baking with metropolitan market holiday pears

the holidays are around the corner,

and while i have yet to begin shopping,

decorating, cooking and baking, and other festive 

holiday activities are on my mind.

what are some of your favorite ways

to get into the holiday spirit?

i have to admit, cooking and baking

are not my greatest skills; i do enough to get 

by (when in doubt, make a smoothie (or order
takeout)), but i am determined to experiment with
a few new recipes this year!

disclosure: metropolitan market graciously gifted me the pears photographed
in today's post. as per usual, all opinions are my own!

metropolitan market generously sent

a flat of pears my way just before thanksgiving.

grown in medford, oregon, metropolitan market's 

(exclusive) holiday pears are delicious!

picked at their peak, the pears are cold-

conditioned and shipped to your local market.

after two days at home, the pears were deliciously
 ripe and ready to snack on and bake with.

quick aside, metropolitan market's biggest fan? my 
family's dachshund, bailey. she is a fruit-lover, 
and pears are among her favorite treats!

photos by karya schanilec photography

i have to admit, my family and i ate a few
more pears than originally planned (leaving less
than we anticipated for food preparation
purposes). another trip to metropolitan market,
before the holidays are over, is in our future.

two recipes we did try, however, were the
pear and fennel salad and cinnamon baked pears.
both were quick, easy, and tasty.
many of the ingredients are likely in your
pantry, so pick up a flat of holiday pears, and
let's get baking!

pear and fennel salad
dressing: 
2 tbsp sherry vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard (to taste)
1 tsp honey
1 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

salad:
6 cups arugula or other baby salad greens
1 and 1/2 cups thinly sliced fresh fennel bulb
2 ripe holiday pears (sliced)
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1/2 cup feta or gorgonzola cheese

preparation:
in a medium bowl, toss arugula, pear slices,
walnuts, and dressing. drizzle with
remaining dressing, and enjoy!

cinnamon baked pears
ingredients:
4 ripe holiday pears
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tbsp cinnamon sugar
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt (to taste)

preparation:
preheat oven to 400 degrees,
halve pears and scoop out center to fit oatmeal crumble,
brush pears with melted butter and sprinkle
with cinnamon sugar,
combine oats, almonds, brown sugar,
cinnamon, and a pinch of salt,
pour remaining melted butter
into mixture and spoon into pear halves,
bake until pears are soft (approximately
30-40 minutes), enjoy!

have you begun holiday baking?
what are your favorite recipes?
xoxo.

triple chocolate milky way cookies

^^^ for serious chocolate lovers only ^^^

i first found the milky way cookie recipe here

and have already baked them three separate times!

each time, the cookies have been a hit - 

i have to tell you, i am absolutely 

and completely inept in the kitchen.

however, these cookies (as they are primarily various chocolate morsels)

are really quite simple.

prep time: 15 minutes

cook time: 10 minutes

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

6 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp espresso powder

1 egg

1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips 

1/2 cup chopped milky ways

instructions:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. grease baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

3. in small bowl, mix cocoa powder and vegetable oil until it appears "melted" in consistency.

4. with mixer, soften butter, and mix in brown and white sugar. beat until combined.

5. add in cocoa powder mixture and egg. 

6. add espresso powder and vanilla extract.

7. in separate bowl, sift flour and baking soda. add into wet ingredients and mix.

8. add in chocolate chips and milky way pieces. stir until combined. 

9. scoop 2 tbsp-size dough balls onto baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes.

10. enjoy! 

baking with a little

(the finished product)

little one sitting on the counter with sprinkles in hand!

having a helper in the kitchen this past weekend was a treat.

although the mess that followed - not so much :) 

blue sprinkles everywhere!

i think her cookies were far more delicious than mine, however.

twice the frosting and half a can of sprinkles on each cookie. yum.

xoxo.

rudolph

"rudolph the red nosed reindeer [...]"

i was trying to sing this to the babies at work last week, 

and could not for the life of me remember some of the lyrics.

curse my amnesia. 

i can remember other completely ridiculous and useless songs, 

but i forgot rudolph? trying to sing about frosty was far less successful, however.

to get in the christmas spirit, 

and try to jumpstart my memory, i baked these reindeer cookies.

never mind that i completely burnt the first batch,

and ate the vast majority of the m&m's...

unfortunately, i do not like peanut butter (and i used peanut butter cookie mix),

so come help yourself to these little holiday friends! 

xoxo.

white chocolate oreos

1. ingredients: 

oreos (preferably double stuffed) 

bakers white chocolate

toppings of your choice

2. melt the white chocolate

3. dunk 'em

dip oreos in white chocolate and stick on wax paper-covered cookie sheet

4. decorate

5. freeze

the cookies can also be refrigerated and will be done after 15 minutes

6. enjoy

easiest and tastiest treat ever :) 

i will be taking these post-thanksgiving themed oreos to book club tomorrow. 

and now i am off to finish the book as i am only 12% complete.

this month we are reading "the night circus" by erin morgenstern.

i've loved every bit of it thus far :) 

pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies

during the fall, i cannot get enough of anything and everything pumpkin:

pumpkin muffins, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin bread.

i decided to try a pumpkin cookie recipe 

(and added chocolate because what is a cookie without chocolate?).

they turned out quite well (and are now almost gone).

although i threw the tupperware in my purse,

and because the cookies were so soft, they broke into little bite size babies.

which makes it much more difficult to keep track of how many you have eaten...

xoxo.

baking like a fiend

what does one do when they have a substantial amount of free time...

plus an insatiable sweet tooth?

and is surrounded by her closest girlfriends?

bake, of course.

the ingredients.

preparing to make the cake balls.

it started out promising.

and then they died. cake. pop. fail.

