lemony-gingerbread whoopie pies

YUM!

in January's issue of Bon Appetit, there was an entire article devoted to the whoopie pie.
my absolutely lovely neighbor and dear friend borrowed this issue from me to make this version of their whoopie pies and sent a few over for our little ones (and i) to enjoy.

they were scrumptious.

they got me thinking.....

then, a few nights later the 'trio and i were having a seriously fun sleep-over with mamaw and papaw--aka my mom and dad--this is one of our very favorite special occasions!
and while i was flipping through my mom's [mamaw's] 'taste of home' magazine i saw an ENTIRE article devoted to, again, you guessed it, these elusive whoopie pies!!!!!

now, i have never to my knowledge (aside from lovely neighbor's recent gifting) in all of my 29 years tasted a whoopie pie.
i have heard them praised randomly once or twice, but nothing has piqued my curiosity so much
as not 1
but 2 [very compelling] and newly published articles.
apparently the uprise of the whoopie pie was even discussed in recent weeks on the ever-popular Today Show!

bon appetit is my favorite all-time magazine, if you will recall.
still, the 'lemony-gingerbread' whoopie pie recipe in taste of home called my name.....

and they are INCREDIBLE!!!!!

see?




[insert picture here]



sorry, we ate them all before i could snap a picture in all of their loveliness!
they were beautiful.

i am definitely planning on adding more images to my posts, though, in all of this hullabaloo of newness around here!  (=

the wondrous 'trio and i prepped, mixed, refrigerated, rolled, sugared, created, mixed again, cooled, spread, etc. etc. etc.
and the end result was nothing short of YUM!

you must must try them, and then tell me all about it when you love them as much as we do!
[now to make the french macaroons with raspberry-rose buttercream.  which one will we love more?


enjoy!

-c.  (=

i made it again.

remember the infamous dish that made this little [white-meat-only] vegetarian 'cross over' to the very occasionally red meat eater?????

well, i made it again.

actually, it was my third [possibly fourth, but i am going with third] time.

but wow.
still incredible.
have any of you tried this recipe?
if you have not, i suggest you subtly drop it into your menu for next week
and if you do, let me know what you think!

i knew we were having dinner guests tonight and decided to overlook the simple stand-bys of [my favorite] taco soup, or pasta, any crock-pot dish, etc.
and went for an exceptionally yummy alternative.

i did, however, opt to forgo the rice and egg and made DE-licious cous-cous to accompany the steak and asparagus.

followed by [1/2]walnut cocoa brownies and vanilla bean ice cream.
double yum.

what are you having for dinner tonight?

(=

a fun giveaway, my spicy thai recipe...and a grand short-story about a table.

i did a little 'blog research' before beginning coffee and chocolate milk.

in doing this i came across a lovely little place called

'lola b's'.

it is the first blog that i have consistently checked back on, on a [semi] regular basis.

of course, i love it b/c she has shockingly similar tastes to mine, and i find a 'comfort' and 'joy' in the peaceful white backgrounds and 'flowy' cursive lettering.

isn't that what we love to see, though? someone who reflects in some way, pieces of ourselves, and allows us to see another facet of life lived beautifully?

any-who.

miss kasey is holding a giveaway and i wanted to share it w/you.

i also would like very much to win the A-mazing anthropologie picnic suite.....

click here to see what some of us are vying for!

[as a side-bar here, in the middle of writing this post my L came down with a fever and therefore the afore mentioned 'giveaway' has been closed for entry. i apologize for this and yet have chosen to keep my 'spiel' at the top of this post in order to allow you to 'take a gander' at this lovely blog and to ogle over just the sort of thing lola b's likes to give away...]

now. for my spicy thai recipe.

this recipe is a combination of two different recipes found in one of my dearest-to-my-heart cookbooks:

the healthy kitchen, recipes for a better body, life, and spirit; by andrew weil, m.d. and rosie daley.

this cookbook is incredible. it goes far beyond setting out recipe after recipe.

it takes you through everything from re-stocking your kitchen to make it more accustomed to 'natural' cuisine, to little blurbs about which wine is best, or how to correctly and best use what is in season, to the differences in preference of ingredients b/w the two authors.

