French Maracons

I've had the pleasure of working with Chocoley, an online provider of gourmet chocolate ingredients and candy making supplies to help with all my baking necessities for Addy's 2nd birthday. Usually I lean towards festive decorations and fun gift bags when planning parties for my family but this year I decided to dedicate more time to baking and since one of my goals for my 30 Before 30 was to successfully bake french macarons I thought now would be the perfect opportunity to test out my not-so-natural baking skills.

Chocoley so graciously provided the key ingredients to make my tasty little morsels a success. And because I'm a firm believer in trying true and tasted recipes you can follow this tutorial for foolproof french maracons. I also believe that one of the key factors in creating good food is good ingredients. For my macarons I went with a creme de' menthe chocolate ganache and a light lemon cream cheese frosting. The two flavors though drastically different were perfect compliments for one another. 

Cool Creme De'Menthe Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

12 ounces Bada Bing Bada Boom Candy & Molding Formula in Extra Dark

1/2 Cool Creme DeMenthe Flavoring

Bring the heavy whipping to a light boil (Edges should be bubbling). Pour over chocolate. Add in cool de'menthe flavoring then stir with a clean spoon until all the chocolate disks have melted. Allow adequate time to cool, then use a piping bag to place ganache on the french macaron cookies.  

Light Lemon and Cream Cheese Frosting

1 brick cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup softened butter

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 TSP sour cream or 1 TSP heavy whipping cream

1/2 tsp Lemon Flavoring Oil

100 drops yellow food coloring OR 1 tsp yellow food coloring

Mix ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use. Use piping bag to place frosting on the french maracon cookies. 

For party favors I used white ballotin candy boxes and filled each with french macarons to complete the perfect party for perfect little girl. 

Enjoy.

And because some may ask I got my silicone fiberglass mat here. It helps beginners (like me) make evenly shaped cookies. 

Whole 30 (and a recipe)

Last week I started doing Whole30 in a effort to try to get my body back in sync with itself. The program intentionally steers away from calling itself a diet because it's more focused around still eating food (and lots of it) but making a conscious effort to cut out grains, dairy, sugar, and processed foods with the hope of a giving a body a needed break from all the junk that seems to be put into it. 

The first day was hard, my body had become so dependent on sugar that by noon I was suffering from a migraine and shaking hands. Torturing myself didn't seem like enough so I decided to clean out our pantry on day one and it was then that I realized that I had been filling my body with between 200-500 calories of wasted junk a day. A chip here, a cookie there, a few reese's, a sip of coke, a bowl of popcorn--each portion was so small that I didn't think it was really hurting me until I looked at the overall picture and realized my careless eating habits were slowly contributing to a number of health problems. On Day 2 my body seemed to slowly be acclimating to the clean change but I was still so weak, I found that by keeping my body nourished all day long and never letting myself get hungry I was at less of risk of binge eating. 

My journey started with reading "It Starts with Food," this book was such an eye opener to the effects that food have on our bodies. Food can either be the best medicine for us or the drug that ultimately kills us. For weeks I had been procrastinating on starting because excuse after excuse would build up--I have a conference, there are holidays, I'll start on Monday, I'll wait until the Summer....they just kept creeping into my mind. But one quote from the book finally pushed me to the point of starting, "It is not hard. Don't you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard...." It just seemed like there was so many other things in this world that are hard that finding a way to limit the junk intake to my body for 30 days should just be...well, easy.

And the results after just 7 days have been so rewarding. I mean it's really hard to even put it in words. I have a 19-year-old flat stomach again, less bloating, no bags under my eyes, I go to sleep more quickly, I wake up refreshed--it really was the exact medicine I needed. Did I mention the weight loss? It really has been such an eye opener to how my food choices have been negatively impacting my body. 

If you're interested in learning more about Whole30 start here and here. I also have a Pinterest Board with lots of great recipes and tips and tricks if you need more insight. And what would a post be if there was an added bonus, made these bad boys last night and they were delish!

