recipe Archives - Page 4 of 10

Cucumber Watermelon Salad

July 13, 2015 by Jenna

Oh hey.

Hi.

I’m back.

I went on vacation to Peru.

Vacation = no work.

Vacation = no blogging.

Vacation = chilling in Cusco, hiking the Inca Trail, freaking out over Machu Picchu, and walking around Lima.

One day some day soon I will tell you all about it.

BUT FIRST, this cucumber watermelon salad.

If cucumber watermelon salad doesn’t scream summer to you, then I don’t know what does.

Ice cream, maybe?

Probably, but let’s scream about salad too.

I made this salad when a couple of girlfriends and I went to Red Barn Farm for pizza night. It seems like it was forever ago, but I still remember how delicious this salad (and that pizza!) was.

The sweetness of the watermelon is balanced out with peppery arugula and salty feta cheese. Then there is the cucumber for a nice crunch and the herbs for an extra fresh surprise. Go ahead and double it. Maybe even quadruple it.

Plus, it’s beyond easy to throw together, especially if you take the lazy route and buy the pre-cut watermelon. No one will judge you!

I won’t anyways.

I hope you try it out and become as obsessed with it as I am!

Cucumber Watermelon Salad

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

This cucumber watermelon salad is perfect for summer picnics! It's light, refreshing, and super easy to throw together. It can easily be doubled or quadrupled to feed a crowd!

Serves: 2

Ingredients

2 cups watermelon, cubed
1 small cucumber, diced
2 large handfuls arugula
2 ounces feta cheese
½ cup fresh mint and/or basil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Serve and enjoy!

Share this:

Almond Butter Trail Mix Cookies

June 6, 2015 by Jenna

Almond butter and trail mix got married. Then they had two dozen children. These are their children:

Almond butter trail mix cookies.

Aren’t they beautiful?

All they had to was combine with an egg and some brown sugar. Then BAM! these cookies were born.

And then this blog post got a little awkward so I’m ditching this analogy right… meow.

So these cookies! They are so easy to make. I made them the hard way and they were still easy.

The “hard” way = make your own almond butter and mix your own trail mix.

The “easy” way = buy almond butter and trail mix at the store.

No matter which path you tread you’ll end up with delicious cookies and that’s the most important part. Gotta love that salty-sweet combo.

And you know what? As far as cookies go, these aren’t so bad for you. They are primarily made up of healthy, whole ingredients (nuts, seeds, egg), but we throw in some brown sugar to make them a little more of an indulgence.

Live a little.

They are naturally gluten-free, so if your body hates gluten it will love these!

These almond butter trail mix cookies would be great companions for when you go camping. They seem like very outdoorsy-type cookies to me. Maybe because they have the word “trail” in them? IDK.

I did bring them along to a picnic and they were good. I ate them inside and they were still good. I recommend trying both out!

Almond Butter Trail Mix Cookies

Prep time

25 mins

Cook time

8 mins

Total time

33 mins

These almond butter trail mix cookies are basically just almond butter and trail mix with a few other ingredients. They are super simple to make! You can make your own almond butter and trail mix or buy your favorite at the store.

Serves: 2 dozen

Ingredients

2 cups almonds
1 egg, slightly beaten
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup raisins
⅓ cup dark chocolate chips
⅓ cup salted sunflower seeds
⅓ cup roasted, salted peanuts

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Toast almonds in the oven for 7-10 minutes (oven doesn’t have to be fully pre-heated at this point) until toasted and fragrant. Let cool for a few minutes.
Place almonds in a food process and process for 5-10 minutes until it becomes smooth almond butter. You may have to stop it every so often to scrap down the sides. Once almonds have reached the desired consistency transfer to a bowl. Make sure this is about to room temperature before mixing with the other ingredients. It will make the dough easier to handle.
Add the egg, brown sugar, baking soda, and vanilla extract. Stir until completely combined.
Stir in the raisins, dark chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, and peanuts.
Roll dough into balls.
Optional step: refrigerate dough for 10-15 minutes before baking. This will result in denser cookies. If you don’t refrigerate they will spread a bit and will be thinner and crispier. They will be delicious either way!
and place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Notes

You can use store bought almond butter rather than making your own. Use 1 cup.
You can replace the raisins, chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, and peanuts with 1⅓ cups of your favorite trail mix.

Share this:

Cherry Walnut Butterscotch Blondies

May 9, 2015 by Jenna

These cherry walnut butterscotch blondies were born from an “I want to bake right now” mood.

