Two Personal Sized Caramel Apple Pies

There are some days where you just NEED dessert.  Some of those days though I either don't trust myself to make a whole pie without wanting to eat the whole thing myself (ugh, I'd be so regretful and sick!), or I lack the ingredients to make much.  On days like that, two personal sized caramel apple pies are perfect!  Clearly these are for Jeff and myself to enjoy after the kids go to bed.  Shh!

The only thing that could have made these better would have been if I'd remembered to get vanilla ice cream.  A scoop on top would not go amiss.


Two Personal Sized Caramel Apple Pies

Ingredients:

• 3 large apples (I used fuji), peeled and diced
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup Kraft caramel bits
• tiny pinch of salt
• 1 ready made pie crust (I like Pillsbury)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon decorating sugar

Directions:

1. Place the diced apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, caramel bits, and salt into a pot and stir on medium until the apples are soft and the caramel has fully melted.  It should smell amazing.
2. Take the pot off the heat and let cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Take two oven safe pie tins, tart pans, whatever you have that are about 4 inches wide and lightly spray with PAM.
4. Unroll your ready made pie crust and cut out 4 evenly sized circles (I had a round cookie cutter about 5 inches across which worked perfectly).  If you don't have a large round cookie cutter use a glass or small bowl turned upside down.  Place a crust circle in the bottom of each pan, stretching them out a little if the sides are too short.
5. Scoop the apple pie filling evenly into the two pans.  Make a lattice crust with the two remaining crust circles and top the pies with them.  
6. Brush an egg wash over the lattice top and sprinkle the decorating sugar over the tops.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, then remove and let cool completely.  Enjoy!

Foolproof butternut squash soup

Seriously though, this soup is amazeballs and smells like Autumn.  I love it.  I love soups like this, equal parts creamy, rich, filling, and HEALTHY!  Yay!  Plus, pureed soups just scream out to have some nice fresh crusty bread dunked into them.  *Mouth watering now*.

You can't really mess up this soup, plus it can be ready in an hour (most of that time is roasting in hte oven).  Easy peasy.  Plus, it really doesn't require that many ingredients.  In fact, I first made this soup on one of those nights where I just tossed in whatever I had on hand and hoped it would turn out well.  Experimental soups always turn out yummy.  So far anyway.


Foolproof Butternut Squash Soup
serves 6
total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 2 shallots, peeled
• 6 garlic cloves
• 4 yukon gold potatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Roast the squash, shallots, garlic, and potatoes with the olive oil, salt, and pepper sprinkled on top on a parchment lined baking sheet for 40 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the oven and scoop the contents into a large pot.  Add the broth, chili powder, and thyme and turn on to medium heat.  Stir occasionally for 5-10 minutes.
3. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup thoroughly.  Slowly stir in the white wine.  Remove from heat and slowly stir in the milk.  Serve immediately

Note:  This reheats in the microwave really well after being refrigerated up to a week.

baked sprinkle donuts

Wow.  I can't believe it's been two months since I last blogged!  Life tends to get pretty crazy in the spring (between Easter, Liam's birthday, and trying to figure out the upcoming school year) and this year was no exception.  I've either been busy or using recipes I've already posted.  I can't tell you how nice it was to have free time this weekend to experiment!  

I love this donut recipe and so do my boys.  Sure, it's a donut so its full of sugar.  BUT this donut is baked instead of fried, and has protein powder in it, so at least it has a few nutrients to go along with all the sugar.  If you want to be really bad you could add icing on top and some more sprinkles over that, but honestly these donuts don't need the extra sugar or mess.

This recipe is great for busy mornings because it takes less than 30 minutes (including bake time!) and you can easily eat them on the go.  No mess.  Plus they taste so good!  

Baked Sprinkle Donuts
makes 12

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 Cup AP flour
• 1/4 Cup vanilla whey protein powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 Cup rainbow sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Add all ingredients except sprinkles to a medium bowl and whisk just until batter is smooth.
2. Gently stir in sprinkles.
3. Scoop batter into a freezer bag and seal.  Snip a small corner out and fill the bowls of a greased donut pan 3/4 full.  Bake for 6-8 minutes.  
4. Remove from oven and immediately turn donuts out onto a cooling rack.  Enjoy warm and fresh.

