High Spirits

It's time to kick off Holiday Season! This year, the holidays are a little more special to me because I'm living on my own. It's my first time to ever go out and buy Christmas decor, decorate my own tree and host my own cocktail parties. Ever since I was little I always dreamed about this! I know, you may think it's silly, but I was raised in a Christmas loving family. My mom, god love her, has an entire shed in the backyard dedicated to Christmas decor. Every year our house would transform into this magical wonderland full of Gingerbread Kitchen, Snowmen Living Room, Santa Family Room. Every room had it's own theme, and there wasn't one spot of the house left untouched.

Well, her magic decorating elf dust has sprinkled its self on me. For now I find myself roaming the stores planning out my themed rooms. Buying up endless amounts of red and green. And with each purchase I make I find my self smiling more and more. I never knew that creating my Christmas Wonderland could lift my spirits so much.

To compliment my "high spirits" theme, I decided to give my Arborio Rice Pudding of this week's TWD challenge some added spirit. When I saw that Isabelle of Les Gourmandes d'Isa chose this recipe I decided to stray away from the original flavors of vanilla and/or chocolate. I wanted a little kick to my rice pudding, so I added a little cinnamon, orange zest and Grand Marnier.

I also noticed that many TWD-ers were having probably with their puddings being to liquidy, so I actually used 1/2 c of rice and reduced the milk by about 3/4 of a cup. I was left with silky, creamy, orange-y rice pudding. I was tempted to eat my whole margarita glass, but I put the spoon in the dishwasher before I had a chance :) This recipe was such a cinch to make, and has endless possibilities to it. So I raise my glass and toast to the kick off of the Holiday Season, may all your days be merry and bright!

Turning Old Into New

With the economy heading south for the winter, the time to stretch every penny is upon us. I find myself now making sure to use every last drop of milk, saving every last piece of chicken thinking that I can use it as part of my lunch the next day, even using my tea bags twice or reheating old coffee just to save a few bucks. The funny thing is, that it actually feels a little rewarding to find new, inventive ways to pinch the penny.

So, after successfully baking TWD Kugelhopf and having two or three slices of it, I was left staring at a whole loaf of Kugelhopf that was almost destined to make it to the trash. Not that I wanted to throw it away, but I just couldn't eat that much Kugelhopf on my own! When I thought all hope was lost for my little friend, a spark of hope glimmered in the distance.

That spark of hope is called bread pudding! That's right! I took my crusty three day old Kugelhopf and turned it into a White Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding. Since cool dark nights are swallowing the sunshine of my day earlier and earlier, I couldn't think of anything better to cuttle up to than a warm bowl of bread pudding. And kugelhopf is actually a great "bread" to use, it was crusty on the top, but light and custardy throughout the center.

To all of you out there who are battling these tough times, I raise my spoon to you and say Show Them What You're Made Of! Because we are a nation, a species, a world who have overcome many, many tough times. We will make it through this, just as we have before and come out on top, stronger and ready to face a new day!

White Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Syrup

Ingredients

3/4 c whole milk

3/4 c half and half

1/2 c sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Dash of salt

3 eggs beaten

4 1/2 c (1/2 inch) cubes of Dorie Greenspan's Kugelhopf

1/4 c white chocolate chips

1/2 c chopped pecans

Directions

Combine milk through eggs in a bowl and whisk together. Place Kugelhopf cubes into 8 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour milk mixture over Kugelhopf. Press down on bread to absorb the milk mixture. Sprinkle white chocolate chips and pecans over top. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place baking dish in a 13x9 pan, add hot water to pan to the depth of 1 inch. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake and additional 10 - 20 minutes, until wooden skewer comes out clean.

Cinnamon Syrup

Ingredients

1 c water

1 c packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Combine water and brown sugar in saucepan and bring to boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil for about 10 minutes, until mixture is reduced to about a cup. Remove from heat, and whisk in the cream and cinnamon. Keep sauce warm and serve over warm bread pudding.

Life's Riches

Doesn't it seem that too often we don't reward ourselves? I know, for myself, that I always feel a sense of guilt if I splurge on something special, or buy something that I know I shouldn't, or even eat something that isn't necessarily healthy. I beat myself up over these things and even am to the point where I sometimes feel that I don't deserve my splurges. I scold myself for "rewarding" myself.



