Baking Beauty: The Best French Toast I've Ever Had

There's no question that I love a good Sunday brunch. Wake up early, go grocery shopping, come home and make an awesome meal. Sometimes it's biscuits and gravy or pancakes, but today it was the best french toast I've ever had. I think it even bests my dad's french toast... shhh! Don't tell him.

So naturally I wrote down the recipe as I went, had Briam test it, and now I'm here, writing this post for you! There are a few things in this recipe that can be changed to suit your tastes better, or to suit what you have in your kitchen. So no worries if you don't have everything in the recipe! 

If you try this recipe, show me! Tweet me @cmxoxo or IG me @christinamartinaxoxo to show me your best french toast recipe! 

Baking Beauty - 4th Of July Inspired Cupcakes

To see the video recipe, click here! 

Tasty Tuesday: Sweet & Tangy Chicken Wings and Veggie Rice

It's always great when people teach you an amazing recipe! Paula Deen always says that you should try the original recipe first, and then tweak it to fit your own tastes the next time. And that's what I've done here! One of my first roommates in college taught me her version of this recipe and I've added some different elements to make it my own! The chicken wings were so tender and the sauce made them even better. I scarfed down the rice like I had never eaten before. and Briam cleaned his plate too! Let me know if you try these recipes, I wanna know what you think!

Tasty Tuesday: Grilled Sides and CHOCOLATE!!!

I have to admit, these recipes are partially inspired by my stepmom. She makes the best grilled carrots and her and my dad make the best grilling team! Even if it is just for the family on the front porch. And on top of that I was kinda of jealous that my cat didn't get me anything for Mother's Day and my stepmom got these delicious chocolate covered strawberries from Edible Arrangements. You would think my cat would know how to order a present online by now... 

So anyways, last night I was in the grilling mood... And by that I mean I wanted my food to be grilled so Briam had to cook! I'm not a woman of the grill.. or fire. But he loves it so it works out for both of us. We grilled carrots, potatoes, and a giant pork loin that cam in a package so there's no recipe for that because, well, I bought it already fancied up. And with grilling season finally showing up, these recipes are perfect for a hot spring/summer night!

Tasty Tuesday: Mongolian Beef Sandwiches

I wanted to do something pretty savory for this week's Tasty Tuesday. And considering that it was Briam's first real meal at home after being away for 10 days, it definitely had to be good. I love the Mongolian Beef from P.F. Chang's. So very very much. But I really wanted to make a Korean BBQ taco. So I took inspiration form both and made Mongolian Beef Sandwiches! I hope you guys like the new recipe set up, a fancy recipe card! 

Boyfriend tested. Boyfriend Approved. 

I was beyond happy with how these turned out!

Tasty Tuesday: Angel Eggs Turned Easter Eggs

I love Deviled Eggs. But I was told on Easter they should be called Angel Eggs. Hence the post title. Anyways, I love my step-mom's Angel Eggs and wanted to pay tribute to her recipe but add some twists of my own! My Angel Eggs have been turned into a super fun dish, perfect for Easter! Here's how you make your Easter Eggs! 

Ingredients:

9 Large Eggs - Hard Boiled

1/2 C Mayonaise

1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

Salt and Pepper to taste

Paprika for a garnish

Food Coloring for FUN!

Directions:

1. Once your eggs are cooled down peel them and pat the dry. 

2. Set up your food coloring pools. I picked green, blue, and pink. 

3. Scoop out the yolk of each egg half and put in a bowl to set aside for later.

4. Color your eggs to your desired color. I only let mine sit for about 15-20 seconds each. I was going for the pastel look.

5. After you take each egg out of the color pool, or bath, whatever you want to call it, set on a paper towel briefly to absorb any extra liquid. Transfer all eggs to a desired egg holder. I used a pyrex container because I will most likely be taking these to my parents house tonight. 

6. In the bowl with the egg yolks, mix in the mayo, mustard, salt, and pepper. Mix very well. 

7. Because its easier for me, I used a piping bag to get the yolk mixture into the eggs. You can get the piping bag and tips at Walmart for a good price. 

8. Add the paprika if you want and you are ready to go! Enjoy! 

9. I did snack on a few, but I put the rest in the fridge to set before I transport them! 

Adding color to the eggs takes them for typical holiday/picnic food to perfect Easter appetizer! 

However you make these Easter eggs, enjoy! 

What I Ate Wednesday

Oh hey, it's Wednesday! And that could only mean it must be What I Ate Wednesday! Read on if you're really curious about what I ate today! It was a good food day! 