Notes:  I only have one donut pan (makes 6) so I have to make my donuts in two batches.  Donuts are fully baked when a toothpick comes out clean or the edges are lightly golden and not overly shiny.  I like to eat these as is, but you could easily make icing to dip the donut tops in if you wanted.  Mix milk and powdered sugar until smooth and dip donut tops lightly, shaking off any excess. Immediately drop extra rainbow sprinkles on top before icing hardens.  Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!  I know, I know, this post is super late.  I totally lost track of time this morning and forgot to post.

The boys had sooo much sugar today.  They were totally bouncing and vibrating everywhere.  Luckily the Easter Bunny set an alarm and woke up really early to set out the eggs because the kids woke up early too.  They had already finished their egg hunt (and half their candy) by 8am.  Yikes.

I color coded the toys that the Easter Bunny left out so the boys would know what got what.  Lima was so cute.  He helped Jack find some of his things and made sure to share some eggs with Jack.

They still needed help reaching the odd egg.

My favorite part about the photo above is that it is not posed in any way.  Aren't they so cute?!

I couldn't really get any pictures today of both kiddos looking at the camera or smiling.  They were too distracted with all the sugar.

Garlic Rosemary Chicken Bake

I love one dish dinners.  They look fancy, they're so easy to make, and less dishes for me to wash!

This one was a big hit with my boys.  They love anything chicken or bacon, and this has both!

The best part was that I only needed about 5 minutes of prep before I had the whole dish finished and stuck in the oven, but the boys still thought it looked fancy and impressive.  

I don't have a million photos of this like some other dishes, but I'm probably going to make it again pretty soon, and I'll add more photos then, okay?  :)

Garlic Rosemary Chicken Bake

serves 3

Ingredients:

• 3 whole chicken breasts (I used frozen ones, no thawing needed!)
• 3 russet potatoes
• 1/4 Cup garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 branches rosemary
• 3 strips bacon
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Drizzle 1 teaspoon olive oil onto the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish.  
2. Slice the potatoes into medallions and lay them flat in the dish.  Lay the chicken breasts on top of the potatoes.  Slice the bacon into 1" pieces and lay the pieces on top of the chicken and potatoes.  Sprinkle the garlic cloves over the bacon, and lay the rosemary branches down as well.  Season with the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and slide into the oven.  
3. Bake for 60 minutes, or until the bacon and chicken are fully cooked.  

Strawberry Hand Pies for Pi Day!

Happy Pi day everyone!  March 14th is an awesome day because it gives me the perfect excuse to bake.  I've done classic pies and pizza (pies) before on Pi day, so this year I thought I'd shake it up a bit and make hand pies.

Hand pies are great because they are perfect for portion control, and if you forgo the icing (so sad!) they're a less messy dessert option for all those messy eaters out there.  Kids, I'm talking about you.

Another part of my decision to make hand pies was because I got a set of super cute molds for Christmas (here) and hadn't gotten a chance to break them in yet.  I just love fun kitchen gadgets.  Especially ones that I can easily chuck in the dishwasher.  Woohoo!

You can use my go-to pie crust recipe, your own favorite, or heck, even store bought.  Whatever floats your boat.

I put about a tablespoon of filling (essentially a quick jam, you could do any flavor filling you want, just nothing too liquidy) into he smallest sized mold.

This set is really easy to use.  I just lightly pressed down and gently flipped the hand pie out onto a lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes, rotating halfway through, and remove when the hand pies are firm and just barely beginning to turn golden at the edges.

Once the hand pies have cooled, drizzle with a basic icing.  Then eat them all.  :)

I used frozen strawberries in this recipe because I like the jammy consistency I know I can get every time with them.  Plus, even with the sugar they retain a bit of tartness, which I enjoy.

