Ginger Miso Salad Dressing

We received a huge bunch of curly kale and about a pound of brussels sprouts in our CSA box last week, so I used those to make an Asian inspired salad with this dressing and it was really good! I was also making my Teriyaki Chicken and cauliflower rice, so I didn't add any meat to the salad, but it would be great with shredded chicken or turkey. In the salad bowl I threw: shaved brussels sprouts, chopped kale, shredded carrots, chopped green onions, cilantro and mint, and one diced Serrano pepper. Right before I dressed + tossed the salad, I topped it with ginger wonton strips and sesame seeds. Looking back, I wish I would have also added red bell pepper and some purple cabbage...but this salad was a hit with the whole family so there will be a next time! 

GINGER MISO DRESSING
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger 
2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 table spoon seasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon Tamari (I use to be GF, but you could sub low sodium soy sauce)
1 1/2 tablespoon miso paste (I used THIS ONE) 
2 tablespoons honey

Combine everything in a bowl and whisk until smooth. ENJOY!

Devil's Food Cake

"Let's face it, a nice, creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me." -Audrey Hepburn

Does chocolate cake do it for you? 

I think Audrey is right. Chocolate Cake DOES for a lot of people.

I always assumed Devil's Food cake was so named because it's so rich and so sinfully good. It's tempts you like the Devil, right? So when someone told me that No - Devil's Food is just called that because it's the chocolate/dark version of an ANGEL Food (vanilla/light) cake...well, that just kinda stopped me in my tracks. I mean, duh. I consider myself sharper than the average tool in the shed, but sometimes...

I was blessed to work for a fabulous chef and restaurateur for many years. I will never be able to know all the ways her influence in my life has made me a better person. But I do know, my recipe repertoire never disappoints. When I need to host a dinner party, or bake a killer cake, more often than not, I'll make something I learned from Britta. 

Britta's Devil's Food Cake is something out of this world. It's extra dark, extra rich, extra everything. People would come far and wide for a slice, and we always made sure to have more than one made on busy nights!

Ingredients

cake

3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa, plus more for dusting

1/2 cup boiling water

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pans

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 TBSP pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups sifted cake flour (not self rising)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup whole milk

frosting

24 ouces semisweet chocolate morsels

4 cups heavy whipping cream

1 TBSP light corn syrup

Directions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange two racks in center of oven. Line bottoms of three 8-by-2 inch buttered cake pans with parchment paper. Dust bottoms and sides with cocoa. In a small bown, sift cocoa, whisk with boiling water. Set aside to cool. 
• Cream butter on low with an elextric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar - 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down sides twice. Beat in the vanilla.
• Gradually beat in the eggs, beating between each addition until batter is no longer slick, scraping down sides twice.
• In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Whisk together cocoa mixture with the milk. 
• With mixer on low speed, alternate adding flour mixture and cocoa mixture to the butter/sugar mixture - a little of each at a time, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
• Divide evenly into three pans.
• Bake 35-40 minutes, rotating the pans for even baking, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Let cool, in pans, on wire racks 15 minutes before removing from pans. Return to rack to cool, tops up.

To make frosting:

• Place chocolate and cream in a heavy sauce pan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until combined and thickened, about 20-25 minutes. (YES! This frosting is a labor of love with all that stirring - but it's worth it - and necessary as to cook, but not scorch the chocolate or the cream)
• Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring 3 minutes more. 
• Remove from heat and stir in corn syrup 
• (the corn syrup is what gives the frosting a glossy sheen even when it's cooled!)
• Transfer to a large metal bowl and refrigerate.
• Check every 15 minutes and stir, scraping sides and bottom of bowl, until the frosting is cool enough to spread. This takes about 2 hours.

To assemble, remove parchment papers from bottoms of cakes. Save the best domed layer for the top. Place one layer on a cake plate and spread with 1 cup of frosting. Repeat with second layer. Top with third layer and cover outside cake with remaining frosting.

________________________________________

I'm sorry I don't have more photos for you! I wasn't thinking about blogging this recipe when I made it last week - but after posting the pic above, I received many requests! Next time I make it...I'll take step by step pics and update the post. Hope you ENJOY! 

Birthday Cake Cheesecake

For as long as Matt has been coaching (going on 16 years!), I've made a cheesecake every Friday during football season for the coaches. For many seasons, I stuck with my tried and true recipe. One - it was a proven winner, they were CIF Champions the first year I stated making it. And two, it was fast and easy. But the longer I make this superstitious sweet treat, the more adventurous I have been getting. Making the same ol' thing again and again, gets boring! It took a few years for my husband to agree to let me alter the recipe each week (like I said, superstitious) but once he did, I've been having fun trying new variations on my basic recipe. 

