These were the type of cookies where I just sort of threw them together and hoped for the best. What I got was sweet, tender and completely delectable. There is a lovely lemon flavor compliments of the juice and the zest, and a chewy moistness that came from the coconut.

But the texture really gets its tenderness from the cream of tartar. The crispy sugary coating on these doesn’t hurt either!

They really reminded me more of a sweet biscuit. So when my children and I gobbled them almost all up with big mugs of tea on a snowy afternoon a few weeks ago- I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt! Cause they were biscuits, which is totally appropriate to have several of with tea in the afternoon. Right?

Lemon Coconut Biscuits, makes 18 cookies
½ cup butter
¾ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 lemons zest
1 Tbs lemon juice

½ cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the coconut until it is a very fine shred.

Cream together the butter and the sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer.

Beat in the egg.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, tartar, baking soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the batter and partially combine.

Add the coconut, zest and lemon juice and combine until you have a thick dough.

Use a cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough out and put them in a bowl with the ½ cup of sugar. Roll the dough in the sugar and cover the dough completely.

Place the cookie dough on the sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Let cool on a rack and Enjoy!

This pasta is outrageously delicious.

The chewy pasta, sprinkled with crispy, salty bacon, browned spicy jalapenos, sweet and spicy pickled red onions and a golden fried egg on top. When you break the egg open and the yolk oozes into the pasta, an amazing creamy element is added to the pasta dish.

The other beauty is how wonderfully easy this is to make. It was born out of leftovers! I had a few slices of bacon left in the fridge, a jalapeno bordering on shriveled and a bunch of sweet and spicy pickled red onions left over from when we had carnitas last week.

Obviously, we always have pasta and we always have eggs.

They all blended together beautifully, and you wind up with a little bit of sweet, sour, spicy and salty, which to me, is nothing short of glorious!

If you want a delicious vegetarian meal, simply omit the bacon for a fabulous meatless Monday pasta dish!

Pasta with Bacon, Jalapenos, Sweet and Spicy Pickled Onions and a Fried Egg, serves 2
-½ lb Vermicelli
-2 garlic cloves, finely minced or put through a garlic press
-2 Tbs olive oil
-Kosher salt and Black pepper to taste

-3 strips bacon
-1 jalapeno, thinly sliced into rounds
-4 Tbs sweet and spicy pickled red onions
-2 eggs
-2 tsp vegetable oil

1) Make sure that you have your pickled red onions ready.

2) Bring a large boil of salted water to a boil.

3) Cook the vermicelli to al dente according to manufacturers directions.

4) While the pasta is cooking, fry the bacon until crispy and set aside.

5) To the hot bacon fat, add the jalapeno slices and fry lightly until golden and aromatic, about 2 minutes- set aside with the bacon.

6) After the pasta is drained, toss with the olive oil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

7) Add the oil to a clean pan, and when it is hot, add the eggs to the pan. Cook them on low so they don’t burn. You want to cook them so the white sets, but the yolk is still runny.

8) While the egg is cooking, divide the pasta between two plates.

9) Divide the pickled red onions and fried jalapeno’s over the pasta.

10) Then crumble the bacon over the pasta.

11) Top each pasta dish with the hot fried egg and a little black pepper.

12) Crack open the yolk and let it run into the pasta.

Enjoy!

I was worried that you had gone a whole week without something insanely indulgent and deliciously sweet.

Like the kind of thing where you have butter dribbling down your chin and you don’t even care because it tastes so, SO good.

Well, don’t you worry. I am here to save you from a butter free weekend. Me and my monkey bread thing I have going on.

First it was savory, and now we are dealing with German Chocolate Monkey Bread. Yes. You heard me right.

Chocolate, coconut and pecans. Baked into buttery biscuits.

It is so good- you can’t even believe it!

Passing it off as breakfast may be going a little too far, but who am I to judge? I will probably cave to that idea at some point.

