4 Hot Drinks to Try This Weekend

The dead of winter is upon us! Time to stay inside, get cozy, and make some hot drinks! Here are some delicious recipes to get you warm again after a brisk round of skating, sledding or snowshoeing. 

Image from Live Simple.

1. Homemade Chai Tea Latte from Live Simply. Chai has always been one of my favorite hot drinks, ever since my first chai latte from a little place called Quickava. I'll never forget their description: "Spiced black tea sweetened with honey and milk." I've had many variations, and when I saw this recipe I was excited to try making my own chai latte - with an immersion blender! Give it a shot.

Image from Dine and Dish.

2. Slow Cooker Butterfinger Hot Chocolate from Dine and Dish. Oh my goodness. This is a HUGE splurge drink for sure, but what a delicious treat for a special occasion! If you like butterfingers (...like me...), then this hot chocolate variation is for you.

Image from Offbeat and Inspired.

3. Vanilla Date Cafe Au Lait from Offbeat and Inspired. Definitely a more sophisticated drink to try, but I still want to make it one day! Actually, I did more drooling over the photography on this site than anything else. Love the bright, clean whites and styling - so much inspiration. Oh yeah, and the coffee looks great too.

Image from Food Lover's Odyssey.

4. Italian Hot Chocolate from Food Lover's Odyssey. This blogger actually went to Carnevale in Italy and was able to sample real Italian hot chocolate - and proceeded to write up a simple recipe! I can't wait to try this treat from the old country ;)

Savory Cinnamon Beef: Recipe

This recipe. Oh my goodness. I copied it down from a Paleo cookbook my old roommate has, and had to add/change a few ingredients, and this is what I got. Pure amazingness. The perfect cold-weather dinner.

Unfortunately I didn't photograph as I went, but I'll try to be as descriptive as possible in my directions. :) Just know that it will be wonderful.

For about 4 servings, you will need:

1.5 lbs stewing beef, cut in bite-sized chunks

A little olive oil

Salt & pepper

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1/2 white onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 cup beef broth

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

A few shakes of cinnamon

A few shakes of dried basil

3 cups water

What to do:

Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Sprinkle the beef with a little salt & pepper and brown in batches. This is very important for well-browned beef and good flavor - don't crowd the meat in the pan. I used tongs and placed half of the meat around the pot in the oil. Let it brown on one side, and then gently turn to brown on the bottom. Remove to a plate and brown the rest of the meat. 

Now add your vegetables (the carrots, onions and garlic) and stir for about 2 minutes so that the little bits on the bottom get mixed in. Next add your tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, stirring to coat the veggies. Increase the heat to medium-high and gradually stir in the beef broth. It will thicken as you stir :) Add the vinegar the same way, stirring constantly. Stir in the spices/herbs. Last, stir in the water and bring to a boil. After the stew has come to a boil, turn the heat down to low and set a lid on the pot at an angle so some steam can escape. Let the meat simmer for 1 1/2 hours minimum, 2 + hours maximum. I let mine sit for about 2.5 hours and it was absolutely perfect. 

Spoon into bowls and enjoy!

Jelly Tart Recipe

I love pie crust. It's one of the easiest pastry doughs you can make. 

I also love jelly. This recipe is so good, and so easy! 

Pie crust:

1 3/4 cups of flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons water

Filling:
Jelly or jam of your choice! I used a delicious apricot jam.

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix flour and salt until combined. Add oil and mix until the dough resembles peas.

Add water and mix until dough comes together. Do not overmix! Hot tip: pie crust becomes hard and very difficult to roll out if you over-handle it. Be gentle!

Roll out half the pie crust between two sheets of wax paper into an 8" circle.

Carefully transfer the circle to an ungreased baking sheet and spread with the jelly. 

Roll out the rest of the pie crust and slice into strips using the blunt edge of a butter knife.

Carefully lay the strips across the tart. Go ahead and weave them if you're feeling fancy, but I just laid one half across and the other direction across on top.

Sprinkle with sugar and slide into the oven.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden and flaky.

