Fluffy Marshmallows

I love a good mallow.

Peeps.

Sno Balls.

Chocolate-covered.

But, no marshmallow is as good as a roasted marshmallow. There’s just something I love about getting into a gooey, sticky mess of melted mallow. And, I love that crispy, golden crust.

Going camping this past weekend meant that I was going to get to roast some marshmallows.

I had recently come across a marshmallow recipe on Smitten Kitchen, and I was very intrigued.

I have never made (or seen anyone else make) marshmallows before.

 

Okay… I had no clue you even could make marshmallows. Boy, have I been missing out! Homemade mallows are FAR better than store-bought! They are so light and airy, gently bouncing off one another.

They taste amazing. These have a nice vanilla flavor that is definitely an improvement from manufactured mallows. You can also change the flavor, if you'd like, by simply using different extracts. I made plain old vanilla, but also changed it up by making coconut, and banana marshmallows. The coconut is fantastic!!

Don’t get me started on how they roast. It is SO GOOD! These roast up faster than other marshmallows, and they get super-duper gooey. If roasting these, have some wipes on hand and be prepared for a huge, sticky mess. I mean it!

Or… you can do what I do and just lick up the stickiness :)

I can’t forget that they were also very easy to make. I’ve read of many horror stories of kitchen nightmares having to do with homemade marshmallows. I’m proud to say I have no horror story to tell. The recipe is easy to understand, takes very few ingredients, and is done in no time.

Even with my teeny-tiny $10 hand-held mixer that sounds like its about to explode at any speed above 4 was able to get the mixing portion done in no time! I’m proud of the little guy :D

The chilling is really the longest part, unless you just can’t wait 3 hours, then you can eat it as is! I think you could even follow the recipe through the mixing then just stir in some rice cereal for crispy treats!

Hey…. Not a bad idea…

:)

-Jess

Cone O' Joe {Coffee & Twix Ice Cream}

I adore coffee.

Adore.

I don't drink it as much during the summer, though. It's very hot outside, and coffee is.. well, hot! I don't need a double dose of heat right now. No sir.

Since it's ice cream season I thought why drink hot coffee when I can cool down with a nice cone o' joe?

I'm not really fond of eating just plain ol' ice cream. I like to have some texture. Like, candy.

I came across this new flavor of Twix. Twix... JAVA. It has a chocolate cookie with coffee flavored caramel. Oh my goodness. I was literally jumping up and down with excitement when I saw it! My favorite candy bar with a flavor I can't get enough of. These things are seriously GOOD! This was the candy I wanted to complement my coffee ice cream.

This ice cream turned out soooo good. It has a great coffee flavor and isn't overly sweet. YUM YUM

The Twix Java is very yummy in it, if you can get over the fact that the frozen caramel sticks to your teeth. My favorite way to eat ice cream? Soft serve - right out of the machine!

I'm wondering if I can permanently give up coffee in the morning, and just wake up to a bowl of ice cream instead...? :)

-Jess

Lemon-Butter Red Potatoes

Potatoes are a great veggie to eat because you can cook and eat them in so many different ways, and they're very filling. I eat a lot of potatoes. A. LOT. I've always loved them. (I'm especially fond of the red ones!)

Wanna hear a story?

Once upon a time, when I was young(er), I snuck food from behind mom's back when she was cooking. No, I wasn't sneaking cookie dough, I was sneaking potatoes.


RAW potatoes.

Mom would have them sliced or diced, sitting to the side waiting to be cooked, and I just couldn't help grabbing a few pieces to crunch on. I LOVED it. And I still do. Raw taters are good! Please, don't judge me!

The End.

Luckily for you, these potatoes aren't raw. They're boiled til they are crisp-tender and smothered with a delicious lemony sauce. DELICIOUS!

This is my new favorite potato recipe. I eat them for a meal just by themselves with nothing else. There's never any left over.

YUMMY! :)


-Jess

Open-Faced Tuna Sandwich

Wow, one week is way too long for me to go without posting! All week my computer has been having serious technical issues. It hardly ever wants to cooperate! Hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed very soon so I can dish out recipes faster than ever.

I'd like to take this time to thank those of you who have started following me. I really, really appreciate it! Thank you!! And one last thing... I'm finally a FoodBuzz Featured Publisher! I know, a lot of people are, but it really feels good to have that badge and officially have my blog 'out there'.

I've decided today to share a healthy lunch recipe. My blog is full of sugary foods, and I realize that not every one out there likes sweet foods, and not everyone can even have them. Actually, most of the sweets you see on my blog are not eaten by me. I only eat enough to taste-test so I can give it a good, fair review, but the rest is either eaten by the Man or given to friends and family. You are what you eat, and I like to eat healthy! I'm currently working on adding a health/fitness section to my blog. This is the first healthy, low calorie recipe of many to come.

