I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Archives for December 2011

Cinnamon M&M Oatmeal Cookies

This was the first year I noticed that M&M’s had some great holiday themed candies. I picked up a few bags of each, including mint M&M’s, which I used in my Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies. They were a hit with the contractors for my project, so I decided that I should give cookie making a try again with another kind of M&M’s. I gravitated to the cinnamon M&M’s and decided that an oatmeal cookie would work well.

 

I started the journey of making these cookies by pulling out several cook books looking for an oatmeal cookie base that could be used with the cinnamon M&M’s. In the end, tweeting what I was doing ending out being fruitful since Rachel (Baked by Rachel) tweeted me back saying she had some great oatmeal cookie recipes on her blog. One being a crisp oatmeal cookie and another being a softer, chewier oatmeal cookie. I was looking for a chewy cookie so I went with the recipe on her blog. Perfect choice!

 

The cookie is soft, chewy and has nice cinnamony, chocolately pieces that dot throughout the cookie. The cinnamon flavor in the M&M is subtle but adds a nice touch to the cookie. I think the 1 bag is enough for the batch of cookies, but I can’t help but think that adding another 1/2 bag or so could not hurt!

 

I really enjoyed working with these M&M’s and I imagine that other’s did too since there is a Cinnamon M&M’s facebook page! I hope that you had a chance to try these since they are so good. I just grabbed a few more bags of these at Target for 30% off since it’s post Christmas. If you can’t find these still in stores then you should do a bit of googling for them. One place I found them was on The Candyland Store. I certainly hope they bring them back next year!

Cinnamon M&M Oatmeal Cookies

*makes approximately 3 dozen*

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks of unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup of sugar
  • 2/3 cup of light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 9.9 oz of bag of cinnamon M&M’s

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
  2. In a large mixing owl or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together.
  3. Add the eggs and beat until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl down to evenly mix together.
  4. Add the salt, baking soda, flour, and cinnamon into the mixture and beat until fully incorporated.
  5. Gently mix in the oatmeal, milk, and vanilla extract. Again, scrape down the sides to ensure all the mixture is coming together evenly.
  6. By hand, mix in the M&M’s into the cookie dough.
  7. Using 2 spoons, scoop out heaping tablespoons onto the baking sheet. Do not crowd the cookies together.
  8. Bake for 11-13 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie, or until the cookie is set up in the center. Let cookie sit on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes prior to removing to fully cool.

Thank you {and a Cumberland Farms giveaway!}

I’m so excited to be able to wrap this year up with a giveaway for you! I have been been given the opportunity to thank you by visiting my blog. I write and photograph because I enjoy it, but having you all visit and comment means the world to me. With the new year I hope to continue to grow myself and the blog so feel free to comment and let me know what you think!

So the important stuff… the giveaway!! I have to give to you a Cumberland Farms coffee package. I have grown up with Cumby’s so I am glad to be able to share it with you. The 70+ year old Cumberland Farms has rebranded themselves this past year and I think their new look and approach is great. They have always been our local stop for quick things like when we ran out of milk but now they have a great new store design (the architect in me loves the new look of the stores!), products, and coffee.

In addition to the package I have to giveaway, I get to share with you that Cumberland Farms is also offering free coffee on New Year’s Eve at participating stores (excluding those Cumberland Farms stores that serve Dunkin’ Donuts coffee). Free coffee will be available starting at 5:00 pm (to help you party through the night!). Free coffee on NYE is an annual tradition for Cumberland Farms and their way of giving back to the communities they are in.

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note the chaos on my desk at work… coffee to save the day!

The package you win includes a pound of their Farmhouse Fresh coffee, a insulted reusable travel cup, and 2 coupons for in store coffee.

How to win??

Required: Leave me a comment telling me your New Year’s resolution.

Bonus Comments:

1) Follow me on Twitter, @iamahoneybee, come back and leave me a comment telling me you did

2) Follow Cumberland Farm’s on Twitter @cumberlandfarms, come back and leave me a comment telling me you did

3) Tweet the following: “I want to win a @cumberlandfarms farmhouse blends coffee package from @iamahoneybee ! http://wp.me/pzEAP-1Lx” , come back and leave me a comment telling me you did

The giveaway runs from now to 12/31/11 at 11.59pm!

Biscoff Muddy Buddies

I like taking challenges and suggestions when I am cooking and baking. I like to ask people what they think of what I made- texture, flavor, density, etc- and I like to take ideas from other sources, like blogs, newspapers, magazines, and other foodies. I feel that is the only way you can grow and have fun.

