Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

I have a love hate relationship with Trader Joe’s. I love it for the obvious reasons: great products, reasonable prices and of course, those Hawaiian shirts… But I hate that it’s made a pantry hoarder out of me. I’m sure you’ve experienced this too – haven’t you fallen madly in love with one of their items only to have it disappear from the shelves forever? This is especially traumatic for me around the Holidays. The thought of getting through all the Christmas mayhem without a midnight binging of Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe’s is unthinkable! Every time I walk in there, I brace myself for disappointment. I know, not the healthiest of attitudes…
Well, I’ve decided to be the victim no more! When I recently searched high and low for their Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti and came up empty, I thought, this is ridiculous! I’ll just make my own.


All you need are a few simple ingredients. Most likely, you have these in your pantry right now.
They are:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios


Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Sift the baking powder into a large bowl with the flour and sugar and mix to combine. Add the eggs, vanilla, orange rind, cranberries and pistachios. Mix it into a smooth dough. I found incorporating everything with my hands worked best.
Aren’t these colors beautiful?


Divide the dough in half and roll each portion into even sized logs. I made mine approximately 4 inches long by 2 ½ inches wide. The dough will be sticky so dampen your hands a bit when forming your logs. Flatten them slightly and place them on parchment paper.


Bake them for around 30 minutes or until firm and you start to see color on top. As soon as they are cool enough to touch, slice the logs with a serrated knife.
Place your slices back onto the baking sheet and bake again for another 8 – 10 minutes or until they are golden and crisp.


See? Super easy and very delicious. Make yourself a cup of coffee and let the dunking begin!

If you're going to hit the dance floor...

give it all you've got!

Brighter than a moonbeam...

Brighter than a moonbeam, warmer than the sun, from the moment he first saw her, he knew nothing would ever be the same again.

Collide...

"Even the best fall down sometime
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find you and I collide"
~Howie Day

And the winner is...

Thanks so much to all of you who entered our Teavana giveaway. I'm happy to announce that the winner of the Classic One Cup Infuser is... Leen Isabel!

Here's what she said...

To take the stress off at work, I bring my tea set with me! Just my loose leaf tea, my favorite mug (with little black cats all over it), and an awkward little mesh strainer.

It's like bringing home to the office and the fragrance it creates while steeping is wonderful. :)

And to cope with office place madness, I drink a fantastic mix that has ginseng (for energy), St. Johns Wort (for stress and anxiety), rooibos, apples, lemongrass, cinnamon, and other lovely fruits and herbs.

Congratulations Leen! Contact me at info@isabellawrence.com to redeem your prize. I believe your 'awkward little mesh strainer' may be put to rest once and for all. :)

Teavana Giveaway!

In these wintry months, nothing soothes and refreshes like a steaming cup of tea. We all know by now the many benefits of drinking it. All those antioxidants keep our immune system in check and studies have shown that drinking tea can help control the free radicals that can lead to heart disease and cancer. A more surprising fact however, is that it's a rich source of flouride. In fact, green tea has more flouride than flouridated water. Who knew?? So in addition to doing good things for your insides, brewing a cuppa can do wonders for your smile too.

Because I want you to start off the new year in the best of health, I am giving away this wonderful Classic One Cup Infuser from Teavana. I recently bought one of these for myself and loved it so much, I thought you might like one too. What makes it really great is that the openings are teeny tiny - virtually no leafy parts or stems can get through. If you're like me, you love loose tea but hate the twiggy bits that can escape a traditional strainer.

If you would like a chance to win this infuser, share with me your favorite way to enjoy tea in the comment section. I'll choose a winner on Thursday. One entry per person please. Don't leave an anonymous comment and only folks living in the continental U.S. will be eligible. It's not that I don't love you, readers in other lands, it's just a shipping thing.

We're teaching a workshop at Julia Dean

Here's your chance to learn the ins and outs of wedding photography. Larry and I will be teaching again at The Julia Dean Photo Workshops in Hollywood. Our course is called, "The Big Picture: Fresh Approaches to Wedding Photography". This 4 day workshop will encompass everything from marketing to shooting with a story in mind. We'll be photographing a real-life couple on the third session giving participants a chance to add fresh images to their portfolio while learning how we pose and interact with clients.

If you love taking pictures but aren't ready to enter the trenches of wedding photography, Julia Dean has wonderful beginning and intermediary courses. Her roster of instructors is truly stellar, we're talking some serious luminaries here. We are honestly dumb-struck every time we are asked to teach at her workshops.

For a complete list of courses and more information about our class visit her website.

Sweeter words have never been written...

Buy 1 get another half off. Have sweeter words ever been written? Not even the Bard himself could have conjured up a phrase more melodious and filled with promise.

I went in for something sensible and practical and came out with something altogether not.

Hope you indulge a little this weekend!