2012

In 2012 I want to...

Laugh more, worry less.
Smile hourly, regret nothing.
Try new things, give up bad habits.
Live in the moment, remember the past.
Keep in touch with old friends, believe that one can never have too many new friends.




http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/4Yx9Nt/www.moinid.com/ideas/2010/06/home-surfing.jpg/

 
Blog more often. Period.

Humor

"Humor is a reminder that no matter how high the throne one sits on, one sits on one's bottom."  -Taki

Source.

Still cooking...still baking

Ok, so despite the lack of recent posts, I HAVE still been cooking and baking. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons...the recipes failed to make it to this blog.

The butternut squash stew (?) just did not turn out...err...

good? yum? worthy of this blog or...even my stove? yea - no to all the above.

then, there were the halloween cupcakes....oh the cupcakes...

Well folks, problem here is...hallween is over. Sorry to burst your bubble, but nobody really cares about the black and orange for another year. So that was kind of a fail, on the part of father time...and myself. Oh well, they tasted good.



And finally, there was the mimosas and bagels with pumpkin cream cheese. WINNING. Except, oh that I gobbled it down so fast I didn't have time to take pictures.




I promise....pinky promise....November will hold real, timely recipes that taste good and make it (pictures and all) to his blog.

FALLing for comfort food...

Fall is HERE! What does that mean in my book? Besides warm sweaters, hayrides, football, Halloween, and fall tv...it means a shakeup in the kitchen. Hello comfort food.

Exhibit A:

I've been all about the one pot meals lately because they are quick, delicious and usually last for days.

 I started out by cooking frozen spinach and corn.

In a separate pot (ok, so maybe it wasn't exactly one pot) I boiled the pasta - Barille whole grain medium shells. Then added a basic red sauce.

Finally, the "secret" ingredient. Garden vegetable PHILADELPHIA (shameless shout out) cream cheese...yum :)

Topped off with red wine and a warm Maryland evening on my porch - goodbye summer,

hello fall.

No Bakes

No bake cookies were by far my FAVORITE dessert in the dining commons at Penn State during my freshman and sophmore year. Recently, we had an open house at work and I thought I would bring back this yumlicious dessert.


Unfortunately I discovered they contained a lot of butter and a LOT of sugar (which is probably why they were always my favorite). My advice: Don't think about it, and just enjoy...

Recipes (I doubled):


Chocolate -
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter


Peanut Butter-
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
3/4 cup peanut butter


Combine sugar, (cocoa), butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil for one minute on medium heat.


Remove from stove and stir in peanut butter, (vanilla) and oatmeal.


Drop by spoonful on wax paper and let cool for a minimum of 30 minutes.

I'm Baaaaack!

Whoa...was April really the last time I posted? My apologies on being a terrible food blogie.


Here is what happened since then:


I graduated...

Celebrated 5 years and 2 degrees from Penn State at my graduation party thrown for me by my parents...

Bought a new car...

Moved to DC and started a new job...

Made some new friends...

Reconnected with old ones...

Helped my brother turn 21 in style...

Spent the weekends on the Chesapeake Bay...

And turned 24...

So needless to say i've been busy...but I'm back and armed with recipes :)



Last week of class...ever (maybe)

(Please take note of the half eaten egg cake that snuck into this picture.  I believe there was also a tall glass of red wine, but it must have been a bit camera shy...Happy Easter!)

So I'm sitting (false - laying) here watching Julie & Julia (again) with all the windows in my apartment open because its nearing 80 degrees, eating a walnut, banana and nutella muffin ...or cupcake  (recipe coming soon), contemplating what I'll wear out tonight, and waiting for the supposed severe storms to roll over the valley. Lets time stamp this at approximately 3:06 in the afternoon. Why am I telling you all this? Because in 18 days I will be graduating, becoming a real person, and saying goodbye to the ability to have this kind of afternoon an any given Wednesday.

My labor economics professor, who is awesome, hands me her credit card every monday night and lets me order dinner for the entire class. Soooo...for the last class of the year, we all brought something in to munch on for the three hour discussion on...mmm, I can't even remember because I was too busy eating.

My contribution? Fruit and the most delish dip, ever.

We ended up with quite a collection of food. Chinese food, cheese and crackers, cupcakes, hot wings, poppy seed bread, etc. Yum-my.

Besides cutting the fruit, this recipe is super easy and healthy, if you don't drown every morsel in the creamy, goodness of this...

Fruit Dip:

1 cup honey nut cream cheese
1 cup whipped cream
1 cup vanilla yogurt

Whip together with a hand mixer until fluffy and smooth.



These are a few of my (current) favorite things...

Today, was one of those days where you just want to lay down on the concrete (because its always the warmest piece of ground, right?), forget all your plans and soak up some sunshine. We haven't seen much of the big, blazing ball in the sky recently, and so today was rare. It reminded of me summer, one of my (forever) favorite things. It then got me thinking of my other (current) favorite things. Which I realized, happen to all have one thing in common...yellow. (Thanks Jack). And oh wait, have I mentioned I love yellow? Right.

Since Easter is right around the corner, flowers are everywhere. Yellow tulip love. Aaaand...possibly my favorite of the bunch, a little present from my dear friend - who I shall call roommate or little polar bear. She left me this on my bed this past weekend when she stayed in my room for Penn State's Blue & White Game. Wah, wah rain.

Oh how she knows me, well.

I may go invest stock in THAT company - because at least I know I'll be a forever customer. 

So I'm equally in love with the Chiquita minis, and my manicure of OPI's Ski Teal We Drop. 

Currently I'm reading I know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Water for Elephants (so excited for the move). I recommend both. Oh yes, and I recommend having a picture of your best friends next to your bed...it makes for happier mornings (especially for those who hate mornings...me).

Aaaannndd...more goat cheese.

These are all the yum.

Island Goat Cheese Crackers:

Goat Cheese

Crackers (I used wheat thins)

Orange Marmalade

Basil

Spread desired amount of goat cheese on cracker and place a dollop of marmalade on top. Sprinkle with basil. Enjoy :)

Relay for Life and a Recipe

This past weekend was Relay for Life at Penn State! To kick things off, we had a spaghetti dinner and I made the best part of any meal, dessert (or as weezy might say dizzert).

Since the reasonably priced and HUGE (the picture doesn't do justice) strawberries have me dreaming of flip flops, I decided to make something summer-esq (yes mom, I realize that technically isn't a word). I also secretly hoped it would tell the rain to back OFF for the weekend, but that failed...miserably.

The recipe is pretty self explanatory (pound cake and strawberries on skewers), except for the frosting, which I took off How Sweet It Is (a daily favorite of mine) - Strawberry and Cream Cake Kabobs.

Exceeeept, I felt like the icing was missing a little som-something. So I channeled my inner Paula Dean, which is not very hard these days, and added some butter. Perfection. I recommend no more than 1/8th of a stick.

The kabobs were a huge hit, and I'm still slurping up the icing as we speak...its that good :)

Oh, and relay? Yes, we got wet. Yes, we got muddy. YES, we had fun AND raised money for the American Cancer Society.

I even got really ambitious and made egg mcmuffins for the team in the am. Chipotle Cheddar Cheese made all the difference. Take that McDonalds.

I think the spice even scared the rain away long enough for a dry picture...