Do you guys like the new layout?

It's very pink.....but also something new! I'll try it out and see how it goes.


Sorry I've beem MIA, but I have stories and recipes and my oh my. Everything good :) Headed to bed now, but new posts start tomorrow!
Excited? I AM.

xxo Laura

Homemade Honey Lavender Icecream

Molly Moon's at home! Two weeks before summer started... we've been working on ice cream in my Culinary Arts class and I had a need, a need to make ice cream at home. I had a couple titles in mind, having looked... no, more like dug through the entire cookbook section at Barnes and Noble for the book I came for and alas! It was no where to be found. But luckily I stumbled across this lovely! And swiftly it was bought and taken home, and has now been used for it's very first time for my favorite Molly Moon's recipe, Honey Lavender. 

Although I'm still debating with myself on wheather or not its fair to post the recipe for Honey Lavender online.

~ It turned out delicious, but it needed to be churned longer, seeing as it had the consistency of soft serve ice cream and started to melt after being out of the freezer for about 30 seconds. Alas! I won't give up until I've made the perfect icecream!!!

Marshmallows are messy.

Unexpected.
Fun nevertheless, but definitley unexpected.

Ooey Gooey MARSHMALLOWS. With the up coming fourth of july I wanted to make homemade s'mores makings (minus the chocolate). That began today with my first marshmallow makings. Let me tell you, totally, utterly unexpectable. Good, and I'm extremely proud of myself for making marshmallows at home. Got the mallows down, now on to the graham crackers.

My crafty solution to an unclipable thermometer. Tada!

Marshmallowies becoming Marshmallows!

The mess that follows when transferring from bowl to pan

Almost finished product. Setting in the pan before being cut up.

Marshmallows Makes 36 medium or 16 large
Time Commitment: 2 hours

2/3 cup water, divided
3 (1/4 ounce) envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Toppings ~1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toastedPrepLightly oil the inside of an 8 by 8" pan with canola oil. Generously coat with confectioners' sugar, set aside.

Pour 1/3 cup of the water into the bowl of a stand-mixer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, and let stand for about 10 minutes, or until gelitan has softened.

In sauce pan, off heat, combine remaining 1/3 cup water and granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Place the pan over medium-high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the inside of the pan and make sure it does not touch the bottom. Cook mixture without stirring until it reaches 240 °F. Brush down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush, dipped in water, to gently wipe away any residual sugar crystals.

With the mixture on low speed very carefully add the hot syrup to the softened gelatin. Add the vanilla, increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 8 - 13 minutes, until mix becomes very white as well as stiff and sticky.

This is where you prepare yourself for things to get messy. (See pictures below for reference.)Spread mixture into prepared pan using a lightly oiled spatula. Harder than it sounds. An extra pair of hands would be highly recommended at this point. With wet hands, press batter evenly into the corners of the pan. Set aside for 1 hour, until firm and cool.


Sift powdered sugar into a small bowl. Run a wet knife around pan and remove marshmallows, then cut them up, to whatever sizes of your choosing.


How to Store:
Layer with wax paper. In an air-tight container for up to 1 month. :) :)


Although this recipe is incredibly messy... it is entirely worth it! I've been testing (eating is more like it) the mallows and yum, yum, yum! They're goooood. I didn't cut the up, kind of just pulled pieces off.

Orange Spice Sipping Chocolate Review

Also known as Theo hot chocolate! :)



I've fallen in loooooove. Sweet, yummy dark chocolate loooooooove. Hot chocolate....in June? Say Whaat? Well here in Seattle, it's muggy, rainy, and icky. It seems like every sunny day we get, we're then punished with two more weeks of dark and rainy weather. I say, no bueno! Here's the scoop; this past week I've been babysitting my Culinary Arts Chef's daughter. :) And of course she has all of these fun and extremely cool foodie things. She had a container of it open, told me to try it, and I did and instantly fell in love with it, and she gave me an unopened container!! How sweet is that?
It's as thick as making your own homemade hot chocolate tends to be but you can also vary the thickness of it by how much chocolate you put into each serving too! Tehehe, well I wanted to express my love for Theo's Organic Orange Spice Sipping Chocolate and all of it's thick, chocolately loveliness it contains. :) It has 11 servings and is also fairly inexpensive!

One Serving calls for

1/2 cup milk (or any dairy alternative) heated in a small pot over medium heat until steaming

Then add 3 Tbs of the sipping chocolate (or more if you want it thicker), whisk that in

and then drink away! :)

Yum nom

(Theo picture borrowed from Fig and Walnut)

Blueberry Muffins!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and SPRING IS HERE FINALLY!!!!! We've being waiting for so long. It's time to whip out those dresses, skirts, and sandals to go soak up those sunny rays. I was looking through this blog 3191 Miles Apart, which is a absolutely fabulous blog, they have a book based off the blog that started it all, and it's one of my favorite books, full of pictures of course. But not just any pictures, the most fun, inspiring, and relaxing group of pictures I've ever seen. These two women met and had similar styles and decided to post pictures of their mornings each day. The similarities between both pictures each day if fascinating.