Whole30 Beef (or elk) Fajitas

1-2 Flank Steaks  (we used elk steak)

1 Roma Tomato

1 head of Romaine or Butter Lettuce

2 Ripe Avocados

Red Pepper

White Onion

4 Garlic Cloves

2 Limes

1 Lemon

Cumin

Organic Fajita Seasoning

Onion Powder

Salt and Pepper

Garnish: grape tomatoes and olives

Steak Marinade Recipe:

1 TSP Olive Oil

2 TSP Lime Juice

1 TSP Lemon Juice

1/4 tsp Cumin

1/4 tsp Salt and Pepper

1/2 organic Fajita Seasoning

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 crushed or minced garlic cloves

Guacamole Recipe:

2 Ripe Avocados

1 small Roma Tomatoe

1/4 C diced White Onion

1 TSP Lime Juice

1 tsp Cumin

1 minced garlic clove

Dash of Salt and Pepper

Sauteed Vegetables Recipe:

1 Sliced Red Pepper

1 Sliced White Onion

1 minced Garlic Clove

1 TSP Organic Fajita Seasoning

1/4 tsp Cumin

Olive Oil

Mix marinade ingredients together and pour of steaks. Allow them to marinade at room temperature for 30 minutes. While they steaks marinade mix all guacamole ingredients together and place in refrigerator for cooling. Begin cooking steaks on BBQ, depending on the size of the steak cook for roughly 5 minutes on both sides. While steaks are on the BBQ begin to saute the vegetables and ingredients, cook until the onions are a nice translucent color. Pull steak from the BBQ and thinly slice, mix in with the sauteed vegetables. Serve over lettuce and top with guacamole and tomatoes. 

Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato and Jalapeno Soup

I didn't make it very far in the Post a Day in May series. Go figure. In my defense it's been warm here, so warm in fact that we've spent our days playing in the dirt and running in the park, while our nights have involved scrubbing off the fun. And when warm days seem few and far between we have to enjoy them while we have them. Here, here, for summertime, friends!

On that same note it, snowed last week (our weather is so fickle, I can't make this stuff up). So I whipped up this spicy dish using my leftover jalapenos. It's a tasty one, I promise!

Creamy Tomato and Jalapeno Soup

5 pureed jalapenos (remove seeds)

1 pureed medium yellow onion

5 purred garlic gloves

1 can petite diced tomatoes 

1 TBS olive oil

1 8 oz. can chicken broth

2 cups half and half

2 tsp cumin

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

dash of crushed red peppers

1 TBS lime zest

Tortilla chips

cheese

Puree jalapenos, onion, and garlic clothes. Place pureed mixture in soup pot with olive oil. Slowly saute until  smell is flavorful. Mix in diced tomatoes, chicken both, cumin, cilantro, and red peppers simmer for half-an-hour. Mix in half-and-half and lime zest, simmer for an additional ten minutes. 

Garnish with tortilla chips and cheese.

Enjoy!

Minted Lime Cream Soda

I love myself a good party throwing shindig. However, since I don't drink I've had to become creative in my non-alcoholic beverage selection. For the longest time I went with the typical 7-UP//pineapple juice//fruit juice concoction, which often seemed juvenile. I've tried to avoid sparkling cider because it's laughable at best--it's one of those drinks that should only be presented during Auld Lang Syne (in my humble opinion).

So I usually settle with one of my all-time favorites that still seems to resonate a sophisticated flare--the minted lime cream soda. Light and refreshing with the slightest hint of lime and mint which makes this drink a crowd pleasing favorite. No recipe is really required. Just a few mint leaves and some fresh-squeezed lime juice, topped off with a fancy straw will make even the hard liquor fanatics beg for more. Enjoy!

Can you tell I am itching for Spring weather?!

