Lovin' From the Oven

Caribbean Smoothie

by 1 Comment

caribbeansmoothie-3

This smoothie takes me back all the way to my good ol’ Boys & Girls Club days, when I used to help run the after school program at my local middle school. We made smoothies every Friday for the kiddos with the huge frozen fruit bag from Costco. They loved it, especially on the hot days. It was a wonderful afternoon snack that we all looked forward to.

caribbeansmoothie-2

At the middle school, we only made it with fruit and orange juice, but I added some yogurt in there since I had it available. The creamier, the better!

Isn’t the color of the smoothie just eye capturing? It’s definitely jamba juice worthy.

caribbeansmoothie

In other news, I’ve been baking up a storm trying to empty my pantry. We move in less than two weeks and I need to use up all of the items that I can’t bring with me. The heavy stuff is also a no-go. That includes canned items (evaporated milk, condensed milk, soups, broths), all of my cheese, molasses, cake mixes, buttermilk powder, my many pounds of flour and sugar, etc.

I’m loving every second of it.

Print
Caribbean Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Wawona frozen fruit festival blend (mix of mango, papaya, pineapple, and strawberries)
  • 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
  • 1/4 cup orange juice

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
https://lovintheoven.com/caribbean-smoothie/

Blueberry Pancakes

by 5 Comments

blueberrypancakes

blueberrypancakes-2

blueberrypancakes-3

blueberrypancakes-4

blueberrypancakes-5

blueberrypancakes-6

Everything went by extremely fast this past week. We got someone to sign a new lease, we found an apartment (fingers crossed, supposed to sign the lease tomorrow), and one more final for my DB! I also got to go to Philly and eat a Philly cheesesteak. It was glorious.

Pretty sure I’ve been making more of breakfast than I have of anything else lately, which is fine by my DB! Hmmm… looking at the pictures now, it seems as if I needed to mix my batter a little more. Ohhhh well. What can I say, we were hungry.

I love the natural dye that blueberries do to the batter. Blue pancakes? I’ll take five. This is a nice way to spice up your usual pancake and add some healthy nutrition to your daily routine. If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can always use the lemon juice and milk method. Don’t skip the most important meal of the day.. breakfast!

Print
Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 cups AP flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 4 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries

Directions

  1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  2. In another bowl, stir the egg and butter into the buttermilk.
  3. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet in two batches until just combined. Lumps are good! Barely mix in the blueberries. Be careful, they're fragile!
  4. Drop 1/4 cup of the batter onto a warmed pan over medium heat.
  5. Cook the first side until bubbles start to appear, about 2-3 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook for another minute on the other side, making sure it's cooked through.
  6. Repeat until all the batter and blueberries are gone.
https://lovintheoven.com/blueberry-pancakes/

Day 2: Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

by 10 Comments

DSC_3422

DSC_3416

DSC_3394

DSC_3435

Day 2 of my 12 days of cookies: Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies. Yeeeeesh. How long can a cookie’s name get? That’s okay, because these cookies will leave you speechless anyways.
These cookies were a hit! Best eaten the day of. The mixture of the three chocolates fuse together with the dried cranberries. It may seem like a lot of mix-ins, but it really doesn’t take away from the cookie dough itself. I haven’t made oatmeal cookies in so long that I almost forgot how good they were. Thanks for the reminder, Epicurious! These cookies get that beautiful golden trim around the outside, with a hearty and chewy inside. Under bake them a bit for a chewier bite (like I do)!
I really love this time of the year. The internet explodes with plenty of desserts and food porn. It seems as if December is when bloggers try to bake as many sweets as possible, leaving me drooling all over my computer screen. It’s also my favorite time of the year because I get to watch Love Actually everyday and not seem like a crazy person. Although, I’m pretty sure my DB hid it somewhere from me to stop me from playing it so much. What can I say… It’s the perfect Christmas movie! I adore everything about it. What are your favorite holiday movies?
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  1. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Set aside.
  2. Cream butter and both sugars in large bowl until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla.
  3. Add flour mixture and oats and stir until blended. Stir in all chocolate chips and cranberries.
  4. Flatten cookie dough into a one inch thick rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least two hours, or overnight.
  5. Preheat to 350°F.
  6. Just before baking, cut dough into one inch squares and place on baking sheet at least two inches apart.
  7. Bake cookies until edges are light brown, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely.

Categories