vegan, vegetarian, and cruelty free adventures.

As of recent my husband feels very passionately about only eating meat and dairy from local farmers or from farms with a cruelty free environment. I support his convictions and have semi-vowed to go along on this adventure with him. We both understand where we live it is going to be extremely hard to live by these standards, so we are going to do the best we can. The key to success so far has been the planning and thinking ahead. The biggest challenge so far is to resist cheese, butter and eggs! Luckily we've been able to purchase farm fresh eggs and raw milk cheese from vendors at the farmer's market in Little Rock. But that supply will only last for so long. I personally don't have as strong a conviction about eating dairy. And the vegetarian recipes are way more tastier than the vegan recipes I've tried. Ali told me about Sunshine for Dinner a local farmer who delivers batches of her harvest at a low cost. This might be our way of attaining eggs along with some veggies and herbs.

I'm also going to start making Kombucha Tea. I've been hearing about it from a couple of my friends. It is a fermented tea that brings many health benefits: increased energy, improved immune system, and better digestion. I won't go into the details of making the tea or how it works because it doesn't sounds very appetizing at all! But if you want to read into it go here.

source

School starts this week! It hasn't hit me yet, but I'm sure it will when my alarm is going off 5:30 and my head hitting the pillow 14 hours later. My feet will be sore from standing and I probably will have a cracked voice from not using my teacher volume in 2 months. Pray for me!

Recipe: Strawberry Basil Lemonade

I just came across the most wonderful summer drink on Tastespotting. You have to make this instantly! I knew without a doubt that this drink would be delicious because of the strawberry mozzarella salad I make regularly. It would be perfect at any party, shower or for lounging by the pool.

Strawberry Basil Lemonade from What's Gaby Cooking

Ingredients:

10 Lemons juiced

3/4 cup of sugar

4 cups of water

8-10 strawberries, hulled

1/3 cup of fresh basil

Directions:

Juice the lemons and transfer the juice to a large pitcher. Add the sugar and the water, stir to combine. Add the strawberries and the fresh basil. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture for about 20 seconds until everything becomes pink and the basil is finely chopped. Serve with lots of crushed ice and enjoy!

*If you do not have an immersion blender, add all the ingredients to a regular blender and it turns out just fine.

Recipe: The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

It has been important to me since I got married to make as many things from scratch that was possible or that time would allow. We grew up having desserts that were make from mixes: cake mixes, cookie mixes, Jello, or pudding mix. I'm not complaining that they weren't good, but as a child I assumed there was just no other way. My grandmother used to read Panda Cake to me all the time when I was little. It's about a mother panda who sends her two panda sons out to gather all the ingredients for a panda cake and how the boys obtain all the ingredients for this very special cake. I daydreamed about many homemade desserts because of this book.

I know I came across this recipe on tastespotting, but I don't remember the blog. I had tried about 20 different chocolate chip cookies recipes before I stumbled across this one. I was very determined to find the perfect recipe for me. The reason I love these cookies so much is because they are crunchy and gooey at the same time. So to me they are the perfect chocolate chip cookies. Another great thing about the recipe is that you can make as few cookies as you'd like at a time and stick the dough back in the fridge and it will keep a day or two.

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1/3 cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

1 egg

1 cup of dark chocolate chips

1. Whisk flour, salt and baking soda together. Set aside.

2. In a bowl, beat the butter for about a minute. Then add the sugars and beat for another two minutes until well-blended and creamy. Beat in the vanilla.

3. Add in the egg.

4. At the mixer's lowest setting, add flour mixture a little at a time until all incorporated.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips. Reserve a handful for later. Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes.

6. On a lined baking sheet with parchment paper, spoon rounded tablespoons of cookie dough on sheet.

7. Bake them in preheated oven 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

8. Turn half way and let cool.

My Recipe File

I'm spending a little time this post to compile my favorite recipes that I've found and tried on food blogs. Because good food is worth sharing, even if you can't make it over here while it's cooking.

Favorite Breakfast

Egg Florentine Quesdillas

Favorite Salad

Strawberry & Mozzarella Salad

Favorite Soup

Roasted Corn Chowder with Chicken, Lime & Cilantro

Favorite Main Dishes

Panko Crusted Salmon

Italian Meatballs with Basil Pesto Pasta

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

Heather's Quinoa

Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Mediterranean Tuna Salad

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

Favorite Desserts

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake with Cornmeal Crust

White Chocolate Raspberry Tart

French Silk Pie

Anzac Cookies

Peach & Plum Crisp

Cherry Maccaron Tart

Valentine Cookie Boxes

Saturday was spent in the kitchen ALL day making cookies for my family for Valentine's day. Of course it was so much fun, and I love baking and being creative on holidays. I started out my day with Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Coconut Cookies. Kelly can't stand when I add things to chocolate chip cookies. So I never get to make anything like this for myself. I was banking that were would be a couple that wouldn't fit into the boxes so I could keep them for myself. The only thing I changed from the recipe was that I used dark chocolate chips. So yummy, I'm actually eating one right now :)

I had actually prepared the shortbread dough the night before so all I had to do was get my heart-shaped cookie cutter out and get to work. I used the recipe for Heart-Shaped Shortbread Cookies with Pink Sprinkles from the bread & honey food blog. The recipe was sooo good. This was my second time making shortbread and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite cookies; the pink sprinkles made it even better! So buttery and crisp!

