A new weekly feature: The Week In Photos

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I'm a major fan of photography.  I'm a photographer's daughter, photographer's wife, photographer's sister-in-law, and a photographer's friend many times over.

And I'm a wannabe. 

Photography is a natural part of life for me.  When I was in 5th grade my dad and I made a pinhole camera out of a cylindrical oatmeal box for my science project.  We covered the bathroom windows with black trash bags to block out all light and turned the entire bathroom into a darkroom, developing photos in the bathtub.  It was spectacular.  I wish we had kept that camera.  (Daddy, wanna re-create??  Summer project!)

I'm constantly taking photos, usually of things that most people would find insignificant.  I take bazillions of photos of our dog, Chico.  I love capturing things like flowers, a sunset, or clouds on any given day.  There's something about the fact that each of those things are infinitely unique that makes it impossible for me not to grab my camera or phone and snap away.  Things change from one minute to the next, so I absolutely have to take that photo of the waves now, so that in 3 minutes when the set has set even lower, and the light has gone from a delicious red-orange to a dull grey, I can reflect on what it looked like.  Tomorrow may bring another stunning sunset, but it won't be exactly the same as this one.

As I was perusing through the 3,500+ photos on my phone (sheesh, I really do like to take pics, don't I?) it occured to me that I should share some of them with you.  At least the somewhat good ones.  Each week (that's the idea, anyway) I will put together a group of the good shots from the week for you to enjoy.  Or laugh at.  I can't promise anything earth shattering, and I can't promise that there won't be a dozen of Chico each week, but they will offer a little snippet of our lives. 

So with that, I give you Easter Week in photos...

 PS - I had planned to post this days ago.  But I forgot.  Pretend it's this past Monday again, okay?

Classic Devilled Eggs {Easter Weekend}

Pin It Now! Happy belated Easter!!  How was your Easter weekend?  Spring has been so beautiful, hasn't it?  Here in Southern California we have been enjoying very mild, sun-filled days.  Hubby and I have been soaking up the beauty on long walks on the cliffs overlooking the beach...  tough life, right?

We do have some pretty enviable views around here, that's for sure.

What are your Easter traditions?  We may not have kids yet (apparently Chico doesn't count.  bah.) but we are definitely kids at heart and had a great time dying Easter eggs.  Is it just me, or do those little tablets never dissolve entirely??  Anyone??  I always forget that the purple ones are completely defunct and end up ruining an egg.  Come on, Paas, get it together.  

Easter Eggs... they just don't know it yet.

Households everywhere are completely overrun with hard-boiled eggs after the holiday.  I'm sure there are a lot of egg salad sandwiches being packed into lunches this week.  I'm definitely not reinventing the wheel with today's recipe.  Just classic devilled eggs - but, boy, are they delicious.  These babies are dangerous.  I admit I ate a couple while making them.  You won't tell, right?

No Easter egg collection is complete without a Mudder egg!

I hope your spring is off to a beautiful start!  See you on the other side of egg overload.  :)

Fancy pants, eh??

Classic Devilled Eggs

8 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in half

2 tsp mustard (whatever variety you like)

2 tsp sweet pickle relish

2 tbs mayonnaise

salt & pepper

Lightly squeeze the sliced eggs to pop the yolk out into a small bowl.  Add the mustard, relish and mayo and mix until smooth.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Pipe the mixture into the eggs if you feel fancy, or spoon it in and attack them. 

{Comfort Food} Baked Meatballs

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Guess I kinda dropped off the radar again, didn't I??   So sorry for being such an inconsistent presence lately.  Allow me to give you a brief update...

As I mentioned here, we have been up to our ears with re-doing the apartment (not gonna lie, it's still a work in progress).  The kitchen and living-room are somewhat done, which is a relief, but the "guest bedroom" is still littered with boxes of things to go through.  At the moment we are actively in the "shut-the-door-and-ignore-it" phase.

Aside from the nesting, we had some car issues on our hands.  Hubby's temperamental car took another nose-dive right after the new year, so we had to make the tough decision to let her go and move on.  I didn't think it would be an emotional thing, but I cried when she drove away.  What a goober, right??  We had some good times with her.  We drove that car to the moonlit beach the night Hubs asked me to be his girlfriend so many years ago.  We drove that car countless miles to countless places over the course of our relationship making memories together, and the day after our wedding we drove that car - with my wedding dress in he back seat - home to start our life as husband and wife.  Those are the things that brought me to tears when she drove away with her new owner.  Now, time to change our phone number before they figure it out. ;)

Anywho, last week we took a day trip to the Bay area with close friends to visit some other close friends who recently got engaged.  The guys headed off to play golf while us girls took the train into the city and had lunch at Boudin Bakery overlooking the bay.

