Monday Puppy Style

Happy Monday.  For those of us who live in New England, the weather took a cold, snowy, icy turn over the weekend....burrrr.  Getting up this morning was particularly difficulty, especially because my doggies had no intention of going out into the freezing cold.

My house in the morning resembles a circus and zoo..... Nick leaves really early, which leaves me to deal with the four dogs.  Clarabelle and Chloe are usually pretty good about getting up, this morning when they felt how cold it was outside they bolted away from the door back to their little beds.  So I had to 'escort' both of them outside on their own.  Next, was Lady Grantham who is wired in the morning.  She ran outside at full speed, did her business, and was back on the door stoop in 30 seconds.  When she came back inside she ran 4 or 5 laps around the house to get some of her puppy energy out.  Finally, Molly went outside and stood on the stoop for about a minute before moving - she actually likes the snow, and loves to roll around in it.  Mornings at my house crack me up - anytime the workday gets stressful, I remember how goofy the dogs are in the morning and begin laughing.

Here is a photo of two of my babies bundled up - I hope this keeps you warm on this cold cold day!

Happy Monday. 
 

Wednesday Blues with a Twist

Today has started off uncharacteristically stressful.  I left the house an hour early this morning (which is no small feat, as I am most certainly not a morning person) for a doctors appointment an hour away.  After braving traffic and seventeen degree temperatures, I arrive at the doctors office to find out that the appointment has been cancelled.  I was pretty upset, the doctors office said they called me to inform me of the cancellation, after asking them to check, they actually called the wrong number....ARGHHH.  I called my husband and said some regrettable things about the doctors office, then began the long trek back to work.  On days like today when things do not go as planned, I try to force myself to remember what my parents used to say to me as a child when I would get upset; "Sara, is this is a big deal, or is this a small deal."  You are right mom and dad.....as usual, this morning was a small deal, although still annoying.  I also try to remember that I have so much to be thankful for, health, happiness, laughter, family, and lots of doggies.  In addition to remembering my parents wise words of wisdom, I also think a nice strong drink helps take the edge off.  Although it is a bit early for a stiff drink for me (as it is 11am) I thought I would talk about infusing vodka for mixed drinks or  holiday gifts. 

Infused vodka is one of the simplest things to do, literally pour vodka into a container or jar, and then place in the flavors you want to infuse it with.  Typically you should give the vodka 2 days to fully incorporate the flavors.  This week I infused vodka with fresh mint which will be used to make a Moscow Mule (from Giada) cocktail for a party tomorrow night.  Infused vodka is a bit sweeter than plain vodka and mixes really nicely.  A great idea that I came up with is to make an infused vodka (such as cranberry vodka, or pineapple vodka) and bring it as a hostess gift with a little tag attached that lists out the ingredients for a yummy cocktail using the infused vodka.

Below is a recipe for a Pomapple Martini, which uses pineapple infused vodka:

• 1.5 ounces or 1 part pineapple vodka (see recipe below or buy store-bought)
• 1.5 ounces or 1 part pomegranate juice
• 1.5 ounces or 1 part pineapple juice
• Brut champagne

Cheers!

Ps - here is a puppy picture to spread some smiles!

This is Lady Grantham watching Nick pull out of the driveway to go to work. 
 

Christmas Dessert to WOW the crowds

Greetings.  First, let me apologize for a long lapse in posting.  I've gotten a new wonderful job and it has has made life a bit crazier than usual for the past few months.  I still have been cooking up some amazing meals, so stay tuned for future posts about new recipes i've created this fall.  I"ve had quite a few holiday parties this fall and have developed some awesome really simple dessert treats that my guests loved.  Below is my current favorite (Nick loves it as well):

 No bake cheese-cake:

