Wednesday, April 27, 2011

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.


Wednesday, April 20, 2011

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 :)

Sunday, April 10, 2011

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...