And everyone here is still wide awake – no going to bed early for this family on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve (day and evening) are pretty low key around here – this year especially, since we aren’t hosting Christmas dinner tomorrow like we often do. Let’s see how it all went down.

Well, it started with an excellent bowl of oats.

• 1.2 cup oats, milk, water
• 3 dried figs, chopped
• craisins
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• peanut butter
• Artisana Cacao Bliss

With a glass of the juice I’ve been drinking of late – Oasis Strawberry Kiwi.

On the festive Christmas table cloth.

I then spent the morning baking up one dessert for dinner tomorrow (we might not be hosting, but I’m ALWAYS in charge of bringing dessert). You’ll have to wait to see my creation though

My mom had run to the store while I was baking, and I asked her to pick up the peanut butter I like as I was almost out. Alas, she grabbed the wrong one, so I ran back up to the store to exchange it – bad move! It was INSANE there. You’d think people wouldn’t be able to get groceries for a month or something. Seriously, the store is only closed for a day (or 2 depending on the store).

Of course, I couldn’t just leave with the peanut butter. I grabbed something for lunch as well.

Sushi! California roll and a couple of pieces of inari. Yum!

Seems like the perfect Christmas Eve lunch, no?

I enjoyed my delicious sushi, then played a little Dr Mario on Wii until I was digested enough to head to the gym. I arrived exactly an hour before they were closing for the day, so I had just enough time to get sweaty on the stairclimber and elliptical. Perfect!

Once home, I finally set to work on wrapping my presents. My sister has been harassing me all week to get it done. The thing is – I have some breakable stuff, and my cat likes to run into the tree with no regard for the items underneath. So really, I was trying to save my family’s gifts from disaster!

My timing was perfect – once I was done with the wrapping, it was time to have dinner. Like I said, we don’t really do anything for Christmas Eve, so dinner isn’t a fancy meal or anything. But it was a fun meal – make your own burrito/soft taco.

We had all the fixin’s":

• refried beans
• cheddar cheese
• avocado
• lettuce
• tomato
• salsa
• sour cream
• jalapenos

There was also ground beef, but it was still in the skillet when I took the pictures.

Here’s my creation.

I had refried beans, beef, cheddar, salsa, sour cream, jalapenos, and avocado.

All on a black bean & salsa flavoured tortilla – it was spicy!

I added lettuce to mine as well, but since it would cover up all the other fillings, I figured you didn’t need to see a picture

Once dinner was cleaned up, I set to work on the second dessert for tomorrow, then it was time for a rousing family game of Hand & Foot. If anyone knows the card game Canasta, it’s pretty much the same thing. My mom and sister are always a team, and I’m always teamed up with my dad. And per usual, we were the victorious pair. Woo!

After all that family bonding, we went our separate ways. My mom and sister are watching some Christmas movie, dad is watching the news, and I’m a’ blogging. Oh, and having a little snack.

I had a total hankering for popcorn (with butter), and decided to sip on a PomX Tea – this one is the Pomegranate Wildberry White Tea.

I really like this one – it’s very sippable, nice light flavour. Thumbs up!

Mom also just brought around chocolates that our neighbours gave us. Mmmm, chocolate. Guess I should go enjoy that. I hope you all have had a great Christmas Eve, and that Santa is good to you in the morning. Merry Christmas everyone!

These cookies are my piece de resistance. I came up with them in college, wanting to making a decadent vegan cookie that didn’t contain any oil, margarine or shortening. Natural-style peanut butter does the work in these cookies. I make these at least a few times each year, and they tied for first place in a cookie contest at work and no one knew they were vegan (I still haven’t told!).

This recipe first appeared in my cookzine Rabbit Fodder Addict in 2003, then it was published in Veggie Life Magazine and Sarah Kramer’s La Dolce Vegan.

So here it is. You can find vegan chocolate chips here. And you must use natural style peanut butter; don’t try sneaking in any JIF or Peter Pan.

White Diamond Cookies

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups natural style peanut butter
1/2 cup almond or soy milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream together sugars, milk and peanut butter with an electric beater. Beat in cornstarch mixture and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together cocoa and baking soda. Stir in the flour until it is well mixed with the cocoa and soda. Add to peanut butter mixture and stir or beat until well mixed. Stir in the white chips. The mixture should be somewhat crumbly, but if it’s too crumbly (powdery) add up to 1/3 cup more milk or nut butter thinned with water until you’re able to form it into
balls. Once you’ve formed the dough into balls, flatten them in your hand into cookie-shaped rounds. Place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes. Let them cool for a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool. Devour.

Our first batch of brownies from the book, Brownie Mix Bliss, was the Peanut Butter Cup Brownies. The recipe was super easy insofar as all you had to do was mix the brownie mix, pour it in the pan, and then insert Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. (You use a full bag of peanut butter cups!) That being said, our Baker’s Edge Nonstick Brownie Pan, plus the fact that the brownies were full of Reese’s cups, made for a fantastic batch of brownies.

Here are the brownies before baking.

Here are the brownies after they’re baked!

We brought them to a holiday party, and they were a big hit. The brownies were easy to cut because you could choose whether you wanted a one-cup piece or a two-cup piece (or if you’re daring, a three-cup piece). Also of note… the pan is super easy to clean. All things considered, the first batch of brownies was a success!

So I’ve got a crazy day ahead, but couldn’t be happier! I just love the holidays

I just finished watching some Falalala movie (on Lifetime) with Jeany babes, and soon i’ll have to start wrapping presents, eat some lunch, get ready for tonight’s Church service, head to my dad’s for a mexican feast, and then back to my mom’s boyfriend’s family’s house for some games + dessert. Complicated?–nahh, I love it!