A simple tweet from Julia of Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body prompted this recipe creation. She pondered of anyone had made Muddy Buddies with Biscoff spread. Biscoff is a cookie based spread- imagine if you took tea biscuits and made a spread out of it. I thought it was an interesting idea so I just had to give it a try. How would a chex mixed snack that is predominantly peanut butter be when you take away the peanut butter and use Biscoff?

 

It will be so amazing!!! I ate way to much of it the day I made it. Thankfully, I had the intention of gifting it so I packaged the rest up and that stopped me from eating it all. I was happy to make this since our neighbor’s son is allergic to nuts so I could give some to them since I removed the peanut butter for the Biscoff spread. (Now, keep in mind that this now is no longer gluten free.) I had to make some changes to the original Muddy Buddies recipe to accommodate the ingredient substitution. I reduced the amount chocolate because Biscoff is not as intense as peanut butter and I didn’t want the chocolate to overtake it. I think there was a good balance to it in the end.

Biscoff Muddy Buddies

makes 18 servings

Ingredients

  • 9 cups Corn or Rice Chex (or Combination)
  • 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup of Biscoff cookie spread
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 – 2 cups powdered sugar

Process

  1. Put the chex cereal in a large bowl or on a large sheet tray.
  2. In a small sauce pan combine the chocolate chips, Biscoff spread, butter, and vanilla extract. Over low heat combine all the ingredients as the chocolate chips and butter melt. The end consistency should be smooth and lump free.
  3. Pour the mixture over chex cereal. Mix to coat all pieces evenly.
  4. Let cool 10 minutes and then sift powdered sugar over the coated chex. Coat all pieces evenly as well. Let cool completely prior to bagging.

Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry

This month has just flown by! I can’t believe it is already the end of December, and reveal day for Secret Recipe Club!!! For this month I was given Sarah’s blog, A Taste of Home Cooking. Price is always active in enjoying what I make but more often than not I just cook and he goes with the flow. This time, I decided that he should be able to pick the recipe off of Sarah’s blog. So he scrolled through the several years of posting to find something that we could make together. In the end the Chicken Sriracha Stir Fry recipe won out.

 

 

We are both big fans of stir fry’s so this was a great pick for us from Sarah’s blog. Plus it’s very affordable since the majority of the recipe is vegetables. We could have gone with chicken or even tofu, which is so super inexpensive, but we treated ourselves with the shrimp since it was on sale. The marinade and sauce were so flavorful from the Sriracha. I love the spice it provides to a dish, so it being used heavily in this recipe was great for me. In fact, I increased the original amount used since we like it so much, but you can scale it back for what ever you prefer. Just like the fact that I love fish sauce so I used that instead of the oyster sauce in the original recipe- just use what is prefect for you and make this your special stir fry.

 

 

The key with any cooking endeavor is to be prepared, but it’s so much more important with something like a stir fry. The longest part of any stir fry meal is the prep. The cooking time is so fast that you can’t try to juggle cutting things as you go. Take your time in the beginning and set up you mise en place for a successful, and fun, cooking experience.

 

Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry

*Serves 4-6*

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound of raw, peeled, deveined shrimp 31-35
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1 green pepper, cut into thin strips
  • 10 oz of sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 pound of  green beans, trim ends off
  • 4 tablespoons cooking oil, I prefer House of Tsang’s Wok Oil
  • 2 tablespoons ginger, grated
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • rice or noodles, angel hair pasta works just fine

Marinade for shrimp:

  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dry sherry
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 2 teaspoons Sriracha

Sauce for Stir Fry

  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 2tablespoons water
  • 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup fish sauce

Process

  1. Prepare the marinade for the shrimp in a medium sized bowl.  Coat the shrimp for at least 30 minutes prior to cooking.
  2. In a separate bowl, prepare the sauce for the stir fry by mixing together the cornstarch, water, Sriracha, soy sauce, fish sauce, and ginger.
  3. In a large wok heat 1 tablespoon of wok oil over high heat, add the onions and green pepper strips. Stir-fry for 5 minutes or until the onuions are translucent and the pepper is tender. Remove to a large bowl.
  4. Let the wok get back up to temperature, then add another 1 tablespoon of wok oil. Add the green beans. After 3 minutes, add 1/4 cup of water and cover for another 3-5 minutes. Once the green beans are tender add them to the bowl of vegetables.
  5. Again, heat the wok back up and add 1 tablespoon of wok oil, then add the mushrooms. Stir fry until they are cooked and soft.
  6. Wipe wok out with wet paper towels. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon wok oil over high heat. Once hot, add the ginger and garlic; after a few seconds, add marinated shrimp. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until shrimp is fully cooked.
  7. Add the rice or noodles to the wok and then pour the sauce in. Mix to prevent sticking and to fully incorporate the sauce into the rice or noodles. Add the vegetables back to the wok just to mix together.

Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry PDF

Secret Recipe Club

Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts:

November: Vegetable Enchiladas

October: Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Check out the rest of the reveal day posts!

Baby Jesus in a Bubble

Merry Christmas!!!!!

 

One of our Christmas traditions is to drive by this house. It’s in the next town over from us. It’s on a dead end but on the corner of a busy road so we spotted it one year while looking for lights and since then we go back and photograph it.

What’s the appeal? Baby Jesus in a Bubble!

When we first stumbled across this house the nativity set was the only thing being protected. The set up was minimal but it was no less grand being protected in a structure that was slapped together and looked horrible. Since then they have added to the lawn display and crafted a much finer plastic structure to protect Baby Jesus. We started calling that house ‘the Baby Jesus in a Bubble House’ to reference to the 1970’s made-for-TV movie starting John Travolta.

This tiny house has it all from lights in the tree to decorations on the porch roof to eight of these frosty’s.

But what… the hell??!?!? WHERE IS JESUS?!?!?!

Christmas just aint right this year!

Last Minute Christmas Gift Tags

These little gift tags are my contribution for Christmas.

Price has been amazing, like always, and has taken over Christmas for us this year. I haven’t been in the Christmas mood so I did squat. We would go Christmas shopping, at his request, and I would just wanted around the store after him. At least I do add some entertainmentto our shopping trips to target. Back to the point… I whipped these cute gift tags up in about 30 minutes today. They are super easy and add a lot of festive details to gifts.

 

I used my Cricut machine to cut out the tags. I used the Doodlecharms cartridge which was the first cartridge I grabbed that had a tag shape. I’m sure there are plenty of other cartridges that have tags. I could have used my punches but I felt the Cricut needed to be dusted off. So you can use a die-cutting machine, punches or just your hands and scissors to get this done. No matter what they are super easy to make and add a lot of festive details to gifts.

Christmas Gift Tags

Supplies

  • patterned or solid paper
  • hole punch and large circle punch
  • several kinds of thin ribbon
  • stickers

Process

  1. Cut out large circles in paper. At the top of the circle cut out another smaller hole with a hand held hole punch.
  2. Cut 6-8 inch pieces of ribbon. Thread 2-3 pieces of ribbon through each hole by folding the ribbon in half and pushing the folded part through the hole. Once you have created a 1/2″ loop push the ribbon ends through the loop and gently tighten.
  3. Add stickers to each tag.
  4. Address each tag and then attach with double sided table.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies

During some recent shopping trips, I have come across M&M’s holiday flavored candies. I picked up all the varieties I saw and started to look up different recipes that I could use with the M&M’s candies. So far my favorites are the cheery cordials to eat and the mint to bake with, but i’m just getting started.

 

 

One of my coworkers makes the most unbelievable chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I decided that I would make something similar but instead of loading it up with chocolate chips I would add in the mint m&m’s. Having made chocolate chocolate chip cookies in the past I decided that could wing it and see how it would come out. The first time worked out well but I did not add any chocolate chips, only the m&m’s and I didn’t feel that was enough so I made them again and added in some chips. Much better! I love the mint and chocolate combo so these cookies are ones I would actually eat. I ate 2- very usual for me!

 

 

Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies

*makes 2 dozen 2 1/2″ cookies*

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon backing soda
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 9.9 oz bag of mint m&m’s

Process Ingredients

  1. Preheat oven to 375 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Wisk the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a bowl to combine. Set aside.
  3. Combine the butter and sugars in bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
  4. Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the sugar mixture and beat until combined.
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until a dough as formed.
  6. Once the dough has combined add in the chocolate chips and continue to mix.
  7. Using a spoon, gently mix in the m&m’s until evenly combined.
  8. Scoop the dough out and mix into 1 1/4″ balls by hand.
  9. Place the balls on the cookie sheets with plenty of room to allow spread.
  10. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookie sheets from oven when the center of the cookie is still soft to the touch. Let cool and set up for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet prior to removing.

the big G holiday party

Last Wednesday night we had our annual holiday party. We ventured over from Beantown to Catalyst in Cambridge. Thank gawd it was not snowing since there was no way I was going to do that… the Charles is like the Berlin wall- just something I don’t cross since getting home in Newton from there is a P.I.T.A. Back the the party recap…

 

I am have become the unofficial event photographer for our office. I think it’s the scrapbooker in me… must document everything! So I started off by bee-lining it to the center table to snap some food pictures before us vultures descended upon the nosh.

