cam: christmas cookie staple

Christmas is hands down my favorite holiday. What could be better than food, family and festivities?! Despite Christmas being about a week away, it hasn't truly felt like Christmas yet. And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. My apartment is decked out with a baby Christmas tree, Christmas cards hanging on the fridge, Christmas candles, Christmas lights (that have been hanging since last December...but hey, who doesn't like the ambiance of those twinkly little lights?) but I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Christmas is right around the corner!

To help remedy that this weekend, I made some of my rosemary shortbread cookies. I've made these every Christmas for the past three years and they are always a hit. Not too sweet, perfectly flaky, and so different from the rest of what you're used to eating during the holidays. I love decorating sugar cookies, but they're never that good to eat once you're done decorating. But these--these are good to eat.

I use this recipe and use a little less flour than called for (maybe 2 2/3 cups instead of 2 3/4 cups) because the batter can get kinda dry and be difficult to work with.

Chopped up rosemary.

I like using the Christmas tree cookie cutter because it makes the rosemary look like pine needles.

Enjoy!

As a pre-New Years resolution, I am trying to be better about blogging. I apologize for the 6-month hiatus!!

-Cam

cam: woes of all 20-somethings who like to cook

I love to cook and try out new recipes. But as a 25 year old who also tends to only cook for one person, I find myself steering away from experimenting with certain dishes because of obscure ingredients that I only need a dash of and then end up wasting the rest of--and I hate wasting food! What will I do with the rest of the $12 truffle butter that I only need one teaspoon of? And I know I'm not the only one with this problem because plenty of my friends sympathize with me.

For example, on Sunday night, my boyfriend Wes and I did make your own pizzas. Wes's favorite pizza is Hawaiian while I...would prefer something else.

His and hers pizza. Guess whose is whose?

I tried a variation on this recipe for broccoli rabe, Italian sausage, and ricotta pizza I saw on FoodPornDaily (can't help it--guilty pleasure) and instead did kale, Italian chicken sausage and ricotta pizza on pre-made cornmeal crusts that I pick up from WholeFoods. It was SO GOOD! And Wes's pizza was fine, in my opinion.

However, this left me with almost an entire carton of ricotta cheese. Other than lasagna, I am not familiar with many recipes that require ricotta cheese. This morning, since I was working from home, I experimented by making some ricotta pancakes a la Giada De Laurentis and they were delicious! I skipped out on the honey syrup and just used regular maple syrup. The pancakes were light and fluffy but had a slight tang from the cheese. I would definitely make them again for a weekend breakfast or brunch.

With blubes!

The bad news is, I still have about a half of a container of ricotta cheese...any suggestions on how to get rid of it?!

-Cam

thank you mam: please pass the grey poupon?

As a mustard-lover, particularly Grey Poupon, I died when my co-worker Taylor sent me this video:

What do you Poupon?

-Cam

bam: back on the toms train

Pardon yet another one of my extended absences from blogging. I was on the road for 10 straight days, with a mix of both business and pleasure. First, I was in North Carolina with my boyfriend and his family for a wedding, complete with photo booth props...

Then I was out of the country for work for a week but made it back to Boston in time to watch lots of House of Cards, eat lots of food, and sit in lots of sun for the remainder of Memorial Day weekend. Which, by the way, apparently earned the hashtag #MDW. When I first saw #MDW, I had FOMO thinking that all my Instagram friends had gone somewhere nicknamed MDW for the weekend without me. However I soon learned what the hashtag meant once I searched the public world of Instagram (a scary place) and saw thousands of posts from people using #MDW doing a wide variety of things, from boating and drinking beers in the great outdoors, to sitting inside dark rooms and taking selfies. FOMO no'mo! Phew!

Anyways the true subject of this post is my renewed love of TOMS! Everyone knows about TOMS and the good work they do by providing a pair of shoes for a child in need for each pair you purchase, or an eye exam each time you buy their sunglasses, but TOMS has also absolutely nailed the style side of things with their newest line of slip ons...

...sandals...

