Spring Break: Do You Fro-Yo?

Spring break has never been something for me where I've planned a long trip and I have to pack up and leave the moment finals are done. That is, until this year. I planned well ahead of time to visit my boyfriend in Athens, Georgia where he's going to the University of Georgia for graduate school.

Now, I love my boyfriend - obviously, I spent good money on a plane ticket to see him - but he is as picky as a five year old when it comes to food. He hates vegetables - will only eat corn, potatoes, and some peppers - and absolutely loathes onions with a fiery passion. I knew it would be a difficult trip eating wise, especially after getting so used to eating vegetables all the time by myself. But one of the best things about him is he will try new places to eat - which paid off when we saw Menchie's frozen yogurt.

In Georgetown square, which is the largest shopping center near him, we passed this brightly colored store. Stark white tables made the bright purple and kiwi green pop. It looked inviting with indoor and outdoor seating and a cute cartoon character as their logo. I wanted to try it. I couldn't help myself. I had heard and seen all of the frozen yogurt craze in Chicago, but the locations never looked as big or open or fun as this one did.

So one night for dinner we strolled in, grabbed a cup, and looked at the huge wall of selections for frozen yogurt flavors. Vanilla, chocolate, chocolate covered strawberry, Georgia peach, cake batter, Irish mint, blueberry, strawberry banana, there were so many that I had a hard time and could never pick just one. Luckily it's made for you to mix and match whatever you'd like. First time around I had cake batter swirled with strawberry banana. It's even more fun because flavors rotate and differ on the store, so it's an adventure every time!

The Boyfriend @ Menchie's

Then you stroll over to the long toppings counter. First are plastic bins like you'd see in a candy store, but in addition to candy they have cereal, sprinkles, nuts, pretzels, coconut, and any other dry toppings you might like to sprinkle on. Another lower set area of the toppings counter had fresh fruit, cookie dough pieces, cheesecake pieces, and cooler options to toss on. Then, of course, the end has silver containers where you can squeeze caramel, chocolate, fudge, or marshmallow toppings. Just the toppings bar made me feel like a child - wanting everything, but unable to choose. My strawberry banana cake batter was topped with fresh strawberries and cheesecake pieces. Besides the cake batter and cheesecake, this was a low-calorie and low-fat treat.

How it works is you put as much or as little of all the flavors and toppings into a bowl or a cone bowl and then, when you're done, you weigh it and pay around 42 cents per ounce. Let me tell you, it's more fun and cheaper than most ice cream shops. Brandon even loved it because he could avoid the fruits he thought were nasty and mix together a mint and chocolate treat with cookie dough pieces and caramel. He was just as giddy as I was picking out his flavors.

When I looked Menchie's up online I saw they have a smileage club. It's a rewards program you can join online or in store and use a rewards card or your phone number to get points for every dollar you spend. If you spend $6.78 you would get 6.78 points - they do everything down to the penny. Then when you reach 50 points you get $5 free. But for signing up you get 25 smile points and if you use your card within the first week of signing up you get another 10 points free. Of course, I did both those things to get 35 free smiles. Plus, I'm looking forward to my free frozen yogurt on my birthday.


The smileage club sent us back two more times to stock up on points and get our $5 free. I tried vanilla and georgia peach the next time - which was wonderful - and got georgia peach the next time too but with blueberry and marshmallow topping. It was always fun picking what flavors I wanted and what kind of dessert or treat I wanted. It could be fruity, healthy, dairy-free, or a thick tasty dessert.

For those of you who love options, trying new things, or have picky eaters that like to pick and choose, I'd recommend Menchie's frozen yogurt. While there's a lot of fro-yo out there, this place is friendly, well designed and just too cute.

Classic Christmas: Spritz Cookies

Although Christmas is over the first snow just hit Chicago and I don't know about you, but the white fluffy stuff makes me want to drink hot cocoa and bake Christmas cookies.

It was really strange not having a white Christmas, or even that cold of a Christmas, this year. I distracted myself with mountains of cookies, including my favorite and our classic Christmas cookie: The Spritz cookie.

These are the best to bring to parties, share with friends, and just snack on while working on wrapping presents, trimming the tree, and watching Christmas movies. I got the recipe when my mom bought me a cookie press at a Pampered Chef cookware party. I am in love with this cookie press and most people I know are jealous of mine. I'd recommend getting one, especially if you're always baking a ton of Christmas cookies and it takes too long. These are much faster than sugar cookies, just as sweet, and fun to decorate.

This year I used my sister's press (because who knows where mine went in the move) and we had Christmas ornaments, trees, wreaths, and stars to make with lots of colorful sprinkles. So here we go.

The Pampered Chef’s

Classic Spritz Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter or margarine, softened 

1 cup sugar 

 1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Fun colored sugar or sprinkles to decorate!

 Directions:

 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 2. In a large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until it's creamy.

 3. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat well until all are incorporated.

 4. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each cup. Dough will be soft, don't worry, you want it this way. It will go into the cookie press easier.

 5. Push into cookie press or make dough into balls or other shapes. 

         For the cookie press you want to make sure once it's put together that the plunger part that presses the dough is forward so the dough is at the end and against the shape. Place the shaped side of the press on the cookie sheet and do roughly 2 clicks - depending on how hard/long you click the trigger.

6. Once you've filled a sheet, decorate with sugar or sprinkles. Have fun!

 7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until firm. I like to see the edges just barely browning - make sure they're on the top rack to avoid burnt bottoms.

 8. Cool on cookie rack or plate.

It should make 6-7 dozen cookies. Some presses are smaller, like my sister's, so you'll get mountains of them. The best part too? 2 cookies are 120 calories. Merry Christmas!

Okay, so they don't have to be Christmas cookies either, that's just become the staple in my house. If you have the press it also usually contains other fun, seasonal shapes. So whether it's Christmas joy, another celebration, or just enjoying life, these cookies are perfect for the occasion.

- Mollie