Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 376

Tuesday Things.

1. I need nothing else. Cheesy earthquake bread.

2. Okay guys. Very important question. WHAT THE HECK do we eat during our kitchen renovation? I am very stressed out about this. And it’s not even going to be that long – just a few weeks. We aren’t doing anything too massive. But I’m scared of the food/dirty dishes sitch.

3. Shamrock shakes: yes or no? I just cannot. But I definitely won’t turn my nose up at Lucky Charms. Riddle me that.

4. I’m very much dying over the Beauty and the Beast music video. I did not like cartoons or animated movies growing up (I have no idea why, but I don’t even think I’ve seen The Little Mermaid the whole way through. Am I monster?) UNTIL Beauty and the Beast. The song and video are making me weirdly emotional.

5. Ooooh so many good TV things. I am loving Homeland again (finally!) and ugh, was just sick over this week’s episode. Still loving Billions. Loving Big Little Lies… the cast is just so freaking good. and GIRLS!! Oh my gosh. I remember scenes of Hannah filming last year but FORGOT that this was going to be a storyline. And I hate Marnie. What an a-hole.

6. There might be more Gilmore Girls revival episodes? Thoughts?

7. Um, I’ve discovered another youtube genre that I’m obsessed with. BOOK youtube channels! Why have I never watched these before? I love love love them. I haven’t got hooked on any particular channel yet, but I watched a bunch of book reviews on Saturday night (wild life!) before starting a new one.

8. Speaking of, I read Swear on this Life and REALLY liked it.

The post Tuesday Things. appeared first on How Sweet It Is.

BLT Shredded Kale Salad with Greek Yogurt Ranch.

I’m going to tell you a secret.

Almost all the time, like almost 98% of the time, I take the T off of my BLT. Meaning I’m really only eating a BL. With sometimes an A for avocado.

When you look at it this way, it sounds like a heart attack in a sandwich. It sort of is.

Actually, last year I ordered the BLT at Bakn and wasn’t paying attention to the fact that it came with a POUND of bacon on the BLT. Just a tad excessive. Just a bit.

When we got in the car, I nearly had a panic attack because I was telling Eddie that I HAD to be having a heart attack after eating that bacon. And I barely ate half of it.

So why do I always end up removing the T? Ugh. It’s so hard to find great tomatoes here nine months out of the year. We have these things that resemble orange rocks at the grocery store that are cleverly labeled “tomatoes,” but I’m pretty sure someone is just playing a cruel joke.

The summer months? You will find me keeping the T in the BLT. Especially if it’s my own, although I’m more prone to growing little baby cherry tomatoes. They are just so sweet!

For a long time, almost my entire childhood, I wanted to love BLTs because I loved bacon. I wanted to love them like I wanted to love coffee. And I ended up succeeding after discovering the joy of seasoning the home grown, super ripe tomatoes and spreading on a small layer of mayo.

That’s another thing! BLTs are solely responsible for getting me to enjoy mayonnaise.

I have so much to thank them for.

Since we’re currently in orange-rock season, BLT sandwiches can’t really happen. But thankfully I can always find good cherry tomatoes. And I don’t need an entire POUND of bacon for a hearty BLT salad.

One of my favorite – and yours, because it’s a super popular recipe here on the blog – is my BLT chopped salad with feta and corn. I’ve wanted to make a kale version of it FOR.EV.ER. Sandlot style.

And this can even be a leftover salad. If you have leftover bacon from brunch and dinner (I know, what a joke) – throw it in the fridge and toss it in your kale salad.

Okay now. THE DRESSING.

In what probably makes me one of the weirdest people on the planet, I do not care for ranch dressing. I don’t put it on salads, I don’t dip my pizza crust in it. I don’t go near it with celery since celery ruins everything and I have a slightly similar feeling about carrots. I don’t dip any raw veggies in it at all and I don’t want to eat it on sandwiches.

UNLESS.

Unless it’s a greek yogurt version that I first made back with these BBQ salmon salads. I love it as a little drizzle. I think I can handle it because it’s more tangy with the yogurt instead of thick and creamy and mayo-y with, well… mayo.

