Homemade Oreos

Today is my little brother's birthday (Happy Birthday Bro!), so I thought it fitting to post the cookie that he chose for his birthday treat this year. Technically, he chose "dipped Oreos" but one first needs Oreos in order to dip. He did mention that the Oreo's didn't have to be homemade, he just wanted different flavors of dipped cookies. The hubby said asking me to send commercial Oreo's was like asking Gordon Ramsey to send a Big Mac. I snorted in derision and told him I was probably more like Guy Fieri sending take-out from a diner, drive-in, or dive he visited. In the end, I opted to make the Oreo's before dipping them. 

Lucky Mules

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Break out the green drinks, food, clothes, etc. and let's celebrate! I've always enjoyed St. Paddy's day. Granted, St. Paddy's day in college and the short time after graduating basically means you drink until you drop. This is not so much the point of the holiday as you get older, but it still holds a special place in my heart.  I may only have one green cocktail and one Thin Mint cupcake, but I'll be toasting my 21-year-old self who loved to come no earlier than dawn with green glitter in my hair and shamrocks painted on my face. Days long gone, but not forgotten. 

Lamb Ragù

-with Orecchiette and Sautéed Garlic Broccoli Rabe

Oh, you guys are going to love me. Actually, let me rephrase that- if you have some ground lamb on hand or can find some at the store, you are going to love me. 

This sauce hits it out of the park! It's savory. It's spicy. It doesn't taste like my usual pasta sauce, thanks to ingredients seldom used such as lamb, coriander, and mint. I always, always, always think that I hate mint in savory foods. I think that's because mint has always tasted overpowering to me. I remember one year when the hubby and I were in Cincinnati visiting his cousin and his wife, and I ordered lamb chops with mint jelly at a fancy steakhouse. The lamb chops? Amazing and to-die-for. The mint jelly? It tasted like toothpaste on top of my lamb. Sick. Have no fear friends, there's not enough mint in this recipe to evoke any images of a masked man sticking sharp tools into your uncomfortably stretched mouth while simultaneously trying to engage you in conversation. 

February Findings: 2016

It's March! How did this happen? The days are flying by and I'm still way behind on my reading list for the year. Eep. 

February was a pretty jam-packed month. A snowstorm, the Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, bee school... February was pretty cool. I've got plenty of pictures from the month, so let's dive right in!

Chocolate-Mint Bark

Let's continue CookieFest 2015!

Still on vacation here in Illinois. As much as I love my dogs (because I love them to the moon and back, ya know) there is something to be said for simply waking up, making a cup of coffee, and enjoying the view of a lake. No shoving tired feet into boots, tired arms into coats. No checking the property for neighborhood dogs or the stray deer. No pack of vicious Chihuahuas barking at such a decibel you'd think we starved them by their urgent need for food.

Of course, I start to miss all those things after a couple of days. But man, for a couple of days, I do enjoy the "me" time. And speaking of "me" time, you'll have plenty of that if you decide to make this simple minty candy over say, Spritz cookies. I'm serious, this takes all of 5 minutes to make. And it's sooooo yummy!

25 Chocolate Recipes

Thanksgiving is upon us, my friends!

It's true, October would have been the perfect month for  25 Chocolate Recipes. That being said, I think November is a great month for this round-up too. For a couple of reasons-

#1. Not everyone likes Pecan Pie. Or Pumpkin Pie. I guarantee there's people out there that might want a chocolate dessert for Thanksgiving.

#2. Christmas and holiday baking are right around the corner. There are plenty of cookies, candies, and cakes in this round-up to choose for cookie swaps or last minute party gifts.

#3. I mean, it's chocolate. Come on. It's good 12 months out of the year. It's good for 52 weeks out of the year. It's good for 365 days out of the year. You get the picture.

So, yeah. Shall we jump right in?

*Warning- pictures may induce drooling, cravings, and a one-track chocolate brain. Proceed at your own risk :-)

Blackberry Mojitos

Cocktail time!

