A look back on 2011

Wow I seriously can't believe this year is just about over.  I must admit though, 2011 might just have been my happiest year to date.  It was also the beginning of 2011 that I started this little bloggy that I have come to love so much.  I thought it'd be fun to go back and take a look at a few of my favorite recipes this past year and see how far I've come in the photography world.

I must warn you though, some of these pictures are NOT very pretty, but the recipes are ones that I make time and time again!  In fact, I plan on re-making these dishes in 2012 just to take new photos, seriously they're that delicious!

Anyway, thinking back on this past year, most people might say it had it's ups and downs, but I can honestly admit I don't think I had any "downs" this year.  No no, I'm not being conceited by any means, but it really was a year full of new beginnings, meeting amazing new friends, lots of laughter and TONS of memories.

Oh yes, and lots and lots of cooking!

MARCH

  Jamaican Jerk Chicken

APRIL

Skinny Chicken Divan

MAY
Mexican Corn Dip

JUNE

Spicy Sundried Tomato Dip

JULY

Sauteed Tilapia Tacos with Grilled Peppers and Onions

AUGUST

Chicken Piccata

SEPTEMBER

Spiced Pumpkin Butter

 

OCTOBER

Lemon-Rosemary Chicken

NOVEMBER

Old-Fashioned Cranberry Sauce

DECEMBER

Spiced Eggnog Muffins

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It's always fun to look bad on the evolution of anything that you love and take the time to practice and that especially goes for photography.  I started out using my trusty little iPhone and have learned so much along the way.  My blog started because of my passion for cooking and have quickly developed a new passion for photography.  Now that I have a brand new lens and a nice new tripod, hopefully my look back on 2012 will another great learning experience and I'll evolve even more.

With that said, Happy New Year everyone!!

Hope your 2012 is just as amazing as years past!  Now throw your glitzy dress on, pop open the champagne and ring in the new year!

Cheers!

Bye Bye Christmas

Well Christmas has officially come and GONE and I can't tell you how sad that makes me.  I must admit though, this was probably the best one yet!!  There is so much I want to share with you all and yet so much I can't share as I left my purse in DC at my friend's surprise birthday party Friday night! :(  This purse of course contained my cell phone, entire contents of my make-up, ID and debit card.  Oh and of course they were going to be closed until Tuesday after the holidays...FML.

Soo no instagramming Christmas, no tweeting and my amazing boyfriend woke up at 7:00 AM Christmas Eve morning to rough the crowds and get me brand new make-up from Sephora.

That my friends is true LOVE.

But I will share with you bits and pieces of what I'm able to share!

Christmas with amazing friends and ugly sweaters

Homemade scone mix courtesy of Yummy Mummy

And this AMAZING gift from Chris!!!!

LOVE.

No that would not be the purse I left at the bar, but my jaw literally dropped when he brought me the box!  I would have been happy with any gift, but he really went above and beyond this year :)

And my friends are reeeeeally good at keeping secrets apparently.

I also received a new 50mm lens for my camera, a tripod and an amazing photoshop program by Adobe so I'm super excited to show off my new pictures!  That is once I finally get back to cooking.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  Looking forward to rocking my sparkling dress this weekend and celebrating the New Year!  And lemme tell you...I sure have a LOT of new years resolutions.

Mini Raspberry Chocolate Tarts

I love chocolate.

I love raspberries.

Umm I love all things guilt-free and delicious.

Impeccable combination, don't you think?

That's why I love these little tarts.  They're so simple to put together, the ingredients are relatively cheap and they make the cutest little desserts for your holiday table!  Shh I have a secret though.  I may have made this recipe even healthier than the original.

GASP.

Yes this was in fact possible.

I ended up substituting melted chocolate for one of my favorite snacks...

sugar-free Jello pudding!

Brilliant, eh?

Your welcome.

Next time I think I'll channel my inner Yummy Mummy and roll the raspberries in sugar to make little sparkling tarts.  I'm never opposed to adding sugar to recipes :)

Yeah that's my inner fat kid talking. 