Strawberry Hand Pies
makes about 12-14

Ingredients:
Filling:

• 16 oz. bag frozen strawberries
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 Cup powdered sugar

Crust:

• 2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
• 7 tablespoons ice water

Icing:

• 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• dash red food coloring

Directions:

1. Make the crust.  In a food processor add the flour, salt, sugar, and butter.  Pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.  Slowly add the water as needed until the mixture is a solid, bt not sticky.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
2. Make the filling.  In a pot on medium high heat add the frozen strawberries.  Stir occasionally until they have fully thawed and have begun to break down.  Then stir in the cornstarch, lemon juice, and powdered sugar.  Use a potato masher to break up any large pieces of berry, otherwise just continue to stir occasionally until the filling begins to tighten up.  Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  After the crust has been refrigerated at least 2 hours roll it out thinly on a flour covered counter.  Use a dough press or a large round cookie cutter to cover the dough with circles.  Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle and fold the circles in half, pressing the edges down.  Place the hand pies on a lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, rotating halfway through.  Remove the hand pies from the oven when the edges are firm and only beginning to turn golden.
4. Allow the hand pies to cool and make the icing.  Combine the powdered sugar, milk, and food coloring and mix well.  Gently drizzle the icing over the cooled hand pies and waiting for the icing to dry.  Enjoy.

Blueberry coffee cake

This is one of the easiest baking recipes ever.  Okay, I totally cheat here and use Bisquick.  Normally I am a "completely from scratch" type of baker, but I like to keep a bit of Bisquick on hand in case I want something baked very quickly, or run out of too many essential ingredients.

Liam was my baking assistant today.  He was so excited to get stirring and egg cracking duty (his favorite), but he was mostly excited to eat them... :)

The picture above was Liam instructing me to take a picture that looked like he was trying to eat the uncooked coffee cakes.   Silly boy.

As you noticed, I used mini fluted pans for this recipe.  Totally unnecessary, but SO pretty!  Plus portion controlled.  Always a plus!  If you don't have a mini fluted cake pan, just use a 9" cake pan.

I love this recipe because it's so simple, and sometimes in the mornings I completely forget about breakfast... but it's okay because this recipe only takes about half an hour to make!

Blueberry Coffee Cake
serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 Cups Bisquick
• 3/4 Cup skim milk
• 1/4 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats, uncooked
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 Cup blueberries
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar, unpacked

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a mini fluted cake pan (or one 9" cake pan) with baking spray and set aside.
2. Stir all ingredients except the blueberries until there are no lumps.  Gently stir in the blueberries.  Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle brown sugar over the tops.  Bake until inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven to cool for 5 minutes before eating.

Bake times:

mini fluted pan: 16-18 minutes

9" cake pan: 18-23 minutes

Peach Crisp Overnight Oats

I think I've made it pretty clear how much I like a sweet breakfast, especially one I can grab as I'm running out the door in the morning.  This peach crisp overnight oats recipe is my new favorite.  Its perfect for this gorgeous early spring weather and makes me so happy when I eat it!  

I love the serious peachy flavor from the oats and at less than 300 calories per serving, plus 14 grams of protein this little jar will keep me going all morning.  It tastes like dessert, makes me happy, and doesn't make me hangry halfway through the morning like some other quick breakfast can.  

I like putting my overnight oats in cute jars so they're easy to grab the next morning, but it also helps with portion control.  Yeah, I'd probable eat more of it because its so good, but its really the kids I portion it for. They can be little rage monsters if I don't give them the right amount, but if its already in a little jar?  Crisis averted.  Yay!

I love making overnight oats because it takes ingredients I keep in stock anyway, one big bowl, and 5 minutes the night before to make.  You can't beat it.  Sometimes I'll double the batch or make single batches of different flavors.  My other favorite is chocolate.  

Peach Crisp Overnight Oats

serves 3

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 6 oz. peach yogurt (1 yoplait container)
• 1/2 Cup vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 1/3 Cups old-fashioned oats, uncooked
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1-3 teaspoons sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until fully incorporated. 
2. Portion into 3 airtight containers (mason jars, tupperware, etc.)
3. Refrigerate overnight.  Enjoy cold.  