His//Her Smoothies

The unexpected surprise of moving to a small, hole-in-the-wall, town is that we don't each fast food anymore. Sometimes I miss the luxury of a quick meal on-the-go, but having lost an additional eighteen pounds on top of my pre-pregnancy weight seems to make it okay and on this 5'1'' petite frame that's a lot! We've also changed our eating habits too--no more potatoes, lots of cottage cheese, less pre-packaged junk, smoked chicken at snack time, quinoa at dinner and these nifty little smoothies every morning. Surprisingly, John hasn't minded the addition of smoothies to our lives, except for the color. He can't bring himself to drink a green one. So I've improvised--to make his smoothie more eye-appealing I usually throw in a handful of raspberries to brighten it up, and it works like a charm!

The recipe for our green (red) smoothies is easy:

//handful of spinach

//half a banana

//five or six strawberries

//one mango (chopped)

//handful of frozen raspberries and blueberries (for John's smoothies)

//half a cup of orange juice

//crushed ice (optional)

//My SIL also adds agave and yogurt.

//blend well (I use my magic bullet or my blender). serve chilled.

Enjoy!

Also, check here to see if you won the VinylKrazy $50 Gift Certificate Giveaway! 

Peach Pulled Pork

The inevitable finally happened--my computer finally died. I tried to wrote a post on my iPad and it was TORTURE! Complete and utter torture, I tell you!  Please tell me there is an easy way to do it, because so far all I have been doing is pulling out my hair--and let me just say I don't have a lot of hair to spare these days with my raging postpartum hormones. In the meantime here is a recipe I have been meaning to post ten days. Enjoy!

Peach Pulled Pork

7lb. pork shoulder

1 peach

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups apple juice

dry rub:

1/2 cup paprika

1/4 cup onion powder

1/4 cup lemon pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbs black pepper

1 Tbs garlic powder

1/2 Tbs chili powder

1/2 Tbs kosher salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp curry powder

yields 8 servings

Directions:

Mix dry rub ingredients together and generously slather over entire surface of pork shoulder. If there is extra rub it can be put in an air tight container and saved for future use.

Wrap pork in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

While the shoulder refrigerates warm smoker to 225 degrees.

Once the smoker has reached desired temperature upwrap pork and smoke for three hours.

After three hours remove pork shoulder and put in tin pan with apple juice. Cover shoulder in brown sugar and top with sliced peaches.

Cover with tin foil and cook for an additional 9 hours.

 Once finished, remove tin foil and peaches and allow shoulder to cool for 20 minutes.

Use two forks to shred shoulder.

Serve with toasted buns and your favorite barbecue sauce.

 If you don't have a smoker the pork shoulder can also be cooked in the oven as well. Here is a great recipe from The Pioneer Woman that I use regularly.

Shrimp Scallop Curry

The elixir of life, the way to a man's heart, manna from heaven--no matter what you call it, food is a part of all of us. It defines us culturally, brings back childhood memories, and is sometimes the best escape from a down right hard day. With a busy home, and an even more chaotic schedule I am constantly on the hunt for easy recipes. Not necessarily the pre-packaged and processed kind. But ones where the ingredients are real and fresh.  This recipe is the latter. I promise it won't disappoint!

Ingredients

1 tbs butter

2 tbs minced ginger

4 garlic cloves, crushed and minced

1 tbs curry powder/red curry

1 ½ lbs uncooked shrimp, deveined and peeled

1 lb sea scallops

6 green onions, roughly chopped

1 cup cream

1 tsp lemon zest

1 ½ c. of white rice, cooked

½ cup chopped cilantro

Directions

Warm butter in large skillet over high heat. Add ginger, garlic and curry powder, sauteing until fragrant (2 min). Add shrimp, scallops and green onion. Saute seafood, flipping scallops before proceeding to the next step (4 min). Add cream and lemon peel, simmering until shrimp and scallops are opaque in the center and the sauce has reduced (5 min). Season with salt and pepper. Mound rice in a bowl, top with curry and cilantro.