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Servings: 5

Serving Size: 3 shells 

Calories: 63

Fat: 1.6 g

Carbs: 11.6 g

Fiber: 0.6 g

Protein: 2.3 g

Old Points: 1.3 pts

Points+: 2 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

1 (1.9 oz) package baked miniature phyllo dough shells (15 shells)

2 sugar-free Jello chocolate pudding snack packs

15 fresh raspberries

2 Tbsp slivered almonds, toasted if desired

Place phyllo dough shells on a serving platter.  Spoon a tablespoon of chocolate pudding into each shell with a raspberry and some of the almonds on top.  Enjoy! 

Hope y'all are enjoying what's left of the holidays!  I haven't even put a dent in my wrapping, but am SO excited that Christmas is just 3 days away!  One of the things I've loved seeing on other blogs are the cute wish lists that everyone has shared.  So I thought I'd share mine as well, here ya go!

50 mm lens for my camera
Gorillapod tripod for my camera (in PINK of course!)
LOVE this Bracelet from J. Crew
This scarf from an adorable Etsy shop
Must have this Cuisinart Food Processor from Williams-Sonoma
This gorgeous Peacoat in red from VS
Photoshop CS5 to enhance my pictures
New black Uggs
These...nuff said :)

and the #1 thing I want more than anything???

THIS in all of her glory!
Hey a girl can dream, right??

Merry Christmas!

I just HAD to share this....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Is this not TOO cute for words??

Now go hug your puppy today :)

Happy Holidays!

Lightened-Up Cheesy Pastitsio

Yes you read that correctly.

CHEESY.

Leave it to Cooking Light to give me a cheesy pasta dish that I can indulge in enjoy to a minimum.  I wouldn't suggest making this every single night to lose weight, but it's definitely AMAZING and a great substitute for heavier pasta dishes.  Plus it's super eeeeasy.

Hell to the yeah.

I chose to use beef since the BF refused ground turkey {stubborn}, but that would be a perfect healthier alternative!  OR you could just forget counting calories and use a spicy sausage like Jimmy Dean and give this whole dish a big kick in the pants.

Yeah I chose to walk the safer route and used lean beef.  I'm consuming too many sweets as it is this Christmas!  I also used Dreamfields low-carb pasta, fat-free cheeses and took out the flour this recipe called for.  In my opinion it still tasted delish!  Next time I will definitely add a pinch of red pepper flakes to give this more heat. 

This pasta is fun because everything cooks in the same pan on the stove, gets thrown into a casserole dish and voila, you have yourself a super hearty meal that everyone will love.  Oh and trust me, this will feed an army!

Lightened-Up Cheesy Pastitsio

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Servings: 6

Serving Size: 1 1/3 cups 

Calories: 355

Fat: 7.1 g

Carbs: 39 g

Fiber: 4.8 g

Protein: 30 g

Old Points: 6.9 pts

Points+: 8 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

8 oz. uncooked Dreamfields penne (rotini would work too)

Cooking spray

1 lb. 93% lean ground beef

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion

5 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 tsp. salt

2 cups fat-free milk

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained

6 oz fat-free cream cheese
3/4 cup (3 oz) shredded fat-free mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Preheat broiler.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat and drain.  Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and coat pan with cooking spray.  Add beef to pan and saute for about 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.  Remove beef from pan and drain.  Wipe pan clean with paper towels and add 1/2 tablespoon of oil to pan.  Swirl to coat then add onion.  Saute for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic and saute 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Add beef; sprinkle with salt.  Stir in milk, tomatoes and cream cheese, stirring until smooth; bring to a simmer.  Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.  Stir in pasta.

Spoon pasta mixture into a 13 x 9-inch broiler-safe baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over top.  Broil 4 minutes or until golden.  Sprinkle with parsley and enjoy! 

Click here for a printable version of this recipe 

So I must admit, I'm reeeally excited for this coming weekend.  If any of you follow me on Facebook you know that I'm making some yummy hors d'oeuvres for my friend's wedding on Sunday!  I found some really pretty holiday recipes and I'll be sure to share those with you soon :)  I also have a fun holiday party tonight with my friends and you better believe I'm rocking my tacky Christmas sweater.

Check out these cake pops I made for the party!

