cranberry cornbread parfaits + friday links

in

today i finally unpacked from my new york trip. i found: smashed halvah, socks i assumed were eaten by the washing machine, a t-shirt from sammy's roumanian that i promptly gave to eggboy, and a whole bunch of clothes that should have been hanging up for the past two weeks. oops! so that's where i'm at. and this weekend i plan on continuing to get my shit together/become a grown-up/not eat any more fried cheesy pickles because i had my first wedding dress fitting yesterday and i don't wanna talk about it/etc. what do you all have planned for the weekend???

here's a recipe for cranberry cornbread parfaits that i did for west elm's blog! it's an easy peasy brunch recipe and a way to use up thanksgiving leftovers, all layered up in a rustic jar of glee. i'll be over on the west elm blog all month with fun thanksgiving brunch recipes, so start your brunch club engines, ladies and gents!!

friday links!

i thought i was going crazy because for the first time in months (years?) i recently found myself not wanting to go on pinterest. my feed was acting all pooey! it turns out i'm not the only one that felt that way, and luckily there is a solution for getting your pinterest feed back to normal!!!

 tahini and za'atar made two appearances together this week!! such lovebirds, they are. here they are with brussels sprouts and here they are with squash.

everything bagel cheese. i repeat: everything bagel cheese.

do you guys ever use silicone lids?? i never gave them a second thought, but then gir sent me some of their lids and i've used them 238743896340984 times since. i do not remember life before them.

i'm still working my way through all of the outrageous recipes that exploded onto the internet for jessica's baby shower. there is a list of all of them with links here!

hey, this salad is tossed with bacon fat.

this recipe for banh mi rolls is making my little middle-of-nowhere sandwich life complete.

this remixed version of sufjan's "the human plague" is the prettiest.

a crazy look behind the scenes at parody twitter accounts.

michelle made my funfetti cake and covered it with her perfect (malted!) chocolate frosting and i want to stick my head in it, ostrich-style.

why yes, i *would* like to fry a whole head of cauliflower and then smother it in tahini sauce. like right now.

savory muffins, savory waffles, give me all the savories, plz.  

happy weekend, everyone!!!

-yeh!

p.s. there is still time to enter my aloha giveaway!!!

chocolate peanut butter breakfast mousse + a giveaway

in

this week has brought big, fat, snowflakes. thick juicy ones that require us to break out into the schmaltziest of christmas songs while we brew our coffee in the dark of the morning. 

it hasn't really stuck yet, but the christmas shit has hit the shelves,

gingerbread recipes are on my brain,

and i'm slowly adding on a new winter layer by way of bagels and salted butter. (someone stop me or else my wedding dress isn't gonna fit.)

it's happening you guys, winter is totally happening.

for a second there, when the weather was so darn warm during harvest, i was worried that this winter would be one of those freak winters that doesn't have snow. but lolz who am i kidding, those don't really happen here in the north pole, especially during a polar vortex, which by the way is coming for a visit next week!!

i'm so excited i could spit. 

i'm going to hibernate and mull two servings of wine to have with our supper and only watch christmas movies when we don't have homeland to catch up on. but speaking of homeland, i am stressing out about it this week for obvious saul berenson reasons. ughhghghgh. 

so here's a little festive recipe for you to eat in the morning by the window as the snow sprinkles down from the sky. it's mousse inspired by ashlae's two ingredient mousse, and oh how it's breakfasty, let me count the ways: it's made with yogurt! so it's sort of reminiscent of those yoplait whips that i used to get when i was still fearful of grown-up yogurt. it's got peanut butter, so, protein. and it also has hidden green things in it (!!!!!!). i mixed in one of those aloha packets, which is basically a bunch of green veggies condensed down to a powder. you can't really taste it in this mousse + that's one less salad you have to eat later in the day = four bagels' worth of wins. the type of chocolate you'd like to use is up to you: for an extra healthy version, use a super dark chocolate, like 75% or 80%. for a sweeter version, use milk chocolate. you could also experiment with different yogurts. i like using the plain jane variety because i find that most yogurts are just 2 sweet 4 me. and then when you're done, finish the suckers off with some fruit and another dollop of yogurt and dare i say, sprinkles. because...breakfast mousse should have breakfast sprinkles, no?

chocolate peanut butter breakfast mousse

makes 4 servings

ingredients

7 oz chocolate, chips or broken up into pieces

3 tb creamy peanut butter

a pinch of salt

1 packet aloha daily good greens chocolate blend

1 c plain yogurt

 

clues

first: i find it easiest to have all of your ingredients measured out and standing by (cooking show-style), as well as four jars or containers and an electric hand mixer. 

heat your chocolate in a double boiler or large microwave safe bowl, microwaving in increments of 30 seconds, until it's just melted. try not to get it hotter than it needs to be.

if using a double boiler, pour the melted chocolate into a large bowl. (if you microwaved it, you can keep it in the same bowl.) with your mixer, beat in the peanut butter, salt, and aloha blend until combined. add the yogurt and beat for 30-60 seconds, until it begins to thicken. transfer to your jars and then, i mean, you *could* eat it now, but it's best to let it set up for at least half an hour in the fridge.

have yourself a classy, mousse-y breakfast!