Enjoy.

Opinions in this post are my own, however compensation has been given for the writing of this post. 

Scotcharoos

• 
  
• 1 cup corn syrup or dark agave syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter
• 6 1/2 cups rice cereal
• 1 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• *Batch can also be doubled.

Directions:

Butter a 9x13 bake dish. In a large pot melt butter and corn syrup/agave over medium heat. Once melted mix in peanut butter and sugar. Slowly melt over medium high heat. Remove from heat and mix in rice cereal. Pour mixture into buttered bake dish. Press down firmly. Microwave chocolate chips and butterscotch chips for two minutes. No more. Mix well then pour over rice cereal. Set aside to cool. Refrigerate if necessary.

Enjoy!

Stick a Pin in it: Sweet Pulled Pork Knock-Off

This morning I stumbled out of bed wanting to throw together a post I  finished last night and it wouldn't let me add additional photos--I begged and pleaded, but to no avail.

So between my blogger debacle and Punk smashing blueberries in the carpet I felt that I needed to calm my nerves with a Dr. Pepper.

Thanks, Doc you always know how to make a girl feel better.

;)

Have you ever eaten at a Cafe Rio?

It's a fun little Mexican/Southwestern eatery that boasts itself on mouth watering flavors and a dish to satisfy almost palette.  

We Montana (aka Bozeman) folks don't believe in being up-to-date on the latest and greatest in the culinary cuisine so I usually have to wait until I go to Great Falls or to Utah to devour a Cafe Rio dish.

So when we do have a craving for something "exotic" it requires the use of knock-off cooking.

My cousin found a great recipe for Cafe Rio's famous cilantro ranch dressing and after searching I was also able to find a fun recipe for their sweet pulled pork.

The menu of choice last night was the Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad with some fun substitutions.

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I found a great recipe on Pinterest from a cute blog called Favorite Family Recipes.

They broke down the meal into easy steps with directions on how to make sweet pulled pork, cilantro lime rice, and cilantro ranch dressing.

Delish my friends, delish.

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The recipe was initially for a pulled pork salad but we decided to put our meal in homemade hard taco shells.

Super easy and quick, and totally worth it.

Thanks for stopping by, and if you happen to cook a great knock-off meal I would love to hear about it!

Also, for those of you that are new to Spunky Junky feel free to link up tutorials, recipes, and ideas that you have found using inspiration from Pinterest!

I love when we can all have new "pinspirations!"

Link rules:

*Link to a specific post

*Make sure the post is about an idea gained from Pinterest!

A Sweet Treat

I've had a hard time in years past figuring out what to give as neighbor gifts.

This year I found a cute idea at a Holiday Show and I decided to replicate it over and over and over again.

You will need: spoons, Wiltons melting chocolates, and marshmallows.

Dip each spoon in the melted chocolate, pop a marshallow on top then let it dry.

Once dry, dip the entire spoon in chocolate, cover in sprinkles, and wrap in celaphane bags. 

We delivered each goodie bag with a Christmas card, but if I would have been more on top of things this year I would have delivered them with hot cocoa packets and mugs.  

Your neighbors. friends. co-workers. teachers. kids. husbands (and you) will love them.

promise.

Chocolate Pudding Pie

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When I was 21 I cooked my first full-blown Thanksgiving dinner. all. by. myself.

I've never had a fear of cooking, it has always been relatively easy-follow the directions, measure the ingredients correctly, and cook at the proper temperature.

Cooking is easy. Baking, no so much.

Even when I follow the directions step-by-step I still manage to ruin cupcakes from the box and Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies from the sleeve.

So even though I managed to cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner by myself, for the sake of all of those eating my food I steered away from making a pumpkin and apple pie.

But every Thanksgiving dinner has to have pie, right?

So over the next few days I will be showcasing my favorite no-bake pie recipes.

