Do you grocery shop with your husband or significant other? Here’s the deal: I love to spend time with Joe and we do a lot of activities together, but lately I’ve been trying to make a habit of going to the grocery store without him. Why, you ask? Because I find it incredibly difficult to stay on budget when I have a hungry hubby along with me. Somehow, we always end up with more snack food and unhealthy treats when Joe is along to drop things in the cart. I’m looking at kale. He’s browsing the chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels.

Don’t worry, I usually add some snack food into the cart when I shop solo (typically almonds, healthy tortilla chips and salsa, etc.) but last week I took it too far! I was informed by Joe that we had absolutely ZERO snack food in the house.

So, what’s a girl to do? Make brownies, of course! These brownies are easy to make since they don’t require you to have a ton of chocolate on hand (just a few ounces of unsweetened or semi-sweet) and are really easy to pull together. I like to call them “everyday” brownies because they aren’t super sweet (I cut the sugar in the recipe down to 1/3 cup from 1/2 cup and they turned out great) and since they have nuts as an option, it totally makes them everyday food, right?

Get the recipe for Better Homes and Gardens‘ Ultimate Brownies HERE

Madison

The Espresso and Cream home tour continues! I’ve been dragging these posts out a bit longer than intended, but last weekend I finally got around to snapping photos of many of the rooms in our house right after I cleaned on Saturday. I’m planning on making them a little more regular in the weeks and months to come. I hope you don’t mind mixing it up on this little food blog!

The room I’m sharing with you today is called “the blog room” around our house. I feel a little silly having an entire room devoted to blogging, especially since it’s just a hobby. But we had the space and weren’t sure what else we would do with the room, so Joe let me claim it as the most girly, creative space in the house.

This little room is on the smaller side and has the feel of a sunroom, since it has windows on three sides and a door that opens into the house on the remaining wall. It’s ultra bright and happy and filled with plenty of natural light that makes for great pictures. It’s also the only room upstairs that has carpet, giving it a cozy feel.

In the photo above, you can see the corner of the room devoted to my small desk (Target) with my favorite white chair (Homegoods) and various other wall decorations. The photo of Aurdrey Hepburn was a gift from my dad for my 18th birthday. It’s a framed original photo from some of the promo materials shot while filming My Fair Lady. I love it so much and it will follow me until I die.

The magazine racks, above, were gifts from our wedding. They are from Pottery Barn and are super handy for keeping magazines and other inspirational material. The bottom rack is reserved for mail that needs our attention, like bills, records and information, etc.

The butcher block, above, is another super unique element in the room. I inherited it after my grandmother passed away this spring and it was shipped all the way from North Carolina. What you can’t see is that the block, which is a 1900′s original from a meat packing plant, is completely solid and weighs around 700 pounds. We needed four large men to get the thing in place so it’s never moving. Some day I would love to find a way to include it in a kitchen floorplan and actually use it, but that’s a long way down the road.

Minneapolis is home to the only Room and Board outlet in the country, so we certainly took advantage of that fact when we moved here. The bookshelves are from the outlet and make a great addition to the room. I knew that I wanted shelves that showed off the eclectic mix of props I have collected over the years (like the cups pictured below) so doing exposed shelves was the prefect solution!

And this large basket vase with artificial flowers is a nodd to our wedding! We used these at our wedding and I was excited to find a home for them in our house. The flowers give the room a bright, light and breezy feel that makes me instantly uplifted.

Well, I think that’s it for the blog room. Like I said, it’s not a very big room, so there isn’t much to show. Up next? The kitchen!

Madison

Just dropping in on this Sunday to wish my amazing dad a happy Father’s Day.

There really aren’t words to describe how much this man means to me. He has taught me so much, loved me so deeply and helped shape me into the person I am today.

I love you to the moon and back, Dad! Happy Father’s Day!

And to prove it’s not all seriousness on our wedding day…

Madison

I’m all about keeping it simple when it comes to what I wear. Naturally I gravitate to dresses that are black, navy, grey, or striped since they are versatile and wearing a lot of color makes me uncomfortable.

At the same time, I still like to keep things fresh and fun, which is where jewelry comes into play. Last week I dressed up a very basic black dress with the Claudette necklace from To: Hello Beautiful. It instantly dressed up my basic outfit and I was shocked at the number of compliments I got about it at work.

Dress: Banana Republic Outlet
Cardigan: Banana Republic
Necklace: To: Hello Beautiful “Claudette Pearlized Statement Necklace“

To: Hello Beautiful is offering all E&C readers 10% off their purchases! Just use the code MADISON10 when you check out! Shop the collection here.

