Heavenly Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes

Happy National Donut Day! Give one of my favorite recipes a try! 🙂

kitchen anatomy

One of my favorite things about fall is when Starbucks brings back the Pumpkin Spice Latte! Though I’m not ready for fall yet, I was craving pumpkin so I decided I would try to find a recipe to fulfill my craving. Boy did I succeed! These pumpkin doughnut holes are quite possibly my favorite thing I’ve ever made for breakfast. I can’t even tell you the last time I’ve had a doughnut–I can never bring myself to eat one even if I have the most severe cravings because I know they are fried and filled with fat. Besides the butter & sugar in this recipe, these are a pretty solid option to fulfill your craving without going overboard. I honestly didn’t adjust the doughnuts to look like they are glowing either–I swear they glow on their own they are that heavenly. Matt had a request for a cream cheese glaze…

View original post 369 more words

Slow Cooker Pork Loin and Sweet Root Vegetables

It has most certainly been awhile! You must be under the impression that I’ve been surviving on take out and peanut butter sandwiches!  No worries…things haven’t been that bad. School is a bit busy (aka overwhelming), so it has been a lot of slow cooker meals for us. Who ever created the crock pot, I thank you. I appreciate the lack of mess every evening and the fact that dinner is taken care of each morning before I walk out the door. This particular crock pot creation was a home run. Simple and delicious, what can be better?

The Ingredients:

• 1 pork loin (whatever size feeds your family best, the one I cooked was about 1.5 pounds); allow it to take the chill from the refrigerator off while preparing the rest of the recipe
• 1 large sweet onion, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2-3/4 cup fresh pineapple, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 large or 2 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (and whatever else may sound good in your refrigerator, diced potatoes would also be fantastic!)
• 1/4 cup apple cider or pineapple juice
• For the dry rub: 1/2 tsp. ancho chili powder, 1/2 tsp. cumin, 1/2 tsp. garlic salt, a pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper 

Mini Angel Food Cupcakes

Hi! Remember me!? I know…it has been a much longer hiatus than I anticipated! I apologize for just up and disappearing like that! In case you have been drooling over the mini angel food cupcakes, I thought that it was time that I FINALLY shared the recipe. What a cliff hanger, eh? Over a 2 month wait! On the bright side, school has been going fantastic! I am officially half way done my didactic year (thank goodness!). I hope you all have been enjoying the signs of spring:) I know I enjoyed the sunshine on my walk to the library this afternoon. Today I’ll share my recipe for the mini angel food cupcakes and hopefully get the one for the amazing, homemade strawberry buttercream frosting to you in the near future. I am looking forward to cooking with fresh ingredients over the next few months, so I promise to start sharing more again soon. I would love to hear from you! Any suggestions on receipes you’d like to see on kitchen anatomy in the near future? 

The Ingredients:

• 4 large egg whites
• ½ tsp cream of tarter
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup sifted powdered sugar
• ⅓ cup sifted flour
• Pinch of salt

I baked you something sweet for my SITS day!

Hello SITStahs!

Thanks for taking time out of your very busy days to come and check out what kitchen anatomy is all about! Since you are all my guests, I baked you something sweet. I wanted to make sure you were treated like my friends and if you are my friend, you are spoiled with lots of delicious treats. I decided to make some amazing mini angel food cupcakes with homemade fresh strawberry buttercream frosting in your honor. Since we’re virtual friends, I’ll be sure to enjoy each and every one of them while paying my gratitude to all of you. The calories don’t count if you’re doing it for friends right? That’s what I’ll tell myself at least…

Interested in the recipe? Stop back by later this week…I’m studying for a rather large (33% of my grade) pharmacology exam that is consuming my life for the near future. I promise to share it and you definitely don’t want to miss it. Ah, the joys of being a Physician Assistant student…never quite enough time in the day!

I appreciate you stopping by and look forward to visiting your website and seeing what you are all about! I hope you enjoy some of the recipes I created and that you are able to incorporate some of my creations into your recipe repertories. If you were looking for a specific recipe and don’t find it here, I would love some request. I love the challenge of creating new things in the kitchen.

Thanks again for stopping in! I hope you enjoyed it!

