Blueberry-nana Smoothie

If you love smoothies then this is the smoothie to make. It is filled with blueberries, bananas, flax, coconut oil and milk of choice! If you can make it thick enough I'd recommend adding some granola to the top for crunch and eating with a spoon. Why? Well that is the only way I'm enjoying my smoothies lately. ;) A while ago I subscribed to a newsletter for a cookbook called ThinkFood. It is a collection of brain fitness recipes submitted from food bloggers in collaboration with Posit Science. One day this lovely recipe for Blueberry-nana Smoothie appeared in my in box. I had all ingredients on hand and made it that very moment. I've been using my free bullet I received a few months ago and it is finally starting to grow on me. It works well with this smoothie. It gives me the smoothie consistency I want. Thick and creamy!


My favorite part of this smoothie was the coconut oil! Little chunks are dispersed through the smoothie and adds texture and smoothness. You can't taste the coconut. I didn't have flax oil but adding a tablespoon of golden flax freshly ground gives the smoothie a delicious nutty taste. I'm always craving this smoothie now. So refreshing for a light breakfast or after a sweaty workout! I like to add a little granola on top and eat with a spoon. Need a little more protein? Add a scoop of your favorite protein powder. A scoop of amazing grass wouldn't hurt either. ;)

Blueberry-nana Smoothie (From Thinkfood)
Serves 1

Ingredients
1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1/2 frozen blueberries (Frozen organic wild blueberries for me)
1 banana
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp flaxseed oil
4-5 ice cubes

Combine the first 5 ingredients into the blender. Add the ice cubes till desired consistency. Pour into a glass and enjoy!


Fallon

Tex- Mex Beef and Bean Dip

It is either I don't work and I have a ton of time on my hands OR I work so much I have zero time for anything. Well that was my case one weekend when UFC was being held at my best friends house again. I hate coming empty handed when people hold small gatherings at their house. My friend had all the sweets covered. I figured a little savory dish would work perfectly. Except when would I find the time to make something? I've been going through old magazines recently and came across another Cooking Light recipe. This dip came together very quickly cooking everything on the stove top and then placed into a dish to be served. The cheese sprinkled on top eventually melts into the dip. Pick up your favorite tortilla chips and this dip is like eating a taco! Very fun! I used the leftovers and placed it on a crisp bed of romaine lettuce the next day. I think my friends liked it but it definitely wasn't something they went crazy for! I'm always trying to look for a healthier alternative so I can enjoy it too. So I went crazy for the dish. ;) We joked I used "tofu" to one of our friends and he was like, "WOW I don't like tofu but this is amazing!" hehe

 
Tex-Mex Beef and Bean Dip (Adapted from Cooking Light)  
Ingredients
1/2 pound ground lean sirloin
2 tablespoons no-salt-added tomato paste
1 to 2 teaspoons spicy taco seasoning mix (I used Trader Joe's brand)
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5- ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
Salt and pepper
Tortilla chips

Cook beef in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well; return beef to pan. Add tomato paste and next 4 ingredients (through diced tomatoes), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon meat mixture into a serving bowl; top with shredded cheese and green onions. Serve with tortilla chips.


Click HERE for the original recipe. Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend!!!
Fallon

CSN Giveaway Winner!

I used the True Random Number Generator at Random.org to pick the winner. The winner is: Congrats to winner #9 The Duo Dishes. They said, "A Le Creuset mortar and pestle! That's all. :) We could grind spices all day and night." Looks like you will find good use with the gift card. Congrats! Fallon

Last day to enter CSN giveaway!!

Hey Bloggies. I'm loving all the comments so far. Keep them coming. Today is the VERY last day to leave a comment over on my giveaway post to win a $60 gift card for CSN. You can tell me what you would order at the CSN website and/or post my link on your blog telling about the giveaway. Two entries are better then one. ;) You have until midnight tonight to submit your entries. I can't wait to see who the winner will be. Good luck!! Here is another link for the giveaway! I'll be back soon with where I've been. Let's just say it will involve a ton of pictures!!! Ciao, Fallon

Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

Ever since my birthday I've been in the baking itch for cupcakes. I want to try different flavors and make delicious frosting. Which means I must bake cupcakes and try them. Isn't that horrible? ;) 


I decided I need to own Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I must put that on my list of cookbooks to buy! Being not the cupcake baking expert but definitely at eating I went on my Google search for cupcakes. I also had a specific ingredient I wanted to use. Bananas. I have TWO bunches of bananas in my freezer right now. My mom likes to go a little crazy with the grocery shopping when it comes to produce. There is just so many bananas I can eat. Therefore they head into the freezer for future baking projects.


