A Cannoli Cake for Thanksgiving

Hey bloggers! How was your holiday weekend? Mine was super crazy. I must say since I have to work 10pm-10am on Black Friday, I am just now perfectly recovered. That day totally wore me out!

As for Thanksgiving I spent it with my boyfriend at his parents house. It was great seeing everyone again. It is hard to believe 2010 is almost done. I’d like to know where this year went! Again, this four day weekend went too fast as well.

I’m not the type of person to go empty handed when I’m invited to someone’s house. I’m always asking what can I bring, what do you need etc. Well my boyfriend kept telling me he wants a cannoli cake. The last time I made this cake was 2 years ago for Christmas. I’m a bit rusty in the cannoli cake department if you know what I mean. All I can remember was it took me forever to make, I made mistakes, I made a huge mess and it took me forever. ;) Well this time around I planned it out so I wasn’t doing a cake for an entire 5 hours. The first day I baked the cake and let it cool overnight.

Then the following morning I put the cake together by splitting the two 9in rounds to make four layers, make the filling and the rum simple syrup.

Hello Captain!

I put the cake together and I let it set in the fridge for almost 2 days. Then the morning of Thanksgiving I frosted the cake and decorated it. I must say this process was much better for me since I had work every day, BUT I made mistakes AGAIN.

Mistakes:

-Not enough ricotta filling, I forgot to double it.

-Rum simple syrup, not enough rum flavor.

-I doubled the frosting but forgot to double the powdered sugar. Oops

I mean the cake was good, but it wasn’t great. Now I have to make this cake AGAIN because I want it right. I follow the recipe from Dolce Italiano. As for the frosting it’s a whipped cream/cream cheese frosting. Once I get the recipe right, I will share it, for now.. enjoy the photos! PS: Check out this post on my first cannoli cake I made! (Yikes it looks so much better then the one I made recently.)

The filling was smooth, creamy and thick!

You can never have enough simple syrup on a cake when it calls for it.

     

Whipped cream that took forever, 3 cups worth before blending!

My piping skills are bad but I made it work!

Can’t have a cannoli cake without an actual cannoli on top. ;)

 

And since you made it to the very end, don’t forget I’m hosting a giveaway with CSN. Click this LINK to join the fun!

Fallon 

Holiday Giveaway with CSN!

So I had told you on Thanksgiving I was planning on doing another giveaway. I was approached once again by CSN if I’d either like to do a review or host a giveaway. CSN is starting to open up new stores and add in new merchandise like these sling backpacks. The last time CSN approached me I bought myself this beautiful set of knives from Wusthof. So I think this time around my readers deserve to have a chance to get something from CSN. ;)
Whether you are trying to find something for your kitchen like a new set of cutlery, cookware, or tableware for your house, you should check out what CSN has to offer! They offer quality and variety so there is something for everyone to choose from.
You will win a $60 one-time use gift code to use at ANY of the CSN stores.
All you have to do is become a follower of my site by adding yourself to the right-side of my blog. Leave me a comment letting me know you are a new follower. If you already follow my website, then let me know you are a current follower!
This giveaway will end on Thursday, December 2nd around Midnight!
This sounds like a good way to start off December with a fun giveaway!
Good luck,
Fallon

THANKS FOR FOLLOWING BUT THIS GIVEAWAY ENDED ON DECEMBER 2ND, AROUND MIDNIGHT! THANKS FOR YOUR SUBMISSIONS.

Leftover Turkey Cranberry Sandwich With Goat Cheese

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I can’t believe another year has almost gone by. I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. Take the time to enjoy the moment with your friends and family. Forget about all the other crazy things going on in the process. That is my plan and I’m sticking to it!

And just because it is only Thanksgiving today..  I’ve already been preparing myself for the best part, LEFTOVERS! I love to make my leftovers into a sandwich. A few weeks ago my mom picked up a turkey breast already cooked. I’m usually a bit weary on something like that but wow I was super impressed. Not salty, good flavor, all white meat, and moist! Probably better then most turkeys I’ve had. I could only think of one thing and it was to make a delicious sandwich. I tweaked my sandwich by adding in fresh baby spinach and goat cheese. It looks festive and tastes delicious.

Leftover Turkey and Cranberry Sandwich With Goat Cheese

Ingredients

Leftover turkey breast

Goat cheese, softened

Cranberry sauce

This is my choice of sauce from TJ’s!

