Kicking my Starbucks habit

So for quite sometime I've had a really bad daily habit - Starbucks. I seem to never get tired of a grande coffee & a treat. My two treats I get most often are the pumpkin bread and the blueberry muffins. As a Christmas present to myself I got a Nespresso coffee maker and I love it! Although I know it's pricy I love the coffee and having it anytime and not having to clean up a coffee maker. Okay one habit down now to deal with the treat issue...

I was looking for a blueberry bread recipe and couldn't find one that looked great. Most of them looked heavy and thick like a pound cake. At a loss I went to my favorite banana bread recipe and substituted blueberries & added whole wheat flour. Awesome. It isn't heavy and can hold up to being toasted. For this week I can forgo Starbucks blueberry muffins!

1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/4 cup frozen not fresh blueberries
1/2 cup sour cream


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper - set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat to incorporate.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Stir in sour cream then add blueberries. Spoon into prepared pan.

Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year! Here's a delicious start.

Hoping 2013 is wonderful. My resolution is to post regularly. I'm happy to say goodbye to 2012. It wasn't a bad year - just a year I watched go by. So to prevent the same old I want to bring a bit of pizazz to this year. Tonight starts 2013 with a super yummy classic pasta. Enjoy!

Brown 1.25 pounds of organic sirloin & set aside.
In the same sauce pan sauté an onion until translucent.
Mix in 1/4 cup tomato paste & brown for a minute.
Add 10 cloves chopped garlic stirring for 1 minute.
Stir in 1 large large can crushed tomatoes along with water of equal proportion.
Stir back beef
Toss in 1/8 cup oregano & basil.
Simmer for an hour or two.

I add salt, black pepper & red pepper to each stage & finish with fresh chopped parsley, butter & Parmesan.

Falafel Bites and a Gourmet Giveaway!!

I'm so thrilled to participate in my second Kitchen PLAY Progressive Party this month! Six bloggers are invited to each monthly party, and each blogger is responsible for a creating and writing about a different course (cocktail, amuse-bouche, salad, appetizer, entree, or dessert). For my last kitchen play post I created the "Petal Pusher" cocktail. This time I was asked to create an amuse-bouche (french for "mouth amuser") - perfect because I love small bites!!

This month's sponsor is Calphalon who provided each chef with one of their terrific small appliances. I received their XL Digital Deep Fryer - eek!!  Some good news for you... Calphalon is also sponsoring a wonderful giveaway at Kitchen PLAY. Simply recreate any one recipe from this month’s Progressive Party, post about the experience on your blog and provide a link to your post on Kitchen PLAY to enter.  All qualifying bloggers in each course will be entered to win a Calphalon Kitchen Electrics prize valued at $100 (6 prizes total).  The deadline is November 30, 2011. Please review the complete contest rules before entering. Good luck!

To be completely honest, I've never fried before. I've eaten plenty of delicious fried food as most of my family lives in Kentucky, but I have never attempted to fry at home.  One of my favorite fried foods is stuffed squash blossoms but they aren't exactly in season so I had to try a different route. I wanted my one bite to be full of flavor and easy to make (for a first time fryer). After lots and lots of deliberation as to what would make a delicious one bite, (and tickle taste buds) I decided on falafels! These are a Middle Eastern classic that can pack a lot of flavor and  satisfy any type of eater from vegan to carnivore. 

The falafel recipe I used couldn't be any easier, fried up perfectly and can be made ahead of time - all things I love in a recipe. These little fritters come from Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook. I always turn to her for inspiration since her recipes are fool proof.

My first Brimfield Trip

I Finally got to attend Brimfield!!! I've been a bit neglectful of chatNchow.  There's been so many exciting things happening in my life between changing jobs and getting married something had to give. I'm back & it feels great! I'm starting with an exciting post that I shared over at the Teroforma blog. yesterday I finally attended Brimfield. I'm totally a New England girl. I grew up in a houseful of antiques and never thought I might like to spend a day traipsing through the rain and cold to find more!
Above are some of the pictures that I captured. The best finds came from the Lunt factory that recently closed down. I found parts used in their manufacturing process including wooden trays that held the flatware along the production line.  I also found 2 die cast 18" bright red letters, a C and an L for guess who.  I also found the most gorgeous french linen grain sack! Brimfield is still going on through the weekend so if you haven't been I highly suggest going.  You're just in time to miss the rain and enjoy some nice weather!

Last Weekend Elopement Sneak Peak

I just looked back to see that it's been a while since my last blog post!  Since May there has been many great changes in my job and life.  Last Friday (the hottest day in Boston's history) the Mr & I eloped (eek!) in a super intimate ceremony followed by a wonderful dinner with our family at Rialto in Cambridge.  Since we had such a small affair that was limited to just immediate family I wanted someone there to capture all of our special details to share later on.   I found the wonderful photographer Lynette Boyle who tagged along and snapped away.  She was kind enough to post these sneak peak photos on her blog to give a glimpse of what's to come.  I'm still a couple weeks out from having the finals so I just wanted to share these.  I love that she even got our dog Brady who also came along for the adventure!  For more about Lynette, click here.

Petal Pusher Cocktail

For the past few weeks I've been working on a special cocktail recipe!  Last month I was invited to participate in Kitchen Play's Progressive Party for May!  In case you haven't been to one of the parties, it's a unique concept that brings together cooks, bloggers and foodies.  Here's how it works:

"Each month Kitchen Play hosts a unique Progressive Party with six talented food bloggers assigned one of the following courses: cocktail, amuse bouche, salad, appetizer/soup, entrée (main course) and dessert. All six bloggers are challenged to incorporate the same product or kitchen tool into six wildly different courses.

Each Progressive Party is a sponsored event. Six new bloggers are chosen to participate each month. Each month Kitchen Play also features a back-end contest to involve as many additional bloggers as possible."

I'm so thrilled to be part of this month's Kitchen-Play “Safest Choice Pasteurized Shell Eggs”  Progressive Party.  This Progressive Party will feature six different courses created by six different bloggers using Safest Choice Pasteurized Shell Eggs which are completely safe to eat raw.  Since the eggs are pasteurized, the FDA does not require them to carry any warning labels against eating raw eggs!  This is terrific since I have a hard time keeping my fingers out of cookie batter, I love Caesar salad and I've always wanted to make cocktails with egg whites!  And to make it easier for you to create one of this month's recipes, here's a link to three $1.00 coupons for Safest Choice Eggs.  Just a little incentive to not only try the eggs but try out a recipe for a chance to win $100!

Meatless Monday Veggie Stirfry

I'm trying to get a bit more into the whole meatless Monday thing.  I've virtually cutout milk on a daily basis.  I used to drink tons of milk and eat tons of yogurt.  After a stint of going vegan last summer, I've come to my own conclusion that dairy makes me breakout.  I've been drinking a combination of Almond & Rice milk as well as eating coconut & soy yogurts. 

Growing up my mom cooked frequently with tofu.  I actually like it and used to use it a lot but have gotten out of the habit.   I picked some up the other night along with a packet of pre-cut stir-fry veggies from Whole Foods, a little ginger, garlic & onions and some brown rice.  Voila, dinner for about $10 for 2.  It's not often dinner costs me just $10 to make.