Chocolate-covered what now?

Girls night in with my loves. 


Our get-togethers usually happen around some classy booze and lots of not-so-classy food. Baking is my thing (in case you live under a rock), so I'm sad to say that I'm usually a contributor to the not-so-classy food portion of the evening. 

But NOT this time... (well, not as much this time) 

I was inspired by a SparkFriend, to make some dark chocolate-covered clementines-- so I took them as a healthy option. I have to say, these little suckers were fun to make but mostly they were just darn pretty! 

Here they are, start to finish...

 

Fun snack + pretty AND easy to prepare = will be making these again. Too bad clementines are seasonal (womp).

Photo Friday {Week 3}

Has it really been three weeks already?! Guess so. Anyhoo, I was hoping this week would be all about food since we got our Restaurant Week on... then I realized I'm too busy trying to seem like I regularly dine at these places (oh and shoving delicious food in my face) to be that girl. Might be time to take a smaller, more discreet camera for restaurant photos. Until then, here's week three...

1.15 - No dumping — For a quick sec, I thought this was one of those "dolphin-safe" tuna logos. That's clearly not the case.

1.16 - Gordita and Fancy - I don't have a great macro lens, so this is the best I could do for DPS' weekly theme. 

1.17 - Ice, Ice Baby — And just like that, we had a 4-day weekend. 

1.18 - Mmmm

1.19 - 5ish sunset — Ready for the days to get muuuch longer.  

1.20 - Frosty — Only a happy little wine topper could make our dish drain look that pleasant. 

1.21 - Mood lighting — Perfect for a weekend-welcoming nap. 

Another week of photos has come and gone. Not sure if I'm getting any better with the camera, but I'm reading up and actually retaining a bunch of info— that's gotta count for something, right? Stay tuned for next week, the DPS theme is "tired" and I'm going to try to get a full week's worth of tired photos. Shouldn't be too hard with my classes starting back up!

Happy weekend :)

✳✳✳

Sharing this post with: Miss Mac's 365 Photo Project

Cream Cheese Danish-y Goodness

Say that three times fast. 

While you were saying that, I was nibbling on THIS:





and it is beyond. Beyond what, you ask? Beyond delicious, beyond easy to prepare, and rather importantly—beyond easy to clean up.


It all starts with a grand total of six ingredients: 

cream cheese

sugar, vanilla

crescent dough (and not pictured: cinnamon sugar and butter)

Whip up your cream cheese, sugar and vanilla til they're well combined...

...and make a pretty photo...

Roll one can of crescent dough out into the bottom of a 9"x13" pan.

Spread the filling evenly... don't skimp on those corners!

Then roll out the second layer of crescent dough on top of the filling. 

Melt butter, pour on top layer and finish off with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. 

Pre-oven

Post-oven

 Yup, that's mine. 

That one too. 

Maybe if you do my dishes, I'll let you have a taste... but probably not :)

This recipe is one of many from my school's awesome cook book. Our genius social committee collected recipes from the staff and put together quite the collection of breakfasts, apps, entrées and desserts. This is my first attempt at a dish and it was quite the crowd (read: Amwilli) pleaser. Plus, it got me in the mood to work my way through more of the recipes in the book... so look out for some goodies!


Cream Cheese Danish - ☆☆☆☆☆
♡ I'm a cream cheese kinda gal, so this speaks to my soul.
♡ One bowl recipe
♡ Easy clean up
♡ It's dessert!
♡ Haven't tried, but you could "healthy" up this recipe with lowfat cream   
     cheese, reduced fat crescent rolls, and raw sugar (or those Splenda/sugar hybrids). 


Here's the recipe:
2 - 8 oz blocks of cream cheese
1 C sugar
2 cans of crescent rolls
1 tsp vanilla 


Preheat oven to 350º
Blend cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together. Lay out one container of crescent dough on bottom of 9x13" pan. Spread cream cheese mixture over first layer. Lay out the second layer of crescent dough (try to pinch the holes shut). Melt 1/2 stick of butter and pour over top of crescent dough. Mix together 1/2 C of sugar and 1 T cinnamon and sprinkle over top. Bake  for 30 minutes. 


✳✳✳A BIG shout-out to Miss P for sharing such a tasty recipe!✳✳✳


Enjoy!

Photo Friday {Week 2}

So, I just realized if I start my weeks on Sunday and post on Fridays, I'll never have a Saturday pic to post. Starting next week, I'll go Saturday to Friday. Problem solved.

This week was unintentionally all about FOOD. Of course there's a shot of the Teeb in there, but I pretty much did a food photo journal for all intents and purposes. I suppose that'll happen from time to time-- because what's more of a muse than food, right? 

Without further ado-- week TWO:

1.9 - "Leftovers"

1.10 - "Showdown" Love Fage, but Chobani was on sale, so I decided to give it a go. It lost. Viva la Fage!

1.11 - "Breakfast" (DPS theme for the week)

1.12 - "Stalker"

1.13 - "Laziness" Could've cooked dinner, didn't. Thank you for the delicious turkey burger, Chicken Out.

1.14 - "Three-day weekend" 

I'm super excited for weekend snapping, AND for having time to actually fiddle with photos before posting. Who knows what magic awaits when I take the leap from straight-out-of-the-camera to processed photos (makes me giddy like a school girl just thinking about it).

Look for more food next week-- DC Restaurant Week starts Monday! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!  

✳✳✳

Sharing this post with: Miss Mac's 365 Photo Project

ps-- I made a badge and it sucked :-P

What's Cookin'?

Feta and Sundried Tomato-stuffed Chicken Breast... mmmm....
Best thing about this was I could just throw it together without a recipe. Muy bueno. 


Must-haves:

• skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• feta cheese
• sundried tomatoes
• garlic
• sturdy frying pan

Can-haves:

• whatever herbs tickle your fancy
• spinach

Yeah, I cheated and used tomato and basil feta-- I feel so semi-homemade right now, and that is NOT a good thing. She's creepy. 

My happy little pile of garlic back there is about to make everything better... and pungent. 

Can't survive without a kitchen scale-- invest in one if you haven't already... less than $20 but pretty much priceless!

The completed filling. All I need's a bird to stuff this in!

Poor chicken breast was pounded to a pulp by a frying pan (and I may or may not have cracked the pan handle in the process)-- I was getting out frustration toward Mother Nature for screwing us out of a snow day tomorrow. She's such a tease. 

Give the chickies a good sear then pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes on 375ºF.

Couldn't get as yummy a photo as I would have liked, but these turned out prrretty awesome if I do say so myself. 

Feta and sundried tomato-stuffed chicken breast - ☆☆☆½

♡ Lean protein is always a plus

♡ Feta is a magical cheese that's only 70-90 cals per ounce (even less for reduced fat versions!)

♡ Super quick meal

♡ Easy way to spice up boneless chicken breasts

♡ Leftovers are easy to reheat

♡ The dog will hang with you in the kitchen ever-so-hopeful for scraps (my favorite part!)

You can Google this dish and find scads of recipes, but I think it's a great one to experiment with. Let me know if this makes its way into your dinner rotation-- bon appétit!