Archive for June, 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Avocado Snacks

Avocados are quickly becoming my second favorite food… right behind bacon (and the two of them together? Don’t even get me started!). I’ve been craving them all week so I did a search on Martha Stewart’s website and found some nice (and simple) little avocado snacks …

(avocado sliced lengthwise)

Lemon Tuna Avocado Snack
1 ripe avocado
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 six-ounce solid albacore tuna
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
salt and ground pepper to taste


• cut avocado lengthwise and remove pit. Scoop 2 tablespoons of avocado flesh from each half.
• Mix the avocado flesh with lemon juice and olive oil until you have reached a (semi) smooth consistency
• Mix avocado, tuna, sunflower seeds, lemon zest and add salt and pepper
• Fill avocado shell with the mixture

Avocado Halves Stuffed with Tomato and Feta
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 small ripe tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon crumbled feta cheese
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon snipped fresh chives
• 2 teaspoons raw pumpkin seeds (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste


• Cut avocado lengthwise and remove pit.
• Fill each half with tomato and feta
• Drizzle lemon juice and garnish with chives and pumpkin seeds

(I actually left the pumpkin seeds out since the grocery store didn’t have any and this was still great!)

I particularly love recipes like this in the summer since I’m always on the go and don’t normally have a huge appetite in hot, hot weather… quick, easy, and satisfying… which ultimately leaves more time to enjoy the weather! :)

[Chels]

Related Posts: White Bean-Avocado Dip, Sweet Potato Fries, Black Bean and Corn Salad, Blue Cheese Rosemary Mashed Potatoes, Jalapeño-Cheddar Scones,
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Cinnamon Bread

Instead of searching everywhere on the Internet for recipes, I now know I can just pay a visit to my good friend TKTC’s blog and I will likely find something or several somethings I NEED to make. Such was the case with the peanut butter blondies. And such was the case with last weekend’s treat: Cinnamon bread. TKTC found the recipe on a blog called Closet Cooking, where author Kevin describes being bored with his meals and deciding it’s time for a change. And change he did. Now he publishes a new post with absolutely beautiful looking food pretty much every single day (a success I totally envy). But first things first, before I go crazy stealing every idea from his website, I had to make his cinnamon bread, which is more of a cinnamon cake or a really ridiculously good cinnamon coffee cake.

Here’s what you need:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 heaping tablespoons ground cinnamon

First I mixed the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

In a bigger bowl, I creamed the butter and white sugar. Then I added the eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest into the mixture

Now comes the adding of the flour mixture and the buttermilk. Add and mix in 1/3 of the flour mixture, 1/2 the buttermilk, 1/3 the flour mixture, the rest of the buttermilk, and the rest of the flour mixture.

Now in another bowl mix together the brown sugar and the cinnamon.

Grease a 9X5 loaf pan (I used a glass one and it worked great) with butter and pour 1/3 of the batter mixture in it. Then pour 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture on top of this.

Repeat, pouring another 1/3 of the batter and another 1/3 of the cinnamon mixture.

Repeat one more time with the rest of both mixtures.


Now put it in the oven for about an hour, baking at 350. It rises a bit so be careful…mine was almost touching the burners in my oven, which caused a bit of burning!

Once it cooled, I ran a knife around the edges and removed it from the glass dish.

It’s best eaten warm with a little bit of butter. But you know what? It’s also pretty amazing eaten at room temperature with absolutely nothing on it. Again, you could totally eat this for breakfast and just play it off as a coffee cake, which it essentially is. The crumbly cinnamon sugar top is absolutely scrumptious.

Right after it came out of the oven, I whipped up another one. I brought one to my friend Kerry’s house and I brought some home to my parents. And ate some myself, of course. Now I’m off to check out the rest of the recipes on Closet Cooking.

[Sues]
Related Posts: Mother's Day Brunch with Starbucks Natural Fusions Coffee and a Giveaway!, Oatmeal-Raisin Cupcakes...Or Probably Muffins, Holy Crepe...It's Valentine's Day!, Cinnamon Rolls, Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Muffins,
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