Granola Goddess

Granola Goddess: I'm adopting it as my new name. For the first time yesterday I made homemade granola, and now I can absolutely positively NEVER go back. I don't mean to brag, but this granola was insane. Literally it can be compared to crack. Once you start eating you will NOT be able to stop! Its beyond addictive and sooo tasty. So enough adjectives, lets get into business. I decided to tackle this granola with a recipe à la moi. I left out nuts because it was going to be served at an event where someone had an allergy and I wanted all to be able to partake in what I knew was going to be a sure winner. Make this now, follow this beautiful recipe slideshow and thank me later for your new addiction. I apologize for your new obsession in advance.

Ingredients
2 Sticks butter
3 cups dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup
1 cup honey
4 cups oats, NOT instant oats
1 box crispix cereal
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dired blueberries
1 cup dried pomegranates
12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips
2 cups shredded coconut (toast on a cookie sheet for 6 minutes until lightly browned)

First: Melt butter and mix it with maple syrup, honey, and brown sugar and let caramelize and heat till smooth.

 Next: Get some beautiful oats, not the quick cooking ones.

 Then: Pour the hot melted magic mixture over the oats and crispix cereal and combine. Make sure all the pieces are covered and nothing is dry.

 And then: Grease a baking sheet and pat the oat mixture down until flattened.

 Bake for 15 minutes in the oven at 375. Take it out of the oven and shuffle the contents around and return to the oven for 15 minutes to brown the other side.

Next: Remove from oven and cool. When cool, break the baked crunchy deliciousness into pieces and transfer into a mixing bowl. Add in the mix ins, in this case; dried blueberries, dried cranberries, dried pomegranates, toasted coconut and chocolate chips.

 CLOSE UP NOM

 and MIX together, thanks T

 Now: eat massive amounts plain or serve over yogurt or ice cream.

call me the granola goddess

xoxo

hungreegirl.

Snack Attack

Visited Tyson Bees today for a quick snack fix. Hit up the Thai BBQ Chicken Wrap, a nice flour wrap filled with sticky rice, bbq Thai chicken, fresh cucumbers and cabbage, and a spicy thai bbq sauce. Quick, well priced, and ooooo sooo GOOD. The rice was sweet, the cabbage and cucumbers crunchy, the chicken tender, and the sauce tangy and spicy, making it the PERFECT snack. (a very large snack, which is even more perfect).

hungree for that quick fix

xoxo

hungreegirl.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Rum Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

It's my mom's birthday. My mom's FAVORITE cake in the world is carrot cake. Since I'm literally home for 48 hrs and my mom is da best, I thought I'd be an extremely thoughtful daughter and whip up a batch of carrot cake cupcakes. Cupcakes are more fun, cupcakes are portion controlled (except that is when you're me and have 4 portions), and cupcakes are delicious. Carrot cake is awesome because when done right because it's sooo moist, slightly spicy, and has the best texture. When you break open a carrot cake cupcake/muffin it should be beautifully aerated, with little pockets to catch slathers of cream cheese frosting. They also rock because if you don't frost them you can toast them and smother them in butter. They get all toasty and crispy and delicious and the butter falls into the little airy crevices and make it a stunningly mouthwatering breakfast. So I set to work whipping up a batch and started following Judy Rosenberg *love her my idol* but severely tampered with it because I hate following recipes. I was feeling like amping up the classic traditional cake and replaced the raisins with dried cherries which was a great move as they added a little tart bite. When I think carrot cake, I think cream cheese frosting, and too kick it up a notch I made a honey rum cream cheese frosting that had quite the punch. They were SICKENINGLY good, if I do say so myself, and mom loved them. Baby bro JJ also ate 3 toasted for breakfast this morning so I think its safe to say he's feeling them too. So, if your looking for a great cupcake, a great breakfast bite, or something to really WOW your friends, look no further and sink in.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes (based off of Judy Rosenberg's pineapple carrot cake but very very very adapted)

Ingredients

5 large carrots, peeled and grated
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped (NO PITS)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs

2 tbs dark molasses

2 tbs honey

Recipe: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine the carrots, walnuts, and cherries and set aside. In an additional bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and set aside as well. In a bowl with a mixing attachment, combine the sugar, oil and vanilla and mix until completely blended. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure all the little bits are combined. Add the eggs one at a time and mix on medium speed after each addition, scraping the bowl each time. Add the molasses and honey and mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes until the batter is fluffy and light. Add the dry ingredients gradually and beat on low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add the walnuts, cherries, and carrots by hand and mix thoroughly until well incorporated. Line a cupcake pan with liners or heavily grease them. Pour the batter evenly into each mold, about 3/4 of the way full. (I use an ice cream scoop to ensure even distribution). Bake in the middle rack of the oven until the top is golden brown and springs back to the touch and a tester inserted comes out clean, about 20 minutes. 

