OOEY GOOEY TOFFEE CAKE

I got this recipe from a Disney blog that has recipes from restaurants all over Disneyland, especially Epcot, where each "country" has employees/chefs that are actually from that country and make amazing authentic food! This is not one of those. 

DESSERT PIZZA: FRESH BLACKBERRY, GOAT CHEESE, THYME & HONEY

Yes I just said all of that in one recipe! Don't question me!

Amy found this amazing recipe for a dessert pizza that we then made for her birthday! We ended up making it with Red Mill gluten free pizza dough mix, but of course you can use it with any type of dough. It has very interesting flavors and is not difficult at all to make, much easier than a regular pizza. We also made a ricotta lemon-almond cake and prosciutto/arugula/pear pizza, but that's a story for another day! (An aside: For all you single goat-cheese-loving ladies, check out this recipe for goat cheese alfredo with roasted red pepper!)

GOAT CHEESE ALFREDO WITH ROASTED PEPPER

This is not for the faint of heart. Cheese, heavy cream, and butter. Yes please!!

5 FALL CRAFTS & RECIPES

Use some of our past DIYS to get in the moooood for looove (fall)! Click captions for links!

 

1// Grab some mason jars and scrap paper!

 2// Get cozy with some warm honey lavender milk

3// Make this cute and simple ghost!

4// Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

5// Spicy Vegetarian Corn Chowder

-Jerica-

ENGAGED!

Guys I got engaged! Actually since my last post, I graduated and got a job doing research! So crafts have been put on the backburner :(. But this engagement party was an excuse for Amy and our friend Alix and I to get crafty! We kind of just all brought things and brought ideas and it came together so amazingly, better than I ever could have imagined! We did not have any particular theme in mind, other than we wanted diamonds. Here are some pictures of the details.

JASMINE RICE SIDE DISH

 I found some jasmine rice on sale and was looking up some recipes and used this one because I already had anything! The bay leaf adds an amazing cool flavor to this dish.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1/4th cup green peas

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups dry jasmine rice

3 cups water

salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Pour 3 cups water into the saucepan and add the salt. Increase the heat to medium and let the rice come to a quick simmer. Reduce heat to low and let rice simmer lightly and sit uncovered until all of the liquid is absorbed. Cover the rice and remove from heat. 
2.  In a large saucepan over a medium-low heat, warm the oil. Add onion and saute for 3 to 5 minutes. Mix in green peas, bay leaf, and jasmine rice. Stir to coat the rice. 

PASTA CARBONARA

I was wanting to make a pasta carbonara dish and was doing a little research, and realized that the authentic recipes are nothing like a pasta carbonara dish you would order at an American-Italian Restaurant. There's no heavy cream, or wine, or peas in the sauce ( I still added them), but rather the sauce is just uncooked egg! My recipe is still not completely authentic but it was so delicious. And actually pretty healthy when you think about it! My substitutions included using Whole Wheat pasta, Turkey Bacon, and adding Peas. All together it took me about 30 minutes to make!

BAKED BROWN SUGAR STEAK FRIES

For some reason, it seems like I usually stick to making the unhealthy stuff while Amy does the healthy stuff and I plan to continue that streak.

Anyway, these are sooooo delicious. It tastes almost tangy for some reason with the brown sugar/salt combo!

BAKED BROWN SUGAR FRIES

INGREDIENTS:

Baking potato (one or two)

Olive oil

Brown sugar

Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut up potato into steak fry strips. Try to keep them uniform in size. Heat oven to 475 degrees F.

2. Place the fries in a bowl of warm water for about ten minutes. This will help soften up the inside.

2. Cover a baking pan in aluminum foil then spread about 3 tablespoons of olive oil on the pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the fries.

3. Place the fries on the pan and cover with aluminum foil. Place in oven for 5 minutes, remove aluminum foil covering and place back in oven for about 10 minutes. Remove fries and sprinkle brown sugar evenly on them. Rotate the pan and bake another 10 minutes. YUM

Recipe from A Beautiful Mess

-Jerica-

DIY SWEET POTATO DOG TREATS

 

This homemade dog treat requires two things, sweet potato and an oven! You'll want to cut the sweet potato into slices around a quarter-inch thick; if they are too thin they will be more crispy and less of a chew, if it is too thick the heat of the oven wont be able to penetrate very deep. So a quarter inch turned out perfect for me. I even eat them myself sometimes. Amy and I are both obsessed with our dogs and will try to do some more dog-oriented recipes. No Cats Allowed here EVER. If you like this and want another homemade dog treat recipe, check out these peanut butter treats Amy made!

