Poppy

I saved this dying poppy from the trash can after being thrown away in my floral design class. It looked so helpless lying on top of the heap of flowers I thought it couldn’t die like that.

Date and Nut Bars

Ive always wanted to buy dates and I recently picked some up.  I decided to make an energy type bar with various nuts. The turned out delicious and energy-filled!

1/2 cup almonds

1/8 cup or more cashews

1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips

1 1/2 cup dates(pitted)

1 tbsp peanut butter

put almonds and cashews in the food processor till finely chopped. add chocolate chips and blend till combined. put this mixture aside. Pulse dates by them selves till it forms a paste. and nut mixture and peanut butter and pulse till combined. pour mixture into small pan covered in parchment. let chill at least two hours before cutting. enjoy! makes 8 small squares.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut-Butter buttercream

Peanut Butter is one of my favorite foods, and chocolate and peanut butter are my favorite combination. These chocolate peanut butter cupcakes are by far the best ones I’ve ever had. The chocolate cupcakes are so moist and chocolatey and the smooth peanut butter buttercream is so rich and perfect. Im bringing these into school tomorrow and am positive they will be a crowd favorite.

chocolate cupcake recipe

Peanut-Butter Buttercream

1 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup vege. shortening

1-2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

cream peanut butter and shortening till mixed. add vanilla. add powdered sugar till thick and fluffy.

 

Gluten Free Raspberry Bars

This is my sister absolute favorite dessert and she insisted that I make her some. She has recently been bothered by eating gluten so it was my job to find a way to make these gluten free. Many gluten free flour substitutes found in the supermarket are really expensive so i decided I would try to make my own oat flour*. It was super simple and much cheaper then buying it. This is my first recipe using them and I’m definitely going to try it again. In the mean time, gluten free or not, these bars are delicious. Bake away!

Raspberry Oatmeal Squares:

(adapted from joy of baking)

Oatmeal Base:

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg 

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups oat flour* or (all purpose flour)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats, divided

* make your own oat flour by put either steel cut oats or old fashion rolled oats in the food processor till it becomes close to flour consistency.

Filling:

1 cup raspberry jam or preserves (homemade or store bought)

Raspberry Oatmeal Squares: Preheat oven to 350 degrees parchment a 9 x 9 inch pan. 

Oatmeal Base: In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated. In a separate bowl whisk together the oat flour(or all purpose), baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix until well combined. Stir in 1 3/4 cups (155 grams) of the rolled oats. Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. 

Spread the raspberry jam (preserves) over the oatmeal base.To the remaining dough add the remaining 1/4 cup (25 grams) of rolled oats.Crumble this mixture evenly over the top of the raspberry jam. Bake for about 25 -30 minutesor until nicely browned. Place on a wire rack to cool and then cut into squares.

Makes about 16 – 2 inch squares.

Wolfgang Puck Cafe

My mom took me to Florida over the past week for vacation. Since we are no longer obsessed with the parks we decided we would have a more relaxing, eating and shopping type of vacation. Our second day there we went to Downtown Disney to walk around. For years my mom has told me about this smoked salmon pizza that they serve and since I love smoke salmon we decided to go there for lunch. We ordered the pizza (of course) and chinous salad. The salad is a cabbage based salad lightly dressed with an asian vinaigrette, roasted cashews, and fried wontons to top it off. It was refreshing and crisp and so good. My mom told me that there was a lot of smoked salmon on the pizza but i didn’t expect the pizza to be covered in it. The pizza had plain pizza dough with a creme fraiche and dill sauce, smoke salmon covering every inch, and some chopped scallions to top it off. It was perfectly cooked and the two together we so refreshing and so good. If you are ever near one of his restaurants I strongly suggest you stop in. Please enjoy some pictures while trying to resist myself from digging in.