Fig and Tomato Orzo Salad

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Hi! Say hello to my lunch I've had all week! Spach the Spatula's Instagram of this fig and tomato orzo salad popped up on my feed a few weeks ago and I was sold. Rachel is fueling my fig frenzy and totally on the same page about this fab fall fruit. This fig quesadilla, nutty fig smoothie, like OMG.

I made a big bowl of this salad Sunday and have been enjoying it all week in my lunch. Such a good change of pace from my lamo spinach salads.  Components include fresh figs, tomatoes, goat cheese, basil and a balsamic reduction poured all over it. Rachel used blue cheese instead of goat cheese which I'm kicking myself for because I am so pro-blue cheese I just read the recipe wrong. The goat cheese was great it sort of melts over the warm pasta, but next time it's blue cheese for sure! I also used basil for my herb because I'm pretty proud of  baby basil plant in my backyard. I try and sneak it into whatever I can.

Fig and Tomato Orzo Salad
Adapted from Spache the Spatula
 
Ingredients:
1 cup dry orzo pasta
2 Tbsp. good-quality olive oil
1 cup halved cherry or plum tomatoes
1 cup quartered black mission figs
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese (or goat if you don't like blue)
2 Tbsp. fresh basil
salt and pepper
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
 
Directions:
Cook the orzo according to your package directions. Drain and put into a large bowl, and toss with the olive oil.
Over medium heat reduce your balsamic vinegar by about half to create the glaze.
Add in the tomatoes, figs, cheese, and basil to the orzo, and toss to combine. Season, to taste with salt and pepper and drizzle generously with the balsamic glaze.
 
 
Makes a great lunch, perfect side dish or for a bite here and then straight from the bowl in the fridge... Take a bite amiright? Oh also good heated up a bit, just a tip.

Annie
 

Bites of My Life

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From the looks of it I took a few too many bites last week. Reality is my food was just really pretty. I was scrolling through my camera roll for today's bites post and it was food, only food. Except for one puppy visitor we had at work last week!
I got bit by the fall bug this weekend. With our glimpse of cooler temps, I was immediately off to the store to by fall flowers for my porch and pumpkin puree for new recipes. I'll admit that I even went all basic white girl and got a PSL on Saturday. Let's just accept it and move on. Fall is here and I'm crushing on this season change. 
-Tried recreating my pitaya bowl I had in Newport. Not bad but needs some tweaking before I share the recipe.

-Unveiled my secret signature sugar cookie recipe last week. This recipe is so special to me and y'all are just special enough for it to be shared with!
-Tricky Tuesday! I disguised my morning green smoothie as a chocolate shake with spinach, almond butter, coconut water, strawberries, bananas and cocoa powder.
-Has anyone tried Hello Fresh? If not I highly recommend it! We tried out the 3-box meal for 2 people and fell in love. First night we made the Spice Rubbed Chicken with roasted figs and onions over basmati rice and green beans. 
-Night two was surprisingly our favorite. An interesting mix of freekah, brussels and crisp apples. 
-Our last night was seared salmon over farro and roasted beets, topped with a horseradish beet dill salsa. Each night we looked forward to putting together our meal. We felt like we were playing a game, putting together the puzzle pieces to create each recipe. 
-With one of my co-workers fostering puppies, we get occasional visits from his baby furry friends. Say hello to Winston Carlise!
-On a soft boiled egg grind after my breakfast at Zinc in Newport. 
-Tried creating my own pumpkin zucchini bread recipe. Tried to make it a little too healthy and it failed. It looked really pretty but more recipe testing is in my future.
-Fresh vine ripe tomatoes and figs are the star ingredients of a new lunch recipe coming up this week.
-Recreated another Newport recipe for dinner Sunday night. Panko crusted fish tacos inspired by Bear Flag Fish Co.
-And because every week should end on a sweet note, a little froyo acted as the cherry on top. We felt a little better about it knowing our dessert was benefiting No Kid Hungry with Orange Leaf's limited edition cups!
Annie

The Recipe That Defines Me

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Today is big. Today is very big. I'm sharing my top secret recipe for my signature sugar cookies. These cookies are the first thing I can remember fully making from start to finish on my own. I've been baking them up since I was 7! The recipe has evolved a bit over the years but the flavor remains true. 

I've made these for school parties, for friends, every year for santa, for sorority recruitment, and most recently for game day! My favorite memory is when I made them for my 4th grade Valentine's Day party in Mrs. Rains class. I spent probably 5 hours making them, but I refused to have any help. I proudly went to school with my sprinkle covered heart shape cookies with my hands completely died red and pink from the food coloring! 

Sugar cookies are completely underrated in my opinion. If someone were to ask me what my favorite kind of cookie was I'd say sugar cookies. If someone were to ask me to what my favorite thing to bake was, I'd say these sugar cookies. They are oh so special to me and my favorite things in the world! I posted about them when I first started blogging, but I wasn't ready to give away the recipe. I've matured since then and realized all good things should be shared. And not to mention my old post is so tragic it's embarrassing and had to be re-done.  

