Greek Yogurt, Summer-style.

Frozen (Greek) Yogurt Cups!

It's officially summer! Which means, of course, we were craving a frozen treat. After last week's delectable chicken and waffle cups, we were inspired by our muffin tin (but wanted a few less calories). We came up with Frozen Greek Yogurt Cups, and decided on a few different varieties. The fun part about these is that you can add pretty much anything you want to them! We went with strawberry-kiwi and chocolate peanut butter pretzel. Here's how to make these easy-peezy summer treats!

You'll need:

One 7oz tub of plain greek yogurt

2 tbsp sweetener (we used simple syrup)

7 large strawberries

2 kiwis

3 oz pretzels

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 bar hershey's chocolate

optional: paper muffin cups

Divide greek yogurt into two large bowls, add 1 tbsp sweetener to each, combine.

Using mortar and pestle (or similar method), crush pretzels until thoroughly broken up. 

Melt peanut butter in small sauce pan over low heat, pour over pretzels and combine.

Pour half of pretzel/peanut butter mixture into one of the greek yogurt bowls. Combine.

Chop strawberries and kiwis into small cubes. Leave a few full slices of fruit for toppings. Combine cubed fruit with remaining greek yogurt bowl.

Line muffin tin with paper muffin cups. Using a spoon, dish the fruit and pretzel yogurt mixtures into separate cups. Top each cup with more of their respective mixing ingredients (ie, pour pretzel/peanut butter over the tops of the pretzel cups, place fruit slices on top of strawberry-kiwi cups). Top pretzel cups with chunks of the chocolate bar or use a grater to create chocolate shavings.

Place muffin tin in freezer, freeze for at least 4 hours (preferably overnight).

Remove from freezer, let sit for 20 minutes. Peel from paper cups and enjoy!!

xoxo,

E&J

Chicken n' Waffle Egg Cups!

All hail the almighty egg.

Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

We don’t know (nor do we really care), but what we DO know is that the two together can produce a pretty sexy muffin!

We chose eggs as our ingredient this week because eggs are extremely handy for your health (especially heart health). Whole eggs (yolk + white) are among the most nutritious foods on the planet, containing a little bit of almost every nutrient we need. Omega-3 enriched and/or pastured eggs are even better. Not only that, eggs are one of the more versatile foods we know of, as they can be prepared countless ways and are often a "hidden" ingredient in many of our favorite dishes.

This week we wanted two things out of our snack:

1. we wanted it to include the superfood: eggs

2. we were craving chicken n’ waffles

We used the traditional waffle batter to create a “base” for our muffins and added some smokey chicken sausage with our eggs. To achieve that "crunch" factor you get in a traditional chicken n’ waffle fix, we added some corn flakes that were conveniently hanging out in the pantry.

Voila! A new snack is born!

Here's what you'll need to make these babies:

1 cup milk

6 eggs

1 cup flour

¼ cup coconut oil (or butter) melted

½ tsp salt

2-3 pre-cooked chicken sausages, chopped or crumbled

3 large eggs

¼ cup maple syrup

½ cup corn flakes, crushed

Preheat oven to 400°F. Pulse together the milk, eggs, flour, salt and vanilla in a blender until combined. Add half of the butter and pulse to combine, then add in the remaining butter and pulse to combine. Prepare 18 baking cups with cooking spray. Fill each with a scant 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 8 minutes until very puffy and golden on top. Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes to deflate. Pour the beaten eggs and chicken sausage mixture on top of each waffle base, filling the cups to the rim. Sprinkle the crushed corn flakes on top of each cup. Bake for a another 10 min until set.

Top with maple syrup and the remaining corn flakes for an extra crunch! (One can never go wrong with more crunch).

Enjoy! 

xoxo

E&J

A Post for Popcorn!

Cookies and Cream Popcorn? Yes please.

Popcorn. It's one of those rare foods that's loved and accepted by the masses. Have you ever met a person (that wasn't Satan) that didn't like it? We haven't, which is why we decided to come back from the very acquired taste of Vegemite (see last week's snack recipe) to the widely loved and versatile popcorn. 

