my process

I work a few ways when I find a new recipe to try.

The long way: First I stare at pictures of it over and over again until I convince myself it's really something I want to make and something I can actually make. I basically look at my treats board on Pintrest for way way too long. Then I graduate to looking and reading the recipe on whatever recipe or magazine it comes from. Once I've decided I definitely want to make it, I buy whatever ingredients I don't have and then they sit in my pantry until I finally work up the nerve to make it. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, but sometimes you just need the perfect timing.

The short way: I see a recent post from my favorite food bloggers and go straight to the store, buy everything I need, go home and make it. I don't think about when I'm going to eat it, who I'm going to share it with or anything else. I just make it. These granola bars was one of these recipes. I just stopped everything, bought what I needed and made them and was so glad I did because they are worth it.

Usually the second method I have works out better. Whatever I make in the spur of the moment tastes way better. And sometimes, I've have the ingredients in my kitchen for so long and they're about to go bad so I make what ever it is. Who knows why I wait forever to make it but I just do.

So if you've made it this fair along and have read about all of my neurotic ways, I applaud you. And to thank you for taking the time to read about my type A tendencies, I share the best granola bar recipe ever. These are not your typical chewy bar granola bars. They are so so so much better! They are moist, full of flavor and good for you. Late at night when I get the desire to eat a second dinner or leftovers from a late lunch out, I eat these instead. They are the perfect combination of sweet and salty and a good balance. Head over to Farmhouse to check out the recipe, Laken has some pretty great recipes on her blog and you should check those out as well.

Most importantly make these granola bars and hide them so no one else can eat them.

** the flaxseed in this recipe should be kept in the refridgerator
** if possible buy ground flaxseed, because otherwise you have to use a coffee or spice grinder. We can't digest the nutrients from whole flaxseed, so it has to be ground, but don't skip them just because of it, its worth it to include!

Thanksgiving Plans

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and this year I convinced my mom it was my turn to plan everything for it and when I started planning it my little type A heart got all giddy. I mean I probably have about 5 different lists for Thursday. Theres a timeline of days leading up to Thursday of what I'm baking and cooking when, my grocery shopping lists organized by what to get at what store (it took over 4 hours to get everything) and maybe a drawing or two of how I'm designing pies. So after all this planning I thought I'd share some of the recipes I'll be making Thursday.
Firstly for breakfast Thursday morning I'll be making this cake with my leftover apples. These yummy parkerhouse rolls, coleslaw, succotash, stuffing, mashed potatoes (all simple not really recipe recipes from my mom and grandmom) those are sides we always include in our thanksgiving menu. I've decided to add to our normal sides and also make these carmelized brussel sprouts and glazed carrots (cant find the recipe online but if you all want it i'll post it later) and then mini pies for everyone in their favorite flavors. I think its been narrowed down to 2 pecan, 2 pumpkin, 1 cherry and my favorite 2 apple cranberry pies. Writing it all out makes it seem more daunting now but I think I'll be able to successfully complete everything with my awesome timeline and killer jams (ben rector, amos lee, avett brothers)

now onto just peachy's top 5 tuesday

1. The food
I dont know if you could tell from all the plans discussed above but I really love the food aspect of Thanksgiving. Like really love it. It maybe because I'm a culinary student but even before that I always looked forward to it.

2. The traditions
In my family we all have different things we make on Thanksgiving, my dad and I always make the mashed potatoes together and I always eat the most of them out of all my family, my mom always makes her stuffing and my brothers usually make broccoli and cheese which has sadly been cut this year. Also we have to have tomato juice to drink even though my dad is the only one who drinks it, its just something we always have. Lastly succotash which I thought was a universal thing on thanksgiving but after recent research which yes I did for fun, I learned its a north eastern kinda thing. It yummy and you should all check it out.

3. Being in the kitchen with my family
Yes this too probably has to do with the fact that I'm a culinary student,I love being in the kitchen, it's probably my favorite room in the house. Being in the kitchen cooking with my family is even more fun.

4. Post turkey naps
I probably take a half hour to hour nap between turkey time and eating dessert and its always the best nap I take all year.

5. Mouse on the Maylower
Mouse on the Mayflower is probably the best and only Thanksgiving movie out there. My children will watch this one day. We watched it every year when we were little and now have started watching it again.

