UPDATE

I took a much needed break from this blog. Not only was I feeling uninspired to make fun and unique food dishes, but it consumed a lot of my thoughts. Instead of worrying about what I will post next, I decided to just pretend this didn't exist.  I was also really bored of only posting about food. Although I still love it and I still cook/bake on a daily basis, it isn't the only thing I'm doing.  I'd like to say my "break" was all voluntary; however, a little nugget that we adopted as our own has taken up much of my time these past 3 months.  We have spent a lot of time training, learning to walk, and having puppy dates.  My last post was on March 16th and since then I've been having a lot of fun with friends, family, and my "kids." 

From here on out, the blog will feature not only food but fun!

Banana Muffins - Pinterest Review

After getting back from a week long vacation, the bananas I bought before leaving were looking less than appetizing sitting in our fruit bowl.  The best part of buying bananas is that even if they go bad, they still can be useful.  I found this recipe on Pinterest, and decided to try it out with my browning and bruised nanners.  They ended up turning out delicious and super moist.  If I had been stocked in powder sugar, I would have added the cream cheese frosting to make these even more decadent.  This recipe is perfectly easy, and I love how chunks of banana can be found inside. Check out the original recipe here at Clockwork Lemon's Blog !

Salted Caramel Pear Tart

I was inspired by a recipe I found on Bluebonnets & Brownies blog for pear bars. They looked delicious and I loved that they weren't the standard apple that we usually see. I finally got around to making something myself with pears.  I didn't have all the ingredients and wasn't in the mood to make my own dough, so I came up with this idea inspired from her original post.  For this recipe I used crescent dough because that's what I had in my fridge, but it would have been better with pie dough.  You could also make this flat on a cookie sheet with puff pastry if you wanted.  If you don't have pears, or if you don't like them, apples, plums, or peaches would also be delicious in this recipe.  Using the packaged crescent dough made this an effortless treat.  I think Blake's work will be happy tomorrow when I send him in with the left overs!

Tortellini Soup

This winter has already been a doozy, and it's only the middle of January.  Cold, snowy weekend days like these call for soup making.  I love soup because you can use up vegetables and other items in your fridge and no matter what the combination, somehow it always tastes great! The cheesy tortellini adds a wonderful change from the normal boring old pasta, and it is wonderfully filling.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

It's soup season here in Michigan.  It's supposed to be in the thirties all week, so nothing tastes better than a nice worm bowl of soup.  I can honestly say that I never liked squash growing up, but I was never really forced to eat it either.  Lately, I've become more and more in love with these delicious veggies.  This soup does require some time, so keep that in mind if you're looking to make it for dinner.  There are also quite a few steps involved, and you are going to want to make sure you have either a regular blender or an immersion blender.  The natural sweetness from the squash and sweet potatoes are complimented wonderfully by the salty bacon. 

Cranberry Pistachio Pumpkin Spiced Biscotti

This cold weather makes me want to sit on my couch drinking coffee for an entire day.  Unfortunately, I usually have to go to work, which turns my ideal coffee and couch date into me rushing out of my house with my thermos and chugging my coffee in time to have my first meeting at work.  I'm not a fan of the pumpkin spiced coffee drinks, but I definitely enjoy pumpkin flavored desserts.  This was my first time trying a Biscotti recipe.  I found the main recipe on Pinterest and then adapted it by adding in cranberries, pistachios, and dunking it in white chocolate.  The best part of Biscotti cookies, is that they are already hard and therefore make for easy Christmas gifts.  They would do perfectly fine if shipped and they would taste as fresh as the day they were baked.  You can find the original recipe here at On Sugar Mountain blog .

Sriracha Dressing

I don't know about you, but Sriracha is a staple in our household.  Blake literally will put it on anything and everything.  I have grown to love it on pizza and eggs, and it's obviously amazing with tacos.  Since I was crazy and planted three tomato plants, and we clearly could not eat them fast enough, I decided to make a simple tomato and parsley salad for dinner.  To spice it up, I sprinkled goat cheese on top.  The real kicker, however; was the Sriracha salad dressing.  It gave the salad a kick without taking away from the freshness of the herbs and tomatoes.