I found two recipes during my search but went with the one that had a deliciously different frosting. Thank you Martha Stewart! These cupcakes were the bomb! So moist, light and full of banana flavor. The honey-cinnamon frosting was the best pairing for these cupcakes. Very creamy and smooth. I didn't use as much powdered sugar because I wanted the honey to be the star. I also loved the very pale tan color the cinnamon made, almost like a natural tint for frosting! 


I split the dozen cupcakes so my dad would enjoy them as well because he does not like frosting! Hello that is the best PART! So his were baked with a banana on top. He ate all the cupcakes within one day and said he really enjoyed this banana recipe. As for my leftover cupcakes, I ate one and 1/2 cupcakes. There was one lonely cupcake left and I wanted my dad to have it, so I cut the top part off with the frosting and saved him the bottom part. I wasn't letting no frosting go to waste!!

I love the simple garnish because it tells you what the main ingredient is in the cake

Click HERE for the Banana Cupcake recipe. Click HERE for the Honey-Cinnamon frosting recipe.


You also have to check out this link because it is a list of the 50 Best Cupcake Recipes on the Internet. Enjoy!! Fallon PS: Don't forget about the giveaway I'm hosting! You have till this Wednesday by Midnight to submit your entries!

Fallon

CSN Giveaway at Fallon's Cucina!

Hey guys! Glad to see you came back. This is a great giveaway. I don't know about you but I love buying new dinnerware sets, bakeware, cookware etc. You can find all these great items and more over at the CSN website. The nice people at CSN asked me to host a giveaway for a $60 gift card that can be used on their website. You can earn TWO entries by doing the following: 1. Browse the CSN website and tell me what you would buy if you won the gift card in my comments section below. 2. Post a link of my giveaway on your blog and then tell me you did so in my comments below. You can do both entries or just one of them. I will pick a number randomly and announce the winner next Thursday, August 26th. All entries must be submitted by Wednesday, August 25th by midnight. Good luck and I can't wait to hear what you would choose!! Fallon UPDATE: I FIXED THE LINK TO BROWSE THE CSN WEBSITE IN OPTION ONE. THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW.

Cantaloupe Bowl

Here is something fun and healthy to eat in the morning when you really don't want to fuss much! I had several of these when our kitchen was under construction. I halved a cantaloupe and scooped out the seeds. Then I scooped into the hole plain Greek yogurt, hemp plus granola and an almond butter drizzle.


It was pretty amazing!

Always, Fallon  

PS: Stay tune for an upcoming giveaway I'll be having on my blog! You don't want to miss out.

Turkey-Ricotta Meatballs

Looking for a lighter version when it comes to meatballs? Ground turkey is always a great alternative but not always as flavorful or moist. Well after going through old magazines I came across a recipe for Turkey-Ricotta Meatballs in the September 2008 edition of Cooking Light.

Fresh basil smells so GOOD!

These were easy and fast to make. They were very moist and full of flavor. I loved the green specks of basil in the meatballs, it made for a nice presentation and pure basil sweetness. As for the sauce I whipped up my own creation using canned plum tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, fresh basil, garlic, sweet onion, salt and pepper. All on top of Italian spaghetti with a lovely side salad this dinner had me humming the whole way! These meatballs can be made into an appetizer by rolling out into smaller meatballs and served with a sauce to dip in. I'll be making these a lot more once the weather starts to get chilly!

 
Turkey-Ricotta Meatballs (From Cooking Light, September 2008)  
Ingredients
1 pound extra lean ground turkey
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1/2 cup dry Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Pepper and Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine one pound extra lean ground turkey with the above ingredients in a bowl, then shape mixture into about 18 meatballs. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add meatballs, and brown on all sides. Remove from skillet; transfer to broiler pan coated with cooking spray, and bake for 15 minutes or until done.  

To Freeze: Follow cooking directions, then allow meatballs to cool to room temperature. Place on a baking sheet, making sure they don't touch one another, and place in the freezer for an hour. Next, transfer hardened meatballs to an airtight container, and store in the freezer. Thaw meatballs in the refrigerator, then bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated.

I love extra sauce, I swear there is a meatball under there. ;)

Enjoy!!
Fallon

New Kitchen Photos!

