Smitten what?

Hard to believe I know, but until recently I had never heard of Smitten Kitchen.  I really had no idea what I was missing out on!  Upon my first perusal of SK, I came across a cake that, I'm pretty sure, was meant just for me.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have a special affinity for "girlie drinks"--piña coladas being very near the top of my list of favorites.  So when I saw this piña colada cake with REAL pineapple, cream of coconut, and dark rum, it immediately went to the top of my "things to bake" list.

Via

If you have trouble finding the cream of coconut (like I did), check in the bar supplies section of your grocery store.  I spent a good 15 minutes wandering around Kroger looking for cream of coconut because none of the employees had any idea what I was talking about.  I thought that it would surely be with the coconut water and oil in the health food section, or even possibly with the condensed milk.  But no, it was where I should have looked first (considering the title of this recipe), with the bar supplies.

This cake fulfilled and exceeded my expectations, which were unusually high, because I was really looking forward to this coconuty, pineappley, tropical-escape-in-35 degree-weather, why-isn't-it-warm-outside-yet, cake.  Which I'll admit, is a lot of pressure to put on one cake.

Via

*Sorry, no pictures of my actual cake--my camera battery died and I was NOT going to wait for the battery to charge to cut in to this cake!

A weekend visit

Sorry for the lapse in posting.  It was a busy weekend, and I feel like I have been playing catch-up ever since!
 
After work on Thursday, we took off for a weekend trip down to Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne for Isaac's grad school visit.  We had a wonderful weekend visiting classes and apartments, eating really good food, and playing darts (turns out I'm not half bad!).

I really enjoyed the apartment visits, and it was fun to think about potential decorating options and ideas.  The white walls and empty rooms are just waiting for someone to come in and paint, arrange furniture, and organize (added bonus: the apartment complex we looked at actually lets you paint on your own!).

While my new apartment decorating time is still a little while off, here are a few of my favorite inspiration pictures:

                        

Via

I love neutrals with little pops of color--especially blue or purple.  It feels so simple and relaxed without looking sloppy.  I also love the hydrangeas on the coffee table--hydrangeas are the perfect decorating flower in my opinion.

Via

How fantastic is this dining room?!  I love the colors, the chairs, and yes, I'm pretty sure those are hydrangeas on the table.  Disclaimer: my husband thinks the chandelier looks like someone strung the abominable snowman up over the table.

Via

I love this simple, colorful table spread with hydrangeas (of course!) as a centerpiece.

Wedding Album

Coffee table book or traditional album?  I've gone back and forth ever since we received the disks of our wedding photos.  There are certainly benefits to both.  The traditional side of me won't let go of the big heavy album with 8x10 family photos and one of our wedding invitations matted on the first page.  Honestly though, we probably aren't going to get that out too often, and I really like the idea of a coffee table book because it's something we could flip through from time to time and show to guests without a lot of hassle.

So I'm going to do both....eventually.  First on the list, a coffee table book with a selection of our favorite photos from the wedding.

One thing I am really excited about is that AdoramaPix has this awesome feature where their photobooks are bound in a way that causes them to appear to be seamless in the middle, so full spread group shots don't end up with someones face cut in half.

Good

Bad

If you would like to see what our coffee table wedding book looks like, click here.

Our coffee table book is ordered and in the mail and I can't wait to see what the final product looks like! 

All of our wedding photography was done by:

Kith and Kin Photography

and

Ashlee Lauren Photography

Kate, Dan, and Ashlee, thank you so much for the wonderful memories you captured!

Happy Belated Pi Day

Yesterday I tried out a new pie crust recipe in honor of Pi Day.  Say hello to the Cream Cheese Pie Crust:

I can't say enough good things about this recipe.  The dough is very easy to work with and the result is well worth the effort.  It was the most flaky, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth pie crust I have ever made. 

I used a really basic apple pie recipe for the filling.  I don't know where it originally came from.  I scribbled it on a piece of paper at some point and have used it as a bookmark in my Betty Crocker ever since.

Apple Pie Filling:

5 or 6 Granny Smith Apples

Lemon Juice

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup White Sugar

3 Tablespoons Flour

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

After you peel and slice the apples, sprinkle some lemon juice on them to keep them from turning brown.  Then in a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, white sugar, flour, and cinnamon together.  Coat the apples in the sugar mixture.

Layer the apples in the pie crust, dot some butter on top, add a lattice top and flute the edge. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 min and then at 350 for another 40 minutes.

Tips: 

I always roll my pie crust out between two sheets of plastic wrap.  It keeps the pie crust from sticking and makes it a breeze to transfer into the pie plate.

The cream cheese pie crust recipe is a ONE crust recipe.  I did not read that part of the recipe initially and tried to make a two crust pie out of a one crust recipe.  Needless to say, I barely scraped together enough dough for the lattice top.  So if you plan to make a two crust pie, double the recipe. 

                    

Roasted Chicken

Until tonight, I had never cooked a whole chicken.  I don't really know why, except that it always seemed easier to go with boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Oh yeah, and I thought it was super gross to stick my hand up inside a cold, slimy chicken.  However, after finding this super easy explanation of how to prepare, season, and roast a whole chicken, I figured it was at least worth a try.

