Holiday Baking and Snacks- Part 2

This recipe has a lot of history with me. It reminds me of snowy school mornings when my mom would make this for breakfast while we started opening our textbooks.

This coffee cake is so light and buttery. It just melts in your mouth. It's paired perfectly with a cup of coffee and tastes best warm, right out of the oven.




Velvet Crumb Coffee Cake
1 1/2 cups Bisquick mix
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk- I like it in everything!)
1 egg
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until smooth. Pour into a greased 8" round or square baking pan.

Crumb Topping
3 tablespoons cold butter
3 tablespoons Bisquick mix
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Using a butter knife, cut butter into the brown sugar and Bisquick mix until small pieces form.


Evenly sprinkle crumb topping over coffee cake batter.



Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Serve.

Cajun Slow Roasted Pork

I made this a couple weeks ago and was incredibly pleased with the outcome. My husband said it was the best pork roast I have ever made. I went off a recipe I found in a magazine. But, you all know me... I have to add my own stuff to it! Don't be fooled by the list of the ingredients- this dish is NOT spicy.

Another quick note-
This recipe is GREAT for a busy schedule! You can saute the veggies the night before you serve it and throw it all in the crock before you head out the door in the morning. Or, if you are an early riser (unlike me!), you can do it all in about 30 minutes the morning of.



Cajun Slow Roasted Pork
1 small onion
1 celery rib
1 small green pepper (half of large)
3 tablespoons of butter (I used half butter/half olive oil)
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 boneless pork loin roast (about 4 lbs)

The night before-
Finely chop veggies. In a large skillet, heat butter/oil. Saute veggies until tender. Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes longer. Stir in all seasonings and pepper sauce. Let cool and refrigerate in an air tight container over night.

On the day of serving-
Place roast in crock pot. Cut several deep slits in roast. Heat up veggie mixture in the microwave until warm. Using your fingers and a spoon, open slits and stuff with veggie mixture. Dump remaining mixture on top of the roast, trying to cover any bare areas on the top and sides. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.

Transfer roast to a serving plate and keep warm. Pour roast juices from the crock to a small sauce pan.

Combine:
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water

Whisk with fork until smooth. Stir into sauce pan. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes longer until thickened.

For me, my roast didn't produce that much juice. Maybe 1/2 a cup at the most. So, I ended up adding about 1/2 a cup of chicken stock to the sauce pan. You could also use water. If you just want to use the pork juices, I would reduce the water/corn starch mixture by half or it will be very very thick.

Serve with Roast.

Enjoy!

Holiday Baking and Snacks- Part 1

It's been awhile! I have a bunch of recipes and other cool things to post, I've just gotten behind. But, what better to get back in with then Holiday Baking and Snacks?

For the past 3 years, I make up gift bags stuffed with little bags of my favorite holiday treats. I normally give these bags away to co-workers and some of my parents' friends. One of my favorite gifts to receive is home made goodies. Here is a recipe I made that everyone raves over.




Emily's Party Mix
3 cups corn chex cereal
3 cups rice chex cereal
3 cups wheat chex cereal
3 cups small pretzels*
1 stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Combine cereal and pretzels in a large microwavable bowl.

In a small, microwavable bowl, melt butter. Add all seasonings. Pour butter mixture over cereal and pretzels. With 2 large spoons, toss until shiny and coated well.

Microwave uncovered for 6 minutes. mixing thoroughly every 2 minutes. Pour on a baking sheets to cool.

*An alternative to using 3 cups of pretzels would be to add 1 cup of mixed nuts, 1 cup of bite-sized bagel chips, and 1 cup of pretzels. I didn't do that in this batch because I LOVE the chex and pretzels alone. But, feel free to mix it up a bit.

Enjoy!

Cake Decorating

Over the past year, or so, I have been increasingly interesting in decorating cakes. It might be due to working at Trefzger's Bakery on and off for 5 years. The girls there are AWESOME at decorating and I watched them carefully, picking up a few of their tricks.

For David's 20th birthday, I got Martha (owner of Trefzger's) to make him this cake. Each of the "sushi" pieces were not only edible, but delicious. The little dish of "soy" sauce was actually a mocha dipping sauce.:



For his 21st birthday, I wanted to try my hand at something creative. And, for the first time, I worked on a decorative cake. I labored over this cake for about 8 hours. The picture below is actually NOT the one I made. I searched everywhere and couldn't find the picture I took of my cake, BUT this is what I went off of and everyone told me my cake compared to this one looked exactly the same. All nerds out there should recognize it-- It's Link's Hylian shield from The Legend of Zelda:



For David's 22nd birthday, I went a whole lot more conservative. He's growing up, right? Plus, I got a new piping tip set and I wanted to try it out. He didn't want flowers or balloons, so I piped this blue shell boarder:



And, for my mother's birthday this past week, I made her a mandarin orange pineapple cake with pink roses and rose buds. I really wished I would have practiced making roses BEFORE the day we were celebrating her birthday. But, for only being my first time (and not having the patience or hand strength the make the roses over and over and over again until they looked perfect)--I think it looks pretty good:

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Hey everyone! It's been awhile since I've posted anything! Life has me full to the brim this month. But, I managed to find time to make these easy vegan muffins. The taste is amazing! You won't even know it's vegan!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a muffin tin. I used a 6-muffin tin so these muffins would be more like a meal, not a snack.

