blueberry criossant puff.

I am showing you only a 1/4 of the dish, because... well...

the rest I devoured before I could take a picture.

Oh my. I have to share this wonderful recipe with you all. It was easy, relatively cheap....and soo tasty. I had a girlfriend over to chat at my house while Cora played and we had this for a breakfast treat with coffee. Amazing. Almost replaced the wonderfulness of a coffee shop's delicacies. Oh yea, it's not even remotely healthy, so beware. It tastes like a cheese Danish with blueberries, I think next time I'll try a mixture of other berries for fun.

Blueberry Croissant Puff
(adapted from here, which of course I found on pinterest)

Ingredients

• 3 large croissants, cut up
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (I used frozen, it was wonderful even though I was fearful)
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup milk
• lemon zest           

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place croissant pieces in a 8 inch square dish. Sprinkle with blueberries.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla in medium bowl with electric mixer until well blended. Gradually add milk, beating well after each addition, then top off with lemon zest. Pour evenly over croissant pieces. Let stand 20 minutes.
4. Bake at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes or until set in center and golden brown. You may want to cover it with foil for the last 10 minutes if the tops are getting too browned.
5. Serve warm sprinkled with powdered sugar.
6. Variation: Instead of baking in a square pan bake individually. Place croissant pieces evenly in 10 (1/2-cup) ramekins; sprinkle with blueberries and pour cream cheese mixture evenly over croissant pieces. Let stand 20 minutes. Bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes or until set in center and golden brown.

tasty chocolate macaroons.

coconut chocolate macaroons.

Um yea. These little suckers are good. Good enough to make at 9pm on a Tuesday night, when I should be doing laundry, dishes, sleeping... drinking water with my prenatal vitamins... anything but eating lots of macaroons. I got hooked on macaroons when I was studying abroad on a ship in the South Pacific. The ship's "mom" used to make a heavenly version of this. Maybe it was the fact that the rest of the food tasted like crap, and we were literally in the middle of the pacific, so all I ate were coconut macaroons. Regardless I can't replicate it, but these come close. I have a feeling that "mom's" had sweetened condensed milk. I'm nervous to even go there, it might become a nightly recipe.

"Perfect Coconut Macaroons" recipe from allrecipes.com
                       

1 (14 ounce) package sweetened, flaked coconut                                                    

1/3 cup white sugar   

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 pinch salt

3 egg whites, room temperature

8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Blend coconut, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, almond extract, and salt in a food processor until combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Beat egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form.
5. Fold coconut mixture into egg whites until just combined.
6. Wet your hands. Roll spoonfuls of coconut mixture between palms to golf ball-size cookies; arrange on the prepared baking sheet.
7. Bake cookies in the preheated oven until coconut is slightly golden and toasted, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, 30 minutes.
8. Line baking sheet with new piece of parchment paper.
9. Melt chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over just-barely simmering water, stirring frequently and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching.
10. Dip half of each cookie in the chocolate and place on the prepared baking sheet. Place in refrigerator until chocolate is set, about 15 minutes.

crunchy coleslaw

So let me first say this... this is not my recipe! Bryna, my dear Idahoan friend, actually would bring this coleslaw to each of our parties we would go to. I would eat the hell out of it, and finally I asked for the recipe and made it myself. Let me tell you...this salad is addicting. It's sensational. It's unique. You can't even decipher what's in it...except you know you have to have more. It's bryna's recipe that I have tweaked a tiny bit for fun. You can also find versions of this recipe out there, but I think this one is the best. Thanks Bryna. You and your crunchy-slaw rock.

Crunchy Coleslaw

Salad:
1 1/4 heads of cabbage (I use 1 head of green, with about 1/4 head of red for fun color) coarsely chopped
4 diced green onions
1/3 cup already roasted sunflower seeds
1.5 uncooked Ramen noodle packages, smashed up

Candied almonds:

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup sliced almonds

Dressing:

6 Tablespoons rice vinegar

5 Tablespoons white sugar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (light taste)

1.5 oriental Ramen flavor packets

 

Directions:

1. First get super excited. You're about to make a tasty salad, with cabbage, that's way easy.

2. Now, cut up cabbage to about 1/2" chunks, slice green onions and mix together in a bowl. I cover & refrigerate this bowl now.

3. Make dressing- I use a small ball jar. Mix vinegar with sugar, then add in 1.5 oriental flavor packets, and add in the oil. Put on the lid, give it some good shakes. Then I place this jar in the fridge too.

