Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
We've been getting a lot of zucchini in the garden this year and they are HUGE. I've been using some (of one zucchini) for dinner and the rest to try different baked goods. This time it was Jenna's chocolate chip zucchini bread. This recipe has some spices in it so it felt nice for the approach of Autumn. (I made this in the middle of September)
Recreating Trattoria Sostanza's Meringue Cake
When Christian and I were in Florence on our honeymoon we went to Trattoria Sostanza, which I had been to on my first trip to Italy in 2017. I told Christian his life would be changed after eating their pollo al burro (butter chicken.) We also got their "dolce con fragoline" (meringue with strawberries) to share for dessert. It actually came with raspberries but it was DELICIOUS! We didn't know what to expect with that name, but they said it was like a cake. Out came 3 layers of meringue with layers of vanilla semifredo (gelato/ice cream) speckled with chocolate. I was inspired to try and make my own after they kept sharing photos of other diners eating it on their Instagram stories. I already make my version of their butter chicken at least a few times a year, why not this?!
I started by googling Meringata as that is what some of the Italians were calling it in their captions. I found this recipe that seemed pretty good, but it just used whipped cream in the layers. Then I found a simple semifreddo recipe and pulled out my Native Vanilla Madagascar vanilla beans for that perfect vanilla flavor! I also added in a few chocolate chips since I didn't have a chocolate bar on hand. Instead of freezing it in a loaf pan I used a round spring-form pan since I wanted it to be a circular cake. I also made three meringue discs hoping I would be able to slice the semifreddo in half to make two layers (I didn't know how much the recipe would make.) Unfortunately, it was too thin to split so I only used two of my meringue discs. I used the third for something else.
Next time I'll double the semifreddo recipe and buy a chocolate bar to shave into pieces for prettier flecks of chocolate. Perhaps I'll make it for this year's Christmas celebration so we don't have to worry too much about it melting, ha ha! Dye the meringue red or green perhaps??
No Churn Ice Cream
Not exactly baking, but I still include ice creams since they involve using baking tools, haha! We had leftover heavy cream from the above meringue cake so I wanted to try and recreate my favorite Talenti gelato flavor that they have sadly stopped making - Coconut Almond Chocolate. I found a recipe for a simple chocolate chip ice cream and also added some sweetened coconut flakes and chopped up almonds. Super easy, the hardest part is whipping up the heavy cream.
Conchas
I'm on the King Arthur Baking email list and this month they're focusing on Mexican Pan Dulce ("sweet bread") recipes. Fany Gerson, a Mexico City-born pastry chef created this recipe for the series. They look so fun and pretty so I had to make them! The recipe for the dough was pretty simple, a starter and then a brioche-type method for completion. They're topped with a simple cookie dough, much like craquelin for cream puffs, which I have been wanting to try making for quite a while (I'm not a cream puff fan so the motivation for that particular version was low, ha ha.) I made the topping a little big but they turned out alright after I peeled off the excess. Next time I may make some more slashes in the topping but these came out pretty good for my first try!
Double Chocolate Halloween Cookies
I couldn't go through October without making a Halloween-themed recipe.These were part of Handle the Heat's October Baking Challenge so it was fun to know I was baking these cookies along with the rest of her community. They were super easy and came out great! Christian especially enjoyed them because they tasted like Oreo cookies thanks to the black cocoa. Totally worth the splurge for Halloween colored M&Ms, ha ha. I did have a coupon so they weren't full price, but still expensive.
2 Hour Fastest No Knead Bread
It's been a while since I've made this no knead bread so I decided it was time to skip making sandwich bread this week and turn to this crusty deliciousness! I always double this recipe because I like it to be nice and tall and we have a larger dutch oven. This recipe is great because all you need is a bowl, a couple bowl scrapers (to help shape the dough) and a dutch oven.
On day two of our Vermont trip we headed up to Woodstock, but not before a stop at the King Arthur Baking flagship store! I behaved and only bought a few different types of flour (bread, all purpose and Italian-style) and a new cambro dough rising bucket for when I want to see how much my dough has risen or brining something. I wanted more fun ingredients, but refrained for now. I still had a lot of things back home to use up first.
