Sunday, April 8, 2012
lemon cupcakes with blueberry buttercream frosting
The weather around here the past couple of weeks has been totally delicious. I love the cold winter temperatures, and the boots and pea coats that come along with it, but after a few months of freezing cold the 60s & sunny has been a welcome change of pace. The shift in weather and temperatures brings a nice change in food preferences along with it (I really can find a way to relate everything back to food). I go from craving pasta with heavy sauces, soups, and hot drinks to wanting light salads, fresh crunchy vegetables and nice iced coffees. As far as dessert goes I become obsessed with basically anything fresh & bright, like peaches and lemons and berries. So when thinking about what I was going to bake for Easter this year, it didn't take much time to settle on the flavor combo that I wanted. A few weeks ago one of my favorite people in the world, Mandie, made a delicious Blueberry Lemon Tea Cake and from the moment I ate three slices of it I have not been able to get the flavor combination out of my mind. Lemon and blueberry it was! The hardest part was deciding what form the flavors would take...a layer cake, a bundt cake, scones?
Saturday, March 17, 2012
scones.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm half Irish but aside from the Irish Soda Bread that my mom made this morning, I won't be doing much of the "traditional" celebrating. I have, however, spend a good amount of time outside today celebrating this beautiful weather. So I did celebrate something...just not what the rest of the country is celebrating. But eating some bread outside in sunny 70 degree weather? Sounds like a good day to me.
I've been home on Spring Break this past week, but it's ending soon (wah) and I'll be back at school tomorrow night. I've mentioned my love of baking here previously, and I especially love baking in my kitchen at home. It's just, obviously, a lot more spacious than the one at my apartment, has better light, better appliances, a better setup, and just a better everything! So when I do go home I usually take advantage of it and bake quite a lot. This spring break I did not really bake much though, I was a little too preoccupied with something else (fyi there will be a post about these little books in the near future, as they have consumed my thoughts and taken over my life since the minute I read the first sentence of the first book).
I woke up yesterday morning really wanting to use a pastry cutter - do you have cravings of using certain baking tools? No? It's not normal? Okay, just wanted to see. After thinking about it for about 2 seconds I decided I wanted to make scones, and before my feet even hit the floor I had a recipe for Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Scones that I knew I was going to make. That's not an exaggeration, by the way, I literally opened my eyes, thought of a pastry cutter, grabbed my phone and Googled chocolate chip scone recipes. I found one, then got up and started my day. The correct way to start a morning, if you ask me...
These Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Scones came from Evil Shenanigans. It was my first time making scones, which is absolutely ridiculous and something I can't believe is true. I love scones. They are one of my favorite foods to eat so the fact that I had never made them before yesterday is an embarrassment. They were super easy but completely delicious. I loved that they used buttermilk and not heavy cream, because I always have buttermilk but heavy cream is not a pantry staple of mine. The only thing I did differently was swapping out regular size chocolate chips for mini ones. In scones, and most other pastries actually, I much prefer little bites of chocolate that melt into the scone as opposed to normal size chocolate chips that seem like an add on. But, it's just a personal preference of mine!
There's an 87% chance I'm going to be making another batch of these in an hour or two while listening to the stunning soundtrack for The Hunger Games. This is for two reasons - 1) I honestly can't get enough of the soundtrack, it's perfect. And 2) The following picture is the amount of scones that are left in this house...
It's unacceptable, it's a problem, and it needs to be addressed & fixed. Good thing I'm up to the challenge
xx Meg
PS. Read The Hunger Games Triology, please & thank you.
I've been home on Spring Break this past week, but it's ending soon (wah) and I'll be back at school tomorrow night. I've mentioned my love of baking here previously, and I especially love baking in my kitchen at home. It's just, obviously, a lot more spacious than the one at my apartment, has better light, better appliances, a better setup, and just a better everything! So when I do go home I usually take advantage of it and bake quite a lot. This spring break I did not really bake much though, I was a little too preoccupied with something else (fyi there will be a post about these little books in the near future, as they have consumed my thoughts and taken over my life since the minute I read the first sentence of the first book).
I woke up yesterday morning really wanting to use a pastry cutter - do you have cravings of using certain baking tools? No? It's not normal? Okay, just wanted to see. After thinking about it for about 2 seconds I decided I wanted to make scones, and before my feet even hit the floor I had a recipe for Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Scones that I knew I was going to make. That's not an exaggeration, by the way, I literally opened my eyes, thought of a pastry cutter, grabbed my phone and Googled chocolate chip scone recipes. I found one, then got up and started my day. The correct way to start a morning, if you ask me...
These Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Scones came from Evil Shenanigans. It was my first time making scones, which is absolutely ridiculous and something I can't believe is true. I love scones. They are one of my favorite foods to eat so the fact that I had never made them before yesterday is an embarrassment. They were super easy but completely delicious. I loved that they used buttermilk and not heavy cream, because I always have buttermilk but heavy cream is not a pantry staple of mine. The only thing I did differently was swapping out regular size chocolate chips for mini ones. In scones, and most other pastries actually, I much prefer little bites of chocolate that melt into the scone as opposed to normal size chocolate chips that seem like an add on. But, it's just a personal preference of mine!
There's an 87% chance I'm going to be making another batch of these in an hour or two while listening to the stunning soundtrack for The Hunger Games. This is for two reasons - 1) I honestly can't get enough of the soundtrack, it's perfect. And 2) The following picture is the amount of scones that are left in this house...
It's unacceptable, it's a problem, and it needs to be addressed & fixed. Good thing I'm up to the challenge
xx Meg
PS. Read The Hunger Games Triology, please & thank you.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
march photo a day.
I am really obsessed with taking pictures. Of everything. I've been taking them probably since the first minute I could correctly hold a camera. I'm not a great photographer, I've always wanted to take classes or teach myself more about photography - I've just never gotten around to it, but it doesn't really matter all that much to me right now. The reason I love taking pictures is because I'm always very kind of paranoid of forgetting little moments, or big moments, and the best way I know how to prevent that is just by taking a shot of the scene. I have loads of pictures on my computer, phone, in boxes and one of my favorite things to do (in the world) is just to randomly go through an album and have each photo bring me back to that moment, that day in which it was taken.
This is a huge reason why I love the iPhone app Instagram. First - it's on my phone, which means it is always with me. I can always take a picture or decide to flip through my album to jog some memories. Second - it has these very pretty filters that you can put your photos through that instantly make any shot look 100x better and more beautiful. So for someone like me - who knows little to nothing about photography but also loves things to look pretty - it really is a Godsend.
A lot of my Instagram (I'd say a good 50%) is actually pictures of food. What can I say? I post what I love. And everybody knows there's not much I love more than food, especially baking. But lately my pictures have been a bit more varied because this month I'm doing the March Photo A Day challenge - created by fat mum slim. I love little memes like this! I've been having a lot of fun with it. 8 days in and I haven't missed a day yet, I hope & think that'll continue throughout the rest of the month.
This is a huge reason why I love the iPhone app Instagram. First - it's on my phone, which means it is always with me. I can always take a picture or decide to flip through my album to jog some memories. Second - it has these very pretty filters that you can put your photos through that instantly make any shot look 100x better and more beautiful. So for someone like me - who knows little to nothing about photography but also loves things to look pretty - it really is a Godsend.
A lot of my Instagram (I'd say a good 50%) is actually pictures of food. What can I say? I post what I love. And everybody knows there's not much I love more than food, especially baking. But lately my pictures have been a bit more varied because this month I'm doing the March Photo A Day challenge - created by fat mum slim. I love little memes like this! I've been having a lot of fun with it. 8 days in and I haven't missed a day yet, I hope & think that'll continue throughout the rest of the month.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
home.
I'm not quite sure there's a truer statement then this one: I'm obsessed with being home. Especially after a week of midterms...yeah, definitely obsessed with being home. I love Rutgers and my apartment there but all the time sometimes it's nice to come back here to be with my family, my DVR, and two months worth of Pioneer Woman's show to catch up on. Which is exactly what I'm doing right now. And it's totally delicious.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
the civil wars.
Tomorrow I begin a period of 10 days that are to be filled with 2 papers and 6 exams. I am so excited! Only not. I'm actually shaking and crying right now but you can't see because you're reading this and not sitting next to me (thank God, for your sake).
I like to give myself self-imposed study breaks so I don't go insane while study and also so I can forget all about my sad, stressful, overwhelming life (now would be a good time to mention that I am a little dramatic). The entertainment really isn't confined to the study breaks, I tend to listen to music while I'm studying as well. Not all the time, it depends on how I am going about the studying and what exactly it is that I am studying, but a lot of the time I have some tunes playing in the background.
I like to give myself self-imposed study breaks so I don't go insane while study and also so I can forget all about my sad, stressful, overwhelming life (now would be a good time to mention that I am a little dramatic). The entertainment really isn't confined to the study breaks, I tend to listen to music while I'm studying as well. Not all the time, it depends on how I am going about the studying and what exactly it is that I am studying, but a lot of the time I have some tunes playing in the background.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
pink heart cake.
