Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 334

March Favorites: Beauty.

Hellllo best time of month!

I have the most boring beauty favorites ever for you this month! Just a few things, but things I’m reeeeally loving. Seriously.

One of the reasons things are so boring is because I’m using and adoring every single thing in my favorites post from last month. Every single thing!

Next month, I’ll probably have some great travel faves because I’ll be traveling for my book tour and also wearing more makeup.

So okay, onto this month!

Benefit Gimme Brow. OMG OMG OMG, thank god it is BACK! I tried everything under the sun that you guys told me to try. All the products that were similar. NOTHING worked like the Gimme Brow. The Essence brow came very close – I agree with you. Super close. But just not close enough for me to switch. The Essence formula was inconsistent in quality and would go on patchy. The brown shade was also just… different. I don’t know how else to explain it, but it was an odd shade. It applied so inconsistently that I couldn’t ever love it 100%. As soon as I saw that Gimme Brow was back, I bought five of them like a complete psycho.

Le Volume de Chanel Mascara. Um, OMG. I absolutely love this. I bought this when Nordstrom did one of their buy 2, get 1 free mascara promos because I’d heard great things about it. I don’t have much other Chanel makeup and rarely even find something I’m interested in. I ran out of my Stila Huge Lash and had this on hand – fell in love almost the instant I opened it. It’s AMAZING! I usually prefer lengthening mascaras but I find that this one does length and volume perfectly. It’s great. And remember back in the day when I first started my beauty posts and was in love with the YSL color mascaras? They have them in this too. And I want them!

RMS Buriti Bronzer. I am officially obsessed with all things RMS. I am still only using the luminizer and when I saw this, I knew I had to try it. I LOVE it. It is so super natural and works great even on my very pale, cool-toned skin (where most bronzers tend to look orange). I love cream or gel products since I have dry skin, and this is just awesome. It does require a bit more work than a powdered bronzer, but that’s probably just a learning curve for me right now.

Dr Jart Premium BB Balm. This is something I’ve raved about for years, but used to only wear in the summer. I brought it out because I’ve wanted a little more coverage for book events and just don’t want foundation. I’ve already gone through an entire one and just ordered a new one. Sometimes I wear it alone, sometimes I mix it with the Complexion Rescue (which is my daily go-to) and I think the color and formula is wonderful.

Jo Malone Mimosa and Cardamom Cologne. I know I talk about this often but it’s the scent I can’t stop wearing right now. I find that it’s perfect for this time of year – still sort of warm with a slight hint of floral. I absolutely LOVE this scent!

Redken Hot Sets 22 Heat Protectant Spray. Yes, I realize that I talk about a new hair product like this every few months. It’s because I usually buy whatever my stylist is loving at the moment. And he used this on my hair while I was there… and it’s awesome. First, I got like 6ish inches of my hair chopped off. I’ve been using a curling wand more often (when my hair was super long, a wand wasn’t holding the curl) and spray this on it before. It holds the curl SO well. And it’s not crispy or crunchy. It might get a little crunchy if you spray too much, but you can easily brush is out. I’m obsessed. I like this a little better than the Memory Mist that I have been using!

There it is… concise, a little boring, and all things I’m adoring.  I can’t wait to hear what you’re loving this month! I have my eye on a Tom Ford perfume (Neroli Portofino! – but do I have to get the expensive one or can I get the auqua version!?) and also just got this Jet Lag mask to try!

Also guys! I bit the bullet and finally got lash boost. Because I am thisclose to getting lash extensions even though I saw that all the time. I figured I would try it and see! Just came today soooo… next month we will know! Eeeek.

{as usual, none of this is sponsored and all of these products were purchased by me. i am not affiliated with any of the companies above, nor do i accept free products. just love to talk about what i like, makeup junkie to makeup junkie. there are some amazon and general reward style affiliate links above. thank you for being here!}

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Rosé Hibiscus Mimosas.

