Me, My Friends, and Food

All my friends and I do when we get together is EAT. Maybe it is just that we love food so much or possibly when we get together our inner-fatties unleash themselves and devour everything. Regardless, if we all get together...there will probably be some mass consumption going on.

This past Saturday, I made a glorious vegetarian dinner for us all (: and my friends brought some dessert.

This is the Pillsbury version, my friends and I ate too fast
to get a picture of what I created....ops!

I made a vegetarian spin-off of Grand's UnSloppy Joes from Pillsbury! When I say "spin-off" I mean I got the idea while wasting in front of the TV watching commercials and seeing an ad about unsloppy joes and thinking...I MUST TRY A VEGETARIAN VERSION OF THIS. SO basically, if you follow the recipe, you won't get the same thing I made, regardless of the meat-free-ness.


I took The Mom's sloppy joe recipe and substituted the meat for MorningStar's crumbles.
(Which has 75% less FAT than ground meat and is cholesterol free but tastes just as good as meat)

The Mom's Recipe:

Ingredients:

"The Holy Trinity"

AKA

1/2 onion

1 green pepper

1-2 stalks celery 

( I didn't have celery :( )

1 can condensed tomato soup

Salsa to taste

Meat-less crumbles

HOW TO:

1. Saute the "Holy Trinity" (The Mom always put these three ingredients in practically everything and Emeril Lagasse called in the Holy Trinity once during a show...it stuck with her.)

2. Add the Meatless crumbles.

3. Fold in the tomato soup

4. add the Salsa

5. Voila! You have  your vegetarian sloppy joe insides.

THE "UNSLOPPY" JOES:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees!

2. Put parchment paper on cookie sheet (This is essential, otherwise the joes will stick to the sheet..its a mess. I forgot to do this for the first batch. Tragic mistake.)

3. Press Grand's roles into 6 inch discs. 

4. Put about 2-3 spoonfuls of sloppy joe into the middle of the disc. 

5. OPTIONAL STEP: Put some cheese all up in there. Its good. I would recommend it.

6. Fold the Grand's disc into a half circle and pinch it closed. (I used a fork to make the edges pretty!)

7. I would suggest flipping the disc over and putting the side you had on the bottom while folding on the top on the cookie sheet. Because the sloppy joe insides are still warm, it thins out the dough a bit and it might tear when you try to take it off the cookie sheet if you don't flip it over.

8. Cook for 10 minutes. The recipe says 9-14 minutes. 10 worked for me. 

9. EAT IT! The "unsloppy" part doesn't always remain unsloppy....I suggest bringing a fork with you.

The difference between these and regular sloppy joes is definitely the Grand's discs. Even spread out, they are flaky and buttery. I want to make more and eat them all up myself. I'm not greedy, you wouldn't want to share these either!!

ALSO! My friend Kim (Shout out! Woot Woot!) also made really delicious red velvet oreo brownie truffle bars. They are just as delicious as they sound and perfect for Valentines Day!!

This picture is also from the website, but they looked fairly similar. If we wouldn't have sucked up every last one I would've taken a picture. 

You get the idea...they're as good as they look!

"Diabetes" Bars

WARNING: If you are looking for a healthy treat, you won't find it in this entry.

Once you look at this recipe, you will understand the title of this blog entry. But do not fear, these bars are worth every sugary bite. They are so delicious that you cannot help but say, YOLO! and eat ten more bars. I explained exactly what this creation included to my coworker (and friend) and he said, "Oh my gosh. Those are little chunks of diabetes."

I followed the recipe almost exactly, but I did use parchment paper instead of wax paper for the bottom of the pan. What makes these bars so great is the extra butter in the cookie part. It makes more of a chewy-brownie-like cookie experience. That way it's a chewy treat instead of a brick, no one wants that... Another tip: the brownies take longer than you think to bake all the way through. Take them out when they are still a little bit gooey. Also! Wait until they are completely cooled to cut them. They cut A LOT easier than I thought they would! There is nothing else you need to know. Just make these. Maybe even warm them and make a sundae out of it. DO IT. YOU WILL NOT REGRET THIS! YUM!

Never Enough Chai!!

I MADE CHAI BUTTER COOKIES. Because I am a slight chai addict, at least I admit it. I just love the flavor of chai. It is spicy and tea-licoius. If you have never had chai, do it. Drink the kool-aid. You won't regret it. I promise!

I decided to make chai butter cookies because I have some chai mix that Goombah's mom made me and I found this recipe on Pinterest (Yes, I am addicted to Pinterest too. follow my boards if you so desire). And my friend Nicole wanted to bake and I thought, "what a perfect idea! I have this great recipe!"

At first, the dough was WAY to dry. When we dried to push down the balls of dough with a fork they broke into dough crumbles. Not exactly appetizing. I thought my cookies were a lost cause. Another baking disaster. ALAS, I added two more tablespoons of butter and voila! Crisis averted.

They were very delicious! They were like shortbread cookies but better because there was chai, duh! They'd be great to eat with coffee, or...dare I say...some hot chai?