If you missed the before pictures click this link HERE. Finally the kitchen is put together. I couldn't wait to wash dishes in the new sink and start cooking again! It feels "different" cooking in the kitchen. I feel it is more functional then it once was. We basically cleaned out all the cabinets and draws. We ended up donating a lot of items to Goodwill and made room in the cabinets! I brought all the donations to Goodwill on my birthday, so I felt like I did something extra special that day. Granite is definitely a lot easier to keep clean then the tile we once had. I love the bigger sink and now it is easier to clean pots and pans. By adding in the warmer tones, the room has definitely become a favorite in the house. We added bar stools to the island and now my mom watches me cook or bake all the time. That is how a kitchen should be, where everyone gathers at one spot. We definitely aren't professional decorators and I was really BORED with furniture shopping. At the end of the day though, I think the items I found and liked, my parents also liked and everything worked out perfectly. Happy Friday the 13th!!! Anyone superstitious about today? As long as I don't see black cats and walking under ladders, it will be a normal day for me. LOL Always, Fallon

Red Corn

My family loves corn during the summer. Right now you can buy six corn on the cobs for $1! We go through corn a lot. It is a great snack and just goes well with summer barbecue. We usually go for the white corn variety, boiled minus the salt, pepper and butter. We feel it doesn't need any of that!! Sometimes we also like to grill the corn wrapped in tin foil. Taste delicious. I took a trip to Wholefoods since I'm on a mission to find new Larabar flavors. Can you believe Las Vegas still doesn't have them? I see them all over the blogs and I'm so jealous!! Hurry up and get here already ;). After walking with my head down in shame because I didn't get the new Larabar flavors I headed over to the produce section to pick up some organic bananas, when I spotted a unique looking corn. Red corn. It was only .69 for one, so my mom and I picked up three. That way each of us could try one.

The corn was absolutely beautiful. The ends were white and faded into a beautiful red. It almost looked like it was for show. Here is a better description on red corn and how it gets its color. While shopping I decided I should ask a produce person how to prepare the corn. They told me to grill it and not to boil it. Well I learned the hard way. Sometimes you should just ask more questions. Lesson learned. LOL

Along with the corn I did steamed broccoli and chicken breasts marinated in Soy VayVeri Very Teriyaki sauce. The corn was taking a while to cook, while everything else was done. At one point it was almost 25 minutes and I didn't want to burn the corn anymore. I took it off and covered it for the steam to cook it through some more. It "seemed" done.

My mom took a bite out of hers first and said it was different. Kind of crunchy and not very sweet. It had a denser texture in the mouth. I took a bite and right away I could tell it wasn't cooked! Now what? Boiling the corn would cook it quicker, although the guy said not too. I didn't want to waste beautiful corn so we stuck it in a pot and finished our meal.

Blisters, ouch ;)

Well... I wish the guy told me why I shouldn't boil it because the beautiful red color it once was, turned into a reddish brown. I didn't take photos because it wasn't pretty! It was something I couldn't stomach to eat because of how it looked. That night my dad actually ate his corn and said it was good. I'm surprised he even touched it because he is rather picky! I tried half the next day and it was sweet but very chewy. It wasn't soft like typical white corn, and definitely had more give to the kernel. Would I buy this again? No! It was just something new to try and interesting. Have you ever had red corn before?

Always, Fallon

PS: Stay tune for the new KITCHEN!

All I want is cupcakes!