4. Saute sliced almonds. Melt butter with sugar in a sauce pan. Add in almonds. I put it on medium heat and continually stir. Once you start smelling the sugary goodness, the almonds are probably starting to turn light brown. Then you're done!

5. Pour the candied almonds on tin foil/wax paper & spread them out. This way they don't all clump together.

6. Crunch up about 1.5 packages of uncooked ramen noodles.

7. I like to put the ramen noodles, sunflower seeds and cooled almonds in a bag together...ready to top the salad.

8. Make sure to pour all of the dressing (shaken up again) and the toppings at the last minute. Toss it all together. This isn't a "dressing-on-the-side" salad... it's a full blown real deal, jam-packed-calorie salad. The salad will get soggy if its all mixed too soon, so time it right. You want this to be a crisp, crunchy salad.

Amazing. I think I need to go make another batch. Enjoy!

* side note: some people use white vinegar instead of rice vinegar- tastes the same. I just feel fancier using rice vinegar, but I've done the other way- it's great too. You can also use vegetable oil instead of EVOO. I have gotten carried away with oil- and it tastes too oily, I like the EVOO- light best, and I scaled it down in my recipe. You can also use bagged cabbage- I haven't done it. Have you actually seen real heads of cabbage? They're beautiful. So I enjoy cutting my own up fresh. Also...candy the almonds. This makes a huge difference. So tasty, and smells great. So do it.

yum.

ooo....banana chocolate chip muffins.

[Ok, I may be cooking today which is a huge feat...but I didn't quite manage to put on make-up....or clean the house. But I did shower- that counts for something, right?!]

 

I mentioned a little bit ago that we moved. We now live in a subdivision....which means...while all of our neighbors have the exact clone of our house....we also all have a dishwasher, a microwave, a decent sized kitchen, carpets....the list goes on. It's phenomenal. I never thought I would love living in a subdivision so much...I now know why people do. Houses are new and nice. It's wonderful. It makes life easy. Anyways. I have been cooking, seeing how I have a semi-sleeping baby and a dishwasher...and I am not hooked at the boob to my little sweetie 24-7. I am sooo excited to share with you this awesome recipe.

And, I was wondering how to make good muffins. Mine are always flat and ugly. So I stumbled upon this post- so helpful! "the muffin method" talks about how to combine ingredients, letting muffins rise, good stuff.

[banana chocolate chip muffins]

Amaaazing. (modified from allrecipes)

 

Ingredients (for 24 muffins)- 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 6 large bananas, mashed 1.5 cups white sugar 2 eggs 2/3 cup butter, melted 1/2 bag of mini chocolate chips Sprinkle of white sugar Directions- -Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (read muffin method talked about above for reasoning). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, then use paper liners- so that if the muffins overflow they pop out of the pan easily. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt; set aside. -Combine bananas, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Add chocolate chips. Scoop into muffin pans. I sprinkled on a little white sugar on the tops to get a crispy top. -Bake in preheated oven. Bake muffins for 20ish minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.

 

coconut cookies & apple dumplings

What kind of post follows a "It's a Girl!!" post?! Not sure. Probably something sugary and sweet and nice. So here we go...

These cookies are fantastic, so I thought I would share it with you all. It's like macaroon cookies with chocolate chips...on crack. Pure heaven. Perfect for enjoying on a very cold autumn day.

{Chewy Coconut Chocolate Cookies}

adapted from allrecipes.com recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flaked coconut
• 1.5 cups chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut and chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks

-AND-

Have you ever made apple dumplings?! Oh my, I am sure you have... based on the fact that 50,000 people like the recipe on allrecipes.com I feel like I might be the last person to find out 

about them. But just in case you haven't, I feel like it's my duty to share them with you too. They are pretty unbelievably good. I think I may have used a swear word or two upon first bite. Can you tell what I've been craving during my pregnancy? Crazy. It's basically uncontrollable.

{Country Apple Dumplings}

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 large Honey Crisp apples, peeled and cored
• 1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 5 TB butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 can of sprite (I thought this would be too much, but it was a grand sugary syrup... so do it)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). PAM a 9 inch circular baking dish.
2. Cut each apple into 8 wedges and set aside. Separate the crescent roll dough into triangles. Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end. Pinch to seal and place in the baking dish. I cut up the remaining apple pieces into smaller pieces and nestled them around the dumplings.
3. Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the apple dumplings. Pour sprite over the dumplings.
4. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. I served with french vanilla ice cream. amazing.