Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 381

Tuesday Things.

1. Desperately craving some of this one pot chicken bacon fettuccini alfredo.

2. Live photos: how do we feel about them? I have a love/hate relationship with them, and when I take them, always get nervous about what I’ve said in the one minute clip. After I send it to someone, of course.

3. It’s been close to ten days since I had coffee with one exception. I tried the cascara latte at Starbucks and it was SO good. Oh my gosh, like so, so good. I’ve made it through the day without having it first thing though, and I’m feeling gooood. And possibly a little zombielike.

4. I looooved this episode of The Affair since there was so much Joshua Jackson in it. I want Allison and him together SO badly. I did watch Homeland and totally hated it. Maybe I need to watch again. Did anyone watch The Young Pope? We have it recorded and are going to watch this week! Also, I’m almost on to season three of Gilmore Girls. GAH.

5. Every year I want to plan a tropical vacation this time of year and I’m so upset that I don’t. Vacations the second or third week of January should be a permanent thing.

6. I’ve successfully stayed out of Target for seventeen days, if only because I’ve been massively busy and/or sick. But just so I don’t forget: 43 thoughts you have in Target.

7. Am I too late to do a post on my word of the year? I mean, it IS the middle of January and you might have made a massive cheesy pizza on Sunday night despite your resolutions. You tell me.

8. Good habits are totally holding me back.

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

Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Spicy Garlic Chickpeas and Blue Cheese Sauce.

New favorite meal alert!

I love this potato so much that I want to pick it up and eat it like a taco.

GUYS. I am in a downward spiral and being sucked in the Netflix vortex Gilmore Girls. I mean, I don’t even want to sleep. I just want to keep watching. Even Eddie was watching with me. But only secretly because he is so happy that it’s not reality trash on the tv. HELP.

This isn’t really my first go ‘round with stuffed sweet potatoes. I’ve been obsessed with them for years, making an apple bacon version, a roasted grape and goat cheese version, a cheesy black bean + egg version and last year, a veggie fajita version. I don’t even know which one is my very favorite.

Oh wait. Yes I do. ALL OF THEM.

We are in the day of everything being allowed to be a favorite, even if it completely destroys the use of the word. Just add an “s” on to it and we can all say that we have lots of favoriteS.

I think the first person to serve me a chickpea stuffed sweet potato was Ashley, years ago. It also had an egg, because what doesn’t an egg taste good on? If you’re reeeeallly feeling it, you could throw a poached egg on here too. I bet it would be ridiculous with the blue cheese sauce. In fact, I’m now very depressed that I didn’t consume that for breakfast.

Let’s smother our lives with blue cheese sauce.

To start here, I became absolutely obsessed with this idea of slow roasted sweet potatoes when I saw them on saveur a few weeks ago. They just sounded SO good. I made them twice for us to have with dinner, just completely plain with some butter, salt and pepper. But I wanted to make them as a complete meal and knew they needed some goodness inside. The get so caramely. They seem sweeter, if that is even a thing.

And of course, when I say “I wanted to make them as a complete meal”… I most definitely meant myself. Eddie would still never consider this a full meal, but he happily ate it as a side dish. Next to ten pounds of chicken.

Not dramatic at all.

The chickpeas are a spinoff of my marinated chickpeas which I absolutely LOVE. Ever since I first made them last year, they’ve become a staple in my diet. They are such an easy dish to prep on Sundays and I love them in so many different ways.

Also. They have

so

much

flavor.

So much!

They’d be just as delicious if you roasted them too. Um yes please.

The blue cheese sauce is from… my heart. It might be made of cheese. My heart, that is.

Whyyyyyy can’t I stop? I never will.

Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Spicy Garlic Chickpeas and Blue Cheese Sauce

Yield: serves 4

Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper for seasoning

chickpeas

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, plus extra for topping

blue cheese sauce

1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup milk (2% or whole)
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese, plus extra for topping



Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Scrub the sweet potatoes and dry them completely. Rub the outsides with olive oil and cover them with salt and pepper. Bake the potatoes for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until caramely on the bottoms and super soft. Remove the potatoes and let them cool just slightly.

