Hello again!

It has been a while, my friends! Managing multiple blogs, graduations from college, and nannying all summer sure made me busy. But guess what, I'm in LONDON FOR PASTRY SCHOOL! What!? Yeah, it's been that long since I've posted. I'm so very sorry, but I have yet another blog you can check out chronicling my journey here in London. I like to have desperation with my thoughts and blogs, so this may indeed be the last post on here, since my senior year is done and done. But don't fret! You can check me out at http://hollyinlondon.wordpress.com/ for more updates on my life!

Vi ses, Holly

Avocado Smoothie

As the semester dwindles down, my work load has only become crazier! I have a research proposal, tons of grading, teaching two classes, papers, tests, labs, and way more! It's about to get really insane. But at least I have baking to take my mind off things : )

Today, after my stint at the library, I came home and realized I finally had all the ingredients to make an Avocado Smoothie I'd seen on Pinterest!

It's super simple and totally fit in a large magic bullet cup. Here's the recipe:

• 1 avocado
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt (with honey)
• 1/2 - 1 cup orange juice
• 1 - 2 cups of ice
• 
  
• Blend it all together and you're good to go!
• 
  
• It's a delightful pistachio color and tastes really creamy and tropical!
• 
  
• I suggest you try this out when there's no time for a big meal, it's pretty filling!
• Vi Ses,
• Holly

Mustache Chronicles II

In case you missed this week's episode of Parks and Recreation (which of course your didn't!), there was yet another amazing Ron Swanson food moment... involving fruit?

Yes, that's right... Ron F***ing Swanson ate a piece of fruit on the latest P&R. Apparently his potassium levels were low, so Anne told him to eat a banana every so often.

But come on! Ron? Fruit? How can this even happen?

Ron is our favorite meat-eating, mustachioed man, and here he is, being utterly defeated at the idea of eating a banana...

Ron Swanson will always be at the top of my lost for 'best fictional characters' and I think we can all see why...

Vi Ses,

Holly

Earl Grey Cookies!

This weekend has been so much fun! We had a great Day at the HSU Natural History Museum for Anthropology Day! I helped out at a booth called 'Culture through Storytelling' which was really fun, and there were tons of kids, all exited to learn about anthropology!

But today was back to the baking grind (Although I did whip up some chocolate mm cookies yesterday, which I forgot to take pictures of) and I was requested to make some earl grey cupcakes, but I wasn't feeling cup cakey, so I made cookies instead! Plus cookies are my favorite baked good, so it all works out.


Cookies:
2 c. flour
2 T of Earl Grey (about 3 sachets)
1 t. lavender
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 c. butter

Glaze:
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 T. (or more) lemon juice
1 t. lemon zest
1 t. lavender

Method:
1. Beat the butter until fluffy and add in sugar.
2. Once smooth, add in vanilla and tea.
3. Add in flour, and salt and mix until dough forms.
4. Roll in a log and cover in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes
5. Oven at 375 degrees.
6. Slice cookies about 1/3 in. thick and lay out about 2 in. apart.
7. Bake for 10 minutes.
8. Mix glaze ingredients together.
9. Allow cooling and drizzle glaze. Enjoy!

These are amazing!! And they look super cute! I think I'm going to make these for my roommate's bridal shower, but cut out 'P' and 'G' shaped ones, since that would be too cute!

Well, that's all for now! Have a fantastic week : )

Um, hello delicious!

Vi Ses,
Holly

Lemon Lavender Shortbread

As you're aware, I love lemon. And lavender. Especially together!

An edit from my photo class!

My roommates happen to love this delicious combination as well, so whenever I make some kind of Lem-Lav cookie (like that abbreviation? All me! haha), they get gobbled up right away! 

I've been madly studying for my Primatology test (which is tomorrow!) so I definitely needed a baking break!

These are super easy, and very Spring-y, so give them a go!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Zest of 2 lemons, divided
1/2 t. lavender buds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Add the butter, powdered sugar, zest of 1 lemon, lavender, vanilla, and salt to a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the flour, and beat until a dough is formed. This takes about 5 minutes if you're using a hand mixer, so don't be alarmed that your dough starts out looking like sand.
3. In a small bowl, combine the remaining lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar until fragrant.
4. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle 3/4 of the lemon sugar on top (you will use the remaining 1/4 of the lemon sugar in the same fashion when you re-roll the shortbread dough), and gently press it into the dough with the rolling pin. I then used a knife to cut pieces, because honestly, you're just going to eat these up right out of the oven! But you could cut them with a circle biscuit cutter if it pleases you...
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, and cool completely on the cookie sheet.  
6. After they're cooled, I made a quick lemon glaze: lemon juice, zest, powdered sugar and a pinch of lavender. I don't have any exact amounts, but when it gets 'glazy' it's probably done!!


