about me

My name is Abi.

I live in Portland, OR with my husband and our two kitties. 

I run a photography business + and a clothing shop.

When I'm not doing those things I enjoy baking, running, crafting, and exploring new towns. 

Thanks for stopping by!

if you have a question or just want to say hello, please email me. I'd love to hear from you!

vanillaandlace(at)gmail . com

Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles

I've been in a cooking rut for the past two weeks. It isn't that I can't find inspiration, my bookmarks folder is bursting at the seams with delicious recipes for goodness sakes. It has much to do with the fact that I'm still (after over two years!) getting used to juggling two dinners a night. You see, I am a long time vegetarian gone mostly vegan, and my husband is a carnivore who hates cheese and garlic, (however he does love every vegetable, which is more than I can say). So this leaves me with cooking two separate meals each night. Good thing I like to cook, right?

Well sort of.

Most days I plan our menu with all the same elements, subbing orange tofu with brown rice for his orange chicken with white rice. Lasagna means cheese-less, just meat sauce in between noodles for him. Cheese-less, meatless, add eggplant, spinach and pine-nut spread for myself.

But lately I haven't done so well at the planning and by the time I've prepped, started and finished his dinner I have absolutely no energy to make mine. Then I sit down with pretzels and a small dish of melted chocolate chips and call it a night.

And it was two of these cookie dough truffles that made up the majority of my dinner on valentines day. And for once I was quite okay with being tuckered out after fixing dinner for my husband.

It is exactly what you think it is. Chocolate chip cookie dough, dipped in chocolate. And they are egg-free for those who worry (and easily adapted to be vegan). My chocolate coating doesn't look perfect but that was okay with me cause once in my mouth they were nothing short of perfect, and cut me a break, as I was dipping them in the chocolate I was balancing the phone on my shoulder so I could chat with my mom about a future vacation. And that night I found chocolate in my hair.



Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles (a love and olive oil recipe)
makes 3-4 dozen, depending on size.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, or small chocolate chunks.

14 oz dark chocolate candy coating, (i didnt have any so i used chocolate chips)

Directions
Beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add soymilk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed (or by hand) until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle (it may help to lightly flour your hands), form dough into 1″ balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate candy coating in a double boiler or in microwave according to package directions. Using forks or a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Or freeze for frozen treats.

A homemade life

I've been slacking in the blog updating department. I have plenty of posts lined up, pictures taken and ready to go but for some reason I don't think to do it until the end of the night when all I want to do is lay in bed and read. I checked a large chunk off my to-do list today so hopefully i'll be back to the normal routine tomorrow.



But for now I wanted to leave you with this book recommendation. I'm positive many of you read her blog, Orangette, and may have already read her book A homemade life. I checked it out at the library a week ago and I couldn't put it down! It it written somewhat blog style with a chapter containing stories about her life mostly pertaining to food (but also about relationships, living in paris, her father dying, and more) and at the end of each chapter is a recipe. It is a roller coaster ride of emotions and it made me long to go back to Paris. I also craved crusty, chewy french bread throughout the ENTIRE book, so beware.

The one downside is no pictures. But the recipes sound amazing and her writing is descriptive enough that you almost forget there aren't beautiful pictures to look at.

I highly recommend it, especially to foodies, avid blog readers and people who love Paris.

English Scones with devonshire cream

Teas were a huge part of my childhood. There were fancy birthday teas, the annual ladie's christmas tea at church, and every so often mom and the girls (I have 2 sisters) would go to the Pomeroy House tea room to have afternoon tea. It is one of my most beloved memories about childhood and I cherish every cucumber sandwich, scone and drop of tea. So of course, when I planned our trip to Washington scones with devonshire cream and lemon curd and jam were top priority. Right up there with shopping at H&M.

These scones and devonshire cream are about as close as you can get to the ones in England, without being there. I prefer to break them apart bite by bite with my fingers and layer on the jam or lemon curd, and top with a generous dollop of devonshire cream. Or you can always slice it like you would a roll and spread the jam and cream as pictured.



Either way, you will be biting into heaven on earth. The scones are soft, buttery pillows and when layered with jam and cream they become divine. And ohhh, devonshire cream. It makes them. I'm telling ya, you are missing out on something great if you don't eat it all together.




English Scones
Makes 16

4 cups Flour
3 tablespoons Sugar
4 teaspooons Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 cups Half and half
1 1/2 sticks of butter - chilled
1 large egg yolk (save white for brushing)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar. Cut in butter, until combined and resembles a course meal. (the butter lumps should not be pea sized)
Add egg yolk to half and half. Stir half and half mixture into dry ingredients. Knead slightly in the bowl to combine. Divide dough in half. Form each half into a round, slightly dome shape about 1 inch thick. Cut the round into 8 wedges. Brush tops with egg white. Place the wedges on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes, tops will be golden brown.


Devonshire cream

1 cup Whipping cream
2 tablespoons Powdered sugar
1/2 cup Sour cream

Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Stir in powdered sugar and sour cream.