recipe #1 is a peanut dipping sauce from a chicken satay dish (that i have yet to try, b/c i am so in LOVE w/the way these things here all mesh together so well)

i normally make this sauce sometime earlier in the day in a small saucepan and then place the lid on it and store it in the refrigerator to be heated up while recipe #2 is cooking (about 15-20 minutes prior to dinnertime, really, will suffice)

i also make only half of what the original recipe calls for and as always, edited a small amount of ingredients...

here is the halved recipe that i use:

saute 1/2 cup of onions and 1 clove of garlic in about 1 1/2 T sesame oil.

yum.

wait until garlic is golden brown in color (and smells amAzing).

add 1 cup natural chicken stock (it calls for vegetable, but i always use chicken), 1 T soy sauce, a 1/2 T sriracha hot sauce or chili flakes (i have used both and the difference is a non-issue here), a 1/2 T paprika, and 3/4 tsp ground cumin and whisk until blended.

toss in 1/2-1 T ground ginger (or a little more if you are using fresh. or less if you don't have it. i have found, in this recipe anyway, that the trivial amount of ginger or lack there of, is also a non-issue), 1/2 T honey, and 1/4 cup natural peanut butter.

[i ALWAYS use peanut butter and co.'s peanut butter w/honey (the bee's knees). it is irreplaceable as far as pb goes once you have tasted it!]

stir and simmer for about 10 min. until the sauce thickens.

sometimes it takes a little longer. you just don't want to burn it.

remove saute pan from heat and add 1/2 T parsley, 1 1/2 T chopped fresh green onions, and a little less that 1/2 T mint.

voila.

either keep it warm, if you are making right before dinner,

or refrigerate until closer to time.

recipe #2 is actually a recipe for slow-baked tofu with stir-fry, but i use chicken instead and often throw all of the ingredients in the crock-pot for an unbelievably yummy taste equal if not better to the version baked in the oven.

no. i'm going to have to rate the crock-pot version more tasty than the oven version.

okay, cutting the stir-fry part out completely, and changing the 16 oz. of tofu to about....1 1/2 lb. chicken (give or take a little), and editing the basic ingredients JUST a bit, here is what i do for the first 1/2 of this fabulous meal...

whisk together:

1 tsp sesame oil

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 T ground ginger (or more if using fresh...or less...again, it seems to be a moot point)

1 T dijon-style mustard

and 1T ground cumin

next, add chicken.

i have used both breast-meat and thighs-meat, both with the same yummy reviews!

throw chicken (with marinade) into either a crock-pot and let it cook for around 4-6 hours, or into a glass dish in a 325 degree oven for 30 minutes (turn) and then another 20 minutes or more.

do you love these lackadaisical instructions? i do, i must say. watch your chicken and you will know when it is done. (=

WHILE THAT IS COOKING, boil about one half-dollar sized amount of either linguine noodles (my preference), or any spaghetti or asian style noodles that you have/decide upon.

drain them.

when all of the individual dishes are completed and ready, place the noodles and chicken in a [pretty] bowl.

and serve the peanut dipping sauce along-side for, with which everyone may cover their noodles and chicken to their discretion.

this will be very spicy.

and very, very, delicious!

[i love our table, an antique belonging first to my grandmother, then my mother, and now me. as the years went by, the top layer has chipped and peeled, and we decided to completely remove it and allow our beautiful children to cover it with their artwork; paintings, crayon drawings, letter-practicing. soon we will sand out the remaining rough patches, give them one last 'hoo-rah' at finishing their pieces, and seal it in with a clear coating.

to even greater sentimentalize the beauty of this treasure.]

with this recipe, for the kiddos, by the way, i actually make a non-spicy version of the peanut dipping sauce.

it is a simple mixture.

whisk in a saucepan on low heat:

a spoonful (or three) of peanut butter. again, i use peanut butter and co.'s pb w/honey.

a T (more or less) of honey

and a pinch or 2 of fresh, chopped green onions.

they LOVE it!

and A likes to throw sugar snap peas onto hers.

