Cooking in the Summer Heat: 4 Methods + 8 Recipes

Ugh, summer heat. Sweat. Sticky. HOT! If you can’t tell, I don’t take the heat very well. I grew up in San Diego and it’s like anything under 65 is cold and anything over 78 is too hot. Now, I live in the Pacific Northwest and I’ve adapted a bit to the rainy, cold season. The summers are pretty awesome, but we always seem to get a few days were the heat is too much. And since we only have a few days of it every year, nobody invests in air conditioning. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE summer, but those super hot days can be rough.

It’s on those hot-hot days where cooking seems like a terrible idea, but dinner must be served. You want to serve healthy meals to your family without having to get take-out and spending a pretty penny. What’s a girl to do?

So in anticipation of those hot days, I came up with four different ways to make dinner without turning on the oven and heating up the whole house. Better yet, I’ve got some tasty recipes to go with it. I hope you are inspired to keep on keeping on in the summer heat.

1. Grill

In my mind grilling is synonymous with summer. Living in the Pacific Northwest really makes you appreciate the sun (although, we’re heat wusses). Standing in the rain trying to grill is just not what I call fun. So when the sun comes out, the grill is uncovered and put to action. We bought a new grill this season and I love it. It’s an awesome gas grill, so it’s quick to heat up and get dinner rolling.

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Spinach Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers (with a kick) – Burgers are always a win on the grill, but I prefer turkey burgers. This is  thee  turkey burger recipe I use most often for turkey burger days. I often just use fresh spinach instead of the frozen, but both work great. Also, get the Tony Chachere’s as it really makes a big difference on these burgers. There is a little kick, but nothing to be worried about – this being said by a gal that can’t take much heat.

Grilled Moroccan Chicken – This is a recipe I discovered this year and the flavor is a knock out. We eat a lot of chicken in our household, so it’s always nice to get a change of pace. Definitely try serving it with the Moroccan couscous to make it a nice, well-rounded meal.

2. Salad

Is salad a method? Probably not. It seems like it should be to me. Like, “let’s salad it tonight, honey!” I usually waive off salads as a meal, but if you add some protein then for me it magically becomes a meal. I especially appreciate salads on hot, summer days when cooking seems like it’ll melt you (picture the Wicked Witch of the West) and you cringe at putting anything hot near you (or in your mouth). Then it’s salad to the rescue!

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Greek Farro and Chickpea Salad – This salad is our new favorite and is on heavy rotation in our weekly meal plans. We usually add some grilled meat (we’ve tried chicken, steak, and pork – all great), however, it’ll can totally stand on its own. Farro is my new obsession and you should totally try it out if you haven’t already.

Chicken Blueberry Feta Salad – My favorite salads have fruit in them. It’s actually a spinach, apple, goat cheese salad that got me to start liking salads. This is a more sophisticated version and is so delicious and refreshing.

3. Crockpot

It might seem odd to pull out the crockpot in the summer as most of us consider it more of a fall and winter cooking method. You think stews and soups, which is not really what you crave in the summer. However, there are some great options for the crockpot for summer cooking. Better yet, it doesn’t heat up the entire house. I heart my crockpot and love discovering new recipes for it. I even discovered, but have yet to try, that you can even make banana bread in the crockpot!

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Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken – When I was young, I loved those tubs of Lloyd’s BBQ pulled chicken. As an adult, I sort of cringe at the thought, but I still have that same love for pulled chicken. This recipe is delicious and is great as a sandwich or in quesadillas!

Slow Cooker Greek Chicken Gyros – Greek food is a favorite and feels so fresh in the summertime. This chicken has great flavor and something for the whole family to enjoy.

4. Stovetop

The stove is another great way to avoid heating up the whole house in the summer. My favorite thing on the stove is probably pasta. But the options are limitless. You can keep it simple and do a grilled sandwiches (amp them up like this one), quesadillas, eggs…just so much goodness.

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BLT Pasta – Take a delicious sandwich like the BLT and make it a pasta, and I’m in! This is simple yet oh so yummy.

Caramelized Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa – Do you do Taco Tuesdays? Then this one is for you. These are scrumptious tacos and should be on your meal plan for this week.

Hungry yet? Happy Summer!

The Luck of the Irish

What did you think, that I'd let a holiday go by without a post? Sheesh, have some faith. Hello, my maiden name is O'NEILL. I wouldn't dare let my ancestors down by skipping St. Paddy's Day.

I spent most of my St. Paddy's Day in the kitchen - working with some Bailey's and Stout. I decided that I'd utilize my new cake ball making skills to make a holiday treat. I almost changed my mind when I found this Guinness and Bailey's Irish Cream cupcake recipe, but then I decided to use the Bailey's Irish Cream frosting in my cake pops. That's two birds with one stone - score! And green sprinkles for decoration, of course! 

I don't know where ​my Irish luck was on Sunday. It was not a smooth kitchen experience. First, my decision to use Devil Food cake was wrong. That had way too much Devil-ish taste (should've gone with plain ol' chocolate). Since I couldn't get the delicious Bailey cream frosting to "stand out" much, I thought, "hey, I'll add it to the chocolate." Well, that went blarney (I made that up - what I'm saying is that it was a flop). So I screwed up the "special" chocolate (not easy to find/get), and I had to purchase other chocolate. *Sigh* 

Oh, it continues. The chocolate wasn't setting right, and was too soft. Then as I did squiggles, the bag just exploded onto the balls. But I managed to forge on and finish, and then throw them in the fridge. I was all distraught, and whining to poor Josh all night about all the time I spent gone to waste, and should I even keep them? Yada yada. I ended up bringing them in to the office, and everybody loved them. Finally, my Irish luck returns. I ate one tonight and found that it was in fact quite tasty. Yes, my luck returned (thanks Irish ancestors). 

