Sometimes you need a cookie. Man, sometimes a girl needs a cookie! Need I say more? However, it’s never just any cookie. When I’m craving a cookie I look for a few specifics: warm and fluffy on the inside, crisp on the outside and not too sweet. I know I know, a cookie that isn’t too sweet? Crazy! But honestly, what I look for is texture and a hint of sweetness to curb my craving and not give me a sugar rush and consequent crash. How do you remedy such a conundrum? Panela Cookies!

Panela Cookies are delicious. They are great on the go being small in size and big in flavor, with a moist cake center and crisp edges. And, best of all, they are easy to make!

I have been on a cookie craze lately. I think it is with all of the wedding planning. I keep trying to think of all the desserts that I can have at the wedding now that the venue has let us know that we don’t have to pay any extra fees for the vegan treats I wanted to bring in. That was incredible, because as I mentioned in an earlier post, I was hitting a road block with the desserts (with my mother especially). But, I was not deterred from my goal of having an all vegan dessert buffet.

This is going to come together with a cake and possible cupcakes from Sticky Fingers and the rest of the desserts from Chez Hareg. She makes the most incredible cookies that I buy at Wholefoods, the petite palmier’s are my favorite, and best of all they are egg and dairy free! (and peanut free for those of you, like myself, that have to stay away from those nutty legumes). So now I am going through my own archives of cookies to see what I have that is vegan, what I can make vegan, and what was simple delicious.

Panela Cookies fit the bill! They aren’t vegan, but I think with a few tweaks they could be vegan, and really they are just an incredible treat.

Enjoy them, store them and keep them away from your guests. If not, you’ll find you wish you had taken my advice since you’ll be OUT of cookies.

¡Buen provecho!

So I have told you all that I am vegetarian bordering on vegan. It isn’t as tough as you think. Honestly, I was completely vegan for a few months and when I went back to milk and eggs I found that they weren’t as delicious as before. I suppose my taste buds changed. You know what else changed? My cravings for meat. I went from no existent to eating bacon and chorizo when I can get it. And now what am I craving? Picadillo Tacos!Picadillo Tacos were an idea I had because I wanted to add the flavors of pan de jamon to everything. I love the combination of olives and raisins: tart and sweet. The vinegar from the olives cuts through the sweetness of the raisins, while the raisins bring out a little bit of that fruity taste from the oil on the olives. Simply delicious combination. I had used it in breads, stuffing, rice and quinoa – and now it was time for ground beef tacos.

Picadillo is a traditional Latin American dish that varies by country, but each is a combination of tomatoes and ground beef or pork. My version adds the lovely olive and raisin combination, as well as a hefty dose of onion, which also brings bite and sweetness to the dish.

Bringing together golden raisins, pimento olives, onion, sweet red pepper, a touch of agave and ground pork sautéed to perfection, Picadillo Tacos bring sweet and salty together in crispy, crunchy shells for a meal you can’t resist. Why choose ground pork for this picadillo recipe? Flavor for one thing! Ground pork is on average 70 percent lean and 30 percent fat which makes it perfect for sautéing and grilling. The fat is what makes the meat juicy and flavorful, but because of pork’s naturally mild flavoring it is best prepared with added spice.

 Ground pork is not only easy to cook, it is very versatile in recipes. Add crumbled pork onto pizzas and salads, make juicy burgers, meatloaf, lasagna and, as in this case, taco filling! The recipes you can conjure are only limited by your imagination and your spice rack.

Speaking of your spice rack, all you need for this recipe is salt and pepper. This recipe relies on the interplay of the flavors of the ingredients. Combining sweet and savory, which is evidenced to work excellently with any cut of pork, Picadillo Tacos are your ticket to a delicious, hands on meal bursting with flavor without busting your budget.

Update your dinner and try these Picadillo Tacos. You won’t regret it. Actually, you may just make it your new staple for taco night!