It wasn't until recently that I realized how unhealthy not splurging is. If I tell myself that I can't have a hamburger or a donut, I'll end up binging out on ice cream. If I tell myself that I'm not worth a pedicure twice a month then I feel like I can't spend my hard earned money on two days a month of pampering myself. If I don't allow myself to buy things for my new apartment, then I always come to home to an empty house, which makes me feel depressed.

Now don't get me wrong, I"m not saying that I'm gonna run out and buy a brand new car just because I've been wanting one for a few years and fell like I deserve it. I think there are smart ways to splurge on yourself to keep you from getting stuck in a rut. I also think that the occasional smart splurge can take you to a higher place, mentally.



For example, when I'm able to eat the finest food in my little one bedroom, 812 sq ft apartment, it takes me somewhere else mentally. I can picture myself sitting at a fine dinning restaurant, surrounded by first class people. It's incredible to be able to bring that sense of "high class" home with you. That's exactly the feeling I got with this week's TWD recipe.

I have always thought of Creme Brulee as something very fancy, hard time make and only worthy to touch the lips of people who have a lot of money. I don't know where this impression came from, but I'm sure My Best Friend's Wedding didn't help my thoughts of Creme Brulee. And I had my doubts when Mari of Mevrouw Cupcakes chose Dorie's Creme Brulee. But I was amazed to find out how easy the recipe actually is.



I wanted to kick my Creme Brulee up a notch, since plain Creme Brulee just wasn't fancy enough, so I steeped some Chai Tea bags into my milk, and added cinnamon to my egg mixture. Within five minutes I had completed my Creme Brulee batter! It was just that simple. The result was amazing! Very creamy and exotic tasting, yet comforting to the soul. Which taught me one thing. I don't have to be high class or non-splurgant to enjoy in life's riches!

TWD: One Day Late

Aah!! It's Wednesday and I'm writing my post for TWD! I don't really know what happened, but I realized about an hour ago that I forgot to write my post. DUH!!! So here it is, better late than never!



I am so glad that Amy, of Food, Family, and Fun picked and icy treat for this week. Seeing as how summer is coming to close, I wanna get all my ice cream eating in that I can. And boy was this one a good one! Dorie's Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte was amazing!! Who doesn't love ice cream with ganache? I DO, I DO!!



I must admit however that I am not a huge fan of raspberry ice cream, so I had to adjust the recipe a little bit. I started thinking about my favorite ice creams and right away cookie dough popped into my head. I wouldn't know how perfect an idea this was until the next day when I went out to dinner...Andy and I had gone to Jason's Deli and I was giving a blessing. After we ordered our dinner the lady at the counter asked us if we wanted to buy a bag of cookies pieces. Apparently there was a new hire who tried to take the cookies of the tray a little too soon and all they were left with was chucks of cookies. And at $0.50 a bag how could I resist?



I knew immediately these were gonna go into my ice cream treat. When we got home I was ready to start on my Torte. I poured a cup of coffee, ready to begin the ganache when another spark of genius hit me...Kahlua in the ganache? Dare I? Heck yes!!!



My little torte turned into this amazing cookie "dough"/chunk, coffee drinking ice cream. When it was all said in done the flavors of my torte were outstanding. The kahlua ganache with the chocolate chip/white chocolate macadamia/almond biscotti balanced perfectly together. And although it does take some time to get to the end process, the actual preparation is very, very easy. And the sky is the limit with flavor combos, which is always a plus when you wanna "reserve" the same dessert later in time!! Thanks AMY!!

Sour Blueberries

I am flabbergasted!! Tuesday's with Dorie never cease to amaze me. When I first bought Dorie's book almost two years ago there were some recipes that, just by name, I had decided not to try. To me there's something about a name. A name can explain everything. A name gives identity. A name relates an object to the brain. And when I read the name Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream I didn't know what to think. My first reaction was to the Sour Cream part. I am a huge sweet cream girl, I love my sweets. Sour in an ice cream (unless it's Sour Patch Kids) just doesn't seem like a sane thing to do.



But, needless to say that's why I joined this group. I wanted to have a reason to try every recipe, whether I liked it or not. Baking gets kinda boring if you don't experiment. Besides, I've been pleasantly surprised before by my lovely little Apple Cheddar Scones.