...and wedges. I am excited to say that, thanks to some birthday money from my beloved family, these beauties are on their way to my apartment as we speak. They are the perfect versatile shoe for the summer and even though I don't typically like high heels (I only own one pair at the moment), I think I will get a ton of wear out of these.

Even if TOMS may not be your thing, I encourage you to check it out because their shoes are comfortable, cute, and affordable and you never know, you just might find your new favorite pair of shoes.

-Cam

bam: sweet potato hash browns

I've never been a big fan of baked potatoes. Whenever it was "baked potato day" at lunch, all my friends would go nuts, so excited to pinch open those steaming hot potatoes and top them with all sorts of fixin's. But I've just never been into 'em. I can handle sweet potatoes a bit better, but I still can't make it all the way through a plain ole baked potato--sweet or otherwise.

However, in keeping with my diet inspiration I wrote about last week, sweet potatoes qualify as a healthy "hard carb" and I've been trying to find delicious ways to incorporate them into my meals. My new favorite trick is to use a cheese grater to shred up a sweet potato to then make sweet potato hash browns, which make a great dinner side or a twist on breakfast hash browns. Just throw them in the skillet with some oil, cooking on each side for about 5 minutes.

shredded.

While they don't get as crispy as regular potatoes, they still get a similar texture and are deeeeelish! Add a little salt and pepper if you want and bon appetite!

-Cam

thank you mam: diet inspiration

I dislike using the word diet because I tend to associate it with unrealistic expectations, bizarre fads like only eating one type of food, or forcing you to form habits that don't last. Talk about diets also usually bring about the term "cheat day" which I don't know why but I hate the words together. "Cheat day". Just cheat the diet a little bit all the time or don't do it at all. Anyways, for future reference, I prefer to use "changing up my eating habits" or "a new eating plan" when talking about diets.

While in Miami for my friend Kate's bachelorette party, my fellow bridesmaid, Stephanie, and I got to talking about our exercise and eating habits. She's in the midst of a 30-day diet that consists of 6 meals a day, all high in protein and paired with hard carbs (like rice, potatoes, pasta, and oatmeal) and/or soft carbs (steamed vegetables, beans, salad, etc.). The diet has her cutting out salt, oil, sugar, and dairy altogether. While I take issue with cutting things out of my diet completely, I was intrigued by the idea, as well as the fact that Stephanie saw results after just one week on this regimen...

So on Monday after work, I brought my reusable shopping bags to Whole Foods, the closest grocery store to my apartment--both a blessing and a curse--and stocked up! Now, this post is titled "diet inspiration" because there's no way I can do what Stephanie is doing 100%, but I want to incorporate it into my life as best as I can for the next 14 days. So for night #1, I made some steamed tilapia and green beans. So delish and easy! I'm excited to make it again with the rest of the fish I bought later this week.

Place the tilapia seasoned with dill & lemon on top of green beans and smashed garlic cloves all on a square of tin foil.
Wrap it up into a little package and place on a baking sheet. Cook at 400 degrees for 30-35 mins.
If cooking for more than 1 person, make each person their own tin foil package.

Wish me luck on this healthy venture and let me know if you have any creative recipes I could try out!

-Cam

bam: think twice before making online purchases

As much as I love to support small businesses, I am guilty of making a majority of my purchases, both personal and gifts, online. In fact, I realized on Christmas morning that I had done all of my Christmas shopping entirely on the internet...whoops. Clearly, I hardly think twice about loading up my cyber shopping cart and checking out online, expecting items to arrive at my door in 5-7 business days (I still am unsure of what qualifies as a business day. Is Saturday a business day?). That was until I listened to this quick, 20 minute story on one of my usual podcasts, RadioLab, called Brown Box, which is all about the crazy behind the scenes process of how orders make it from your computer to your doorstep.

A reporter talks about her time working as a "picker" for a shipping company that receives online orders. A "picker", as you'll learn on the episode, receives the items you just ordered to their handheld scanner and then is allotted almost no time to go find the item in a ginormous warehouse and put it on a conveyer belt before they receive another request for an item to go run and find. Hearing about this reporter's experience really makes you think twice before clicking that "Quick, buy it!" button on Ruelala.

