Hi everyone! Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Kwanzaa! (that's probably not what you say, but oh well)

I had some family come over for Christmas at my house, so I decided to try something new in the cookie department. Usually my family makes the traditional, chocolate chip, gingerbread, and sugar cookies. Instead I wanted to make these hot chocolate cookies, mostly because I thought they were so pretty with the marshmallow and chocolate shavings on top:)

FWI: these make a great gift for those people that you have no idea what to get. Just put them in a bag and tie a cute ribbon on top and BAM you got a insta-present.

Recipe: here

Hope everyone had a happy holidays!!

Super Cheesy Quick Breakfast Potatoes

 Hi all! It's been super hectic lately around here, but I am really happy with how these photos came out so I just wanted to share them with you before I head into Christmas everything (spoiler alert: upcoming posts are going to involve a ton of cookies).

I'm so sorry but I do not have an exact recipe for these potatoes because honestly I just kind of threw in a dish: cheddar cheese, grated potatoes, and sour cream. Before it hit the oven I finished it off with a cornflakes mixture on top to give it a crunch. Last but not least, I threw some chives on.
That's all... I'll be back super soon...

XO
Lauren

Dutch Baby (German Pancake)

This was such a last minute breakfast to be completely honest. I woke up Saturday morning and I had no idea what I was going to eat, and then I thought pancakes? But I thought that was too basic and plus pancakes are always my go to breakfast. I wanted to step it up, so then I came up with the whole dutch baby idea. I've only had this once before and I had zero experience making it. Of course I was like what the heck and I took the plunge.

Just to mention, I know this totally completely off the blog topic, but did you check out my confectionary sugar shaker!? Fun fact: actually I got this when I was taking a pizza making class and it was originally created for semola, but I thought it would be more useful if we used it for confectionary sugar instead. It is actually hilarious that such little things like a sugar shaker can make me so happy. It's honestly so much neater and easier than using a sifter, which was what I was using before. UGH I just love it so much

So, as I said before, I have never made this, and when I first took it out of the oven I thought I completely messed it up. The reason behind this is maybe the fact that I used too small of a pan, but my sides of the pancake blew up and the sides were very very tall. BUT for future references if this happens to you, do not worry, the sides will go down once it starts cooling. 

This pancake is insanely thin; it is no way like your average pancake. I highly suggest this if 
1. you wake up late (because it takes less than 1/2 hr)
2. you literally have no 'special' ingredients (it's basically flour, sugar, eggs, and milk, oh and butter)
3. you're a wee bit tired of your basic, typical pancake

Go for something different today:)

RECIPE: Simply Recipes Dutch Baby

Butternut Squash Soup

So.. Halloween's literally in four days, and that means that there's only one more month of fall left..

*quietly whispers* 57 days until Christmas. I kind of think it's insane that that's the way we think, but it honestly is. We are always looking forward to what's next, and when that comes by, then we immediately move on to the next chapter. It's sad that we never cherish the moment. but hey always looking forward to something makes life more interesting. 

This weekend I took advantage of the few moments that butternut squash is in season, and made one of my favorite soup. That's right it's...

Rich.

Creamy.

Sweet.

Savory.

and bonus it makes a really cold, rainy day x10 better (just make sure you wear warm socks when eating for best results)

Also be prepared to mix everything with your hands, because hands are much more effective than spoons, in my opinion. 

If you have a normal sized blender, like me, you may have to blend the soup in batches.

Recipe --> here

XO

Lauren

Sweet Potato Waffles

I'm a firm believer in doing what you feel is right, no matter the reason why. You do not own anyone an explanation for doing something or not. This can be applied to silly, frivolous whims or to something on a deeper level.

These waffles are a prime example of that.

The morning I made this beautiful creation of a breakfast, I honestly was not planning to go through with it at all.
Some strange desire came over me to make waffles and a bunch of sweet potatoes in the crisper were calling my name.
Did I have a reason or explanation behind the fact that I, out of nowhere, wanted to randomly roll out of bed and make waffles?
no.
I just wanted some DARN WAFFLES
I mean, sometimes you just gotta treat yo' self.
Luckily, this post recently popped up on my dash and I made the connection.

When I came across the recipe, just looking at the ingredients made me think of fall.

I mean sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie spice? Lets get real here.

  

*side waffle making tip* to get more of that "incomplete" waffle look (above), just use less batter!

