Hello From Japan!

December 30, 2014 by Christine Skari

Hello from Japan!

As some of you might know, I left for Japan with the most of my extended Japanese side of the family for Tokyo on the 22nd and we’ve been here getting our asian on ever since! After an 11 hour flight (made much more bearable by the personal tvs they have), we arrived and forced ourselves to stay up till 4 a.m California time to try to fight back the jet lag. The next few days were spent visiting relatives on my obachan’s (Japanese for grandma) side of the family and eating for hours on end. Seriously, though, there were days where I’m pretty sure I spent more time feasting than sleeping. The motto of the trip comes from my cousin William, who, when asked to finish what was on my plate, replied “I can’t eat anymore. I am DEAD.”

We also visited the gravesite of my ancestors and cleaned the graves by pouring water over the monuments. Afterwards, we lit an incense stick and said a quick prayer. It meant a lot to my obachan and there were a lot of teary eyes as most of the grandkids came and visited a big part of their family history.

Aside from that, we’ve been visiting tons and tons of temples. To be honest, I can’t even remember the names of all of them, so I’m just going to fill you guys in via a huge photo dump. Onwards!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! I’ll have another photo recap up in a few days

Skillet Berry Cobbler

December 19, 2014 by Christine Skari

Sometimes I have a hard time jumping on with the full-on Christmas bandwagon. Us coastal Californians don’t get much (read: zero) snow and this “winter” so far has been especially mild (again, read: 70 degrees). I don’t think I can even remember a typical white Christmas, except for one that I spent in Norway when we visited our extended family. Normally, we go fly over to the motherland in the summer, so this trip especially stands out in the few memories I have of my super early childhood. I have to rack my brain reeeaaaaall hard to bring anything up, but I specifically remember a few memories of being driven over to a hill to sled on with my cousins in their dad’s tractor and trying in vain to finish a snowman, but repeatedly having the carrot nose eaten off by one of my four boy cousins. Did I mention that they’re all around 6”2 to 6”6 tall, blue eyed, and pale as can be? A pretty far cry from the 5 foot 3 mass that is MOI.

So anyways, since I’m lacking in the snow and cold weather department, I usually have to ease myself into the holiday spirit by immersing myself in plenty of holiday food. I’m not complaining. Warm spices, beautiful red and black coloring, and sweet goodness do the trick for me.

HEY. Kinda like this recipe for healthy Skillet Berry Cobbler!

Funny how things work like that 😉 .

While this can be made in an ordinary pan/large skillet, my sister and I found these adorable mini skillets at World Market (if you’ve never been there before, it’s magical) and, after debating the hefty $6 a piece price tag (hey, we’re cheap college students), we splurged and picked a few up because the cuteness of all the possible future recipes were swimming around in our head and hellloooo impulse buy! Money well spent.

While not everyone may have have a mini-skillet, don’t fret. These can easily be made in a normal sized skillet or in any sort of ramekin or baking dish. My easy berry cobbler recipe doesn’t discriminate.

This recipe is everything you could want in a dessert. This mixed berry cobbler recipe uses frozen berries which bake in their own juices and make a thick sauce that’s the perfect medium between tart and sweet. A super easy and super fluffy biscuit complements each bite with warm, buttery goodness. Top everything of with a dusting of powdered sugar and we are in H-E-A-V-E-N.

I know what you’re thinking. How could this recipe get any better? Well, let me fill ya in because this recipe is lightened-up and made with minimal added sugar and with a biscuit made with half whole wheat flour. It’s the perfect way to help balance all those Christmas cookies and decadent mashed potatoes we’ll be eating this month without feeling deprived!

My mom specifically asked me to save this recipe, which she only does when something is really, really good. Good on the level of our family recipe for Sticky Asian Ribs or the party-killing deliciousness of our Mexican Layer Dip. Automatic indicator of success. YES. Mom-approved!

Fudgy Dark Chocolate Mint Cookies

December 16, 2014 by Christine Skari

You know how sometime you see a new-to-you product in the grocery store and immediately toss it into your cart? No hesitation. No looking at the price tag. You just gotttttaaaa have it. And you know what? I’m not gonna lie. The minute I saw the new DelightFulls filled morsels from Nestle I squealed. I’ll admit that squeal became a piercing scream when I was contacted to created a recipe for them using the product. LIKE WHAT 😯 . Ok. No problemoooo.

And thus, Fudgy Dark Chocolate Mint Cookies were born.

These would be perfect to bring to any cookie exchange or holiday get-together. I would absolutely love to bake up a big batch to take to the annual one my friend Erin puts on, but I’ll be in Japan with my family eating sushi instead. I guess I’ll just have to live vicariously through you guys 😉 .

