Dark Citrus Upside Down Cake

It's January 1st and we spent our day baking and cooking up some new recipes. My favorite color palette is filled with warm tones and I've been dying to shoot something with sliced citrus so Shay decided to whip up this Dark Citrus Upside Down Cake. It's definitely one of those aesthetically impressive cakes but it's fairly simple to bake so follow along and bring this zesty slice to your next gathering. 

Ingredients: 

- 1 Grapefruit

- 1 Tangerine

- 1 Naval Orange

- 1 Lemon

- 1 Lime

- 1/2 Cup White Sugar

- 1/4 Cup Water

- 1/2 Cup Butter Room Temperature

- 1/3 Cup White Sugar 

- 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

- 2 Large Eggs

- 1 Tablespoon Orange Juice

- 1 Tablespoon Grapefruit Juice

- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

- 1 Tablespoon Zest Total (Zest Each Fruit)

- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

- 1/2 Cups Flour

- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

- 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

- 2/3 Cup Lemon Greek Yogurt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cake pan with parchment paper. Be sure to spray the parchment paper with nonstick spray.

2. Slice citrus half inch thick and then remove the skin from each slice. I would recommend using scissors to remove the skin so that a more defined circular shape is made. 

3. Microwave the 1/2 Cup White Sugar and 1/4 Cup of Water together until the sugar dissolves into the water. I microwaved ours for roughly 1 minute. 

4. Pour half of the sugary water into the cake pan and line the citrus slices onto the sticky substance. Note: This is going to be your cake top so be sure to arrange them aesthetically. When finished, pour the rest of the sugar water over the lined citrus.

5. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and 1/3 Cup White Sugar & 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar together. Add in the eggs, fruit juices, zest and vanilla extract.

6. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine. 

7. Slowly mix the flour mixture and Lemon Yogurt into the wet ingredients, alternating between the yogurt and flour until all is combined. 

8. Pour batter over the citrus slices and spread evenly. 

9. Bake for 35 minutes and remove from oven. Allow the cake to settle and cool completely before flipping over. 

10. Flip and Enjoy!

Havarti Joins the Party, Balsamic Fig Arugula Pizza

For Christmas Eve we decided to have a pizza night and one of the pizzas we whipped together was this Havarti Joins the Party, Balsamic Fig Arugula Pizza. We are big foodies so when we do cheat meals, we go pretty hard. We ended up making four large at home pizzas and this one was both of our favorites. This pizza is definitely one to make when you want to wow your guests. One bite and we both instantly were impressed. Pizza is such an easy go to when you're trying to please everyone who's hungry - this pizza is the perfect taste to impress and to whip up. 

Ingredients: 
- 1 Pizza Dough Roll
- 2 cups Arugula 
- 8 ounces Mushrooms (different assortments make for better taste)
- 2 tablespoons Fig Butter 
- 1 tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Thyme
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
- 6 ounces Havarti
- 3 ounces Goat Cheese
- 1 tablespoon Butter

Directions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and begin prepping your vegetables in a separate bowl. 
2. Mix arugula, mushrooms, minced garlic, and thyme together with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Rub the oils into the vegetables and allow to marinate while you prep your dough. 
3. Roll out the pizza dough and spread fig butter evenly throughout. 
4. Sprinkle goat cheese onto the fig butter and move onto topping with your vegetable marinade. (After your pizza is topped, don't worry if it looks like a salad ontop, the arugula and mushrooms shrink down in the oven so you'll want a lot of toppings!)
5. Slice Havarti over the pizza and add the tablespoon of butter cut into three pieces on the beginning, middle and end of the pizza.
6. Place the pizza in the oven and bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Take out and Enjoy!! 

Key Lime Meringue Pie

This Christmas Shay and I kept everything simple and enjoyed the holiday together at home. Holidays always feel so complicated when your family life isn't picture perfect so instead of making due with a bad situation, we just created a better one. Growing up, we always celebrated Christmas on the night of the twenty-fourth. Shay did as well so on Christmas Eve we settled into our home and made a massive dinner for two. Shay cooked up four different assorted pizzas for us while I attempted to bake during the day. After finally figuring out how to make a meringue, I feel silly writing this but I had such a hard time baking this pie. I spent four hours trying to get everything right and after tossing the topping out twice, my meringue wasn't set and didn't cook. Shay came home to a jello type pie that was shortly after tossed in the trash. We went out and bought ingredients for a Chocolate Smores Pie and I thought I'd just never perfect a lemon meringue. 

