Guest Post: Kimi Makes White Chocolate Cherry Shortbreads

While Rob and I are on vacation in Florida I thought I'd share some awesome blog writers with you.  This is my first guest post extravaganza so I hope you enjoy!  Today's post is from Kimi of lovely magic stars!  Kimi is a pretty cool cat and has shared some delicious-looking cookies with you below.  I'm already trying to work out a way to make them gluten-free. :)

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heyo! it is kimi from lovely magic stars. i am so excited to be guest blogging on caitlin's super duper awesome blog!

last week, i attended an annual cookie party. if you don't know what a cookie party is...it is a party were you make a certain amount of cookies - take them to the party and come home with more cookies than can be eaten in ANY given time!

i made 2 different types. first one's were supposed be buckeyes, but i mangled them and they ended up being peanut butter balls with chocolate splattered across them. it is all the same in your mouth right? :)

the second were better home and garden's white chocolate cherry shortbread's. i didn't realize how much work these cookies were going to be and trying to make them on the friday before the party was probably the most slacker idea! but they turned out so pretty and delicious!

white chocolate cherry shortbread

ingredients1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1/2 cup sugar1 cup cold butter12 ounces white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped1/2 teaspoon almond extract2 drops red food coloring (optional)2 teaspoons shorteningWhite nonpareils and/or red edible glitter (optional)

 directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.2. In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead mixture until it forms a smooth ball.3. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds.4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.5. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on waxed paper until chocolate is set. Makes about 60.
these are my stinker doggies kai and lucy who wait for anything to drop on the floor when i am cooking...

these are the final result! they didn't turn out as round as bhg's...but i think those are fake anyway!

hope you enjoy them and hope you stop by my blog to say hi!!

A New Recipe for your Sunday

So it's the first weekend of fall.  In Maine the foliage, as I mentioned previously, is finally starting to change, which makes me smile because, hey, it's gorgeous.  What's funny is that the temperatures have been crazy warm.  We've actually been walking around in short sleeves and using the air conditioner at night, which is not typical for Maine this time of year.

As I might have implied in my last post, Rob has been getting a little bored with our regular meal repertoire, so we are constantly on the lookout for new recipes.  The other day he was flipping through the channels and came across Giada DeLaurentiis, who he has a huge crush on because she looks like Natalie Portman.  Usually he'll stop and make some innuendo out of what she is saying (this is surprisingly easy to do with kitchen and cooking terms) and move on.  But this time she was talking about gorgonzola and breadcrumb stuffed Roma tomatoes, and we just had to listen so we could add it as a side to one of our meals. 

On Saturday we paired it with a meal we eat pretty frequently (pasta and chicken mixed with basil pesto) and I wanted to share the recipe with you.  The amounts are kind of arbitrary based on how many tomatoes you want, and Giada didn't give them to us.

Gorgonzola and Breadcrumb Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese (can also substitute parmesan)

~5 cloves garlic

Roma tomatoes

Olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise.  Scoop out seeds and pulp.  You can either discard or use them to make tomato sauce.  Place the tomatoes cut-side down on paper towel to drain.

3. In a bowl, mix olive oil and garlic.  Put tomatoes in the mixture and toss to coat.

4. In another bowl mix breadcrumbs and gorgonzola.  Spoon mixture into each tomato half and place on parchment-paper covered baking sheet.

5. Bake tomatoes for 20-25 minutes.

Do you have any yummy new recipes?

Your Questions Answered Part VII: Dream Vacations, Regrets, Guilty Foods & Celiac

First order of business: Happiest of Birthdays to my husband, Rob, who turns 26 today!  Because he's on the wrong side of the 20s decade (and on the fast track to 30) this last week has been birthday week! I plan on sharing a post on all the fun things we've done once I'm done with these questions!

We're also having a party later tonight with his coworkers. I've never hosted a party so I'm pretty excited. :)

With that said, we're almost done with the questions!  These came from Holly and Elizabeth.

