Like most girls, I’ve thought about what my wedding will be like….err maybe only once or twice (or three times). I think a farm wedding in the summer would be straight up dreamy;  with a barn, and tall grass, mason jars and fireflies–it’d be magic. It got me sort of thinking about how awesome it would be to have a petting zoo, too. A freakin’ petting zoo! How amazing would that be?!  Now, I usually have huge issues with petting zoos, because while I LOVE petting farm animals, I don’t really dig petting goats–they kinda suck.  I don’t get them. We don’t get each other.  And that’s usually all petting zoos consist of…that and random chickens that want nothing to do with you. Kinda boring.

So at my future wedding’s petting zoo, there will be animals I do wanna pet like dogs, cats, pigs, and miniature horses.  And I will pet them in between dances and knocking down champagne, and so will my guests.  It’ll be lovely.

And you know how you you’re supposed to give guests, like, a little gift bag or something? Well, I’d want to give the animals gifts too.  I’d probably give the pigs the leftovers from the reception, the miniature horses would get some sweet apples, I’d give the cats some private time…and the dogs, well, I’d make them these homemade treats.  I bet they’d really like them because I gave them a try and they’re not half bad. Sooo if your dog is peering over your shoulder as you’re reading this blog post, you can tell them this: these treats have a predominate peanut buttery taste, the texture is hearty and nourishing due to the rolled oats, and the finish has a lovely hint of coconut and chicken.  Yum!

{Chuck and my little brother, Daniel.  Chuck will be getting a care package this week and these will be included–he’s pumped about them.}

Homemade Dog Treats

Recipe tweaked from Shared Sugar

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I added virgin coconut oil to the batter because it’s awesome for dogs and humans alike.  If you don’t have coconut oil on hand, and don’t want to run to the store, simply replace it with olive oil.

1/2 cup of peanut butter (I used the creamy kind)

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon of virgin coconut oil (or olive oil)

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together peanut butter, honey, oil and chicken broth. In a separate bowl, combine flours and oatmeal. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Place dough on flour dusted surface. Roll or press dough out to about 1/4” inch thick. Use a small bone cookie cutter to cut out cookies. My cookie cutter was a 5-inch bone-shaped , but for small dogs you may want to use a small cookie cutter (around 2″). Roll out leftover scraps and cut out as many as possible. Put cut out cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

I want to apologize in advance for my less-than stellar photos on this post. I’m not normally a photo-taking person; I don’t carry cameras with me to parties or in my purse, and when I do take photos for our lovely blog, it requires that I eliminate all distractions so I can give it my complete attention. So, when I decided to document what foodie spots Chase and I took his mother and stepfather to on their recent visit, I often realized that I had completely forgotten about the bulky, heavy camera in my purse until everything at the table had been eaten, or until we had left the restaurant completely. Still, lack of photos aside, if you ever come to LA for a weekend I’ve got some good suggestions of things to eat.

For their first meal we took Chase’s parents to Aroma for breakfast. Aroma is amazing, and it is “sooo LA.” Why is that you ask?

Because it’s a restaurant that relies on year-round outdoor seating.

Because the food is fresh, homemade and delicious.

Because their iced coffee is outrageously good.

Oh, and see that woman fussing over her dog? There’s always a few of those there. Always.

Now, when it comes to ethnic food, LA has a lot to offer.  You can barely pass a street corner without seeing a Thai or sushi restaurant. For parents that are fans of both, you gotta hit up Gindi Thai in Burbank. They have phenomenal pad thai and their green curry was blessed by the gods. They also have sushi rolls like The Sun, which includes apple, avocado and spicy tuna wrapped up in a roll, and is then topped with baked lobster. I know, it isn’t even fair. I wish I had a photo, but again, I’m  a bad blogger and am often too distracted by food to remember silly things like photos. Never, ever, ever have I heard someone complain about something they ate at Gindi. If they did, I would be seriously worried about the condition of their taste buds.