[Have you got your copy of The Pretty Dish yet?! It would make a fabulous Easter gift!]

The rosé mimosa is our new signature cocktail!

At least for now. Until we’re drowning in margaritas in two weeks. I CAN’T WAIT.

In other news though… how incredibly stunning are these leaves?! Prettiest color ever.

I’ve made a cocktail with hibiscus before and I actually used the dried whole flowers. I really love them! But it’s difficult to find them (even on amazon) and the place where I usually got them closed shop, so I had to take a different route.

I ordered this organic culinary hibiscus from amazon – which I do a lot. I get my culinary lavender and culinary rose petals from amazon and they are here in two days, so it’s super easy! And you get a ton that lasts forever. I use lots of dried petals in The Pretty Dish for both recipes and beauty DIYs – the sugar scrubs and bath melts especially!

For these mimosas, I made a simple syrup with the hibiscus leaves, sugar and water. So easy. Can be made ahead of time! Can be made for all sorts of adult beverages.

Holy cow. I wanted to DRINK this stuff alone. It was so super delicious. With a few spoonfuls in the bottom of your glass and bubbly rose champagne on top, this is the most gorgeous cocktail ever. It tastes amazing. It looks amazing!

It’s also just SO simple for such a fancy sounding cocktail. And it works perfectly in a “bar” type setting – like if you want to set up a mimosa bar for brunch! Add your syrup to a little jar and have a few bottles of chilled champagne.

And then please invite me.

I garnished mine with a few of the fresh lavender sprigs I had left from making these lattes and loved the contrast. Brunch has never been so cute!

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Rosé Hibiscus Mimosas










Ingredients:

hibiscus syrup

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
2 teaspoons dried hibiscus leaves

mimosa

2 tablespoons hibiscus syrup
4 to 6 ounces rosé champagne



Directions:

hibiscus syrup

Place the sugar, water and hibiscus in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk until the sugar dissolves, bringing the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and set the saucepan aside. Let it cool completely. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove the leaves. Store in a sealed container in the fridge! The syrup will make about 3/4 cup.

mimosa

Fill each glass with 1 to 2 tablespoons hibiscus syrup. Top it off with 4 to 6 ounces of rosé champagne and serve immediately! You can garnish with fresh herbs (like lavender!) if desired. I find that one bottle of champagne will make about 8 to 10 mimosas, and this is more than enough syrup for that! If you have leftover, stick it in the fridge for other cocktails.

 

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Bubbles are always a good idea.

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A Day in the Life: March 2018.

As promised, I’m taking you through a day in the life when it’s not a recipe development/photography/i-have-childcare day! This is what happened last Thursday, and it’s the nitty gritty rambly details of my very boring life that I love so much. You can find January’s here and February’s here!

3:30am: since Emilia is still refusing to go back to her wonderful 8 or 10 hours of sleep, shes up! I feed her and she goes back to sleep. Thankfully, so do I. Don’t even look at my phone. I toss and turn until I wake up for the day though.

6:30am: Emilia is up again (for good this time, or like, at least an hour or two) and Max actually is too. The three of us snuggle in bed which is so fun since Emilia is a little bigger now and not quite as fragile around the tornado that is Max. The first thing he wants to do in the mornings is hold her and I seriously melt into a freaking puddle.

Max asks for a banana and a (clif Z) bar. I drink a massive bottle of water with apple cider vinegar and make some coffee too!

On Thursdays, we usually go to music class and have a super rushed morning that goes well into the afternoon. But there is a spring break this week for music, so we’re home! At least, until later. We can sort of ease into the day instead of running around like psychos trying to get out of the house on time.

7am: my normal work routine is a little off today because I have so many (wonderful!) messages and photos from readers about The Pretty Dish! This has been so incredibly amazing and I want to make sure I respond to every single one. I’m trying! It takes about 12.5 hours to go through all of the messages and posts on Instagram… which I realize sounds ridiculous.

