April 2013 – Loving Food, Fashion, & Life

I Could Live On Desserts Foreveeeeerrr!

Posted on April 30, 2013 by LFFL

Made with Arborio rice, milk, sugar, vanilla bean, ground allspice, and salt; topped with sliced bananas sautéed in brown sugar and butter.

This rice pudding was soooooo delish I, naturally, couldn’t just eat one serving. This was also where I first discovered the vanilla bean, people. I absolutely love the vanilla bean! It’s an expensive sucker, but it’s so worth it.

Why use vanilla extract (unless you’re just trying to save time) when you can split open the vanilla bean, scrape out those seeds, and have that real deep vanilla flavor ooze out. Throw the seeds and the bean into the milk, warm it, and wait for that smell to go wafting through the kitchen—mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm, I tell you!

Recipe for—Rice Pudding

Oh, this strawberry soup was so nice, refreshing, and cooling. All I can say is “ahhhhh.” I actually got this recipe from Colin Cowie back when he had recipes on his website (but I can no longer find the recipe part of his site—bummed by that). This is actually made up of:

frozen strawberries
sugar
lemon juice
fresh strawberries
mint
lime sorbet
champagne

It’s so easy to imagine how this tasted.

Made with semisweet chocolate chips, heavy cream, espresso powder, coffee liqueur, sugar, gelatin, and vanilla extract.

Boy! It was a hunt I’ll never forget. Who knew it was so hard to find some espresso powder in this city? I couldn’t believe all the phone calls I had to make just to track some down to make this recipe.

The average grocery store doesn’t have it, coffeehouses don’t carry it—let alone know what it is. That was a big surprise to me. So who in the world does??? I had called hundreds of logical places and I was getting shot down left and right.

I was finally referred to my local city farmers’ market but there was still no guarantee there either. Then one grocer tells me to try a “kitchen store.” So after many, many calls and scavenger hunts later—ta da—I landed at Sur La Table.

Thanks, guys, for having the nerve to sell espresso powder since it’s apparently against the law everywhere else. I can finally make my dessert now!

Recipe for—Espresso & Chocolate Jellies

Made with French vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries; sauce made with Marsala wine, sugar, lemon zest, juice of a lemon, nutmeg, and topped with crumbled sunflower seed cookies.

Oh, this stuff was SO good. The Marsala wine in it flavors it just perfectly. Just a bowlful of strawberry luschiousness.

Recipe for—Strawberries with Marsala & Lemon Sauce

So, if you have nothing else to do today, buy and experience the vanilla bean—find a recipe you can use it in then sit back and enjoy that fabulous smell and taste. Also—open an espresso powder store, please.

Take-Away Life Lesson: If no one who works in a coffeehouse even knows what espresso powder is to the point where you’re giving a mini training session about it to them, be very concerned where you’re buying your coffee from.

RELATED ARTICLES:
Bananas Foster—My Favorite Topping Ever

And The Desserts Just Don't Stop

Posted on April 25, 2013 by LFFL

Made with gingersnap cookies, sweetened shredded coconut, melted butter, half-and-half, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, pure vanilla extract, and whipped cream.

I love a good coco pie! Who, in their right mind, doesn’t? Now, I’ve had some great coconut cream pies in my life before—like at The Capital Grille, for instance. Needless to say, theirs was so good I decided to try and make my own homemade coco pie to see how it’d turn out—and, I have to say, I’m proud of myself.

Let me tell you, I definitely deserve this kind of lovin’ in my life. When you have a hard time getting the kind of love you want from a decent human being—go straight to the coco pie, my friends! It’ll make up for it many times over.

Try making yourself this uber coconut cream pie and just set it on your lap and eat it while you watch a good action flick. And if you didn’t already know, I’m a big believer in—if you’re just going to go back for a 3rd and 4th slice anyway—just eat straight outta the pan and save yourself some time.

Recipe for—Coconut Cream Pie

Made with canned biscuits, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter.

I still haven’t figured out why this is called Monkey Bread, but whatever. All I can say is—it’s sticky. It’s just one big doughy, sugary, cinnamony (probably not a real word, but I can’t be worried about it) mess. Help yourself.

Recipe for—Monkey Bread

Made with butterscotch chips, crunchy peanut butter, peanuts, and Special K cereal.

You really need yourself some milk with these cookies—they are that sweet and good. But, once you have your milk in hand, you can easily just eat one right after the other back-to-back. Next thing you know, you look around and realize you probably should have tripled the recipe to begin with.