Oh my lord, we had some gelato. I will say that I have been to Italy, and have sampled every flavor of gelato they offer. I got excited once in North Carolina when Barnes & Noble began offering gelato, until I realized that what they called “gelato” I called your average ice cream.  It wasn’t the soft, creamy confections that I had come to love in Europe. LA gelato though, doesn’t disappoint. This stuff will make you weep with happiness. And when you subtract the plane ticket to Italy, it’s the cheapest gelato around. If you go to the Gelato Bar, I highly recommend pistachio, hazelnut or the blood orange flavors, though maybe not together. Tell them I said ‘hi’.

If you want people (including your in-laws) to think that you and LA are super cool, take them to get gelato.

We also went to the farmer’s market.  I have a passionate love affair with the LA farmer’s markets and truly, they deserve their own post, but I’ll tell you a couple of my favorite things. First, you can get fresh young coconuts here. A very nice man will cut the top off so you can drink the refreshing coconut water inside, and he’ll also supply a spoon so you can eat out the flesh of the coconut. Chase’s mom wasn’t a huge fan of the gooey flesh, but I don’t think Chase had a problem eating her leftovers.

I also love this stand. It’s here every week with basket upon basket of fresh berries. Can you tell that we’ve had a good year for strawberries? Does the fact that Adrianna and I have used them in the last three posts give it away? Can you also tell that we share part of the same brain, since my salad is very similar to her macerated strawberries, and we definitely didn’t discuss this at all? Yeah, we creep ourselves out sometimes.

Seriously though, these berries are heaven. I bought these strawberries with Chase’s parents and fixed them for breakfast with our scrambled eggs with sour cream and buttermilk biscuits the next morning, just to give them a taste of what it’s like to eat some local CA food.

Maybe my “try the fresh coconut” idea didn’t work out so well, but my “try our fresh strawberries” epiphany was right on target. I think they’re fans. I know I am.

BTW – When I asked Chase to set the table for breakfast, this is what happened. Kinda gives away that we never set the table, right? Oh well, at least the tasty food distracted from the place setting.

Fresh Strawberry Salad

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The trick here is not to overthink the dressing. Basically, you want a 1 to 1 ratio of lemon juice to honey, with some chopped mint added in. Feel free to add more or less depending on how much you love mint.

2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon chopped mint
2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered

Whisk together the lemon juice, honey and mint. Pour over berries and gently mix together. Allow to marinate for a few minutes, and then enjoy your fresh taste of spring.

For a long time I’ve had a love-hate relationship with granola bars. My idea of the perfect granola bar is something chewy, delicious, not too sweet, and that serves as a satisfying snack. I always want to like the store-bought ones, but time and again they disappoint me.

Every few months I’ll be in a grocery store and will wander past a large display of some new variety of granola bars and will then somehow convince myself that these are the bars I have been looking for all my life. Ten minutes later, I’m in the checkout line with a basket filled with granola bars, only to get home and discover that these are no different than any other bar I’ve ever had. They’re  either bland or too sweet and I still feel hungry after eating 5 of them.

So now, I’ve taken matters into my own hands. I found this recipe from the lovely Ina Garten (I love her SO MUCH) and after making a few of my own adjustments I am pleased to announce that these are, in fact, the granola bars that I’ve always dreamed of. They’re chewy, with just a hint of sweetness, and are a satisfying snack that neither I, nor you, have to feel guilty about.

Granola Bars

Adapted from Ina Garten

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I changed the original recipe quite a bit. I was worried about it being too sweet and took out the brown sugar altogether, and am definitely glad that I did. I was also worried after reading some reviews that the butter would make the bars greasy, so I cut the amount down from 3 tablespoons to 1. I couldn’t find wheat germ in the store so I substituted flaxseed meal, but either option would work. My favorite dried fruits are apricots and cranberries, but you can use anything that you like or have on hand.

Also – not a fan of bars? Just break this up into pieces and you can eat it as your morning breakfast cereal.

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed
1/2 cup flaxseed meal
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups chopped dried fruit

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 by 12-inch baking sheet and line it with greased parchment paper, or a Silpat.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer to a large bowl and add in flaxseed meal. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.
Combine the butter, honey, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dried fruit and stir the mixture together.

Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Allow to cool for at least 2-3 hours and then cut into squares.