Thank you pinterest!  I find myself pinning cute stuff EVERY.SINGLE.DAY and found this great idea for cake pops using marshmallows and candy canes.  I'll share the recipe next week!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Spiced Eggnog Muffins

"Merry Christmas!  Shitter was full."

Any time I think of Christmas I think of eggnog and anytime I think of eggnog I automatically think of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with the Griswolds and Eddie drinking this delectable cocktail out of moose-shaped teacups.

Yes.

If you didn't get it already that quote above would be from that movie and it is by far the greatest Christmas movie of all-time if you ask me.  Every Christmas Eve me and my brothers have the tradition of watching this while drinking eggnog {spiked of course} and the holidays just wouldn't be the same without it!

I found this recipe after downloading the Better Homes and Gardens app on my phone and seriously this is the best app ever!  I spent hours just looking at all the recipes and they have some really great holiday ones too.  I always have eggnog on hand during the Christmas season so this recipe was a no-brainer.  I of course used eggnog containing rum, but feel free to use regular eggnog from your local grocery store.  But eh, what's the fun in that right??

The only changes I will make next time is to put more batter in each muffin tin.  I'm so used to muffins and cupcakes rising like crazy and overflowing the pan!  So I only filled them about 2/3rds of the way full {if that} and realized they didn't rise the way I had liked.  Next time I'll fill them to the top so that they'll have a gorgeous muffin top!

Betcha never thought muffin tops could be gorgeous ;)

These turned out SO good and I loved how moist they were!  The nutmeg is a perfect addition and the crumble topping was delicious.  I tried not to use too much butter as I wanted them to be lighter in calories, but you really need to use more butter to have a better crumble.  Serve these up for breakfast with your Christmas morning favorites or save them as an indulgent dessert.  Either way I think you'll love these.

Spiced Eggnog Muffins

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Servings: 24

Serving Size: 1 muffin 

Calories: 240

Fat: 8 g

Carbs: 33 g

Fiber: 1 g

Protein: 5 g

Sodium: 132 mg

Old Points: 5.3 pts

Points+: 6 pts

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Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens 

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Splenda sugar blend (or 1 cup sugar)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup eggnog with rum*

1/2 cup light butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp. vanilla

*If using non-alcoholic eggnog, feel free to add 1/2 teaspoon of rum extract

Nutmeg-Streusel Topping

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

8 tsp. Splenda sugar blend (or 1/3 cup sugar)

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 Tbsp light butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease two muffin tins or line with paper bake cups and set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and nutmeg.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and set aside.

In another bowl, combine eggs, eggnog, butter, vanilla (and rum extract if so desired).  Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture.  Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy).  Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each a little over two-thirds full.  Sprinkle nutmeg-streusel topping over muffin batter in cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean.  Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  Remove from muffins cups and serve warm.  Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe  

See someone familiar in the measuring spoons??

Yeeeah still haven’t figured out how to take these pictures and hide myself at the same time.  Oh well, no shame in my Sunday morning sweats and messy bun!

Sunrise Fruit Salad

Like what you see??

Well good because I'm guest posting today over at one of my favorite health and fitness blogs Jin Fitness and since I can't even begin to compare my workouts to those of Jin {umm she's kind of amazing}, I DID want to share my favorite healthy breakfast with everyone!

Makes me feel less lazy.

I know...I should still get up and force myself into the gym every morning, but sometimes it's really cold, and sometimes it's rainy and sometimes I'd rather just curl up with a hot cup of cocoa in my PJ's rather than face the treadmill.

But when I do, I feel 10 million times better!

Jin is pretty much my inspiration.  If you need any motivation at all to get your booty off the couch and into the gym during the holiday season, all you need to do is take one look at her.  She's fit, fabulous and looks absolutely gorgeous!

I'm not jealous or anything.

So the least I could do was contribute this healthy little dish to her blog.  It's low in calories, low in fat and completely diabetic friendly!  You can choose any fruit you'd like {fresh cranberries would be perfect this time of year} and the combination of yogurt, cream cheese and honey is literally perfection.

So make sure to head over to Jin's amazing blog to see this recipe and more!  You'll find workout tips, fashion ideas and even more health recipes.

What's not to love, right?

