a non-traditional breakfast treat...

Two amazing takes on breakfast for those looking for something a little bit out of the ordinary...

take one: the french toast cupcake.

Tell me that looking at this doesn't make your mouth water!! It's a vanilla-cinnamony cake topped with maple buttercream frosting & a little strip of bacon. The recipe can be found here.

take two: the pancake shot.

...it's like breakfast in your mouth. with a kick.

Mix equal parts in a shaker with a few ice cubes to make it nice & chilly & then pour it out into the shot glasses.

-Butterscotch Schnapps

-Frangelico

-Baileys

When you've got it in the shot glass add just a splash of Jameson on top...this is where the 'bacon' taste comes in. Serve with a chaser of Orange Juice.

Enjoy in moderation everyone... :D

Clean Gnomes mean Happy Homes

I enjoy garden gnomes. Most of my close friends know this about me. I wanted to warn you because I fully intend to highlight gnomes on this blog, so you need to be ready to encounter them at any time!!! :)

I found these guys on etsy and I am fighting the urge to buy one or two or by the dozen...what? you don't want lonely gnomes, nothing good happens when a gnome is left to itself to plot...



And on that note, if you have a gnome lover in your life you should *absolutely* buy them this book. It's hilarious & has brought me Much Joy! (below is an excerpt)

Intro: Keep reading if you want to live.

Are you at risk of a garden gnome attack?

Do you have any of the following risk factors:

• For some insane reason you actually own lawn gnomes you live in a suburban or rural house.
• Your dwelling sits on secluded, wooded acreage.
• You live alone.
• You follow a strict routine, making it easy to predict your comings & goings.
• There are gnomeowners in your neighborhood.

Factors that decrease your risk of attack:

• You've never seen a garden gnome except in pictures or on tv.
• You live in an urban area with little green space.
• You live in an apartment complex or highrise.
• You travel frequently.
• You frequently move among your many residences because you're rich.
• You live with a large, extended family, whose members all watch over one another.

If you meet three or more of the above risk factors there is a high likelihood of a lawn ornament onslaught, and you are no doubt 'high risk' target.

Recipe Card Maker

If you're like me & have a tiny apartment kitchen then you like me might find joy in the small things...if that's the case, take a look at this Recipe Card Generator. These cards are so sweet & totally free to print!

You can choose 3x5 or 4x6 card size and then you add in your ingredients & directions (long recipes won't fit on the card so stick to shorter ones.)

This is something I got from one of my favorite blogs: howaboutorange.blogspot.com

Sour Cream & Summer Peach Pie

I recently heard tell of a sour cream peach pie and it struck me as a delicious & lovely summer treat. I began searching for a recipe and was surprised to find that there weren't many out there that fit the bill.

If you know me at all you'll know that I can't leave well enough alone...so I took two of the top reviewed recipes I found & combined my favorite bits of each...the results were better than I could have imagined. :)

• Filling:
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 tbs all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1 inch vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
• • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 3 large peaches, thinly sliced
• 
  
• 1 unbaked pie crust
• 
  
• Topping:
• 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbs white sugar
• 4 Tbs oats
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Pierce the crust with a fork (to prevent bubbling) and place on middle rack in the oven for 10-12 min. This step prevents the crust from getting soggy :)
3. Whisk together the sugar, flour, salt cardamom & vanilla seeds. Beat in the sour cream and egg. Stir in the sliced peaches. Pour the mixture into the pie crust.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking until the filling is set, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven.
5. Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
6. Whisk together the flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix in the butter with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the pie.
7. Return the pie to the preheated oven and bake until topping is golden, about 10 minutes. Let pie cool slightly before slicing.

Warm or cold this pie is downright yummy & would be lovely with some vanilla ice cream.

A Few Notes on Peaches...

*I didn't peel the peaches however some people don't like the texture of the peach skin...

*If you're using canned or frozen be sure to drain well otherwise the filling may not set as well or generally be runny.

