Holdin' it down in Conshy!

aaaaaaaaHi all,

Too bad I am such a bad blogger... my last blog was back in March, that is not okay. Well granted I have been working a TON! That's right, in April I officially got my first big girl job working for a regional publication. I am working in the events department and I love it! Now let's get to the good part: the recipe!

So, as a side note I am writing this blog as Hurricane Sandy pounds down on Philadelphia. Luckily, we still have power!

The recipe featured in this blog is Cranberry Orange Scones from FoodNetwork.com. This story begins about a week and a 1/2 ago, when Cameron was out of town. I found myself needing to keep myself from being bored in the evenings and so I decided to go to Whole Foods for the very first time. I. FELL. IN. LOVE. It is an amazing place, like UH-MAZ-ING. Anywho, I was wondering past the bakery when I saw scones. Now, I've never really been interested in them but I decided to pick one up, a cranberry orange one. Thus, my fascination begun. Now I have baked many a treats: brownies, cookies, cupcakes, cakes, muffins, cinnamon rolls, etc. but never a scone. I looked up a recipe and they were delicious. See below for the recipe. Two words: You're welcome. :)

P.S. This past September, I officially became a half-marathoner!

 

From FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients

• 4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
• 4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
• 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.
Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners' sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

Tammy's Mexican Rice

Okay folks. First off, I must apologize for my momentary lack of blogging. It has been super busy lately between moving from our old apartment to our new condo, to traveling all the way to San Antonio and Corpus Christi to visit our friends and family. We literally just got back into Philly a few hours ago. I have already unpacked, folded leftover laundry, and unloaded the dishwasher. I am dog tired since we drove from CC this morning so we could fly out of SA. But sometimes I get little bursts of energy. Which is why I am posting this blog close to midnight... Anyways let me tell y'all a little about our trip. In SA we got to experience all the amazing Mexican food places we love. La Hacienda de Los Barrios at Redland Road for margaritas. They seriously have the best margarita ever. The Guavarita. I don't know what makes it so delicious but they are tasty and potent. Basically, one margarita gets the job done. And, we also went to Lupe Tortilla, they have the best fajitas in the world. But the one thing about these restaurants that is sub-par? The Mexican rice. And I recently discovered my hubby knows how to make delicious Mexican rice courtesy of his mom, Tammy. Good thing too since we are a million miles a way from a good place to get it in Philadelphia. So here's a pic.

And here is the recipe:

*1 cup white long grain rice
*A little less than two cups water
*Salt and pepper to taste
*3 tablespoons garlic powder
*2 tablespoons camino
*small can of tomato sauce
*1/2 onion all chopped up
*1 green bell pepper
*Enough canola oil to coat the rice (not too much)

Put canola oil in pan with rice and put on medium/high. When it gets golden brown, (it just takes a few minutes) add onion, tomato sauce, spices, and water. Wait for it to boil, and then put on the lid and lower the heat on medium. Cook for 20 minutes and make sure to stir often! You don't want the rice to burn on the bottom of the pan.

So of course after this Mexican food feast, some good running is in order this week! Good thing the weather is supposed to be beautiful! Going to try and run 14 miles this week. Who's with me?

Buttermilk Banana Bread Muffins

Okay so this morning, I decided to make Buttermilk Banana Bread Muffins. My husband, Cameron, always buys a mass amount of bananas and then they end up getting too old to eat. (He is picky with his fruit) So they end up getting thrown in the freezer. As of this morning, I had four bananas in the freezer. I love him just the same even if he doesn't always eat all the bananas. The good news is that they freeze really well. So here I am thinking what the heck am I going to do with a bunch of bananas in my freezer. And then the light bulb went off, duh!, banana bread! Now my mom typically makes a dark banana bread loaf so I got her recipe. Since I only had one egg, I went searching for a smaller recipe that I could adapt. I also had some buttermilk in the fridge (I had made red velvet cupcakes for one of my friend's birthdays) that needed some using! I stumbled upon this blog The House of Smiths. And saw this picture.

Looks appetizing doesn't it. Oh, I forgot to tell you another problem I encountered, not having a bread loaf pan. Thus the idea for Buttermilk Banana Bread Muffins was born. I adapted the recipe so that it only makes 9 muffins. This is idea for me and my husband (enough to last us for at least 3 breakfasts).
Here is the recipe:

*1 cup flour
*1/2 cup sugar
*1/2 teaspoon baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon baking powder
*pinch of salt
*1 egg
*1/4 cup butter (I used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter All Purpose Baking Sticks) (melt the butter)
*1/2 cup buttermilk (I used Upstate Farms Reduced Fat Buttermilk)
*1 1/2 bananas (I defrosted mine for about 2 minutes in the microwave)

Mix the first five dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the last four wet ingredients in a bowl. Then mix! Spray your muffin pan with nonstick spray and fill them up about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. They are so moist and delicious. And for you calorie conscience out there, they are about 140 calories per muffin... not too too bad! Here are mine.

