Boy, was I wrong and I’m still kicking myself for waiting that long to make them!

I followed Carrie‘s recipe almost exactly, but have a few tips.

• First of all, the macarons are made with almond flour. You’ll need to sift the flour before folding it into the recipe. However, when I sifted the flour there was a little under 1/4 cup of almond flour that was too grainy to fit through the holes of the sifter. I just threw that out, making the macarons nice and smooth. 
• Secondly, the goal of anyone making macarons is to have those ‘feet’ on the bottom of the treat. These feet are created by allowing the uncooked macarons to dry before baking. This drying process creates a skin on top of the macarons, that rises up when baking. The first batch I created dried for 1 hour and had no feet. The second dried for 1 hour and 15 minutes and had a slight foot. The third dried for 1 hour 30 minutes and were perfection! So, the timing is key. When in doubt, let them dry longer.
• Finally, not that it’ll take you this long to eat them, but they’re best eaten within 2 days of making them. That way they’ll have maximum crunchiness. I’m sure they’ll last longer up North, but here in the South Carolina humidity, they don’t last long! Luckily, we didn’t have a problem with that. They were gone the same day we made them.

When I was first trying to decide what flavor to make, I thought of my husband. He absolutely loves chocolate and raspberry together. You might remember, I made a Chocolate Raspberry Forest Cake for him one year for his birthday. He LOVED it!

So, Logan was the inspiration for these goodies!

I even wrote a little love note for my hubby on these absolutely adorable petite love notes from Felix Doolittle. He now keeps it in his wallet. How cute is that?

Speaking of Felix Doolittle, how precious and gorgeous is all of his artwork!?

I was first introduced to Felix Doolittle by Melanie while at BlissDom and instantly fell in love. They carry a bunch of different paper products, including the goodies you see here:

• Illustrated Notepads
• Chef Medallions
• Recipe Cards
• Petite Love Notes

They can all be personalized, too!

I’m pretty sure my favorites are these chef medallions (below). They are personalized stickers that you can stick on anything made by you! That’s how I packaged homemade Mother’s Day gifts this year. So cute and such a great conversation starter!

Also, when you receive your products from Felix Doolittle, they take such extraordinary care of packaging. The quality is exquisite. You open up your package and you’ll see, it’s so beautiful you won’t want to take it out!

I guess what I’m getting at is that I’m in love with the Felix Doolittle products. The uniqueness and beauty is out of this world. Such simple designs too, which is right up my alley.

Oh, and you should also give these macarons a try. You’ll be glad you finally took the challenge!

Chocolate Raspberry Macarons

from Bakeaholic Mama

Ingredients

• 3 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup almond flour
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam

How-To

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Slowly beat in the 1/4 cup of sugar. Continue to beat on high until it forms stiff peaks. Don’t over beat.
2. Meanwhile, sift the powdered sugar, almond flour and cocoa powder together in a bowl. 
   
3. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the sifted dry ingredients into the egg whites until combined.
4. Gently place the batter into a pastry bag with a large circular tip (I used this one).
5. Squeeze 1 1/2″ circles spaced 2 inches apart on a parchment paper or silpat mat covered baking sheets. Slap the baking sheets on the counter once to remove any air bubbles. Allow the circles to dry for at least 1.5 hours, creating a skin on the top.
6. Once ready, preheat the oven to 325F.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until the macarons have risen and are hard to the touch.
8. Allow them to cool completely on the baking sheet.
9. Once cool, spread a small amount of raspberry jam between two cookies and store in an airtight container.

Servings: about 15 macaron sandwiches

Now, are you ready to win some Felix Doolittle products of your own!?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No purchase necessary to enter. Prizes will only be shipped within the United States. Winner will be selected at random by rafflecopter using Random.org. All entries received after the giveaway closing day and time will not be considered. Entries that do not follow the entry requirements will not be considered. Winners will be notified via email and will have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the email. If the winners do not reply within 24 hours, another winner(s) will be selected. Giveaways will be mailed to the winners’ address.  This giveaway has been sponsored by Felix Doolittle. I received these samples, compensation and was provided the opportunity to host this giveaway.  All opinions stated are my own.

We’re up bright and early this morning, traveling to Disney World to attend Food Blog Forum. Like I said yesterday, it’s a family adventure! I’m bringing my mom, husband and son for a jam-packed weekend of rides and learning.

It’ll be THE longest car ride of Liam’s life so far and I’m a bit nervous about that. He’s done 4 hours in the car before, but this is almost twice that. Luckily, we’ve rented a mini van (my husband swears we’ll never get one) and I’m looking forward to the ample space.