That being said, I can't wait for this romper to arrive that I impulsively ordered online to wear to my friend's bachelorette party in Miami this weekend...

You can't expect me to change overnight!

-Cam

bam: happy earth day!

It is Earth Day and for those of you who, like me, feel like they should do something to give back to our planet, I may have a solution. Back in March during World Water Month, UNICEF launched the Tap Project which challenges you to go without touching your phone for 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes your phone goes untouched, UNICEF donates one day of clean water to children in need. In honor of Earth Day today, I challenge you to try it out. Visit uniceftapproject.org on your phone and then hands off!

Just to warn you, it does not work while your phone is plugged in and it does drain the battery a bit, so make sure you have enough battery or have your charger nearby so you can juice your phone back up whenever you decide to touch your phone again. 

Does anyone else have any other creative ways to give back to the earth today?

-Cam

cam: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

First off, I want to sincerely apologize for my absence for the past month. The springtime is always a busy and travel-heavy time for me and while that is hardly a good enough excuse for my 4-week long hiatus, it's all I've got.

My most recent travels took me to The Bahamas for my organization's board meetings. Before you throw out comments like, "A business trip to The Bahamas?! Must be nice!" or "What, do you have meetings while wearing bathing suits and sipping tropical cocktails?", you must know that not only was the weather subpar, but I didn't even get to dunk my head in the ocean and only put on a bathing suit my final day there because, contrary to popular belief, I was actually working.

I was also doing a little bit of style admiring. One of our board members had this fabulous bag from Sword & Plough that she received for free after supporting their Kickstarter campaign. Sword & Plough was started by two sisters who grew up on a military base, with one of them eventually serving as an officer in the US Army. Throughout college, they couldn't help but notice how few of their friends and classmates actually knew someone who has served in the military. Their thinking behind creating bags for Sword & Plough is that they would "emotionally and physically touch civilians in their everyday lives and remind them, in a beautiful way, of the challenges our country and servicemen face, and the power that every person has to help." They recycle and repurpose military gear in a fashionable way to create these bags and the proceeds in turn "empower veteran employment, reduce waste and strengthen civil-military understanding." The end product is a beautiful, sturdy bag that I am planning to purchase as soon as I have saved up some extra cash:

Signature tote.

Another item I couldn't help but admire was another board member's stack of colorful string bracelets. Less bangley than the collectable Alex and Ani bracelets and more sophisticated than homemade friendship bracelets, these Pura Vida bracelets are so simple and casual and are an everyday kind of bracelet. While she purchased hers in a set from HauteLook, I set out to choose my favorite ones to create my own custom set. Some of them go toward a good cause, while others are just plain good looking:

Breast Cancer Platinum

Feather with neon blue

Surfers for Austism

Gold circle with seafoam

Gold bar with dark gray

I can't wait to make these purchases. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

-Cam

cam: pie day

At my all-girls high school, I learned to associate any holiday or celebration with food. Birthdays? Obviously. Tuesday mornings with your advisory group? Bagels and coffeecake, duh. Last day of school before break? "Who's bringing the cookies and who's bringing the soda?" March 14? Pies on pies on pies.

Now, almost 10 years later I still find any excuse to bring sweets into the picture. This past Pi Day (3.14, for all you non-nerds out there) my galpals and I opted for a cozy Friday night in full of all kinds of pies including pizza pie, mini chicken pot pies, a sour cherry pie, and a peanut butter pie. Since my roommate and I were hosting, we were in charge of making the dessert pies. Emily made the sour cherry pie from her mom's cookbook, using cherries picked from her family's farm that we've had stored in our freezer since August, while I opted for a simpler, no-bake route with the peanut butter pie.

Pizza pie and chicken pot pies, compliments of Abby.

Peanut butter pie front and sour cherry pie in the back.

While I am a partial to the traditional fruit pies like apple and strawberry rhubarb, 4 years ago, I had a slice of peanut butter pie and still think about it to this day. When searching for in-season pie recipes, I came upon this one and had to try it. I left off all the additional chocolate and whipped cream garnishes because it is just so good on its own. For all you skeptics out there, I encourage you to try it. It is delicious and so. easy.