We walked around the Woodstock Green and took some photos and a Reel in front of the Woodstoock Inn, a very popular tourist spot. Then we took a little stroll around the town to Faulkner Park before heading to the Apples & Crafts Fair & Food Truck Festival where I spent too much money on things I didn't need, hah! Bought a super cute sheep ornament made from sheep wool from a local Woodstock farm and a ceramic tree with a black bear climbing up it. So adorable.
Blazer: Paul Smith Velvet Book Print Blazer (Roundabout)
Jeans: J Brand Maria High Rise in Purple Velvet (The RealReal)
Boots: Miu Miu Chelsea Boot - in dark brown suede (Roundabout)
Bag: Emm Kuo 'Calle Bahia' (Roundabout)
A couple weekends ago Christian and I headed up to Vermont for the weekend to camp and see the Autumn foliage. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas so we ended up sleeping in the car and not being able to have a fire or make s'mores. At least we still were able to enjoy the changing leaves in between breaks in the rain on Saturday (and no rain on Sunday!)
Saturday we spent the morning/early afternoon in Manchester where we had lunch at Thai Basil. We intended to go to the North Meadow Farms Fall Festival but it was pushed back by a day because of the rain so we headed back to our campground in Jamaica after a pit-stop at the Newfane Heritage Festival. We had hoped for another break in the rain to grill up some hamburgers and hot dogs but ended up having to go out again for dinner. We chose the Workhorse Cafe and got some of their Saturday night barbecue special. It was okay, but we wished we chose another location for what we spent.
I had just gotten new rain boots in the mail the day we left for the trip, which was ideal! My dav rain boots I have had for years have been showing their age by peeling up at the top so it was time for a replacement. I searched multiple higher end stores for the style I wanted but nothing really matched my needs. Then I saw Target had a Circle offer for 30% off shoes and decided to look and found these A New Day rain boots. They also had a coupon for sweaters so I took the opportunity to grab this fun striped sweater. The colors matched all the leaves and green grass perfectly, ha ha.
Sweater: Knox Rose Green Striped Pullover via Target
Jeans: rag & bone 'Nina' high rise ankle skinny jean in burgundy
Rain Boots: A New Day via Target
Bag: Emm Kuo 'Calle Bahia' (Roundabout)
Super delayed post, incoming! Ha ha. After our last trip in September 2022 (when our annual passes expired) we said we were going to "take a year off" Disney. Fast forward to March when Christian had to go to Orlando for work and they offered to fly me down too so we could do a day at Disney before he had to work (they know I'm obsessed.) We flew with Avelo airlines and discovered how easy it was to fly from New Haven vs Hartford so Christian "joked" that we should just take random trips to Disney on the weekend with the $50 and under flights.
Next my friend convinced me to do the Wine & Dine 5K this November so we planned on doing that as a quick weekend trip with minimal park days. THEN when annual passes went back on sale in April Christian and I said screw it, bought them and planned a Labor Day weekend trip the same day. So technically we did take a year off official Disney trips, just not all of 2023. Finally, I have a December trip planned so Christian can see Disney decorated for the holidays! That trip is still up in the air as I may have a conflict for the days we booked (I have a backup hotel booked for a couple weekends later, but we'll see.)
TLDR; Christian and I weren't going to go to Disney this year, but then we threw that out the window and planned 3 trips from September - December, haha! Technically we did take a year off, our last official trip was September 2022.
I've recently bought some PowerStep ankle compression sleeves for walks with Christian in the morning. I also have some of their insoles that I use on my less-supportive sneakers. We are in the middle of "training" for the runDisney Wine & Dine 5K so my legs are getting a little more exercise than they've been used to these past few years. The Cubii seated elliptical I have been using since March was step one in my newfound fitness routine. Step two is getting outdoors on a more regular basis to walk, almost every morning.
I use the word training lightly because it's not too extensive. We walk every day but on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays we are following Jeff Galloway's 5K program which slowly ramps us up to do a 5K with a run/walk method.We started the official schedule at the end of August and will continue until our run in November.