There have been many eats gone unpictured (aka cereal bowls at friend’s houses, some amazing restaurant-made “tempeh tacos”, and the best avocado & veggie sandwich eaten out with some sorority sistas from my hometown–love)….but there have also been many pictured!

Get ready for a quickie (recap, duh!):

un bagelette, salsa, carrots & tj's tortilla chips

This may have been the best bagel sandwich i’ve ever had. Made with tofutti cream cheese, a thick layer of mustard, tomato + cucumber + onion slices, a sprinkle of dash and tofurkey all smushed together. And inspired by this gorgeous foodie.

oh my gahhh, i need to make this again...asap

Later that day–a two-part dinner…

smallish salad w/ Annie's Honey Mustard dressing: round uno

pizza wrap: round dos!

And a how to: toast each side of wrap for several minutes at 350 degrees, then remove from oven and slather with tomato sauce, pepper-jack cheese (or whateva else you like), sauteed veggies (brocc, zucchini, onion, garlic & bell pep), then sprinkle with lots of chili flakes and throw it under the broiler for a few more. This was very messy to eat–but so, so good.

A typical breakfast:

berry-beautiful, no? muhahaha

Made with 1/2 a cup of oats, stevia, blueberries, cinnamon, van. extract, almond butta & agave.

Another super satisfying, simple lunch:

a biggie

In the bowl: Romaine, tomato, brocc, carrots, bell pep, Trader Joe’s Jalapeno & Cilantro Hummus and a drizzle of Balsamic dressing

+ Pita chips & salsa…a very addicting combo

a snack ALMOST too pretty to eat

Oikos (w/ cinnamon & stevia), fresh figs and graham cracker crumbs

semi cocoa-y oats

A spoonful of Cocoa powder + frozen berries + vanilla protein powder+ stevia + cinnamon + oats + agave + peanut butter makes a good bowl…but not a very chocolate-y, delicious, ‘gasmic one. Should I have added more cocoa??

I may have loved THIS snack even more...

Trader Joe’s Blueberry Bran Muffin, a sliced gala, Oikos (with stevia & cinnamon)

lovelovelovelovelove

which became this…

warmed and mixed...dreamy

Last night’s dessert platter was also inspired by anotha gorgeous girl:

only a mere REPRESENTATION ...who doesn't snack when they're plating their food??

Fresh figs, carob chips, almond butter & some Trader Joe’s (sweet) pretzel sticks

And lastly, i’ll leave you with this morning’s festive (well, maybe more festive if it was Thanksgiving…) breakfast

PUMPKIN OATMEAL PANCAKE!!

I followed Kath’s recipe using 1/2 cup portions The canned pumpkin made this even fluffier, which I loved! Topped that bad boy with almond butter, agave and some sliced bananas…the pancake itself was good once again…but could have been sweeter–any suggestions?? Maybe i’ll add more stevia to the batter next time… hmmm

Oh! And before I forget–here’s yesterday’s ‘fit, snackface-style

sooooooo cozy: plaid, black skinnays and brown (f)uggs

HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL!! XOXOXOXO -Jess

aww, such a sleepy girl...

]]> http://foodmakesfunfuel.com/2009/12/24/a-day-in-nyc/ Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:40:53 +0000 Evan Thomas http://foodmakesfunfuel.com/2009/12/24/a-day-in-nyc/

Technically, yesterday started at around 4am when I woke up hungry and had a bowl of oatmeal with NuttZo. I didn’t bother taking a picture because I was hoping that wouldn’t be the most exciting part of my day(though NuttZo is always tasty);-). After I got back to bed, my alarm went off promptly at 6:45 and we hit the road by 7:20. The plan was to drive to a Stamford, Connecticut to take the train in to NYC. The car ride was such a great time to relax and get away from anything; I read 3 out of 5 magazines I’ve had lying around since October! Bliss. Somewhere along the way I “made breakfast”.

2% Chobani With Kashi Vanilla Creamy Oatmeal, Barney Butter, And A Vitabrownie

I think being a sort of food McGuiver is so much fun! I had a bag packed of snacks and I was determined to make something healthy and well balanced out of it and I think I did. I mixed a packet of vanilla oatmeal with Chobani, salt, and stevia and let that sit and soften the oats. Then I added some Barney Butter I was sent to sample and review a while ago and this was the perfect opportunity. On the side, for good balance(or chocolate. Yeah, definitely chocolate) was a vitabrownie. This was delicious. I liked the Barney Butter more than I remember and might pick up a jar if I see it on the shelves. At 11:30 after a 60 minute train ride we arrived.

Grand Central Station

It wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be the day before Christmas Eve but still when is NYC not hustling and bustling? We had to rush to meet our Georgian friends for lunch at 12 at Carmines. They’ve wanted to eat here for years and finally got reservations. Honestly, the restaurant couldn’t have been a worse fit for me. The whole mindset behind it was gargantuan portions of meat and pasta served family style(I don’t have anything ethically against pasta, I just happen to be one of the few Italians who doesn’t like it). Still, I stuck with my guns and found a meal somewhere in there.

Apple Pear Vinagrette Salad, Grilled Marinated Portabella Mushrooms

The salad was OK; very oily. The mushrooms were good with salt and red pepper. At the same time, I don’t think mushrooms should ever constitute a meal. Everyone else at least had a good time and had their fill of fried calimari, meatballs, penne, and lemon cream sauce chicken.