The simplest cookie you could ever make with only 4 ingredients:

butterscotch chips
crunchy peanut butter
peanuts
Special K cereal

That’s it! Aaaannnnnnd, we’re done. No baking, no nothing. Just warm, mix, shape into cookies, let them sit a couple of hours, then devour them. How hard is that?

So, if you have nothing else to do today, stuff that hole in your face with every one of these desserts after you’ve made them and make sure there’s ice-cold milk nearby.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Everyone at least deserves some coconut cream pie lovin’ in their life many times over. Ooooo and aahhh.

RELATED ARTICLES:
No-Bake Cookies

Homemade Dessert Goodness

Posted on April 23, 2013 by LFFL

Butterscoth Apple Crisp — Butterscotch Apple Crisp

Made with Granny Smith apples, butterscotch chips, light brown sugar, flour, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, juice of a lemon, butter, quick oats, salt, and chopped pecans; served with butter pecan ice cream.

OH – MY – WORD! Talk about yummy fabulousness! I absolutely loved this Butterscotch Apple Crisp so much I made it several times over within a matter of weeks. It’s what I do when I love something and it disappears too quickly. Now whether it disappearing quickly is my fault alone or several other people’s fault that have shared this with me is up for debate.

But if sweetness isn’t your thing, don’t bother. It’s yummy sweet! I always throw in some extra butterscotch chips when I make this. I mean, the butterscotch combined with the Granny Smith apples and the crispness of it all—oooohhhh, man! And then to have the nerve to serve it with Butter Pecan Ice Cream—HEAVEN! Say it with me now.

It’s hard to share something like this when you realize you can only get 2 or 4 slices out of it. That the pan is a 3-quart 9″ x 13″ is neither here nor there. It’s all in how you decide to slice it up.

Who came up with what a serving size should look like anyway? My serving sizes NEVER look the same as what the so-called “experts” say a serving size is. They really need to rethink that whole thing.

Made with sliced peaches, almond liqueur, nutmeg, brown sugar, corn starch, flour, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder, butter, buttermilk, and egg white.

Moving on to the Peach Cobbler. Wow! I loved this, too! The almond liqueur is what sets it off. And, as per usual, I could only see getting 2-4 servings out of this at the most. So share as you see fit.

If you ever need:

a way out of a traffic ticket
a way to get a man or a woman
a discount on your groceries
front row concert seats
a job promotion
free gas refills for your car
to prevent someone from shooting you

THIS IS THE WAY TO GO, my peeps!! Always keep a slice of this peachy bad boy on you for situations such as these and you’re good-to-go!

Made with graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, chopped pecans, butterscotch chips, semisweet chocolate chips, shredded coconut, and sweetened condensed milk.

These Five-Layer Bars were ok to me but I didn’t really want a lot of this. Kids would probably like it more than I did. It was good, but not good enough for me to keep the recipe in my permanent recipe binder that I have going.

If a recipe can get a permanent spot in ‘the binder’, it’s doing pretty good—because that means I think it’s fabulous enough to keep and make again one day.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, definitely make yourself some of that Butterscotch Apple Crisp and Peach Cobbler because you’re really missing out on life if you don’t. (See the links above for the recipes.) And if that’s not your thing, just head towards the kitchen and make any dessert you’d might like to have or try. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to keep the whole 9″ x 13″ tray for yourself.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Where one person sees getting 20 servings out of a dish to serve—another may see only 2 or 3 servings coming out of it.

RELATED ARTICLES:
A Peachy Breakfast

Red Velvet Punch

Posted on April 18, 2013 by LFFL

Made with fresh raspberries, pomegranate juice, club soda, agave nectar, lime wedges, mint leaves, and ice cubes.

What a pretty drink! This didn’t take long to make at all. There was no special occasion or anything—I just decided to try a new drink recipe only out of sheer boredom at home. (See what I mean—there’s always something you can find to do when you think you have nothing else to do.)

Just don’t over-do it with the mint leaves unless you really love yourself some mint. It was my first time working with fresh mint leaves and I had no idea they could be so powerful if you put too many inside.

It wasn’t bad for a pom drink—but if you don’t like pomegranate juice, this may not be your thing. See here for Red Velvet Punch recipe.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try making yourself a pitcher of any new refreshing drink you’ve never tried before and see how you like it. At least you’ll have something different in the frig to drink during the week.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Don’t get carried away with mint leaves in your life. It’s not like you can really get the mint flavor back out once it’s in there.

