This is my SECOND salty caramel mocha from Starbucks this season.
While everyone around me is going crazy over Pumpkin Spice Lattes, I’m holding out until it’s cooler. I mean, I wore shorts to school yesterday! (Granted, we’ve had some fall-like weather; check out the sky behind me. In moments, it was yucky and raining. Boo.)
Anyway, I just can’t get into fall/pumpkins/candles/decorating until it’s really crisp and full-on jeans weather.
And so I wait.
This weekend’s agenda: PAINTING!
Except that I did, and it was great.
So I made Shape Magazine’s Guacamole de Frutas the other day. It was a recipe I found in the winter (I think their December issue?) but figured I’d wait until summer when some of the ingredients were at the their best (can you even buy peaches in the winter??). Problem is, the recipe also calls for pomegranate seeds. Talk about a recipe of conflicting seasons!
Well, as it turned out, last week was quite the debacle of recipe choice vs. grocery store availability. Long story short: I was a good wife and had Andrew pick out some recipes he wanted me to make and I should have seen the first red flag go up when he grabbed my Eastern European cookbook. Don’t get me wrong, we love all those Mediterranean/Lebanese/Turkish dishes, but I have to really pick and choose what I make so as not to have to go on a wild goose chase for some unheard-of ingredient. Well, I didn’t do that…and ended up with a grocery list a mile long featuring things like “sumac” and “lavender flowers.” (I found neither, but did have acceptable substitutes. And thankfully we have a Penzey’s Spices on Elmwood, so next time I’m in I’m just going to stock up–expiration dates be damned!)
Anyway, two of his dishes called for pomegranate seeds, as well as this one, and since I’d just seen pomegranates at Wegmans the other day (to my surprise, no less), I figured they must be getting them despite it being summer. Well, wouldn’t you know that the day I go looking for the infamous red orbs, Wegmans doesn’t have a single one. Tops to the rescue!
ANYWAY…
I fruited the guac…with apples, peaches, mango, pomegranate seeds, a little onion and lime juice, and a tiny bit of jalapeno. YUM. I ate it as a lunch side with tortilla chips, and then had another portion on some cinnamon-sugared pita for breakfast. Both were very yummy options. If you like guacamole, be sure to give this one a try.
Now that’s something I haven’t made in, oh, since we lived in our first APARTMENT in Ohio… Guess I’m not a big fan, huh? I think it’s because my mom’s monkey bread always came out a little burned and the pieces (except for those few cherished center ones) came out really hard and crunchy. (Andrew said the same thing, so it must be normal.)
Anyway, last week Andrew asked–no, begged–for monkey bread and I said I’d see what I could do.
While I love to make bread, I don’t normally get up so early that I would have dough already risen and ready to go into the oven before he even leaves for work, at least not these days. So, I cheated and bought the frozen bread dough at Tops. (Apparently you can use canned biscuits for an even quicker version.)
Forgive the picture. Andrew snapped it quickly to send to his sisters (what a nice brother, bragging to them that he got monkey bread and they didn’t…) and I hadn’t anticipated blogging about our breakfast. Not sure why the dough looks yellow… Reason number 506 that I can’t WAIT for our new house: LOADS of natural light!
Anyway, I hadn’t a clue how long it would take to bake or in what proportions I would mix the cinnamon and sugar, so I Googled. I found Pioneer Woman’s recipe and it looked slightly different than what I’d made the last time, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. I’m glad I did–Andrew said it was the best he’d ever had. Must be the butter and brown sugar mixture you cook and then pour over the top. No, people, this is not health food. Not one bit.
And before I leave you, I simply must tell you the story of how Andrew made monkey bread that time long ago in our apartment (well before blogging, but oh, that would have made a great post!)…
Here’s the scene: I come down the stairs to the kitchen to find him standing in front of the stove (one of those with the four coil burners on the top), on one side of the stove top was a bowl of melted butter and the dough pieces, and on the OTHER SIDE of the stove top was the bowl of cinnamon sugar. I watched him take a piece of dough, dunk it in the melted butter (the way I assumed monkey bread was made until I read PW’s post) and DRIP DRIP DRIPped across the stove to the cinnamon and sugar bowl, and then DRIP DRIP DRIP[ed back across the stove top to the Bundt pan. I still remember the horrified gasp I let out when I saw the mess he was making.
It’s funny now, but I still wonder how someone with THREE degrees (two of them in Engineering!), does the things he does and still makes it through the day. Guess we’re all good at different things, huh? Now that I type that, I think that’s what 6.5 years of marriage has taught me; I love him, despite his “imperfections,” just like he loves me, despite mine. And oh, I have some imperfections! (Mine just don’t include making messes…)
I love you, honey, and I was so happy to make you that special breakfast today 🙂
thehealthypineapple 