El Quatro de Julio

I always forget that I love the 4th of July until the day of. As a family we've never had traditions for the day, we didn't live near extended family and I would generally go to whatever barbeque and fireworks were around (or not if there was a fire ban....). However, I do love any excuse for a little celebration and love being reminded to be thankful that I like in a country with freedom and democracy. This year happened to be particularly fun to be with my whole family. After I worked at the gift shop we headed up to Desert Mountain (which we look at from our windows) for a picnic/smores/fire then headed to our backyard for fireworks, which I love. 

(the view)

 (mom + picnic)

(homemade baked beans. really delicious and I may share the recipe next week)

(fireworks in our backyard....literally...we set them off)

(sparklers + long exposures are awesome)

Granola bar fail

It had been a while since I had cooked/baked everything after my Seattle trip (by awhile I mean about a week.) If you follow me on InstaG (username: angknox) you may have seen me post the above photo with some delicious looking ingredients. I was making a recipe for Nature Valley Knock-offs . 

It was all going swimmingly until I took them out of the oven and tried to get them off the pan. Then, I realized to my horror I'm an idiot (and also the recipe didn't say) and I didn't grease the pan. Needless to say this is what the bars turned into. Thankfully it's still edible :)

I'll try again when I'm over this heartbreak and finish my granola crumbs. 

A little reunion recap

My recap is that my trip to Seattle with my best friends was just what I needed. It was such a wonderful mix of adventure, eating, laughter, dancing, getting lost and talking. 

One thing I love about Seattle is that every time I go I do completely different things. Besides one restaurant and ice cream place (okay, and Pike Place) everything I did on this trip was totally different than anything I've done before.  For example. Bakery Nouveau was just down the street from our place (which we booked on Aribnb and was perfect). They had the best pastries I've maybe ever eaten, the line out the door was definitely worth it. 

Also new to me, the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall. Supposedly this place is awesome, we missed the awesome part but still had a blast adventuring there in the rain. 

Flowers at Pike Place

Beecher's cheese & crackers

Dinner with fresh ingredients from Pike Place.

Gluten free spinach, mushroom and roasted red petter pasta with sautéed yellow grape tomatoes, zucchini and spinach and a side of smoked salmon.  

Dinner at Skillet. My one repeat from the last trip, this time I got a grilled PB&J and poutine

Besties since 12. Love her.  

The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie. 

We last minute decided to adventure off on a ferry and went to Vashon and ended up in this gem.

Definitely go if you are on this island at any point. 

Perfect last day coffee spread at the above mentioned locale. 

Strawberry vanilla tea, chai latte, lavender mocha, bran muffin and a cookie. 

Perfection. 

Make this, asap.

Don't be jealous but I'm off galavanting in Sattle with my very best friends. We were the TEAS in college and they were all in my wedding. I saw T in Denver on our road trip a few weeks back but haven't seen ES since my wedding. A YEAR AGO. unacceptable. Anyways, you'll get an update when I get back, but until then, enjoy this!

Chocolate bourbon-spiked banana bread

(another great one from Joy the Baker Cookbook)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (i.e. you need to be prepared and take it out that morning)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 + 1/2 cups mashed bananas (I used 3, which I had to label "let us die" to keep them from getting eaten!)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp bourbon
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

To make: preheat oven to 350. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray (OR how cute would it be to make mini ones??). 

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes says Joy). Add one egg at a time and beat for 1 minute in between. Then add bananas, lemon juice and bourbon. Beat until well incorporated. 

In medium bowl stir together flour, powder and salt. Add this all at once to the wet mixture and stir just until mixed. Next, fold in walnuts and chocolate chips with a spatula. 

Put into loaf pan and stick it in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick/knife/fork/skewer comes out clean. After it's done cool it for 20 minutes then take it out of the pan. If you're lucky your family will eat most of it so you don't gain 5 pounds, but you'll get 2 slices and be so glad you did. 

I'm late, I'm late

My fantastic husband and I just celebrated our one year anniversary (5 days ago, hence the title...). I can hardly believe it. Honestly it feels like way more than a year ago that we were driving overnight from Lubbock to Mesa for our wedding week, then flying to Cancun, then driving home. We've crammed a lot into a year. Now we're in a completely different place, employed in part time jobs and our belongings are in a box in Seattle. Life is just bonkers sometimes.

Anyways, I wanted to share that for part of our date we went KAYAKING! I wish I could have taken my camera out on the lake with us but bottom line it rained on us. My pants were soaked and it was awesome.

Not quite Sebasitan Joe's

Our family has a collective favorite ice cream store called Sebastian Joe's. This little gem, located in Minneapolis, has the absolute best ice cream flavor in the world: raspberry chocolate chip. I've never found it anywhere else either. The last time I was there, in December, I went up to the counter and stated "I'd like the biggest size you have" and the girl just looked me strangely.

Since this past Sunday was father's day and I've been making ice cream lately (like this honey walnut) I decided to surprise him with a homemade version of our favorite ice cream! I adapted it from the Dark Raspberry Chocolate Chunk recipe from Phoo-d. 

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of whole milk
• 2 cups of whipping cream
• 1 cup of sugar
• pinch of salt
• 6 cups of raspberries (I used frozen and thawed them slightly in the freezer)
• 8 oz of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (I chopped up 2 Ghiradelli bars)

Now to begin: place milk, whipping cream sugar, salt and raspberries in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm.

Now, let the mixture steep for about 20 minutes (lets hope you're not making it at 11 at night and can really stay awake for this).  After it's steeped, strain through a fine metal strainer into a clean bowl. (I didn't have a fine metal strainer as I'm not in my own kitchen and it was okay but would be better if strained more effectively(. 

Now cool this mixture for 4 hours or overnight. The next morning (after your dad has left for work), or whenever its ready, place in ice cream maker. 

At the end of when it's churning stir in the chocolate chips (I simply fold them in while I'm pouring it into the container). Freeze until solid then serve! I garnished it with a few fresh raspberries and a square of chocolate to make it extra fancy. 

Happy day, Dad!

I love you and I hope you have a great day digging rocks! You're the best