Chocolate ​Bailey's Cake Balls

Not only was I baking up a storm, I was also cooking up Beef and Guinness Stew for our Irish dinner. Okay, so I didn't use Guinness, for shame! Instead, we decided to take it a bit more local with Hub's stout. However, I swear this stew would totally be something the Irish would get on a cold, rainy Irish day. Plus I added potatoes. Go Irish!

​Stout Beef & Veggie Stew

I did wear green, and I wore my Irish jewelry. I did my Irish duty.  

Happy St Patrick's day! ​

Baker's Corner: Christmas Cookies

I have a tradition of making Pepparkakor every year at Christmastime. My Grandma Norma used to make them, and I carried on the tradition. They are the Swedish version of gingerbread cookies, but thinner. However, the past couple of years my mom has baking them. I love them, but we don't need that many pepparkakors. This year I thought I'd try my skills on something different. 

Macarons

You may recall that I took a macaron class recently. I was super excited after the class, so I thought I'd make some macarons this year. To make them Christmas-y I decided on pistachio since it's green. Yay!

Let me tell you, macarons are not just mix the dough and throw in the oven type cookies. It takes time and patience. You need to be careful, and precise. These suckers took me all day. I ended up having to through three rounds of them too (the first time I accidently used blue food coloring, the second I mixed up 0.7 vs. 7 ounces, and the third time was a charm). On top of that, I had to make pistachio paste and buttercream. But I was determined, and the result was totally worth it. Now oogle over them please.

This isn't the recipe I used, but it's pretty close. If you're so inspirated. Check it out.

Candy Cane Cookies

I didn't want to leave it at just macarons. I wanted to make a cookie that screamed Christmas. I found these Candy Cane cookies and knew these fit the bill. To make them, I had to find the special kisses. Don't they look tasty?

Well, they are tasty. And they are even tastier in a cookie. They are sort of like peanut butter kisses, but pepermint style. And don't let the peppermint scare you; they aren't over-powering. (Note: I did use the peppermint extract, but I used only half what the recipe called for).

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh no, it didn't stop there. For weeks Josh has been begging for chocolate chip cookies. Poor guy. I told him this is the holiday season and is strictly for holiday cookies. Chocolate chip cookies fall into the year around cookie category and shouldn't take up good holiday-cookie-baking time. But he looked so sad, so I gave in. The recipe I've picked up later is from Pioneer Women. The secret ingredient is instant coffee - you can't taste the coffee, but it adds a lil' something-something to the cookie. It adds depth to the cookie (oh yea, that sounds good...depth). Recipe: Click here. Adjustments: I used all butter (skip the margarine); used all semi-sweet chocolate chips; the instant coffee I used was VIA; the flax seed I ground in an old coffee grinder. Boom.

 

By the way, did I mention I made these cookies all in one weekend? Yes, I'm crazy like that. I think the next batch will be after Christmas.

Makin' Whoopie

And the crowd roars!!!!!

...because Tuesday I was winner of the Crowd Favorite award in Oddfellow's 3rd Annual Whoopie Pie Bake-off. I can now say I am an award-winning baker.

I was pleased as punch at the turnout of all my friends and co-workers (my office is right upstairs!). But if I don't say so myself, the lemon lavendar whoopie pies that I entered were pretty darn tasty. Like unicorn rainbows in your mouth!

There were about 7 contestants total, and we had 2-3 whoopies on display then a bunch of tasters in front. They were labeled A-G (mine=E). The crowd went through, tasted, and then voted.

There were lots of tasty whoopies pies such as:

Strawberry Shortcake. This one taste liked summer and was quite delicous. I found this guy works at Oddfellows as a baker/server. Oddfellows has some pretty tasty treats in the pastry case, so no wonder I liked thie one.

One of my favorites (besides my own, of course), was the sweet potato spice with caramel filling. It was all the fall flavors that I love. I got the chance to chit-chat with the baker and get the recipe. Friends, I'll make these for you sometime this fall - so tasty.

Another whoopie was the scortched s'mores. Very cute though with it's campfire decoration, and quite deserving of Most Inventive.

Mine, Crowd Favorite, was the most loved by the people ... also the most delicious (in my humble opinion). If there was a reward for best decorated, I think I would have won that too. I had down to the fine details like candied lemon peel on top, a cute sign, actual lemons, and lavendar - looky here. I'm awesome (again, this is said in the most humbly-speaking voice possible). Ahh, I've let it get to my head. Seriously though, they were ALL delicious whoopie pies.

 

The best part of the whole experience was ... I had a blast. I really enjoyed trying to make whoopie pies for the first time. Trying to get the recipe just right was a fun challenge that kept me busy in the kitchen. Plus, I got to enjoy some time on a nice afternoon with fellow bakers and friends. Who can beat that? Thanks Oddfellows!

Here's some more info for your reading pleasure:

The Judges:

• Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce’s Michael Wells
• The Wandering Goose's Heather Earnhardt
• Crumble & Flake Patisserie’s Neil Robertson
• Surly Gourmand, Blogger
• Babeland Seattle's Audrey McManus
• Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream Molly Moon
• Trophy Cupcakes's Jennifer Shea
• Robin Wehl Martin & her lovely assistant Eliza

The Results:

• #1 Whoopie Pie: Strawberry shortcake by Curt Waller
• #2: Vegan chocolate with cookies 'n' cream filling by Aaron Valdivia
• #3: Sweet potato with caramel filling by Emily McClory
• Most Inventive: Scorched S'mores by Owen Curtsinger
• Crowd Favorite: Lemon-Lavender by Heather Brown (Me)

More Things to Check Out:

• My Flickr Album for awesome pictures
• Oddfellow's FB photo album
• Capitol Hill's Blog post about it

Honey Lavender

Balsamic Strawberry, Early Grey, Salted Caramel, Stumptown Coffee...

