Mmm mmm good!

I just made a wonderful Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp and had to share the recipe! It just came out of the oven, and after about 10 minutes of sitting, I had to dig in! It is a great combination of tart and sweet although I like it a lot because it's not too sweet. I did use more fruit then it called for because I wanted to use up my strawberries, and I had a lot of Rhubarb to use as well.

I signed up at work for a "Harvest Bag" from Sun Gold Farms this summer with a friend of mine. We get fresh veggies/fruits/flowers/herbs every Thursday! It started June 18th and will go through October. The first week our harvest bag included Oregon strawberries (SOO sweet and delicious!) lettuce, pinto beans, rhubarb, onions, kohlrabi, and a calendula plant. My mom also signed up for the same thing through her employer and she wasn't going to use the rhubarb, so I acquired hers as well. Yesterday we received even more rhubarb (and more yummies of course) so I decided I best be gettin' baking with all my fresh rhubarb!  So since I had extra rhubarb and extra strawberries, I added more fruit to the recipe (see below) I think this is one of those things you can't mess up too bad...  It's all personal preference.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups sliced fresh strawberries (I used about 4.5 cups)
3 cups diced rhubarb (I used about 5 large stalks)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup rolled oats

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix white sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, strawberries, and rhubarb. Place the mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish.


Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, butter, and oats until crumbly. You may want to use a pastry blender for this (I just mixed it with my thoroughly washed hands). Crumble on top of the rhubarb and strawberry mixture.


Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and lightly browned.

 Ta Da!

Enjoy!

xoxo,

Elena

Irresistible!

Are you ready for something delicious?? I came across a cookie recipe yesterday (I should really say my mom found if for me) and they are THE best cookies I've ever had! We were at Crate and Barrel and wanted to buy a box of the Barefoot Contessa Chocolate Chunk Cookies in a pre-made mix... But at $9.95, I thought I would probably rather make them from scratch. So my mom found the recipe for me online!! Well, I don't think delicious or irresistible do these cookies justice. I can't believe how good they are. I should have known from the first nibble of cookie dough.

I just thought I would share the recipe with you. It is way to good to keep all to myself! You'll thank me later... (at least I hope you will)

Chocolate Chunk Cookies (Makes 36-40 cookies)

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/4 pounds semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter with the mixer on low speed, mixing only until combined. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chunks.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch-diameter ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Can you say Dee-lish?


But wait..... I must tell you what I did to the recipe. First of all I didn't have chocolate chunks, so I used chocolate chips (1.5 bags of them!) and then, in my opinion what made them so delicious was a half bag of peanut butter chips!!! Can you say YUM? If I make them again though, I would use 1 bag chocolate chips and 1 bag peanut butter chips. I just didn't have a full bag of PB chips, so I had to make due.... 

If anyone ends up making these, I would love to hear what you think about them!
Enjoy!!

Happy Christmas!

As I'm relaxing on the couch, watching a movie while our prime rib is in the oven, I thought I would take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!  Mine has been wonderful and relaxing and very tasty :)  My mom made this fabulous egg dish this morning with rosemary bread, eggs and gruyere cheese!!  It's a Wolfgang Puck recipe and it was SOO delicious!  She also made her famous scones which are my favorite. 

I'll keep this short, especially since a brie appetizer was just put out!  I hope everyone is having a fabulous day with friends and family.  Also, here is another picture I made this week while I was stuck home in the snow!  I love all the illustrator tutorials I've found this week.  

So I got a little pre-occupied and am now just posting this... Already had a YUMMY dinner!  And am getting ready to pack up and head home in this lovely SLUSH we've been blessed with today after all this fabulous snow.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day.  Me... I'm happy to be heading home to my quiet household!

To much of a good thing...

I do love my pumpkin this time of year, but I'm almost pumpkined out and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!  Tonight I have made Pumpkin Creme Brulee, Pumpkin Bread/Muffins and Pumpkin Pie which is now in the oven.  Whew...... I'm exhausted, but thoroughly looking forward to tomorrows feast, cooked by yours truly...Muah! Like I mentioned in my previous post, I'm cooking thanksgiving dinner for my parents and boyfriend tomorrow and am very excited about it.  So I thought I better get a head start on things tonight.  So at least dessert is out of the way.  I decided last minute that I wanted to try and make Pumpkin Creme Brulee...  It turned out delicious!!  I love it.  If you're interested, here is the recipe. The pumpkin pie I think is just for the sake of having pumpkin pie (and my boyfriend could live on the stuff) and the pumpkin muffins are for my stuffing tomorrow!  Yummmm....

The pumpkin bread recipe that I have is pretty fabulous.  It's the best pumpkin bread and people love it.  For all you pumpkin lovers, here it is...

3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. allspice

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1 cup vegetable oil (or substitute applesauce for lower fat)

2 cups canned pumpkin puree

(optional) 1 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and spices and mix.  In separate bowl, mix eggs, water, oil and pumpkin.  Add dry mixture and stir until smooth.  Add nuts.  Pour into two (greased) 9x5 bread pans.  Bake one hour or until done (toothpick will come out clean).  Be careful not to over bake and dry out.

Enjoy!!

Excited about the Holidays

Can I just say how excited I am about the Holidays?  I love this time of year... Being thankful and thinking about all the delicious foods we get to eat on Thanksgiving... and then my favorite part, decorating for Christmas!  I just finished with my hardwood floors in my house (pics to come soon) and I can't wait to have a beautiful tree up!  

