I've Been Busy

Since my last post I've just been wicked busy. I made peanut butter cheesecake brownie babies, I made no bake cookies, and I made strawberry jam. All three are great!

The brownie babies you definitely need to use paper liners for like the recipe says. I didn't have any so I just sprayed the pan, but the bottoms stuck because the peanut butter and cream cheese 'filling' is so heavy. Instead of cool whip I used some heavy cream to make my own whipped cream.

Yesterday I wanted cookies, but we're actually experiencing warm weather so there was no way I was turning the oven on. Solution- no bakes! I added coconut and cut up almonds to them. And I think next time I'll cut back on the sugar because they are just way too sweet.

The jam turned out great. I used the recipe off the pectin box. My sister has already had a peanut butter and jam sandwich with it. She said it tastes just like it smells -awesome! I tried some on a sandwich but I've never been a huge fan of jam and jelly. When I want a sandwich I don't want a sweet one. My dad thinks I'm nuts because I spent hours making it and I bought all the stuff to make it, but I probably won't eat it. I wanted to make it because I wanted to make it. I'm giving half of it away. The batch made nine jars! I couldn't have been happier than when I found out that it had sealed correctly. I was so worried that I had done something wrong at first.

Last night my sister and I house sat for our Aunt Taunya. Basically we were just there to make sure the house didn't spontaneously combust or anything. They've lost two houses to fires. They have password protected wifi, so even though I brought my laptop with the intent of blogging, I couldn't. Have you ever been in a house where everything is so open that every noise sounds louder than it really is? Their house is like that so I didn't sleep well last night. I think I'm taking a nap this afternoon.

I'm going to go and enjoy this warm weather while we've got it!

Bread Recipes

The bread I made the other day tastes great! I chose a recipe I found somewhere while looking up breadmakers. It uses honey instead of sugar, so it didn't give off the good smell while baking that I usually relate to homemade bread. I don't care, though, because it turned out good!

1 1/8 cups of water
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp of honey
2 tsp salt
3 cups of flour (I did 2 cups wheat, 1 cup white)
2 tsp yeast

makes about 1 1/2 lb loaf

Tonight I made zucchini bread. I was so excited to find them in the stores, I've been looking and waiting for them for months. Let me just say- YUM! Here's the recipe I used:

3 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
½ tsp vanilla
2 cups of grated or finely shredded zucchini
2 ½ cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt

Beat eggs, sugar, & oil
Add vanilla, spices, & zucchini- mix
Put in dry ingredients & mix

Bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean

You can add nuts if you like them, I don't. I've also had zucchini muffins with chocolate chips in them. Those are good. I made the mini loaves this time because they make it easier to give bread away.

Breadmaker Bread

Friday night we were hanging out at my Aunt Jen's. I made banana bread and my mom mentioned how I wanted a breadmaker. Aunt Jen says "Really? Look in that cabinet there." I pull out a breadmaker, along with a pound of dust. xP I wiped it down and took it home. SO, now I've got this bread maker to use!


I tried it out last night. What I got was a good looking, great smelling, perfectly square loaf of bread. I cut off a piece and ate it. It might look and smell good, but it's not like the homemade bread of my childhood that was so good I could eat it with nothing on it. There's nothing wrong with this bread, I just didn't like the taste very much.

I am going to experiment with different recipes, and hopefully find one I like! Plus I am going to get some wheat flour. All the times I've made bread I've never been able to make homemade wheat bread because my mom hates it. It won't be 100% wheat bread, only about half so it isn't so heavy.

If anyone has a good recipe I'd love to hear them!

Cookie Tips

I hoped I'd just be able to share an amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe with you, but instead I've got some good tips to share. I'll share the recipe, too, but just keep in mind that I haven't made it correctly yet.

Lats night I got the craving for home made chocolate chip cookies. (And it cooled down enough for me to make them) There's no better kind of cookie than a home made one. I remembered that I had a recipe from my Great Grandmother's cook book. I just had to try it out! This is the kind of recipe where the only thing included is a list of the ingredients. I've made cookies before so I know that it only takes 7 steps, as Suzie illustrates here.