Aunt Chris And Mom

Afterwards we had to finish up and rush off to a 2 o’clock matinée. It’s a tradition that we always see a play when we meet them in New York. It’s not my cup of tea but they’re a very artistic family and enjoy this stuff. It’s always a surprise what we’re seeing because they go to the box office that morning and find the discounted shows and choose from those. This year it was Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins On Broadway

The show was great; technically it was probably the most amazing one we’ve seen. With trap doors and wires, they had Mary flying through the sky and even replicated her bag that holds far too much. I might have dozed off a bit during supercalifragilisticexpialidocious but it was only because the theater was so nice and warm. Midway through I had a snack.

Lemon Ginger Gnu Bar

That definitely curbed my hunger for the rest of the show. Afterwards, we had some time left with them so we worked out a new plan. My dad, knowing Goji Gourmet cookies were on my Christmas list, located some in the city so we decided to walk to a coffee shop that sold them. Of course, we took in the sights as we walked.

Times Square

Interestingly, the numbers still say 2009; when do you think they’ll change that? It was cold out–about 26. I managed to step in not 1 but 2 puddles. I’m a genius, right? Fortunately, we were able to find the little coffee shop and grab some cookies which now are under the tree. We also convinced the man behind the counter(who probably thought we were crazy tourists and was sooo right) to get a group photo.

The Sterns And Thomas Family

We 3 are on the right and the other 5 are them. Really, what was going through our mind was “Please take 20 more so we can stand in your warm shop without having bought much”. After that we walked back into the car they rented and drove around to take in some of the sights that were too cold to walk to.

Pop Culture Yogurt Fruit And Nut Bar

I grabbed this while we were in the car. This bar was also sent to me and it seemed perfect to save for a day like this when yogurt would not be as handy. overall, it was OK. The yogurt coating was soooo good, but the fruits and nuts were a little M.I.A. But with probiotics and 4g fiber, it was a good deal. We drove past the tree at Rockefeller center and then ended up back at Grand Central Station where we said our goodbyes until we see them again in July.

Grand Central Station

Dinner was a bit of a debacle; frankly, I was a little upset having only eaten mushrooms and bars I brought all day and wanted somewhere nice. At the same time, all we could find was chains and ones that served mostly meat. Just when we were about to give up and grab something quick and board the train, we found this restaurant hiding in Grand Central Station.

Charlie Palmer's Metrazur Menu

Yes, it was more meat. But this was good sounding, local meat that I could really get into without questioning. It was a bit pricey but how often do you get to eat in Grand Central Station? My mom wanted just a salad and my dad and I funnily enough chose the exact same entree.

The Natural Chicken

This sounded sooo good. It was a piece of white meat and dark meat chicken in a truffle broth. Underneath were broccoli rabe, oyster mushrooms, and soft and tender potato gnocchi; it was heavenly. I gave my dark meat to my mom(her favorite) and practically cleaned the bone of the other. The desserts sounded good, too, but I figured there’d be enough of those over the coming days and I was full. We ended up catching an 8:10 train and getting to our car at 9:30, driving home by 12:15. In the car I had a dessert of my own.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found these cookies at the same bakery that served the Goji Gourmet ones. Peanut butter and chocolate; how could I resist? They were also fairly healthy with simple ingredients like whey protein, rolled oats, peanut butter, eggs, brown sugar,chocolate chips, butter, baking soda, and salt. They were really delicious; I thought the protein powder might affect the flavor but not at all. I also ate an apple in the car but that wasn’t nearly as exciting. When we got home, I pretty much passed out in my bed; it was 90 minutes after my bed time afterall And this morning I got to wake up to a full inbox and google reader. Joy to the world, and happy Christmas Eve!

I absolutely love this recipe.  My boyfriend’s (Todd’s) Mom gave me this recipe a few years ago and I probably will never stop making these cookies.  They are so basic, so easy to make and one of the best things I have ever tasted!

Anyone can make these cookies…look how simple they are…

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

• 18 oz. Peanut Butter (I used Creamy Natural Skippy)
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 eggs
• Hershey Kisses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the ingredients together in a bowl.  Form into balls on cookie sheet.  The cookies will not expand much so form the dough the way you want your cookies to look.  Bake 12-14 minutes.  When the cookies come out of the oven, place a hershey kiss in the middle of each cookie. There really is no reason not to try this recipe…unless ofcourse you have an aversion to peanut butter.  This is definitely one of my favorite cookies ever.  One of my favorite things about them is after a couple of days if you pull the hershey kiss off the cookie, the dough underneath is so, so soft–I guess sort of underbaked?  I don’t know…all I know is that I love these cookies.

So how many of you out there were hit by the Northeast Blizzard of 2009 (Dear Sophie in Hawaii, if you are reading this, eff you. I’m sorry, but my jealousy isn’t very polite) Sigh to think that two weeks ago I was basking in the 75 degree weather.

This is not to say that there are no benefits to the snow. It’s pretty, I guess. I’m not really one to frolic in the snow, but still, it’s picturesque. I would have liked to leave the house this weekend to visit friends, but it was nice to be snowed in and spend time with my family. I was definitely ready to leave the house by Monday, though!

But anyway, I mostly slept, read, slept, and baked. I made a few surprises, so I can’t reveal what I baked (plus I’m ashamed of the poor cell phone quality pictures as I am still without my camera) but I would like to share a glorious, burpingly delicious sweet potato creation.

Sophia, I am so so sorry that my $h!tty cell phone picture does not do your burpalicious creation justice. It’s not the most photogenic of dishes in such conditions. But trust me guys, this was so good. Anything with sweet potatoes and peanut butter has to be delicious.

I loosely followed Sophia’s recipe, though I reduced the amount of coconut milk to about 1/2 a cup for three servings. I used two large sweet potatoes, but kept most of the proportions the same. When the mixture got dry but the sweet potatoes still needed cooking, I added water as needed. I didn’t have balsamic vinegar, so I added extra lime juice. I also felt like adding some ginger, and I have a very convenient jar of Trader Joe’s minced ginger, so it was easy to add a spoonful. I was a little unsure of such mass quantities of cinnamon+garam masala+cumin, but that Sophia knows what she is doing I tell you.