So if you're looking for a super fall breakfast, I hope I pointed you in the right direction. On the side note, I am so thankful to be using 2nd person pronouns because my life has been absent of them lately thanks to Chemistry and English (yay essays and lab reports!).
Anyways... I'll be back soon with yet another fall recipe, but plot twist, it's actually not a desert or breakfast! Wow, even I was not expecting that.
Have an awesome rest of the week.



RECIPE CREDIT TO THE ALWAYS WONDERFUL JOY from Joy the Baker
Original link: http://joythebaker.com/2014/09/recipes/vanilla-bean-sweet-potato-waffles/ 

Ingredients

• 2 small sweet potatoes, roasted and cooled
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped (or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Instructions

1. To roast the potatoes, place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Wrap whole, unpeeled sweet potatoes in foil, place on a rimmed baking sheet and allow to bake until a fork inserted in the potato meets no resistance. Depending on the size of your potatoes, this could take 30 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and allow to rest until cool enough to handle. Peel the potatoes, discard the peel, and mash well with a fork. Measure 1 cup of potatoes for the waffles.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.
3. In another medium bowl combine brown sugar and vanilla beans. Use your fingers to rub the two together, infusing the brown sugar with vanilla. If you're using vanilla extract, add vanilla to the eggs and sugar after they're beaten together.
4. Whisk in the eggs until well combined. (Add the vanilla extract here, if using.) Whisk in the melted butter, maple syrup, and buttermilk. Stir to combine.
5. Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir well to combine thoroughly. Allow to rest while the waffle iron heats.
6. Spray waffle iron if it isn't already nonstick. Add waffle batter and cook according to your specific waffle iron.
7. Serve warm with pure maple syrup. These waffles also freeze very well once baked.

XO
Lauren

The Ultimate Breakfast Pizza

Have you ever just looked at something and knew that you have to make that, go there, or try that?
This was one of those things.

I'd have to admit, I've been pulling my hair out recently, mostly involving chemistry and the horrors that go along with memorizing polyatomic and multi-valenced ions. So while I was skimming Pinterest (procrastinating? maybe a little bit). I should know by now, one does not skim Pinterest. But anyways, up pops a beautiful BuzzFeed article about "18 Breakfast Pizzas That Want to Wake Up Next to You". Every single pizza was mouthwatering, and just beautiful to look at. Then the real questions came up, which one to choose? So I did what any good person would do and combined factors from my favorites recipes and make one ultimate pizza.

But just to forewarn everybody, this is not one of those breakfasts that you can make last minute, no a pizza as great as this need a little more TLC. I made the dough from scratch the night before so it has plenty of time to rise. Another option if you don't have time to make your own crust, is to just get pre-made pizza dough!

This pizza includes *drum roll please*
-gruyere cheese
-bacon (I used turkey bacon because it was the only thing we had at the house)
-green onions
-mushrooms
-parsley
-arugula
-and finally an egg to top it off

Just a side note, but a little gruyere goes a long way, so make sure you don't add too much

The Ultimate Breakfast Pizza
Makes one pie

Ingredients:
Roughly around 1 package of pizza dough (bought or homemade)
Handful of gruyere cheese
Two strips of bacon cut into pieces
Handful of arugula
Parsley
A few green onions chopped
2 or 3 mushrooms
1 egg
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 500 degrees, then shape the pizza based off of your preferences.
Coat the top generously with olive oil, then add the cheese, bacon, mushrooms, and crack the egg on top before placing in the oven. It depends but usually it will take around 5-10 minutes to cook. Once done, season with salt and pepper and place the arugula, parsley, and green onions on top. It's best served when its right out of the oven.

(recipe based off of this lovely blog... I just changed a few things to my preferences)


Enjoy!

XO
Lauren

Raspberry & Kiwi Smoothie

So I bet the first thing you're wondering is, Lauren, what the heck? You're a teenage girl, where is all the pumpkin, apple, spice, coffee, fall leaves, and warm sweaters that the internet has been obsessing over since August 31st? Well I wanted to take a little break from that, because if someone else freaks out about fall, I honestly don't know what I would do. I need a little time to ease out of summer mode, before heading over to the "all so magical" fall land. Don't get me wrong, I love fall a lot, but seriously people, it's still like 80 degrees outside some days. Definitely not what I would call sweater weather if you ask me. 

