Thirsty Thursday | Vanilla Lemon-Limeade

This week's installment of 'lets pretend this drink is a cocktail" looks a lot like lemonade. It also looks a lot like the only non-water or coffee thing I want to drink right now. Vanilla Lemon-Limeade is a dressed up version of that ubiquitous summer sipper.

I had a crazy crazy pregnancy for lemonade and there wasn't even time to let sugar dissolve. Luckily I had some vanilla simple syrup on hand (I use it for iced coffee, because I'm fancy…) so I threw that into some lemon juice and water. My crazy pregnant mind was blown.

Turns out lemon and lime (and citrus in general) is pretty awesome for pregnant ladies. Besides being loaded with vitamin C, citrus may help with nausea and aid digestion for mamas-to-be. Sometimes I wish the same were true for Champagne.  Still this Vanilla Lemon-Limeade feels like a fancy cocktail in my hand while I'm drinking it.

Both the vanilla and lime juice cut the acidity of the lemon juice - making this ade taste softer and sweeter than traditional lemonade. You can use all lemon juice, if thats what you're craving!

Vanilla Lemon Limeade 
Makes 1 1/2 quarts

1 cup Vanilla Simple Syrup, recipe follows
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 quart water
pinch of salt
Ice, lemon and lime slices to garnish

Combine syrup, citrus juices, water and salt and chill for at least an hour before serving.

Vanilla Bean Simple Syrup 
Makes 3 cups

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Combine the sugar, water and vanilla bean in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cool completely before using.

Baked Falafel with Simple Yogurt Dressing

There is a lot of cooking in my kitchen for other people - steak for my husband, a whole series for my daughter, BBQ for my in-laws. This Baked Falafel is just for me. I could eat meatless hearty salads for every meal and I love greek food. The hubby will pass on tomatoes and olives and our little darling is only really interested in strawberries and cheese toast these days. 

Luckily - I'm the only cook in the house and everyone just has to deal with my whims. Just kidding, being a wife and mom just means I need meals that 1. I love and 2. I can adapt for my sweet finicky family. This Baked Falafel is good like that. My husband will eat these in a pita pocket without the tomatoes and olives and with very little yogurt sauce. Ella will have her sauce on the side, actually she'll have everything separate, please. Me? I love to eat these guys on a big bed of lettuce with lots of feta, lots of ripe tomatoes, and lots of stinky olives. The falafel and Simple Yogurt dressing also make a pretty hearty appetizer with some sliced cucumbers. 

Like most of the recipes I share here - these Baked Falafel are adaptable and forgiving. Out of cornmeal? Use all-purpose flour. Hate mint? Just chop up some parsley. The yogurt sauce can handle some red wine vinegar instead of the lemon (because 9 times out of 10 -  I forgot to buy the lemon). 

Baked Falafel 

makes 24 small falafel patties, 4-6 servings 

2 (16 ounces) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed 

1 small onion or shallot, grated 

1 clove garlic, minced 

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup finely chopped minced herbs - I like thyme, oregano and mint but parsley is a good neutral 

1 teaspoon smoked paprika 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

olive oil 

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Mash together the chickpeas, onion, garlic, cornmeal, herbs, paprika and salt with a potato masher in a large bowl until most of the chickpeas are smashed and the mixture holds together when pressed. You can also pulse the mixture in a food processor 10-15 times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs and also holds together when pressed. 

Coat a baking sheet with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Scoop the chickpea mixture into 2 tablespoon sized balls (I like a small fisher for this) and flatten slightly. 

Bake for 12 minutes, flip and bake for another 12 to 15 minutes or until crisp. Serve with Simple Yogurt Dressing, pita bread, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. 

Simple Yogurt Dressing 

makes about 1 cup dressing

1 cup greek yogurt 

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

1 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs - such as chives and mint

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

Mix together yogurt, lemon juice, herbs, and salt. Let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes before serving. 

