Make Me Smile Monday 12/19

Two finals today then break!

Here are some scenes from 4 of my favorite Christmas movies. Have a great Monday!

--Kelli

Blueberry Chocolate Almond Smoothie

Having a whole week to study for two finals hasn’t turned out to be as great as I’d anticipated. Instead of getting in extra study time, I’ve been up late at my friends’ apartment, sleeping in until 10 or 12, then bumming around all day. Fingers crossed my motivation kicks in this weekend!

Productivity for today:

Sign apartment rental lease for next year – check

Eat awesome red pepper, pesto, provolone Panini – check

Attempt to study only to go to the gym instead – check 

Now that I’ve gotten my workout in for the day I’m hoping I’ll finally be able to study for my business management final. To help recover from my workout and get fueled for studying I made this really delicious smoothie! I didn’t measure anything, just threw in probably about 1 ½ cup frozen berries, 1 cup original Almond milk (Silk is my favorite brand), and a couple squirts of chocolate syrup. Ideally, after a workout you want to aim for a 4:1 carb to protein ratio. Lots of people like chocolate milk, but I wanted something thicker – enter in my Blueberry Chocolate Almond Smoothie

I got my second Blissmo Box! This month’s theme is Winter Wellness.

In the box:

SmartyPants Gummy Vitamins for Grown-Ups: My roommate and I are like little kids with these they’re so good! Not only do 5 of these chewy dots contain 100% of your recommended vit D, but they also contain B12 and omega-3’s. Even better? No high fructose corn syrup.

Maty’s All Natural Vapor Rub: Haven’t tried it out yet. Vapor rub always freaked me out but I’lll have to give it a shot the next time I’m not feeling too great.

CleanWell Antibacterial Hand + Face Wipes: Totally did not read the packaging. I thought these were cleaning wipes, so I used them to clean our stove. Haven’t tried them out for their true purpose, but they did make the stove quite shiny.

Numi Organic Tea Holiday Herbal Chai: Delicious! Chai always makes me nervous. It’s hard to get that perfect balance of spice and sweet, but this brand has nailed it. I’ve been putting a little almond milk in mine. It’s a nice change from coffee (I’m up to 5 cups of coffee a day…..)

Song keeping me sane: 

 "How Come You Never Go There" -- Feist (Beck Remix)

--Kelli

Make Me Smile Tuesday

LAST DAY OF CLASSES!!! -- That's all I need to make me smile

I don't completely understand how "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music has become a classic song to play at Christmas, but then again I don't get why ABC Family has decided the Harry Potter films should be part of their 25 Days of Christmas, but I'm not complaining.

In honor of Make Me Smile Monday Tuesday, here are a few of MY favorite things:

My dogs (naturally)

Fuzzy blankets. My friends are okay too

 

Coffee in an over-sized mug

My Tumbler: Happiness One Spoonful of Peanut Butter At A Time 

Good Luck With Finals!!

--Kelli

Sunday Paper 12/11 - To supplement or not to supplement

Crazy numbers of people are taking some sort of dietary supplement - vitamins, minerals, herbs, algae, amino acids and whatever else. You may be thinking that it's about time you started taking one..or maybe there was a convincing ad on tv. The only way to be sure if you need a supplement is by talking to a registered dietitian and have them do a nutrition assessment.

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Dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA so there is no way to be sure of the safety and efficacy of what you're buying. Supplements can be very useful for people with special dietary conditions that don't allow them so get all the nutrients they need from food but the average consumer should approach with caution.

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This article outlines how to be safe about supplements and make sure you're not doing more harm than good!

Krumkake and Norwegian Pancakes: Holiday Traditions Old and New

Krumkake. Try pronouncing it out loud and you’ll understand why I was always hesitant to bring these cookies to school with me. All the other kids had easy-to pronounce, non-embarrassingly named cookies: sugar, shortbread, chocolate chip, pizzelle. Although most of the kids (especially the boys) laughed at the name of these cookies, everyone always loved them.