While the potatoes are still warm, gently slice them open and drizzle the insides with the blue cheese sauce. Top with the spicy chickpeas, then add a bit more blue cheese sauce, a few blue cheese crumbles and some chopped fresh cilantro. Serve!

chickpeas

In a bowl, toss the chickpeas with the olive oil, apple cider vinegar and garlic. In a smaller bowl, stir together the paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper and cayenne. Add it to the chickpeas and stir to coat. Stir in the cilantro. If desired, you can warm this over low heat on the stove just until it is hot enough for your liking.

blue cheese sauce

In a saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until it's sizzling. Whisk in the flour to create a roux, stirring until the roux bubbles and smells a bit nutty. Very slowly pour in the milk while whisking the entire time - the mixture will thicken as you pour the mix. Cook for a few minutes until it thickens more, stirring often. Reduce the heat and stir in the blue cheese crumbles. Stir until the cheese melts (a few crumbles can remain, but you want it cheesy and melty).

[sweet potato method from saveur]

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!

These could also benefit from some bacon.

The post Slow Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Spicy Garlic Chickpeas and Blue Cheese Sauce. appeared first on How Sweet It Is.

Currently Crushing On.

{via}

Happy Saturday!

I couldn’t be more excited that the weekend is here. Last Saturday I ended up with the flu and the whole weekend was a wash. This past week I started photography on my next book and it went so much better than I anticipated! I’ll be hibernating for a few weeks until it’s finished and in the meantime… binging on Gilmore Girls every free second. Oops.

What are you up to this weekend?!

P.S. if you need a weekend snack: brown sugar sesame sriracha popcorn!

favorite links of the week…

WHAT. eggs, bacon, mac and cheese. omg.

this cinnamon roll bundt cake is insane.

this rose and earl grey tea latte is stunning.

almond white chocolate oatmeal. love this.

holy cow i’m craving this butter onion tomato soup.

the most adorable free printable wall calendar.

this vanilla and chocolate marbled cake sounds SO good right now.

how to make naturally dyed linens. these are so pretty.

super delicious blueberry apple crumble bars.

i need alllllll the lemon ginger elixir.

oooh these white chocolate macadamia cookies look so perfect.

sriracha almond butter brussels sprouts! oh yum.

can’t wait for watermelon grilled cheese pizza.

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Blood Orange Vanilla Upside Down Cake.

Who still needs their serving of fruit today?

I have the best way for you to get it. In one delicious slice, covered with cold vanilla whipped cream!

You might want to sit down for this one.

When I was super young, we lived in this house that had a crawl space in the garage. It was more than a crawl space – it was practically another room or attic-like storage spot that I could walk around in since I was so small. My mom had some pantry items in there, things that wouldn’t spoil, and my earliest memory of being in that space is when she told me that a six-pack of coke bottles were going to be used for a pineapple upside down cake.

What? I have zero idea why I remember THIS exact sentence, exactly where I was standing and how I can hear her voice saying it, but I don’t even think that’s a thing, is it? Were coke bottles used for upside down cake?

I should probably just ask her, but since I’m the epitome of laziness, propped on the couch, watching the first season of Gilmore Girls (I’m hooked) and my phone is about four feet away, I’m going to skip the call. I wonder if she meant to say “angel food cake” in that moment, because my secret old school brain semi-remembers that maybe THAT was a thing back in the day. Cooling and angel food cake over a coke bottle? Was that a thing?

Yes, I’ve officially lost my mind and that was my very first memory of hearing about an upside down cake in life.

I don’t even think I tasted one for ten plus years later. At least!

I don’t LOVE pineapple upside down cake but I don’t hate it either. I’m quite apathetic to it, in fact. I’d never choose it as dessert off a menu, but I also *might* take a few bites if it’s the only dessert available and I’m having extremely sweet teeth.

I’m pretty sure this is the exact definition of a FLAKE.

(Hold on, let me check.)

A blood orange cake though? SIGN ME UP. I’d do a few other flavors too, but I’m positive that no other flavor would look as gorgeously neon and pink as this blood orange does. We should start counting how many times I say that this year so we can put it in a burn book.

