bourbon brown sugar cupcakes

i have the best parents

ever.

period.

this week my dad came over on his own time to help justin finish up the final mudding, taping and sanding of the new Sheetrock in the mudroom. justin loathes this part of the project

my dad came to the rescue - he is simply the best

now we can move onto the finish work; you see, this has been an on going project for the past year

my dad knows how badly i wanted this project completed and knows how little extra time justin has on the one day a week he has off

my dad definitely deserves a super hero cape and these cupcakes

as some of you may know i bake cupcakes for those that i love- i wrote about it in one of my very first blog posts back in january of 2011- smbp was just a baby back then

so as a thank you to my dad i made these cupcakes for him

of course, made with an extra handful of love

roasted red pepper + kale pili pesto

do you remember early release days from school; weren't those the greatest?

friday was an early release day for me; originally i was suppose to take anna to the groomers

but our groomer was out sick on friday

so what was a girl to do with an extra 4 hours on a friday

make a pretty rad pesto- that's what

i am absolutely head over heals in love with this pesto

the taste, texture and color can't be beat

to top off my adventurous friday afternoon, i tossed my pesto with tofu noodles

after hearing the good, the bad & the ugly about these odd smelling noodles i decided to try them out for myself; after getting over the smell <insert gag noise>

 and preparing them according to the directions , they actually were pretty tasty

little coconut chocolate bars

here is a quickie for you

perfect for when you want something sweet in the quick

or have a cute boy coming over and you want to really impress him

by showing off your out of this world culinary skills but only have 15 minutes to spare

little coconut chocolate bars will give you the sweet fix you are looking for

and impress that cute boy

in just 15 minutes or less

how great is that?

maikate mushroom crostini

my love affair with bread continues

in the form of a crostini - little toasts

so cute

you can virtually put anything on a crostini and it would be good

and you look will look pretty fancy bringing a tray of crostini to your next get together

bread + veggies = love

or in this case

bread + maitake mushrooms = wow!

i LOVE finding new ingredients  - i have never seen maitake mushrooms before

sunflower had just happened to start carrying these new mushrooms

i was super excited; the pain au chocolate i was going to attempt to make this weekend went out the door, and in came the humble mushroom crostini

humble, however totally flavorful and fancy pants because its served on a crostini

creamy asparagus + red potato soup

i can feel it

can you?

spring wants to be here - it really does

i can't tell you how happy that makes me

this weekend i had to resist the urge to trudge through our half frozen, half thawed still a mud & ice arena in one back yard- all i wanted was to go sit, stare and day dream in my garden

justin reported that about two thirds of the garden is free from snow

that is a good thing - the best news of the weekend

for me, the tell tale sign that spring is on its way- asparagus

it has been popping up at the market

i can't resist - even though it is not local, it is still oh so good

with spring and summer knocking on the door i am brushing up on my simple is better recipes

typically all you need is a few good quality ingredients to make a wonderful meal

this translates to more time in the garden when the season finally decides to arrive

this recipe my friends,  is considered exactly that

simpleness at its best

chocolate hazelnut tartletts

i thought i'd share with you what i made my love for valentines day

 the way to his heart is with chocolate

that boy loves him some chocolate

and these tartletts, my friends was the

 perfect fit for our valentines day dessert

the flavors are perfectly perfect together

much like him and i

goji berry toasted coconut cupcakes

cupcakes - i mean come on who doesn't love cupcakes

they are little personal portable cakes

in honor of heart health & love

these cupcakes are for you

goji berries are said to have healing powers - a super food

possibly able to prevent cancer and heart disease

vibrant pink, tasty and a super food - i would say February is definitely the month to showcase this powerhouse of a berry

combined with toasted coconut it makes a pretty tasty cupcake too

romance maki

am i the only one out there in their gym clothes

running around like a maniac on saturday morning looking for sushi rice and nori?

god i hope not

justin tells me normal people do not run errands in their gym clothes

it's not like i wear gym clothes just to wear gym clothes; i am coming back from working out

for the record my gym attire is pretty normal - black capri leggings/workout pants, a hoodie, headband & uggs to travel back and forth from home to the gym; its not like i am rocking the 80's spandex or unitard

anyways, 3 stores later; only 2 of them was i seen in said gym outfit

finally i tracked down sushi rice and nori

perfect, i was golden

 romance maki;

is there a more perfect time to share this recipe than today?

