Awesome Gift!

I have a bunch of posts in the queue, but got a little sidetracked this past week as my new baby nephew was born! :). Newborn photos in the coming weeks will be posted on my other blog.

Anyway, I'm so happy to finally get to this post - Check out this super cool individual bar/brownie/cake pan that my mom bought me for Christmas [I'm sure Tim was loving acting like a pan model]! It is perfectly portioned for snacks, lunch, or dinner parties. To give it a whirl, I used my favorite blondie recipe.

Blondies (adapted from Cooking Light)
[note: you can change these up however you like, I often go the toffee route, but for this iteration, I used the larger size, bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips]

Ingredients
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt (or a pinch)
Cooking spray
1/4 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine sugar, butter, egg and vanilla with a whisk until uniform.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; stir just until moist. Fold in chocolate chips [note: if using toffee, I add some to mixture and some on top].

4. If using individual pan, coat lightly with cooking spray and add equal amounts of batter to each square. If using conventional pan, spread batter normally into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean [time varies significantly with individual pans].

Quick Dinner!

Hey everyone! I made a super quick and almost-Sandra Lee-like dinner (gasp!) last night. It was really easy and healthy so I thought I would post it because I'm sure a lot of you are like us and are in the "trying to get to the gym after work but still want a healthy, homemade dinner" category :).

So here you go - 4 ingredients, and super versatile so you can swap out for other items in your pantry!

Asian Noodle Bowls
Ingredients
Buckwheat soba noodles (see notes below)
Soy ginger broth (see notes below)
Small broccoli florets, steamed
Fresh or frozen raw shrimp
Five spice powder or other seasoning

Steps
1. You can really make as much or as little as you like, so adjust quantities for how much soup you think you can eat before getting started.

2. Season shrimp (cleaned and tails off) with five-spice powder. I usually use only a little because the flavor goes a long way, but I spilled some extra on them and it was fine. Just shake the shrimp around in the seasoning for a minute or two - I added some garlic powder as well. Feel free to use what you like. Saute shrimp over medium-high heat for 2 minutes or so per side (until pink). Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Heat up the broth. You can doctor it up a bit with some fresh garlic or ginger or scallions if you like or you can just pour out of the box and heat it up (like I did last night :)).

4. Prepare noodles according to package directions. If your directions are in an unfamiliar language, I would just boil up some water and drop the noodles in for a few minutes, until almost tender. If you leave them too long, they will get gummy so don't walk away! Drain and set aside.

5. Take out your bowls and add dry ingredients - noodles, broccoli and shrimp (you can either cut them into pieces or leave whole). When broth is hot, add to cover contents of bowl. You can garnish soup with some cilantro if you like or a drop or two of soy sauce. Enjoy!

Notes:

• Noodles: I bought them at an Asian grocery store (something like this), but I think they sell them at TJ's too; in a pinch, try some basmati rice or thin whole wheat pasta.
  
• Broth: From TJ's, but any Asian type broth would work, or miso soup, or maybe even some doctored-up light vegetable broth - I would add some fresh ginger and scallions. Make sure to check the salt content on the broth if that is something that you are concerned about - some of them are crazy high.
  
• A ton of different ingredients would work great in this soup - onions, carrots, edamame, fresh greens or bok choy, sliced mushrooms. Maybe you could use it to clean out your refrigerator.
  
• Easy vegetarian dish too!

*Sorry for the dark picture! I shot this late last night and didn't have the energy to get the light quite right :).

Ice cream, Elections & Updates :)

In the few weeks that I have been a non-blogger, I have been collecting a few random thoughts/photos that warrant posting, but maybe not their own post...so here we go!

First - I'm on the east coast - we have only just been exposed to the amazingness that is Pinkberry! Green tea frozen yogurt + fresh mango = amazing. Forget Cold Stone Creamery and get your $5 out to get some. You won't be sorry :).

Tim and I bought some of the super-expensive, elusive, on the "omnivore-100" list :) Jamaican Blue Moutain coffee randomly one day at Citarella. I don't drink coffee, but Tim LOVES coffee, so we bought enough to try it out. Some quick thoughts from Tim:

• Needs to be brewed properly to reach full potential. The first pot he made was a little weak. Ended up reading some of the proper brewing methods for this type of coffee and it came out substantially better, but we're still working on it.
• Overall opinion - super delicious coffee, but not really mind blowing yet (remember, this coffee is $50/lb!)
• Not sure if the home brew really brought out the full potential of the coffee. We bought 1/4 lb. and Tim only brews on special occasions :).

I photographed a 1st birthday party a few weeks ago and they had the cutest cupcakes!! Check them out - turns out they were from Sam's Club. I think they are easily done at home - the flowers were plastic, but you could also make them out of chocolate. So cute.

I'm definitely back to putting my glitterati pumpkins around the house! I did a post on them last year and they are super cute for fall decorating (not just Halloween). I like doing other colors - not just orange, but reds and browns too. Here is a pic from last year, I'll post some updated fall decorating pics soon.

And finally, Happy Election day! I hope everyone voted. I did and it felt great. I'm ecstatic over the outcome and I think it was my cookies that did the trick (what's more American than chocolate-chip cookies, right?:)! I hope this country can come together now, look past the election and transition into something better together.

Product Review and a Giant....

Strawberry! No, seriously - I didn't ask for growth hormone in my berries! It kind of looks like a hand. My picture definitely does not capture the massiveness in all its glory. Oh well. If it wasn't Easter morning, I would have given it a proper photoshoot.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a quick note about an awesome beverage that I picked up over the weekend. Disclaimer: I did not get this product free (I would say so) nor will I get anything for this review, I just wanted to put my thoughts out there in case you notice it and are curious. I'm talking about Bolthouse Farms Berry Boost Fruit Smoothie - a mixture of blackberries, bosenberries, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries that actually tastes like berries and not like fake berry flavor. Its a bit thicker than a regular juice, but the consistency is not overly textured from pulp. The price is a bit steep around here ($3.79 at Stew Leonard's), but I bought it figuring I would use it to make yogurt smoothies for Easter breakfast. When I got home, Tim decided he wanted to try it and proceeded to down about half the container! Guess he thought it was good too :).

Berry Boost has a ton of vitamins and no added sugar (although it does have a significant amount of natural sugar due to all the berries) and was delicious in my yogurt smoothie (I'll post that recipe sometime soon!). I'll definitely buy this again - maybe when Tim is out of town.....