I hope you all enjoyed Pi/Pie Day as much as we did!

-Cam

happy birthday lilahbean!

Today my favorite (and only) niece, Lilah, turned one year old! I've been in love from the very first photo I saw of her...

March 4, 2013.

...to the first time I met her...

March 13, 2013

...from her pouty faces...

...to her smiles (and arm rolls).

What an amazing year it has been! I can't believe she is already one (and can walk)! Can't wait to see you in a few weeks, Lilahbean!

March 4, 2014!

-Aunt Cam "Ca"

cam: bringing back the cookbooks

With Pinterest and the number of food blogs on the internet these days, it's so easy to forget about the beautiful stack of cookbooks in our kitchen. Every week, when I get ready to make my weekly grocery shop, I try to pick at least one recipe to make and then shop accordingly. I usually draw upon pins from my food board, but recently I've decided I want to be better about taking advantage of our amazing cookbooks. For Christmas, my co-worker Taylor gave me William-Sonoma's Soup of the Day, which has a different soup recipe for every single day of the year. That's 365 different and delicious soup recipes. It was the most amazing gift, especially given this extended period of soup-weather we're having this year. (I feel like I always talk about the weather but honestly it has dominated my life this winter and I don't know many other ways to deal with it than to talk about it all the time.)

So many cookbooks to use!

I got so much satisfaction physically flipping through the cookbook and earmarked a few must-trys in the coming weeks. This week I decided to try the recipe listed on December 23rd, Broccoli Soup with Parmesan-Lemon Frico. I hated broccoli growing up, and even now I still gag a little bit when I have broccoli plain. But I've come to learn that I am able to stomach broccoli when it is pureed or accompanied by lots of cheese. This one had a little bit of both...

Super easy recipe: broccoli, onion, garlic, chicken broth, and just a bit of heavy cream.
For the frico: just mix lemon zest & parmesan then spoon it in 1-inch piles on a cookie sheet.

Bon appetit!

I can't wait to try some of the spring soup recipes!

-Cam

bam: macaroons

The month of March always reminds me of spring break. Growing up, when we weren't burdened with lacrosse spring break trips or college visits, my family would make the 24 hour drive to Boca Grande, Florida, along with the rest of Cleveland, to escape the never-ending gray skies and wintry mixes of northeast Ohio's winters. While there are many must-eat sweets while in Boca Grande, like Loose Caboose ice cream and Pink Elephant hummers, the complementary post-dinner macaroons at The Gasparilla Inn were always one of my family's favorites. Now, I'm not usually one to pass up on dessert, but I always took comfort when dining at the Inn, knowing that if I couldn't convince someone to split a dessert with me, my sweet tooth would get satisfied because these macaroons were coming to the table.

So in honor of the month of spring breaks, I wanted to make something that reminded me of warmer days. My mom got her hands on a macaroon recipe that is as close to The Gasparilla Inn macaroons as you can get, so I had to try them out.

8oz almond paste, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 egg white in my brand new mini food processor. Thanks Shell!

Put 1-inch dollops of cookie dough on a parchment-lined cooking sheet and then into a 325 degree oven.

They cook in 15-20 minutes,  depending on the strength of your oven, so keep an eye on them!

Enjoy this little taste of Boca Grande and keep your fingers crossed for some real spring weather coming our way soon!

-Cam

thank you mam: 100 must reads

My mom sent me a link to Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime and I was disappointed to see that I have only read 20 of the books listed. And some of them I hadn't read since high school so I couldn't even begin to tell you what they're about. I go through such waves in reading that I sadly hadn't finished a book since September until last weekend. On my way home from St. Thomas, I finished The Fault In Our Stars (which took me longer than it probably should have since it kept making me cry so I would have to put the book down and compose myself to avoid confused looks from fellow airplane passengers...). For my next feat, I want to take a break from YA books and am going to dive into Unbroken.

What are you guys reading? Any goodies that aren't on Amazon's list?

