Trail Mix Cookies

How many of you guys are going camping this summer? Or hiking?  Or both? Or going out and exploring nature for hours and hours?  If you have these kinds of plans, you'll need to refuel at some point, and I have the perfect camping/hiking/nature-exploring snack for you.  These trail mix cookies are IT.  They're the perfect portable and cute little snack that you can munch on while doing all kinds of nature-type things, I think.  I'm not a camping kind of gal, but if I did go camping, or hiking, or nature exploring, these are the cookies I would bring. However, since that type of activity is not happening any time soon, I will settle for making a batch of these cookies and eating them while sitting on a blanket in my backyard, or maybe, if I want to get really crazy, while sitting on a blanket in the park.  Eating homemade cookies in the grass in the middle of the suburbs is my way of bonding with nature, and that's ok.

While I may not be the first to sign up for a hiking trip, I have eaten my fair share of trail mix and granola, and I think it's an understatement to say that I like both.  I mean, I haven't met anyone who doesn't like trail mix, because what's not to like about it?  There's M&M's, and nuts, and dried fruit, and all kinds of delicious things mixed up inside a single package.  Trail mix is something I can easily pick at without realizing how much I've actually eaten, so it's a dangerous snack.  Before I even realize it, the whole bag is gone, and I'm left alone, with a stomach ache, and without any trail mix.  In some instances, I'll only like a handful of the things mixed into the trail mix, so I'll pick at what I like and leave what I don't like behind.  Trail mix is just too addicting. 

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Waffles

By now, I should think you know that waffles are one of my all-time favorite breakfast foods.  The same way some people are obsessed with pancakes, I am obsessed with a big, fluffy Belgian style waffle.  Or any kind of waffle, to be perfectly honest.  Frozen supermarket waffles, while definitely nowhere near as good as homemade waffles, are a simple food that I find completely comforting and delicious.  I have many delicious memories revolving around frozen waffle breakfasts from when I was little.  Frozen Eggo waffles and Aunt Jemima syrup were the norm, and my go-to option.  I loved my waffles in every way, shape, and form, whether they were covered in fruit jam or syrup.  As long as every square had topping in it, I was good to go. My idea of the perfect waffle may have changed drastically from when I was in middle school, but nevertheless, I will admit that I get a craving for a frozen waffle with fake syrup every now and then, a craving that a homemade waffle just can't satisfy, regardless of how good it is.  Sometimes, it's that bit of nostalgia that is the answer to our cravings, or at least that's how I feel.  During my senior year of college, I bought a box of frozen waffles for the first time in several years.  I heated them up, drizzled some syrup over the tops, and was instantly satisfied.  It was such a perfect breakfast! 

Once my frozen waffle craving had been satisfied, I was back on the homemade waffle game.  The frozen waffles were good, but they reminded me of how much I really enjoy their homemade counterparts.  Since then, I've shared with you recipes for Spiced Brown Butter Waffles and Chocolate Waffles, and I've thought that both of those recipes produced some mighty good waffles.  There's so many different waffle variations that I would like to try, and since I'm sure that I would love each and every one, I know that I have my work cut out for me.  It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it, right? Might as well be me.  

Peach and Raisin Yogurt Cake

I've been running this little blog of mine for a little over two years now, and as corny as I'm about to sound, I can't imagine my life without it now. It's become such an ingrained part of my day-to-day routine, that it would be extremely weird (I'm sure there that there is a better word to use than "weird," but I'm pretty sure that it is the most fitting descriptor in this case) to wake up on a Saturday morning and not bake something.  Or not to sit for hours looking up recipes and photography inspiration.  Or not spend time sorting through dozens of photographs and subsequently editing the ones I have deemed to be the most worthy to publish for the world to see. It would be extremely weird not to have a side project with which to occupy my time and learn from. This blog, even though it is still small and relatively unknown in the world of food blogging, has far exceeded my initial expectations, and I couldn't be happier with it.  It doesn't bother me in the slightest that I don't have thousands of subscribers or followers, or dozens of comments on every single recipe that I post. The comments I have received over the past two years have been overwhelmingly positive, and I love reading each and every single comment I get.  This blog has become my go-to place for me to simply write down my thoughts and share a few photographs and a recipe that I find beautiful and delicious, and that alone brings me an immense amount of satisfaction.  For those of you who have been following along since the beginning, as well as the ones who are only recently beginning to tune in, thank you for sticking around. Your kind words are the cherry on top of my happy blogging sundae.  Thanks for reading, for offering suggestions, and for bearing with me while my photography got caught up to speed and during the occasional post where it was painfully clear that I was suffering from an unfortunate case of writer's block. You guys are all really awesome for it.