On Tuesday night during my run I decided that I was going to go home and bake afterwards. Throughout my last few miles I was mentally going through my pantry, trying to figure out what I could make that would be simple, quick, and delicious.

Blondies, of course! That would be perfect.

Blondies are so easy to throw together. As long as you have butter, flour, sugar, and an egg you’re all set! And who is not consistently stocked up with these things?!

One of the fun things about blondies is that you can add whatever mix-ins you have in your pantry. Luckily I had just stocked up on various nuts and dried fruits and knew I had some sort of chip (dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, or butterscotch) stored in my freezer.

After getting home and physically looking at my pantry I decided that cherry walnut butterscotch blondies were the way to go.

But, PROBLEM. I was out of vanilla extract. How in the heck does that even happen?! Butter, sugar, flour, eggs, I had, but no vanilla. Gahhh. Oh well, I was too excited about the idea of these to give up, so I just nixed the vanilla.

And you know what? They still turned out amazing. The sweetness of the butterscotch and cherries made the vanilla unnecessary. Thank goodness.

(Note to self: add vanilla extract to my grocery shopping list. Flour too, just in case.)

An awesome thing about baking blondies is that you don’t need a mixer. You can make them with a medium saucepan, a large spoon, and some measuring equipment. Cleanup is also super quick, which is always a bonus.

These cherry walnut butterscotch blondies are perfect for those “I need to bake right now” moments (or even for planned baking events). They are gooey, full of texture, quick, easy, and so delicious!

Know who would really love and appreciate them? Your mom.

I mean that seriously, it wasn’t one of those “your mom” jokes.

Cherry Walnut Butterscotch Blondies

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

35 mins

Blondies are always quick, simple, and delicious. Add in some toasted walnuts, tart dried cherries, and butterscotch chips to make them extra tasty!

Serves: 16 bars

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts, halved or coarsely chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¾ cup butterscotch chips, divided
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 cup dried tart cherries

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Take two pieces of parchment paper and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the blondies can easily be lifted out of the pan. Grease with butter or oil spray.
Spread the walnuts on a baking pan and toast in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, stirring once or twice to ensure they don’t burn. Once toasted, set aside.
Melt the butter and ¼ cup butterscotch chips in a medium saucepan.
Mix in the brown sugar until smooth, then beat in the egg.
Stir in the flour until just combined.
Fold in the walnuts, cherries, and remaining butterscotch chips (feel free to save a little of each to sprinkle on the top).
Place batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. It will be thick. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts, cherries, and butterscotch chips on top (if you remembered to save them) and pat down slightly.
Bake for 23-25 minutes.
Cool completely before removing bars from the pan. Then cut and enjoy!

Speaking of moms, my mom and I are going to go run the Fargo Half Marathon! RIGHT NOW. It’s my 5^th (I think?) half and my mom’s 1^st! She’s going to be awesome. Then we’re going to go to the cabin and spend the rest of the weekend relaxing. It’ll be perfect.

Sending lots of love to all the moms out there! You’re amazing. xoxo

Share this:

Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

April 18, 2015 by Jenna

Coffee tastes better on Saturdays. Sunshine is the best. Sprinkles make everything more fun.

These are just facts of life that I’ve learned over the years. 28 years to be exact. Exact because today is my 28^th birthday. And to celebrate I made these super fun sprinkle sugar cookies.

SEE. So much fun. Look at those colorful sprinkles! I just can’t get enough.

I haven’t made sugar cookies in forever, but I have been craving them for (what seems like) forever. Since I wasn’t in the mood to roll out dough with a rolling pin, cut out dough cookie cutters, and frost/decorate cookies to look all fancy – I didn’t!

It’s my birthday and I’ll do what I want.

And what I wanted was to make easy, delicious, drop sugar cookies that were covered in colorful sprinkles. Fancy enough for me!

These are not your crispy, dry sugar cookies. No. These are your soft, melt-in-your-mouth, amazing sugar cookies. Like clouds. Clouds that were made with butter and powdered sugar and cream cheese, because those are the ingredients that are making these sugar cookies so heavenly.

And the sprinkles. Because, once again, sprinkles make everything more fun.

But also, how cute are these colorful little bowls? My brother and sister-in-law gave them to me for my birthday! Technically, they are dip bowls, but they work for cookies too.

So right now: I’m drinking coffee. Eating one of these cookies. The sun is shining. It’s my birthday. I have high endorphins from the 25K trail race that I ran this morning. I’m meeting up with friends soon for drinks on a patio.