 

Us. I wish I had a picture of my outfit. I was actually happy with it for once. I wore a shear top (with a tank underneath thankyouverymuch) that had sequin blooms on it, a tan skirt, black tights, and my gold sparkly heels.

 

 

Once we got settled checking our coats and getting drinks, I got to snapping pictures. As one of the waiters offered me a quiche, I took a picture before I took one. He loved that so he offered to bring me all the trays before passing them out. He was sooo sweet to offer to do that… food blogging dream.

Plus, one of the great things associated with the staff bringing me the trays out to me first was that our table was able to get one of everything before missing out on something.

 

 

We had a great time there catching up with everyone, enjoying great food, and throwing back some drinks.

David, our in house reproduction guy, is on the right. We are Giants fans so we discuss their games afterwards when we see each other in the morning. Plus he gets the NY Post every day and shows me weird news articles, or he will show me crazy videos he sees online . Most often I correct the grammar of the people in such videos, so he thinks I’m insane for talking to the computer. Great times.

  

Admin group photo.

 

The 4 principals in our office.

It was such a great night out. The servers were patient with us since we stayed later than expected but it was just because we were having such a great time there. Eventually, we moved out to the bar and restaurant. Price and I didn’t stick around too long since I had a little nail polish bottle in bag explosion and I basically stunk up the place. Of course… it had to be me! And it was my NEW matte finisher that I had not gotten to use yet since I didn’t have a chance to do my nails at lunch. whomp whomp!

Our next party is in June. Can’t wait!

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

Eggnog and Cranberry Croissant Bread Pudding

I will be the first person to tell you that I was not ever going to sign up with twitter. I ended up caving out because of this article and the rest is history. I love how twitter has put me in touch with such great blogs and people. Through twitter connections I have gotten to know Pam, and last month when I was on her blog I saw this post I learned about the Improv Cooking Challenge Group.

 

I could not pass up a fun group that prompts you monthly with 2 ingredients to develop a recipe from. Starting with December the 2 special ingredients are: Eggnog and Cranberries. I toyed around with this combo for a bit…. an eggnog flavored bread with a cranberry glaze, an ice cream, or even a pasta dish. I decided to go with a bread pudding with an eggnog base and the cranberries would be mixed throughout the bread pudding.

 

 

This worked out perfectly. The day I planned on making this, I went to the bakery and they had day old croissants so I picked them up instead of getting a day old loaf of bread. The croissants being lighter and sweeter than a baguette, had me reduce the amount of liquid and sugar I had originally planned on using, based upon bread puddings I had made in the past. The texture was softer than a typical bread pudding and enjoyed the difference. I feel you can’t ever go wrong with eggnog, so this was really a no brainer. The cranberries added a nice bit of tartness every now and then which was nice to break up the rich eggnog,

 

Eggnog and Cranberry Croissant Bread Pudding

*serves 5-6*

Ingredients

  • 5 day old croissants
  • 1 cup light cream
  • 1 cup eggnog
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar, plus more for top of bread pudding
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup cranberries, plus more for top of bread pudding
  • garnish: whipped cream or ice cream (of both!)

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a baking dish, and set on a sheet pan. Set aside dish.
  2. Cut 1″ cubes out of the croissants. Set aside in a large bowl.
  3. Combine the light cream, eggnog, eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix well to combine.
  4. Give the cranberries a rough chop. In a small skillet, heat the cranberries on low for 5 minutes, or until they start to get warm and softened.
  5. Add the cranberries to the liquid mixture.
  6. Pour the mixture over the pieces of croissant. Gently mix to combine. Let sit for 15 minutes.
  7. Pour the bread pudding mixture into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the top with sugar and raw cranberries,
  8. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the bread pudding is golden brown and when you gently separate pieces in the center they are not excessively moist.
  9. Let sit for 15 minutes prior to serving, serve warm.