The sweet potatoes enjoyed their bed of spinach. My mom was definitely wowed by this dinner, and it made for a nice, exotic tasting accompaniment to her roast chicken.

Yesterday I made a quick lunch of a lazy man’s version of this dish: I microwaved cubed sweet potatoes for about 4 minutes and added dollops of coconut milk, peanut butter, and ginger and doused the whole thing with garam masala and cinnamon. And then I mashed the mixture, because it just seemed so comforting. Play around with these flavor combination. If you ever feel like your meals need a little spicing up, check out Sophia’s blog, she comes up with some crazy, delicious looking dishes.

And in other news, I received my blogging secret santa present!

Jessica sent me a beautiful pendant to match my “free spirit.” I love it. Thank you so much! She also wrote the sweetest letter, and her words of praise came at just the time that I needed it. Thanks Danielle for hosting BSS (Blogging Secret Santa!)

Merry Christmas Eve!
Maya

PS: I recently got a couple of comments from delurked readers. Keep them up! I love feedback.

The latest in my homeless shelter baking shebang and oh so tasty. This muffin looked and smelled very peanut buttery but the taste was more subtle than I was expecting. The texture was perfect, dense, but fluffy. Just like I think a muffin should be.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
print this recipe

Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups All-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 Tbls. butter, melted and cooled
½ peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°. Prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk.

Gradually mix in the dry ingredients with the peanut butter mix until just combine. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the batter into the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack, or serve warm.

Source: Annie’s Eats

Seriously, where has the time gone? Christmas is a mere 25 hours away! It sure crept up on me this year – and to think, by the time it’s over, I’ll be half way through my Christmas break.

I was up bright and early this morning so I could head on down to Children’s Hospital to work with one of the dietitians there. I left my shower for this morning, so that really cut into my breakfast making time. Cereal to the rescue!

Super basic combo this morning – Kashi GoLean Crunch, coconut, and pomegranate arils.

It may be a simple combo, but it sure is tasty, and delightful to look at.

Served up with a glass of that Oasis Strawberry Kiwi juice. Meh.

It was FREEZING out there today – I had only 2 blocks to walk from my bus to the hospital, and my toes were numb by the time I got in the doors. Crazy. Too bad there wasn’t any precipitation, otherwise we might have gotten some snow again

I had another interesting, informative day. I got to play with some diet analysis software with some real information from a parent for their 1 year old child. I got to check out some growth charts, especially for kids in the renal unit, see the renal unit, and find out all sort of info about the ins and outs of what the renal dietitians do. It was great Hopefully I’ll get the chance to go back a few more times.

I left around 12:30, and knew I needed to find me some lunch. I figured since I was in the ‘hood, and had the time, so I made my way to Whole Foods This time, it was hot bar all the way.

Let’s see if I can remember everything in there:

• green curry tofu
• maple glazed carrots
• mac & cheese
• apricot glazed turkey
• coconut rice
• brown rice
• spinach pakoras
• mini samosa
• cabbage crunch (asian kind of slaw)
• green beans almondine
• brussel spouts, shallots, and pecans

I think that’s about it. My favourite flavour combo was the green curry sauce on the coconut rice. I could have eaten a whole container of that and been happy!

I had a refreshing San Pellegrino Limonata to drink. Love this stuff.

The store was a zoo. They were doing a ton of tasting as well, so I sampled some tasty pate, blue cheese that I actually liked, bitter chocolate brittle, truffles, gouda…hmmm, I think that’s about it. And somehow I left with this baked treat.

That would be the Peanut Butter Sandwich, made by Butter Baked Goods, a local bakery that sells a selection of their products at Whole Foods. Me thinks I need to take a trip to their own location, as there are some delectable looking items on their menu. Yum! And fyi – I only chowed down on half that cookie. It’s pretty hefty!

Dinner was no where near as exciting as lunch. I wasn’t overly hungry, and wasn’t really into the food being served. I still managed enjoy a little bit.

A piece of salmon loaf, and some rice with soy sauce and a wee bit o’ butter.

There were also some brussel sprouts my mom cooked up with apricots and pecans, but they smelled…odd. Plus I’d just had some brussel sprouts with my lunch, so I passed on those.

The rest of the evening was spent cookie making! But you’ll just have to wait to see what fancy creations were made, as I’m planning a whole Christmas baking post soon. Oh, how I love to bake sweet treats.

Well, Marianne’s Christmas Cookie Factory is about to shut down for the evening, mostly so I can get up tomorrow and bake Christmas desserts. Night!

OH, the holidays.

it’s not christmas yet and i’m already exhausted! all the present wrapping, family loving, kitten cuddling, snowy hiking, and COOKIE BAKING. oh yes, the cookies. how i LOVE the cookies.

living in a gluten-free house means lots of baking experiments, and holiday cookies are no exception. my grandma makes delicious cookies year round, and i have to say, peanut butter kiss cookies are my absolute favorite — all the nutty buttery cookie and the chocolate and the sugar and oh! it’s just too good.

but what to do about the flour?

TAKE IT OUT!

yes, i said it. take it out. you don’t need any sort of flour to make AMAZING peanut butter cookies. i’ve taken a few different cookie recipes and mixed and mashed and finally found a PERFECT a gluten-free peanut butter kiss recipe for ANY time of year.

here we go:

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy, creamy, unsalted, salted – whatever! Trader Joe’s PB is my favorite, and GF)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mixed all the ingredients really well. You can substitute 2 egg whites instead of the egg if you aren’t into the egg yolks. You can also add in chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, etc. to the dough if you want an extra treat in there. (I LOVE adding chocolate chips for an extra chocolate taste.)