Philly Restaurant Week: Tequila’s

Delicious homemade chips and I really enjoyed the charred jalapeños. Matt found them a bit too spicy, but I loved them

It seems as though I have been doing more reviewing of restaurants lately then cooking. I promise that’s only half true but I wanted to share our final restaurant week experience with you! I’ll be back in the kitchen sharing new recipes in no time. Restaurant week will be continuing until February 1st for lunch and dinner and I really encourage you, if you are in the Philly area, to check out what one of many restaurants has to offer! Seriously, it’s one of my favorite things the city participates in because you’re able to try a variety of places and not kill your budget.

Anyhow, as promised Matt and I checked out Tequila’s for lunch for restaurant week. We were able to pick from their restaurant week menu a choice of appetizer, lunch, and dessert all for 20 bucks. It was our first time dining in and I was super impressed with the wait staffs attentiveness. I think that it has a great opportunity to be a lovely place to dine, but unfortunately for lunch they only seat in the bar area and we were the unlucky ones that got seated right by the door. The very, very, very drafty door. I think this really took away from the experience for me. I’m not one that enjoys shivering during a meal. I would definitely give dinner a try and would love to sample a margarita the next time we drop in.

Chicken Taquitos

Chicken Enchiladas

The Breakdown:

I ordered the chicken tortilla soup, the chicken enchiladas, and chocolate mousse cake. Matt ordered the chorizo omelet, chicken taquitos, and tres leche cake.

The Review:

Overall, we both enjoyed the authenticity of the dishes we ordered. I think that we have been spoiled with restaurants constantly offering innovative and creative food however. I found the food almost generic in a sense that I could have sampled similar tasting, authentic food at many of the restaurants in our old stopping ground of Indianapolis of all places. I wasn’t blown away by any means, but do think the food tasted good.

Appetizers:  I was quite disappointed in the chicken tortilla soup because it was mostly tortilla strips and nothing else. I literally had two pieces of small chicken in the some what oily broth. Matt however enjoyed the chicken taquitos, they were just okay to me. Perhaps I was too distracted by the cold to appreciate them?

Main Dishes: I ordered the chicken enchiladas and really enjoyed the corn tortillas. The food was severed very hot which I always appreciate. The red sauce was quite tasty and I enjoyed the queso fresco on the beans. Matt had the chorizo omelet which he said was quite good. I’m not a huge fan of omelets so I didn’t snag a bite, but he did say he’d order it again.

Dessert: This was by far the best part of the meal for us. I will be very, very disappointed if they don’t make all their desserts in house. We rarely, if ever order dessert, but since it was included in the price gave it a shot. Look how humongous this piece of cake is! It was so good in fact we ended up devouring the whole thing instead of bring it home as were our original intentions. The tres leche cake was equally as fantastic and has inspired me to start figuring out a recipe because I couldn’t get enough of it.

All in all it was a good experience. No new or innovative flavors that I’ve never tasted but solid authentic cuisine. I would love to check out their dinner menu and dining experience. We’d definitely go back because the food is tasty.

The show stealer, Chocolate Mousse Cake

Philly Restaurant Week: Amada

Restaurant week is a glorious time here in Philadelphia. It gives you an opportunity to sample the finest restaurants the city has to offer at a decent, prefixed price. Lunch starts at 20 dollars per person and dinner at 35 per person. Most include your choice of an appetizer, entree, and dessert. It’s a fantastic way to spend a date night and it’s currently going on here in Philly until February 1st. If you live here or have the chance to visit in the next few days, I’d highly recommend dining at as many places as you can.

Aged Manchego with Truffled Lavender Honey Cheese Board

We had the opportunity to dine at Amada on Friday night for the first time and it was amazing. Amada serves “authentic Spanish tapas based on the earthy Mediterranean flavors that have long been the passion and expertise of founder and executive chef, Jose Garces – but Chef Garces goes beyond tradition, interpreting centuries-old  tapas recipes.” That’s right, Iron Chef Garces. It was absolutely fantastic. I started off with a cocktail called the Matador that was made with ginger, Bourbon, and elderflower. It was probably one of my favorite cocktails I’ve had in the city.

