Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Hey Jaclyn: Baking in High Altitudes






Guess what I cooked up yesterday?!?! Actually, I baked it. Them. Whatever!! I baked chocolate chip cookies with the twins… I know, I know, it doesn’t sound like that big of a deal. But it kind of is considering I live in the desert, at a pretty gosh darn high altitude (almost 6000 feet above sea level)! It took me MONTHS to figure out how to adjust my cooking & baking when we moved here – I had no idea that living at a high altitude would make such a difference to so many things – even boiling water takes longer!

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Well, I digress, dear cousin. =) As a mom, chocolate chip cookies are a staple in my baking repertoire but when we moved to this teeny little mining town in New Mexico, I really had a hard time making this one work. I finally found the perfect recipe a couple months ago…. Truly, it’s just the recipe off the back of the Nestle Toll House bag of chocolate chips, following the high altitude adjustments. They turn out perfectly every time! I am hoping that your readers that live in remote high altitude areas, like mine, might find this helpful….



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 I also found this article handy; it talks about measurement adjustments for high altitudes in general. =)

Baking In High Altitudes:

http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?id=18476

http://allrecipes.com/howto/high-altitude-cake-baking/




Saturday, June 16, 2012

Book Signing: Zoyo Yogurt

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Craving some yogurt? Looking for the best gift in the world?! Stop on by Zoyo Yogurt this afternoon for my book signing from 1:00 - 3:00 pm


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I'd love to see you!! And Bring your friends by too! Zoyo is located off Chandler and the 10 fwy. Even if you've got my book already I'd love to share a yogurt with you --- maybe you'll remember you 
need a gift for a friend! 

See you this afternoon. 

Friday, June 15, 2012

Hey Jaclyn: Chicken and Ratatouille






Guess what I cooked up the other night??  Chicken & ratatouille pasta! Can you say delicious?!?! 

The twins have been obsessed with the movie “Ratatouille” lately so of course we had to try & make it. I looked up ratatouille on foodnetwork.com & found this recipe for “Round 2 Recipe – Chicken & Ratatouille Pasta”. 



Even though it’s not “traditional” ratatouille, I thought that Gary & the kids would like it better because of the pasta & chicken. Since this is a "Round 2 Recipe", there is another recipe within this one, for a grilled vegetable Panini… then the ratatouille pasta is made from the leftover vegetables. I didn’t do this because it wasn’t a "Round 2 Recipe" for me.  {Jackies note: Great idea by Food Network by the way - adding in additional recipes that you can make with leftover ingredients or meals - good one FN!}



I bought a fresh eggplant, a bag of frozen zucchini & yellow squash (I couldn’t find fresh yellow squash anywhere for some reason!!), canned tomatoes & chopped up a fresh onion. The basil was from the produce section… you know the ones that come in the little plastic boxes? 

That’s a lot of garbleygook I mean, information up there isn’t it?? This recipe was very simple; Vicki helped with most of it… everything except the chopping really.  It was simple, healthy & delicious. It dawned on me when I was chopping up the eggplant that I had never had it before…. & I loved it! It was sweet! {I didn’t know eggplant was sweet. LOL}

For the Chicken & Ratatouille Recipe from Food Network Click HERE, then follow Karen's suggestions. 







This recipe was great with chicken but would also be yummy with crumbled Italian sausage or smoke sausage!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Sonoran Living Live 6/12/12

Once again, this morning I had the wonderful opportunity to be on Live TV. It was such an honor to get a call from one of their booking agents to have us (SUGAR LOCO) featured on their show! (Thanks Susie).

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Today's line up on Sonoran Living included desserts from :

Sugar Jam Cookies
sugarjamcookies.com

Chaparral Homemade Ice Cream
www.chaparral-icecream.com

Smart Cookie
www.smartcookieaz.com

Honeymoon Sweets
honeymoonsweets.com

21 Cakes
www.21cakes.com


If you didn't get a chance to view it live here is the link to the segment: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/lifestyle/sonoran_living/Check-out-these-handmade-local-dessert-favorites

And of course - lotsa pictures!! 


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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Hey Jaclyn: Vicki's Baked Potato Bites





Guess what I cooked up tonight?? I haven't decided exactly what to call them yet but I'm thinking something along the lines of "Vicki's Baked Potato Bites" or "Vicki's Favorite Popped Potatoes".... Vicki {Karen's daughter - in case you guys didn't know} loved them & she said that they tasted like a baked potato that had popped open (she loves baked potatoes). Anyways... they were so simple but so yummy! I had some red potatoes that I'd purchased last week & not used for some reason so tonight I chopped them up into bite sized pieces (with the peels on), tossed them in some vegetable oil & then seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic, a little bit of paprika & a little bit of Montreal steak seasoning. I sprayed a cookie sheet with a little bit of cooking spray (just to be safe, cause we all know there's nothing worse than stuck-on potatoes!!!) & baked them @ 375 for about a half an hour or so, until they were fork tender. When I took them out of the oven, I sprinkled just enough shredded cheese to make any kid happy. Yum-o!

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They were so yummy! Perfect side for our grilled hot dogs tonight. The whole family loved them! Give them a try, I'm sure the family will love them.... =)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Sonoran Living Live

Time to set your DVR's again! Next week I will be featured on ABC 15's - Sonoran Living Live during their 9:00 am - 10:00 am show time.



Sugar Loco and myself are bringing you the best sweets in the valley - Just in time for Father's Day.
Joining along with the sweet ladies of Whoopie Baking Co. be sure to tune in to see who else we're featuring!

Show Details:
Sonoran Living Live
Channel 15 - ABC
Tuesday, June 12
Show Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 am

-And now my motherly instincts are coming out -  
you can't have your dessert until you finish all your "homework" (hehe)

"Homework" for my readers
(1) Forwarding on this info to ALL your friends would be  greatly appreciated
(2) "Like" my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ourfirstyear


And finally - I invite you to check out all the new things on my website:
http://www.a-sugarnspice-life.com/

Some of my favorites on my website are:
Been There Ate That
Sugar Loco Reviews
About the Author