Since citrus doesn’t get as caramely as, say, pineapple, I also made a blood syrup to go over top.

OH

MY

GOSH.

I want to drink it alone. It’s delicious and when drizzled over whipped cream ON TOP of the cake?

No really. What else do you even need?!*

Blood Orange Upside Down Cake

Yield: makes one 9-inch cake; serves about 6

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 blood oranges, thinly sliced and rind removed


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out

blood orange syrup

1/3 cup blood orange juice
1/3 cup sugar

vanilla whipped cream

2 cups cold heavy cream
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons powdered sugar



Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray.

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and once melted, whisk in the sugar and the cinnamon until it starts to bubble. Remove it from the heat and pour it in the bottom of the cake pan. Place the blood orange slices over top, covering the bottom of the pan completely.

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

To make the cake batter, place the butter in the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until creamy. Beat in the sugar and gradually increase the speed to high, beating until fluffy and scraping down the sides if necessary, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in each egg until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract and scraped seeds from the vanilla bean.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and stir until the batter just comes together.

Place dollops of the batter all over the oranges and gently spread evenly to cover. Bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and set. Remove from the oven and only let it cool for about 5 minute, just so the fruit settles and stops bubbling. After 5 minutes (no longer!), run a knife along the edges of the cake and place a cake plate over top, then gently flip the cake to remove it from the pan. Here, you can fix any fruit than has slid off or rearrange it if desired. Let the cake cool completely before topping it with the blood orange syrup and serving it with the whipped cream.

blood orange syrup

Heat the juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to bubble. Let cool completely to room temperature.

vanilla whipped cream

Place the cold cream and vanilla  in the bowl of your electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until peaks form. Beat in the powdered sugar and serve.

[cake adapted from my bourbon peach cake]

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!

*besides champagne.

The post Blood Orange Vanilla Upside Down Cake. appeared first on How Sweet It Is.

Coffee Coconut Shakes.

This is so much better than the one time I dipped a holiday leftover milk chocolate bear in the peanut butter jar for breakfast.

The first decision of the day that I stumble upon while I’m peacefully waking up from a night of slumber (read: reaching for my phone like the psychotic, tech-addicted person that I am and scrolling through every social media outlet possible to get my news fix like it’s the new newspaper) is this: breakfast flavors. Sweet or savory?

That is the question.

This is a smoothie that I’ve been drinking since the first few months after Max was born. At least, some sort of version of it.

While I absolutely love the flavor combo of coffee and chocolate (mocha coconut anyone?!), it’s super difficult for me to enjoy almond milk or coconut milk in my coffee. It’s practically like adding water to it. I like adding cream or daily milk because it gives the coffee a creamy consistency. The almond and coconut milk don’t change the consistency and I’m just like… UGH. GIVE ME ALL THE CREAM.

So sometimes if I don’t want to do dairy in my coffee, I’ll throw it in a smoothie. After all, the first time I EVER consumed coffee was in college during the very first release of the mocha coconut Frappuccino at starbucks (it’s never tasted as delicious since then!), so coffee in cold, frosty beverages is somewhat of a staple in my life.

It’s so ironic that I’m sharing these shakes today because I haven’t had one single sip of coffee in five whole days. I mentioned in my Tuesday Things that I didn’t have it for a few days thanks to having the flu and not wanting to ingest a darn thing, and I decided to see if I could go a few days without it. I mean, I know that I totally can. It’s not like I even drink two full cups a day. But!

I miss it so much – I miss the taste and just the… ritual of drinking it. Does that make sense? Sometimes it made me feel like complete garbage though. Especially in the afternoon. I’m trying to determine the cause of that (occasionally I have it on an empty stomach? Too much dairy plus sugar?) and then bringing it back and enjoying a cup to it’s full freaking potential. I can’t waaaait.

Those little chocolate sprinkles up there? They are a combo of chocolate covered hemp seeds and chocolate covered chia seeds which I can’t get enough of right now. I’m obsessed with their snackage uses, throwing them on everything from toast to yogurt to smoothies, apparently. They are crunchy and delicious.

And health food, so of course.

Coffee Coconut Shakes

Yield: serves 1 or 2

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk
2 shots espresso
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
1 tablespoon almond butter
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unsweetened coconut powder
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup ice

for topping: flaked coconut, chocolate covered chia and hemp seeds

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a high-powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately, topping with extra flaked coconut, chocolate covered chia seeds and hemp seeds.

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!

It’s basically dessert.

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Winter Citrus Butter Salmon.

Raise your hand if you’re desperate for some bright color in your life right now.

In a form other than kale salad or sad grocery store flowers.

Me me me!

I will just never get over the striking beauty of blood oranges and winter citrus. It’s like the universe KNEW that I needed an almost-hot pink orange come January to make it through the heaviness of winter. Yep. Surely that is it. 100%.

There was a time, years ago, in what seems like a very far away land in my brain now when I was over the moon with fruit salsas. Especially when it came to seafood. Nothing has changed – err, I mean EVERYTHING has changed in life – but nothing has changed about my love for said quick salsas and certainly nothing has changed with my constant topping on things like salmon and flaky whitefish.

 

UGH. It’s cold! It’s dull and dreary right now. If it’s not raining it’s snowing and I’m having a hard time seeing the finish line at the moment and sort of wish it would magically just end up being April like, well, tomorrow. But I also don’t want to wish time away. Ever!

So I’m enveloping myself in this citrusy, buttery winter salmon. Oh my word it’s freaking fantastic.

The flavor on this filet is just absolutely IN. CREDIBLE.

Two words. It’s necessary. In. and Credible.

We mix together some brown sugar, salt and lemon zest, then mix that with olive oil to create a lovely sweet and salty citrus rub that goes right on the salmon before broiling. Oh! But we place blood orange slices on the top which also deliver some sweetness and flavor.

Once it’s broiled, we drizzle melty herb butter on top but only because I have no idea when to quit.

And it’s finished with lots of winter citrus salsa. Think more blood orange, cara caras, diced shallot, jalapeño peppers. YEP.

Things are about to get reeeeealll blood orangey (ew, that’s quite annoying and sounds horrific) on the site this month.

So. I don’t know. It will be like all of my other obsessions that grow and die in 60 days. Except this one doesn’t have a choice to leave since it will be out of season! Get it while it’s hot, for sure. Can I have a blood orange tree when it’s snowing in January?

Serving ideas: ummm… aside from just standing over the baking sheet, eating this with a fork like a maniac? Let me think.

My favorite way to eat salmon like this is over a huge salad with TONS of feta cheese and maybe even something crunchy, like some sliced almonds. Or, uh, tortilla chips. You choose. I also really like it with brown rice, that old-school but wonderful harvest grain blend from Trader Joe’s (whyyyy is it so good?!) or even a few roasted potato wedges.

However, if you want to go the old standing-with-a-fork-over-the-baking-sheet route, it’s also so delicious flaked on some super crunchy crackers, or flatbread, cheese welcome always. Best ever!

Winter Citrus Butter Salmon

Yield: serves 4

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 (2-pound) salmon filet
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 blood orange, thinly sliced

herb butter

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs (basil, oregano, sage, thyme, etc)
pinch of salt

winter citrus salsa

1 blood orange, segmented and chopped
1 cara cara orange, segmented and chopped
1 small shallot, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
juice of 1 lime
pinch of salt and pepper



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. In a bowl, stir together the brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic and lemon zest. Add the olive oil to make a wet rub. Rub the mixture all over the salmon. Place the blood orange slices on top.

Broil the salmon for 6 to 8 minutes, or until just opaque and flakey with a fork. Drizzle with the herb butter and serve with the winter citrus salsa. I also like to eat this on a salad with feta or with a brown rice + quinoa blend!

herb butter

Stir together the melted butter, fresh herbs and salt.

winter citrus salsa

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until combined. This will last for about a day in a sealed container 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!

Can we even eat something this pretty?

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Tuesday Things.

1. Finally a recipe for unicorn hot chocolate! So much better than I could have done.

2. We de-Christmasfied our house this weekend, and it’s the saddest thing ever when Max walks downstairs in the morning and asks for the Christmas trees to be turned on.

3. I had some soft of flu-like thing this weekend and had zero appetite, meaning I haven’t had coffee since Friday morning. That probably contributed to me feeling worse, but now that it’s been out of my system for four days, I sort of want to quit it daily. Even though I only drink one cup a day and love it sooooo much.

4. Can we all just agree that Ryan Gosling’s Golden Globes speech proves that he basically IS his character in the notebook, therefore fulfilling all my hopeless romantic dreams forever?

5. These sneakers are my new seriously obsession.

6. Okay, I can’t even express how much I LOVED Nashville last week! I am so glad it’s back, even though the last two years it’s been on, I’ve been totally “meh” about it. Something about those episodes made me feel like it was the first season again. And The Affair? Eeeep. Helen! Noah! What the heck. I can’t wait for next week based on the previews and… Pacey. Forever Pacey.

7. Very obsessed with this idea: the only 5 email folders your inbox will ever need.

8. Seeing the first preview for Beauty and the Beast got me so excited – it was the first animated Disney movie I was really into as a kid (I know, I know) and the songs just took me back on a wave of nostalgia. Pretty sure I even sang one of the songs for a drama club “audition” when I was 11. You know.

9. Who were your best dressed Golden Globes picks? I loved Kristen Bell, Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Reese and apparently I’m the only one but I really loved Carrie Underwood’s dress.

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

30 Minute Asian Chicken Soup.

I’ve got a big bowl of health for you today.

It’s disguised as a hug. It is! I swear.

This is a big deal. There are no noodles in this soup! I didn’t even realize it until I was halfway done testing the recipe. I actually meant to add noodles but my new years brain is completely fried and before I knew it, I saw a bunch of green, took a taste, and was all… perfection.

It’s perfection.

As long as you like mushrooms! If you don’t, you can totally leave them out. You can actually put whatever the heck you want in this pot. Even noodles. I won’t judge.

This one though? It almost reminds me of a big bowl of ramen without the, well… ramen.

You know.

The toppings are necessary for me. They MAKE the soup. We have:

A spritz of lime.

Soy sauce or tamari.

Toasted sesame oil. I could just drink it!

A splash of rice vinegar.

And a sprinkle of furikake. I dieeee.

We also gotta talk about how awesome this soup is for this time of year. This past weekend, I came down with the flu. I don’t think I’ve ever had the flu before, like the real, legit flu, and alllll I wanted in life was a bowl of this soup, after I woke from the dead after 48 hours. It’s calming and delicious and seriously full of vegetables which I don’t even notice because the flavor is fantastic.

And the best part is that the flavor is sort of up to you with all of those toppings. More sesame? Yes of course. You can put whateverrr you want on it.

It also has some texture, because the bok choy retains a bit of crunch since you add it near the end. SEE. You don’t even need noodles! If I say so, you can trust me.

Asian Chicken Soup

Yield: serves about 4

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
12 ounces mushrooms, sliced
6 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 bok choy, greens chopped (about 2 cups worth)
4 green onions, thinly sliced

for topping:

toasted sesame oil
soy sauce or tamari
rice vinegar
furikake seasoning
fresh chopped cilantro
lime wedges



Directions:

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the olive oil and butter. Stir in the onion, carrots, salt and pepper, cooking until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic, cooking until the mushrooms just soften, about 3 more minutes. Add the stock and bring the mixture to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 10 minutes. Stir in the chicken and bok choy, simmering for 10 more minutes. Right before serving, toss in the green onions.

Serve with toppings of cilantro, toasted sesame oil, tamari, rice vinegar and furikake seasoning.

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!

Now that I’ve met my vegetable requirements for 2017, I’d like a cookie. Please and thank you.

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Currently Crushing On.

{via}

Welcome to my first crushes of 2017! It feels like FOR.EV.ER (sandlot style) since I’ve shared a crushing on post… and it has been. Today we’re going to take down our Christmas decor and I am so sad about it – this season was so much fun with Max. I probably haven’t been this sad for the season to end since I was like twelve years old.

