Yummy In My Tummy

Snicker Doodles are not just fun to say ... they're also fun to make and eat.  Enjoy!

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cup flour

2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 400.  mix butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs.  Blend in four, cream of tartar, soda, and salt.  Shape dough by rounded teaspoon-fuls.  Mix sugar and cinnamon.  Roll balls in mixture.  Flatten with hand and place 2 inches apart on baking sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  

Pompously Circumstantial

So with much anticipation, nail biting, and excitement ... Aaron graduated ... FINALLY.  The entire reason for my trip home is now complete (which means I'll be heading back soon ...).

I was excited to discover that two of my three freshmen from senior year were the salutatorian and valedictorian!!  Hurray!!! So proud of them!!

The Sal was awarded her medal

The Val spoke.

The PCHS graduating class of 2012
Congrats, guys!

Apparently, when people graduate, we take lots of pictures ... but I didn't want to TOTALLY bombard you ... so here are a few of the important and priceless ones.

Everyone's attitude going in to graduation ... you can tell who's excited to be there and who's not ... 

Congratulations to all the graduates!!!

The proud (and relieved) parents

And because I've bored you with graduation pictures, I reward you with a sweet treat!!  These are our traditional graduation cupcakes which we make every year!

All you need are:

Reese's Minis

Chocolate Covered Grahams/Cookies (they have to be rectangular)

Fruit Roll-Ups

Chocolate Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes (Made and Frosted!)

Unwrap the Reese's Minis.  Put frosting on the bottom of a Reese's Mini and put the Mini on the cupcake upside down.  Cut the Fruit Roll Up in Half long ways and in half short ways.  Make slits in one end of each square and then roll it up to look like a tassel.  Put frosting in the end without the slits and stick it to the top of the chocolate covered graham.  Put the graham on top of the Reese's and voila!!  Graduation Cupcakes :]

I Like to Bake ... Among Other Things

Wow ... it's been almost a month ... sorry dudes ... but here's what I've been up to:

Threw a bridal shower for my roomie- He POPPED the question!

Yesterday was my roommate's bridal shower which I threw for her along with the help of Carrie. 

We chose popcorn for the theme- "He popped the question!"

We made about five different types of popcorn (planned to do more, but ran out of time)

and had a grand old time :]

To Die For Roast

Gail and I have been following a dietetic regimen for the past three months (her for a wedding dress, and me for kicks).  This is one of my favorite meals thus far.

Peanut Butter Meltaway Cupcakes

 I've become addicted to Pinterest ... and I've been taking advantage of every opportunity to bake something new, fun, and/or exciting.  These were for a work party back in January.

Peanut Butter Valentine's Day Cookies 

 I made these for a ward break the fast last month- super easy and fun!

Ooey Gooey Cookie Pie Bites

 These are like little pieces of flaky heaven- we've already made these twice in less than a month.  A huge success from my favorite baking/cooking website- Our Best Bites.  In these, since Gail can't have chocolate, 

we used peanut butter chips, caramel chips, toffee bits, and sweetened coconut.

Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes

These were supposed to be made for the bridal shower yesterday, but they didn't make it.  

So, I finished them last night.  They actually taste quite delicious.  The frosting could use more caramel flavoring, but the cake itself is quite delicious.  And yes, these are another Pinterest experiment.

Got anymore exciting recipes??  Send them my way!!

It's That Kind of Day

Today was a baking day.

(which is like a vacation day, 

but better 

because I can listen to my "Awesome Music" playlist

and put on my apron and open all the windows 

and just bake whatever I want 

and I feel like there's nothing else in the world that needs to get done

and I don't even have to leave my apartment!)

I got adventurous and tried out a pinterest recipe I found a few weeks ago: 

Peanut Butter Meltaway Cupcakes.  

If You Like to Talk to Tomatoes . . .

The week of 11/11/11 11:11:11

I baked.

 And then we decorated.

And we ate chocolate like objects.

And I worked 10 hours in one day . . . (cookies on line 1!!)

 Feature Film of the Week:

Broccoli, celery, gotta be . . . Veggie Tales!

 And Devin got all dressed up!

Tanner: "Nice bling!"

Gail: "It's a leash!"

Surprises, Stuffs, and Star Wars

Well, lovely friends, I decided I've waited long enough to update my blog, so here's a little snippet of what's been goin' down.

