Two years ago, I flew to Thailand and took three friends, my brother, and my dad with me! It was an excellent little adventure with a unique and diverse crew. Besides my family, everyone was meeting each other for the first time. Everyone meshed so well, and spirits were high throughout the trip.
We explored Bangkok for a few days and then participated in a five-day yoga retreat near the Gulf of Thailand. During the retreat, I enjoyed leisurely breakfasts after asana each morning. Perusing old drafts of blog posts today, I came across these images of all the breakfasts I ate during the retreat. This happened just as I was preoccupied wondering what I would eat for breakfast tomorrow, which usually isn’t a priority, but I’m donating blood tomorrow – eek! I’m nervous, so I’m going to get up early and eat and drink a fair amount. Hopefully, this will help calm my nerves and make me less likely to faint!
Below I share a week of Thailand breakfasts and then some ideas as to what I eat as a first meal here in the States. Notice I said first meal? Today I ate my first meal a.k.a. breakfast around 11:30 AM and then I didn’t eat again until 6:30 PM. This is pretty standard for me as a heavy lunch puts me right back into snooze mode.
*This post was first published in September of 2017, but we’re republishing it today because it’s pie day!… technically we should be baking this in a circular pan. If you bake it in a rectangular pan for Pi Day, use it as a test and see if any of your guests call you on it. 🙂
I mentioned this dish in my recent farm share post, and with fall right around the corner, it’s a perfect time to add this to your repertoire.
This dish includes all of the best comforts of shepherd’s pie with added interest from the Moroccan spices and added simplicity from the sliced potatoes. The first time I made this we took it to a friend’s house and everyone around the table (from the 1 yo to the adults) loved it!
We are big shepherd’s pie fans, but honestly, I never make it because I don’t want to mash the potatoes. But as soon as I saw this recipe, I was all in because the potatoes are sliced instead of mashed. The recipe is from Modern Israeli Cooking, with just a few slight variations… I have a feeling you’re going to see us mentioning this book many times throughout the season!
This post was originally published in 2014. We’re republishing it today because donuts never go out of style.
Donuts are a bit sweet for my taste, so I rarely make them, but when I do I’m reminded of how quick, simple, and delicious they are. They’re so much fun that I almost want to make them faster than I can eat them, which is perfect if you have my sweet tooth of a boyfriend. I only ate two from the chocolate-cherry batch and he kindly took care of the rest. I can’t say the same for the little fried rings; we both scarfed those down at record speed. By record speed, I mean less than three minutes. They’re best when they’re hot, we all know that, and in this case, I almost didn’t get a chance to dip them in icing.
First is a delicious baked chocolate donut with cherry frosting and second comes the easiest fried donut of all time. I learned about the latter in YMCA when I was eight, yeah, it’s that easy. So cruise through these recipes with me, but I’m warning you, you’ll want to head immediately to the store to grab the ingredients.
This post was originally published in 2014. We’re republishing it today, because making these donuts on Fat Tuesday is always a good idea.
Today is Mardi Gras, but it’s also known as Fat Tuesday or Donut Day; a day to celebrate and indulge before Lent. Traditionally a fried donut would be served today, so we’ll start with one this morning, but there are so many delicious (and easy!) donut recipes out there, that we thought we would be fun to check in again this afternoon with two different donut recipes, one baked, one fried, both glazed!
I’m pretty sure I’ve mastered homemade kombucha, and I’m sharing my new favorite recipe below. Follow our instructions and you’ll create a nice citrus-flavored kombucha with a light floral aroma. yay!
In addition to sharing our resolutions this month (Kate’s | Sarah’s), we’re also going to share some of the good habits that we’ve picked up over the years. We try many things, but these are the ones that’ve stuck.
As you might expect, we are seasonal eaters. In the winter I love to start my day with a bowl of oats + all the fixings. Since many people are looking to reset their diets after the new year, we wanted to share our super simple method for making steel cute oats.