*I used White peaches, but Yellow work just as well!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

While I'd love to own a chest freezer and be able to store up all sorts of goodies for the winter months as an apartment dweller I just don't have the kind of space.

One of the few things I *do* set aside space for is strawberry freezer jam. There's nothing like homemade jam on french bread with a little cheese or a top a crunchy english muffin- it brightens up anything- especially mid-winter when you havent' seen the sun for months and need a little reassurance that summer isn't a myth...

Strawberry Freezer Jam

For this recipe I used:

-Quart of fresh Strawberries (yield: a little over 3 cups)

-Sugar (I used 3.5 Tbs or to taste)

-One package Ball Freezer Jam Pectin (to firm things up)

other needs: a saucepan, stirring utensil, tasting spoon & containers to store your jam in.

1. Clean & Hull the Berries

(if you can't make the jam right away but your berries are ripe go ahead & prep them

and then place them in the freezer til you've got the time.)

Note: While we are *technically* making freezer jam here I like the texture that you get if you cook the berries down with the sugar before adding the pectin.

2. Place the Berries in a saucepan and heat on medium. Stir until the berries begin to break down.

*if you're pressed for time you can place most of the berries in a blender & pulse dicing the remaining berries & before placing in saucepan.

3. Add sugar & stir until dissolved. Take a spoon & taste the jam- if you like, add a bit more sugar & taste again. When you've got the right ratio remove from heat.

*most recipes call for what is (in my mind) an ABSURD amount of sugar. If your berries are ripe they should be plenty sweet & too much sugar just dulls the taste of the berries.

4. Add the pectin to the berries & stir in to dissolve and distribute. If you're using a quart of berries you will not need the full packet of freezer jam pectin- I used half for my batch. You can save the remaining pectin in an airtight container for use later.

5. Leave the jam to cool while you set up your containers. You can use pretty much anything- large or small. I've used everything from baby food jars to plastic freezer bags, just make sure they're clean & have a lid. When the jam is room temperature spoon, ladle or pour the jam into your containers. Be sure to leave a little bit of room at the top for expansion as it freezes.

**The jam will keep for a year in the freezer and up to one month in the fridge.

Tasty Note: I had an awesome realization today...you can use a simple syrup infusion in place of the sugar. DON'T BE INTIMIDATED! Simple syrup is just sugar & water boiled down.

You can add all kinds of fun flavors to your jams this way; mint, basil, lemon, lime even thyme...the options are truly limitless. The syrup can be used to sweeten pretty much anything but is best in iced beverages (or jams!)

Simple Syrup:

1/4 c sugar

1/8 c water

1. Place over medium heat & stir to dissolve. *if you're wanting to infuse an herb add it now.

2. Continue stirring to prevent crystallization and heat until syrup has thickened.

3. Remove from heat. *if you have added anything strain or otherwise remove the ingredient from the syrup at this point.

4. Place the syrup in a container with a lid. This can be stored either at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

there's a first time for everything.

There's a fair bit of pressure built up to your first blog posting.  What will this blog *be* about.  What do *I* want to say to the world.  The funny thing is, I never thought I had too much of anything to say.  Turns out I could've been wrong about that... ;P

I will say this much:  Life is crazy & I have no idea what I'm doing.  I thought we were supposed to know...who we are, what we want to be- now that we're 'grown up.'  But I don't.  More than anything I marvel at the fragility of life and love and have even more desire to savor those sweet small moments of joy and peace we happen upon in life.

I want to deeply learn the lesson that life is too short & that most of the time it's *absolutely* worth the risks we must take to live it well.  To realize who I am, who you are- that we might in fact be people living fully alive.

In the future you'll find here all manner of things: recipes, book reviews, articles I find challenging or inspiring, music I'm in love with, rants about things currently driving me mad, notes on the constant challenge to myself to live a simpler life and who knows what else.  Feel free to follow along with me on this adventure.  Feel free to share.  And I do hope, that if you're still reading this, you've found comfort in knowing that you aren't alone in still wondering who & what you'll be when you 'grow up.'