Tag: food

homemade brownie bowls and butterscotch for ice cream

Lauren2 Comments

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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.

Continue reading “pf chang’s-inspired chicken lettuce wraps” →

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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beef sliders with pepper jack, bacon, guacamole, and the hottest d*@# poblano peppers i’ve ever had

Lauren2 Comments

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I learn something new nearly every time I cook, and this week, I learned that poblano peppers can be extremely hot. And that when you handle hot poblano peppers and touch your eye, your eye will begin to burn. And when you get in the shower to rinse your eye, the water can transfer the burn to the lower part of your face. It was an eventful evening. There I was with one hand holding an ice pack to my eye and the other snapping photos of food on the grill. Am I a dedicated blogger or what? See, I go through all the trials and tribulations and fall into all the cooking pitfalls so you don’t have to. You’re welcome. 🙂

I wonder if other bloggers undergo these trials…

The pain in my eye subsided after a couple hours, but the burning in my hand burned well into the night. At midnight, I finally plunged my hand into a bowl of cold milk, which helped immensely. I had never had hot poblano peppers in my life—these were jalapeno-level spicy.  I love spicy food, but there’s spicy food and then there’s just pain. And when your mouth is in pain, the pain definitely overwhelms any taste there might be in my humble opinion.

Other than the near-ER visit, everything else went smoothly, and the beef sliders were tasty though very messy. If there’s a trick to eating a burger without all the toppings falling off, I have yet to learn it. This slider has all my favorite foods: creamy tangy guacamole, crispy BACON, a sliver of crunchy poblano pepper (I’m still bitter!), and pepper jack cheese atop a ground beef burger with spicy and creamy chipotle mayo. We utilized our grill for the bacon, peppers, and beef patties, which gave them a delectably smoky flavor. This is a slider recipe to keep! Enjoy! Oh, and if anyone wants to take these poblano peppers off my hands, you’re welcome to them! Just be sure you have some milk in the house.

So, we made the sliders with grilled corn with butter, chili powder, and salt (recipe), pasta salad with marinated tomatoes (recipe), and iced peach tea with mint (recipe). The pasta salad and iced tea recipes you can make ahead of time. Since the corn is also cooked on the grill and takes a little longer to cook than the beef patties, I would start with the corn and then move to the slider recipe. This gets you nice hot burgers.

Happy grilling!

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peach iced tea with mint

Lauren2 Comments

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Are there certain foods (or drinks) you can’t stay away from? I can’t stay away from ice cream, white chocolate, Nutella, anything cookies & cream-flavored, anything coffee-flavored… well, anything with SUGAR! (I mean, if we’re being honest…) pasta, pizza, potatoes, CHEESE!, bread (Hmm…this list is more extensive than I realized), and this peach iced tea. It’s real good. Like I forget how many glasses I’ve had. I am guzzling it like there’s no tomorrow. Good thing I didn’t add liquor to it! I’d probably be under the table right now inarticulately crooning Les Miserables songs or adding obscure movies I will never watch to my Netflix queue (Did you know there’s a documentary on Feng Shui on there? Who knew?)

The best thing about this recipe, other than the peachy flavor, is how easy it is. You’re basically making the tea and then adding homemade peach simple syrup to it. The longer the peach and mint flavors have time to coalesce in the refrigerator, the more flavorful they’ll be. Drink up!

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pasta salad with marinated tomatoes

Lauren4 Comments

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I was recently told that it would be beneficial to my readers if I posted my July 4th recipes before the actual holiday so they could actually make them on the holiday. Sorry, first-time blogger here making first-time blogger mistakes. So for the week and a half we have left before the 4th, I will be posting more recipes than normal so I can get them all posted in time. I have been cooking up a storm much to Justin’s delight. Justin is my taste tester, a role he prizes (or at least pretends to [this is Justin, I love it, continue on]). He is also my editor, content consultant, dishwasher, and oftentimes, even my Amazon echo when I have a cooking question but have my hands covered in flour or oil or what have you. I shout all kinds of questions from the kitchen, which he graciously Googles for me.

“How many ounces are in a quart?” (32 ounces by the way)

“How can you tell when scallops are done?” (they should be white and non-transparent)

“Is this chicken supposed to be purple?!” (we were making coq au vin)

“How do you thicken whipped cream?” (put in refrigerator over night) Continue reading “pasta salad with marinated tomatoes” →

steak and chicken dinner with the neighbors

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In the year and a half that Justin and I have lived in our  house, we have only gotten to know two of our neighbors. I think this is partly due to the garages being in the back of the houses instead of the front.  The only time we really see our neighbors is when they are getting their mail or mowing their yard. The couple across the street are fun and enjoy good food and drink so we invited them over for dinner. Continue reading “steak and chicken dinner with the neighbors” →

prosciutto-wrapped asparagus

Lauren1 Comment

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This is an awesome appetizer! Make this now! It’s a little tricky cutting and wrapping the fragile layer of prosciutto around the asparagus. Do not add any salt to this recipe as it is already salty from the prosciutto. These can be made ahead and stored at room temperature up to 4 hours before baking.

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farmer’s pizza

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I almost always want meat in my meals. If I don’t, I tend to think I’m coming down with a cold. But occasionally a recipe is so good that I don’t miss the meat. This is one of those recipes. I wasn’t sure how all the ingredients would play out, but I found the creamy mascarpone, spicy tomato sauce, and peppery arugula make this pizza just awesome. ‘Nuff said. Continue reading “farmer’s pizza” →

cilantro-serrano pesto with grilled chicken with penne

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This delightful recipe tastes like summer itself! Instead of basil-based pasta, this pesto uses cilantro and mint.  The pecan nuts give it a little bit of texture more than anything. The serrano pepper makes it a little bit spicy. We would recommend 1- 1 ½ pounds of chicken. Enjoy! Continue reading “cilantro-serrano pesto with grilled chicken with penne” →

blueberry pecan scones

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There’s nothing like the smell of blueberry scones in the morning! These scones are good but not overly sweet. The lemon zest adds a nice touch to them.  Oh, and don’t be a dingy like I was and add the dry mixture to the wet mixture before putting in the berries. Anyway, enjoy! Continue reading “blueberry pecan scones” →