Haha, I love that you can see the hole where I poked mine to see if they were done. :) These make the perfect on the go breakfast or dessert. I've got to get ready for work! Hope you all make and enjoy them. Like I said they are super moist. YUMMM!

Okay so a couple weeks ago, I came home from work and my husband was on the computer. I asked him what he was looking at and he said he was "paying bills," which is so believable. It turns out he was working on a super secret Valentine's Day gift. Have you ever hear of Love Book? I think they actually had a Groupon a couple weeks ago. Anyways, you can basically complete your own book with all the reasons why you love your significant other. And you know what, it is a darn good gift!

Cam came home and gave me my gift and I was just about balling while he was reading it to me. Here are a couple of the screenshots of what was inside. The last one is my favorite. You'll see why.

Isn't that idea great? In other news... I picked up a new book. I love it when books become movies so my sister convinced me to get the book The Hunger Games. I hope I like it!

Superbowl Madness

I would like to start this blog post by saying that anybody who goes to the grocery store on Superbowl Sunday is absolutely insane. I happen to be one of those people. And everybody seems to know each other so people were stopping in the aisles and just chatting it up... Anyways at the store, I got the ingredients to make homemade pizza and peanut butter "Superbowl" honey balls. We are also making bruschetta. You can see the recipe for that below. So first let me show you the finished product.

I got the inspiration from my Mom. When I was little she used to make these delicious honey balls. They are actually pretty good for you, until I decided to add semi-sweet chocolate. :) Gotta spice things up a bit. Okay so here is the recipe.

*1 cup nonfat dry instant milk
*1 cup oats
*1/2 cup honey
*1/2 cup peanut butter (natural style)
*Baker's semi-sweet chocolate squares. I used 7 squares. (whole package)
*White chocolate morsels

Mix that up in a bowl. It should look a little like this.

Lay out some wax paper on a cookie sheet and shape your "dough" into football shapes. Take those footballs and dip in the melted baker's chocolate. I just nuked my chocolate for about a minute and half. Then put the tray in the freezer to harden up that chocolate. Melt the white chocolate and put in a sandwich baggie. Cut off the tip and make a football design. And voila! You have super cute football peanut butter honey balls. Perfect for your Superbowl party, or maybe a kid's birthday party, football game, etc. Will blog about the homemade pizza in a little! Next onto the bruschetta...

My Fight to put on my Running Shoes

I must dedicate this blog posting to my bff from college, Ellen. She requested that I blog some more. I feel so famous. LOL So I stumbled across this pin on Pinterest and I definitely felt like it spoke to me. Like this pin must have been created with me in mind.

I always, always, always feel like more than half the battle is just getting out and going to the gym. Once I'm there, I can do the workout I need to do. Honestly, I wish it wasn't freakin' freezing outside so I could just run outside on this trail I found. But in the mean time, the treadmill will have to do. This week I plan to run 14 miles total, whether that will actually happen, I don't know. But here is one of the workouts I like to do each week. It is amazing but truly a killer. Here is the link: San Francisco Running Hills Workout.

Now, if you are just starting to run, I would not suggest just jumping into it. I mean I feel like I am a decent runner and I am holding on for dear life half the time. And you will definitely need a full bottle of water for it. So I can run 4 miles, I typically add an additional 2 minutes to make it a total of 40 minutes. But take it easy and do what you feel comfortable with.

Also, my sister decided to follow in my footsteps. Check out her blog here: Things That You Should Love.

Snow on the Ground= Bruschetta + Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

So it snowed last night, about 5 inches. Today Cameron and I have had a pretty lazy day. For an appetizer for dinner, Cameron wanted to make Bruschetta. To be honest, he is a much better cook than I will ever be and I am a much better baker than he will ever be. It's a perfect balance. -Side note: as I am typing up this blog, Cameron is picking out his new text tone for me. I think he picked a cat meowing? Who knows. Anyways, the Bruschetta was delicious, so I wanted to share the recipe.

Bruschetta
1 loaf of french bread
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
5 plum roma tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Ground salt and pepper to taste
Butter (We use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)
Onion powder
1 bottle of moscato (for drinking while making)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut up french loaf into about 1/2 inch slices. Spread a little bit of butter and sprinkle a little bit of onion powder on each slice. Place bread in oven for 7 minutes. Dice tomatoes, garlic, and basil leaves. Combine in bowl and add in Parmesan, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. After the bread comes out, just put the mixture on top and enjoy!

So, on television tonight I am going to watch the latest episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and I am beyond excited. It's the little things in life. This ones my favorite. I think we can relate to each other in that we are both just a little bit crazy and super protective of our sisters.