Christmas Brunch Pastry Ideas

Do you make food for brunch on Christmas? It has become a bit of a tradition for me to make a Christmas brunch. Nothing fancy or big, just mimosas (maybe) and a yummy dish for the hubs and I. A sit-down-together breakfast never happens in our house, so why not have Christmas be the time when we are able to enjoy each others company and relax before family and friends start coming around!

This year's Christmas brunch is going to have similar themes to last year's, but add some sweets in as well. The hubs loves salmon and capers for breakfast, so I am thinking I will do some type of smoked salmon dish and something more sweet for me as well. Here are a few ideas I have found for great Christmas breakfast pastries!

Lemon Raspberry Tart

This is just too pretty to not be in the running for a Christmas brunch. Although, someone will need to help me figure out what crystallized ginger is.

Stuffed Caprese Bites

Ok, so these guys may not exactly be a pastry, but there is no reason all bready ooey gooey things need to be sweet. Some people even like salt over sugar. Besides, they just look so yummy!

Pumpkin Sweet Rolls

I bet that go your attention, right?! These look incredible and are, most likely, what sweet treat we will be eating come Christmas morning. The recipe is from Elle Penner, so a bit healthier than the usual.

Homemade Raspberry Danish

We may just be making this one this year because. Every year for Thanksgiving my Grandma gets a raspberry danish. I have not continued that tradition on Thanksgiving morning, but I am the only one who eats it! Eating this entire danish is surely much healthier than the grocery equivalent.

Hands Down, The Best Stuffing Ever!

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Are you looking for a good stuffing for all those friends and family this Thanksgiving?

Every year I make the vegetarian stuffing for myself and all our vegetarian and pescetarian family members. Most years, the carnivores of the family will try a bite or two but they never get more- that is, until last year. Last year, I decided to make this cornbread stuffing and everything changed. Instead of having plenty of my stuffing left and none of the "real stuff" as they call it, mine was the first gone and I could hardly get seconds.

Vegetarians and meat eaters alike love this stuff. And really, I cannot blame them. It tastes like home, happiness, Thanksgiving traditions, a dash of sweet, and a bit of salt all mixed in one. This is seriously the best stuffing ever. If you have looked at the ingredients, you may be thinking that I have lost my mind since it has chicken broth as an ingredient. Well, I have not lost my mind and forgotten that chicken is a meat. Thankfully, this is an easy swap out of vegetable broth instead of the chicken.

The reason I did not put this recipe on the blog last year is because I needed some family guinea pigs to see if it was just as good with the vegetable broth. Turns out, it is! Even my brother-in-law's mother, a southern cook extraordinaire, loved it. So, here are the simple changes I made.

1. Switch out chicken broth for vegetable broth
2. Use 3/4 cornbread and 1/4 white
3. After adding the broth I let it sit overnight and added a bit more before sticking it in the oven.
4. No breadcrumbs over top.
5. And finally, here is a direct link to the recipe to make life a bit easier :)

This recipe is so simple and so good, I suggest everyone throw out their other Thanksgiving stuffing plans for this year and do Vegetarian Cornbread Stuffing instead! Trust me, you would not regret the decision ;)

As far as vegetarian and healthy sides go, I will also be making this Sweet and Spicy Brussels Sprouts recipe for Thanksgiving this year. Since we have some family who enjoy spicy and some that do not, my plan is to add no chili flakes to one batch and have another that is spicy enough for everyone to enjoy! Gah, I cannot wait to put all these in my mouth!

Also, as I write this I have an adorable, giant baby cat purring on my lap and snuggling my face. If you, like me, cannot get enough of adorable baby cats, I would suggest heading over to my insatgram page for blog updates and all the adorable cat pics your heart desires!

And, we will be having a motivation post a bit later today.

Anniversaries

Happy Friday! I hope you week went fantastically! Last night was our 4th anniversary and the hubs took me to a super yummy new steakhouse that we could walk to if we wanted called the Capital Grill. It was incredible. Really. If someone asked me what my last meal would be, I think that would be it. The restaurant just opened about a month ago and everything has that new but not too new feeling. The service, incredible. Food, incredible. Drinks, incredible. Now, I just want to go back!

To start, we sat at a table with fresh red rose petals in the shape of a heart in the corner of the restaurant. We were also brought complimentary champagne on arrival. Once the wait staff came over, they showed us how to work the iPad wine menu that went by food parings, by the glass, taste profile, 90 score rating, wine types (sparkling, white, red), or recommended wines. I ended up getting a glass of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio to go with my meal.

And, speaking of meals, oh-my-goodness! Ok, so, with the hubs help I decided to go for it and get the broiled lobster since it was a super nice restaurant and it's lobster and also because they took it out of the shell which makes any shellfish at a restaurant a must do. For my appetizer I got the lobster bisque soup and they also brought out a complimentary lobster salad for us to try.