So, off I went to make this thing called "Ice Cream". In making the blueberry syrup I almost hit a snafu. The dang syrup was so good that I almost ate it all, but I made sure to leave plenty for my ice cream. It was a difficult task :) Then I dumped it into the blender gave it a whirl and added my sour cream base. I looked on in awe as my deep sea of indigo blue slowly transformed into a light airy lilac purple. As soon as everything was blended together I dunked my spoon in to get and early taste.



I so wanted to say "Oh my gosh, this is absolutely disgusting." But, I couldn't bring myself to do it! I had to take another bite just to see if I was really tasting it right. Then I found my tongue craving yet another bite of the sweet blueberry taste with just a slight tang to it. I just couldn't believe that this was actually good and that I wanted to keep eating it!



Things got even better once I turned my liquid heaven into a frozen blueberry goodness and slapped it between two homemade oatmeal pecan cookies! I actually think this dessert is one of the best representations of summer that I have ever had. And I am so happy that Dolores of Chronicles in Curiosity chose such an extraordinarily, original, mind blowing recipe!

...Making up for the non-exisiting marble

Today's TWD is brought to you from Ashley of A Year in the Kitchen. Little Miss Ashley chose a most scrumptious looking Black and White Banana Loaf (aka chocolate Marbled Banana Bread). I am a huge banana bread lover, and was really excited to try this one out, because I have never actually had chocolate and banana together in a loaf...I know call me crazy.



This was the first TWD recipe that I was actually a little disappointed with. After reading so many people's comments on how they didn't like the nutmeg taste, I knew right away that I would be omitting that from my recipe, I was too afraid to chance it. After I got my batter mixed up, I found it to be very runny, which was my first indication of an "un-marbled" loaf.



I did like Dorie said and dolloped blobs of one batter on top of blobs of the other batter, took a knife and being my marbling technique. But, since my batter was so runny to begin with both batters started melding together...which didn't really bother me, because it was gonna taste the same either way...right? (I have to ask those of you who had a perfectly marbled bread :) )

The oven timer dings, I pull out my big brown loaf from the oven and am immediately happy with the smell. Now I wait to see if my marbling turned out. 20 minutes later, and the answer is...NO. I have hardly any marbling in my bread, but hey, looks can be deceiving. So, I cut a warm slice and hungrily take a big bite out of it. My reaction was...mixed...the bread was very moist, but I don't know if I really cared for the flavor. It actually seemed a little bland.



So, I got to thinking. I needed a way to cover up the blandness and I knew just the thing. I pulled out my Starbucks Java Chip Ice Cream, put two whopping scoops on top of my chunked up Black and White Loaf. I then proceeded to amaze myself...and my tummy...and flambeed some bananas, bananas foster style!! Yeah you heard me!



And now I had a Black and White Loaf that I truly adored!!

Fill Me Up Buttercup

Ever have a day when your stomach feels like a bottomless pit? No matter how much you eat, little tum-tum just keeps begging for more. I absolutely HATE that feeling. It's so frustrating! I try to stick to a healthy diet, being conscientious of what I eat, and how much of it I eat. But then there's days like today.



I wake up, have a rice cake with peanut butter, raisins and two dried apricots. This is my preworkout snack, everyday, never fail. When I get home from the gym little tum-tum is crying for some food, which is a normal behavior for tum-tum at this time of day. To the kitchen I go, pour blueberries, strawberries and chunks of peaches into a big (BIG) cereal bowl. And because I'm a freak-o and can't choose one cereal, I have to have a mixture of Kashi Go Lean, Kashi Honey Sunshine and Cascadian Farms Wheat Squares (Hey I told you I was a freak-o). I chase my cereal down with a big cup of hot tea. But tum-tum now wants something sweet and of course I can't say no, so I have a few bites of cake and maybe a tiny scoop of peanut butter.



Normally I'm fine at this point, for a few hours, but like I said today was one of those days. So, about an hour later I find myself craving Starbucks, I immediately jump in the car and head over to get my tum-tum something warm to drink (my thinking behind warm is that it will take me longer to drink it, so hopefully I won't want anything else too soon). "Hi! Can I get a Grande Decaf, Extra Hot, Extra Foam Cafe Misto with Sugar Free Vanilla?" Say that ten times fast...I always make sure to warn the barista that they're gonna need to grab my cup and a pen and be ready to write it down :)



Tum-tum of course isn't satisfied with my coffee for long, so it's spurts of carrots, peaches, turkey slices, handfuls of cereal, a few bites of a muffin, a cup of hot tea, a few dried figs, a few more handfuls of cereal, some broccoli, a spoonful of peanut butter with honey and a cheesecake bite that I turn to. And that's all before dinner time!