And on a kale salad? Kale salad has kind of changed the dressing game for me. At least, in a way. There isn’t much that I won’t massage into green kale and let sit for a few minutes. It makes dressings that I often wouldn’t touch more palatable. I’m assuming that’s because the kale itself is heartier and slightly bitter, unlike my other greens love, butter lettuce.

So! This is it! Your Monday salad. Giving you permission to eat bacon, so the week is going to be great.

Yield: serves 2 to 4

Ingredients:

1 large head of kale, removed from stems and sliced/shredded
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
optional: sliced avocado, feta/blue cheese, sweet corn

greek yogurt ranch dressing

1/3 cup greek yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon freshly chopped parsley
1 teaspoon freshly chopped dill
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil



Directions:

Place the kale in a large bowl and drizzle with the olive oil. Add the salt and pepper. Use your hands to massage the oil into the kale for a few minutes. Set the bowl aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and add the bacon. Cook until it's totally crispy, stirring occasionally, and the fat is rendered.

greek yogurt ranch dressing

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until combined. This can be stored for a day or two in the fridge.

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

The kale totally cancels it out. Thumbs up.

The post BLT Shredded Kale Salad with Greek Yogurt Ranch. appeared first on How Sweet It Is.

Currently Crushing On.

{via}

Not to be a total cliche, even though I am always a total cliche, but I CANNOT EVEN BELIEVE IT IS MARCH. What in the ever loving heck. We have a super low key weekend planned… i.e. nothing planned. I am in a shopping mood though so things could get dangerous.

What are you guys up to?

p.s. I shared my February beauty favorites earlier this week! Don’t miss it.

My favorite things on the internets right now:

so.much.yes. to this iced lavender dirty chai latte.

i’m craving this citrus poppy seed cake like whoa.

really loving erin’s style reboot series. so inspiring.

march: the month of awakening. 

i’m loving following along with heather’s whole 30 diary!

cute little olive oil cookies with blood orange frosting.

extra crispy, non-fried potato wedges. i can get behind this.

AH! how fun is this vanilla bean egg cake?

one of my favorite meals: mussels with sweet potato fries and garlic aioli!

these tomato baked white beans are total comfort food.

a dutch baby with berries and whipped chevre cream? i die.

this pineapple coconut loaf sounds delightful.

The post Currently Crushing On. appeared first on How Sweet It Is.

Lemon Almond Pudding Cake.

I’m here to tell you right now that lemon desserts can be indulgent.

Is it just me? Or do lemon desserts fall on the spectrum of… well, I think I want dessert but I just don’t want anything too rich.

TOO RICH!

Ha.

HAHAHAHAHA.

What does that even mean? My teeth have no idea.

I’ve made a version of this before (ages ago, hello!) in what I believe is called chocolate cobbler. Or something like it. It’s very much like chocolate pudding cake and super decadent, even for my sweet teeth. So I thought a lemon version just sounded perfect. Even when lemon desserts are more indulgent, they just TASTE lighter and fresher. Right?

It’s a brighter, lighter sweetness with a hint of tart. I think it’s a taste bud’s dream.

My only real experience with lemon desserts as a kid was mother lovett’s lemon meringue pie, which I brattily turned my nose up at since it was EW LEMON and my paternal grandmother’s lemon bars, which never made the cut because she also would have texas sheet cake.

Even today, I still must be in the lemon mood to choose it over chocolate. But I’m curious! Is liking lemon desserts as a kid… a thing? Did you like lemon desserts when you were young – or do you have children that do?

I’m just conditioned to believe that as we grow older, lemon desserts find their way to our hearts. And our hips. Unfortunately.

OKAY SO.

The thing is that I don’t even know if I can express how absolutely DIVINE this pudding cake is. It’s light and fluffy on top, almost soufflé like. But it’s just like lemon pudding on the bottom, all rich and wonderful and citrusy. It’s so NOT heavy that you don’t even feel weighed down after eating a bowl of it.

Which means there is always room for more.

This is at the top of my list for Easter desserts. I always love to do something coconut cake-ish, and then something chocolatey too, because, well… chocolate. But lemon hits high at the moment. The only downside is that I’m not quite sure just how far ahead in advance this can be made. We snuck bites of it a few hours after it was baked and I took my mom a larger-than-life serving, but it was all consumed pretty quickly. I’m going to make it one more time and see if I can throw it together the night before.