Make tbsp sized balls of dough and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes and remove from oven. While the cookies are baking, unwrap a bunch of hershey’s kisses and put them in the freezer. Take out the cookies after 8-10 minutes. They won’t look completely set – THAT’S OK! That’s what we want! Let the cookies finish setting on the cookie sheet. Once cooled, press frozen hershey’s kisses onto the cookies.

That’s it! Enjoy!

xoxo,
j.ess

A slide show of the last 24 hours of my life…

I roasted my delicata and after doctoring it up with a little salt and pepper ate it alongside a chicken hummus quesadilla for lunch yesterday. Loved the delicata. The tasted reminded me of a spaghetti squash…almost buttery? So good! Thanks again Clare!

Last night’s dinner…

Another clean out the fridge meal. I steamed the last of our Brussels sprouts and two orange bell peppers. Reader Michelle G. from Australia inspired my peanut sauce. The recipe she sent called for almond butter, but I was in a peanut mood. I simply stirred together 2 TBSP crunchy peanut butter, 1 tsp soy sauce, juice of 1/2 a lime, 1/2 packet of stevia , and water to thin. Perfect. Loved the little peanut crunchies. Thanks Michelle!

Woke up EARLY this morning to squeeze in a random workout of the following x 2: 10 minutes of Tabata Intervals on the stationary bike followed by a 1 minute squat hold against the wall, 20 push-ups (knees downs), 20 walking lunges, and a 2 minute plank hold. I dropped the dogs off for their Christmas holiday adventures here. Miss those pups already.

After a 4 hour flight, CD and I arrived here…

Check out Alice’s (my mother-in-law) Christmas decorations…

Ha ha, isn’t that great? A kabocha Santa! Look what else greeted me when I walked in the kitchen…

Alice bought herself a Vita-Mix, and I can’t wait to show her how to use it.

I then opened the pantry to find this…

I hereby nominate Alice for MIL of The Year!

CD and I will be here for a week. Not sure what my blogging schedule will be like, but I’ll be around. However, I’m hoping to spend mucho time away from the computer, and I encourage all of you to do the same. Enjoy this precious time with your families. Happy Holidays my friends!

Just a little, brief post to display my grandma’s wonderful sugar cookies, and yummy peanut butter cookies as well.

Happy Christmas Eve eve, everyone!!

I’ve posted this recipe before calling it American Cookies but I’m British so all my cookie recipes are ‘American’ or I call them biscuits.  When people ask me to make these they ask for “the condensed milk ones” and so I have renamed them.  I’ve also discovered since I first made them just how versatile the basic cookie dough can be.  Today I made the final addition to everyone’s christmas hamper:  Individually flavoured cookies. 

My sister has become obsessed with peanut butter and chocolate and so I made her peanut butter and chocolate cookies.  Dad loves ginger and chilli and so that’s what he got.  Mum was harder as she’s a mum and so says she likes whatever I make her but I know she loves marzipan so she got a sort of bakewell cookie… a fakewell if you will.  I also made myself a batch of chocolate and hazelnut cookies for immediate snacking.  There are no photos of that flavour as my family immediately snacked on them!  The joy of this is I made one batch of dough and then simply divided it into 4 and carried on to do all the different flavours I wanted. 

Makes ~36 cookies

255g unsalted butter, softened
225g golden caster sugar
170g condensed milk
350g self raising flour

For the toppings: (no amounts as it depends how many you make of each flavour)
natural coloured glace cherries
marzipan
flaked almonds
stem ginger in syrup, chopped into eighths
ginger and chilli sauce (I used Tesco’s Finest ice cream sauce but it’s totallyoptional.) 
cocoa powder
peanut butter
chocolate chips
chopped hazelnuts

- First line 5 baking sheets with baking paper and heat the oven to gas mark 4.  (If you don’t have 5 then just prep the paper and then reuse trays as they come free.)
- Cream together the butter and the sugar until soft and fluffy. 
- Mix in the condensed milk. 
- Add the flour and mix until it is all combined in a soft dough. 
- Divide the dough into 4 if making 4 flavours. 

For Chocolate and Peanut Cookies:
- Take 1/4 of the dough and put it into a smaller bowl. 
- Add a few spoons of cocoa powder and knead in until it forms a nice even chocolate colour. 
- Pinch off a walnut sized (and I really mean walnut sized, it’s smaller than you’d think!) bit of dough and roll it into a ball. 
- Flatten into a disc between your hands.
- Add a spoon of peanut butter to the centre. 
- Fold and pinch over the edges so that the peanut butter is completely enclosed in the dough. 
- Place on the baking tray leaving at least 1″ between cookies and flatten slightly and tidy up any really wonky ones. 
- Repeat with the rest of that dough. 

For Ginger Chilli Cookies:
- With the next 1/4 pinch off walnut sized bits and make into balls. 
- Flatten into a disc between your hands.
- Place 4 chunks of ginger in the centre of the disc and fold up the edges of the dough to make a sort of bowl around it. 
- Place on the baking tray leaving at least 1″ between cookies and then pour over a little of the syrup from the jar or some of the chilli ginger sauce. 

For the ‘Bakewell’ Cookies:
- With the next 1/4 pinch off walnut sized bits and make into balls. 
- Flatten into a disc between your hands.
- Pinch off a ball of marzipan about the size of a Malteaser and flatten into a disc. 
- Place the disc in the centre of the dough and fold over the very edges. 
- Place a glace cherry in the centre and then flaked almonds aroung that. 
- Place on the baking tray leaving at least 1″ between cookies. 

