Happy Belated Easter!!

I had a wonderful weekend with my family in Ohio for Easter.  I got to spend about 100% of my time with the two cutest little nieces in the world.  I am one lucky aunt.  I love Easter, mainly because it gives me all the excuses in the world to bake everything under the sun and this Easter was no exception. 

First check out these cute Dino Eggs Cy and I made.  They are so easy to make too.  Just crack up some hard boiled eggs making sure to leave the shell intact, then soak in easter egg dye for a couple of hours or overnight.  Open them to discover the cutest little eggs (and the prettiest little eggs ever).  They added a whole new level of fun to egg salad when you are eating a pink or blue egg salad sandwich.  :)

Next, check out the most adorable cupcakes in the world.  These are "so stinkin cute!!!" I can never make them without the biggest smile on my face.  My niece absolutely loved them, and hearing her say birdie birdie with the biggest excitement in her voice made them even more special.  

Just take some homemade white/yellow cupcakes of your choosing frosted with some homemade buttercream frosting.  Toast some sweetened coconut.  Add some smushed orange starburst to make the beak on the blue Cadbury eggs and use two drops of chocolate ink frosting.  For the yellow birdie cupcakes, do everything the same but instead of toasting the coconut, dye it yellow with food coloring.  Conform an orange starburst for the nose and use the black chocolate frosting or mini M&M's for the eyes.  These really are SO STINKIN CUTE!!!  

Cherry Chocolate Morning Shake

I'm tackling True Hot Yoga today AND my routine Orange Theory workout this morning so I needed a power shake to get me kick started this morning and I found it.  So many nutritious health benefits in there in addition to energy and protein.  

Ingredients:

1 Cup Cold Water
1 Cup Cherries
1 Frozen Banana
1/4 Cup Protein Powder (I used Vanilla Whey Powder but you can use any kind you want)
2 Tbsp Hemp Seeds
2 Tbsp Chocolate Powder
Dash of Vanilla

Blend all in a blender and then drink all of it up.... Yum!!!

Roasted Cauliflower and Farro Salad

So Cy is in Montana this weekend, and there are some recipes I wait to try out until he leaves because I am pretty confident he won't like them as much as me.... and this is one of them.  In fairness to him, he always trys and eats everything I make, but he is a simple meat and potato guy where I'd rather eat like a bird and live off salads the rest of my life.  He definitely has inspired me more to try different things and even got me to eating red meat again, none the less, I still fall back on salads when he's away.  :)  This recipe to me was one of the most delicious salads I have made in a long time, and it took very little work at all to assemble and make.  The garlicy Farro combined with roasted cauliflower with a mediterranean flare made it superb in my eyes!!

Today was fast Sunday in our church which gives each of us the opportunity to bear our testimony.  As Easter approaches I have been thinking much about the Savior's life and about the sacrifice He gave through His Atonement.  He left the presence of His Heavenly Father like we all did, but with the knowledge that He would be ridiculed, betrayed, rejected, laughed at and eventually even put to His own death.  He came here willingly and perfectly and truly gave everything so we could have everything.  I have never felt so comforted and so at peace with all the trials and difficulties that I am facing right now, because I remember the Savior Atoned and took upon Himself not only our sins but every sorrow, fear, doubt, insecurity, sadness and worry that we will ever have.  Elder Bednar put it so eloquently in his last address to us in Conference.  I encourage everyone to read it...

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/bear-up-their-burdens-with-ease?lang=eng

"Not only does the Atonement of Jesus Christ overcome the effects of the Fall of Adam and make possible the remission of our individual sins and transgressions, but His Atonement also enables us to do good and become better in ways that stretch far beyond our mortal capacities. Most of us know that when we do things wrong and need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives, the Savior has made it possible for us to become clean through His redeeming power. But do we also understand that the Atonement is for faithful men and women who are obedient, worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully? I wonder if we fail to fully acknowledge this strengthening aspect of the Atonement in our lives and mistakenly believe we must carry our load all alone—through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline and with our obviously limited capacities.

It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to the earth to die for us. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to enliven us—not only to guide but also to strengthen and heal us....  Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our sins and iniquities—but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that beset us.

There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual burdens. And because of His infinite and eternal sacrifice (see Alma 34:14), He has perfect empathy and can extend to us His arm of mercy. He can reach out, touch, succor, heal, and strengthen us to be more than we could ever be and help us to do that which we could never do relying only upon our own power. Indeed, His yoke is easy and His burden is light."  - Elder Bednar

Happy Sunday everyone!!  

Ingredients You'll Need:

1 Cauliflower head
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
Salt

1 Cup Uncooked Farro Berries
2 Cloves of Garlic
1-2 Chicken breasts and Herbs De Provence (if want more protein, I used it here)

18 Kalamata Olives (Sliced in half and sliced in rings)
1/4 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes packed in Olive Oil (Rinsed and roughly chopped)
1/2 Cup Feta Cheese
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Avocado
Leafy Greens - Spinach, arugula etc.
