Note: These containers last at least a week in the fridge so don't worry if you want to make several batches at a time.

Caramel Apple Pie

Who doesn't love pie?  Crazy people I guess.  This pie is delicious (and totally gone.  It really didn't last long!) and smells amazing.  Plus, it was super easy to make, and didn't require very many ingredients.

I know what you're probably thinking.  Geez, that crazy girl is posting ANOTHER dessert?  Does she ever make real food?  Okay, maybe you weren't thinking that.  ...But you probably are now I guess.  I do really love baking.  The smell alone is wonderful, but also because sometimes I get busy or really want something familiar.  I have posted many real food recipes, and I have more favorites that I won't post because they aren't mine, and I tend to not try as many new dinners as I do desserts.  I will try to post more savory dishes soon though.

Plus, look at these pictures.  Who wouldn't want to have this in their house?  It's a good thing I have three boys with sweet tooths here to eat most of my desserts or I'd be in real trouble.

I totally cheated and used a store bought pie crust.  I'll make pie crust if I have to, but in general if I'm going to cheat in my desserts it's going to be using store bough pie crust or puff pastry.  I'm pretty sure I'm NEVER going to make puff pastry.  EVER.

This pie is flat because I have a 10" pie pan and an 8" or 9" is really preferable.  Pies are so much prettier with a bit of a domed center.

Pies are even better a la mode.  Seriously, a scoop of vanilla ice cream on this pie is heavenly.

Caramel Apple Pie

Ingredients:

• 8 apples, peeled and thinly sliced (I used braeburn and fuji)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 Cup Kraft caramel bits
• a pinch of salt (forgo if using salted butter)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3/4 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 package 2 rolled pie crusts

Directions:

1. In a large pot on medium heat stir together the apple slices, lemon juice, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, caramel, and salt.  Stir occasionally to mix and prevent sticking.  Remove from heat when the apples have softened, and the caramels have melted.The mixture should not be overly runny.  Stir in the vanilla.
2.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Spray your pie pan with cooking spray and lay out the bottom crust.  Pour in the pie filling.  Apply the top crust.  I like using a lattice, but a full top is fine too.  Just be sure to cut a few slits in the top.
3. Beat the egg and gently brush it over the crust.  Sprinkle the sugar over the wash.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the counter before storing in the refrigerator.  Do not be concerned if the pie looks runny when hot.  Once the caramel cools the pie will firm up nicely.  Enjoy by itself or a la mode!

one of my favorite Valentines

I am lucky enough to have three awesome guys as my Valentines.  Liam is my favorite guy to help out in the kitchen, he is always so inquisitive and willing to help ...and he's usually the one trying to make me agree to bake (no arguments here!).

For Christmas I got him a cute chef hat for him to decorate and wear while cooking.  He decided to put his name and a heart on the hat.  My favorite thing ever is why he put the heart on his hat.

Have a good holiday weekend everyone!  Go eat too much chocolate!  :)

nothing says Valentine's Day like bacon and chocolate!

Yeah, that's right.  A chocolate bacon bar.  What says's "I love you" like chocolate and bacon?  

If you need last minute ideas for Valentine's Day, or just really want to keep these all to yourself, this recipe is easy and yummy.  Being a vegetarian I haven't tried them myself, but Jeff ate half the batch in a day, so they must be good!

Be prepared for gratuitous chocolate photos.  They were just so pretty!  I couldn't narrow it down.  :)

 These chocolates are great.  All you really need is bacon and chocolate chips.

Start by laying 5 strips of bacon on a foil lined lipped baking sheet.  If you want to infuse some extra sweetness you can brush two teaspoons of maple syrup over the bacon.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-15 minutes until cooked but not crispy.  I baked mine for 12.  Take the bacon out and let it cool for a few minutes.  Dice the bacon as small as you can and place it on clean foil on the same baking sheet.  Bake for 2-5 minutes until its a bit crispy.  Remove from the baking sheet and place on a plate lined with paper towels.

