Coconut Macaroon Sandwiches

These were AMAZING! I always love coconut macaroons and they just so happen to be gluten free. But it's not Passover and Pops (who loves my "coconut do-dads") wasn't around so I didn't want to make boring old plain coconut macaroons. I happened to have some left over plain buttercream lying around and decided to make macaroon sandwiches (inspired, of course, by traditional French macarons). Martha Stewart has a recipe in her Cookies cookbook for just such a thing. I used her proportions for the macaroon "dough" which was pretty much perfect for scooping and molding once chilled. They baked up beautifully and didn't fall apart at all (a problem I sometimes have with macaroons).

Healthy Breakfast

For something a little different, I thought I'd make something that wasn't sweet. Actually I cook a reasonable amount, I just don't usually think it's blog worthy. This, however, is definitely worthy of my blog.

My mom and I are trying to eat healthier. This means that breakfast has mainly been fat free yogurt with berries and granola or oatmeal made with water (I make a mean oatmeal, but it does get old). Occasionally an egg white omelette breaks the monotony. I decided to mix things up. And about an hour later (my time management isn't great when I'm cooking...) we had oven baked home fries, sautéed mushrooms, and scallion scrambled eggs.

Individual Berry Crumbles

My mom has always loved Nigella Lawson's jumble berry crumble recipe. So from time to time I make a crumble mixture and leave it in the freezer so I can toss it on top of a ramekin of frozen berries and have dessert with almost no effort. Generally, I do this in the winter since I serve it hot out of the oven.

But then I thought about it and realized that a crumble would be the perfect use for fresh berries that were maybe getting a little sad. My cousin was coming over for dinner so I needed a gluten free dessert and my strawberries weren't fresh enough for Eton mess (the dessert I'd planned to make). What a perfect opportunity to test my theory.