Psst. This is how I set up the components of a greek salad for Ella. She is 1000% guaranteed to eat the bread, yogurt sauce, and cucumbers. Every once in a great while she will eat the tomatoes and the feta too - so I keep trying.

THIRSTY THURSDAY | Pineapple Coconut Lassi

Let's pretend this Pineapple Coconut Lassi is a breakfast cocktail, okay? Because the world just needs more breakfast cocktails. Plus its kind of like a Pina Colada in smoothie form.

As I said early this week - we've been drinking our summer away in smoothies around here (especially since I can't drink any cocktails right now) and lassis are one of the yummiest, not too sweet smoothies we all need to be drinking more of. 

A lassi is traditionally made with yogurt and mango, seasoned with a little salt and served on the side of spicy grilled meats. This Pineapple Coconut version uses coconut milk in place of the yogurt and pineapple instead of the mango, which makes it pleasantly sweeter than a traditional lassi. 

You can use fresh, canned, or frozen pineapple for this Pineapple Coconut Lassi. I can't verify that this would be 100% delicious with a little bit of dark rum in there, too (but my husband swears it is…).

Coconut Pineapple Lassi
makes 2 servings

2 cups chopped pineapple
2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup ice
1/4 cup pineapple juice
pinch of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, plus more for garnishing
toasted coconut flakes, optional for garnishing

What's your favorite summer smoothie?

Measuring Moments + Sweet Cream Biscuit Recipe

I've started and stopped this post 76 times in the last 4 weeks. I wanted to share where I was, why I was away, and that I would be back, but concise words never came to me. I just couldn't find the best way say - I've just been measuring moments.

Friday was my last day at my full time job of over 7 years. The first job I had as a culinary school graduate. The job where I started as an intern and left as a recipe developer, project manager, food stylist, and food media specialist. I started as a single 20-something and am leaving as a wife and mother on the brink of her thirties. The end of my full time job has been hard - it's made me introverted and reflective. Seven years is a lot of moments - and in preparing all my files I relived them all over again. I wanted to give my job all of me for the last month. So I stepped away from the blog for a bit. I still feel timid about coming back here - I'm just starting a new routine, trying to figure out my roles as a freelance professional and work-at-home mom.

The other exciting news is that I'm pregnant with baby #2! We're expecting him/her in early November.  We will not be finding out the sex of this baby (per my husband's request!). If you've been reading since before I had Ella, you might remember that I was pretty much sick my entire pregnancy. The first trimester of this pregnancy was also really rough - I could barely stand to think about food. But I've been feeling much much better the last two weeks, so my money is on this little biscuit being a baby boy.

Ella's growing like a weed - devouring books, telling us wild stories, and trying to learn how to use the potty (mostly for the temporary tattoos). We took a day trip to Chattanooga. We went to visit all of the MawMaws (and my Nana) for Mother's Day. We got a new HVAC system. I started doing some really fun food styling with my photographer friend Jeff Roffman. May was mostly a really great month and with so many big life changes happening at once I wanted to put down my phone, turn off my computer, and experience it all with my eyes wide open.

I'll be back in this space more regularly and updating my portfolio site with new client work and collaborations every month. It feels good to be back. Thank you so much for your patience.

Sweet Cream Biscuits
makes about 18 (1 1/2 inch) biscuits

Ella and I made these for our Mother's Day picnic and served them with roasted strawberries and lightly sweetened whipped cream. We also had them toasted with butter and jam the next day.

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream plus more for topping
coarse sanding or turbinado sugar for topping

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the vanilla extract and 1 cup of cream to the dry ingredients, stirring as you pour in the cream. Stir to combine.  Add 2 more tablespoons of cream as necessary to create a moist, but not sticky dough.

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Gently press the disk out into a 3/4″-thickness.

Use a small biscuit cutter to cut small circles from the dough. Place the biscuits close together on the prepared sheet pan.  Brush each biscuit with heavy cream and sprinkle generously with sanding sugar.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.


Remove from the oven and serve warm.