Sweet Treats

 

Besides our regular meals, on occasion I make treats as well. This post is the treats I have made over the  past month. Some of which, only a few have stayed at home because Joel needed a treat to bring to school for one reason or another. 

For a farewell party he attended for the dean of the medical school I made mini peanut butter pies:

They were pretty yummy, and we kept some of them in the freezer for ourselves (although they didn't last too long...)

He decided that the little sign I made so people would know what they were was a little too much, so it it didn't get used...other than for the cute picture above.

Another time, as the weekly captain for his small group he was required to bring breakfast. So, along with some fruit, juice, and yogurt, I made pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting for him to take along. Mmmm.

I even piped the frosting to make them a little cuter :) Two of those managed to stay home so the next day (a Saturday) we had a very darling little breakfast:

Now for some treats I will share the recipe for:

Banana Bread (made with yogurt!) and Cookies made with semi-sweet chocolate chips and mini peanut butter cups...yum!

The banana bread came about because we had 2 sad bananas and a car trip to Bismarck for Thanksgiving (in a snow storm) planned, so I thought we could use a snack for the car. 

Here's what I did:

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

* 2 bananas
* 2 c. flour
* 3/4 c. brown sugar
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 2 tbsp vegetable oil
* 1 (6 oz) apple turnover yogurt (you can use any flavor you want)
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 2 eggs

Method:

Preheat oven to 350˚

 

Combine bananas, eggs, yogurt, vanilla and vegetable oil.

Mash mixture to break down bananas. 

Stir mixture to fully combine.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt.

Fold in banana/yogurt/egg mixture.

Stir mixture until well combined. Pour into greased bread pan.

Bake at 350˚ for 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Remove bread from oven, and allow to cool on rack before slicing.

Yum, yum!!! Moist banana bread :) - And made without butter!

Next, is cookies!!! Yesterday we had a hankering for some cookies so cookies are what we had!

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip/Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

(this made 24 cookies)

Ingredients:

* 1 c. flour

* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp salt 

* 3/4 stick butter (6 tbsp)

* 1/2cup brown sugar, packed
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup mini peanut butter cups (these are tiny and from Trader Joe's)

* 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 325˚

In mixer, combine butter and both sugars.

Add in egg and vanilla, and mix until blended.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt. 

Once combined pour in mixer and beat until well mixed dough forms.

Chop (just slightly) mini peanut butter cups and chocolate chips.

Mix in peanut butter cups/chocolate chips with cookie dough.

Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes.

Allow to cool on rack.

 

Cookies!!

Yum, yum!

 

Don't forget your milk ;)

A Very Beachey Thanksgiving

For my first official Thanksgiving as a Beachey, we spent the holiday with the Beacheys. I am very lucky to have married into such a wonderful family. It makes it a million times easier when you have to be grown up and big and not spend every holiday with your own family - because, you realize, you are with family. This enables you to miss your loved ones in a happy, nostalgic, "I will be so happy the next time I get to see them" way - rather than a sad, lonely way.

Anyway, I love my whole family so very much, but I don't need to gush about them, because this blog is, after all, about food ;) So rather than writing about how I miss my mom (which I do) and how I love my husband and in-laws (which I also do), I will instead share pictures of the food we enjoyed on Thanksgiving. 

Since I was not the one cooking, I had fun documenting the dishes, as well as setting a festive table with Joel. I even looked up how to fold napkins that ended up looking somewhat like a turkey :)

 

The table we set - although, the lantern from our wedding with the pretty fall leaves was already there...it just brought inspiration into how we should tie things together :)

 

The napkins I folded that look turkey-esk.

 

These were the REAL turkeys that wondered into the backyard while dinner was being prepared - I guess they decided it must be safe since we already had a turkey (from the store) cooking inside. There were at least five of them wandering around at a time.

 

Another guy.

 

I think these two had an argument. Haha.

Ok, last picture of a live turkey I promise...I thought they were pretty, but I don't want to seem morbid.

In keeping with such, I will not have turkey be the first picture of food I show ;)

Some lovely wine and sparkling catawba we enjoyed with dinner.

Garlic stuffed olives. These are a favorite of Joel's.

Stuffing, but not the traditional kind. It was made with squash and cilantro to name a few things. It was light, and flavorful. 

Mashed potatoes, a Thanksgiving staple of course.

 

Gravy, with just a peak of the meat behind it.

And....the turkey!

Also, in this picture you see the asparagus and cranberry salad we had :)

Oh, but we can't forget the 3 pie options:

Pecan, which I don't know if I ever actually got to try.

Cherry, which I definitely did have.

And...pumpkin of course! Yum! This one had a hint of mystery given to it by a secret spice ;)

We also had other delicious meals, but rather than taking obsessive pictures of everything (like I often do) I just enjoyed the meals and the conversations :)

I did make some rosemary bread while we were there, and Joel and I made some really yummy hot cider for us to have while watching Christmas movies:

We heated the cider with spices and oranges and apples. Soo yummy!

We put a cinnamon stick in the mugs, and although we didn't include the fruit in the drinks, Joel and I did eat the spiced fruit later...and it was very good. 

Yum, yum, yum.

This time of year is filled with so many happy things :)

Spaghetti (with homemade sauce & meatballs)

What does one do when they have made homemade buns, but they don't want to eat burgers more than once?

Make meatballs with your leftover bun(s)!

With 3 buns left, and a little creative thinking, spaghetti with homemade sauce & meatballs was made. With a side of sliced and oven toasted bread (or leftover bun) to dip in the sauce. Yum yum. 

These are super simple and quick to make (and we had some yummy leftover meatballs which I made into a salad -I'll show that in the end). Since we don't really have red meat very often these are (as with most of our ground meat dishes) made with ground turkey, but they were mmm mmm good. 

Baked Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey (or ground beef)

1 bun (or if using thin sandwich bread approx. 3 pieces) 

1/4 to 1/2 c. milk (I use skim)

garlic powder

parmesan cheese

italian herbs (or use whatever seasoning you like!)

salt & pepper (to taste)

Method:

Preheat oven to 400˚

Take bun and rip into small pieces. Place in bowl and add 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk in to soft bread - make sure not to over saturate...you want to soften it but not drown bread.

Bread will be soft, but there will not be excess liquid.

Add in parmesan, garlic powder, and Italian herbs. Mix together well.

 

Add in ground turkey. Mix together with bread crumbs.

Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Be sure to mix all ingredients well, so meatballs are consistently flavored.

 

Roll mixture into balls and place on grease cookie sheet or tin foil. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through. Be sure to check that they aren't getting stuck to the pan as they cook. 

Meatballs!! I made twenty with this recipe.

Spaghetti and meatballs!!! YUM!

With our leftover meatballs for lunch the next day I made salad! I quartered them and sauted them a bit in a frying pan then made a balsamic rosemary dressing.


Num, num. Good, yet different leftovers :)