First off, a little history lesson. Corn was first domesticated in Mexico 9,000 years ago, and Popcorn is one of its oldest forms. It dates all the way back to 4700 B.C!  During the Great Depression, popcorn was a safe and inexpensive go-to (at 5–10 cents a bag, it became extremely popular). While other businesses began to fail at this time, the popcorn industry thrived and became a source of income for many struggling farmers. When World War II brought on sugar rations and lower candy production, Americans compensated by eating three times as much popcorn than ever before. We were hooked! There are now entire crops of corn dedicated to becoming popcorn...a true sign of a high-demand snack.

Let's not forget nutrition! Air-popped popcorn is high in dietary fiber and antioxidants, and low in calories, fat, sugar and sodium. We decided to "dress up" our popcorn snack this week...making it slightly less good for you and a hell of a lot more delicious.

Cookies and Cream Popcorn Recipe:

½ cup popcorn kernels 
4 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 cup oreos (crushed)
Salt

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a heavy bottomed large pot.
2. When oil is hot, put a kernel or two of corn in it and wait until it pops.
3. When it pops, add the rest of the corn, cover the pot, and gently shake over burner until the corn stops popping for 5 seconds

4. Take pot off of the heat and lift lid, being careful of the hot steam and random kernels that might still be popping.

5. Add the rest of the coconut oil to the popcorn and toss till coated. Sprinkle with finely crushed Oreos and salt, and toss until coated.

Or…pop as directed by your air popper, toss with 2-4 T coconut oil, and add cookies.

Enjoy!! We certainly did. 

xo,

E&J

Vegemite: A Love-Hate Story

First thing's first...WHAT is Vegemite? For those of us that didn't grow up Down Under, this may be a valid question. Though we've tasted it ourselves, we had to do some research to truly discover the answer. Vegemite is an Australian food paste made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spices added. It was developed in Melbourne (which just happens to be the hometown of this week's guest) in 1922. 

Vegemite is a popular topping for sandwiches, toast and crackers as well as a filling for pastries in Australia. If you've ever tried the British, New Zealand or South African Marmite spread, you might have dabbled in a similar flavor family. All that being said, Vegemite is an extremely acquired taste, which made it a decent challenge for this week's featured ingredient. We were POSITIVE that our Aussie guest Ant Simpson would have all kinds of fond memories and snack tips for the malty spread, but, ALAS, he turned out to be one of the few Vegemite-averse Australian-born rebels. 

Without any tips from Ant, it was up to us to make Vegemite (which seemed to us to be a required favorite of all Australians) at least palatable for those of us that didn't grow up with it. Many of my Australian friends have told me that the marketing ploy to sell Vegemite has been that it's "packed with B vitamins," which is really just a lucky side effect of eating yeast. We figured...let's stick to the ploy. What else has a lot of yeast? BREAD. And what else was going on this week in Los Angeles? THE ANNUAL BREAD FESTIVAL. More yeast please! We decided to make the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich we could imagine, with Vegemite as one of the main ingredients.

After brainstorming some flavor profiles, we decided to treat Vegemite like Beef Bullion. While you may gag at this yeast spread, we guarantee you will learn to love the way it improves the flavor of your cooking...it adds a bit of depth, complexity and savoriness that can be challenging and time consuming to build on your own. It's with this in mind that The Lady Marmalade was born! To create this indulgent and delectable outback sammy...

4 slices Texas Toast

6 tbsp Brie

3 oz Gouda, sliced

1/4 cup Parmesan, shredded

1/2 cup shelled pistachios, finely ground

3 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tbsp mayo

2 tbsp butter

4 tbsp BBQ sauce

4 tbsp Orange Marmalade

1 tbsp Vegemite

1/2 lb braised short ribs

(makes two sandwiches).

1. Preheat skillet over medium heat and preheat oven at 350 degrees.

2. Spread mayo on each slice of Texas Toast.

3. Stir BBQ sauce, Orange Marmalade and Vegemite until well-combined. Pour over braised short ribs until fully coated and set aside.