1) Is there any place that you always dreamed of visiting but haven't yet?
Rob and I really want to go to Ireland.  Rob promised me that we'd go at some point but we're holding off until he has a job and regular vacation time.  He may join a class next May that would entail a trip to Ireland and we're currently investigating whether or not I could ride along (perhaps as an extremely cheap photographer?).  If it doesn't happen in May we most certainly will go soon.

2) Where would be your dream place to live with Rob?
I honestly could live anywhere with Robbie.  But I like the idea of living in the Pacific Northwest or maybe in Colorado.  I also could see living in Maine for the rest of our lives.  As long as I'm with him we could live in Antarctica and I'd be happy. :)

3) Do you have any regrets in life so far?
I regret sometimes allowing anxiety to get the best of me and not being present in all of my experiences...particularly when Rob was in the Army.

4) What's your guilty pleasure when it comes to food?
Rob always says that if I lived alone I would probably eat like a four-year-old, and he's totally right.  I love sweet foods like brownies and cookies, plus Phish Food ice cream from Ben & Jerry's (thank god it's gluten-free).  I also eat cheese like it's my job.

5) How did you first discover that you had celiac disease?
For as long as I can remember I've had stomach issues, predominantly persistent gas and bowel problems (hey, you all like that my blog is honest, right?).  I've more or less lived with it, assuming that I had a lactose intolerance, and dammit I was not going to stop drinking milk and eating cheese.  My mother passed along an article to me early last year about how children survivors of Wilm's Tumor can have digestive issues later in life.  I mentioned it to my doctor, who told me that she would test me for a variety of ailments including celiac disease.  As soon as she said "celiac disease" I knew that was it because it was the only thing that made sense - my stomach pain happened without any logic and I knew that gluten was in everything.  Suffice it to say I received a not-so-surprising phone call from my doctor telling me the test was positive, and later I got a biopsy that was also positive.  After a pig-out meal at Ruby Tuesday's, I quit gluten for good and have been free of it for over a year.

Are you guys enjoying these question posts? I have a weird insecurity that everyone is super bored with them.

Sisterly Good Times

So today I finished up with work (one awesome thing about the consulting I do - Monday-Thursday schedules!) and drove the two hours to my older sister's apartment. We see each other relatively often, given the fact that we work for the same company (nepotism what what?) but she still is 8 hours away from me at any given time, so I really enjoy the time I do get to spend with her.

After arriving we quickly went to Wegmans to stock up for delicious gluten-free snacks, then to Moosewood for a yummy vegetarian dinner, margaritas, wine, and smoothies!

I took some pictures, but I didn't have my super awesome fun-time camera so all I got were phone shots.

This is Megan (we don't really look alike, I promise we're sisters):

Water! And menus!

As an appetizer we had chips with cilantro salsa (cilantro = crack, face it):

For an entree, I ate a Chilean casserole thing with a cheddar-egg custard and more cilantro crack:

Megan had stuffed eggplant and pappadum:

And of course, a blackberry margarita that was amazing.5:

Yeah, I drank most of it before taking this picture. Judge away!

We came home, and Megan gave me my belated birthday gifts: money to NY&Co (one of my favorite stores of all time because it fits me so well) and this 1st edition book about marriage written by the people who wrote "The Berenstain Bears."

I was a huge fan of The Berenstain Bears so this...was a pretty perfect gift.

Plus, I think it will go well with our other 30s-40s married/dating guides that so enhance our bathroom. Seriously, we have like three of them.

Perhaps a comment on our marriage? Nah.

And of course, we're spending the night with wine, vodka cranberries, and 30 Rock.

For the record, I am basically a less witty, less gorgeous Liz Lemon.  These are facts.

Anyway I am loving spending time with my favorite older sister and best friend, despite the fact that we are at least 78% sure that most people around us think we're a couple (short hair, tattoos + lovely young lady...creepy, but true).

Another fact: I just opened a Dove chocolate and the message was "Be free. Be happy. Be you." What a good message for all of us!

What did you do this Thursday?