Needless to say, 28 has been pretty good to me so far and I’m really excited to see what else it has in store!

Life is pretty fun. Kind of like these sprinkle sugar cookies. Enjoyyyyyy <3

Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

Prep time

1 hour 10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

These are soft, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies rolled in sprinkles for an added oomph of fun!

Serves: 2½ dozen

Ingredients

2 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup cream cheese
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups rainbow sprinkles

Instructions

In a medium bowl combine the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer add the butter, cream cheese, and sugars. Mix on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in the egg and vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Transfer dough to a sealed container and refrigerate for 1 hour (up to 48 hours).
When ready to bake preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Roll the cookie dough into small balls, about 1-1 ½ inches in diameter, then roll the balls in the sprinkles.
Evenly space the cookie dough balls on the cookie sheet and press each down just slightly with either your fingers or a glass until they are in the shape of small disks (but not too flat!).
Bake for 10 minutes. Let cookies sit on the pan for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Share this:

Raspberry Avocado Kale Salad

March 28, 2015 by Jenna

Let’s talk kale. Have you heard of it? I’m assuming yes, but I still come across people who have not. Mainly men. They get it confused with kelp.

Fellas, it’s not the same. Although I see where you may get confused. They both start with “k”, are green, are plants, etc, etc, etc.

But, kale. It’s a “superfood” full of iron, vitamins, fiber, and calcium. We should eat a lot of it, like err’day. Today we’re going to mix it with a few simple ingredients and make this raspberry avocado kale salad.

Gorgeous, right?

The green and purple kale. The bright red raspberries. The sprinkles of pistachios and almonds. It’s just… so beautiful.

Where is the avocado, you ask? Great question. It is massaged into the kale.

It might sound odd, but massaging kale helps make it soft and takes out the bitterness. Massaging kale with avocado helps make it extremely delicious. I learned this pro tip from my friend Monica. She knows her kale.

This salad takes approximately no time to make. The most time-consuming part is the kale massage, which lasts approximately 3 minutes. It is kind of a boring 3 minutes just standing there rubbing avocado and kale together, but you can multi-task! Maybe do some calf raises, sing a song, count to 180, have someone else give you a massage. If you’re in a room with a bunch of people you could start a whole massage train! Wouldn’t that be great?! Massages for everyone!

Anyways, after the massaging all you have to do is toss it with raspberries, almonds, and pistachios, then drizzle it with some raspberry vinegar. Voila, raspberry avocado kale salad!

Easy. Healthy. Delicious. Beautiful. What more could you want in a salad!?

What? You want to add bacon? Toss it in there! You could also add quinoa or grilled chicken for some additional protein. If you don’t have raspberry vinegar feel free to swap it out for either balsamic or red wine vinegar. So many possibilities. But not kelp. Let’s stick with the kale.

Raspberry Avocado Kale Salad

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

A bunch of kale massaged with avocado, tossed with raspberries, almonds, and pistachios, then drizzled with raspberry vinegar. A simple, delicious, healthy, and gorgeous salad!

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

1 bunch kale
1 avocado
1 pint raspberries
⅓ cup chopped nuts (I used almonds and pistachios)
1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Remove the ribs from the kale. Then chop the leaves into small pieces. You can either discard the ribs or chop them up as well.
In a large bowl add the kale, the avocado, and some salt and pepper. Massage the avocado into the kale until it is soft, about 3 minutes.
Toss with the raspberries and chopped nuts.
Swirl with raspberry vinegar.

Notes

If you don’t have raspberry vinegar, balsamic or red wine vinegars would work wonderfully as well.
Add quinoa, grilled chicken, or bacon for some additional protein.

Share this:

Coconut Coffee Cake

March 21, 2015 by Jenna

Happy second day of spring! It’s such a happy feeling. To celebrate, I made you some coconut coffee cake!

The recipe for this coffee cake was inspired from one I spotted in my new favorite cookbook:

Yeah, that’s right, The Duesterhoeft Café: A collection of our favorite treasured recipes. I know what you’re probably thinking, “The Duesterhoeft Cafe, where is that? I must go.” and then, “How can I get my hands on that cookbook???”

To answer the first question, The Duesterhoeft Café is in the heart and soul of my parents, siblings, and all the friends and family that inspired recipes and shared delicious food with us throughout the years.

Just kidding!

It’s a fictional name that my parent’s gave our house when tricking my siblings and me after church one Sunday. They said they were taking us out to eat at “The Duesterhoeft Café”. We thought it was a legit restaurant, but really it just ended up being our house. My sister was not pleased. My parents, the joksters.