While the bacon is cooling get out a small double boiler and slowly melt 2 cups of chocolate chips until smooth and shiny.  You can use whatever shape molds you want (these are silicone cupcake sized molds).  Make sure the mold interiors are clean and completely dry.  Spread a thin layer of chocolate on the mold bottoms to insure the candy tops are flat and clean when they're finished.

Mix the bacon into the melted chocolate and evenly pour into the molds.  I filled my molds 1/3 of the way up and they were pretty thick.  I made 9 chocolates, but you could make up to 12 without them being too thin.  Firmly tap the molds on the counter a few times to get rid of any possible air bubbles and to make sure the chocolates lay flat.  Let the chocolate sit out for a few hours to harden completely.  

When the chocolate is firm gently remove them from the molds.  They could be finished at this point, or you could decorate them like I did.  I used 1/4 cup of red candy melts to decorate.  These are pretty easy to use.  Put your candy melts into an uncut piping bag, or a sandwich bag and microwave upright in a plastic cup for 30 seconds at a time until evenly melted.  Snip a small hole in the bag tip.

Lay the chocolates out on parchment paper and very quickly create a pattern on the chocolates.  Let them dry.

Once the candy melt decorations have dried pick up the chocolate and snap off any small pieces hanging off.

Enjoy! Try not to eat them all in one day.

Chocolate Bacon Bars

Ingredients:

• 5 strips of bacon
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup (optional)
• 2 Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 Cup red candy melts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay bacon out on foil lined lipped baking sheet.  Optionally brush bacon with maple syrup. Bake for 10-15 minutes until bacon is cooked but not crispy.
2. Dice bacon finely and return to oven on clean foil lined baking sheet for 2-5 minutes, until crispy but not burnt.
3. Let bacon cool on paper towel covered plate.
4. Prep a double boiler and slowly melt the chocolate chips until smooth and shiny.
5. Spread a thin layer of chocolate on the mold bottoms, then mix the bacon into the chocolate mix and evenly pour into the molds, about 1/3 of the way to the tops.
6. Tap the molds on the counter to remove possible air bubbles and flatten the chocolate.  Let dry completely. 
7. Optional decoration: lay solid chocolate on parchment paper.  Put the candy melts into an uncut piping bag or sandwich bag and microwave upright in a plastic cup for 30 second intervals until melted evenly.  Snip a small hole in the bag tip and very quickly drizzle a pattern onto the chocolates.  Let dry.  Pick off any small bits of candy hanging off the chocolate bars.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Pudding

I love chocolate pudding.  It's such a good comfort food.  Jeff loves chocolate too.  Some nights if I haven't made a dessert he will just grab a prep bowl full of chocolate chips.

This recipe is great.  It takes just a few minutes to make and only uses a handful of ingredients.  I can make it quickly during nap time and by dinner time its firm and ready to eat.  You can ever prepare it a day in advance if you want too (or have dessert for two people two nights in a row...)

I always put a huge dollop of whipped cream on top of my pudding.  Homemade is great if you've got the time, other days its cool whip all the way.  Sprinkles are good too!


Chocolate Pudding
serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 1/3 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In a pot off the heat stir together the gelatin and 1/3 cup of milk and let sit for a minute until the gelatin has been dissolved.
2. Turn the heat to medium and stir in the sugar and remaining 2 cups of milk.  Once the sugar has dissolved and steam is starting to rise, turn the heat off and slowly stir in the chocolate chips until they have dissolved.  Pour the pudding into 4 containers and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Note: Make sure you pour the pudding into heat safe containers or let the pudding cool a bit in the pan before pouring.  Nothing sucks more than pouring hot pudding into a delicate glass and hearing loud cracks happen.  Ack!

PSA! Chocolate mint tea. Yeah, that's right.

I am in no way getting paid for this.  I just have to share.  I thought I'd try a new tea today and I found a box (so pretty!) of Harney & Sons Chocolate Mint Tea.  You can find the website here.

Sometimes I just desperately need chocolate.  This teas was such a better option than say the calorie bomb of a hot chocolate.  I got all the yummy chocolate scent and flavor I needed, a nice warm up in my freezing house, and no regret of too much dairy, or too many calories.  This is my new go-to treat tea I think.  If you are one of the few people (like Jeff) who doesn't like the combo of chocolate and mint then I'm sorry because you are missing out.  And you're also crazy.  Just sayin'...

