Pikachu- I Choose You!

i almost feel like that should be like a valentines intro or something, especially considering kris sent me a pikachu gif on facebook, that said, "will chu be my valentine?" with an adorable blinking pikachu.

also, yes, that's right. i made a pokemon cake, and made a snapchat version of "who's that pokemon?"

good times right there. goood times.

another week has come and gone. i kind of like these tuesdays off. this guy was a total last minute thing, but i think he came out pretty neat! (btw, thanks to ron for pushing me to do the fondant, because i really didn't want to, but it worked out in the end.) #effort #ihaveitsometimes

you know what kind of effort i have today though? none. except to eat snack foods and watch harry potter and the labyrinth. back to those snacks in a minute though. here are a few more pikachu pictures.

just dicking around with snapchat...

it's pikachu!

neat!

it was just a regular vanilla cake this time around, but still fun. he kind of looks like he has some gums going on though, i probably shouldn't have outlined it. oh well. it's still pikachu! i hope it went over well.

this week will be nice and long, especially by the weekend. some things are going on at work. but aside from that....how about some skillet s'mores?

i just got some cast iron skillets. i have been looking for some for a while now, but i guess it is good to wait. i got a set of three for $30. now i can make all sorts of skillet-y things. including s'mores dip.

it was so easy. you just need chocolate chips and marshmallows. oh, and graham crackers! layer your chips and marshmallows, toast em up in the oven, and scoop em out with some graham crackers. toasty s'mores without the fire. AND, the pan retains heat to keep the chocolate all melty and gooey.

perfect snack (preceded by blender salsa and chips) to waste away the afternoon. ♥♥♥

check back next week for more chocolate treats! thanks for reading! ☺

Blueberry Pound Cake

winter is finally here! not that i am super excited about that, other than the stupid amount of tea i will consume in the next couple months, but hey! it feels like the proper time of the year, at least. oh, correct that: tea and soup. probably going to make some more cheddar broccoli soup soon, or beef stew. warm things are good.

winter is totally blueberry time, right? or maybe fatty food time WITH some blueberries to get dem antioxidants? that sounds a little better. layers in the cold are good, although i can't say much on that end, since those kind of layers do not seem to exist for me, even if i try....unless i go on vacation. so i'll stick to sweaters, scarves, blankets and hats to keep warm.

anyway, so pound cake. it's delicious. i got this fancy bundt pan from a friend and have been needing to make something in it for about a month now. it was rolling around in my back seat for most of that time, until i finally brought it in, and was thinking to myself: it is time! it was either that or blueberry muffins, so i thought again- why not combine the two?

this recipe comes from all cakes considered, by melissa gray. she works (worked?) for npr, and wrote a book about experimenting with cakes and bringing them to work. it is pretty great, aside from the recipes, i love reading all her stories about how these cakes came to be, or incidents involving them. this pound cake is the first recipe in the book- sour cream pound cake, aka: the man catcher (not even kidding, check out the book sometime).

Blueberry Sour Cream Pound Cake
adapted from Melissa Gray, All Cakes Considered, 2009

2 cups unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream (i did not have any, so i used a 6oz container of orange cream yogurt plus 2 tbsp buttermilk, this covered for the orange extract, too)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon extract (i used lemon zest here)
1 tsp orange extract (i omitted because of the yogurt)
1 1/2 c blueberries, plus 2-3 tbsp flour to coat them (this keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the cake)

set your oven to 325F. grease and flour a 10" tube or bundt pan well. combine your flour, baking soda, and salt, whisk or sift together and set aside.

cream together the butter and sugar. add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. alternate adding your flour mix and sour cream in three parts (ie: flour-sour cream-flour-sour cream-flour). add your extracts and mix until incorporated and smooth.

put a couple tablespoons of flour on your blueberries and toss to coat. fold in gently with a spatula, then pour into your prepared pan. bake 75-90 minutes. (yes, that's right, it all depends on your oven. mine was done at about 75 minutes, so keep an eye on it starting about the 65 minute mark, but try not to open the oven too much. use a toothpick or skewer to test for done-ness.)

let it cool for 30 minutes to an hour, until it is somewhat cool to the touch (i went to work and removed it from the pan four hours later). if you greased the pan well enough, it should pop right out with a good shake or tap.

