I wish I could take credit for these tasty morsels, but alas, I cannot. My friend found this amazing recipe on AllRecipes.com and made them for our co-hosted tea party. They were sugary morsels of bliss with their crunchy sugared outsides, soft insides speckled with mini chocolate chips and of course the black raspberry jelly over the top. Mmmm… Good!
More dishes from my friend and my tea party… Thank you Epicurious (as usual) for providing more yummy recipes!
I set out to make just one vegetarian sandwich, and yet I ended up making three different varieties. That’s what happens when you give an indecisive, food loving girl too many good choices! I was very pleased with all three. They were each unique in their own way, still holding true to the light tea sandwich theme. They all were devoured by all in attendance. I would make them again, for sure!
In preparation for a tea party my friend and I were hosting together, I was browsing some blogs and Tastespotting to see what I could find. Tastespotting never disappoints and once again provided me with this gorgeous inspiration. This picture of a zucchini soup caught my eye since it looked like a perfect addition to my tea menu. I followed the link.
In keeping with the fall and pumpkin theme, I’ve been making my own pumpkin lattes at home. and have been quite satisfied with the outcome. At first, I was just dumping the spices into the cup and mixing it all together. This morning, I tried something different and liked it even better. I now put the spices IN the milk before steaming it. It seems by having them in there while the milk is steaming, the flavor infuses in the milk better.
If you have an espresso maker at home, you should try it sometime! And think of all the money you’ll save by not going to your local coffee shop to spend the $3.50+ to buy one. And it technically takes about the same amount of time to drive, park, order, pay, wait, pick up, walk out , etc that it would if you made it at home, so don’t use the ‘time’ excuse on me. 
Place the sweetener in your coffee mug. Steam the milk with the pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon together. Once the milk is steamed, brew your shot of espresso. Pour the espresso into your cup and stir together with the sweetener until it is dissolved. Add your milk. Drink!
These muffins are darling and deliciously spicy for fall. The best part about them? They’re lowfat and (I like to think) good for you! I found the muffin recipe online and adapted it to suit my tastes – namely adding the cream cheese and crunchy topping. I love a good streusel topping but with this lowfat muffin, I didn’t want to add the extra butter and sugar a traditional streusel would add. So, I decided to try it with Kashi cereal. It was the perfect “streusel” topping without adding all the extra unwanted calories/fat to hips – er- I mean – muffin!
It’s late to be talking about the 4th of July, I know, but I had some pics archived that I’ve been meaning to post for a long time. So, sorry for the delay, but here they are nonetheless. Maybe we can just consider this very early planning for 2010 celebrations, right? Hope you enjoy the pics and recipes!
Whenever I travel for business, I try to go to a vegetarian restaurant every time. I like to find unique and local vegetarian cuisine. This time, I selected Spread in San Diego, California. I’ve categorized my feedback into chucks for you…
FOOD:
All their food is from local farmers markets and such, much of which is organic. love the concept and idea that everything is local/organic/etc. And I love that the menu changes with the seasons. They had a reasonable selection of both vegetarian and vegan options. (more…)
If you’ve never been to San Diego, California, you need to plan a trip – stat. If for no other reason than to visit this darling dessert shop. They have two locations in the San Diego area. I visited the one on 5th Street, right next to Balboa Park and right next to Nature-Express, a fascinating little vegetarian restaurant. (Unfortunately, I didn’t get to eat there since I had just come from another veg place across town. Had I known, I would have planned that one a little better).
Located in a cute cottage style house with both indoor and outdoor seating, this place is a little taste of heaven. I think I committed every single one of the 7 deadly sins just walking in and eating here!
There’s a new Texas Roadhouse in a neighboring town and my husband (meat eater) really wanted to check it out. I normally don’t have a problem with steak houses in general since I am usually happy to have a baked potato and side salad and call it a night. So, I went along with it.
Overall, the service was good, atmosphere fun and lively. But for a vegetarian? Not good. I just have to spread the news to all my vegetarian friends…
VEGETARIANS BEWARE!!! I was excited that they had a “country veg plate” (where you get a choice of 4 sides) that I was thinking would be perfect for me, the vegetarian. I assumed the green beans would probably be cooked in bacon, so I thought I’d ask just to make find out for sure what was vegetarian and what was not. So, I asked the waitress if any of the sides had meat products in them.
Thankfully, our waitress was very honest (not all would be so honest, I doubt). She informed me that almost all of their veggie dishes have meat products in them!!!
That leaves just the house salad, mixed vegetables and apple sauce as meat free options (I’m not sure about the steak fries – I didn’t ask). Even the house salad has eggs and cheese on it (which you can request to leave off if you don’t eat those products) and the vegetables have butter (which you can request to leave off, also). There were no other options for vegetarians, except maybe mac and cheese on the kids’ menu, but who knows… That might have bacon or ham in it, too.
I was HIGHLY disappointed – especially since I was so starving.
I promised my mom to make some cupcakes for her for Mother’s Day. My sister was hostessing the party for our mom, her Mother In Law, and my Mother In Law. Thankfully, they all get along fabulously and we were able to all celebrate together. I wanted to make something light and fruity to celebrate spring. I selected this fabulous recipe from Shelly Kaldenski’s Cupcakes book.
I usually make traditional buttercream (butter, milk, powdered sugar) for my cupcakes, but this one used a traditional swiss buttercream (lightly cooked, whipped egg whites, granulated sugar, butter). I wasn’t a huge fan of the swiss buttercream. It had a bit too much of a butter flavor and not enough sweet for my personal tastes, but my sister prefers swiss. So, I guess everyone has their own favorites. I think next time I might try to mix traditional buttercream with swiss buttercream and see if I can satisfy everone.