Blueberry Jam Mini Batch

Living on my own, I realized I couldn't actually finish an entire container of blueberries before it went bad. So I ate half the container and decided to be thrifty and make a little single half-jar of jam with the other half. Here’s how to make your very own supply of old-fashioned blueberry jam. Hot tip: it’s super good on pancakes!

You'll need:

1 or 1 1/2 cups blueberries

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Mix the sugar and blueberries together in a small saucepan using a wooden spoon. Turn on the heat to medium-low. Mash up the berries as best as you can with the spoon (it will get easier as the berries heat up). Turn the heat up to medium-high and stir constantly. Don’t get splattered! After about ten minutes, turn the heat down to medium-low and keep stirring. The jam is done when it coats the back of the spoon in a thick layer and it looks like heated jam. Pour it into a jar, cover it, and stick it in the fridge to cool.

Blueberry Upside-Down Cake: Recipe Edition

This luscious cake was the perfect Independence Day treat. I loved this dessert - the berries on top (or bottom) created a jelled, almost pudding-like topping for the moist cake. 

Fruit Topping:

6 tablespoons melted butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 cups fresh blueberries

Cake:

6 tablespoons softened butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3/4 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 375. 

For the topping: Pour the melted butter into a 9" round cake pan and swirl to coat the bottom. Sprinkle the brown sugar on the butter and scatter the blueberries over the brown sugar.

For the cake: In a big bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt until mixed. Whisk in the egg, sour cream, and vanilla. Add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and baking soda and mix until just combined. Spread the batter over the fruit in the pan and smooth the top. Bake until just firm and toothpick comes out with moist crumbs, about 35 minutes. Let cake cool in the pan for 45 minutes and invert on serving plate.

Oven-roasted Vegetables (Ratatouille)

The family who lives downstairs gave us a bunch of fresh vegetables a few nights ago because they were leaving town for the weekend. I love generous neighbors! I don't like eating raw vegetables very much, other than carrots or salad greens, so I decided to roast them in the oven for lunch. 

They came out well.

They were really easy - chop up summer squash; zucchini; red, yellow and green bell peppers; three big cloves of garlic; and several mushrooms. Swirl them in a big baking pan with some oil and salt and pepper and parsley and a bit of rosemary, and bake for about an hour in a 350 oven, stirring occasionally.

White Chicken Chili

Mmmm. The chilly, rainy days of spring require hearty food, I say. Fall may be the time for rich stews and comfort food, but I think the raw, wet weather of springtime warrants a hot meal too. This chili hit the spot for me. I remember my cousin making a similar dish a few years ago, and I wanted to try re-creating it. With a little tweaking of two different recipes I came up with this delicious winner!

Ingredients:

1 large boneless/skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded/chopped

1 large onion

1 green bell pepper

A little olive oil

Half a carton of chicken broth

1 Tblsp flour combined with 1 Tblsp water

2 cans Great White Northern beans

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk/half & half

1/2 cup sour cream

Pepper jack for serving

Prepare your chicken. I like to season my chicken with salt and pepper, brown it in a frying pan and finish it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Shred it or chop it, depending on your preference, and set aside.

Finely chop the onion and dice the bell pepper. Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and saute the vegetables until onion is translucent and pepper is tender. Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add the flour/water mixture and stir until thickened. Add chicken, beans, water, and milk, and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Just before serving, stir in sour cream. I also shook in a few drops of Louisiana hot sauce - completely optional!

Serve with grated or sliced pepper jack cheese, and enjoy!

The Best Mug Cake

I know you see these posts all the time on other blogs, or pins like this on Pinterest - and you really just have to take them with a grain of salt, like mine. Everything is according to taste. However, this really is the best mug cake I've ever had! The first few that I made were extremely spongy and weird. This one actually tasted like cake - I think it's because it didn't include any baking powder or baking soda. 

(c) I AM A FOOD BLOG

So head over to I Am A Food Blog to make your own 2 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake! For my version, I omitted the chocolate chips and added a dollop of peanut butter at the end instead of powdered sugar. So. So. Good. Hit the spot after a long day at work. Enjoy!

