Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Reeses Peanut Butter Bars

Last night I made these yummy Reeses Peanut Butter Bars. They were delish, and It really did taste like Reeses Pieces! I like peanut butter on occasion, but I'm not a real big fan of it, so I'm not sure where I got my sudden Peanut Butter cravings from? I've been on a PB&J frenzy lately, so I was ecstatic when I came across this recipe, because I absolutely adore Reeses Pieces!! 


This was so easy to make and SO yummy it totally fulfilled my Peanut Butter cravings! See below for the receipe =)


Ingredients
1 cup butter melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. In a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares. 

I tweaked this recipe a little to my liking. I only used about 1 1/2 of confectioners sugar because I didn't want it too sweet. I also added a tad bit more peanut butter to the mix; I'll say 1 cup and 4 tablespoon of Peanut Butter for the mixture and stuck with the 4 tablespoon of Peanut Butter for melting and incorporating with the chocolate chips. 


Adapated from:  Let's Dish




What is your favorite candy bar?


Have a wonderful day!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Chicken Laab Gai Recipe


 Happy Monday everyone! Isn't this little desk calender cute?! I came into work this morning, and my boss gave these out to each one of us. Last week, my boss was traveling in Hong Kong and picked up these hand painted desk calenders for us.

  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. For me, I was once again a busy bee, but that didn't stop me from making this Chicken Laab Gai for dinner last night. This is one of my favorite dishes because it's spicy, sour and full of wonderful flavors. To eat this with sticky rice is just Ah... heaven! 



Ingredients

1lbs of organic ground chicken (you can use shredded chicken breast)
1 cup of organic low sodium chicken stock (you can use water in place of stock)
1-2 tablespoon fish sauce
1-2 tablespoon lime juice
1/2-1 cup of cilantro
1/2-1 cup of mint leaves
1/2-1 cup of green onions
1 tablespoon hot red chillie flakes
2 tablespoon of toasted ground rice
2-3 shallots thinly sliced
1/2-1 tablespoon of red thai chillie peppers
1-2 tablespoon of wet tamarind (soak in a bowl of water and mush around til you have a brown liquid)



Directions

Pour a cup of chicken stock into your wok or pan and bring it to a boil, add your ground chicken and cook thoroughly, add fish sauce and turn off the stove. Pour the ground chicken with the juices into a good size mixing bowl, let is sit for a bit to cool down, then add your shallots, cilantro, mint leaves, chillie flakes, chillie peppers, lime juice and wet tamarind juice (only use the juice) and toasted ground rice. Mix everything together; adding more fish sauce or lime juice and peppers to your liking. I used Romain lettuce leaves and scooped some of the Laab Gai onto the leaf, sprinkled it with some paprika for a pop of color and garnished with some Mint leaves and a wedge of lime. Eat as is, or enjoy it with some sticky rice!


Enjoy!




What's one dish that makes you say "ah... this is Heaven!"?


Have a lovely week everyone!



Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Fall Bronze Office Look

Fall Bronze office look


The first day of Fall will be this Saturday, but it still feels like Summer here. I'm really looking forward to Fall; it's one of my favorite Seasons. I love all the deep rich Autumn colors for Fashion. I love seeing all the beautiful leaves changing their colors; lining the streets with their beauty. Most of all, I love not sweating like a pig in the HOT Summer heat! Sorry if that was TMI... If it makes you feel any better; I really don't sweat like a pig; I just dislike being uncomfortably hot and, well sticky.

I put together this outfit today, maybe it has a little too much bronzyness; perhaps it's a little too matchy; or a little boring.... Whatever the case, I happen to like it. It's sweet, simple, and perfect for me to prance around the office in. The flats are comfortable enough to run errands on my hour lunches; the purse is big enough to hall around my million things I stuff in my bag. The pants has a tinge of Vintage which I love; the jewelery is not too overpowering for the work place, and well the blouse is just lovely.