What do all these things have in common? They are all ice cream flavors at Molly Moon's Ice Cream.

Seriously, this place rocks. I would say it's THE place to get ice cream in Seattle. There are several stores thorughout the city, one of which is right in Queen Anne. Molly Moon's is always coming up with fun, delicious flavors like Flagship Cheddar (made from Beecher's Cheese here in Seattle), Stawberry Lemonade sorbet, etc. And did I mention they have the best waffle cones ever. Drool.

These pictures were take the Summer 2010, our first summer in Seattle.

Want to hear something evil? My office is in the same building as the Capitol Hill Molly Moons and every so often the waffle cone scent fills the office. Cruel if you ask me. Here I am working away and then this ever-so-delicious waffle smell fills the room. (That, and then the bakery or bacon smells from Odd Fellows come in too).

Anyway, Josh and I have loved this ice cream since we moved here, so when the cookbook was released, we decided to get one.

Of course, the first recipe I chose was a froyo recipe (would you expect anything else from the Froyo Queen?). I picked the Blueberry Goat Milk Frozen yogurt flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't purchase goat yogurt at the store earlier in the day, but regular yogurt. And I had fresh strawberries I thought I could use alongside the blueberries. In essence, I made my own flavor, Strawberry Blueberry frozen yogurt, but it was still very good (and still using the basic recipe/idea). The result:

 At the store, or at home, this is gooooood stuff. ;)

Good News & Bunny Food

I've been MIA on my blog - sorry. I've been sick all week. I still have the sniffles, but that didn't stop me from enjoying Easter! 

Josh and I started out Easter at church. The music was great - especially the drummers that were out front and then marched in to start the service. I love our church's music; it really makes it fun. It's like our own Switchfoot at chruch. Another thing I enjoy about our church is their cool marketing. Seriously. It's cool. Below is an image they have for Easter celebrate. Okay, I won't go ultra religious on you, just wanted to give my church some props (not to mention, it's what Easter is really about). 

After a good service, we headed out for a nice Easter brunch at Tilikum Place Cafe. I enjoyed a decadent Dutch baby pancake. It had bananas and bittersweet chocolate to drizzle on top. Josh had their special lamb eggs benedict on crispy polenta. A delicious way to start our day.

Then, I had to get some regular Sunday chores in - groceries, laundry, a bit of cleaning - but after that we were off to celebrate the sunshine we recieved here today. We took a walk along Elliot Bay starting out at the Helix Bridge (you may remember this from another post last year). 

The part was great. People out strolling. Dogs running around. Sun shining down on us. A slight breeze to cool us down. What a great day?! We walked all the way down to the waterfront and art sculpture area. We took a few photos on the way.

 

By 5pm, we were back at our car and ready to head home. I whipped up a yummy spring soup with ricotta toasts. Then, to celebrate a lovely Easter-Spring day some more, I baked a tangerine olive oil cake using the special tangerine olive oil Don and Nada gave us for Easter (this olive oil could deserve it's own post...if I have time).

 

Speaking of desserts, I wanted to give a quick mention to our Pastiera cake at The Fat Hen on Friday. It's a traditional Neapolitan (Italian) cake make for Easter. I'll have to make this next year. Quite tasty.

A Hearty Meal

Happy ♥ Day!

Today could have been any other day, except for two cool facts.

Fact #1: I made our polenta cakes into heart shapes. How cute is that? It was a sausage ragu sauce on top (which happens to be red). Then we sat and ate a heart-y meal together. (PS the recipe is from Anne Burrell on Worse Cooks In America)

Fact #2: I got Josh a cute card and had it sitting on the table for him when he arrived home from work. Isn't it a cute card and fitting for us Seattle-dwellers?

Scrumdiliumptious

Blog Purpose: To get your mouth watering [Note: Scrumdiliumptious Definition]. Here we go...

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares - I made these delicious, oaty, lemony things last night. I was very impressed. In fact, I liked them enough to bring to work. And let me tell you, I don't bring in everything (as in the faulty stuff) to work. Seriously people, I have a reputation to uphold; can't give the wrong impression. The recipe comes from a blog I follow, The Pioneer Women (btw, she's become quite big in the entertainment world - might have a movie made). I saw it and thought they'd be fun, spring type snack. They did not disappoint and easy to make!

The Divine Cupcake - Actually, we just returned from this scrumptious experience about an hour ago. A spur of the moment outing on a nice day to get something sweet. Plus we've been meaning to give this place a try for a while now. It's all the rage in Eugene because it has gluten-free and whatever type products. Don't miss interpret me here; I don't mind gluten free so long as it tastes good. I got a carrot cake cupcake while Josh got the red velvet cupcake. Then we got a mini lavender cupcake to share. They were quite good; not Sibby's in San Mateo, but quite good. Pictures Below!

Humble Beagle - Josh and I had dessert at this restaurant last night. We tried the Spiced Chocolate Pudding. It caught our attention on a previous visit, but we just never go to it...until last night. Now, it sounds very Eugene-like (aka hippy, vegan stuff), but it was pretty good. It was quite rich actually. I recall using words like complex and intense. It was a silken tofu pudding. The waiter mentioned that it was a take-off from a New York Times recipe. For me, a few bites was enough as it was very chocolatey, spicy, and rich - all deliciousness though.

Somewhat Recent Baking - I made a few goodies somewhat recently that we've enjoyed. This includes an Apple Rhubarb Crisp, Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Lemon Ricotta Cookies. However, there was one flop with Snickerdoodles. These were just over baked unfortunately. I'd like to blame our decrepit oven that doesn't close all the way and warms the house up nicely when on (I say this in the early spring when it's cold still). Really, I think it's because I left the dough out on the counter too long while I got absorbed in something else and the butter got too soft and then they spread out too much in the oven...