Dessert Duet: The Must-Makes

I have such a sweet tooth. It's so bad - one of these days my metabolism is going to slow down to a snail's pace and I'm going to explode outwards like a balloon. 

Hopefully not, but it could happen! 

Here are the desserts I've been ooh'ing over - I want to make each and every one of these!

Angel-Light Beignets from Williams-Sonoma (go figure!). These look soooo good. The one time I watched The Princess and the Frog (with captions during a slow evening at the library), I immediately began craving beignets. Cartoon or no, they looked amazing piping hot and dusted with powdered sugar. I need to make!

Orange Crepe Cake from Hanna's Places. I love crepes. I love citrus. I love cake. This makes so much sense. Can't wait to try this out!

Donuts!

It's donut season! Get out your biggest pot and your vegetable oil, and let's get frying. This is my mom's recipe, so it's pretty awesome.

Okay, I'm not actually making these right now, and I still have yet to make them successfully because the last time I tried, I didn't have one of these. 

(c) Susan Elizabeth (Mom)

They seriously make all the difference in the world. The heat of the oil when frying ANYTHING is VERY important. A fact I didn't know and tried to figure out on my own. Do not make this mistake.

Here's my mom's donut recipe for all you donut lovers out there. You will appreciate this.

1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 T. + 1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 t. salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 T. oil
3 1/2 cups flour

Fill your pot about 4 inches deep with vegetable oil. 

Mix the milk, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, egg and oil together in a large bowl. Gradually add the flour, using just enough so that the dough is firm enough to handle yet as soft as possible. (I used all the 3 1/2 cups of flour, but needed more for the rolling out process)

Cover and chill for 1 hour. 

Turn out onto a floured board and knead for a few minutes. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 3 inch rounds. Place on a tray covered with waxed paper that has been lightly floured.

Heat oil to *380 degrees. 
*this temperature is CRITICAL for perfect frying conditions.

Fry 3-4 donuts at a time, turning them when one side is golden brown and browning the other side.

Drain on paper towels and dust with sugar while hot. (I put about a cup of sugar into a lidded plastic container and shake donut till covered)

And there you have it! My mom's a genius. I stole both photos in this post from her, but gave her credit. 

For more amazing homestyle recipes, visit her cooking blog Join Us At The Table. She stopped updating a while ago, but there are plenty of great recipes still available - take advantage of them!

Lemon Crockpot Chicken

Okay, most of you have probably already eaten dinner, but I couldn't resist posting this right here, right now. I was on the phone with my mom earlier, and she advised me to go to the store, buy some chicken, and throw it in the crockpot with some lemon juice,butter, paprika, parsley, and thyme.

So I did.

Unfortunately I forgot to buy thyme, but this tasted amazing anyway. Here's what I did:

2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

2 tablespoons of butter

A few squeezes of lemon juice

A shake of paprika

A shake of parsley

Salt/pepper

Plop your chicken in the crockpot. Rub the butter all over the chicken breasts, both under and on top of the skin. You can do this step first if you want, but for some reason I did it while they were in the slow cooker. 

Squeeze the lemon (or bottle of lemon juice) over the chicken a few times. Shake the paprika and parsley over all, and season just a tad with salt and pepper. Cover up that slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 5 hours. 

So. Good.

Egg Salad

Who doesn't love a great egg salad sandwich? This version is low-calorie and tasty - and couldn't be easier to whip up quick for lunchtime!

You'll need:

2 eggs

1 rib of celery, chopped tiny

1 green onion stalk, chopped teeny

Sour cream

Salt and pepper

Place the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Cover pan and let sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop up your celery and green onion.

When the timer goes off, run your eggs under cold water, dry off and peel. Mash the eggs in a small bowl, add celery and green onion. Add a shake of salt and pepper, and a spoonful of sour cream. (Start small with the sour cream - you want just enough to hold the mixture together, but not so much that it becomes drippy. Yuck!)

Aaaand you're done! This recipe feeds one or two people (one fat sandwich or two thin ones). 

