Current Obsession.

Peaches.

All day, every day.

This is why I love August.  It's my favorite month of summer (the perfect time to go to the beach!), and full of expectation for the school year and also, it's almost my birthday, so that makes it exciting.  But one of my favorite things about the end of summer are peaches.  My parents frequent a few farm stands in our area, and came home with a ton of these beauties on Saturday.  My mom and I spent probably an hour peeling and cutting them to freeze them for fall and winter smoothies.  Then, she bought another bag this week (read:  more peeling, cutting, and freezing).  You could say the woman's on a freezing frenzy.  I'm not complaining, cause it'll mean those wonderful August peaches all fall & winter!

While I'm a huge fan of just a plain ol' peach all on it's own (or peaches in oatmeal, or peaches and ice cream, or a peach smoothie, or peaches in fruit salad...), one thing I've always wanted to do is grill them...anyone have a good recipe or tips?

CURRENT OBSESSION

Peaches.

All day, every day.

This is why I love August.  It's my favorite month of summer (the perfect time to go to the beach!), and full of expectation for the school year and also, it's almost my birthday, so that makes it exciting.  But one of my favorite things about the end of summer are peaches.  My parents frequent a few farm stands in our area, and came home with a ton of these beauties on Saturday.  My mom and I spent probably an hour peeling and cutting them to freeze them for fall and winter smoothies.  Then, she bought another bag this week (read:  more peeling, cutting, and freezing).  You could say the woman's on a freezing frenzy.  I'm not complaining, cause it'll mean those wonderful August peaches all fall & winter!

While I'm a huge fan of just a plain ol' peach all on it's own (or peaches in oatmeal, or peaches and ice cream, or a peach smoothie, or peaches in fruit salad...), one thing I've always wanted to do is grill them...anyone have a good recipe or tips?

PUMPKIN CARVING

we're facing hurricane sandy over here on the east coast.  which means that i'm camped out at aj's, because my house typically is the first to lose power and the last to get it back.  last year, during irene, we were out for a week.  (remember this?  or this?)

so last night, in the face of the impending storm, aj and i celebrated fall properly...by carving pumpkins!

the owl is mine, in case you didn't guess.

and of course, as a special fall treat, we made roasted pumpkin seeds!

if you've never made roasted pumpkin seeds, it's simple:

1.  you take the seeds that you pull out of the center of the pumpkin

2.  rinse them off (and pat dry....this step might not be crucial, but I always do it so that my seeds get nice and dry but not burnt)

3.  toss the seeds with a bit of olive oil and sea salt
4.  bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until they're dried out and crunchy
and wha-la!  pumpkin seeds.  perfect for fall snacking or salads.  healthy and so yummy.

how have you been celebrating fall?

{healthy} bbq chicken pizza

last night, aj & i made our own bbq chicken pizza. 

because we're doing that healthy thing, we don't really eat pizza.  

but we took a recipe from cooking light and tweaked it to make it, well, even lighter. like, under-350-calories-and-11-grams-of-fat-in-an-entire-flatbread lighter.

here's what we used:

flat out! italian herb flatbreads (90 calories in one flatbread)

purdue chicken breast cutlets (80 calories in a serving)

2% reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese (70 calories per serving, we used 2 servings on each pizza)

2 plum tomatoes

scallions

sweet baby ray's honey barbecue sauce (70 calories per serving)

here's how we did it:

1. baked the flatbread (lightly oiled) for 7 minutes on the grate in the oven at 350

*note: we think we'd omit this step next time. it made the flatbreads super crisp. still good, but not doughy at all.

2. pulled the flatbread out, brushed it with bbq sauce, added cheese, then tomatoes, scallions, and chicken, then a little more bbq sauce and a little more cheese.

3. baked at 350 for about 9 more minutes, or until cheese was melted to our satisfaction.

the picture above is only 2/3rds of a flatbread, and we each ate one.  it was probably equivalent to two slices of pizza.  and it was good!  we'll definitely be making this again, especially since the cooking light recipe was for 8 slices of pizza and 300 calories in one slice.  no, thanks.

enjoy!

the best little treat ever.

lately, i've been working on eating super healthy and exercising a lot.

this blog post is NOT about either of those things.

ok, maybe it's about the first thing a little bit.

last week, my family was on vacation in Rehoboth Beach, de and aj & i were looking for a fro-yo place (we're big fans of self-serve fro-yo.)  instead, we found Annie's Banannies, a little shop that sells frozen bananas turned into ice cream.  

it turns out, when you throw a frozen banana through a juicer, it comes out the consistency of soft serve.  

but 10x healthier.  

because it's literally just a banana.  

annie's gets a little creative with their toppings (we both had the "Bannanie Cream Pie" the first time around), but the downside is that it's ridiculously overpriced.  we're talking $5 for a frozen banana, a little whipped cream, and a few graham cracker crumbles.  

then, aj and his mom were out shopping and they picked up the most kick-butt blender ever.  i mean, it's called the ninja...how much more intimidating can you get as a blender?  and one of the first things we did with the blender?  made our own banannies!

we froze fresh bananas, then threw them in the blender for a few seconds and wha-la!  banana ice cream.  (and sooo much better than annie's, if i do say so myself.)

then, we melted a little bit of peanut butter and drizzled that and a bit of chocolate syrup over the top, threw it back in the freezer for about ten minutes, and then had the best little treat ever.

{pin it}: the food edition!

I've been a terrible blogger these past few months.  

I wish I could promise that I am going to get better.  

But the reality is, I might not anytime soon.  

Sorry.  