• First you put two 8oz packages (room temp) of cream cheese into an a mixing bowl.  Add in 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and mix for 2-3 minutes until the milk is combined with the cream cheese. 
• Second take 15 gram crackers and either pulse them in a food processor or place them in a zip-lock bag and crush them until they are totally broken up. 
• Next, place 1-2 tablespoons of the gram crackers at the bottom of the cup, bowl or whatever you are assembling the cheesecake in.  I think these look adorable in mini-dessert dishes, but it is really easy to make them in small plastic cocktail glasses (as I did above) - no clean-up! After the gram crackers are on the bottom of the cup push them down a bit so they are tightly compacted. 
• Fourth, add in 3-4 tablespoons of the cream cheese filling.  There are several ways you can add this in: (1) create a piping bag using a zip-lock bag and pipe the cream cheese filling in.  This way works well if you want the desserts to be neat and tidy, as it will limit how much filling gets on the side of the cup.  (2) The second way you could add the filling is to carefully spoon it in then level it out with a butter knife, or the back of a spoon. 
• The fifth, and final step is to add a topping (if you want one).  The topping can be ANYTHING, that would go well with cream cheese.  I have used the following in the past:
• blueberry jam
• raspberry jam
• strawberries
• blackberries
• chocolate sauce
• any type of preserves 
• nearly any type of candy
  Another fun idea would be to put out a few toppings and let your guests assemble their own! 

Best wishes and enjoy! 

New England Fall Desert

I love fall in New England.  The sights, sounds and smells of the season are amazing.  Fall is also a season when some of the best classic New England foods and flavors are traditionally made.  Personally, I like to cook with apples in the fall.  Nothing tastes like fall to me as freshly picked apples.  Below is one of my favorite desserts to make in the fall. 

Part 1 of the dessert is to bake several apples:

• core 3 large apples
• cut apples in half 
• in a separate bowl combine the following ingredients for the topping mixture:
• 3 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1.5 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons of rolled oats
• 3 tablespoons of sugar 
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375.  Place the apple halves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Press the topping mixture onto the apples.  Place the apples in the oven for 30 minutes.

Part 2 of dessert - Vanilla ice cream!
Once the apples are finished don't waste any time in putting some delicious ice cream on top of the baked apples.  I would have posted pictures of this.....but we ate them too quickly!

Part 3 of dessert (optional), homemade apple butter:
This is a really easy way to make amazing homemade apple butter that can be a delicious topping for ice cream, bread, crackers, or even chicken!

First.... core and quarter about 5 pounds of apples. Place the quarters of the apples in a large stock pot with 5-6 cups of water.  Bring the mixture to a boil, and allow to boil until the apples and water are the consistency of apple sauce.  Next drain the apple mixture through a mesh strainer into the slow cooker.  Add 1.5 cups of honey, and 1/2 cup of agave nectar.  To this, add 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of nutmeg.  Cook on low heat for 8 hours.  This will make your house smell amazing, and is truly a sinfully good topping on anything.

Enjoy!
-Sara 

Happy Wednesday..... Puppy Style

Ohh to be my dogs.... they get served meals, get petted at all hours of the day and night and get to nap on a couch all day.  I"d take their life anytime! 

Hard life..... now the rest of us have to get back to work.  Have a nice day napping in the sun puppies! 

Royal Icing Cookies

There is something insanely fun about decorating cookies, I don't know what it is, but making cookies is an activity that always improves one's move!  For the last few years i've been trying to find the perfect royal icing recipe.  Royal icing can be a really fun icing to work with, and can make cookies look amazing.  However, the icing has be the perfect consistency in order to properly set on the cookies, and getting the perfect consistency takes a bit of practice.   I really like the recipe below:

3 egg whites at room temp.
4 cups of confectioners sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla extract.

Whisk all the ingredients together, if using a kitchen-aid use the whisk attachment.  Mix until the icing is stable.  If you feel you over mixed and the icing is too firm, add in a tsp of warm water - on the other hand if you feel the mix is too runny add in a bit more confectioners sugar.  Next you may want to separate the icing into different bowls for each color you plan on using.  Also remember that it is a good idea to keep some of the icing in the mixing bowl (a very small amount) and add some additional confectioners sugar to this icing, and use it as your outline icing.  This small batch of icing will be thicker and should be used to trace the outline of the cookie and will hold all of the other icing in place.

I was in a rush to finish the cookies above and did not use outline icing and you can see that the colored royal icing did not stay in a perfect circle.  However - they still tasted delicious!!! 

Have fun decorating cookies! 
 

A new take on fajitas!