i floured my blueberries and they still kind of sank, but that's okay. since i used a fancy bundt pan, they ended up on top! ☺

i also opted for a basic glaze, which is just powdered sugar and a little milk to pour over top. fancy, tasty. i love the combination of blueberries and citrus flavors. i think the orange cream yogurt made it a little sweeter than it should have been, but ron loved it, so that worked out okay!

it's a good way to start the day, with a nice cup of tea.

it's almost kind of sad that i can't wait for valentines day to come about, just because i want to make a bunch of chocolate treats. i don't need to. we have so many things just hanging around, i need to go through them before making anything else, but that is not how my brain works. i get an idea, and if i can't do it right away, it sits in a corner in the back of my mind and kind of pokes me with a stick daily, just to say, "hey, you really need this. you want to make these cookies/cake/pie/etc," until i break down and go crazy on my days off. even half days. so who knows what happens, or what will happen. i have like 2 or 3 ideas right now. maybe if i stay off the internet for a bit....(that won't happen.)

ooh! that pesto i made and froze a week or so ago? i used it last night and made some shrimp with it! i had a side of angel hair pasta, and ron ate rice, but it came out really good!

pomegranates are one of those things i have been secretly obsessing over, as well. first the pesto, and now these. i finally made my own juice! i really like the pre made ones with pomegranate, and decided it would be a good idea to try and make some at home. ron has been trying to get me to juice with him for a while now, but i am so picky about foods and things....i have to have things a certain way. i didn't realize how ocd i was until lately, and it is really kind of scary.

BUT. it was a success! taking apart the pomegranate was kind of a pain, but i think it was worth it. i also added some blueberries, oranges, and a little spinach for some greens, and have been drinking it for breakfast the last few days. with a bagel. then some pound cake. (cancelling out anything good in there, i'm sure.) we have been back to the gym, too, so i am glad to run a little. i think my next session will be 25 minutes!

also, i secretly (or not so secretly) can't wait to go to the beach this summer. i will run on the beach this year. i went around the neighborhood/development last year, but i will make it a point to go at least one morning this year. going to try to sign up for the color run, too, as long as it's not too expensive. maybe the insane inflatable again, too! my cousin wants me to do the boilermaker with her, which is a 15k (9 miles!) but we'll see how ready i am for that. i can barely do 3 right now!

anyway, stay tuned for next week. i'll see what i can come up with before tuesday! thanks for reading! ☺

Taco Mac n Cheese- Updates on Tuesdays

take a look at that there for a minute. you like that? well you should, but you will even more in a minute, because this isn't even it's final form.

(ba dum tsss. #dragonballreference #justme? #itsover9000)

we are going to come back to that in a minute though.

so, i think updates are going to be on tuesdays for a while. i have had (and will be having) quite a few of them off it seems, so look forward to it! ☺ today was a kind of busy day, or so it seemed.

ron and i got up early because our shower got torn apart this morning. it was all gross and bulgy (water damage from before we moved in), so they took down the walls and replaced them. the birds got to camp out in the bedroom for the day so we could keep them away from the sheet rock dust and debris. it works out for them, our room has more sunlight.

we ended up grabbing some breakfast, picked up a couple of games for a customer, and came home so ron could go to work. (this all started because we couldn't go in the bathroom- they totally woke us up, so no pee breaks unless we left the apartment!) after he left, i sat down and did some "spring" cleaning and cleared out a bunch of papers and things. see, mail and stuff pile up in random places (kitchen, living room, etc), and needs to be sorted. what happens sometimes though is "sorting" means neatly piling it up in one place instead of six places. so today was purge day, and now i need a paper shredder. i also washed the walls where the birds stay, because they throw food everywhere.

i didn't really do that much today after writing/thinking about it. i wanted to make some granola bites since the hubs and i are going to the gym again, BUT...the day is not over yet, and they don't take much time to make. ☺

lets come back to the mac and cheese though.

this actually spawned from a trip to wegmans with heather a couple weeks ago. they had it in their hot food bar, and oh my goodness. i knew this had to happen at home. (hot food bar is like 8.99/lb now! it cost me like $5 for a half a cup of mac and cheese!)

i had to look through pinterest for some ideas as well, and used this recipe from the frugal girls as a guideline, but also adapted from one that i have for regular baked mac and cheese.

