Help!

Dear Reader,

I know I have maybe about one reader left on the planet, but if you read this, you have to do something and then tell your friends to act. Trader Joe's is discontinuing my favorite product ever (they are notorious for hooking you on something and leaving you hanging, right?). So, this Purify Grapefruit Chamomile Sea Salt Scrub is the best product in the world. It is the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning. It is the most fruity, refreshing, invigorating, moisturizing, luxurious, anti-depressing, happy fragrance there is. It is pure grapefruit happines, I don't smell much chamomile in it at all. My winter skin cannot live without it. I have seriously been in a funk since learning that I won't be able have it anymore and my last jar is now empty. I feel hopeless. Dear reader won't you please e-mail the folks at Trader Joe's and tell them how unhappy you are that they have discontinued this most amazing product? I am hopeful that they will get a flurry of mail to warrant reconsidering this most tragic decision. If you have never tried it, you still need to e-mail them with your complaint, even if you don't live near a TJ's because if they do decide to carry it again...you will thank me. If you are a devotee of this product, you need no encouragement. Please, please,please just get the word out and in the mean time if you happen to see a jar or two or three on the shelves of your local TJ's, snatch them up quickly! You could even send me a jar and I would pay you handsomely. Help a girl out.

Happy New Year!


Photo: apartmenttherapy.com

Happy Halloween!

Go make these now! Don't bother with the bat shape, just make them and devour. Don't know how to make dulce de leche? Get a can of sweetened condensed milk (take label off), boil it in the can in a big pot of water for three hours (keep it covered with boiling water), yes, three hours... your house will get nice and steamy and your neighbors may wonder what is going on in there??!!...your pores will open up beautifully too... but then you will have...the nectar of the gods (common sense caution: don't open the can until completely cool, okay?). These cookies really just serve as a vehicle to keep yourself from eating the stuff right out of the can. Happy Halloween!




image:marthastewart.com

Pumpkin Muffins

I think these are the best pumpkin muffins that I have tasted. A friend of mine in Kansas shared this recipe with me. I love that the recipe calls for buttermilk and molasses. I made them mini size and they were perfect. I used all whole wheat flour too and they are great. Chocolate chips wouldn't be a bad addition either. Here is the recipe from Elie Kreiger at Food Network.









image:marthastewart.com

Magic in the Middles

Try these. Soft, peanut butter center, chocolate cookie on the outside. It is almost like my favorite cookie, Peanut Butter Blossoms only inside out. The only change I made was to omit the peanut butter in the chocolate part. I wanted there to be more of a distinction between the chocolate and peanut butter. Delicious. Really serious cookie. They take a little time to make, so only make them for people you really love.






Image: kingarthurflour.com

Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes

These are the best...pancakes...ever. My friend, Jaime makes these and like everything she makes, they are divine. I am completely obsessed with them. You will love them so much that you will want to eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...but don't do that, they are all oatmeal... plus you can make them with whole wheat flour without anyone knowing! So do not eat them as your three meals a day as you will be tempted to do, trust me...I've done it before, it's not pretty. But do make them right away with the Buttermilk Syrup...they go to together.


Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes
Combine in large bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight:
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups buttermilk

In the morning add to the bowl:
2 eggs
2 T. sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 t. salt
1/2 cup flour ( I use white wheat)
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon

Mix well in mixer or by hand and drop onto hot griddle. Serve with buttermilk syrup.

Buttermilk Syrup:

2 sticks of butter
2 c. sugar
1 c. buttermilk
1 t. baking soda
2 t. vanilla

Melt butter in LARGE pot, then add sugar and buttermilk. Boil 2 minutes, remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla. Stir well, it will bubble up profusely at this point so make sure you have a big pot. Serve over Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes. This syrup keeps well in the fridge and can be reheated in the microwave. You could make half the recipe and it makes enough, then you won't feel so bad about using 2 whole sticks of butter, but it's really, really good.



photo: foodnetwork.com

Disgusting

Last night we were drawn to this segment of a program on the Travel Channel. We couldn't stop laughing at this restaurant from Taipei Taiwan called Modern Toilet. No joke, the food is served in plastic toilets etc. I am not even going to go on...you just have to read for yourself here, here, you get it, right?





image: spike.com

I scream

Have you tried this? I am not a huge ice cream lover, but this one does it for me. Vanilla ice cream with thin ribbons of chocolate throughout. It is kind of like a Klondike Bar, but SO much better, the quality of ice cream is waaay better, as is the chocolate, plus you get lots more chocolate in every bite. It's like that Magic Shell stuff without the partially hydrogenated junk. GO get yourself some and while you're there, pick up some little Keebler waffle bowls to go with...it's the perfect treat.

Chocolate

This is my favorite. I love milk chocolate, but most brands are too sweet for me. This one is a bit darker than most milk chocolates. It's really good on it's own, in a recipe, or for hot chocolate.

M&M's Miracle Cookies

These are unbelievably good. Just 5 ingredients and you get the perfect bite of peanut butter and chocolate. Cookies without butter or flour?! Who knew? I guess that is the miracle.

1 egg
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
*3/4 cup M&M's chocolate mini baking bits

Mix it all up in a bowl, the dough will be a little crumbly. Scoop onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen small or 18 large cookies. Mine don't turn out like the picture at all. Mine keep their mounded shape which is extra good to bite into. I suppose you could flatten them if you want, but then you wouldn't be able to fit the whole thing in your mouth. You will love me forever once you try these. This is where I got the recipe.

*I use mini chocolate chips and only 1/2 cup, I think 3/4 cup is way too much.

V Chocolates

What???!! I've never done a post about my favorite V Chocolates? Mmmmm. You better get on over there and get you some chocolate covered caramels or truffles or thin mints or toffees. Best... caramels... EVER. Would I lie to you? Try the Milk Chocolate Caramels with Pretzels first. Then get some of the Little Bears, little cinnamon bears dipped in Belgian chocolate...to die for. Pick up some of the Chocolate Frogs for the kids because you will not be sharing.

True Beauty

Does anyone else in the world besides me, watch this show?? Come on people...I need to dish with someone about it! This is television viewing at it's finest.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Lest you think I only bake treats, here is proof that a few healthy things do come out of my kitchen once in awhile. This is a really good alternative to deep fried, greasy, but-oh-so-good buffalo wings. Not exactly man food for the big game, but still delicious and satisfies my need for Frank. The blue cheese dressing is really good too. One minor change I make to the recipe: instead of broiling it in the oven, I just saute cut up chicken in a little olive oil with THE hot sauce in frying pan. Easy.






Photo: foodnetwork.com

Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then there is nothing else to say here. I came across this picture on my very favorite food blog Serious Eats. I was reading this piece about one of my first loves and then I found this recipe here and then I made it right away. I can't think of a better way to ring in the new year than with this. There are no words to describe the pleasure. I even forgot to add the butter and didn't even know it was missing, but I will have to make it again soon and conduct a control group among my expert panel of tasters (Andrea, are you in?). I used half semi sweet, half milk chocolate pieces. So, a control is definitely in order, not that there is anyway to improve upon perfection, just more excuses needed to make it again...and again. I didn't put marshmallows on top, just a dollop of cream, but the toasted marshmallows on top and the look of hot chocolate are what lured me in. I am mildly obsessed with hot chocolate so you can see why I was drawn to this photo and the 12 Days of Hot Chocolate bit. Cheers!






photo: ezrapoundcake.com