Annual Bunny Visitor

The Annual Bunny Visitor is my effort (emphasis on effort/trying part) to come up with a clever blog title for Easter. I think it's probably pretty lame, but hey it's the best a girl can do sometimes. In fact, the titles are one of the harder parts for me with this whole blog thing. I either come up with way too many ideas/options or just one stupid one. I guess today is the latter.

Okay, enough on titles because this could be a very boring post otherwise. Scratch that; this is probably going to be somewhat boring. We didn't do that much for Easter. I know it's an important day to celebrate (esp. religiously), and that didn't go unrecognized; however, we just didn't do too much to write about. The little we did do though I will share with you...

I started Easter at the wee hours of the morning. As I drove to work in the dark (yes, there was time change but that doesn't mean it's light out that early), I thought I might see a bunny hopping to houses. Like Santa, the bunny comes during the night for my family. Blast to the past: When I was a kid the bunny would leave a trail of easter eggs from my sister and my bedroom door to a certain area of the house. Then we'd have to search that area for our baskets of goodies.

As I was saying, I started Easter at work with an opening shift. It was a slow day. I think this was because every other store was closed nearby including the mall. We got a few folks that wanted good coffee to enjoy with their brunch (El Torito and Marie Callendar's were open at not too far away) and/or people that wanted coffee before/after church. The slowness wasn't too bad though since I find this as "good catch-up on other tasks time." We also got to be creative with samples (see picture). We thought samples of Easter pastel colors would be festive and fun. We made raspberry white mochas, caramel white mochas, and green tea lattes. And then arranged them on a sample tray. Beautiful!

After work, and back home, Josh and I opened up Easter "baskets" (Hallmark gift bags with goodies). The Easter bunny worked through the mail this year. We also enjoyed a bit of lunch out at a little place near our home. I had a tasty crepe.

The rest of the day was everyday stuff. Josh worked and I did grocery shopping and cooking. I put together a delicious meal - no ham or eggs involved. Randomly, I attempted meat for the first time in a long time. I made Ellie Krieger's Marinated Flank Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce - see recipe. It turned out quite good even without a grill pan (I used a griddle instead). I also made Snickerdoodles, but they got over cooked (dang it, must try again).

And that concludes our 2010 Easter celebration.

Easter Last Year (2009) and Easter This Year (2010):



On a totally different note...I uploaded more pictures on Flickr from our Seattle trip.

Here's a preview:

The Usual

As the title suggests, not much has been happening lately. Just the usual stuff. Sometimes people ask me what "the usual" is for me. I guess it makes sense that "the usual" is different for everyone, although I really think my usual is pretty dang usual. Of course, there's always those things that everyone does routinely. Or, I should clarify, at least you hope they do them regularly or they have them done by someone regularly (note: the latter would be quite nice). Anyway, those things are never-ending, blah tasks such as laundry, dishes, bathroom cleaning, vacuum, etc. Ugh. Besides those, there are some other usuals like reading, cooking slash preparing meals (includes planning, shopping, cooking, clean-up), watching tv, etc. Pretty usual, right?

You probably know that the usual change slightly through time. It's only natural. Who watches the same show over and over? Maybe you jazz up the meals occasionally. So the usual progresses and changes over time, but this is still all in the usual category. This might be getting boring (and too deep?), so I thought I'd delve into some more specific things I thought would be fun to bring up...

Cold Season - This is usual, right? You're bound to get a cold especially during wintertime. In fact, I just go over what seemed like the forever cold. It was a pretty bad one and really "got to me" this time. It's rare that a cold hits me so hard that I'm landed on the couch all day, but that's exactly what happened. Sadly I missed a few fun outings that were planned (and could have been potential awesome blog entires - one factor towards the lack of posts lately). The good news is that besides the constant nose running, I'm over it now (2 weeks later!). My warning: Don't get this one that going around if you can avoid it. My recommendation if you can't: Zicam.

How I Met Your Mother - I love, love, love this show right now. Josh and I are going through season by season on Netflix. We're in Season 4 right now. I love it so much that when Josh said we should finish up the Netflix disc that evening, I actually started jumping up and down in joy. Yes, that happy. I think it's a generational type show though. It really shines true to a lot of folks our age. Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lily, Robin. All I can say is...Legendary. (I also considered saying, awesome there but legendary was the clear winner).

In The Kitchen - You know me always trying to experiment and have fun in the kitchen. I was in a funk for a bit and wasn't doing anything wildly exciting, but I got a few things to mention. Monday I made a Banana Pumpkin Bread Pudding. I tweaked the recipe Heather-style (and I didn't have all the ingredients either). It wasn't to-die-for decadent, but it was a decent dessert snack.

I also tried a new eggplant recipe from a blog I follow. It was a bit salty, but I re-vamped it into a pasta bake which ended up being quite delicious. Another recipe I made and added to the week night repetour is Ellie's Balsamic Chicken.

Spring Sneak Peaks - We've had a few days of beautiful sunshine here in Eugene. Also some Cherry Blossom tress have started to bloom. I drive around looking and wishing I were some awesome photographer so I could capture the gorgeousness. Alas, I'm not, but I'll give you my best shot. See below.

Addictions - There is always frozen yogurt, but I'm sure you're tired of that by now. Another addiction which you already heard before: pumpkin. More specifically I'm enjoying pumpkin cookies from local bakeries. Sweet Life and Full City. Yum!

To sum it up, colds are usual, tv is usual, cooking is usual, the seasons changing is usual, addictions are usual. I have lots of usuals.

Coming Soon...There are some exciting weekends for me in March and April, so the posts will be more interesting soon. I promise!!

Spring Sneak Peak

Muffin Maddness

You may recall from other blog entries, that I'm on a perfect muffin recipe quest. I'm constantly trying to find the best, oaty muffin recipe - the perfect blend of sweet, oat, and savory. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been entirely successful. That was until yesterday afternoon. Yesterday, I got one step closer to that perfect recipe.

