Goals for the New Year

I am a work in progress in many regards. I will work towards several goals in the coming year, but I don't so much feel as if I'm making New Years Resolutions as I am striving to do better in general. I aim to eat less refined sugar, move towards a more organic and vegetable based diet, and find more ways to embrace the little bits of goodness all around me in the coming year.  The difference is, these are actions I have worked on in the past and know that I will continue to strive towards.  I will not be done with them at any point in the coming year, and I'm so okay with that.  Also, I'm not resolving to give up anything. I am almost positive I will eat cheeseburgers and have bad days in 2015, it is what it is. 

New Year's Resolutions are believed to have originated in ancient Rome, as people would make promises to their gods to return borrowed items and pay off debts.  I'm not completely sure why, but I find this to be so positive. Ancient Romans were aware that they could do better and were willing to strive for that. I think having goals to eat a little better, be a little kinder and work a little harder is wonderful, but I think the best part is that you are making a goal. I don't mean that we are all screwed up and should probably do something with ourselves. By making a goal, you are recognizing something you could do a little better and focusing your intentions.

You have to wonder if the resolutions of the Ancient Romans were better kept at the time. I think the aspect that hinders many goals and resolutions is the grandeur of the goals. While losing weight may be a good goal for you, eating more vegetables, or exercising 3 times a week, may be more obtainable resolutions which would enable you to meet your overall goal. If you were making a shopping list, wouldn't it make more sense to list the individual groceries that you needed rather than just writing "groceries" on your list. In this sense I have come up with my own obtainable goals:

1. Experiment with and using more honey, molasses, sucanat, sorghum, and 100% maple syrup
2. Develop meat based dishes into more vegetarian friendly options
3. Start waking up earlier to allow for a calmer morning and less hectic commute
4. Running and walking more- this isn't for health as much as a time of reflection

Need help coming up with your own goals and resolutions? Here are a few interesting articles that may help:
      I love the focus of these articles from The Everygirl

      Also, Erika's less and more approach
      Lastly, a fun and ridiculous way to hash out goals

Hope your New Year is Bright!

Blue Apron

I have found a favorite new way to cook.  Blue Apron is a subscription service which you can opt in an out of and personalize to your dietary preferences.  I initially loved the idea of using fresh and seasonal produce and learning new recipes but wasn’t sure about the value.  Having someone plan, purchase, and lay everything out for you sounded like a great time saver, but I haven’t been leading such a hectic life that I don’t have time to come up with a few meals and make a weekly trip to the local farmers market and grocery store.  Also, spending $60 eating out or even ordering in for 6 meals (3 dishes of 2 servings) would be a great deal, but I don’t generally spend that much on home cooked meals. 

After trying Blue Apron, I definitely see the value in the system.  This company goes into so much detail in their directions (with additional tips online) as well as their products.  I think I contributed 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper to the last meal, but really and truly, everything else was provided, right down to the butter and seasoning.  Not only are you provided with fresh and seasonal produce, but also the opportunity to try things that may not be readily available at your local supermarket.  Even better, I feel like the recipes could be easily reproduced (with potentially a few substitutions).  In addition, the 2 meals that each recipe produces are so large!  Granted, I don’t eat large portions, but what was supposed to be 6 meals, really gave me 10-11 delicious meals.  

Earlier this month, I received the chicken schnitzel with watercress, apple, beet and red walnut salad, the shrimp & mustard green laing with jasmine rice, and the orecchiette pasta with roasted cauliflower, capers and garlic breadcrumbs.  While the chicken schnitzel was good, the orecchiette pasta was my absolute favorite.  I loved that each meal really brought together ingredients which I would not have thought to combine and did so in such a delicious meal.   I will definitely continue to use blue apron and encourage you to try it as well.  I received a free week of Blue Apron through a friend, but was not contacted or compensated by Blue Apron. I just loved it enough to share!

Merry Christmas to All

I  hope your Christmas is filled with delicious food and loving family and friends.  Merry Christmas and God Bless.

Brunch with the Birmingham Bloggers

Saturday morning, Brittany and I met in Birmingham for a brunch hosted by the Birmingham Bloggers.  The brunch was held at The Nest in Avondale.  Located just across from Avondale Brewing Company, The Nest is a beautiful new event space in a very cool historic area.  The brunch kicked off with a food photography/instagram workshop with Rachel, a food stylist for Cooking Light and blogger at Stupid Good Rachel. She covered lighting, angles, and backgrounds, among other things I had never thought of and offered great pointers.  