8am: Emilia is ready to sleep again already, so I put her down for a nap and Max has peanut butter toast. I made avocado toast for myself and he watches Doc McStuffins while I clean up the kitchen a bit. I also get in as much work as I can on my computer at this time since he is really into playing on his own in the mornings. He plays with his hot wheels race track for over an hour.

10am: Emilia is up and I feed her.  I get a bit more work done, throw in some laundry, clean up our room and the kids’ rooms, things like that.

11:30am: I make a smoothie with pitaya and spinach and blueberries annnnd forget to take a pic. As I’m writing this I’m trying to find a pic from another day to use and can’t even find one. Max loves these! He calls them ice cream.

11:45am: I jump in the shower quickly because I’m a mess. Also have a dentist appointment later and have to get ready for it! I put Emilia in the Bjorn bouncer and Max brings toys to sit right next to her. I quickly get a shower while peeking out every 30 seconds.

It’s amazing, because in those few minutes Max manages to trash the bathroom. He throws all sorts of things into the tub. Clothes, clean towels, cars, kitchen bowls – EVERYTHING.

Emilia goes down for a little nap here once I’m done. I’ve been using a sound machine with her occasionally and it helps drown out the sound of toddler craziness. It’s great!

12pm: I dry my hair, throw on some makeup and curl my hair a little bit too. In order to do this with both kids, I watch Max bring out basically every toy he owns and cover the upstairs in legos, cars, race tracks and instruments. But I was able to get ready!

12:45pm: I eat some leftovers quickly since I don’t know when I will be able to eat after the dentist. Also have half of an Rx bar! And record a few instagram stories reeeeally quickly.

1pm: I feed Emilia and get her dressed. Max and I are both dressed and ready to go! We make it out of the house only 7 minutes later than I wanted to. This is a win.

1:45pm: I desperately needed childcare super last minute (like SUPER LAST MINUTE, within minutes) and my aunt happened to be 2 minutes away from where my dentist appointment was. Remember when I chipped my tooth on a croissant when I was pregnant and needed a root canal at 38 weeks? FUN. Well, this was finishing up that procedure. My aunt sat in the car with the kids while I got it done! Not an ideal situation but it was so amazing that we were in the same spot and she could help me out so I didn’t have to cancel.

2:45pm: I leave the denist and we are riiiiight behind a chick fil-a and their nuggets happen to be Max’s favorite thing on earth. I get him nuggets with the fruit cup and apple juice and he is thrilled. My face is numb but I got a diet coke. I grew up my entire life hating carbonated drinks (they burn my mouth and throat! I don’t know why!) but very occasionally want the bubbles. I drank some and it was perfect since I couldn’t really eat. But I won’t want it again for months.

3:15pm: we’re back home and since Max didn’t take a nap, he is super snuggly. Emilia sits in the pod, I sit on the couch and Max sits next to me all snuggled up. I do a little but of work.

3:45pm: I feed Emilia and drink a thousand ounces of water. There is no thirst like nursing thirst!

4:30pm: I have approximately 124 mini chocolate eggs. Or, like, four. The dentist would be thrilled! Ugh. I’m the worst. My upper right side hurts like heck so I don’t want to eat anything. All I want on earth is more coffee and caffeine but I never risk it this late with Emilia. Max and I split and apple! I also have some jalapeño roasted cashews.

5:45pm: I start to heat up the leftover Bolognese I have from The Pretty Dish. We love this so freaking much. I made whole wheat penne to go with it (our go-to) and a few brussels sprouts that were left over from a recipe on Monday.

While I do this, Max is playing with play dough at the kitchen counter and Emilia is sitting in her seat, watching us and munching on a toy.

Does anyone else feel like the time from later afternoon until bedtime is just INSANE? It’s crazy for us and we don’t even have school-aged kids or homework or late activities yet. It must be because the kids are winding down and it takes more attention to keep them happy?