 

via

Why can't my chicken be this beautiful??

I started by removing the "nasty bag" (known more commonly as the giblets), and rinsing the chicken in cold water.  After drying it with paper towels, I rubbed butter in the cavity and on the skin and used Mrs. Dash, salt, pepper, and garlic to season the inside and outside of the chicken. 

The article recommends using a v-rack like this, or a flat rack in your roasting pan to keep the chicken from getting soggy.  However, since I don't have either one, I tried using the rack from our toaster oven.  The rack fit perfectly in our new roasting pan (thanks Mom and Dad J!) and kept the chicken just high enough to brown perfectly all the way around.

For my four and a half pound chicken, it took about an hour and a half to roast.  The first 20 minutes at 450 degrees (to get the skin nice and crispy) and the remaining 70 minutes at 375 degrees.  Then I let it sit for 15 minutes to let the juices settle.

Oh. My. Gosh.  This chicken was GOOD.  The meat was so tender and juicy and it was totally worth sticking my hand you-know-where.  There was plenty of chicken left over, so I shredded it to use for chicken tacos later this week.  

Sweet Potato Ravioli

I had leftover baked sweet potatoes in my fridge that needed to be used up today, so when I found this recipe I was excited to try something a little different for dinner tonight.

This is a really easy recipe using common ingredients--perfect for a quick-to-the-table dinner after a long week.  

Full disclosure--I cheated a little bit.  Instead of making my own pasta dough tonight, I used round wonton wrappers.  You get all the benefits of homemade ravioli in about half the time.  When using the wonton wrappers, brush the inside of both halves with a pastry brush dipped in egg white before adding the filling and decrease cook time from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.

We really loved the flavor and texture of the sweet potato filling, and I think this will probably become a regular dinner for us.  FYI, sweet potatoes are on the list of top 30 super foods from Real Simple magazine.

Sweet Potato Ravioli with Pecans and Herb Brown Butter Sauce

Filling:

1 lb sweet potato, peeled and cubed

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup dried bread crumbs

Pasta:

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup hot water

Herb Brown Butter Sauce:

4 – 6 tablespoons butter

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped sage leaves

2 teaspoons chopped thyme

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

To make the filling:

Cook the sweet potato in boiling water until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, add butter and beat with a mixer until smooth and creamy. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

To make the pasta:

Make a well in the center of the flour, and add in the hot water. Gently stir together with a wooden spoon, using your fingers if necessary to fully combine the ingredients. Allow to sit for a few minutes so it can cool down a bit.

Separate the dough into two separate balls. Set one of the dough balls aside. Take the other one and roll it out into a rectangle. Be sure to flour the board and your rolling pin really well since the dough should still be sticky. Roll it pretty thin, cause these things plump up when you cook them.

Spoon roughly 1-2 tablespoons of filling near the edge of the dough, leaving a little room. Then spoon some more about an inch away from that, until you have a nice little row.

Now, fold the dough over the little balls of filling. Pinch the edges all the way around the filling to seal it in. Take a glass, or a ravioli cutter if you have it (I don’t), and cut out the little mounds of filling. Repeat this process until all of the dough has been used.

Cook the ravioli in gently boiling water for 4-5 minutes. Drain, and toss in sauce.

For the sauce:

In a large skillet melt the butter with the sliced garlic, sage, 1 tablespoon parsley and thyme and cook over medium heat until the butter is lightly browned. Add the pecans, remaining parsley and cooked raviolis to the sauce and cook for 10 more seconds. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Coupons

I love coupons.  Paper coupons, online coupon codes, electronic coupons I can load on my Kroger card--I use 'em all.  As a recent college grad and new Mrs., I'm trying to save money any way I can and coupons really help.

This winter I was on the lookout for a new coat.  Knee length, warm, appropriate for work, and easy to keep clean.  My current coat was 3 out of 4.  It was knee length, warm, appropriate for work, and beautiful creamy ivory.  It was great for college when I only needed a dressy coat for special events and dances, but now I needed a coat that could keep up day-to-day instead of twice a semester.  I had my eye on this.

It was everything I was looking for but it was also expensive.  It went on sale shortly after Christmas, and I found a coupon code on Google for 50% off J. Crew sale items (and free shipping!) which brought it down to $49.  Not bad at all.  So I ordered it, and it arrived just in time for a weekend trip to Grand Rapids to celebrate the 24th birthday of a dear friend.

FYI, the coat is now on sale for $49, and you can use SHOPNOW at checkout for an additional 30% off which brings it down to $35!  But there are only a couple sizes left so move fast if you are interested.

Not looking for a coat?  Check out the J. Crew Final Sale or J.Crew Factory Store (open only Friday-Sunday) for yourself and use SHOPNOW at checkout for an extra 30% off all sale items!

Why?

I generally like to keep my writing to emails, postcards, letters, and our annual Christmas card, which usually goes something along the lines of "Merry Christmas from the Johnsons".  Inspired, right? 

So while you won't get original poems or thought provoking essays, hopefully you will (eventually) be able to find recipes, sewing projects, coupons, pictures, and other random stuff I happen to stumble upon.