Sorry for the dork-fest post title, it's just from one of my favorite shows, New Girl, which, if you don't watch it already, you definitely should and it's all available on Hulu. So Matt and I were discussing how deli turkey just doesn't cut it sometimes. Sometimes you want the real thing. And by real thing I mean the thing that you are normally only lucky to have once a year? Black Friday. The perfect Turkey Sandwich with real turkey meat and not some processed sliced turkey sitting in water or some other liquid wrapped in a plastic container (and it won't expire for like a month?? Weird). So anyway, I had some time to spare, which is incredibly rare for me. A day off is a fantastic blessing in my life, so I use it to make turkey for "real turkey" sandwiches for Matt all week. Yum-my.
Ohhh guys...I'll be honest, making these this morning was pure torture. I had already pureed my pumpkin last night but I should have mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl last night. Because here's the thing... I like to eat as soon as I can in the morning. Sometimes it's okay and I can wait about a half hour or so but generally I like to eat at least a little something right away. This morning I woke up famished. As I've mentioned before, I'm training for a marathon (Disney 2013!) and yesterday was my long-run day. I ran a whopping 12 miles. The furthest I've ever run on my own (i.e. not in a half marathon with 1000 other people). So, although I ate enough yesterday, my body still wanted fuel 18 hours later, and sitting there mixing ingredients to make waffles was torture. Next time, I'll make things the night before so I can go ahead and pop em right in the waffle iron. I've also been dying to test out my waffle iron that I got months ago on sale at Williams-Sonoma. It's so shiny!
Happy Easter weekend everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your weekends! I got a long weekend off from work, which I'm fully enjoying as a relaxing 3 days and doing pretty much as little as possible. Sometimes you just have to recharge ya know? Anyway, I made this rack of lamb a few nights ago and thought I would share it with you in the event that you haven't decided what to make for Easter dinner yet.
Hey y'all... I'm doing the holiday thing early (or right on time, in blogger world). I realize that I posted my 4th of July cake ON the 4th of July, and my holiday cookies on December 30th (oy vey) and that does not give readers enough time to make these holiday items for the actual holiday (unless they have a time machine...if you do, please let me know). I wanted to make mini-cakes for St. Paddy's day that reminded me (and hopefully you too!) of little lucky pots of gold! (I have recently been informed that it is actually St. PADDY's day and not St. Patty's day...learn something new every day huh?!)
Hey y'all! Happy Leap Year!! This is so fun that we have one this year! I mean they only come once every four years, so we have to make the best of it right? I'm going to make the best of it by sharing some things that make me Leap for Joy this Leap Year!
We have a winner folks! The lucky winner was Comment #50:  See? Here's the #... I used Random.org like I said I would in the giveaway post :) Thank you so much to all who entered, and don't forget, you can always go to SimplyLobsters.com and order some fresh Maine lobsters yourselves! They have a huge variety, including just lobster tails so if you aren't quite comfortable just yet with killing one yourself, you can still enjoy lobster AND take baby steps! They also have specials so make sure to check their website!
So I made some cookies to celebrate the giveaway ending! I used Sweetapolita's perfect sugar cookie recipe... it IS perfect and I suggest you use it, like I did for my holiday cookies. It is so great, I can't stop talking about it...and everything else she does because, let's face it, she's so incredible I can't believe she's a real person. I got some extra help from Bridget at Bake at 350 and Callye of The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. They gave me some last minute tips on using Royal Icing and I am so grateful! I'm planning on continuing the Lobster theme for Valentine's Day and make these instead of hearts. I'm also planning to send a dozen or so to Don from Simply Lobsters for being so gracious to host this giveaway, I definitely couldn't have done it without him! (But shhh don't tell him there are cookies coming!) Below, I'll just give you a few photos and such, since the recipes aren't really mine :) I couldn't have done these lobster cookies (or anything else colorful for that matter without Americolor gels... they are amazing! Just a small amount and it totally saturates the icing (or whatever it is you are dyeing). As you can see in the middle photo it wasn't quite red enough for lobsters but that was only one squirt of the bottle! To the right you can se how intense that color gets! LOVE! Below you can see the lobster sugar cookies before they get all iced up! All you need is some sugar cookie dough and some cookie cutters. Use the colored royal icing to outline and flood the sugar cookies... then let them dry to harden. Store in an airtight container and they should last a couple of weeks!