Actually, it was after making yesterday's muffins that I came to the realization that I've been making the wrong type of muffins. I've been making bran muffins when it's really should be oat bran - emphasis on oat. My search would come to an easy close if I was able to get my hands on Honey's oat bran muffin. Sadly, they are unwilling to give it up. With Honey's muffins, I have to buy the muffins in bulk when I go home, carry them on the plane, freeze them, and enjoying them daily until they are gone (which is way to fast). I know it's a bit intense, but I love oaty muffins.

Anyway, these muffins were getting awfully close to my lovely Honey's muffin taste and texture. Close, but not quite there though. I'm going to share this recipe so my fellow bakers can review, contribute, and perhaps even try them out. Let me know what you think. In corporate world, I'd say I'm looking for feedback.

By the way, I ought to share the origin of the recipe. I discovered this recipe on the side of Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran Cereal bag, which I tweaked slightly. Honey's website says their muffins have canola oil, buttermilk, yogurt, applesauce, egg, juices, and fruit. I tried to get as much of these things in this recipe as I could. I might add different fruit next time too (i.e. strawberries or peaches). I know you're tried of reading now, so here's the recipe:

Nutritious Oat Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

• Dry: 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 3/4 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. fresh nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. baking soda


• Wet: 1/8 cup mashed banana, 1/8 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup yogurt, plain 1 egg, 2 Tbsp. canola oil, 1 tsp. vanilla


• Other: 1/2 cup shredded carrot, 1/2 cup dates, chopped 1/3 cup blueberries (optional), 1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped


• Topping: 1 Tbsp. flour, 5 Tbsp. white sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 Tbsp. butter

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients. Mis liquid ingredients in separate bowls.


2. Combine the two mixtures and stire until moistened.


3. Fold in carrots, dates, blueberries, and nuts.


4. Lightly grease or line muffin tins.


5. Fill 2/3 full. Sprinkle topping on muffins.


6. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes. Bake 5 more minutes at 350 F.

My Changes (from the original recipe):

• Bake 400 F for 18-20 mins but that's for 12 muffins (I made 6 muffins)


• Added Bluberries, frozen


• 1/3 banana mashed and no applesauce -decided to split


• Added 1/2 tsp. more cinnamon and vanilla


• Added a dash of fresh nutmeg

Oat Muffin

Oat Muffin - Close Up

Sunday Stroll

This past weekend of 2010 turned out to be a the best of the year so far. Not to mention, it's the first weekend of the year, so it'd be hard to beat at this point. Just fun to say. Seriously though, it really was a great weekend. I had Saturday off and worked earlier on Sunday, so it was almost like having a full weekend. Better yet...Josh isn't back at school yet so we could do fun stuff together.

As my title suggests, Josh and I decided to take a little stroll through Eugene's Alton Baker Park on Sunday after work. It was a non-rainy day; just gloomy but that added to the winter scenery of park (i.e. trees without leaves). I got to sport my new Christmas cold weather wear. Check out the red jacket, rain boots, jeans, warm vest - okay, the whole outfit (but so comfy, so warm). Anyway, enough about clothes, the walk was very nice. I got in the picture taking spirit and captured some of our walk in photographs -- I got a snapshot of Josh in front of Autzen Stadium to commemorate his time at the law school, some attempts at artsy pictures, and then some shots Josh took of me. The one below is me with some trees. Yes, enormous trees, little itty bitty Heather. That or I'm little red riding hood.

Taking a step backwards, Saturday was also a nice day. Saturday I got the entire day off. I started it with a much needed trip to my favorite grocery store: Trader Joes. Our house was in much need of food after being down in SoCal for the holidays. With food in the house, Josh and I opted to go out for lunch - HA! I've been feeling under the weather, so we got some pho (sorta like chicken noodle soup). Then off to Target. Did I mention I love Target? I could spend a long time just roaming around. There is so much to buy and so little money - sigh.

Saturday night we enjoyed a get-together at a Starbucks co-worker's apartment. She is leaving Starbucks for a local coffee shop. It makes me sad that she's leaving, but she's still in the area so we might actually get to hang out more not working together (for instance, shift schedules might not conflict as much). It was a fun night - we all brought different wines and cheeses. Just hung out and chatted it up. It was great to hang out outside of work - we were all wearing stuff other than black, white or tan too!

Over the weekend, we also hit up TCBY for my froyo fix. I can no longer say I haven't had it all year (I can say I haven't had Yumi all year though, tear). We also headed to Barnes and Noble (my wall in the office is lonely. I'm looking for a calendar - unsuccessful so far), Cost Plus (just a few odds & ends), and Sports Authority (JB cold weather running wear). It was almost like the scene in Old School where Will Ferrell talks about Bed, Bath, and Beyond - see seconds 23 to 40 on the video.

Now, I'm sitting on the couch with a cold. The sore throat from New Years went, but then a stuffy nose and all-around achy head cold came last night to replace it. Thankfully I have today off, but I don't like colds. I don't like just sitting around - it drives me crazy. I need to get up and do stuff. Err.

Let's end on a food note since Julie and Julia inspired me. I cooked a new dish yesterday for dinner. It was from a Martha Steward magazine I bought for the plane trip home (I don't like Martha much - good things, etc - but I do like some of her stuff and ideas). It was Pork Paillards with Sour Cream Paprika Sauce. I added some roasted potatoes and a salad. It turned out great! Earlier this week my when-in-doubt, safety meatloaf meal and turkey ragu were on the menu. Tonight (assuming the cold doesn't get the best of me), it's Eggplant Lasagna (remember that from last year? I did a posted on it).

Little Red Heather Hood

I'll Be Home for Christmas

Start singing: I'll be home for Christmas; You can plan on me. Please have snow and mistletoe; and presents under the tree.