Most of the posts on the blog up to this point have been about the pup's or baking.  Today I thought I would discuss one of my favorite new takes on fajitas!  My husband and I have these nearly every week, they are delicious and easy to make. 

Place 1 pound of ground bison in a bowl.  Into the bison add 1tsp of salt and pepper.  At this point you can experiment with different spices and herbs depending on what you like.  My favorite combination lately has been: a dash of chili powder, dash of paprika, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of basil and 2 tablespoons of parsley.  Mix all the spices into the meat, however be cautions not to overwork the meat.  

Next, saute 1 large diced white onion in a large pan.  When the onion is translucent add the meat mixture into the pan and brown the meat.  When the meat is browned add in 1 cup of low sodium beef broth, and lower the heat to on the stove so the mixture is at a simmer.  Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes (this time is dependent on how cooked the meat is at this point), and if all the beef broth is absorbed into the meat add more in, 1/4 cup at a time.

When the meat mixture is done place the meat in your choice of fajita shell.  Nick and I follow a paleo- inspired diet, so do not eat wheat products when possible.  As a substitute we use one of two things: (1) green peppers (see photo below), or (2) leaves of Boston lettuce.  

I hope you like this creative take on fajitas!

TGIF - a few puppy photos to make you laugh!

 This is Lady Grantham - she was not too pleased with me this morning because I woke her up from a very serious nap to go outside.  

Molly also takes napping very seriously - in fact, if it were a sport she would be captain of the varsity team!   Molly has taken over this chair, no one even bothers to try and sit in it anymore.  One time we had guests over and a person (god forbid) sat in Molly's chair, and she went and sat in front of them and whined until they moved.   

Clarabelle hates the mornings, she loves to sleep late.  Most mornings we have to pick her up out of her little bed to go outside, and when she comes back in she runs straight back to bed and goes back to sleep until she hears me getting her breakfast ready.  This is actually a special week for Clarabelle; Sunday is the three year anniversary of us rescuing her.  I think she will have a few licks of ice cream to celebrate!   

Molly wants to return to napping (shock).  Happy Friday.

Feel-Better Snacks

Our dear friend recently had surgery and I decided to bake her some goodies to speed up the recovery process.  I made two treats, both based on recipes from Giada.  The first is oatmeal almond bars.  Here is the link to Giada's recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/apricot-oat-bars-recipe/index.html

To start this I combine the dry ingredients: 

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

 Then I add the wet ingredients into the dry:

•  2 sticks melted better
• 1 egg 
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

Last, I make the apricot filling:

• 12 oz jar of apricot preserves
• 10 dried apricots chopped into small cube-like pieces 

Take half of the crust batter and press it onto the bottom layer of the baking pan.  Then spread the apricot filling over it, and finally place the remaining crust batter on top of the filling.  

Bake in a 9 x 13 pan at 350 for 1 hour.  

These bars are dangerously good!  I had some left over and froze them for my husband's lunches!


The second feel-better snack that I made is peanut-butter chocolate cookie drops.

To start I assemble the dry ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa power
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Next, combine the wet ingredients:

• 1 stick room temp butter
• 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar 
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 egg 

Next, add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and beat on a low speed for 1-2 minutes.  Using a mini-ice cream scoop scoop take batter into your hands and roll into a ball.  Have a small bowl filled with sugar next to you, and roll the ball of dough in the sugar then place on the cookie sheet.  Go through this process until completed.  Bake for 15-18 minutes at 375 degrees.  

You could use creamy peanut butter in this recipe, however I find that using crunchy peanut butter adds nice texture, and makes it taste like a Reese's peanut butter cup!  Enjoy!

A Cabaret Performance Snack

Samantha and her brother Alex loved the mini-oreo cheesecakes, would highly recommend making them for kids (and adults!).  We watched Samantha's performance of Seusical the Musical at a Cabaret style theater last week.  Cabaret is a great atmosphere, epically because you can bring your own food and beverages.  I made a lovely little picnic basket that filled everyone at our table up.  First, I went to our local food co-op and got some really unique cheese, including; green onion cheddar, Stilton, and Swiss.  I then found some fun multi-grain crackers.  I also purchased a nice hummus spread to go with everything.  As an additional finger food I cut up some apples, peaches and put in a few vines of grapes.  I laid all of this out on a wooden cutting board which looked rustic and adorable.