That’s some super hard work right there.

Also! The original recipe I found called for these to be made in ramekins, but I really just wanted to make one larger cake. This will fit a 9-inch pie plate, but I think you could easily double the recipe for a big 9×13 baking dish. In which case… I’d be tempted to eat the entire thing. Lemon pudding cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Lemon Almond Pudding Cake

Yield: serves 4

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk (the original recipe calls for skim, I used whole with good results)
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
sliced almonds for topping



Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick spray liberally. Or brush it with melted butter!

In a bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and melted butter. Whisk in the milk, lemon juice, almond extract and lemon zest until combined.

Beat the egg whites and salt in the bowl of your electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Slowly fold the egg whites into the lemon mixture, gently, until combined. Pour the batter into the pie plate.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until set. Top with sliced almonds and serve.

[cake base from food and wine]

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

No, but really, this is an incredibly excellent breakfast. Trust me.

The post Lemon Almond Pudding Cake. appeared first on How Sweet It Is.

Grapefruit Mint Chia Refresher.

Pleeeeease don’t look at me that way.

I swear that this can be a thing! A thing we can LOOOOVE. It’s refreshing. It’s good for you. It tastes awesome. We’re doing it! 

So! This is like those chia fruit drinks that I was obsessed with a few years ago. I first saw the idea on food and wine, and I actually thought it was a cocktail. I was like, well THAT’S interesting. And wonderful. And healthy! Give me vodka and give me chia. Sounds like a plan to me.

But alas, there was no booze involved. I got over the slight disappointment and decided to give it a go because it sounded SO good to me. I am a nut over chia seeds. I think they are such an awesome superfood and I am the person that actually loves the texture. Chia pudding? Give me a vat of it. Chia seeds in bars? Yes yes yes. I’m allllll over chia in every way possible.

I think the coolest part about this drink is that you can customize it to be anything you want it to be. You make a large batch of hydrated chia. See that above?

A big jar full of water + a few tablespoons of chia seeds + a few shakes and some time in the fridge yields the loveliest chia water ever. I think that half of my fascination with this comes from the amazing way the chia is just suspended in water. It looks like MAGIC.

Another reason that I love this so much? Well…. I’m a boring drinker. Not like a DRINKER drinker. But throughout the day? I pretty much only consume water. I have one cup of coffee in the morning, usually iced. I’ve never liked any sort of fruit juice and soda especially? No thanks – the carbonation kills my throat. There aren’t even many flavored carbonated waters that I enjoy, especially not on the regular. As in, not every day.

The only other drink that I consume regularly is kombucha, which I loooove. Yes, it is carbonated but it’s so mild that I can handle it. I only have a cup or so in the afternoon – it’s like my afternoon treat! (Side bar: I am dyyyying to try the lemonade kombucha but can’t find it anywhere!)

If you’ve had those mama chia drinks or the chia kombucha before, you’ll love this. If grapefruit isn’t your fave – try strawberry! Or cherry. YES. Or even orange. Or lime! Or can we do a margarita? Wait. That’s beyond the point.

If you like chia seeds, you’ll probably also like this.

If you’re not in to the texture of chia and they freak you out, I’d skip this all together because there is no way around the chia. Let’s be real.

Drinking this just makes me FEEL good. So there’s more room for cookies!

Grapefruit Mint Chia Refresher

Yield: makes a pitcher, serves about 4

Prep Time: 2 hours for the chia base

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

chia base

2 cups water
3 tablespoons chia seeds

grapefruit mint refresher

2 cups freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, cold
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, plus extra for garnish
1 cup cold soda water



Directions:

chia base

Prep the chia base the day before or even just 2 hours before. Place the water and chia in a jar. Cover and shake it well. Stick it in the fridge and shake it every 30 minutes, about 3 or 4 times. Here's your chia base! Easy as that.

grapefruit mint refresher

In a large pitcher, stir together the chia base, grapefruit juice, honey and mint leaves. Stir until the honey mixes into the juice and water. Pour in the soda water and gently stir. Serve immediately with an extra garnish of mint.

[adapted from food and wine]

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

We’re still cool, right? K good.

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February Favorites: Beauty.

Hello hello!