Rachel also coordinated the wonderful four course meal.  In addition to our yogurt bowls which we somewhat beautifully assembled (part of our workshop, we had a super green salad with pistachios, tahini and satsumas, baked eggs with crispy proscuitto and lemon zest home fries, and a citrus scented scone with grapefruit cream. With great food, wonderful people, and beautiful decorations like this, I'm reminded of how much I absolutely love brunch. 

I hope you manage to fit brunch into your busy life this week.  Do you have a favorite brunch-like meal?

Five Favorites for Friday

1. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family. We all gathered around the giant table that my dad built, and had way too much delicious food. Mom has a way of making even family dinners look beautiful. I took a carrot cake. This is my absolute favorite dessert to bake and the recipe is from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook, in which I have yet to find a sub-par recipe.

 

2. I also contributed sugared cranberries. I actually don't think I had ever had fresh cranberries before last week, but now I have, with and without sugar.  Sugared is way better. The recipe is super easy, but does require an overnight step. This kid really enjoyed them (this is not the best picture due the constant motion of this kid, but I love it). 
3. I spent the weekend following Thanksgiving with Seth's family in Mountain Brook, and finally bought a decent pair of reading glasses at Kate Spade- Hooray Black Friday!

4. I've been trying to read up on photography tips and tricks, see Shortcomings in Photography.  This National Geographic article on lighting was helpful.  I also finally got a picture of Butkus before he had chance to turn around (he has some type of aversion to cameras in general that generally results in his turning his bottom to the camera). 
5. I put up a Christmas Tree! Actually, some of my family came over to help me put up a Christmas Tree. Now to find present to put underneath it!

This weekend I'm looking forward to a brunch with the Birmingham Bloggers and Sunday afternoon with my sister. Hope you and yours enjoy a wonderful weekend.

What on earth am I doing (shortcomings in photography and a new camera)

I will be the first to admit my shortcomings, especially in the realm of photography.  In effort to better my knowledge of this subject, I recently purchased a Samsung NX1100.  I looked into a few DSLRs but quite frankly they intimidated the mess out of me. The NX1100 is part of the Samsung's family of compact system cameras with interchangeable lens.  From what I've read on the camera, it has excellent reviews, and aside from limitations of low lighting, really has been great.  I'm still learning photography basics and trying to figure out how to use it (outside of it's easy to use SMART mode; I've got that down), but I thought I would share a few of my recent pictures. 

 The pictures above were taken at the Cloverdale Road Park, B's favorite of the many parks in the area. First United Methodist sits at the heart of Old Cloverdale. 

My dad and one of my nephews at my niece's Frozen themed birthday party. Dad and Gray painted a lovely Olaf the Snowman.

None of the photos have been edited.  I would love to hear any photography advice you may have.

Cranberry Orange Scones

I hope wherever you may be spending your Thanksgiving is filled with love and good food and more than anything, thankfulness.  I will be spending the holiday and I'm sure eating a ridiculously rich dinner with my large family.  It's easy for me to get frustrated in the chaos of the holiday.  So many people going in so many directions (and so many sales to remind me that I haven't started on any Christmas shopping), but I will be doing my best to rest and take in the time I get to spend with nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters.  I hope you will too, whether it is time spent with sibling, parents, or friends, I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with those you care about.

An easy way to start off your Thanksgiving day would be with these cranberry orange scones.  I love a good scone, and the orange-y sweetness is a great complement to the slightly tart cranberries.  This could easily be made with fresh or dried cranberries and are would still be delicious without the orange extract if you don't have it on hand.  The best part is that these are very quick and easy to throw together, allowing you to get onto more important things like whipping together casseroles and basting turkeys.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Makes 8 scones

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Bake Time: 18-22 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar +2 tablespoons

1/2 cup cold butter

1 cup cranberries

zest of 1 orange (about 2 teaspoons)

1 cup very cold milk +1/4 cup (ideally full fat milk or even cream)

1 teaspoon orange extract

Ingredients for the Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

a dash of cream of tarter (will help glaze to set up)

Directions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 400 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. Sift together your flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix in the brown sugar. 
3. Cut the cold butter into pea-sized chunks and add to your dry ingredients. Blend the butter in with a wooden spoon or stand mixer. A great idea would be to use a food processor or pastry blender like Ashley suggests (if only I had read that sooner). I ended up just using my hands to finish kneading this together; you want the butter blended in, but you don't want to over mix to the point where the butter starts to warm.
4. Mix in dried cranberries and orange zest.
5. Add the milk and orange extract and work the dough together by hand until just combined. Over mixing may produce some hard scones, which nobody likes.
6. Gather your dough into a ball and roll out onto a floured surface until about an inch thick.