Oh Harry, how you’ve grown

my mom suggested that I pick a Broadway show for her, price, and me to see as our christmas gift. which worked out wells since i would much rather do something than get something for a gift. i ended up picking how to succeed in business without really trying. umm… daniel radcliffe in it… sold! the weekend of the show finally came so we headed down to greenwich.

we caught an early afternoon train into the city. before we left grand central we checked out the vanderbilt market. there was a photo printed on gold leaf that i loved but i didn’t want to get it then since i knew it would be destroyed in the crowds (smart choice), but now i am going to need to track this guy down again since he doesn’t sell online… whaaaaa?

 

after leaving grand central we walked over to bryant park to check out the winter market and watch the skaters. it was packed in the market so we just waited for hot chocolate and cookies at max brenner’s booth. hot chocolate was amazing (little too sweet for my preference) and the cookies were monsters. I want to make cookies like him. so many chocolate chips, so many walnuts.

bank of america tower on the right. I think this is such a beautiful building

Chrysler building. Spotted while searching for a bathroom

 

o christmas tree , o christmas tree…

30 rock

  

 

winter window display at sak’s fifth avenue. it had to do with a little girl named holly exploring the basement of sak’s and what she discovered, which were all these tubes, tubs, pulls, and levers that made batches and batches of bubbles. mom was not impressed. i liked the rabbit.

after getting through the crushing crowds around rock center, we continued down 49th st. we spotted this store, rain africa, that sold bath salts, lotions, and soaps. i loved this display.

breezed right through times sq. we stopped at the al hirschfeld theater to pick up our tickets, then we headed up 9th and 51st to empanada mama. i saw this restaurant on food trip with todd english. everything we had was incredible- the plantain chips with guac to the entrees to the 4 desserts empanadas we shared. i highly recommend this place.

back at the theater.

i love old theaters.

curtain call. 🙂

the show was incredible. daniel worked his ass off as j. pierrepont finch hroughout the whole show. he worked hard to sing and dance and the performance was that much better for it. I love when you can see effort, passion from stage actors. jon larroquette (j. b. biggley) was also in it. i didn’t like the character rosemary, but the actress was amazing. ellen harvey as miss jones… holy cow that woman can sing!

It was a great day in the city.

PS- when we were hauling ass back to grand central to catch our train back, I overheard a woman point out the chrysler building to her son and call it the empire state building. then she proceeded to sing the chorus of empire state of mind. oy!

Big Blue Cocktail

I live in the land of Patriots. But I am not a fan of these Patriots. No, I am sticking to my roots and I get flack for it up here. But I grin and bear it since I can always fall back on this game, this play. Bliss.

I am a Giants fan. I grew up in the tri-state area so they were always on in my house. I would cheer when I had no idea what was going on just to join in. I wore my dad’s oversized shirts to bed. Now, I have my own Giants shirts that I wear during games. (My brother has a Giants tattoo on his leg… now that is commitment!) I know they are having a rough season right now. But I’m not a fair weather fan! I am still cheering them on. Maybe those cheers are peppered with foul language but still I’m stinking to my men in blue. Especially after they were robbed last week with a bad call. I know they have it in them.

I had recently been going through old magazines and pulling out recipes. One was a really old issue of the defunct Blueprint Magazine. (Oh, how I miss that magazine.) I came across a Blueprint Martini on one of the pages and I knew I would have to make to enjoy while cheering on the G-Men. I made the cocktail form the magazine and it was just too much! Shocker here- I don’t like drinking straight vodka. Sure I’ll do a shot but this recipe called for 4 oz of it. I would have been on the floor! So I ended up reworking it and making it delightful! Now if only the Giants had won that game I would have been so happy. Let’s hope they beat the Cowboys today!

Big Blue Cocktail

*makes 1 cocktail*

Ingredients

  • 1 oz of vodka
  • 1 oz of Curaçao liqueur
  • 1 tablespoon of triple sec
  • 4 oz of seltzer
  • garnish with blueberries

Process

  1. Put the vodka, Curaçao, and triple sec together in a chilled cocktail shaker, and mix to combine.
  2. Pour the seltzer in a martini glass and then add the contents from the cocktail shaker.
  3. Garnish with blueberries.

My partner in crime

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Today is my best friend’s 25th birthday.

I could embarrass her with the funniest video ever. But i think I will save that one for her 30th. It’s a classic :-). Instead I’ll be nice and just wish her a fantastic birthday and year filled with joy, happiness, and adventures!!!