Welcome to my faaaaavorite post of the month. There are so many things I’m loving right now, but most aren’t new – they are things I’ve been using for awhile. I’m still reeeeally all about the dewy, glowy highlight. I’d even be all about the sparkle if it didn’t make me feel like a child.

One thing I didn’t include but wanted to mention is that Hourglass Lip Stylo I talked about last month. I am so crazy about it! They feel great on my lips.

Now for this month… 

Clinique Cheek Pop in Melon Pop. This is an oldie but goodie and I brought it out this month to bring some life to my face. I love this bright coral and the cheek pop blushes are awesome.

Glam Glow Glowstarter Moisturizer. Guess what? I actually misplaced this product and thought I had left it at a friend’s house, but I found it this week in one of my bags! I love this stuff. I use it under moisturizer or on it’s own. This is the original illuminating one that I talked about here – not the matte. I’ve read a lot of negative reviews on this, but I love love love it! I need to use the heck out of it now because it’s probably almost expired. Eeeek. I’ve been mixing a drop of the drunk elephant vitamic c serum that I mentioned last month in with this in the mornings.

YSL Touche Eclat in #1. Another oldie but goodie – I think this was one of the first products I ever talked about here on the blog, waaay before my beauty faves. This was one of my first higher end concealers and I used it for years – I even used when it was only available in one shade. I do like using #1 because it has a pink tone to it. On days where I’m running somewhere quickly and not putting on makeup, I’ll throw this on and it’s so brightening. It’s similar to the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind that I also love, but I find it to be more liquid like. I can even use it under a concealer.

Sunday Riley Good Genes. Since my skin was super weird this month (I’m blaming crazy weather changes and my laziness on using makeup wipes only a few times – ugh!), I started using the Good Genes every other night again. I swear this stuff is magic. It improves any texture on my skin within days. I don’t know why I ever set this aside! As long as I still moisturize after using it, my skin is good.

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion. I’ve heard about this for years, but I rarely have breakouts. I know that I’m lucky and I’m almost positive it’s due to having super dry skin. I had one stubborn semi-breakout this month (I hesitate to call it a breakout because if you saw it, you’d probably be like… you’re insane. which I am.) and bought this on a whim. I LOVE the idea of using a cotton swab to apply it because you can get it right on the area. As opposed to trying to put it right on the area with your fingers. This works SO fast. Only downside is that it is drying, so if you get it on non-affected skin, it makes it flake a bit.

Weleda Skin Food. OHHH my love! Skin Food is something I’ve used for ages and in the winter, I actually will sometimes use it on my entire body, mixed with another cream or oil to stretch the product because it’s so pricey. But this month, my hands have been a MESS. They are so dry, most likely from doing an asinine amount of dishes while shooting cookbook recipes. I’ve kept one exclusively in my kitchen and use it a few times a day. Savior.

Unite Expanda Dust. Okay, so wait until I tell you what I do with this! When I got my hair done at the beginning of the month, my stylist threw the TINIEST bit of this into my hair (not at the roots!) to help it hold curl. Oh my gosh. It was life changing. My hair actually holds curl really well, except right after I wash and blow dry it. I’ve done this a few times at home and am loving how well it works on those days. The key is that you MUST only use a small amount. I actually put some in my hand (it gets sticky), rub them together, and run my hands through my hair before curling. Looooove.

Sol de Janiero Brazilian Crush Fragrance Mist. OH MY GOSH!!! When I opened my email one day and saw a sephora blast about this mist, I was so excited. I mean, how many times did I mention the bum bum cream last year? Five straight months? I think at some point I said that I even wished it was a perfume. Well – I’m so glad it’s a mist and not a perfume. This is HUGE and it smells exactly like the bum bum cream. I love it so, so much. It’s going to be permanently on rotation come warm weather.

Hourglass Long Wear Lipliner in Empress. I bought this in January and have been wearing it when I don’t do a brighter lip. I like it with some lipgloss over it (or even the Hourglass lip stylo I mentioned above) and the shade is more on the browner/purple/neutral shade, but one that works with my really cool skin tone!

Things I’m super excited about? Those CoverFX enhancer drops in the new shades (omg), the Glam Glow makeup setting spray and I’m kind of thinking about that Becca amethyst highlighter. What are you loving right now?!