DIRECTIONS

Place all your slices on a baking sheet and set your oven as low as it will go. Mine went to 200 F. By keeping it as low as possible you do more of a dehydration instead of an actual bake.  I checked mine out and flipped them all over about halfway in between and all together they probably sat in the oven for 4 hours but pull one out every once in a while and check out the consistency.

To store I took an old jar and printed out a label to glue on, then put some mod-podge over to seal. I finished by spray painting the lid.

-Jerica-

SNOOZE BREAKFAST POT PIE

If you're reading this and you're from Colorado probably know about the restaurant Snooze. If you know about Snooze you also know it usually has an hour and a half wait. The first time we went I think we waited an hour and a half! There are several locations here, and only one other in San Diego. Every location does so well, I know it will take over the world soon. Look out Wal-Mart (allrightsreserved?!)! All of the dishes are so high quality but no more expensive than any other breakfast place. Another of my favorites to order is the sweet potato pancake with ginger butter!

Anyway this recipe is one of their most popular dishes, and what I order everytimeee. It is eggs over puff pastry and an amazing sausage rosemary gravy poured on top. It sounds weird, I know. I don't think I would order it from the description but I tried a bite of my friends and was hooked! Just give it a chaaaance! This recipe is dead on and tastes exactly like the restaurant, so if you don't live nearby you can do it yourself!

This recipe was slightly altered and actually released by one of Snooze's employees on a local news station. I chose to make individual servings so it was more like the restaurant but this was intended to make as a casserole to serve several people. I also could not find puff pastry so I grabbed some flaky biscuits! Also if you are vegetarian, you could try substituting the sausage with mushrooms.

Snooze Breakfast Pot Pie

INGREDIENTS:
1 sheet puff pastry (approximately 8x10 inch)
12 eggs scrambled
4 cups sausage gravy (see recipe below)
Egg wash (whisk one egg with 1 Tbs. water)

ROSEMARY-SAUSAGE GRAVY:
2 cloves minced garlic
2 leeks, cleaned and chopped (discarding leaves)
2 celery stalks (chopped)

2 large carrots (sliced)
1 sprig of rosemary (finely chopped)
1 lb. bulk breakfast sausage (browned and drained)
3 Tbs. unsalted butter

4 cups milk
½ cup Parmesan cheese (grated)
½ cup all purpose flour
Salt and pepper to taste 

DIRECTIONS
1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add leeks, carrots, celery, garlic, and rosemary and sauté until vegetables soften (about 10 min). Preheat oven to 400F

2. Stir in flour and continue to cook until the flour is well incorporated. At this point, stir in the cooked sausage, milk and Parmesan cheese. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and allow to simmer (stirring occasionally) until the gravy thickens (about 10-15 min). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Pour thickened gravy into a medium sized casserole dish. Top with scrambled eggs. Cover the casserole dish with the puff pastry dough, crimping the dough around the edge of the dish.

4. Lightly brush the pastry dough with egg wash. Place in preheated oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Serves 6 to 8

-Jerica-

BAKED KALE CHIPS

I have found my new obsession. Baked Kale Chips. That is all. 

Oh and here is the recipe! It is so simple! 

Ingredients:

Kale 

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Olive Oil 

1. Chop kale in large pieces and without stem and make sure it is dry!

2. Toss in a little olive oil - do not drench it! just enough to coat it lightly

3. Add some salt and pepper ( be careful to not add too much!)

4. Bake at 350 F for 12-14 minutes

-Amy-

HOT SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP

There are lots of cold spinach artichoke dips out there but nothing beats a warm gooey cheesy one! This recipe made a very hearty portion and a lot of the ingredients I had already. Feel free to substitute any of the ingredients with a low fat option as well. This is great when having people over, or devouring half of it yourself like I did. Whatever gets you off!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen or fresh spinach, drained and coarsely chopped
• 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon chili sauce (optional)
• 1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano (parmesan), grated
• 1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded

DIRECTIONS

1. Simply mix everything and pour it into a baking dish. I also put an extra layer of mozzarella on the top before I threw it in the oven.
2. Bake at 350F oven until the sides are bubbling and cheese has melted and turned golden brown on top, about 20-30 minutes.

Original recipe found here.

-Jerica-

CHRISTMAS BRUNCH

For Christmas my sister requested a Christmas Brunch! So Christmas Eve as I did some last minute present shopping, I Googled some recipes and found a Goat Cheese and Caramelized Balsamic Onion Quiche and a Starfruit and Spinach Salad.  I got the original recipe for the Quiche here but made a few minor changes. 

Ingredients

2 pie crust (I used a store bought crust)

2 Onions 

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar 

3 tablespoon sugar

1/4  cup buttermilk

1/4 cup milk

8 large eggs

5 ounces goat cheese

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 tomato, sliced into ¼ inch slices

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. lay the pie crust into your baking dish

3.Bake the pie crust according to the instruction. While it bakes begin caramelizing your onions.