6pm: I do a quick fridge clean out because tomorrow is trash day and I know there are so veggies struggling in the crisper drawer. I forgot about them in the book excitement.

6:10pm: quick Emilia break to nurse!

7pm: Eddie gets home and we eat! Max isn’t super hungry since he had the chicken and the apple, so he has a yogurt.

7:45pm: Emilia is a little fussy so I put her to sleep early while Eddie is giving Max a bath. Nurse her, book, snuggle, and lay her down.

Since I don’t have childcare on Thursdays and we usually have activities in the morning, I do most of my work at night. Since we had a free morning, I got a bunch done but have a lot of extra stuff since the book was released this week!

8pm: I break out my laptop and just sit near the TV where I watch the mess that is Grey’s Anatomy while I edit photos and write my post for tomorrow.

I work on the computer until midnight but I don’t mind because it’s stuff I like AND I tend to take Friday’s off… slightly. I love to front load my week. Fridays are almost ALWAYS a day where I do a ton of work in the morning and take off the rest of the day. I might clean up the entire house or we might get out of the house and go shopping, or whatever! Regardless, I like to get all of my work done that I possibly can so Friday is easy.(er!)

12:30am: I get into bed but do another big Instagram check because you guys are being AMAZING about The Pretty Dish. I want to comment and share everything you’re posting because I’m so thankful for the support!

12:45am: I have a freakout about everything I have to do tomorrow so I make a quick list on the Notes section in my phone. This is the BEST. Big brain dump right before sleeping and I sleep so much easier.

Also, Emilia wakes up! Perfect timing. I feed her and then pass the heck out. GOODNIGHT

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Burst Tomato, Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Quiche.

I can’t even talk about how much I adore this quiche. My love for it is over the top!

That little slice of cheesy heaven is so ridiculously packed with flavor that I don’t even know where to start.

Over the last few years, I’ve become a quiche freak. It’s a huge deal because I loathed it growing up. Really, I was just ignorant. I had one less-than-stellar experience and I was like NO WAY NEVER AGAIN.

And in just the last two years, I’ve made a broccoli bacon version and a spiralized sweet potato one. You guys love them too.

And every year around Christmas (brunch!) and/or Easter (more brunch!), I find myself craving more quiche. A different quiche. New quiche! It’s perfect, because it doubles as brunch AND dinner.

Plus, it’s great with a simple salad too. Some spring greens or butter lettuce, a quick vinaigrette, salt, pepper and shaved parmesan. I’m obsessed. That means it’s all good for us and stuff. Add some greens and we’re eating superfood.

That’s what I’m saying.

So in this one, we have:

Pan-burst tomatoes. I adore these. Almost as good as roasted. Great for right now when tomatoes can be like little red and orange rocks. Adds a bunch of flavor!

Fresh prosciutto. The only version of ham I like!

Goat cheese. Because what ISN’T amazing with goat cheese?!

Tons of fresh herbs.

Basically everything I love!

The crust I use is the one I always use for quiche: Mother Lovett’s never-fail pie crust! Even for me, who is pie-challenged (and basically challenged with any sort of pastry crust that doesn’t come out of a box), it works. I mean, it takes some patience, but it works.

Just look at that beauty! I want to frame it. And then eat it.

Baked, it’s even better. Satisfying and filling, delicious hot or cold. Serves with greens or… french fries. You know. You’re my people.

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Burst Tomato, Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Quiche

Yield: serves 6

Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

crust

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoons salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 cup ice cold water
3/4 cups cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (1 1/2 sticks or 12 tablespoons)
for brushing: 1 egg + a few drops of water, beaten together

filling

1 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup freshly grated gruyere cheese
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into peices
4 ounces goat cheese, crumble



Directions:

crust

Add the flour, sugar and salt to a food processor and pulse just until combined. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, vinegar and water. Add the cold butter pieces into the food processor and pulse until small coarse crumbs remain. Sprinkle the water/egg mixture over the flour and pulse again until the dough comes together.

