homemade

Carrot Cake Snowballs

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Like just about all of my great recipes, I found this one on Foodgawker and it looked so delicious and so easy, I said LET’S DO IT!

I’m not a huge fan of carrot cake – but to be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the vast majority of American desserts. I find that most of them taste like sugar on steroids rather than actual flavor. However, this one has that middle eastern twist and I can deal with that.

They involve pitted dates, but given that I live within 5 minutes of a middle eastern grocery store, I have something better – DATE PASTE. No need to get your blender sticky with dates.

This recipe also contains cashews – my new favorite nut, by the way. I only had salted cashews, so I rinsed them before I pulverized them in my Ninja blender. I also gave the oats a spin in there. If you’re using a package of date paste, I suggest doubling up on the other ingredients.

My altered recipe is below:

Ingredients

  • 4 carrots, grated
  • 13 oz date paste (1 package)
  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted cashews
  • 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • zest from 1/2 orange and freshly squeeze juice from said orange
  • desiccated coconut for rolling

Directions

  1. Peel and wash your carrots. Grate your carrots.
  2. Rinse your cashews if they’re salted. Pop them in a blender 1/4 cup at a time and burst blend them until they’re between coarse and fine.
  3. Blend your oatmeal as well. You don’t want a fine powder, but you do want everything to be about the same size.
  4. In a large bowl, combine carrots, date paste, oats, spices, salt, zest of an orange, and the juice if your orange together. You can of course opt to do this in a blender, but why clean more than you need to? Use your hands to mix together well.
  5. In a separate bowl, add coconut. Form your snowballs into balls and roll around in coconut.
  6. Pop the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving, to firm up.

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Vegetarian Fettucine Alfredo

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It’s still Lent season, but this was not a Lent-friendly dish. However, it was a dish I made twice and one that had absolutely no leftovers, twice.

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Who knew fettucine alfredo was so easy to make? I mostly followed a video from Tasty on 4 ways to make fettucine and went with the second version in. But of course, I altered it.

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Here’s my version, a Vegetarian Fettucine Alfredo

Ingredients

  • 1 package fettucine pasta
  • 2 packages of baby bella mushrooms; or 1 pack of 4 portobellos, sliced
  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • garlic cloves, minced (no number because I like a lot but some ppl only like a little)
  • half a bunch of spinach
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Olive or grapeseed oil

Directions

  1. Fill a large pot about 3/4 of the way up, add about 1 tbsp salt and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook until you’re satisfied with how cooked it is. A lot of people like their pasta “al dente” aka firm to the bite. I don’t because I think that’s stupid and undercooked, so I like mine to cook a little longer but not so long that it starts disintegrating.
  2. Drain your pasta and set aside.
  3. With medium-high heat on, in the pot you used to boil your pasta, add about 2-3 tbsp of oil, chopped onions and garlic. Cook until they JUST start to get translucent, then add your tomatoes and sliced mushrooms. Add salt and pepper.
  4. Once the mushrooms start to shrink, about 3-4 minutes, add in your spinach. After your spinach is no longer crisp, add in your heavy whipping cream, simmer for about 2-3 minutes then add in parsley and stir.
  5. Turn off the heat and add in your pasta, mix together well. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve!

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Tasty video for those who like cooking visuals like me:

Christmas Burst Cookies

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Hey! It’s about that time when you’ll probably be seeing more food photography from me, since the family and I will be cooking up a storm in the coming weeks.

Today I’m sharing one of my favorite super easy cookie recipes that I discovered several years ago. It’s perfect if you’re lazy or need something quick – like I did. I’ve got a Christmas party this weekend, so I made burst cookies in advance today. I even frosted designs on them! Check out the recipe below.

Ingredients
– 1 box cake mix (your choice! I used funfetti and red velvet this time)
– 1 egg, beaten
– 1 8 oz package Cool Whip
– powdered sugar

Directions
1. Combine beaten egg with cake mix.
2. Add Cool Whip and mix well. Dough will be very sticky.
3. Scoop out dough (I used 2 spoons to ball it up) and roll around in powdered sugar, form into a ball.
4. Bake at 350F for 12 minutes.

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Follow me on Instagram @lovelikeangels for more photography. Cheers <3

 

Romanian Baklava

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I totally forgot about this shoot, but after Christmas and New Years were over, my mom still had a sweet tooth and she made homemade baklava, not once, but TWICE. And I gained like 10 damn pounds, I swear to God.

But it was so good.

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TBT: Thanksgiving Leftovers Grilled Cheese

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This is the easiest Throwback Thursday all year!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Today I’m throwing it back to a photo I’ve never posted on this blog, but it’s a couple years old at least.

I absolutely love Thanksgiving leftovers for this sole reason: Grilled Brie, Cranberry & Turkey sandwiches. I could probably live off of this stuff for the rest of my life.

It’s made just like any other grilled cheese sandwich. Grab you bread slices, layer up some thin slices of brie, leftover turkey, and cranberry sauce (homemade over here!), top with your second slice of bread, and grilled it up. It’s amazing.

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Vegetarian Dinner: Potatoes, Broccoli, Tzatziki & Bruschetta

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Alright guys, I’ve got like four recipes coming out at you today.

Last week on the eve of leaving for Dallas, because I’m a master procrastinator, I felt the need to cook. So I made pancakes for breakfast, and later on the day, I got creative. Scroll down for recipes!

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Pan-Fried Garlic Potatoes

– 5 small to medium potatoes
– 1 small onion
– 3 cloves of garlic
– 1-2 tbps olive oil
– salt, pepper, paprika to taste

1. Chop up potatoes and add to pan alongside EVOO, salt, pepper, and paprika. Finely dice garlic and add as well.
2. Turn heat on to low-medium, cook until potatoes are soft.
3. Add onions about 5 minutes before turning off heat, until they turn translucent.

Roasted Walnut Broccoli

– 3 heads of broccoli, chopped into small florets
– 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
– spray oil (or 1 tsp EVOO)
– salt and pepper to taste

1. For pan fry version, combine all ingredients, cook until walnuts give off a nutty scent/look a little burnt and the broccoli is bright green.
2. For oven version, preheat to 400 degree, combine ingredients, spray with oil, pop that shit in the oven for like 15 minutes.

Homemade Tzatziki

– 4 tbsp Chobani plain greek yogurt
– 1/4 cup finely diced cucumber
– handful fresh dill
– juice from 1/4 of a lemon
– 3 cloves garlic, finely diced or grated
– salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients, refrigerate, serve.

Homemade Bruschetta

– Italian bread
– 1 tbsp EVOO
– salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice off a slice of bread, chop into long rectangles.
2. Combine EVOO and salt & pepper.
3. Brush bread with EVOO mixture.
4. Pop those bitches in the pan on medium to medium-high heat, turn on all sides until golden brown.

Saturdays Are For Pancakes

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Saturdays are for pancakes. And this Saturday I got a little extra fancy and made lemon poppy seed pancakes instead of my usual cinnamon. They turned out really well.

I didn’t have any strawberries so I topped them with frozen raspberries. And honey, of course.

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