Coffee Talks

"BFF stone breezing through NYC today." - Jess

"Grown ups eating cupcakes for breakfast." - Erin

I saw this on Pinterest: Yummy Balls

A few days ago I saw these adorable little 

cookie dough-ish looking balls with a recipe right under them.

It seemed to good/easy to be true.

It read:

2 ripe bananas, 1 cup quick oats, 

1/2 c choc chips, 1 heaping spoonful of natural peanut butter.. 

mix well, plop spoonfuls onto baking sheet, bake at 350 for 15 mins. 

Delicious! #healthy

So... I did what I do and I scavenged my cabinets to find

that I sort of had all the ingredients.

I used dates instead of chocolate chips, and almond butter instead of peanut,

and then for half of the batch I added in a tsp of dark cocoa powder.

The funny thing though is that they looked nothing like the picture I had Pinned.

Nothing.

Now I know that this is a common anomaly of Pinterest, 

and you can't believe everything you see on the internet, but I was still baffled. 

The good new though,they are delicious.

I had to hide them from the boy to keep him from eatting them all!

Well upon my confusion I decided to do a little more research into that 

original Pin to find that the recipe that was given

 was not at all what was pictured.

Those are actually Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

that you can find over at Averie Cooks.

So I guess that I am going to have to try those now too! Ha.

The Apple Experiment

A few months ago,

my wonderful Mother-in-law bought me a dehydrator

at a yard sale.  She had purchased one for herself a little 

bit prior and knew that I would absolutely loved it!

I have always wanted a dehydrator.

I have always had the best memories of my childhood

best friends family.

One of those fantastic memories is how much their 

father loved his dehydrator. 

I can close my eyes and the smell of apples chips and jerky 

waft all around!

I decided that since I had never done this myself,

I should start with the basics....Apples.

But you know me....I can't JUST do apples.

AND even if I did... 

do you know how many different kinds of apples there are?

Hence, 

The Apple Experiment was born.

Round 1:

3 different types of apples, each done in 3 flavors.

So I did a little research on the art of dehydration.

I read and read many different blogs, recipes, and forums.

Did I mention that my machine was from a yard sale and it didn't come with 

a users manual?

I really had no clue were to start.

I found that there were many different recipes 

that included tossing and soaking.

So here's what I did:

Step 1:

So I started with 2 Gala, 2 Granny Smith, and 2 Pink Lady apples.

I peeled and sliced, but I purposefully 

left some skin and varied the width of the slices.

You know, just so that I could figure out how we liked them.

Step 2:

I kept each type of apple in their own separate piles,

and them spilt those piles into thirds.

For my flavors I chose just straight up original, a classic cinnamon, and 

a fun little punch of flavorful guava.

So the originals, we obviously I didn't do anything to those.

I tossed one handful in a bowl of cinnamon, and then

the rest I soaked in guava nectar for about 15 minutes.

Step 3:

I arranged each type of apple neatly on separate trays.

I made sure that they were all organized by flavor so that they would be easier to 

distinguish later.

All of the recipes that I read said to run the machine for 7 hours at a 

specific temperature, but my dehydrator does not have a temperature control, just an 

ON/OFF switch.

So at 6 hours I checked only to find that they were definitely not ready.

I kept an eye on them and ended up running them for a full 10 1/2 hours.

I let them sit in the dehydrator with it OFF for about and hour,

then put them into zip lock baggies.

Step 4:

It was time for the taste test.

The boy and I munched and compared, until we narrowed it down.

Really we loved them all.

The Results:

Like I said they were all amazing! 

But we had our preferences.

We found that the Gala's didn't get as crispy, and there was too much 

cinnamon on all of them.

But in the end.

He loved the Original Granny Smith and I loved the Guava Pink Ladies. 

100 Calorie Happiness!

I was so excited to get my very first Klout Perk in the mail!

Yummy and Happy mail day!!!

As I am sure that you are well aware of now,

we have been on a bit of a health kick around these parts! 

And as a result I have cut out most "snacks".

No more chips and crackers have been way limited.

But with these delicious 100 calorie snack packs,

I can drop the guilt and pick up some seriously yummy Nacho Cheese flavor!

And if that wasn't enough of a reason to indulge a little,

each pack also contains 3g of fiber and 9 essential vitamins and minerals.

I expected to feel like I was eating flavored air puffs, but these 

snack bites are dense and filling and full of flavor!

They are the perfect little car snack!

The Nacho Cheese was my favorite,

the Sour Cream and Onion was a close second though....

However I will be using my coupon to try the Cinnamon Spice flavor!!!

If you have yet to sign up for Klout what are you waiting for?

Add me as one of your influencers! 

Get all kinds of goodies just for being you!

Just a quick disclaimer:

I was given a free product sample because I'm a Klout influencer.

I am under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company.

I get no additional benefits for talking about Slim Fast or the Snack Bites.

Key Lime Mini Cupcake Recipe

First we must all give a great big 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

to the hubs.

So his favorite thing for a sweet treat has always 

been Key Lime Pie.

Last year his Mom made him these amazing little

Key Lime Mini Cupcakes.

They were to die for, so I knew that would be happening again this year.

I mentioned on the Facebook the other day that I was looking for a good 

recipe and many of your said you wanted to know as well....

So here it is!

What you will need:

(makes 24 cupcakes)

cakes:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar

1 large egg

1/4 cup Key Lime juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

frosting:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

Step 1:

Heat oven to 350° F

Line the indents of 24 mini cupcakes with paper liners.

Step 2:

Combine in a medium sized bowl:

Flour, salt, and baking powder.

In another medium sized bowl,

beat butter, vanilla, and sugar with an electric mixer 

on medium high speed for 1 minute.

Step 3:

Add half the flour mixture to the wet mixture, combine on low speed.

Then add all of the Key lime juice,

then the rest of the flour mixture.

Step 4:

Once evenly combined, 

spoon evenly into prepared liners.

Make at 350° F for 17 minutes.

Cool in pans on wire rack.

Step 5:

In a small bowl,

combine confectioners sugar, butter, and vanilla.

Beat until smooth.

Spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes.

Tip:

I also topped the cupcakes with 

Annie's Organic Snickerdoodle Crumbs.

I ran them through the food processor so that I could get an even dusting.

Yum!

Night Time Snacks

Night time snacks look like this now.

We used to sit elbow deep in a carton of ice cream,

but now the hubs and I snack on

healthier treats.

I had to throw that Cadbury Egg in for him...

they are his favorite.

30x30

What better way to celebrate those last fleeting moments of my 20's 

than a big kids dinner party?

We had a spread of cheese and other yummy goodies

for the perfect DIY grilled cheese.

I couldn't decide on what kind of grilled cheese, so I doubled down.

One cheddar and bacon with spicy sauce,

and one apple and brie with raspberry chipotle!

YUM!!!

It was such a wonderful evening of awesome friends,

lots of laughter, and a few too many yummy beers.