Sulu is always hanging around whenever I'm baking or cooking, hoping he'll get a little sample. Sorry, but not this time. I didn't think my already hyper dog needed sugar in his diet.

While the cookies were cooling I started decorating these thin cardboard boxes I picked up from Michael's for .89 a piece. I decorated them from cut out hearts, doilies, and maps and created a label for the inside lid of the box. I had most the ingredients for the cookies already on hand, so I didn't spend a lot out of pocket for this project.

Here is the recipe for the only cookie I didn't document the baking of, my photographs didn't turn out that great. Flourless Double Chocolate Cookies. These cookies are the best right out of them oven; after a day they get pretty hard and crunchy and not as enjoyable. So eat them fast if you decide to make them!

Pumpkin Spice and everything nice!

I started a new tradition this year. Starting the first week of fall, I set out to make something pumpkin every week until the week of Thanksgiving where I might possibly make something with pumpkin in it everyday that week. I plan to do a better job documenting all of my recipes next year.

This week I made Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Caramel Corn. I found some pumpkin spice Hershey's Kisses at Target for 75% off and this seemed like the perfect way to use them up!

1 3.3oz bag Kettle Corn popcorn, popped and all un-popped kernels removed
1 Cup dry roasted peanuts
1 Cup unwrapped pumpkin spice Hershey’s Kisses

1 Cup dark chocolate chips
6 Tablespoons butter
3/4 Cup brown sugar
1/3 Cup corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Place popped popcorn and peanuts onto a large rimmed baking sheet that has been sprayed lightly with non stick cooking spray.

Place kisses, chocolate chips, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a light boil. Remove from heat and pour evenly over popcorn and nuts. Gently stir to coat mixture over popcorn. Bake in oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and pour onto parchment paper to cool. Break into pieces and serve.

(Recipe adapted from Beantown Baker)

Pumpkin Thanksgiving Fix

If you need your pumpkin fix this thanksgiving

Real Simple has got it going on.

Homemade Granola

It feels so healthy to make anything homemade, because you can see exactly what is going into it. I had been spying some granola posts on tastespotting and kind of made my own concoction.

Your Granola

4 c. organic rolled oats

1 c. raw sunflower seeds

1 c. raw pumpkin seeds

1 c. natural unblanched almonds

1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut

1/4 c. sesame seeds

1/4 t. ground cinnamon (optional)

1/4 t. ground ginger (optional)

1/4 c. natural maple syrup

1/3 c. honey

1/3 c. sunflower oil (or canola oil)

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

1/2 c. any dried fruit of your choice

(cherries, raisins, apricots, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together the maple syrup, honey, oil, vanilla and set aside.

Toss together all the dry ingredients, minus the dried fruit.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; mix with a spoon until the oats are well covered.

Spread the granola on the baking sheet into a thin layer.

Bake for 25 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Place on cooling rack for 5 minutes, mix in the dried fruit and store in an air tight container until ready to eat.

I love to eat granola with vanilla yogurt and blueberries! Enjoy!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin!!!

Pumpkin Cookies, Pumpkin Pound Cake, oh how many pumpkins things can I make???

Welcome Fall!

I am so pumped that it is officially Fall! I don't know if it's cheating to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte while it was still summer, but oh well, I did it; the temptation overtook me.

There were several things I did to celebrate the first week of fall.

1. Buy decorative pumpkins to put outside my windows.

2. Baking, Dark Chocolate Pistachio Chip Cookies. I used this recipe and switched white chocolate chips for dark chocolate chips, I love the bitter taste.

3. Baking, Pumpkin Brownies. I didn't make the brownie part from scratch like the original recipe states; I cheated and made the brownies from the box :)

Baking and Re-Making

I've been out of town for a couple of days on a little trip to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. So I've been missing my kitchen and being able to and bake. So the day I got back I attempted my version of bread & honey's apricot tartlets. But our supermarket sadly didn't have any apricots in stock, so I turned to peaches. I added a little whip cream and sprinkled cinnamon on top. It was quite tasty.

Another exciting endeavor, well exciting to me, is an art deco chair I found at a local antique store. I didn't even know the store existed and it happens to be just a couple blocks away from where I live. This chair was a steal and I'm thinking yellow. I'm open to suggestions also.