Peanut-buttery goodness

Had a hankering {yes, I just used that word} for something peanut buttery a few weeks back. I scoured my bookmarks for everything from mail order treats to Fiber One brownies. I settled on this yummy little recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything. They were super simple and swiftly gobbled up. 

They also seem pretty customizable flavor-wise since you're using cake batter. Hmm... I just had a brilliant idea for a fall-inspired pumpkin version. Stay tuned!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars - ☆☆☆☆☆ (I'm a sucker for peanut butter)

Enjoy!

Ruta-ruta-bo-buga

On yesterday's menu: rutabaga fries! ::crickets:: 
Yeah, it was hard for me to get excited about it too-- but I did-- because I'm trying new ways to get more veggies in, and this is a great one. 

Yes. It's ugly. 

 Fugly, perhaps?

 Got rid of the nasty protruding part... it's starting to look a little better...

 Took a basic vegetable peeler to the skin... starting to resemble a potato...

Chopped it up into 1/4 inch thick sticks, and I really couldn't tell the difference. Mind was sufficiently tricked in the visual department. 

I seasoned with sea salt, Adobo, and my new favorite: Penzey's Arizona Dreaming. 

Still fooled in the looks department!

Served them with a little ketchup, and felt my life changing with every nibble. The Mister liked them too-- they were gone in record timing!

My waistline thanks you, Mother Nature!

Now get going to your grocery store, peep this recipe or the million others, and get your rutabaga on! 

Banana bread brown sugar pancakes

Another Pinterest recipe success!

Brown sugar banana bread pancakes with vanilla glaze. Ridiculously delicious. 

I started with the recipe here. I made some substitutions out of necessity... 

• oat flour instead of whole wheat flour {the Mister is gluten-free}
• 2 bananas instead of 3 bananas {thats all I had}
• cream instead of milk {milk decided to check out early. blechh}
• this glaze instead of the vanilla maple {I loathe syrup} 

These pancakes are the real deal, and oh so easy to make. I'm tinkering with the idea of turning them into  cupcakes. The batter is fluffy yet dense {which doesn't make all that much sense, but I don't know how else to explain it}. It reminds me of the little pieces of heaven from Baked and Wired. Mmm... pardon me while I drool a little. 

If you're a pancake lover and/or banana bread lover, these are a must. Get going!

Mini Deep Dish Pizzas

So I finally recreated something from Pinterest {and yes, of course it was food}.


Best thing about this recipe is that measuring isn't really all that necessary. I don't mind all the measuring and exactness in baking—but when I'm making something savory, I just want to throw ingredients in a pot and end up with something delicious. Thankfully, this was just such a dish!


Here's the original post: Mini deep dish pizzas 


As I mentioned before, I only used this recipe as a guideline-- I didn't measure any of my ingredients at all, and I left out the sweetener and black pepper.


For much more aesthetically pleasing photos, please refer to the original post... these are quick and diiiirty {cue Christina Aguilera}:

Ingredients. And now for a little critical thinking: which ingredient is most important and why? 

What does one do with leftover tortilla pieces?

I bet this goober has an idea. He may or may not have gotten a few pieces for faithfully guarding the kitchen. Puppy dog eyes get me every time. 

I used the Don Pepino can to cut out perfect tortilla rounds.

I used a whole can of pizza sauce, a heaping handful of both the mini pepperonis and mozzarella cheese, then gave it a good stir.

It was surprisingly easy to fill the tortillas, hardly any spillage!

Top them with cheese and some mini pepperonis and pop them into the oven at 400º for about 15 minutes {or until the cheese is golden brown}.

And there you go! Easy Peezy, lemon squeezy! {I obviously spend too much time with third graders}. I know they're looking a little dubious with those burnt cheesy shreds, but only a crazy person would get rid of that goodness, so the jagged edges get to stay. 