The final finger food I made was figs with cheese and almonds - see below for recipe:

First you need to purchase 12-24 black mission figs.  These can be hard to find, but most food co-ops have them.  

 Cut the figs in half and place them on parchment paper on a baking sheet.  Place a small dollop of herb-ed goat cheese on top of each fig-half and press down so that presses into the fig.  Place an almond on top of each dollop of cheese.  Turn your oven broiler on high, and broil for 4-7 minutes, or until the almonds have turned crisp.  

 

I must say these were delicious! I would highly recommend making this for any party as an appetizer, it literally takes minutes, and people think its super complex!!!  Those are the best recipes.  

Samantha's Birthday Treat

The first cooking post for this blog corresponds to me making my beautiful niece a special treat for her birthday. Samantha's birthday was earlier in the week, however I am going to watch a performance she is in Saturday night and wanted to bring her something special to celebrate her birthday.  I started the tradition of making my niece and nephew special sweets for their birthdays 2(ish) years ago, and try to 'top' myself each year.  Last year I made Samantha a 'bunny' cake (her childhood nickname was bunny).  The cake tasted great, and was fun for the family party - it was far from professional - as you can see below....

 I never said I was an expert at making things look beautiful..... the kids loved the effort and everyone got a kick out of it! 

This year I decided to try something that involved a bit less artistry - clearly that is not my strongest area.  This year I am making mini-oreo cheesecakes.  The recepie is really easy and I think the kids will love it! 

To start, place muffin / cupcake liners in a muffin pan and place an oreo at the bottom of each lined cup.   

 Next, mix 16 oz of room temperature cream cheese with 1/2 cup of sugar. 

Next, add in 1/2 tsp of vanilla and two eggs and beat mixture.  Then add in 1/2 cup of sour cream and mix with electric mixer.  Finally add in 6 hand crush Oreos.  Do not use electric mixer after putting Oreos in - mix by hand.  

Fill muffin tins almost to the top and bake at  375 for 11 minutes

 

 When  you take the cheesecakes out allow to cool for several hours in the muffin tins, then store them for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. 

 These mini-oreo cheese cakes are all packaged up and ready to to Samantha's performance tomorrow night!!! 

Greetings!

Greetings, I"m Sara.  I decided to start a blog to share some of my favorite things about cooking, life, fitness, living in New England, and raising 4 crazy dogs.  I thought the first post should be a bit about me..... I live in the quiet corner of Connecticut and love it.  My husband and I live on 8 acres of land with our 4 dogs and spend as much time as possible outside, running, walking, gardening, hiking, fishing, biking, etc.  I truly feel blessed that we live in such a beautiful place (many pictures to come in the future - much of my cooking is inspired by my surroundings).  Speaking of my dogs - here are some pictures of them.

This is Molly.  She is our 14 year old lab and is simply the best dog in the world!  Molly is the queen of the house and keeps all of the other pup's in line. 

This is Clarabelle.  

Clarabelle is a 7 year old Havanese.  We rescued her through the Havanese Rescue League three years ago.  Clarabelle was in a puppy-mill in New Mexico before she came to us.  It took her a while to get comfortable in her new home, but now she is the funniest, sweetest pup on the planet.  

This is Lady Grantham.  Lady G was also rescued from the Havanese Rescue League.  Lady G is the baby of our bunch - she is just a year and a half old.  Lady G was my Christmas present last year, and oh-boy is she the gift that keeps on giving.  Lady G is full of energy, and always has a devious smile on her face.  Her favorite puppy activities are stealing socks, taking all the laundry out of the basket and dragging it around the house, running, running and more running, and getting tummy rubs.  

This is Chloe.  Chloe was also a rescue from the Havanse Rescue League.  Chloe is technically my sister's Liza's dog, however Liza lives in NYC and has some really long work days, that would mean that Chole would be all alone, so she came to stay with us - and we love her!   

Since i've mentioned the Havanese Rescue League several times I wanted to pass along their website:

http://www.havaneserescue.com

They are a wonderful organization!  Our three Havanese bring us so much happiness, laughter and joy!