Shrimp, Chorizo, Garbanzo Bean Purée Flatbread

The Breakdown

• For the prefixed menu you were able to select two appetizer sized tapas, a larger entree sized tapas, and a dessert. There were a total of four of us, so we each chose different things to maximize our sampling from the menu. It was a ton of food and we each left more than happy and full. The highlight of the meal for me was the Serrano Ham and Melon. The cantaloupe was perfectly candied and served with a micro green salad on top. It was the show stealer for me. We also enjoyed the Ham Croquettes and the Braised Beef Short ribs flatbread. I apologize that there are not more photos, but food was being served and dishes removed from our table at a rapid pace. For dessert we sampled the Arroz con Leche and the Crema Catalana (Spanish Custard, Pistachio, Pumpkin Semifreddo, and Cranberry).

The Review

• I was very happy with this dining experience. We all left satiated and happy with our selections. The highlight of the meal, like I pointed out, was the Serrano ham and Cantaloupe as well as the cocktail. We also sampled the Tinto Sangria (Spiced red wine, orange, apple, and cinnamon) that was very delicious. The Arroz con Leche was the only thing that I wouldn’t order again. All of our other tastings were fantastic and I look forward to a return visit soon. 

You still have a few more days to get out and try restaurants! Be sure to take advantage of the great deals if you are in close proximity to the city. We are trying Tequila’s for lunch, I’ll be sure to update you on our dining experience. Enjoy!

Things I Love: Decor

I spend so much time pinning projects and recipes onto Pinterest, but like I imagine many of you, never actually get around to doing half of the things I get excited about. I thought that it was really time that I start documenting the Things I Love, so I can not only share some amazing things I’ve found with all of you, but to also perhaps get motivated to try them. I’d love to see some of the things you love as well! We are planning on moving in September, so it would be great to start brainstorming the new decor in our new place!

How amazing is this accent wall? Not only would it be a quick project, but if I ever decided to change it up it’d be a quick and easy project to transform.

1. One of my favorite blogs is a beautiful mess. It is a great mix of new recipes, DIY projects, fashion, and overall style. Many of my study (procrastination) breaks are spent on this website. I have a confession to make and that is that I love all things nautical. I think maybe it’s my inner Mainer trying to maintain some of her roots in the big city of Philadelphia? I actually have this iPhone case…I think a small accent wall like this would be amazing (and would perfectly feed into my obsession).
2. I adore this piece, it is from West Elm. I would love to figure out a way to turn it into a DIY for less at home. I imagine it’s totally possible, and probably should look into figuring out the details. Any tips from anyone that’s made their own ottoman?

Anything that even resembles the chevron pattern is immediately something I drool over. Love this, not the price.

Yes please. I love this look.

3. I can’t get enough of this look. I think that it’d be amazing in a nursery (some day!).

I hope you enjoyed a few of the things I’m loving this minute. What are some of the things you are crushing on?

Our Favorite Sushi in the City: Doma

Yum. That’s all I can really say for an introduction. I’ll try harder for you though, because yum isn’t enough to describe how amazing this sushi actually is. We go once a week and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Hi, I’m Meggan and I am a Doma fanatic. They may or may not even know us by name, place our order without talking to us first, and bring us out piping hot edamame. Free edamame I may add because we have turned into that big of regulars. Doma is without our favorite place to dine in the city and though it is a quaint space because we have become such addicts, they always manage to squeeze us into a table with a minimal wait. It can get pretty busy though and I highly recommend making a reservation. Their Tuna Flatbread is to die for. So much in fact, I didn’t even get an opportunity to take a picture. I promise you won’t be disappointed and that it is without a doubt worth every penny.

This iPhone picture just doesn’t give their rolls justice…

The Breakdown

• Triple Double Spicy Tuna Roll:  tuna, spicy sauce, siracha, tempura crunch, scallion, seared albacore tuna on top with a  sichimi pepper sweet glaze
• Naked Salmon: spicy salmon & avocado, over crispy sticky rice, masago and jalapeño slices on top
• Spicy Tuna Crunch Roll 

Additional Recommendations 

• Stuffed jalapeño tempura: tuna, cream cheese, scallion, lightly battered topped with eel sauce
• Tuna Flatbread: tortilla flatbread topped with sliced tuna, fresh guacamole, garnished with jalapeno, red onion, cilantro, sweet glaze and spicy mayo

The Review

We eat here weekly, what more is there to say? It’s amazing! If we caved into our cravings we’d probably eat there more like three times a week…but that would be embarrassing. Another bonus? If you pay in cash, you get 10% of your bill. Enjoy!