha! Now, I don't do it in the traditional way by muddling the lime, mint and sugar. I am not a fan of pulp in anything that I drink so I squeeze fresh lime juice and strain it into the mojito. Follow these easy directions and enjoy this tasty drink:

INGREDIENTS

8 freshly picked mint leaves
2 ounces of simple syrup (recipe for simple syrup below)*
2 ounces of light rum
The juice from 1 and a half limes (strained)
4 ounces of Lingonberry Apple Juice (or regular club soda)

DIRECTIONS

In a tall glass place mint leaves on the bottom. Pour 2 ounces of simple syrup in the glass. With a muddler, smash mint leaves just a little to release their minty fragrance. Pour in 2 ounces of rum, the juice from 1 and a half limes and 4 ounces of lingonberry apple juice or club soda. Mix well and add ice. Garnish with a sprig of mint leaves. Now sit back, relax and enjoy a nice refreshing mojito.

* To make simple syrup just follow these simple directions:

In a medium saucepan combine 1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.

Garlic Rosemary Potatoes

2010-08-06T12:31:00.008-05:00

I think one of my favorite combinations is garlic, rosemary and olive oil. They taste great on roasted potatoes. This recipe is nothing fancy, just something Rob and I threw together the other night that I thought I’d post. I bought two large Idaho baking potatoes (This is really good with red potatoes too) and mixed them with the following:

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoon chopped rosemary leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS

Clean potatoes then cut each potato in eight equal slices. Combine above ingredients and toss with the potatoes to evenly coat. Bake in a small pan (uncovered) at 375F for 1 hour. Obviously if you use more potatoes just add more of the above ingredients to your desired taste. When I use red potatoes I add a few tablespoons of butter (yum!) and some parsley too. Either way it's delicious!

Just for Fun

2010-08-05T08:34:00.002-05:00

You say potato, I say post it note...

And we make it up as we go along...

2010-08-04T11:30:00.001-05:00

Today is 'Tori Amos Day' on Facebook. A lot of Tori fans change their profile picture to a photo of Tori and celebrate the brilliance that is her. I chose this as my photo:

It's the cover of the limited edition single for Caught a Lite Sneeze. It's always been one of my favorite songs and I love the serenity of this picture. Coincidentally, it was one year ago yesterday that I had seen her at the Chicago Theatre. It's always so exciting to see her live, I just can't put it into words. Nor can I even begin to explain how much her music has influenced, affected, helped and inspired me. There's no one like Tori. Her music is truly magical. Today, this song has been in my head:

“Twilight held us in her palm as we walked along…”

Happy Tori Day!

City Porch Garden

2010-08-03T13:41:00.004-05:00

I love living in a big city. There are so many amenities and everything you can think of is right outside your door. The one thing I wish I had was a big garden. I've always wanted a garden with rows and rows of herbs and veggies and even a huge patch of wildflowers...I love wildflower patches! Rob and I have lived in the same apartment for 3 years. We have a modest size porch in the back but we don't get very much sunlight. It is enough though to have some small pots and baskets with a few herbs. This guy is the watcher of the porch garden:

Wormy the Water Sensor

He 'knows' when a plant needs to be watered. He turns dark brown then screams, "WATER ME!" Just kidding about the screaming. I don't really need a little worm to tell when to water because I know when to water but he was so cute I had to buy him when I saw him at Home Depot. Hi Wormy!

This is our big basil bush that almost didn't survive the cold days of spring:

Basil

Now it's huge and full of delicious basil leaves. This next picture is one of two basket that hang off the side of our porch. This one has oregano and rosemary, both of which are thriving.

Oregano and Rosemary

The next picture is parsley, not that you can even tell. We planted it around Easter and this is what it looks like now:

Pathetic Parsley

I can't figure out what went wrong. We kept it in our front window the first couple months so it would get a lot of sun. But I guess it wasn't enough. Then there's the mint. It's growing like crazy-as mint usually does-but it's growing like a vine:

Vine-like Mint

We've successfully grown mint in big pots before but never in a hanging basket. maybe that's why it's growing like a vine? Either way, the mint taste great in a mojito.

Strawberry Brown Butter Bettys

2010-08-02T08:56:00.003-05:00

Recently my friend Bianca came over for a baking night. It's always fun to bake with friends. She found a recipe from SmittenKitchen.com that involved strawberries so I was all about it. And might I add, I LOVE this site. Her recipes are great and I love her photographs. Please go check it out! Here is the recipe we made. Turned out deelish. Here are some photo highlights from the evening courtesy of Bianca:

Wonder Bread is wonderful

chop chop!

