Sweet nothings for your sweet everything =) Happy Valentine's Day!!

It all started with a crush.  From the moment we met, I knew we would have a life-long commitment to each other.  Now, just add some chocolate in the mix, and out comes Peanut Butter Truffles! =)

Truffles have got to be one of the most rich, silky and delicious sweet nothing on the face of the planer!  Its smooth (often) chocolate-y center makes you dance with delight and amazement that something so small can make you feel so satisfied.  Now, because of their fancy wrappers, names, packaging and what have you, you may think that truffles are time consuming and difficult to make.  Well, I'm here to tell you otherwise and reveal the truth.  Truffles are as easy to make as a cake from box mix.  No joke!  Don't believe me?  Try it out for yourself and you'll see.  It just takes a few simple ingredients that you're bound to have on hand...chocolate, peanut butter and cream cheese.  And since it's Valentine's Day, why not send some of this decadence to that special someone in your life.

Alright, let's get started.Measure out your ingredients separately.  Then, melt your chocolate according to the directions on the package.  I only had crunchy peanut butter on hand, but I found that it added great texture to the truffle, ^^.  But if all you have is creamy, by all means use it!

Once your chocolate is melted and smooth, stir in your peanut butter.  After it's combined, go ahead and give it a taste (I know you want to!). If you feel it needs more peanut butter, add a little more.  It can't hurt anyone =)

After that becomes a perfect balance of peanut butter and chocolate, mix in the softened cream cheese.  You'll begin to see that as you stir in the cream cheese your mixture will stiffen.  This is perfectly normal.

Your end result should look something like this.  At this point cover it and let it chill and harden in the fridge for about 45 minutes to an hour.  In the mean time, get cleaned up and prep your station to roll out your little treats.  Here the possibilities are endless!  You can chop up whatever nuts that you have, roll them in some cocoa powder, colorful sprinkles or crushed up cookies will work too.  Get creative!

Before I continue on with the truffle making process, I wanted to throw in my take on the Oreo Cookie Truffle.  I'm sure many of you have received these as gifts, or even gifted them yourselves.  All it takes is processing together a package of cream cheese and an entire bag of Oreos.  Easy right?!  Well, it's the steps after that that turns me off.  I wanted to get away with skipping out on the process of melting chocolate to dip each truffle in.  So, here's what I came up with..

Take about 10 Oreos and chop them up into itty bitty pieces, making sure they're large enough so that when you bite into your truffle, you know what you're getting.

Then, you mix that in with your melted chocolate.  Once all of that is incorporated, stir in your softened cream cheese.  As with the peanut butter truffle, this mixture will begin to stiffen as you continue to stir.

 Once your Oreo mixture looks like this, cover it and set it in your fridge for about 45 minutes to an hour to set up and harden.

By the way, look at how cute these Valentine themed candy cups are!  I couldn't wait for the truffles to set so I could roll them in more goodness and place them into their own personal little heart studded vessel. 

I don't have pictures of when I rolled my Peanut Butter Truffles, but what you do is take your small scooper, scoop out your mixture, form it into balls and roll it in your topping of choice.

And here is what you get!  Several dozen perfectly amazing truffles!  I told you it was easy.  After you have all your truffles rolled out and topped, stick them back in your fridge until you're ready to impress your Valentine.  They'll be sure to be hooked after one bite!  And please, please, please save yourself a handful for later on.  They're just way to yummy to gift them all out, ;).  Think of it as a reward for a job well done.

Happy Valentine's Day!! ^^

Support local and create Zucchini and Carrot Walnut Bread!

Whoever invented the idea of the farmer's market or people's market is an absolute genius!  People love to share their product with others, and there's nothing more rewarding than supporting your local businesses.  I love walking through farmer's markets and experiencing the atmosphere that the vendors and community create.  It's always buzzing with local folk looking to help each other out.  When I visit my local farmer's market I'm not only looking for a better deal on produce, I also enjoy discovering new products and listening to people's conversations of what they use each ingredient for.  If you've never been to one, go!  You'll be surprised with some of the conversations you'll engage in, whether it be about food, life or the weather.  And if you take your time to consider each fruit and vegetable, you'll realize that the possibilities are endless!
This time I had no particular item or recipe in mind.  I actually just went to be inspired by the vendors.  Sometimes you just need to let something jump out at you.  I was surprised when I ended up going home with a solitary bag of beautiful zucchini.  I intended to just roast them with garlic as a delicious side dish to an Italian dinner, but I had about 4 - 5 decent sized zucchini, and I wanted to do something different.  So, after contemplating and taking my sweet tooth palate into consideration as well as my adoration for bread, I decided to try my hand at Zucchini and Carrot Walnut Bread.  Jamba Juice has this stocked in their bread case, and I always buy one to indulge in my craving.  But, like I said in my previous entry about Starbucks' Lemon Loaf, it would be better on my wallet (and waistline) to make my own.

