Do: Chicken & Pasta Dinner Party

Another successful dinner party completed! This was the "meet the long distance boyfriend" event, and I am happy to say all went well. Everyone liked my love (of course), and at least we got drunk. I put the menu together myself and was pretty proud of the results, so I wanted to share in case you have a dinner party or want something to bring to a party in the future. As a bonus, everyone loved it and it was dairy free for me, vegetarian, can be made gluten free for others (which I happened to do for a friend with allergies), and even your Paleo friends will be satisfied. 

The Appetizers

I wasn't particularly creative here, just did a sausage and brie plate with a baguette. Plus some pita crackers with hummus and two Trader Joe's warm appetizer bites. I kept this part simple so I could focus on getting everything else out and ready on time for the party. 

The Entrees

Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta

This is originally from Bon Appetit, which means FANCY, but I got it from the Smitten Kitchen blog here. A super easy and fresh tasting side dish or main entree for your vegetarian friends. A huge hit!

Roast Chicken
So I just went for it here, it was a last minute addition when my brother told me he had gone Paleo and I realized...pasta wasn't really enough for everyone anyway. Good thing is, roasting a chicken is SO SO easy and kind of fool proof. Plus everyone is impressed. I followed my memory mixed with the Barefoot Contessas recipe here. However, I don't coat my bird with butter like she does, I use olive oil instead.

There was also a fresh salad I topped with avocado for everyone as well.

The Dessert

Apple pie and berry pie. NO I did not make them myself, keeping with my "keep it simple" theme, my focus was on the main entrees so I cut corners in the appetizer and dessert area. However, I did get yummy more expensive pies from Trader Joe's, instead of just any ol brand from the grocery store. Verdict? Delicious. 

Order of Operations
2 hours before party: put together and chicken and begin cooking
1 hour before party: cook pasta, will be done before party time so you can just cover with foil.
.5 hour before party: remove chicken and cover to keep warm. Turn the oven to your warm appetizer temperature needs and put in. Put together and out the cheese plate, hummus dips, plates and utensils, bottle opener, etc.
Guests Arrive: let everyone arrive then unwrap and leave out the delicious food! Cut up avocado for the salad at this time. After dinner, turn the oven on to 200 and put the pies in to warm for 10 minutes.
Perfect order. Perfect party.

After hosting so many of these things major themes are coming out.
1. Keep it Simple.
Choose what to spend time, money, and extra effort on. In the other areas just get pre-put together items.

2. Paper is your friend.
SO GLAD we did paper and plastic this time! If it was a formal sit down dinner, of course I wouldn't. But in this instance our clean up today is going to be a breeze, which is perfect because I am exhausted.

3. Timing is everything.
As you saw, I timed everything out beforehand so I knew when I needed to wake up that day, how much time I had to clean, go to the store, and what time I HAD to start cooking so boyfriend had to finish up the cleaning. Planning and timing are important for meals with multiple moving parts.

Hope this helps with your dinner party adventures too!

xoxo

HL

Be: Healthy

So over the last 5 weeks or so I've been on a ROLL with my new healthy lifestyle and feel like I've finally gotten the hang of not just over dieting and burning myself out with intense exercise, but instead have found this balance of "Quit Eating Shit All The Time and Move Your Ass". Now we aren't burning out and committing to impossible exercise/eating/weight loss goals- I've become an adult!

My Super Awesome "Grown Ass Woman" Diet:

Goals:
-more lean protein, veggies, and fruits. Less carbs, processed foods, sugars, fatty meats
-eat super healthy during the weekdays, little splurges on the weekends
-quit drinking so much (TBD)
-wake your lazy self up earlier to make a proper breakfast full of protein to keep you full and energetic all morning plus time to make an awesome lunch

I pretty much eat variations of the same staples everyday now, my trips to the store are really easy now and I diversify it enough that it doesn't become too boring.

Steal what you will and let me know what works or any ideas. Especially for dinner as I am obviously broken in that department.

xoxo

HL

Why Am I Allowed To Bake Cakes?

Seriously, every time I try and make a proper cake it ends up falling over/melting/being weird in some way. Double layer cakes and I are now officially ENEMIES. However, THIS time I've pinpointed my failures and instead of writing how to make an awesome home made cake- this is going to be a "How To Not Fuck Your Cake Up". Also, you can laugh at my failures.

TIPS:

-Always check that you have ALL your needed ingredients before beginning. Physically look...otherwise you end up having to go to the store in the middle of baking because your room mates surprise! -ate the eggs you thought you had.

-I learned this last time, take your butter out before you begin baking if it requires room temperature butter. DONT melt it in the microwave because it makes your recipe all sticky and angry. I put mine outside in the sun for a cheatsies though.

