Is there such a thing as too many desserts?

Hi bloggies!! How's the first week of December treating y'all??

Here in California the weather been looking like this..

Talk about gloomy city!

I'll have to say November was pretty uneventful for me. It went by pretty quickly and I'm reminded how easy it is to get into a routine (rut?) Its been school, work, home, study, sleep, and repeat :)

As for my November update, I discovered that I've mostly been cooking! So this month's 101 update will be a "tasty Tuesday." Party in my mouth!!

Cranberry Scones
Pretty good, not fantastic though. Not as dense or buttery as I would have liked. I substituted for whole wheat flour and honey Greek yogurt. You gotta make do with what's in the kitchen :)

Coconut Macaroons
I was imagining chewy and sweet deliciousness, but these were a little dry. I love love macaroons and wanted to try this "healthier" version. I guess the condensed milk in regular macaroon makes a big difference.

Apple Crisp
This is tastes like fall. I made it with less crumble topping and more Fuji apples. Its so good for breakfast with some yogurt! I’ve already made it twice!

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
These did not last long in the house! My GF sister and I devoured them :) They're so easy to make so I can have cookies whenever I want (which could be a bad thing!)

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake
I hate pumpkin pie. And I don't like cheesecake either. But somehow I loved this pie. Odd how tastebuds work..

As you can see my oven got a good workout this month. And I see that I still have to learn to remember to take pictures before I wolf down my food. Hehe whoops :) Guess there are still bloggy lessons to learn!

The only other "list" thing I accomplished was creating an iTunes playlist.
Oh yeah bring on the "Christmas songs!"

What's your favorite Christmas tunes?
Recently I've been keeping Carrie Underwood's country-fied version of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" on repeat. It makes my ears so happy!

Tasty Tuesday:: Mulligatawny Soup

I'm sure I've said it before, I'm a frugal person.  Luckily I have a group of friends who share that trait.  We've done all the free things to do in LA: the beach, free Getty Saturdays, free Getty Villa, free OC fair, you name it!  And recently we've been opting to stay in and cook rather than go out to a restaurant. 

A few weeks ago we made an easy version of mulligatawny (an Indian inspired soup). We bulked it up by adding more than the directed amount of celery, carrots, and apples.  I don't  know how authentic this soup is, but it's sure tasty :)

INGREDIENTS
* 1/2 cup onion, chopped
* 2 stalks celery, chopped
* 1 carrot, diced
* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons curry paste (powder is okay too!)
* 4 cups chicken broth
* 1/2 apple, cored and chopped  (I used Fuji apples)
* 1/4 cup white rice
* 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cubed
* salt to taste
* ground black pepper to taste
* 1 pinch dried thyme
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 1 cup pineapple (optional)


DIRECTIONS
1. Saute onions, celery, carrot, and butter in a large soup pot. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 30 minutes.

2. Cook the chicken. You can grill it, microwave it, pan fry it, whatever.

3. Add apple, pineapple, rice, chicken, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done.

4. When serving, add hot cream. Or add cream to soup and simmer for another few minutes until its hot and serve.

Yum! I think its either the thyme or heavy cream that makes this soup wonderful. Hmmm, it's probably the heavy cream ;)

It's a beautiful morning!!

I've been getting so excited for summer despite the crazy winds sweeping through SoCal. I love that its still sunny at 7pm (see picture above!). However, summer mean crunch time for me! I have to finish summer school, work, and apply to vet school. Wish me luck! Any tips on time management??

Summer also makes me feel like eating healthier. Lighter and fresh meals sound divine to me :) The bulk section at Whole Foods has been oh-so-helpful. I can try new "healthy" foods without buying a ginormous package, and being scared of wasting money if I don't like it. For example, I bought a dollars worth of chia seeds to try today instead of splurging on the $20 jar.

Some healthier foods that I have been loving are:
1) Medjool dates- reminds me of azuki beans; sweet and chewy
2) Coconut- used to HATE it, now much love. I think Samoas jump started the love (girl scout cookies all the way!)
3) Goddess salad dressing- a little more expensive, but if it gets me to eat salad then its ok!
4) Egg puffs- Its so easy to make morning eggs, no need to dirty a pan!