First, The Surprise

We had a surprise birthday party for Gail :] And she had no idea :]

Yes, that's a Korean flag in cupcake form just for Gail :]

We got people from the ward to write her notes and made long paper chain out of them which we hung up across the room. :] And then Devin wrapped her up in it. Just for fun :]

Second, Stuffs

This is my new toy which I got last night at Wal-Mart.

Isn't it pretty?!  I used it for the first time today to make dinner (which I forgot to take pictures of) and it was most excellent. :]

And last, but not least, Star Wars

Just a little something for your trouble :]

Getting Crazy with the Spices

So, it's Friday . . . and I'm not dressin' up and I got no where to go, so how about a little adventure says I?

Amidst doing laundry, I noticed that I was somewhat hungered... so when I came back, I did a little cooking and creating of my own. :]  And I came up with something delicious! (which seems to happen every once in a while)

What I used:

• Unclaimed/unmarked ground beef sitting in the back of our freezer
• Cream Cheese
• Random half package of guacamole seasoning which has been sitting on our spice shelf forever
• Water
• Rice
• Ranch Dressing
• Chopped Onions
• Mozzarella Cheese

I put the cheeses, the guacamole seasoning, the onions, a little bit of water and the ground beef in a pan and just . . . cooked it.  Then I *attempted* to make rice with a little bit of ranch dressing in it to give a little zingy do.  (Okay, side note: Rice is my arch-nemesis.  Apparently, I didn't live with my Asians for long enough because I still to this day can not cook it right!  I always, always, always cook it too long or not long enough.  Plus, it's so bland, I never have any idea what to do with it.  I bought a small bag of it this last shopping trip because I wanted to have another go at making it awesome-tastic and so far the score is Rice: 4 Leigha: 0.)  So, the rice, of course, didn't come out quite how I wanted it to (it's more like one big mushy mess), but it all still tastes delicious!!

Isn't beef glorious?? :] Sorry, Chik-fil-a cows; just know that I still love you (different kind of love).

So, this was after I ate some . . .  I forgot to take a picture first :)

Overall Score: A

Also, pics from the most recent pizza night!! (I know you were all waiting with baited breath for these)

This is Baked Potato Pizza- SOO good!  We even stuffed the crust :]

Everyone's favorite pizza by far- Chicken Spinach Alfredo Pizza (My own personal creation :] )

All while listening to Disney music :]

COOKIES ON LINE 1!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello my imaginary audience!!!  Time for an almost weekly update!!!

First things first . . . (what a confusing statement; of course if something is first, then it's the first thing you do) anyways, I got the Student Manager Job!!!!!  :] Yay!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm super excited!!!!!  It's going to be a lot of work, (seriously, I have a ton of training to get done by December 1) but I'm excited about it for a lot of reasons, mostly because it will be a personal challenge for me and allow me to strengthen myself and push my limits until what used to be my limits aren't my limits anymore, but have become my norms.  In the past, I've looked at the Student Managers and I've admired most of them; they're so . . . legit.  Seriously, most of them are totally awesome and know a lot of stuff about the Cougareat in general and are the kind of people I want to eventually be like.  To me, this is just another step to becoming the best me that I can possibly be.

Oh yeah, and this.

D-Vine

Today I finally started baking again!  On the menu: Chocolate Mousse in Cookie Bowls

First, we have the cookie bowls.

My partner in crime, Hanna, and her mad skillz with a rolling pin.

As always, roll out the dough!  In order to make the bowls, you want to roll it out kind of thick (1/4-1/2 inch).

Test "cookies" 

 And then you drape and mold them over the bottoms of a muffin pan! (Creative, right?!)

They should look kind of like this.  The original recipe uses fluted muffin pans, which make very classy looking bowls, but a regular muffin pan works, too.

 Cover a dozen or so muffin bottoms (and don't forget to spray the pan so that the cookies won't stick because that would be terribly unfortunate.).

Before the Oven

 Pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes. (@ 350 degrees)

After the oven

 Very, very, very carefully, remove the bowls from the tins.  The easiest way we discovered to do this was to run a knife along the bottom (the lip) of the bowls and then gently left them up.

They come out beautifully!!!

 And set them on a rack to cool :]

Cue Ray Charles: "You are so beautiful to me . . . etc"

While they're cooling, on to the Chocolate Mousse! (you can find the actual recipe for the chocolate mousse in one of my links over on the side- biggirlssmallkitchen.com.)

Basically, this is chocolate chips, water, butter, eggs, sugar, an salt.  Together,  they have it all.