Don't judge us, it's a vacay day!

The Rock... Alcatraz

Great friends!!

While the hubbies are away, the ladies will play!

Back to the present, the ACM awards were on this weekend, and I sure loves me some country music.  Country music plus comfort food?  Yes, please!  This was kind of a kitchen-sink recipe.  Shredded carrots and canned tomatoes keep the meatballs tender and moist, while the onions, garlic and feta add tons of flavor.  I think next time I'll add some hot sauce for a little kick.

These would be great for entertaining as well.   The baking time will vary depending on the size, so keep an eye on them.  Now back to our regularly scheduled country music awards...  yeehaw!

Baked Meatballs
1/2 pound ground beef (85/15 or 80/20)
1/2 pound ground turkey
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 can diced italian style tomatoes (salsa would be great, too)
crumbled feta (just eyeball it)
1 carrot, finely grated
1 egg
Drizzle of olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil.

Now pay attention, this is where it gets complicated: Mix all ingredients.  That's it!  Make sure not to overwork the meat, or the meatballs will be tough.  Form into meatballs and bake on a cooking rack at 400 degrees for approx. 20 minutes.  Yummy yummy!

"Kiss Me I'm Irish" Muffins {Irish Soda Bread Muffins}

Pin It Now! *yawn* G'Mornin'.  I detest daylight savings time, don't you?  I know, I know, we get an hour of extra sunlight at the end of the day blah blah blah, but for the first few days after the "Spring Forward" has sprung forward, I'm a sleepy mess.  I definitely couldn't get through it without a good (read: exhorbitant) amount of coffee.



I'm sure I'll come around and stop being a negative Nelly about it soon enough, but until then I guess you'll have to put up with my excessive coffee drinking and somewhat incoherent rambling. 



Even Chico is feelin' the lost hour :)

So this Saturday is some sort of Irish holiday if I'm not mistaken.  I had to get my butt up off the couch and accomplish a little something this weekend, so in the spirit of all things Irish I whipped up some Irish Soda Bread.  Kinda.  Loaves take longer to bake, so muffins were the way to go here.  I can stay awake for fifteen minutes.  Maybe.

Typically you would find raisins or currents in a traditional loaf of Soda Bread.  I'm not a huge fan of raisins (*gag*) but I do love me some cranberries, so since I'm the boss in my kitchen there will be no raisins in any baked goods.  Only cranberries.

And pistachios.

Mmmm.

I forgot how yummy and buttery pistachios are until I started snacking on taste testing the ingredients for this recipe.

What are your St. Patty's Day plans?  I'm sure you'll find me sleeping in and generally being a couch potato.

Irish Soda Bread Muffins

2 1/4 c AP flour

1/2 c granulated sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1 c almond milk

1/4 c butter, melted

1/4 c vegetable oil

3/4 c dried cranberries

3/4 c pistachios, unsalted, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with baking cups.  Or spray it with cooking spray if that's what you're into.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or you can stir it up by hand as well) mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, stir together the egg, almond milk, melted butter and vegetable oil.  Add the wet mixture into the dry and mix until thoroughly combined, but do not overbeat.  Finally, mix in the dried cranberries and chopped pistachios.

Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full.  Sprinkle the tops with a bit of sugar.  Bake for approx. 15 minutes, or until tops are slightly golden and a tester comes out clean.

Yields 1 dozen muffins.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

Rosemary Balsamic Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Pin It Now! Sweet potatoes.  You either love 'em, or hate 'em.  I happen to love them.  I'll take them any way I can get them; baked, boiled & mashed, tossed in olive oil & roasted... or the truly sinful sweet potato fries.  Sweet potato fries send me into a feign-like frenzy, so if you're around when a basket of those are involved I recommend you keep your hands a safe distance away.

Today's post, however, isn't about sweet potato fries.  It's about the delicious balance between tangy balsamic and sweet, creamy sweet potatoes, complimented by earthy, aromatic rosemary.  Oh my, that sounded romantic, didn't it?

Pretty mixing bowls make everything taste better.

This was so simple to put together, they were in the oven roasting away in no time.  Hmm, maybe this could be doctored up into a sweet potato salad?  I'm open to ideas!  I used two pretty large potatoes, which yielded enough for about 4 servings.


Rosemary Balsamic Roasted Sweet Potatoes
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
salt & pepper
Rosemary (dried or fresh - I used about 2 tsp dried)
3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar, more or less depending on your preference

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Lightly spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.
Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl until potatoes are completely coated.
Spread out on the baking sheet in a single layer.  Roast for approx 35 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.