This year.
I have big plans.
Lavender cupcakes.
Roasts.
Roasted carrots.
Curries.
Granola.
Bacon.
Chocolate.
Pancakes.
Juice.
Smoothies.
and hopefully.
A cookbook.
This year will be a good year.
much love.
new year.
Posted in what i was thinking
LEMON POPPYSEED SCONE CAKE.
I didn’t mean to.
It just happened like this.
I very much started out making muffins. I even had the muffin tin out, but as I was mixing my ingredients together I thought to myself, ‘o..a loaf pan would be better’. I’m sick of cooking in loaf pans though, so I settled for a nice glass cake dish. This escapade ended in a delicious scone like cake. I was pretty dang happy about how it turned out.
I happen to love scones. Almost more than cupcakes. Give me a scone and a song and I’ll kiss you on the nose.
Ha.
I also happen to love lemon.
Here is the part where I talk about how much I love lemon :
I love all things lemon. Especially lemon bars. Those are my favourite food…minus lavender cupcakes…and pistachio ice cream..and butter. Ok, moving on. Lemon bars remind me of my childhood. Long summers and lots of watermelon. Wait a minute, this post is not about lemon bars is it?
I like to buy lemons just because. I think it is sexy and very grown-up. So, I buy lemons a lot.
Back to the cake.
If you like lemons and scones and poppy seeds, then you will like this cake.
It is best eaten sitting on the edge of a marina reflecting on dreams and whatnot.
Then feel free to fall asleep in the passenger seat of your car.
Posted in Uncategorized
AVOCADO JAM SWIRL COFFEE CAKE
Yesterday I got my first parking penalty since moving to Eugene. $30.00…gah. Isn’t that terrible? For ‘IMPROPER PARKING’. Apparently my car was over the line. Apparently I suck at parking(and I already knew that), but I think getting fined $30.00 for sucking at parking is kind of ridiculous.
I have the ticket sitting right next to me. I want to shred it.
What does this have to do with coffee cake? Nothing at all…well, a little bit…
Do you feel a need to vent? About love, or your next door neighbour, or maybe about that parking penalty you received yesterday. Make this cake. Then invite a dear friend over for a slice and a cup of coffee. Then proceed to chat. I don’t endorse gossiping though. Remember that.
I was quite pleased before and after I put this cake in the oven. I am usually pleased with my food, but this time I was quite pleased. [; Impressive and easy. You will want to eat the entire cake by yourself. I wanted to, but I shared it with my roommates. They like to run. I figured they would also like some coffee cake for after(or before) their run.
Great pre-run, post-run, and bird watching snack.
Preheat your oven to 350°. Here we go….
Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Dessert
Tagged avocado, coffee, coffee cake, healthy, jam, parking tickets
MEXICAN CHICKEN SOUP
I woke up the other morning and it was gorgeous outside.
This is not normal for Eugene(or so I’m told), so I took advantage of the day and went on TWO walks. I also decided to go and purchase some splendid ingredients for some spicy soup.
Walking always makes me want to eat spicy food.
Actually, walking makes me want to eat any food.
I think that is what walking is supposed to do.
Anyway, this is the best Mexican chicken soup you will ever make. I know I’m a little late for posting recipes for the super bowl, but this would have been a SUPER BOWL of SOUP to have on the super bowl. So next year…this one will be a keeper.
I hopped in my car and headed down the road to the closest grocery store…nice days always make me want to cut things up. Purple onion, green onions, corn, black beans, oo…this is going to be good.
Spicy, enjoyable, exotic, and it tastes like a party in your mouth.
Don’t you want to try this?
Other than it being a fiesta in your mouth, it is insanely healthy.
Everyone wants to be healthy these days.
*This soup will make you feel like Audrey Hepburn.
HOT CHOCOLATE
Yesterday was quite eventful. My family had to push our old van from the back yard to the front yard. So we all pulled on our boots and hats, and headed outside to push the big thing up our ally way. Did I mention it was raining? Pouring rain. I pushed next to my little brother. We laughed and grunted and yelled as my little seester steered the wrong way(she doesn’t really drive). We left the van in the street a bit while we danced in the rain. I’m sure the neighbours enjoyed our silly show. My hands were frozen. After we finished moving the brown piece of metal, we all headed inside to enjoy some hot chocolate.