A likes to eat sugar snap peas w/anything.

this, i love. (=

and it truly does add a desirable crispness to this dish.

one more thing today.....

we had waffles for dinner a night or 2 ago (breakfast is a favorite dinner menu item in our home!)

and while A, 'B, and L were 'assisting me' in the kitchen; baker's hats, aprons, utensils and all,

A decided that she and 'B should mastermind the perfect 'dip' with which to top their portion.

i allowed them to experiment, being the 'free spirit' that i am. (=

and quite frankly, what they came up with was AMAZING!

and simple as well.

so i want to share.

in a small bowl simply stir together your desired (semi-equally proportioned) amounts of the following:

wild blueberry all natural jam

peanut butter (we used, again, our favorite, though i am sure any kind will always suffice)

and a [non-high fructose corn syrup-containing] syrup

'B decided to omit the pb.

and both girls' 'dips' were fantastic on our waffles!!!!!

the beauty for all of this is that whatever jam you happen to have in stock would more than likely be just as delicious!

[normally, we use fresh blueberries, strawberries, and sometimes honey and cream to adorn our waffles, but we had none on this particular evening. three cheers for the glory of a creative youth!]

that last statement leads me to add this...

LOVE YOUR FAMILY, your husbands and your kiddos, LIKE NEVER BEFORE,

every MOMENT OF YOUR every DAY.

these moments are so precious.

and so irreplaceable.

and so ultimately beautiful.

this sounds desperate,

and urgent.

but really,

it is.

sometimes we just need to be reminded. (=

okay, i am totally going to cuddle w/L (who just woke up from his afternoon nap, still not feeling 100 percent) and start watching season 1 of VOLTRON on netflix!!!!!!!

did you not love this show?

recently L has become a fan of star wars (inexplicable to A2, this has been a looked-forward-to moment in my career as the mother of a sweet, sweet boy. possibly a little inexplicable to myself. but i have my philosophies.),

he has also become an avid light-saber user.

although he refers to it all as 'peter potter', resulting from my love of harry potter i am sure. (=

not that we watch a lot of t.v.

we don't.

especially the kiddos.

we do, though, look forward to the occasional family movie.....and wed. night lost episodes on hulu for O and i!

anyway, i am looking forward to this new introduction of an old favorite!

i have heard the stories (repeatedly) from my lovely mother, recounting my insistence on being referred to as 'commander keith' for a short period of my childhood....

this has been really lengthy.

enjoy! (=

-C.

some things are changing...

so lately things have been changing around here.
well, what i mean by saying this is that i have made a few drastic changes within myself as of late.
when i was 14 years old, my mom and dad decided that hey, we have 3 acres, let's buy some cows! and just like that, my meat eating days came to a screeching halt. ("steve holt!"--i had to write it, i misspelled halt and it was all over my brain!)
not that i quote-unquote didn't believe in eating red meat, and not even that i fell in love with the dear little things my parents so graciously named: chuck, t-bone, and ribeye. though they were pretty sweet.
no, it was the mere fact that, if i can see a cow one morning, standing outside my front room window, then i most definitely am not going to be digging in to that same cow at the kitchen table the next eventing at supper time. too much visual.
so, now being 28 [nearly 29], it has been close to 15 years since that decision was made and i have relentlessly stuck to it.
i tried to go back on this choice 3 years ago, when i was still nursing 'B as a baby. and my body did NOT take it well.
we were invited to a small get together in a new town, by new friends, and trying to be polite i ate a bowl of spaghetti with hamburger in the sauce.
yikes.
what they say is true, it will make you SICK. sick sick sick.
so long story short, my husband, who IS a red-meat eater, lovingly and graciously allows me to solely serve white meat and veggie dishes in our home. (=
but in a few of my bon appetit issues, steak recipes have caught my eye. and a few times (twice) in the past 3 or 4 months i have taken it upon myself to prepare these recipes for him. much to his delight, i might add.
on each of these occasions this meat has appealed to me so much that i have sampled it and thought it mildly tasty. of course, given the afore mentioned incident, i only allowed myself to nibble.
now, in my last post i stated that yesterday i was planning on making the korean rice bowl, and that, indeed, i did. and of course, i had to try it.
holy cow! (no pun intended) this was the most incredible, mouth-watering bit of food that i have ever ever ever tasted. so i indulged in a few slivers of marinated and seared steak as i was cooking.
i then filled my bowl at dinner time w/a picture perfect proportion of what was exactly on the magazine page, and indulged in that as well.
in all, i completely blew out of the water any chance of not regretting what i had just done by WAY over-consuming what my body would allow me in the red meat eating category.
but as the good Lord would have it, i did not get sick in the slightest! this freedom from illness also allowed me to partake in the chocolate-mayonnaise cake (also in the previous post) that i made late last night for my hubby and i while we were held captivated by (with frequent oven-timer interruptions) the latest Lost episode on hulu. which, by the way, was a really really good one finally.
any-who, chocolate is another thing i have always [for unknown reasons] prided myself on not loving. at least aside from the occasional dark chocolate cacao bean infused bite i periodically get a taste for.
but like our dinner, fittingly, this particular cake was so fascinatingly rich and BEAUTIFUL, and the icing was smooth and the most delicious, lovely thing i have EVER made (in the kitchen), and i it looked JUST LIKE the picture! [i also took some pictures of my own of this monumental event and i will post them soon]
and so, delightfully, and with much enthusiasm, i dive head-first into a new chapter in my life.....
my love affair with these two most amazing entities: the steak and chocolate cake.

