homemade brownie bowls and butterscotch for ice cream

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On Saturday, I threw a baby sprinkle for my good friend, Kristine, for her second baby. She chose an ice cream social theme. So cute!

For the occasion, I made brownie bowls. I also bought waffle bowls as a backup in case the brownie bowls didn’t turn out. (It was a new recipe. You never know!) When my guests saw the waffle and brownie bowls, they asked, “Can we have both?” I thought, “Genius! Why hadn’t I thought of that?” This is why we’re friends. They take a good idea and make it great. So we added the brownie bowl inside the waffle bowl, and we had no regrets.

For ice cream, we served vanilla and chocolate flavors. The toppings included mini M&Ms, sprinkles, chopped mixed nuts, maraschino cherries, crumbled Oreos, Reece’s Pieces, strawberries, bananas, Torani’s dark chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and last but not least, the homemade butterscotch. The butterscotch was rich, and you could taste the butter and brown sugar in it. It was SO good!

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I mean, ice cream by itself is good, but then you add the homemade butterscotch, all the toppings, and voila, it’s ambrosia-of-the-Gods good. The butterscotch is really easy to make; it only contains 4 ingredients, and it lasts up to two weeks in the fridge. Also, it’s great to put over bananas for breakfast. Yum!

For the brownie bowls, you can use any brownie recipe (including brownie mixes). Follow the directions to make the brownies, and then, while they are still warm, take a tablespoon, carefully press down the middle, and allow them to cool. That’s basically it, though I do recommend spraying the bottoms of the muffin pan with oil but not the sides because you want the batter to stick to the sides to help create the bowl shape. Happy baking!

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For the punch, I combined Hawaiian punch, Sprite, and a splash of orange juice. Then added lemon slices and rubber duckies on top.

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pf chang’s-inspired chicken lettuce wraps

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We recently got back from our vacation to Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina (Post coming soon—yours truly is still navigating the 3,000 plus photos she took!). After gorging ourselves on our week of vacation, we are now on a self-imposed diet. We are attempting to hold each other accountable.

I don’t know whether it’s good or bad that we both have a lot of the same tendencies and cravings. We both crave SUGAR nearly all the time. We both ALWAYS want ice cream, no matter the time of day or circumstances. It’s gotten to the point where we don’t keep ice cream in the house, because well, we’re not great at regulating ourselves. We don’t want some of the ice cream; we want all of the ice cream! It’s our Achilles heal (along with a laundry list of other sugary-things), and it nearly takes a Greek god’s willpower to stay away from it. Anyway, this recipe is one of our attempts at eating healthy.

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open-faced arugula breakfast bagel

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June 17th was our 1st wedding anniversary. I cannot believe we’ve been married for one year. It feels like 20! Just kidding. But seriously, I remember the wedding like it was yesterday. And I remember the harrowing months of wedding planning that led up to it (I’m not sure I’ve fully recovered yet). But here we are a year and several home repairs later, still having fun like the overgrown kids we are.

We celebrated the milestone by having breakfast on the couch (as opposed to breakfast in bed) because it is in front of the TV. And someone (who shall remain nameless) was engrossed in a certain World Cup soccer match between Germany and Mexico. Later, we went to a Korean spa to relax. Continue reading “open-faced arugula breakfast bagel”

croissant french toast with fresh strawberry syrup

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This croissant french toast is a little bit of heaven. Sure, this recipe is sugar upon sugar piled upon more sugar with sugar sprinkled on top, but, hey, I don’t hear anyone complaining. The strawberry syrup does have a hint of orange which takes the taste to a whole new level. Its even great on ice cream and atop angel food cake.

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key lime pie

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I prefer making things from scratch, but sometimes you just run out of time.  For the key lime pie, I bought a 10-ounce ready-made graham cracker crust instead of making my own. I feel a little guilty because I remember how delicious the homemade version is.  This key lime pie is one of my dad’s all-time favorite desserts. My mom has made this recipe on several occasions, and she agrees the crust is just as good as the filling, so even though I didn’t make my own crust, I included the graham cracker crust recipe. You won’t regret making it!

The key lime filling is super easy, and only takes about ten minutes to assemble. When baked, the filling has the consistency of a custard and has a nice balance of tartness and sweetness. And contrary to popular belief, key lime pie is actually yellow, not green. I should note that you don’t necessarily have to use key limes for this recipe; I used large conventional limes from the grocery store, and it turned out great! Enjoy!

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