What makes these cookies so good are two secret ingredients. Are you ready? A little orange zest in the cookies and almond extract in the icing is what sends them over the edge. Follow below for some detailed instructions on how to make these perfect sugar cookies. 

Signature Sugar Cookies
yields 2 dozen cut out cookies
prep 15 minutes, cool 1 hour, decorate 30 minutes

Cookie Ingredients:
3 cups of flour
3/4 tsp. of baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg beaten
1 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange zest
powdered sugar for rolling out

*Icing Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsps. meringue powder
10 Tbsps. warm water
1 tsp. almond extract
food coloring and sprinkles to decorate

Directions for the cookies:
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt then set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat softened butter and sugar until a light pale color. Add the egg, milk, vanilla and orange zest and beat to combine. Place your mixer on low and gradually add your dry ingredients until the dough forms. Divide the dough in half, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. Or for the impatient, place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or grease with cooking spray. Sprinkle your work space and rolling pin with powdered sugar. Using one wrapped package of dough at a time, begin to roll out into about 1/4-1/2 thick. Occasionally move the dough around to make sure it's not sticking. Cut out desired shapes and bake for 6-8 minutes or until just lightly brown around the edges. Let sit and cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before you transfer them to a cooling wrack. Cookies must be completely cool before you ice them. I often stick them in the freezer to really firm them up!

Directions for icing and decorating:
To make your icing, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, almond extract and warm water in your electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat for 8 minutes on low, scraping the sides occasionally. Your icing should be the consistency of glue. Divide into small bowls and add desired food coloring. 

Using the back of a regular table spoon, spread a little bit of icing just to the edges of each cookie. It's important not to use too much to where it spreads over the edges. To add decoration I love using little plastic squeeze bottles. The icing is the perfect texture to write and draw with, without being too runny. Let one layer dry before you use another color to decorate with. The royal icing will dry quickly. That being said, if you are using sprinkles, sprinkle them on quickly before the icing dries.

*If you are looking for a frosting you can pipe, I love this one! Especially for Christmas cookies.

BOOMER!

Annie

Mark Your Calendars

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target.jpg
Target - known as the place where you go in for a pack of paper towels and few groceries and leave with a new sweater, workout leggings, front door mat, coffee mug and the new seasonal flavor of Chobani. Essentially a death trap for your wallet. Well Target is about to put a another dent in your wallet with there new designer collection. This is just a fair warning. 
Most images via Refinery 29
Designer Adam Lippes was chosen for Target's next designer collection. Lippes got his start at Polo Ralph Lauren, then Oscar de la Renta, before starting his own collection ADAM + EVE in 2004, now known as ADAM. They challenged Lippes to create a whole collection using only buffalo check plaid. From Stacy's Pita Chip to ponchos and jogger pants, Target is about to be covered in plaid. The collection debuts in stores everywhere September 27th. 
My sights are set on the oversized sweaters and home goods. You can bet I'll be in line bright an early to storm the store. I was there at 7 AM for the Missoni and Phillip Lim collections and I'll be there for Lippes too. (Please look back at those Missoni and Phillip Lim links to see how embarrassing Kathleen and I are). 
Target hit the "bullseye" with this one, "check" it out. Okay that was one two many puns in one sentence. But really, you can view the whole collection here. Oh and p.s. Adam Lippes is pretty nice on the eyes, you can check him out here.

Annie

Bites of My Life

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Why is it that it takes forever to make it to a long weekend then they just end so quick? Coming out of Cali vacation mode and chugging through the days to make it to the weekend, it felt like a relatively long week. Madewell and H&M's opening helped a bit. Both made their debut in Oklahoma this past week. We are slowly gaining more street cred.
By the time the weekend rolled around it was go time. Football is back, my friends were back in town and all was right in the world again. Spent the rest of the weekend grilling, swimming and wearing as much white as possible before we have to wave goodbye to summer. You were a great one summer 2k15, you're welcome back anytime.
-So in love with my egg cup breakfast from Zinc, I picked up a couple for myself before we left Newport. First meal back was breakfast for dinner to use them up. 
-Madewell finally came to Oklahoma and the grand opening was a mad house. I'm thrilled it's here but my wallet is about to suffer.
-New recipe post for my perfect overnight oats.
-Gameday ready with spirited sugar cookies!
-Best part of college football starting back up is having an excuse to reunite with sweet sweet friends.
-Midway's sandwiches = one of the things I miss most about Norman.
-I've been dying to try Half Baked Harvest's bourbon peach bbq baked beans since she posted them. They are AMAZE. Paired with skirt steak and chimichurri (by dad) and a fig and walnut salad, Sunday dinner was a home run. Mom's caramel cake was the sweet finish. 
-Somehow my Sundays always end up looking like this after weekends of indulgences...
-Lovely end to the long weekend with leftover baked beans and grilled salmon.

Annie