Best day EVER

Excuse me while I take this time to NOT blog about some fancy treat. On Saturday, October 13th, 2012, I married my best friend. It was the best day ever. All of our family and friends came from all over to see us get hitched. I decided to take some time to share some of the great things about the wedding. Which was mostly DIY and included a whole lotta blood, sweat and tears! but for now, let me just say to my dear husband...I love you, and I am so very honored to be your wife. You have shown me what true love is, you have already made it very clear with the birth of our daughter that you are willing to take care of me in sickness and in health. you are a wonderful man and provider, and most of all a wonderful father. You are not afraid to make me cry, because lets face it, everything makes me cry, you are honest and understanding, you are a little crazy and strange and I love you for that! You are my best friend and there isn't anyone else I would rather spend all my days with. Love, Your Fancy Wife 

DIY: Fancy fall inspired wreath

Fall is upon us! well, sorta...I think most people start to welcome fall as soon as the Pumpkin spice latte becomes available, I however, might just be the only person on the planet who isn't crazy about them. I mean, I have tried, really, I tried to like me some pumpkin latte, but I just dont see what the big deal is. Now bring on the peppermint mocha and we have a different story. But this post is not about starbucks and their fancy lattes, it is about my obsession with this awesome wreath. Awesome right? now I am not one to spend that kind of money on decorations, I mean, I would but Ryan would probably leave me. So I decided to make my own! and you should too! its not hard really. All the supplies I used came from the dollar tree! Now, I know mine is not as fancy as the one on Etsy, but I used what I had...fake flowers found at the dollar tree are not the nicest but hey, the closest Michaels is 2 hours away and what can I say, I am cheap. ok, ok, so here is what i did...

I am really bad at taking pictures when doing DIY projects..and i wasnt planning on making this a blog post, but here you go, I started with a dark woody wreath. I suppose you can use any type you find and any size really..I picked this one because it was easy to just stick flowers in between the branches, but you could also use a hot glue gun to stick the flowers on. 

I picked a variaty of fall colors and simply cut the flowers away from the "bouquet" leaving about 3 inches of stem to stick through the wreath.  I first used up all the big flowers I had, alternating colors,

Ta-Da! now you can leave it as is or keep going...

next I added some of these fun things(I dont know what the name of this type of "flower" is, i know, i suck)

I just stuck them in between every two flowers or so...i had an odd number but the end result still looked fine

for some added color I took these guys, 

and I cut them off the stem, leaving no stem attached. 

I used some hot glue and glued the dark red flowers in the middle of each of the mustard color flowers. please excuse this picture, I had a four year old photographer. :)

nice huh?

next i took some ribbon and fed it through the back of the wreath 

and there you have it!

Sorry for such horrible pictures, I promise to get better :D Happy Crafting! -Jess

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Weekend : fancy dark chocolate chip Zucchini cookies

Riley's afternoon snack..fresh from the garden 

I think I need to iron my apron :/

My girl 

Our weekend was very uneventful. Ryan was feeling under the weather, so we decided to stay home and let him rest. On Saturday, Riley and I decided to make cookies., well, I decided, it wasn't until she saw me pull out the giant bag of chocolate chips that she decided to help because she knew she could get a sample :)

 Sunday I made my fourth batch of Tomato Jam which is a pretty painful process(did i mention how much i hate chopping tomatoes?) but I know my efforts will be much appreciated. The recipe for anyone who is interested, can be found here.

 I think I already mentioned the high volume of zucchinis coming out of my garden. I have made so many variations of zucchini and was getting a little bored so in my attempt to make something fancy and interesting, I added a cup of shredded zucchini to my chocolate chip cookies. I know it sounds kinda weird, and when Ryan saw the finished product he said "whats that green shit?" which made me laugh, but I also felt a little scared that I had ruined a perfectly good cookie. But they were awesome! and really really moist, even today..two days later, they are still as good as they were Saturday.
 In my attempt to make the most of my time, I also made some hummus which I served with dinner Saturday night. That recipe will be up later this week, but for now you can enjoy this super fancy cookie recipe.
Happy Baking-Jess

Chocolate Chip Zucchini cookies
Ingredients 
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 
3/4 cup organic granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup shredded zucchini 
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of stand mixer cream together butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy. add eggs one at a time, add zucchini and mix well. remove bowl from mixer and mix in nuts and chocolate chips by hand with a rubber spatula until well combined. on baking sheets lined with silpats (because i dont like a mess) use a cookie scooper (small ice cream scoop) to scoop out cookies, about 1 1/2 inchs apart. place sheets in freezer or fridge to firm. meanwhile preheat oven to 375, bake cookies for 12-13 minutes until golden brown and puffy. let cool for 5 minutes before removing from sheet, place on cookie rack to cool and try not to eat them all while they are still warm. trust me they are delicious this way so it will be hard, but you can do it! be strong! -Enjoy

Fancy Nectarine Pancakes

Every Sunday I make a special breakfast. Usually it is nothing really special, just the simple act of me getting up extra early to make a nice big breakfast is special, and Riley getting a break from her usual oatmeal & apple sauce or Gorilla Munch. Sunday breakfast is usually french toast, whole wheat pancakes or potatoes and eggs. nothing too fancy. But a few weeks ago while reading the Summer Travel Issue of Martha Stewart Living (which BTW was collecting dust since my recent obsession) I came across this recipe for Nectarine Pancakes! Fancy right!? I thought so. So I picked up some farm fresh nectarines from the Farmers Market and informed Ry and Riley that they were not to be eaten! Sunday came and I was so excited to make my family some extra special pancakes! they are super simple, super tasty, and very fancy. Enjoy! -Jess