Fa...Fa...Fa-REEZING!

Spring semester has began and so has a true Minnesotan winter. Today I put leggings under my jeans and a long sleeve under my sweater. I snuggled my feet into two pairs of thick socks and shoved them into boots. I put on my warmest hat and wrapped a scarf tightly around my neck, lifting it to cover my nose (sure prevent that Rudolf red nose experience). I put on my new, long, puffy and blue jacket (Thanks to The Dad) and lifted the hood over my head. My teeny little hands slid into monstrous gloves. And then, I walked to class. It was a great feat. But, today, I beat the cold.

But seriously, it is really freaking cold out. I walked to class in -10 degree weather. WHY DID I EVER CHOSE TO GO TO SCHOOL IN MINNESOTA? (just kidding, I really do love it here). It is just so cold! Thankfully, its forecast-ed to get warmer at the end of the week. It could even snow. I am not the biggest fan of snow, but I'll take it over these freezing temperatures any day. 

ALSO. I have started a new workout routine. I (hopefully) am having a less intensely busy semester, so I decided to put a work out schedule into affect. I figured if I made it a part of my schedule it would keep me from getting bored and wasting my time on..lets say...Pinterest. If all stays simple (HAHA), I plan on sticking to it (at least roughly. I am OK with skipping some workouts, I just want to not skip a week of workouts. That's the idea anyway). Already feeling a bit sore today. Woo! Getting fit!

Homemade Pretzels!

more like blobs of pretzel, but close enough for me!

Today I took on a great challenge. I decided I wanted to make homemade pretzels. It was ALMOST a success! Almost.... I used this recipe (but only did a half version). I have never made anything with yeast before, so I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't have a fancy mixing machine or a dough hook. I just used an old-fashioned wooden spoon and spatula to mix the dough. Not really sure if that made a difference. I also didn't have plastic rap, so the dough never really doubled in size like its suppose to. ALSO, I added a little bit of flare to some of the pretzels by sprinkling chai mix or hot chocolate mix on the top. They were all really good! If I were to make pretzels again, I would make the chai mix and hot chocolate mix ones and make an icing dip on the side. I am salivating now just thinking about how delicious that would be! Yum! I also think I didn't leave the pretzels in the oven long enough because they weren't crispy enough for me, but that is an easily solvable problem. Congrats to me for trying something new. What will be next? I have no idea!

Mac N' Cheese & Tomato Soup Bake

Finally! I pinterest idea that didn't fail! 

Mac n' Cheese & Tomato Soup Bake

Ingredients:

(I used leftovers that I had)

Mac n' Cheese 

Tomato Soup

 (Prepared with 1/2 can milk and 1/2 can water)

1 cup Cheez-its

A sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese

HOW TO:

Its SO SIMPLE! Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Put Mac n' Cheese in a pan. Spread evenly (I don't have a pan, so I used a small pot, it worked relatively well, but a pan would've been better.)

2. Pour tomato soup over the top of the mac n' cheese. 

3. Crumble Cheez-its over the top of it all.

4. Sprinkle the cheese over the top of that

5. Put in oven for 15-20 minutes (if you use a regular pan it might end up being a bit less. Just make sure you keep it in long enough that the cheese melts but the Cheez-its don't burn.)

6. Scoop it into a bowl. (Depending on your Mac to Soup ratio it could be more soupy or more mac-n-cheesy. Mine was more soupy, because I just used the leftovers I had. I think if you used a full box of mac and a full can of soup you would probably have a mac-n-cheesier meal. But I am a college kid and I didn't want my leftovers to go to waste!) 

7. EAT IT. NUMNUMNUM. 

Too Early for Banana Pancakes

Today I learned a few very important lessons:

1) I need to stop looking at Pinterest late at night. I get these great "ideas" for new recipes and they never are as good as I imagine when I am half asleep.

 Last night, while mourning the Packer loss ( :( Still so fresh. Next year Pack! Next year!) and wasting away time on pinterest, I ran into a recipe for "easy" banana pancakes. All I needed was one overripe banana (which I had in my freezer) and two eggs. PERFECT, I had the ingredients and I thought to myself, "Yum, I will make these for breakfast tomorrow." I didn't take into account that my not-yet-coffee-fueled brain would not be able to handle actually cooking a breakfast meal.

2) I should not try to cook anything before I drink my morning coffee.

I burnt the first two "pancakes." Not just crispy black edges, the entire bottom of the pancakes were BLACK. 

3) I should stop trying to make things with bananas. I don't like them, but I keep trying to find ways to incorporate the potassium rich, healthy fruit into my diet. Remember Banana Chips? Yep. I need to stop.

The "banana pancakes" tasted like banana flavored eggs. I don't know what you think about that, but let me tell you, I was not pleased. I could not even take a second bite. Blehk. I still cannot get the taste out of my mind. I guess if you really enjoy eggs and really enjoy bananas, you might think that sounds like a perfect match. I am not fond of either, so I really have no idea what I was thinking. It was awful. 

 Hopefully I will remember these lessons and you will not have to read about my banana fails anymore. No promises.