Mini Deep Dish Pizzas - ☆☆☆☆☆

♡ quick and easy

♡ great recipe to mix and match ingredients

♡ healthy! {whole wheat tortilla, reduced fat cheese, mini pepperonis}

♡ built-in portion control 

Fact: These mini pizzas have already had an encore appearance this week. Hope you enjoy yours just as much!

Seattle and Portland

From the Northeast to the Pacific Northwest in and out of week. Talk about whiplash. We would only endure such depletion of the mind, body, and wallet for two people: J Willi, my fabulous sister-in-law and B Web, my absolute favorite of the mister's friends-- and the only person cuckoo enough to complete our twisted little musketeers vibe we have going on. Suffice to say, hijinks ensued☺

Evergreens have the be the official symbol of the Pac Northwest, no?

OK, kids-- about as touristy as you can get, but still wonderful...

First things first: Piroshky Piroshky — I've been dreaming about this deliciousness since we last visited in 2009. This teeny tiny little shop has tons of sweet and savory handheld pies. Between the four of us, we sampled the cheese onion garlic, beef and cheese, chocolate hazelnut and cinnamon cardamom rolls. Oh what is there to say other than "Yummmmm"?

I think this is a Seattle thing {correct me if I'm wrong}-- very interesting... melted down booze bottles into cheese boards. I am so into this. Amwilli was eyeing that Maker's Mark bottle {on account of his penchant for whisky}, alas, we left empty-handed.  

Can't. Resist. Cute. Monkeys. 

Public Market has scads of fresh flowers for $5-$10 per bouquet. The flower merchants even customize bouquets--does it get any better? 1-800-Flowers, who?

Quintessential Seattle: Space Needle, hills, SUBARUS. 

 The first of many happy hours... and this one was at...

...wait for it...

{brilliant}

 Happy hour, numero dos... I was clearly S.D. Churchill's bff in a past life.

Post happy hour things...

 Seattleites are into chalk it seems...

Molly Moon's - carmelized peaches and cream. I may have found the perfect ice cream flavor. Just sayin'.

Someone challenged me to a game of pool...

...and there you go. 

Well, hello gorgeoussss...

Just steps from J Willi's place-- I'm officially jealous. 

Onto the next happy hour... 13 Coins. It's a place where high end dining meets lounge lizards meets supper club, and it was a great time. Fabulous live music, insane people watching, and ridiiiculously delicious bar food. Meatball sliders, anyone?

BWeb's alarmed...

...probably because this just happened. Oops. 

Onto PORTLAND! Beware of bears...

 ...and big ass dogs. Seriously, Portland has got to be the big dog capital of the US. Newfies, great danes, rhodesian ridgebacks, and a variety of large hounds. They're probably needed to scare off the bears.  

Portland is an eccentric town, separated into different neighborhoods and districts. After spending the first part of the day in the Pearl District, we headed to Hawthorne neighborhood for shops and dining. I found all these little ditties in ONE shop {I wasn't lying about the eccentricity}:

What's that you say, another happy hour? Bring it. The land of evergreen trees believes in LATE happy hours, and dangit, so do I. 

One of the few friends he's kept in touch with since high school-- if surviving Catholic school doesn't bond you, nothing will.

A cobblestone alley full of hipster bars, but they had a bunch of picnic tables under twinkle lights. Why don't we have anything like this at home??

 I'm so OK with this kind of trouble!

 What's so funny?

 Ohhh... {Jersey Shore fans didn't have to think twice about this}

Voodoo Doughnut: Perfect way to end the night...

The world famous, bacon maple. Finger lickin' good {and I don't like maple flavored anything}.

Voodoo doll, naturally. Check out that pretzel stake-- it's complete with raspberry filling for the blood and guts. Wild.

Waffle Window: Perfect way to end the trip!

What can I say about Seattle and Portland? Great towns, a-mah-zing food, and perfect company. It was really an unforgettable way to end the summer-- and I can't wait for the next adventure!