I had tons of fun grating the zucchini!  I didn't realize how much water it actually contained.  It quickly made the 3/4 cups I needed, so I had enough leftover to make another batch, ^^.  I don't have a picture of the grated carrots, but the process is the same.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/5 Cups  All-purpose Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour)
1 tsp  Baking Powder
1/4  Baking Soda
1/4  Salt
1 tsp  Cinnamon
2  Egg Whites
1 Cup  Light Brown Sugar (this can easily be cut down to no less than 1/2 Cup)
1/4 Cup  Unsweetened Apple Sauce
2 Tablespoons  Plain Greek Yogurt
1 tsp  Vanilla Extract (optional)
3/4 Cup  Grated Zucchini
3/4 Cup  Grated Carrots
1/4 Cup  Chopped Walnuts

DIRECTIONS
1. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon.

2. In a large mixing bowl, blend sugar, egg whites, apple sauce, yogurt and vanilla.

3. Stir in zucchini and carrots.

4. Gently mix in dry ingredients till incorporated.  Fold in walnuts.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 2 loaf pans or mini loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Drop batter evenly into pans and bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and loaf is dry on top.

6. Cool in pans for several minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

These loaves are so delicious that you'll forget you're eating your veggies!  The walnuts really bring great texture to each bite, and if you want that additional crunch, feel free to sprinkle some walnuts on top of your loaves before baking.  Sooooo yummy!

When fresh fruit and yogurt unite..into a delicious cupcake ^^

This one is from a while back, but so totally worth sharing!  My mom and I decided to change our eating lifestyle, and incorporated tons more fruits and veggies in our daily menu.  If you were to open our fridge, you'd definitely get an eye-full of different yogurt flavors, mixed berries and some other health dish of the week.  I do have to admit that as much as I have grown to LOVE yogurt, it quite frankly gets tiring after a while if you don't flare it up with some granola/cereal, fruits....or throw it in a cake recipe!
One afternoon my mom came home with a super easy Betty Crocker recipe that called for yogurt.  What a simple concept, yet it brings tremendous flavor to your regular cake recipe!  The first time I made this was for my best friend's baby shower.  I got super excited with frosting the cake that I put a little too much and when we cut into it frosting and strawberries started oozing out into a great mess.  Not a bad thing =) but I was looking forward to a professional-esque slice of cake.  Oh, well!  It was still a hit!
My remedy to the delicious mess was to scale it down to a couple dozen cupcakes, which ended up being a fantastic fix.  They looked so much cuter..topped with their own dollop of whipped vanilla frosting and fresh strawberry.  And since we had changed our eating habits, cupcakes were a great way to portion control =)

INGREDIENTS
CAKE
1 Box Moist White Cake Mix
3/4 Cup Water
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
3 Egg Whites
1 6oz Container Strawberry Yogurt (or any flavor your heart desires)

FROSTING
3/4 Container Whipped Vanilla Frosting
2 Tablespoons Whipping Cream
1 1/2 - 2 Cups Fresh Fruit, sliced

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients for the cake.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drop cake batter into paper lined cupcake tin or a lightly greased cake pan.

3. Bake as directed on the box.  Then cool completely on wire rack.

4. To prepare the frosting, whip together whipping cream and frosting till smooth and fluffy.

5. Frost your cake or cupcakes and place fresh fruits on top.

Oh man...just thinking about these cupcakes really makes me want one!  I'm sure there's some yogurt lingering around in the fridge, just waiting... =)

Banana Bread...with my kind of flare =)

Chocolate.  Need I say more?  If heaven were made of chocolate, I could die happy knowing I'll be bathing, eating and living chocolate for the rest of my afterlife.  But until then I will continue to include it in my daily diet..in moderation of course, ;P.

One week I was on a freak banana bread streak.  I had an abundance of the versatile fruit and much of it was over-ripening.  Maybe it was on purpose, or maybe I just forgot about the huge bunch lying on the counter...we'll never know.  What I do remember is after the 3rd batch of regular banana bread, I wanted to try something new!  I looked in my refrigerator and saw leftover sour cream from quesadilla night.  Perfect!  Sour cream is a wonderful ingredient that brings an incredible moisture to your recipe.  I also perused through my pantry, and the bag of chocolate chips started calling to me that they wanted in on this amazing-ness.  So, end result..Chocolate Chip Banana Bread!  Uh, I die! =)

I must warn you though, once you take a bite of this delicious, chocolate-y goodness you will be diving in for more.  And if you're not a huge fan of chocolate...you will be converted!  I hope you enjoy your journey to becoming a worshipper of chocolate.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 Cup  Unsalted Butter, softened

1/2 Cup  Sugar

1 Egg

2 - 3  Ripe Bananas

1 tsp  Vanilla Extract

1 Cup  All-purpose Flour

1 tsp  Baking Soda

2 Tablespoon  Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 Cup  Sour Cream

1 Cup  Chocolate Chips

DIRECTIONS

1. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mash up bananas with sugar and butter.  Stir in egg, vanilla and sour cream.  