Krumkake is a traditional Norwegian cookie that has a slight buttery, sweet flavor and is rolled like an ice cream cone. Ever since I can remember my family has made these cookies only once a year: Lille Julafen, or “little Christmas eve” on Dec 23^rd. In Norway, this is a day where everyone stays home to decorate for Christmas and bake cookies. At my house, the tradition was we could eat any of the other Christmas cookies, like my mom’s shortbread, but we couldn’t eat the krumkake cookies until the 23^rd, that’s probably why we started making them on that day – it’d was too hard to wait.

Probably not the most sanitary....

I’ve read that some Norwegian families fill their krumkake with a sweet cream (kind of like a canoli), but my family has always just eaten them plain – I like how they’re not as sugary as some of the other traditional Christmas cookies and they are great dipped in coffee or tea!

The only downside to this recipe is that you need a krumkake iron, but I think it’s totally worth it! You get the whole family involved: have one person responsible for putting the batter in the iron and then have two people ready to start rolling the cookies immediately after they come out.

Krumkake

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 6 Tbsp. water

What to do: 

1. Cream butter and sugar together
2. Spray both sides of the iron with cooking spray 
3. Okay, here's where I take the easy way out: follow the instructions on your electric krumkake iron. 
4. Once cookie is ready, open iron, and immediately remove and roll into a cone shape 
5. Store in air-tight container

Making krumkake is a very old tradition that has been passed down on my dad’s side of the family for generations. A couple years ago my brother and I added to our family’s Christmas traditions: grilled cheese and tomato soup for Christmas Eve dinner. So much better than short ribs! This year my mom and I have decided to continue adding to tradition by having a Christmas brunch rather than an expensive, stressful Christmas dinner. Although we haven’t figured the whole menu out, we have decided on Norwegian pancakes. If you’ve never had them before, they’re similar to a crepe, but a bit thicker.

Norwegian Pancakes 

Ingredients: 

• 1 ½ cups milk
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar

What to do:

1. Combine egg, milk, and vanilla in mixing bowl. Add flour, salt, and sugar. Whisk until smooth. 
2. Heat small pan on med-high. Spray pan with spray before each pancake
3. Pour 1/4 cup batter into pan while tilting pan so that the batter spreads evenly. Cook until top looks dry, about 30 seconds. 
4. Carefully flip pancake over, cooking on other side for only a couple seconds until golden brown. 
5. To keep pancakes warm, I usually place the finished pancakes in a 125-degree oven
6. To serve: fill with whatever you like! My family usually does butter, syrup, and powdered sugar. For the leftovers, wrap in foil and store in fridge. They are delicious for breakfast the next day. My favoriet way to eat them is to put cream cheese and jam, roll it up, and place in microwave for a few seconds. 

We'd love to hear your family traditions! Leave us a comment :)

--Kelli

Make Me Smile Monday - 12/5

Only 20 days until Christmas! My favorite day of the year will soon be upon us and although Boston is not experiencing it's usual chilly December I'm going to talk about tea!

I haven't always been a tea fan. I assumed it was similar to coffee (which tastes like chalk in my opinion) and dismissed it. Once I started drinking tea however..there was no stopping me. It started with iced green tea, then hot peppermint tea and kept growing. It's so comforting and there is a flavor to suit every mood. Whenever I'm in a bad mood I reach for some tea...and whenever I'm in a good mood. I just always want tea. Peppermint green tea will always be my favorite but blueberry white tea is a close second..well maybe vanilla chai..I guess I'll never be able to decide.

If your favorite "tea" is Snapple then you're missing out. So many flavors and varieties..there's always room to expand your tea horizons.  Also, if anyone is ever wondering what an ideal gift to get me is it would definitely be a Teavana gift card.

Not only is tea delicious but it is good for you as well! Green tea especially is full of antioxidants which have been shown to slow the growth of cancer cells. It also has less caffeine than coffee so while it will wake you up, you won't be bouncing off the walls. All in all, tea is great.

Sunday Post 12/4 -- A Blissful Time of Year

Happy December! Although Boston didn't get the snowy welcome in to December like Denver did, I got my first ever Blissmo box Thursday -- I like to think of it as the first Christmas gift of the season (that, and the stuff I bought on cyber Monday. . .) 

