Meatless Monday: Crème Brûlée Frozen Custard

Okay. Real talk, folks. Who here doesn't love a good dessert? Some desserts are so fancy and lovely that we think of them as only being for special occasions and made by someone else.

Well stop that thinking right now!

This Crème Brûlée Frozen Custard on Spoon Fork Bacon would be so perfect to take to a party in little jars or just keep for yourself for those late night cravings. I definitely want to try this. Usually, I have to mosey on over to Central Market for crème brûlée, but now I get to make this tasty treat right here in my own kitchen! Now go impress your spouse or friends with this dessert. It would even be fun to take it to a party and torch the tops in front of your friends. Oh yeah. Make way for the professional over here. *poses like a badass with a blowtorch*

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Meatless Monday

One of my absolute favorite things in life is Mexican food. I could seriously eat Mexican food every single day and not get tired of it. (Please excuse me as my stomach growls as I think about cheese enchiladas...)

I found this recipe on Pinterest a long time ago and have made this many times since then. It is SO GOOD. Meriem on Culinary Couture took the oh-so-popular Crunchwrap Supreme and decided to make it at home. This isn't a vegetarian recipe, so I got the Morningstar Farms Veggie Beef Crumbles to replace the meat in it. It's crunchy, warm, and full of flavor. Plus, you know exactly what's going into it! Try it out! I'm craving this so much now that I might even make this for dinner tonight.

Homemade Crunchwrap Supreme (photo and recipe from here)

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Meatless Monday

It's no secret that I love food. Cooking, browsing through recipes, taking pictures of it, and eating it, of course! I've been a vegetarian for about eight years now and I want to be able to share some delicious vegetarian/vegan recipes that I have come across that I want to try or have tried. So let's start today!

Sweet potato chipotle soup with avocado (use coconut milk to make it creamy)
Click image for recipe.

If you've never tried cooking with chipotle sauce or peppers, stop what you're doing right now, run to the store, and go get some. I get a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and use it in everything I can put it in. I love chopping up the peppers and putting them in eggs, salsa, any Mexican food, and HOLY GUACAMOLE! I'll never make guac without chipotle peppers again. They add such great smokey flavor and spiciness to anything and everything. Give it a try, but go slow if you have a low tolerance for heat as they can be extremely spicy!

This soup uses some of my favorite ingredients to cook with and I can assure you that you're going to love it, too. There's no shortage of flavor in this and coconut milk is perfect in it! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Also, don't forget that today is the last day to send me an email if you would like to get one month of free advertising on my blog! Details are in this post.

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Unexpected Flavors

After doing some browsing on Pinterest for fun things to bake, I came across a bunch of cake recipes that weren't your typical chocolate, vanilla, etc. These cakes were paired with equally unexpected flavors of frosting. I've never tried baking with super adventurous flavors (the only time I ever did was when I made a Pink Champagne Cake), so I'm interested in trying a few of these to see what they taste like!

Double Chocolate Espresso Pound Cake with Rose-Scented Cream Cheese Frosting (link)

Chocolate & Whiskey Cake (link)

Black Tea Cake with Honey Buttercream (link)

Lavender Honey Cupcakes (link)

Coffee and Walnut Battenburg Cake (link)

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Whisky Business

A little abstract view of a common utensil.

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Presents from the Garden

Our garden gave us all these onions! I walked out onto our patio yesterday to find these tasty little beauties sunbathing there. Mm, makes me think of all the delicious recipes these will be incorporated into in no time! 1st stop, cajun pasta, perhaps? :)

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Peanut Butter & Pretzel Bars (aka my new obsession)

So I found this recipe recently and let me just tell you... These little bite size pieces of heaven are DANGEROUS. Why? Because 1) they're no bake, 2) they're super fast to make, and 3) one just isn't enough. Neither is two. Or ten for that matter. I could probably eat through all 25 of these in one day if I wasn't trying to eat healthier since coming home from college.

Then again.... I did make these on Wednesday... And now it's Saturday and there's only two left.... (oops.)