Plus, the tea comes in a pretty metal tin, and I always need storage containers.

I found this tea at Target (and even saved a bit using Cartwheel.  Score.).  I've seen it on Amazon too, but it costs a lot more there.  Weird.

Anyway, take my word for it and try this yummy tea.  Seriously, I would wear this stuff as a perfume if I could.  Yum.

Roasted Garlic

Okay, so this isn't much of a recipe because its so simple.  I guess its more of a public service announcement?  Because garlic is awesome, especially when its roasted, so everyone should eat more of it because its delicious and I don't want to be the only one with crazy garlic breath.

I go through a ton of garlic, and I hate spending all my time peeling it so lately I've been buying the huge pre-peeled bag of it at Costco.  Its so worth it.

This garlic spread is super yummy when served with good bread.  I like using it with the best bread.

This spread is great for an appetizer, or I also like serving this with a big hearty bowl of black bean soup.


Roasted Garlic

Ingredients:

• peeled garlic
• olive oil
• salt
• black pepper
• basil
• oregano
• cayenne

Directions: 

1. Use whatever amounts you want of each ingredient and dump them all into a small oven safe container.  Quickly stir them up a bit to evenly mix the flavors together.
2. Bake at 325 degrees F for 60-75 minutes with your container loosely covered in foil.  The garlic is done when it is very tender and not too brown or firm.
3. Spread onto bread and enjoy!  It should spread like warm butter.  

Panna Cotta

Doesn't this just look so fancy?  Yeah, it took me a whooping 5 minutes to make.

Panna cotta is such a great dessert.  It's quick to make, it requires very few ingredients, it looks so fancy, it isn't messy to eat, you can make it a day ahead of time.  Shall I go on?  Oh, and obviously, it tastes great too.  If you aren't familiar with panna cotta, it's like a vanilla pudding, and means "cooked cream."

Since this is such a simple dessert you can change it up every time you make it.  You can either serve the panna cotta in a pretty glass or turn the dessert out from a fancy mold and serve on a plate.  There are many sauce and flavoring options as well.  Jeff is a big fan of strawberry, I love orange and cranberry.

I know my panna cotta is ready when I can turn the glass over and nothing moves.  It totally reminds me of getting a Blizzard at Diary Queen as a kid.  That was always my favorite part.  Wow!  It didn't fall out!  Hi.  I'm a grown up and still fascinated by that.

I love all things orange creamsicle.  This panna cotta isn't super pretty with the thin color on the top but I really don't care.  I wanted to infuse the orange flavor throughout so after about an hour and a half in the fridge I poured about a tablespoon of orange curd over the panna cotta and allowed it to sink to the bottom.  This way I had the layer of orange covering the bottom, but also got a hint of orange through.  Yummy!

I made my orange curd, but store bought is fine.  You could also try lemon curd, strawberry jam, a fruit compote, fresh fruit, chocolate sauce, etc.

This go around I used a cranberry pomegranate curd on the top, which I spread on after 4 hours.  I just love that bright color!

I like using a wide glass for the panna cotta so I get my fruity topping in every bite.

Panna Cotta
serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup milk
• 1 1/2 packets of unflavored gelatin
• 2 Cups heavy cream
• 1/3 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
• fruit topping of your choice

Directions:

1. Combine the milk and gelatin in a medium saucepan off the heat and allow to absorb for 5 minutes.
2. Add the cream, sugar, and vanilla and whisk continually on medium heat until sugar has fully dissolved and steam begins to rise over the pot.
3. Remove from heat and pour into 6 glasses.  Let cool on the counter for several minutes, then place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.  Add your choice of sauce, jam, compote, etc. in a thin layer on top of the panna cotta after 4 hours to keep it from sinking.

Note: This dessert can be made a day ahead of time and kept in the fridge until needed.  If you want to make panna cotta in molds and tip them out make sure to rub the inside of your molds in coconut oil before pouring the dessert in.  To remove the panna cotta simply run the outside of the molds briefly in hot water.