Happy Cougar Town is back day! ...I mean, Happy Pink Day! ...I mean, Happy Valentine's Day! No but, seriously, Cougar Town is back today (after an excruciating nine month hiatus) at 8:30 EST/PST on ABC. Please, please watch! I don't want to lose this show. I promise it's a good & hilarious show that has nothing to do with it's title.
It's also Valentine's Day, and I have a little something I'd like to share. At the beginning of this year we lost my Grandpa (horrible way to start out 2012) and since his passing my Grammy has been understandably depressed. They were together for over 50 years, had 4 kids, and numerous grandchildren. All of the sudden, her husband is gone, and she's alone in the house. My family is lucky enough to live within an hour of where she does, so we've all been making many visits to her - not to mention phone calls - to ensure that she does not feel alone. The first holiday she has had to spend without him is today, Valentine's Day, and I wanted to make sure that she did not feel alone because she certainly is not. She has a lot of love surrounding her from all of us. It was a terrible tragedy but it is true that a heartbreak like that brings a family closer together, there is something magical about how we all rallied around her and showered her with so much love.
It's also Valentine's Day, and I have a little something I'd like to share. At the beginning of this year we lost my Grandpa (horrible way to start out 2012) and since his passing my Grammy has been understandably depressed. They were together for over 50 years, had 4 kids, and numerous grandchildren. All of the sudden, her husband is gone, and she's alone in the house. My family is lucky enough to live within an hour of where she does, so we've all been making many visits to her - not to mention phone calls - to ensure that she does not feel alone. The first holiday she has had to spend without him is today, Valentine's Day, and I wanted to make sure that she did not feel alone because she certainly is not. She has a lot of love surrounding her from all of us. It was a terrible tragedy but it is true that a heartbreak like that brings a family closer together, there is something magical about how we all rallied around her and showered her with so much love.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
saturday baking.
I'm thinking that Saturday's are going to be food days here. Every Saturday I'm either going to talk about a favorite recipe of mine...a favorite food of mine...or most likely a favorite food blog of mine, like I did last week. Today is actually going to be a combination of a few of those, because I'm gonna link y'all to a few recipes for a certain holiday that is on Tuesday, Valentine's Day.
I love baking. It's arguably my absolute favorite thing to do in the world. I also am a lover of pink, it's possibly my second favorite thing in the world. A good half of everything in my life is pink. A holiday which celebrates pink, red, & baking (can you tell I'm single & ignoring the actual reason for the holiday)? Sign me up! I'm planning on making a few things for Valentine's Day, so I've spent the last few days poking around the Internet looking for recipes that I deemed adorable yet doable (apparently professors do not share my love of Valentine's Day, because I have 2 papers and a borderline in-san amount of reading to do for this week). It was super hard to narrow them down, but here's a few that caught my attention. . .
Pots de Creme from The Pioneer Woman
Heart Cinnamon Rolls from Cake & Allie
New York Style Chocolate Cheesecake from Emeril
Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies from Two Peas And Their Pod
Heart Cake from i am baker (this one is just for fun! no way I could pull this off)
Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes from Brandielle via The Pioneer Woman
I've personally made the lava cakes about 15 to 20 times before and can attest to not only their awesomeness but their easiness as well, I swear anyone can make them! Also, how precious are those heart shaped cinnamon rolls? Such a cute idea.
Happy Valentine's Day baking!
xx Meg
I love baking. It's arguably my absolute favorite thing to do in the world. I also am a lover of pink, it's possibly my second favorite thing in the world. A good half of everything in my life is pink. A holiday which celebrates pink, red, & baking (can you tell I'm single & ignoring the actual reason for the holiday)? Sign me up! I'm planning on making a few things for Valentine's Day, so I've spent the last few days poking around the Internet looking for recipes that I deemed adorable yet doable (apparently professors do not share my love of Valentine's Day, because I have 2 papers and a borderline in-san amount of reading to do for this week). It was super hard to narrow them down, but here's a few that caught my attention. . .
 |
| * pictures are from the websites linked below! be sure to click! |
Pots de Creme from The Pioneer Woman
Heart Cinnamon Rolls from Cake & Allie
New York Style Chocolate Cheesecake from Emeril
Lofthouse Style Soft Sugar Cookies from Two Peas And Their Pod
Heart Cake from i am baker (this one is just for fun! no way I could pull this off)
Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes from Brandielle via The Pioneer Woman
I've personally made the lava cakes about 15 to 20 times before and can attest to not only their awesomeness but their easiness as well, I swear anyone can make them! Also, how precious are those heart shaped cinnamon rolls? Such a cute idea.
Happy Valentine's Day baking!
xx Meg
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