Fancy Nectarine Pancakes, adapted from Martha Stewart Living (august issue) 
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups organic unsweetened soy milk (you can use regular milk too)
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 Tbsp. organic sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. melted butter
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
2 nectarines, peeled and thinly sliced

 Combine milk and vinegar in measuring cup and set aside to curdle. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, vanilla, melted butter and oil to milk mixture and whisk together. whisk egg/milk mixture into flour mixture until lumps are gone. Heat some butter in a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. working in batches, pour in 1/3 cup batter per pancake, place 2 or 3 nectarine slices on top of each pancake. Cook until small bubbles form on surface, about 3 minutes, underside should be golden brown. Flip, and cook until brown. Serve with REAL maple syrup please! or some freshly made whipped cream! yumm...    

I added this picture to this post because i think it is cute, and Riley has awesome style! <3

M.I.A + chocolate zucchini muffins

So I have been M.I.A and I blame it 100% on this:

 yes, it is true, I have given in to the hype and started reading The Hunger Games! It all started as kinda a joke...When we were visiting SoCal back in April for Riley's Birthday, Ryan and I had a date night and being the lame people we are, we had no idea what to do. So we decided to go see a 10pm showing of The Hunger Games. We left the theater talking about how the movie was not at all what we expected (with all the hype and it being compared to Twilight, I had already judged it, shame on me) the movie was great! When I got sick in June, Ryan came home one day with the book in hand..i laughed and said "I am NOT reading that"..but I did..and I couldnt stop..then i spent two weeks jonesing for Catching Fire, because I was unable to find it at any of the very limited bookstores in my area. Finally we found a copy at Costco and Ryan also grabbed Mockingjay, saying "Might as well, you are gonna finish that one in no time" I just smiled and told him there was no way I was going to finish Catching Fire so fast, but might as well have Mockingjay close at hand. so its been two weeks since that conversation and I am already well into Mockoingjay...I cant put these books down! All I want to do is read! I have been talking about posting this chocolate zucchini muffin recipe for weeks now! so I have put Katniss aside for a moment to share it with you.

I have Zucchinis coming out of my ears!

Riley and the giant zucchini

Riley likes it best raw, but she also likes it with chocolate! :D so without further ado here is my awesome chocolate zucchini muffins recipe. Happy baking! -Jess
p.s. it is not a good idea to bake these when it is 100degrees outside and you have no A/C :P

My little helper

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
ingredients:
4 cups flour (2 cups whole wheat + 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour)
1 1/2 cups organic sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup veggie oil
1 1/2 cup soy milk (or regular milk, whatever you have on hand)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups zucchini, grated 
1 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375degrees, line muffin tins with paper liners, (this recipe will make about 36 small muffins) combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. in a small bowl, whisk together oil, milk, eggs and vanilla, add zucchini. add wet mixture to dry and mix until combined. mix in chocolate chips. use ice cream scoop and scoop into prepared muffin tins. bake for 20 minutes or until center comes out clean. 

her eyes say it all :)

Fancy Carrot top Pesto

Every Friday evening we head to our local farmer's market for good eats, live music, playtime, and of course awesome local fresh fruits & veggies! Last week I came across these lovely, colorful carrots!

 They looked so pretty bunched together that I just couldnt pass them up! As I was making my purchase, the vendor asked me if I liked pesto..umm, yea! He then told me that carrot tops makes some of THE BEST pesto! who knew!? So I came home and went to work...after some research, turns out carrot pesto is pretty yummy, and VERY good for you! 

I started by trimming all the stems, trying to just use the leaves, and discarding the thicker stem parts(mostly because my blender sucks and I knew it wouldn't blend up the thicker pieces very well) 

I tossed everything into my blender and let it whirl away. The end result was this lovely green pesto!

Fancy Carrot Top Pesto

Ingredients

Bunch of carrot tops (from about 8 carrots)

5 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 cup olive oil

1 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 cup toasted nuts ( i used walnuts) 

zest of 1 lemon and Juice of half lemon.

salt and pepper to taste

Remove stems from carrots, save carrots for another delicious recipe. Roughly chop tops and add to blender or food processor. Add garlic, half of oil, half of cheese and nuts to blender as well. To toast nuts, heat dry skillet over medium-low heat and add nuts, keep them moving so they dont burn. Remove from heat once nuts become fragrant. add zest and juice to blender, give it a pulse to allow ingredients to blend together some, add more oil as needed, remainder of cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy over some veggies, pasta, crusty bread or...do what we did:

we made a pizza using the yummy carrot top pesto as our sauce! And we topped it with lots of yummy veggies from the Farmers Market. 

my little helper...aka: Nerd :)

I had to have a bite before I took a picture of the finished product! It was amazing! kinda sweet, kinda wonderful..and really a great way to use up what would normally go into the compost bucket (or to the chickens) so use up those carrot tops and make this pesto! the recipe makes a few cups so you could freeze half of it if you dont know what to do with all of it right away. Happy Cooking! -Jess