They don’t tell you this when you’re a kid, but life is kinda tough. Well, I guess I do remember hearing that, but when you’re a kid you think they mean it’s gonna be tough for everyone EXCEPT you.  So it’s a bit of a shock when you finally get out of school, move out on your own and then look around thinking, “Wait, you mean this isn’t gonna be easy??”

So, right now I’m looking for something that IS easy. Something uncomplicated. These cookies are just what I need. They’re made from simple ingredients, and not too many of them. I don’t have to run out and purchase cake flour or coconut oil, and it’s not going to take me an hour to clean up when I’m done.

I still use the first cookbook I ever owned,  the“Alpha-Bakery Children’s Cookbook,” which is where these cookies are from. These are sweet, chewy morsels of childhood, and that is something that everyone needs once in a while.

Honey Bee Cookies

Adapted from the Alpha-Bakery Children’s Cookbook

½ cup butter, softened
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup honey
1 egg
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Beat together the butter, brown sugar, honey and egg in a medium bowl until smooth, scraping the sides occasionally. Stir in all remaining ingredients.

Drop spoon fulls of dough onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake about 7 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are set and the edges are beginning to brown. The cookies will still look shiny when they’re done. Allow them to cool and then enjoy slowly; the real world can wait.

Everyone has their own versions of heaven. Those rare occasions where if feels as though life cannot get any better and you hope that it will just float along endlessly in this moment. Here’s one of those moments for me:

Getting up on a weekend before anyone else is awake, making iced coffee, then drinking it  on the couch while watching TV AND also reading a magazine. This is heaven, pure and simple. If you go ahead and throw in some of these Honey Pistachio Biscotti for me nibble on, I may never leave my apartment again. Really.

I suggest you give my little slice of heaven a try. Make these tasty cookies, brew your favorite cup of coffee however you like it, and then enjoy it all with a good magazine and a TV show you normally wouldn’t admit to watching. (Real Housewives, anyone?) Also, eat slowly. Good things should not be rushed.

Honey Pistachio Biscotti

Adapted from Ellie Krieger

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 large eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted, shelled pistachios

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl beat together the sugar, honey, eggs, oil, zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract until well combined. Slowly add in the dry ingredients until the mixture forms a dough. Stir in the pistachios.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead several times. Shape into a log about 10 inches long and 3 inches wide. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet (I used a Silpat) and bake for 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. With a serrated knife, cut 1/2-inch diagonal slices. Arrange on the baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Turn the cookies over and bake the biscotti until golden 5 to 10 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

When I was growing up, the traditional salad to accompany dinner was pretty predictable: lettuce, cucumber, carrot, tomato. You’ve all had this salad right? You’ve seen it a thousand times, at your dinner table, friends’ dinner tables, at restaurants, basically, everywhere. I have to admit it was never a favorite. I don’t like raw tomatoes and am not the biggest fan of cucumber either, and there’s nothing exciting about eating lettuce and carrots all by themselves.

Maybe it’s the California lifestyle that has gotten to me, or maybe I was always looking for a change, but I have now found my favorite simple salad. Spring mix with fresh avocado and crunchy homemade croutons. Simple, delicious, perfect in every way. I normally eat these salads with a honey mustard dressing I developed. Chase will happily eat any salad with this dressing on it, and believe me, for someone who hates to eat anything green, that is really saying a lot.

I recently tried it with a sprinkling of dried cranberries, and it added a nice flavor as well as color, and really no extra effort at all.  For those of you who truly love your cucumbers and tomatoes, try my avocado salad just once. I’ll even promise to try something new too, just not tonight…

Avocado Salad w/ Honey Mustard Dressing

For the Honey Mustard Dressing:

3 heaping tablespoons of course ground or whole grain mustard
1 ½ teaspoons honey
1 tsp red wine vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Mix all ingredients together well in a bowl.

For the croutons:

Chop up a piece of good, crusty bread. Lay the pieces flat on a small baking sheet (a toaster oven works well for this). Sprinkle with olive oil and toss with salt and pepper. Toast until golden brown.

For the salad:

Mixed greens
1 avocado, chopped
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
½ cup homemade croutons

Top greens with avocado, cranberries and croutons and toss with mustard dressing.