-yeh!

if you'd like to win an aloha trial pack, leave a comment telling me about your favorite way to incorporate chocolate into your breakfast! open to u.s. residents only. update: this giveaway is now closed.

thanks so much to aloha for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!

brisket tacos + an end of harvest party

in , ,

this year's end of harvest party was extra special. it was eggboy's first one as a man in charge, alongside eggdad, and it was our first gathering in the space where our wedding reception will be! the space is typically used for tractors and tools and welding, but we cleared it out, put up string lights all hipster-like, and set out the baddest taco bar in the history of midwestern taco bars. 

eggboy contributed about 12 kinds of salsa and i spearheaded some brisket, even though i was nervous about cooking for a bunch of big burly hunter men. because, i mean, preparing meat does not come as naturally to me as, say, baking a cupcake. i did not grow up eating red meat and when i was little i did not even really like any meat unless it was (turkey) baloney or (turkey) salami. so tell me to host a high tea or afternoon cake club and i will do it in a jiffy, but inform me of a dinner that i need to cook for 16 people that probably kill a majority of the meat that they eat and i will be a nervous nelly. very nervous nelly.

so i hyperventilated a bit and stressed out but in the end i chose brisket for the centerpiece of our tacos because in the past few years, brisket has wiggled its way into my life by way of the jewish holidays and i invited it to stay a while because of its earth-shattering smells and perfect next-day sandwiches. brisket might actually be my comfort meat, my entryway into the world of non-lunchmeat meat. each time i make it, it gets easier and i think why don't i make this more often? maybe when i'm a real married minnesota lady, one of those who has a slow cooker, i'll make brisket on the reg and you can all come over for brisket tacos every other tuesday.

here was our menu:

for noshing // chips, a butt load of guac, and every single kind of salsa that eggboy could get his hands on

for the taco bar // zinfandel braised brisket (recipe here), a light cabbage slaw, and all the fixins you could ever want

on the side // roasted sweet potatoes

for sipping // kendall-jackson vintner's reserve zinfandel

for dessert // eggsister's coconut cream pie!

happy taco-ing everyone!

-yeh!

thanks so much to kendall-jackson for sponsoring this post!!!! all opinions are my own!

mini vanilla loaf cakes, all trashed up

in

as someone who relished in epic birthday parties growing up, including an oscar mayer wiener party, a carnival party, and a green party (thanks, parents!), i'd just like to say that i am 100% grateful to now be knee-deep in the bridal and baby shower phase of my life. i love planning them, i love attending them, i love filling the registry for my own bridal shower with cake stands and more cake stands... i think i was made for showers because, see, there was a time period in my early adult years when celebrations meant going up to the dinosaur barbecue on 125th street, getting real real drunk, eating a ton of peanut butter pie, going to three different parties, and then ending back up at 125th street for mcdonald's before going to sleep with all of my makeup on. and ok, that was fun, but there were no decorations or fun invites involved, no themes to be aware of, no homemade cake. now that i'm a true grandma on the inside (as proven by my new 9:30 bedtime, kidding, but kind of not really) i am fully ready to party by way of playing cute bingo and visiting with all the ladies at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

i even made egg salad about it.

i made egg salad and biscuits and all of these little loaf cakes in girlie pastel colors in honor of two showers this week. one was a few days ago, an eggcousin's classy bridal shower, and it came complete with wedding-themed catch phrase and chocolate covered potato chips. the other is jessica's baby shower today, thus the whole trashed up thing! in trying-to-be jessica fashion, i trashed some of these babies up with gummy bears, chocolate chips, and more sprinkles.

seriously, just shower me with sprinkles now. 

obviously you don't need a cute loaf pan to make these, you can make them as cupcakes. but if you do find yourself in the loaf pan aisle, i highly recommend one. they're the cutest.

mini vanilla loaf cakes with buttercream frosting

makes 16-18

ingredients

for the cakes:

2 1/2 c cake flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 c sugar

2 large eggs

2 tb vanilla

6 tb vegetable oil

1 c whole milk

for the frosting:

2 c (or 4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3 c powdered sugar, or to taste

2 tsp vanilla

1 pinch kosher salt

for decorating:

coloring for frosting (i used natural food dyes, matcha powder, and pomegranate juice)

sprinkles

sanding sugar

gummy bears

chocolate chips

any thing else.........

clues

preheat oven to 350. grease your mini loaf pan and set it aside.

in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. add vanilla and oil. 

beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and then beat in the milk. scoop into your pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. begin checking for doneness at 18 minutes.

let cool.

to make the frosting, beat together the butter and sugar. add vanilla and salt. taste and add more sugar if desired.

frost your cakes, decorate the crap out of them, and enjoy!

happy baby shower, jessica!!!!! (and biggg thank you to ashley and bev for organizing this shower! check out their blogs for lists of all of the other trashed up goodies :)

-yeh!