Archives for October 2012

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 14, 2012

With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s a great time to start thinking about stocking up on hostess gifts and presents to give to your family and friends. One of my favorite gifts that I like to bring as a hostess gift is specialty olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A great place to buy specialty olive oil and vinegar is at O&CO. O&CO. has provided a special promotion code for 2S2C readers to save 16% off your order between now and October 16th: FOODIE16.

Here’s a little information about O&CO.s history and product offerings:

For over 15 years, O&CO. has been cultivating tradition, expertise, and high standards in order to offer their customers the best selections of olive oils and delicacies from across the Mediterranean. While olive oils serve as the foundation, O&CO. also offers an exclusive collection of vinegars, tapenades, spreads, crackers, and sweets as well as an organic skincare range that showcase the flavors and the spirit of the Mediterranean. Founded in 1996, O&CO.s mission is to provide customer with the finest olive oils and Mediterranean food products in stores and online.

Here are a few O&CO. products that would make great gifts (including to yourself!) This aged balsamic vinegar would be perfect for the caprese salad:

Black truffle oil is amazing drizzled over pasta, roasted vegetables, or eggs:

This truffle salt would be the perfect touch to go on top of popcorn:

Don’t forget to use the special coupon code FOODIE16 to get a 16% discount from today to October 16, 2012. To take advantage of this offer, visit O&CO.

Please note: This sponsorship is brought to you by O&CO. who we have partnered with for this promotion.

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 12, 2012

I wanted to share with you the best recipe for rice ever. Not that I have too many recipes for rice… I usually just cook plain white, basmati, or jasmine rice and throw in some fresh herbs or scallions. When I make rice pilaf, I always made the box mix. However, after making this garlic rice pilaf recipe, it will be very hard to return to the pilaf box mix.

Even the cow likes this recipe!

It’s kind of a lot of steps, considering that’s it rice. It takes a long time to make as well. I would not go starting this recipe at 7pm and hope to eat at a reasonable hour. If I have the time to make it, I make a double-batch of the garlic rice pilaf so we can reheat it as a side dish throughout the week. It especially makes a great side dish for chicken recipes. Anyway, if you are a pilaf lover, I really think you should consider making this recipe. You won’t be sorry!

Garlic Rice Pilaf

Author: 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Recipe type: Side Dish

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 75 mins

Total time: 1 hour 20 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp. butter
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 cup long-grain white rice
2½ cups chicken broth, divided
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375° F. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and rice to the pan and cook until both are golden brown, usually about 3-4 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of the chicken broth, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Pour the rice mixture into the casserole dish, cover, and bake for 25 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1½ cups chicken broth and bake, covered, for another 45 minutes.

Source: Slightly adapted from Annie’s Eats

Do you eat rice as a side dish with dinner? What is your usual way to prepare it?

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 11, 2012

The boy is officially obsessed with mini cupcakes. It seems like every grocery store we go to has stacks of them lined up waiting for him in the bakery section. It’s nearly impossible for me to get through the store without a meltdown for “cakes!” Since this thing for “cakes!” thing doesn’t appear to be going away, I decided to make some mini pumpkin muffins today so I could at least control what went into them. I topped them off with some cream cheese frosting and I have to say, they are pretty darn good.

While I wouldn’t actually qualify these as healthy treats, it does have a good amount of pumpkin in it. That should count for something, right? I also cut the amount of sugar back in both the muffin and cream cheese frosting recipes and I really don’t think it is missed at all. I’ll keep you posted on his reaction to mini pumpkin muffins when he wakes up from nap time…[edited post-nap: T just woke up from his nap. When he walked downstairs and saw all the muffins, he said, “whoa, cakes!” He took a bite of one and proclaimed “hooray!” I’ll take that to be a good review of mini pumpkin muffins.]

Mini Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Author: m

Recipe type: Breakfast or Dessert

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 18 mins

Total time: 28 mins

Serves: 10

Ingredients

For mini pumpkin muffins:
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
⅓ cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or alternatively use ½ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp ginger, ⅛ tsp ground cloves, and ⅛ tsp nutmeg)
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
For cream cheese frosting:
¼ cup butter, softened
4 oz (in weight) reduced fat cream cheese (but not fat-free)
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a mini muffin tin with paper liners.
Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, and sugar in a large bowl. In a separate medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and whisk until combined.
Divide batter among muffin cups. I made 24 mini muffins with this recipe and had a little batter leftover. I only have one mini muffin pan so I decided to make 3 large muffins with the leftover batter instead of making a second batch of 6-8 more mini muffins. Bake mini muffins for 18 minutes and large muffins for 25-30 minutes. Muffins are done with a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.
While the muffins are cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. Mix all ingredients on on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto muffins once cool or apply using a pastry bag with a frosting tip.
Store in fridge since the frosting has cream cheese in it.

Source: Pumpkin muffin recipe adapted from smitten kitchen and Cream Cheese Frosting recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman.

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 10, 2012

As K and I approach our 3rd anniversary of blogging together, I realized we have quite a number of recipes in our archives. While we do share them in our recipe index, I wanted to highlight a few (10 in fact) recipe for October. Think pumpkin recipes, Halloween baking, and comforting dinners.

Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee– While this recipe is for iced coffee, you could also use the pumpkin spice simple syrup for regular coffee drinks or lattes.
Black Cat Halloween cookies– K posted about these cookies last year. I’m definitely going to make these for Baby T later on this month. Meow!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies– I actually started to make these this afternoon so I could post them to the blog and realized that K had already done so 2 years ago. Plus, I was out of eggs. Just wasn’t in the cards today.
Chicken Piccata– This is the perfect dinner for a cool fall night. One of my favorites.
French Onion Soup– I wish I had a bowl of this soup right now to warm up with. Yum!
Minestrone Soup– Another great soup to warm up with…serve it with the following:
5-Minute Artisan Bread– An easy recipe to make a lot of really tasty bread (the extra dough keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks!)
Chicken Chili– I completely forgot about this awesome chili recipe until I saw it in our recipe index. I have to make it again this week. The leftovers make really good nachos as well.
Pumpkin Mousse– This was one of the first recipes I ever posted! Sorry, no pictures back then…haha. I’ll have to make it again this fall and post some photos. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser.
Apple, Walnut, and Blue Cheese Salad with Dried Cherries– I’ve made this recipe several times this fall. I’m in love with it!

There you go- 10 recipes for October. I completely forgot about a few of these fall recipes and I plan to add them to the weekly menu soon. What are some of your favorite recipes to make in October?

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 4, 2012

It’s yet another rainy day in the Boston area today…will it ever end? I’ve had this recipe for homemade playdough for awhile and it’s been on my “to do” list to make it forever. Baby T was about to turn into a Disney character himself if I did not tear him away from watching yet another episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse today. It was easier than I expected to make the homemade playdough- I made three small batches so I could use three different colors.

I love how this recipe is all food-based ingredients. T is at an age where he tries to eat anything he can get his hands on. He definitely thought the red playdough was watermelon and put a piece in his mouth before I could stop him. Boy was he surprised when he tried it…he made quite the face! He recovered quickly after a couple sips of water and a bite of banana. Once he realized it was something to play with, he had a lot of fun checking it out.

Homemade Playdough

Author: m

Ingredients

½ cup flour
½ cup water
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 tablespoons salt
1 and ½ teaspoons vegetable oil
food coloring drops

Instructions

Mix together all the ingredients (except food coloring) in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, constantly stirring. When the playdough starts to thicken, add the food coloring drops. Continue stirring until the dough begins to gather around the spoon. Remove the dough from the pan and cool on wax paper.
Repeat recipe as desired for additional playdough colors.

Source: Adapted from Musings from a SAHM

Do you have any favorite rainy day activities?

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 3, 2012

I recently came across this recipe for Panera Mac and Cheese and knew I needed to make it on the next cold, rainy fall day that we had. I made a batch of it this afternoon while Baby T was napping (he is recovering from a cold and is ever so grouchy when he is sick.) I figured some mac and cheese would be the perfect antidote for his dinner tonight.

My first memory of going to a Panera was when I had my first job out of college. My apartment was just down the street from one and I would stop in all the time to grab a weekend bagel or even a loaf of bread to serve alongside dinner. I hadn’t been to one in years, but lately my family and I seem to be going all the time. I’ve actually never tried the Panera Mac and Cheese before, but I have heard rave reviews. I’m usually a Mediterranean Veggie on Tomato Basil kind of girl, but after making this recipe, I might be leaning towards the Mac and Cheese next time. Or then again, I could just make this recipe again…

Panera Mac and Cheese

Author: m

Recipe type: Entree

Cuisine: American

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 (16-ounce) package of small pasta shells (I used Orecchiette)
4 tablespoons butter
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
1 and ¼ cup whole milk
1 and ¼ cup half & half
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon hot sauce
4 oz. white American cheese, chopped
8 oz. white cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions

Prepare pasta according to package directions in a large pot of water. Drain pasta and return cooked pasta to the pot.
Melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook 1 minute, whisking constantly.
Gradually whisk in milk and half & half. Add mustard, salt, and hot sauce to pan. Cook over medium heat, whisking until mixture thickens and bubbles. Remove from heat.
Add cheese by the handful, stirring until cheese melts and sauce is smooth.
Pour cheese sauce over pasta and stir until incorporated.

Source: Adapted from MyPanera.com and Annies’s Eats

Do you grab a bite to eat from Panera occasionally? What’s your favorite menu item?

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 1, 2012

Greetings From Cali

So I have been MIA once again. I do have a really good reason this time. 2 Sisters 2 Cities is taking on a new city with New York sister K moving to the San Francisco Bay Area!

My boyfriend’s work gave him an amazing opportunity to transfer to their San Jose offices in California and we decided this was an opportunity we couldn’t refuse. We basically have one month to get everything ready. Since we made the decision, it has been a blur of cleaning, packing, job hunting (for me), finding an apartment, finding a moving company, and selling the things we don’t want to move.

We went out to the area this weekend to look for apartments and check out the area. Everything went very smoothly and we found an amazing apartment in a brand new complex. I am completely exhausted from the flight last night but I am recovering bit by bit.

There are a lot of changes coming down the pipeline that I am both excited and scared about. All of this change at once is completely out of my comfort zone and leaving my family and friends back on the east coast isn’t going to make it easier. However, I can’t wait to explore new areas, learn about a new city, and make friends on a new coast.

Does anyone have any tips for me about moving across the country and/or undergoing major life changes? Do you have any tips of things to check out in the bay area? Do you live in the area and want to be my friend (haha kidding…kind of?)

Be patient with me in the next few weeks. Once I get a new job locked down I will have a lot more free time after work to post. I can’t wait to share with you my experiences of a whole new area! Stay tuned for more California move news!