Rosemary Spiced Nuts

Posted on December 25, 2015 by Georgina

Rosemary Spiced Nuts

These little nuggets of flavor are perfect for gifts or perfect for snacks at your holiday party! 20151222_183823 I am sitting here writing this looking at these nuts and wishing I hadn’t given them all away as gifts!!

Since cooking, trying new recipes, and posting about it is such a big part of my life, I love to be able to share some homemade food gift with my friends and family. In the past I’ve made THESE , THESE, THIS as well as flavored salts (including Sriracha, Rosemary, Lemon, Chili Lime, Porcini Mushroom, to name a few) for gifts in the past. They’re always a big hit because I think people really appreciate the time, energy and love that goes into homemade gifts!This year while browsing Pinterest, I kept seeing so many recipes for different flavors of nuts. I’ve tried a few in the past but for some reason I was really digging the rosemary this year. They turned out great and the sugar in this recipe really helps create a great glaze that helps the little pieces of rosemary and salt stick so each nuts is packed with flavor.

Even if you’re gifts are already given and your parties are all over, you definitely should give these a try!
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ALWAYSSUMMER It’s as simple as that. You can totally use any type of nuts that you like too. These are just what I had on hand.

I hope you all have a wonderful and very merry Christmas today! My plans for the rest of the day looks like it will contain yoga pants, a top knot, coffee, a nap or two, and enjoying the company of those I love most. In other words, the most perfect day ever.

xoxo

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Turkey Leftover Recipe Roundup

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Georgina

Turkey Leftover Recipe Roundup

ThankYou! Happy Thanksgiving (a day late) everyone! I hope that you enjoyed the day with family and friends or whomever makes you happy!

I love holidays and getting together with family and making and eating great food. I love leftovers and being able to eat the wonderful goodness for days! One thing there’s ALWAYS leftovers of is turkey! I have no problem eating just plan old turkey leftovers but sometimes you want to stretch them out and make a whole other meal with it!

I wanted to do a roundup of my favorite recipes to use up your turkey leftovers from yesterday! If you have a favorite recipe that used chicken, you can totally substitute the turkey in place of the chicken. But here are some of my favorites ones that I put together! Most of them really change the flavors up and are so different from what most people ate yesterday but a few incorporate classic thanksgiving day flavors and help use up some of your other leftovers you have! Please enjoy!! Copy of ALWAYSSUMMER.png Turkey Pot Pie
Creamy Turkey Casserole
Turkey Cranberry Risotto
Turkey Tamale Pie
Turkey Cranberry BBQ Pizza
Thanksgiving Turkey Pizza
Turkey Pho
Turkey & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
Cheesy Turkey Enchiladas
Turkey Tikka Masala

Now some of those recipes call for chicken but as I said turkey would be equally as delicious.

I am so thankful for so many things in my life but one of them is this blog and all of my readers who help keep me motivated and prove that someone is actually reading what I’m saying and making what I’m cooking up 🙂 Thank you!!!!!!!

xoxo 669058772380712020613

Gnocchi w/ Browned Butter, Pancetta, & Sage

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Georgina

Gnocchi w/ Browned Butter, Pancetta, & Sage

Well as you are about to see, this is NOT by any means a low fat recipe. But I assure you it is by EVERY means, delicious.

I mean letzzzz get real. Butter, pancetta, sage, are there flavors more comfy cozy for fall? Nope!

I had a lot of leftover sage from a butternut squash soup (maybe coming to the blog later?) recipe that I had made and needed to use it up. Butter and pancetta sounded like the perfect accompanists for it so I threw them all together and came up with this deliciously rich quick dinner.

Even while eating it Jake said, “Oh man, this is delicious. This isn’t very healthy for me is it?”

