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?

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. 

Boo! Cake

Happy Halloween! Goombah and I made a cake to celebrate the fabulous season. Originally , the plan was to make a dark-chocolate chip and pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting....which I will make someday because that sounds delicious. BUT we  had no ride to the grocery store, and didn't feel like taking a trip to Downtown Minneapolis to Target to get cooking supplies. We settled for CVS and came up with an on-the-spot recipe to celebrate the spooky holiday.

BOO! Cake. 

So easy, a child could do it.

....or two college students.

WHAT WE FOUND AT CVS!

(aka ingredients)

1 box chocolate cake mix.

1 bag pumpkin-spice Hershey's Kisses

3 Eggs (Or whatever it says on the box)

1 cup applesauce

(because we were too cheap to purchase vegetable oil and I had some in my cabinet.

PLUS its healthier than vegetable oil. Its a Win-Win situation)

Vanilla Frosting 

Candy Corn 

TO MAKE IT:

Preheat oven to what it says on the box (350 degrees probably)

1. Make the box cake mix. Follow the directions on the box. Substitute a cup of applesauce for vegetable oil. Put the made-up cake mix into a greased 9x11 cake pan.

2. If you want to be FANCY, like Goombah and I, you can double-boiler melt the kisses. (I think that is what it is called, its pictured over there-->) But you could probably just break the kisses into pieces and mix it in the cake mix. FUN FACT: In case you didn't already figure it out, you are going to have to unwrap all the kisses. Unless you really like the taste of the wrapping...no judgement.

3. If you fancy double-boiled the chocolate, marble it into the cake mix. As in plop it on top of the mix, and then swirl it around with a knife. Its pretty simple, I think.

4. BAKE IT. According to the box. It should be around 35 minutes I believe.

<---it should look awesome like this after you bake it. SO PRETTY!

6. Frost it. Decorate with candy corn.

7. EAT IT UP! Share the holiday spirit with your friends.

8. Have the happiest of  Halloweens :)

Six Months!

Last week Thursday I celebrated my half-way point in my year of veggie-hood. So far, I am still undecided on whether or not my veggie ways will conclude at the end of the year or not. Part of me really likes being a vegetarian, because I feel like it forces me to make healthier choices, like eating more veggies and fruit. The other part of me, really hates the restrictiveness of a vegetarian diet. I LOVE trying new things and too many times I have been disappointed by repeating another meal at a restaurant or have had to make myself a veggie sandwich at the dining center in my res. hall. I really do not crave meat anymore, but I find myself craving meals that have had meat in them. For example, I miss chicken noodle soup. It is completely possible for me to make myself a vegetarian knock-off of chicken noodle soup, and I am sure if I looked hard enough, I could probably find one as well. But why should eating healthy be this hard?
ANYWAYS! to celebrate my 6 months of veggies, I made a scrumptious veggie-casserole, a knock-off of one my mom had made for me growing up at home!

VEGETARIAN CASSEROLE 

Serves 8. (or four with leftovers for the weekend!)

Ingredients:

1/2 box of whole wheat rotini noodles

1/2 bag frozen peas

1 can of your fav. pasta sauce

 (or just condensed tomato soup)

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped onions 

(which I didn't have but would have liked)

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

[as far as the chopped veggies go, I really just eye-balled it]

3/4 small bag of Parmesan or Mozzarella Shredded Cheese

(I used a mixture of the two)

2 slices of bread, crumbed.

(I used the butts[ends] of the bread, because they make lousy toast.)

the sneaky vegetarian ingredient:

1 bag Morning Star "ground beef"

HOW TO MAKE YOUR STOMACH SMILE:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit

1. Cook the noodles. I hope you know how. Drain them, put them in a large mixing bowl.

2. Saute celery, peppers, and onions (what my mom refers to as the holy trio) in a large frying pan.

3. Add the "ground beef" to the sauteing veggies. Mix until the "beef" is no longer frozen. This is mainly just to mix the flavors of the sauteing veggies with the "beef".

4. Add the sauteed mixture into the mixing bowl with the noodles. 

5. Add the can of sauce to the mixing bowl, fold into the delightful mixture until everything is covered in sauce.

6. Add most of the 3/4 bag of cheese to the mixture, but not all! Leave some for the crusty top!

7. Grease a casserole dish (or in my case, a 9"-11" cake pan.)

8. Pour the casserole mixture into the pan. Spread Evenly.

9. Mix the bread crumbs with the leftover cheese, sprinkle on top of the casserole. 

10. Put tinfoil on top of the pan, making sure the casserole doesn't touch the tin foil. This will make sure your crusty topping doesn't get burnt while your casserole insides are baking.

10. Cook for approx. 35 minutes. Take the tin foil off and cook for another 10 minutes.

11. Try your best to let the casserole cool a bit, or get a burnt tongue. 

12. EAT IT ALL UP! It also makes yummy leftovers.

I enjoyed this meal with my lovely roomie, Goombah, and Jay. Goombah and Jay brought instant mash-potatoes and pudding. We had quite a lovely home-made(ish) meal and enjoyed an episode of Glee. It was a spectacular conclusion to my first 6 months of veggieness. Six more to go until the year is up. My continuance of these veggie ways after this year is still in question! 