Floral print shirt, $26 / Nude shoes, $37 / Prada leather tote, $2,090 / Stella & Dot jewelry / Lauren Conrad jewelry / Earrings, $79 / J.Crew j crew





What is your favorite Fall color ?


Enjoy your Tuesday everyone! 

Monday, September 17, 2012

Great friends and Hot buns!

Oh my, where do my weekends go? I've been so busy decorating my Sunday School Class for my new students, and putting together lesson plans, trying to find new ways be creative and make the classroom a fun and enjoyable learning atmosphere without losing touch of what's important. It's been fun, challenging, overwhelming, and joyous. I had my first day of teaching my new students this past Sunday, and I must say... it was quite calm and peaceful, and they were excited to see the new classroom. I'll post some pictures up of some cool DIY classroom projects in a later post. 

For now I will just post another subject that makes me joyous; FOOD! Yes, food. I spent the day with some of my girlfriends on Saturday, and we made some hot buns otherwise known as "Hum Bao Steamed Buns" They were light, fluffy, moist and full of goodness. Please forgive me as I can't muster the energy to type out the reciepe and ingredients; perhaps when I have a moment to breathe and a day to relax; I will post it up in the future. As for now, I'll just post up a picture. That's the best I can do =(



After Church on Sunday, my best friend, her little sister, and my daughter and I went out for dinner. We had a grand time sharing laughs, and the kiddos had a great time. I don't know what they put in that apple juice, but the girls sure were extra giggly all the way home. 

They were a little skimpy on the fries, but the steak was good and more fries would have been bad for me anyways.

My daughter didn't want to be in the picture, but she gave a thumbs up for her approval of her plate of food.




What makes you joyous?



I love starting out my week refreshed and happy. I hope you all have a wonderful week as well!


Friday, September 7, 2012

Happy Friday!

I apologize for the lack of post; I've been so busy for the past couple of weeks getting things in order for my daughters first day of school. Making sure she has everything she needs and shopping like a mad woman; scouring the stores for the best school supply deals etc. I really don't enjoy back to school shopping; it's full of chaos and bodies everywhere I turn, squeezing in between aisles... oh the agony! I literally had to walk away from busy aisles a few time just to have a moment to breathe... and then the lines I tell ya! So glad all of that is over with.

While waiting for my daughter to pick out a backpack; I saw this huge backpack and thought I'd take a picture of it? It doesn't look ginormous in this picture, but in person it was ginormous!


After 3o minutes of convincing my daughter a cross-body backpack will only hurt her shoulders and back because she's in the fourth grade now; meaning she will be carrying a lot more things around and it will get heavy. She finally agreed and after 3 days of school and carrying everything in her back pack, she came up to me and said "Mommy, you were right it's so heavy!"  Yes my child... I was too once a child lugging a heavy back pack around -_-


Anywho... the first week of school went well, she likes her teacher and made new friends and met old friends. She's excited to be back at school and I am excited to have her back in school! I feel like this mom here...


This photo does not belong to me. All rights and credits go to the original owner.


I decided to treat myself by making this yummy spinach and artichoke dip with my favorite whole wheat flax seed and quinoa tortilla chips. YUM is all I can say!



Spinach and Artichoke Dip Recipe
(This recipe is for 8 servings)

2 packages (8 ounce size) cream cheese
2 cans (14 ounce) artichoke hearts, drained & coarsely chopped
1 cup frozen spinach chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise (real mayonnaise )
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Romano cheese 1/2 garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried basil
Salt & Pepper to taste




Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream cheese should be room temperature, add Mayonnaise Parmesan, Romano cheese, garlic powder, dried basil, and salt/pepper together and mix until creamy. Drain artichoke and spinach very well and add into the mixture mixing all ingredients together. Put your mixture in an oven safe bowl and sprinkle some Parmesan on top if you like and bake it until nice and bubbly and the top is golden brown. 




What is your favorite appetizer?



Have a great weekend everyone!