Chocolate Pudding Pie

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1-5 oz. package chocolate pudding

2 cups cold milk

1-large graham cracker crust

1-8 oz tub of whipped topping

1/4 cup Wilton's melting chocolates

Mix cold milk and pudding.

Once whipped, mix half the tub of whipped topping into the pudding/milk mixture.

Pour filling into graham cracker crust.

Top with remaining whipped topping.

Melt chocolates in microwave. Poor melted chocolates onto the backside of a cookie sheet, allow chocolates to harden.

Once the chocolate has hardened use a metal spatula to scrape the chocolate off the cookie sheet.

The chocolate with begin to "curl."

Once you have a handful of curled chocolates place them on top of the pie.

Freeze for 5-6 hours. Allow to unthaw for 15 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Sorry I don't have my own picture....I always make my pies the morning of Thanksgiving and I thought you would want the recipes before the big day--pictures of my lovelies will follow after the event.

The No-Kissin' Tom and Cuc Salad

Howdy Ho!

Lately, my blogging has been less then stellar. Maybe it is the great weather that has kept me from my computer (I wish this was my excuse).

 But I feel that a large portion of my blogging time has been spent in my studio where I live 24-7. I have been so busy making orders, re-adjusting designs, and filling bulk purchases that I have been neglecting my tutorials and blogging.

I promise with Farmer's Market Season near its' end I will be back in the full swing again. There are some awesome giveaways lined up and some a-mazing tutorials I am dying to show you!

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Yesterday, I was again plowing away on the sewing machine when I realized that the day was so beautiful that it should be a crime to keep Punk locked inside.

So we loaded ourselves in the pick up and headed out to my in-laws farm for a breathe of fresh air.

 My in-laws have mastered the art of having "a green thumb."

They have a green house that is chuck full of grapes, egg plants, cucumbers, tomatoes, flowers, peppers, and strawberries. I love just going in their because the moment you open the door your senses are overhwhelmed with the fresh aroma of produce.

 

Outside, they also have a garden with more of the "fall variety" produce such as pumpkins, squash, corn, and onions.

Their little oasis also consists of a wonderful orchard where we spend the fall season picking plums and apples.

It's basically like a free babysitter when I go out there because Punk has a place to run and play freely while I graze through the vines and plants.

 While we were out yesterday I came to the realization that we need to spend more time learning the names of animals...

Punk kept trying to pick up the cat and eventually the cat rolled on it's back trying to escape his grasp. At that point he figured, "Heck, why don't I just lay on you then?" The cat didn't find it nearly as amusing.

As the cat took off Punk kept yelling, "Puppy! Puppy!" I kept saying, "Babe it's a kitt-ee. Can you say kitt-ee." But, he kept yelling "Puppy" and until he found the horses and then would turn around with a big grin and say "Moo Moo."

Apparently we have an issue with the proper terms for animals.

While Punk kept chasing the "puppies" I made my way to the garden where I found a plethora of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. Usually I settle for making a salad or stew, but yesterday I wanted something a little more refreshing that incorporated all of these ingredients.

I settled on making a salad.

While I have had many versions of this salad I finally put together a recipe that I love.

Here's what you'll need:

1/2 onion

2 large tomatoes

1 cucumber

2 TBS olive oil

splash of lemon juice

large drizzle of Red Wine Vinegar (not in picture)

salt and pepper

I'm not good with measurements, it you couldn't tell....

 First, begin by chopping up the onion, tomatoes, and cucumber.

 Once the ingredients have been chopped, put them in a serving bowl and pour the olive oil on top.

 Then take your red wine vinegar and lightly drizzle it over the entire salad. You can add more later if you feel like it needs some extra zing!

 Then splash a small amount of lemon juice on the salad.

Once finished add salt and pepper to taste and mix the salad together.

Chill for 1 hour then serve with your favorite dish.

You might want to keep tic-tacs close by because this salad will give you some oniony breathe--probably not the best choice for first dates ;)

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