Taco Mac n Cheese
makes one 9x9 pan

1 lb ground beef
half of a jalapeno, chopped finely (or more if you wish)
half of a roma tomato, chopped finely (or more if you want)
one quarter small onion, chopped finely (same as above...im just picky about veggies)
2-3 tbsp taco seasoning of choice (i had a half package of ortega on hand)
1/4 c water
8 oz (half a box) of macaroni uncooked (i used cavatappi noodles)
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
2 c milk
2 c shredded cheese (i used extra sharp cheddar and monterey jack cheese, but your choice)
salt and pepper to taste
tortilla chips


lightly spray the bottom of a 9x9 baking dish or pan. preheat oven to 350F.

start out by cooking your choice of pasta as per directions on the box. drain, and set aside.

brown your ground beef. drain excess grease, if necessary, then add your veggies, sans about 2 tbsp of tomatoes, your taco seasoning and water. spread your ground beef mix on the bottom of the pan.

in another pot, melt your butter on medium heat. add the flour and whisk until there are no more lumps. add the milk, and raise heat to medium high, stirring occasionally until thickened. reduce heat back to low, and add your cheese. stir well until melted through. add salt and pepper to taste.

add the cheese to the macaroni (or vice versa) and stir until coated. spread over top of ground beef. crush a few tortilla chips and sprinkle on top, along with the tomatoes. (if you want to get fancy like wegmans, stick some tortilla chips on the edges of the pan!) bake uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until heated through. serve with some extra tortillas!

oh my goodness. i have been eating this at work for like a week. it is super yummy. the tortilla chips don't reheat as well, but that's why i bring extras with me. it kind of makes the "taco" part. ☺

i experimented with pesto, too!! a couple weeks ago, we went to see our friend kyle in cooperstown, and he brought us to his work where we had pesto fries. holy crap. i don't think i had ever had pesto before then, but i'm hooked. pinterest naturally explained to me what goes into it, and it is actually really easy!

basil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and olive oil. easy as pie is how it works!

oh, and a food processor. it is currently in my freezer awaiting something delicious. i bought some shrimp and angel hair pasta i am thinking of making with it!! although the fries were really good....i do have some potatoes hanging around!

we finally got to see star wars that day, too! it's bad enough work spoiled it on me, so i knew when a couple things were coming. it was depressing, but the movie was pretty good! it was good to see they got a lot of the original actors back.

speaking of originals, i just found out they are revamping red and blue for the 3ds in a special pokemon bundle in february. not that i am a diehard fan, but it's still pretty cool, none the less, and working in video games, it is good to know these things, to  know what to expect. that also leads me to this picture!

i made this for kristen for christmas, because a) she's obsessed with pikachu, and b) she's obsessed with coffee. it reads: PIKACHU used CAFFEINE! it's SUPER EFFECTIVE! (which i now realize i mispelled caffeine. i am a dumb ass.)

....but pikachu! that's all that matters.

i got to draw a picture. shut up, meg.

work is winding down, the holidays are over, which now means i can get back to a clean store. one less thing to worry about, i guess. i have been feeling a little depressed again lately, but hopefully things will be better. this picture makes me happy though.....

he was cleaning (vacuuming) and kairi jumped on his head. the little things. ♥♥♥

i will leave it at that for now though. check back on tuesday for more fun. i have some valentines plans, so look forward to some chocolate coming soon! have a good week, all! thanks for reading! ☺

Happy New Year 2016!

hey, so i'm back after a short (ish) hiatus. i blame work. or the holidays. or both.

SO. that being said, happy late new year, and welcome back! i look forward to another year of (attempting) to entertain you! ☺

 since mid december, work has been pretty busy. we did manage to take the time one sunday night to have a work party game night and went to dave and busters for food and, well, games! it was nice to unwind for a bit, and get away from all of the grumpy people. i played a lot of skee ball and fruit ninja.

i made these dark chocolate peppermint cupcakes, but they never made it to dnb's, so i ate them. because why not? (lunch dessert for a week!)

that was only the beginning of baking though. i put in a lot of hours over the last few weeks, between baking, working, and trying to keep up on everything. for now, i bring you fudge! the recipe was for an amaretto fudge (via pinterest/crazy for crust), but i didn't have amaretto liqueur, so i substituted some almond extract, and added baileys and kahlua, thus inventing mudslide fudge! something i will not complain about, because mudslides are my favorite.

here were a couple shots from game night! this is why we work where we work. games are good. not that i can say i am very good at games, but who cares.

anyway, so fudge!

