The Sweetest Spots in Orange County

 

Valentine's Day.  A day to indulge!

A day of love... and by love I mostly mean chocolate.

I love that Valentine's Day is far enough away from our New Year's resolutions that we can eat dessert again.  Or perhaps it's a reward for sticking to that exercise plan.

I'll be honest, I didn't make any resolutions that prohibited dessert.

I'm rambling.

In anticipation of this lovely holiday I asked my facebook friends (who always answer my article questions) to tell me about their favorite sweet shops.

I added in a few of my own and we now have a fantastic list of shops,

all of which I must visit soon, in the name of blogging, of course.

Visit me HERE for the post!

What are your favorite sweets?

It's electrifying!

I've got chills 

They're multiplying

And I'm losing control

'Cause the power you're supplying...

I'm supposed to be writing an article right now.

I can't think of anything to write on the topic.

So instead I'm looking through pictures B has sent me from his phone.

And singing the words to Grease songs.

You know how those playground slides can be.

Peanut always wonders why his head feels so weird.

#4 / 52 Food Adventures: Bison

This weeks post will be short and sweet.

We went to True Food Kitchen (which I'll blog about at Eating the Orange on Thursday)

and as soon as I saw bison on the menu I knew I had to try it.

So, yeah, it tastes like beef.  

I thought the burger was tasty and the umami sauce on it was phenomenal but that's a different subject.

Bison has been described as sweeter or richer than beef but a burger is probably not the best way to really compare.  I did a quick internet search and found this info on the nutritional difference:

Ground bison and beef are high in protein (about 22g per serving) and in many vitamins (e.g. niacin, vitamins B-6, B-12 and A, iron, selenium, zinc and phosphorous). Both are also high in cholesterol. Bison burgers are far lower in fat than all but very lean ground beef burgers. Unlike nonorganic beef, bison are not exposed to antibiotics or growth hormones.

So really, although the flavor might not be much different the fact that it's healthier makes me a happy camper.

Peanut had a bite and he like it too.

He was more interested in eating our veggies and the "pish" from our fish tacos.

Have you ever tried bison?

What did you eat this week?

Raspberry Heart-shaped Cinnamon Rolls

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and I've been thinking of some easy treats.

These Raspberry Heart-shaped Cinnamon Rolls are quick to make and easily customizable.

Although you could most certainly make this all by scratch if you're feeling fancy,

I used store-bought cinnamon rolls and raspberry preserves.

I made these in both plain and raspberry but the raspberry won out in making this treat special.

Raspberry Heart-shaped Cinnamon Rolls

Open your package of dough (try not to flinch)

Unroll until it's completely flat.

Cover with a layer of raspberry preserves- there will be some ooze and you're going to lose some during baking so mess is unavoidable.

Roll both of the edges until you almost meet in the middle.

Pinch the bottom to complete your heart.

Lick fingers.

Bake according to package directions.

Frost.

Eat.

Perfect for a Valentine breakfast, gift or surprise treat!

Can you just see all the possibilities?

Strawberry, orange marmalade, blackberry, apple butter, apricot, bacon, what?

I may have to try them all.

Bru Grill & Market

We finally made it into Bru in Lake Forest!

Peanut had his first taste of lamb shank and a bite of these donut pops (sitting on fresh cotton candy).

For the full post come over to Eating the Orange!

Our playtime checklist for 2012

It seems that sometimes I come across approximately one million things to do with the Peanut

and other days I completely draw a blank.

Orange County is packed with things to do.  Every day.  All kinds of things!

This year I've come up with 10 things that we would like to do as a family.

You noticed that I said I've come up with things we would like to do.

It's my job as a wife and mother to tell B the things that he really wants to do with us

 but just didn't know it yet.

Find my list HERE, maybe we can plan a trip together!

#3 / 52 Food Adventures: Veggie Chips

Although I never intended for this to be a challenge on cooking,

 we just haven't tried anything new at the restaurants we've been to.

We've been focusing on using all the gorgeous fruits and veggies from our CSA.

We've now decided that we're going to try and made everything into chips.

Kale chips, which aren't pictured, are very popular in our house.

Everyone likes them, even the Peanut.

Although, I'm pretty sure Peanut likes them because

 he thinks he's getting away with eating crunchy paper.

May I also say that I had to overcome my fear of the mandolin for this weeks adventure.

My mom broke out her fancy professional one and I concentrated hard on keeping all my fingertips and knuckles because, believe me, I've seen a lot of people lose both on this thing.

I tried beet chips and butternut squash chips and liked them both with a few adjustments.

The beet chips were really tasty.  I think I would just use a oil spray on the cookie sheet and then a light spray over top instead of tossing in oil.

The butternut squash recipe was a little hit and miss but that was mainly because I sliced all of my squash too thin.  I think next time I would do them thicker and maybe lower the temp a bit.

I thought I would try and get a pretty picture of my beet chips.

I took out all my bestest chips and stacked them up,
put a cutting board behind to eliminate all the background "noise"
and right as I picked up my camera it fell on my pretty posed chips.

WHACK!



Then I quickly brushed the crumbs into my hand and shoved them in my mouth.

What did you try this week?