T= tablespoon t= teaspoon

Start by sifting the follow dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl:
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c. pure cane sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/8 t. ground cloves



In a small bowl combine:
1 (15 oz.) can pureed pumpkin (NOT canned pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 c. almond milk (you can use rice, soy, or even coconut, I just had almond on hand)
1/2 c. vegatable oil
2 T. molasses



Whisk the wet ingredients together as best you can. The oil wanted to stay separated for me. If that happens to you, don't worry about it! At this time, you have the option of folding in nuts or dried fruit. I would suggest a cup of chopped walnuts. Doing this would enable a more proper protein/carb balance.



Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until batter is smooth with no lumps.

Fill your muffin tins. Two-thirds full for the 12-muffin tin and three-fourths full for the 6-muffin tin. I baked mine at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes, then dropped it down to 375 for about 4 more minutes.



*A note you might want to know- vegan baked goods tend to have a doughy texture on the top even though they are done in the middle. To prevent this, I have learned to lower the baking temperature by 25-50 degrees. This ensures it doesn't burn and allows it to go longer to get fully baked.

Let the muffins cool and enjoy, or individually wrap for an easy, on-the-go breakfast grab!

Thoughts on Going Vegan/Raw

I have to admit- health and nutrition are my things. I can spend countless hours reading up on diets, meal plans, what's good to eat, and what's not good to eat. Over the course of my "self-teaching" I have realized a key ingredient that overlaps most successful life styles... eating a diet mainly of organic fruits and vegetables.

Vegetarianism is abstaining primarily from meat. But, some vegetarians don't eat eggs.

Veganism is abstaining from any animal products- including meat, eggs, and dairy.

And, the RAW diet is abstaining from all animal products and ANYTHING cooked. It consists of fruits, vegetables, and raw nuts and seeds.

What have I found from people who have followed these diets? Results. No only weight loss, but clearer skin, better memory, more energy, and an over all positive outlook.

I've heard countless stories of people who have experienced incurable diseases cured by going raw. Is it the ultimate diet? I don't know. But, I find myself constantly thinking about the idea of doing this for myself.

I was diagnosed with Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome when I was 13 years old (yes, 13!!). It is an "incurable" disease that is most of all, annoying. Beside some outward flaws it has graciously left me with, there is a battle going on inside of me every day. Unfortunately, I don't realize it. Constantly, my hormones are in a never-ending fight to balance themselves. The problem is- the only time I realize it's there is when I see the blood test results showing me that this hormone is too high and this one is too low. Lately, I have been wondering if I started to eat more strictly, I would be less controlled by this disease. Maybe I am showing symptoms all the time, but I've been blowing them off as "just-a-part-of-life happenings"?

I have had many conversations with a good friend of mine who has very similar issues. She cut out dairy and gluten. You can notice a world of difference in her personality. You can tell on the days she cheated on her "diet" and you can tell on the days when she's stuck to it strictly.

It makes me wonder if issues with anxiety, depression, mood swings, irritability, and even sleep disorders (to name a few) are results of food allergies.

I also have to admit- I love meat. And cheese. But, I am realizing as I think and write about this tonight- I don't think I love them enough to let them ruin my life. You could argue that if I give up "good tasting" food, I'm sacrificing "living". But, if I give up what is harming me*, wouldn't I THEN be living to my fullest?

I'm not sure if this post makes sense to any of you. But as a soon-to-be nutrition major, it's what I've been spending my thinking hours on. You might think I'm absolutely crazy, but I'm viewing it from the medical mindset as a possible allergy. A good example is diabetics not consuming sugar- no one thinks that is crazy!

So, with all this being said, I think I'm going to take a dive into a lifestyle that leans more towards veganism/raw.

*In this post, I am NOT saying these food are harming me. I do not know yet. I'm just saying, from the research I have done and the people I have talked to, it's a good possibility and I'm going to find out it this will help me with my illness.

Live in the Present

In all of my past blogs I've started, I have had a tendency to title the first post: "My First Post". But, I feel this blog to be different than the rest. So I am giving it a different start than the rest.

Last night, I was up late. I couldn't sleep. David and I went to bed around 11 PM, but I just laid there, listening to his steady breathing.

My mind was filled with so many thoughts. But, my greatest one was an incredible realization. I have been finding myself constantly thinking about how I wish to be in the future. I spend so much of my time in this thought: "Next year, it'll be different." Or: "Just a couple more months and I'll feel different." Or my greatest: "I can't wait until I can finally be like this, life will be so much better". I am constantly constantly constantly thinking about how, in the future, everything will be better. But, with all of these thoughts, I fear I am greatly wasting away at the present.

If I want something to change, why don't I work at changing it now? Why do I think that it will all just pan out in the future? With a lot of my thoughts and desires, I have gotten to this "future", but everything stayed the same. Nothing magically changed.

I think I learned an incredible lesson in all of this. If you want something to change, work on it now.

This might be fearful for some (including myself!), but doesn't it make the most logical sense? Yes, I know some things we want require a LOT of hard work. But, why don't we just suck it up, deal with the agony, and better ourselves? I'm tired of getting to the time in my life when I expected a change only to find everything the same, if not worse.

With the year coming close to an end, I feel the greatest need to not have any regrets in 2010. I don't want to wish I had done better; wish I had studied more; or wish I had practiced harder. I want to close the year with the satisfaction that I lived every day in the best, most fulfilling way possible.

I think I'm going to end this post with this thought: The things that will give you the most satisfaction are generally the things that are the hardest to do.