Disclaimer: As part of an ongoing partnership, To: Hello Beautiful provided this necklace to me. However, the views and opinions are 100% my own.

Happy Monday, friends! I’m struggling to get on the Monday bandwagon this week, if we are being really honest. Joe and I have both been battling a sore throat for the last couple days and we had a terribly sick little pup Thursday and Friday, which was awfully scary. Thankfully, it appears to have been a bout of puppy flu, and she is back to her normal chipper self. Never have I been so thankful to see that little tail wagging again!

If I had to sum up last week, I think I would call it the “Week of Rhubarb Desserts.” Joe and I literally ate rhubarb dessert four out of five weeknights last week. Crazy, right? But when it is in season, you have to take advantage!

The real kick-off to our rhubarb dessert eating was the fact that my sweet older neighbor, Marcia, brought over a large bag of rhubarb from her garden. Along with the rhubarb she included a couple of her favorite rhubarb recipes, including a super simple family favorite recipe for rhubarb cake. I love old recipes, especially recipes that have been handed down from other bakers with much more experience, so it took about 10 minutes for me to get baking this cake.

As with most older recipes, there are a lot of ways you can go wrong. The directions are usually pretty vague and don’t necessarily provide much direction or explanation, meaning there is plenty of room to make a mistake. However, I’m happy to report that this cake was a huge hit with everyone who enjoyed it! It’s a simple cake that is very easy to pull together. I called for an electric mixer in the recipe, but I made the recipe twice and didn’t use an electric mixer the second time. The cake turned out beautifully both times, so use what you feel like using.

One word to the wise: This cake is better when it is made the day you are planning on serving it. Since the rhubarb has a lot of moisture it tends to make the cake soggy on the second and third days after baking. It’s still totally edible and delicious (Joe still ate it all!) but maybe not worthy of serving guests after the first day. Pop it in the oven while you eat dinner, then serve it warm with a cup of coffee and some ice cream after you eat your meal.

Marcia’s Rhubarb Cake
Makes 12 to 16 servings
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, melted
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chopped rhubarb
Additional sugar for sprinkling atop cake

Directions
Heat oven to 350F. Combine sugar and butter. Beat until well combined with an electric mixer. Beat in the egg and buttermilk until combined.

In large bowl, combine the baking soda, cinnamon, salt and flour. Add flour to wet ingredients and beat until just combined. Stir in the rhubarb by hand.

Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons sugar atop cake. Pour batter into a greased 13×9 inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 34 minutes or until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out nearly clean. Cool 10 minutes before cutting.

Happy Baking!
Madison

Image from Pillsbury.com

Happy National Doughnut Day, friends! I’ll be honest, I don’t typically eat a lot of doughnuts. They are certainly more of a treat rather than an every week sort of thing. But when I do eat a doughnut, it has to be 100% worth every calorie.

I think that Joe and I will be making these this weekend to celebrate. And I’m going to enjoy every single calorie.

S’mores Crescent Doughnut recipe courtesy of Pillsbury.

Have a great weekend!
Madison

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about making friends as an adult. Since I graduated college I have moved three different times, first to Des Moines, then to Grinnell with Joe when we got married and finally to Minneapolis, where we live now. In the 3 1/2 years since I graduated college, that’s a lot of moving. We’re really hoping to stay in Minneapolis a good long time, since it’s always been the city we both have dreamed of living in since we started dating. But moving so many times in such a short span of time has made the art of making friends terribly difficult.

I’ve never been very good at making friends. Let me rephrase that. I don’t find making friends to be something that comes very naturally to me, especially as an adult. Gosh, I think I just cringed a little as I wrote that. Perhaps I’ve created the illusion here on this little blog that I have dozens of close friends. If that’s the case, you would be mistaken.

Joe and I have lots of aquaintances in Minneapolis, we go on plenty of couples dates (you know the drill), we have a comfortably full social schedule. Many of Joe’s close friends from college still live in Minneapolis since this is where he went to school, and I have a small handful of close girlfriends who live up in the cities now. But I’m quickly finding that developing new friendships, both as a couple and as an individual, is incredibly difficult.

While we love Minneapolis and are so happy to be here, it tends to be a city where everyone sticks around, meaning that almost everyone we know already has a set group of friends they have known since college or even high school. It’s a little daunting for even the most extroverted of people (of which I am not.)

