Excess Butter Is An Ongoing Theme In Our Lives...

Yesterday was definitely a day well spent. I trekked over to Sarai's apartment and we decided to put studying on hold for an hour or two and bake instead! 

We (and by "we" I mean, "Sarai single-handedly") made giant chocolate chip cookies for us to snack on while I put together an "Awesome Playlist" on Spotify. Some crowd favorites included, "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire, "You Make My Dreams" by Hall and Oates, "My Girl" by The Temptations, and "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. We actually received a noise complaint for dancing too loudly...but how can you not dance to oldies? Regardless, it was one of the best days I've had since the beginning of the school year. Plus, the cookies were fantastic, even though they contained way too much butter to possibly be okay for your heart.

So here's to many more "baking days" ahead! Love you, Rai.

-L


Trader Joe's Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C flour
1t salt
1t baking soda
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
1 C butter (room temp)
1t vanilla
2 eggs
1 package of Chocolate Chips

Preparation:

preheat oven to 375.
combine flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
combine butter, sugars, and vanilla and beat until creamy. ( I hand mix these just until mixed).
Add eggs.
Add dry ingredients.
Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake 8-10 min.

The Diet Truly Starts Tomorrow...

I started off the summer months with optimism as I munched on grapes and mixed berries and continued to tell myself that I would maintain a healthy diet, especially since I would be seen in a swimsuit over the course of three months.

Unfortunately, this healthy habit lasted no longer than a few days. As soon as Tuesday rolled around, I was back on the "legitimate dessert" kick, and my family didn't exactly discourage my sugary dessert diet either. On Tuesdays, Baskin Robbins offers $1 scoops and my family obviously takes advantage of this every once in a while because we sure do love our ice cream!

A few weeks later, my sister and brother-in-law celebrated their anniversary and we just had to order another "princess" cake...which was absolutely delicious. Primrose Bakery nails it every time!

A couple days after enjoying the cake, we road-tripped to Newport Beach where I met up with Sarai! She joined me (along with my extended family) for lunch at an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ. And holy smokes. I can't even begin to tell you how much food we consumed. This photo doesn't even do our meal justice. We probably ate five pounds of meat. Maybe more. But ohhh soo tasty. Our meal together was one of my most memorable moments with Sarai because as the meal progressed, we realized there was a $5 left-over fee, and being the broke college students that we are, decided to stuff ourselves to the brim instead of pay the $5 fee. So here we are, about to burst at the seams!

Sarai had also never been to Sprinkles before, so we were sure to change that ASAP. For those who have never been to a Sprinkles, it's a total must! They have a variety of flavors and they just opened up an ice cream shop next door too, so there's really something for everyone.

If I can recall correctly, I ordered Dark Chocolate, Red Velvet, Black & White, and Vanilla.

Later in the week, my family went out to Japanese food in Aliso Viejo and enjoyed really fresh (and I'm talkin' FRESH) fish. Wowza. Bistro Anju was recommended to us by my aunt who is a total foodie and we were definitely impressed. Yum!

After a great week in Newport, we headed back home and I met up with my longest friend, Emma, a few days later. We decided to catch up over dessert but no restaurant or creamery looked appealing, so we headed to Safeway and stayed in for the night. As we walked down the ice cream aisle, she asked me if I remembered Choco Tacos (which I didn't because I had never tried them before). And as soon as she found this out, she grabbed a box of Choco Tacos and that's what we feasted on that night. Well, that and some bagel bites...but the diet always starts tomorrow, right?

I soon realized I needed to "get back on track" with my healthy diet so I picked up some pita and hummus from Trader Joe's. But it wasn't just any hummus. Sarai introduced me to TJ's Edamame Hummus. SO good. A little garlicky, but mouthwatering nonetheless. 

However, soon thereafter, I reverted to my unhealthy ways. In a recent post, I shared my adventurous, last day with Emma before her trip abroad and our last meal together was In-N-Out...whoops! Not so healthy. But hey, the diet always starts tomorrow!

And to end the summer the way it began, tonight my family and I enjoyed yet another $1 scoop Tuesday night. I couldn't have asked for a better summer! 