Rum Honey Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened room temperature

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 tbs. vanilla
1/4 cup honey
2 tbs rum (you can make this stronger or less strong depending on your taste, this amount will definitely hit you and you'll taste it)
4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar

Recipe: Combine butter and cream cheese in a bowl with mixing attachment and beat for about 2 minutes until well combined and light. On a low speed add the vanilla, honey and rum and beat for about 2 minutes. Gradually add the powdered sugar and mix on a low speed. Once all the sugar is mixed in, turn up the speed to a high medium and whip the frosting for about 2-3 minutes until it becomes light and fluffy. If the frosting is too thin, add more sugar in small batches.

Assembly: When you take the cupcakes out of the oven, let them cool in the pan. Once cooled, remove from pan and frost. MAKE sure they are totally cooled or the frosting will melt. Top cupcakes with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and a drizzle of honey if you desire.

And then there was the photoshoot...
this is what one portion looks like...HA if you stop at one tell me and I'll pay you with another.

And then some toasted with some butttaaaa

happy birthday mommy!

xoxo 

hungreegirl.

Day By Day

Day By Day
Rating: 7.9
Price: $$

2101 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 564-5540

So this is a little overdue but none the less deserve STELLAR recognition. My friend Tamara and I were looking for a place to brunch (honestly its a joke how much I have this meal, i know every other post is about brunch, but HEY can't help it) and she suggested a spot she'd heard of called Day By Day. I looked up the menu, and it was extremely enticing so we made the plan to check it out. Located in a little corner of Center City, Day By Day was hopping when we pulled up. Perhaps it was it's quaint little cozy charm, it's delicious food, it's wonderful location, or it's constantly changing menu, but whatever it may be, this spot was PoPPppIN. We put our names in and were told it would be about a 20 minute wait but Tamara and I were determined to try it and passed the time eating complimentary pieces of fresh baked gingerbread. A polite and self controlled human would probably take one, maybe two if they were hungree, but they had a whole plate on the counter and I mean hey thats just asking for it...so I did some damage. While we waited I poured over the menu and longingly stared at all the little pastries in the glass display case. Our names were called, snapping me out of my brunch haze, and we were finally seated at a nice little table for two near very spacious windows that flooded the room with light. It was such a perfect brunching day/brunching weather and I was loving it. The menu consisted of some staples as well as a very large list of specials. This morning Tamara and I were both feeling some eggs but when we saw that they had a special Stuffed Tiramisu French Toast we knew we couldn't pass it up. *Again with the french toast, I KNOW, i'm seriously addicted and need to attend FTLA (french toast lovers anonymous) but it's there and its stuffed and WHO can turn that down?!?*.  I ordered the Eggs Florentine: two beautiful poached eggs served atop sautéed spinach, roasted mushrooms, and shallots, with crispy potatoes and a creamy hollandaise sauce. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the vegetables were well seasoned, tasty, and not too moist or soggy. The potatoes were the perfect side to sop up the runny yumminess of the yolk and were lovingly salted and had great crispy skins.

Tamara got the Potato Pancakes Benedict: two poached eggs served over smoked salmon and house-made latkes topped with hollandaise sauce. She said it was egg-cellent (HAH so punny) and I love the innovativeness of replacing the classic english muffin with the latkes because latkes are just as, if not more delicious and make the perfect accompaniment to some runny yolks. Also, they served it in a smiley face. How can you not be in a good mood with a smiley face of eggs smiling up at you?

So, Day By Day features a weekly Stuffed Challah French Toast and this weeks was Tiramisu. I mean really? COME ON. The french toast was fluffy yet crispy on the top and edges and was sandwiched with a generous amount of a tiramisu mousse/pudding. It was un real. Sweet, yet not TOO sweet, as it still managed to retain a savory eggy-ness that is hard to keep when you turn french toast into a dessert paradise.

And now you understand my addiction/obsession/serious problem...

Day By Day was an extreme success and I love that they change the menu so much because there is always more to try. I'm still dying to try the baked apple pancakes and the BLT with horseradish mayo so will definitely be back, and I might, just might, have to get the weekly french toast again too.

here's a hungree toast to french toast

xoxo

hungreegirl.