{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 a few amazon general links above. thank you for being here!}

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Salmon Citrus Salad with Avocado.

Oh my gosh. Guys! With a salad as colorful as this, how could you NOT want to eat it?

As we near the end of citrus season, I couldn’t allow one of my favorite recipes to slip on by. I know I was super heavy handed with the blood oranges this year… and the lemons… and the grapefruit. And I still have some lemon recipes to share because I’ve become an old woman and love me some lemon dessert.

But for now, just one more savory citrusy recipe to get us through. I think.

Plus, look at those avocados? Half the time I want to slice an avocado on a plate, season it with salt and pepper, drizzle on some olive oil and call it a salad. I mean, I think that’s acceptable. It’s almost what I did here but with just a leeeeettle more fluff.

If I had a choice of salad toppings, whether it be chicken, steak, salmon or shrimp, my answer is always, always salmon. There is something so wonderful about salmon in a greens salad. I think it’s the flakiness. I’m sure of it. You get a little piece of the fish with each bite. It’s like BUTTER.

Plus, I love when it’s combined with feta. I ignore all the no cheese + seafood rules!

For this salmon, I did a quick broil which is my go-to method. If your salmon pieces are already cut and on the smaller side, this can take six or seven minutes. It’s SO fast and easy. If you have one large filet, it’s still under 15 minutes! And it yields a lovely, slightly crisp top. Allllll about that texture.

The citrus? Any type of orange works wonders in this salad. The only thing I feel like you have to watch out for is the grapefruit. I really love it, but I also really love grapefruit. I’ve made this for people who love grapefruit but found the flavors to be a bit weird together (salmon + grapefruit? hmmmm.) so you might need to test it first. I do like more oranges than grapefruit. And with just a few grapefruit wedges and the lemon vinaigrette? The flavor is super bright!

Oooh ooh. One more thing! With the start of lent today, I know a bunch of you are looking for fish and seafood recipes. Some of my favorites are listed below and I have an awesome shrimp recipe coming next week. Shrimp sort of lost its luster for me when I was pregnant with Max, but I think I found a way to love it again. Woohoo.

When it comes to salmon, I am the queen of flavor. This toasted sesame ginger salmon is one of the most popular recipes here on the site! I also love this thai curry peanut salmon even though it’s less than desirable to look at. Tortilla crusted salmon sliders? HELLO. Pan crisped salmon with a lighter dijon cream? I think you can see where I’m headed with this. AND! 30 minute cajun salmon. With salted lime butter. SALTED LIME BUTTER.

As for non-salmon options, we have beer battered fish tacos with mango margarita salsa (!!!), BBQ shrimp avocado toast (yes I did that), gouda grits with brown butter shrimp, these hugely popular thai coconut curry shrimp noodle bowls and spicy parmesan shrimp. Eeeep.

Great, now I’m starving.

Citrus Salmon Salad with Avocado

Yield: serves 2 to 4

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

8 ounces raw, wild caught salmon
1 1/2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
12 ounces spring greens, baby spinach or romaine (whatever your favorite is!)
2 cara cara oranges, segmented
1 blood orange, segmented
1 pink grapefruit, segmented
1 to 2 avocados, thinly sliced (depends on how much you want!)
½ large shallot, very thinly sliced
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

lemon vinaigrette

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced and zested
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil



Directions:

Preheat the broiler in your oven to high and set the oven rack about 6 inches below it.

Place the salmon on a baking sheet and brush it with the grapeseed oil. Season it with the salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Broil the salmon for 6 to 8 minutes, or until just opaque and flakes easily with a fork. If you're doing a large filet, broil it for 8 to 10 minutes, then check. The time will depend on the thickness of the filet!

To assemble the salad, toss together the lettuce with a pinch of salt and pepper, the orange segments, grapefruit, avocado and red onion. Drizzle with the vinaigrette. Sprinkle with the feta before serving.

lemon vinaigrette

In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, garlic, salt and pepper. Continue to whisk while streaming in the olive oil. This dressing stays great in the fridge in a sealed container for a week or so, so feel free to make a double batch if desired!

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

And I’d also like a meyer lemon margarita.

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Tuesday Things.

