Month: January 2017

Woof!

baking, cake art, celebration, chocolate, frosting

Dog lovers unite for this ultra-cuteness fest! It’s a shame dogs can’t eat chocolate, because these guys seem to be having an awesome time playing in a Chocolate Dog Park! My friend requested a “dog park themed cake with maybe a dog that looks like Koby (their pet dog)” for her then-2-year old son. I may have gone a li’l bit crazy after I figured out how to make one dog.

Of course my inner (and outer) engineer first decided to make a “test” dog. It was quite ugly and scary looking. From there on, it was just youtube video after youtube video on making dogs, and cats, and various animals, and the thing that makes dogs look adorable and goofy isn’t their body/face shape or even the eyes – its the tongue and the ears!

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Dreaming in Buttercream

baking, celebration, chocolate, dessert, frosting

Sometimes you just have to quickly bake a cake and frost it. Just because your best friend’s baby is turning a month old, or another best friend desperately needs chocolate, or because its a Wednesday. Simple buttercream (made with butter and not shortening) can make everything look and taste oh-so-pretty.

buttercream

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Poach if you must…

american, breakfast, dairy free, eggs, grain free, greens, lunch, main, savory, vegetarian

But you need not.

If the sight of a runny egg yolk makes you feel weird, I’m sorry but the rest of this post is going to be about how to get the runny perfection which is oh-so-decadent, like the perfect dipping sauce for the…sorry. Yeah, so if you aren’t a fan, I apologize.

Because look at this! At some point I did teach myself to poach eggs (I wasted almost a dozen eggs trying to get it right) but thanks to Smitten Kitchen and the “5 1/2 minute egg”, I can dip my buttered toast into this luxurious egg yolk without making a big mess in the kitchen!

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Time for penance (not really)

breakfast, convenience, dairy free, freezer friendly, grain free, greens, healthy eating, juices and smoothies, make ahead, meal prep, snack, vegan, vegetarian

While I love to bake and cook elaborate meals on weekdays and some weeknights, on a day to day basis I like to keep it light yet fun. These smoothies and juices are so easy to make, especially if you have the Vitamix (seriously, that thing could pulverize, well…anything)!

In my opinion, the best thing about the Vitamix is the convenience of keeping the smoothie/juice ingredients portioned-out, frozen and ready-to-go. The “frozen” part of it lends a great body to the juice/smoothie. The same result can be achieved without the Vitamix, but crushed ice will have to be used with chilled ingredients.

A great way to reduce the number of calories and natural sugar in these drinks, is by replacing regular milk with dairy-free alternatives, such as Almond Milk (Califia is a great brand, usually stocked in Lucky or Whole Foods) or Coconut Milk (can’t go wrong with So Delicious plain Coconut Milk).

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