Ja cię kocham…

I woke up this morning to a dreary, rainy day that was simply begging me to be lazy.  No problem, Lazy Sunday,  I will listen to you.

Lazy Sundays can be tough because there is nothing on the itinerary forcing me to wake up, shower, and get moving and for some reason I always feel as if there is something that I could do that would alleviate the stress during the week.  Should I do laundry?  How about pick a room to clean?  Why must I insist on being productive on a perfectly good Lazy Sunday?!  Let’s just sit at the kitchen table, looking out the sliding glass door with a steaming cup of coffee and a good book.  Sounds good, huh?

Instead of changing the sheets and mopping the floor, I am going to whip up a very simple and sophisticated mocha that immediately whisks me away to my favorite little corner cafe with budding flowers and early morning chatter.  Maybe I’ll make pancakes, too.   Or home fries.  I’m going to see where my motivation leads me (or doesn’t lead me).  For now, I’m just going to sip my mocha and enjoy a morning filled with nothing to do.

Toasted Almond Mocha

Source: Claire Robinson of 5 Ingredient Fix
Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 ounces sliced almonds
4 cups milk
4 tablespoons honey
4 shots espresso or 1 cup very strong coffee
4 tablespoons good quality cocoa powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the almonds on a sheet tray in 1 even layer and toast in the oven until fragrant and light golden, about 7 minutes.

Put the toasted almonds and milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until steaming and hot, but not boiling, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the honey and stir until incorporated, then strain through a fine mesh strainer.

In a warm mug or heatproof glass, mix an espresso shot or 1/4 cup coffee with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder and then top with the toasted almond-infused milk. Repeat with remaining espresso, cocoa and hot milk.

It’s a party up in here!  This time last year, I posted for the very first time and had no idea what was going to come of this blog.  Little did I know that I would have so many foodie friends (HUNDREDS of you!) and so much support!  Thank you!

And in celebration of Ja cie kocham’s birthday, I’m making chocolate covered pretzels – a boatload of them.   They are festive, easy to make, and I’m probably going to eat them all within a few days.

I’m also going to use this time to recap on some of my favorite recipes of the year:

Breakfast:

Peanut Butter and Banana French Toast – Heaven on a plate.  ‘Nuff said.

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Appetizer:

Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms – What a crowd pleaser!  Make sure to double the recipe because these will be gone in minutes!

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Pizza:

Pear and Blue Cheese Pizza – Wish I would have thought of this one sooner!  Seriously melted in my mouth.  I could have eaten the whole pizza by myself.

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Sandwich:

Grilled Vegetable, Herb, and Goat Cheese Sandwich – Perfect for a picnic and requires no refrigeration!

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Chicken Dish:

North African Grilled Chicken Paillards – Add ethnic flare to your chicken with a few pantry staples!

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Lime Chile Steaks with Pico de Gallo and Homemade Guacamole – Home run dish.  Bursting with flavor and super healthy to boot!

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Vegetarian:

Lemon Chickpea Stir-fry – AMAZING.  Nothing is more gratifying than making a very healthy meal that is so full of flavor.  I had several people ask for the recipe because they loved it so much.

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Pasta:

Linguine with Bacon, Baby Spinach, and Sage – I found this recipe on the back of the pasta box.  Always check the back of boxes for recipes.  They tend to be real winners!

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Side Dish:

Grilled Pineapple with Agave Nectar (or Honey) and Coconut – Elegant, healthy, delicious!

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Cookie:

The best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER.  They were huge, fat, chewy, and absolutely sinful!

Thank you for spending time with me in my little corner of cyberworld this year.  Here’s to many more years together!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  Here is a quick peek at the gorgeous table scape courtesy of my beautiful mother, Patti.

Hi, Mom!

My pictures are a little fuzzy and dark because I was making sure to keep an eye on the food.  Post-picture taking, I realized that my lens was covered with steam.  So I apologize for the lack of crisp pictures.  (I am a bit of a perfectionist…)

I am so thrilled to report that dinner was a hit, and I didn’t serve cold macaroni and cheese!  My biggest fear was the timing of all of the food because I didn’t want to serve my loved ones cold ham and crusty macaroni and cheese.  With help from Ma and Papa Zigs, dinner went without a hitch!  Thank you, Ma and Paps!!

Prior to the main meal, I made some “snicky snacks” or as my Polish Poppy used to refer to them as “hordy doors”.  Ja cie kocham, Poppy!!  Miss you.

A cookie display filled with Nigella’s Chocolate Christmas Cookies, shortbread, gingerbread, homemade chocolate covered pretzels, and caramel bites.  I added a little Chocolate Soynut Butter (sadly, I couldn’t find Nutella, but this work just as well) for the shortbread.

Tzatziki made with my Homemade Greek Yogurt served with Crudites lovingly prepared by my sister and Cleanliness is Next to Godliness Food blogger, Emmy.

We also offered piping hot coffee and warmed mulled apple wine.

Here is my hubby, Jay, partaking in the warmed beverage.  Hi, honey!

And here I am just loving life and my 14 year old doggie, Cricket.

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And now for the main course all served on my Nana’s China:

Holiday Glazed Ham prepared by me and Smoked Turkey prepared by Papa Zigs

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Pineapple Filling

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Homemade Scalloped Potatoes made by Mama Zigs

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Simply Baked Macaroni and Cheese

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Cucumber Salad (one of Poppy’s specialties)

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Roasted Carrots and Parsnips with Sage of which I totally forgot to take a picture!

Photo courtesy of www.jewcy.com

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Fresh Cranberry Sauce with Apples and Ginger

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And also – plain green beans for Mom Mom.  She loves her green beans!