1. How absolutely stunning is this italian orange blossom and almond cake?

2. I’m reeeeallly still considering eyelash extensions but I’m scared that my eyeballs will fall out or something. Also, how does one manage the upkeep when you have a kid?! Tell me how you do it (again!).

3. Here’s a very weird question for you: what do you love to eat for lunch? And leftovers don’t count.

4. How to trick yourself into reading more books. Love this even though I’ve never been able to read more than one book at a time.

5. Speaking of, I just started reading the Hating Game. It’s cute!

6. Okay, I only have two TV things to say things week. WTF NASHVILLE. In full disclosure, I was about three episodes behind on my DVR, but chose last week to just watch it live. OMG. I really don’t think I will ever watch again. I’m not in it for the sadness. Second: This Is Us! Ugh! It killed me. I love Sterling K Brown so, so much. He might be my favorite actor right now. And did you see him go live on Facebook right after? Tears.

7. We are alllllmost finished photographing the book recipes, but in the meantime I’ve set my candles aside (I’m def a crazy candle lady… not to be confused with a crazy cat lady) and have been diffusing some grapefruit or lemon oil at night and some peppermint in the morning, in order to get rid of all the crazy food smells. It’s perfect and I’m obsessed.

8. One thing I can’t get behind is the sweet potato toast idea. Strips of sweet potato with your regular toast toppings? I can’t do it because I need the regular toast texture.

9. What dresses did you love on the red carpet? My faves were Brie Larson, Emma Stone, Taraji P Henson, Chrissy Teighan and Michelle Williams. I can’t pick! And I thought Jessica Biel looked amazing, which is right on par with everyone else saying her dress was the worst.

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Vanilla Ricotta Banana Toast with Pistachios.

Now this is MY kind of breakfast.

Texture! Flavor! Health!

Even some green from the pistachios. It totally cancels out the massive wedge of cake I ate this weekend. 

I’m very curious… would you consider this breakfast? Or lunch? Or maybe even a snack?

When I loosely plan my meals for the week, with a strong emphasis on “loosely” because I’m such a brat that if I think I HAVE to eat something, I automatically do not want to eat it, I always add some sort of toast to the day.

I bet you’re shocked to know that many times, that’s avocado toast. It’s often avocado toast with eggs, or avocado toast with goat cheese, or avocado toast with anything. But it’s also other kinds of toast, like an open faced sandwich, or nut butter with fruit, or hummus and something. And the thing is that I almost ALWAYS want my toasts for lunch. I find them to be very satisfying at that time.

If I end up having some sort of toast for breakfast… I almost always want to have it again for lunch. Unless I have some killer leftovers, toast for lunch it is.

Buuut. Sometimes I also really like toast as a snack. But in that case, it’s only one piece. Never more. Why can’t I exercise such discipline with chocolate?

This version that I’m crazy over right now? It starts with whipped ricotta. AH. It’s so, so good. So creamy and wonderful. I like to swirl in my favorite vanilla bean paste for a touch of flavor and sweetness since we’re adding fruit.

Next comes the banana. Thinly sliced, lots of them!

On top of that, a big drizzle of local honey. I also like to swirl a touch of the vanilla bean paste into the honey. Oooooh it’s such an incredible flavor.

Finishing the toast off with some crunch is a handful of chopped pistachios and a teeny sprinkle of hemp seeds. Hemp seeds are almost always my go-to for toasts and toppings on smoothies or breakfast bowls. But I wanted more crunch here, so pistachios made the cut.

Other thing that makes the cut: gallons of coffee. I can’t believe it either!

Vanilla Ricotta Banana Toast with Pistachios

Yield: serves 2 to 4

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

4 slices bread, toasted
½ cup ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
¼ cup honey
1 banana, very thinly sliced
½ cup pistachios, chopped
2 tablespoons hemp hearts



Directions:

Add the ricotta and 1 teaspoon vanilla paste to a food processor and blend until it's smooth and creamy. Add the honey to a jar or bowl and stir in the remaining teaspoon of vanilla paste.

Spread the ricotta on the toast, add a few banana slices and drizzle it with the honey. Top it with the pistachios and serve immediately. So easy!

Be sure to follow howsweeteats on instagram and tag your recipes with #howsweeteats! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the howsweeteats facebook page. I appreciate you so much!