But I can promise you this:  a series of "Pins as of Late" posts! 

Because let's be honest...they're easy....and who doesn't love Pinterest?

(If you answer "me!" to that last question, I'm sorry, but we're not friends.)

So here goes...the Food Edition!

Watermelon Sorbet

Chicken with Grilled Peaches & Arugula

Grilled Portobello Mushroom, Goat Cheese, & Roasted Red Pepper Wrap

Baked Maple Cinnamon-Sugar Donuts

Grilled Shrimp with Brown Butter & Rice

Roast Beef Salad with Goat Cheese and Balsamic Vinegarette

Nutella Sandwich Cookies

Yum, right?

Burger Hunt.

So maybe a few weeks ago, boyfriend asked me to tell him something he didn't know about me.  

And that was hard.

But then I thought of a secret...

And maybe that secret had to do with the fact that despite having a lot of vegetarian/vegan friends and pretending to not really like meat all that much...

...I really, really like cheeseburgers.

Which brought us to the quest of summer 2012:

The Hunt for the Perfect Burger.

We're four weeks in already, and admittedly, because of recent travels, the past two weeks haven't exactly been our choice of venues, we've held to the tradition and ordered burgers every Monday.

Oh, and we also rate them on a little scale.  Of course.

Week 1:  Joe's Famous American Kitchen in Lancaster

Joe's by far had the best vibe out of any burger night...and also the highest-scoring.

They've got a rather creative little menu and also a "build your own" option.  Oh, and get the Maui Sweet Onion chips.  Ah-mazing.

Week 2 was in Disney at Hollywood Studios.  The only picture we have is from the aftermath, which is just a lot of empty plates, half-eaten fries, discarded ketchup packets, and napkins.  I decided to spare you.  Anyway...not great, but not bad.  What you'd expect from theme-park food, only Disney style.

Week 3:  Ellen's Stardust Diner in NYC

Pretty good, though a lot of bread.  The fries, however, were yummy.  And the atmosphere at Ellen's is fun.  It's a ton of Broadway-bound waiters and waitresses who sing while they serve you.  Definitely a touristy NYC experience, but hey, you can't look like a local all the time, right?

We're resuming Burger Hunt tonight and keeping it local.  I'll let you know how it goes!

baked oatmeal with fruit

A friend and I made baked oatmeal with fruit last week and it was ah-mazing!

My mom makes a pretty kick-butt baked oatmeal, and this recipe gives it a run for it's money.
The warm blueberries, the slightly-crispy oatmeal and pecan top, the layer of bananas on the bottom.  Yum.
Also, you can tailor the recipe to fit whatever sorts of berries might be in season.
(Though using blueberries sort of makes it seem like you're eating blueberry pie)

Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted, divided
½ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
¼ cup maple syrup
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced ½-inch thick
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen), divided

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.  Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish.  In a medium bowl, combine the rolled oats, half of the nuts, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Stir with a fork to combine.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine the maple syrup, milk, egg, butter, and vanilla.  Spread the sliced bananas in a single layer over the bottom of the baking dish.  Top with half of the berries.  Sprinkle the dry oat mixture over the fruit in an even layer.  Pour the liquid ingredients evenly over the oats.  Sprinkle the remaining nuts and berries over the top.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is browned and the oats have set.  Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

source: Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson via The Curvy Carrot

hello, fall!

On Sunday, I got an overwhelming desire to make Apple Crisp.  Maybe it was the fact that my parents had just left for a week-long cruise and I was home alone and felt like making things feel homey, maybe it was the crisp autumn air that had settled in.  Baked apples aren't my go-to dessert, but there was just something about that day that made me want warm apple crisp with vanilla ice cream melting over it.  So, I got myself some apples and put together a tray (and of course, documented it through photos.  Sort of.)

Weeps.

Last night, three friends and I headed down to South Street in Philly to see the magical muscial makings of the acoustic folk duo, the Weepies.  Their story is heartwarming (both had solo careers & were fans of one another, met at a show, started making music together, now they're married with 2 kids), and their chemistry on the stage was beautiful!  My friend Cas saw them on Thursday night up in Beantown and loved them as well.  Unfortunately, my camera was not allowed to enjoy the concert as well (it spent the evening locked in the box office), and so I have no photos to share with you all!  Lets just say it was a wonderful evening and I highly recommend seeing them if you ever get the chance!  We also ran into Steve on South Street after the show, and he took time to stop and chat with us about the show, their move from Topanga, CA to West Hollywood and how they dislike it there, and where we were from and our plans for the evening.  SO personable, humble, and down to earth.  I loved it!

Also, we had dinner at Max Brenner's on Walnut before the show.  It. Was. Delicious.  I highly recommend it!  I had the veggie burger topped with avocado and tomato and an avocado chipotle mayonnaise, which came with their chili & cocoa powder dusted waffle fries and chili aoli.  They may have been the best fries I've ever consumed.  And don't even get me started on dessert.... 

Apple-y Goodness!

 Fall has finally arrived!  Bromley 3 went apple picking at Russell Orchards today...we had a blast picking and walking and talking, and then coming back to Gordon and baking our little hearts out!  I make P-dubs' Flat Apple Pie.  It was easy as pie (heh, heh) and I highly recommend it!

What have you been up to to celebrate fall?

Abundance.

This week's post on The Sunday Creative is "abundance".  I so badly wanted to make my interpretation deep and talk about an abundance of love, or friendship, or something a bit more lasting than food, but then I remembered these photos, taken at a farm stand towards the end of summer, and my mouth started to water a little bit.  

Yum, right?