Trail Mix Blues

If your house is anything like mine you have received trail mix goodie bags from everyone.. your students, your kids friends, your neighbors, your great aunt that always gives you socks.. and trail mix!

And let's be honest here not many days do I want to a sit around eating handfuls of trail mix.. don't let it go to waste though! I have come up with the perfect prescription to cure your trail mix blues! It's simple and scrumptious!

Here is how to turn your trail mix blues into Trail Mix Bark!

Ingredients 

1 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 cups trail mix 

white bark

chocolate bark

Trail Mix Bark Recipe

1. Over low heat in a small sauce pan melt peanut butter 

 2. Once the peanut butter is smooth stir in honey, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar until well incorporated 

3. Add in trail mix and stir until mixed 

 4. Spread on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and drizzle with white and chocolate bark

5. Place in freezer until hardened; then break into pieces 

Enjoy!
-K

Merry Christmas To All And To All A.. New Monogram!

Ok so I have to share this one last thing with you lovely people tonight.. It could not wait until the morning! Call me an insomniac but I just can not sleep tonight.. while trying to cure my sleeping woes I came across A MUST HAVE MONOGRAM! I know what you are thinking.. what monogram isn't must have?! Trust me when I say.. this is amazing! 

This is my must have entertaining pick for the new year! Jonathan Adler's oh so chic, oh so monogrammed serving tray! It is a must for anyone who loves to entertain! And with warm weather just around the corner who doesn't want to serve their sweet tea on this beauty! He has a few different styles, all equally monogrammed :) below is the link to my fav! 

Monogrammed Serving Tray

Image from jonathanadler.com

Happy Shopping! 

-K

A Merry Puerto Rican Christmas!

This year for Christmas instead of our traditional southern bourbon eggnog we decided to travel to the Caribbean.. through our glasses at least! :) The traditional holiday drink of Puerto Rico is Coquito and let me tell you that it is delish! My amazing friend came into town for Christmas Eve Mass and dinner, she is from Puerto Rico, so we decided to make this since she won't be able to make it home until January. My mom got this recipe from her friend Robin who is also Puerto Rican! Rest assured this recipe is as authentic as they come, so drink up!

Feel free to make your glasses festive for the holidays! :) I just rimmed them with lime then twirled them in sugar sprinkles!

Ingredients
1 can Coco Lopez (cream of coconut)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can coconut milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs cinnamon (ground)
1 Tbs fresh ground nutmeg
2 cups dark rum
1/2 tsp lime zest
juice of half a lime

Recipe
1. Put the Coco Lopez and sweetened condensed milk in blender and mix
2. Add the coconut milk and evaporated milk in blender and mix
3. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend
4. Pour over ice and top with some more fresh ground nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon

Feliz Navidad!
-K

In A Pinch?

So you promised you'd bring a fabulous dessert to the office Christmas party and with all the festivities you have just run out of time! Not to worry! I will let you in on a little family secret that will save you tons of time!

My great grandmother started the Christmas cookie tradition in our family, at least that's as far back as I remember it going. She was a wonderful cook and most certainly the matriarch of this southern family, Martha Washington Carmichael Hawkins, a blue blood by all accounts. When she died my mother took over the Christmas cookie tradition. Why, some of you might ask did the tradition not get handed directly to my grandmother? Well as sweet as my Mama Kate may be is no cook, once she tried her hand at homemade biscuits.. they could have quite honestly killed someone had they been thrown and they most certainly would have broken a tooth. Becoming all the more clear as to why my mother picked up the tradition.

My great grandmother made her famous homemade sugar cookies completely from scratch, no corners would be cut in her kitchen.. and for the first few years my mom followed the same recipe. But as we are all well aware, life gets busy and cutting those corners becomes all the more appealing.

My mom found a sugar cookie mix that turns out almost identical cookies, and cuts down on the prep time.. no more painstaking flour sifting! Ok so sifting flour isn't really all that difficult but it sure makes a mess!

So here is the secret to save you gobs of time and will be the talk of the party for sure! 

I am trying to make all of my Christmas recipes I'll be posting easy! No one wants to spend their whole holiday in the kitchen.. except for maybe me! :)

*** Make sure you follow the cutout cookie dough directions! It is going to be the second one the package! 

What you will need..

1. In a bowl combine package ingredients and 1 tablespoon of ALL PURPOSE flour and mix 

 2. Then add in 1 stick of softened butter  (do not melt butter!) and 1 large egg

3. Kneed with hands until dough forms

I like to chill my dough in the fridge for a little bit before I roll it out... if you try to cut cookies out of tacky dough it will be near impossible! I even mix mine up the night before I plan to bake them.. cuts down on the clean up when you are trying to arrive at that party fashionable late.. but not after its over! 

I spread some flour on the counter (or wax paper) and roll out my dough.. don't have a rolling pin no need to fear the empty wine bottle for last nights dinner will do just fine :) 

Cut your cookies out and place them on a cookie sheet that you have lined with parchment paper! 

While they are baking you can mix up the Royal Icing.. I don't have an exact recipe here you will just have to use your best judgement until you get the right consistency of the icing.. it is super easy though! 

All you need is: Powder sugar, egg white powder, and warm water

I would start with about a 1/2 tablespoon of egg white powder and go from there! The more powdered sugar you add the thicker the icing the more water the thinner.. it is very simply really! 

Bake, Cool, and Decorate! 

Enjoy!
-K

Southern Living Knows Best!

As an avid reader of Southern Living, I will say that each issue has more than a few ideas I love! Their December double issue however might have made its way into my heart forever! It was full of some of the best (and completely simple) ideas for the holidays! I'll share with you one I tried this morning.. it maybe took 20 minutes start to finish!

If you make the same dessert every year, and like me, you are wanting to dress it up a bit you need this recipe in your life! In all honesty, I can't even call it a recipe! I decided that along with the traditional cutout sugar cookies and Oreo balls (both recipes I will be posting later this week) that my mom and I make every year for Christmas, I was going to make a special cupcake (recipe from Southen Living as well). They had the easiest decoration idea and it's glam factor will be talked about for days!

They may not look like much here, rest assured when I finish baking the cupcakes I will show you just how fab these are! 

Making them is as simple as 1, 2, 3! 

1. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, spread out your cookie cutters, and spray a little crisco on each one

2. Melt vanilla candy coating (bark) in a small sauce pan over low heat, this will take about 8 minutes

3. Fill cookie cutters with melted bark.. I had to use a small spoon to spread the bark into all the corners.. and put in freezer for about 5 minutes (or until they have hardened 

4. Clean away and excess from the outside of the cookie cutter and then pop the bark out! 

That's it! I put mine in the fridge after i took them out of the cookie cutter just to ensure they don't get melty with the oven on! 

These would be great on cupcakes, cakes, or even just as garnish for a sweet dip or cheese ball!

Enjoy!

-K

I'm Back!

And better than ever! I let my blogging.. and even my cooking fall to the way side while I was trying to finish up the semester. Did I mention it was my last semester EVER as an undergrad!

War Eagle, Y'all! 

Now I that am through finals and have walked across that stage I am ready to get my southern butt back in the kitchen.. and gym! Throughout this week I will be posting yummy recipes, tips to make your Christmas easier than you ever imagined, and ideas that will wow your holiday guest or host!

To start things off, here is a little Christmas cheer from me to you! You'll thank me for sharing this link once you look at how fab these are! Every southern lady needs a pair of these in her life! Plus, they would make great hostess gift for all those new years parties! Oh, and did I mention.. they are monogrammed!

Love These!


Merry Christmas, Y'all
-K

Key Lime Margarita Cupcakes

I wanted the dessert for the Monograms and Margaritas shower to go along with with theme, but lets skip rimming the cupcake with salt! I tried a few recipes that had alcohol in the icing but it just wasn't turning out like I wanted. After a little trial and error this is the wonderfully scrumptious concoction I decided on, Key Lime Margarita Cupcakes with a Sweet Key Lime Buttercream! 

