Karen and Joe's Throw Down...watch out Bobby Flay

I decided to test out my almond butter with a banana. It was pretty good. The almond butter is really really sticky. I have been enjoying it on my whole grain english muffins for breakfast at work.

So my friend got a new house so we had a mini housewarmning over at her place this past weekend. Another one of my good friends was also in town. I decided to pull out my new Martha Stewart Cupcakes book and whip up some tasty treats :) I made the Tres Leches cupcakes with cool whip and cinnamon on top. Look at the 3 milk mixture just sitting there. Its hard to believe that all that milk soaks into the cupcake. The cupcake had a very interesting texture. I am not sure if I was a fan or not, but my friends really seemed to like them!

I also made Marble Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting.. yum, I think these were my favorite. You can't go to girls night without chocolate!

As you know Joe and I LOVE Tasty Tacos!! So we have been trying to make homemade Tasty Tacos for while now. On The Food Network, Bobby Flay has that show where he challenges cooks that have mastered a certain signature dish. So one of the episodes we happened to catch was the Puffy Taco Throw Down. We went out and bought the Maseca that Bobby used and attempted to make the puffy tacos. They were not really what we were looking for but still good. It was like a very fresh corn tortilla, we decided we need to be using flour for sure. So for now that is 2 attempts (we have tried a different recipe before) with many more to come, until we figure it out :) And I think Bobby might have us beat on Puffy Tacos.... my tacos didn't really puff too much.

Baking Frenzy

Well, I got some new books that I am really excited about. I picked up 3 books that I have been really wanting at the 1/2 Price Book Store. What a GREAT deal, they were only about $35 for all 3. As far as I can tell, they were new. I got Martha Stewart Cookies, William Sonoma (a baking book), and Hello Cupcake. I went to go buy Martha Stewart Cupcakes there but they didn't have it, so unfortunately I bought it for full price at Barnes and Noble. Not that I wouldn't buy it for full price but 1/2 price is so fun.

This weekend Joe and I went to Dave and Amy's for Jared's going away (he is going to Japan for a year) and Joe's Grandma Velma's 95th Birthday!! Let me repeat that 95! Velma really likes Coconut Cream Pie, so I went out to Allrecipes.com and found one that I liked. I think it turned out pretty well and no one complained. I didn't make my own crust, I used the Pillsbury refrigerated crust that is already rolled out. I LOVED it! Totally using that every time from now on for any pie I make. I did make the inside cream part and it went pretty well, I always get nervous when I have to mix eggs on the stove top. I don't want to serve scrambled eggs ;)

I did have one tiny little mishap... who knew coconut burned so easily?? I was trying to toast the coconut for the top of my pie and this is the result :)

Velma really likes Oatmeal Cookies too, so for part of her gift I made some Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, another good recipe from Allrecipes.com. They were pretty good, but I think I remember my mom's recipe being a little more moist, I will just have to find it.

Healthy eating has been going ok... 2 weeks strong. This weekend I did eat pretty bad though. I had some corn shells in the fridge from a while back so I fried them up, grilled some chicken, diced some tomatoes for pico and had a mexican feast.