Gimme that perfect swirly slice.

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Truffled Mushroom Bacon Pepperoni Pizza. {Video!}

[this post is in partnership with my favorites, DeLallo Foods! I’m created some delicious recipes and videos that you’ll see over the next few months. xo]

I’ve got your dinner tonight!

I’m barely embarrassed to tell you what a huge pizza mood we’ve been in recently. I’m nearly positive that on my end? It comes from the huge amount of different recipes we are shooting each day – meaning tons of different flavors, some recipes that compliment each other, some recipes that do not, but must be shot in one day – and when you have all that food going on, you just want something comforting and traditional.

Something “normal” as Eddie calls it.

On his end, he would eat pizza for lunch and dinner if he could. Every darn day. I don’t even know if I’d complain. 

SO. Oh.my.gosh.

I cannot explain how much we love the DeLallo pizza dough. It is so freaking good.

We’ve been eating it for ages now (thanks mostly to Eddie, who started making it once a week last year) but especially lately, in these last few weeks as I’ve been shooting a plethora of those random recipes for the book, we’ve heavily relied on it.

It comes with the yeast packet and all you have to do is add water and let it rise. Sometimes I’ve even thrown some dried herbs and parmesan into the dough. It’s so customizable. And easy, especially for Eddie, who isn’t used to making my own dough recipe ten million times.

Just look at that fluffy heap of love! So stretchy and silky, just how I like it. Kneading that kind of dough is one of the best feelings in the world. Right?!

Okay, BUT! My favorite part of this pizza?! The one that can’t be ignored? Eeeeep. These truffled mushrooms.

GUYS. I can’t even explain the flavor here.

And here’s the thing: up until last summer, you wouldn’t have caught me dead eating any sort of canned or jarred mushrooms. I just told you how long it took me to get into mushrooms in the first place and the idea of canned ones always majorly freaked me out.

Last summer, I was walking through the DeLallo’s store just grabbing a couple things for dinner and spied these on the shelf. They were brand new and I was intrigued and I bought three jars and then snapped a picture to all my foodie freak friends. I was terrifically excited.

Pizza was first. It was the obvious choice. We made pizza after pizza with these last year and fell madly in love. The next thing I did was an omelet. Whoa whoa whoa. Equally as fantastic. Since then, I’ve put these on quick flatbreads and french breads and even did a quiche with them over Christmas. If you still love truffle flavor like it’s going out of style, you will dieeee over these babies.

I made a pepperoni + bacon version here because it’s Eddie’s absolute FAVE. What I love to do the most though is fry the bacon, then sauté some fresh spinach in the bacon fat until it wilts. That goes on the pizza with lots of garlic. Check out the video for a peek at that recipe. It’s a flavor bomb over and over.

Truffled Mushroom Bacon Pepperoni Pizza

Yield: makes 1 pizza, serves about 4

Ingredients:

1 DeLallo Foods pizza dough kit  (or homemade here!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 jar DeLallo Foods margherita style pizza sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces provolone cheese, freshly grated
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, freshly grated
2 ounces parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for topping
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 jar of DeLallo truffled mushrooms
1/4 cup pepperoni slices
fresh basil for topping

for a kicked up pizza

8 ounces fresh baby spinach



Directions:

Prep the dough and once it's ready to bake, roll it out on a well floured surface. I used a pizza stone for this recipe, so I built my pizza on a piece of floured parchment paper. That means I could slide the pizza peel under the paper, and transfer the pizza (paper and all) to the stone!

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Rub the dough with olive oil then cover it in the tomato sauce. Sprinkle on the garlic. Add on half of the cheese (provolone, mozz + parmesan), then cover the pizza evenly with the bacon, mushrooms and pepperoni. Top it with the remaining mozzarella and provolone cheese.

Bake the pizza for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbly. Remove the pizza and let it cool slightly before covering it in the fresh basil and parmesan and serving.

If you'd like to add the spinach to the pizza, sauté it until just wilted in the bacon grease or olive oil. Place it on the pizza before your bacon, mushrooms and pepperoni!

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Would it be weird to frame this pizza art in my kitchen?!

The post Truffled Mushroom Bacon Pepperoni Pizza. {Video!} appeared first on How Sweet It Is.