Aside from learning more about food photography (which I still have tons to learn about) and about myself as a writer, I've also grown much more confident in myself as a baker.  Sure, while I still typically choose to focus on simple, homemade recipes, I've certainly grown from baking more than classic drop cookies and quick cupcakes (not that there is anything wrong with them; they're considered favorites for a reason).  I can now bake a mean pie with a seriously flaky and buttery crust, and mix up a dozen perfectly rich and incredibly fluffy brioche buns.  Two years ago, I doubt I would have considered a completely homemade from-scratch pie to be an option for a simple dessert to share with others, and brioche buns?  Please, those were just something I could only dream about being able to make.  Fast forward two years, and I've offered to bring homemade pies to potlucks without even thinking twice about it, and I'm thinking it's about time that I make another batch of brioche buns.  My next self-imposed challenges include nothing more than piping out a perfect rows of delicate macarons and baking up a dozen fresh croissants to enjoy warm from the oven.  I thrive on giving myself seemingly impossible challenges and overcoming them, and macarons and croissants will be no different.

Hot Cross Buns

It's officially spring, Easter is less than a week away, and the current weather forecast for New York states that today, Monday, we will be experiencing more wintery mix.  What. Is. Going. On. Seriously.  I had to wear my puffy winter jacket and scarf all weekend, and like most other New Yorkers', I'm so over this cold weather! There are signs of the promise of "real" spring though.  I was in midtown this weekend, and the planters that lined the sidewalk outside of Macy's actually had green things growing in them.  Yes.  GREEN THINGS WERE GROWING. I have no idea what was actually growing in the planters, but there were little green plants sprouting out of the soil all around the little evergreen trees (or bushes maybe?  I have no idea what they were). 

Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  Easter egg hunts were probably one of my favorite things about the holiday when I was little, and Easter candy is just the best thing ever, and I know that in the coming days I'm going to be getting at least three bags of Easter candy (hopefully, I won't consume all the candy by myself...). Aside from Easter candy, I can't really say that I love "Easter food."  I mean, sure it's delicious and all, and I love getting to have lighter, more "spring-like" dishes, but I just don't think any of the things I tend to eat for Easter dinner really stand out.  I always associated only Easter candy as the best Easter food, but that was only because I had never actually had a hot cross bun.  But, now that I have, and because I'm now older and wiser, I am switching things up, and hot cross buns are officially my new favorite thing about Easter.  Why did it take me nearly 22 years to try a hot cross bun?  I seriously wonder what's wrong with me at times.  

Irish Soda Bread

There's a funny story behind this Irish soda bread recipe.  Actually, it's probably not funny at all...at least not any of you guys.  It's probably only silly to me. Basically, this is what happened.  Years ago, when my sister was in kindergarten or something like that, her class had a "heritage day" or something of sorts.  Every kid was supposed to bring in something that described their culture, and if possible, some type of food specific to their culture for everyone to try (and hopefully like!).  For this event, my parents took obleas (these are reallllyyyy thin big, round wafer-type cookies that are sandwiched with a thick layer of dulce de leche.  This is actually my favorite dessert EVER), and envueltos (I'd describe these as a type of corn cake, although they don't really have a cake-like texture at all, but they're delicious).  One of my sister's classmates brought in Irish soda bread as his culturally-relevant food, and my parents got to try it.  Ever since that day, they have not been able to stop raving about that Irish soda bread and just how amazing it is.  Eventually, a class cookbook was conceived, with each student bringing in a favorite family recipe to add to the cookbook.  The recipe for the ever-famous Irish soda bread was submitted, and my parents couldn't have been more thrilled.  They made the soda bread several times, and yes, that soda bread was pretty damn good. 

This recipe I'm sharing with you today is NOT that recipe from my sister's elementary school class. 

I like to share my baking plans for the blog with my parents and my sister, just to get some feedback and suggestions.  As soon as I mentioned that I wanted to make Irish soda bread for St. Patrick's Day, my parents were ALL over the idea.  They thought it was great!  The only condition was that I HAD to post the infamous Irish soda bread recipe from my sister's childhood cookbook. Knowing that the recipe was, in fact, quite delicious, I agreed, except that there was one tiny problem: the cookbook had mysteriously disappeared.  My parents were in denial that it was missing, and both of them claimed to have, "just seen it, right there on the kitchen counter!"  I was positive that we had lost the cookbook in the general shuffle of events that is life, but there was no convincing my parents that that had been the case.  Nope. My mother promptly stopped whatever she was doing at the moment, and took out literally EVERYTHING she saved from her children's elementary school years, and sat on the floor going through every last article of both me and my sister's childhood.  My dad did the same, only he looked in other random places, convinced that the cookbook was still in our possession.  Yup, this cookbook was just that important. Both turned up empty handed, so I decided to just use the powers of the Internet to find a new recipe, because, well there had to be other good versions of Irish soda bread in this world.  My parents, very reluctantly, accepted the fact that the cookbook no longer existed in our household, and that they would have to settle for a potentially inferior quality Irish soda bread.  I told them, in as nice a way as I possibly could, to get over it.  This new Irish soda bread would still be delicious!

