Considering it’s football season, specifically Ohio State Buckeye season, I decided to make buckeye candies (peanut butter balls). My family and I are OSU fanatics, to say the least—both of my parents attended THE Ohio State University, and we are from Columbus, OH. My dad even has a small OSU shrine in his office here in California. Believe it or not, he has an Ohio State room in our home in South Carolina (see photo below). My parents undoubtedly still feel a connection to their alma mater.
We also made the buckeye candies for a lesson my mom planned for her high school students. She decided to make these treats after picking real buckeye nuts in Ohio while visiting my grandma. Sadly, the actual nuts are poisonous and inedible, so she decided to make its much taster cousin.
Since we had tried my brother’s friend, Claire’s, recipe before, we knew it was a winner. The ingredients in this recipe are perfectly proportioned. The smooth and crunchy milk chocolate exterior hugs the ball of creamy peanut butter. Thanks Claire!
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In light of my current state (recovering from wisdom teeth surgery), I wanted to make another delicious soup. Considering my daily intake still consists of soup and frozen yogurt, this would be something I could eat sans teeth.
I bought a few cans of Campbell’s Select Harvest soup at the market, one was garlic potato. Sorry Campbell’s, it wasn’t select. The consistency was overly thick and the garlic overpowered the soup. Consequently, I decided to make a homemade potato soup that I hoped would be much more enjoyable to eat—and that it was.
My mom and I used a few recipes as a starting point and ended up making up our own. What was even better was that we were able to use ingredients already in the pantry/fridge, instead of purchasing unnecessary ingredients at the market. Our soup was absolutely delicious—and I say was because we polished the leftovers off last night. The subtle saltiness of the potatoes complimented the hint of sweetness from the sherry brilliantly. My dad couldn’t get enough of the soup, and that definitely says something when he is a fan.
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Last week, my mom and I decided to make a variety of tapas for dinner since it was just the two of us—our meal turned into more of a smörgåsbord. After cooking three dishes, we concluded the meal with a quick and sweet dessert. My mom and her friend continually rave about a peach dessert they made in South Carolina about a month ago, so we decided on this dish. We bought peaches from the market three different times before we finally made the dessert (oops).
Unfortunately, we did not have access to the fresh Georgia peaches like they did in South Carolina, but nonetheless, the peaches we used were juicy and ripened to perfection. But now that I’m thinking about it, I wouldn’t mind taking a quick trip to Georgia just to bite into one of its succulent and sweet peaches. I’m sure it would boost the flavor of this dessert tenfold.
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As a little last hurrah before I got my wisdom teeth out yesterday, I decided to cook dinner for my family the night prior to my surgery—something that I wouldn’t be able to eat for a while. To be honest, I made sure to feast the entire day and indulged in a turkey and avocado sandwich on a freshly baked French roll from my favorite deli by my house.
For dinner, I flipped through one of my mom’s three massive recipe binders and found a chicken dish that I had never made before. I decided on tender chicken breasts stuffed with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and Fontina cheese drizzled with a creamy white wine and Fontina cheese sauce. It was the perfect hearty meal, which was even better served alongside a glass of my favorite pinot noir, La Crema.
As expected, I wasn’t able to eat such a gourmet meal yesterday. My food for the day consisted of some Ramen noodle broth and vanilla frozen yogurt from Golden Spoon. Since my mouth is in pain and it’s difficult to open my jaw, I really don’t have much of an appetite—that’s definitely a rare statement for me to make!
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Although it’s still over eighty degrees in California, it is September, which means I’m ready for fall and everything it has to offer—from food to clothing to weather. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my summer days of bronzing in the pool and donning shorts and tank tops. But I get to a certain point when I’m ready to eat some hearty meals and pile on layers of clothing (well, not too many since I live in CA).
My eagerness for fall inspired me to make some sort of healthy but satisfying soup. I decided on butternut squash, since I’ve never cooked with the fruit before and love its flavor. I didn’t realize how tedious it was to cut, peel and seed a squash until preparation time. It took a bit of muscle to peel the outer skin, which I struggled with a bit.
However, once I peeled and diced the squash, the rest of the prep work was quick and simple. Even though this recipe doesn’t call for many ingredients, it still has a rich and savory flavor that had me hooked from the first spoonful.
I used a recipe by Giada and tweaked a couple of measurements and details. The result was an absolutely delicious meal, just as I had hoped.