7. Use a pizza cutter or a knife to cut the circle of dough into slices. You can always cut those slices in half for smaller scones. 
8. Move the scones to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush the extra 1/4 cup of milk mixed with a teaspoon of vanilla on top of each scone. An option is to sprinkle the two additional tablespoons of sugar on top.
9. Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a slightly golden color begins to appear on the corners. You can serve them warm for an quicker option or allow them to cool and add an orange glaze (that I promise is worth the few extra minutes.)
10. Create the glaze by whisking together the orange juice, powdered sugar, and cream of tarter.  The cream of tarter will allow the glaze to set up, it's okay to exclude it if you don't have it on hand or don't intend on waiting on the glaze to set up. Drizzle over the cooled scones and serve.

Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Five Favorites for Friday

Welcome Friday, and thank goodness. I don't believe in constantly waiting for the weekend and really love what I do.  However, I'm so excited for this weekend, just for the time I plan on spending out in the precious few daylight hours.  Not having a window in my office, I've grown to really appreciate time spent outside. Knowing that I won't have any conference calls for couple days is also a welcomed little treat.

In celebration of this welcome, somewhat winter-like weekend and alteration in general, here are a few of my favorite and for the most part unrelated findings over the week.  I hope they will inspire you to storm a farmer's market, bake something delicious, and spend a crafty night in.

1. I had a wonderful weekend with lovely friends in Tuscaloosa. So many of my favorite people were in town for a sorority alumnae event.  I cherish any time I get to spend with my friends, but getting to see so many of them in one weekend was just wonderful.  I also got to spend time with a few four-legged friends, like Winston, Brittany's adorable little yorkie.
   
2. I can't ever keep my seasonal produce straight and I need a plan before hitting up the local curb market. I love Kate's Monthly Produce Guides and her blog in general.
   
3. I'm so tempted to bake bread this weekend, just to have an excuse to make/eat Emma's Chipotle Butter.
   
4. I'm so amazed by the number of bloggers in the state. I am a newer member of Birmingham Bloggers and I have found so many wonderful girls through this network. I've quickly come to love the blog, Double Thyme and really wish I could just be a test taster for the wonderful baked goods Beth Cakes comes up with.
   
5. Between, the sleeping, cleaning, running, and baking I'm already planning to do this weekend, I'm hoping to practice my calligraphy. Julie Blanner has a few tutorials I've used so far and really like.

Hope your weekends are wonderful!

Almond Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

I made these a couple of weeks ago for a family lunch that I ended up getting to about 45 minutes late.  A positive aspect of staying in Alabama, is my family.  It's big, loud and a little crazy, but very happy.  Everyone is nearby, and able to regularly get together. My mom cooks lunch every weekend for everyone who can join and it's always delicious. As I said, these were meant to be dessert, but a hodge podge of issues resulted in my arriving after everyone had eaten.  They were still sampled, and everyone seemed to really enjoy.  My grandmother even thought they were the best I had ever made, but of course, what are grandmothers for if not complements.

If Thanksgiving had an official cookie, I would like to think this would be it.  The cranberry, in addition to the beautiful color it provides, adds a bittersweet kick to the white chocolate.  The almonds give a great texture and add a delicious little flavor.  Personally, I think the solid amount of butter also aids in the warm fuzzy feeling of Thanksgiving in this cookie.  I may be biased, but I loved these and hope you will too.

Almond Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

Makes 28 cookies

Prep Time: 12-15 minutes

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients: 

½ cup and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

½ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, beaten
1 ½ cup unbleached all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips
½ cup sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and sea salt and set aside. 
3. Cream together butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes).
4. Add in vanilla and beaten egg, mix until just barely combined.
5. Add in your flour mixture a third at a time.
6. Mix in the dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and almonds. 
7. Drop heaping tablespoon-sized dollops of cookie dough onto the parchment paper, leaving a 2 inches between each cookie, I even smooshed them down a little.
8. Bake 15-20 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are slightly golden. 
9. Let rest on the cookie sheet for just a minute, then move to a cooling rack. 

                                                                                                                     Hope you enjoy!