Ah-ha! Okiee, back to my point! Blueberry muffins...yum, yum, yum! Actually though, I surprised myself...these are goood! The first day I made them Tuesday, I ate two for breakfast and then two more afterschool... No bueno. At that point I decided it was time for them to go, and I brought them and left them at a friends house. ; ) I was looking through their blog, and I found a good-looking blueberry muffin recipe, and then I was inspired. It required whole wheat flour, which I love whole-heartedly, but I was looking for that lovely white and blueberry speckled muffin tops, so I went on and looked for another recipe. That's when I stumbled across the Smitten Kitchen, and that's when I FOUND IT. BLUEBERRY MUFFINS. I instantly thought blueberry muffins? YUM. It was settled.

I did change a couple things...instead of lemon zest, I used orange zest. I added in 2-4 drops of tangerine oil, as well as a little lemon juice and I added in more blueberries, it got to the point where some of my muffins didn't even have blueberries.

Perfect Blueberry Muffins
Makes 10 - 12 standard-sized muffins

(Skip the organics if you want! Either way works :) )

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1 large organic egg
3/4 cup organic plain yogurt (I used Nancy's Organic)
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2-4 drops tangerine oil Optional!!1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen don't defrost) (I used frozen! Works just fine!)

Topping1/4 cup organic cane sugar

1/2 an orange zest

Preaheat oven to 375℉. Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners or spray each cup with nonstick spray. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well, then yogurt, juice and oil. Put flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in another bowl and mix. Then add half to the batter until combined, mix in last half. JUST MIX UNTIL FLOUR BITS DISAPPEARS. No more than that! Gently fold in your blueberries. The dough will be thick, which is why an ice cream scoop is a fabulous thing to use when scooping your muffins! You will want the muffin cups to be about 3/4 of the way filled. Toppings! This is when you should put it on! Sprinkle a generous amount of sugar over the top of each muffin, then zest a bit of the orange on top of that on each muffin. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tops are golden and a tester inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool on rack (or eat instantly!) Yum! Enjoy!

Knead and Feed

Spring is...Spontaneous road trips up to Whidbey

I love the conversations that come up over coffee, in a small town, in a heavenly bakery, with cinnamon rolls the size of your head.

Two weeks ago, we drove up to Whidbey island for a couple of days. (I was on break from school) After a great couple of days of just doing nothing, we read, slept in, went to the beach and spent the majority of our days outside, my friend Erin, and I decided it was time to go into town!

Coupeville, is fabulous. It's main street is filled with fun and exciting shops that range from cute antiques, a touch of dutch, to the best ice cream you will ever meet at Kpaw's. At the very end of main street is this ADORABLE bakery/restaurant called Knead and Feed. Now and forever in my mind, it will be known as the bakery with the GIANT CINNAMON ROLLS.  (We bought one, and split it, half of these is more than enough.)  It's true, Knead and feed pride themselves in making their wonderfully huge and oh so delicious cinnamon rolls.

Seriously though...HUGE!

The staff is so incredibly nice, it was like a dream come true. A small town bakery with inexpensive coffee and giant cinnamon rolls. Everyone knew everyone, so when we came in, I think it was a little confusing because the highschoolers of Coupeville were in school, and us of course, we were not... >:) But they extended their hospitality and welcomed us with happy conversations and a wonderful atmosphere.
Knead and feed has found the way to my heart, and it's sad that it's so close, yet so far away. I often find myself craving another giant cinnamon roll. Mother's Day is coming up, and I've been spending every free second I have scouring the internet and looking through all my best cookbooks for the best giant cinnamon roll recipes!!!! When I find one, you'll know. ; )


Here are some more pictures from our trip!!!

Erin and I, hanging out at Fort Ebey

Erin in Knead and Feed. In the background you can see their cold case of yummy baked goods!

Low tide in Coupeville

Walking through the fields at the back of the house we were staying at! Lots of lady bugs

Let's get right into it...

Spring is...

Spontaneous road trips to Whidbey...

the perfect blueberry muffins...

when you ditch the car at home and ride your bike to school...

oatmeal for breakfast...

the perfect Friday morning dutchbaby...

early Saturday mornings...

finishing up the week with a quick roller derby practice sesh!!

So, I'm trying out a new thing, to get me to post some more blogs of course!!! I'm having a blog every day this week, week. ; ) Let's see if it works! Here are some little fun teasers for the upcoming week! I'll try and post pictures too!! As well as a recipe with every post! :D Happy Monday!!!