Thank goodness for donuts and coffee, because it’s going to be a long day. But, we decided to drive up a day early to leave us plenty of time to stretch our legs on the trip and chill out at our hotel once we arrive.

A good night sleep tonight and we’ll be ready to rock ‘n roll tomorrow!

I’m so excited I’m about to pee in my pants. But, not so excited where I can’t pause and tell you about these beauties that I’ve been teasing you with.

They’re 100% whole wheat, but don’t taste like it.
They’re full of fruit, but taste as sweet as ever.
They’re packed with antioxidants from the dark chocolate.

Boom. The perfect breakfast.

I saved you a bite…

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Baked Donuts

slightly adapted from Barbara Bakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup mashed banana
• 1/2 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt, such as Chobani
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup 60% cacao Ghirardelli chocolate chips

How-To

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Spray the donut pan(s) with a little bit of canola oil spray. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, beat the banana, yogurt, sugar, butter and eggs together with an electric beater or in your stand mixer.
4. In a separate bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until combined.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, until combined.
6. Stir in the semi-sweet chocolate chips.
7. Pour the batter into a gallon-sized ziplock bag, cutting a small hole in one end.
8. Squeeze the batter into the donut mold, filling almost to the top.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
10. Allow the donuts to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack. Note: If you only had one donut pan, once the donuts are on the cooling rack, simply run the warm donut pan under cold water to cool to room temperature. Wipe the pan down with a paper towel until clean. Repeat from step 8.
11. Meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl, melt the dark chocolate chips, stirring every 20 minutes until melted.
12. Once the donuts are cool enough to handle, dip the tops into the melted chocolate.
13. Enjoy!

Servings: 12 donuts

I can’t tell you how long I’ve been wanting to make a homemade veggie burger! For some reason, I was always putting it off and just buying store-bought. However, once I started to see how many awesome recipes there were out there on the blogosphere, I decided it was high time to give it a go!

I will never buy another veggie burger. Homemade is the way to go.

We gave some to Liam, too, and he got a kick out of it! Love at first bite.

So, on the topic of burgers…

I plan to indulge in at least one while I’m in Disney World this weekend with my family attending Food Blog Forum! I’m so excited I about can’t stand it. I’m truly that 5 year old Disney princess still.

Here’s me (left) and Snow White.

I’m so excited to take Liam for the first time too!

P.S. Don’t forget to take the Reader Survey to enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card.

Homemade Black Bean Burgers

adapted from Smells Like Home

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 4 tbsp plus 2 tsp olive oil, divided
• 2 (15 ounce) cans no-salt added black beans, drained and rinsed, divided
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 3 frozen cilantro cubes (See note at bottom) or 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced

How-To

1. In a sauce pan, brown the breadcrumbs in 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Once light brown, set aside.
2.  In a large bowl, use a fork to mash 2 1/2 cups of the black beans. Beat in the eggs, cumin, cayenne pepper, carrot, cilantro, remaining black beans and browned breadcrumbs.
3. Chill the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Divide the mixture into 6 equal parts and shape into patties.
5. Place the patties on a parchment paper covered plate and chill again for 10 minutes or up to 24 hours. Be sure to cover with plastic wrap if chilling any longer than 10 minutes. 
6. In the same sauce pan as before, cooking 3 patties at a time, add in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the patties over medium heat until browned and cooked through (about 10 minutes). Cook the remaining 3 patties with another 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
7. Serve with your favorite burger toppings!

Note: To preserve fresh cilantro, mince and pack into the cubes of an ice tray. Add enough water to cover the cilantro and freeze for at least 3 hours until frozen. Remove the cilantro cubes and place into a freezer safe bag or in this case thaw the cilantro and drain the water, adding the cilantro to the burger mixture.

However, despite some of the inconveniences of this house, the location is KEY. We’re in probably the most walkable neighborhood I’ve ever seen (besides living in San Francisco or NYC). I’m 2 blocks away from grocery stores, pharmacies and parks…5 blocks away from restaurants! Needless to say, we’ve been doing a lot of walking. I sometimes feel French, walking to get fresh baked bread and wine for dinners.

With all of that said, things have been a little cray cray inside the house. Because we’re still getting the necessities fixed with the house, we had to stall on unpacking. We’re living out of boxes still and you don’t even want to see how many there are. Holy stress!

The only thing that’s keeping me remotely sane is the occasional recipe that I make for you guys! Getting in the kitchen and behind the camera are my two favorite things. HUGE stress relievers.

So, when I’m not directing contractors, unpacking boxes, feeding Liam, fixing dinner, cleaning the house, washing the BILLION dishes (no dishwasher…sad), or cleaning poopy diapers, I’m eating or sleeping. With Liam on the go-go-go, it’s hard to catch a break! I’m sure I’m burning calories out the wazoo because I’m constantly hungry (I guess I can blame that on nursing too). Snacking is the name of the game around here right now.

