ATX Part 2

Hi friends! As you know I visited Austin last week for the first time. My sister and her friend came down to Dallas on their spring break and we drove took a road trip! We wanted to see as much as we could in the weekend that we were there, so we ran all day and crossed a lot off of our list. First stop, after dropping the pups off at the dog sitter’s was Hypnotic Donuts in Dallas. This was probably the best coffee donut I have ever had, I’ll take a half dozen more, please.

Finally we were on the road and about an hour in we started seeing signs for Waco, TX. Affectionatly known as the place where they film Fixer Upper on HGTV. We started joking about stopping ot say hello to Chip and Jo, and as we all needed a coffee break, we realized we were only about five minutes away from Magnolia Market and the silo project. So, we took a quick detour to see the market, unfortunately didn’t go in because the line was around the block, but it was worth it and we can say we saw it!

Our first stop in Austin was the HOPE Outdoor Gallery which I posted about here in ATX Part 1. Next we stopped at Umlaf Sculpture Garden which was a little underwhelming, but also a nice midday break. Bonus, my sister Megan and I blended in with the scenery.

Next stop of the day was the Texas State Capitol building. We wandered around the grounds and learned about Texas history, but mostly took in the college campus feel.

For the evening we decided to go to S Congress Ave, eat dinner and wander around. We found the infamous I love you so much wall at Jo’s Coffee outpost, finally ate dinner (we had all crashed from the donut sugar high hours ago), and then explored some more. There were so many cute vintage and knick knack shops, it was so much fun!

The next day we had plans to visit Hamilton Pool for a hike, but wanted to be sure we didn’t miss anything in Austin before we left. Continuing the donut theme from the previous day, we went to Voodoo Donuts for breakfast and walked around 6th street before heading out to hike. Overall Austin was great and I can’t wait to go back! I’m so happy to finally start exploring my new home state!

S’more Dippin’

Hi everyone! As you’ve been reading, I visited my best friend, Lilia in Minnesota last weekend. When we’re together we revert back to our younger selves and do things that we would have when we were in middle school. One of our favorite activities was baking and concocting fun and crazy recipes, sure to give you an immediate sugar rush.

We planned ahead and researched recipes on Pinterest, Buzzfeed, and Yummly to find the best options to tweak and make our own. We landed on S’more dip, it’s a classic and s’mores happen t obe a speicialty of ours. After all, we take credit for inventing the s’moreo (melted marshmalle and chocolate in the middle of an oreo)!

Lilia can take full credit for these amazing ingredients, because she did the shopping. We prepped our work station with the ingredients: Break and Bake Toll House cookie dough, Ghirardelli dark and milk chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff, marshmallows and cinnamon graham crackers. A fantastic spread on its own, but when combined its euphoria!

To start, we spread out the blocks of cookie dough in a cast iron pan an inch or so apart and baked them for 8-10 minutes until they were about half baked. Then we added marshmallow fluff which we would recommend melting before layering on, it gets messy!

Then we combined the dark and milk chocolate chips and added a thick layer. Finally we melted the chips in the oven for a few minutes. It’s not an exact science we just tried not to burn the cookie.

Finally, the last layer was the marshmallows. We added them with little space between to cover the chocolate chips and placed in the oven until golden brown. It’s important to get that crispy shell, it’s my favorite part!

I love taking amazing recipes and tweaking them to make them my own. It’s a great way to get creative and have fun while baking! We made a ton of food, we didn’t even put a dent in the dip when we ate it, so it would probably be best for a party or a family.

Have any of you ever made s’more dip? What fun goodies did you add in?
Xoxo Kasey

Pumpkin Bread

Last weekend I realized I hadn’t had much of my favorite seasonal snack! Pumpkin cake is my favorite fall treat, but I’ve been trying to stay away from sweets during my marathon training. It’s getting harder as we get closer to Halloween. So, I started to look for healthy pumpkin recipes and I was really pleased to see that I wasn’t the only one wanting a healthier alternative! I will never claim a recipe as my own, I’m a Pinterest baker. Even so, this was a fantastic recipe and I am probably going to make it again next weekend. The only thing I would do differently is refrigerate the leftovers so they last longer. Find the recipe here!

xoxo Kasey

Instagram Round Up: A Month of Food

This was a busy month for me! I ran the second race in the RunDallas Race Series. Scrolling through my feed, I’ve been on a food-posting kick recently. I think it’s a mix of me being proud of my cooking skills (read: making edible food), or I’ve just had some really great food, but I’m not complaining. I’ll try to mix it up a bit more next month 🙂

I tried an awesome new restaurant called TEN. It was a great little place -literally little, it was standing room only! 100% want to go back, it was great!

There is nothing better than an iced coffee on my balcony after a shopping trip to Nordstrom!

This month I organized an event at the office and had a couple of great food trucks come for lunch and a celebration the launch of our new product! Kona Ice (above) was great and SoCal Tacos (below) will soon regret telling me where their restaurant is… I plan to  visit frequently.

After organizing another event at work, I was greeted by this sweet surprise from Fluffpops, one of our vendors!

I was thrilled to finally celebrate fall, and what better way to celebrate than with my booties? (Mine are sold out but I love these and these.)

I’m sure you gathered this from my blog name, but I am slightly addicted to coffee, so naturally I had to celebrate National Coffee Day! I love it, morning, afternoon, anytime of day, especially morning. I felt like this mug appropriately illustrated just how much of a morning person I am.

Keep up with me on instagram: @kasey.goedeker

xoxo Kasey