Nilla Wafer Truffles

Anyone remember the Nilla Wafer?

Yup, these guys.

If you don't know them you should get to know them. Nillas are normally a supporting character in dessert... Sometimes as an ingredient for pie crust, or crumbled as a layer in banana pudding. But truth be told they're sooooooo delicious on their own. Buttery, crispy, and perfect for dunking, I think it's Nilla's time to shine again.

These little chocolate nuggets of Nilla are delectable and an absolutely adorable treat to give to your Valentine this month! Feel free to decorate them however you choose... they're yummy anytime of year!

First we crush up a pack of Nilla Wafers in the food processor...

Then we add them into a bowl with some cream cheese, confectioners sugar, and melted butter. You mush them together with your hands (unfortunately they just don't come together in a mixer... hands are a must).

Then they get rolled into little balls and 'chill' (pun intended) in the freezer for a little while.

While the Nillas are chillin', we melt some chocolate for some dippin'...Then we dip...

Tada! B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L Valentine's Day treats for your honey!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Nilla Wafer Truffles

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pack (11 oz) of Nilla Wafers
• 7 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Sprinkles for decorating (optional) 

DIRECTIONS

1. Empty your package of Nilla Wafers into a food processor, turn it on, and let it run until the Nilla Wafers turn into fine crumbs. 
2. Empty the Nilla crumbs into a large mixing bowl. Add your cream cheese, confectioners sugar, and melted butter. Mix WELL WITH YOUR HANDS (an electric mixer just doesn't work) until the combination turns into a dough-like consistency (see picture above). 
3. Roll the Nilla 'dough' into 1-inch balls. Store the balls in a Ziploc bag and put them in the freezer to chill (about one hour). 
4. About 5 minutes before you're ready to take your Nilla truffles out of the freezer, put your chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Place the bowl in the microwave and microwave the chocolate until it melts, about 3-5 minutes (varies depending on your microwave, so keep an eye on it). 
5. Take your Nilla truffles out of the freezer. Submerge each ball in the melted chocolate, one-at-a-time, then scoop out with a fork and place on a sheet of parchment paper. (click here for a great video that has a fun technique for perfectly dipping truffles) 
6. Immediately, while the chocolate is still soft, top with your sprinkles. 
7. Let the chocolate coating harden, about one-hour. 

Doggy Birthday Cake

 

Yesterday was our little doggy's first birthday... Well, at least we think it was...

When we adopted Paisley from the shelter (shout out to North Shore Animal League in Long Island!), they had noted on her paperwork that her guesstimated birthday was April 3rd. We then took her to the vet who told us, based on the amount of teeth she already had, that she was about two months older than we thought... putting her birthday at February 3rd.

So, February 3rd it is!

Over the course of the four months that Paisley has been living in our home, she's already given us enough laughter to last a lifetime. I couldn't let her birthday go by without making her a 'cake'!

I posted the above picture of my peanut butter doggy cake on Twitter and a friend asked that I share it on Beta's Bites... so here it is!

The recipe comes from this book, which you can purchase on Amazon here (it comes with three adorable little bone-shaped cookie cutters!):

This particular cookie is found on page 42, and is called 'MacDuff's Peanut Butter Holiday Shortbread.' Paisley totally loveddddd it!

Below I've posted the recipe as it reads in the book, but I'll tell you how I made the cake pictured above. I quartered the recipe for the cookies, rolled out the dough, and used a large, heart-shaped cookie cutter to make two cookies (you can't see it in the picture, but the 'cake' actually has two layers). I then baked them on foil in the oven for the recommended 15 minutes at 400 degrees. When the cookies were cooled, I spread half a tablespoon of peanut butter to stick the two layers together on top of each other. I then used another dab of peanut butter to stick a little treat on top for additional decoration.

We then sang her Happy Birthday (of course) and let her have a small piece of the 'cake'... The whole thing would be too much even for a large dog!

MacDuff's Peanut Butter Holiday Shortbread

INGREDIENTS

Makes about 55 biscuits using a small cookie cutter

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky) 
• 3/4 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and baking powder
2. In a small bowl, whisk peanut butter and milk until smooth
3. Make a well in the flour mixture and gradually stir in peanut butter mixture until well blended 
4. Use hands to work dough into 2 pliable balls. The warmth from your hands will help make the dough more workable. 
5. Knead each dough ball on a floured surface, about 2 minutes
6. With a rolling pin, roll dough between 1/4" and 1/2" thickness. 
7. Cut with K-9 Biscuit Cutter and place on a baking sheet, lined with foil. 
8. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees
9. Cool on a rack and store in sealed, plastic bags in the refrigerator. 

Boozy Bites: Del Diablo

For 2014, I figured it might be fun to switch things up a bit and add some guest recipes and posts to Beta's Bites! Truth be told, I have lots of friends and family who have a whole host of amazing recipes of their own that need to be shared with the blogging world... plus I'm sure all my blabbing gets boring after a while!