This could certainly be served as a late afternoon “snack” or just for straight up dessert. Whatever floats your boat…

German Chocolate Monkey Bread, serves 8
2 large cans of biscuit dough
½ cup sugar
½ cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
2 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ cups pecans, toasted and chopped
2 cups finely shredded unsweetened coconut
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an angel food cake pan with a removable bottom and set it on top of a rimmed sheet pan.

Cut each biscuit into quarters.

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, coconut and cinnamon, mix well.

Add the dough a few pieces a time and coat them well with the mixture.

Meanwhile melt the 1 cup of butter in a small sauce pan.

Brush the inside of the pan lightly with the melted butter, then begin to add about 1/3 of the dough balls.

On top of the dough balls, sprinkle a third of the pecans, coconut and chocolate chips.

Repeat with remaining dough balls and nuts, chocolate and coconut.

When everything is in the pan, return the melted butter to the stovetop and add the 1 cup of brown sugar.

Cook on low until the sugar melts into the butter.

Pour the sugar and butter mixture evenly over the entire pan.

Bake the monkey bread in the oven for about 45 minutes, and then remove from the oven and let it sit for another 10-15, or until cool enough to handle.

Turn out upside down onto a serving platter and pull apart to experience pure, buttery heaven!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day yesterday! I started my day extra early (4am) so that I could be ready for the KING5 local news crew at 5AM. I shot live segments of my Valentines crafts every hour throughout the morning news- it was so fun, and I was so happy to help people struggling for last minute ideas.

We also went out for a, uh, family dinner. As in- not totally romantic, but we have a real date night planned for this weekend. Any of you in the same boat? I am pretty sure that babysitters are hard to come by on Valentines Day…

After a huge steak dinner last night, I just wanted to eat something lighter tonight. The answer presented itself in this lovely vegetarian pasta dish of spaghetti tossed with walnut pesto. I also have been meaning to make more vegetarian dishes anyways, and this one was created after being inspired by a lovely family of four I know that happens to be vegetarian. (I will just call them the B’s!)

This walnut pesto is incredibly simple while being full of flavor and texture. Plus you get lots of protein and heart healthy fat from the walnuts, so it will be super satisfying.

I am serving it up with a big green salad and can’t wait for dinner tonight!

Pasta with Walnut Pesto, serves 4
1lb spaghetti

Walnut Pesto
1/3 cup olive oil
1 ½ cups walnuts
½ cup freshly grated parmesan
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbs lemon juice
kosher salt to taste

Finely grated Parmesan and toasted walnut pieces for garnish

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente according to manufacturers directions.

Add pesto ingredients to a food processor and pulse until all the ingredients are combined.

Season with Kosher salt to taste.

Toss the walnut pesto with the pasta until the spaghetti is well coated.

Pile into bowl or a serving platter and garnish with finely grated parmesan and crumbled toasted walnuts.

Enjoy!

I am writing this post from an airplane (gotta love gogo internet!) flying home to Seattle. I arrived earlier today in LA where I meant to hang out with my brother and sister in law for the evening and then film a Valentines Day segment on “DIY Cute and Sexy Valentines” with Billy Bush and Kit Hoover for Access Hollywood early tomorrow morning.

When my plane arrived I found out that due to the tragic passing of Whitney Huston that not only my segment, but all of the segments that were set for tomorrow have been cancelled. The entire show will now be a tribute to her. Of course, this was out of everyone’s control, and while it was very disappointing for me, it was also appropriate.

So it turns out that my older brother and his wife drove all the way to LAX to give me a hug, and then I ran upstairs to book a flight straight home to see my husband and children. And now I am sitting on an airplane watching a Twilight movie and sucking down a bloody Mary while simultaneously eating Junior mints and writing this post. I didn’t say it was pretty.

I know that this is on the opposite end of the spectrum from my “Family friendly Valentines Day Breakfast” Segment, but I still want to share the crafts with you because I worked really hard on them, and if I do say so myself they are pretty darn “cute and sexy”!