Directions for Cauliflower:

-  Preheat oven to 425
-  Toss Cauliflower with 2 Tbsp of Olive Oil, sprinkle with 1/4 Tsp of Red Pepper Flakes and salt to taste
-  Roast 25 minutes, turning halfway until they are tender and a little brown on top

Directions for Farro:

-  Combine a Cup of Farro with 3 Cups of Water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook until tender but still chewy.  About 25-30 minutes.  
-  Drain and then toss with 2 Tsp of Olive oil, 2 Cloves of Garlic and 1/4 Tsp Salt

Directions for Chicken:

-  Use 1-2 Chicken Breasts and massage a little olive oil into them and toss with Herbs De Provence.  -  -  Sear in pan until golden brown on both sides and toss into the oven until cooked through, and then slice into strips 

Directions for Salad:

-  On serving plates, put leafy greens of your choosing (as much or as little as you want of them) and top with sliced avocado. 
*  I used about 1/2 a handful of greens for each plate and 1/4 of an avocado per person

-  Toss Farro, Cauliflower, Feta, Kalamata Olives, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Lemon Juice

- Put a spoonful of the Farro mixture over the leafy greens and enjoy!!  The mixture is delicious on its own if you hate salad and want to eat it on its own.  

Chocolate Banana Bread

This bread is delicious and usually doesn't last more then two days in my house.  Banana bread is one of my all time favorite things to bake, but adding chocolate to it, just adds a whole other level of deliciousness to the bread.  

Ingredients:

3 Bananas (Make sure they are really ripe)

1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce (I usually just use one snack size applesauce cup)

3/4 cup of dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 Tsp Vanilla

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp Salt

1 Cup White Whole Wheat Flour

1/4 Cup of Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder

1/4 Cup of Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 Cup of Dark Chocolate Baking Chips and extra for top

Directions:

1.)  Heat oven to 350 and coat bread pan with cooking spray. 

 * This makes one larger loaf and one mini loaf which makes it perfect because Cy gets the small one and I get the big one - although he usually ends up with mine too :)

2.)  Mash bananas in a big bowl.  Mix in applesauce, then the brown sugar, egg and vanilla

3.)  Sift together baking soda, salt, flour and cocoa powder and sift over the wet ingredients 

4.)  Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients after sifting until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips 

5.)  Pour into pans and top with extra chocolate chips to make it extra pretty and because who wouldn't want more chocolate in the bread

6.)  Bake 55-60 minutes

7.)  Cool for about 10 minutes then loosen out of pan.  Serve warm with a bit of vanilla ice cream or however you like it.  You can freeze it if you aren't going to eat it right away or keep it in the fridge if it is going to last longer then 4 days, but really it won't... I promise you that!

On a side note, this wonderful boy of mine took me horseback riding up in Sedona.  I met this horse on the right, Colorado, first and fell in love with him.  I fed him, petted him and he warmed up to me and even nuzzled up to me.  :)  I couldn't ride him unfortunately but I am considering going back up there and taking Colorado away with me and riding off into the sunset.  

Cy's horse was named Two-Toned and mine was named Apache on the left.  They are best buds even though mine kicked Cy's horse multiple time on the trail.  :)

Ebelskivers!!

If you're not Mormon, you should be!!  This weekend was our semi-annual General Conference and wonderful messages were given and received.  Visit our church's website if you want to learn more about Latter Day Saints or if you are just in need for uplifting words and comfort.  I promise, through no other avenue, could you find greater peace then through the words of the prophet and our church leaders.

  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/04?lang=eng

I joined the church back in Ohio, and my first Bishop and his wife would make what was known as Ebelskivers.  I fell in love with them because they allow your creative mind to go wild with endless options of fillings and toppings.  So what is an Ebelskiver?  It's a Danish pancake that is cooked on the stovetop in a special pan that allows the Ebelskiver to form into these puffed balls that could be filled with anything you want or eat them plain!  You can fill them with chocolate, jam, fruit, cheese, cream, honey, caramel, etc.  You can top them with syrup, fruit, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, whipped cream etc.  You can make them savory too but honestly, isn't sweet always the better option?  

I introduced Cy and my two friends Nate and Kim to them and they absolutely loved them.  We filled ours with an apple filling, a cinnamon sugar filling and chocolate.  

Look at that yummy goodness on top!  We covered them with homemade Buttermilk Caramel Syrup, Apple Cider Syrup and Blueberry Syrup with an added bonus of Maple Syrup Whipped Cream!  um... Yum!!

To make the Ebelskivers you will first need an Ebelskiver pan - I recommend a cast iron one that is well seasoned beforehand.  

