What's Mia Making

Blueberry Overdrive Arrives and with it Blueberry Lemon Loveliness

June 16, 2020 by Mia Fox Leave a Comment

This past week, my family’s quest to eat healthy or more specifically, avoid high fat and carbs in favor of anti-oxidant foods, erupted in a mountain of blueberries that turned to blueberry lemon loveliness.

I took my usual trip to the market and decided to buy the largest box of blueberries. Buying extra made sense because we had been popping them plain as snacks, putting them in yogurt parfaits in the morning, and serving them with vanilla flavored almond creamer (just a drop, I swear) for dessert. But then… it was a case of blueberry overdrive.

Blueberry Overdrive Arrives

My husband passed a fruit stand on the side of the road and detoured to make a stop. He didn’t know that I had gone to the market just an hour prior. He also decided to buy extra blueberries. I had thought that the pack I purchased was large, but what he brought home put my Trader Joe’s box in its place. His purchase was the muscle box of blueberries… big enough to feed a family for a week. At least, that was his intention.

Best-Laid Plans

The saying goes, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” We just had too many blueberries. I’m not a wasteful person and I knew that there was no way we could eat this many before some of them started to spoil. It was time to bake! I was thrilled because frankly, after writing, baking is my number one way to relax. There’s something about churning the butter with the sugar, adding the eggs, one by one, and smelling the scent of vanilla as I drizzle in that delectable teaspoon of extract.

Return to Carb Land

I looked at my husband and explained that I had to bake. I just had to. He raised his eyebrows knowing that I had been looking for an excuse for over a week. In truth, I think he was happy. He always says my baking was partly responsible for him falling in love with me. I told the kids that we should celebrate a half birthday since nobody in my family has a June birthday. And then, ta-dah… blueberry overdrive arrives and I had a reason to embrace my love of butter and flour recipes again.

Blueberry Lemon Loveliness

I gained inspiration from Tieghan Gerard’s Half Baked Harvest blog when I created Blueberry Lemon Loveliness. Her version has a few difference in the ingredients and it’s baked in a loaf pan, but I can’t use the word loaf to describe this because it’s not a lazy loaf. This delicious any time snack tastes likes it’s jumping for joy. Here it is …

Ingredients:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter (softened)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice (add the zest of the lemon for an extra burst of flavor)
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 heaping cup fresh blueberries
3 tablespoons any variety of fruit jam

For the glaze:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×5 inch pan.

2. Mix together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, yogurt, and lemon juice.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Toss the blueberries within this mixture. (Did you know that coating the blueberries in flour helps them to float in the batter rather than sink to the bottom of the pan?)

4. Gently fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture.

5. Spoon half the batter into your pan. Smooth a layer of jam on top of the batter, then top with the remaining half of batter.

6. Sprinkle some extra sugar on top of the Blueberry Lemon Loveliness and tell it how beautiful it looks. Everyone, even baked goods, needs some positive accolades from time to time.

7. Then bake for 55 minutes, or until the center isn’t wiggly jiggly. Remember, it was a muscle box of blueberries!

8. Make the glaze while the Blueberry Lemon Loveliness cools. Simply combine the lemon juice and powdered sugar.

9. Once it’s cool, take the cake out of its pan and spoon the glaze over the top, allowing it to drip down the sides.

Enjoy!

Four Downright Sexy Foods

May 18, 2020 by Mia Fox Leave a Comment

Sexy food doesn’t have to mean oysters. Here are four downright sexy foods that you can easily find, prepare, and they’re not slimy.

Black Raspberries

As a romance author, I know that reading a sexy book can get you into the right mindset for romance. The same result can be found by eating certain foods. Black raspberries have been found to boost your libido and increase sexual stamina. Berry up!

Ginseng Tea

If you’re planning an evening with your man, it can’t hurt to have a bit of caffeine in your system. Late nights are more fun when fatigue doesn’t strike. However, not all caffeine is equal when it comes to your sex drive. Ginseng tea has a multitude of sexy properties. It increases sexual satisfaction and can help prevent or lessen erectile dysfunction.