If you've never heard of it before, Blissmo Box is a box of organic, eco-friendly products that is delivered to you once a month. Each month there are three themes to choose from. You pick the theme you want, and the wonderful people at Blissmo fill your box with goodies and mail them to you.

My box's theme was Pure & Simple Snacks. Along with each box is a pamphlet that tells you about the company of each product and how much each product is worth. Okay, so onto the goods:

Doctor Krackers
These flabread-like crackres are not only made with organic cereal grains, mineral-rich bran (provides some protein), and organic seeds,they also contain Omega-3's -- an essential fatty acid that can sometimes be hard to get in the diet  if you don't eat a lot of fish. Although kind of bland in flavor, the texture is complex with a mixture of crisp from them being so thin and a crunch from the seeds. The box recommends putting peanut butter and fruit spread on them for a quick snack. Haven't tried it yet, but I can say they taste good with Trader Joe's creamy Gouda.

Pure Bars
The box came with three flavors: Chocolate Almond, Peanut Raisin Crunch, and Superfruit Nutty Crunch. So far I've only tried the peanut raisin crunch, and I have to say I was disappointed, I couldn't eat more than a bite. The flavor was a bit off, a bit too salty (I'm super sensitive to salt thought), but what really turned me off was the texture. I was expecting the bars to be similar to Kind Bars, with a more of a crunch than a gooey, but this bar was way more gooey than crunchy. Hopefully the other two are better.

Helwa Lemon Organic Wafers
After being disappointed with the Pure Bar, I was nervous to try the others. These lemon wafers are delicious! (Thus, proving that it's pretty hard to mess up anything lemon-flavored) Helwa Wafers are organic and vegan, made with less sugar than those pink, orange, and cream-colored wafers I grew up eating? (Please tell me some of you remember them) I've been stashing these in my desk drawer for a quick sugar pick-me-up during these last crazy weeks of the semester.

Crofter's Organics North American Superfruit Fruit Spread
 Another win for Blissmo! I've never been a fan of strawberry jam, raspberry is fine, but I've always been more of a grape girl. Actually, I've never been a huge jam fan, always preferring a peanut butter and peanut butter sandwich, but I do like jam on oatmeal toast or sourdough toast. I went to Crofeter's website to get more info on their spreads, and it turns out that they have an Asian, North America, Europe, and South America fruit spread, that all differ in the types of fruits they contain. The goal is for the spread to contain superfruits native on that continent. The North America spread contains wild cranberries and blueberries blended with red grapes and morello cherries. Much tarter than grape jam, a little of this spread goes a long way. Their website has a store locater so you can buy these spreads yourself -- I highly recommend it!

Once Again Crunchy Peanut Butter
They know me so well. Opening the box to find a jar of peanut butter made me fall in love with Blissmo. Despite my enthusiasm, I'm blushing when I say I haven't tried it yet. The thing is I have a 3/4-full jar of Trader Joe's Peanut Butter and only two weeks left at school, so the plan is to bring the new peanut butter home, and I'm thinking it's safer to pack an unopened jar. What I do know about this PB is it's 100% free of hydrogenated vegetable oils, certified organic, vegan, and gluten-free, made in the USA by US employees, free of preservatives, and the container is made from 50% recycled glass. 

Salazon Chocolate Bar
I've saved the most unique for the last.  "Salazon Chocolate: Organic Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt (seems pretty normal so far) & Organic Cracked Pepper," okay, that's when I got worried. I've learned to love a little sea salt in my chocolate bar, but pepper? Really? At first bite, all you can taste is a deep dark chocolate with a hint of salt, then, just as the chocolate starts to melt away and you're taking your last few chews, the pepper flavor appears. I'm definitely not in love with this bar, but I don't dislike it either. It's odd. My roommate and I agree that you don't crave this bar, you enjoy the small piece that you're eating, then you're done, you don't feel the need to reach for more. Although I probably wont purchase this flavor on my own, I would be interested in trying out their other flavors, since the chocolate quality is fantastic.

Since it's officially baking season, I thought I'd start your week with some links to healthier options for those yummy cookie plates!