Speaking of snacking. Meet my new friend, Mr. Snack Delights:

This is shouting my name from the roof tops. I’ve gone through three containers in 2 weeks. How do you even do that?!?

It’s a good thing it’s strawberry season, because I think this is the BEST way to enjoy them…dipped in chocolate!

So, since I’m going to be snacking for many many many MANY weeks to come…I’m not even lying. There are SO many boxes to unpack!…I’ll be showing you my top ten favorite ways to enjoy this delightful treat!

I’m joining 9 other bloggers who are each doing the same thing: making it 100 days of delight! The PHILADELPHIA Snack Delights come in five different flavors:

• white chocolate*
• milk chocolate*
• dark chocolate*
• cinnamon
• caramel

*denotes my cup of tea

So, while I sit here and delight in my snack…one of many throughout the day, I’ll be doing 52 loads of laundry that we’ve accumulated from the past few weeks.

Pass the detergent and chocolate, please.

I have been selected by Kraft Foods to be an ambassador for PHILADELPHIA cream cheese. While I have been compensated for my time, my opinions are my own.

This is not a sponsored post. The gift card is provided my me, myself and I. It is no way associated with Amazon.com. No purchase necessary to enter. Prizes will only be shipped within the United States. Winner will be selected at random by rafflecopter using Random.org. All entries received after the giveaway closing day and time will not be considered. Entries that do not follow the entry requirements will not be considered. Winners will be notified via email and will have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the email. If the winners do not reply within 24 hours, another winner(s) will be selected. Giveaways will be mailed to the winners’ address. All responses will remain anonymous.

Don’t ask me how I’ve done it, but I’ve been without an oven for over one week. While the urge to back cookies is sky high, all I can think about is this roasted vegetable pasta. It was one of the last dishes I made at our first house.

Some of you may not like brussel sprouts, but I happen to love them. Also, I’m thrilled to announce that Liam loves them too. Weee!

There’s something just so simple and elegant about this dish.

Simple ingredients. Powerful meal.

Now you’ll have to excuse me while I go make 2 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 cup brussel sprouts, halved and trimmed
• 1 onion, wedged
• 5 small red potatoes, quartered
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounces rigatoni pasta
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

How-To

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Combine the brussel sprouts, onion, red potatoes, thyme, salt, pepper, and olive oil together in a bowl, tossing to coat.
3. Place on a parchment paper, non stick foil, or silpat covered baking sheet.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until roasted.
5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to packaged instructions, saving 1/4 cup of the pasta water.
6. Remove the thyme sprigs from the vegetables.
7. Mix the pasta, 1/4 cup of the pasta water, parmesan cheese and vegetables together in a bowl. Tossing to mix.
8. Serve warm.

Without regular exercise I wouldn’t be able to fit into my jeans everyday with all of this baking I have going on here. Not only is exercise just good for me, but it’s a tremendous stress reliever and allows me to spend quality time with my family.

Our exercise of choice is always running. It’s not often that I buy fitness clothes, but when I do, I always seem to exercise better. I guess it’s that little voice in my head saying, ‘Oh yeah, you look cute. You go girl!’.

Whatever gets you out there and exercising right?

I know I’ve said it before, but I use a calendar to keep track of my exercising. I use Google Calendar and have a specific calendar (that I choose to be blue if you’re familiar with Google Calendar) just for exercise. I write down exactly what I did for exercise that day (setting it as ‘all day’ instead of a time so it shows up boldy on my calendar). That way, two things happen:

1. I can look back and say, ‘Wow, I rock. I did a really good job this week! Look at all of that blue!’.
2. Or, I can look at the calendar and say, ‘Yikes, there’s not enough blue. It’s been way too long since I exercised. It’s time to get out there’.

That way, I’m keeping myself on track and that blue calendar motivates me along the way.

Anyway. I know I’m not the skinniest girl in the world and I’ve always gotten down on myself about my body (stupid short waist…my ribs literally sit inside of my hips). But, I feel awesome, especially since having Liam. I’m now down to a lower weight that I was before I had the baby!

Woot!

Anyway.

I’d love to hear how you stay motivated to exercise!

Speaking of exercise, don’t you want to win this awesome Albion Fit Go Long Crew with thumb holes, like mine? I picked it out because it was my favorite thing in their store.

The shirt is soft and breathable and the thumb holes make me feel cool and are a great touch for those chilly days. And you should see all of the other workout clothing that Albion Fit has. Can I have one of each, please?