I have never been a runner so this has definitely been a learning experience for me. I said to myself that I wasn't going to buy any special running gear but I ended up buying a pair of running shoes and a few different pairs of running socks to test out (PowerStep also carries taller compression socks!) At least once the 5K is over I can continue to use the shoes as walking shoes. But who knows, maybe I'll learn to enjoy running.
(ignore if I have bad form, running for a camera is weird, haha!)
Lots of new and interesting bakes in this roundup! I made some classics as well as a movie-inspired cake and some fun jam cookies. I was most excited about the latest bake - a vanilla bean pound cake - because I was using actual vanilla beans! WOO! Can't wait to they them in another recipe, just have to find the perfect one.
Vanilla Bean Pound Cake
Native Vanilla sent me some of their Organic Madacascar Vanilla Beans and I thought this pound cake by Zoë François would be the perfect way to highlight the vanilla-ey goodness! I've been a fan of Zoë since first watching her show on Magnolia Network, so talented! I was a little late to the game as she's been blogging for quite a while. The recipe was pretty easy, with a fun added step of whipping up eggs, I could definitely tell they helped the cake to rise with all that added air! The vanilla flavor was really highlighted with this simple cake, the perfect showcase! This was my first time using full vanilla beans and it was fun to finally be able to cut them open and scrape out the seeds like all the fancy bakers.
Matilda-Inspired Chocolate Cake
Christian wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday so I took the opportunity to make Jenna of Butternut Bakery's Matilda-inspired chocolate cake. 90s kids will know what I'm talking about, but for the uninitiated, there's a famous scene in Matilda where a student gets accused of stealing the principal's cake and she makes him eat an entire (kind of disgusting) chocolate cake in front of the whole school. Obviously this cake has no "sweat and blood" in it. Soooo airy and delicious!
Strawberry Jam Sugar Cookies
When I made my strawberry galette in July I had to buy a little bit of strawberry jam to glaze it. I knew I wouldn't need much of the jam but decided to get some fancy Bonne Maman preserves so I could make these strawberry jam cookies with the leftover! I only did a half batch because I wanted to make sure we liked them before "wasting" another stick of butter and more jam. I knew I didn't need to worry, but you never know, haha! However, I did go against my better judgement and baked too many at once so they all spread and touched each other, bye bye pretty photo!
Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
If you can believe it, this was my first time baking with zucchini. I've eaten stuff but never made it myself. For this first time I used a huge zucchini we grew in the garden and made double chocolate zucchini bread. I almost made chocolate chip zucchini bread but we didn't have sour cream. We also were low on honey, which this recipe calls for, so I just used 1 cup of brown sugar instead, it worked perfectly and was a hit at our weekend gathering.
King Arthur Baking - Favorite Sandwich Bread (part Whole Wheat)
This is our usual sandwich bread but this time I used half whole wheat instead of fully all purpose. It did affect the rise a little bit with the loaf flattening out instead of puffing up at the top, but it still tasted great and toasted up wonderfully. It's such an easy recipe and takes no time at all to make (unless you could the two hours of rising.)
Peanut Butter Cookies
Another Handle the Heat Monthly Challenge recipe! I always forget how much I enjoy peanut butter cookies until I make them. They're just so soft and tasty! Tessa's recipe doesn't disappoint, as with all her other's I've tried.
Wow, September went by super fast!! I had a couple trips this month so I wasn't home enough to do any clothes shopping damage, haha! Next month is my birthday month, so maybe I'll allow myself a splurge - we'll see!
THE (modified) RULES
- Be mindful of purchases
- Quality over quantity
- Basics are best
MY PROGRESS
Clothes:
- VERMONT Sweatshirt in light gray via the Weston Village Store ($20, retail $50)
- Nicole Miller abstract floral print shorts ($4 via Marshalls, retail $30?)
Basics:
- C&C California Grey Shorts ($6 via Marshalls, retail $30?)
