food fix. easiest breakfast ever. but non-carbies, beware!

So to me, if I'm being honest, the easiest breakfast ever is coffee. Just coffee. I'm trying *promise* to sneak in a quick bowl of cereal or something during the weekday mornings. El kiddo eats breakfast at school -I am not cruel ;)

Okay, so my next easiest breakfast ever. My boss brought into work some sunflower seed bread from Fresh Market & it was pretty great. Next time I went to the grocery, I scoped out the bakery & found this dried fruit [cranberries, raisins] & seed [sunflower, flax] take-&-bake loaf. For less than $2, it couldn't hurt to try.

El kiddo loves it too and he's very picky about his crusty breads. I love this because I can graze on a slice or two earlier in the weekend morning with my coffee, then el kiddo & I can have a typical "meatier" breakfast or move on to lunch a bit later.

Anyways, the details. The dried fruit & seed loaf shown above is from Kroger. The take-&-bake loaves only require about 20-ish minutes in the oven as all the kneading & rising business has been taken care of, which suits me just fine! Slapped with olive oil style butter & drizzled with honey. Kroger also has this olive loaf take-&-bake that's great too! 

Usually, I'd pick up specialty breads from Fresh Market or Harry's [a local branch of Whole Foods], but I've been lazy lately and haven't felt like driving out to either. So I'm glad that the generic grocer has picked up an option too. Enjoy!

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sunday treats. blackened salmon & caramelized pineapple dessert

[image found here by Hallie Burton on Real Simple]

Yum. I wish I had taken a picture before we all devoured dinner tonight. Part of my Spring cleaning resolution involves my collection of recipe clippings. I've made a Springtime resolution that I will really work on testing out those specific recipes & skim out the duds. Lucky me has 3 males that are willing guinea pigs for all of this testing. Alex [kiddie age group], Mr J.D. [30's] & Jer [20 mark] all thought that tonight's dinner was a keeper.

Well, tonight's recipes from the April issue of Real Simple magazine were not duds. Blackened Salmon With Broccoli Rabe and Raisins. I type Yum again. This recipe helps with my pact of eating less carbs [which is sooo hard for a full-on starch--pasta, bread, potato--girl such as me]. While I'm not any where near a big girl--I still fit in some clothes from high school [it's more a matter of style difference from that time]--I'm not getting any younger either. Plus, if any of you have had surgery like me [you know, the kind that ends up splitting most of your stomach muscles...ugh], then you perhaps understand how hard it is to get back to that lovely flat[ter] stomach you once had.

Right, rambling. So, I'm trying to eat less carbs & thought that this recipe for blackened salmon & broccoli rabe sounded great. When I first try out a recipe, I tend to go along with as written. Generally I make my "to adjust" notes afterward & plan to try again later. Not needed for this recipe. Salmon came out great. Okay, I added a few cranks of pepper to the salmon along with the Cajun seasonings...but otherwise, I followed along as is. Well, I was out early this morning & didn't go out to Trader Joe's or Harry's [Whole Foods Market]...so Wally World & Kroger's both didn't carry broccoli rabe, so I just used with brocolli crowns because el kiddo loves his broccoli.

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For dessert we had [from the same issue], Caramelized Pineapple With Coconut Sorbet. 

[image found here by Jonny Valiant on Real Simple]

Again, I followed the recipe spot on & it was yummy. I recommend keeping the serving size small as shown because a little does go a long way. Well, at least I didn't include bread/rolls with dinner...I indulged, so sue me! FYI: I bought the pineapple coconut sorbetto from Kroger's Private Selection.

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Enjoy!

♥- Kat.

this is a round-up. treats.

Chicken Apple Rosemary Pot Pie recipe by Elizabeth Fuss [via {Frolic!}]

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Spring chicken cake pop recipe from Bakerella.

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Milk to white bar from Chocolate Editions by Mary & Matt.

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 Overnight coffee cake recipe from Skip To My Lou
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Apple dumplings recipe by Stacy Newgent [via Design*Sponge]

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organic DOG treats [humans, back away from the doggie treats!] from get lick'd

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[all images from respective links]

Yummy [salivates]!

♥ -Kat.

thursday treats. cast iron lamb chops

[image from CCB blog]

Easter is right around the corner, can you believe it?! This year is flying by far too quickly for me. Oh well. Time flies when you're having fun [or swamped], right?