Dinner is a bowl of pasta with lemon chicken, mushrooms onions and peas. Then a bite of a cookie. Three hours later tum-tum is craving something sweet again, so it;s a few scoops of vanilla ice cream with a drizzle of honey and a chai hot tea with a shot of espresso.



I am now at the point where I'm looking back on my day and in complete disbelief that I can let tum-tum control my day like that...I then look on my dresser and realize that I am about ready to enter my favorite part of the month, and ladies I'm sure you know what I mean ;)

So to cure any tum-tum cravings I give you Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats with chunks of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. That should shut any tum-tum up...I just can't guarantee for how long!

TWD: Two for One

When I saw the pick for this week's TWD I was actually really excited! Amanda of Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake picked Dorie's Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler.

Reason #1 for excitement: I love, love, LOVE cobbler.

Reason #2 for excitement: I have become very fond of the pink celery, other wise know as Rhubarb.

Reason #3 for excitement: The recipe seems soo easy!

Of course, with reasons for excitement comes reasons that the recipe had to be altered...



Altercation reason #1: I live in Albuquerque, NM and could not find Rhubarb anywhere! I used to be able to find it frozen, but that still wasn't an option.

Altercation reason #2: I actually like an entire crust on cobblers, not biscuit sized droppings.

...So with that I give you my Altered Peach Cobbler made with Dorie's Crust :) (Scroll down for the extra helping of TWD)



Last week the TWD Gang made Chocolate Pudding. I unfortunately couldn't participate in it, because I thought I didn't have the right equipment. But, thanks to those who left comments on my blog saying I could use a whisk I was ready to give that Chocolate Pudding a whirl!



I decided to use Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder, just because I'm a dark chocolate freak. I also flamed up some mini marshmallows and added a caramel drizzle to the top! I felt like I had just made some fancy high-end dessert, and the pudding just melted in my mouth.



Thank you Bloggers for convincing me to use my whisk, never again will I have store bought pudding!!

Mixin' It Up

We're having a little fun with mixed fruit for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie! And wouldn't you know it that I picked the same mixture of mixed fruit as this weeks hostess! Beth, who is the wonderful creator of Our Sweet Life chose to make Dorie's Mixed Berry Cobbler. And what better dessert says summertime like cobbler? This recipe was so easy to put together, because it's all based around frozen fruit, and seeing as how I am a huge fan of frozen fruit, my freezer was packed with plenty of options.



I don't know what it is about the mixture of peaches and blueberries that always gets my heart...and stomach...pumping, but it does! So of course I grabbed those two fruits right away. It wasn't until I lifted up my frozen bag of peaches that I saw the little leftover bag of frozen blackberries peeking out at me. I figured that the addition of these deep purple-y sweet fruits couldn't hurt the cause, so I pulled that bag out as well. I also wanted to give me crust a little bit more of a homey flavor, so I added cinnamon and nutmeg to my batter...awesome choice!



After about 25 minutes of baking my house was smelling so amazing. Andy came home half way through the baking time and about died when he stepped in through the door. "What are you making? And is it ready for me to eat?", were the first two questions out of his mouth. And I must say, despite some other baker's complaints about the recipe, I found it to be a very delicious, easy and comforting dessert to turn to. Dolloped with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, this dessert totally made my night!

Where Have I Been?

OMG! I can't believe I've neglected my poor little blog! But, it was for good reason, I've had some family members fall ill that need some lovin', which left no time for bakin'. Everyone is doing much better now though, so here I am, back in action. And of course I'm starting my return with the latest Tuesdays With Dorie, brought to you by Caroline of A Consuming Passion. She chose the lovely Peppermint Cream Puff Ring, which I must say I was a little nervous about. I have always wanted to make cream puffs, but for some reason was a little nervous to give it a try. To my amazement this was actually a really easy recipe to make!



Since it is just Andy and I, I did make some adjustments to the recipe. First off, him and I are big mint fans, so I nixed the peppermint. Second, there no way the two of us would've been able to eat the whole ring, and I didn't want it to go to waist, so I decided to just make individual cream puffs. And third, seeing as how I live in freakin' New Mexico, which at 9:00 in the morning is already in the upper 80's expected to reach 97 degrees by 2:00pm, I opted for vanilla ice cream instead of the cream.