A few weeks ago, it was the head coach's birthday, so I decided I wanted to come up with a Birthday Cake Cheesecake. I changed up my recipe by making the crust out of vanilla wafers instead of graham crackers, adding chunks of Funfetti cake to the middle, and topping it all off with a chocolate ganache, whip cream, sprinkles and cherries. It turned out better than I expected! 

Birthday Cake Cheesecake

This cheesecake is rich and creamy and can easily feed 10-12 people.

Ingredients
Crust
1 package Nilla Wafers
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Filling

1 box Funfetti cake, baked to box instructions, cooled and cut into squares
3 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Topping
1 pint sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Ganache

8 ounces semi-sweet morsels

1/2 cup heavy cream

Garnish

Canned whipped cream

Rainbow Sprinkes

Marachino cherries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grind Nilla wafers into crumbs in the Cuisinart with the metal blade.

Add the sugar and blend together.

Add the melted butter and pulse until the mixture comes together. It will be slightly crumbly. Press mixture into the bottom and half way up the sides of a spring form pan.

Bake for 5 minutes.

While your crust is in the oven, wash the Cuisinart bowl and blade and reassemble.

Blend the 3 pkgs of cream cheese

Add the sugar 1/4 cup at a time, pulsing between each addition.

Add the eggs, one at a time, pulsing between each addition.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add vanilla and blend until well combined.

Place cut squares of Funfetti cake into spring form pan on top of crust.

Slowly pour cream cheese mixture over the cake squares. Gently spread with a spatula, if needed, so that all cake squares are covered.

Return to oven for 35-40 minutes.

Right before the filling is done baking, mix together the topping. I put the 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla right into the container of sour cream and stir. (No need to dirty another bowl!)

When the filling is done baking it will dome a little at the top and will NOT jiggle in the middle when you move the pan around.

Remove it from the oven and immediately (and gently!) top with sour cream mixture.

Return to the oven for an additional 5 minutes.

Let the whole thing cool on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes before removing the outer ring of the spring form pan. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving. (But I think it comes out best if you can chill it overnight!)

Before serving, top with Chocolate Ganache, whipped cream, sprinkles and cherries.

To make the ganache, cook the chocolate chips and heavy cream in the top of a double boiler until smooth and creamy. Allow to cool to room temp before pouring onto chilled cheesecake. (If you don't have a double boiler, I've cooked it in a small saucepan right over the flame before. Just be really careful not to let the cream boil (it will separate and make your chocolate sauce oily and lumpy) or the chocolate chips scorch (your sauce will taste burnt and chalky!) 

One tip - I put my spring form pan on a cookie sheet from the very start. This makes it easy to remove and return to the oven as you are filling it and topping it. (Twice I've had the whole thing open up and fall on my feet - so I've learned my lesson!) ENJOY!

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

A loooong time ago, as some of you may remember, I had a recipe blog called Haute Plates. I haven't posted to it in years. I made the decision that it was better to have everything in one place - here, on Bringing Up Burns. But, as I was going through the old archives on Haute Plates this morning, looking for my Pumpkin Bread recipe...I realized there are several recipes I never finished transferring over here. When I stumbled upon this playdough recipe (and Molly and Munch's cute baby faces!!) I knew it was time to move this one over. We might even have to make some today. I'm ready for my house to smell like FALL! 

_____________________________________________________________

(Originally posted November 13, 2008)

On the days that Megan goes to school and Molly stays home, Molly is a little forlorn. She misses Megan and wishes she didn't have to stay home with the "babies." So I try and do something special with her on these days. Today we made Pumpkin Pie Playdough and she LOVED it! It was super easy, and smelled so good. I had to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup water

Food coloring (we used 6 drops of red and 15 drops of yellow)

Directions:

Combine the dry ingredients in a nonstick saucepan.

Add the oil, water, and food coloring and whisk until smooth.

Stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it forms a ball, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a counter, let it cool slightly, then knead the dough until it has a smooth texture, about 1 minute.

The dough will keep up to a week in a ziplock bag.