The easiest way for me to explain the things I learned last night is to give you the ingredients listed and go from there.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 well beaten egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon hot water
1 six ounce package chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts

Obviously margarine is cheaper, and was used much more often back then than it is now. I used butter, though, because I prefer it.

The fact that there is only 1/4 cup of brown sugar in the recipe means the cookies aren't as dark as some chocolate chip cookies I've made. My mom had to ask me if I put any in at all.

We didn't have any vanilla. I could have just left it out, but instead I decided to experiment. I added a few drops of almond extract, and a dash of cinnamon. They gave the cookies a different flavor that we all really like.

The flour needs to be sifted if a recipe calls for it. This is one of the first things I learned when I began cooking. We don't own a sifter, so I put 1/2 cup unsifted flour in a bowl and whisked it for a minute or two. It came out exactly as if I'd bought and used a sifter. Always start out with about half the amount it says you'll need. When flour is sifted you end up with a lot more of it than you start with. The 1/2 unsifted flour gave me the 1 cup + 2 tablespoons needed.

Even though the recipe calls for 6 ounces of chocolate chips I only put in what we had left in one bag, which was about 4 ounces. It seems like that was a good amount.

I do not like nuts in my cookies, so I never put them in. This turned out to me my biggest mistake last night. When a recipe calls for nuts, and you don't add them in, sometimes you need to add a little extra flour to make up for it. I didn't do this last night and I ended up with very flat cookies.


That is not how a chocolate chip cookie is supposed to look. They taste fine, but I still feel dumb for messing up. Especially because I made the same mistake with a different batch of cookies last month. I guess I needed to make it again in order to learn from it.

It doesn't say a cooking time or temperature, but I used the universal baking temp., 350 degrees. I just watched to make sure they didn't burn. The time it takes depends on how big you make the cookies.

The recipe took a little bit longer because I had to beat the egg and sift the flour, and I only got a dozen cookies from it. The dough tasted amazing, though! I do plan to make them again, even if it's just to prove that I can. I'll show you how they look when I decide to make them. I hope they turn out a little less flat.

By the way, I'm back from the dentist. The whole right side of my mouth is numb. They did work on the top and bottom. I ended up with 3 shots of novocain, because I needed two shots on the top. I don't know why the top of my mouth doesn't numb well, they had to do the same thing last time. I hope it wears off before I get hungry for lunch, I don't want to eat with a half numb mouth.

Homemade Burgers

Suzie's Burger Challenge gave me a good excuse to make some delicious homemade burgers. We grill a lot at my house, but usually my dad is happy with frozen burger patties. I won't eat them. Deciding I was in the mood for burgers, I pulled out a half a pound of frozen hamburger to thaw on Saturday so that I could make these on Sunday.



I chopped up two cloves of garlic and half an onion and put those in. Then I put in some honey teriyaki marinade, salt, and pepper. I was a little worried that they would fall apart, but they were fine. I just cooked them on the grill over a medium heat with some BBQ sauce. YUM!

Here is the final product sitting on my plate with, in my opinion, the perfect side. I'm still a kid when it comes to food. xD

Wish Me Luck!

Today was Martin Luther King day, so we had no school! To me this translates as another day to study for and stress over my two most difficult exams. Tomorrow morning I have my Business Law final, I can't wait for it to be over. It's a "spill your guts" essay type exam, and we're allowed to use notes. I spent all day yesterday writing pages of hopefully-useful notes. In the afternoon I have my French midterm. This is the one I am most worried about. I know what to expect, but I never do well on French tests no matter how much I study. Wish me luck!

I didn't spend all day yesterday writing notes; I had to give myself a break sometimes! On one of those breaks I made some delicious almond cookie dough. So today after lunch I pulled out a frozen log of cookie dough and baked yummy cookies. No matter how many times I make and eat them, it always amazes me how good they taste fresh out of the oven. I think this batch was my best yet.

Yoga is working out great for me! Some of the stretches are harder for me, but that's because I am really not all that flexible. Doing them every day, though, will hopefully change that!

All in all it has been a good day. My cousin came over after work and we made her "Tastes Like Happy" chicken. I would love to share the recipe with you, but of course she won't let me. I've never understood why people don't like to share recipes... I have to go along with it though. I also felt like trying out a pizza dough recipe I found, but make it into garlic bread. It wasn't quite garlicky enough, but it was still good! I will find the recipe and upload a picture later, right now I feel like just going to bed.