Okay, now take out the snow part and it'd be just about fitting (no snow in SoCal). Tomorrow (Wednesday), I'm flying down home for the holidays. To start, I'm going to Palm Springs to spend some time with the Browns (that would be Josh's parents). Josh and I will be with them for Christmas Eve and early morning. Then we'll jump in the car and head to Encinitas to spend Christmas day and evening with my family. We'll have all our usual Christmas dinner friends & a regular, ole holiday feast.

And, oh boy, I've been preparing and waiting for the big Christmas day. I've been busy in the kitchen making cookies. Of course, Pepparkakor has been baked and enjoyed. Kakor what? It's a traditional Swedish cookie I learned from Grandma Norma. It's like a gingersnap slash sugar cookie because it requires cookie cutters. Then there is my Holiday Biscotti, which is a Giada De Laurentiis recipe that I've been making for a few years now. I've tested two new recipes too. First, I tried Peppernuts (or Pfeffernusse in German) to pay respects to my German heritage and friends. Second new recipe was from my December Cooking Light, Mexican Chocolate. These had pepper and cayenne in them. I used local chocolate, Euphoria, at 70% cocoa. Big hit. Whew, that's all I managed this year. Still a nice array though if you ask me. (And they are packed in my suitcase to bring to everyone).

As I write this very post, I'm watching It's a Wonderful Life. I've just about gone through all my favorite Christmas movies. I've been also listening non-stop to Christmas music!

If I don't post beforehand, Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Xmas Cookies

Gobble Goodness

Josh and I no longer have problems with those dang turkeys that roam around our front yard now that Thanksgiving has come and gone. Did you think I was serious? I mean that last picture I shared earlier in the year had them eating off the road...YUCK! Like we'd eat those turkeys. We did, however, make our first Thanksgiving turkey this year. Okay, it was only part of a turkey, but it was a whomping 6 Ib bone-in turkey breast.

Since I worked everyday during the Thanksgiving weekend with the longest hours on Thursday, we decided to celebrate on Friday instead when I only worked until 2pm. I prepped everything in advance, so Friday went smoothly. I followed a combination of two recipes - Alton Brown and Ina Garten. We decided to brine the turkey (which we've decided that we'll always do from now on since it makes it so delicious). And the herbs from Ina's recipes really added a nice touch. In fact, I would consider doing this same herb rub technique with a chicken or pork too! We did have some troubles with the roasting time since our little thermometer was apparently broken. But not to worry, we just popped it back in the oven and it turned out perfectly. Overall, the turkey came out a success - moist and flavorful.

We didn't just have turkey. I also made a sweet potato casserole I made with rave reviews last Christmas (everyone wanted the recipes). It didn't let me down this year either. Then one of our guests said that it wasn't Thanksgiving without green bean casserole, so I whipped up one of those as well. I'd never made one before so I tried another Alton Brown recipe - another keeper. The other food was brought by our guests - cornbread stuffing, creamy cauliflower, roasted carrots, chocolate bourbon cake, pecan bars, and more. A feast indeed!

Since Thanksgiving is full of friends and family, we were excited to be able to see some friends from the Bay Area over the weekend as well. Jeff and Melissa, some very special friends, have family up on Roseburg, OR (about 1.25 hours south of Eugene). They were up seeing family for the holiday, so Josh and I drove down to Roseburg on Saturday to have brunch. It was incredibly great to see them - it had been since early summer when I left the bay area! For all you friends that are reading this...we miss you!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's on to Christmas. Bring out the music, the movies, the decorations!! And a movie review post is in the works too.

Thanksgiving Feasting

Molasses Spice & Everything Nice

Oh my goodness, I just had to share this recipe with you all...these cookies are scrumptious. I decided to get my kitchen going today (not to mention it warms up the house) and try out a new Molasses Spice Cookies recipe. They are crispy on the edge and softer in the center. For my twist I used turbinado sugar for the rolling. This really gave them texture and an extra pazaow of sweetness.

For some insight on the secret: the recipe is from a blog I follow called Simply Recipes. I think the writer, Elise Bauer, is quite well known in the blog world. And I would agree as I made many successful dishes from her (btw, I follow a bunch of blogs--many of which are food/recipes blogs).

After the cookies were out of the oven, I moved on to dinner making. Tonight was Rachael Ray's Straw and Hay pasta. Which turned out to be yet another success of the evening. We really enjoyed this quick, simple yet tasty dish. I got this one from watching the Rachael Ray Show. It's on every weekday morning from 9-10am. I know, I know, the Rachael Ray Show, really Heather? However, I must say that I'm learning (since I have more time in the day with Starbuck shift schedule) that daytime TV is not great. And early in the mornings, even Food Networks doesn't have much but paid programming (and it's worse at 4:30am or 6am..bah).

More cooking later this week cuz it's Turkey time!
(we're doing it Friday instead though)

Molasses Spice & Everything Nice

Random II

You may remember the Random entry I wrote back at the end of September. This is the second Random entry. I plan on doing these types of posts every now and again because they are easy and I often have smaller topics to bring up but not really needing their own entry. Note the II (yes, I'm going to have to learn Roman numerals better, as I think I only know them up until like 19 or something --> yea Internet).

• Halloween: Josh and I kept the evening low key and decided to stay in. Plus all the kiddies were depending on us to deliver candy and I did not fail them! We actually didn't really end up getting many trick-or-treaters. This was probably because our porch light doesn't work and so it's pretty dark at our door. We got about 4 door bell rings, but each visit had a fair number of kids. The 4th (and last) ring was like 10 kids at around 7:15pm. This 4th ring got me all excited (& worried about having enough candy), but it turned out to be the last ring of the evening. The only costume I recall is an ambulance made from a box, which I though was very creative. Once the trick-or-treaters were apparently not coming, we settled down to watch Interview with a Vampire. I wanted to prove to myself I could watch this and not have nightmares. Yes, I actually had nightmares about vampires last time. Mainly the nightmare was how I would say to myself (in the dream of course) that I didn't believe in vampires; however, Lestat showed up to prove me wrong! So far no nightmares...whew!