Also, if you are a Seattleite, I will also be featuring them in 4 live segments on King 5 news Tuesday morning, so please tune in!

ADORNED CHOCOLATE BOXES

I purchased inexpensive boxes of chocolates at the drug store and embellished them with wrapping paper, origami and scraps of ribbon.

I also found some scrapbook embellishments that really made them pretty.

BATH and MASSAGE GIFT
I used 4 stacking boxes to create this gift idea.

1) Homemade Massage Oils: They are simply a combination of jojoba oil and essential oils, (the ratio is about 5 drops essential oil to every Tb of jojoba oil.) I used the scents of Jasmine: sensuality, Lavender: Relaxation, Grapefruit: Happiness. Combine in vials or bottles and cork or seal.

2) Homemade Bath Salts: 1 cup Epsom salt, ½ cup Kosher salt, 12 drops essential oil. Shake and store in an airtight container to preserve fragrance.

3) Bath Tea. I just chose some organic chamomile tea and attached two stickers (with the string in between) where the tag originally was. A few bags in a tub of hot water are lovely. I also love Jasmine Pearl tea.

4) A homemade gift certificate for a massage (to go with the oils) would undoubtedly be well appreciated by your loved one!

HOMEMADE CUOPON BOOK

These accordion style books were meant to be full of special mementos, gift certificates (homemade or purchased) and certificates for “romantic gestures” of your choosing.

I used a mailing box, card stock paper, double stick tape and then all different envelopes, note cards and items, quotes and poems that were personal.

Of course, these could also be made for your children and filled with sweet things for them, or for you to do together.

EDIBLE BODY PAINT

Ooh-la-la. This is where we get to the good stuff. Maybe it’s better I didn’t have to show Billy Bush how to use edible body paint- I might have died of embarrassment.

I used a wooden flower box and spray painted it red and then covered it in wrapping paper.

I used the four open compartments of the box to hold the goodies.

One was filled with paintbrushes, some small, some are big fluffy Japanese calligraphy brushes. I tied them with red satin ribbon.

The second and third compartments were filled with caramel sauce and hot fudge sauce. The perfect, ahem, edible paint.

The fourth is a little more exotic. I simply took a brand new (crayola) watercolor tray and popped the paints out. Then each empty color compartment was filled with a different color of luster dust. When you mix a few drops of vodka (I used dragon fruit flavored) into the luster dust, it become edible, (and beautiful) edible body paint.

Ok ladies and gents. Let your imaginations run wild, and have a wonderful Valentines Day!

These are incredibly indulgent, rich and melt in your mouth delicious!

These are dark fudgy brownies, slathered in a thick coating of whipped espresso frosting.

The brownies are laced with strong, dark espresso, which just enhance the rich chocolate flavor and moist texture.

I imagined that these would be an amazing treat for your loved ones on Valentines Day. Great to bring to friends, tuck into lunch boxes or to make for your family for dessert.

Enjoy!

Espresso Brownies, makes 2 dozen brownies
Brownies:
-8 oz semi sweet chocolate
-1 cup butter plus 2 Tbs
-3 cups sugar
-4 Tbs espresso (or strong coffee)
-4 eggs
-1 1/3 cups AP flour
-6 Tbs cocoa powder
-2 cups chocolate chips (1 standard bag)

Espresso Frosting:
-¾ cup butter
-4 Tbs espresso (or strong coffee)
-4 cups powdered sugar
-½ cup whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. spray a 9×13” pan with baking spray and then line it with parchment paper which overhangs the pan.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.

Add the espresso and mix well, and then add the eggs one at a time and whip until fluffy.

Add the melted chocolate to the batter and mix well.

Combine the dry ingredients and chocolate chips in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and combine until you have a thick batter.

Pour the batter into the parchment lined pan and spread evenly.

Bake the brownies at 350 degrees for 50 minutes .

Let the brownies cool completely before frosting them.

While the Brownies are cooling, make the frosting.

For the Espresso Frosting:

Whip together the butter, espresso, powdered sugar and whipping cream until you have a fluffy frosting.