Cooking Light's 100 Healthy Cookies

Healthy Black and White Cake Cookies

Healthy Chai Shortbread Cookies

Vanilla Bean Shortbread

20 Naughty and Nice Desserts from Family Kitchen

12 Days of Vegan Treats from Healthy Happy Life (You DEFINITELY don't have to be vegan to enjoy these holiday treats!) 

 

On Friday I saw City and Colour at House of Blues in Boston. Dallas Green is hands down one of the most talented artists I've seen. PLEASE go see his show if he comes to your city!

 

City and Colour performing my favorite song of theirs "Sleeping Sickness"

-Kelli

Not-So-Snowy Chewy Lemon Cookies

As much as I love dark chocolate, lemon-flavored desserts will always win. While biting into a chewy, fudgy brownie is no doubt comforting, I love the refreshing feeling of a smooth lemon curd combined with the slight crunch of a shortbread base that you get from a lemon bar. I can stop at one brownie, I have a much harder time not reaching for that second lemon bar.

Chewy Lemon Snowdrop Cookies. What isn't there to like? SophistaMom's lemon recipe sounded and looked far too good to resist, so while I was home and had my parents to try them out on, I was able to cross off another recipe from my "To Make" bookmark list.

The reason I call them No-So-Snowy cookies is they flattened out too much, so rolling them in powdered sugar was out of the question. Instead, I sprinkled powdered sugar over them -- definitely not as pretty as I was hoping for. Next time I think I'll roll the dough in sugar before baking, making them Icicle Chewy Lemon Cookies.

So how were they? I would tell you that I loved them, but coming from the girl who eats lemons raw, that wouldn't be saying much. Instead, I'll tell you that my dad, a confirmed chocolate-chip lover, liked these cookies so much that he even said he'd have a hard time choosing between these and a chocolate chip cookie -- that's saying something. He also kept walking back into the kitchen saying how good they were. So yes, I'd say success :)

Flavor-wise, my mom and I agreed that they taste like a cross between a lemon bar and a shortbread cookie. Texture-wise, when hot out of the oven, they have a perfectly chewy center and a crumb that just melts in your mouth. 

Word of advice: these cookies are AWESOME straight out of the oven. However, I brought a bunch back to college with me and they weren't as good. The lemon flavor was still there, but the middle was more tough than chewy and the cookie lost that melt-in-your-mouth effect.I highly recommend that you make the cookie dough, but only bake how many you are going to eat that night and save the rest of the dough in the freezer.

Chewy Lemon Cookies 
Adapted from SophistaMom 

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Powdered sugar for coating or extra sugar if making Icicle cookies

What to Do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 and cover baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Combine flour and salt in small bowl
3. Cream butter, sugar, and agave together in mixing bowl until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping down the sides periodically
4. In small bowl, combine lemon juice and baking soda. Make sure the bowl is not too shallow because the mix will start to foam!
5. With the mixer on low, add in the flour and lemon juice to the creamed mixture
6. Turn the mixer off, and stir the dough a couple times by hand just to get the ingredients fully mixed
7. Roll into balls and place on baking sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes.

For Snow Cookies:
After baking, roll hot cookies in powdered sugar

For Icicle Cookies:
Before baking, roll each dough ball in sugar, then place on baking sheet

City and Colour concert tonight!

"Sleeping Sickness" -- City and Colour

Have a great weekend! 

Kelli

Back to Cranberry's Roots

When I was home for Thanksgiving I realized something..I had never had home made cranberry sauce. At our table had always been the wiggly can-shaped stuff. I voice this concern to my dad, who came home from grocery shopping the next day with two bags of fresh cranberries and told me to "go for it". When I realized I didn't have a recipe I set to work, and a quick google search yielded this result.

The infamous turkey plates

I modified my version slightly. Upon tasting, the sauce was way too tart from the cranberries and orange juice so I added a bit of extra sugar, but I suppose this could be remedied by using all water or putting in extra sugar or honey in the first place. It's all up to personal preference though!

Image Source

I forgot to snag some picture of the actual sauce but I almost didn't have a chance..there wasn't any left after dinner! My parents told me that I "won" Thanksgiving because my dish did the best. Let's hope I can continue this win streak at Christmas!

Here's my modified recipe!