For the Chocolate and Hazelnut Cookies:
- With the final 1/4 flatten the dough out and sprinkle with chocolate chips and chopped hazelnuts. 
- Knead these in until well distributed throughout the dough. 
- Pinch off walnut sized bits and make into balls. 
- Flatten into a disc between your hands.
- Place on the baking tray leaving at least 1″ between cookies. 

- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  (I switch over the top and bottom trays after 10 minutes then give them both 5 minutes more.)
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for 5-10 minutes. 
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

 NB. These cookies do spread a lot, almost double, so be very careful not to place them too closely together:

Who doesn’t love a Buckeye?  Peanut butter dipped in chocolate!  Yum!!! 

My good friend Phyllis is a pro at making these.  Thank you Phyllis for the recipe!

Buckeyes

Mix first 3 ingredients together.   Roll into small balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper; refrigerate.  Melt almond bark.  I like to melt mine on the stove but microwave is fine also.  Take a toothpick and place into ball, dip into chocolate.  Put back on wax paper and let harden, then refrigerate.

This recipe makes a lot!  I hope you enjoy them!

I found what looked like a great recipe for peanut butter bars on BettyCrocker.com & decided to give them a try. I switched out a few ingredients for a few “healthier” ingredients & started baking.  I was pleased with the results and the bars seemed to be a hit!  These are REALLY easy to make.  Really, really easy.  The only daunting part is waiting for them to cool.  Below is my altered recipe.  I encourage you to give them a try!

Cookie Base

1    pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix

3    tablespoons apple sauce

1    tablespoon water

1    egg

Filling

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup low-fat creamy peanut butter

1 3/4  cups powdered sugar

1/4    flour

2      teaspoons milk

Frosting

1      cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray.

2. In large bowl, stir all Cookie Base ingredients until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan using floured fingers. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

3. In small bowl, beat all Filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over cookie base.

4. In microwavable bowl, microwave all Frosting ingredients on High 30 seconds; stir until smooth. Cool 10 minutes; spread over filling. Refrigerate at LEAST an hour.  They’re technically “done” after roughly 30 minutes, but we found the bars became better & better the longer you waited. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 6 rows.

The original recipe called for vegetable oil instead of apple sauce in the cookie base, regular peanut butter instead of low-fat peanut butter in the filling & more powdered sugar instead of flour in the filling.

From reading the comments, people who tried the original version thought the bars were too sweet – which is what prompted my switching some of the powdered sugar for flour.

I wanted to make the bars but didn’t want as many calories as the original recipe (180 calories per 1oz – which is about 2 pieces).  This prompted the decision to use apple sauce instead of vegetable oil & low-fat peanut butter instead of regular peanut butter.  Based on the nutrition labels from the brands I used, this saved about 50 CALORIES PER SERVING (roughly 2 pieces).  130 is still high, but not as bad.  The switch of course also lowered the fat contents.

Tip: these are rich – I originally made them thinking they would be more like “bars,” as the original recipe states, but they were too rich (in the opinion of those who ate them) to eat as a bar; hense the small portions.  When making & eating these, expect them to have more of the affect of fugde than a dessert bar: rich & delicious, but satisfy you in a small portion.

Enjoy!

To my friends at Bodyplex Fitness in Woostock, GA. I will miss not being with y’all tonight Yes, too much going on for me, too much to do…ugh (sigh). Have one for me!

SO…the holidays are too rushed for me, I don’t even have the presents wrapped yet! Right now my top priority is getting to the gym for a cardio workout. (Yes, I’m a HUGE cardio junky) I admit it! It’s a great stress buster, and I told myself that I wanted to get my fitness level back up close to where it was before my “year of injuries” by the end of the year. (calf strain, hip stress fracture). I am about 75% there in 6 weeks. I will be cutting back on classes soon enough to start training for the ING 1/2 in March. (I know, I keep talking about it, but I can’t wait!) Today I took the BodyAttack class and burned almost 500 calories (forgot to turn the darn thing on until track 2) so in 54:32 I burned 426 calories @ 28% fat

So eating will play a huge roll in my training for the 1/2. I will add in some things, take out some things..switch things around…exciting

So breakfast today is Ezekial Bread with peanut butter, maca and raisins. I needed a quick meal this morning!

Yesterdays eats were sparse at best. I am really trying to get all of my meals in, but half the time I don’t feel like eating, and the other half I’m too busy. I’m working on it! Another Luna Bar (I was stuck in Walmart lines), and then a banana and a vanilla-peach protein shake:

Vanilla-Peach Protein Shake

I guess that was lunch! Dinner was fabulous, though. I made everyone else Taco Bell taco mix taco’s, and would have had them myself but the mix had paprika in it, which I have a HUGE sensitivity to. So not for me today! I ate chicken taco’s again, but I bought some green chili’s at Walmart to put on them, and then the Cholula hot sauce. Fabulous! Sides of broccoli and leftover brown/wild rice from yesterday completed the meal. And I LOVE the Whole Foods brand organic blue taco shells. Delicious!

Oh, and a close-up of the taco with the green chili’s (I wish the chili’s had been hot, but oh, well!)

Then since I really didn’t have much to eat today, I ate an apple with natural peanut butter, then had a couple of extra spoonfuls too! I sprinkled some ground flax on it to make it even more healthy!

Can you see the flax? YUM!

Today is going to be “visiting a different gym day” (because mine didn’t have a morning cardio class…they’re on a different schedule for this week), “wrapping presents day” (because none of them are wrapped yet…3 kids plus my husband and parents!) and “going to the Doctor day” to get a cortisone shot in my hip to alleviate some of the inflammation from the bursitis that was caused by the hip stress fracture that has since healed. (Dont’cha love the run-on sentence, LOL!) Oh, and get together with my BFF Alisa so she can meet Biscuit the puppy. Have a GREAT DAY!

