Smokey Guacamole

I know it is still chilly in some parts of the country, but here in Dallas spring has arrived. I don't care about the official date. It just feels like Spring. The crape myrtles are starting to blossom, the tulips are opening and everything just seems to be waking up. I know I am. I just want to get out and breathe in the fresh air!

Around here you may not hear people refer to the season as 'Spring' but instead as 'Patio Weather'. The kind of weather where you can go sit on your favorite restaurant's patio for hours. Drinking cold beers and margaritas and eating fresh guacamole. Patio weather = My favorite time of the year.

Heck, it can even be your own patio. And your own homemade guacamole. I like the sound of that! Can I be invited?

Smokey Guacamole

yield: 8-10 servings

4 large Haas Avocados, ripened

2 Roma Tomatoes, diced with seeds removed

1/2 of a Red Onion, small dice

1/4 cup Cilantro Leafs, rough chop

1 tsp Lime Zest

1 TBS Lime Juice

1 1/4 tsp Ancho Chile Powder
1 tsp Smoked Sea Salt (or regular)

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1/4 tsp Cumin

1. Cut avocados in half all the way around, length wise. (Use the tip of a sharp knife to pull out the seed, which you can then plant).

2. Use a spoon to gently scoop out the avocado. Dice the avocado in large chunks and add to a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss without completely mashing the avocado.

3. Serve with chips or as a condiment.

For printable recipe click here.

This guacamole is just perfect. It is bright, fresh and flavorful but the ancho chile powder provides a deep smokey flavor. I made a batch when a group of friends were over and trust me, it didn't last long. Everyone loved that it wasn't mashed and you could still see whole avocado pieces. And I loved that they loved it!

Salted Cashew Cookies with Homemade Dulce de Leche

Dear Old Neighbor,

Hi there. We never met but there are a few things I would like to say. First, thank you for being quiet most of the time. On a few occasions you would listen to a country music a bit louder than I prefer, but that's okay, I occasionally watch musicals a little too loud. You see, my living room and kitchen wall backed up to your living room wall. But you live in an efficiency apartment, so your living room is also your kitchen, which is also your bedroom.

I had an AC vent directly above my stove, which went straight into your apartment. Basically, anytime I cooked, I know you could smell it. The neighbor above me used to comment often about the savory and sweet aromas wafting from my apartment, but I am sure you could smell it as if you were 4 feet away (because you technically were only a few feet away through a vent).

I think after 2 years maybe I should have brought you a cookie, or something. You had to deal with our busy catering season last year, when we were preparing pulled pork weekly (which takes 2 days). I'm sorry for 2 days it smelled like a Dickey's BBQ in your apartment. I'm sorry you had to smell pot roast and tacos. Or cakes, pies and cookies. Or the few times I burnt toast or popcorn. Burnt popcorn is the worst.

But now I have moved away from you and I have another neighbor to torment with my kitchen aromas. But I moved above someone who is really loud. I mean, really, really loud. Sometimes I stomp, but I don't think he can hear me because his music is... so loud. Maybe I should bring him some cookies? I've never tried it, but these would be a good kind to start with.

Your old neighbor behind the wall,

Natalie, formerly #104a

Salted Cashew Cookies

yield: 18 cookie sandwiches

2 1/2 cup Roasted Cashews

2 TBS Peanut Oil

8 TBS Butter, softened

3/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Sugar

1 Egg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 tsp Salt

1 2/3 cup AP Flour
1/2 cup Roasted Cashews, bits

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a food processor, combine the 2 1/2 cups roasted cashews and peanut oil. Process at least 1 minute, until creamy and combined.

2. Add the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer, and add butter and both sugars. Beat until smooth and creamy, and add egg. Mix until combined and add vanilla and salt.

3. Add the flour in 2 stages and lastly add the cashew bits to the dough.
4. Roll dough into 36 even sized balls and smooth down with the palm of your hand (I used a spatula to flatten, to achieve the large lines.)

5. Sprinkle with Fleur de Sel sea salt and bake 8-10 minutes.
6. Let cookies cool. Spread Dulce de leche on a cookie and top with one other cookie.

Dulce de leche

1 (14oz) can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1. Remove paper wrapping and submerge can of sweetened condensed milk in boiling water for 3 to 4 hours. Add more water when necessary (cook 3 hours for a softer Dulce de Leche and 4 hours for a more firm Dulce de Leche. I boiled mine for 4 hours).