sincerely,

-C.

(=

bon appétit!

my stand-alone favorite magazine is bon appétit! (i say 'stand-alone', because i used to have 3 favorite magazines: cookie, domino, and bon appétit. but alas, the first two have fallen by the wayside and ceased print. cookie however, still maintains an incredible website. check it out!)

as i have mentioned before, i looooove experimenting in the kitchen. while i am typically re-vamping boring recipes or magically turning seemingly un-healthy ones into super-whole food recipes, or quite possibly making something up entirely, i thoroughly enjoy following every recipe in bon appétit precisely down to the smallest ingredient. [unless, of course, i don't have said ingredient. or i forget to grab it at the store. and in those cases, we improvise.]

never mind that L exists solely exists on peanut butter & co. peanut butter with honey, greek yogurt (with honey), veggie nuggets, chocolate milk, hummus, sweet potato fries, and granola bars. oh yeah, and oatmeal and sometimes cheese. and fruit.

okay, so his eating habits are really good. he will grow into the rest. (=

but never mind that my husband, who while he completely sees the beauty of what is produced, doesn't necessarily always share the thrill of the taste as much as i do. but he loves that i love it, and revels in my excitement and consumes and enjoys everything i cook. though truly he would prefer meatloaf and lasagna. and for that, i love him all the more.

and never mind that me, A, and more occasionally now 'B, are the only ones who fully appreciate the flavor of these wonderful dishes.

never mind all of these things, because the eating of them is not what is working for me here. don't get me wrong, i do eat what is made. we all do. and we love it. but the joy is in creating the dish. this is what works. and it works even better if i have little (or not so little) helpers to cook with! (=

so, here are a few of the recipes i have produced out of bon appétit:

chocolate peppermint bark cookies

spaghetti and meatballs all'amatriciana

cioppino-style roasted crab (the first time i have ever tried crab legs, A-mazing. my favorite bon appétit choice yet--and so pretty!)

linguine with bay scallops, fennel, and tomatoes (forgot to buy fennel and it was still really good. a little less basil would suffice)

easy chicken masala (amazing. and i think i used the crock-pot on this one too. and chicken breasts also. yummy!)

indian chicken wrap with cucumber raita (i actually ate a similar cucumber dish when i lived in india for a few months. it included red onions so i threw them in. i was short on yogurt and so instead of making the raita in a large batch i just cooked the ingredients with my rice and topped w/what yogurt i had after while it was warm. the taste was not lost using this method)

british flapjacks--wow. amazing. [i didn't find the 'golden syrup' and i used pure maple instead. it was really good, i got comments from our neighbors that they could smell the syrup! i have found other recipes that call for corn syrup instead of golden syrup. also, they will be soft when you take them out of the oven so don't keep baking them until you think they are 'done'. they will be crispy if you do that! but still delightful.]

(=

april's issue has been the best that i have received as of yet--

this week so far i have tackled the delicious chipotle roast chicken tacos with the poblano, potato, and corn gratin. this gratin was unbelievable. really.

no salt. no butter (only a small amount of olive oil to line the dish). nothing but peppers, potatoes, corn, and mozzarella. it was so good. and really very pretty to prepare.

later this week we are using the 'left-over' recipe for chipotle chicken tostadas. yum! (=

tomorrow for dinner we are having the korean rice bowl with steak, asparagus, and fried eggs. i am excited about that. i am also, for breakfast in the a.m., finally baking something i have been looking forward to baking since i got the incredibly packed april issue in the mail a few weeks ago--HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY POP-TARTS!!!!!!! can i tell you how thrilled this makes me???