To answer the second question, only a limited number of copies were printed, so unfortunately you won’t be able to find it in bookstores. But by following Just J.Faye, you are in luck! I’m going to be cooking and baking all through this cookbook so that I can share the treasured Duesterhoeft recipes with you. Delicious things like my mom’s famous chicken wings, the coveted Swedish rice ring, and my great-grandma’s German potato salad. Yummmm. Drool.

My mom put this wonderful recipe collection together, had it printed and bound, then distributed to family and close friends. Some recipes have deep family roots, some remind me of the early 90’s, and some I have never heard of, but if it comes from The Duesterhoeft Café, you can trust that it’s amazing.

Anywaysssss, back to the coconut coffee cake. As I was scanning through the cookbook I saw the word “coconut” and immediately stopped. It’s spring. It’s time for coconut. I knew I had to make this one first.

According to my mom’s notes she just found the recipe in her old recipe box and doesn’t know where she ate it or who she got it from, but that she liked it and wanted to save it. I guess it’s not the best example to start with from our “treasured recipes”, but I guess maybe it’s like a hidden treasure that we re-discovered. Sure. Let’s go with that.

The original recipe calls for boxed cake mix and coconut instant pudding. I could not find coconut instant pudding! Does it not exist?! I want it. Maybe I should have checked different grocery stores? Oh well. I used vanilla instant pudding instead, made a yellow butter cake from scratch rather than using a boxed mix, and made a few other minor tweaks.

The result: super delicious coconut coffee cake. I mean, look at it.

The cake itself is just so soft. It’s based off the one I used for this rhubarb cake, but with canned lite coconut milk and vanilla instant pudding.

In the middle of the cake you will find a ribbon made of cinnamon, sugar, pecans, and coconut. This mixture is on top as well. The pecans and coconut get perfectly toasted while baking in the oven. The cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top gives the cake a sort of thin crispy layer that you break through with your fork before reaching the soft yellow cake below it. Heavenly.

But then to make it perfect, the cake is drizzled with a simple icing made of powdered sugar, vanilla, and coconut milk. It’s… just… I…

So good.

If you aren’t crazy about coconut, I’m sure you’ll still enjoy this cake. The coconut flavor is super subtle. However, if you are crazy about coconut and want more coconut taste add in a little bit of coconut extract (~1/4 teaspoon) and replace the vanilla instant pudding with coconut instant pudding (lucky duck, if you find some).

Know what this coconut coffee cake would be perfect for?! Easter brunch. AKA, the best brunch day of all the days. Mother’s Day being a close second, of course.

Know what else this would be perfect for?! Saturday afternoon cake & coffee with girlfriends. I just can’t be alone with this cake much longer. Seriously, come over later. Thanks.

Annddddd now I’m going to go run 13 miles. Yay, marathon training!

Coconut Coffee Cake

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

50 mins

Inspired by a recipe from my mom's family cookbook, this coffee cake is so delicious. A yellow butter cake made with coconut milk and vanilla instant pudding mix is lined and topped with a cinnamon sugar pecan mixture. Then there is simple icing drizzled on top to make it perfect. This would be ideal for brunch or an afternoon coffee break.

Serves: 9

Ingredients

For the nut mixture:

½ cup sugar
¾ cup chopped pecans
¾ cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the cake:

1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup canned lite coconut milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
⅓ cup sugar
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter, softened

For the icing:

½ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoons canned lite coconut milk

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x9 baking dish.
In a small bowl stir together the ingredients for the nut mixture. Set aside.
In another small bowl whisk together the egg, egg yolk, coconut milk, and vanilla.
In the bowl of the electric mixer (or a large bowl) stir together the sugar, flour, pudding mix, baking powder, and salt.
Add the butter and mix on medium for about 90 seconds. The butter should be evenly distributed throughout the flour mixture.
Add the wet ingredients and beat until combined, about 30-60 seconds.
Pour half of the batter into the baking disk. Top batter with half of the nut mixture. Top this with the remaining cake batter, then sprinkle the remaining nut mixture on top.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out with slight crumbs.
In a small bowl stir together the icing ingredients and drizzle on top of the cake.
Let the cake sit for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Notes

The coconut flavor is quite subtle. To make it stand out more add ¼ teaspoon coconut extract and/or replace the vanilla instant pudding mix with coconut instant pudding mix.

Share this:

jenna.faye.ivey