3. Mix in dry ingredients till incorporated.  Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

5.  Let cool in loaf pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow it to cool completely on a rack.

This is best eaten warm...right out of the pan!  But of course we need to share, so slice this delicious, chocolate-y, banana goodness into 8-10 generous pieces and pass it around. =)

Got leftovers? No problem =)

Have you ever found yourself in the mood for certain foods you don't often cook, and you go out and purchase the ingredients, only to find that you have leftover ingredients that don't equal to another recipe?  You too, huh?? =)  No matter how inexpensive each ingredient was, anything you throw out becomes expensive.  With that in mind, I decided to make a "leftover" cookie..and trust me, there will be no leftovers of these =).
Oh, let me first say that I was in the mood for Baked Buttermilk Chicken.  Yum right?!  Who doesn't love a crispy, delicious piece of chicken?  I really wanted to make another batch of it, but I didn't have enough ingredients from the leftovers and there weren't any sales for them =(.  So, the next best thing was to modify one of my existing cookie recipes for my leftover buttermilk and butterscotch chips (from a previous recipe).

INGREDIENTS
2 Cups  All-purpose Flour
1/4 tsp  Salt
1/2 tsp  Baking Soda
3/4 Cup  Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 Cups  Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup  Unsalted Butter, softened
1 tsp  Vanilla Extract
2/3 Cup  Lowfat Buttermilk
2 Cups  Butterscotch Chips (you may mix butterscotch and chocolate chips..or whatever leftovers you have ;P)

DIRECTIONS
1. In a separate bowl whisk together cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt.

2. In a large mixing bowl mix butter and sugar together till smooth.  Mix in vanilla extract.

3. Alternately mix in dry ingredients and buttermilk (starting and ending with dry ingredients) till everything is incorporated.

4. Stir in your butterscotch chips.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drop dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet allowing space for each cookie to spread in the oven.  Bake for 12 - 14 minutes or until cookies are set.

6. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Told you having leftovers wasn't all bad =)

Who needs lemonade when you can make lemon pound cake!

I've been trying to catch up with my blogging lately.  It's super hard when you have all these pictures to filter through, and some I haven't touched in so long I forgot where I put the recipe and what I changed in them =(.  If you ever plan on blogging - about anything - I would definitely suggest to have a designated place for your recipes and pictures...bookmarks, print outs, voice recordings.  Anything that will help you out if you have a busy and dynamic schedule.  Cause sometimes you just need to bake/cook and relax immediately after (with a glass of wine of course ;P)  Take it from someone who knows...I have tons of recipes (pictures actually) from last year that i just can't remember the ingredients for.  OK, I'm done venting!  Back to business..

If you're anything like me, you'll understand when I say that some days I love to get out of the house and relax somewhere else with a cup of tea or coffee and a great book.  At times like these, I often find myself at the local coffee shop sipping on my latte and munching on a pastry.  One time in particular, I remember eating an iced lemon pound cake and thought, "dang...if this becomes a habit, I'll be in debt before I know it."  Then, it hit me...why don't I just make my own!  Duh, right...seems to be a no-brainer.  So I scoured the internet looking at other blogger's renditions of their coffee shop favorites.  It's pretty ridiculous how easy these items we pay $3+ for are to make yourself.  Since my addiction at the time was Starbucks' Lemon Loaf, I found a great recipe online, and added a few modifications.

INGREDIENTS

POUND CAKE

1/2 Cup  Unsalted Butter, softened

1 Cup  Sugar

2  Eggs

1 tsp  Grated Lemon Peel

1 Tablespoon  Fresh Lemon Juice

1 1/2 Cups  All-purpose Flour

1 tsp  Baking Powder

1/2 Cup  Non-fat Milk (you may use any type of milk)

ICING

1/4 Cup  Lemon Curd

1/4 Cup  Powdered Sugar

1-2 Tablespoons  Lemon Juice

DIRECTIONS

1. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt and lemon peel).  In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar till smooth.

2. Add eggs and 1 Tablespoon lemon juice and mix till incorporated.

3. Add dry ingredients and milk alternately (starting and ending with dry ingredients) till incorporated.

4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray your loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and pour batter in.

5. Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes then cool completely on a rack.

6. Once cooled, spread lemon curd over the top of the loaf.  Mix powdered sugar and remaining lemon juice and ice away =).

Now slice and be happy eating this knowing that you're saving tons of money =).