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To avoid complete carb-overload, Mom made me a fresh fruit salad.

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And for dessert….

… a semi-homemade ice cream cake!

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Recipes of our Christmas bounty will come in the very near future.   For now, I am going to make a delicious breakfast with the leftovers…

Until we meet again, I again wish you health, wealth, and a big belly from good food!

Aren’t fall flavors fun?!  The aromas are so comforting and just make everything smell like home.  Our household is a huge fan of warmed apple cider in the crock pot.  We are fortunate enough to have wineries very close to our home and we like to pick out their spiced apple cider and warm it in the crock pot.  Now THAT’S a winner!

This is a non-alcoholic beverage, but you could very easily add your liquor of choice (spiced rum, vodka…etc) while making this.  I chose not to add liquor because being at my ripe old age of 27, I tend to have trouble sleeping when I have a night cap.  I like to save those drinks for the weekend when I can sleep in a little.   There is nothing worse than being wide awake at 2am when you have to work in the morning.  *Sigh*

Try this fall sipper out!  You use basic ingredients that you most likely already have, and if you don’t, it’ll cost you pennies.  You’ll kids will love this, too (sans alcohol, of course)!

Mulled Cranberry Sipper

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 cups cranberry juice (if you have unsweetened juice, please add pure maple syrup to taste to sweeten it up!)
juice of one orange (or a 1/4 cup orange juice)
2 cinnamon sticks
2 orange peels
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all ingredients into a small saucepan and warm on medium-low heat.  Stir a few times while warming.  Serve immediately.

Move over Starbucks – here comes Do It Yourself Lattes for less!  Mind you, I love Starbucks.  They are convenient, offer fair trade coffees as well as a variety of seasonal and standard flavors to choose from!

See above for the Fair Trade certification logo.  This isn’t a Starbucks brand, but this gives you an idea of what to look for if you want Fair Trade products.  This logo designates this product as one that ensures sustainability and fair wages for producers that are typically marginalized in developing countries.  This logo makes a promise that citizens in developing countries receive a nice profit from their harvest. You can find coffees, teas, sugars, soaps, and much more that are are Fair Trade Certified.

Like I was saying, Starbucks is wonderful, but it is so gratifying to be able to replicate one of their drinks for pennies!  My sister Emily of Cleanliness is Next to Godliness (a food blog about eating clean) created this drink.  As a java junkie, I have become picky about my coffee and this one certainly passes the test!  It is sooooo good!  You have to try it.  You most likely have all of the ingredients already.  And if you don’t, you will spend next to nothing to acquire them!

This is a must for Autumn!

Emily’s Pumpkin Spice Latte

Source: Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Makes 4 cups (depending on the size of your coffee mug!)

Ingredients:

½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk (I use soymilk)
2 cups freshly brewed coffee
1/4 cup pumpkin puree

**if you don’t have pumpkin puree… try pumpkin pie spice**

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, over medium-low heat, combine the pumpkin puree and milk. Stir for about a minute and a half. Then, add your vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the mix, and heat and stir until foamy! Pour in your coffee and stir until it is nicely meshed together!
Ladle it out into your favorite mug and enjoy!

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about whole foods and their tremendously positive impact on our health, and decided to go out and buy myself a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer.

I have seriously wanted one since I was a kid staying up late at night watching Amazing Discoveries Informericals.   I cannot tell you how excited I am about this!

It turns this….

…into this!!!

Seriously, how awesome is that?!

I call this a smoothie because although it’s nothing but fruit, it had a a smoothie texture to it.  It wasn’t just liquid.  There was some substance to it.  That’s good because then you are getting incredible nutrients from the entire fruit.

It’s really simple to make. The only catch is that you need a juicer. )

100% Natural Strawberry, Blueberry, and Kiwi Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 pint of strawberries, whole
1 pint of blueberries, whole
3 whole kiwi fruits

Directions:

Simply place each ingredient gently into the juicer.

Sooooo good!

Did I mention that I love dessert??  Did I mention that I love fresh fruit??  Let’s combine them, shall we?

I was SO excited when I found this recipe.  I made rootbeer floats for my students not too long ago so the idea of milkshakes was still lingering in the back of my head.

I also had all this fruit in my fridgie since there was a mega sale on berries last week.  Yes, I said last week.  Yes, it was time to use up my berries!

You can’t get any simpler with this recipe.  Three ingredients and one blender.  That’s all that you need!  You ready to make your blueberry milkshake???

PS – You could easily substitute the ice cream with yogurt and a few ice cubes for a delicious breakfast smoothie!

Blueberry Milkshake

Source: Noob Cook

Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vanilla ice cream
1/2-3/4 cup fresh blueberries
2 Tbs. milk

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into your blender.   Blend until smooth.

DONE!  YUM!

After spending my free time “oooing and ahhing” over the recipes and food blogs that others have created, I have decided to invest my time in creating my own.  I find myself cooking and baking quite often, but I rarely save the recipes for future use.   Well enough is enough!  It’s time to keep track of what I make, and this is the perfect outlet!  So let’s give it a try.

One thing that is a “must know” about me is that I adore coffee.  I walk around pretty much the entire day with a cup of joe in my hands.  Nothing excites me more than brewing a fresh pot of coffee in the morning.  The aroma arouses my senses allowing me to prepare for the day ahead of me.

Without further ado… my FIRST post…

Hot Chocolate Latte with Chai Spice

Ingredients:

8 oz. hot skim milk
1/2 – 1 package hot chocolate mix
1 shot espresso
Light whipped cream for topping
Chai Spice Blend (optional)

Directions:

Whisk milk and hot chocolate mix until smooth.  Add espresso shot and top with whipped cream.  Sprinkle with Chai Spice and enjoy your fancy beverage!