As Late As the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland

Hello Sweets,

So I know Easter was almost a month ago now :/ and I realized I never shared my dinner experience will all of y'all. It wasn't a big extravagant ordeal, it was actually just my grandparents and myself which is always a nice treat to have, some quality time together. Since there was only three of us we didn't have the typical big meal, but just a simple, small and delicious home cooked meal.
My grandmother has been making all the big family gathering dinners since I was small, and the years she didn't my mother did. But since she is getting older I decided it was high time I took over, and as I'm sure you can guess I was only happy to do so. However my grandmother had a little trouble with the fact she was given relaxation time lol, she must have come in the kitchen or asked to help thirty times! Our dinner consisted of baked chicken breasts, country mashed potatoes, and a yummy garden salad. I, of course brought a homemade dessert I had prepared the night before, and that is the recipe I will be sharing with you tonight along with how I made everything else :)

The salad is a simple green salad with ice burg lettuce , romaine lettuce, carrots, and some yummy cherry tomatoes cut in half and topped with a zesty Italian vinaigrette.  I seasoned the chicken with a tiny bit of olive oil (so they didn't stick to the baking dish), garlic, pinch of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and a bit of lemon juice.  The country mashed potatoes are made just like normal mashed but you leave the skin on, I then made and seasoned them with butter, milk, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Now I saved the best for last, dessert!!

Fresh Berry Crumbly

Ingredients

2C strawberries, quartered

1C blackberries

1C blueberries

1/4C honey

3/4C all-purpose flour

1/2C rolled oats

1/2C brown sugar

1/2C butter

1Tsp cinnamon

1/2Tsp nutmeg

 

isn't my tiny bottle of honey super cute :D

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven to 375F.  In a large bowl mix berries, then coat with the honey.

 

2)  Sprinkle with 4Tbs of flour and toss.  Transfer fruit into a 8"x8" baking dish, set aside.

 

not quite 8x8 but it worked :)

3)  In a large bowl mix together remaining flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter with a pastry blender or your fingers until large crumbly pieces form.

4)  Sprinkle over berries and bake until golden brown, about 45-50 minutes.  Serve warm out of the oven with a side of vanilla ice cream.

 You, as always, can mix up the ingredients from the spices to the fruit. I'm an avid Gordon Ramsay fan, and one of the best pieces of advice he gives is to keep it simple, you don't need fifteen spices to create a delicious dish. As simple as this meal was, it was a huge success.  How do I know you ask? There wasn't a plate with food left on it :), and that is what any kitchen creator hopes to achieve.

I wanted to take a moment to do a disclaimer for the upcoming post over the next week or so, I'm calling it the cookie overload disclaimer. My sister is getting married in June and I am making personalized initial cookies for their reception. I will be making three different types of cookies and the fourth will be a combination cookie, the combination cookie will be a symbol of their life together (I know I'm a cheese ball lol). So I'll make a cookie that represents my sister, one for my brother-in-law (not use to that yet lol), and one for my nephew. Thankfully the flavors they like will marry (pun intended) together well for the fourth and final cookie. I'll give you all a teeny tiny little glimpse into the thoughts/flavors swirling around in my head. I'm thinking along the lines of something chocolate, something banana, and something peanut butter. Now the hard part will be finding the perfect recipes and then making the fourth cookie balanced with all the flavors :) I can't explain how excited and nervous I am at the same time.  I put a lot of pressure on myself in normal baking situations but these will be consumed by 50+ people. I guess this will be a great opportunity to see if I can hack it as an actual baker right? Until next time............


Stay sweet,



Jennifer xoxo

Blackberry Goodness

Hello Sweets,

Are you having a terrific Tuesday?  I slept horribly last night (not unusual), and then had to be up early to run some paperwork to my lawyer, and then my grandfather took me to the grocery store for some bananas and more blackberries :) I was going to have a nap but ended up getting a second wind, so I decided to bake instead.  Last night after making the coconut macaroons, I started thinking about what I wanted today's post to be about, then a light went off in my head, and I remembered that I had bought blackberries last Friday, which meant they needed to be used sooner rather than later.