I thought it would be fun to make some "stems" for our pumpkins. I put some fusilli pasta in a ziplock bag and added 5 drops of green food coloring and a teaspoon of vinegar. I let Molly squish it all together in the sealed bag until the noodles were well colored. Thankfully everything in this recipe is non-toxic...just in case your kids try to eat it, like my little Munchie did!

Then I poured the pasta onto a cookie sheet and put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 250 degrees. (Just so the green would fully dry and not get all over the kids' fingers!)

After the noodles cooled off, Molly went to work and made a whole family of pumpkins!Hope you have as much fun making Pumpkin Pie Playdough as we did!

Irish Soda Bread

My name is Erin and I have a shamrock tattooed on my body. Therefore, I think I can take a post or two away from my Divergent obsessing to post some of my traditional Irish recipes in honor of St. Patrick's Day! We always have a big family dinner, enjoying Corned Beef and cabbage, Colcannon, parsnips, carrots, and this soda bread for dinner. Thinking about it makes my mouth water. And don't forget to wash it all down with a glass of warm Guinness, or better yet, a shot of Redbreast! Slainte!

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP melted butter
1/2 cup currants (you can substitute raisins if you don't have currants)
1 TBSP caraway seeds
1 1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 large egg, beaten

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Plump raisins or currants in hot water for a few minutes, drain well.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl.
Add the raisins or currants and caraway seeds and mix well.
In another bowl, combine egg, yogurt and melted butter.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Combine with a spoon until just mixed.
Being careful not to handle too much (it will make your bread tough) form the dough into a disk about 6 inches in diameter and 3 inches thick in the center.
Dough is supposed to be light and airy and quite sticky, but you can dust with a little more flour if needed.
Place on a cookie sheet and cut a cross on the surface.
Bake 45-50 minutes.
Bread will be golden brown and will sound hollow when the bottom is tapped.

Cut circle into triangles and serve warm with butter and Rhubarb jam.
ENJOY!>

Other St. Patrick's Day recipes you might enjoy:

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

Colcannon (Irish Mashed Potatoes)

Divergent Premiere Party Ideas - ERUDITE

I'm pretty sure I'm half Erudite.

(Me and my tattoos will let you guess what my other half is.)

I love to learn. And read. And write.

To me, dissecting poetry is equivalent to riding Space Mountain.

For fox sake. I eagerly wrote other people's essays in high school. For money.

I read like a fiend and happily spend a fool's fortune on books.

Those are my IRL glasses right down there in that pic.

Let's be real...

I'm pretty sure I'm more than half Erudite. 

 So it's been fun (and easy) coming up with Erudite ideas for my Divergent Premiere Party. I will have to admit that when I found these Hipster Glasses straw clips at Michael's in the 99 cent bins...I literally squealed out loud and almost died of a nerd heart attack. 

Once I saw them...everything else just started falling into place. I knew I needed blue striped straws to attach them to. And I knew I was going to need to come up with a yummy blue drink.

I decided to pair the striped straws with milk bottles that I wrapped with book pages. Since taking these pictures...I've bought a cheap dictionary, and for the party, I'm going to wrap the milk bottles with strips from the E pages of the dictionary. I've modge podged the pages...so that the cold drink condensation doesn't seep through, like you see in the picture above.

(Live and learn! Me and my issues.)

I've also decided since taking these pictures...that the strip of book page/dictionary would be best finished off with a blue wax seal with an E pressed into it...don't you think? If I have my way, and everything gets done the way I see it in my head...that is so happening.

I have accumulated the milk bottles I use for my parties over time. They are really just recycled Starbucks Frappuccino bottles. But if you don't have the time/desire to drink a gazillion frappuccinos just to recycle the bottles, well then you can buy cute milk bottles HERE.

The Erudite Nerd print was made by printing out an image I found on the Divergent Faction Tumblr and modge podging it onto an 8X10  canvas. You can find all five faction images on my Four+Tris pinboard. They were designed by LemadiJane. Her fangirl graphics are amazing.

Lucky for me, my baby brother is a bartender at a chichi place on the water...so I hit him up for a smarty pants blue drink. I have no idea what this one is really called...but it's TASTY! And I pretty much love the name I gave it, so there. 

If you're so chichi you have a bartender at your party...

then tell him to shake everything up in a martini shaker and strain it into a glass. (Or glass milk bottle!

But if you're loud & crazy, fly by the seat of your pants, want to enjoy the party more than you want to play hostess like me...

Then just make a huge pitcher of the stuff...paying close attention to ratios, of course.

(Use the Erudite in you to figure that ish out.)

And set it out with other BLUE bites and be happy.

