Sesame Cashew Shrimp Stir Fry

Hi everyone! I've been off my regular posting schedule because I moved to New Jersey and started working full time at Johnson & Johnson! I was in a hotel for the first few days and moved into my permanent apartment last week, where I'll be for the next 6 months. On my first day of work my manager (who reads my food blog and jokes about putting the link on our J&J sales department website) had this beautiful homemade apron waiting outside my cubicle - thanks Patty! It was a great welcome into the office. :)

Besides the location change and new job, I also started a new fitness program: P90X. Heard of it? Basically I wake up at 5 in the morning, work out/lift weights/jump around, eat lots of protein and my roommates think I'm crazy. So I'm going to start featuring more healthy meals on here, but don't fret - I'll still make cupcakes and buffalo chicken dip and all that good stuff!

This stir fry took 15 minutes to make and I simply used the ingredients I had in my fridge. Easy, light, high in protein and sooo good as leftovers. I recommend making the whole batch and storing it in your fridge for a few days... mostly because you're gonna want to eat it again.

Sesame Cashew Shrimp Stir Fry
Serves: 4  Prep: 15 minutes  Total: 15 minutes

Ingredients
1 lb frozen shrimp, cooked and deveined
1 1/4 cup broccoli, chopped
3/4 cup tomato, chopped
1 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup sesame stir fry sauce
2 cups brown rice

Directions
Thaw frozen shrimp and remove tails. Chop broccoli and begin sauteing in oil on medium heat. Once broccoli begins to soften, add whole shrimp, tomato and cashews. Pour sesame sauce over shrimp mixture and cook for 5-8 minutes.
Cook brown rice as directed. Cool and serve with stir fry.

Cranberry Rocky Road Cookies: The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

Happy holidays, everyone! :) I'm back home for winter break and have one online final and a paper before I'm officially done with this semester. I've already moved out of my Boston apartment and will soon be making my journey to The Middle-of-Nowhere, New Jersey for a 6-month internship. I said my bittersweet goodbyes to all my amazing Boston friends this weekend, and I have to say this has been the best semester EVER. I made some wonderful new friends and got even closer to old ones, which makes it terribly hard to leave. Love you all so much, and thanks for an incredible year!

On the bright side, a few positives of leaving Boston are 1) a great new job, 2) [hopefully] great new friends, and 3) more time to blog!!! Which brings me to...

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

 This year two amazing food bloggers, Julie at The Little Kitchen and Lindsay at Love & Olive Oil, arranged an international cookie swap for food bloggers to network, exchange information, and best of all, cookies! I can't think of a better and tastier way to connect with other bloggers out there.

I was scrambling to come up with a recipe for this event, since I usually don't ad lib on baking recipes, but I was really stuck on the idea of chocolate and marshmallow because it was my favorite ice cream as a kid. Somehow this transitioned to rocky road, then dried cranberries were thrown in the mix, and huzzah! Cranberry rocky road cookies were born. These were very quick to whip up and are the perfect holiday cookie for both chocolate lovers and fruity dessert lovers to enjoy.

Cranberry Rocky Road Cookies

Makes: 4 dozen cookies  Prep: 15 minutes  Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cups baking soda
2/3 cups cocoa
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup mini marshmallows
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Place softened butter in an electric mixer and beat for 30 seconds until whipped. Add in sugar, eggs and vanilla and beat for 1 minute. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa and mix well. Add dry ingredients into the mixer in four parts and beat for 2 minutes.
Next, chop whole walnuts before measuring. Add walnuts, chocolate chips and dried cranberries into the cookie dough and beat for 1 minute.
Scoop dough with a tablespoon and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until the dough is risen and remove from the oven. Add a few mini marshmallows to each individual cookie. Bake for another 2 or 3 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool.