Caramelized Mushroom & Onion Biscuits

One of my most favorite blogs is one that I only recently discovered in the last few months - Joy the Baker. She is a hilarious writer, her recipes are ones I consistently flag in my email for future cooking adventures and not to mention the pictures are great. 

During the week, I live on smoothies for breakfast, but on the weekends, its time to spice it up since I actually have time to cook. So when Joy the Baker's recipe for Caramelized Mushroom & Onion Biscuits appeared in my email, I knew breakfast sandwiches were on the horizon. Best. Decision. Ever. No seriously, Best. Decision. Ever!

Smoothie Overload!

These cute signs are on the wall at my new favorite lunch spot, Protein Bar

The holidays are a perfect time to indulge so instead of going crazy from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I figured I should space out the overindulgence! So post Thanksgiving, to balance out all the desserts, drinks, fried foods and whatever else makes holidays awesome, I started a smoothie "cleanse." There are no directions, no steps really - just homemade smoothies for 2 meals and a sensible 3rd meal for a # of days. ( I lasted about 4 days!) Truth be told this was not hard for me because I have a smoothie almost every morning for breakfast because its easy, filling and one of the few things I can tolerate and actually want in the am. Below are a few of my latest go to smoothies.

Tidwell Thanksgiving Recap

Happy Thanksgiving Friends! Hope your day was filled with lots of family, friends, laughter, love and thankfulness! Several people have already asked what the Tidwell family enjoyed this holiday so here is a quick recap. Every host and chef wants to hear "this was the best year yet" so kudos to everyone for helping make this Thanksgiving dinner the best yet!" Huge shout out to Bon Appetit for providing all of this year's inspiration! (Click on the titles for recipes).
We started the morning with The Ultimate Sticky Buns

Veterans Day & A Green Smoothie Obsession

Today, November 11 aka Veterans Day, I set out for a run with a purpose. The goal - run the 4 miles from my house to Arlington National Cemetery and pay my respects to the countless military men and women who have fought for our country and those that paid the ultimate price. I think we should pay tribute to those that have served or currently serve in the armed services everyday, so today and everyday, THANK YOU. 

Very Berry Pancakes

Happy 4th of July!!! What better way to wake up on the holiday to a breakfast of fresh blueberry pancakes topped with homemade strawberry syrup and a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top?! It was a trick question, there is no better way to start the day to celebrate and pay tribute to the red, white and blue! And seeing as I'm not normally one to eat pancakes or waffles (I always like the idea of them, but when it comes time to order, I never get them), these were a pretty delicious way to start the day. Maybe I've turned the corner!

Blueberry Almond Smoothie

A blueberry almond smoothie is a perfect way to use that bag of frozen blueberries and a great way to get your recommended daily fruit intake. The addition of almond milk, instead of regular milk or yogurt, makes this an even healthier option for breakfast. A great meal rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

Vita-Mix

Imagine my surprise on Christmas when I unwrapped a present and found inside, the Vita-Mix TurboBlend 4500 model!!! This is one of those items, I've craved from afar for a long time and assumed it would go on a wedding gift registry (for some long lost rich relative to buy) because I would never buy it myself. These machines are not cheap -  $399 to over $1000. Yes that is a lot for a blender, but trust me its worth every penny, because its not just a blender! You can also make hot soup, the smoothest smoothies ever, frozen drinks, juice, homemade ice cream and sauces.

So far, I've become obsessed with mastering the perfect morning smoothie. I don't think I've ever bought so much frozen and fresh fruit in my life! Every variation I've tried comes out great - if you're someone who likes smoothies but hates all of the chain smoothie shops and all the crap they put in them, get this instead, its the most natural terrific taste with no added fat, sodium or sugar.

Homemade Bagels

 

I love bagels! For breakfast, I prefer a plain bagel with PB or a pumpernickel bagel with plain cream cheese and tomato. For dinner, pizza bagels are a quick and easy way to fill a pizza void. While I love bagels, I do not like the ones you can buy at the grocery because they're loaded with additives to keep them "fresh!" Faced with my bagel frustration, I decided to make them myself. Plus I'm hoping to have a brunch for a new mom in the group and what's better than fresh bagels! So here we go, the first attempt so I can perfect it before serving them to my friends.

This recipe is courtesy of Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook , an easy, clear and straightforward cookbook. And don't worry the industrial size deep fryer that you see at your local bakery is not necessary, all you need is a stockpot of boiling water and an oven to bake these bagels! After seeing how easy it was, I wouldn't be surprised if I do it myself moving forward.

The recipe makes 10 bagels.

Brown Sugar Campfire Apples

if you ever go camping and need to contribute some food to the function, volunteer to make this one morning for breakfast - everyone in my family LOVES this little treat disguised as a breakfast side! all you need is a campfire, a cast iron skillet, apples (my grammie prefers the Macintosh kind for this), brown sugar and butter.

peel and chop up the apples (take out the core/seeds). put the skillet over the campfire, throw in a stick of butter, the chopped up apples and brown sugar. cook until the apples are no longer hard, but not so long that it becomes apple sauce! add more butter if it starts to stick to the skillet and more brown sugar depending on how sweet you want them. and if you want to be daring throw in some cinnamon too!

the first family camping trip, i used a bag of apples (about 2lbs), this past trip, i used 4lbs and we still ran out!

I've never taken a picture of the apples cooking so this will have to do - just imagine all are sitting around the campfire waiting for the apples to be ready!

p.s. you can cook these over a stove as well, its just not the same effect.