This week I have been investigating the possibility of making my own wedding invitations, meaning designing my own wedding invitations. Wedding preparations are going as planned. We are right on schedule. We need to pick up the painting of Napoleon for our “save the dates” and square that away. We have the lovely Emilie from Bliss on our team now, and with Mathy as our photographers and Blend as my makeup team everything is coming together. That is, except for the actual invitations.

I have looked into lots of invitations. Most of them we can’t get because they are too expensive, they require a 50 unit minimum, or a combination of the two. However, I have though of a few ideas that could help. One was stamping and embossing. Ohsobeautifulpaper.com has a whole section devoted to DIY invitations done in this manner. However, the price started adding up fast when I only need to make 20 invitation sets.

Aren’t those lovely!?!

Then I thought, why not DIY letterpress. There is a machine called the EPIC 6, which you can use to make your own letterpress invitations. Again, this seemed like a great idea but the time and effort, a long with all of the additional costs came out to only $100 less than getting our suites flat printed. This did work for some people though, which gorgeous results!

Yeah I know, super gorgeous!

Then I was thinking, why don’t I just design some that I love. Say, for instance the ones above. If I could find some letterpressed or embossed paper that I liked, I could just print a similar invitation on that flat printed. I would have the element of texture with price conscious flat printing.

So far Lee and I have found a few things that we like. Watercolor seems to be a big theme for us, especially because our Save the Dates will have a painting of Napoleon. I may do the water color myself, to add texture to the paper as well. On the other hand, there are a lot of invitations that are flat printed with watercolor art that look fabulous as well.

So the search is on to find the perfect invitation and create it myself. I may have them professionally printed, so I can get a higher quality than my little inkjet can provide. What’s nice about this is I can get creative with the envelopes, liners and accessories. Velvet sash? Sparkly sheen? What about a wax seal? The possibilities are endless.

Once thing I know for sure is that I am geeking out about it. First I thought I would do an ode to doctor who, now it’s game of thrones… just a little something that only the geeks like Lee and I would notice. And then I thought… they should just be an ode to us.

And that’s that!

What do you think we should do? Have you made your own DIY invitation? Send me links and let me know!

I have been away for a bit, and I apologize for that. These past week has been full of fun and mayhem. My sister came to visit and we finally tried the cake that Lee and I will be having at the wedding. Sticky Fingers! Delicious, fluffy little morsels that rival any cupcake you can face it off with. We have also looked into tea cookies and a Viennese dessert table from Chez Hareg. It’s gotten me thinking about the sweet treats that I love to make at home and one very particular one came to mind: alfajores!

These beauties came about for an article I did for The Latin Kitchen. I had never made them before, and consequently a friend of mine had just gone to Argentina to visit family and brought me back some authentic alfajores to try. They were two crisp, flavorful cookies sandwiched together with a smooth chocolaty ganache that was rich and creamy. But then I thought, if these were fresh how amazing would they be? PRETTY AMAZING was my conclusion!

Making these isn’t difficult, it is just a little time consuming. It can also be done in batches, like making all the cookies first, next day making the filling, next day assembly. It can also be done all at once, but at that point it may be a bit overwhelming. It’s funny because soon after making about 2 dozen alfajores (and having eaten a dozen myself) I thought it would be a good idea to make holiday mailers for the clients I already have and prospective clients. Each box had”an alfajores kit” which included a picture of the assembled delicious, 6 cookies, a jar of homemade dulce de leche and  a small pack of candied sweet and spicy almonds.

I got rave reviews and wish I took pictures of the mailers because they were adorable. Alas, you will just have to use your imagination. There was a lot of orange and holiday cheer built into them. I digress, these little crisp, crunchy, light cookies come together with  dulce de leche and coated with chopped almonds. They are delicious, and it’s time for you to make them and understand how truly wonderful homemade alfajores really are.

Although, doesn’t everything taste better homemade? Hell to the YES (it does)!