And delicious it was, indeed...or at least I thought so.  

Raisin Bran Muffins

Hello again!  It's that time of year that we've all come to dread.  The holidays are over; there's no more excuses for baking endless amounts of cookies, gym membership commercials are starting to take over my television, and the effects of massive food consumption during Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and all the days in between are finally starting to take their toll.  I've been feeling rather lethargic lately, and have seriously fallen off the wagon with working out in the past three weeks: finals week, a thrown back, two back to back colds (or I guess, one really long one?), and baking marathons have left little time/ability for exercise, and it's all starting to catch up to me.  It's time for some healthy eating!

I love knowing that I'm eating healthy, and I actually don't find it to be that difficult, since I am a huge fan of fruits and vegetables and whole grains.  I'll take whole wheat or multigrain bread over white bread any day of the week, and a bowl of fresh fruit is always hard to turn down.  While I am a huge fan of fruits and vegetables and whole grains, the problem is that I'm also a huge fan of butter and flour, and all of their derivatives, whether they are in the form of cookies, cakes, bread, muffins, scones, pies...you get the picture.  I am also NOT a fan of completely cutting out anything from my diet, but prefer to instead learn how to take everything in moderation and incorporate healthy items into my everyday foods.  I mean seriously, I don't think I'll ever be able to eliminate chocolate and bread from my diet...that's just absurd, really.  Fortunately, there are ways of going around the healthy aspect!  Raisin bran muffins are one of my favorite ways of doing this. 

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Vanilla-Bourbon Sauce

It's officially almost Thanksgiving!!!! I don't think I can begin to explain to you how much I love Thanksgiving.  It's one of my favorite holidays during the year (second only to Christmas...I'll always be a Christmas kind of girl).  Thanksgiving dinner is something I look forward to all year long, starting as early as the second I wake up from my first food coma of Thanksgiving day.  Normally, I eat pretty healthy and am good about managing my portions and what I eat throughout the day, but all that good-eating philosophy I typically live by gets thrown out the window on Thanksgiving.  I mean think about it.  This is the one day of the year where eating until you fall into a food coma is not only expected, but almost encouraged.  Ok, I'm kidding about falling into a food coma being encouraged, but regardless, it is the only day of the year where passing out on the living room couch with your belt undone is somewhat acceptable. 

Please tell me I'm not the only one that eats until I pass out on the couch as soon as I'm finished.  If I am, then please, no judging.  If it helps, I plan on going extra hard with my Insanity workout before Thanksgiving dinner starts.  Gotta keep a sense of balance!

Thanksgiving is not only about the food.  There's other traditions too!  One unknown fact about me that's not really a "tradition," but nevertheless happens consistently, is actually highly annoying.  Ever since I was little, I've somehow always (literally ALWAYS) managed to wake up on Thanksgiving feeling completely under the weather, and just plain old sick.  I have no idea why this happens.  I rarely get sick, but somehow, like clockwork, Thanksgiving morning comes, and I wake up feeling like the only thing that will get me out of this awful funk I'm in is a giant plate of stuffing (this tends to help a lot).  This year, however, is the year that I think this will all change.  I haven't started feeling weird yet, so I think this will be the first Thanksgiving in a long time where I'm actually going to be feeling 100% good (crossing my fingers that I didn't just jinx myself).  

Another Thanksgiving tradition I have, that's actually a tradition, is waking up early to watch March of the Wooden soldiers on Thanksgiving morning.  Yup, I'm the person that totally skips over the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, in favor of watching a really old movie that I've seen about 15 times by now.   I'm weird, I know.  It's ok though.  

White Chocolate Super Chunk Cookies

Finally, it's Friday, and I have successfully completed my first full week of work at my new internship.  I've been much busier this week, in comparison to the past couple of weeks, as I've had to stick to a new schedule of waking up early for my hour and a half commute to work, working from 9-5, commuting back, and working out at night.  It's been kind of nice actually; I feel like I've been much more productive and I've been able to stick to a really consistent exercise plan, which has been really great.  As fantastic as having a really structured day is, I'm definitely excited that it's the weekend!

I can't wait to get to sleep in a little tomorrow, but come on, let's be serious.  I still have a lot of things to this weekend. Waking up at 9 am may not seem very late, but it's definitely a lot better than 6:30 am at least! There are just too many things that need to be done this weekend; after allI, I do have a blog to fill with sweet treats! Until that happens though...