Baby Burrito Challenge





Team David



Team Christie and Amanda



So we are mean friends and make each other do "food challenges" at a whim. The previous month, Jason and Eric had the Intimidator Challenge that consisted of a huge burger, a ton of fries, mac'n cheese, and red hot chili.
So Jason's revenge? The girls have to do a food challenge at Gordito's in Everett. Our opponent? An enchilada style burrito that is literally the size of a baby. The teams are setup so that each team gets either myself or my friend Amanda as "nibblers" to help either Beth or Christie finish the burrito in under 30 minutes.



Team Beth and Jennifer

And I am happy to say that Team Beth wins, each taking on half of the burrito, yum! Wonder what the next challenge is gonna be...?

 





AAHHHH, Baking disaster!!!

So I am trying to make French macaroons for a cookie exchange at work.  The French macaroons are the "burger" style cookies not the ones covered in coconut.  However, I substitued almond paste with poppyseed paste to make it more "Beth Friendly".  I wanted to make something that would be edible for my friend who is deathly allergic to any and all nuts.

But ahhhhh! apparently almond paste is NOT the same as poppyseed paste.  Yikes, my macaroons ended up being flattened crispy cookie-like things that were also chewy somehow, ugh!  I am going to try again tomorrow night with almond paste and we'll see if it was the ingredient change or if it was due to baker error....if disaster strikes again, we may have to change the menu to something a little less French  :-)

Here's to round two....

Cranberry Bliss Bars!

Cranberry Bliss Bars a la Starbucks

We had a bake-off at work where we compared Starbucks seasonal delight, Cranberry Bliss Bars, to our homemade versions.  I gotta tell ya, I think I prefer the homemade versions becuase they were less sweet than the Starbucks version.

Also, I made mine in a dish smaller than suggested so I got more of a cake-like density versus Starbucks' bar-like texture.  Now, that I've made my own, I can have them any time of year instead of having to wait until Christmas!

Now I want to play with the recipie more and add a little more ginger and try a cranberry drizzle instead of a frosting drizzle ontop of the cream cheese frosting.  Yum Yum.