To make the Ebelskivers:

2 Cups Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Sugar

4 Eggs (Separate Egg Yolks and Whites)

2 Cups Milk

4 Tbsp Melted Butter

Extra butter for pan when cooking

Directions:

1.)  Whisk Flour, Baking Powder, Salt and sugar in a bowl.  

2.)  In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks lightly, then whisk in milk and the melted butter.  Whisk this mixture into the dry ingredients just until combined.  * The batter will be lumpy.  

3.)  Beat the egg whites on high speed for about 2-3 minutes

4.)  Fold the egg whites into the batter using a spatula

5.)  Heat Ebelskiver pan over medium heat and add a GENEROUS amount of butter into each well until the butter bubbles.  

*  Note * Get a pancake dispenser to make things a lot easier for you when dispensing the batter :)

6.)  Pour about 1 Tbsp of batter into each well if you are adding filling (*if you just want them plain, fill just slightly below the top), then place a Tsp or 1 1/2 Tsps of filling over batter and then cover with another Tbsp of batter.  Cook until the bottoms are golden, the top will still be a little runny - should take 3 minutes or less.  

5.)  Using two wooden skewers on either side of Ebelskiver, roll the Ebelskiver until the cooked portion is on top.  Cook another couple of minutes until golden again.  Place them in a baking dish in a pre-heated oven at 175 to keep warm until you make them all or just eat them as you go.

As for Fillings: (Make and place a little bit in center of each Ebelskiver)

Option 1 - Chocolate Filling:  Place about 4 chocolate chips in the center 

Option 2 - Apple Filling:  Peel and finely grate 3 granny smith apples.  Add apples to pan over medium heat with 1 Tbsp Butter, 3 Tbsp Light Brown Sugar, Juice of 1/2 Lemon, ginger, ground cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon to taste and cook until apples tender.  Drain

Option 3 - Cinnamon Sugar Filling:  Combine 1/2 cup Sugar, 2 Tbsp Flour, 1 1/2 Tbsp Cinnamon, 1/4 Tsp Salt.  Take 4 Tbsp of softened butter and mash it into sugar mixture until it makes a paste

To make Whipped Cream:

Whip Heavy Whipping Cream until it starts to harden and then add maple syrup to taste and whip until you get the whipped cream texture (1 cup cream to 1/4 cup syrup is a good combo)

I used homemade syrups.  I made a Buttermilk Caramel Syrup, Apple Cider Syrup and Blueberry Syrup.  If you want the recipes, let me know... they are like candy in a jar.  :)

Then eat up!!  A lot!!  and then.... experiment and make a lot more!!!  :)

"When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heaven’s embrace.

We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"  - President Uchtdorf

Spaghetti Squash Tacos

INGREDIENTS

1 3 lb or less Spaghetti Squash cooked

2 Tbsp of Fresh Lime Juice

1 Tsp of Chili Powder

1/2 Tsp Cumin

1/2 Tsp Coriander

1/2 Tsp Salt

TOPPINGS

1 Can of Black Beans

Diced Red Onion

Feta Cheese

Chopped Cilantro 

Hot Sauce

Cooked Corn Tortillas

DIRECTIONS

Mix spices together.  

Squeeze lime juice into a bowl and then add spices to make a sauce. 

Add to cooked spaghetti squash

*NOTE* Make sure you don't overcook the spaghetti sauce otherwise it will get soggy and watery.

Cook tortillas until bubbly and darkened a bit

Make your tacos with your fun little taco bar and ENJOY

April Fools!!

So for dinner tonight I made "spaghetti and meatballs" for Cy and my friend Cassie!  These were so fun to make and all of us had a hard time cutting into the "meatballs" because it really did look like a meatball! 

 All you do is make cupcakes of your choosing; I made a delicious ricotta pound cake cupcake *recipe below.   

Then you make a buttercream frosting of your choosing and swirl it all around the tops of the cupcakes so they look like noodles.  

Take some Ferrero Rocher candies and roll them around in some strawberry jam and top them over the "noodles".  

Grate some white chocolate for the "parmesan cheese" and enjoy!!  They are delicious!

Ricotta Cupcakes:

3 Tbsp of Sugar

3 Tbsp of Room Temperature Butter 

1 Egg

3 Tbsp of Ricotta Cheese (I used part-skim)

1/4 tsp Almond Extract

1/2 Cup Flour

1/4 Tsp Baking Powder

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 - this recipe makes 4 cupcakes so even better, no leftovers to binge on!!! :)

1.)  Beat the sugar and butter together until fluffy (About a minute)

2.)  Add the egg, ricotta cheese and almond extract and beat it together until it is combined

3.)  Pour flour and baking powder over mixture and blend until it is just combined

4.)  Pour batter into 4 lined baking cups and bake for 18-20 minutes.  Tops should be lightly browned

5.)  Frost once they are cool!