Sunshine on its way!

This weekend was marvelous! It was so sunny and warm, and since I always seem to be freezing cold, it was so wonderful! Of course, daylight savings helped with that a bit, because the sun was up later. Because of daylight savings though, I missed my show on Sunday night! Once Upon a Time? I’m sure you’ve heard of it, or watch it religiously. In either case, I knew it was going to be a good one, and it was! (I watched it on Hulu last night…) ugh, sooo good! Interesting twists and turns. Anyways…my mom thinks its super cheesy, and it probably is, but I love it so much I don’t even care!

So, I was pondering a bit yesterday, and just thinking about the gender wars that seem to be happening everywhere! Especially on Pinterest and Facebook. Why do men say such negative things about women? Why do women say such negative things about men? Even if these things are true, we should be looking for positive things in everyone. We aren’t going around saying, “oh I think I want to be frustrated/upset/sad/miserable today.” No! We want to be happy! Isn’t that everyone’s goal? We all pursue things that make us happy. How can we upstage the gender war with good things? I’ve thought of a few:

To men: Thank you for working so hard to keep food on the table for your families. Thank you for being an upstanding role model to our children. Thank you for learning things that you can do to make progress.

To women: Thank you for nurturing your children and/or the people around you, and learning what you can to make the home a better place for your family. 

We all need men AND women! Families and girls/guys night out. Right? Anyways, stepping back to the ground, off of my soap box. Just something to think about.

So I had LOADS of fun baking this weekend! Did a couple Pinterest Pinned desserts and a snack/dinner idea! 

The first was a Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf, from Sweet Pea's Kitchen, who adapted it from someone who adapted it from someone else, but hey, its so good!

 

This is the Pinterest Pinned picture

This is my picture. Not as pretty, but oh so good! 

My glaze on the top was a bit too stiff, and I let the loaf and the lemon syrup cool too much before melding the two together. But, between Chad and I, we've eaten the whole thing in three days. It is very rich. I could only have one slice at a time--which was kinda sad because it was so amazingly delicious! The top was a bit tart for my taste, so next time I think I'll not put quite as much lemon juice in the syrup. But also, like I said, I let them both cool too much, so the syrup kinda pooled in the top. Maybe that's why. Also, I put frozen blueberries in, instead of fresh or thawed, and so they all sunk to the bottom as you can see. It was still really good, just some tips for when you make it :)

Next, I made Pizza Bites, from Pennies on a Platter. They turned out really well for not using the exact recipe...

 

Here's the gorgeous picture of pepperoni, cheese and dough.

I didn't open mine like that and take a picture, but:

Here's before the oven...

and after. 

We call them Pizza Rolls, because they're a combo of both.

I used my mom's friend's recipe for pizza dough/scones/bread/rolls, so they turned out more like rolls with some cheese and pepperoni in the middle, but they were still good! I think that should be my catchphrase: "But they were still good!" I say that a lot...

I also used crisco and a pastry brush to brush the tops instead of olive oil. Crisco is amazing. Unhealthy and kinda gross if you really think about it, but amazing nonetheless. 

Peggy's pizza dough/scones/bread/rolls recipe is the best!!! I love it so much. It makes sweet dough that you just can't get enough of! The only thing I don't make with this recipe is bread. Because I buy Grandma Sycamore's White Bread from Costco...because it is to die for. (I think I'm a carb-aholic...)

Scones--Peggy

2 C warm water

1 T yeast

1/2 t salt

2 T sugar

4 C flour (2x water) (I always end up using more flour, because I like my dough less sticky)

5 T oil

In large mixing bowl combine water, yeast, salt, sugar and oil. mix slightly. Wait for yeast to bubble and float to top. Add enough flour. Knead five minutes (I don't ever count how much I knead it. I just knead it until it is the right texture) Roll out. Cut. Fry. 

For Rolls: Form into balls. Let rise 10 minutes. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

On Sunday, Chad wanted me to make Salty Turtle Brownies from une Gamine dans la Cuisine

Their beautiful picture:

 

okay, does that not look like something you would spend an hour or two in the kitchen to make???

Here's mine. I just realized I forgot the chocolate on top...But it was still good!!!

yummy! 

okay, I need to learn how to take better pictures. The juxtaposition of these two just makes me hurt inside. Apparently I need lessons. Google! Isn't that the truth? Whenever we need to know something its either Google, Wikipedia, or our friend who is supposed to know, but then refers you to Google...or Wikipedia. :D I love how much information we can get in 2 seconds on the internet. We are so blessed. 