All I wanted for my birthday this year was some good cupcakes. Normally I'd make myself a cake, like last year I rolled with a S'mores Cake.This year I wanted to make a huge chocolate chip cookie cake but my kitchen was being remodeled. I've also been watching a couple of TV shows like TLCs Fabulous Cakes and DC Cupcakes. Which gave me a hankering for C U P C A K E S! I was so glad my birthday was coming up soon because I don't know how much longer I could wait. My cupcake craving was getting bad. I researched bakery's here in Vegas and read reviews before I saw the Las Vegas episode of Fabulous Cakes. Featured 2 places I was familiar with Freed's Bakery and Executive Pastry Chef for Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Vincent Pilon. I wasn't familiar with Caked Las Vegas. I was impressed she could build a boat full of sushi made with fondant and cake, which if you know me I don't eat ANY fish but I would eat that sushi. ;) What I really saw that I liked about this bakery was the cupcake selection. Everything is made fresh daily and is used with the finest ingredients. They use pure cream and butter, nothing artificial or with hydrogenated fats. These cupcakes shown on TV were huge! A good amount of frosting and cake like 50/50. What was even better.. is this place was only 10 minutes from where I live! A few days prior to my birthday I scoped out the bakery to see if I really wanted my cupcakes from there. As soon as you walk in you could smell sugar and butter. That was already a good sign! The cupcakes were beautiful. So many flavors to choose from this wasn't going to be easy. I told the owner I'd be back! The morning of my birthday I couldn't sleep literally. I ate a very light breakfast because my snack was going to be cupcakes! I was there on the dot at 10:00am at Caked. They were just starting to put out the freshly made cupcakes. I picked four flavors. I did let my mom know I'd share these with her. Aren't I nice? Hey when you are trying to watch your figure sharing desserts is a good thing! After my mom bought me my cupcakes, right next store was a Starbucks. How convenient is that? Coffee and cupcakes? Yes, this made me very happy! I ordered an iced coffee and got to business. I started with Red Velvet. Not very sweet at all but just right. Like Red Velvet should be. I noticed right away the cake was very moist and held its shape well. The frosting was delicious. So thick and rich, yum! Next I went into the Nutella cupcake. I was really excited for this one since I'm a huge hazelnut chocolate fan. I was a bit disappointed. The hazelnut flavor wasn't pronounce as much as I thought it would be. The cake was even more moist then the red velvet. It fell apart so easily. It was good but not what I expected. After Nutella I went into the DQ cupcake. It is a chocolate cake, with vanilla Buttercream dipped into chocolate. Looks like a DQ ice cream cone. My mom picked this one and it was awesome. It had that really moist chocolate cake and the best part was biting into the chocolate/Buttercream topping. It was so good! I tried eating all my cupcakes with a fork but this one was nearly impossible. I had to just go in and take a big bite. It was delicious. I think I saved the best for last though. Creme Brulee. It was a white cake, with a Creme Brulee Buttercream topped with pieces of sugar. The white cake was light, soft and once again moist. The Buttercream was sweet and sugary reminiscing an actual creme brulee. I loved the sugar pieces, it contrasted well with the smoothness of the cupcake. I couldn't help it and finished the whole thing! It was so good, I was seriously considering to go buy another one but I refrained myself from doing such a thing. hehe! If I learned anything about Caked that day it was three things: very moist cakes, 50/50 frosting to cake ratio, and they know what they are doing! I was VERY pleased with my Caked experience. The frosting to cake ratio is very important for me because not enough frosting makes for a boring cupcake. I'm already planning future visits to the bakery for some upcoming birthdays and maybe just because I want a cupcake!! If you are ever in Las Vegas you must head on over to Caked. It about 20 minutes from the strip but it is well worth it. Enjoy, you know I did ;), Fallon PS: I wasn't told to do a review for Caked. I did it because I wanted to. I'm honestly impressed with the cupcakes I chose. They were truly delicious and I would definitely look into ordering a cake from there in the near future.

Birthday Presents!

I had a wonderful week celebrating my 24th birthday. I kept it simple and low key. The kitchen is coming together which I will share with everyone once it is all put together. We just ordered a new kitchen table and a few other items, so I want to wait till it is all done. It is going to look awesome. Along with my birthday we celebrated for everything else that has been going on. We ate at Miller's Alehouse and Lucille's Barbecue. Couldn't of been a better week!

Cap't Jack's Buried Treasure®: Homemade vanilla ice cream cake with Oreo® cookie crust, caramel, chocolate fudge & heath bar crunch.

I received some great gifts this year and I wanted to share them before we get to the good stuff. Like cupcakes. ;) My best friend gave me a gift card to my new favorite sandwich place, Hougan's Racing! Can't wait to get some use out of that one! You can check out my review HERE. My boyfriend told me to send him 3 things I wanted for my birthday and he'd decide what to get me. Well honestly I don't know what I want! I really didn't know what to ask for so I sent him a list of 5 different cookbooks I've been meaning to purchase. I was pretty surprised to find he picked out 3 for me. I've already finished reading Skinny Italian and been going through Clean Food. I'm loving some of their summer salad sides! Baking Illustrated is a lot more text and detail that I can't wait to study up on. Let's just say I'll be keeping myself busy! My parents hooked me up this year with jewelry! My favorite. My aunt last Hanukkah started me off with a charm bracelet by Thomas Sabo. He is a German designer that has a wicked mind when it comes to creating charms and jewelry pieces. The charms are small and unique. His charms are meant to be personalized to each individual. My aunt started me off with a heart with love engraved in the middle. For my birthday my mom decided to add a charm to my bracelet.

I love personalization.

Last which I did not picture but I really needed. A good chain for a diamond pendant my boyfriend gave me last Christmas. You can scroll down to see it at that link. The chain it came with was very annoying, it would spin around and the pendant would get caught in the clasp and sometimes I'd have to tug to get it out! Well problem solved when my dad said that a new chain be a present from him! It is a beautiful white gold wheat chain, that pairs perfectly with the pendant! My birthday might of been small and low key; I could feel the love and that all that matters! Come back to check out C U P C A K E S sometime this week! Always, Fallon