But! I’m really looking forward to 2017 and right now I’m knee deep in the photography for my next book. It’s bitter cold here, so tonight I’m thinking lotssss of hot chocolate.

What is happening with you guys?!

So many good things on the internets below:

kristen is doing an AWESOME 365 day challenge to rock your happy. i love this!

snowman affogato! OMG.

this has to be the most stunning winter salmon salad ever.

i’ve always been obsessed with tracy’s organization posts.

red wine hot chocolate blacktap milkshakes. perfect indulgence.

all i need this weekend is a BBQ chicken chopped salad.

slow cooker chicken tortilla soup. it looks so good!

super pretty winter citrus margaritas.

ooooh peas and bacon mac and cheese. i’ll okay the peas here.

these wholesome lentil protein bowls seem like the perfect blend of health and comfort.

craving a pot of this winter vegetable minestrone.

no need to twist my arm for a slice of hazelnut coffee cheesecake.

love the idea of this sweetened black bean dip.

 

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Champagne Caramel Popcorn. (and Bacon Parmesan Popcorn!)

I have good news!

Popcorn is a whole grain.

It’s also vegetarian. I guess it’s even vegan if you skip the butter.

This means that you can totally include this in your 2017 diet resolutions for this first weekend.

The first weekend is always the toughest, right? If you’re whole 30ing it or trying not to consume vats of wine after the holidays, Saturday night is always a good place to LOSE those resolutions. At least for me. I can be so set in my resolutions until Saturday around 4PM, when I just want to let loose, feel comfortable and enjoy all the things I haven’t enough for… oh… five days?

Seems like an ETERNITY.

But so! Good news indeed. It’s popcorn. You can have it. And ssshhhhhh don’t worry about the parmesan and bacon and champagne and caramel. It’s so minor that you don’t even have to factor it in.

I won’t tell a soul. Promise.

This first week of the year is tricky for recipes, because I want a bunch of healthy dinner ideas, but I also want a good snacky idea to for Golden Globes watching purposes. Major first world probs, if I do say so myself. Why must this fun Sunday night show fall on the first weekend of the new year, when I’ve resolved to stop eating in front of the TV as well as stop going to bed in the middle of the night?

So unfair.

Since I am so excessive that ONE flavor of popcorn isn’t enough, I figured we had to do two. A savory and a sweet one. Plus, can we talk about how this is just the fast microwaveable popcorn in a brown paper bag that you make yourself? YES YES. Homemade microwave popcorn.

Both of these recipes are super quick and easy, and while the champagne caramel may take about 15ish minutes, that’s doable if you get to eat champagne caramel after. RIGHT?!

New favorite thing alert: champagne caramel.

OH

MY

GOSH.

It tastes like angel tears. I think it might even be my blood type after consumption of this popcorn.

And I get it: not everyone wants boozy caramel on their popcorn. So crisp up some bacon, grate some parmesan and toss some truffle salt into that mess.

Annnnd if spicy is more your style: brown sugar sriracha sesame popcorn! Dying.

Champagne Caramel Popcorn & Bacon Truffle Parmesan Popcorn

Yield: each popcorn serves 2 appropriately, 1 obnoxiously

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1/3 cup corn kernels
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted

champagne caramel

1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup champagne
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

bacon truffle parmesan

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon truffle salt



Directions:

Combine the kernels and coconut oil and place them in a brown paper bag. Fold the top down a few times so it's secure, then microwave for 2 minutes to 2.5 minutes, or until the kernels are popped. Open the bag and pour the kernels in a large bowl to cool slightly.

champagne caramel

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk to combine, then cook and stir until the mixture is bubbling. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes until it slightly thickens and is smooth. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature - it will thicken as it cools! Drizzle over the popped popcorn right before serving. Serve with champagne!

bacon truffle parmesan

Toss the popped popcorn with the melted butter. Toss with the parmesan, truffle salt and bacon. Serve immediately!

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That’s a good caramel to popcorn ratio for me.

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