Shoes:
- None yet
Handbags:
- None yet
Accessories:
- Apple Watch 8 Midnight Aluminum Case with Elderberry Sport Band (gift from Christian)
- Aurate Pearl Lariat Necklace (won a gift card on Instagram)
Activewear/Swimwear:
- None yet
Gifted from Brands:
- Aetrex Maui Orthotic Flip Flops in Matte Black
- Aurate Crossover Ring in Yellow Gold
- Aurate Toi et Moi Gemstone Mini Vintage Ring in Yellow Gold with Amethyst and Citrine
- Aurate Birthstone Baguette Studs in London Blue Topaz
- Day Owl "The Backpack" in Jam Red
- Day Owl "The Cord Pouch" in Nocturnal Black
Spent in September: $0
Spent in 2023: $30
Spent in 2023 - counting ad money: $30
I wore this last month for a drive up to Litchfield and Torrington. Christian was helping a friend get some drone shots of an event in the evening in Torrington so we used it as an opportunity to finally explore Litchfield like we've been meaning to do for a few years. We'd love to move up there one day, but it's a little out of our budget when we look at the acreage we want.
For the Litchfield portion of the day we started off at White Flower Farm followed by the White Memorial Conservation Center and finally Topsmead State Forest. We also finally went to Pizzeria Marzano in Torrington. I've had them on my list for a while thanks to Instagram. The pizza was so delicious, I can't wait until we take a trip back up there again! We hope to spend a weekend up in the area to see how it feels for locals and find other fun places to visit.
For the occasion I decided on elevated basics - jeans with gold embellished leopard and a gold sweater tank full of sparkle! Even my sandals were sparkly gold. I've had this sweater for a looooong time and it doesn't get as much wear as it should for being such a simple piece. I used to wear it a lot for work, but not as much for casual outfits. I think that may be changing now! It first appeared on the blog in a January 2012 "This Week in Fashion" post, so I assume I got it for Christmas? It's first full outfit post was with a gorgeous velvet blazer.
We were too busy having fun so we forgot about outfit pictures until it was too late, so I rewore it for these photos, ha ha!
Gold Sweater Tank: Willi Smith (TJ Maxx)
Jeans: Stella McCartney Wild Cat Skinny Ankle Jeans (eBay - linked pair is more of a straight leg)
Bag: Purple Prada Cahier in Viola (Rebag via Vestiaire Collective)
Sandals: Ancient Greek Sandals 'Kore of Berlin' Embroidery Sandal - 10th Anniversary Collection (Shopbop)
Another month, another roundup. (I feel like I always start these recaps in the same way, ha ha) We've mix of purchases and gifted items this month. I won a giveaway and got a new Aurate necklace and received a bag from a brand I am now an affiliate for. I also fell victim to the Marshalls clearance section when my mom wanted to quickly stop in. Grabbed a couple pairs of shorts for $10. I wore one pair this past weekend and the other pair is coming with me to Disney!
THE (modified) RULES
- Be mindful of purchases
- Quality over quantity
- Basics are best
MY PROGRESS
Clothes:
- VERMONT Sweatshirt in light gray via the Weston Village Store ($20, retail $50)
- *NEW!* Nicole Miller abstract floral print shorts ($4 via Marshalls, retail $30?)
Basics:
- *NEW!* C&C California Grey Shorts ($6 via Marshalls, retail $30?)
Shoes:
- None yet
Handbags:
- None yet
Accessories:
- Apple Watch 8 Midnight Aluminum Case with Elderberry Sport Band (gift from Christian)
- *NEW!* Aurate Pearl Lariat Necklace (won a gift card on Instagram)
Activewear/Swimwear:
- None yet
Gifted from Brands:
- Aetrex Maui Orthotic Flip Flops in Matte Black
- Aurate Crossover Ring in Yellow Gold
- Aurate Toi et Moi Gemstone Mini Vintage Ring in Yellow Gold with Amethyst and Citrine
- Aurate Birthstone Baguette Studs in London Blue Topaz
- *NEW!* Day Owl "The Backpack" in Jam Red
- *NEW!* Day Owl "The Cord Pouch" in Nocturnal Black
Spent in August: $10
Spent in 2023: $30
Spent in 2023 - counting ad money: $30