Anyway, here is the awesome recipe. The only thing I did differently was use Skippy's natural extra crunchy peanut butter with honey. Since I didn't have salted peanut butter, I just added salt to the peanut butter until it tasted just right. And let me just tell you that the peanut butter/sugar/butter mixture is seriously good enough to eat on its own. Enjoy!

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Pink Champagne Cake

Vanilla cake. Chocolate cake. Strawberry cake. Blah cake.

I'm quite the cake fanatic and I realized that I was starting to get bored with the usual flavors of cake. I was browsing on Pinterest when I got the idea to bake a cake that I had never tried before. A champagne cake is a nice flavor to use for a more sophisticated party and a cake for adults to celebrate with. So here it is: How I made my Pink Champagne Cake plus a decorating tip that will make everyone think you've been decorating cakes your whole life and that you slaved away at this for hours!

Step 1) I used this recipe to make this cake. The Andre champagne I used was the absolute cheapest one I found (#privatecollegekidproblems) and it was $4.47 at Walmart!

Step 2) Mix up all the ingredients. I tasted the batter after I mixed it up and I didn't feel like there was enough champagne in it so I added an extra 1/4 of a cup in and mixed it in.

Step 3) Pour the batter into round cake pans. Mine were 8x8.

Step 4) After taking them out of the oven, let them cool and then level them off for a nice even cake.

Step 5) While the cake was cooling, I mixed up the icing. I added a little extra champagne for more flavor. I realized that right after I mixed it in, it was REALLY strong, but after it had been sitting around for an hour or so, the champagne taste was not as strong and tasted really good. Also, this is a VERY sweet icing, so I didn't use too much of between the layers and on the cake.

Step 6) DECORATING TIP: Use a napkin to decorate your cake! There are usually two sides to a napkin: There's the smooth side and the patterned side. First, I used the smooth side to even out the final layer of icing on top of my crumb coat. Then I used a new napkin, patterned side down, and smoothed it out while pressing down ever so lightly. This seriously took me less than TEN SECONDS and then I was done! Looks pretty professional, right?

Step 7) While the cake was chilling in the fridge, I had to clean up the HUGE mess I made making the icing! Note: make sure the butter is completely softened before mixing.... Or else you'll get a huge mess too.

Step 8) Take pretty pictures of your fancy cake and share it with loved ones! Perhaps a nice glass of champagne would be nice to drink with this cake. :)

If you make this or have any quick decorating tips, let me know in a comment! Hope y'all like this and use this technique! I'd love to see pictures if you do!

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Cold Front

Shut the (Cold) Front Door!

The temperature went from being cozy, warm, and perfect, to this chilly, fifty-something degree weather overnight.... literally. Welcome to Texas, y'all. I've spent my down time curled up under my favorite fuzzy blanket.

Pink Champagne Cake. I found this recipe online and decided to make it. I tried out a new frosting technique and that pretty design took me less than TEN SECONDS! Interested in seeing how I did that? Stay tuned for pictures and tips once I get back to the beautiful, humungo Mac desktops at school!

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Chocolate chip cookies

Bake ALL the cookies!

(how 'bout that boss meme drawing I did!)

And that's exactly what we spent the entire day doing.

My best friend, Chelsea, and I were taking pictures when we decided that some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies sounded like the PERFECT snack. Well, we now have enough snacks for the next two weeks... We ended up baking five dozen cookies by accident (yay for reading the recipe wrong!) and now have more cookies than we know what to do with! It's okay, though, because these cookies are wonderful and soft and the perfect sweet treat! I'm sure my parents won't mind me bringing these babies home. ;) 

And, of course, a special thanks goes out to our kitty helper, Kira. :)

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to run off some of these cookie calories!