 At this point, it smells delicious and looks very chocolatey.

Before the fridge/freezer.

 So, we didn't chill it for quite long enough so it was more like a chocolatey soup than mousse.  But it was still wonderful!!

And this is where the real test of your skills comes in to play.

 And you combine the two in perfect harmony.

They look wonderous . . . angels designed for these two to be together.

 And the bakers saw the chocolate mousse, that it was a thing of greatness.

Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top, and you have the equivalent of pure gold.  You could also do  fresh raspberries or a sprig of peppermint and that would pretty much be perfection, but we didn't have any because we're poor college students without a vehicle to call our own.

After sprinkling the powdered sugar, prepare yourself for the most amazing dessert ever and enjoy! (Don't forget to breathe during the process.)

Bagels aka The Only Way to Make Any Morning A Good Morning

Bagel: [bay-guhl] noun. a leavened, doughnut-shaped, firm-textured roll, with a brownish glazed surface, made of dough first poached and then baked.
see also: delicious


The fruits of my first attempt at making bagels. (It was actually kind of fun!  I made jumbo sized ones and sprinkled most of them with garlic, some of them with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.)

Garlic Bagel

They actually turned out pretty good; I didn't cook the first batch quite long enough, but that's what I get for trying a very vague recipe.


Boiled Bagels:

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar

Directions:
In large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour and yeast. Mix water, 3 tablespoons sugar and salt together, and add to the dry ingredients. Beat with a mixer for half a minute at a low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl clean. Beat at a higher speed for 3 minutes. Then, by hand, mix in enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Cover, let rest for 15 minutes.
Cut into 12 portions, shape into smooth balls. Poke a hole in the center with your finger, and gently enlarge the hole while working the bagel into a uniform shape. Cover, let rise 20 minutes.

Instead of making 12, I made 8 jumbo bagels in two batches (4 each)

Meanwhile, start a gallon of water boiling. Put 1 tablespoon of sugar in it, mix it around a bit. Reduce to simmering.
When the bagels are ready, put 4 or 5 bagels into the water, and cook 7 minutes, turning once.

They smelled way good in the water! :]

Drain them. Place on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes.

Remove from oven and eat hot or cold.

The two with the brown stuff on top are cinnamon-sugar; the one in the very back is just plain; and the one on the left is garlic (that one tasted yummilicious).

Broiling option: For a glossier surface, place raised bagels on an un-greased baking sheet prior to boiling them. Broil them five inches from heat for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes on each side. Then put them into the hot water to be boiled as above. Note: do not bake broiled bagels as long as non-broiled ones, 25 minutes should be long enough. (I didn't do that this time, but I plan on doing it next time.)

Breakfast for Dinner Southern Style

By now you realize that every time I make something, if it's a success, I like to share it with you!!  Today's success was a Southern Gal's take on a traditional breakfast of pancakes and eggs.

My roommates went to the Asian Ward today after we got home from our regular ward, leaving me to make dinner for everyone.  I've been in an experimental mood lately with my cooking and baking, but today I kind of stayed close to what I know.  My first thought was "breakfast for dinner;" it's something my mom does all the time on Sundays and it's usually a big hit, no matter who makes it or who eats it.  My second thought was pancakes.  I immediately called my Mom and got her recipe for my favorite pancakes, then I stopped for a second and the southern girl in me said, "Hey!  How about fry bread?!"  And the rest of me liked what that southern part of me said.  So, I made cinnamon fry bread with sweet scrambled eggs and a cinnamon vanilla glaze.  (By the time I remembered to take a picture, the eggs were all gone, which just shows you how good they were!)

Fry Bread:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 level tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup buttermilk (or you can use regular milk and leave out the baking soda)

Mix all the dry ingredients together and then cut in the shortening.  Add the milk and mix it up.  Make soft dough and knead lightly. (If you want cinnamon fry bread like I made, then add a dash of cinnamon with the milk.)  Now, this is actually a biscuit recipe, so from here you can make biscuits in the oven.  I think it makes an excellent fry bread, so that's what I use it for.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, to about 1/4 inch thick.  Cut circular pieces about 2-3 inches wide until all the dough has been used.  Stretch out each circle until it's about 1/8 inch flat.  Drop in a frying pan with hot oil and watch closely.  When the edges are brown, flip to the other side for about 45 seconds.  Remove from frying pan and place on a hot plate to keep warm or serve immediately.  Makes about a dozen.