Baby spinach

Salt and pepper

Grainy bread (I Love Great Harvest!)

On both slices of grainy bread smear the softened goat cheese and cranberry sauce.

On one side add the turkey and the other side add the spinach. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the sandwich together and enjoy!

 

I think the most important part of this sandwich is the bread. You want a bread with nuts, seeds and whole grain goodness. I love Great Harvest for that reason. I was MMMing my whole way through this sandwich.

What is your favorite way to enjoy a leftover sandwich?

After Thanksgiving only follows the craziest shopping day ever. Black Friday! If I had a choice I’d hide in my closet on this day but since I work in retail, I get to enjoy the craziness. What is even crazier is I’m working from 10pm-7am.. because hello Old Navy opens at MIDNIGHT!!

Stay tune for a giveaway next week. I’m debating on what I want to actually do. I need to think quickly!!

Have a great Thanksgiving and don’t forget to be thankful. ;)

Love and Kisses,

Fallon

Almond Joy Chocolate Bark

Here is a little story about me having a bad craving for a Mounds bar.

“It was Halloween night and my mother and I headed on over to Lisa’s house. She always invites us each year and has just become a great tradition. She is a great friend! Well I woke up that morning with an urge of wanting a Mounds bar. My taste buds have changed over the years and I use to not be able to stand coconut. Now I love it and I love it even more if chocolate is involved. So I had a plan to take a Mounds bar from one of the kids treat or treat loot. I even asked before hand and they said of course because they didn’t like coconut. HAH I use to be the same way!! Hours passed and finally they came back. We dumped the bags out and no Mounds!! I saw many Almond Joys but no Mounds. I eventually settled for an Almond Joy because I was still getting my coconut/chocolate craving solved. Although in the back of my mind, I still wanted a Mounds.”

So here I am today. I came across an amazing recipe from Elana’s Pantry called Almond Joy Chocolate Bark. Because it was Halloween I would enjoy pieces of certain chocolate, but on a normal day I don’t typically go for those process pieces of chocolates because I much rather have a nice piece of really good dark chocolate. Plus all the extra sugar and corn syrup nasty stuff, I’m not a fan! After I found this recipe on Elana’s Pantry I became more content because she also has a recipe for Mounds, which I can’t wait to try later on! Apparently was also obsessed with Almond Joy and Mounds too. I’m glad I’m not alone! ;)

This bark was so easy to put together. I can’t believe I didn’t think about it before. Now whenever I have an urge for an Almond Joy or Mounds, this will be my go to recipe, Almond Joy Chocolate Bark.

Please head on over to Elana’s Pantry for her recipe on Almond Joy Chocolate Bark.

Always coconut and chocolate,

Fallon

Sauteed Roasted Butternut Squash with Chickpeas and Spinach

Good morning my friends! How has everyone been? I’m doing great on my end. Work is very busy (YAY!) and if I’m not at work, I’m at Krav. It has been over a month I started going to a Krav Maga studio and you can’t believe how much I’ve improved. My teacher is VERY proud of me and I’m proud of myself, I never thought I could coordinate myself enough to hit, kick, knee, elbow, etc. Let’s just say it is a GREAT way to release built up tension. ;)

My main goal while practicing Krav is protein, protein, protein and less sugar. This method is what keeps me stable and full of energy. In the end I’m actually craving less sugar because of the additional protein. Plus I've always been a carb lover and with extra protein, I’m a happy girl!

In this dish today I wanted to have a side dish with some leftover vegetable pizza. I had roasted butternut squash and huge tub of spinach. Something about cooking it on the stove top in garlic would make a good side dish, but it needed one more thing.. Chickpeas! It needed that extra protein. This dish was wonderful, hearty and very tasty. The roasted squash is a must because it has been caramelized in the oven and adds a whole other layer of flavor to this dish. This dish reminds me of the Fall. Enjoy!



Sauteed Roasted Butternut Squash with Chickpeas and Spinach 
Serves 2

Ingredients
3/4 cup of roasted butternut squash, diced
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup baby spinach
2-3 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Heat up a skillet on medium-high. Add your olive oil a few minutes later and add the butternut squash to heat up. Next add in the chickpeas. Add a little salt and pepper. Once the squash and chickpeas start to get color and have warmed through, add in the garlic. Cook for a few seconds and add in half of the spinach. Mix till it starts to wilt. Then add the rest of the spinach, season with salt and pepper and cook until just slightly wilted. Shut the heat off and remain mixing till everything is incorporated and the spinach has been married to the other ingredients.