For breakfast I had my Italian Inspired Egg Muffins. I only got to have 4 off the 12 I made. Briam went in on them last night. But they were delicious the next day! All I did was warm them up in the microwave for about 1 minute. 

For lunch I had a steamers meal that was the Beef Merlot. It was that good. I only ate the steak and carrots, threw the rest out. But I did love my Key Lime Chobani with Chai seeds in it! The flavor was great and the texture was even better! Chobani is my favorite brand of greek yogurt. They're normally on sale at Publix 4/$5. 

Oh boy, dinner was great! Tonight was the last class/presentation of my Bachelor's Degree so my team went out to celebrate at Cowboys! I ordered the Cowboys Egg rolls for an appetizer. Pulled pork and coleslaw fried in an egg roll, amazing. For my main course I ordered the Pig In A Potato! Pulled pork on top of a baked potato dressed to the nines! Butter, Sour Cream, Cheddar cheese, Bacon, and Chives! 

What did you eat on this glorious Wednesday? 

P.S. - I'm currently having a Daily's Bahama Mama frozen drink! So good! 2/$4 at Publix! I had the Blue Hawaiian the other night! 

Tasty Tuesday: Italian Inspired Egg Muffins

I'm not sure of the technical name for what I'm making, I just like to call them egg muffins. They're eggs, made in a muffin tin. Egg muffins. Today I'm taking inspiration from Italy and using some of my favorite Italian ingredients: prosciutto and parmesan cheese. These egg muffins can be eaten for breakfast or a snack. Or whenever you really feel like eating them. You can make them at the beginning of the week, freeze them, and have breakfast all week. I love an easy to make and eat meal! 

Ingredients:

12 Large Eggs
1 Package of Prosciutto
1/4C Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Basil for Garnish

Directions:

1. Cut the prosciutto into little chunks and place in each muffin tin.
2. "Scramble" each egg and pour into each muffin tin.
3. Top with grated parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and basil.
4. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Before:

After:

You could always use a different meat, or add veggies, or any ingredient that you want to try!

However you make these muffins, enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday: Banana Muffins with a Twist

I'm pretty certain that bananas are one of the only foods you can say, "Oh darn, those are going bad! Let me make bread!" I have yet to find anything else to do that with. Let me know if you have any bad food turned good tips! 

Anyways, these banana muffins are pretty healthy in my opinion. Not super healthy, but better than your standard banana muffin! I jazzed them up a bit and added chocolate chips to half and dried pomegranates to the other half. Can you guess which one was for Briam and which on was for me?

Ingredients:

2C of Whole Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon

5 Over Ripe Bananas

1C Light Brown Sugar - packed

1/4C Coconut Oil - melted

1 Egg

1/2C Greek Yogurt

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Dried Pomegranates (optional)

Chocolate Chips (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line or grease muffin tins. 

2. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside for now.

3. Mash the peeled bananas in a separate bowl. Add the brown sugar, coconut oil, egg, greek yogurt, and vanilla extract. 

4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. 

5. Using an ice cream scooper, fill each muffin tin with 1 scoop. Should make 24 muffins. 

6. Add the chocolate chips to 12 and the dried pomegranates to the other 12. 

7. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. 

8. Let cool, warm up later, add a tad of butter, and enjoy the heck out of them!

You can add whatever you wanted to the muffins or just leave them as regular banana muffins! I think cranberries or strawberries would be awesome too. You can get as crazy as you want!

However you try this dish, enjoy it! 

Thirsty Thursday: Super Hydrating Water

I love water. No joke. I can easily drink over a gallon of water a day. I like it the best when it's practically frozen and hurts your teeth a little when you guzzle it down. But as much as I love the good ole taste of water, sometime I like to jazz things up a bit and add some flavor to it. 

My newest obsession for flavoring my water is using a variety of citrus fruit, cucumbers, and mint. Now of course you could alter this to suit your tastes. When I first tried it I thought it tasted like tangy dirt water. Not gonna lie to you here. But now I've learned how to balance all of the flavors and make it just right for me. 

I like to slice my delicious flavorings into slices and keep the mint leaves whole. I love the taste of cucumber in my water so I like to add a hefty amount of slices. I'm still not a huge fan of lemon water which is why I keep it to 3 thin slices. 

I've always been told that adding things like this to your water will show good improvements on your health. Now I don't know about my insides, but I know it definitely helped my skin! After 4 days of drinking this once a day, almost 85% of my skin problems disappeared. My zits and blackheads were gone, my complexion was brighter, and I just looked like I was glowing. 

I mean it's worth a shot right? 

What I Ate Wednesday

I know you're super curious as to what I ate today... Well, here ya go!