Happy Friday everyone! Christmas is coming quicker than I can handle, so while I shop online today, I’m also going to whip up a few homemade Christmas gifts that everyone on my list will enjoy. I love giving and receiving edible gifts. Knowing the treats were made with love and care in someone’s kitchen makes them extra enjoyable. If you still don’t have a present for me, here are a few suggestions 😉
Coffee is our ingredient of the season, and we’re slowly building up an awesome archive of coffee posts!
This is the last coffee post to close-out our Ingredient of the Season, so there was no other choice than to end it with dessert. And tiramisu at that… here’s the part where I admit that we’re ending with tiramisu because I was too intimidated to make it earlier in the season.
Don’t be me; tiramisu is not a difficult dessert to make. Just follow our instructions below, and then refrain from eating it all by yourself. Because that’s the hard part.
Tiramisu
Tiramisu is a coffee-flavored Italian dessert that’s a little bit cake-like and a little bit creamy custard, but note that you don’t even bake the “cake” part, and you barely do anything to form the custard layers…. of course, not everyone *has* to learn how to make tiramisu.
From my basic web-browsing, this is a dessert that comes with a lot of opinionated makers and eaters. But not us, we aren’t from the motherland, we aren’t sticklers about our lady fingers (lady parts, now that’s another story), we’re ok with trying different alcohols with the coffee. All we know is a good thing when we taste it, and this is good!
The recipe below is a variation on this one. As you’ll see, that recipe has five star reviews. After reading the comments below that recipe, we made a few changes and were really happy with the results.
*And note that the final 4-6 hours of rest time means that you should make this at least that far in advance of when you want to eat it. I made mine the night before and it was perfect.
Ingredients
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
16 oz mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup strong coffee
1 Tbsp rum
3 Tbsp coffee liqueur (Kahlua or DIY).
5 oz lady finger cookies
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
How-to
In a saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Add in the sugar and continue to stir the mixture over medium heat until it comes to a low boil. Boil gently for 1 minute, stirring/lightly whisking the entire time. Take the mixture off the heat and let it cool slightly. Then pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap or bees wrap (pressing it down onto the top of the mixture to prevent a skin from forming), and place it in the fridge to cool for an hour.
Once the egg mixture has cooled, continue on with the recipe.
Whisk the heavy cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form (you’re just making a simple whipped cream).
In a bowl, mix together the coffee, rum, and coffee liqueur.
Split the lady fingers in half lengthwise.
Place one layer of split lady fingers on the bottom of a 9×9 inch baking dish. Brush the lady fingers with the coffee mixture – you want it to soak in without any excess pooling in the bottom of the dish. Gently cover the lady fingers with about half of the egg mixture (I used slightly less than half and had some leftover). Then cover the egg mixture with half of the whipped cream. Repeat the layers one more time: lady fingers, coffee, egg mixture, and whip. Finish with a dusting of cocoa powder across the top of the whipped cream.
Place the finished tiramisu in the fridge to rest for at least 4-6 hours or even overnight before serving.
This post may not seem revolutionary, but believe me when I say it changed my life. I am not a breakfast person. I don’t necessarily love breakfast foods, but more than that, I just don’t like eating in the morning. My first meal is usually lunch, sometimes even dinner and as far as I can remember, I’ve always been this way. Now that I mix my own cereal, I’m inspired by breakfast again.
Over the past few years, I’ve been trying to pay attention to my nutrition. I always joke that I’m on the single dad diet, basically whatever I can grab and throw together with what’s on hand. I simply don’t have an appetite and no one to cook for, so what’s the point? The point is, good nutrition allows your body and brain to function properly, so I’m giving it a go.
I’m pretty sure I’ve mastered homemade kombucha, and I’m sharing my new favorite recipe below. Follow our instructions and you’ll create a nice citrus-flavored kombucha with a light floral aroma. yay!