If you ever go to Capital Grille, get the lobster bisque. I think there is more lobster in that soup than there is bisque! Overall, I ate about 3-pound of lobster in one sitting because of how much was in the salad, bisque, and the actual lobster- which was two whole pounds and the smallest one they had.

Oh yes, and the hubs got the Delmonico steak with the Kona rub for dinner and the mozzarella salad for his appetizer. His was great but we both agreed that mine was better. Way better. It was the best lobster I have ever eaten. Hands down. 

Our waitress was also super nice and gave us plenty of great suggestions for the next time we come ( love her!). One of her biggest was to get the lobster mac n' cheese. It is a side option (we did not get it because that just seemed a bit much on the lobster front) but some people get it for their entire meal. Instead, we decided on the roasted mushrooms and the grilled asparagus. Almost all of the sides were placed in boxes and now sit in our fridge. The main protein was just too good and too big to trifle with the veggies.

Next up was dessert. There were too many options and I was kind of hoping for a lava cake since I have an inappropriate love of lava cakes. But alas, it was not an option. Instead, we made the hard decision of the lighter creme brulee over the incredible (and big) hazelnut cake- it has 5 layers.

Of course, being that we had the most incredible waitress ever, she also gave us a slice of the hazelnut cake, on the house, in our take-away bag along with four red roses. I seriously cannot wait until it is a sociably appropriate time to eat that cake. If it was a breakfast food, that think would be gone by now.

We also did some other super fun things yesterday, but the Capitol Grille was the highlight! I had a different post ready for today, but just needed to tell you about the amazing night the hubs planned for us. This was the first time we celebrated our wedding in our home town. Usually, we are on a weekend trip or a week long vacation but we opted out for this one. Just coming off our Greece trip and having some massive business and personal goals, it made more sense to stay home and save our time and money this year. I do not really know how much money we saved going to the Capital Grille last night, but having a hometown anniversary celebration at a super nice, new restaurant was so. much. fun.

If you go to the Capitol Grille, here is what I recommend: Get a glass of wine to go with your meal that is recommended by the sommelier, then, get the lobster bisque soup. You will not regret it. Two people could easily share the Delmonico steak if meat is what you want. As for sides, one side per two people is plenty. The asparagus were yummy and the roasted mushrooms went well with the steak, but I would probably opt for the mashed potatoes if we went again. Or the lobster mac n' cheese if you are not having lobster as your main dish. Unlike most fancy places, the serving sizes are crazy big. You will not leave hungry and you will not need a bunch of sides to fill you up. A soup starter, meal, and one side is plenty. If you are really pushing it, go for a lighter dessert option or just take the cake home and eat it an hour or so later.

Happy weekend and so sorry for the super long post about food. But, it was really good food and I cannot find a better reason to write than the noms.

What is your dream anniversary?

App Review: Daily Green Smoothie Challenge

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Sometimes, life is just easier when we can revert to our childhood days and have someone decide what we should eat for us. That is where dieticians, nutritionists, meal plans, and handy-dandy apps can come in quite useful- especially if you do not have the extra dough laying around to hire a private chef.

I have been using a few smoothie and juicing apps to get on a healthier habit pattern. One of these is the Daily Green Smoothie Challenge. This smoothie app has plenty of great smoothie recipes along with all the nutritional information your heart could desire. Another great perk is that you can easily add all ingredients to a shopping list that will place all items on a categorized list according to where they are in the grocery store.

The smoothie recipes for this challenge are meant for mornings and are filled with fruits, honey, flax seeds, yogurt, and a few other knick knacks from here and there. I opted to add fresh baby spinach or baby kale to most of my smoothies to increase the vitamins, minerals, and proteins. It did not make them taste worse and the only one that tasted bad at all was the first Orange Creamsicle Smoothie. Be weary though, not all smoothies are created equal. Some are ridiculously low in calories and sugar while others are (what seems) like the equivalent of a Chipotle burrito.

Now to the app... Once you get into it, the app is quite clean and easy to navigate. There is plenty of information available about each smoothie and plenty of smoothies to choose from. It's also free, which is pretty great too. Unfortunately, like my Dad has always told me, "nothing is ever free, not even the prize in the Cracker Jack box." What this app lacks in price, it makes up for in advertisements. Any time you open the app or your phone goes to sleep, a new advertisement pops up and must be exited out of then a pop up will appear confirming you want to exit out. NOT FUN.

Other than the ridiculous free-not-free side of this app, it is pretty good. If you are looking for a price happy way to reboot your diet, I would suggest trying this one out. The app is free and there are no ridiculous ingredients that cost more than the mixer you are putting them in. A pretty good thing the way I see it :)