Spiced Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Tonight I was so proud when my batch of Pumpkin Seed Brittle came out! I had tried to make a batch last night but was rushing around the kitchen also making dinner. Let me tell you, not the thing you want to rush or it just won't set right! :(

ROUND 2! Practice makes perfect after all and it came out amazing tonight, so I thought I would share this yummy recipe with everyone.

I saw this recipe on Honestly Yum and emailed my sister in law right away and said "I have to make this for Thanksgiving!!!" but thought I'd give it a whirl beforehand.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin seeds, plus a handful more for dipping
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of light corn syrup
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips

  Start off by toasting the pumpkin seeds over medium heat in a pan. Constantly stir the seeds so they don't burn. You'll know when to stop when they start to get golden and you can smell them. Some may even start to pop. 

  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. In a medium saucepan clipped with a candy thermometer (make sure it doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan), heat water, sugar and corn syrup over medium high heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it starts to boil. Stop stirring and let the mixture boil until it reaches 285 degrees. You may have to turn the heat up to high if the temperature isn’t increasing. ( You must use a candy thermometer or it will not set right if it does not get to the right temp! TRUST ME, Remember round 1? lol)

Stir in the pumpkin seeds and continually stir the mixture so it doesn’t stick to the bottom until the temperature reaches 300 degrees. (Stir quickly, it will burn!) Remove from the heat and stir in all the spices, vanilla extract, baking soda and butter, just until combined. The baking soda will cause it to bubble up a bit, but that’s normal.

You'll want to work fast here, pour the mixture over the baking sheet and using the back of a wooden spoon spread across the sheet evenly. Allow the brittle to harden completely at room temperature, or for a quicker finished product pop it in the refrigerator for about a half hour or until completely hardened.

Chocolate: Temper the chocolate chips to dip the brittle into. Use this microwave method, which starts by microwaving 3/4 of the chocolate in a bowl in 20 second intervals until the chocolate is melted and then stirs in 1/4 of the chocolate to “temper it.” I’m not sure how accurate it is but it’s easy and works well enough for me!

Finely chop a large handful of raw pumpkin seeds and place on a flat dish.  After dipping the brittle in the chocolate, dip the ends in the raw pumpkin seeds and sprinkle with some sea salt.

And there you have it! Definitely a have to for holiday baking!

XO

Celeste

Brussels Sprouts Chicken Salad with Almonds

Ever get home from work, open the fridge and hope for some magical dish to be there? Wishful thinking! I usually just stand there and hope for some creativity to pop into mind, or I'll google the main ingredients that I do have. That's how I came up with this salad!

I haven't been much of a brussels sprouts lover unless its done just right (Like at Cleo in Hollywood, their brussels sprouts, are to die for!) Trust me this salad will become your go to for brussels sprouts, it's that good!

I wish I had taken more pictures, I took a video but for some reason it won't load. You can check it out on my instagram :)

Brussels Sprouts Chicken Salad with Almonds

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked chicken, cubed 
• 4 cups sliced Brussels sprouts (for me it was about 20)
• ½ cup almonds 
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tablespoon butter
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Prep the salad: Prepare the chicken. Prepare the Brussels sprouts by very thinly slicing them. In a food processor, pulse the almonds until chopped (or buy the packaged slivered almonds). Place in a small skillet over medium high heat with no oil or butter and toast until golden brown, stirring or shaking constantly.
2. Make the dressing: In the small skillet, saute the butter and onion over medium high heat until the onions are golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer the onions to a food processor. Add the lemon and olive oil. Puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place the Brussels sprouts in the empty sauteed onion pan and place over high heat. Stir for 1-2 minutes until you can smell them and they turn bright green. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, toss the the Brussels sprouts, almonds, chicken, dried cranberries and Parmesan.
4. Toss the dressing and salad together. Serve warm or cold. If you plan to keep leftovers, keep the dressing separate.

Enjoy!