• Big Game: That would be University of Oregon vs. USC football game that happened this past Saturday. Apparently it was even covered as ESPN College Day. The game brought in lots of out-of-towners and I met them all working a shift on Saturday. There were lots and lots of USC fans (there is a hotel near the store). It was fun to see everyone get so hyped up. Seriously, it's big here. I mean you go to the store and you get asked if you are watching the game, etc. (Sorry Uncle Ron, Aunt Pat & Lindsay - it was a sad day for your team).


• Flowers: Josh was super sweet and surprised me with flowers on the table when I came home from work the other day. I was feeling less-than-perfect at my coffee abilities that morning before work and this really brightened me up. See the bouquet on Flickr.


• Pizza Takeout: I just had to mention this. We picked up pizza yesterday and the box was beautifully painted with a flower design. This is where we say, "...only in Eugene." See the box on Flick too. By the way, this is one of our favorite restaurants. It's called Pizza Research Institute (or PRI).


• Baking Crusade: I'm still baking and cooking a lot! I'm still trying to find the perfect muffin. Yesterday I not only made Sweet Potato Carrot muffins (from family cookbook), but a delicious apple crisp (with modifications, so ask me if you actually try this one). Also prepped dinner for tonight which was scrumptious R. Ray dish she called Turkey Chili and Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie (it's very orange for Halloween).


• Froyo Alert: My froyo radar is still going strong. Apparently Springfield, Eugene's neighboring town, has a froyo place coming soon. It's called Sweety's (corner of Main and 6th St). I'm desperately trying to find when it opens (I'm not around that part of town much, but I might be soon - wink wink).


• Missing the Bay: This has been on my mind lately, so I thought I'd share. No no no, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy; however, I still miss many things none-the-less. Oh and Josh agrees on many of these too...
  
  
  
  • Here's a few things I'm missing: Friends (this is the biggest miss!), Yumi Yogurt (and the plethora of options), Malls & Shopping (the mall here stinks and nothing compared to Santana Row and Valley Fair - although I shouldn't be spending anyway so this helps stop me!), Radio Stations(really they need better music, but I got iTunes, Pandora, and streaming), YMCA (miss the people, classes, and the little TVs on each treadmill. BUT I'm enjoying Oakway Fitness cycle and interval classes), the Liveliness of the Bay (how in the Bay you are on the cutting edge of what's new and cool...am I missing anything? should I know about anything up and coming?), and Restaurants(very limited here). Sure there is more, but that would be sad to continue. I MISS YOU GUYS!
  
  
  • On the flip side, I could list a bunch of things I'm enjoying here in Eugene too: Josh is here (yes, this is #1), Coffee Shops & Bakeries (not just Starbucks either, but Full City and more), Nature & Trails (did you see my hike post from last weekend? enough said), Friendly people (very gun-ho on the sports, just more smiles and hellos while you're out and about), Seasons (pretty colors), and more.
  
  
  
  


• Starbucks:
  
  
  
  • Funny Weekend Experience: Josh and I decided to stop at the River Valley Center Mall on Saturday after my shift. As I wanted into various stores I saw our "regulars." I was like "oh there is the "iced venti, 6 pump sugar free vanilla, passion tea" customers! I reminded me of my mom (Mrs. O'Neill, the teacher) going shopping and seeing her students. Hehe.
  
  
  • Telephone Game: A customer mentioned this and I thought it pretty right-on...working at Starbucks is like a big game of Telephone (just not whispering). You call it out and then it goes down the line of others calling it out.
  
  
  • What's Heather Drinking: I added a sidebar plug-in to share my "drink creations" - check it out on the right. I'm still playing around with this setup, so if it's not there right now then come and check again. Until it's 100% up and running, my newest I've been calling Snickers. This is basically a mocha with hazelnut and caramel syrups. How I "call it" (order it)? Here you go: double tall, 2 pump sugar-free hazelnut, 2 pump sugar free caramel, non-fat, no whip, 1 pump mocha.
  
  
  
  

• Josh's Creative Work: To end on a high note, Josh was playing around with the video and photos from my iPhone from our hike last weekend. Here's the result (enjoy!):

Clips From Sahalie Falls from Joshua Brown on Vimeo.

Birthday Boy

That would be Josh...the birthday boy. As you read earlier, we celebrated it for the most part earlier on the mini coast trip. However, we must celebrate on the actual day a bit too. This means...back to the kitchen. You may not know, but I think I won Josh over with some banana bread senior year.

What was the birthday dinner? It's fall so I thought I'd create harvest meal. Yes, a theme, so clever. In order to prevent disaster dinner (oh geez, horrible memories of the first 2 Josh birthday dinners are flashing in my mind right now), I opted for things I've made previously. Here's the meal: Rachel Ray's Roast Pork Tenderloins with Escalloped Apples, Cooking Light's Caramelized Shallots and Brussels Sprouts with prosciutto, and mashed sweet potatoes and yams. And you can't have a birthday without cake, so I made a Spiced Apple Cake. Whoa-la, no disaster dinner. Full Josh = Happy Birthday Success.

Before

After

VIA Brownies

Not the road to brownies, but good brownies made with Via...
(note: Via is the Latin name for a Roman road)

I stepped away from muffin making for just a moment to try out a recipe I've had on file for a few years now and never tried. You might ask, why did it take me so long to make them. Well, I've never wanted to buy a whole jar of instant coffee and with Via I don't have to (plus I got some free samples). And no, I'm not trying to trick you with promo talk--it's totally cool stuff. So, I finally made Fudgy Mocha-Toffee Brownies last night. It's a recipe is from my favorite magazine, Cooking Light. They were in the words of Rachael Ray...Yummo! Even my co-workers enjoyed them.