I also watched an interesting video today about spending a little more moolah in the interest of your health. The idea is to spend money on items that will help you make good food decisions, like pre-cut fruits or veggies. So, when you are itching for snack they will be as convenient as a bag of chips. Hmm, wonder if I can make my frugal self do that??

Have a happy Monday! Hope the week starts off good!

Pizza Party!

#69 on my list of things to do was make pizza, and I did it! I cooked (in my opinion) a delicious meal for the fam bam, complete with a quickie invite sent via text message. Ahh, wonderful technology.

I made a gluten-free dough from scratch using a recipe I found on recipezaar. Since gluten-free breads can have an "interesting" taste, I tried to find a recipe with good reviews. And let me tell you, the reviews were right! It came out great and was really easy. I also bought premade dough from Trader Joe's to supplement the gluten-free pizza. I was going to make a gluten pizza too but, believe it or not, I didn't have any normal wheat flour at home.
I topped the pizzas with homemade sauce, bell peppers, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and carmelized onions. Yummy veggie pizza! :)

I also made a salad with carrots, romaine, green onions, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers. Every time I chop green onions, I think of the "Jon and Kate plus 8" where Kate goes berserk while Jon is trying to make a Korean feast. Haha, isn't that weird? I used to love that show, though.

Here's the final product! Can you tell the difference between the gluten free and Trader's pizza?
Is it hard to tell? If you guessed one on the right, you're correct!

This recipe is a keeper! We're obsessed! My sister liked the gluten-free version so much, I made another one right after dinner! However, I must have made the Trader's dough wrong because it came out...well, not good.

Agave love

Organic sweetener? Low glycemic index? No chemicals? Blue agave nectar is good stuff.

Though I would like to claim the reason for buying this wholesome and healthy sweetener was to start eating better, it wasn't. Whole Foods was having a sale. But I have come to love the many, many uses for agave nectar.

Its starting to replace honey and Splenda (which I use to sweeten everything) in my diet. It is less thick than honey, and dissolves nicely in iced drinks. So far I have used it to sweeten iced coffee, iced tea, oatmeal, peanut butter and banana toast, and yogurt. And I think it would be the perfect alternative to maple syrup on my protein pancake tomorrow. Yum.

Looking forward to an agave filled breakfast tomorrow :)

Image: m_bartosch / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Poppity kettle corn

Yummy yummy yummy, i got love in my tummy.

I LOOVE food. ANYthing to do with it; cooking, eating, watching Foodnetwork. So I finally decided to let the food bloggin commence!

Or will it..?

Let's just say there are some key parts missing that would make it a good blog post. Like a recipe.. or measurements.. or fancy shmancy terminology.. or good pictures.. or bad pictures touched up with photoshop to look good..

For those wondering, here is what a food blog would look like if written by me. Get ready for a confusing and abusive post.


Heat up a large pan with enough corn oil to coat the bottom. (Note: no measurement of how much oil.. 'round here we just eyeball it). Test the oil temperature with one kernel.

Pop! Yup, its ready.

Measure out popcorn Rachel Ray style, by the palmful.

Here's the tricky step. Quickly add some sugar, before the popcorn pops buuut not too early or it will burn. Just for you, I have demonstrated what waiting too long to add sugar looks like. Yeahh, just sprinkle it around. What?? Too confusing? Want more details on when to add the sugar? Riiight, you won't get that 'round here.

Cover and swirl around the fire while it pops. Now, its listening time... Shhhhh... hear it slow down? Yup, its done.

Now its the easy part. But for my padre, it seems to require the most concentration and speediness. Ready? Pour some popcorn out.

Noow salt it. Some believe Trader Joe's sea salt works best. That same person prefers JollyTime kernels for their superior popablility. *coughDADDYcough.* Snob.

Here's where the real skill comes in. Toss to mix salty goodness with the sweet crunchiness. Shake it, shake, shake, shake it. OOHH, but don't let any fall out. Vulture-like family members will swoop in and devour those poor kernels.

Ohh yeahhhh.. That's what I'm talking about. What a good way to start a Tuesday.. Oops I mean Tuesday night.. Err, I meant movie night.. Meh, who am I kidding I could eat this anytime, anywhere.

Until I can write nicely and helpfully, I will be sitting in food blogging timeout. Hope they don't make me wear a dunce cap.