We aren’t talking your normal, run-of-the-mill cookie here. I want you to look deep into the dark, chocolate-y swirls of brownie-esq goodness. Do it. You might see your soul in them. Then, please divert your eyes to that gorgeous minty frosting that’s swirled to perfection. It’s light as air and, with one bite, you’re transported to minty-sweet heaven. Angels are singing. And see those pretty mint-stuffed chocolate chips crushed on top (yes, you read that correctly…. these chocolate chips are filled themselves with delectable flavor)? The crunch and extra texture complement the fudgy brownie cookie and silky mint frosting like whooaaaaa.

Are you drooling yet? Release the flood gates!

Head over to the Nestle Toll House website to discover more DelightFulls recipes and learn how you can use these delicious chocolate chips to put a twist on your holiday baking!

A big thanks to Nestle for sponsoring this post! While I received compensation for my time and work, all thoughts, opinions, and photos are my own.

Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Muffins

December 10, 2014 by Christine Skari

You know something is gonna be insanely delicious when it combines the words “garlic” and “parmesan” together. Put that in bread and you’re in the running for a winning recipe. Make that bread into cute little mini pull-apart muffins and you have yourself a home run! I don’t think there’s a single thing in this recipe that’s not too love. Steamy, homemade bread bites that have been drenched in the most delicious mixture of butter and Savory Garlic Parmesan Mezzetta Everything Spread come out of the oven like woaaaahhh and the wafting smells as the bread is baking is unreal. UNREAL, my friends. If you haven’t heard of the secret ingredient of this recipe, you’re seriously missing out! Mezzetta makes it easy to elevate your recipes to a whole new level with their freshly blended flavors. While my personal favorite is garlic and parmesan (garlic 4 eva <3), they have a range of flavors including sun-dried tomato & basic, hot chili pepper, and olive, parmesan & garlic. My mind is swimming with all the possible ways I can incorporate them into my meals! Just think! Tasty dips for game day, mixed with crispy roasted potatoes, thrown into pasta for a trip to flavor town, and think of all the sandwich options! I am in foodie heaven right now. While I know working with yeast can be super scary, fear not (I actually wrote one of my college essays about baking with yeast- fun fact). This recipe makes baking up your own 100%-from-scratch bread easy as pie! All you need to do to get the yeast started is to dump it in the warm water and sugar, stir, and let it sit and do its own thaaangg for 5 minutes or so. Then just add in your oil, flour, and salt and mix away! These garlic parmesan bread bites are the perfect appetizer or side dish for any meal! After the first test batch came out of the oven, I gave a few sample pieces to my housemates to try out. Needless to say, I had a flock of people surrounding me as I photographed the finished product waiting to get the all clear to start digging in. A few minutes later and the entire batch was gone! This recipe will have people fighting over the last bite 😉 . And the fun isn’t over yet! Mezzetta is hosting an awesome giveaway where each day one lucky winner will receive a gift basket full of tasty Mezzetta products. Head over to their website and check it out!
Disclosure: A big thanks to Mezzetta for sponsoring today’s original recipe! While I received compensation for this post, all opinions are my own.

Luna Bar Giveaway!!

December 8, 2014 by Christine Skari

Hi friendly faces!

I am quite excited to be partnering up with one heck of a delicious brand to help review their new gluten-free bars! Say hello to Luna products, a.k.a bites of heaven in yo’ mouth!

I’m a big advocate of balancing health, both mental and physical. Part of that includes eating food that’s not only good for me, but also tasty! I think there are a lot of food deemed “healthy” that actually just taste like, well, poo to me. Personally, my definition of healthy includes balancing things that are good for the soul (chocolate, I’m looking at you…) and good for my body. It’s not everyday that you find something that fits into both those categories some deliciously! I guess you guys know where I’m going with this, because Luna Bars fit the bill!

One of my favorite things about these bars (other than that they have flavors like Chocolate Cupcake… OMG 😯 ) is that they are so portable and help me keep up with my busy lifestyle. I am running around literally all day and a lot of the times, I don’t have time to stop and get something to snack on between classes. When I have three hours of back-to-back time in lectures, you better believe that I get insanely hungry. And trust me, I’m not the most pleasant person to be around when my stomach starts growling (the hangry bug bites me like woahhhh).

And now, with the release of their gluten-free bars, Luna Bars are now even more accessible to most diets! In my mind, all I can hear is chocolate cupcake bars for EVERYONE!

While my favorite flavor is obviously chocolate cupcake, all of the Luna Bar products are just plain delicious. They include a yummy outer coating that surrounds a lighter, crunchier inside. They pack tons of taste into each bar and the extra fiber helps to keep you full so you don’t feel like a rabid animal waiting for your next available time to go and get something to eat 😉 . What, just me?

So now let’s get to the part of the post that you’ve all been waiting for- the giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

While I am receiving compensation for this post, all opinions are my own.