superbowl.

2/7/2010 - i'm backtracking

when my friend Amy invited me to her house for a superbowl party i was thrilled. not because of my love for football (because i have none), but because i got a chance to get back in the kitchen. plus, Amy's quite the overachiever when it comes to food, so i was forced to not be lazy. no dips, no cupcakes.
i used a combination of internet research and my mom's recipe to make my version of mushroom turnovers. sounds blah, right? well, i'm not a mushroom fan, but there's something about my mom's style of foodism that makes me eat things i would normally pass on. and even though i think making dough is the devil, i did it. Amy would never use store-bought dough.

1st, i sauteed some onions in butter. (could have been some EVOO in there too, but i can't remember back that far.)
surprisingly, my mom said it was cool to use canned mushrooms. i like everything super small and minced.
add the mushrooms to the onions. then add sour cream & any other seasonings you're into. mine is top secret - get your own.

the dough was simple: flour, butter and cream cheese. i rolled it out and used a glass to cut circles. yes, this was annoying, b/c i had to keep reforming the dough into a ball and rolling it out again. and the width of the circles was oh-so-important. i hate to sound like a negative nancy, but honesty is key. i don't want anyone to be misled...like i was.
however, i will say that homemade dough is far better than any store-bought kind. it was well worth the effort.

last, you spoon a little bit of the mushroom filling in the center of the dough circle, fold it in half and press the edges together with a fork. then bake. i brushed the tops with egg yolk, it creates a pretty "finished" look.
these things smell like pot roast in the oven. a strange hunger will take over you.
i didn't photograph the finished product because the savages at Amy's house wouldn't let me. but you get the idea.

1st and last.

can you tell what these things became?


nobody told me baking was labor designed by the hands of satan. i hated every second of it. partially because it's so tedious and partially because i started at 11 pm. AND when you bake cookies you have to set aside atleast an hour to chill them. ugh! i had a bit of a tantrum when i got to that part.

i cook. to me, it's simpler and it allows the chef to create. i've never been a by-the-book person about anything, so the baking thing just isn't designed for my personality type. (i did however make tiny modifications, just so that i could call them my own.) nonetheless, my 1st attempt resulted in a delicious cookie.

elle's oatmeal cranberry white chocolate cookies.

a new leaf.

Me and 2 of my girls got together for a night of mexican eatery. i guess they didn't trust me, since they left me in charge of guacamole, limes & salsa (how rude!). so i decided to make pico de gallo. i love it like a sister, but have never taken the time to make it. it was easy.


i learned online the easiest way to peel a tomato. that's boiling water on the left and ice water on the right. it has to be transferred from one to the other very quickly. it basically peeled itself.


i don't appreciate the time it takes to chop things up. this $7 food processor and i have a close relationship.


el fin.

elle and salmon sittin in a tree...

smoked salmon and i have this "thing". it understands me and i understand it. we just work really well together. i've been looking into enjoying it in more unconventional ways. this recipe is my salmon roll. you will need...

smoked salmon, crescent rolls, smoked provolone cheese and chive & onion cream cheese. this particular brand of salmon is the absolute best i've ever had to date. i got it from the Your Dekalb Farmer's Market.
roll everything up nice and tight, and space evenly on the cookie sheet.

your end result will look a lot like this, but even better (i need a new camera for Christmas, hint hint :)

me & my little muffin head

my new thing is projects. so when i decided to keep my niece overnight, i planned for us to make a bunch of stuff. she's 4 (and some change) and very impressionable. i want her to take on my creative spirit and do even more with it than i have. luckily, she's a genius too. so not a lot of coaching is needed. she watches me do it, then she finishes. this particular day's episode was "pizza and girl stuff".



her inner fat kid was working on overtime. she ate all of her slices and all of my crust.

independence day.

the 4th isn't major for me like most. every year i hope for sun and a bbq rib or 2. since i was off work on the 3rd, i got my sun then. (and my glow is fabulous, might i add!)
so my boy Dugger invited me to the Jaspects bbq - my only real plan for the day. i met mom for pedicures, went to the mall and helped her pick out her outfit for that night, baked some cupcakes, partook in fun bbq time, gave myself an at-home mani and stepped out briefly. this nightlife, btw, is not for me. all in all, a solid day.

artistry

one of my first posts was about cupcakes. they're awesome. i like to eat them, look at them, read about them and more recently i've been about decorating them. i am IN LOVE with the way a box of all different looking cupcakes looks.

so my friend julie invites me to her birthday situation at Screen on the Green. i love julie dearly, but the idea of being in the heat, on a blanket, with a bunch of chicks made me shudder. a-ha! i'll make her cupcakes instead. julie's a plain jane when it comes to flavors, so i had her choose what she wanted. screw surprises, i hate to be wasteful. we settled on carrot cake with either cream cheese or vanilla frosting. i chose to use both.

i purchased the supplies - cake mix, frosting, dye, sugar, coconut, white chocolate, etc... i wanted to be creative. and since cupcake night coincided with erica and i's girl's night, she was recruited for the cause.

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although they clearly look homemade, i think i did aight. will be tweaking it soon. (i made the carrots with a toothpick, my hand's not steady enough for the bag of frosting.)

baby shower

these took entirely too long to make, (i had to make seventy-two of these bad boys,) but i think they turned out well. the purple's not as purple as i would've liked, but it looks purple. right?