Long week... Long Month... Hello Vacation

This week as been awful... pretty genuinely awful, but now I have a week of class and a nice chance to rest... thankfully! I didn't have much time to post photos so I'll play catch up with this post

Fried eggs with turkey bacon and fennel on a waffle sandwich

I had left over waffle batter from earlier this week so I threw it in the fridge and in a time crunch before an exam threw this together... it was delicious!

Last time I was at Urban Outfitters they were having a sale on book. I got the Bite Me!, its a goofy cookbook but so far everything I've made from it has been excellent.

Clever Caramelized Cauliflower with Sizzling Tilapia and Mango Salsa + Couscous

Yesterday for lunch I was in the mood for grilled cheese... I used whole wheat toast and Gouda

I really love Gouda... it is my favorite cheese, especially when it is smoked

Then I tried a new tea... I really like the color of it...

Finally I tried Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake that was posted a couple of weeks ago on Smitten Kitchen. Since my trip to Europe a few years ago I have been in a constant love affair with blood oranges, so I couldn't resist this every day cake made with olive oil.

Wasabi Halls, Cupcakes, Couscous, and Kabobs

After we took one of our cats to the vet today, we decided since it was faux spring (64 degrees) we'd get a head start on spring projects and cleaning... so we scrubbed the walls and painted our staircase and landing 'Wasabi Powder' green. It is pretty awesome. Next on our list is 'French Silver' for the bathroom with blue tiles and accents... then a basement renovation!

For Dinner we had Weight Watchers Middle Eastern Kabobs, Greek salad, and couscous. It was so nice to be able to grill again... to bad next week we have a high of 42, back to winter again...

Greek Salad:

1 cucumber, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

4 large tomatoes, chopped

1 can black olives - drained, rinsed, and halved

1/2 pkg crumbled feta

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp evoo

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tbsp dried oregano

1 Tbsp dried mint

Mix all the vegetables and cheese together in a large serving bowl. Then in a smaller bowl whist the remaining ingredients together for a dressing. Pour over salad and toss then let marinate for 30 minutes to an hour stirring about half way through.

My cousin turns 21 next week so I decided to make her some cupcakes. Since I am mailing them and didn't want the package to end up a total mess I frosted them then dipped them in chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. Now they not only look super fun, but the coating of chocolate will stop the frosting from getting everywhere... as long as they don't melt!

Weekend of Parties... and Baking

While I was at Borders this weekend a bunch of their giftie was 50-75% off so I got this awesome bag, a lunch boxes to store my cupcake wrappers and other baking stuff in, then a bunch of books that were $1. I love bargain shopping!

It was my grandpa's birthday yesterday so I made him spice cake and attempted to make macarons again. The spice cake was excellent, the macarons were better than last time!

I used the extra fluffy buttercream recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World and the spice cake recipe from Kitchen Illiterate.

The macarons were rose flavored with vanilla cream in the middle. I wanted them to be more puffy, but at lease none of them cracked or broke. They were delicious!

Friday we had a Valentine's Day Cocktail Party. I made 6 dozen mini red velvet cupcakes with fudge icing. The red velvet recipe is my absolutely favorite (for the recipe scan through the older posts). The fudge icing came from a magazine article from about 4 years ago, it is delicious.