The ironic thing is though, once December comes around, I'm a complete Christmas fanatic. Like I'm that one really annoying person that just randomly bursts into Christmas carols at any moment. But you'll find that out about me soon enough (4 more months to go...) :)

Anyways, sorry for the rant, lets head over to smoothies...

I love kiwi, especially in smoothies. Raspberry is also one of my favorite fruits too, so I decided to combined the two. This recipe has raspberry yogurt along with orange juice, banana, and a few pieces of ice. 

I really like this recipe because it's a really awesome healthy breakfast idea if you're on the go in the mornings. The fruit also looks really pretty when its all layered in the blender, which is a bonus.

So I hope this smoothie will make your mornings a little more bearable, especially with school starting and all that. I also apologize in advance, the measurements in this recipe are not exact because I kind of just threw it all in the blender:) but go with what your gut says, it's usually right.


Raspberry & Kiwi Smoothie
Serves 1

Handful of kiwi slices
Handful of raspberries
1/2 of a banana
I small container of raspberry yogurt (I used Chobani)
A splash of orange juice
3 ice cubes

Blend together thoroughly, pour into glass


XO
Lauren
P.S. Did you see my new design!? I really like it a lot and I hope you guys do too!

Lately: Bikes and Bakery

// Just a few pictures of what has been going on lately while I'm down by the beach:)
Along with sitting in the sand, I've been doing a ton of bike riding and cinnamon roll eating.
I have a really awesome new blog post coming up soon, but I'm having a little technical difficulties with the program I'm using... hopefully it will be up in the near future!!


XO

Lauren

My Berry Picking and Jamming Experience

So as many of you know, I went berry picking a little bit ago. I have never really gone before and I was really excited. We went up to the pick-your-own farm in upstate New York called Alstede Farms (I highly suggest it if your ever up that way!). 

BERRY PICKING TIP: I did not know this but, THERE WILL BE A TON OF BUGS. Like bees, beetles, those annoying little fly things... all trying to attack you while you are picking the berries. Funny story, for some reason all the bugs just liked to land on me.. not anyone else... just me. At one point a giant beetle landed on my back.. I screamed... and ended up dropping the ENTIRE basket of blueberries on the ground :/
Thank goodness my mom came with me or we wouldn't of had any jam:)
but besides that, it was so much fun.

We didn't really pick that much because it took forever to get that one pint of blueberries:)
so we cheated a little.. and bought the rest of the blueberries for the jam (oops)

Then my little sis helped mash up the berries before we put it in jars.

To make jam you basically need three things: fruit, sugar, and SureJell (which is the stuff that sets the jam)
I used the recipe on the inside of the SureJell box, and it worked pretty well!
But, if your going to make jam or jelly make sure you get the low or reduced sugar version of SureJell, because if you use the regular version it will be very very sweet.

I also made peach jam, which was so delicious also:)

XO
Lauren

Farmers Market Part 2

Hello guys!

Its been awhile, but at the same time not really.

For me the past two weeks have sped by so fast, incase you didn't know, I'v been away in California.

I have never been before and it was amazing. I know I was suppose to keep you updated on everything I ate there, but honestly nothing I ate was really worth photographing and uploading (oops). It was partially the fact that I was just too lazy also. Anyways, I was back at the farmers market today!

In the early fall I did a post on my first trip to this market, and I thought it would be cool to go back in the summer.

Can I mention, the bread here is always amazing (we bought two loaves).

I love challah, really love it, like if I was stuck on a island and only had challah, I would be pretty happy.

Okay, so I walked by this stand and knew I had to get one. It's homemade lemonade, but you can mix in ANY fruit you want. whaaaaattt
I went for the raspberry lemonade, and my Mom got strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry mixed into hers.
It was actually amazing, like Starbucks, you need to get on to adding something like that.

Overall, I love the farmers market and I really like how all the pictures came out:)
HERE IS MY FARMERS MARKET HAUL:

• Berry Jam
• 2 loaves of bread
• 2 packages of homemade ravioli
• Honey
• Maple Syrup
• Gluten Free muffins
• 2 Croissants (to put the jam on)
• a homemade frozen pizza
• and a thing of string beans

Another really exciting thing thats coming up for me... I head off to cooking boot camp at the International Culinary Center!

Yay, so hopefully I post what I end up making

See you soon

XO

Lauren