A2 always has a box of kellogg's pop-tarts in the pantry (hidden b/c we don't use a lot of processed foods for the kiddos--or ourselves, sans his pop-tart stash) and when anyone happens to catch sight of it, they decidedly want one too. i usually say convert attention to the always loved oatmeal, A2 usually caves. [it never fails that on the saturdays i need to sleep in, i wake up to pop-tart breakfasted children. but happy children, right?] (= organic versions are sooo expensive! so as long as these are as scrumptious as they look, my 3 lovelies will now have their own pop-tart stash in the freezer! made by me. (=

also tomorrow [night] i am going to make a chocolate mayonnaise 3-layer cake.

are you hungry?

beyond creating and/or re-creating whole and fresh meals for this lovely family of five, my absolute FAVORITE is making cakes and cupcakes. especially cupcakes. there is just something so simple and satisfying in icing a perfect little piece of homemade, pure-ingredient cake with an undeniably mouth-watering spoonful of homemade, thick yet fluffy, vanilla-buttercream icing, or in this case, chocolate!

it makes my heart happy.

so do waffle iron waffles. (=

i added links to all of these yummy treats and dinners just in case you wanted in on the details. but here too is the all-time, no-fail ONLY vanilla-buttercream icing recipe that i use. ever.

ingredients:

1cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) at room temperature

2T pure vanilla

1/2cup whole milk

32oz. confectioner's sugar

directions:

Beat butter until fluffy. Add vanilla and milk and beat while GRADUALLY adding sugar.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Bring to room temp. before icing.

(this makes a HUGE batch, but it is INCREDIBLE!!!)

okay, now i can't get food out of my head. i am totally going to have to share my favorite thai recipe too! but not today.

enjoy! (=

a-MA-zing zucchini muffin day!

today was supposed to be a-MA-zing zucchini muffin day in our household. and, as typical planned days go here in coffee and chocolate milk, it wasn't. wel, let me take that back, it IS technically still amazing muffin day (or 'nuffin' day, as L would refer to it as. my boy loves his 'nuffins'!), HOWEVER, what i intended it to be was a breakfast event. now, considering the following: [me] slightly flighty, definitely free-spirited and spur of the moment inspired + becoming a little consumed by the GORGEOUS day that was yesterday + being so comfortably sleepy by the time dishes were done and house was pre-bedtime straightened last night, i didn't get them made last night.

and the Lord knows i am NEVER going to be able to wake up one single moment before L peeks in and reminds me i might want to get A out of bed before it turns into a panic ridden rush out the door before the bus gets here kind of morning, and get things done like make breakfast BEFORE the kiddos wake up like any other normal mother would! (side note: i am comPLETely a morning person if i get OUT of bed and into the sunlit window, but getting out of bed early is a continuous challenge, although much appreciated by A, who doesn't mind the extra 20-30 min. of sleep time every morning--bless her lovely soul!)

okay, so to get back on subject here, the muffins were made around 10:30-ish this morning and will provide scrumptious breakfasts TOMORROW as well as yummy snacks today! (=

i wanted to get pictures of these, but did not get to, but i want to share the recipe. i got on to epicurious.com (a fave of mine) and found this recipe for spicy zucchini walnut muffins, and altered it NEARLY entirely (though not entirely-entirely) into this:

Whisk 2c flour, 2t cinnamon, 1t salt, 1t baking soda, 1t allspice, and 1/2t baking powder.

In a separate bowl, whisk 1 2/3c sugar, 2/3c canola oil, 3 eggs, 1T vanilla, and roughly 2/3 of a lemon's peel (grated).

Whisk flour mixture into sugar mixture.

Grate over bowl: 2 thin carrots and 1 med. zucchini (peeled).

Stir and pour into two 12-cup muffin tins and bake each tin for 25 minutes on 325F.

these muffins were FANTASTIC. sincerely. [or, suu-rously, as our A likes to put it!]

enjoy! (=