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This weekend, I am helping my sorority with recruitment at Chapman University. Sadly, I am helping as an alumnae and not an active member. It’s been so nice getting to see and catch up with all of my 50 plus beautiful sisters. It made me realize exactly why I joined this particular sorority in the first place (not to sound cheesy).
When I brought the cookies in the room, I was not surprised to see a herd of girls dart over to snatch one. We phis do love our food!
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As a little parting gift for my last day of work at Angeleno magazine, I thought it would be nice gesture to bake my co-workers some cookies. First, I knew that no one would complain about homemade cookies and second, it gave me the perfect excuse to bake.
I decided to bake my great grandmother’s oatmeal raisin cookies, as well as my favorite/go-to peanut butter cookies (will post at a later date). I had never made these oatmeal raisin cookies before, but oh boy were they a hit. I brought more than 60 cookies to work and not a crumb was left in the Tupperware container.
One of my co-workers, who I find absolutely hilarious, couldn’t get enough of the oatmeal raisin cookies. She told me they were worthy enough for a story by Angeleno’s acclaimed food critic, Brad A. Johnson. Although I appreciated her compliments, I highly doubt my cookies are up to par with the gourmet food typically covered in the magazine.
What I love most about these cookies is their texture—the subtle crunchiness of the edges juxtaposes the somewhat gooey interior if baked just right. So even though my great grandmother’s cookies probably wouldn’t be served at a five-star restaurant, they are absolutely scrumptious and extremely easy to make!
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I’m always searching for healthy and savory recipes on the Internet. My mom and brother stumbled upon Robin Miller’s grilled chicken with brie and baby spinach salad recipe a year ago and it has stayed at the front of our cookbooks since. This chicken dish offers salty (bacon/pancetta) and bitter (vinegar) components with various textures, from crunchy (bacon/pancetta) to silky (Brie cheese). What’s even better than the flavor of this entrée is its simplicity. The total preparation and cook time is only about twenty minutes.
I was debating on a light and simple chicken dish to make for my family the other night when I flipped to this recipe in my cookbook. I hadn’t made the dish in a while and figured it would suit all of our requests. As usual, the meal was delectable.
If you want to make this recipe even healthier, feel free to leave off the Brie cheese (or use less) and the bacon/pancetta. Cheese or no cheese, the sauce is what really makes this dish dazzle!
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I made my very first cupcake sale the other day! I was extremely excited, to say the least. Since I wanted to make sure I presented the most delicious and visually appealing cupcakes, I spent about six hours of my day baking all the cupcakes—everything from scratch, of course.
I decided to make a spice cupcake filled with homemade caramel sauce, piped with smooth caramel buttercream frosting and drizzled with golden caramel sauce. Is your mouth watering yet? I combined a few recipes, changed some ingredients and fudged a few things to make these cupcakes my own. The result: moist, delectable and irresistible cupcakes. I chose to make my blueberry lemon cupcakes again for the second batch, since I got such a great response last time I made them.
My dad took the leftovers to work and I couldn’t believe how much of a hit they were. He said people were fighting over the cupcakes and someone even put up a sign with an arrow leading to the desserts. I received two e-mails from his co-workers about the cakes. Let’s just say I was on cloud nine the other day and so happy that my cupcakes were a success!
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Ultimate might even be an understatement for the OC Foodie Fest. Today was complete insanity—thousands of empty stomachs (8,500 to be exact), 49 food trucks and lines that serpentined throughout the Honda Center parking lot. But the dozens of mouth-watering aromas wafting into our nostrils built the anticipation during the 45 minute to hour-long lines to indulge—and indulge we did.
The best tactic for the event was to divide and conquer. My dad waited in line at Fresh Fries, my mom stood in line at Uncle Lou’s and my friend Dana and I anxiously waited in line at Don Chow. Because of the lengthy waits, we were only able to squeeze four food trucks into our three-hour visit. Our last stop was at the Buttermilk food truck. We definitely saved the best for last.
Although we did not get to experience the Nom Nom truck, as it sold out of food early, I honestly don’t think we could have taken one more bite of food after Buttermilk (the fourth truck). We were all in a terrible food coma, but in the best way possible.
Overall, OC’s first foodie fest met my expectations and I would love for it to become a tradition every year. That is if food trucks are still all the rave next year—let’s hope so!
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