August 28, 2011

Check out Episodes 14 & 15!

In case you’ve missed it, there are new episodes of the Joy the Baker Podcast over at Homefries!

On Episode# 15: End of Summer Blowout, we discuss:

how to eat as much corn as possible
tights-aka sausage casings
our favorite recipes
gearing up for sweater season (we are in denial)
football season…and its impending doom (on our waistlines & relationships!)
we announce the winner for the Homefries U giveaway!

On Episode #14: We Are Not the Cool Kids, we discuss:

growing up
hypercolor clothing
doc martens
blossom (WHOA)
mood rings
talking gibberish
Cooper going to preschool!
why we are not/were not the cool kids

We also have a phone number! You can leave us a message & we might play it on Air!

(817)-82-FRIES

Thanks for listening!

Photography, Uncategorized

August 27, 2011

365- Week 33

A food related photo everyday until 2012. Here’s week 33:

237/365 Moscow Mules with Whitney!!! (my new favorite drink!)

236/365 Tomato loot from the backyard. SCORE.

235/365 Super quick dinner= baked potato, non-fat Greek yogurt & butter.

234/365 Corn Zucchini Pizza in progress.

233/365 Arugula salad with leftover grilled corn, tomatoes, arugula, grilled mushrooms & onions.

232/365 Epitome of SUMMER.

231/365 Mushrooms, spinach, fried egg with toast and coffee. Cooper got a pancake.

around the home, Uncategorized

August 25, 2011

SCHOOL SHOPPING LIST GIVEAWAY!

Fun Fact: I LOVE BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING; it’s my favorite time of year! I’m one of those people who needs an objective when I shop; so when there’s a list involved I feel completely satisified picking out and checking off items. You can imagine how much I loved organizing stuff for summer camp as a kid.

In the past few weeks I’ve had my eye on some cool things at my local Target. I saw a few kids with lists and baskets full of supplies and couldn’t help but feel JEALOUS. Although I don’t miss going to school, I do miss having cool new shoes and a backpack full of the latest school supplies. This year I decided to make my own school shopping list and buy supplies for one lucky reader! If you’re not in school, who cares?? I’m totally acting like I am. I’ve got a brand new pencil case in my purse filled with fresh Sharpies and I’m not ashamed. There might be a highlighter in there or two cuz you never know when you might need one!

Here’s what I picked out for YOU!

1. MECHANICAL PENCILS—my favorite! I like a thick lead mechanical pencil. I hope you do too!

2. LARABARS—you need energy with all of your studying! Flavors: Cherry Pie & Peanut Butter Cookie.

3. GUM—Sweet Mint! Who doesn’t need gum? Just don’t let your teachers catch you chewing it!

4. SHARPIE- COLOR PACK—seeing a pack of colored sharpies makes me happy. ‘Nuff said.

5. SHARPIE- MEDIUM POINT—essential for list making. These ones don’t bleed through paper! I’m mildly obsessed with them and I think they make my handwriting better.

6. CUTE PEN CASE—what are you gonna put your new pens in? duh!

7. PAPER CLIPS—these ones are coated. They look cool.

8. GRAPH PAPER POST-ITS—the greatest invention since sliced bread. Seriously. Life changer. Sometimes they are hard to find!

9. GIGANTIC PAPERCLIPS —great for huge paper stacks. You won’t realize how much you need these until you don’t have them.

10. NAIL POLISH— Silver Sweep & Blue Streak Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri. The wand is thick & it dries super fast. You could easily paint your nails in the AM if you have to.

11. NOTEBOOK—where you write down ideas, love letters & shopping lists…

12. HIGHLIGHTERS—because the world looks better highlighted. Neon is IN.

13. FOLDERS—so you can put all your important papers in one place!

A winner will be picked at random a week from today–September 2nd! Good luck!

recipes

August 24, 2011

Corn Zucchini Lime Pizza

For a good year, Casey worked close to the amazing/prolific Arizmendi Bakery. Not only are their pastries, muffins & cookies TO DIE FOR, they make the most fabulous/unconventional pizza with the craziest, most exotic toppings; it’s fancy pizza! We created a tradition where every other Thursday, he’d call me and tell me what the pizza of the day was and nine times out of ten, he’d bring one home. I’d fire up the oven after hanging up and eagerly anticipated heating up the pizza and slicing into it.

One of the best pizzas he came home with was a wonderful corn, feta, lime & cilantro pizza that had slices of jalapeno scattered throughout. It tasted just like summer. Casey changed jobs, and sadly Arizmendi pizza has been out of our rotation. That hasn’t prevented me from thinking about their pizza constantly. Before bed the other night, this pizza popped into my head and I seriously lost sleep over it. I woke up the next morning plagued with the NEED to make it. I fulfilled that need and if given the chance, I would have eaten the entire pizza myself. Thank heavens for husbands who come home early from work and neighbors who will try anything I make.

The corn is sweet and crunchy, the feta is salty and slightly creamy, the cilantro adds a nice herbal greenness to the pizza and the slices of jalapeno add great heat. Squeeze lime on top and all of the flavors step up a notch! This pizza is truly addictive, earth shattering and seriously the best way to exploit fresh corn right now. I can honestly say this is a pizza worth losing sleep over.
CONTINUE READING

around the home, Uncategorized

August 23, 2011

The thing about gardening…

I have a small vegetable garden in our backyard and I’ve been reluctant to post pictures of it because I’ve been somewhat neglecting it this summer! The thing about gardening is that you need to tend to your plants everyday. You gotta prune, inspect, manage bugs, fertilize and WATER your plants or else everything falls apart. Some days I remember that I need to water my plants when I’m deep in spreadsheet-land at work. I rush home to wilted plants who really don’t appreciate night time waterings. Two or three days of neglect and my tomatoes are looking a little droopy with a few extra yellow leaves hanging around. Fortunately there’s still a lot of fruit coming off the vines and things are ripening up nicely. Fall is going to be here before I know it so I’m savoring every last bit of tomato goodness while I can! Here’s what I’ve got going on…

recipes, Uncategorized

August 21, 2011

Zucchini Banana Flaxseed Muffins

Hey! Guess what? As of last week, I have a preschooler. That’s right! A PRESCHOOLER! Dang! Where does the time go? In preparation for this monumental event, I let Cooper pick out his very own lunchbox and backpack. He went with a nice robot theme and I’m glad for that because the construction themed set was not my favorite color. I know it’s not MY lunchbox, but I’m the one who has to keep tabs on it, clean it out & fill it up every other day. I’m also left with the task of having to figure out what to put in said lunchbox and I need to get him excited about lunch time at school! It’s a tall order.

At the beginning of the week, I made these Zucchini Banana Flaxseed Muffins with the idea of putting one in his lunch box as a treat for all three days of preschool. Little did I know they would disappear in less than two days. Cooper loved them so much that I actually caught him standing on a chair at the kitchen counter reaching into the container of muffins I put aside for the week! And just when I thought my new hiding place was legit, I walked downstairs to see him eating another muffin behind the couch. SNEAKY kid! If these muffins were loaded with sugar, butter or oil, I’d be upset. But the fact that there’s both zucchini and banana mixed in with a little flaxseed makes his sneaky behavior totally OK. I can’t really blame him; they taste great! They’re moist, tender, full of flavor and the flaxseed gives the muffins a nutty flavor without nuts. You would never really know that there’s no oil in this recipe. I have now welcomed these healthy muffins into his lunchbox rotation. Victory!
CONTINUE READING