2. Let cool completely before opening can.

For printable recipe click here.

These cookies are so great and so balanced. Salty, crunchy, sweet, creamy. I have a few left and I am trying to stretch them as long as I can. I never want to run out. I am on day 3, and they are still as soft as day 1. There are many ways to make homemade Dulce de leche and I chose one of the easiest routes. I may have taken the easy route, but that route is creamy and delicious.

Lemon Chicken wrapped Asparagus, Dinner for One

I just love cooking dinner for friends. It is one of my favorite things to do, and if I had an endless budget I would do it every night. Though most of the time, I am simply cooking for one. Kyle is a cook in a fancy-schmancy restaurant downtown, so Monday through Saturday he is cooking for others while I cook for myself.


This sound unfortunate but it actually works for us. I get to cook a healthy meal for me (or for a friend and myself) and I usually throw together something for him as well. He gets home late and his dinner time is usually around 1am, and that is when he heats up his food. He may be a chef but he has no problem eating a frozen pizza for dinner. He is a guy after all.


One reason why our separate dinner times work is because we eat completely different. He loves anything deep fried, cooked in bacon fat, or from a cow. And I like my food colorful, light, and usually vegetarian or occasionally with chicken.


Many recipes are just too big to make for myself. As much as I want to make vegetarian lasagnas or batches of soup, I just know I won't eat it all and I hate having food waste. I instead try to create 'dinner for one' recipes like this lemon chicken wrapped asparagus. I know I won't have leftovers, I know I will be full, and I know I will be satisfied.

Lemon Chicken wrapped Asparagus
yield: 1 portion

1 Chicken Breast Halve
1 tsp Salt
1 Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Mustard Powder
1/4 tsp Lemon Zest
5 - 6 pieces of Asparagus, trimmed
Olive Oil
Lemon Slices, garnish
Side Salad, optional


preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Wrap a chicken breast halve in plastic wrap and pound until 1/2 inch thick. (Pound with the back of a saute pan or a mallet). Add salt and pepper on both sides.
2. Place the breast side down and place the asparagus spears on the middle of the chicken breast. Sprinkle with mustard powder and lemon zest.
3. Tightly roll the chicken around the asparagus, using toothpicks to hold the chicken in place.
4. In a large saute pan add olive oil to the pan. When hot add the chicken and saute on all sides. Remove the toothpicks and brown on all sides, which should take 1-2 minutes. It should stay together, if it is too loose keep the toothpicks intact.
5. Place the chicken in an oven safe pan and place in preheated oven for 5-10 minutes, until finished cooking and juices run clear.
6. Top with fresh lemon slices.


For printable version click here.

The asparagus was nice and crunchy, and the chicken was very flavorful. A lot of lemon chicken recipes call for packaged 'lemon black pepper' seasoning. Why use that when you can use actual black pepper and fresh, bright lemons? This was a great supper, and even though I ate it alone I was content and very satisfied.

Meringue Cookies

'When I grow up I want to be ______'

How did you used to fill in that blank? As a teenager I would often change my mind and my life goals. Because when you are in high school, you have it all figured out. At least you think you do. For a couple of years I thought I wanted to be an Air Force pilot. No really, I did. But then September 11th happened and everything changed. After that I thought that being a police officer would be pretty cool. I graduated high school and went to community college, still thinking I wanted to be a cop. I realized I needed to lose some weight to be able to run after criminals and I started to exercise and watched what I ate. Well, that then led to an interest in nutrition. Which made me change my mind yet again.

I switched my focus to nutrition, which was very interesting and I still retain a lot of that information. Can you see where I am going with this? The interest in nutrition led to an interest in nutritional cooking, which led me to culinary school.

That was over four years ago, and as you can see, food is my focus now more than ever. I have briefly mentioned on this blog that this summer I will be going back to school to study photography. I can't wait to see where that takes me because I have learned that you can't predict the future. But I do see myself holding a camera in one hand, and a fork in the other. That would make me happy (and hopefully lots of money!)

People have been making meringue since the 1600's and it is said to have been invented in a Swiss town called Meiringen by an Italian chef. A basic meringue cookie consists of egg whites and sugar, so this in a timeless recipe.

I just love meringue cookies. I remember making a batch with my grandmother and I have loved them ever since. They are light, sweet, airy and easy to flavor. I made peppermint, hot chocolate and blueberry. The blueberry was my favorite.

