Cranberry Pistachio White Chocolate Bark

One of my favorite things to do over Christmas is make Peppermint Bark. I've never really been very successful at making it. The white chocolate chips was hard to melt and always clumped together right before I was able to spread it. Even though it tasted pretty good, it never looked very presentable. I finally know why, I've been using the wrong white chocolate chips. I found these Vanilla Melty's from Winco and they work great for melting!!!!

Recipe inspired by youaremyfave
Ingredients:
1 Ib vanilla melty's
Handful of dark chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
Handful of Cranberries
Handful of Pistachios

Directions:
1. Cover 9x13 baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Mix together cranberries and pistachios in a bowl and set aside.
3. Microwave vanilla melty's at 30 second intervals until melted.
4. Stir vanilla melty's with spoon and spread on parchment paper.
5. Drop cranberry/pistachio mixture evenly over the white chocolate.
6. Microwave dark chocolate chips at 30 second intervals until melted.
7. Stir dark chocolate chips with spoon and sprinkle horizontally and vertically over the white chocolate bark.
8. Refrigerate until firm.

Detox Salad

Photo taken with IPhone 4GS

Recently I've been stuffing my face with bad bad foods, lots of sweets, junk food, coffee. YIKES!! Anyways. this is my way of repenting.

Original Recipe from ohsheglows
Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli (1 bunch), stems removed
1 head cauliflower, stems removed
2.5 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup currants (omitted)
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup raisins
4-6 tbsp fresh lemon juice, to taste (I used juice from 1 lemon)
kosher salt, pepper to taste (1/4-1/2 tsp salt and lots of pepper)
Kelp granules or Herbamare (optional), to taste
Pure maple syrup, to drizzle on before serving (I used honey)


Directions:
1. In a food processor (or chop by hand) process the broccoli (no stems) until fine. Add into large bowl.
2. Now process the cauliflower (no stems) until fine and add into bowl. Do the same with the carrots.
3. Stir in the sunflower seeds, currants, raisins, and parsley. Add lemon juice and seasonings to taste.
4. Drizzle with maple syrup to taste.

Classic Tart Lemon Bars

If you like tart, you will like these!! It was a tad bit too tart for me, but that could be because I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup from what it originally called for, probably shouldn't have done that. Nonetheless, it was still tasty and I thought the powdered sugar sprinkled afterwards made up for it. 

Recipe adapted from lemonsandanchovies

For the crust:

- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 

- 1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)

For the filling: 

- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

- 2 1/4 cups sugar (I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup. Next time, I would actually use 3 cups of sugar to make it less tart)

- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp lemon juice

- lemon zest, grated from 1 small lemon

- 6 large whole eggs

- 1 large egg yolk

- salt pinch

- confectioners' sugar for topping

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2. To make the crust: sift the confectioners' sugar into the bowl. Stir in the flour. Add the butter and pine nuts (if using) and beat on low speed mixer just until a smooth dough forms. 

3. Press the dough evenly into the pan and allow to come up about 1/2 inch up the side of the pan. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. 

4. Bake the crust until it is a deep golden brown, about 25-35 minutes. 

5. To make the filling: While the crust is baking sift the flour into mixing bowl and whisk in the sugar until blended. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to dissolve the sugar. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the whole eggs and egg yolk with the salt. Add the eggs to the lemon juice mixture and whisk until well mixed. 

6. Once the crust is ready pour the filling directly into the pan (leave the pan in the oven while you do this to make it easier). Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F. and bake just until the center of the custard is set, about 30-40 minutes. 

7. Let cool completely on a wire rack, then over and chill well before cutting. Cut into squares and dust the top with confectioners' sugar, if desired. They will keep in an airtight container or well covered in the baking dish in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. 

Guacamole Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This year I made brunch for Valentine's day. Normally its the other way around, but since I'm up at 5:15am everyday anyways, I figured I would do the honors.

Blueberry muffins, eggs made over easy and Guacamole Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Totally loved the sandwich!! Delicious!!

Adapted from 2 Peas and their Pod
Ingredients:
To make the guacamole"
2 ripe avocados
1/2 small onion, minced
1 small jalapeño, stems and seeds removed, minced
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh line juice
1/2 teaspoon course salt
A dash of freshly grated black pepper
1 Roma tomato chopped

4 slices crusty white bread
4 slices cheddar cheese
Butter, for buttering bread

Directions:
1. To make the guacamole-cut avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avocado from the peel, put in a large bowl. Using a fork, mash the avocado. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Stir until well combined. Add the chopped tomato and stir.

2. Heat a pan or griddle to medium-high heat. Spread desired amount of guacamole on both slices of bread then top with cheese. Butter outer slices of bread and grill on one side for about 2 minutes or until golden and crispy. Flip the sandwich and grill until golden brown. Make the other sandwich the same way and serve warm.

Happy Valentine's Day

"Celebrate Love. It is the breath of your existence and the best of all reasons for living" 

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

P.S. I love my card, so pretty :) 

"

Saucy Asian Meatballs

I've always been intimidated in making my own meatballs, just seemed too complicated. After trying out this recipe, I can say I kicked that fear out the window. Super easy and I can see so many different possibilities. Definitely worth giving it a shot! 

Adapted from gimmesomeoven

Ingredients:

Meatball Ingredients:

- 2 Ibs ground pork or ground beef

- 2 tsp. sesame oil

- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

- 2 eggs

- 3 tsp. minced garlic

- 1/2 cup thinly-sliced green onions

- optional garnish: toasted sesame seeds, sliced scallions

Asian Sauce Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup hoisin sauce

- 1/4 cup rice vinegar

- 2 garlic cloves, minced

- 1 tsp. sesame oil

- 1 tsp. ground ginger 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

In a large bowl, mix together meatball ingredients until well-combined. Shaped into balls (I made mine about 1.5 inches, yielded 25 meatballs), and place on a greased baking sheet or in a 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until meatballs are golden on the outside and no longer pink on the inside.

While the meatballs are baking, whisk together all the sauce ingredients until blended. Once meatballs have finished cooking, you can either dip each meatball individually (using a toothpick) in the sauce mixture. Or you can pour the sauce over the meatballs and gently stir them until covered. 

Serve warm, sprinkle with additional garnish if desired. 

Jenny's Tip: 

- Added some suger and water into the sauce because the taste of vinegar was too strong. 

- Added some cornstarch to thicken the sauce. 

Avocado Tomato Mozzarella Salad

Caprice salad is one of my favorites so of course when I found this recipe off of Pinterest, I knew it was going to be good. Such a great idea for a party too!! 

Adapted from justaspoonfulof

Ingredients:

3 avocados (peeled, pitted & cubed)

4 tomatoes (cubed)

2 balls of fresh mozzarella (cubed)

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (eyed the amount)

3 tsp. dried basil (eyed the amount)

salt & pepper to taste (I love pepper so of course I went crazy) 

Directions:

1. Mix cubed avocados and tomatoes together and season with olive oil, basil, salt & pepper. 

2. Season mozzarella with olive oil, basil, salt & pepper in a separate bowl (I seasoned the mozzarella in a separate bowl to keep the avocados from getting mashed). 

3. Combined the avocado, tomato, and mozzarella together.

4. Ready to serve :)