Hope you enjoyed this excessively long post on Thanksgiving if youre still reading it after my crazed menu planning.

** dont forget to sign up for my first giveaway!

the time i made 4 dozen cookies and they were gone in 10 minutes

i've been doing a disservice to you guys by not sharing this recipe with you. the first time i made them i made 2 dozen and they actually made it in the cookie jar for a total of 15 minutes before they were gone, the next day i made them again and they didnt even make it into the cookie jar.

the best part is that it takes like no time to put the batter together. after we tried them my mom and i both agreed they were the best cookie we've had in a long time. they were cakey and biscuit like at the same time. they have just enough sugar and with the added combination of the sweetness of the strawberries they have made it to the pile of recipes that i will keep and make over and over again.

the recipe comes from martha stewart so you know its a good one and i found it on one of my new favorite baking blogs always with butter. make sure to check it out.

strawberry shortcake cookies
ingredients:
12 oz strawberries hulled and diced
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup & 1 tbsp sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, cold & cubed
2/3 cup heavy cream


preheat oven to 375 degrees.
mix strawberries, lemon juice and 2 tbsp sugar, set aside. whisk flour, baking powder, salt and remaining sugar. cut in butter (i used a pastry cutter) until coarse crumbs. stir in cream then strawberry mix. scoop out onto a parchment lined baking sheet. bake 25 minutes.
**notes: the recipe says bake for 25 minutes however my cookies took about 10 to bake so just watch to see when they are done.

playing catch up

so much has happened these last couple of days and i havent had the time to blog, so heres the quick summary,cut all my hairs off, i went strawberry picking, made jam twice, burnt my hand making jam, went to the memorial day parade, made 4 dozen strawberry shortcake cookies and went to a concert saturday.

boston bread binge

when we planned our trip to boston, i had one thing in my head that i absolutely postively needed to do; visit flour bakery. i had seen it on throwdown with bobby flay and constantly read up on it everyday until the trip. at one point i think i was more excited to visit the bakery then taking the bread class at le cordon bleu. so when we finally got there i think it felt like i was in heaven. the majority of the weekend i planned what i wanted to do around food, we made sure no matter what we had time to sit and enjoy every meal we ate. so now come the drool worthy photos from flour, im thinking about writing a letter to joanne chang asking if she can start a store in philly or new jersey. i cant get enough of that place, we ended up going there saturday morning for our second breakfast of the day and returning again sunday for breakfast before we hit the road to head home.

a peek at boston

this past weekend i visited boston for the first time with my mom, brother and friend who is basically my older sister. to say that it was lovely is an understatement. here's a sneak peek at all the fun we had, more to come tomorrow!

le cordon bleu

goodies at flour bakery

we may or may not have visited two different ones for breakfast each morning

quincy market

cute dogs everywhere

what i've been up to recently

my last couple of days home before school were kinda crazy. i tried to fit in everything i had forgotten to do until the last week. some of these things included seeing my friends and family for the last time, craft shopping and clothing shopping with my mom, buying things for my school apartment, attempting to buy textbooks, cleaning my room and closet. but lets talk about some of the more exciting things i did:

i made 3 loaves of delicious bread:

once i type up the recipe i will post it because its sooooo good and super easy, however i feel awful because i dont remember for the life of me where and who i got the recipe from

i made homemade butter with my sister:


another simple recipe from joy the baker

i made another batch of whole wheat chocolate chip cookies from this lady and didnt even get a chance to eat them after giving them to my grandmother, great aunt and my family devouring them

i also made lentil soup thats my great aunts recipe. she said she had been making it for a few years and one day she told her husband she was making it and he finally admitted he didnt really like it one bit however he had ate 2 bowls of it whenever she made it up to that point

a recipe will be posted soon because i think its too good not to share

my parents made dutch bread


and finally i made little bits of heaven aka oh baby bars aka peanut butter cups


and finally i started working on organizing all the recipes i've printed out and putting them in a pretty binder if you have any great recipes let me know im always looking to try new ones out.

now im at school and still trying to get back into the school mode, i keep thinking it really hasnt started yet. hope you have a lovely wednesday :)