Vanilla Macrons {On Steroids}

It's been awhile since my last foodie post, and I'm kinda missing it. So I'll delight you (but mostly me), with this delicious post on these vanilla macrons my best friend and I made the other day. Mind you they came out a bit big so deal. The bigger the better right- screw those tiny, petite, and French Macrons you buy in pretty boxes. Ours were really good- especially for our first macrons.

Recipe found here I'd recommend piping small amounts of the batter and less almonds.

Xoxo

Bites

*** Sorry for no posts, I skipped school to babysit my sick sister and then I end up getting sick, but way worse. I am now breathing through one nostril and coughing every second of the day. :( ***

This post is overdue but I have to tell you all about these deliciously amazing cupcakes. I went over to my best friends house (she's an ultra baker), hoping to get some baking done. I recalled a cupcake recipe from Une- deux senses of Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes! How decadent and amazing does that sound? It took us like 5 hours, 6.5 sticks of butter, and hundreds of little chocolate chips! We had to core the cupcakes (I failed miserably!), but the best part was decorating them. I was getting very into them and created a masterpiece -no joke! The cupcake had three parts: the cupcake, the filling, and the frosting (which had flour in it, which through us for a loop). Overall these little beauties were amazing, and it can be hard to say no to seconds.

MASTER!

**Warning: these are decadent 
and not for the weak hearted, these require hearty eaters, dieters beware!**

Burnt Hand {Oh + Meyer Lemon Cookies+ Breakfast Pizza}

Saturdays are quickly becoming by cooking day. On the menu: Breakfast Pizza and Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cookies. I was really hesitant to trying the breakfast pizza, which included three eggs! But it turned out real nice, the mozzarella cheese was amazing, it was perfectly melted. We had to adapt the recipe to what we had, which wasn't really that much.

Later on in the day I made Meyer Lemon Cookies. I had a war with the hand held mixer, from like the '80's, that decided to spit out all of the butter and sugar, and eggs! So much fun. But once I got the hang of it, it was smooth sailing.

Until I burnt my hand: I took out a batch of the cookies with a cloth and placed on the counter to cool. I then move on to my next task. I completely forgot that I just took the cookies out, so when I went to move them I grabbed the searing HOT cookie sheet and burned my hand. I then proceeded to shout and scream and stick my hand into a bowl of freezing water. After about 20 minutes of crying I went back to work to finish the darn cookies (this time making sure I didn't touch anything hot). The cookies turned out really nice. The best part was the glaze. The Meyer lemons added such a sweet lemony taste that was absolute perfection. They were a perfect pick me up after the burnt hand. 

Cooking has become really enjoyable for me. My favorite part is when something goes horribly awry but then comes out surprising really good. Or watching someone else get pleasure out of what I made. Food is good.

Monsieur et Madame

The idea of a three day weekend sounds marvelous on the first day, not so much on the last day. It makes me wonder, "why not four? or a whole week?" But oh well I'll take what I can get, especially since this is the homestretch (school wise). Only a couple more weeks until I am finished with academic classes (doesn't including the whole month project we must complete). My weekend was very restful and peaceful (I hope yours was as well). I cooked, shopped, watched Three's Company, and relaxed--> a perfect weekend.
Like I said I did some cooking this three day weekend, on Saturday my sister and I made Croque Monsieur, it was amazing! On Sunday we did the same thing, but for my parents. And on this fine morning I made Croque Madame. Both included delicious black ham, swiss cheese, gruyere cheese. Take a look:

Croque Monsieur

Croque Madame

They were so yummy! I adapted both recipes from The Simply Luxurious Life .

Chef?

This isn't really a cooking blog, I may include some tidbits of my cooking adventures here and there, but as of late I really want to cook (like all the time). My mom is an excellent cook with the natural abilities to make/edit/combine recipes- something I am really jealous about. My dad has even said, "If your mom didn't cook I wouldn't have married her." So... the way to a man's heart is really through his stomach. I have been searching the internet for recipes, but what really grabs me are the pictures, they look so good and I am rather enjoying it because it is like eating and tasting the essence of the food without actually eating it. This sudden urge to cook came from a banana nut bread pudding I made for my parent's anniversary this week, and I was really surprised to find out that everyone really liked it. With that said here are a few recipes I am dying to try very soon, and if anyone knows of cooking classes in San Francisco please let me know as I am looking for one! Enjoy these mouth watering pictures...

Breakfast Pizza

Whole Wheat Vanilla Bean Pancakes

Peach, Prosciutto, Rosemary & Goat Cheese Flatbread

Brown Sugar Strawberry Tart

Grapefruit-White Chocolate Macarons

* none of these pictures are mine, but they are linked back to their source in the titles!