When I first got my iPhone I did what everyone does, downloaded lots of apps lol.  I was looking for apps that I would use somewhat regularly, and one little gem that I found is called "recipe grazer", it has TONS of recipe ideas, perfect for this canuckette.  It also has this really cool feature that allows you to input one key ingredient, then it spits out all sorts of different recipes, so obviously I used that app to find a new recipe for today's post, and I even found a paleo recipe for tomorrow (I'm on a roll)!  So the recipe I chose to do today, I chose for a couple of reasons; 1)  They sounded too good to pass up and 2)  I know these will freeze well, and that's a good thing because my roommate, her son, and I can't keep up with the eating that would be required for all these goodies :)  So are you dying to know what today's recipe is??  I have created  blackberry crumb bars, and let me tell you my house smells amazing.  No I have not tried them yet and that is only because they need to completely cool before cutting.  But you can bet that by the end of this post they will be cooled, cut, and tried by yours truly.  On to the recipe!

Blackberry Crumb Bars (via the recipe grazer app for the iPhone)

Ingredients

6Tbs unsalted butter, melted

1/2C unsalted butter, room temp

plus extra butter for the pan

1 3/4C all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

plus extra flour for the pan

1/2C packed light brown sugar

1/2Tsp salt

1/2Tsp baking powder

1C confectioner's sugar (powdered)

1/2Tsp pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2-5 ounce containers of blackberries

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter an 8" square baking pan.  Line the bottom with parchment paper (I didn't have any so I opted this part out), leaving an overhang on two sides; butter and flour paper, tapping out any excess.

2)  Make topping:  In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, and 1/4 salt.

3)  Add 1 cup of the flour, and mix with a fork until large moist crumbs form.  Refrigerate topping until ready to use.

smells yummy :)

4)  Make base:  In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 3/4 cup of flour, baking powder, and remaining 1/4Tsp of salt; set aside.

5)  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat room temperature butter, confectioner's sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

6)  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

7)  Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture.

8)  Spread batter evenly in pan; sprinkle with blackberries, then chilled topping.

waiting is the hardest part!

9)  Bake until golden, and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached (40-45 minutes).  Cool completely in pan.  Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into 16 squares and enjoy!

They are soooo good, definitely try these!!!

I know what you're thinking; that I bake in an abundance, but it's something that picks up my mood when I'm feeling down.  Another way it is therapeutic for me, is that I feel the same way about my blogging too :)  Baking and blogging help me exercise my brain, and I feel like a productive member of society again, something that I took for granted before I got sick and had to go off of work.  Although I hate how my diagnoses have affected my life, I am grateful for a few lessons it has taught me; never take the people you care about for granted, to be thankful that I am only affected for now not forever, and most importantly that I have a wonderful life to wake up to each day.  I couldn't have done it without my amazing boyfriend Nathan, the loving family that has stood by me during this whole ordeal, and some amazing friends that really stuck by me when I needed it the most (y'all know who you are).  I am forever grateful and indebted to them for everything they have done and everything they will do in the coming months during my surgery and recovery.

If you take one thing away from my blog today, let it be that you know there is good in your life, no matter how small it may seem, if it makes you happy let it shine through :)

Oh and if you haven't joined in on the Frosty Fitness Challenge, what are you waiting for?  I am going to give this weeks challenge my best to try and hit the 20 km, and to help you guys with motivation, I am going to continue to share with you my daily achievements.

1.01 mile today, 3.64 miles so far = 5.85 km

I know it has been a hard road for me, going from personal training and prepping, to apply as an instructor, to being able to only do ROM (range of motion) and cardio training, and that's only if my body will allow it.  But I am determine to try and help my own situation by staying as active as possible, while listening to my body so I don't end up hurting myself for days (my knee protested today, which is why I only did 1.01 miles today), plus it will help with a quicker recovery after my surgery :)  Until next time............

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo