Vibrant Vanilla

My Uncle Andrew was recently visiting us from Norman, Oklahoma. He is a purist and is super passionate about everything he does, so as a gift, he gave me some fresh vanilla beans . He purchased these long, sleek, brown, beans from a local spice store. They came in pretty glass bottles with brown labels. One bottle was from Madagascar and the other was from Mexico. We decided to bake some of our favorite cookies, and instead of using the regular, bottled vanilla extract, we used the vanilla from inside the beans. We carefully sliced opened the long bean and there were multiple, black spots (seeds) inside, waiting to be scraped out. We had to look up the correct equivalent amount to use since our recipe called for vanilla extract. We found different information, but the one we decided to go with, said to use a half a vanilla bean for every teaspoon of vanilla extract. We made the cookies and they turned out wonderful. You could really smell and taste the delicious vanilla. If you do use fresh vanilla, be sure not to throw the skins out because they are very useful! You can use them to flavor your coffee or french toast. I highly encourage you to stop by your local spice store and try some fresh vanilla bean!

Grandpa Bakes Muffins

When my Grandpa Perry was visiting from Florida, I decided there was one thing I had to do with him, and that was BAKE!!! We decided to bake muffins. So, we made Sunny Morning Muffins. They are packed with fruit and are really yummy. Below is the recipe! Hope you enjoy.

Sunny Morning Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup strawberries, chopped
• 1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1/2 pint blueberries
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

Special equipment: muffin tin and muffin liners

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, mix together strawberries and 2 tablespoons sugar. Let sit 15 minutes until strawberries give off juices.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, 1 cup sugar, strawberries, and lemon zest.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in blueberries and walnuts.

Scoop batter evenly into muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out with a few crumbs but not wet, about 30 minutes. Cool on a rack to room temperature.

Credit: Chef: Sunny Anderson, Website: www.foodnetwork.com

Cookie Swap...Yay!

Great news! The cookie swap was a total success!! It was so much fun. We had toffee, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and brown sugar walnut rugelach. There was a good variety of cookies and recipes to be had by all. We played bingo, hide-and-seek, and had a funky dance contest. We dined on tea sandwiches and ate lots of cookies! I highly suggest you have a party like this. The idea is simple and you can have lots of fun coming up with the details.

Snaps from My Favorite Food Shops in NYC

New York City!

On Friday, I am going on a plane to New York City! I am very excited to go even though I have been there before. I love the food in the city because of its many flavors, varieties and colors. I can't wait! I will keep posting about where I have eaten and will post pictures of the food I am eating.

Popping Popping Everywhere!

So, the other day, my dad went to a movie-themed party and he got me the coolest cookbook ever. The big question is, "what is it." Have you ever heard of a book which specializes in popcorn?! This book, Popcorn by Patrick Evans-Hylton has everything popcorn. Did you know that in ancient times, popcorn was popped by placing corn kernels in a bowl with sand, and then putting that over a fire and heating it up? This book is filled with compelling facts and recipes which, if I say so myself, look astonishing. On the other hand, pomegranate popcorn is not that appetizing to me. There are 60 recipes that will satisfy everybody! I think that popcorn is an amazing food and can be transformed into a winter food, a summer food, or an everyday food. Certainly, I never heard of putting lavender in popcorn (although that could be good!). I really advise you to check out this book!

Cookie Swap

This year, I decided that I wanted to have a cookie swap. I have never done it before, but I am going to go at it and observe the results. I think that it is going to be really fun because, I am going to have some girlfriends over and they are each going to bring a batch of cookies. I will probably have each guest bring a different cookie because we don't want a lot of repeats. I guarantee you at least half of the guests will offer to bring chocolate chip cookies. Oh well! They are going to come over and we will have a tea sort of lunch. You know, the typical cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches. Not that typical here, but in England that is really popular. After this of course the main idea comes along which is swapping! I will provide containers for everybody and they can pick and choose whatever is to their liking. There will still be time left, so we will play a lot of games and just have girl fun. I really love this idea and I think that if you are bored, then you should plan a cookie swap. These are my guidelines, but feel free to mess around with them for your party!

Guidelines-
1) All cookies are homemade.
2) No cookie mixes, no-bakes, or bars. (Brownies are acceptable)
3) Please bring approximately 2 dozen cookies.
4) Email a copy of your recipe to me.
5) RSVP to me as soon as you can along with what type of cookie you are bringing. (We don't want to have a lot of repeats, or any!)

I want to make a recipe book for everybody so that is why I asked everyone to email me their recipe! Hope this turns out good. Wish me luck! I will post again to keep you updated.