Here is what you'll need for the cake: White cake mix, lime jello, self-rising flour, sugar, vegetable oil, water, eggs

Here is what you'll need for the buttercream: unsalted butter, powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, sweetened lime juice

This recipe is what I used for a shower and it makes about 48 cupcakes, if you don't need that many then just simply cut the recipe in half.  But if you are making the whole batch then you will need a very large bowl! Combine cake mix, flour, sugar, and jello until well incorporated.  Then blend in, on medium speed, the water and oil until will mixed.  Then add in the eggs ONE AT A TIME, beating on medium until well mixed. 

I always line with cupcake tin with plain white baking cups. Boring? Not when your double cup them! When you bake in the cutesy printed ones they usually don't come out of the oven looking like they did when they went in, this is the perfect way to fix this! It also give depth to your presentation and makes for pretty pictures! :) 

Fill your plain boring white :) baking cups about 2/3 of the way full, that way the cake will stop just around the top of the baking cup and will be flatter and the icing will look better that way. 

Now on to the buttercream! I love buttercream, it is so simple yet so versatile! You can literally take the base recipe, butter and powdered sugar, and add in basically anything and ta dah! 

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add in powder sugar in increments and continue to cream. I normally add in the heavy whipping cream in between my powdered sugar additions. Once the icing is about at the right consistency add in the sweetened lime juice, to taste.  Frost the cooled cupcakes, sprinkle with the decorating sugar (to resemble salt), garnish with sugared fruit slices (I only used the lime, lemon, and orange ones), and slip the finished cupcake into its party dress! :) Enjoy!

                                                    

Happy Baking! 

-K

Ingredients 

2 - 18.5 ouncebox white cake mix (without pudding)

2 - 3 ounce package lime jello

2 Tbsp self-rising flour

8 tsp granulated sugar

1 ½ cups vegetable oil

8 eggs

1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl until well incorporated

Pour in oil and water, beat on medium until well blended

Add in the eggs, one egg at a time, beat on medium until will blended after each egg.

Bake for about 20 minutes. 

Sweetened  Key Lime Buttercream

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 16 oz packages powdered sugar

Heavy whipping cream

Rose’s sweetened lime juice (to taste)

Sugared fruit slices (for garnish) 
Decorating Sugar (for garnish)

Cream butter until light and fluffy

Add in powder sugar and continue to beat on slow

Start adding in the cream and sweetened lime juice

The liquid ingredients are something you will just have to judge. The cream will help you get the right consistency and the lime juice is for flavor, so use your best judgment here.

Monograms and Margaritas Bridal Shower

This summer my best friend, since 2nd grade, got married! I was an absolutely beautiful wedding! I threw her a Monograms and Margaritas Bridal Shower, complete with lots of monograms, lots of margaritas, and some pretty delish food!

I found these adorable invites at  Polka Dot Design! They came very quickly! And here is a money saving tip.. a lot of online stores that sell invitations also offer printing, but it is usually pretty pricey. I ordered these invites blank and had them printed at a local print shop, only cost me .15 cents an invite! 

The Menu

Chilled Cucumber Avocado Soup Shooters

Kiwi Mango Salsa

Mini Taco Bits

Key Lime Margarita Cupcakes

Watermelon Margaritas 

I'll be putting a link to the recipes up soon! There really is something to be said for making all the food your serve! It gives you more pride in the table spread and I think it's more personal and thoughtful! However, I was so busy getting everything ready for the shower I forgot to take pictures of the food! So as soon as I locate some the recipes will be posted!  

Happy Party Planning! 

-K 

Cinnamon Vanilla Pancakes

Need a quick breakfast to whip up for that special someone? Here it is! I don't know about y'all but we eat pancakes a lot and while plain buttermilk pancakes have their rightful place in the breakfast table, sometimes you just have to mix it up a little and try something different. These are super easy to make and if you bake even a little I'm sure you have all of the ingredients in your fridge already. 

Here is what you will need: Flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, egg, milk, and vanilla.  

Whisk together all dry ingredients, in one bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk and vanilla. 

Make a depression in the middle of the dry mixture. Then pour liquid mixture into the center of the depression. 

Mix just until blended. Prepare your skillet by heating up some butter. You will want to cook your pancakes on medium/high heat. 