The moment my mouth was filled with the creamy, slightly crunchy, caramely goodness, I about died, and then asked myself why had I never made these little goodies before? I hate when you think something is going to be really difficult to make, so you put it off and put it off, then you make it, and you kick yourself for letting all those days go by, that could've been filled with cream puffs.



The only downside is that since they're so easy to make, I'll probably be making them often, and starting to see my tummy begin to grow :( But...what can you do!

Love is in the Air!

Valentine's Day has to be one of my favorite holidays, not only does this holiday celebrate my favorite color (pink) but it also "allows" me to eat all the chocolaty goodies I want! I know, I know, Valentine's Day should be centered around love and being with the people you love, which for em it is, I have an amazing boyfriend, whom I am madly in love with (not to mention we're moving into our apartment today!). But you'd have to be a dummy to not think about chocolate on Valentine's Day!

I mean how can you resist chocoalte covered strawberries, little chocolates with gooey filling inside, chocoalte cupcakes, chocoalte fondue, hot chocoalte with melty marshmallows, chocolate dipped cookies (I could go on forever, but I think you get the point).

Another thing I love aboout Valentine's Day is think back to my elementary school days. We had to make our Valentine card holder out of red and pink construction paper, decorating it with sparkly glue and colored markers. There were stick figures of boys and girls holding hands, and crocked hearts floating around their heads. Then there was the excitment of going to the store and picking out your cards to give all your classmates...Carebares or Beauty and the Beast? Carebares or Beauty and the Beast? Uum...Beauty and the Beast! The worst part was actually having to write all your classmates names on the cards, but with a few hours of some good Nickelodeon that task seemed to whiz by. On Valentine's Day I'd wak to school in anticipation, praying that nobody else had bought the same cards as me, but that wish almost never came true :( It was finally time to pass out the cards and hurry back o my seat to tear them open and read all the notes. And of course there were those cute elementary school scribbled remarks on a Transformers card that always made me blush...Sadly those days are long gone and here I am all grown up planning a "real" Valentine's Day night!

So to celebrate Valentine's Day I made a few little goodies, mostly chocolate, one not :)

First we have Black Forrest Cupcakes (chocolate cupcakes with cherry pie filling, topped with vanilla buttercream) Second is the ever popular Red Velvet Cupcake. Then Raspberry White Chocolate Shortbread Hearts!

But the best one of all..the Valentine Goody that I'm entering in "A Heart For Your Valentine" Blogging Event" is one of Donna Hay's recipes. It's calles Raspberry-Spiked Chocolate Brownies and they are to die for!! I used a cookie cutter to cut these moist, gooey brownies into cute little hearts! Happy Valentine's Day everybody!!

Friend in need!

It's 12:30 in the morning and my best friend is in hysterics! Her and her boyfriend (of 3 years) just broke up and she desperately needed someone to talk to. The second we hung up I knew that I needed to make my dear friend Annmarie a "Hate Your Boyfriend" dessert. I immediately started looking around for a recipe. I knew I wanted to make something chocolaty, because chocolate is definitely recommended in relieving the pain of a broken heart, but I didn't know what kind of chocolate item I wanted to make...until I saw it!

This glorious masterpiece came is thanks in part to Peabody and it's called "Chocolate Crunch Slice". This is the richest, most decadent "get over your boyfriend" piece of chocolate you will ever have! It's basically melted chocolate, cream, butter and Oreos! How easy is that? And since I wanted to show my compassion for my totally amazing friend I decided to put my chocolate slice in some Hesrhey Kisses molds that I've had lying around in my cupboard. These Kisses will totally knock your socks off! Peabody's recipe called for dark chocolate but I used milk chocolate, and they were still very, very rich, but oh so satisfying. (Eating these are great post break up or pre-period, but not recommended before a dentist appointment :0) ). And they're such a cinch to make, how could you not want to try them?

In giving this to my friend, I just wanted her to know how much I care about her and that she truly deserves the most scrumptious kisses everyday, so forget the dumbie that let her go and look forward to the real Mr. Right, because I know he's out there for her! So to all those girls out there looking for love, don't give up...have a kiss!