Meringue Cookies
yield: 60-65 cookies

6 Egg Whites

1 1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 tsp Pure Peppermint Extract

1 1/2 tsp dehydrated blueberry powder
1 1/2 tsp sugar free hot cocoa powder

preheat oven to 175 degrees

1. Place egg whites and sugar in a heat proof bowl to an electric mixer. Set bowl over a simmering pan of hot water and stir until sugar has dissolved and liquid is warm to the touch. This should take 2-3 minutes.

2. Transfer bowl to electric mixer and use the whisk attachment to whip until stiff peaks form. Divide into three clean bowls.

3. Add the peppermint extract to the first, the blueberry powder to the second, and the hot cocoa mix to the third. Gently mix each until well combined.

4. Place each mixture into a piping bag with any style pastry tip attached. Pipe equal sized stars or shapes onto two parchment lined baking sheets. (To achieve the marbled look, paint stripes in the inside of your piping bag with food coloring gel.)

5. Bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until crispy but not browned. You should be able to pull the meringue cookie off the baking sheet without it sticking. Turn the oven off and let the cookies cool in the oven. Store in airtight containers.

For printable recipe click here.

These would be perfect served at a number of events! You can make them in any color, which makes them great for parties, gifts, or even candy stations which are popular at weddings right now. And being that the main ingredients are egg whites and sugar, almost anyone can enjoy these cookies. I may not know where I will be in another five years, but wherever that is I hope to have meringue cookies nearby!

Orange Poppy Seed Sweet Rolls

I love cooking and eating food that uses all five of your senses; sight, taste, smell, touch and hear. After all, not everything makes it into each catagory.

Think about it. Taco Bell bean burritos aren't the prettiest things you can eat, but boy do I love them. And Sprinkles Cupcakes sure are cute and all, but they never taste good to me.

But these Orange Poppy Seed Sweet Rolls.
Well, they reach you on all five levels.

Sight I just love how they came out looking. I love anything swirly, it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland for some reason.

Taste These sweet rolls taste fantastic. They are sweet and gooey, though much lighter and brighter than your classic cinnamon roll.

Smell If you have never baked with orange, do it now. It makes your house smell heavenly.

Touch Talk about sticky fingers!

Hear Make these. Give them to your friends. Listen. You should hear something that sounds like this 'mmmmmmmmm'.

Orange Poppy Seed Sweet Rolls
yield: 12 large rolls

4 TBS Butter, softened
3/4 cup Orange Juice, room temperature
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 tsp Salt

1 Egg
1 TBS Poppy Seed
3 cups AP Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1 TBS Butter, melted

1 cup Powdered Sugar
4 tsp Orange Juice, pulp-free

1 tsp Orange Zest

1. Cut butter into small pieces. Set aside.

2. Attach the dough hook to your electric mixer and add the orange juice and egg. Add the yeast and salt. Add the remaining ingredients and turn on the dough hook to medium speed.

3. Knead for 6-7 minutes until completely smooth and butter has been mixed into the dough evenly. Place dough in a large bowl and cover with a clean towel. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour.

4. After one hour dough should be doubled in size. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into 10-inch rope; coil each rope and tuck end under coil.

5. Use the melted butter to brush over the rolls. Cover the rolls with a clean towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for another hour.

6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

7. Combine powdered sugar, orange juice and orange zest in a bowl until smooth. Spread over the rolls.

For printable recipe click here.
If you have a bread maker, click here for recipe.

These sweet rolls are a great way to thank your body for giving you your five senses. Especially that taste one, I like that one a lot.

Old Fashioned Raisin Pie

Raisin Pie... now that's something you don't hear (or eat) everyday. In fact, I didn't even know such a pie existed until just recently. A coworker had asked me if I ever made one, and when I said no he asked me if I would ever want to. I said sure why not, and the next day I had a 5lb bag of raisins on my desk. What a subtle way to say you want me to bake you a Raisin Pie!

He told me his Grandmother used to make him this pie, so I decided to research it a little bit. After all, when I think of my grandmother's desserts, raisin pie doesn't come to mind.

During colonial times the Pennsylvania Dutch dubbed this as 'funeral pie' since it can be made days ahead of time during any season and due to being a double crusted pie, it can be transported easily. This sturdy pie was an integral part of funerals. Friends would bring the pie in hopes that the natural sweetness from the raisins would console the mourners. To this day the pie is served at Amish funerals and is still referred to as a funeral pie.