Saffron

Initially, the idea of saffron as one of the four downright sexy foods had me thrown for a loop. I had never thought of those little red strings of spice in that way. They seemed so innocent, a mere spice. And that’s when it hit me. It made so much sense. Why not turn to a spice when you want to spice things up? Saffron isn’t just any old spice. Pure saffron is actually the world’s most expensive spice. Here are the details: A Canadian review of 150 international studies found that saffron both enhances sexual performance and satisfaction. No wonder Indian guys with their chocolate complexions and white teeth are so damned sexy.

Strawberries

As the saying goes, “First come sex, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage!” If you’re wanting to conceive, fill up on strawberries. They contain lots of vitamin C, which raises sperm count. They also help to improve circulation, which is important for men and women’s sexual satisfaction. For an added sexy twist, coat your strawberries in chocolate, which is known to boost libido.

In a previous post, I wrote about ultimate dating foods. I’d love to hear your meal planning ideas around this list of four downright sexy foods. Feel free to drop me a line. Or, you could always just have a bowl of berries, a cup of tea, sprinkle in some saffron, and see what happens next.

Date Night Mushroom Risotto

May 11, 2020 by Mia Fox Leave a Comment

Date Night Mushroom Risotto is the perfect meal for a romantic dinner at home. If you’ve read my previous post about the ultimate date food, it ticks all the boxes. First and foremost, it’s delicious. It’s also impressive, easy to eat, and won’t leave you with bad breath or bloating. Most important, it’ll leave you wanting dessert.

Ingredients

Here’s your list of ingredients:

1 carton low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp. butter

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 bay leaf

4 sprigs thyme, leaves removed

salt and pepper to taste

1 3/4 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed

2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

These are the steps to making your Date Night Mushroom Risotto

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring chicken stock to a simmer. Reduce heat to low.
In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Next, add 1 tablespoon butter, garlic, mushrooms, bay leaf and thyme. Cook until the mushrooms have softened and are golden, about 4 more minutes, then season with salt and pepper. Remove mixture from the pot.
Continue by melting remaining tablespoon butter in the pot and add the arborio rice, stirring quickly. Cook until the grains are well-coated and smell slightly toasty, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook until the wine has mostly absorbed.
With a ladle, add about 1 cup of hot stock. Stirring often, cook until the rice has mostly absorbed liquid. Add remaining stock about 1/2 cup at a time, continuing to allow the rice to absorb each addition of stock before adding more. Stir often and cook until the risotto is al dente and creamy, not mushy. (You might not need all the stock.)
Add the mushroom mixture back into the rice.
Finally, stir in Parmesan and peas then garnish with parsley. Serve warm.

Best Practices

Before launching into cooking, here are some “best practices” to keep in mind when making Date Night Mushroom Risotto.

1. Use hot stock.

Before starting, heat your stock in a separate pan over medium heat. Hot stock will help keep the temperature from dropping each time you add it to the rice. The faster your rice absorbs the liquid, the better your risotto texture will be.

2. Keep stirring.

In “Finding Nemo” Dory always said, Just keep swimming.” Swap that little song for “just keep stirring” and you’ll end up with perfect risotto. Arborio rice is very starchy, so the chances of burning increases. Do not leave it for even a second. Just keep swimming… err stirring.

3. It’s all in the cheese.

You’ll notice that there aren’t a lot of ingredients. Therefore, the quality and flavor of each one is important. Fresh herbs. Fresh cheese. Parmesan from a can doesn’t belong in your date night mushroom risotto.

The whole point of this blog is to offer recipe advice for a sure-fire romantic meal. This is it! Put in the time before he arrives and all you have to do is heat up the risotto. Then, you can heat up the rest of the evening as well.

Create a Work Free Zone

April 4, 2016 by Mia Fox Leave a Comment

When you get home do you immediately start the conversation with your partner by rehashing what happened at work? And if so, do you ever wish that your relationships could be more like the ones in the romance novels you read? Maybe it’s time to create a work free zone?

It’s not that you can’t talk about your work, you just need to know when. Let’s face it, work is not sexy. Even if you’re a Victoria’s Secret model, you still have to show up on time, deal with cranky co-workers (probably more than most people!) and be accountable. Talking about work when you first get home is probably the most definitive way to ensure that you don’t have a romantic evening.