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients: 1/2 cup fresh orange juice 1/2 cup water 1 tsp minced fresh ginger 1 tsp minced orange zest 1/4 tsp cinnamon 12 oz bag of fresh or frozen cranberries 1/2 cup honey Sugar to taste

Directions:

1. Bring orange juice, ginger, zest and cinnamon to a boil on high heat in a medium saucepan.
2. Rinse cranberries and add once liquid is boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes.
3. Add crushed pineapple and honey. Remove from heat and cool.

How to Save Our Diets

Usually Alli or I do a post on Sundays about nutrition in the news. Well, since we were bums and forgot to do it yesterday, I'm making up for it now. I stumbled across Mark Bittman's TED talk from 2007 about what's wrong with the American diet. An expert on food, Bittman's talk is honestly fabulous. He's not advocating for vegetarianism, he doesn't give extreme statistics or try to horrify you with pictures, instead, he presents honest facts and gives reasonable, realistic recommendations for changing the American diet. PLEASE watch this it's only 20 minutes!

http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html



--Kelli

Make Me Smile Monday

Welcome back! Hope you all had a relaxing Thanksgiving break! Here's to the final couple weeks of the semester!!

Denver's lights -- Voted 4th best in the country

 

Recipe coming soon :)

Conan's not a fan of his cone. . .

11/23 A Week of Birthdays Pt 2: Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

While cake 1 was warm and autmny, cake 2 was elegant and bold: again, the cake reflecting the birthday girl. My roommate K has a strong personality, which I love and admire about her. She also loves the beauty of food and the art of decorating, so I knew a run of the mill traditional cake would not work. Instead, I went off the traditional cake path and made a Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake with an Oreo Crust.

Inspired by Jaclyn's White Chocolate Cheesecake design over at Cooking Classy, I attempted to make pretty heart-looking shapes, but the jam thickened too fast, so my cake had more of a marbled pattern. Although still pretty, I'm determined to one day make a cheesecake that resembles Jaclyn's.

Because I didn't have time to strain fresh raspberries (and I don't have a strainer), I used seedless preserves for the sauce. Below is the recipe, it's pretty much the same as the one on Cooking Classy, but with just a few adjustments here and there. Also, we still don't have a mixer so I had to make the cheesecake using a fork: proof that a perfect cheesecake can be achieved with limited tools :)

Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake 
Inspired by Cooking Classy 

Ingredients:

• 1 chocolate cookie pie crust, homemade or store-bought 
• 1/2 jar seedless raspberry preserves (I ended up using less that 1/2 the jar, it just depends on how much raspberry flavor you want)
• 12 oz 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese (about 1 1/2 blocks) 
• Heaping 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 room temperature egg
• 1 egg white
• Splash of vanilla extract (a little over 1 teaspoon) 
• 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice 
• 1 cup quality white chocolate chips 
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream 

What to Do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Make sure oven rack is directly in the middle of the oven. 
2. Mix together cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. I recommend doing this with a fork for best results 
3. Once fluffy, about 3-5 minutes depending on your arm strength, mix in egg, egg white, vanilla, and lemon juice until combined. 
4. Make a double broiler out of a large saucepan and a heat-proof bowl (I used a glass mixing bowl). The bowl should be big enough to not fall into the pot, but small enough to just fit so the bottom of the bowl nearly touches the water in the pot. Fill pot with water and bring to a boil. In the glass bowl, place white chocolate chips and whipping cream. Stir continuously until chips are fully melted and combined with the cream. Remove from heat. 
5.  In a small saucepan, bring raspberry preserves to a simmer, letting them thin out a bit
6. Pour the white chocolate cream mixture into the cream cheese mix. Stir to combine. Pour 1/2 batter into prepared crust. Next, spoon some of the raspberry preserves onto the batter and swirl with a knife. Pour the rest of the cheesecake mix onto the crust, completely covering the first layer of raspberry. Lastly, spoon the remaining raspberry preserves on top. For a marbled design, spoon the preserves so as to make dots on the cake. Then take a sharp knife and, using the tip of the knife, swirl the dots to make different designs. 
7. Place cake in oven and bake for 40-45minutes, or until set. 
8. Remove from oven and cover the cake with a lid or foil. Place in refrigerator for at least 6 hours. 

