Sunflowers & Kitties

I just love them :)

Sorry I'm Not Sorry

I've been in Key West! Here are a hodgepodge of random photos I took... enjoy. (I will update most likely next week since I'm moving Ben up here this week and will be super busy).

Just some Mallory Square performers

A six toed Hemingway kitteh

A typical Key West doll house looking home

I could look at this sunset every day for the rest of my life

Need a dollar? Go to Willie T's

Simonton Court Bed & Breakfast

Blue Moon

A Key West landmark

A chat at Mallory Square

Obligatory flower shot

Taken in the courtyard of the largest private residence on Key West

Key Lime Pie on a stick covered in chocolate

So that's what it looks like in the light!

Sunset sailing plus wine tasting

Another Hemingway cat

Sailing

The friendliest little pug ever

Only in the keys

One of my favorite shots of the trip

Or maybe this one....

Beautiful scenery

The porch of our cottage

<3

Beautiful girl

Rockin' my new $10 shades

I couldn't take enough pics of this sunset

My camera has some great settings that really brought out the colors of the sunset.

One of our cottages in Simonton Court

All you need to know

We rode bikes all over the island

Walking along Duval St.

These guys are everywhere!

Slide show of my scenery shots (no people)

Oatmeal Cherry Dark Chocolate Cookies

I know you were waiting to hear about the cookie recipe I posted yesterday, so I will hold out no longer! Potluck #2 of the week was a delayed family Christmas gathering. I look forward to this day sooo much because life really gets in the way and you don't realize how little time you really get to spend with the ones you love, and I love these "ones" a lot! I'm very close with my cousins and now that they each have families of their own it's so neat to see our family dynamic changing. The babies are the life of the party and I wouldn't want it any other way! But I digress from the food discussion you are so anxiously awaiting... are you surprised?!

Look at those two buggers!!!

Because there are quite a few vegetarians on this side of my family I knew that I wanted to go with a salad (Garbanzo & Avocado anyone?) or dessert... however, my cousin, Stef, is an awesome baker so I knew there would be some stiff competition in the dessert department. But, thanks to my dieting friends I had no choice but to go with the cookies.

I mean, just look at that beautiful piece of edible art!

BUT... before I take credit for these delicious cookies, I must share the backstory. Because of my back injury (which I mentioned yesterday) I was prescribed strong painkillers. However, the shoddy urgent care doctor gave me too high a dose which I figured out the hard way the day Ben and I were planning on baking the cookies. I was so sick that I had to go to bed. So my wonderful, amazing boyfriend made each and every one of these 60+ cookies (you DO NOT need to double this recipe like we did... we had NO idea how many cookies this recipe would produce). Ben even woke me up to try the dough! :::swoon::: He was also the one who suggested replacing the white chocolate from the original recipe with the dark. Yeah, he's a keeper.

So enough bragging about my baker boyfriend and on to the recipe!

Oatmeal Cherry Dark Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from Joy the Baker (LOVE her recipes and her photography is brillz)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350°F.

In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and cherries; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Paula Deen would be proud.

Hmmm... this bowl is looking a little too small for this task.

Ahhh... much better.

In go the dried cherries.

If I had bought 2 bags of chips I'm sure Ben would've added even more chocolate (not that I'm complaining in any way)!

Mix mix mix

This dough tasted AMAZING! Totally worth salmonella poisoning.

Beautiful goodness.

It was like never ending cookie dough... NOM!

These were a big hit at the party... everyone went home with a goodie bag and I emailed the recipe around the next day! I also received a kick ass gift from my secret santa. TONS of baking equipment and a really amazing cupcake book. I have some goals to achieve this year and they mostly involve food and photography! Can't wait to start baking! :D

Garbanzo & Avocado Salad

New Year's Eve was a low key night for my group of friends, so we decided to do a potluck... my fav! I was also, unfortunately, on painkillers because of a back injury so I had to take it easy. I'm just glad I didn't spend my money on this party! NYE is totally overrated anyway and it's impossible to even find a cab, so you freeze your butt off, drink too much and start the new year feeling shitty. Low key is my cup of tea.

Every time the word "potluck" is thrown around I start scouring my favorite food blogs to find the best recipe. I try to lean towards healthy, however I just love love love baking, so often times I go for the goodies. So for this party I FINALLY was able to make a decision and it was a recipe for these delicious looking cookies (more on those at a later date) however I soon came to realize that because my girlfriends and I have a trip booked to Key West in a couple weeks everyone was on a diet! Like, no carbs, no alcohol, no gluten, no sugar, no food, don't eat anything diets. (I kinda am too at the moment, don't judge) I knew my cookies would be left uneaten, so I switched gears and found this salad. I was definitely going out on a limb, but was such a hit!

I took out the ingredients I don't like (although, I kept the onion for flavor) and I tripled the recipe. Good thing my boyfriend was there to get all the juice out of the SIX oranges I had to juice... I swear my hand was sore the next day!

Garbanzo & Avocado Salad (makes 2-3 servings; total cost per serving: ~ $1.85)
- adapted from Poor Girl Eats Well

1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 small Roma tomato, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 large avocado, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
Small handful of cilantro, finely chopped (optional)

Dressing:
Juice of 2 medium oranges
1 T rice vinegar
1 t olive oil
1 T honey
1/8 t salt
Couple pinches of cayenne pepper
A very generous amount of ground black pepper

Prepare the dressing by whisking all dressing ingredients together until completely combined. Combine the beans and all the veggies in a medium bowl and toss together with the dressing. Garnish with extra black pepper if you like, serve over plenty of fresh greens or by itself, and enjoy!

Strong 'Ranga arms needed to squeeeeze the oranges.

Blurry onion shot. ick I hate onions.

Into the dressing you gooooo

Cilantro is optional, but I highly recommend it.

I need to work on noticing lighting when I'm taking pics... bad shot.

Next time I want to add more tomatoes. NOM!

Final product!

This salad was so delicious, so easy, filling and HEALTHY! Ben and I were able to eat it for lunch the next day too! I will definitely be making this again. Happy 2010!