Food. Pictures. Words. Randomness.

Well, bottom line - I haven't posted in forever and I'm not even going to try to catch up ;P But, I warn you that this post will be long and full of - pictures. words. food. love. life. passions. and everything else that comes up in between. 

If you don't already know this, I love taking pictures of food I make. I love food. And I love making it. I've been the only girl in the house this past week, and I kind of have been in the mood to bake and cook. So, for fun here's this past weeks dinners (and desserts!!) in pictures... 

Monday

{Turkey Panini w/ potato chips, carrot sticks and apple slices} 

{Frozen Caramel Macchiato} 

This was pretty good - but it definitely needs some improving.... 

Tuesday 

{Beef Stroganoff with...}

{A lettuce salad (literally a lettuce salad, as I had nothing to add to it but lettuce! ;P) and Zucchini}

{Good ol' Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream}

My sister used to use this recipe all the time, so it was fun to make as we haven't made it in a long time. There's just something old fashioned, homey and simple that I love about making ice cream... 

{Espresso Frozen Yogurt}

I've been wanting to try this recipe out forever. It was pretty good, but not as good as I had hoped. But I'm super excited because I think if I just use this recipe and make it plain, maybe add a few other things, it'll taste pretty close to Yogurtland's Plain Tart (if you haven't had it it's awesome!)! I'm. Excited.

Wednesday 

{Chicken Stew with Biscuits}

Simple, and one dish! 

Thursday 

{Pizza on Falafel bread}

Using falafel bread for the crust on pizza makes for a super quick and easy meal. And it's yummy too!

{Frappuchino} 

The best frappe I've made so far! And that blender right there is awesome!!!!

Friday 

{Beef Enchiladas, beans, rice}

I found my new go to enchilada sauce recipe! It tasted awesome and that made my day. 

Saturday 

{Sour Cream Coffee Cake}

This coffee cake is soo good... 

We had fruit as well :) It looked pretty so I had to take a picture.

{Parmesan Chicken, Mashed potatoes, and dinner rolls}

That was our dinner. Yum. 

Here's some more random pictures that I had on my phone. Oh, by the way - pretty much all these pictures are taken on my phone, that's why some are blurry ;P 

This is the most awesome. amazing. wonderful. exciting. picture ever!!! My sister got engaged!!! Yep, you read that right ENGAGED!!!! Just take a look at those smiles!! :D I'm thrilled. God is so good! 

I have awesome brothers :) And I survived being the only girl at home for a week. Haha! It was awesome though :-) 

I love giving gifts. And making them beautiful. 

Coffee. Caramel. Whip cream. Enough said.

Simple beauty... I love going for long walks on warm summer evenings. 

~ ~ ~

I'm so grateful to God for everything in life. Just take a look around you, aren't you amazed at how awesome God is?! I've been really blessed by this quote lately: "The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you."  That's so true. And too often we try to do things in our own strength. These past few months I have been so overwhelmed by God's love and grace in my life.... I have failed so often, I make so many mistakes. And yet He still loves me. I'm just so overjoyed that He has given me this beautiful and wonderful life to live, oh how I want to serve Him in everything and show others His love and grace in everything I do. Ya' know, I have SO much I could share of things I've been learning....but I'm afraid it'll have to wait for another post :) Jesus is an amazingly loving Savior who laid down His life for you and I. So go out in this world and be a bright light for Jesus! 

Recipe: Big Daddy Biscuits :)

Big Daddy Biscuits :) 

recipe adapted by ~ JaeRachelle 

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour & 1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar (I don't always use the sugar)

1/3 cup palm shortening (or butter)

1 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead a few times. Pat out dough on a floured surface to about 1 - 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut biscuits with a large biscuit cutter. Repeat until all dough is used. Place biscuits onto an ungreased (the flour on the bottom of the biscuit makes it so that it won’t stick) baking sheet.  Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown.  Serves 6. Enjoy :) 

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

It seems like most everyone loves chocolate chip cookies.... :) This recipe turned out really well, I actually got it off of a chocolate chip bag that we recently got. My family loved them, and I have been trying different recipes to get one that was good. The great thing was they didn't completely flatten out like our usual recipe does, they stayed pretty puffy!! They did get a little harder though the next day.... But over all it's pretty good!

 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated cane sugar
½ cup butter
½ cup palm shortening
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ - 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets.  In a large bowl, beat together both sugars, butter, shortening, salt, vanilla, vinegar, and baking soda until smooth and creamy.  Add in the egg and beat until smooth and all ingredients are thoroughly combined.  Mix in the flour and then the chocolate chips, just until combined.  Spoon 1 1/4” balls of dough onto prepared cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until browned just right! Cool before removing from cookie sheets. Enjoy :)

 

God Bless You!!

Recipe: Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Recipe adapted by JaeRachelle :)

 

Makes 24-30 muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease or line with paper muffin cups, the muffin tins.

In a large bowl, blend together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, milk, honey, and butter until smooth.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, blending until just moistened.  Stir in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each one about 3/4 full.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5-7 minutes.  Serve warm, or invert onto the rack and cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Enjoy :) 

 

I made these muffins for breakfast this morning and they were really yummy!! They were very moist, and the best thing was they had no sugar!! I love finding recipes with no sugar...! I do think that it might be kind of good to add some lemon zest maybe, it'd add a little more flavor I think...but I don't know, so if you make this - play around with the recipe and let me know what you think : )

Oh yeah, this is so off the topic of baking (people who know me well though, know that I like to do and say things off topic quite often!! So be prepared in the future of random off topic thoughts...), but to get back on the topic! ;) It snowed/hailed at our place on Monday!!! Here's a picture, sorry it's a blurry iPod picture though...but hey, better than nothing, right?:)  

We usually don't expect this cold of weather till around the middle of November, so this was a surprise! It was pretty though and is making me get all excited about Winter....

 

Recipe: Pizza Sticks!

Hello! I am hoping to be posting my favorite recipes as I have time, so hope you enjoy :) The first recipe is Pizza Sticks, yummy! They are so simple and good and take little time to make, perfect match, right?! So...here you go :)

Don't they look pretty too?!! I know it sounds funny to call it "pretty" but I think it is... Okay, here's the recipe :p

Pizza Sticks

recipe adapted by Jaeleen Leever – photography by Jaeleen Leever

 

Ingredients:

 

2 ½ cups flour, part whole wheat and part unbleached all-purpose  

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

 

1 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons oil

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon honey

fresh rosemary, several sprigs of all the fresh herbs

fresh oregano

fresh basil

fresh thyme

1 stick melted butter

about 2 cups cheese

parmesan cheese, if desired

pizza sauce

 

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together the flour, yeast, and salt.  Then add the oil, honey and warm water.  Briskly stir together all of the ingredients.  Turn onto a floured work surface and knead for about five minutes, then let rest for five minutes. 

 

Roll out the dough on parchment paper, into a 7 ½ by 11 ½ inch rectangle.  Brush with the melted butter. 

 

Then chop up all the fresh herbs, the amount is completely up to your taste, so chop up as much as you desire.  Sprinkle the herbs all over the dough. 

 

Next, sprinkle the cheese all over the dough, lightly press the cheese down, then take one end of the dough and quickly flip it over top of the other half of dough.  Seal the edges and then lift it on a cookie sheet.  Peel off the parchment paper on the top. 

 

Bake for 24-30 minutes.  In the last few minutes lightly brush with some butter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired.  Dip in warm pizza sauce, and enjoy!!

 

 

 

 Go make it for lunch now!:)

 

 

In Christ,

Jaeleen :)