Fast forward to Christmas Day and with Shay's help, we're both determined to make this citrus filled sugar basket a reality. We went to two different pharmacies (because that's the only place open Christmas Day) and found some key lime juice. Here's the idiot proof recipe we ended up whipping together to get this beautiful Key Lime Meringue Pie:

Ingredients:

- 12 Graham Cracker Sheets Crushed

- 6 Tablespoons Melted Butter 

- 1 Tablespoon Key Lime Zest

- 14 Ounces Sweetened Condensed Milk

- 1/2 Cup Key Lime Juice

- 5 Eggs Room Temperature (Yolks & Whites Separated)

- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

- 1/2 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

- 1/2 Cup Sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the Oven to 350 Degrees. Combine your crushed Graham Crackers & Melted Butter to create and lay down the pie crust.

2. Combine the lime juice, zest, egg yolks, and condensed milk for the filling in a separate bowl. When mixed properly, fill the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes or until set all the way.

3. While pie cools, beat the remaining egg whites with your electric mixer. THIS STEP WAS KEY FOR ME. Beat only the egg whites first. (Tip: place your mixing bowl in the freezer before mixing, it helps!) 

4. Slowly add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue mixing and add the cream of tartar and vanilla extract. If it's your first time making a meringue, don't worry! It's supposed to take a while until you start seeing the mixture create peaks. If you're mixing for twenty minutes and there still aren't peaks, you've done something wrong! 

5. Preheat the over to Broil and top the meringue mixture onto the set cooled pie. Place in oven for roughly five minutes. WATCH YOUR PIE CAREFULLY. Broilers work fast but if you don't have a kitchen torch because honestly, who does?, they're perfect for the meringue textured burnt tips!

6. Serve and Enjoy! 

Easy Homemade Blueberry Danishes

I low key think I found a winner for what I'm baking for Thanksgiving Dessert. These little guys are honestly just so beautiful and easy to make and they're absolutely delicious. I know I've been testing out a few different treats but I'm all about the presentation. I love seeing something just look out of this world unreal and these Easy Homemade Blueberry Danishes are just the real deal. Similar to the beautiful colors of the Brie & Cranberry Sugar Puff Pastry Swirls, the beautiful colors of creamy blue and delicious cheese are just all I could ever want and need. 

Here's What You'll Need:

- 1 8 oz. Package of Cream Cheese

- 1/3 cup Sugar

- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

- 1/2 Fresh Lemon Juiced 

- 1 cup Frozen Blueberries

- 1/2 cup Blueberry Preserves

- 1 Package of Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets Thawed

- 1 Egg 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Make sure to take out your Puff Pastry Sheets a little ways before cooking so they can thaw.

2. In a small bowl, beat the package of cream cheese into a more workable consistency. I basically just used a large spoon to mash it down and around, don't worry too much about consistency. Add in the sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla and combine the lot thoroughly. 

3. In a separate bowl combine the frozen blueberries and blueberry preserves. 

4. Cut your Puff Pastry Sheets into Large Rectangles, with two sheets I made twelve rectangles. Using a fork, press down the edges of your rectangle. (This step is honestly not necessary it just makes the final product look slightly nicer.) In a small bowl, whisk your egg and brush the egg wash onto each rectangle.

5. Take a scoop of your cream cheese mix and put a dollop on each rectangle's center. Top that with one scoop of your Blueberry Mixture. 

6. Bake the Danishes for about 15-20 minutes or until brown. Serve hot or cold but definitely make sure to ENJOY! 

Lemon Pop Puffs

Today I witnessed my very first baking fail. I had browsed a few recipes for what to do with Pastry Puff Shells last night and came across this one here. I'm obsessed with lemony baked goods. I'm literally that weirdo that will choose the lemon flavor over any of the chocolatey goodness. Lemon Poppyseed anything is my guilty pleasure and it always baffles me when people go for anything else. So I decided to try to follow that recipe and in my tired haze wrote down that I had to buy lemon curd. Picked up a small jar and also all of the ingredients meant to make lemon curd, do you see where I'm going with this? Anywho, got home and started putting everything together when I realized I didn't have a stainless steal bowl. Lemon curd is apparently one of those fancy nifty things that you need to make with a double boiler or a pot of boiling water and a stainless steal bowl. Now since I'm lame and have only been living on my own for almost exactly a year now, I realized I did not own the obvious double boiler but I also didn't even own a stainless steal bowl. I did however come to this realization this morning when I needed either. Long story short my determined little self tried doing it with a normal bowl and stirred and stirred and stirred and hoped with all my little heart but nope, no lemon curd. 