Remember when I told you about my New Year's Resolutions? And how my friend Marnely from Cooking with Books and I had made a resolution to cook a live lobster (after humanely killing it, of course)? Well, we set a deadline of end of January to do so, so I needed to find a live lobster ASAP. I didn't even know where to find a live lobster, so I performed a google search and found a great lobster company out of Maine, Simply Lobsters. I worked with Don, who was an absolute joy to work with. He was so quick to respond to my email and sent me a lobster to review via overnight shipping. I spoke to him at 9am on Wednesday and by 9am the next morning there was a fresh 3lb. lobster from Maine sitting at my front door (carefully wrapped up of course!)! Keep reading to see how you can win the giveaway of two 1.65 lb lobsters for Valentine's Day! The lobster arrived alive, as it should be, and was carefully packaged with its claws wrapped in rubber bands (so it didn't attack me!). Here's a sneak peak at the whole process:
Well, as some of you may already know through twitter, my boyfriend surprised me with a trip this Christmas. He also surprised me with a trip last Christmas (to VEGAS, and the Grand Canyon) but you probably don't know about that because I hadn't started blogging (or tweeting) then. This year he decided to go bigger... a longer trip, a longer flight and an awesome location...
Here's a hint: Also known as HAWAII: I won't gush about all of the details of the gift (which includes a LOST tour) but I will say that it involved a slideshow. And that said slideshow was password protected with the code being: 4 8 15 16 23 42 (and then press EXECUTE). I just love that man.
So anyway, now that the time for resolutions is upon us, and my trip is happening in February, I am working to continue with exercising regularly and eating a bit healthier (ignore the fact that my last post was about cookies...I exercised restraint people, I swear). So I decided to take a traditional winter classic and give it a healthy spin, and that's how this hot chocolate was born...  The Elements:
1 cup non-fat skim milk
1 scoop EAS Chocolate protein powder (or an alternative if you have a favorite kind already)
A steamer of some sort (or you could alternatively microwave your milk)
Procedure:
Steam the milk, then mix the protein powder in to the hot milk, stirring until it is fully incorporated
The Verdict:
Honestly I thought it was almost as good as the real thing. Now when I say "the real thing" I mean real chocolate shavings and not the crushed powder that you buy at the store. If you are used to the powder, than I would say that this is just as good! Love it. Easy and I don't have to feel guilty eating it. Bring on the bikini! (Okay not quite there yet, but getting there!) EAS powder is a great choice because it is 23g of protein with 130 calories and only 3 carbs! Other protein powders may work just as well, this one I just love because it tastes fantastic and is very versatile (I also love to mix it in a blender with 1 cup vanilla or regular soy milk to make a healthy chocolate milk!)
 Here are a few of my other favorite healthy items*:
Greek Yogurt-- high in protein and low in calories and carbs
Uncle Ben's Whole Grain Ready Rice-- whole grain rice that's ready in 90 seconds!
Skim milk
Grapes
Bananas
Green Tea
Cottage Cheese (individual packs, fat-free)--still getting used to this one...
*The thoughts and opinions in this post are mine alone and no one has provided me with these items HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
What are your new year's resolutions?? These are some of mine: - keep working out regularly and eating smart
- create more time for the things I really love, like maintaining this blog and developing recipes
- make more videos for the blog, such as the one I did here
- make the following things at some point this year: pork belly, foie gras, braised lamb, and attempt some surprises I have up my sleeve
- try making some things I haven't done before--I'm currently working on a list of things to try in 2012 with my beautiful and talented friend Marnely from Cooking with Books. So far we would like to do the following: pork belly (as mentioned above), pate, fresh lobster (meaning, still alive, not just tails), something involving molecular gastronomy, shuck oysters (and other shellfish), filet a whole fish, learn to perfectly cook steaks to all temperatures, and how to butcher beef properly.
Hey all, I promised to post my holiday cookies and I know they aren't much use to you now but at least you will have this reference if you want to plan ahead for next year! I made a few different kinds. I made gingerbread cookies for Matt's boss (who is a judge...that's why they are wearing robes) and sugar cookies for everyone else!
Let me back up and tell you a little Christmas story. I was unfortunately scheduled to work on Christmas Eve and was very upset at the thought of not being able to be with my family during that time. I found two lovely ladies to cover my shift so that I could be with my family. I dubbed them my Christmas Angels, and made them cookies for being so sweet to offer to do it. That is what Christmas is really about to me-- being with your family, and doing kind things for others when you know it will mean a lot to them.
Now that you have a little background, I'll show you all the cookies and you can keep them as a reference for next Christmas.
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