Here’s an exclusive promotional code for your you to save $15 on any purchase of $50 or more. Just use the code at checkout: chocolatecarrots15 (expires 5/4/13)

Okay….giveaway time!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No purchase necessary to enter. Prizes will only be shipped within the United States. Winner will be selected at random by rafflecopter using Random.org. All entries received after the giveaway closing day and time will not be considered. Entries that do not follow the entry requirements will not be considered. Winners will be notified via email and will have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the email. If the winners do not reply within 24 hours, another winner(s) will be selected. Giveaways will be mailed to the winners’ address.  This giveaway has been sponsored by Albion Fit. I received the shirt to review for this post.  All opinions stated are my own.

Okay. So, here’s the front of the house.

As soon as you walk in the front door, you’re in the living room. I have such a handy husband, he installed in-wall surround sound. Oh, and if you’re wondering, I am not the genius behind the gorgeous decor…that would be my brilliant mother-in-law. If you’re in Charleston, SC…she’s awesome. You should look her up.

Okay, so it’s an open floor plan and you look straight into the kitchen.

Oh, how I’ll miss the flip of the switch fireplace. We didn’t get to use it this past winter with Liam being mobile.

Here’s my lovely kitchen. We went with the bold black paint. I love the contrast with the white cabinets!

If you go straight out those french doors, you’re in the backyard. This was our sanctuary. We spent a lot of time out here. It was a baren waste land when we first moved in:

We made it our little secret garden…including adding a shed (man cave) that my husband and dad built!

We even built raised garden beds and added our lovely stone pathway.

Okay. Back inside, you go down the hallway to the guest bedroom. Believe it or not, my husband had to cram our entire office area into that closet. He made it into a standing work desk. Pretty neat. See:

How do you like my chocolate inspired wall color?

A little further down the hall is the guest bathroom. It’s orange with a vintage beach-y pattern. Again…the shower curtain is all my mother-in-law.

And now we come to the nursery. You’ve seen this before when I gave you a tour of it before we had Liam. But here are two good photos of it.

And yes. I had made that mobile and gave step-by-step instructions if you’d like to make one of your own!

A little further down the hall, past the laundry closet (that I painted BRIGHT yellow because it made me happy) is the master bedroom. Very Southern meets tropical.

Logan and I spent a weekend upgrading our closet from the white wire self to this work of art. I LOVED my closet. Hello, organization!

Finally, we have our master bathroom. Oh, how I miss that tub.

Well, that’s our first house! I hope you liked it. We surely did!

It’ll probably be quite a few weeks before I get our new house organized. I can’t wait to show that to you too!

Well, we made it! We’ve moved to a new house.

The reason for my absence last week was primarily because I was simultaneously packing our life into boxes and entertaining Liam in a very non-childproofed house. Oye.

Thankfully, we had a great number of family and friends helping us with both the move and Liam this weekend.

Today is actually the first day it’s starting to look like a home. Our beds are made, we have some semblance of a living room, and a small area that is Liam-proofed.

I can’t wait to show you some photos of both our first house and of our now our new house! Our new house is located in our favorite neighborhood in Columbia. It’s within walking distance of parks and grocery stores…perfect for a family with one car and an active baby!

It also has a spectacular sunroom that is going to be my saving grace for food photos! No more going outside to shoot in the blazing Southern summers and chilly winters. Woot!

Okay. Now to this cake! I first made it as an experiment to see about making a red velvet cake without food coloring, after loving the chocolate beet cakes for two so much. I’m pretty sure I’d just need to add some raspberry or strawberry purée to get that gorgeous red color.

Despite the lack of red, this cake is ah-mazing! It’s one of those cakes like the black bean chocolate cake, where you’re hiding vegetables inside but there’s not a lick of vegetable flavor. The vegetables also make it incredibly moist…without the use of extra butter or eggs. My kind of cake!

The true test was my husband taking the cake to work and having his coworkers try it without knowing its secret ingredient. Then, after they had enjoyed a few mouthwatering bites, revealing that it’s made with beets. They were all shocked because of its deliciousness and impressed that it was made with beets! Genius.

I hope you get a chance to make it and enjoy it!

I’m off to go unpack another 238 boxes.

Chocolate Beet Cake

adapted from BakeCakery

Ingredients

• 1 cup puréed beets
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons plain yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

How-To

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Line the bottom of two 6″ round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with canola oil. Set aside.
3. Beat the wet ingredients (beets, oil, milk, yogurt, vinegar and eggs) together in a large bowl.
4. Stir the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda) together in a small bowl until combined.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined.
6. Pour into the prepared pans (should be about 1.5 cups of batter for each cake pan).
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
8. Allow the cakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes.
9. Gently flip the cakes onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
10. Decorate with your favorite icing. I used a 16 ounce tub of cream cheese frosting.