But I want to share my day with my partner, you think to yourself.

Okay then. Here are some tips for how to balance romance with rehashing the day’s events:

Go in for the hug.

Don’t underestimate the power of non-verbal communication. If you lean on your partner, literally, he’ll sense that you might not have had a particularly stellar day. Your reward will be a warm hug in which you’ll feel loved, rather than stressed after telling about the co-worker who tried to back stab you.

Meal plan.

Another decidedly unsexy proposition, but the alternative is far worse. Take time to meal plan by buying ingredients on the weekend and using clever make-ahead recipes. If you want to go so far as to have dessert, try my special brownie recipe, which has an essence of coffee and almonds! The result will be that you come home to the inviting smell of dinner already cooked to perfection in your crock pot rather than having to scramble to put something together when you’re both tired.

Make an event out of dinner.

If you’ve followed both of the tips above then you and your partner should be feeling a bit more relaxed by the time you even sit down for dinner. You’ve held each other. You smell the food and it’s sure to be delicious. Pour yourselves a glass of wine. Set the table with nice dishes and candles (maybe get it ready before you leave in the morning). Now it’s time to sit down, relax, and enjoy each other’s company. There’s a fine line between sharing and over-sharing. Take advantage of your pre-planned candlelit dinner.

Put work on the back burner (ahem, after romance ensues). By the time you get around to talking about your work day, chances are you will have had time to put things into perspective and just maybe, you won’t even feel the need to vent.

Looking for more romance and recipe advice? Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll get this as well as quarterly giveaways.

Oatmeal Your Way

February 23, 2015 by Mia Fox Leave a Comment

Everyone knows that oatmeal is good for you. It can also get a bit boring. But now, you can have oatmeal your way — delicious every day! Courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine, here are new recipe ideas for turning the every day oatmeal into extraordinary oatmeal.

For each recipe, start with 3/4 cup of water. Bring to a boil, stir in 1/2 cup of old-fashioned oats and a dash of salt. Reduce heat, simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and finish with one of these toppings.

Goat Cheese and Cremini
Saute 1/2 cup of sliced cremini mushrooms and add crumbled goat cheese along with 2 tablespoons of half and half and a dash of thyme. It may sound odd for breakfast food, but it’s delicious and perfect for a brunch.

Lemon-Blueberry with Mascarpone
Stir 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon curd into oatmeal. Top with 3 tablespoons of fresh blueberries, 1 teaspoon mascarpone cheese and 2 teaspoons of sliced almonds.

Chai Spice and Pear
Saute 1/2 a pear and add 1 teaspoon of honey.Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk, 1/8 teaspoon cardamon, 1/8 teaspoon of ginger, and 1/8 teaspoon of allspice.

Sunflower Seed Butter, Banana, and Chocolate
Mash 1/2 banana with 2 tablespoons of your favorite nut butter. Add 2 teaspoons of brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of chocolate shavings.

Got ideas of your own? I’d love to hear about your ways to dress up oatmeal.

The Skinny on Thanksgiving Leftovers

November 17, 2014 by Mia Fox Leave a Comment

It’s okay to splurge on Thanksgiving. After all, it only comes once a year and if you’re like me, saying no to pumpkin pie is just not possible. But, after the holiday has passed, then it’s time for the skinny on Thanksgiving leftovers.

Here are three ideas for enjoying the turkey throughout the holiday weekend without over-indulging in too many calories:

Turkey Lettuce Wraps
Top shredded white meat with red onion, shredded carrots, chopped nuts and cilantro. Wrap in lettuce leaves for a low carb lunch.

Turkey Vegetable Soup
In a pot, saute chopped onion, add a few cups of vegetable broth along with white and dark meat turkey. Toss in as many chopped vegetables as you can find such as carrots, celery, and squash. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until veggies are tender.

Chilled Quinoa Salad
Mix leftover green beans or any roasted vegetables with cooked quinoa and fresh herbs like parsley or cilantro along with basil for a lean, but satisfying salad.