Luckily, I bought the store bought kind (on accident, oy) and was able to still make the recipe without the nifty homemade vibes. I did try to zest it up a little with the powdered sugar and even rubbed some lemon zest ontop of the puffs afterwards but there's no way I can call this a recipe. You follow the baking instructions ontop of the back of the little puff pastry shell box and then when baked, let those puppies cool. Then grab your store bought lemon curd because you're a failure and didn't own the right tools to craft up your own and fill the little flipped in shells with your gooey store bought mess. Top with powdered sugar of defeat and shred some lemon zest ontop to give the illusion of managing to make this recipe your own.

I'm a little bitter, if you can't tell but these things are definitely adorable and sweet. Give the recipe a go, it'll give people the impression you're an artsy baker but realistically you just sold your soul to corporate business selling you homemade lemon curd in a pretty little tin. 

Happy Friday everybody x 

Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Pastry Puff Swirls

Clearly ya'll can see I'm on a baking kick. I really love whipping together recipes and it's honestly awesome to make things people enjoy. Plus the fact that I'm in full control of the photos and the layout and the time I take before actually putting the piece in the oven is kind of amazing too. I can't decide if I love baking more of if I love taking photos of food more. I'm pretty sure they're equally satisfying. Plus, testing out a nibble or two of the final product isn't actually the worst thing in the world. 

Going off of the Cranberry & Brie Sugar Puff Pastry Swirl Recipe, I used the second sheet of Puff Pastry to make these Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Pastry Swirls. The recipe is basically all the same but instead of using brie and cranberries, I loaded this pastry puff with coconut flakes, cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips and a banana. They turned out sweet and delicious and inspired some recipes to try for tomorrow. 

Is baking my new true calling or is it just another thing keeping me from making this diet stick? 

Chipotle Inspired Burrito Bowl With Cilantro Lime Rice

So guys I have something exciting to tell you all, I know how to cook. Yeah, that's right, me. Stefanie knows how to cook because this here meal was made by, you guessed it, yours truly. (Can you tell I'm tooting my own horn here?) I just feel so accomplished. I totally spent all of Friday researching recipes and measuring up ways to make a healthy dinner for myself that's also nutritious and fun. Shay was able to have a cheat meal with his mom and little old was left to whip up something that'd fit into my daily calories. 

Everyone here is obsessed with Chipotle and their huge burritos and since Shay was making Enchiladas for him and his mom, I wanted to make my own little Mexican inspired dish. Mr. Shay was not at all happy about me prancing around in his kitchen domain and I know he was practically dying when he saw how slow I chop things but gosh darnit, I was determined and I wanted to cook something all by myself. Truth be told, I love cooking. I know I don't really do it right and I'm kind of a rebel who absolutely hates following instructions but I love making myself pretty little plates of food and getting to feel all fancy with my amazing cuisines.

I remember one time when I was in high school I offered to cook spaghetti and meatballs for my whole family. I spent hours rolling little meatballs and somehow I ended up burning the pasta and only making enough for maybe two people at most. I come from a family of five and I just remember how excited I was to start serving their plates up until I saw I definitely didn't make enough. They ended up having take out and I was left with my little burnt pasta bowl but I ate it all and pretended it was delicious too. I'm incredibly stubborn, as you can tell so today when I set my mind to cooking for myself, I did it and I ended up making something I actually even enjoyed. My Chipotle Inspired Burrito Bowl with Cilantro Lime Rice is healthy, filling, lowcarb, and high in protein. It's an awesome meal with rich fresh ingredients and it's something everyone can make and love. 