I gave the cake to K in the morning on Friday. 24 hours later and this is all that's left. 

I'm so excited to be flying home today for Thanksgiving! I hope you all get to spend tomorrow with friends and family, and of course great food!

"Walk Around the Lake" By Lost in the Trees. Just discovered these guys. They mix classical orchestra sounds with folk beats and lyrics, definitely check out more of their stuff on soundcloud or youtube!

--Kelli

Make Me Smile Monday

I am definitely an animal lover. My cat is one of my best friends and I love my dog! Although her bark can get on my nerves I love coming home to her. And don't forget the horse! I've never been into horse back riding but my mom has and we've had a horse on and off since I was in the fifth grade. I love how they're so silly despite being these huge, strong creatures. 

--Alli

Cultured Meat: Maybe Humane, but is it Natural?

Recently I've been obsessed with reading Kathy Freston's articles. For those of you who don't know who she is, Kath Freston is a New York Times best-selling author who writes about healthful and conscious eating. She's gained popularity through appearances on Ellen, Rhe View, Good Morning America, and most note-worthy on Oprah to help Oprah and her staff go vegan for one week.

Browsing through some of her articles on The Huffington Post, I cam across Kathy's article on Humane Meat. Knowing she is a committed vegan, I was beyond curious about what Humane Meat is. No it's not meat from a postcard-worthy farm, instead it's meat from a science lab. That's right: meat cultured from animal cells. Because I severely lack the information on this topic, I'm going to encourage you to read the article for yourself and form your own opinions on it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/humane-meat_b_895224.html

Bottom Line: Whether or not you eat meat, I think it's important that we're all conscious eaters. Conscious not only about the treatment of animals, but the treatment of workers, impact on the environment, safety of our food, and both short-term and long-term health effects. 

--Kelli

A Week of Birthdays: Spice Cake

Unfortunately I can't take credit for the beautiful handwriting, that was all my roommate

Birthdays always seem to come in packs. Growing up, August was the busiest month with my dad's, mine, and my brother's birthdays all about a week apart. Although it was probably a pain for my mom having to plan three parties and buy gifts, three birthdays in one month meant one very important thing: cake for breakfast all month. Yes, this now dietetic student grew up eating birthday cake for breakfast. Some how my mom managed to give me the nutrients I needed while still letting me be a kid and enjoy the luxury of having cake for breakfast (and the occasional chocolate chip cookie, dipped in milk of course).

Bill Cosby's monologue on cake for breakfast

Although August is a pretty awesome month for birthdays, November comes pretty close, especially in college. My roommate and one of my closest friends both had birthdays this week. Yes, the birthday girls got the perks of presents and free birthday dinners, but I have to say that I enjoyed their birthdays almost as much for one crucial reason: an excuse to bake TWO cakes. I didn't feel guilty filling my shopping basket with cream cheese, sugar, butter, white chocolate, or raspberries, since after all MY grocery budget doesn't apply since I'm not making anything for myself. Right?

Layer 1 out of the oven. So far success

First up was my friend A's birthday. One of the sweetest, most comforting people I know, I knew her cake had to be exactly that: sweet and comforting. I ended up making her a two layer spice cake with cream cheese frosting.
Results: The flavor of the cake was PERFECT, exactly what a spice cake should be, but the texture was a bit dry and not as moist as I was hoping for. I'm guessing that this is due to me not the recipe since I ran out of brown sugar and had to do 1 cup of white sugar instead.

Placing parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan makes getting the cake out 100% easier

What really stood out was the frosting. Absolutely delicious. And that is saying something. I really don't like frosting. I'm that weird person who if you give me a cupcake, I'll scrape ALL of the icing off then eat it. But this frosting? This frosting is GOOD! The cream cheese keeps it from being too sweet, while the powdered sugar keeps it from being too tart. Perfect. It is a very thick icing, but I'm sure you could thin it out with a bit of almond milk.