4. Slice onions and cook on the stove with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt/pepper, and sugar.

5.Take the crust out when it is done and let it cool

6.spread onions in the baking dish and crumble in goat cheese

7. In a bowl mix together buttermilk, milk, eggs, salt, nutmeg, pepper

8. Pour mixture into baking pan and bake until egg is set and golden. for about 40-45 minutes

My uncle has an amazing fruit garden and always send us tons of fruit. This time he sent us a huge box of start fruit. More than what we know to do with! So I threw some in with some spinach and almonds for a salad. For the dressing I mixed together some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar, lime juice, minced garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. I didn't really measure it out exactly just poured and mixed until it tasted right! 

-Amy-

COCA COLA CUPCAKES WITH BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

My friend has this odd obsession with Coke. It's kinda ridiculous- maybe obsession is the wrong word... more like addiction. Well I am only fueling the fire with these Coca Cola Cupcakes. Since it is finals week he has been under some stress with studying so I decided to make him a treat to help him cope. I think it may just be a girl thing to want sweets, chocolate, and tons of food when under stress but maybe a guy might appreciate it as well! Either way I know he can't turn these down. I included 4 Coca Colas in the pretty glass bottles- the ones from Mexico that are made with real sugar! (I am not a soda fan but all my soda drinking friends tell me it is a lot better than American coke).

I got this recipe from an Australian blog, Grab Your Fork and made a few adjustments.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 c  flour

3/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1/3 c Greek yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 c unsalted butter

4 Tbsp dark cocoa powder

3/4 cup Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola icing:

1/2 c unsalted butter, softened

2 c  powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp Coca-Cola

2 Tbsp Cream Cheese

Decorations (optional):

gummy cola bottles

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees .

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, egg, yogurt, vanilla .

3. Heat butter, cocoa, Coca-Cola on low heat and mix.

4. Mix everything together and then fill each muffin tin 2/3 way full. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool.

5. For the icing- beat the softened butter with coca cola, cream cheese and powdered sugar.

6. Once the cupcakes have cooled, top with icing and gummy cola bottles.

-Amy-

LEMON RICOTTA PANCAKES

I was looking for a recipe that called for ricotta to use mine up, and a way to procrastinate from studying for finals, and I found this! Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. Who knew? The ricotta makes the pancakes extra moist inside and you whip the egg whites before adding, which adds so much volume and fluff. The end result is a pancake that melts in your mouth. Stop drooling!

LEMON RICOTTA PANCAKES 

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon canola oil

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese, egg, egg whites, lemon juice, lemon zest, and canola oil. Gently fold this mixture into the dry ingredients until flour disappears. Don't over mix. The batter will be thick.
3. Heat a griddle or a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray.  Drop about 1/3 cup of batter onto the hot griddle or skillet. Cook the pancakes until browned on the underside and beginning to set, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook the pancakes on the other side, about two minutes longer. Serve warm with maple syrup or fruit topping!

 -Jerica-

VINTAGE COOKBOOK UPCYCLE

Well this project was quite tough to name...it's a cookbook upcycle to well... a cookbook! Jerica and I both love to try new recipes and cook for our friends. Inspired by a post from one of our favorite blogs A Beautiful Mess, we both started our own cookbooks. This is a fun alternative to store and archive all of our favorite recipes so it is quick and accessible in the kitchen as we cook (instead of having our laptops in the kitchen- can't tell you how many times I have almost spilled on my laptop)! This if a fun, easy and progressive project you can always be working on. It also gives a lot of room for creativity. As you can see there is no one way to do it and each and every book will be unique and one of a kind.

All you need to do is find a old cookbook that you do not really care for (Jerica and I both picked ours up at the thrift store) and paste in your recipes however you like! Jerica (bottom of image) used different types of scrap paper and magazine pictures for a border around recipes that she edited with cool fonts and printed out on the computer. She also added category tags to section off her recipes in her cook book!

For mine ( image top) I hand wrote my recipes and titles on lined paper and pasted them in. You can really do whatever you want with it! I followed the original book's sections and categories and pasted each of my recipes under the right section.  We both left parts of the original pages visible to preserve the look and feel of the original cookbook. Another cool idea is to add in your own pictures the recipes as well! My book was a little too small for that but maybe for another book! 

-Amy-

CREAMY CHICKEN SAUSAGE PASTA

I devoured this for dinner and then the next day for lunch. It was delicious, quick, and suchhh a comfort food. And I love any dish with wine, my most favorite comfort food. Cause I'm a girl and all. Get it?? ahhahahahahahahhhahha. But back to the recipe....