Black raspberry thumbprint cookies

We had an amazing visit to the pacific northwest to start off our February. Just about everyone in my immediate and extended family, as well as many friends live in Washington and Oregon. So our (much-too-short) 10 days were jammed packed with plenty of laughs and good times. (And good food.)

I'll share a couple posts about our visit, but I wanted to start out with these cookies.



I woke up the morning after getting into town and my mom was baking these. A classic staple to the many teas I grew up around. (I'll be going into more details about those teas this week)



They are simple, and stunning and delicious. If you're hosting/attending a tea in the near future, I would urge you to make these.




Black raspberry thumbprint cookies

1 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

2 Cups Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Black raspberry jelly (or jelly of choice)

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Add flour and salt.
Roll into small 3/4 inch balls and use your thumb to press down center.
Use a small spoon (We found using a baby spoon works great) to fill center with the jelly.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until just SLIGHTLY darker than the raw dough. Once thoroughly cooled, dust with powdered sugar.

Brown rice crispy treats

1. I've been meaning to put this recipe up here for almost two weeks now, but I get distracted easily.
2. I have hair color on my hair so I have to make this one quick
3. I have made these delicious gooey treats four times in the ten days. Yes, they are THAT good.
4. Josh and I are headed to Washington (state) on friday morning and I have yet to pack.
5. These take less than five minutes to make and are quite healthy (compared to traditional rice crispy treats that is)



Okay, enough of that list. These little treats are quick, easy, healthy and hands down my favorite "dessert" right now. My husband and our friend Drew gave these two thumbs up, which is why I've made so many batches. I hope you love them as much as we do.

Brown rice crispy treats

1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups brown rice crisp cereal (regular rice crispy cereal would do fine, I'm sure)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Heat brown rice syrup and peanut butter over medium heat until it looks like a thick syrup, about 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla.
Spray a medium sized bowl with oil and add the rice cereal, pour syrup mixture on top, (add chocolate chips now if you want them melted in, or add after syrup mixture is incorporated if you want to keep their shape) and mix until evenly coated and chocolate is melted in.
Press into oiled 9x9 dish. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Brown sugar + olive oil scrub

Every year at about this time I start to notice my skin being a little on the dry side and I start moisturizing (especially my hands) about 5 million times a day. Lately they have been needing a bit more, so I pulled some ingredients out of the pantry and made this wonderful scrub.

It did wonders for my winter dry hands, and of course left them feeling incredibly soft. So I wanted to share.


You can change up the amounts of each ingredient, its not rocket science.

I started with 3 tablespoons of brown sugar

Added 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Then I added 1 tablespoon of honey

Mix it all together. Scoop a small amount into your hands and rub into skin using circular motions, for as long as desired. I rubbed for about a minute on each hand. Rinse with warm water and pat dry. I followed with a little coconut oil, which is what I predominantly use as moisturizer.

I've been using it in the mornings and my hands stay good throughout the day.

Coconut Chocolate Pudding

This recipe is the start to quite a few health-conscious, but crazy delicious recipes I'll be sharing on here. They may not be fat-free, or calorie-free, but i'll be using healthy fats, natural sweeteners, and less white flour. The results are beyond satisfying.

Last week I was having a sugar craving, well, more specifically a chocolate craving. I looked up a quick, easy chocolate pudding that was made in the microwave, and promised delicious results. I took one bite and spit it out, it was THAT bad. I wish I could link to that one and tell you to steer clear, but that would be rude so instead I'll beg you to make this instead.

Once again, Heidi came through with a fabulous recipe that I tweaked just a bit to my liking.
It is quite possibly the best chocolate pudding I have had. Intensely rich and wonderfully creamy, it is the grown up, sophisticated chocolate pudding that instant packets and plastic cups can't deliver. Plus it is dairy-free, and sugar-free.

It doesn't have a pronounced coconut flavor. If you would like that, add a small amount of coconut extract. You could also make this with regular milk, but why not give the coconut milk a try first. It is incredibly creamy and smooth.



Coconut Chocolate Pudding

1 14-ounce can of coconut milk (lite is fine), divided
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
scant 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup arrowroot powder, sifted (cornstarch can be used, however arrowroot is best)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 3.5-ounce bar semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or 3.5 ounces chocolate chips
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously for a few seconds. In a heavy saucepan bring 1 1/4 cups of the coconut milk, maple syrup, and the salt (just) to a simmer over low heat.

While that is heating, in a seperate bowl whisk together the remaining coconut milk, arrowroot powder, and cocoa powder. It should look like a chocolate frosting.

When the coconut milk and sugar mixture has started simmering take about 1/4 cup of it and whisk it little by little into the arrowroot mixture, creating a slurry. Turn down the heat to the very lowest setting. Now drizzle the arrowroot slurry mixture into the simmering pan of coconut milk whisking vigorously all the while. Keep whisking until the pudding comes back up barely to a simmer and thickens up a bit, about a minute.

Remove the saucepan from heat, continue whisking while it is cooling for about a minute. Now whisk in the chocolate and vanilla. Keep stirring until the pudding is smooth. Transfer to a bowl and place in a refrigerator to chill thoroughly. To prevent a skin from forming press plastic up against the surface of the pudding.