Breakfast:

I love love love Ruby Red Grapefruits! They are beyond amazing! Just sprinkle a little bit of stevia on them and you are good to go! Bananas are another favorite of mine. The keep me full for quite some time. I've also read that bananas help to calm depression. Now I'm not saying I'm depressed, but I haven't been the happiest person for quite a while, hence the lack of blog posts. So after I had a banana the other day and noticed that my mood had gotten better, I bought a crap ton of bananas... I'm gonna need to make some banana bread now... And we can't forget the Apple Maple Chicken Sausages! OMGoodness these are beyond delicious. And so easy to cook too. 

Lunch:

Not the healthiest of lunches I suppose. I had one of those Marie Calendar's meals. It was the Shrimp and Chicken Alfredo I think... I tossed the box before I could remember what it was! It was the best thing I've ever eaten... but it wasn't terrible either. And of course another banana. Trying to get as many in as I can before it's bread time!

Dinner:

So, I ate it all before I could take a picture of it. Sorry, I was seriously hungry. Just imagine delicious food. 

For dinner Briam and I had leftover homemade fried rice from last night along with Sesame Garlic Chicken! I love this stuff. I'm pretty addicted to Chinese food, so being able to make it at home is a super plus! Probably should've had some more veggies with dinner but hey, we're running low on food right now, time to hit up the grocery store! 

Dessert:

Only a few Milano cookies and some almond milk for me! I love soaking my cookies in the milk until they're super soft. This just makes them even more delicious! 

Drink of The Day:

I love my super tasty hydrating water! I started drinking this and it was amazing what happened to my skin! Practically all of my trouble spots were gone! My skin was more clear and brighter than I've seen it in a long time. The recipe for this super hydrating water will be up tomorrow on Thirsty Thursday! 

What did you eat today?

Tasty Tuesday: Fresh Bruschetta

It's quite a revelation really. Me, Christina, eating an entire carton of tomatoes. Well, the world is coming to an end, I love you all, goodbye. 

Okay guys, really though, this recipe has changed my dislike for tomatoes into a serious obsession. This bruschetta tastes so fresh and delicious. I made it for Braim the other night and he was talking away about something at work and, turns out, I ate over half of the bowl! It was so freaking good! 

I hope you all try out this recipe and love it just as much as I do! 

Ingredients:

1 Carton of Grape Tomatoes (cut into 8ths)

5-6 Basil Leaves 

2-3 TBSP of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese (to taste)

Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Cut the tomatoes into 8ths. Put into bowl.

2. Chop basil and add to the tomatoes. 

3. Add the EVOO, salt, and pepper. 

4. Grate the cheese over the tomatoes. 

5. Mix together and enjoy! 

You can eat this alone, put on top of Italian bread, or even add some Balsamic glaze! 

However you try this dish, enjoy it!

Recipe: Special Holiday Sugar Cookies

I love cookies, and so does Briam. I wanted to make a holiday treat that was fun, flavorful, and easy to make. I found this recipe from Alton Brown and altered it just a little bit to my liking and how I wanted to make the cookies. To see how to make your own holiday sugar cookies, keep reading! Don't forget to share your sugar cookies with me on Twitter and Instagram by using the hashtag #cmxoxosugarcookies 

What You'll Need:

3 C All Purpose Flour, 3/4 tsp Baking Powder, and 1/4 tsp Salt 

1 C Unsalted Butter (softened), 1 C Sugar, 1 Egg (beaten), 1 tbsp Milk for dough and 6 tbsp for icing, 3 C Powdered Sugar for icing

Extracts: Mint, Cinnamon, and Raspberry. Food Coloring: Green, Red, and Blue

Holiday Cookie Cutters

Directions:

Sift together the flour , baking powder, and salt. Set Aside. 

Mix butter and sugar until mixed thoroughly and looks like the picture below 

Ta Da! 

Add the egg (I forgot to beat mine, still did just fine) and 1 tbsp of milk. Beat again. 

Add the flour mixture to your butter mixture and beat until it becomes a solid dough. Separate  into 3 different bowls.  

Add 1 tbsp of food coloring and extract to each respective dough bowls and mix together. Roll them in plastic wrap and let set in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  

Bake your cookies at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. They should be slightly brown around the edges. 

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree 

Some of mine had too much fun in the oven...  

To make the icing: Combine 3 C Powdered Sugar with 6 tbsp of Milk. I t will look and taste like what goes on a cinnamon bun.  

SPRINKLES!!!!

MORE SPRINKLES!!!!

SO MANY SPRINKLES!!!!!

Let the icing harden for about 1 hour and plate your cookies! Yummy! 

 To see the full video recipe, click here!