Cooking

This is a picture of my recipe book. I got it for Christmas, and I'm already filling it with recipes! The best ones are the family recipes. My favorite is my great grandmother's bread, but I also have her peanut butter fudge recipe. It's amazing. I was already warned by my mom and aunt to never give it out. Apparently my great gram was very protective of it. When I look thru it I realize that most of the book is going to be baked goods!

I also got a crock pot for Christmas. It will hopefully help me balance out the baked goods. xD I started cooking a pot roast in it this morning. I can't wait for dinner! My mom found tons of crock pot recipes for me to use, so I am going to be keeping the resolution to eat more home made meals. Cooking and feeding people is a lot of fun. I think I'm going in the right direction by going to school for restaurant management. Only nine more months until I leave for NECI! I'm both terrified and excited, but now I'm almost sure that I'm making the right choice.

Where do your recipes come from? Does your family have any recipes handed down for generations? Other than family recipes, I actually get a lot from here. She writes books about a caterer who solves murders, how could she not include tons of recipes? I think I'm going to go and make that fudge now. =)

Coconut Macaroons and a Comic

Usually if you buy a bag of baking coconut it will have a recipe on it for coconut macaroons. That’s where I got mine at least. Here it is, I hope if you make them they come out great. They’re good.

1 Package (2 2/3 cups in this case) sweetened coconut
1/3 Cup sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
1/8 Teaspoon salt
2 Egg Whites
½ Teaspoon almond extract

Mix coconut, sugar, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in egg whites and almond extract until well blended. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased and floured cookie sheets. Bake at 325F for 20 minutes or until edges of cookies are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets onto wire racks. Makes about 1 ½ dozen.

For chocolate dipped macaroons-

Prepare and bake cookies as directed and melt chocolate as directed on package. Dip cookies halfway into chocolate, place on cookie sheets covered with wax paper, and cool in refrigerator until chocolate is firm.

Enjoy!

And if anyone's feeling guilty about all that food they ate yesterday, or about the leftovers they're eating today, check out this Oh My Gods! comic.

Pumpkin Bread is Wicked Awesome

Yesterday I made Mrs. B’s Prosperity Pumpkin Bread. It is so delicious! If you like pumpkin, I suggest making this bread. It’s a simple recipe, unless you’re like me and decide to make a double batch even though your biggest bowl is too small. xD Because I made so much I am giving it away to people. Everyone who’s had some loved it.
I planned on posting about the bread yesterday, but my computer decided it didn’t want to connect to the internet during the afternoon. It’s working fine today so I think we just have a problem with the wireless router. We need to buy a new one.

Today I had to leave school early to go and get jabbed with a needle. I hate shots, they hurt- and these HPV ones hurt worse than most. What’s stinks is my little sister didn’t even freak out like I did. It would have made me feel better if she had.

If I ever finish all my homework I will find something more interesting than my life to post about. Finding things to write about shouldn’t be a problem next month. Soul Coaching begins on November 1st! Anyone who is participating, remember to check out the blog and see what you can do to prepare for the 1st.

Busy, Busy!

Last night was the full moon, so I thought I would share a little bit of what I usually do. I love watching the full moon rise, so if I can I sit outside and do that. Every month, though, I read the Charge of the Goddess (warning- annoying music on the page). This is something I started doing last year. It is considered a Wiccan poem I believe. I am not Wiccan, but I still think it is an inspirational poem.

Tonight I made dinner, so I decided to try a recipe from Sacred Suzie. Her thyme rolls were delicious! I don’t have a bread maker, so it took me a little longer to make them. It’s still quicker than my Great Grandmother’s bread recipe though!

I owe a big thank you to my mom for bringing me home two big bags of Styrofoam. We will be making grave stones and other things for our haunted walk at school with it. I’ll have pictures of the stones when I make them, probably this weekend.

I have a million things to do still so I will end this and go work on homework or something. Remember to check out Mrs. B's 31 Days of Halloween! She is giving away four wonderful prizes today, and at least one prize every day until the end of October.

Just another note- Mercury goes direct today! This is very good news. Hopefully everyone didn't have too many problems. =)