 But now that summer is officially over, the diet really does start tomorrow.


-L

Cookies with Karen

I have officially turned into my mother. This morning I baked chocolate chip cookies for my coworkers while rocking out to the Carpenters.

Most people have no clue I even know who the Carpenters are because I'm definitely a closet groupie. I must admit, the Carpenters were a huge part of my childhood because we listened to their tracks on repeat every morning in our mini van on our way to school. To say the very least, I know every lyric by heart...including all of the "ooohs" and "ahhs." So to cure my nostalgia of Karen Carpenter's rich, alto voice, I decided to sing along to my "Carpenters" playlist on Spotify while I baked some delicious chocolate chip cookies from scratch. (Think Susan Sarandon singing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in Stepmom.)

My roommate's sister, Kashi, actually discovered this cookie recipe with me and it's absolutely to die for. We initially found this recipe on Pinterest and I was quite surprised when the cookies turned out exactly like the posted picture. Hurray! Although they look rather lightly toasted, they are baked to perfection!

Apologies for the poor quality of this photo...I promise they look delicious in person!

Posted below is the recipe from the blog I found on Pinterest.

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

barely adapted from Anna Olson, Food Network Canada

Ingredients: 

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 c. brown sugar 

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

2 c. all purpose flour 

2 tsp. cornstarch 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.

4.  Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.  (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)

5.  Let cool, on the sheet, on a wire rack for five minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely.  Makes approximately 3 dozen.  Try not to eat them all.

Enjoy!

-L

Top O' the Mornin' To Ya!

As I sit here eating my bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, I can't help but think in a British accent (this should come as no surprise to those who know me).

Yesterday was dubbed "UK" themed due to my long-time friend's departure to London today. Emma and I met for breakfast at Sideboard (a local town favorite) and both ordered English muffins which gave Emma the fantastic idea that we should pack the day with anything and everything British.

Photo Credit: sideboarddanville.com

Now, there are two things you should know about Emma and me. First, we love to eat good food together. Hence, Sideboard. (It has a hip and small town kind of feel to it with excellent food and drink.) Second, once we decide something sounds like a brilliant idea, we go all out. To say the least, we started throwing out even more hysterical ideas like making the Crown Jewels out of spray painted consignment jewelry, dressing up as the Queen's Guards, throwing a fancy tea party with wild hats and tiny finger sandwiches, wearing royal crowns, hosting our own Olympic Games (we got a real kick out of this one), making double decker busses out of posters and strapping them onto our bikes (also another great suggestion), dressing up as Sherlock and Watson...mustaches and all, watching Mary-Kate and Ashley's Winning London film, and speaking in our best British accents all day. So that's exactly what we set out to do.

After finishing our Blue Bottle Coffee and English muffins, we drove to Walgreens to pick up some red poster boards. On our way back to the car, I saw Christy's Donuts out of the corner of my eye.

Photo Credit: danville.patch.com

This donut shoppe has a special place in my heart because my father and I used to grab donuts on Sunday mornings before church. The woman who used to work here always threw in a dozen donut holes for free since we were regulars...so Emma and I had to get some donut holes in memory of my childhood. After our short pit stop for a dozen donut holes which we munched on throughout the day, we hopped back into the car and were on the hunt for our version of the Crown Jewels. We ended up driving to Berkeley because the thrift shoppes in Danville were a total miss but we scored big at the Berkeley Dollar Tree! We snagged some bling-ed out tiaras and adhesive mustaches which we put to good use later in the day. With tiaras in hand, we drove back home and threw ourselves an afternoon tea party. 

Photo Credit: Emma Grager

After high tea, we stuck on some funky mustaches and watched Mary-Kate and Ashley's Winning London. An absolute must for our London themed afternoon! Afterwards, we ended our 12 hour day together with double-doubles in a double decker bus at In-N-Out. And I must say, it was the best decision we made all day.

I couldn't have asked for a better day or a better friend! Thanks for the years of fun and laughs, Nems. I hope London is everything you hoped and dreamed it would be. Smacks and Tacks! xx

Cheerio,

L

My Favorite Truck

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a fantastic Fourth of July because I certainly did! (My trifle was a hit too!) I mentioned in my last post that the Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays due to Mike and Martha's delicious desserts, however I also love the parade.