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb hot or sweet Italian turkey or chicken sausage
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/4 cups dry white wine
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 8 oz (2 1/2 cups) penne, ziti, or rotini pasta
• 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed, dried, and chopped fine
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup to 1 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
• 6 oz fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add sausage, breaking it up with a spoon, and cook until lightly browned. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
2. Stir in wine, water, pasta, tomatoes, and salt.  Increase heat to medium-high and stir often, until Penne is tender and liquid has thickened.  Stir in 3/4 cup of cream or half-and-half; increase the amount up to 1 cup if the dish needs a little thinning after you add the spinach in the next step.
3. Stir in spinach, one handful at time, and cook until wilted. Remove from heat, add Parmesan and salt & pepper to taste. Enjoy! Recipe adapted from here.                                                            -Jerica-

GRILLED SWEET POTATO WITH GARLIC BUTTER & THYME

 So I have made this snack 3 times since I discovered it... 3 days ago. Only a few ingredients, so tasty and soooomewhat healthy! This was one of the dishes Amy and I were considering for our Thanksgiving Dinner but it ended up not making the cut so I had six sweet potatoes on my hands! I didn't have rosemary so I just used some Thyme and it was delicious. The first time it was for my boyfriend and I as an appetizer, but I ended up eating the whole first batch myself. Whoooops.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large (2 small) sweet potatoes, washed and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp finely diced fresh rosemary
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• sea salt, sprinkled on top

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash and slice the sweet potatoes into 1/2-inch rounds and place on foil sheet.
2. Melt the butter in a bowl and add the chopped rosemary and garlic.
3. Stir and spoon/drizzle on each round.
4. Lightly salt the tops.
5. Place on grill and cook on low, about 5 minutes each side.

Recipe found here

-Jerica-

ALMOND PESTO & SPAGHETTI SQUASH

Almond Pesto with Spaghetti Squash

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Cup Raw Almonds

1/4  Cup Olive Oil

1/8 Cup Truffle Oil 

3 cups Basil chopped leaves
3 Cloves Garlic
1/4 Cup  Parmesan Cheese
 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Lemon juice

1/2 Teaspoon Truffle

1 Spaghetti Squash

2 Zucchini- shredded into thin strips  

2 links Italian Sausage

1/2 Teaspoon dried Basil

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Italian Season

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F

2. Cut and take out the seeds from your spaghetti squash. Drizzle squash and shredded zucchini with a tablespoon of Truffle oil. Sprinkle with Garlic Salt, Dried Basil, and Italian Seasoning Roast, then place spaghetti squash in the oven for about one hour or until tender. Bake the zucchini for 30 mins.

3. Bake Sausage according to instructions as well! I do it all at once to save me some time.

4. Using a food processor blend together almond, basil, cheese, garlic, olive & truffle oil, lemon juice, salt/pepper, truffle until it forms a relatively smooth paste.

5. Shred your squash and mix with pesto and sausage!

6. Enjoy!

-Amy-

RECIPES TO GIVE THANKS FOR

Jerica and myself threw a fancy dinner party last night.. okay not really fancy at all. It was more of a pre-Thanksgiving with tons of food, friends, and alcohol. We gathered together all of our dearest friends for a night of thanks and tons of food. Since Jerica and I love to cook,  a Thanksgiving dinner sounded like the perfect project for us to do together. We spent all Saturday cooking for our friends and made up with some really great dishes.  

Appetizers: Butternut squash hummus, baked brie with caramelized onions, baked brie with sun-dried tomato and thyme. 

 Dinner: Orange and onion stuffed turkey, green bean casserole, bacon & apple roasted yams, bacon & cheese cornbread ( I am obsessed with bacon!), herb stuffing, roasted vegetables in a sun-dried tomato and thyme infused olive oil, white cheddar mashed potatoes, Gravy

Dessert: Homemade Pumpkin Pie with a Macadamia Nut Streusel  & made from scratch Ameretto Tiramisu

Here are some of the recipes we did that were more of cook as we go kind of deal:

Baked Brie with Caramelized Onions

1/4 Sweet Onion

1 Tablespoon of Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Olive Oil

Brie

Caramelize your onion with sugar and oil on the stove ( or for better results use a sweet balsamic vinegar- we didn't have any so we improvised) until the onions are soft and brown. Top over your brie and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 325 degress. Enjoy! Trust me this is amazingggggggggggg- you will not be able to get enough of it.

Roasted Vegetables in a Sun-Dried Tomato and Thyme infused Olive Oil

Infuse some olive oil with strips of sun dried tomato and sprigs of thyme. Pour over your veggies of choice. We chose zucchini spears and red bell peppers, toss with salt and black pepper and grill till tender

Stay tuned for the Amaretto Tiramisu recipe in our next entry.