This might seem like a summery drink to you. I say, what better time to remind myself of summer than when the remnants of Hurricane Patricia are passing over our parts? Our weather has rapidly changed from a mild, sunny Indian summer to a soggy, gray, dreary mess. Our leaves had turned the most beautiful colors, and now the wind has selfishly knocked most of them to the ground. Luckily, the hubby and I went out the day before the weather hit and took tons of fall pictures around the area. I took a lot of photos, so I'm hoping to edit them and post about fall leaves this weekend. Maybe I'll edit them tonight with a Blackberry Mojito in my hand? Hehe :-)

What I Learned In My 2nd Year of Gardening

Well, I think it's time.

I officially put the garden to bed yesterday. Actually, I did most of the work on Friday before our first heavy frost. I was at the gym, walking on the treadmill, minding my own business when the local garden guy came on the news. He advised getting any vegetables you might have in the garden, out of the garden before the cold weather. I still had a few tomatoes and peppers on the vines, so I got to work. 

I pulled the last few green tomatoes, and put them in closed paper bags in the basement. They'll be ripe in a couple of weeks, and that will be a nice treat. I pulled up the tomato and pepper plants, and added them to the compost. 

Creme Brûlée Cake

You knew it was coming. I warned you. 

And now it's here. It was a smashing, delightful success that I must share. Soooooo good.

First, I must admit this is a decidedly untraditional cake. It's light, moist, creamy, and dreamy. It is the opposite of rich. Which is just crazy, because I was afraid the cake was going to be insanely rich. Not so. The cake is just perfect, airy but moist. The pastry cream is also surprisingly light. Together, they make a delicious combination. This is a very un-Southern cake, meaning when the hubby's Southern relatives tell me this cake would go excellent with coffee, I know it's a low-sugar cake. 

Citrusy Cantaloupe Cocktails

True fact: It's Friday.

True fact: It may or may not be 5 o'clock somewhere.

Actually, it probably is 5 o'clock somewhere. I'm not sure where, but it probably is. And if you are there, I recommend whipping up a batch of these frosty bad boys. Stat. Tart lemon and sweetly delicious cantaloupe juice mixed with vodka. They are so good. 

Watermelon Moscato Slushies

Happy Monday!

I don't make a lot of adult beverages for the blog, and right now I'm wondering why. They are, quite honestly, one of my favorite things to make for chatting about. Why, you might ask? Because I get to drink my subjects when I'm done shooting photos of them!

May in the Jarrell Garden

-plus an announcement!

Good morning, and happy Wednesday!

I know I've been away all week, and I apologize. It's been a fairly busy sort of week, between getting the garden going, keeping up with the lawn, and oh yeah, raising a puppy that's new to the homestead. I just wanted to share how the garden is looking at this oh-so-early time of year-

Raspberry Blueberry Smoothies

You could say, "Uh, Jess. You have 16 inches of snow on the ground. Why the heck are you making smoothies??"

And I would say, "Eh."

Yes, it's true. We received a freakin' truckload of snow. I was telling the hubby that I'd never seen so much snow. And I remember uttering that exact statement last year! Around this time last year, I think the most snow we got in one day was 8 inches. We have double that now. It's so crazy.

Dark Chocolate-Mint Ice Cream

I warned you.

I told everyone there would be more ice cream. This one is even easier than my Vanilla Bean. You don't need a stove, and there's not much work. The most work you'll do is by giving the dark chocolate a rough chop. 

25 Delicious Cookie Recipes

Time for this month's roundup!

Sure cookies are the hip thing at Christmas, and around Valentine's Day, but if we are going to be really honest, cookies are good all the time. They have been the bane of my existence since I've learned how to bake, the reason those last 3 stubborn pounds hang on.

Minted Cantaloupe Popsicles

Argh, how is it Tuesday afternoon already??