Easy Weeknight Meal: Korean Beef

I like to think that I live cheaply. I attempt to exercise thrift as I live off a part-time job and an online pattern business. It's kind of fun keeping tabs on how much I'm spending and looking for ways to save money! 

As far as cheap meals go, ground beef is one of my best friends. I've made meatballs, barbecue biscuits, and tacos with this trusty staple. Tonight I found this delicious recipe and made it for dinner: Korean Beef.

Yum! Thanks to Lizzy of Lizzy Writes for the amazing recipe! Make this quick and easy meal for dinner some night - you will love it.

Simple Vegetable Soup

There's nothing in this world like a steaming bowl of homemade vegetable soup.

The flavors meld together to create a bowl of comfort. Chunks of potato add a touch of savory and the carrots sweeten the broth just a tad. Add a dash of parsley for extra visual appeal and you've got yourself a terribly easy soup that is both cheap and filling!

To make this simple soup, you will need:

1/2 medium white onion, chopped

1 tablespoon of butter

Dash of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of flour

2 medium potatoes, peeled bite-size chunks

4 medium carrots, peeled and bite-sized chunks

1 can of chicken broth

Dash of dried parsley

Salt & pepper

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic powder and let cook slowly, until the onion is translucent and soft. Increase the heat to medium-high and stir in the flour gradually to make a roux, scraping up the bottom of the pan. Slowly add a few tablespoons of the chicken broth, stirring constantly, to make a thick liquid. Add the rest of the broth and fill the can 3/4 full of water and add that as well. Season with salt and pepper and parsley. Toss in the carrots and potatoes and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and cover, leaving the cover tilted so the soup can breathe. Let cook for about 45 minutes or until carrots and potatoes are soft. Approx. 4 servings.

So. Good.

Rainy Days

This autumn has been a perfect mixture of crystal clear days and cozy rainy afternoons - I love it. 

I'm not sure if tomorrow is going to be rainy or not, but this cozy beef stew from Cooking Classy is definitely on the menu.

Looks so good! 

Today I'll be working on Etsy orders and possibly making a library trip later. I had 3 Etsy orders this weekend! That's huge! I've got some new ideas in the works too, so I hope to keep adding to my shop as we get closer to the end of October. 

Happy Monday!

Banana Bread

Banana bread is so basic, but so homey and satisfying. I decided I needed some this afternoon when I got home from food shopping, looked in the fruit basket, and saw two lonely, overripe bananas waiting for me to do something with them. So I grabbed my trusty laptop and pulled up the recipe my mom uses for banana bread on her cooking blog. I highly recommend this recipe! It will make a dozen muffins, one loaf, or a 9X13 cake.

And here's a little secret I discovered on my own. The recipe calls for 3 ripe bananas, right? Well, I only had 2 that were ripe enough for banana bread, so I grabbed another banana from the bunch I had just purchased during my grocery shopping. When I mashed them up with the sugar and egg and oil, the not-so-ripe banana wouldn't mash - it just kind of chunked. So when I pulled the bread out of the oven and dumped it steaming on a fresh towel to cool, I saw that my bread had little chunks of banana dotting the top and throughout!

I strongly urge you to go whip one of these up. Takes no time at all, it's delicious, and your house will smell so good. Happy baking!

Chai Tea Recipe

It was a rainy, gray day yesterday. It made me so happy! The breeze was cool and refreshing, the bits of rainfall were soothing, and the lighting was perfect for some photography. In addition to several other projects (I was so productive!) I decided to brew a pot of chai tea and share my recipe with you all! It's easy and sweet and comforting - the perfect complement to a quiet afternoon. 

Spiced Chai Tea

You will need:

2 cups of water

2 black tea bags

1 cinnamon stick

2 cloves

2 peppercorns

1/4 tsp of ground ginger

2 1/2 cups of milk

1/3 cup of sugar

Boil the water with the tea bags and spices in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes to steep tea and infuse spices.

Stir in milk and return to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly so milk does not overflow.

Strain spices and tea bags; discard. Stir in sugar and serve!

This tea is so delicious. You can store any leftovers in the refrigerator and simply reheat it on the stove. I hope you enjoy this recipe!