So for these brownies, you NEED vanilla ice cream! They are so rich its ridiculous, but of course delicious! I've never made home-made caramel before, and let me give you a tip: when you make these, make sure your sugar/water mixture does not cool off too fast. I got huge lumps of hardened, caramelized sugar that wouldn't dissolve back into the caramel. It still turned out okay, but I think it would have been loads better. I also forgot to get cream, so I used milk (ouch, I know), which worked okay, but it could have been creamier. Also, just to cut down on costs a little, instead of pecans I used hazelnuts, still unbelievably delectable, but not as pricey--you know, college student budget and all. 

Because of a very generous grandmother (Grandma Nell) who gets meat from her sister (Aunt Ann) who has a ranch, and because my Grandma Nell and Grandpa Jim can't eat an outdoor freezer, an indoor freezer and two garbage bags-full worth of meat, we got steak for dinner Sunday night. 

Delicious Delights: Steak!

So, pretty basic: Johnny's Salt and Red Pepper Flakes rubbed into each side of the two steaks. We have one of those grills that sits on top of your oven burners, so I used that. I sprayed it with cooking oil, turned the heat to medium (we have an electric stove, so it took a while to heat up. If you have a gas stove, it won't take as long). When it was all heated up, I put the steaks on. The fat dripped off, sizzled and smoked. Here's a couple pictures:

It got so smoky in our apartment that when the steaks were done and we were still waiting for the carrots, we went on a walk. We left all our--okay 2--windows open, with a fan going. ugh it was so nasty, I could barely breathe. But, oh. my. gosh. The first bite was worth every cough, it was so delicious. I wish I could share my joy with you...but I don't think I could express myself accurately enough. 

Side note(s): I just got that banana hanger/stand, love it! The salt and pepper shakers are apple themed (my kitchen) and the cute lady bug timer I got from my Grandma Margieann for my bridal shower. I love that thing! Of course, the ticking drives me nuts, but I can get distracted sometimes, so it keeps me on top of my baking. :)

New section! Organized Opposites. This is where I show you before and after pictures. I think I'm going to show in-between pictures from now on too, because these before and afters look kinda similar, but I'll explain. :P

This is a bunch of counted cross-stitch stuff my Grandma Nell gave me. I had no idea what was in the bin, so I had to take everything out. It was all kinda just piled in there--according to me. She probably knew where everything was in there. :) It doesn't look too messy though. 

This is it all done. Looks about the same, doesn't it? Well, I can tell you: I have the frames on the bottom, with the fabric. Then on the left side I have started projects, and on the right side I have kits and patterns. The three boxes to the left with the grocery bag behind it is all thread. (wow!)

Here's a closer view. :) Looks decent, but I'm pretty sure if anyone else were to know where things were in this bin, they would have to take out everything too.

okay, here's my baking cabinet--or so I call it. It just has all the baking essentials, as you can see. 

I had just bought a few things, so I needed to take everything out and start over. That's my method: take everything out and put everything back in a place. 

Looks about the same...but I can tell you that the things I use most are right near the front. 

I have limited space in my apartment, so this looks really good. (and the reason you see two bottles of oil, is because one is 'used' oil, that you can reuse for deep frying things)

So, question: How do you get baked on cooking spray off your pans? Its nasty, and sticky and brown! yuck!

Happy Tuesday!

Busy Saturday Morning

When I was younger, I would wake up early early on Saturday mornings to watch 1 Saturday Morning cartoons. Today though, my husband, Chad, and I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to finish up our wedding shopping! We got some spiffy things and I am even more excited to be in the kitchen!

We got a blender, a rice cooker and a deep fryer! *bonding moment* It was the best! We both turned around and saw it at the same time, looked at each other, and decided to get it! French Fries and Donuts, heck yes! (like I said before, this is not a heart-healthy, or anything healthy food place) And there's Chad in the background, trying to beat a round of bosses on the Hero Mode on Skyward Sword (the new Legend of Zelda game for the Wii)

Delicious Delights: This is something I love to eat! Waffles! Add the fruit and whipped cream and mmmm I'm in heaven. 


Here is the waffle recipe I use--I found it online, I don't remember where :(


Waffles:
2 Eggs
2 C Flour
1 3/4 C Milk
1/2 C Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Sugar
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla


This recipe makes the most delicious waffles! They are moist, and sweet and the texture is just perfect!

My waffles always turn out round because I just put all the batter right in the middle of the waffle iron, but they're still good. :D mmmmm so fluffy!