This week has started. Swiftly. I feel like I've hardly had time to sit. Can I tell you that I meant to post yesterday and this morning? Really, truly, I did. The time has just literally been flying! A lot of my readers may wonder what a housewife does all day. You know, besides chilling on the couch in my jammies, eating bon bon's, and watching Days of Our Lives. Let me tell you about yesterday-

6:30 am- Woke up. Enjoyed 3 cups of coffee while making a grocery list.

8:00 am- Let the dogs out, fill up my bird feeders, water the garden. Get the dogs back inside, give them a treat.

8:15 am- Getting ready to leave the house when I receive a phone call from the hubby. Turns out the guys at his work are hankering for my Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. Since the dough needs to chill for 4 hours, I knew I needed to make it before I went to the store. Finish my hair, and plod into the kitchen to make cookie dough.

10:00 am- Cookie dough is finished and in the fridge. The kitchen however...ugh, time to clean.

10:30 am- Kitchen is clean. Gather all laundry in the house- as in, clothes, whites, and towels. Start a load of clothes. 

11:00 am- Out the door. Time to make my loop of dropping off the recycling, heading to the dreaded Walmart, and then produce shopping at Kroger.

1:00 pm- Done with my loop, head to my friends house to check on her dog.

1:30 pm- Make it back to my house. Start pre-heating the oven and take the cookie dough out of the fridge. Scarf down lunch while oven is preheating. Change over the laundry, put the whites in. Bake 6 dozen cookies when the oven is done preheating.

3:30 pm- Cookies are finally done! Change over the laundry. Now the lawn be calling my name. Quick change of my clothes, and off to start the lawnmower.

5:00 pm- One half of the yard is mowed. Head inside to change over the laundry, and change the sheets on our bed now that the whites are done. Pull chicken breast from fridge to let it come to temperature, season it. Pull zucchini's from fridge, prep and season those. Feed the dogs. Race back outside to finish the yard.

6:10 pm- Yard is done. Hubby will be home in about 30 minutes. Start preheating the barbecue to grill the chicken and zucchini. Run back inside to snap a few pictures of recent recipes. Change over the last load of laundry (which I folded the next day!).

6:20 pm- Start boil-in-a-bag brown rice for dinner. Put chicken and veggies on the grill.

6:35 pm- Dinner is ready! The hubby just arrived home, but the one thing I didn't have time for was a shower! Hit the shower super fast-like before dinner.

6:50pm- It's finally time to relax. The only thing left to do this day is clean up the kitchen after dinner. Exhausted!!

And people ask me how I'm not bored all the time. Ppppsssh.

Now, about these popsicles! I've been buying a lot of cantaloupe lately, it's the hubby's favorite fruit. I picked up a couple of really nice melons last week, with the intention of turning part of one melon into popsicles. I have mint coming out of my ears, so no problem there. I'm definitely going to have to find some creative ways to use all this mint, sheesh. I told the hubby that even inexperienced gardeners could grow mint or zucchini. How are they not weeds?? They sure grow like weeds! Anyhoo, the recipe for these pops couldn't get any easier. Throw some melon, a few mint leaves, and a little sugar water into the food processor, and voila! Easy peasy. 

I hope everyone is ready for some serious popsicle recipes this summer! Popsicles are one of my favorite summertime snacks, and I couldn't get enough of them last year. Something tells me this year is going to be the same :)

Viva la popsicles!

I'm in a silly mood today, can you tell? Happy Tuesday everyone!

Ingredients (makes 6 popsicles):

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cantaloupe, cut into chunks

3-4 mint leaves

Directions:

1. Combine sugar with a couple of tablespoons of warm-hot water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Combine sugar water, melon, and mint in food processor. Pulse until mixture is completely smooth.

3. Divide mixture evenly among a popsicle mold. Place sticks in melon mixture. Freeze until pops are solid (4-6 hours). To remove from mold, run mold under warm water until you can jiggle the popsicle out. Keep frozen.

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Tutti Dolci.

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday