*8/28/2014 UPDATE: Congrats to Teresa A., winner of the giveaway! Thanks, all for your participation!*
California Dreamin’
I live in California. There’s a lot to love, from the weather to the diversity to the FOOD! The food, my friends. The food. And it’s not just me– these people agree that when it comes to food, California is tough to beat! I was particularly impressed to learn that California produces half the nation’s supply of fruits, vegetables, and nuts! WOW! That makes the whole “eating local and fresh” thing so much more enticing!
I’m sure you’ve heard it before: eat organic, eat local, eat fresh. It’s not just for hippies or hipsters anymore– groceries stores everywhere are reflecting the increasing demand for fresh, local, and organic products. I can get behind that. And so can a lot of other people, apparently. For example, over the last few years, I’ve been hearing more and more about juice bars: cafés serving freshly prepared fruit juices. It’s a thing. And why not? There are few things more satisfying than sipping exquisitely fresh, tasty, and healthy juice!
I have a feeling most of my readers are not from California, though. Wouldn’t it be nice to get some fresh-pressed, made-to-order, organic, locally-sourced, raw, California-sunshined juice delivered to your doorstep… tomorrow?
I’ve been waiting ALL SUMMER to share this recipe with you. This is definitely on Ben’s favorite list. (Dakota, you are your husband is gonna love this one!) I have been eyeing every pile of mangoes I’ve come across since May, but the stores have yet to produce the perfumed mangoes I’ve been holding out for… so I finally just bought one and have been patiently waiting for this guy to ripen:
Today, I decided he was ready. Ready for bigger and better things. Ready to be transformed into something amazing:
This mango-coconut drink. YUM.
If you’ve been to Hong Kong, chances are you’ve hit up the famous dessert place Hui Lau Shan at some point
**REMINDER: BOOK GIVEAWAY ENDS TONIGHT AT 11:59PM PST! :]]**
HOORAY! I JUST FOUND MY NEW FAVORITE WAY TO USE UP EGG WHITES!
…and I had a lot of them. I should’ve taken a picture of the three cups of egg whites brimming over in my Pyrex. Kinda gross. Why so many egg whites? Because ice cream, my friend. Lots and lots of ice cream. Specifically, lots of “frozen custard,” which is just a fancy way of describing a method of making ice cream with egg yolks.
Made an angel food cake, egg white omelette, or some macarons and have leftover egg yolks? Here are ideas for using ’em up! I love rich, creamy desserts, and here are some of my all-time favorites! Bookmark or pin them so they’re handy the next time you need this!
Using up egg yolks is easy for me. Ice cream, creme brulee, pastry cream… these are all some of my favorite things. I’m always left with a bowl full of egg whites, so I’ve had to find ways to finish off up to sixteen egg yolks at a time! Here are my favorite ways to not waste those whites. Bookmark or pin them so they’re handy the next time you need this!
Yeah, I totally just added “breakfast” as one of the categories for this treat… and why not? Peanut butter? Bananas?? Sounds like 2/3 of a complete breakfast to me!
This is a similar concept to the chocolate-dipped frozen bananas concept I posted yesterday, but smaller, cuter, and stuffed with peanut butter! I also made my own “magic shell” this time with chocolate chips and a little bit of coconut oil. Overall, it’s a little more work, but it makes a much prettier result, don’t you think?
Slice bananas and pipe some PB onto half of them. I find a piping bag quicker, cleaner, and easier than spreading peanut butter on with a butter knife. Of course, a butter knife totally works!
Frozen Bananas. The very thought of them makes me feel summer sunshine, vacation, and strolls near Laguna Beach. They always felt like a splurge, but never one that I regretted. They are incredibly easy to make, though, so no need to splurge! Now you can bring this carnival treat home to share with your friends!
I wonder if this is a SoCal thing, because when I made these for my NorCal friends, most of them had never heard of it before. Regardless of where you live, they’re a tasty summer treat and really easy to make. As an added bonus, kids will have a lot of fun poking, dipping, and eating these as well! Not to mention that they’re pretty healthy for you– bananas, nuts, and a leeeetle bit of chocolate. What’s not to love?
There are only three ingredients:
My dad is an amazing cook. He’s the kind of cook who bikes to the farmer’s market, picks out what looks fresh, and picks up quality meats to go with his food. Organic, wild, etc. He rarely uses recipes, and is the legit kind of cook who just does what looks right and feels right. This is great for him, but not so great for me, because when I try to get recipes from him, his measurements are approximate and instructions general. It’s a rare feat that I actually have a recipe from the man with numbers and measurements so I can attempt it on my own.
But I have at least one. And it’s a really good one. Tasty, simple, and little prep. One of those perfect recipes that you’ll find yourself going back to whenever you feel like eating something tender and meaty but don’t want to do much cooking.
This recipe is for my dad’s baby back ribs. They are so, so good, and I would have never guessed the secret ingredient in a million years, so it’s a good thing I now have this one written down for posterity!
There’s not much of a story on this one. I saw a recipe, tried it, liked it, and make it all the time now. So I’m keeping it simple today.
Five reasons you want to try this iced tea:
1) It’s sweetened with APPLE JUICE! What a great idea!
2) It’s CAFFEINE-FREE.
If you’re trying to kick the caffeine habit like me, this is a major plus!
When I first got married, I had no idea how to cook.
“Oh, but you bake!” friends would say.
Baking ? cooking, my friends.
The whole thing was so overwhelming to me, from menu planning to grocery shopping to actually making edible things. If my husband hadn’t been so incredibly encouraging about the whole project and agreed to wash all the dishes (and there were a lot in the beginning, before experience taught me how to streamline better), I don’t know where we be today.
Since I was so daunted by the prospect of making upwards of 200 meals a year, I instead focused on making it a personal goal to simply find five good recipes to “add to the mix.” I decided to research 5 of the diet friendly dishes closest to me, to try and inspire me.
Yes. Five.
That sounds totally doable, right?
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