Recipe adapted from A Bitchin' Kitchen, which is a fantastic blog name, huh?!

Well anyway, these are very good, and eating these makes me feel like it's spring! (Even though I live in the land of constant rain) Hopefully the Farmer's Market starts up soon, so I can get some frest lavender up in here! 

But for now, I best be gettin' back to memorizing the taxonomic names of New and Old World Monkeys.

 Peace Out, homies.

Vis Ses,
Holly

My Sister is in Hawaii right now.
LUCKY.

Hot Pockets and Goodbyes

Now that Spring Break is over, I only have 7 more weeks until GRADUATION! What?? It's pretty crazy... I'm pretty nervous for the next year and a half, I seriously have no idea what I want to do after I finish culinary school... But that stress out of the way, I did some baking today after I flew back up to Humboldt County.

Since I'm a vegetarian, it's hard to find delicious frozen meals (which honestly is good, it makes me not eat them!) but sometimes, you just need a quick fix... So I took matters into my own hands a made some homemade 'hot pockets.' YUM-O! Here's the recipe I created for these:

Recipe:

Pastry Dough:
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 T. sugar
Pinch of salt
Roughly 3 T. butter
1/2 c. Silk coconut milk

Filling:
5 eggs
5 veggie sausage links
1/4 c. shredded cheese
Tapatío

1. So put the first 4 pastry ingredients into a bowl and mix a bit. Then 'cut' in the butter and after pretty meal-y, add then milk and knead until just mixed. Set to the side.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

3. Heat up the sausage links and cut into pieces and shred the cheese. Set aside.

4. Scramble the eggs and once their cooked, add the sausage and cheese and quickly mix. Put in a bowl.

5. Roll out the dough and cut out identical rectangles. Put on dough piece in your pastry pocket form thing (or get innovative and do it on the counter?) and fill the pocket. Place the another rectangle on top and close the form thing to cinch them together (yo could totally use a fork if your using the counter).

6. Bake for 15 minutes and you are set!

I froze most of mine, with the intention to throw them in the toaster oven after I run in the morning. They taste pretty good, but the dough wasn't the best, I'd probably try to use a different recipe for that, but overall they are pretty good, way better than that store bought crap. So I would say this was a success! : )

Here are my Orange County spring break highlights:

Jack and Grady's T-ball game! They were so cute : )

My sister, Julie, and I went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to see Lucy (A. afarensis) from Ethiopia... And it was a really awesome exhibit! It was so fun seeing a total anthropology-based museum exhibit... On top of that, they had a small whaling exhibit, which was awesome (since I've read some non-fiction about 19th century whaling)... And an exhibition of art from Maurice Sendak, the author/illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are, all of which were truly incredible! I wish I could draw like that! 

Then, my friend Ashley and I drove up Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu and Point Dume (Makes me feel like I'm in Middle Earth for some reason...) Which was so totally fun and beautiful!

And finally, I had to say farewell to one of my best friends, Claire, as she leaves for her 18 month mission to Argentina... It is bittersweet, I know she is going to have an amazing time and grow so much, but I'm going to miss talking to her everyday and just all our adventures. But she'll be back in September 2014 and we'll be pen pals while she's gone : ) 

Silver linings, my friends, look for the silver linings.

I miss you already! 

Vi Ses,

Holly

Chocolate Cupcakes

Sometimes I forget about the simple flavors when baking, like chocolate! So I stuck to the classics when baking these delicious treats : )

I made these yesterday, before a wedding I attended, which was quite adorable (more on that later)... They were pretty easy, so here's the recipe!

(Click to Enlarge)

 

This was pretty easy, a bit time consuming, but totally worth it! I did substitute a few things... I replaced the sour cream with plain greek yogurt, since that's what I had in my house... And I halfed both these recipes since I was only making cupcakes. 

And et me tell your these are delicious! Maybe one of the best things I've made yet! My roommates tried them and were super complimentary, so yeah, these were a success!

And after I made these I attended a wedding of two members of my roommates' church, and it was really sweet and adorable! My favorite part was watching the groom's face when the bride walked into the church, it was so sweet : )

And there were some great photo-ops!! Here's our little group, part of the bridal party for my roommate's wedding in June! So many weddings, yay!!!

Have a great Sunday!

Vi Ses, 

Holly

Recipe Source: 

http://www.annies-eats.com/2013/03/01/classic-chocolate-layer-cake/