*HINT* When you start seeing little bubble all on the top of the pancake it is ready to be flipped.

Enjoy! 

-K

Cinnamon Vanilla Pancakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 cups milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Makes 14 pancakes

Sweet German Chocolate Sauce

This is a super easy and quick way to add a little something extra to just about anything you can put chocolate sauce on!

Ingredients

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

4 oz of German sweet chocolate

Break up the chocolate and set aside

Bring the corn syrup and cream to boil over low heat; stirring constantly

Remove from heat and add in the chocolate; stir until melted 

Told you it was simple :) Enjoy!

-K

Sauteed Summer Veggies

Need a healthy way to use up the last of your summer veggies?! A fresh light dinner is just what the end of summer ordered! :) Summer squash and zucchini are two of my summer diet staples! Not to mention they are so yum and super easy to cook! 

Yep! That is about all you need to get started.. plus a few staples from your cabinets!

Make sure that you wash your veggies very well, since you will be leaving the peel on. Also cut off all the ends and throw them away. 

Chop the veggies into rounds and place them in the skillet. If you have a large one with a lid that would work best! 

Next chop your onion. I like to chop mine into medium size pieces. Then add them into the pan as well. 

Next add the water and the olive oil. 

As with most of my dishes.. season with mortons! Make sure to not over season.. you can always add more but you can't always take it away!

And that's it! It isn't the prettiest dish but it is so yummy and perfect for a light summer dinner! If you like a little more protein or have that better half that would never just eat veggies for a meal pair this with the Lemon and Rosemary Roasted Chicken  and then make the leftovers into a yummy summer chicken salad! 

Enjoy!

Sautéed Summer Veggies

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup water

Mortons to taste

3 squash

1 zucchini

1/4 cup chopped onion

Chop squash and zucchini into rounds

Dice onion

Place veggies, onion, olive oil, and water in large skillet (with lid)

Season with motons

Cook on medium-high heat for 20 minutes

Stirring occasionally

-K

The Perfect Way to Spend Labor Day

This weekend all my favorite people and I went to the beach to celebrate for Labor Day! One of our favorite places to eat, drink, and be merry is Tacky Jack's! It has such a fun atmosphere, great food and amazing drinks! It is seriously the best beach place! We were so excited to learn that a new location had just opened up in Panama City! We headed there on Saturday for food and football!

Tacky Jack's Famous Bushwackers are definitely something everyone should experience!
But for those of you no where near south Alabama or the panhandle of Florida then you will just have to make your own!

Here is a recipe I found at PTIT Chef. 

1 Part Malibu Rum
1 Part Bacardi Rum
1 Part Kahlua
1 Part Creme de Cacao
1 Part Coco Lopez
1 Part Bailey's Irish Cream

Put all ingredients in blender, add ice and blend. I find that
putting the Kahlua in after all the others have been blended and then
mix in the Kahlua seems to keep it from frothing up. Serve in a tall
glass with a straw. Top with whipped cream if desired, but not
necessary.

Recipe by: Jeremy T. DeDear

Hope y'all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! 

Enjoy

-K

Coco Loco Muffins

Whether you are a coconut enthusiast or just like shredded sweetened form that comes on your favorite coconut cake these muffins are sure to please!

The idea for this recipe all started after I found organic dried shredded coconut, which I had been trying to find forever! Finally, one glorious afternoon at Earth Fare there it was just waiting for me to take it home!

Odd as it sounds, I dreamed up this recipe.. no really I had a dream about coco loco muffins. When I woke up I decided it had to be done! What a great decision that was! These are seriously good!

I know some people have a thing against coconut, more often then not I hear it is the texture. But don’t rule this recipe out until you have tried it! If you can find organic unsweetened shredded coconut I am willing to bet you will change your mind! The texture is different and the pieces are smaller then the sweetened varieties that you find on the baking aisle of the local supermarket. And you could always dump it in a food processor and make it even smaller. 

Once you have gathered all of your ingredients for the muffin batter you are ready to start! I would suggest melting your butter first. The butter will need to cool before you can add it in to the liquid mix, and anyone that has ever melted butter can tell you that it takes a while to cool! 