Remove the dough with your hands and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, roll the dough out and place it in a 9-inch tart pan or (deep dish) pie plate.

filling

While the crust is chilling, heat a skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the tomatoes into the skillet and toss gently, cooking until the tomatoes start to burst. Add a pinch of salt and stir. Set them aside until they cool.

Whisk together the eggs, cream, cheese, salt and pepper. Place half of each of the tomatoes, prosciutto and goat cheese into the crust and pour the egg mixture over top. Add the remaining tomatoes, prosciutto and goat cheese, mixing them in gently. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until golden on top and set in the center. Let cool slightly before serving. This is so good served warm or cold!

I also love to serve this with a greens salad! If you want to do that, I suggest 2 cups of greens per person!

All images and text ©How Sweet Eats.







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I appreciate you so much!

And all the cheese.

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Tuesday Things.

1. I will forever be the person who dots her i’s with hearts. Sorry! But not really sorry.

2. And all I want to eat right now are these. I think I’m going to make them for Easter!

3. Over the weekend we did the cool whip dyed-egg thing and it was so fun! The result was a pastel marbled egg which I’ve since dubbed the unicorn egg. All you do is roll a hard boiled egg through cool whip that is dyed with food coloring (like above!) and let it sit for 20ish minutes before gently wiping it off.

4. You’ve probably seen it all over the internet, but this conversation about eating right and eating healthy is perfection.

5. Most days I go crazy because Eddie lives his life with the lights dimmed, like in the kitchen, the living rom, etc. I mean, yes, I think there is a place for dim lights (dinner parties? movie nights?) but he loads the dishwasher and folds laundry in dim lighting and I can never see ANYTHING!

6. If you haven’t listened to the goop podcast with oprah, you must! It’s amazing. I am not a goop believe or anything, but the episode with Oprah is amazing and I’ve heard the others are great too.

7. TV things! We’re so excited that Billions is back. I’m still liking Homeland more than at the beginning. But let’s talk about the most important thing… did you see that Scott Speedman is going to be a possible love interest for Meredith on Grey’s?! O.M.G. Break out the Felicity marathon to celebrate.

8. Umm… caboodles are back! In the 90s, I utilized caboodles for makeup but it’s also where I stashed all my friendship-bracelet making string.

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French Onion Deviled Eggs.

I’m taking these deviled eggs to the next level.

French onion deviled eggs are a thing!

Every spring, I love making some wild and wacky (but delicious and not weird) version of deviled eggs. My favorites would probably still be the bacon blue deviled eggs with asparagus, but last year these sesame sriracha ones gained some love too. The are both egggcellent.

Ew. Sorry!

But really, we freak over deviled eggs here. And even my mom, who lives and dies for the traditional version of everything (i.e. she does not always appreciate my trashing up of our longtime recipes), was losing it over these French onion deviled eggs. She was still talking about them a week later. I was shocked!

Here’s how they came about:

I’ve loved French onion dip forever and ever. Like truly, since I was a very small child. Mother Lovett used to have it as a staple in her fridge. Along with piles of fritos and other random bags of chips in a cupboard in the kitchen.

A few years ago, I made a homemade version of French onion dip that is seriously divine. Dips are just the best thing ever because even if you’re eating better and focusing on healthy foods, you can dunk vegetables into dip.

Right? I mean, it can go like that. I’m sure of it.

And I don’t know exactly how I decided to French onion-ize said deviled eggs. But I’m so glad that I did.

Guess what? There is an ENTIRE caramelized onion whipped into this filling.

!!!!!!

You caramelize a sweet onion until it’s golden and sweet and, well… caramely! And then you whip it into the egg yolks with some of the more traditional deviled egg ingredients, like a touch of mayo, Dijon – and I like to add greek yogurt too. It ups the wow factor.