Fries In A Basket

Posted on April 16, 2013 by LFFL

My own personal shopping cart of fries! I just LOVE this burger joint! One fine day I decided to go out for lunch by myself and happened upon this hot spot. My lunch meal consisted of—a Meatloaf Burger with grilled onions and sweet ketchup on an onion brioche bun with a side of……Fries in a basket with chipotle aioli sauce and sweet ketchup.

What cracked me up was the basket of fries. How awesome is that?! My own personal grocery cart of fries. I mean, it is a basket after all. It just made eating them so much more fun. (Unfortunately, the cart wouldn’t fit inside my purse. But that’s neither here nor there.)

This juicy, moist burger fell apart with the first bite. My hands were SO messy I required a minimum of 30 napkins—(that’s how you know you’re eatin’ a burger right). The food was great, but I think my arteries were screaming at me.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, go to your local burger joint and ask for a burger and a basket of fries. And when they have the nerve to bring the fries out in their standard container look at the server and say “NO, in an actual grocery cart, please.”

Take-Away Life Lesson: Bring a much bigger purse in case the basket ‘accidentally’ rolls off the table and needs a place to land.

Why, Why, Why Do I Always Pick The Wrong Line?

Posted on April 11, 2013 by LFFL

Can you get your coupons, advertisements (ads), and whatnot together BEFORE you get into the checkout line, please?

Well, this is who I had the privilege of standing behind in the Wal-Mart line. She wanted to discount everything she bought to match all the ads from every other store she had in her hand. So everyone in line had to wait until she went page-by-page through each ad as each item came down the conveyor belt!

Maybe things would have gone faster if she had, hmmm I dunno, pre-marked and/or highlighted her pages and items ahead of time-–but no chance of that. She, therefore, couldn’t remember which ad had which item in it which meant she had to go through ALL of them until she found each one of them. And this was for almost ALL of her items—not just 1 or 2 of them.

I know times are hard, but seriously! There was even a discussion of an item in one ad being for 99 cents, but Wal-Mart charged $1.00 for the same item! Why are we even having this discussion? Here—I’ll pay the extra penny for you! I just want to keep it movin’.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, do us all a favor and get your advertisements, coupons, and whatnot all together before you even leave the house for a shopping trip.

Such is my life. No matter which line I get into, it’s always the wrong one.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Always keep a yoga mat on your person for situations such as this. Lay it out right there in line and quickly put yourself into savasana before someone gets hurt and to keep yourself out of jail. Namaste!!

IHOPin' Around

Posted on April 9, 2013 by LFFL

Pick-A-Pancake Combo with Original Buttermilk Pancakes

Spinach & Cheese Egg Scramble

Mexican omelet of some sort with salsa

Bacon & Cheddar Stuffed Crepes

Chicken Fajita Quesadilla

Ham & Egg Melt

Apparently, I lived at the International House of Pancakes (IHOP) for a while, too. This was almost as bad as the time I moved into the Cracker Barrel on a permanent basis. Seems like once I get on a roll with a place, I need to try everything on the menu at least once—which requires frequent visits.

I managed to get all my pancakes free, too! If you’ve ever taken the time to read an IHOP receipt, you’ll see there’s a toll-free number to call within 3 days to take a short survey about your experience there. At the end of the survey, you’re given a code to write on your receipt and THAT’S IT, people! FREE PANCAKES!!!

OMG, the things I’ll do for free pancakes or any food for that matter. It was awesome. EXCEPT—I found out, you can’t call from the same phone number within a certain time period or it won’t work. They know you’re the same person calling again and apparently they don’t want you getting another set of free pancakes that quickly again. Seriously, dude? Why do they care how many free pancakes I get? But I set out to beat them at their own game. Hmmm.

The problem—I needed a code for each receipt. But because I was going to IHOP daily, I had lashings of receipts and, hence, I was running out of phones to use. I did not let that deter me though. What’s a girl to do?

Do you know how many free pancakes that is if only I could find a different phone to use? Home phone, cell phone, work, neighbor’s, co-workers’, but I realized once I ventured out and found myself inside a local laundromat just to “borrow” the phone, I knew things had gotten out of control.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, stop by a local IHOP every day, work your way down the menu, and check out your receipts to see if the survey promotion is going on.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Keep a stash of pre-paid cell phones in reserve for situations like this.