Compost Cookies

One of my favorite food bloggers happens to be Julia from Fat Girl in a Skinny Body.  I like the way she thinks when it comes to food.  And I especially like the way she thinks when it comes to dessert.  Have you seen my recreation of her goat cheese frozen yogurt yet?  If not, you should taken a second to look that up.

A more recent find on Julia's site was her recipe for Compost Pretzel Cookies.  I was particularly excited to find these cookies because I happened to have chocolate chips and pretzels in my pantry, just waiting to be used.  What I also had was a bag of marshmallows that I wanted to add to the mix.  We all know how good roasted marshmallows are, so why not?

Bacon & Egg Cups

I rarely do this.  Clearly, I need to work on it.  I'll take this on as a "To Do".

I'm fixing you up some brunch goodies.  You could also call them breakfast goodies.  Suit yourself.  Let's get into some bacon and eggs.  But not just any bacon and eggs.  Bacon and egg cups.  They're so cute I can't stand it.  The only thing better than being able to play with your food is being able to eat your food.  With these, you can do both.  And they're so easy to make.  Here the gist of things:

• Fry up some bacon
• Line muffin tins with aforementioned bacon
• Drop in some eggs and seasonings
• Stick in the oven for several minutes.
• Voila.  Brunch is served.

Green Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

I went there. Let's say that I do not take St. Patrick's Day lightly.  This is a day for my Irish heritage to shine.  (PS - I'm totally not Irish, but I will celebrate with those that are.)  This is a time for celebration.  This is a perfect excuse to bust out a batch of green velvet cupcakes.

Green Velvet Cupcakes.  As in Red Velvet Cupcakes with green food coloring instead of red food coloring.  This isn't rocket science, but let's face it: I'm a sucker for pretty food.  I'm also really into vibrant green colors right now so this was perfect for me.

Jalapeno Cream Cheese Swirls

Around here, everything is turning green. You might ask why.  Obviously, it's St. Patrick's Day in Hoboken.  (No, it doesn't make any sense that it's celebrated before the actual St. Patrick's Day of March 17th.  Let's just roll with it.)  A few weeks ago, my roommate and I eagerly sent out invitations to what is now our 3rd Annual St. Patrick's Day brunch party.  Of course this initiated a hunt for festive green appetizers.

As a part of my "research", I began poking around the Karen Cooks blog.  See, I was assigned Karen's blog for this month's Secret Recipe Club. Karen has quite an extensive list of recipes on her site.  As I was looking for appetizers, I kept getting side-tracked by other recipes that I wanted to try.  Chief among those recipes are these Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls.  They just look delicious.  But that's not what this blog post is about.  This blog post is about some spicy, savory appetizers.

Jalapenos give this appetizer a real kick, especially if you're not careful and add in a few extra peppers.  Apparently, some people at our brunch weren't huge fans of all the spice that I accidentally added(sorry about that!).  At any rate, I thought the blend of flaky, slightly sweet crescent dough, soft cream cheese, and heat from the peppers worked really well together to provide our guests with an unexpected (and green) hors d'oeuvre!

Avocado Toast

 

I've been seeing a trend on Pinterest lately.  It's something called Avocado Toast.  Let's get something straight.  I'm really like avocado.  In fact, I'm a lover of avocado.  That's right. I laid it out there.  Twice.

Growing up in the Bahamas, I was lucky enough to have an avocado tree in backyard.  When the avocados (or "pears", as we call them -- I didn't know they were called avocados for years. Years.) were in season, I could eat to my heart's content.  But I haven't busted a move with an avocado in a long time.  Since I've been trying to incorporate more healthy foods into my diet lately, I decided that my busy weekend could do with a burst of protein and good fat.  And sometimes the simplest recipe is just the way to go.