Just incase you've been wondering...

about my seeming leave of absence from this blog.

Life has been busy and beautiful lately as God has been so gracious!

Want to know where I have been?

Hope life has been treating you well! Someday or another I'll get some more recipes posted. But for now... I'm having a lot of fun with the other. :o)

Free Photo Cards form Shutterfly!

Well, it's been a little quiet on the blog front here, but I am back with very exciting news: Shutterfly is giving away 50 free photo cards to bloggers! With so many designs to choose from, who wouldn't want to jump at that promotion?!

We used Shutterfly for our photo thank-yous after our wedding and were very pleased with the result. I had been hoping to do some photo Christmas cards this year, and thanks to Shutterfly, now I definitely will!

Can you guess which design I'll be using for my 50 free cards?

1. Holiday Love Sketch

I am loving the diffferent fonts!

 2. Starlight Joy

Simple and stunning - just beautiful!

3. Peppermint Giftwrap

You know I'm a sucker for read and green... And anything remorelt involving gift wrap. :o)

 4. Stamped and Sealed

Elegant and classic.

Thank you, Shutterfly for this awesome opportunity just in time for the Christmas season! Shutterfly also has tons of great photo gifts if you're having trouble thinking of what to get someone on your list. John and I got his parents a photo calendar for Christmas this year. We've already received it and it looks great!

If you'd like to get in on this great offer, check it out at this link: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Happy Holidays!!!

Hello, cupcake!

It's been a while, and, what with school starting and all, it might be a little while before I'm back again. So I wanted to entice you to come back by in a little bit. Meet these little beauties:

Meet cookie dough, chocolate peanut butter, and lemon blueberry.

They'll be back soon to tell you all about their sugary goodness! :o)

Happy September!

Black Bean Burgers (and some other fun things)

The summer is almost gone, and I have yet to accomplish most of my summer "to do" list. BUT, we have had a ton of fun vacationing with family, celebrating our anniversary (YAY!), and relaxing overall. I have *almost* gotten my normal running pace back, so it's about time to up my mileage! I'm debating sinking my teeth into a half marathon this fall. I think I'll see how September goes first.

I've been doing a fair share of cooking and baking, and a terrible job at documenting it here for you all. I made this

amazingly

delicious

cake.

And, unfortunately, it goes in the vault. Based on my Grammy's banana bread, this cake is seriously addicting. I will usually pass anything by in the name of chocolate, but I think if there was a war for my affection between this cake and brownies... This cake would win. I know that's some serious talk, but it's that good.

I did make a chocolate cake for a friend's birthday this week. Each piece had chocolate mousse filling in the middle (shaped like a heart), but I neglected to get pictures of the inside.

The frosting was my (heavily adapted) version of Magnolia's chocolate butter cream, and the cake was just a straight-forward chocolate cake. Very rich, and very tasty.

I have a goal. It is that at least 2 nights a week in our home, we will eat meatless entrees for dinner. I love a good black bean burger. My husband was a little hesitant to (even for one night) trade out his turkey burger for the meatless alternative. But I finally convinced him, and it was a hit!

There are probably a million different ways to make these, and here's mine.

Black Bean Burgers:

(I chose to go vegan on these out of habit, but I know that some people use an egg to help their burgers stay together. I did not have any problems.)

This makes 4 good-sized burgers

• 
  
  1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 
  
  1/2 cup (ish) cooked rice (I used some leftovers we had from another meal)
• 
  
  1/3-1/2 cup diced onion
• 
  
  1/3 cup diced green pepper
• 
  
  2-3 gloves of garlic, minced
• 
  
  1 small carrot, diced
• 
  
  salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium heat, saute your veggies in some olive oil until softened (about 5 minutes or so - the carrots will take the longest). Add your minced garlic just at the end so that it cooks a little but does not burn.

In a medium bowl, use a fork or potato masher to smush your beans. You don't want puree (some whole beans are okay), but you do want most of your beans to be smashed. Add your rice (start with 1/2 cup and add more if needed) and veggies to this. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Mix by hand (literally - don't be afraid to get messy), adding more rice if necessary, until your mixture comes together enough to for patties. Shape black bean mixture into 4 patties.

Heat a little bit of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat (you can grill these, too, but that's my hubby's department). Cook burgers until golden on each side (about 2-3 minutes per side). Serve with ketchup, etc. like a "regular" burger, or go Mexican with some salsa and sour cream. Enjoy!

A shot from our anniversary weekend - we got to visit some beautiful places (and enjoy some good food!)

Olive Oil and Herb Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes

There is a restaurant we like to visit when we make the trek to our closest Whole Foods (it's about 1.5 hours away). It's an Italian place with the best dipping oil for bread. Since this restaurant is so far away, it's not like we can just jump in the car and grab dinner there any ole time we like.

But a few days ago I had a craving for their dipping oil. So I decided to try and recreate it - in pasta form. This dish was a huge hit with my hubby (who requested that we have it for dinner every night this week... all 7 of them), and super easy. I served it with half a breaded chicken breast (because let's face it: the pasta is the star!).

Olive Oil and Herb Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes:

• 1/2 lb(ish) pasta of your choice - I recommend spaghetti type noodles
• 1 large tomato, chopped into bite size pieces
• 2-3 cloves fresh garlic
• basil
• Italian seasonings (oregano, rosemary, thyme... or one of those all-in-ones)
• coarse ground pepper (red or black - your choose)
• coarse salt
• 1/4 cup (more or less depending on your taste and the noodles) plus 1 Tbsp olive oil
• grated Parmesean (optional - leave out or grab some non dairy for vegan fare)

Now, this is truly an "Emily" recipe, meaning that if you are some one who is very precise, levels your cups of flour before you add them, and thrive off of very detailed step-by-step directions, you may want to stop reading now. This is not one of those recipes.

If you're serving with chicken (or any other type of meat), so ahead and get that in the oven first. While it is cooking, boil some water, add your noodles, and cook until desired firmness.

While noodles are boiling, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large, sided skillet on medium heat. Slice 1 clove of garlic and add to the oil. Use a garlic press to dice the remaining clove(s) of garlic and add them to the pan as well. Saute on medium 30 seconds to one minute.

By now your noodles are probably done. Drain the water from the noodles, and add the noodles to the pan with your cooked garlic. Now the fun begins.

Begin by adding some more olive oil to the pan with the garlic and noodles (I probably add somewhere between 1/8 cup and 1/4 cup to start). stir noodles to incorporate oil evenly. The rest of this is simply to your own taste. I add (ish) about 1 1/2 tsp each basil and Italian seasonings. I toss a pinch of pepper in (a tiny pinch if I'm using red pepper flakes), and probably about 3/4 tsp salt. Don't be scared of the salt. While you don't want your noodles to taste like Lays potato chips, the salt does wonders for rounding out the flavor of the pasta and seasonings. Because we didn't have any vegans joining us for dinner, I added about 1/8 cup of a grated romano/parmesean cheese blend. And I stop to taste test to see if I want to add any more of the aforementioned ingredients (I do love basil!).

At this point, you may notice that your noodles are getting a little clumpy. That's more than likely because the noodles/seasonings have begun soaking up the olive oil. Add some more, a splash at a time until you receive your desired taste. Watch the bottom of the pan. If there is oil pooling in the bottom, you probably just need to stir your noodles better to incorporate. Adding too much oil results in greasy noodles.

You can cover the pan and let sit (on very low heat) until your meat is done. Add the tomatoes about 5-10 minutes before serving so they warm through but don't turn to mush. Enjoy!

Boston Cream Cupcakes

From time to time I send baked goodies in with my husband to his work. A few months ago, one of his co-workers tore a cupcake expose (if you will) out of one of her magazines and sent it home with him for me to see. In this batch of cupcakes was the Boston cream cupcakes I made for the 4th of July.

I've never been a fan of eclairs, Boston cream pie and the like. But these are good. And the chocolate glaze that you spoon on top is one of my favorites.

Boston Cream Cupcakes:
Cupcakes:

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk

Filling:

• 1 - 3oz package cook and serve vanilla pudding (I got the bigger package and appreciated having some extra to work with)
• 1 1/4 cups milk (I used 2 1/4 with the bigger package)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Glaze (YUM!):

• 8 oz semisweet chocolate (chopped or you can use chips)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp butter, softened and cubed

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line about 20 muffin cups with liners. In a medium bowl, mix together your flour, soda, powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time until well blended. Beat in the vanilla extract. Then, beat in your flour mixture alternately with your buttermilk (I read somewhere that it's always best to begin and end with your flour mixture).

Spoon batter into your muffin tins (about 2/3 full) and bake for about 15-18 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean). Let cool.

For the filling: Resist the urge to use instant pudding (unless you're planning to store and serve directly from the fridge). It is a lot quicker and easier, but the cook and serve pudding can handle being at room temp. much better than the instant stuff. Make the pudding according to package directions, cutting back the milk to 1 1/4 cups for the small package or 2 1/4 cups for the large package. Once you remove from heat, stir in the vanilla. Cover with pastic wrap (press the wrap directly onto the top of the pudding so you don't get that pudding "skin") and refrigerate until cold and firm.

Meanwhile, for the glaze: Combine your chocolate, sugar, and water in a small saucepan on low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted and smooth. Let cool.

Now, to assemble the cupcakes, slice the top off of each cupcake (just about where it hits the paper liner). Spread pudding on the cut surface and replace the cupcake top. Spoon some chocolate glaze on the top of the cupcake, helping it spread with the back of the spoon. Let chocolate glaze set and then serve, or refrigerate until serving.

Happy 4th! (Belated)

While some people might have made their 4th of July yummies a day or so early in order to blog them before the 4th of July, I did not. I am not that organized, nor do I want to feel my friends and family day old treats. I'm a last minute fresh type of girl (or just procrastinator extraordinaire - you decide). But I did have a TON of fun with my baking this year!

To start, I sent some sugar cookie stars and Boston Cream cupcakes (*recipe coming!*) into work with my husband:

(I can't resist cute decorations! Or polka dots... hence the cupcake liners.)

For the family celebration I made a cake similar to this one, but with some extra pizazz:

My labor of love and food coloring!

Patriotic funfetti and red-dyed white cake on the inside with strawberry and blueberry fruit filling!

And just for fun, since we found red, white, & blue tortilla chips, I made a delicious 7 layer dip for John and I to munch on:

Quick and Easy 7 Layer Dip:

*I like more bean than sour cream, so this recipe reflects that. If you're the opposite, just double the sour cream and cream cheese. Also, guac can be added between any of the layers.

• 
  
  1 can refied beans
• 
  
  1 package taco seasoning
• 
  
  8 oz sour cream
• 
  
  4 oz cream cheese (softened)
• 
  
  1 jar of salsa (or fresh tomatoes and green pepper, chopped)
• 
  
  shredded cheddar

Here goes: Mix together your refried beans and taco seasoning. Spread in the bottom of a 13x9 pan (I always use a little bit smaller dish for a fuller dip). Cream together the sour cream and cream cheese and spread over the beans. Top with salsa and/or fresh veggies, and finish of with shredded cheese!