That is what will be happening at my party. 

PS - Blueberry ice cubes are nothing more than blueberries.

frozen. in ice cubes.

For decorations/food/sweets I'm planning on

1 a glass bowl of blue water 

2 books tied with twine, Divergent open to one of my favorite pages

3 berry baskets full of macrons resting on beds of lavender

4 blueberry macrons from BabyBoyBakery

(melt in your mouth...Jacquie is a bakery fairy, I swear.)

5 blue on bleu with crackers

(blueberry lavender jam on Etsy)

The Erudite faction area will be decorated with a blue tablecloth, lots of books, maybe a dictionary or some encyclopedias, a globe, reading glasses...and definitely a glass bowl with blue water. I'm planning to spell out some words with Scrabble tiles too.

Erudite

Knowledge

Divergent

Intelligence

Curiosity

Astuteness

There is a HUGE part of me that wants to give one of THESE to everyone at the party. Maybe I can make a paper version of my own...we'll see. We'll see.

Also? Did you see Shai covering THR this month?

So help me. I want to chop my hair.

This girl is on her game. I LOVED her in The Spectacular Now...but she's looking better than ever right now. I almost can't even think about TFiOS...My heart is NEVER ever ever going to be ready for that movie. June 6th go away. And hurry up. 

More Divergent Party posts you might be interested in:

AMITY

INVITATIONS

TSHIRTS

Oscars Cupcakes

When I was grocery shopping on Wednesday a certain bag of candy jumped into my basket and kept asking me to turn it into something yummy. I'm not really a candy person. Or a chocolate person. But I am VERY MUCH a coconut person. So when I saw these...I had to purchase. 

When I got home, I started thinking about what I could do with them and sneaking them into cupcakes seemed like a good idea. With the Oscars right around the corner, I decided to put the two together and get bakey-crafty. I was kinda over CAKE, however, having just finished off the monstrosity that was MollyB's birthday cake, so I decided to make Brownie cupcakes instead.

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

Even though these decadent miniature brownies have a Coconut Creme Hershey Kiss baked into the center of them (making for a sweet surprise) you can totally make them without anything in the middle if you prefer. I frosted them with a simple buttercream and made some really fun Oscars themed toppers with stuff I bet you have around your house. I really love how they turned out. A deliciously rich, glittery brownie bite worthy of the red carpet! 

For the brownies you’ll need:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 rounded teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

For the buttercream you’ll need:
Two sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees (F).

Mix the melted butter, sugar, cocoa powder and salt at a high speed until well combined. The batter will seem grainy but should be thick and shiny.

Add the eggs one at a time, scraping sides between each addition.

Beat until batter is thick and creamy.

Add the flour and mix until just combined. 

Fill paper-lined mini cupcake tins with a heaping tablespoon of the brownie batter. Press one Coconut Creme Hershey Kiss into the center, and cover with a little bit more of the batter, so the candy is fully covered (if the little peak of the kiss might be visible, that’s okay).

Bake for about 20-23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the brownie comes out clean. Keep an eye on them, they can overbake and get crunchy fast. You don't want that. You want baked but moist!

Allow to cool when you make the buttercream.

Whip the butter until creamy, then add in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until it’s fluffy. Whip in the vanilla and then give it a taste and make sure you don’t need more of anything.

Fill a pastry bag with buttercream, and pipe onto the brownies. Or just slather the stuff on...whatever your preference! (If you’re piping the frosting, you may need to add another stick of butter and cup of powdered sugar to the buttercream recipe to ensure you’ll have enough for all the brownies—piping uses more frosting than just spreading it on.)

Finish with your Oscars cupcake toppers and Enjoy!

Oscars Cupcake Toppers

I don't know about you - but we have several puzzles with missing pieces in our house! I used a few pieces from one of them for this craft. Everything else, I already had in my kitchen or craft supplies.

Supplies:

scissors
x-acto knife

old puzzle pieces

glue or metallic paint

gold glitter

black and silver cardstock

hole punch

edges of film strip or old photo negatives

tooth picks

A few hints

• Try and pick puzzle pieces where the top notch looks close to a head shape. If needed, you can round it out a bit with your x-acto knife.
• I left the bottom notch on each puzzle piece and used that to stick into the cupcake (Just make sure not to paint or glitter that part!)
• You don't have to cut the concave arm shape into the piece if you don't want...I just like how it gave it a little more realistic look.
• The film reels are just two circle punch outs. I used a hole punch to add the mini holes around the silver circle to make it look like a film canister.
• If you don't have a film strip or old negatives to cut up, you can just wrap a long, skinny strip of black paper around a pencil to make it curl and use instead.
• I didn't have them on hand, but I think the film reels would look even better if you added a foam pop up sticker or two to the middle to give them a 3D feel. 