Strawberry Sauce:

Fresh or frozen strawberries

water

sugar

You can make as much or as little as you want, and you can keep it as tart, or make it as sweet as you want! Fresh strawberries are better, but I usually use frozen, just for convenience--I make smoothies all the time, so I always have frozen strawberries on hand. With fresh strawberries, just cut them up into the size you want them. I usually do them in quarters, because I like the big chunks of strawberry. Put the strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle them with sugar. Let them sit for about 20 minutes. This helps the juices come out and helps your sauce taste better. With frozen strawberries, I sprinkle them with sugar and some water, and I don't let them sit. Then put the strawberries, water and sugar all in a pot and heat them through until strawberries are soft and tender, or until syrup is the consistency you like it. Its really all very subjective.

This is my strawberry sauce, boiling. I boiled it for a while, just to get most of the water out and the strawberry juice and the sugar to make it more syrupy. That bamboo spatula is my favorite tool to use in the kitchen! It works for just about everything and doesn't scrape up my nonstick pans! 

Here is the finished product: 

This is actually a picture of the waffles I made on Valentine's Day (I put red food coloring in the batter), but I didn't have whipped cream today, and this one looks prettier :) I used whipped cream from the aerosol cans from the store. I love home-made, but I'm a gal of convenience, so from the can it is. *Plug for Costco, my very favorite whipped cream in the whole wide world is the Land'O'Lakes Whipped Cream that comes in the 3 pack for about $8 at Costco! It is rich, creamy and it is heavy, so it makes a difference.*

Pinterest Pinned: This section is for things I have pinned on Pinterest and then done at home. You get to know if they work or not! These things include food, crafts...mostly just food and crafts, because I don't have children yet, so I won't have a lot of opportunity for the kid things I find. 

Today I am going to share with you a homemade air freshener! Thanks to Kelly from The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking, http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/05/super-simple-homemade-air-freshener.html, I made an air freshener!

This is the air freshener she made from a mason jar, baking soda and essential oils! The instructions are on the link above.

Here is mine:

Its a bit smaller, and I had it in my bedroom--which is a lot bigger than a bathroom, so it wasn't working super well. Now I have it in my bathroom, and I can definitely tell the difference! I love the recycling of old glass jars, and that you can use this powder on smelly spots, let it sit and vacuum it up to make the smelly spots go away! I am excited to keep using these!

Last today is Media Munchies: This is for reviews of books I have read or movies I have recently watched.

The Help:

Book: This book is not only entertaining, but it makes you think. I love fantasy books, so I did not think I would enjoy it near as much as everyone else did, but I also love compelling stories and this one is most definitely compelling. It compels you to think, to ponder, to wonder...what would I have done? It has romance, suspense and civil rights. Really a fabulous read. I could not put it down!

Movie: Follows the book very closely. As a reader who watches the movies and is very frequently disappointed, I was not disappointed, I was very VERY happy with the result! Read the book and watch the movie, they are fabulous compliments to each other.

Captain America: I know, I haven't watched it yet, so I am behind the times. I watched it last night for the first time. I was surprised at how good it was, there are some very cheesy moments, but some very hilarious ones as well. Worth watching so the Avengers make sense. I love the connections between these movies. It connects with Iron Man and Thor, so I thought that was cool--even though I haven't seen Iron Man yet...I'll see that soon, no worries :D

That's it for the day, off to work on a final project! Yippee! 

Story Starts

Story Starts is a more creative and interactive section. I have a really hard time expounding on an idea, so when I start a story...that's all it is. So these will be my story starts, or what I think are great book title ideas, and you can take those and write from them. I'd love to hear what you come up with!

This one is a book title: Call of Wisteria. What could this book be about?

Time to get those juices flowing!

Delicious Delights: Amish Bread

Delicious Delights is a pretty obvious section. :) This section is about things I make (or friends make) to eat! These will be things that look fabulous as well as taste fabulous...we hope. Hopefully you can learn from any mistakes I make.

This time it is Amish Bread! I've been on a bread craze lately, and I just bought ingredients for a Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Loaf (Pinterest find!), so I'll let you know how that goes.