Moist, Tender Spice Cake recipe from AllRecipes

Cream Cheese Frosting
(I'm sure there's an original source, but cream cheese frosting is one of those that I know off the top of my head, so I don't know who to give credit to besides my obsession with reading recipes)

Ingredients:

• 4-oz 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened 
• 2 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 T vanilla extract

Because we're cheap, K and I don't own a mixer. So this recipe took a bit of time and a lot of arm muscle, but it can be done! If you do have a mixer, then just cream the cheese and butter together for about 1-2 minutes, then gradually add in the sugar and the vanilla until it's nice and creamy. This made enough to put a layer of icing between the two cake layers and very lightly cover a 2-layer cake. If you like a lot of frosting, I recommend doubling the recipe.

Now I'm going to be mean and make you wait until next week for cake 2 -- hint it involves white chocolate and raspberries!

In honor of A's birthday, here's one of my favorite Bollywood Songs (and one of the few Bollywood songs I actually know. . .)

--Kelli

Pizza With Help from Trader Joe's and Some Super Mario-Inspired Cookies

Boo, Cloud, Coin, Mario Feather, Pikachu, Spike Shell

Tip for guys: Buy a girl pizza. And if she's vegetarian, take off the pepperoni for her then give her your best smile.

Reward: These cookies

The other weekend, my friends and I were starving around 2am. Being in a college town the natural answer to our problem was pizza. Not fancy California Pizza Kitchen pizza or thin crust, Mediterranean-style pizza with fancy cheeses and herbs. No, I'm talking slices as big as a quarter of a pie, very tomato-tasting tomato sauce, plain mozzarella cheese, and crust so flimsy there's no other way to eat it than to fold it up into a pizza sandwich. This giant slice of college for about $1 a slice. Now that's a good end to a Saturday night. My friend E promised to buy me and my roommate pizza just because he's that awesome. He's one of those people who takes the word "friend" very seriously and is very dependable. (My roommate and I have even discussed making him a plaque with his name and "Awesome Guy of the Year" on it).

The first time I met E I was immediately drawn to his arm were he has an old-school Mushroom tattoo from Super Mario. Because he loves Nintendo so much, and had an all-nighter of work coming up, my roommate and I decided to make him sugar cookies in the shapes of old video game characters and objects. I don't know who was happier: E for getting free cookies or K and I for getting to spend hours cutting and decorating cookies instead of doing work. 

The cookie and icing recipes we found at SnackOrDie.com. Unfortunately we didn't get to try any of the cookies, so I can't tell you from personal experience how they were, but he brought them into work the next day and his coworkers ate them all -- I think it's safe to say they were a success :)

Staying on the theme of pizza, I made a wonderful discovery last weekend: Trader Joe's pizza dough is DELICIOUS. And even better than being tasty? It costs only $0.99. Warning to Boston college students: you better get the dough now before I buy all of them to keep in my fridge and freezer.

Although it feels a bit funny to be giving a recipe for pizza, especially since I didn't make my own crust (or my own sauce.. ), I figured it might inspire some of you to give it a shot and show that making a filling meal (with plenty of leftovers) is not only delicious, but quick and easy as well: perfect for college students!

Kelli's Veggie Pizza with Help from Trader Joe's
Ingredients:

• Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough 
• Dried basil 
• Dried minced garlic
• Cornmeal 
• Part-skim mozzarella cheese 
• Favorite pizza sauce
• Sweet yellow pepper, diced
• Cherry tomatoes, sliced
• Spinach, washed and drained 

Directions 

1. Let dough sit out in room temperature for 20min
2. Preheat oven to 425
3. On a floured surface, roll out dough into a circle, making it as thick as you prefer 
4. Sprinkle on basil and garlic 
5. Spread pizza sauce over pie, covering up to the ends 
6. Scatter spinach on pizza then top with cheese
7. Place chopped pepper pieces and sliced tomato on top of cheese
8. Finally, spread a light layer of cornmeal on baking sheet or pizza stone. Place pizza on sheet and bake in oven for 8min (or until it reaches desired crispiness) 

That's it! Very quick and very delicious! I wrapped the individual leftover pieces in cling wrap, making it easy to grab a piece to put in my lunchbox the next day.

 

I adore Audrey Hepburn movies. My favorite is Sabrina, but I was watching Funny Face Monday night. Just the music, the outfits, and the way they talk put me in such a good mood for the rest of the night :) 

--Kelli