But sometimes I think we should just enjoy the flavors and not worry about “healthy” vs. “unhealthy”. Which is exactly what we did. Enjoyed it and savored it and savored it some more. ALWAYSSUMMER (1)

I really love the prepackaged Gnocchi that Cost Plus (World Market) has. It’s cheap, not full of any weird or unpronounceable ingredients and tastes delicious. You can even order it online if you’re not lucky enough to have a store close to you. And I say lucky because I’m convinced that they cannot produce or sell an item I wouldn’t be thrilled to have either in my home, in my stomach or on my body (home decor, food, jewelry/clothes in case you were confused) 🙂 Pancetta and bacon are very similar. Basically the same except for one small step. Both are usually cured pork belly but while pancetta is done after the curing step, bacon is then smoked afterwards. Typically it’s a cold smoke and it’s never heated, which is why both pancetta and bacon need to be cooked before eaten. (Different from prosciutto which has been cured a little differently and for a much longer period of time and can be eaten without being “cooked”). There’s your food lesson for the day!
We have our first snow fall in the forecast for this weekend. I suppose can’t be that bent out of shape about it, we’ve had such a mild fall and it’s almost the end of November. Maybe if we get enough this year, I can finally go snow shoeing as we couldn’t last year!

xoxo 669058772380712020613

Chocolate Dipped Espresso Shortbread

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Georgina

Chocolate Dipped Espresso Shortbread

If you follow me on Instagram (if you don’t you should, here) you probably recognize these beauties from something a posted a few weeks ago. Inspiration at it’s finest. I couldn’t get these out of my head since I first laid eyes on them and had to re-create them for myself.They were so good. I love coffee flavored things (coffee ice cream I’m looking at you) almost more than I love coffee itself. The espresso in this recipe gives it the perfect hint of coffee flavors mixed with buttery, salty, crunchy, goodness.
If you have a sweet tooth, I recommend giving these a try. They don’t make a ton of cookies so you won’t be tempted to eat more than your fair share (or if you ate them all it was only 8 (or however you cut them) 🙂 ALWAYSSUMMER (5) The inspiration used sugar on the chocolate rim, but I love sweet and salty mixes so I sprinkled mine with salt instead. It was sooooooooooooooooooo damn good. I couldn’t make up my mind between sizes so I cut my round into 8ths and then I cut half of them in half again. That’s why you see multiple sizesThey were the perfect little sweet treat for the end of a day or the cutest little snack to have with your morning coffee!
This weekend we are off to see my “little” brother in his musical in high school! Time flies, srlslyyyyy. But it will be nice to relax and recharge a little bit in the country. Have a fun and safe weekend!

xoxo 669058772380712020613

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Butternut Squash

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Georgina

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Butternut Squash

Um two days from now it’s November. WHAT? How did THAT happen?

First of all, don’t forget to change your clocks back Saturday night/Sunday morning. I’d like to go on the record here and state how incredibly STUPID and pointless daylight savings time is. I read an article a few years ago about how it’s pretty useless now and more of a pain than a benefit and we should do away with it. I 1000000% agree and could rant for a good 3 paragraphs here butttttt I’ll spare you 🙂

Next, THANKSGIVING! (side note, did you all hear about REI being closed on Black Friday? Read about it here. I wish every store would follow suit but that’s another topic I could go on a rant about and again, I’ll spare you, you’re welcome 🙂 )

Now serious time. It’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving day menu!! Some families make the same items year after year after year. And hey, there’s nothing wrong with that! But if you’re like me and physically can’t seem to make the same thing twice, then you probably get so excited to try new recipes every year!!

There are some flavors that scream fall and cold weather and family comfort time to me. Rosemary, sweet potato, pumpkin, sage, brussels sprouts, cranberry I could go on. Not to say I don’t eat those flavors throughout the year but you know what I mean. Turkey usually get to be the star of the show but for me, I’m obsessed with the sides. Stuffing, potatoes (yes both, you can’t skip either one) veggies, cranberry…

whoooaaa. I’m drooling.

But fo’ realzzzz that’s where flavors can shine! Turkey, meh, turkey can be good or bad (best Turkey I ever had was one that had been brined and then roasted….ohhhh mamma it’s to die for. Do it…) but it generally stays the same from year to year no experimentation. Sides! You can mix it up all the time. Different types of stuffing, different flavors in your potatoes, different roasted veggies and a million other things.

A few weeks ago I came across these BEAUTIFUL fresh local brussels sprouts and wanted to try a new flavor mix up. Enter this healthy and delicious fall flavored side dish. It’s packed with flavor, super easy to make, and healthy/low fat! I eat brussels sprouts like they’re going out of style but this is a great way to maybe sneak some into your menu and try to trick those that ~~are too afraid to try them~~ “don’t like them”.OMGGG so good. Look at that roasty goodness.The cranberries get a little bit caramelized/chewy in the oven and every single thing about this dish is perfection.