4. Combine finely ground pistachios with parmesan and garlic. Set aside in a shallow dish. 

5. Spread brie on one slice of bread for each sandwich.

6. Place coated ribs on top of brie spread.

7. Top ribs with sliced gouda and top with the remaining Texas Toast to close the sandwich.

8. Place both sides of sandwich in the parmesan/garlic/pistachio mixture to create a crust. Make sure the bread is evenly and heavily coated.

9. Melt butter in the skillet.

10. Use spatula to turn sandwich from side to side until cheese is melted.

11. When the cheese is melted and the outside is crispy and browned to your taste, place the sandwich in the oven for five minutes.

12. Remove from oven and cut in half (down the middle or diagonal...it's up to you. We won't judge.)

Enjoy your Aussie Grilled Cheese, mates :)

All about COCONUT!

Coconuts are more than just Mounds bars and material to make tropical looking bras. This week we sat down for our podcast with actress/comedian Milana Vayntrub and learned she was not only a huge coconut fan, but that she actually used to “hack” into coconuts when she worked at a smoothie shop before she landed her famous AT&T spokesperson gig. We learned that coconuts basically do it all; from making delicious snacks even more delicious, to curing dry skin, whitening your teeth and even removing makeup. If only coconuts could remove our bad decisions, these little round beauties would truly be miracles.

We were lucky and thrilled our friends over at Gigi’s Remix supplied us with their bitchin' granola for the creation of this week’s snack: Peanut Butter-Coconut Granola Pops. Each Gigi's pouch of granola was packed with organic ingredients we could actually pronounce like almonds, walnuts, cacao nibs and of course COCONUT! We decided to make a fun yet healthful snack (and yes, “fun” and “healthful” can co-exist in a snack!) using bananas, peanut butter, and of course, coconut laden granola!

To make these “bitchin” pops you will need:

2 frozen bananas, cut in half

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 tbs coconut oil

1/2 cup granola

Peel bananas and place them whole in the freezer for 2-3 hours.

Melt peanut butter with coconut oil on top of a double boiler on the stove or in the microwave.

Take out bananas from fridge and stick half a straw or popsicle stick in each half.

Place granola in a shallow dish.

Roll each piece of banana in peanut butter coating and then in granola coating and sprinkle more if necessary. Once bananas are coated in peanut butter and granola, place bananas on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper.

Repeat with remaining bananas, re-melted the peanut butter if needed. Once complete, place back in the freezer for 30min to 1 hour to harden.

Viola! The perfect snack for the coconut-loving human (or dog...Betty was a big fan).

COFFEE!!!

COFFEE. For most of us, we need it just as much as any other living essential (like water, oxygen and our phones). We are no exception, and this week we had the opportunity to try a bunch of different varieties of flavors thanks to our very first sponsor, mixcups.com. If you're lazy (like us), this service is pretty much made for you. Mixcups sends a box of single-cup coffee and teas from all over the globe each month, meaning you could drink a cup from Brazil one morning and a "Cake Boss" brew the next day. We love to spice up our coffee routine, which made this delivery a much anticipated and appreciated one. 

We used one of our Mixcup coffees to create our Snack of the Week, which we've dubbed the "Tim Tam Cinna-slam Almond Latte." If you need a more enticing description before you try it for yourself, get out. 

To create this easy and delicious pick-me-up:

1) Brew a cup of your favorite coffee or espresso. If it's a hot day, which might be soon for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, pour over ice.

2) Mix in a splash of almond milk and a splash of heavy cream. 

3) Top with your choice of whipped cream. Squirt bottle directly in mouth. 

4) Add a dusting of cinnamon to the whipped cream. Cinnamon is a proven blood-sugar regulator, unlike the rest of these ingredients.

5) Stick a Tim Tam in the latte. After you've instagrammed your masterpiece, bite off both ends of the Tim Tam to use as a straw. If you haven't been to Australia in the last few weeks and are short on Tim Tams, any "tubular" or hollow chocolate candy will do (like a pirouette, perhaps. Google it).

6) Enjoy! Think of us fondly.

For more on the hot topic of COFFEE, take a listen to this week's episode, "Magic and Coffee with Justin Willman."