Tuna sandwiches are one of my favorite healthy foods. They're delicious, simple, quick, and if made right they can make a very healthy and filling meal. I eat them a few times a week! To make this sandwich healthier than other tuna sandwiches I do not combine the tuna with mayo, I use whole wheat bread, and I top it with veggies (pickles! I REFUSE to eat tuna without pickles!). I also only use one piece of bread, less bread = less calories =  healthier, happier eaters. This recipe is for those of you (ahem, Mandy!) who are trying to eat healthier, maintain/lose weight, or just don't like sugary or fatty food. I hope you like it! :)

Soft Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter Cookies

Here it is! The sweet treat I promised to be made with Peanut Butter & Co.'s tasty Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter. What else than PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES!! I have never heard of a person not liking a good peanut butter cookie, it's a classic! The very first thing I baked by myself with no help at all was peanut butter cookies.. It's true! I still even have the book that has 'my' recipe in it. It was the only peanut butter cookie recipe I would ever use. In fact, I have used it so much over the past 10 years or so that it's covered in various food stains and the page ripped completely out.

For this recipe I decided against using my old stand-by, and instead came up with my own cookie. I wanted it to be one that was chewy, and would always stay soft. I'm not a crunchy-cookie kind of person. I hate biting into a cookie that I'm thinking should be soft, and instead I end up chipping a tooth! Not to worry, these peanut butter cookies are soft, and they stay that way for days! And, thanks to Dark Chocolate Dreams, these cookies have just the right ratio of chocolate to peanut butter. It's really the best of both worlds! :)

Grilled Shrimp

It's that time of year again.. Grilling season! Grilling does amazing things to the flavor of many foods. I especially like what it does to shrimp. Grilling shrimp is very simple, and very fast. Just marinate, skewer, and grill! The actual grilling is the easiest part. I usually let the Man take over the grilling duties, but shrimp is so easy to grill that I was able to take over for once! Unlike some other grilled foods it's not hard at all to tell when the shrimp is done. Just a few minutes on each side until you get that lovely pink color and VOILA! Grilled shrimp that's fully cooked and ready to be enjoyed!

The shrimp does need to be peeled and deveined, it'll be less time-consuming if you get shrimp that has already had this done. If you do get shrimp that still has the vein and peel you can learn how to remove them here. It's very easy, but it will take some extra time to do. And, if you'd like, you can save the peels for later use to make fish stock! Also, if using wood skewers you MUST soak them, unless of course you want them to catch fire :). This can be done while the shrimp marinates.

I think with any shrimp dish it's best to be eaten the same day, preferably while it is still freshly cooked, as it just tastes better. Cooked shrimp does not stay fresh long in the fridge, if sealed and placed in the coldest part of the fridge it's good for about 2-3 days.

However, this grilled shrimp is so delicious that I can't imagine anyone even having any of it left over! 


-Jess

Cantaloupe... BREAD?!?

Cantaloupe- my favorite summer melon! Tender, juicy, sweet and a gorgeous orange color. It's the perfect fruit for munching on on a hot summer day.

I love it so much, I can't believe I've never thought to bake with it before! I did a recipe search for cantaloupe and the first thing that caught my attention was cantaloupe bread. Wait..Cantaloupe..BREAD?! Of course! Why am I just now finding out about this? Cantaloupe is so juicy that it's the perfect candidate for a moist bread.

Something else I love about this recipe is it doesn't require much sugar. Cantaloupe is so naturally sweet that it makes up for the lack of sugar. You want to make sure you're using a melon that is VERY RIPE. I mean RIPE! The riper the better because it's even juicier and sweeter. This recipe calls for cinnamon and I had to really force myself not to add extra like I did in some other recipes. I wanted to really be able to taste the fruit, and I was afraid too much cinnamon would drown out the flavor.

And what would a cantaloupe bread be without chunks of CANTALOUPE in it?

The finished result was very good! It wasn't too sweet at all, it was perfectly moist, and had a very nice cantaloupe flavor. Oh, and did I mention how fantastic this makes the house smell? Oh my.. even if it didn't taste good I'd make it just for that smell! I don't think I'll ever be able to buy another cantaloupe without wanting to make it into bread. :)

-Jess

Cookies & Cream Rice Krispie Treats

I love cookies & cream. I'm always on the look out for a new way to use this flavor. On a recent cookie-and-cream search I came across this recipe on Annie's Eats and I loved the idea! Rice Krispie treats are so yummy, and I thought adding cookies was a great way to change up this old favorite treat.

Rice Krispie treats are the perfect dessert to make with kids because they require little work and are done super fast! Because of this I thought it would be a great time to make something with my sister. She's nine years old and pretty eager to learn how to bake. Plus the idea of seeing herself on the internet was really cool to her. :)

My 2 younger sisters!

Cookies & Cream Rice Krispie Treats were pretty good. I LOVED the texture of cookie chunks, it's a great contrast to the chewier cereal part of the treat. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, though, and would probably make these again without mixing it in. I would also not use the white chocolate again. I just didn't think it gave them the 'cream' they needed, which makes me sad cause I adore white chocolate. Perhaps a vanilla buttercream frosting would be better? Nonetheless, they were still very good, very sweet treats that I would make again and again!