 

ohh yeah. check out that fudge. you like that? well you should. it is every bit as delightful as it looks, almonds or not. (i made some with and without for those offended by them.)

the recipe is really quite easy, as it consists of sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and whatever extract or flavoring of your choosing. just heat the chocolate carefully, and stir constantly! check out the link above for the details! (and prettier pictures than mine. i need a house with windows, not a crappy tiny cave-i mean, apartment.)

heather came out one day and we went on an adventure downtown to funk and waffles. it is quite literally a waffle diner in the deep spooky alleys of syracuse. i guess they do shows, bands or whatever will come and play, and everyone gets to chill and eat waffles and drink tea. i love tea AND waffles so this was pretty sweet. they had lots of toppings and types of waffles, i might try the brownie sundae if we go again! it is quite literally a chocolate waffle with chocolate syrup, ice cream, and whipped cream. oh my god, i am such a fat kid for breakfast. i need to run just thinking about it.

aside from the fudge, i also made chocolate chip cookies, half moons, peppermint macarons, and chocolate italian butter cookies with dulce de leche filling. i didn't take pictures of the half moons or chocolate chip, because everyone should know what those are, and i am pretty sure i've posted pictures before. (if you don't know what half moons are, check out older blogs, i know they are here somewhere. aka black and white cookies, they are my favorite cookies of all time evar.)

as for the other two, i did not get to do super glam shots of them, but got a couple pictures.

as for a recipe, i kind of improvised on both of them, or at least the chocolate italian butter cookies. i could only find vanilla, and they are supposed to be just one cookie, dipped in chocolate or something. BUT...i took it a little farther and sammiched them with some salted dulce de leche i left in my slow cooker for 13 hours. awww yeaaaaahhh.

i can't say they were the same as the ones in virgina beach, but they were good in their own way. more caramel next time. it almost needed to be like a frosting, i think, so i could put more in there. the dulce de leche kind of squeezed out of the sides.

also, i made everything mini, as you can see. these guys were all about half dollar sized. the macarons were almost as tall as they were round!

 and then there's this asshole. he was being a noisy little grump, even after i put him to bed one night, so i put him in time out. usually, it's the time out window, but it has been a little cold and drafty, so i put him in the bathroom sink and closed the door. he pretty much just sits there and stares, waiting for someone to pick him up, just like he's doing here. ohh god, i just wanna squeeze his dumb face. he is currently sitting under his blanket singing, "satchamo joe from kokomo," and asking if you "got it? there, okay?" (what i say to satch when putting him to bed or when picking him up- he can't grip well) and telling someone he's sorry. no ass kissing tonight, apparently.

in other news, i stayed at work til like 9 on christmas eve because the company doesn't know how they wanna do things anymore, i worked a whole bunch new years eve and day, ate a ton of food, FINALLY got to see star wars with kyle in oneonta, lost my totoro hat (but was bad and bought a new one), and the pretend dm told me i can't have my piercings. not even my industrial. i have to buy retainers for them, and i guess i only get to be sparkly on special occasions, because my dm is the dark spider-man. way to ruin work for me more, guy. i don't do it for attention. i don't do it for anyone else but myself- it is a part of me and a part of who i am, but i guess i can't express myself anymore. there is someone else out there getting away with this in the same company, but not me, apparently. i guess my luck ran out. maybe i'm out to get fired next. who knows, but right now everyone is a scumbag, and a few other things i am not going to type on here.

ugh! #endrant #piercinghate #justletmebeme

anyway, i went for a run tonight, and then made some taco mac and cheese (pictures next time), and it helped a little, but it is still frustrating. it's not like i am disgusting and infected, or have overly gaudy things attached all over me. i have seen some pretty terrible bad ideas on other people. i work hard, but for someone to tell me to change anyway.

stop back for some epic mac and cheese glory! thanks for reading, here's to hoping 2016 works out better!