Here's What You'll Need:

- 3 ounces of Red Peppers                                                                 - 1/4 cup of Cilantro

- 2 ounces of Orange Peppers                                                           - 1/2 cup of Black Beans

- 6 ounces of Diced Tomatoes                                                          - 1/4 cup of Sweet Corn

- 5 ounces of Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast                          - 1/5 cup of Jasmine Rice

- 2 ounces of Avocado                                                                        - 1/2 cup of Diced Onion

- 1 Whole Lime                                                                                    - 1 tbsp. of Taco Seasoning

- 2 cups of Chopped Lettuce                                                             - 1/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella 

Here's How I Did It:

1. Cook your white rice in a pan on the stovetop until fully immersed. Once cooked, drizzle one whole lime and your cilantro onto the rice and let the lime pieces sit and stir with the rice. Season with Salt & Pepper. 

2. While your rice cooks, let your diced onions and bell peppers simmer on a separate plate. Then add your chicken and cook on medium to high temperature. Once your chicken begins to cook, add your taco seasoning and a dash of water so that everything can soak in the seasoning. Let simmer until chicken is fully cooked. 

3. Start putting together your bowl, line the bottom with a helping of chopped lettuce. This will be your volume food and will make up for the smaller amount of grains we'll be using. Top the lettuce with a corner of diced tomatoes and sweet corn. 

4. When your chicken mix is fully cooked, go ahead and add that to the bowl as well. With that same pan used for the taco seasoned chicken, pour in your black beans and mush them together to make them refried and to allow them to take in some of that seasoning.

5. Add your beans to the bowl and you're almost good to go. Top with avocado and shredded mozzarella for some extra taste and healthy fats and protein. 

This was honestly such an incredible meal. It had just the right amount of everything to fill me up and with the shredded lettuce bed on bottom, it felt like I was eating so much food. High volume veggies always help when you're trying to get full while watching your carbs. It also felt really good just making everything at home and using the fresh cilantro and diced veggies to stir everything together. I think Chipotle might have some competition with this amazing Burrito Bowl. 

Feta And Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast

Hi everyone, it's Friday, FINALLY. I usually get to have some big unhealthy beautiful meal on Friday nights but I went a little off track this week and therefore my dinner tonight is still going to be tracked and healthy [insert crying emoji here.] Shay is making his mum some amazing Mexican Food in honor of Mother's Day and I'm going to whip up my own separate Chipotle Inspired Burrito Bowl. I am only working a half day at work today so around noon I get to go home to my apartment and relax for once in my own warm bed. The weather in California is a little iffy this weekend and there's silly chances of rain on the forecast so I'm hoping there's some time to get out and be active soon. I'm feeling a lot better today after eating clean yesterday and sweating all the sodium and carbs away with cardio. It's crazy how much happier your body and mind can be when you're eating real unprocessed foods. It's definitely something I want to make more of an effort of doing again. 

This little recipe post isn't going to be much of a recipe at all because honestly, Shay and I just wung it and through this together last Friday. Our Feta And Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast was heavenly and filled with cheese. Me, being a known cheese-aholic topped mine with beautiful brie and let that bake up in the oven. On Fridays we usually either go for something Mexican or Italian and this one was obviously paired with some baked bread rolls filled with cheese. 

We used some basic ingredients. A few cups of spinach, some onion and fat free feta cheese and cooked those on the stove top first while prepping the chicken breasts. You're going to want to use a mallet to flatten out the chicken so that you have one big long piece. Then just go ahead and fill the center with your mishmash filling and close them up with toothpicks for a sturdy hold. The little dishes we got from World Market are perfect for making single serving meals so we just tossed them in there and topped with more cheese. They baked for roughly thirty minutes and were honestly good to go. Shay's at work today so I wasn't able to get all the ins and outs on how to and so but if you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll be sure to ask him so that ya'll can know. I think it's super sweet when couples make dinner together for date night. As Shay and I were hiking yesterday we were talking about the typical things people do in relationships and most guys take their girls out for dinner and a movie every month or so. My guy cooks for me every Friday night (and most weeknights too) and it's kind of amazing how much fun simple cooking can be. 

It's date night again and thankfully the start of the weekend. I'm looking forward to sharing with you some new recipes but honestly I'm just super jazzed to just sleep and experience and not be stuck at work. What are you guys doing this weekend? Is anyone else from California and knows of fun places to explore? Either way, happy weekend and have a lovely Friday.