Samosa Hut

Yesterday, I went and had lunch at this rockin' place in Irving, TX called the Samosa Hut. This wasn't my first trip and it definitely won't be my last! We got a variety of samosas as well as the Tikka Masala and the Korma, both with veggies instead of meat. Oh. My. Goodness. As an Indian, I'm used to spicy foods and exotic flavors. They really turned it up with these dishes! The Tikka Masala was full of different spices, cloves being the most prominent, and the heat definitely had a strong presence in the dish! Super spicy! The Korma was creamy and perfect for dipping naan into! You just can't go wrong at this restaurant with their delicious samosas and fabulous dishes. If you ever find yourself in Irving, I definitely suggest that you stop by for a bite to eat at this fab place. :)

Vegetarian Samosas

Click through the pictures for the bigger version :)
Happy Monday, y'all!

The Black Rooster Bakery + Chocolat

On Thursday, I decided to go to the Black Rooster Bakery for breakfast before meeting up with some friends at TCU.  That morning, Southern Living Magazine was doing a photoshoot there! How exciting!
I got there at around 9:30am and walked into the bakery and just inhaled the delicious air. My stomach is growling just thinking about! All the fresh pastries looked equally amazing from the Pecan Cinnamon Rolls (my personal favorite!) to the lovely galettes! I decided to try something new and went with the French Toast Muffin. After getting that, heating it up in their microwave, and getting a cup of their delicious fair trade organic coffee (which was free that morning! I love free!), I went outside to eat it while I read a book. It was hard being patient while I took my own photos of my tasty breakfast.

The top of the muffin was covered in these amazing little bite size pieces of brioche bread. I love pulling off the little chunks and popping them into my mouth. Super messy, but another customer and I both agreed that that's the best way to eat it! Every little bite was perfect and just as sweet as it needed to be. It was melt-in-your-mouth good and the perfect balance between crunchy and soft. I only finished about half of it before I went inside to get out of the heat and enjoy some more of it in the air conditioning. I kept eyeing those fabulous pecan cinnamon rolls that were calling my name. So.... I gave in. I figured it would be nice to bring home and share it with my parents (okay, okay... you caught me... it was my sneaky plan so I could eat some of it too..). Another cup of coffee and another pastry later and I still had some time to kill. So I decided to chat it up with some of the lovely people around me. I got to meet a friendly French teacher who is actually French! He said that the bakery was the best French bakery he had ever been to in the States! I also got to talk to Southern Living Mag's photographer and another really sweet, fabulous lady. I love meeting new people. Even if you never see them again, it's so great to talk to someone new and hear a little piece of their story. It absolutely made my morning!

 

I hope I'm not making y'all TOO hungry with all these pictures! (& thanks to Pugly Pixel for the photo layout I used above!) I would have snapped a few pics of that pecan roll, but my parents were all over that when I got home! That's okay, though. I still had the rest of that fab muffin to finish!

Speaking of sweet things, I just picked up two new books yesterday! I got Chocolat and its sequel, The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris. Chocolat is one of my favorite movies and soundtracks, which I am currently listening to while I write this. If you're curious to know what it's about, here is a review and description on Amazon.

Long story short, I seriously recommend the Black Rooster Bakery in Fort Worth. Check out the website and read a little bit about the bakery and how they make the bread! You and your tummy won't regret visiting them! Happy Saturday, folks! :)

Coffee Love

Today, I ventured outside of my usual instant coffee and tried this Colombian coffee that you see pictured below.

I picked it up at my local Walmart for just under four bucks. These babies last me a LONG time since I only have a cup of coffee a few days a week. It's a little bit stronger than what I'm used to, but I think it'll grow on me. I mean, coffee is like pizza - even when it's kinda bad, it's still pretty good! I think a little more milk will help balance out the bitterness I'm getting from it. (note: my friends usually make fun of me for having more cream than coffee in my cup ... It's so good, but it can be so bitter!!)

I think my favorite part about this coffee is actually the texture. It's like a terrain when you look at it up close! Check out the detail in the picture! Neat, right? (please ignore the terrible "arrow" that I used to connect the detail to the image... I obviously need some arrow brushes!)

If you're a fan of instant coffee like I am, I suggest you try this out! Let me know what you think if you do!