Excuses, excuses.

I have been busy, and distracted and completely procrastinating about posting on here. But, as my grandma says: Enough is enough. (Ok, I lied, my grandma doesn't really say that..)

With summer school well on its way to becoming overwhelming, I am still making time to enjoy my summer. The sunshine is brighter than before, the sweating more intense, but what goodness it is to be able to enjoy late nights, friends coming home, and eating veggie burgers on the grill.

I haven't taken the time to mention details of my INCREDIBLE trip to Africa, but one of the many things that changed me when I returned home was my eating habit. I no longer am eating meat! Surprisingly it is actually going quite well, and as I explore the ins and outs of this lifestyle I will share some recipes that have worked well for me. Starting with my veggie burger dish from last night!

Dillon and I headed to our local Whole Foods market, bought eggplant and black bean packaged burgers, tomatoes, avocados, buns, brown eggs, and onions. We fried the eggs, cheesed and grilled the burgers, sautéed the onions, spread the toasted buns with avocado, layered the tomatoes.

Best. Burger. Ever.

I highly recommend substituting your meat one day this week with one of these. Yum!

The patty I ate was made from gardenburger, black bean chipotle flavor.

Have you had a veggie burger? If so, what was your thought? If not, try it and please tell me how you liked it in comparison!

Let your light shine.

Catch Up

This week I spent most of my hours studying for an intense law exam, and finishing up a 20 page paper. Needless to say,( despite having to work in the morning) I am so very glad it is the weekend before my last week of class. Regardless of finals quickly approaching, I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I cannot wait.

Over Easter weekend I made my lemon cookies for our egg-hunt. If you haven't tried these yet, I seriously recommend you spend an hour of your time and do it. They were the first to be completely devoured by the attendees, plus they simply looked marvelous and happy on the table.

Check out the recipe, you (and the people you share with) will be very happy you did.

extra calories - extra delicious

By-golly-good-scott. It has been so long since I've posted. My life has been completely nonstop for the past 3 weeks!

I've had job interviews, overloads of homework, exams, along with my 2 jobs and busy life to maintain. Sometimes I feel like giving up on this blog, but at the end of the day - no matter how long I go without posting - I can't. I can't because there is more to this than having so few readers. It's a place for me to vent, explore and challenge myself. And I hope you get something out of it too.

I - at least - hope you take the time to bake some of the delectable dishes I post. I wouldn't post them if they weren't worth melt-in-your-mouth-good recipes.

This outstanding (and easy) chocolate-chip cookie dough pie is definitely something to make, and chances are you'll have most of (if not all) the ingredients at home!

The whole concept of making this pie is just getting a reliable chocolate-chip cookie recipe, and transforming it into a the right amount to fit into a pie crust. Really, it's so simple!

Not only does this baked good taste like a chunk of chocolatey heaven, but it has hypnotic powers - everyone who looks at it immediately has an overwhelmingly strong desire to consume it.

You'll need:

• precooked pie dish, I just got one of the crumb ones on sale
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1 1/2 stick of butter (melted)
• lots and lots of chocolate chips, be greedy :)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325

Mix eggs, and pour in sugars. Mix well, until consistency is thick, yet smooth.

Beat in softened butter. This will make it creamier.

Add a hefty amount of chocolate chips - just enough that it will still fit in the pie pan!

Put mixture into your pie shell.

Bake for 60 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean! ENJOY, preferably with ice-cream. 

Mix

Bake

Cut

DEVOUR!

I think one of the coolest things about the pie is how the chocolate chips melt to the bottom. It looks like a fun baking technique, but it's just gravity doing it's thing.

Now make a loved one happy today, or save it as a valentine's treat next week. Either way, make time to make this delectable pie.

Red Velvet Sandwich

One thing I love more than most things is red velvet cheese cake. It's delicious! So, because of this obsession, I thought I'd make something similar for my friends. For Christmas I made a large amount of red velvet cookies for the people whom aren't easy to buy for.

I made a batch for Dillon's colleagues, some mentors at my church, and my roommate's boyfriend. Everyone said they were consumed quickly, and had I left any more at my house I would have gotten a little bit vicious if someone else tried to eat them.

They were that good.

I found the recipe on Bakerella, and I just added a little bit more powdered sugar to the mix because my consistency came out a little wet which flattened the cookies to be "unsandwichable" after cooking. I also didn't have time to make an icing (I'm working a lot, ok?) so I just bought some cream cheese whipped icing from the store - which worked perfectly fine.

Take the time to make some for a loved one. They'll be thankful, I promise.

1 Box red velvet cake mix
1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 Eggs

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix ingredients until combined.
• Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes.
• Cool.

Cream Cheese Filling
1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 1lb. Box of confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

• In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla.
• Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Makes about 24 cookies or 12 cookie sandwiches 

Gibson loves when I cook - he wait patiently for droplets to hit the floor.

Lemon Cookie Delight

So, there's a bakery near my work that sells some of the most delicious treats in the world. (Or, at least in Chattanooga.) Regardless, this bakery is something I've grown up on, and I had a brilliant idea to attempt at making some cookies that taste like their delightful, melt-in-your-mouth lemon cookies.

I am proud to say, I found a recipe that tastes JUST like these cookies and it's exceptionally EASY.

I brought them to all the family festivities, and they were a hit! I unfortunately left a batch at home which means they're sitting in my kitchen taunting me to devour every single one of them. I should be upset about this. But darn, what's 11 more pounds, right?

I found the recipe on yummly and trust me, they will make your heart, stomach, and friends you serve them to the most happy they've ever been. ever. ever.

dough:

1 lemon cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

icing:

1/4 tsp lemon extract

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp milk

1	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheets with foil.
2	Mix together cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto baking sheets and bake for no more than 8 minutes. Do not overbake! Once all the cookies are done. Remove the foil. You have a no need to clean baking sheet.
3	To Make Lemon Icing: Mix together confectioners' sugar, lemon extract, and milk. Mix ingredients together (more or less to your desired liking). When the cookies are warm or completely cooled, place as much icing on them as you like!

Tasting Heaven

The other day, I was on Pinterest, which honestly is more addicting than chocolate, yum...  now, while that may seem random, it actually leads me into my next point: I was on Pinterest, and I was searching recipes of deliciousness, and I found one.  


By "one" I don't just mean any recipe, I mean on of the best, easiest, most belly-happy-making, delicious tasting recipe I've made in a while. Are you ready? 


I shall call them, Yummy Ginger Bread Deliciousness with Cheesecake Awesomeness Inside... Or maybe I should just stick with the name the founder, Created by Diane, called them: Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites. But no offense, that is a little boring for all the sha-zam that is packed into these treats.


Here's all you need: 


1 (30 oz) package Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough (refrigerated section)
4 oz cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

- Roll two teaspoons of cookie dough into a ball for each cookie. Place balls of dough into paper lines mini cupcake/muffin pan. Make a well/indentation into each ball of dough with a flour dipped mini rolling pin or the back of a measurement teaspoon.
- Beat room temperature cream cheese with powdered sugar. Stir in vanilla. Place filling into a piping bag, cut off edge of bag. Place one teaspoon or so of filling into each area of cookie dough.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes or until cookie tested with tooth pick comes out almost clean.
- Don’t over fill the cookies with filling as they will rise when baked.
- Let cool before removing from cupcake pan, but definitely try one warm because they are so scrumptious out of the oven!

(Did I mention it was EASY?!) Here are some snapshots of my day cooking with my dear friend!