Xo

Celeste 

Guilt Free Lasagna

Zucchini Lasagna

I had posted this a couple weeks ago on my instagram and have finally made the time to post it for those of you who have been asking me about it :)

I found this recipe on Skinny Taste, so many amazing recipes! You can find the exact recipe here .

It's gluten free and pretty easy! Just one little tip, make sure you have a slicer for the zucchini, because if they're too thin, you will have a problem! The slices need to be about 1/8 or they will flop all over the place and make grilling them harder than it needs to be. 

The recipe calls for lean beef but you could always change it up for ground turkey or maybe even spinach for an all veggie approach! Hope you all enjoy! It was so yummy!

Ingredients:  

• 1 lb 93% lean beef
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 onion
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8" thick
• 15 oz part-skim ricotta
• 16 oz part-skin mozzarella cheese, shredded (Sargento)
• 1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1 large egg

Xo

Celeste 

Latin With a Healthy Twist

Put Latin and Healthy in the same sentence....I'm game!!

 I'm always looking for healthy recipes and have become a total blog stocker! 

Tonight I had the sudden urge to throw something together! Do you ever have those nights where you just want to be a mini chef? haha I do and more now than ever. 

I went to one of my favorite blogs Eat Yourself Skinny! and found the recipe for Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers. 

If you're looking for something quick and tasty to jazz up these are great! I added ground turkey to mine and some jalapeños for a lil spice as well and they were mmmmm mmmmm good!

And Voila! An easy, healthy, filling meal :) Stay tuned for more, I can't get enough!!

Xo

Celeste Christine

Just Say No!

To Straws that is!

As a Medical Aesthetician I am constantly asked “what do you think I could do for this wrinkle?” “Do you think I could use filler or Botox?”

I’ve noticed that the “smoker lip wrinkles” are very common in aging skin, obviously more so if someone is a smoker (and I’m not even going to go on my rant about how I feel about smoking) . Other than being a smoker, believe it or not, most cases I’ve seen are from being an avid straw user! Do you realize how often you are drinking from a straw?

I’ll confess that I use a straw for almost every drink, usually just so I don’t have to reapply my lipgloss! Ooopsie!

If you think about it, it’s just another reccuring muscle motion we make, just like frowning and laughing will both cause wrinkles. Some people may or may not be prone to lip wrinkles, but other leading factors could be how you are taking care of your skin in that area. Are you getting enough hydration? i.e. creams, masks, water intake. Do you purse your lips while talking? Some people don’t even realize it! Do you drink a lot of hot fluids? Usually if you are “testing the waters” while your drink is cooling down you are using a pursed lip to check it out.

For those ladies who already have these “smoker lip wrinkles” and are looking for treatment, I have seen a combination of botox and fillers for a nice youthful look! There are many alternative treatments  to injections but a couple I would recommend are Laser Genisis and Fraxel.

Regardless to what is causing lip wrinkles, I’m sure you think twice about using that next straw! 

Xo

Celeste Christine

Product Review Friday!

Today ended up being a cleaning day! Oh joy!

I’d been meaning to clean out my purse and finally got around to it! I swear that thing accumulates everrrrrrything! Whatever you need I have! haha It’s good, until I need to actually find something. It’s like digging into a bottomless pit, I know you ladies know what I’m talking about. So I started doing a little searching around on google for purse organizers. I can’t stand not being organized and my purse NEVER seems to be! I have the LV Speedy 30, love it but it doesn’t come with any compartments so when I came across PurseBling.com I put in my order right away! They have organizers with sizes to fit all of your designer and non designer bags. They also have base shapers for our bags that start to look like bowling bags! See below, my bag was losing shape at the bottom!

If you love your bags as much as I love mine I highly recommend ordering! Use the Discount code, DAWN for 10% off!

Purse Bling  <<---Youtube video on Pursebling.com :)

Here’s a silly video but you get the visual you need!

Xo

Celeste Christine