When the brownies are cool, spread the frosting over the top of the brownies in a thick, even layer.

Put the brownies into the freezer to chill for about an hour.

Pull the brownies out by the parchment paper and trim the edges off and slice the brownies into squares or rectangles.

Sprinkle the brownies with colored sugars if desired.

Enjoy!

(I keep these in the refrigerator if they are eaten over the course of a few days, and they freeze really well!)

Pia and I made these ADORABLE melted crayon hearts the other day.

I saw the idea while browsing through pinterest. If you didn’t already know this, I have a serious pinterest addiction. Follow me and see the depths of my addiction issues.

Of course it’s all harmless fun when I go on binges filled with interior design lust, food porn and kids craft idea hoarding.

This was one of those kids crafts that I saw and frantically found the original idea on a site called messychef.com. She is awesomely creative.

Pia and I promptly started the project in order to make these valentines for her whole class. (Great alternative to candy in my opinion!)

Here is how you do it:

Preheat your oven to 230 degrees.

I got a mold- these silicone molds work great and just need to be washed before they go back to being cake molds. (But my mom used to make these crayons in muffin tins for us when we were little.)

I assume that anyone with kids also has a huge bin like this half full of stubby broken crayons?

Peel a bunch of old crayons.

Don’t be like us and spend 2 hours peeling your crayons. In the last 5 minutes of that 2 hours, we discovered that if you put the crayons in a dish of warm water, that the paper comes right off.

Break the crayons into different sized chunks.

Combine the chunks into each heart mold. Be creative or deliberate about your colors.

Place the silicone mold on a sheet pan.

Bake the crayons at 230 degrees for 15 minutes.

Pull the melted crayon hearts out and let them cool. When they have completely cooled, pop them out. Repeat with the mold if you need more hearts!

I glued them onto the envelope of her valentines and then we stuck them into a small cellophane bag and sealed it with a red sticker. SO CUTE!!

This morning at 11 Am I am on New Day Northwest showing you all how to put together a beautiful Valentines Day Breakfast.

Sometimes it is easy to forget that the ones that get the most excited about this “holiday” are the kids.

Mine are totally obsessed.

I thought that for them to come down in the morning and have the whole family sit down for a special breakfast would delight the little girls, and maybe secretly delight my husband.

I mean, come on- it’s pretty cute, right?

Plus, we still have all of the normal after school activities and craziness here in the evening, so my husband and I will be lucky to have some quiet time after 8pm when the kids have (hopefully) crashed. So this Valentines Day breakfast is kind of a guaranteed time for us all to be together that day.

You can learn more about the crafts I created here in this NDNW segment, which I will post here later today.

But one of the stars of this breakfast is the baked donuts. Donuts, traditionally something that are a really special treat are made easy and much healthier by baking them! These seriously take about 15 minutes start to finish and are totally moist and delicious!

These dark chocolate donuts are finished with a gorgeous blood orange glaze that takes advantage of the beautiful citrus fruit that is in season right now. These little gems are what inspired this whole Breakfast idea and most of the colors.

More of the recipes featured in this segment will be featured later this week, but include banana donuts with chocolate glaze, heart shaped bacon and egg cups, pink smoothies, and homemade hot chocolate!

Chocolate Donuts with Blood Orange Glaze, makes 12 donuts
1 1/2 cups flour
½ cup dark cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbs butter. Melted

Blood Orange Glaze
2 Tbs Butter, Melted
2 Tbs corn syrup
3 cups powdered sugar
¼ cup blood orange juice
2 Tbs heavy Cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a donut pan with cooking spray.

In a medium sized bowl combine all of the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Beat them together and add them to the dry ingredients.

Add the melted butter to the batter and mix until a batter has formed.

Spoon or pipe the batter into the donut pan and bake at 325 for 10 minutes.

Turn the donuts out onto a cooling rack and let the donuts cool.

While the donuts are baking, make the glaze by whisking everything together.