The parade is a massive event in my small town and every year, local businesses and organizations go all out with their floats. From the All-American Elvis impersonators, to the Lawn Mower Brigade, people dress in their red, white, and blue, and wave their flags while watching the floats drive by. It's always exciting to hear live music, whether it's a high school band or a trio of elderly ladies singing their hearts out to, "Brown Eyed Girl," but every year without fail, there's always an awkward moment of complete silence as one of the trucks (not even a float) drives by.

Personally, I love their product. In fact, I'm sure everyone does. But no one is ever brave enough to applaud or wave their flag for this truck. Until last year...

A few floats came through with free water bottles and candy, and kids were eager to grab their fair share of freebies. Suddenly, the music died down as the "fun floats" drove away, and silence was upon us. The kids all stared with disappointment at this truck as it drove by without any music or freebies when unexpectedly, a dad stood up and yelled, "GOOO BUTTER!!!!!" Following in their father's lead, his children jumped to their feet and started cheering with him. From that moment on, I decided to cheer for the butter truck because let's face it...I love butter.

This year, I was completely prepared to cheer and shout for the butter truck and to my surprise, they handed out these really cute foam cows!

So long story short...GO BUTTER!

Happy eating & pass the butter please,

-Leanne

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Summer...

My sincerest apologies for being MIA for the past few months...whoops! There are honestly no good excuses for either of our absences besides, "writer's block." Ha!

I thought I'd get the ball rolling again, now that it's summer and there's an abundance of time (not 100% true) during these few smokin' hot months. And what a perfect time to start blogging again with the Fourth of July tomorrow!!

The Fourth of July is my second favorite holiday next to Christmas Day. I'm a huge Fourth of July fan for many reasons including the annual Fourth of July Parade when the entire town shuts down for five hours, the many BBQs throughout the afternoon, Fireworks at night time, and the entire day consists of lots and lots of dessert! (A diabetic's nightmare...my dream come true!)

Every year, my family goes to our long-time friends' home for both Christmas dinner and Fourth of July BBQ. This year, I'm making dessert for the BBQ. To say the least, I am honored. Our family friends make the most spectacular desserts. Think explosions in your mouth. In the past, they've made homemade apple, peach, plum, and rhubarb pies with homemade whipped cream. It's amazing. So amazing, that Christmas Day and the Fourth of July have become my two favorite holidays.

You may be wondering why I am making the dessert this year because it's very clear that I'm not a gourmet chef or anything close to that. It turns out, they are coming back from vacation tonight (July 3rd) and don't have time to make a dazzling dessert. So, what do I make? I've already come to terms with the fact that my dessert will never measure up to their homemade from scratch pies, so I've decided to go with something that looks appealing to the eye. Not to say that it won't taste good, but I'm thinking a trifle will score some major presentation points.

I'm basing my trifle on these two images:

I'm thinking I'll (try my hardest to) replicate the sides of the first photo, and the top of the second. I hope it turns out! Wish me luck...I'm going to need it.

Happy Fourth of July weekend!

-Leanne

My Greatest Weakness

One dessert that I absolutely cannot deny?.........Creamsicles.

Admitting this actually disgusts me a little bit, seeing that this treat is pretty much frozen diabetes. (Thanks a lot, high fructose corn syrup.) But I digress.

This undeniably delicious dessert gets me every time. In fact, a few nights ago, I convinced a gal on my floor to drive me to Safeway at 11pm to get a box of Creamsicles. (I know what you're thinking- "yiiiiikes." I'm thinking the same thing.)

Sometimes, to make myself feel better, I imagine I'm eating an organic, all-natural, homemade orange creamsicle like this one:

And I feel like this (for a brief moment):

Until I realize that I'm actually eating this:

And then I feel like this for the next few hours:

And I continue to ask myself, "WHAT HAVE I DONE."

Creamsicles really get me. Every time.

Good luck with those food addictions, whether they be chips, candy, chocolate, or frozen diabetes (aka: Creamsicles).

-L