Amish Bread is a recipe that is fermented yeast. I know, it sounds absolutely disgusting, but it is so good -- it has a lot of sugar in it. Just as a side note, this is not a gluten-free, heart-healthy, anything-healthy food section; its just a yummy section. :) You let the recipe sit on your counter in a gallon Zip-lock bag for 10 days, following the directions for each day, and on day 10 you bake it! It smells weird, and like its rotten, but no worries, its fine. Technically its called Amish Friendship Bread, but that name is too long for me. Its called that because on day 10, you make 4 new Zip-lock bags of Amish Bread. Then it is day 1 again. You give these bags, along with a recipe to your friends and then they can make it...problem is, how do you start it? Well, I found a start recipe that I like, and that worked for me (there are a ton out there) I found the recipe here: http://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/pantry/amish-friendship-bread-starter but I altered it a little bit for convenience.

Amish Bread Start:
1/4 C hot water
3 1/4 tsp yeast
1 C flour
1 C sugar
1 C milk

Dissolve yeast into water. Whisk flour and sugar together in a bowl. Slowly mix in milk and yeast mixture into flour and sugar mixture. Pour into gallon sized Zip-Lock bag, seal, and write the date on the outside. This is your Day 1

Daily Instructions (this is the part you give your friends when you give a start to them):
Day 1: Do nothing
Days 2-5: Mush the bag (just squish it around enough to feel like you've mixed it)
Day 6: Add 1 C flour, 1 C sugar and 1 C milk, mush REALLY well, otherwise you get clumps of flour left in your bag
Days 7-9: Mush
Day 10: Oven at 325. Pour contents of bag into a large mixing bowl. Add 1 1/2 C flour, 1 1/2 C sugar, 1 1/2 C milk and stir. Then, with a 1 C measuring cup and 4 new Zip-Locks, measure 1 cup of the mixture into each bag, seal and date (or stick in the freezer for later use. The day you take it out of the freezer is Day 1). Then (don't forget this part! I forgot it the first time...and this is basically everything. It turned out awful...of course) add:
3 eggs
1 C oil
1/2 C milk
1 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 C flour

Grease 2, 9" loaf pans and then dust entire pan with sugar. Pour batter evenly into each pan, dust top of batter with sugar (I told you it had lots of sugar in it). Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Believe me, its well worth the wait.

Here are some pictures of my delicious Amish Bread!

I was so excited that it was done, I couldn't wait to take the picture until I had dumped it out, so I took it right then! The tops are my favorite after they're done, soft and sugary...mmmmm 

Let me know how it turns out for you! Happy baking!

Fashion Finds

This is a new section -- I'm going to be adding quite a few. I want to try to do a little bit of everything, just as I see it or do it.

Fashion Finds is exactly what it says! People I find that are wearing things that look cute/fashionable/attractive, or clothes I find in the store that look cute, or on the rare occasion that I look cute the picture will be me.

Today, one of my friends in class was wearing this professional outfit and it was fashionable, looked comfortable and really cute!

As you can see, class is kind of disorganized at the moment, but doesn't she just look amazing! (sorry my camera isn't the greatest, and I'm not the best photographer, promise I'll work on it!) She got her boots from Famous Footwear, patterned tights and necklace at Kohl's, skirt at Macy's and the shirt at Wet Seal. (plug for Wet Seal, I love their 5 for $20 tank-top sales. I love wearing them under things because the front is higher than normal tank tops and they're really long so they work great for layering) Love the look of the boots with the pencil skirt! Of course, I am a big fan of both separately, so of course together they'd look amazing!

sooo...

So its been a while huh? hmmm. well life is life i suppose. studying and homework and friends and family and church and school and roommates and drama and wonderful things.

i love finding those people who completely fit a stereotype. during the summer in all of my non-existent free time i am going to take pictures of those kinds of people. They make me happy. maybe i'll get pictures with them! that'd be so fun!

work is one of my favorite things. it makes me feel accomplished to have gone to work for the day.

food has become very precious to me. I found out that sugar does bad things to me, so i have to stay away from it as much as possible. totally impossible. i challenge you to find something in your cupboards that doesn't have sugar, corn syrup, or vegetable oil in it. good luck my friends! its whole-wheat stuff allll the way. oh and no honey or yeast either. and no fruit.

well, back to studying. adieu.

LIFE!

so life is kinda catching up to me, but i feel old now, rather than an ignorant teenager, so that helps my morale a little bit. Though 2 essays and three tests this week, plus roughly 6 projects staring me in the face isn't my favorite, it is school, and dealing with children every day can be like 30 projects EVERY DAY, so i'm okay. :D

i got a job at Bath and Body Works, which i am very excited to start! My passion for smells and fragrances is being somewhat satiated by working there. The people there are a lot of fun too! i'm super way excited! welllll, time for bed. i'm starting to get sick and i had to stay up late to register for classes, but now it's really past my bedtime. :D goooodnight.