...nom-freaking-tasticness.

What? Beyonce can make bootylicious a real word and I can't say "nomfreakingtasticness?"

I acknowledge up front that this post has nothing to do with the house or neighborhood, however, I had to share. A few weeks back I read a post about this chocolate peanut butter stuff on the blog (never)homemaker* called Dark Chocolate Dreams. Ashley, of (never)homemaker, described it as, "It's basically vegan Nutella (with peanuts, not hazelnuts)."  Sold.

Mmm...fun to eat!

Skip to the third grocery store I looked in...found it! (Why I didn't just wait to look in Whole Foods is beyond me.) I somehow waited 48 entire hours before having a "good" reason to crack that bad boy open, but when I did - oh my!

It's chocolate...it's peanut butter...it's slightly out-of-focus chocolate peanut butter!

The first bite was straight off the spoon and unexpected - there wasn't that initial intense nutty flavor I'm accustomed to with peanut butter. Or even an overwhelmingly chocolate-y or sweet flavor...but then the peanut butter taste kicked in. YUM. 

The jar recommends eating it on a sandwich, or with bananas, or as an ice cream topping - all fantastic ideas in my book - but I really want to try and incorporate this into baking or cooking somehow (maybe monkey pancakes??). But since it was around 10pm, and I was not about to make cookies or pancakes or anything else that required cooking, I figured I'd try it atop some ice cream.  I heated up about two tablespoons and put it on chocolate chip ice cream (unfortunately I didn't have vanilla).

it puts the chocolate PB on the ice cream

nom nom nom

About 3.5 minutes later.

It was so good. Oh  the fun I'm going to have finding recipies to try this in. oh wait - THERE'S the new home connection! Duh.  Oh...wait a second....wait a second.....DARK CHOCOLATE DREAMS EBELSKIVERS!!!!!!

Hot damn, I think we have a winner for first use of DCD in a recipe AND first use of  the ebelskiver pan in new house. Perhaps I'll make a banana ebelskiver batter and put DCD in the middle - monkey pancake-esque, no?

 

*(never home)maker is a blog I stumbled upon via Apartment Therapy (or was it The Kitchn? Same difference.). It's full of great vegetarian/vegan recipes, some style & decor tips, and (if you're so inclined) some running tips. (All accompanied by pictures that my pictures aspire to look like.) I eat and I decorate. I don't run. Climb - yes. Lift - yes. "Yog" - yes. Run - not unless being chased. I digress - it's a really fun and upbeat blog that I've added to my reader. I suggest you do the same.

...Friday night pizza.

After my Thursday night, all I wanted to do on Friday night was come home, get some pizza, crash on my couch, and catch up on Burn Notice. (And why is it those are the nights I get multiple texts to go out?? Damn Murphy and his law. Damn it!) But the question was...where to get the pizza?? I've tried one pizza place, Key Pizza, because we drove past it the day I moved down here. The pizza was okay and I think they only have medium and up pizza sizes. I thought it was time to broaden my South Philly pizza horizons and share my findings with you, my dear readers. (what...no sarcasm there at all.)

I decided to walk a few blocks further than normal to try a new pizza place I've walked by before - Marra's on Passyunk. Apparently Marra's is some kind of South Philly pizza institution or something.

See how old-timey it looks? That's how you know it will be good. Right?

I went online to check out their menu, and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had personal sized pizzas!  I'm a big fan of "mini" pizzas (and almost all mini food) - pizzas that I won't be eating for days and days after I get it. My old pizza stand by - Pine Street Pizza - had mini pizzas for about $6-$7, it was perfect. So I was happy to find a potential replacement go-to pizza spot.

Anyway, I ordered a personal pizza with green peppers and picked it up about 30 minutes later. I wasn't expecting this:

The cheese goes blub blub blub...

It looked like they hacked up a green pepper into about six pieces and tossed it on the middle of the pizza. I mean seriously - I've never seen such large pieces of peppers on a pizza...it was slightly amusing.

Once I got past the oversized pepper pieces and unevenly cut slices (in small, medium, and large variety)...I tasted it. I have to say, it was pretty good. I have no deep insight to provide into the texture of the crust or the flavors of the sauce - it was just good, tasty pizza. The price point wasn't that bad either - I paid just under $8 with topping, tax, etc.

Okay, I lied. I do have some notes. The crust wasn't too doughy, but still crispy. Though I would have liked it to be a bit thinner. Oh, and smaller sized chunks of pepper. I would have liked to get some pepper with each bite instead of all at once.

Has Marra's become my new go-to? When I want a mini pizza, yes. Though I might pass on the green peppers next time.

...cooking!

I think I said it before and I'll continue to say it - having a functional kitchen, albeit small, makes all the difference when it comes to my enjoyment in and practice of cooking. I am eating way more vegetables and way less processed food.

Today's adventure involved my new food processor (Cuisinart 7 Cup model) and a new recipe for Potato Leek Soup (courtesy of The Kitchn).

I read a post on the Kitchn about a simple recipe for Potato Leek soup. I like soup and I like easy. Coming off my success at making Lentil Brown Rice Soup,  I was game for a new recipe to add to my repertoire.

It basically consisted of frying bacon, cutting up potatoes and leeks, and giving it all a whirl in the food processor. It's good eats for lazy people - my fave.

Potatoes and leeks bubblin' away - check out that steam!

mmm...bacon. And my new toy.

I have neither an immersion blender, nor a potato masher (whole other topic)...so mutiple batches had to go into the food processor in order to make this a soup and not, well, hot potato water.

This could be a recipe for a disatrous mess.

Mess averted. Looks like pea soup.

I topped the soup off with some crumbled bacon and thyme. The thyme made a very tasty addition.

If you squint, you can see the sprig of thyme. 

Lessons learned for the next time: salt the water more (I never salt my water enough) and process less for a more chunky texture. 

Now my freezer will be full of literally three things: Lean Cuisines, soup, and fudge.

...recipe fail.

I'm not a chef, but I think this recipe might be missing something important.

...why I love Fall.

Even though it's about 65 degrees out right now, I'm going to talk about the reasons I love Fall. They can be summed up in three words - foliage, fashion, and food.

Foliage:
Living in the Northeast, I am surrounded by hills of orange, red, and yellow.

Photo courtesy of  VisitPA.com

Fashion:
It gives me an excuse to buy new winter clothes, like this:

Food:

Aside from the Halloween candy, Fall is a time of apple cider, pumpkin pie, and Tastykake Spice Kake Krimpets. Mmm...

So readers, what do you love about Fall?