Oh, and I also made some biscuits for Josh. He was in heaven with biscuits, bacon, and eggs this morning. (Thanks Don & Nada!)

Fudgy Mocha-Toffee Brownies

Biscuits

Life Indoors: Reports from the Weather Underground

Weather Report: It seems that the Oregon rain season is upon us. The first few days of rain started this past week. I posted a small picture earlier--the official first day. We've had a few rain days intermixed with days of sun this week, so we're still getting some sun. I am worried about the colder weather expected to come. I mean it's only mid to upper 50s and my feet are ice already (not that this isn't typical of me, but not so early in the year). In the coldest of SF area weather I had my feather blanket, quilt, blue blanket, fuzzy tan blanket, and often a throw on me at night. Hmm, we'll see; I might have to invest in an electric blanket, flannel lined jeans, and more fuzzy socks. I appreciated my car's seat warmers previously, but now I think I'm going to come to love them (I picture Josh walking into the garage to find me hanging out in the car just to have the seat warmers and heater blasted on me!). Happy news is that the leaves are starting to turn colors now--it's beautiful! I'm going to take some pictures and post soon.

Movie-Going: Last night we went to the cheap theater to see The Hangover. By the way, the cheap theater is awesome. On weekends it's only $2 to see movies that are not really at main theaters anymore, but not out on tape yet (and it's $1 during the week). The theater isn't stadium sitting, but it's the regular theater experience, so you really can't beat it--great deal! Anyway, The Hangover was a bit over-hyped for me. Everyone said how funny it was, and it was funny but not as funny as everyone said it would be. The movie was really pushing it with some of the humor and it some of it was just wrong. Don't get me wrong, I did think it was funny and I laughed a bunch, but it's just wasn't Old School or me. As for previews, I think Extract looks freakin' hilarious & can't wait for that to release. Our other cheap movie fun is Netflix. Right now we're going through the first season of True Blood (more vampires).

In the Kitchen: I'm still on the muffin quest. Yesterday, I tried bakig Pear and Apple Muffins. These tuned out pretty well. I cooked half of the batter to see how they were, and decided to add more sugar and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc) on the second batch. The second batch was better. But there is something I'm missing. I think it' an oaty, bran texture and nuttiness that I love that my attempts have failed to meet. Josh is the lucky taster (I don't think he minds). I've still got plenty of recipes to try though. Next I might add oat bran to the recipe to see if that helps me with the texture I'm looking for. Again, I'm open to any recipes you might want to share --please send!

SBux: This is going great--I'm enjoying the people and job. The change in weather brought some big crowds to some of my shifts. It can get pretty crazy with a long line-up of cups to make, but it really makes the day go fast (and learn quick). Also, you may have seen all the commercials on the newest product, Via. It's the micro-brew 100% Arabian bean coffee. You should really try it (really, it's good). I used it to bake some biscotti and there are so many more recipes that call for instant coffee which will work perfectly with this stuff.

P.S. I can now wear my Crocs with the soft liner around town unabashedly. Unlike the Bay Area, they are true Oregonian style so nobody judges you wearing them around. I'm enjoying this, although I do think I need to find a nice pair of cute, water proof, versatile, comfy shoes.

Keeping Busy

With the former email job finished and the new job yet to come, I found myself with some free time. This lent the perfect opportunity to finally get to some some long awaited projects. Sadly, I start work again tomorrow, and so far I've only touched upon these projects--I've really just brushed the surface. And there is still so much I can do on them! If only I had all the time in the world and no worries. But hey, perhaps there is hope for these projects as I should only be working 20-25 hours a week (to start). We'll see.

What are these projects you ask? Well, here are a few:

Cooking/Baking: Considering I watch The Food Network practically 24/7, I thought I should actually go into the kitchen and try some of the recipes. Generally I make a bunch of Rachel Ray dinners because they are quick, easy, and usually turn out pretty good. I wanted to try some new food network folks. The past couple weeks I've tried some Melissa d'Arabian (the newest show as she just won The Next Food Network Star show) as well as Ellie Krieger who is the nutritionist on the network. All came out pretty dang good. To name a few recipes: Carrot Cupcakes, Curried Chicken Salad, Zucchini Roll-ups, Lemony Shrimp Scampi, Stuffed Zucchini and Red Bell Peppers, and Florentine Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken. Two picture below. And more recipes to try out to come!

Recipe Consolidation: Another cooking themed project. By the way, I really enjoy baking over cooking I think. But both are fun. Cooking is a bit more of an every-day necessity though. Anyway, I digress. I got this program for my Mac called Sous Chef. It's a way to add and organize my recipes. I've been trying to import my recipes (currently both online and offline--i.e. books or saved in "my recipes" folders of places like FoodNetwork.com or allrecipes.com). You also can add a picture to the recipe. It's a big project! Every time I made something lately, I try to also add it to Sous Chef.

iPhoto: I upgraded to Mac's Snow Leopard (Josh recommended - he's my in-house IT guy). With this upgrade, I opted for some program updates which included iPhoto. The new iPhoto has events and faces you can add to each picture. I'm trying to go through all my pictures to add the photo's location as well as add names to each person in the picture.

Contacts: And now another computer project. Computers and Cooking. HA! This is coordinating my GMail address book with my Mac address book. Ugh. If you've moved recently or changed your email...let me know!

Okay, that's only a few projects. I always have ways to keep myself busy. Not a problem. Guess what another big one is...this blog! Or taking all my Cooking Light magazines and picking out recipes to save, cut it out, put in a binder, and then perhaps into Sous Chef. There are also some I avoid too like reading the DMV book to get my Oregon license. Okay, I better stop; the list is never ending. Busy Busy me!

Carrot Cupcake

Curried Chicken Salad