(I bet you are just dying to try this pie!)

Old Fashioned Raisin Pie
Recipe from Sun-Maid

2 cups Raisins

2 cups Water

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

2 TBS Corn Starch

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Salt

1 TBS Vinegar

1 TBS Butter

1 Double Unbaked Pie Crust

preheat oven to 425 degrees

1. Combine raisins and water and boil for 5 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl combine brown sugar, corn starch, cinnamon and salt. Stir together until there are no clumps remaining and add to the raisins.
3. Stir until the liquid is clear and thick, and remove from the heat.

4. Stir in vinegar and butter. Cool slightly before pouring in to an unbaked pie crust.

5. Cover with pastry or lattice strips as I did. Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

This delicious pie really brings out the best in raisins. The flavors were similar to a pecan pie, but the texture was different. The raisins are plump and soft, not chewy at all. You could add nuts to the recipe for more crunch, and some recipes call for lemon zest which would be a nice, bright addition.

My coworkers tried the pie and all were pleasantly surprised.
I think you would be to!

Blogger Secret Ingredient Winner

hosted this week's Blogger Secret Ingredient and the ingredient I chose was cocoa. I received many mouth watering recipes and it was hard to pick a winner.

But I did, and...

Drumroll please!

Tara at Fun Fearless Foodie made mouth watering Nutella Chocolate Pizzelle Sandwiches. Wow! How great do these sound? I don't have a Pizelle Maker but now I want one. The cookies are beautiful. Beautiful and delicious, what more would you want?

I also have to pass on the Blogger Secret Ingredient Torch, and guess what, the winner is the new host! Check out Fun Fearless Foodie to see the new Blogger Secret Ingredient!

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

I would like to think I have a variety of cuisine on this blog. My favorite thing to share with you are killer cookies, cakes and desserts. And that seems to be yall's favorite too. But I also have healthy meals on here. It's all about balance, yes?

Remember that Tex Mex Quinoa stuffed Bell Pepper I made? Healthy, Vegetarian, and Balanced.

And then I also share the food Kyle eats. Because he doesn't eat healthy, and he sure doesn't eat balanced. But that is okay every once in a while. When people ask me what he eats I tell them he eats the B's. As in bacon and beef.

Remember those Barbacoa Tacos I made for him? They were totally greasy and beefy. Totally Kyle cuisine.

But I realized I was forgetting someone important. After all, I live in a 3 person household. Okay maybe not three person, but two people and one dog. One amazing, spoiled rotten, beautiful, crazy ass dog. If you have been reading my blog for awhile then you should be no stranger to my miniature Australian Shepard named Holly. I told you a little bit about her here.

I have always wanted to make Holly homemade dog treats but the recipes I have looked at are always weird. I never have dried milk powder on hand. And pureed liver is something I am not willing to bring into my kitchen. So I decided to experiment and make my own dog biscuits using ingredients I always have on hand. I even bought a dog-bone shaped cookie cutter for the occasion!

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits
yield: 36 medium sized biscuits

1 cup Low-fat Peanut Butter
1 cup Nonfat Milk
1 tsp Fish Oil, optional

2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 TBS Baking Powder

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a large bowl add the peanut butter. Slowly add the milk while whisking simultaneously. Whisk until combined and smooth. Add fish oil if using.

2. In a separate bowl combine the whole wheat flour and baking powder. Pour the peanut butter mixture on top and use a large spoon to combine.

3. Divide dough into 2 portions. Flour a work surface and rolling pin, and roll to a 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut into shapes (or cut into small squares).

4. Cover two baking sheets with parchment and place the cookies on top. Cookies can be close as they should not spread.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until hard and crisp. Let cool before giving to your pet.

For printable recipe click here.

Holly loved the biscuits. She kept rolling over, giving me paw and playing dead in an attempt for me to give her more and more.

I did try a small bite of the dough, and it tasted very peanut buttery, which any dog is sure to love. The fish oil is optional, I just chose to add it since I already give her a little bit everyday. It promotes healthy skin and fur, which you can see she has a lot of!

If you are a baker then you are sure to have most of the ingredients on hand. You should spoil your dog today! They won't be 'beggin for bacon' after having one of these healthy peanut butter dog biscuits!