What better way to kick-off our series of guest recipes than with some booze?

So this is my friend Brendan.

He's one of my husband's childhood best friends and happens to be engaged to one of my best friends from college, Jenelle (bet you can take a guess at how they were introduced?!) They're both wonderful and will be getting married this July in Connecticut... needless to say we're SUPER excited to be participating in their festivities.

Since Brendan and Jenelle live less than a mile from Anthony and me, we spend quite a bit of time at each other's humble abodes. One day when we were at their house, Brendan whipped out a bottle of vodka from the fridge and declared that they had infused it with some jalapenos and that he and Jenelle wanted to make us a new drink... Of course, we didn't object.

The drink that he made was inspired by a cocktail offered at Dos Caminos in Manhattan called 'Del Diablo.' It's tasty, it's strong, and it has an incredible kick of jalapeno that will knock your socks off.

Now you'll need at least a week to allow the vodka to be infused with the jalapeno, so be patient!

Thanks for the delicious recipe, Brendan! Cheers!

'Del Diablo'

INGREDIENTS

Makes 2 Cocktails

• 1-liter bottle of vodka
• 3 jalapeno peppers, diced (keep seeds if you like your vodka on the spicier side, otherwise discard)
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 oz. passion fruit juice
• Fresh pineapple to garnish

DIRECTIONS

1. Drop your diced jalapenos in the bottle of vodka. Allow to sit in the freezer for at lease 1 week. 
2. Remove vodka from the freezer. Strain 4 oz. of vodka into a shaker. Add the 2 oz. of pineapple juice and 2 oz. of passion fruit juice. Add ice to the shaker, cover, and shake well until combined. 
3. Separate mixture into two glasses over ice. Garnish with pineapple if desired. 

Hoboken Mutz Fest!

Yes, that's Italy made out of mozzarella in the bottom left-hand corner

This morning I woke up in a food coma to end all food comas.

Why, might you ask?

Well, Hoboken has began this amazingly ridiculous New Jersey-like tradition of having an annual 'Mutz Fest' each winter. Believe it or not, the little city (fun fact: Hoboken is only one square mile) has a handful of Italian delis and restaurants that each boast that they make the best mozzarella in town.

Hoboken's solution? A competition for the public and a panel of judges to decide exactly who should claim to have the 'best mutz.'

To sum it all up, the event was absurd. There were six participants:

Perfect Paisley

Paisley has been very into joining me for runs lately which I LOVE. Anthony gets pretty busy at work this time of year, so she's been a great substitute running buddy!

Not only is Paisley great company, she's also absolutely hysterical. We'll make it a few blocks and then all of the sudden she'll see a squirrel, or a flock of birds, or a pile of snow, or someone's empty food container on the ground, and she'll abruptly yank me in a million directions. It's giving me quite the arm workout as well as some ugly leash-burn around my hands!

We were out on a jog the other day and passed this awesome graffiti art on a brick wall which was the 'perfect' photo opp for Miss Paisley. I made her stop, asked her to sit (which she actually did!) and snapped this shot...

It's so appropriate... Even though she's a distracted nutcase half the time, she truly is our perfect Paisley!

P.S. about two seconds after I snapped this shot she spotted another dog across the street and was gone. Typical.

Eggplant "Meatballs"

I know what you're thinking: "Eggplant meatballs?! Really?! And you have the audacity to call yourself an Italian?!"

By no means will these replace your beloved mother's meatballs (if you need a good recipe, try Dom's Mom's meatballs which can be found here... My family swears by them!), but they're pretty damn delicious if I do say so myself. Served over a little fettuccine with extra marinara... they're perfect!

This recipe is the result of years scowering the internet for a good vegetarian meatball recipe and constantly being disappointing with the results. Too bland... too mushy... too GROSS... you get the point.

These meatballs are flavorful, crispy, easy to make, and a much lighter than your meaty meatballs!

Getting Healthy in the New Year

You know how I know that it's the first week of the New Year? It's when you go to the grocery store and all the veggies are gone because everyone has resolved to 'eat healthy' in 2014.

I, too, am ridiculously guilty of using the holidays as an excuse to have a few (hundred) extra calories per day, and now - as a result - I'm wearing leggings a little too often because I'm scared of trying to pull up my skinny jeans!

All this being said, today I'm kicking it back into high-gear and making it a goal to get back in shape by the spring. I've got some fun weddings, parties and trips coming up (including a a bachelorette in fabulous Las Vegas) and we all know that leggings aren't proper attire for any of these occasions.

I figured that I'd share some of my favorite (easy) ways to start to get healthy in the New Year. Obviously I'm no health expert, but these are things that work for me - an average, realistic person - and perhaps they'll inspire you too!

Feel free to share your favorite secrets to get fit in the comments section... I'd love to hear them!