On top, we have some crumbled pancetta (I’m having a moment with it right now and have another pancetta-filled recipe coming this week!) and a sprinkling of chives. There is so much ridiculous flavor in this little egg that I don’t know what to do with myself!

These are kind of like secret deviled eggs too because they don’t look like much. They just look… REGULAR. And then you take a bite and it’s like whaaaaat is going on?! Flavor is over the top.

So what kind of deviled eggs are you making this year? Right after Easter, I’m also going to share my favorite egg salad recipe (it was my pregnancy obsession through both kids and you guys always ask for it!) in case you have lots of leftovers! Eggs are just the BEST.

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French Onion Deviled Eggs

Yield: makes 24 deviled egg halves

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces diced pancetta
12 large eggs
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt (full fat!)
1 tablespoons dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons freshly snipped chives
fresh oregano, for garnish



Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and add the butter. Add the sliced onion and the salt and toss to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion caramelizes – this can take 45 to 60 minutes! You want to do it low and slow so the onion fully caramelizes. If at anytime the onion starts to burn, turn down the heat! Once the onion is caramelized, turned off the heat.

While the onion is caramelizing, make the eggs. To boil the perfect egg, place the eggs in a large pot and fill it with cold water. Bring it to a boil and let bubble for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let the pot sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, place the pot in the sink and fill it with cold water to cool the eggs down immediately. You want the eggs to sit in cold water for 30 minutes or so, so you will need to dump the water and refill with cold water a few times. You can add some ice cubes too!

After 30 minutes, peel the eggs and place them on a paper towel. Slice them in half and gently remove the yolks.

In the meantime, while the eggs are boiling, heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and add the pancetta. Cook until crispy and all the fat is rendered, then remove the pancetta with a slotted spoon. Place it on a paper towel to drain excess grease.

Add the egg yolks, mayo, yogurt, mustard, caramelized onion, pepper and garlic powder to the food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy and mousse-like. You can taste and add additionally salt if needed. Scoop out the mixture and spoon it (or pipe it with a pastry bag) into the open egg whites.

Sprinkle on the pancetta and the fresh chives. Add the fresh oregano and serve!

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I appreciate you so much!

And bacon is too.

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The Pretty Dish Book Club!

It’s here, it’s here! I am so excited to announce the start of The Pretty Dish book club!

We’re going to spend every month sharing a virtual potluck and I could not be more excited.

My goal with the book club is to take these everyday recipes that I have in The Pretty Dish and share our favorite ways to make them, put twists on them, serve them and share them!

Here’s how The Pretty Dish book club works:

Each month, I’ll list the three recipes that we’re going to focus on making from The Pretty Dish. These are the recipes that I’ll be cooking on instagram stories and in the Facebook group! In the weeks that follow, I’d love for you to share:

-any and all photos, of course! with #prettydishbookclub #theprettydish

-what you served with the dish

-if you put any of your own twists on the dish!

-and more!

I’ll also be sharing different menus that include each recipe!

We also have a private Facebook group where we can chat about the recipes, share photos, gather ideas and have general delicious discussion. If you have a copy of the book and plan on joining in, request access to the group!

Since we’re nearing the end of March, we going to lump these last few days into the month of April.

The recipes for April are:

Coconut Carrot Soup

Korean Beef Bowls

Tiramisu Bread Pudding

You can make one recipe, you can make all the recipes! And of course, if these certain recipes don’t appeal to you, I still want you to participate! Cook whatever you are loving and sharing it in our group.

Also! We have giveaways (… and maybe a few events!(< more to come !!!))! Each month, I’ll be giving away some of my favorite things – kitchen tools, books, appliances – everything! All photos that are posted under the community hashtag #prettydishbookclub will be entered to win and I’ll randomly choose winners at the end of each month!

I am so, so excited to build The Pretty Dish community this way and cook through the book together!