The next thing you want to do is sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Unless you bake a lot you probably don't have a sifter handy.. no need to fear! Using a whisk will work just fine! Make sure that you whisk it very well!

Now add in the sugar! :) And mix well. I use real cane sugar in all of my baking, but if you want to splenda can be substituted. 

Now that all of your dry ingredients are well mixed add in the chopped pineapple. You might want to use a spatula to mix in the pineapple.. I used a whisk. I'll admit not one of my brightest ideas! 

In a new clean bowl break your eggs. You always want to break eggs in a separate bowl just incase any shell falls in and most importantly that one bad egg doesn't ruin your whole mixture! No matter how much you bake or how long you have been doing it you can always run across a bad egg. :)

Whisk your eggs well. 

In the bowl with the eggs add in the coconut milk, vanilla extract, pineapple juice, coconut extract, and

melted butter. It is very important that your butter is cooled! If the butter is hot it will cook the eggs.. which is bad! Also, if you like a lighter coconut flavor you can leave out the extract and you will still have very fluffy light muffins with just a hint of coconut flavor!

Whisk all the liquid ingredients well. 

Make a depression in the middle of the dry ingredients. This will make mixing the dry and liquid ingredients easier and will save you from over mixing! 

Add in liquid ingredients into the depression. 

Before you start to incorporate the dry and liquid ingredients together add in the shredded coconut. 

Now that all of your ingredients are in the same bowl fold the ingredients together. 

Once you have mixed your batter it is time to add them to the muffin tin! 

If you want your muffin to have a crust then do not line the muffin tin with baking cups but remember to grease them. I personally like the outside to be soft, so I always line mine with baking cups! Plus they are pretty! :)

Bake on 400 for about 20 minutes. Take out of oven and let cool. 

While your muffins are baking you can make the Mango Coconut glaze! 

The hardest part about the whole muffin/glaze process is the mango! Sure chopping it is easy.. pureeing it is not so easy. If you have a magic bullet use it!! It will work much better then a huge food processor.. plus the clean up is way easier! 

Puree mango until very smooth.. this can take longer then you think it should. Mango can get stringy.. it is a tough fruit to work with! I am still trying to prefect my mango buttercream! Don't worry you will be the first to know when I do!

Once you think that the mango is almost done being pureed add the coconut milk into the food processor and continue to blend.

Add in the water and whisk well. Then add in 1/4 cup powdered sugar and whisk until well blended. Add in another 1/4 cup powdered sugar and whisk well.

As you should with all food.. even if it is just for you.. make it look pretty! Drizzle the glaze and garnish with just a little lime zest! 

Finally, Enjoy! :) 

-K

Coco Loco Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups All purpose flour

1 tbsp Baking powder

Pinch salt

Heaping 1/2-cup sugar

1/2 cup Pineapple (finely chopped)

2 Eggs

1 cup Coconut milk

1 tsp Vanilla extract

3 tbsp Pineapple juice

½ tsp Coconut extract

6 tbsp Unsalted Butter (melted and cooled)

1/2 cup Dry unsweetened coconut*

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Place flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; whisk well

3. Add in sugar; whisk

4. Add in finely chopped pineapple and mix well

5. In separate bowl crack eggs; whisk

6. In the same bowl add coconut milk, vanilla extract, pineapple juice, coconut extract, and

 melted butter (cooled) ; whisk well

7. Make a depression in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in liquid ingredients

8. Add in dried coconut

9. Stir until well blended.. Be careful not to over stir!

10. Line muffin pan with baking cups; fill cups about 2/3 full with batter

11. Bake for 20 minutes            

Mango Coconut Glaze

Ingredients:

1 mango (peeled and chopped)

¼ cup water

¼ cup coconut milk

½ cup Powdered sugar

Lime Zest (for garnish)

Steps:

1. Puree mango

2. Add in coconut milk and continue to puree until the mixture is smooth 

3. Place mango into a medium sized bowl

4. Add ¼ cup water; whisk

5. Whisk in powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time

6. Drizzle glaze over muffins and garnish with lime zest