I love the movies, don't you?! What is your pick for Best Picture this year? I've seen almost all of them and my two front runners are American Hustle and Dallas Buyers Club. There are always surprises though, right?! I kind of like it when a Dark Horse wins. I feel like it's Leo's year to win Best Actor...but Matthew McConaughey was SO CRAMAZING in DBC. Like stupid good. And if my 90's BF Jordan Catalano...er, I mean Jared Leto, doesn't win Best Supporting Actor, then the whole damn thing is rigged. Rayon was the performance of his career, IMO. 

COLOR! and a menu plan

You can tell it's surf competition season when every morning, our fence is colorfully decorated with salt water drenched rash guards drying in the sun.

Busy week ahead. I'm already a little cross eyed thinking about it. Hopefully this is one of those weeks where I perform better under pressure. I recently stumbled upon www.blueapron.com and www.plated.com - and while I don't really need these types of services to deliver me groceries (I like shopping for and picking out our food) I am LOVING them for recipe inspiration! Here's what will be on our table this week.

MONDAY

Turkey kielbasa with steamed rice, red peppers, broccoli + zucchini

TUESDAY

Flat iron steaks with artichoke potato hash, roasted asparagus + shallots

WEDNESDAY

Tortellini soup and grilled cheese

THURSDAY

Chicken + poblano chilaquiles with avocado salad

FRIDAY

Molly's Neon/Glow In the Dark Party!!! Baked Ziti, Chicken Alfredo and caesar salad for the party crowd. And I will be attempting a version of this cake...it wont be this high, but hopefully it will be this colorful! 

The Juice is Loose

We bought a Breville juicer last month and I'm in love with it. If I'm being honest, I wasn't sure I was going to like juicing. I kinda thought it would be something I'd do because I knew it would be a fast way to get healthy stuff into my body. I never thought I'd crave the juice...be finding ways to add the juice to other recipes...slipping an ounce of it here and there into my daily gallon of water...no. I didn't think that would happen. But it has!

My favorite recipe so far is the very first one we tried. THIS ONE. I love cucumbers...so I think that might be why. But when Matt first read me the ingredients in this recipe, I thought to myself "ICK! Why are we trying a gross green one first? Can't we do berries...or pineapple?" I mean...kale and celery and ginger? Ewww. My mouth puckered in a frown. Then I drank it.

It's ridiculous how good this juice is. I want to drink it all day and night. No really - it would kick ass mixed with some Vodka and soda.

(This is how my brain works. When I open the CSA box to find fresh grapefruit, I immediately think of fresh squeezed Salty Dogs!! Not breakfast. Hence why I needed the juicer to get all the healthy ish into my body as fast as possible.) 

Another upside to juicing? It makes beets bearable. Beets are the ONE vegetable I just can't do. I've tried. Unless they're chopped small in a salad that is mostly goat cheese, all I taste is dirt. I really thought drinking dirt would be even worse, but again, to my surprise, this CARROT + BEET juice was actually delicious.

And Cuppa!!! I totally figured out how they made Bella's blood slushies in Breaking Dawn. BEET JUICE.

I know Kim will like this post 'cause she celebrates Sochi with Golden Mules. Maybe I can juice some cherries for her. Today I'm juicing blueberries and pears and coconuts.(Would be good with Rum, no?) Ha!

Happy Friday!

HEARTBROKEN! and a menu plan

I'm still in my Denver hat today.

So yeah. Yesterday was brutal. When the second half started with Harvin returning the kickoff for a touchdown...it almost got comical. I mean, I had to laugh, otherwise I'd cry! Or start kicking things and screaming profanities. In front of the children. That wouldn't have been good. I think I said outloud, "I don't think it can get any worse." And it was like the football Gods laughed in my face. Bwahahahahaha! YES, IT CAN! When Manning set a record for most completions in a Super Bowl...but we still lost by 497 points?? That was comedy. Black Hearted Comedy.

As heartbroken and surprised as I was to see the game go down like that, the Seahawks played an amazing game and deserved to win. This morning at dropoff, one of the Dad's of a boy in Wyatt's class said to me, "That's a bold statement you're making with that hat today. You are brave." "Not brave," I replied. "They're just my team."