-Cam

cam: podcasts

Growing up, my family drove everywhere. No distance was too long or short to drive. Although my 3 sisters and I had plenty of activities to keep us busy (like watching Austin Powers for the millionth time or playing The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashely on Gameboy), there were always those lulls where my parents would turn on the radio and tune into NPR. My sisters and I would groan and brace ourselves for the monotone Charlie Brown adult voices (mwop mwop mwoooop) talking about current events and local traffic reports, or a live audience laughing at someone calling in to answer trivia questions.

It wasn't until this summer that I gained an appreciation for what those live audiences were laughing at. It was "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me..." which has now become one of my favorite NPR radio shows. Instead of listening to them on hour number 6 during a 10 hour drive to North Carolina sitting in the way way back of a GMC Suburban, I now enjoy the listening experience through my headphones in the comfort of my office or at the gym. I subscribe to a few of NPR's Podcasts that automatically download to my iTunes each week. Here are my favorites:

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me... - 

This American Life

That American Life

Radiolab

The Moth

Do you have any favorites that I'm missing? Keep in mind, I don't love politics...

Happy listening!

-Cam

bam: back to reality

After five amazing days in the Virgin Islands, it's back to reality, and back to the amazing weather we're having...not. Although I missed two big storms while I was away, Mother Nature is relentless and dumped yet another storm on us again today. We better have the best spring and summer weather EVER this year, just sayin'. We all deserve it.

I'm not trying to rub it in, but I thought I would share a few photos from my trip to remind everyone that there are places out there with temperatures above freezing!!

Made it out of Boston just in time!

Peter Island, BVI.

Paddle boarding along The Baths in Virgin Gorda.

The Baths.

Boat race.

View from a hike on Virgin Gorda.

Aaaand back to the cold.

The end of this God-awful winter must be near, right?! Keeping my gloved fingers crossed...

-Cam

bam: a new to do

I love making to do lists. I make one every week. By hand. In my Moleskine notebook. In the same color pen. And have it with me at all times. I'm that person who even writes things down on my to do list that I've already done just so I can have the satisfaction of checking it off my list.

For my job, however, I work with a team of people located in offices in different states and countries so it's been tricky to find a joint to do list we all can use. In order to keep tabs on each other, we use Wunderlist. Although it lacks the physicality that I usually require with to do lists and calendars, it's an awesome online task manager program. It's free (did I mention I work at a non-profit?) and can be accessed and edited by multiple people. It sends email notifications when anyone on the team has completed a task. You can upload files to a task so everyone can see what is being worked on. You can also download the Wunderlist app to access the list when your away from your computer. My favorite feature is the "Add to Wunderlist" browser extension that you can install. Similar to Pinterest's "Pin It" button, it sits next to your browser's URL address bar.

Anytime you want to save a website, click the "Add to Wunderlist" button and a little screen pops up that allows you to describe and/or rename the item before adding it to your list.

Downloading that browser extension also creates a Wunderlist button in your Gmail. Clicking the "Add to Wunderlist" button turns any email you received into a to do item.

Once inside your Wunderlist, you can add due dates, new tasks, and updates to any of the items. In conclusion, it's such a great program that I've even begun to keep my personal to do lists on Wunderlist (!). But don't worry, I still maintain my weekly to do list in my notebook. I highly recommend Wunderlist for someone who is searching for a new, easy and efficient way to keep track of their work or personal to dos--or both!

-Cam

cam: cooking the sunday blues away

I get a badddd case of the Sunday Blues every week. As soon as I eat my last bite of brunch on Sunday mornings, the blues begin to set in. Something I've found that helps ease the blues is spending the afternoon and evening in the kitchen. This week, inspired by a family favorite soup recipe, I made a scramble, if you will, of turkey sausage, kale and white beans. There aren't any exact measurements but here's how I made it:

Head of kale, can of cannellini beans, and 2 cloves of chopped garlic.

Cook two turkey sausages until browned,

Add garlic, beans with some of the water from the bean can, and kale. Never too much kale.

Add some salt, pepper, & red pepper flakes. Cook until beans are warm and kale is wilted.

It's salty and flavorful and definitely filling. I had one helping for dinner and had enough left over to box up for two more meals later this week. This would also be good with onion or some other veggies thrown in. If you try it out, I hope you enjoy it!

-Cam