Except I can’t really have hot chocolate, because I’m on this non-dairy diet right now. I’ve found some loop holes though. One of them being that I can have hot chocolate. I used almond milk, but feel free to use regular milk…it would be killer with whole milk. Just sayin’. [:
what i got for Christmas.
Dear Facebook,
THANK YOU FOR MY KITCHEN AID MIXER.
IT WAS A CRAZY GOOD CHRISTMAS PRESENT.
I AM SO STOKED ABOUT IT.
♥,
ria.
……
This year my family was nominated for secret santa. Guess who our secret santa was. That’s right. Facebook.com. Crazy I know. It is because of them that I now have a Kitchen Aid Mixer. Something I have only dreamed that I would ever have. It is pretty darn rad. My mixer is nice and white, and will match wonderfully with the blue tulip mugs that I picked up at IKEA the other day. My seester named it OLGA. I don’t name things..she says it serves me right that it got stuck with such a horrid awesome name.
I can’t wait to make food with the thing.
huzzah!
……….
Posted in Dessert
Tagged christmas, kitchen aid mixer, merry christmas, underneath the tree
a bouquet of flours.
He brings her flours instead of flowers,
because she is a baker.
Genius sweet guy.
Stranger Than Fiction is sort of like making chocolate chip cookies, but then eating the entire bowl of dough before you even get to make the cookies.
Don’t you lie to me. Everyone likes the dough better.
Anyway, this scene has just been running through my mind. Don’t ask me why, it just has. Maybe it’s because I need some rice flour….that is beside the point though. The movie, you should see it. Then you will understand how obviously adorable this scene is.
♥
PEPPERMINT CUPCAKES
The other night I was christmas shopping with my family. Then I got a phone call. It was the lady from the choir that I babysat for. I was standing in the middle of Wal-Mart, when I was supposed to be watching a bunch of little screaming kiddos while their parent’s belted out Christmas song after Christmas song. I stood in the perfume aisle mouth open and eyes wide.
I had forgotten to babysit.
It was probably the Kitchen Aid mixer in my mental cart that made me forget. I’m going to blame it on that. WHOA..newsflash..boy am I human.
Long story short, I felt so bad. So, to make it up to her, I decided to make some lovely cupcakes. Peppermint cupcakes to evoke the season, and maybe her forgiveness. I mean, seriously, who can turn down an apology when cupcakes are attached to it? I thought so. I probably wouldn’t have made these cupcakes if I had not forgotten to babysit, so right now you are benefiting from my forgetfulness.
Aren’t you glad?
(she got 1 dozen of these cupcakes.)
CRANBERRY APPLE TART
We have cranberries is our freezer left over from Thanksgiving. I’ve been eating them frozen(with sugar on them). The other day, while eating these frozen cranberries, I began to concoct this recipe. Cranberries, apples, cream cheese, butter…of course! I could make a tart. An apple cranberry tart.♥ Apples and cranberries are wonderful together. Sweet and tart. I rarely like sweet unless there is something tart to go along with it….if ever perfection was made between flavours, I think it is apple and cranberry. I’m not going to lie. The two together are irresistible.
I love cooking with cranberries because they are so versatile. Usually when someone says ‘cranberry’, we think ‘o! cranberry sauce‘ or ‘juice‘, but o no..cranberries are so much more than that, and this tart proves it. Like a boy has to prove he is a man by shaving, or by shooting his first squirrel. Ha.
This tart is gorgeous, and shall I even use the word?….tempting.
It was gone within 3 hours at my house. Try and beat that.
Posted in Dessert
Tagged apples, christmas recipes, cranberries, cream cheese, tart
mamamamayo.
The other night, I came home from babysitting and all I wanted to eat was sweet potatoes and mayonnaise. Weird, I know, but I was so hungry. Egg yolk, mustard, a pinch of salt, and then oil. Easy right. Well, there is a trick to making mayo, and that is you can’t add the oil too fast. I totally ignored this rule and my mayonnaise didn’t set. If it does not work the first time, try again. Even is you are frustratedly hungry.
I made another batch, this time pouring the oil in a bit at a time while beating on high speed.
Cooking is best when you take your time.
Moral of the story?
Don’t hurry.
Even if you are hungry.
♥