I leave you with a picture of my neighbors house down the road, whom we have obviously nicknamed “The Griswalds”, LOL!

I ’m on vacation! 4 weeks of doing whatever the heck I want!!! Not even through my first week of freedom, and my bumification is already in its intermediate stages…I’ve got a unibrow and dreads and I’m not even sure when I took a shower last! It’s really great! I’m even sitting on my bed eating cookies and drinking soy nog and listening to some strange techno mix as I type this! And I don’t plan on moving from this spot for a very long time! Life is great! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 9 cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, stir together chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

*Makes 1/2 cup of serving

The last part of my 3-part series!  Thank goodness, I’ve been baking for hours now!

The peanut butter blossom is essentially a peanut butter cookie with a Hershey’s Kiss stuck on top.  This cookie will be filling the chocolate requirement for the cookie assortment I am giving away as gifts.

The recipe for this cookie can be found on the Recipes page, as well as at the bottom of this post.

Also, you can read Holiday Cookies!  Part 1 – Shortbread Cookies here, and Holiday Cookies!  Part 2 – Mexican Wedding Cakes/Russian Tea Cakes here.

Unlike my two other cookies I’ve been making (shortbread and Mexican wedding cakes), there are a lot of ingredients in these.

A bag of Hershey’s Kisses, butter (the original recipe calls for shortening, but I don’t like to use that), creamy peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, an egg, milk, vanilla extract, flour, baking soda, salt, and extra granulated sugar.

Unlike the other two cookies I made today, I am going to use my standing mixer.  First I cream the butter and peanut butter together until they are well blended.  Then I add both the granulated and brown sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

I then added the egg, milk and vanilla and mixed until that was all incorporated as well.  Since I’m using the standing mixer, I am making sure to scrape the bowl and paddle after each time I add an ingredient.

In a separate bowl, I have stirred together the flour, baking soda and salt.  This will be added to the peanut butter mixture gradually; I did it one-third at a time, beating well between additions.

Now that the dough is ready, I have my baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  The dough is rolled into about 1″ balls and rolled in a bowl of granulated sugar, then placed on the baking sheet.  Unlike with the Mexican Wedding Cakes, these cookies will expand and you should place them at least 1″ apart.

Up until this point, these cookies are exactly like a peanut butter cookie.  But unlike a peanut butter cookie, the ball of dough is not meant to be pressed down with a fork before it’s baked.

While the cookies are baking, I started unwrapping the foil from the Kisses.

The cookies baked for about 10 minutes – as soon as they were taken out of the oven, a Kiss is pressed down on top of each cookie, crinkling the cookie outward.  Then the cookie is removed from the baking sheet and placed on a cooling rack.

Once completely cooled, the cookie should be chewy and moist, and the Kiss should have actually softened and is easy to bite through (due to the heat that was contained in the cookie).

So there you have it!  All of my holiday cookies.  The recipe is here:

Peanut Butter Blossoms

And the other parts can be read here:

Holiday Cookies!  Part 1 – Shortbread Cookies

Holiday Cookies!  Part 2 – Mexican Wedding Cakes/Russian Tea Cakes

Thanks for reading!

Let me start off by saying this is the 5th post I’ve written today so if I sound a little blogged out and speedy with my words that’d be why. But I don’t mind because I love it

Prepared Dinner

After blogging earlier I wanted to get a start on dinner, which I figured either I’d be making or it’d turn into a mishmosh of instant soups. I dethawed frozen wild salmon filets and rubbed them with thyme and lemon, steamed some broccoli for roasting, and scrubbed and wrapped some sweet potatoes. I swear this cooking thing isn’t nearly as much of a chore as my mom makes out sometimes After all that, I figured that people wouldn’t be home for quite some time(not like they actually call to say when they’re coming…) so I made a protein packed snack.

Chobani 2% With Peanut Flour, Salt, And Turbinado Sugar

Yum! Adding a touch of salt is definitely the trick when working with peanut flour. Just like I rarely eat unsalted nut butter after having tasted the salted variety, I doubt I’ll go back to not salting my yogurt. Weird? In theory. But delicious at heart. By 6 I finally got around to doing things I’d been meaning to all day. Like shave. Wouldn’t have going to NY with a stubbly face been fun? I could have blended in with the homeless men. First my mom came home and then only 40 minutes late my dad, so that we could have dinner.

Lemon And Thyme Salmon, Sweet Potato, Broccoli Fries

The salmon was a bit overdone and the broccoli a bit under but all in all it was good enough. I portioned out 3oz of meat for myself and was set with that(although I really wasn’t even in the mood tonight so I might as well have dove into the 1/2 eaten can of chickpeas in the fridge). The sweet potato was nicely roasted, but I showed some restraint because I knew there’d be dessert. After cleaning up we called my mom down to celebrate her birthday.

Kickass Cupcakes

My dad got cupcakes from a Boston bakery called Kickass Cupcakes. We used to always get a cake from a Chinatown bakery but these are all all-natural so we could all enjoy them. He got the Yule Nog, Banana Cream, Mojito, and Caramel Macchiatto. I also gave out all my presents(which were sort of Christmas presents but I wanted to get them done with). My mom got a Beads For Life bracelet and my dad a jar of NuttZo(he is like me and was very easy to shop for lol). After making some coffee, I grabbed this as my own.

The Yule Nog

The Yule Nog is described as a “gingerbread cupcake with brandied egg nog frosting dusted with nutmeg”. The base was just OK, except when I got a bite of whole ginger which was WOW. The frosting… when is frosting ever bad? Especially when it has brandy I have no expectation of this holding me over very long, so I expect to be making oats with peanut butter and pumpkin in a little bit.