Fresh homemade [rosemary, mint, basil] pesto & lamb chops seared in a cast iron with a quick sprint in the oven. Yum.  The recipe comes from Callie's Charleston Biscuits, which is a fantastic family grown...not quite bakery--perhaps biscuitry...based out of Charleston, SC. Find the pesto & lamb chop recipe here. They have other tasty recipes on their blog [if you're a fan of cast iron cooking, definitely check it out] & you can sign up for the newsletter. Note: They send out the newsletter fairly regular & lots of it concerns local Charlestons. I'm not 100% that you can tailor it to suit.

fan them on Facebook

Happy Cooking!
♥ - Kat.

Monday treats. champagne truffles and caviar dreams...

Teuscher location in Atlanta [Virginia Highlands/Druid Hills area]

Where did your family take you for a special reward as a kid? That's what teuscher chocolates reminds me of, but perhaps the kiddies would prefer some of their fun animal shaped chocolates...

solid chocolates (& pic) found here

...or if your adult taste buds run a little richer, perhaps you prefer their signature champagne truffles.

champagne truffles (& pic) found here

teuscher's champagne truffles are made with Dom Perignon champagne & are quite the rave. 

Corporate packages are also available here.

Yum!

♥ -Kat.

sunday treats. kids can have fun too.

Now that it's officially Spring again, families will be firing up the grill & inviting friends over for cookouts. Garden & dinner parties, birthdays, weddings...they are all on the menu. The adults will sample drinks of all colors of the rainbows with exotic names like Swampwater, Sea Breeze, Mai Tai... [you get my point] ...in all sorts of odd glasses. And the kids get juice, water, or soda in plastic cups. 

"Oh, what's that? Can I have that?"

I know that I'm not the only one that's been asked that by their kid. Sometimes, something as simple as letting the kiddies drink out of the same type of glass will do. You decide if you can trust them or not...they're your kids, not mine & I'm not there to clean up! lol...I trust Alex better than some of the adults! 

**Prodyne has a line of Unbreakable polycarbonate drinkware [I pulled up on Organize.com].  Martini & wine glasses, flutes, beer mugs, tumblers... all reasonably priced. Great for kids [some adults] & outdoors. Dishwasher safe.**

And if there are a number of kiddies over, why not make them kid-friendly cocktails?! Little things like that always were special & made me feel a little more grown-up [equaled more important] as a kid. Natalie Bovis-Nelsen [aka The Liquid Muse] shared such a recipe with Daily Candy. 

DailyCandy Kiddie Cocktail
Ingredients
1½ oz. pineapple juice
3 oz. guava juice
½ oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz. club soda
½ oz. grenadine
Pop Rocks (or colored sugar)
1. Hold a champagne flute upside down.
2. Rub the rim with a piece of lime to moisten, then dip it in a small plate filled with Pop Rocks so that they stick to the rim of the glass. Set aside.
3. Pour juices into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice, shake.
4. Gently strain into the candy-rimmed glass. Top with club soda.
5. Slowly pour in grenadine so that it settles toward the bottom of the glass, creating a slightly layered effect.

Her book, Preggatinis: Mixology for the Mom-to-be, looks like it would be a great resource for those special drinks sans alcohol. Just because it doesn't have the alcohol doesn't mean it has to be dull!

 

 Happy Mixing!

♥ -Kat. 

[top image & recipe from Daily Candy's original post] 

wednesday treats. crumb {a bakery}

Atlanta [Inman Park, specifically] area bakery, crumb, specializes in gourmet french macarons & cupcakes. So I know I'm showing these on St Patty's Day...but wouldn't these make the sweetest treat for Easter?! 

If you're within 5 miles radius of them [lucky], they deliver for free on orders of $15 or more. Actually, it's probably a good thing that I'm a little bit out of their 5 mile radius, because I might need to hit the trails more often...lol!

Fan crumb on Facebook and/or follow them on Twitter

Yum! [drool, drool]...

♥ -Kat.

[pictures from crumb blog: top pic here; pic of boxed macaroons here; pic of cupcakes & macaroons here]

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P.S. - I wasn't alone in the not very St Patty's Day post...as I was greeted with these mouth-watering treats from King Arthur Flour today in my inbox:

[click on images to go to respective links]

Almost too cute to eat! ♥-Kat.