Weekend Wanderings

Here's a little glimpse at our weekend according to (you guessed it!) instagram.  Hope your weekend was equally tasty & lazy!

We took trips to our favorite French pastry shop to play with our food (specifically a brioche monster)

and chillax with our buddy Monsieur Baguette.

Had some poodle cuddle time on the couch and didn't have to wait long for J-dog to fall asleep in one of his signature awkward positions.

As native Californians we have been on a constant quest in the Midwest for some authentic, cheap, greasy Mexican food.  After three years of "close, but not quite," we may have finally found it in a little taco truck on a random corner.  The mural of a burrito fighting a torta painted on the side of the truck was far too intriguing to pass up, and I'm glad we gave it a go because my chicken torta was muy bueno.

Went out with some friends for Sunday night trivia and got our butts handed to us (an entire round on Civil War historical trivia?! Come on!), but the black bean dip, bottomless chips, and fantastic company made it all worth while.

Mason Jar Munchies

There are two things you should know about me before we dive in to this post:

1. I am becoming increasingly addicted to Pinterest.
2. Growing up in my mother's household, I've developed a lifelong affinity for mason jars.  They were a constant presence around the house, often filled to their frosty brims with ice water.  Nothing can make hydrating more appealing, in my opinion.

Needless to say, when I found this recipe while investing (not wasting!) my time perusing Pinterest boards, I knew I had to give it a try.  Monkey bread is one of Dr. D's favorite childhood sweets and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that these adorable single-serve desserts are sinfully simple to make.

Here's the recipe and some pictures, if you'd like to give it a try---and believe me, you should.

You'll need:

• four 8-oz. mason jars
• 10 refrigerated biscuts {typically one package}
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp. of ground cinnamon
• a quarter stick of butter, melted {optional}

First, separate the biscuits and cut each one into fourths.  Mix the white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a bowl.  {Side note: While buzzing about the kitchen in giddy anticipation, Dr. D discovered that scooping a bit of this sugary mix with a tortilla chip resulted in a tasty snack akin to Taco Bell cinnamon twists.  Go figure.}

Each piece of biscuit will then be tossed into the sugary mix for coating.  I decided to melt a little bit of butter, dip my fingers in, and lightly coat each piece before putting them into the bowl.  The original recipe doesn't call for this, but Dr. D recounted to me the awesome butteryness of the monkey bread he used to eat as a kid, so I decided to go for broke.

Once all pieces are in the bowl, toss to your heart's content!  After the pieces are sufficiently coated, prep the four mason jars with cooking spray and place ten of the biscuit pieces in each, periodically sprinkling some of the extra sugary mixture between layers.

Place the mason jars in a high-edged pan and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15 minutes, until the dough has risen and you can see the sugar bubbling.  {I let mine cook for 17 minutes, because the dough hadn't risen as much as I wanted---I imagine the timing changes based on the brand and type of biscuits you're using.}

Remove from the oven and let the jars cool for about 5 minutes before serving.  Dr. D and I each had one fresh out of the oven---highly recommended!---and I've lidded the other two and am refrigerating them for later.  We also discovered that chopsticks proved to be a fantastic implement for fishing the delicious bread bites out of the jar.

Yum!