As much as yesterday sucked, that doesn't mean I don't still love them.

Today I will mend my broken heart with leftover cupcakes and focus my craziness elsewhere...like The Bachelor is on tonight, and my current book is getting zombie apocalypse good, and it's only 17 days til I see BG really close up. February...you started out with a kick in the gut, but I am ready for you. 

Here's what will be on our table this week. Recycling some meals as we got thrown off schedule and grabbed take out too much last week! 

MONDAY

B – we grabbed bagels on the way to school. My cupboards look like Mother Hubbard's. To the grocery store I go...

L – Turkey + havarti wraps, cantaloupe drizzled with honey

Snacks – Green juice, hard boiled egg

D – Pesto & mozzarella stuffed chicken breasts with roasted tomatoes & green beans

TUESDAY

B – Portabella garden burger topped with spinach + a poached egg

L – Baked sweet potato with kale & ricotta

Snacks – Greek yogurt w/berries, beet + carrot juice

D – Chicken lettuce wraps and steamed rice (I substitute a mixture of molasses and balsamic vinegar for the soy and hoisin to make the recipe GF) 

WEDNESDAY

B -  Gluten Free breakfast casserole and pineapple

L - Tuna salad with rice vinegar + avocado, gala apple

Snacks - blueberry + pear juice, hard boiled egg

D – White chicken enchiladas and black beans (my go-to "friends with new baby" dinner)

THURSDAY

B – Berry juice smoothies, english muffins with peanut butter

L – Egg salad sandwich, veggies + hummus

Snacks – salt + vinegar kale chips, Green juice

D – Open faced burgers with zucchini fries

FRIDAY

B – Egg whites scrambled with turkey, spinach & mozzarella 

L – Carrot + red pepper soup with goat cheese and Dukkah spice

Snacks - fresh fruit with unsweetened coconut, string cheese

D – Balsamic pork tenderloin with roasted butternut squash & fennel

PS - David Beckham made the first half bearable. Other than that...I liked Tebow's "contracts hold you back" commercials for T Mobile. And the dude who was "up for whatever" with Bud Light. And Mary Lou Retton looting Radio Shack. What were your favorites?

Tomato Tomahto

Goat cheese is my crack. I'm addicted to it. In my humble opinion...it makes everything taste better. Scrambled with eggs, tossed with salads, stuffed into roasted chicken breasts,  spread onto eggplant sandwiches...you can't ever have too much goat cheese.

I made this tart for book club last night.

Ingredients

Goat Cheese Filling

8oz cream cheese, softened

6oz goat cheese, softened

1 egg

1 shallot, minced

1 TBSP garlic, crushed

2 TBSP half & half

salt & pepper

Tomatoes

1 10oz pkg grape tomatoes, halved

2 TBSP fresh thyme, chopped

2 TBSP fresh basil, chopped

1 TBSP garlic, minced

olive oil, salt & pepper

1 recipe for Flaky Pie Crust Dough

(or one 9 inch refrigerated pie crust - which I totally use ALL THE TIME when I'm in a pinch!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Toss all the tomatoes, herbs and garlic in a bowl with enough olive oil to coat and salt & pepper to taste. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix the cream/goat cheese mixture together until well combined. I usually just do this in a large bowl with the back of a fork, but you can use a mixer too.

Roll out your pie crust into a large circle. Place your pie crust on a non stick cookie sheet BEFORE adding filling...it gets hard to move around later.

Top pie crust with cheese filling and spread evenly, leaving a 1-2 inch edge all the way around. Top with tomato mixture - it doesn't have to be perfect! I just toss them on there and go with it. Fold the edges of the tart up and pinch to seal.

Bake for 20 minutes. 

After 20 minutes, I usually tent my tart with foil, so that the crust and tomatoes don't burn while the cheese filling continues to set. 

Bake an additional 20 minutes. 

Cut into triangles and serve it hot right out of the oven, or at room temperature. Both are equally delicious.

Last night, I added a layer of Trader Joe's basil pesto under the goat cheese. It made it even more rich and flavorful, but is definitely not needed.

Baked Blueberry Coconut Oatmeal

I found THIS RECIPE and couldn't wait to try it. Blueberry and coconut are two of my favorite flavors. Bonus - I baked mine using vanilla almond milk making it both gluten and dairy free! It was delicious. There are a couple other baked oatmeal recipes on that blog - peach, apple...I think I must try them all.