We opened a storefront!!!

Hey y'all!  Sorry I have been MIA.  Here is what I have been occupied with... opening our first official storefront for our bakery, Half Baked Co.  

We completely gutted and renovated a one bedroom cottage into a legit commercial kitchen, complete with a handicap restroom, state of the art brand new kitchen and totally girly office for consultations :) 

 Hope you can se all the blood, sweat and tears we have poured into this little baby!  I will now be getting back to more regular blogging.

Exterior Before

Exterior After

Exterior Before

Exterior After

Interior Before

 Interior After

 Interior After

 Bedroom Before

 Office After

  Office After

  Office After

Bathroom Before

Restroom After

Restroom After

 Kitchen Before

  Kitchen During

 Kitchen During

Kitchen After

 Kitchen After

Ribbon Cutting with the Mayor

Prescott's 30th Birthday at the lake!!!

Sophisticated Seven Layer Spinach Salad

Layer the ingredients in this order:

1. spinach

2. diced tomatoes

3. diced avocados

4. crumbled bacon

5. diced onion and/or hard boiled eggs

6. crumbled goat cheese

7. candied pecans

For the dressing mix 1/4 part balsamic vinegar to 3/4 part olive oil and the drippings from the bacon plus a splash of honey and apple juice.  Whisk together until it gets thick and drizzle on top of salad right before you serve.

*perfect for entertaining :)

Eggless French Toast!

Well, I woke up this past Sunday morning to realize that we didn't have any eggs or turkey bacon in the house, so I had to get creative and boy am I glad that I did because this eggless french toast recipe was DELICIOUS!

I have a client that I bake for who's son is allergic to eggs and peanuts, so this no egg for breakfast dilemma really hit me on how hard it must be for her every morning to come up with something tasty.  So, for all you vegans out there or for those of you who can't have eggs, this recipe is a must try :)

1 cup almond milk or soymilk
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped (optional)
5 slices of whole wheat bread

whisk together first 5 ingredients. dip bread in the batter for 20 seconds on each side, then dip them in the walnuts.  Heat a skillet with a little canola oil and butter. place bread on skillet and cook each side until golden brown.  top with cinnamon sugar and maple syrup.

* We topped ours with a delicious homemade fuji apple syrup that was given to me by a dear friend and the apple flavor really played well with the cinnamon and walnuts... in fact you could even dice up some apples to put on top or in your syrup ;)  Yum!

Taco Pie!

This taco pie was such a fun and tasty idea that I just had to make it (healthier of course).  It was super easy and the hubby LOVED it!  I think it might be a new weeknight staple :)  Directions on how to make this "fiesta in a pie dish" listed below...

While your deep dish pie crust is pre baking in the oven at 450 for 10 minutes, 

brown your taco seasoned lean ground turkey in a pan until cooked through 

(Jennie-O is the most flavor packed version of this!)

Pour the cooked ground turkey meat into your semi-cooked pie crust and then top with LOTS of all-natural or 2% grated cheddar cheese

bake in the oven at 450 for an additional 5 -8 minutes or until the cheese melts and everything is heated through

top with shredded lettuce

(unless you want to save some for leftovers, in that case put the toppings on your individual serving, so that they don't get soggy or warm after reheating)

dice up some roma tomatoes and avocados to toss on top and drizzle with light or reduced fat buttermilk ranch dressing

I served ours with some lime infused brown rice and black beans topped with queso fresco

* It doesn't cut perfectly, but that is the beauty of pie, right?!?!

Shrimp and Grits Shooters!!!

These were so tasty!  I made stone ground grits using a Trader Joe's dry bag according to its directions and then added a BUNCH of freshly grated cheddar cheese and cracked black pepper to taste.  Once it was all done I piped the grits into the shooters and topped them with a sauteed mixture of pan buttered shrimp, garlic and tomato.  Each shooter was garnished with finely chopped chives and a single shrimp.  My brother (who was in town at the time) said that if grits tasted like that then he would eat them all the time!  I think these were a success :)