Like I pointed out in this post, I’ve been a bit forgetful today. So forgetful in fact I forgot I should pack a plethora of snacks and entertainment for tomorrow. We’re leaving at 7:15 to drive to a Connecticut train station to ride into New York for 11. Then we’re meeting friends at this restaurant(which, as I look at the menu, am not so enthusiastic for) and seeing a play(tbd). Then we’ll probably mosey about, check out Times Square, eat a cheap dinner and be home by midnight(I’ll be so dead by this time I won’t know what’s going on). That doesn’t mean I won’t be “posting”; check back tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon for the down low on a little known condiment and a new technique for your repertoire.

Edit to add: I’m psychic.

Pumpkin Oatmeal With White Chocolate Wonderful And Honey Maple Peanut Butter

That or really predictable. I actually think it’s the latter. At least this used up the last of the can so I don’t have to think about that growing older while I’m away. And the white chocolate wonderful was… wonderful I also packed the food for tomorrow.

NYC Trip Food

Let’s not point out just all the craziness I pack. Honestly, I’d love to just go to NYC with nothing(except what I’ll need for breakfast and snacks for 8 hours of transportation) and really live it up in the city as a foodie. Unfortunately, the people we’re meeting are not likewise thinkers, so I expect foodie touring to be to a minimum and going to a lot of places where my menu options will be limited. That’s why I ended up packing so much and a variety to choose from for my taste buds. Can you tell that my “dream trip” to New York would involve visiting this restaurant? I would be over the moon.

I am not a vegan, nor am I a vegetarian…but, I do stay away from red meat (personal preference) and don’t eat too much other meat.  I love grains and beans and veggies and fruit!  I also love sweets, so when I found a few blogs with numerous recipes for vegan sweets, I decided to try some out!  It seemed like the perfect time, being the holiday season and all.

These are the types of recipes that I love because they are made with minimal, healthier ingredients.  I am not saying that all of the ingredients in these recipes are healthy, but they are healthier than normal sweets can be (so you don’t have to feel as guilty when you induldge)!

(recipes borrowed from LoveVeggiesandYoga.com)

Vegan Peanut Butter Cups

makes 2 huge PB Cups (next time I will make mini’s)

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces dark chocolate (they recommended baking chocolate, but I have lots of dark chocolate bars on hand that I used).
• 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
• small handful chopped unsalted peanuts
• optional: dash of vanilla (or agave)

Chocolate & PB

Directions:

• Melt 3 ounces of chocolate (in microwave or stovetop).

ready to melt...

• Pour chocolate evenly into 2 muffin liners and place in fridge or freezer to harden a little.

melted chocolate in muffin liners

• In the meantime, mix 2 tablespoons of PB, peanuts (or just use crunchy PB – we were out!) and vanilla in a small bowl.  I popped it in the micro for 15 seconds to make it more easily blendable.

PB, peanuts and vanilla after 15 seconds in micro

• Take muffin liners with chocolate out of the fridge and place a scoop of PB mixture into each.

scoop PB mixture onto hardened chocolate

• Melt remaining chocolate and pour over the PB.

making a mess with melted chocolate!

smooth out a little after pouring over PB

• Refrigerate until hardened (I put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes).

waiting to be eaten in the freezer!

ready to eat!

with muffin liner off - check out those ridges!

• YUM!  So rich and chocolatey – delicious!

showing off the PB filling!

These were delicious!  Next time I would make the PB cups in the mini muffin liners, because these were too big and rich for me to eat in one sitting.  After licking all that chocolate off of my fingers while making these babies, I could only get myself to eat a few bites of this.  Mini PB cups would be awesome!

Next up:

Vegan Chocolate Coconut Snowballs

makes 12-15 snowballs

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups shredded coconut
• 3/4 c maple syrup or agave
• 3/4 c cocoa powder
• Dash Vanilla Extract
• Optional: 1/4 c coconut oil

Ingredients for Snowballs

unsweetened coconut

Directions:

• Put all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix by hand.

before mixing

after mixing

• Roll into tablespoon sized balls and place on cookie sheet.

ready for freezing

snowballs!

• Place in freezer until hard, about 1 hour.

hardened and ready for eating!

• Eat and enjoy!

YUM YUM YUM!  These snowballs were to die for…I will seriously have these on hand in my freezer all the time!  And, they were so simple to make!

My day has been quite amazing. Let me tell you about it.

I slept in as long as I could-7:00 AM. I got dressed, grabbed a banana and a huge mug of coffee and hit the road.

I met Katie in town because we both had Christmas shopping left to do. I had so much fun!! It has been way too long since I have been able to hang out with my best friend. We hit Target, Barnes and Noble, Lifeway Christian Bookstore, Marshall’s, and tons more stores. We both were able to get everything we needed AND we had tons of talk time. My throat hurt from talking so much!

I had to be home by 12:30 because Mom needed her car (mine is still in the shop). I walked on the treadmill (2+miles) for 35 minutes, showered then fixed a lunch. I munched away while wrapping presents and watching foodnetwork. =) great stuff!

Naturally More PB rolls(a cut up wrap spread with PB), apple slices with a dollop of PB

A little later, My sisters and I headed to Walmart to get all the groceries we will need for the next few days. Tomorrow we are baking all day. Tomorrow’s post will definitely hold pictures of goodies!

It was just me and my sibs for dinner tonight so I made some tomato soup with grilled cheese. Yum!

Mom is on her way home with lots of movies. Movie night!! Katie gave me a couple of Lindt Lindor truffles to try….hmmm…I’m thinking night snack?! =)

3 days till Christmas!! =D