So in short:

How to join The Pretty Dish Book Club:

get your book!
join the Facebook group!
share your creations on instagram all month long with the hashtags #prettydishbookclub (using #howsweeteats and #theprettydish help too!)

Can’t wait to get started!

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Currently Crushing On.

This has been such an amazing whirlwind of a week. Thank you all so much for your love on the launch of The Pretty Dish! I’m so excited that you’re excited over it too. And I am amazed at the dishes you are making already! Don’t forget to tag me in everything on instagram!

Today we kick off the book tour with a signing here in Pittsburgh at the Barnes and Noble at South Hills Village. I also added Philly + Cleveland dates to the book tour!

If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, I’d be so grateful if you did. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And don’t forget – come back tomorrow for full details on The Pretty Dish book club! Eeeep!

Some love on The Pretty Dish!

Gaby picked The Pretty Dish for her cookbook club!

Molly made my pistachio lattes.

Adrianna made the mojito cupcakes

Joy made the chocolate crinkle sprinkle cookies!

Billy did too, and he used coconut!

Erin made the thai coconut curry braised chicken.

Heidi made the peach panzanella salad with burrata.

Phi made the BBQ salmon with mango salsa

Kathryne made my marinated chickpeas.

Molly made the bacon, egg and kimchi tacos!

And Jamie made our favorite bolognese.

 

A few other favorites around the internet that I’m freaking out over:

i’ve never wanted french onion soup so badly.

the prettiest spring goddess grain bowls. 

in love with this pink moon milk.

DIY palm springs easter eggs. omg!

this stunning potato leek pastry. it’s gorgeous.

this vegan breakfast skillet looks amazing.

cauliflower fried rice that i’m actually tempted to try.

just give me a creme fraiche pancake. yep.

 

HAPPY SATURDAY! xo

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Pistachio Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.

I decided to switch things up so we could eat veggies today!

In pistachio carrot cake form. OF COURSE.

I was weird about carrot cake until ten-ish years ago. Actually! I think it was at my bridal shower. We had a few carrot cupcakes and I was sold. It tasted so good. And it was probably because of my cream cheese frosting obsession!

Which I know. I’m reeeeeally running that obsession into the ground at the moment. I just can’t stop. My brain is coming up with desserts based solely on the cream cheese frosting. Like I didn’t even care about the carrot cake until I considered the cream cheese frosting.

Total game changer.

But! The biggest game changer here? For me, at least? Are the pistachios.

By now, you know that’s another obsession that I do a number on here on the blog. It’s the obsession I never expected to have, because I used to think only OLD people liked pistachios! Now I’m old and I love them. I’ll shout it from the rooftops.

Also I’ll stop saying obsession. I know.

So regular carrot cake sounded a little MEH to me. I added in some pistachios and better yet, added some into the cream cheese frosting too. This cake kind of reminds me of the pistachio cake in my first book, Seriously Delish, which I just adored. It is majorly pistachio infused and wonderful.

Since I took a few days this week to talk about things with The Pretty Dish, I’m going to shove a whole bunch of Easter recipes in your face next week! In a good way. We have a trashed up scalloped potato recipe coming, another crazy deviled egg recipe, an amazing quiche and a banana cream pie. I wanted to do a ham, but I just can’t get behind ham. No idea why. I’ll just buy one from Honeybaked and watch everyone else eat it.

While I steal all the cheesy potatoes.

Anyhoo! Back to the cake.

You guys know I don’t have much patience for layer cakes. I don’t have a ton of patience for baking in general. But I can handle cakes like this where the frosting doesn’t have to look perfect, so that’s what I went with. And even though I love cream cheese frosting, frosting isn’t my #1… so I love that there is just a touch here to make it sweet!

This cake is LOVELY. It’s so flavorful and moist (no, seriously, there is no other word to use!), with a little bit of spice and some crunch from the pistachios. The coconut might be my favorite part too.

