N is for Nutmeg: Roasted Cauliflower with Nutmeg (Jennifer)

Hello friends!

Last year Jessica and I attended a Chocolate Festival in Pasadena. It was Jessica's second time at the show and my first. We had such a great time walking from booth to booth, vendor to vendor, sampling all sorts of delectable chocolate treats. The one vendor I was surprised to see was a booth offering fresh veggies and fruit delivered straight to your door. The company, Farm Fresh to You, offers various size boxes of either fresh fruits, vegetables or both, from local farms and growers sent directly to your doorstep. My box is delivered every other Wednesday, bright and early, and I get so excited to break it open to admire its contents. When I saw the large heads of cauliflower and the bright orange carrots, I found this simple recipe incorporating less than five ingredients! Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

N is for Nutella: Nutella Pop Tarts (aka: Nutella Turnovers) (Jessica)

Happy Sunday!

You know how sometimes Sundays just make you want to be lazy?...I'm feeling that way today! Typically, I am the opposite of lazy; I'm pretty darn busy all the time. Luckily, most of the stuff I do is fun (including the baking!), so it works out well. Today, for some reason (maybe because it's 78 degrees outside???), all I want to do is sit in the sun and eat these pop tarts. Sigh....too bad I finished them earlier in the week! Guess I'll just have to make them again in the future.

Oh, and a note about the name: it was decided that "pop tarts" wasn't an accurate or delicious enough sounding name. So the other nomination was "turnovers." What do YOU think? :) 

N is for Nutella Chocolate Cobbler (Jennifer)

Hello friends!

Happy Saturday! My goal with this post is to make your Saturday or Sunday a little sweeter. Nutella Chocolate Cobbler. Yum--the very typing of the name brings fond memories of sharing this dessert with my grandparents a little earlier this week. After taking a bite of this dessert, I couldn't help but sit back, close my eyes, and mutter, "Ahhhh....." It's really, really good. Sweet, but not completely over the top (at least, not to my tastebuds!), warm, gooey, delicious. If I could rename it, I'd call it something like Kind-of-like-Molten-Lava Nutella Chocolate Cobbler Cake because it's got a few molten lava cake characteristics (with the oozing, syrupy chocolate), mixed with a super moist, brownie-like, chocolate cake. I hope you'll give it a try!

N is for Neapolitan Cupcakes (Jessica)

Nie hao ma!
(That means "How do you do?" in Chinese...and it starts with an N!)

Happy summer to all. This week, it really feels like summer to me! I say that with joy because it's FINALLY not cold out. If you know much about me, you know I'm typically colder than everyone else. I have a space heater in my office that I use frequently and I won't go anywhere without an extra layer. This time of year, when it's, oh, 90 degrees out, I am (at last) not cold. At least until I go into the air conditioning at the office or the mall, of course.
Why am I talking about this? No reason, just that I'm pleased about the weather. It makes me feel like I'm on vacation even when I'm not, and everyone wants to have fun in the summer!
You know what else is fun? Cupcakes!
This week's recipe came from my very first cupcake cookbook. It's a fun one. The recipes are so easy because they all start with a boxed cake mix and go from there into deliciousness! I've tried a lot of these recipes before (Oreo cupcakes, a Hershey kiss baked into the cupcake, cappuccino cupcakes) and always had good experiences with them. When I found one that started with N, I knew it was time to return to the Cake Mix Doctor's wise teachings....