the giraffe life

One of my goals for 2015 was to cook six new recipes with my husband, roughly one every other month. We hosted a big family dinner last weekend (well, large for us - twelve guests) and decided to give tiramisu a whirl. I find family parties a great time for a dessert trial run - I get honest opinions and there are plenty of people to share with so I don't end up eating 86 cookies by myself. We used the recipe from  Chop, Sizzle, Wow   because it was the most straightforward one I found. There are plenty of super complicated ones that estimate it'll take you eight hours start to finish. Hmm, no thanks!  Regardless, everyone was impressed (I think they had that eight hour extravaganza in mind) and kept saying things like, "It tastes like regular tiramisu!" which made me laugh. And I have a newfound respect for restaurant presentation - this was the best I could do! Would you cook a new dish for guests? I know some people only make their tried...

Mr. G and I love going out to eat. It's a little break from cooking and cleaning, and we enjoy the chance to talk. (Meals at restaurants last longer than meals at home, so I feel like we talk more.) But since we don't have unlimited funds, we usually skip dessert.  So imagine our surprise when we broke tradition to order a scoop of ice cream and this came to our table . .  I think the official name was French vanilla ice cream with peanut butter swirl. The official taste was YUM. When did desserts get so big?! linking up for wordless Wednesday

Last month's issue of Ladies Home Journal featured an article about a woman who decided to cook breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks from scratch for a week as an experiment. For example, she made pasta, bread, and sauce by hand for spaghetti night. There were some days she spent 5-6 hours in the kitchen! By the end of the week, she noted that she had enjoyed the experience for the most part (especially since she shared some great moments with her kids in the kitchen) but it wasn't sustainable forever.  It got me thinking about how much processed or pre-made food I normally eat. Unless I was forced to, I doubt I could cook homemade 100% of the time. It's not that I seek out Froot Loops and frozen dinners for every meal, but I get busy and have cravings just like everyone else.  So here's my processed/pre-made food tally for Friday: Breakfast : milk and cereal Same old, same old. I eat this for breakfast every day. On extra hungry days, I'll add a banan...

My family always makes cookies for Christmas. It's one of my favorite traditions. This year, we ended up baking 5 batches of cookies - peanut butter, chewy chocolate chip , Black-Eyed Susans, oatmeal (minus the raisins), and chocolate chip . While that's certainly not setting any world records, we had fun without the stress (which is what happens when we try to make 12 batches in one day). My ever-present inspector I thought I'd share one of my favorite cookie recipes - Black-Eyed Susans (I also love  the plant ). They're made with peanut butter and chocolate so this is just the perfect recipe for me. They'd be great for spring parties too. Aren't they adorable?! Black-Eyed Susan Cookies • 1 stick melted butter (1/2 cup) • 1/2 cup sugar • 1/2 cup brown sugar • 1 egg • 1 1/2 tablespoons warm water • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1 cup creamy peanut butter • 1 1/2 cups flour • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda • chocola...

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US, and I thought I'd share what I ate. (I usually get a lot of comments from meat eaters about what I can actually eat at Thanksgiving.) As an appetizer, we had tortilla chips with salsa and corn dip . I was little worried making the dip because it looked nothing like the recipe picture, but it turned out just fine. Everyone ate it so fast I didn't even think to take a picture. For dinner, I had carrots, vegetarian stuffing , basmati rice, mashed potatoes, corn, vegetable soup (not pictured - but it had vegetable broth, peas, lentils, carrots, and barley), a roll with butter, and cookie dough truffles . My truffles also turned out nothing like the pictures, haha. At least they tasted good :) Yum! I definitely didn't feel deprived by not eating turkey. I had plenty! And probably too much starch now that I look back over the pictures . .  How was your Thanksgiving? Anyone going out today for Black Friday shopping? My husban...

My favorite way to celebrate holidays is with food. Some healthy stuff, but plenty of treats, too. Who's with me? :)  I t's nice to cook for more than 2 people! And I like having permission to try something we may not be crazy about (and I just hope the other partygoers will finish it off). With Memorial Day coming up, I've been looking through my Pinterest boards for goodies to bring.  I was looking for something with mostly normal-ish ingredients (as in, stuff I already had in my pantry) and easy to travel with (so nothing that had to be kept warm). Here's what I decided on: pictures from here , here , and here Peanut Butter Brownies - brownies with a peanut buttercream on top?! I love the combo of peanut butter and chocolate, so I'm hoping these turn out as well as the picture! American Flag Cake - vanilla cake layered with red velvet cake, assembled to look like the American flag when cut - genius! This seemed appropriate given the holiday (and if...

Here's a few recipes I've made recently: Homemade Pizza Dough: This recipe was ridiculously simple - as in, dump the ingredients in your bread machine and press start. After I rolled it out, I kept the laziness going by using leftover Papa John's garlic dipping sauce rather than than making pizza sauce. Topped it with cheese, baked for 20 minutes, and viola - dinner! Quinoa Cups: I needed bite-size food to bring to a party - and I had made this recipe before with great success (it's very forgiving in terms of substitutions ). I used spinach and cauliflower in place of the ham and zucchini and they were delightful. Chocolate Caramel Cake (or  Better than Sex Cake , depending on the crowd): I first tasted this at work when we celebrated a co-worker's birthday, and I made this for one of my husband's homecoming parties last week since he loves it. You don't have to combine the milk and caramel sauce on the stove, though - it works just as well s...

Young House Love and Bower Power are two of my favorite blogs, so I was super excited last week to hear they would be hosting a Pinterest Challenge. Basically, pick a pin, recreate it, and blog about your results. Since they really twisted my arm, I decided to make Cake Batter Doughnuts , originally created by Katie at Chocolate-Covered Katie . These don't exactly taste like cake batter . . or doughnuts. Mine were more of a fluffy muffin consistency (probably because I used half white and half whole wheat flour). But still delicious. They have less sugar and butter than other doughnut recipes, which means you can eat two without a stomach ache (I know this because I had to eat two - one with sprinkles and one without - for science). Click over to get the recipe - and ideas if you don't have a doughnut pan. Is it bad that I had one? ;) I can't wait to see everyone else's projects! linking up with: Megan from The Remodeled Life Katie from Bower Power ...

I saw this recipe in the newspaper today and couldn't resist! They are thick and chewy like a brownie, but not as rich and easier to carry - perfect! Here's my tweaked version: Brownie Cookies • 1 1/2 cups flour • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder • 4 tablespoons butter, softened (half a stick) • 4 tablespoons coconut oil, softened • 3/4 cup sugar • 1 egg • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Instructions Stir together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder.  In a separate bowl, cream butter, coconut oil, and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients. Put dough in a container with a lid in the fridge for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the cookie dough on a floured surface. They should be 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (makes about 20 cookies). Bake for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are set but the centers are still soft. Top with peanut butter or ice cream. Enjoy! ...