(i also tried to eat one before freezing them - BAD IDEA.

 could not scrape all the bittersweet chocolate out of my teeth for ages.) 

some of our treats turned out beautifully:

nutter butter ghosts.

pumpkin muffins with powdered sugar topping.

chocolate "monster" cupcakes.

treats for days! 

a special thank you to my favorite girlfriends who helped bake with me :) 

i cannot wait to do this again.

and i apologize in advance to my poor, poor stomach... treat overload...

xoxo.

*image found on google

amazed

i have a new-found fascination and respect for mother's who manage to dress themselves 

(in something other than sweatpants) for the day,

cart around and hold their children,

combat the snot, vomit, etc.

and look lovely while doing the above.

tell me, how do you do it?!

granted, i am not a mom,

but i wholeheartedly admire you.

also, how do you manage taking more than one babe into the bathroom?

the kiddo, baby, and i went on a walk.

naturally, we had to make a stop at the restroom.

it took me at least 3 minutes to get the stroller into said restroom,

another minute to console the babe,

a few minutes to help the little one on the pot,

and at least six minutes to wash everyone, 

get the kiddo back in the stroller,

and coordinate all of us in order to exit the restroom.

...such a feat... 

however, while baby napped today,

the munchkin and i made scones from pancake batter :)

...we also had pancakes for breakfast today.

too much in one day?

not for us!

hopefully her mom feels the same...

xoxo.

wandering

m has been at work since 5am.

that has given me plenty of (aka too much) free time.

i spent the day walking around,

picking up a few things, 

pretending to "workout" 

and trying to bake m a treat.

i know this looks like poo,

but it is actually double chocolate chip bread 

(before it baked/settled).

m neglected to tell me he did not have a muffin tin,

so i had to make it into bread :)

post homemade dinner date.

while on my walk, 

i found the most incredible store...

it is called pangaea outpost

and is a place for all kinds of vendors to showcase/sell their products.

you could find anything and everything here!

scarves, jewelry, toys, clothing for adults and children, shoes, handbags, etc. etc.

i picked up the penguin drawing for m,

and a striped shirt and my favorite hair ties for myself :)

today's outfit:

{ m was not here to take my picture, but i am barefoot and wearing very torn jeans - 

nothing noteworthy! }

i love this top though! 

blouse: thrifted, jeans: opal

{ similar finds }

blouse

jeans

sunday fun-day

i received a pleasant surprise today! i was supposed to watch a few munchkins all day, but their mama had to cancel last minute. thus, i got to sleep in, go for a walk, take a quick trip to goodwill, watch eat during the superbowl with the girlfriends, bake, and finally, go to dinner with my girlfriend, c. all in all, it was the perfect day to end my weekend :) 

peanut butter cookies with heart shaped dove (dark) chocolates :)

my new feather!

so bright.

but fun, i suppose :)

do you see the kitty on my shirt?

i walked into the girlfriend's house, 

and my bff, c, says

"megan, that shirt is so ugly!"

i guess it kind of is...

but i purchased it at f21, and they made a donation to the ASPCA

which made buying it completely justifiable, 

right? 

who doesn't want to support animals?! 

*you can semi see the shirt, but it says "wish i had me some yarn" with a very sad looking kitty

hope you had a sunday fun-day, too! 

cat sweater

day six (almost)

today/tomorrow's challenge is to capture something that makes you smile. after a long day at work, all i could think about was how badly i was craving a homemade treat. thus, i bring you day six's challenge :)

freshly baked brownies :)

(i forgot to take a picture of the final product before i dug into it #epicfail)

 and, on a slightly different note... this marks my 100th blog post.

three cheers! i am so happy this little blog is growing! thank you everyone for your continued support, comments, and blogger love! xoxo, a very grateful girl.

picture post

alas, i have my camera again (thank you, r). i found a bunch of pictures i had forgotten about, so i thought i would share a few with you :) 

(that is r haha - funniest boy i know, besides perhaps the crazy boy below)

taking a much needed break from the picture below :)

(thanksgiving treats)

thanksgiving dinner at m's mom's house

an outfit post i forgot to do!

sweater: uo, striped shirt: tj maxx, jeans: ae, shoes: moccasins, necklace: nordstrom rack

my best friend since the fourth grade, c

my brother, n,  & m!

post christmas dinner with my grandma

well, i think that about covers it. not having a camera is especially poopy, so i am very happy to have it back! especially when my phone camera is sub-par hehe. xoxo.