-If parts of the cake are angry and falling, use tooth picks to hold them together. Do NOT just put them together and frost it anyway...as you will see why.

-WAIT UNTIL THE CAKES ARE COOLED COMPLETELY before frosting anything. Seriously.

I used Martha Stewert's Versatile Vanilla Cake recipe because it seemed relatively easy and her picture looked so pretty. Turns out its also SO FREAKING DELICIOUS. You're welcome.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (more if you want to butter your pans instead of spraying them like I did)
2.5 cups all purpose flour (or equivalent of cake flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a large bowl using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low beat in eggs and yolks one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Alternatively beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix well until combined.

3. Divide batter between pans, smooth tops. Bake until cakes pull away from the sides of the pans, 32-35 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes then run a knife around edges of the pans and invert the cakes onto a wire rack. LET COOL COMPLETELY (this is key my friends, key)

4. Place one cake, bottom side up on a cake stand. Using a table knife, spread top with frosting. Top with remaining cake, frost the top and then sides.

I couldn't figure out how to make her delicious looking whipped frosting recipe (hold the metal bowl over the boiling water but dont immerse it? WHAT?) so I just used the butter frosting recipe on the back of my powdered sugar bag. However, due to how the cake turned out, as you will see, I am NOT recommending it.

Uh. Yeah. Melting droopy angry birthday cake for my parents 50th birthday party. SEE why I need toothpicks and to wait until its all cooled to frost it. Not to mention a better frosting recipe. Damn. BUT I will say, it tasted so good and the cake inside is 10x better then any box cake so it wasn't a complete failure. Plus if you are a beginner baker, cooking for family who will eat any kind of cake and only minorly tease you is the best audience.

Now go spread your new found wisdom on some poor defenseless cake.

xoxo

HL

Eggs: The Best Recipe Of Your Life.

I am a huge advocate of straight up protein in the morning. It SERIOUSLY makes you wake up, keeps you full until lunch, and gets the "I hate mornings" mixtape running through my head to turn off. Most of the time I get up an entire 30min early just to make myself breakfast (and a lunch for later)! Eggs are my go to because they are fast, delicious, and easy. Now, its recently occurred to me that my mother is a fantastic cook. Especially in the last 5 years she took a few cooking classes, read a few books, watched too many Gordon Ramsay shows...and just has all these tricks and recipes up her sleeve she can whip out at any time. Including (drum roll please) THE MOST AMAZING SCRAMBLED EGGS OF YOUR LIFE. I'm not exaggerating. Prepare yourself.
As You will now learn how to make the perfect scrambled egg.

Its as easy as watching this. Seriously, its a 4 minute video I watched twice and got it by heart.

Now don't be afraid. You can do this.

Things You Need:
-Pot
-Spatula
-3 eggs
-butter
-creme fraiche
-salt and pepper

*optional: chives, basil, any other veggies you'd like on the side

Now Do It
1. As you hopefully saw in the video (seriously, 4 minutes is worth it for the most amazing eggs of your life) say goodbye to your frying pan and bust out a pot and spatula. Before your pot is even on the stove crack your eggs and add a bit of butter to it. THEN put it on the heat and stir it with the spatula

2. Now the fun part! After a bit, start to take it on and off the heat. Just hold the pot above the burner while stirring or move it to another burner. KEEP STIRRING. Never give up on stirring!

3. You will see them forming mmmmm now at the end add your bit of creme fraiche and stir that deliciousness in there too.

4. Fold in your chives or basil. Add salt and pepper now (not before!).

5. Enjoy the most amazing eggs of your entire life.

Now I havent done the full on breakfast like he does in the video, but I plan to get me some tomatoes, mushrooms, and a bit of sourdough for the weekends when I have more time too.

So thank you mom for making these on the weekends. And thank you Gordon Ramsey for inspiring the best scrambled eggs of your life.

Enjoy!

xoxo

HL

Unemployment Whoopie Pies

I have been wanting to make Whoopie Pies for a few years as soon as I saw them on a blog and died of cuteness. However, I found the recipes to be more time consuming then I usually am able to allot for baking (and I get bored after too long) and filled with a few odd ingredients I never wanted to buy. SO when I found a $3 Lemon Whoopie Pie Kit at Home Goods where you only had to add oil, powdered sugar, an egg, and some milk I was IN. I already had all the other ingredients! Therefore it was in the category for an "Unemployment" baked good. They had a few other cheap kits for fun things to make I might stop by and get some more!