Apple, Orange and Fennel Salad

I just love this time of year and with all the holiday desserts and festive recipes out there, I thought I'd share my favorite holiday fruit salad!  I was recently asked to guest post for Kim from Cravings of a Lunatic and thought this recipe would be absolutely perfect.  It's heart healthy and diabetic friendly, what's not to love??

At only 52 calories, 3 grams of fat and ONE Weight Watcher point per serving, this is the perfect guilt-free dish to have alongside all those sweets you know you’ll be indulging in.

Guilty.

So if you’d like this recipe, make sure to head over to Kim’s blog and check out my guest post!  With that said, I’ll leave you with more photos to salivate over.

You're welcome.

Vanilla-Almond Sugar Cookies

I have a confession.

Sugar cookies might be my biggest weakness.

And trust me, these ones are reeeeally, really good.

Seriously.

I had so much fun participating in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and this being my first year I had no idea what to expect.  I mean I'll take any excuse to do some baking, especially since I just got a new Kitchen-Aid mixer this year!  Lemme tell you, these bloggers go ALL out when it comes to making cookies and I had fun sampling a few for myself!  But we'll get into that a little later. 

For my cookies, I chose to make my favorite sugar cookie recipe by Bake at 350.  I just love the subtle hints of almond and vanilla you can taste as well as their chewiness rather than a stiff crunchy sugar cookie.  These are so simple to whip up and, sorry friends, I decided not to skimp on the butter and sugar, I mean it is Christmas after all!  I also wanted to make sure my recipients really enjoyed these so I did my best to deliver.  I chose not to use royal icing like I’ve done in the past when making cookies only because I had so many to make, but royal icing sure is pretty!  This time I went with vanilla flavored candy discs that I melted and poured into pastry bags.  Mmm it tasted just like white chocolate! 

Then once my cookies were dry, I packaged them up and sent them out to three lovely bloggers so that they could enjoy them.  So who did I get to send these to??

Well I’m so glad you asked.

Heather from Dr. Hbar's Adventures in Food

Jessie from Body and Soul Food

Melissa from I Was Born to Cook

Hope you enjoyed your cookies ladies!  Now onto this yummy recipe and make sure to check out what cookies they made!

Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Bake at 350

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup sugar

2 sticks (salted) butter, cold

1 egg

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

Wilton's white candy melts 

White sparkling sugar

1/2 tsp. meringue powder

1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Combine the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and set aside.  Cream the sugar and butter in your stand or hand held mixer then add the egg and extracts.  Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl, especially the bottom.

Knead dough together with hands as it will be crumbly and prepare for rolling.  Roll dough onto floured surface and cut into your desired shapes.  Place cookies on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and freeze for about 5 minutes.  Bake at 350 for about 10 to 12 minutes.  Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to cooling rack.

Using Wilton's white candy melts, melt candy in intervals of 30 seconds (mixing between each interval) until melted and pour into a pastry bag with a 2 inch tip.  Create a snowflake design on each cookie and set aside to dry.  Pour about a cup of water into a dish and mix in meringue powder.  Using a paintbrush, paint water mixture onto cookie where you want sprinkles to stick.  Pour on sprinkles and shake off excess.  Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

My apologies for not making the most healthy cookie, but sometimes it's ok to indulge.  {Least that's what I tell myself...}  Or if you're feeling a little too guilty, package them up and send them out to your friends to avoid all the calories.  Trust me, I'm sure they won't mind.

So as part of the cookie exchange, I not only send my cookies out to three other bloggers, but three bloggers sent out cookies to me!!  Pretty sweet deal, huh?  I love receiving packages in the mail and I must admit these cookies did not last long.  They were delicious and so cute!

See??

The chocolate chip cookies were from Julie and they were seriously the most delicious chocolate chip cookies I've ever had!!  

The adorable little candy cane cookies were from Diane.  They had hints of peppermint and were decorated with pretty sparkles.  She even had mini candy canes dispersed in the container for me, so festive!

Last but not least, the yummy thumbprint cookies were from Melissa and had an amazing strawberry filling that was delicious!

Make to check out all the other delicious cookie recipes included in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.  Who knows, maybe you'll find a new favorite just in time for the holidays!  LOVE this time of year!

PS...I may or may not have purchased the Justin Bieber Christmas CD this weekend.

Don't judge.