Cran-Apple Coffee Cake

My formatting skills are still in the making so excuse my funny layouts....

While at a conference for Chicago dietetic interns I had the chance to try some delicious coffee cake.  I tracked down the intern that made it and she was happy to share her recipe!  Keith and I tried it the other night and it turned out to be tasty but didn't quite match her culinary masterpiece!  I think I added too many apples which meant a bit soggy but overall it was a tasty treat!

We started by using the Emeril's Apple Coffee Cake Recipe.  The intern suggested that we also add 6-7oz. of fresh cranberries, double/triple the amount of granny smith apples (which I think may have caused ours to be a bit soggy so I would stick with the instructed amount) and 3tsp of cinnamon instead of 1.

 LOVE being home to use my mom's Kitchen Aide mixer.  (My hand mixer at school doesn't always cut it.)  Whenever I get married this will be the first thing on my registry!

My mom loves her snowmen!  Dishes and all...

While the coffee cake was baking we made the glaze which probably could have been doubled but the amount called for worked out just fine too.  We were told to boil the glaze on the stove to help the sugar dissolve.

The finished product took a little longer to cook than instructed but we just did the toothpick test.  It turned out to be a great dessert or morning treat with tea!

Merry Christmas Eve from Michigan!

Night in Royal Oak...

Keith, my mom and headed down to Royal Oak, MI for the evening on Saturday.  (My dad and brother were working so couldn't join.)  Keith and I had plans to walk around downtown but they were quickly changed when I wasn't dressed warm enough for the weather.  (22 years here and I still don't know how to dress in the winter, woops!)  We stopped in a cute little place called the Bean and Leaf cafe and had tea for two!  MMM!

The barista suggested we try chamomile and peppermint mixed which turned out to be absolutely delicious!  (You can see we enjoyed our tea while relaxing and enjoying the newspaper and a magazine.)

After warming up with some delicious tea we headed to Lily's Seafood Grill and Brewery (on Dad's suggestion.)  I loved the atmosphere and the food was delicious!  I started off with a ginger miso salad (which wasn't exactly like a ginger salad from a sushi restaurant like the waitress had promised but good none the less.)  They also started us off with some balsamic wheat rolls and sweet butter.

Mom got the fish n' chips fried in their own beer!  Served with sweet potato fries, cole slaw and a cajun ketchup!

Keith chose the salmon reuben on rye swirl bread, which was another delicious choice!  Also served with sweet potato fries and a pickle (mmm, my fav!)

I chose the special, Pan Seared Sole topped with spinach, red peppers (which I had to take off, ick) zucchini, tomatoes, gnocchi, cranberries and a buttery cream sauce.  Served with my favvvvvvvorite, ASPARAGUS!  YUMM!

A great evening overall!  Can't wait to go back and try the beer!

Perfect Pesto Pizza

I'm back in The Mitten!  Made it home in time to make a pesto pizza with my boyfriend!  We made a quick stop at Meijer (my favvvvorite grocery store) for some ingredients and headed home to make what turned out to be a delicious dinner!  We just looked up a general pesto pizza recipe online and added what we wanted to it!

Keefer did the mixing of the dough.  Jiffy pizza dough mix for only $.59 woohoo!

I took on the kneading and spreading in the pan.  Put it in the oven at 425 degrees for two minutes before the toppings were added.

Now time for toppings....the best part!  1/2 cup of pesto sauce (which isn't too cheap!) and some artichokes!

The recipe didn't call for any mozzarella but I love cheese so we added it!  We also cut up some grape tomatoes under the cheese mmmmm.

Topped it off with some olives and onions.  Only missing some mushrooms.

The Jiffy box said to cook for 18-20 min but ours was done in 10!

So delicious and easy to make!  Can't wait to make it again!

Goodnight from home sweet Michigan!

Free Cereal!

While interning this year I learned about a great site from General Mills regarding different nutrition resources for health professionals!  Better yet, they will send free samples of cereal to your home or office!  (Fiber One and Total)  I gave these away to clients while interning and they loved the free snacks! (Also a great teaching tool to avoid high sugar cereals!)

Visit www.bellinstitute.com

Enjoy!

My fav oatmeal cookie!

Is the cookie worth the 370 calories??

YES!  Especially when it's a reward for studying and paired with my favorite no cal Awake Tazo tea!  Plus, there must be a serving of fruit in there riiiiiight? (:

To save or not to save??

Ever unsure how long you should keep your foods around?  Click on this link to figure out how long your foods will stay fresh and when to toss them!

www.stilltasty.com

Thanks Mom for the great site!  (:

My First Blog!!

Well this is my first blog experience and it included lots of tries and even more frustration!  (A way to avoid studying for finals I suppose.)  I'm looking forward to heading home to Michigan in a few days for a long holiday break which=empty fridge and creative meal planning.

A day of studying included some comfort foods and my favorite Starbucks oatmeal cookie!

A simple two egg omelet with baby bella mushrooms, onions and colby jack cheese!  It actually looked like an omelet today!

Finishing off my evening with some cheap, delicious, Trader Joes wine!  MMM!

Until next time...