Stop by your local Home Goods to try and find yourself a $3 kit if you're unemployed like me, OR order one off Amazon. Or homemake your own! There is also a vegan recipe that looks lovely.

This is all you need!

Mix yoself up some whoopie.

YOU DO NOT NEED A SPECIAL PAN to make whoopie pies! Just put down some parchment or wax paper and little 1 TB scoops on each pan. After they were done I matched weird shaped ones with other weird ones so they could be friends match.

 Voila! Deliciousness! I made these for my dads 50th birthday today! They are almost already gone!

"I love baking and talking to my bf on the phone at the same time! Unemployment didn't completely suck today!"

So go make some whoopie!

xoxo

HL

Unemployment Bread

Still unemployed but need to bring something to a dinner party? Would you really enjoy something for breakfast other than $1 store cereal? Then meet unemployment bread! This recipe is from my grandma and our family in Ireland. Its a traditional old Irish recipe my mother and I like to nerdily imagine them making on a skillet over a fire...and it is SO DELICIOUS and SO EASY you will love it!! Bonus: requires few ingredients, most you (or your parents) already have in your cupboards. Win.

Irish Soda Bread
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup to 1 1/3 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (the only odd ingredient! And its cheap!)

Mix together everything and make a round ball, kneed a few times to get rid of stickiness. Flatten somewhat with a rolling pin and cut into four parts. Sprinkle flour on a frying pan and heat. Place the parts on for 10 minutes each side. (until they're a nice light brown). Remove and cool on wire rack. Good warm or cold!

The ingredients.

The flatten.

The cooking.

Now you're ready to go to your party where everyone thinks you are just little Miss Suzy Homemaker, when really you're just unemployed.

Don't have too many more days of this unemployment gig though, things are happening!

xoxo

HL

Unemployment Rice & Beans

Still unemployed? Hungry? Oh what do you know, me too. I found this easy black bean and rice recipe and my parents already had all of the ingredients for it in their cupboards- score! Luckily none are very expensive anyway even if you're missing something, its rather tasty and filling, and easy to make.

Ingredients

-1 cup uncooked brown or white rice
-1 tbsp olive oil
-1 small onion, chopped
-1/2 one color bell pepper, thinly sliced
-1/2 another color bell papper, thinly sliced
-3 cloves minced garlic
-2 16oz cants of black beans rinsed and drained
-2 tbsp white vinegar
-tabasco and cayenne to taste
-1 tsp dried oregano or fresh oregano
-salt and pepper to taste
-lime wedges

1) Cook yoself up some rice in your rice cooker, microwave, whatever you got. Rice is really cheap and a good thing to always have on hand when you're unemployed. I always go for brown since its healthier and tasted great with this recipe. While thats cooking...

2) Heat olive oil in skillet on medium high. Saute onions and bell peppers for 3-4 minutes until they begin to soften. Then add the garlic and saute a bit more (dont let it burn!). Add the black beans, vinegar, and tabasco or cayenne. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.

3) Stir in rice and oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I would HIGHLY recommend adding some vegetable broth to the beans while they are cooking since it came out rather dry. Also the more tabasco or cayenne the better and a lime squeezed in at the end makes a BIG difference!

"I made my own dinner with free ingredients I found in the cupboards!"

Happy Cooking.

xoxo

HL

Unemployment Cookies

Oh hey! Are you unemployed too? Or only working a few days a week due to lack of sub jobs? Living at home and don't qualify for unemployment? Well then you should whip up a batch of "Unemployment Cookies" on your next day where you want to die of boredom!

The great thing about this recipe is that everything should pretty much already be in your parents cupboards so you dont have to spend any more money you dont have on ingredients. However, I would HIGHLY recommend splurging a few dollars on some Swans Down Cake Flour if you don't already swear by it. It makes the cookies super light and fluffy and sweeter! You can use it to replace anything that calls for All Purpose, they have the exchange measurement on the box.  

I just got this recipe from All Recipes but substituted the Swans Down cake flour for all purpose.

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour OR 2 cups Swans Down Cake Flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

The great thing about Unemployment Cookies is that you can do whatever you want with them since you may or may not be sharing them with anyone who matters. I attempted to do heart shapes, which didn't really turn out, undercooked a pan worth, and burnt an entire other pan worth too! Plus my decorating attempts before getting bored and quitting after 4 were pretty horrible:

But the good news is: NO ONE CARES. You aren't making them for anyone in particular, they are solely Unemployment Cookies to be shared as you desire. 

Tonight I am taking some of the non decorated and non burnt ones to Annies for girls taco and movie night though, girl friends tend to not care about weird looking cookies...as long as they're edible. 

More Unemployment Desserts to come!

xoxo

HL