Oh, one more thing! This adorable pan! I am in love with Nordic Ware baking pans and when I saw this, it also inspired me to do a carrot cake this year. Can’t even wait to bring it out on Easter! Cutest and just makes me want to bake.

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Pistachio Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: serves 6 o 8

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups freshly grated carrot
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple
1 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup chopped pistachios (I like using roasted, unsalted ones!)

cream cheese frosting

2 (8-ounce) blocks cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup finely chopped pistachios



Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease (or spray with nonstick baking spray!) three 9-inch cake pans (or the ones I used were a 7 cup on top and an 8 cup on the bottom!). I’m obsessed with these carrot cake ones!

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together until combined. beat in the oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract until combined. Beat in the dry ingredients until just combined. Use a spatula to fold in the carrot, pineapple, coconut and pistachios.

Drive the batter evenly between the 2 pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown and the center is set. Let the cake cool completely.

For the cake in this pan, I like to do a layer of frosting in the center and then a light layer on the outsides, leaving the top plain. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar before serving!

cream cheese frosting

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Beat in the sugar until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract. Fold in the pistachios. Frost the cooled cake! I like to pop the cake in the fridge because we love cold cake!

slightly adapted from myrecipes

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Face-plant worthy, for sure.

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Lavender Vanilla Iced Lattes.

Or in other words, where the heck is spring?!

Can we will it to us with a lavender latte?

All I want to do is drink a lavender latte in the sunshine!

I can’t believe we are under a foot of snow here at the moment. It’s crazy! Because back when I was planning out what recipes I would share with you from the book, I figure this lavender latte would be the perfect one for the first week of Spring. I mean… it’s so springy! A way to ease into things.

Lavender just screams spring to me. And it’s officially iced coffee season, unless you’re like me and live in a world where it’s alllllways iced coffee season.

So. Story time!

Guess what? This is the very first recipe that I knew I wanted to put in The Pretty Dish! The very first. Out of all 150+ recipes, back in 2016? I knew this would be it. It was my first official recipe! Well… err… maybe this AND my pistachio latte. Totally on a coffee kick.

I had a lavender latte at Smallman Galley and it was super good. I was obsessed with creating the drink at home. Because here’s the thing – lavender vanilla is not a new concept for me. I used to be OBSESSED with the combo, and it all started with a candle.

Embarrassing, right?

But really, I think lavender vanilla candles kind of smell like ice cream shops. A little waffle cone-esque or something. And back in the day, I made lavender white chocolate popcorn. It was my first venture into baking or cooking with lavender and that was a really big thing, because I’ve always been turned off by floral scents and flavors.

However! Mixing the lavender with the vanilla? It’s just divine. It’s slightly sweet without being too much. It has this taste that makes you go “what is that” and it’s not in a weird way. It’s delicious hot too, but my favorite way to consume it is iced because it just tastes like sippable ice cream.

You have GOT to try it! And here’s a thirsty Thursday how-to video too!

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Iced Lavender Vanilla Lattes

Yield: serves 1, is easily multiplied

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

lavender vanilla syrup

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons dried culinary lavender
2 sprigs fresh lavender
1 vanilla bean, split in half
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

latte

6 ounces milk (cow’s, almond, coconut, etc)
2 shots espresso
2 tablespoons lavender vanilla syrup
fresh lavender sprig for garnish



Directions:

Place the sugar, water, lavender and vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk until the sugar dissolves, bringing the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and set the saucepan aside. Let it cool completely. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve to remove the lavender. Stir in the vanilla extract. Store in a sealed container in the fridge! The syrup will make about ½ cup.

Fill a large glass with ice. Add the milk and syrup and stir together well. Pour in the espresso shots and stir. Garnish with a sprig of fresh lavender. Serve immediately!

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Craving these forever and ever.

 

The post Lavender Vanilla Iced Lattes. appeared first on How Sweet Eats.