This dish goes well with grilled chicken or even at your Thanksgiving dinner.

If anything your vegetarian/vegan friends will love you if you make this dish. ;)

Love,
Fallon

Linguine with Spinach Sauce

Holidays are coming and I’m going through all my recipes I’ve printed out and stored in a binder. Time to find those holiday cookies, cakes and candies. Yikes, just thinking about that is making me feel 5 pounds heavier! Luckily in the miss of all the sugar, butter and flour I came across a recipe I’ve never tried! Giada De Laurentiis Penne with Spinach Sauce. Such a simple recipe and I had everything in my fridge. I love when that happens.

The best gourmet pasta ever!

Back in September when I visited my boyfriend in Texas, we went to a wine tasting event and I purchased some homemade pasta by DeCio Pasta. I picked up their top seller, spinach basil garlic linguine. I remember it being delicious and flavorful. You don’t need anything fancy for this pasta. I decided I wanted this pasta instead of penne. After mixing everything up, I realized the contrast in color was very green and not as appealing. For the taste factor though, it was AMAZING! I felt very healthy eating all this green and not guilty at all that it involved pasta. ;)

The beautiful sauce.

Pasta water is your best glue for making a sauce stick like this one. Blended in a food processor, the spinach sauce comes together quickly. This was a perfect meal right before heading into work. I like anything quick, healthy and delicious!

 

 

I followed the recipe exactly, except using different pasta! Click HERE for Penne with Spinach Sauce or in my case linguine. ;)

Buon Appetito,

Fallon

Mandel Bread

My favorite thing about the upcoming holidays and cooler weather is being able to snuggle up with a warm cup of coffee and some sort of dipper, like biscotti. I enjoy making homemade biscotti like pumpkin biscotti and toffee biscotti. Although the occasional store bought is just as good. I love taking the hard cookie and dipping it into my hot coffee. The coffee flavor with the soften cookie is just soothing to my soul. With the crazy holiday shoppers this season, if I can have a moment to sit down, dunk some biscotti into a good cup of coffee, I’ll be the happiest girl ever. Plus the customers will thank me for that. ;)

Okay so this post isn’t about how I relax with biscotti, it is about mandel bread! My mom is Jewish, which I guess makes me part Jewish? I love Jewish food but I’ve never experienced much with their sweets. My mom heard of mandel bread and was excited I was going to make some.

The lovely Ashley at The Edible Perspective kept posting about Mandel Bread and how this her favorite cookie that her grandma makes. After her many attempts at making this cookie I couldn’t take it any longer and I had to make them as well. It really is an easy cookie to make. Not much kitchen mess since all it requires is a wooden spoon, a bowl and some elbow grease.

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Like Ashley, I also ran into some problems. I ran out of FLOUR! I only had 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour remaining. Do I sub in spelt flour, whole wheat flour?? I found whole wheat pastry flour. My experience with the pastry flour has not been so good, everything always comes out heavy and never rises. Well I took a shot and luckily I had just enough flour total to make these cookies. The cookies tasted wonderful and had the perfect mandel rise. I used 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour.

Oh no!

The dough was very sticky, so it was a challenged to spread it out onto the cookie sheet. I do this with biscotti, so I decided to try it out on mandel bread. Wet your hands when you are trying to spread out the dough and shape it. It works like a charm!

 

A little well done but perfect.

I made these Halloween night and brought half the batch to a friend’s house. Everyone loved them, especially with their evening cup of coffee. I actually had to make a copy of the recipe for several people that night. These cookies are light, not sweet but sweet enough with the right amount of vanilla and the buttery walnuts. These cookies reminded me of the Stella D’oro Almond Toasts I use to buy.

Can’t wait to make these again and store some in the freezer. I never had a chance to save any because they disappeared very quickly!

To get the original recipe for Mandel Bread please click this link HERE, and it will direct you over to Ashley’s recipe.

Okay and if that wasn’t enough. I also had to try mandel bread on top of my oat bran one morning! I used 1/3 cup oat bran, 1 tbsp ground flax and 1 cup of water. I added a dash of cinnamon and stevia once it started to boil. My oat bran is topped with a 1 tbsp of creamy almond butter, 1/2 sliced banana and crumbled mandel bread!

Happy Mandel Bread Baking!

Fallon