Also, I prefer my panna cotta on the thick side.  If you don't, use one gelatin packet instead of 1 1/2.  No problem.

my first half marathon

Its been so crazy around here lately.  I know I haven't posted in a while.  I've been so busy I've been making the same recipes over and over.  Boring, I know.  You know you've been swamped when you still have your Christmas lights up mid-January (eep!)

Part of the craziness involved training and packing for our weekend trip to Anaheim to run the Star Wars Half Marathon.  My first!  Somehow I managed to convince my dad to run with me.  He gripped about it for months, but ran it anyway, beating me by a half hour!  We can't wait to do another already.  Although we got separated around mile 3 or 4, we till had fun.  If you've never done a Disneyland race you're missing out big time.  We ran through both Disney parks (complete with Star Wars character photo-ops!), and the city streets along the route were packed with high school cheerleaders (doing flips!), marching bands (some playing Star Wars music), people cheering in full Star Wars costumes, people holding funny and encouraging signs, people giving out drinks and candy (some not even affiliated with the race), and let's not forget the awesome people watching of the runner themselves.  Most of us wore costumes.  IT was awesome.

I decided to dress as Han Solo and my dad was a stormtrooper.

The boys had a blast wandering around Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel the day before the race, just exploring and taking our time.  I had hoped not to walk too far the day before, didn't want to tire my feet out too much, so of course we passed by fitbit daily goal by 50% accidentally!

Dad and me the morning of the race, waiting in our slow people corral at 4:30 in the morning, after walking over a mile already to get from our hotel across the street through all the pathways to get to our corral.

I just had to pause running every once in a while for photos.  I couldn't miss the sunrise over California Adventure.  So pretty!

Radiator Springs is pretty nice first thing in the morning too.

There were so many people running!  I think I read that almost 12,000 people raced with us!  Crazy.  There were definitely a few times I was forced to walk because I got squished many a huge crowd going slowly.

I wish I could had gotten a photo myself with BB-8.  He's just so cute and my boys love him.  But his line was crazy long and I didn't want my time to be really slow.

Yay!  I did it!  There were times I felt a little tired, but the fantastic crowd cheering us on almost the whole race, and the fun people watching helped a lot.  Since it was my first race I wasn't concentrating on speed, just not finishing last, and not hurting myself.

I am really glad my costume worked out fairly well.  I didn't know what to wear because the race started so early in the morning (5:30!) in January and I didn't want to be frozen.  I also didn't want to overheat too much.

I went for practical Han Solo.  My long sleeved running shirt with open black fleece vest, with navy compression capris (they had red electrical tape lines down the sides like Han's pants but those fell off around mile 2...).  My favorite part of my costume was my blaster holster.  I made it in 30 minutes the night before we left for the race.  No joke.  I wanted something to keep my phone, ipod, and hotel key in easily that fit in with my costume and wouldn't move or bounce.  This belt stayed in place great, perfectly held everything I wanted it to, and was really lightweight and comfortable to run in.

If you were interested in making your own holster here's how I made mine.  I used thick black elastic and cut a piece to fairly tightly fit around my waist.  I sewed the two edges to a black plastic clasp and covered the clasp with duct tape covered craft foam sheets (1 per side) in the shape of Han's buckle.  I cut out a holster in fake brown leather I found in the remnant bin at Joann forever ago in a shape that looked kind of like a holster, but would also fit my phone and ipod.  I cut out the top piece of leather a bit smaller, and also cut out two thin strips of leather to use for the snap closure.  Before I sewed the front and back leather pieces together I sewed a black elastic loop fit to go around my leg.  The whole thing took about half an hour to make and worked perfectly, even though it looks obviously a rush job.  If you want to make your own and have any questions, feel free to contact me!

Since all the photos of me wearing my belt are in the dark Liam is my model.  Can't you tell how excited he is about this?  :)

Oh, apparently Han roars at people so Liam told me I HAD to include this photo of him roaring.  With monster arms.  I'm pretty sure he has no idea who Han is...