kim, Author at Lovin' From the Oven

Pecan Balls

March 22, 2015 by kim 3 Comments

I have so many posts that I need to work on. My photo library is getting a little excessive and I need to upload them to my blog to match their recipes, stat. I have countless cookie recipes that are just waiting to be published!

Anyway, our apartment browsing this past weekend wasn’t very successful. We saw two places that we loved, but one was just a smidgen out of our budget and the other got swiped up by someone else.

Maybe we’re being too picky. I just want a a kitchen with plenty of light to bake in!

It’s a mad, mad world out there. Seriously. If you don’t turn in your application within two seconds of seeing the place, then your chances of actually getting it disappear completely.

I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Oh well, we’ll continue the hunt until something comes along.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue popping cookies out of my little kitchen and faithful oven.

These pecan snowballs are one of my favorite cookies. They’re not very sweet and have a soft, but crunchy (is that even possible?) texture. They crumble and melt in your mouth.

I rolled my cookies in powdered sugar twice because the first layer melted and disappeared. I also like my cookies on the sweeter side.

Recipe from Laura’s Sweet Spot

Pecan Balls

Yield: approximately 30 cookies

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sifted confectioners’ sugar, divided
1½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
pinch cinnamon, optional
⅓ cup ground or finely chopped pecans
confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for rolling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream together the butter, ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar, and the vanilla.
Slowly mix in the flour, salt, and cinnamon, if using.
Stir in the nuts until just combined.
Roll the dough into small balls and bake for 12-15 minutes.
Put the remaining ½ cup confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl. Remove the cookies from the oven and, while they are still warm, put the cookies into the sugar mixture and roll around. Allow cookies to cool completely.

https://lovintheoven.com/pecan-balls/

Cheesy Spinach Crescent Rolls

March 18, 2015 by kim Leave a Comment

I have strange phases that I go through where I’m obsessed with Craigslist. Sometimes, I like to hunt for vintage furniture, look for random jobs, or in this case, look at every listing possible for apartments and homes for rent. I guess it’s not out of the ordinary since our lease for our current place is up in May. Although I love our location, price, and size of our current town home, the kitchen is just not doing it for me anymore.

So, I’ve started browsing for a new possible place to call home. My DH and I have moved 3 times in the last 4 years, so moving isn’t new to us. We’ve constantly been “upgrading” every time we moved. We went from a 450 square foot apartment with absolutely no light to a 750 square foot apartment in a high rise building. From there, we moved to a 1190 square foot, 2 bedroom town home and that’s currently where we are now. Even though the space is big, it’s just not big in the right places.

Instead of having a long living room, I would have preferred the kitchen to take up the majority of the space. When you rent, you have the flexibility of moving to something better when it comes along. That’s the nice thing about it.

I’m not sure yet if we’ll be moving again this year, but I would say that it’s highly likely. My top three priorities in a living place are: the kitchen, lots of natural light, and a washer/dryer. For my DH, it’s his commute to work, the garage, and having dual paned windows (our currently place definitely does not have that).

We’ll be looking at a number of places this weekend. I can’t wait!

Maybe I should get my real estate license so I can be doing this all day and actually get paid for it.

I’ve always loved looking at houses. Model homes are my jam! I’ll pull over for a chance to walk through a model home any day.

These cheesy spinach crescent rolls are a quick and easy snack whenever you need a pick me up throughout the day. They’re best warm, straight from the oven. They’re also great for parties!

Cheesy Spinach Crescent Rolls

Ingredients

1 tube Pillsbury crescent rolls
1/4 bag of spinach, chopped
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup light shredded mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Unroll the crescents and separate into triangles.
In a bowl, mix together the spinach, both cheeses, and salt and pepper.
Place about 2 teaspoons of the mixture onto the wide end of each triangle. Roll from the fat end to the skinny end.
Place on baking sheets and bake for 13-15 minutes.

https://lovintheoven.com/cheesy-spinach-crescent-rolls/

French Toast

March 11, 2015 by kim 3 Comments

We haven’t done a breakfast recipe in a while, so here’s an easy french toast recipe. There are no frills here, just good ol’ fashioned bread dipped in batter and perfectly browned on both sides.

The best breads for french toast are challah and french bread. They soak in all of the liquids while maintaining their structure. If you try to use normal sandwich bread, they tend to break down a lot easier. You want to use a hearty and thick bread.

Nothing says “I love you” like the smell of breakfast in the morning. It’s also my favorite meal to cook. On days that I work and leave the house before my DH, I even make him breakfast and leave it in the fridge for him to warm up when he wakes up.

French Toast

Ingredients

1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp white sugar
4 slices of thick bread

Directions

Whisk together the flour, milk, egg, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and sugar until smooth.
Pour a little oil in a pan over medium heat.
Soak bread in egg mixture until absorbed.
Cook bread on each side until browned. Serve warm with maple syrup.

https://lovintheoven.com/french-toast/

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