I remember feeling the same way when we first moved to Grinnell. After the excitement of the move faded, I remember wondering what was next and how in the world we would go about meeting friends. It took us over a year to finally feel like we had a network of friends in our small community (friends we met through our church) so I keep reminding myself that this, too, will take time.

Those of you who have moved, how have you made friends as an adult? Do you agree that it’s much harder when you’re older and in the working world? Tell me your secrets!  

Madison

First up, the winners of the pancake giveaway! They are:
-Sarah (who likes her pancakes with syrup and Nutella)
-Jessica Honcoop
-Kristin Darhower
-Andrea (who likes to make healthy pancakes with whole wheat flour, oats and yogurt)

Ladies, shoot me an e-mail with your address to madisonjanemayberry@gmail.com to claim your prizes!

Lately I’ve become increasingly interested in gluten-free, vegan baking. Not necessarily because I personally need to bake treats without gluten or animal products. But it feels like the next frontier in baking, a wide, undiscovered world of flours, meals and gums, among other things. Gluten-free, vegan baking challenges me, and everything I’ve come to know about baking. Since I was little I’ve been baking with all-purpose flour, eggs and butter. It’s incredibly challenging to break all my previous assumptions about what makes a quality baked good and play around with recipes that are entirely different in method and ingredients.

In the past, I’ve always felt that even the most successful gluten-free, vegan baked goods needed to come with a disclaimer. “This is a really good cookie recipe, for being gluten-free and vegan!”

But last week I finally arrived at an adapted cookie recipe that didn’t need a disclaimer. In fact, I think these cookies may have become my favorite cookie recipe. No disclaimer or excuses necessary. These Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are, plain and simple, my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookie; they hold their own when pitted against their butter and gluten-laden counterparts. And I’m sure that when you make them (please make them!) you will agree.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten-free and vegan)
Makes 24 cookies
Adapted from the Baby Cakes Bakery recipe on the Bob’s Red Mill package
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups oat bran (make sure it is gluten-free)
1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1/4 cup ground flax
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or canola oil
5 tablespoons applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips (to make this recipe completely vegan, make sure the chocolate chips are vegan)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.
2. In large bowl combine oat bran, all-purpose gluten-free flour, flax, sugar, baking soda, xanthan gum, cinnamon and salt until well combined. In small bowl combine oil, applesauce and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to try ingredients and stir until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop mixture by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheet, rolling between your hands into balls if you want the cookies to be uniform and round. Mixture will feel oily and may take a little effort to keep the dough in round balls. Don’t worry, that’s totally normal.
4. Bake 7 minutes. Rotate baking sheet. Bake 7 minutes more or until cookies are golden brown. Cool on pan 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Happy Baking!
Madison

Summer seems to be taking its sweet time arriving in Minnesota this year. And to say that the weather has been crazy this month would be an understatement. We had snow, rain, hail, 100 degree temps and 30 degree temps. And right now? Well it’s as muggy as Florida with treats of severe weather and tornados. Crazy, I tell you!

And while summer may not be here in full force, Joe and I have certainly been eating meals that feel like summer. So take that, Minnesota. Grain salads packed with veggies are one of my summer favorites. They are fresh and hearty and store well for a couple days in the refrigerator, meaning I can take leftovers to work the next day. Major bonus.

I ate more than my fair share of this salad last night. Probably a little more than I should have, since I was absolutely stuffed after dinner. Considering that this salad is packed with good-for-you ingredients like barley, black beans and green beans, I guess there are worse things to overdose on.

If you’re looking for a dish to take to a picnic or barbecue, I would highly recommend taking along this salad. It’s incredibly versatile and easy to customize. If you leave off the feta cheese this dish can also be made vegan, just be sure the purchased pesto you use is vegan, too. Or make your own if you’re feeling like an overachiever! 

Barley and Bean Pesto Salad
Makes 2 to 3 dinner-sized servings or 4 to 6 smaller side dish servings
Ingredients
Dressing
3/4 cup baby spinach
2 tablespoons purchased pesto
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salad
1 1/2 cups cooked barley (I love the quick cooking barley from Trader Joe’s)
8 oz steamed and chopped green beans
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 to 2 oz crumbled feta cheese
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1. In a food processor, combine all the dressing ingredients. Process until blended and well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
2. Combine the barley, green beans and black beans in a large bowl. Toss with dressing until well combined. Season to taste with salt and ground black pepper. Top with crumbled feta cheese. This salad can be served warm, at room temp or chilled. I prefer it chilled.

Happy Cooking!
Madison