Fresh strawberries

Action shot

Deelish!

Blueberry Post It Note

2010-07-31T08:45:00.007-05:00

I predict some recipes involving blueberries this weekend....

The Happy Blueberry

Baked Zucchini

2010-07-30T12:56:00.002-05:00

My neighbor gave Rob and I two huge zucchinis. So when life gives you zucchinis, make some baked zucchini slices! We didn't do anything special, just dipped them in egg and breading then baked at 400 F for 25 minutes. I put some panko bread crumbs in with the regular Italian bread crumbs hoping to make it crunchier but I used too much and not enough extra seasoning so they were a little bland. Next time I'm going to load up on the seasonings and maybe even fry them in some olive oil. Because everything is better when it's fried.

Yum!

A Plethora of Blueberries

2010-07-26T13:21:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago Rob and I went to Saugatuck Michigan. We usually go around this time each year to get away from the city for a few days and enjoy some leisurely peace and quiet. On our way back we usually go to a U-Pick Farm and pick some fruit. This year it was blueberries at Earl’s Farm Market. I had never picked blueberries before. It takes a long time! They are so tiny. We did manage to pick about 4 pounds. I froze most of them when I got home to use for future baking. I have some recipes for blueberries that I can’t wait to try!

Frozen Blueberries

Me, picking blueberries

Natalie Merchant

2010-07-22T13:13:00.002-05:00

Tonight I'm going to see Natalie Merchant at The Chicago Theatre. I could burst I’m so excited. This is the second time I’ve seen her this year. The first was at The Poetry Center; a small, rather intimate venue. It was unique. She was doing a small tour to introduce her album Leave Your Sleep, an album of poems translated to songs. She did a lot of talking-kind of like the show Storytellers-and explained the poems/songs. She is my second favorite artist next to Tori Amos. I’ve been looking forward to this day for months! I wasn’t able to get many pictures when I saw her at The Poetry Center. I’m hoping to get more tonight!

Backdrop at The Poetry Center April 27, 2010

Change

2010-07-21T11:09:00.003-05:00

Wow I really go through phases with this blog. My last post was 6 months ago. I have of course been doing a lot of cooking, baking and random nonsense during this time. Although, I haven’t been prioritizing like I should. Instead I have been rather lazy in the creative realm of life. Granted, I have been taking a lot of photographs, etc but I haven’t been doing much if anything with them. I went through a phase of playing a lot of online games like FarmVille and all those other Ville games. But I recently gave them up. They’re fun (and terribly addicting) but I want to spend more time and effort on art, photography, baking and whatever other creative thing I feel like doing.

Change is good.

Binny's

2010-01-20T08:51:00.004-06:00

Binny's is a local Chicago beverage shop. And by beverage shop I mean a place to buy wine and other sorts of alcohol-related drinky-drinks. I signed up for a Binny's card. It's kind of like a preferred shoppers club card. When certain wines go on clearance, you just hand over your card to the cashier and then, wham! bam! You get big discounts. I went through a phase of drinking cheap-o vino. But no more cheap wine! I got a $50 bottle of wine for $15! Yes, I did. Okay, you might think $15 is cheap, but it's really a $50 bottle. Binny's will no longer be carrying it and that's why it's on deep deep sale. It's a 2003 mix of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the Colchagua Valley in Chile. Zane would be so proud of me.

Oh and I must add...the Binny's store that's closest to my house is in a castle. Yes, a castle! Well kinda of a castle... I'll take photos next time I'm there which I'm sure will be soon.

Three Sheets

2010-01-09T09:44:00.001-06:00

There's a show I started watching a few weeks ago called Three Sheets. I love this show! I might be borderline obsessed. It's hosted by Zane Lamprey and as Wendy Williams would say, "He's a friend in my head." Totally. We would so get along. I'm sure I'd be on his speed dial and he would text me daily. He'd send me funny pictures of his monkey Pleepleus. We would probably go out on all night drinking binges and high five each other a lot. What a great friend....

So the premise of the show is this: My buddy Zane travels all over the world to different countries and explores the unique drinking culture each place has to offer. I would classify this show as educational. I learn so much from it. They should show it in grade school really. Ha! The show also has these ridiculous sound effects. Like when someone is drinking something you hear "glug glug glug". It makes me laugh almost every time. The show has been on for 4 seasons and there's a bunch of episodes I still haven't seen. Thank goodness for DVR because I can record all the ones I haven't seen. I feel like if Zane ever needed a co-host, I would fit right in.