When the donuts have cooled, dip them into the glaze. (I triple dunked them!)

(first dip)

(third dip)

Eat immediately or let them rest while the blood orange glaze sets up.

Enjoy!

This post is aptly named. I have a bunch of “stuff” going on and I thought I would give you a peak into some of what’s happening around here.

MASON

He is so big you guys. I took him to the vet today just so I could weigh him out of morbid curiosity. When he was in three weeks ago, he weighed 39 lbs.

Today at 14 weeks, he weighs 50. Weird, my back could have sworn it was more than that.

I just love a big dog, but they are a puppy for only an instant. They do however make astounding messes when potty training, but that’s a whole other deal. Let me just say that my carpet cleaner is my new best friend. We spend a lot of time together.

VALENTINES DAY

My kids are as obsessed as I am, and Pia got up at 5 AM to work on her Valentines today. I’m tired. But I will share this awesome craft that we made later this week.

I am doing a Valentines Day Segment on New Day Northwest tomorrow, Wednesday the 8th at 11AM on KING 5 for all you Northwesterners. (I will put it on my blog later this week for those of you who are not.)

I have another Valentines Day Segment coming up on Monday the 13th on
Access Hollywood. Ha! Does that make you chuckle as much as it does me? I will share more details about that in the days to come, but I am SO EXCITED!!!

HGTV:

Are any of you HGTV fans? I am.

And I just spent the last week filming the first part of two different segments of their new show “I hate my contractor” out on the East coast.

It was exhausting, but it was awesome.

I am getting to design two different NEW kitchens for families who have been basically screwed over by contractors and left with the mess. Can you imagine? These poor people who shelled out a bunch of money and let people come into their home and then were left with crap-ola.

But John DeSilvia comes and saves them. For two episodes, I get to be his trusty design sidekick. Pretty Cool huh?

I will let you know when I go back and shoot the second half. Maybe that time I will be together enough to take some better pictures. All I shot with my I phone is pictures of the piles and piles of equipment.

Lame I know- but the amount of stuff is crazy!!

MY MOM and DAD

While Pete and I were gone for 6 days, my mother fixed all of my 4 year olds sleep “issues.” My dad stopped the dog from biting everything in site and I came home to perfectly adjusted children and an organized pantry. Thank You mom and dad.

The WEIRD WEATHER

Oh! Also, uh, as the weather has turned on it’s head this year. (uh, we had a blizzard two weeks ago?) and now it has been so warm and sunny that my crocuses are blooming.
??? what ???
**By the way- I had to crouch in a lawn full of dog poop to take this picture this morning. I hope you like it.

I feel an epic gardening year coming on…. Does anyone care about gardening here? Let me know….

Valentines Day is just around the corner. In our house, that means a romantic night in. I am sure that many, many of you can relate. Whether you have kids and can’t find a sitter, or just want to stay in- I feel like there is nothing more romantic than creating a sweet night in for your honey.

In the week ahead, I am going to be posting lots of recipes for Valentines Day. Some are romantic, some are cute and meant for the kids, and all are meant for celebrating those you love!

Like this simple and incredibly delicious homemade shrimp cocktail. I know it’s totally old fashioned, but I am totally a sucker for a really good shrimp cocktail. Ice cold, plump shrimp and a super tangy, spicy cocktail sauce laden with hot horseradish. Sooooo good!!

Plus, you seriously pay in the neighborhood of 20$ for this as an appetizer and this costs a fraction of that to make at home. My husbands eye’s bugged out when he came home to a platter of this before dinner.

(Also- when I am trying to watch my chub- this makes an incredibly healthy lunch or snack.)

Shrimp Cocktail with homemade cocktail sauce, serves 4

-2 lbs shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined

-2/3 cup ketchup
-½ cup chili sauce
-1 clove garlic, minced
-3 Tbs horseradish
-1 lemon (small)
-½ cup flat leaf parsley rough chopped
-1 tsp salt

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

Serve with chilled shrimp.