I got a little anxious today thinking about buying some new decorations for my house.  After all, a little paint and new floors and I feel like I just moved into a new place!  Which makes it that much more fun to decorate this year.

I also took it upon myself to host Thanksgiving this year!!  Wait... before you think, oh my gosh... Thats a lot of work! There will only be 4 of us.  My parents, boyfriend and myself.  I'm really excited to be able to cook for a small group (especially since this is my first thanksgiving) and be able to do something a little gourmet.  I've been having so much fun looking for good recipes this week, I can't tell you what though, because it's a surprise for my parents and my mom is an avid reader of my blog (I love her for that) I know I at least have 1 loyal reader :)

So now it's Holiday Craft Fair time... As we speak I am preparing for my 2nd annual Open House that will be on December 7th.  If you are interested in attending please email me for more info. My friend Allison will also be joining me from Milina Co. with their fabulous hand made soaps, body scrubs, lotions and more! I'm very excited to have her there with me.  The following week I also get to participate in my employers craft fair (along with Allison), which we've both been doing for the past few years and always have fun at. 

Here are some of the wonderful things that Milina Co. has to offer. (If only you had a scratch and sniff screen!)






The White Tea Ginger soap is to die for!! I can't get enough of that and the Clementine which is also my boyfriends favorite. I can't wait to try the Pink Grapefruit.

Milina Co. has more scents then what are listed above, I just wanted to show some of my favorites and one's that I've been eyeing :) You can also order directly from their website, I promise you won't be disappointed!

I guess I need to wrap this up. I hope everyone finds their perfect Turkey (or Meat of your choice) for the upcoming Holiday. Don't forget to think about what your thankful for. My list is so big, and for that I am SO thankful!

Wine Tasting Adventure

And the birthday continues... The following Sunday David and my best friend Corinn joined me in some wonderful wine tasting. David was our designated driver (how sweet is that??) If you haven't been wine tasting out here, it's a must! We have SO many amazing wineries it's hard to know where to begin. But we looked at our map and away we went. Our first stop was Rex Hill Vineyards which is right off Hwy 99. They have beautiful wines there, the Pinot from here is actually what David and I had on our first date! Here is Corinn and I stopping for a picture in front of their beautiful vineyards excited for our day in wine country...


Ok, on to the next winery which is one of my favorites Erath. They have amazing Pinot Noirs! And an incredible view. And here's Corinn and I with our purchases of yummy wine. I don't think i've ever walked out of there not buying anything, everything is so good!

Jewelry on Corinn and myslelf, made by me :) Check it out! www.monilibella.com (sorry, couldn't resist)

Out the driveway of Erath and across the street was Bella Vida Vinyard. Be prepared to have your car get dirty, it's up a very long steep driveway to top of their beautiful hill. This view is amazing and we actually notices that once you step out of the tasting room, it is so quiet and peaceful! Look at this view!


Wow is right! And what a perfect day we picked to wine taste :) Next it was off to Laurel Ridge Winery. They had a lot of wines to taste, but we only tasted 5, the whites weren't my favorite, the reds were pretty good and then we tried the desert wines, a white and a port and they were both very yummy! As you might have guessed we were all having a very good time by now, so why stop there...we thought we could squeeze in one more. I had been to all the previous wineries, so I thought I would try somewhere new. So we headed in the direction of home and on the way we stopped by Ponzi Vinyards. I had been to their tasting room which is in Dundee off of Hwy 99, but their Vineyard was quite a sight! It was tucked way back off this road and it was gorgeous!! They had beautiful grounds and 2 bocce ball courts! What a great place to bring a picnic and enjoy a glass (or a bottle for 2) of wine. When we got there they were actually starting to set up a jazz band and selling little cheese and bread plates! But Corinn had plans that evening, so we couldn't stay. Next time though! They are having that same thing again on August 17th, which I am already marking on my calender! Check it out. On our way out, Corinn and I decided to become "one with the vineyard" so we had to stop for a picture in the grapes.

This is one of my favorites
So I guess that wraps up our wine tasting excursion. Thanks for letting me re-live it again. What an absolutely perfect day! I am lucky to have a best friend that is so wonderful and a boyfriend that puts up with us (we were actually pretty tame this time around). Did I mention we've gone to school together since first grade?? Crazy huh?!

And as they say it ends with a hay bale (ok, guess I've never really heard that) We were on our way out from Ponzi and passed a field full of large round hay bales, and we said to ourselves what a perfect photo opp for us!! So out of the car we go and out on the field... we jumped up and David started snapping :) We got some pretty cute shots of us and we ended up laughing the whole time! So ends the 2nd perfect day of my birthday celebration.

Chocolate Anyone?

Did someone say Moonstruck Chocolate? I did!! I'm looking froward to tonight where I have been invited to a Moonstruck Chocolate tour and tasting!! How yummy is that? I have been starting to go to some women's networking events where I have been meeting some wonderful and encouraging ladies! So tonight, I get to go talk with powerful women, pass out business cards and sample wonderful moonstruck chocolates! Networking I am realizing is so key to a great business. You never know who you are going to meet! I also get the priveledge of going with a wonderful friend of mine who also has a business with her husband. So of course we have fun going to these events together and get to encourage each other also. So here's to having some delightful chocolate tonight!