i think not

soba noodle bowl

i love asian inspired meals

fresh and simple

we try to avoid take out chinese or japanese - we have learned in our area we can never be certain that we won't find a piece of pork in our veggie fried rice or a few little fish eggs on our veggie sushi

cross contamination has proven to be an issue

so instead we get creative at home

this soba noodle bowl features an array of fresh organic veggies

soba noodles and a garlic sesame ginger tamari sauce

a quick, easy and healthy lunch or dinner that you can have on the table in less than 15 minutes

blood orange pistachio polenta cake // the liebster!

i am in love

that weightless, nothing in the world matters feeling

with winter citrus

it's the color i so desperately need this time of year

in between winter & spring where everything is gray

its like the scene in mars needs moms - where everything is bleak

and then you have this incredible burst of color

blood oranges are beautiful

cara cara oranges are quite nice too

my entire house is studded with bowls of winter citrus

i can't get enough of it

blood oranges make a beautiful showing in this cake

the perfect pick me up for anyone with the winter blues

savory breakfast biscuits

for a very long time i was banned from biscuit making

 i traumatized justin one night with a batch of baking powder biscuits

reason number 89 to avoid getting your drink on while baking

- you may accidentally add baking soda instead of baking powder to the baking powder biscuits

the end result is not a good one- you cannot pass this one off by telling your boyfriend

that is the way they are suppose to taste

it was time for redemption

time for me to prove i could make one mean biscuit

let me introduce you to the saving grace of biscuits

the "one" that converted justin back to a biscuit loving fool

the savory breakfast biscuit

(truthfully we eat these all day- they do not last long in our house)

carrot cashew apple bisque (raw)

winter & cold weather to me equals soup

as i mentioned in my last post i am trying to incorporate more raw foods into my daily life

raw soup - i thought to myself this may be weird

see, i am not a fan of cold soups

however, after some research i learned that it is okay to gently warm your raw soup on the stove (warm to the touch) as long as it is not heated above 115* - well i can do that!

i was quite pleased with this soup  - colorful, tasty and raw

does it get any better than that

for me - yesterday no it didn't

after a long & late night at work i had this soup waiting for me when i got home

it was exactly what i needed

kijani juice

juicing

i really hope this becomes the new trend

it is utterly amazing

in the past i have made a few attempts to be a juicer

problem one our first juicer was a monster - not the easiest thing to whip out in the morning

hurdle two justin was afraid i would juice a finger - so he became the designated juice man

three - honestly, i lacked the motivation

things have changed, i am totally a juice addict now

you see, healing naturally is very important to me - i have never spoken about this on my blog before

truth is - 3 years ago i was diagnosed with a chronic illness; upper crohns

yep - no cure, medicine for life, and they have no idea what causes it

wow- i must have put on my big girl pants to have shared that, it is not easy for me to admit that i have crohns. for a long time i was in denial & that denial landed me in the hospital for 7 days

there is a lot of support that juicing heals the body and a raw diet is ideal for those with this illness

so i am giving it a try; a holistic approach

okay. so enough about that - lets talk about this amazing juice

baked donuts // 3 ways

growing up, sunday mornings consisted of

scrambled eggs & bacon

the three stooges

goody good donuts

ah yes - goody good donuts

they literally made the BEST donuts

it was a little donut shop, the type that was run by a big burly man

and hosted an old school bunn coffee maker in the corner

it was a sad, sad day when goody good closed

i think my dad may have cried a little

he use to visit goody good everyday at least 3 times a day for coffee

on sundays if we were really good he would sneak out, get his cup of coffee

and return with a cardboard box tied with red & white bakers twine

inside that box, if i was lucky would be the  mother of all donuts

i have no idea what the name of that glorious donut was

 but is was big, round & flat covered in maple frosting

it was

absolute heaven

these donuts come in at a close second

a bit healthier than their fried counterpart

but just as tasty and tad bit addicting

okay, really addicting