BoyTalk & Banana Muffs

The first week of full classes has come to a close and  I have started my weekend off with a successful girls night in. It all began with a bushel of over-ripe Bananas & the world's easiest banana chocolate chip muffin recipe...

The Goods:

4 overripe bananas

(if you have over-ripe bananas, 

and no time to bake you can

freeze them and bake later!)

2 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

1 box yellow cake mix

Oven @ 350 degrees.

IT'S THIS EASY:

1. Mix everything together. Mushing the bananas as you mix 

2. Grease muffin tin or use paper cupcake linings.

(We put butter on a paper towel and spread it around because we are college students and that's how we make it work.)

3. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

4. EAT EM'. NUMNUMNUM!

(Caution: You should probably wait until they are cooled a bit, as to not burn your tongue.)

THINGS WORTH MENTIONING:

I made these delicious muffins with Goombah and her roommate, J. We too a stroll to the nearby CVS to get all the supplies needed. Here's where our silliness becomes overwhelming. While at the front desk of the res. hall checking out the muffin tin, my friends begin casually engaging in a flirtatious conversation with the front desk attendant. We make our way back to my apartment, and decided to begin the muff making process. To our own avail, we realized we had no large mixing bowl. Back to the front desk it was and as we wondered away from the front desk I called out, "Hopefully we won't be back." To which he replied, "Unless its with a muffin." (Side Note: We never brought him a muffin, Ops.)

We then started on our muffin making advegture. When it was time to add the chocolate chips, J ceremoniously lifted the entire bag of chocolate chips and dumped it into the bowl. Goombah and I immediately took action, grabbing the non-battered chips and setting them aside. J just laughed and said, "It is suppose to be a girls night! We need our chocolate!" (Another Side Note: We had Ben&Jerry's ice cream during the night as well, I enjoyed the Fro-Yo version of Half-Baked. My favorite.) Once we completed our muffin creation we ate and talked about boys. A typical, hilariously delicious girls night!

BAAA-nana Chips

Saw a recipe for Banana Chips on Pinterest....

My Attempt:

Ingredients:

2 Bananas.

Lemon Juice.

TO DO:

Slice the Banana.

Dip In lemon Juice.

Bake @ 200 degrees for 2 hours, then flip.

 Bake for 2 more hours.

It seems easy, LIES.

Here's what happened:

It all seemed easy, too easy. I should have known that wouldn't be the case. First of all, dipping each banana slice in lemon juice was tedious and took at least a 1/2 hour. Next, flipping the slices took forever. I couldn't keep track of which slices I had flipped, and which still needed to be turned over. At first flip, I knew I had cut the chips too small, they were potato chip thin. I was so disappointed. When the entire four hours had concluded, I spent another hour cleaning the leftovers of banana slices off of the cookie sheet. And the chips aren't event that good. They are still slightly soggy, and not very chip like. They taste like little pieces of banana fruit leather to me. Its not a bad taste or texture. I will, of course, still devour them. Its just not what I was hoping for when I began making the chips. Next time I will just buy banana chips!

Go USA! Cupcakes

Inspired by cheering on my favorite team in the 2012 London Olympics, (Team USA, duh.) I decided to make red, white and blue cupcakes for my friends as a tailgating dessert. Because nothing is better than a delicious cupcake before you take the mile hike up to your nosebleed cheap seats! Are those ants playing down there? I don't know but I am sure glad I ate a few cupcakes and veggieburgers before I got up here, it would be a long hike to the concession stand!

GO USA! Cupcakes

The Goods:

1 box white cupcakes

10-15 Strawberries (diced)

1 & 1/2 cup blueberries

The Super-Easy-Yummy&Delicous-Vanilla Frosting:

1 package vanilla pudding

1 container cool whip (thawed)

1 cup cold milk

TO DO:

1. Make cake mix according to box.You can do it. I believe in you. Don't forget to preheat the oven to 350!

2. Add the berries. I didn't really count out how much I put in. Just eyeball it until it looks like you have a good mix of berries to make it really red, white and blue.

3. Bake according to box. My oven took 22 minutes, which was odd because it usually takes a shorter amount of time, but I am thinking the extra moisture of the berries extended the time a bit.

4. While your cupcakes are cooling, start preparing the frosting

5. How do you make the frosting? I'll tell you! You beat the cold milk with the package of pudding for 2 minutes, then fold in the cool whip. 

7. Leave the frosting in your fridge for an hour. Go watch the Olympics while you wait. This is a completely necessary step. Do not skip it.

8. Spread the frosting all up on them cupcakes. Because its a lighter frosting, I added a bit more than I usually do. 

9. If you'd like you can use the extra blueberries and strawberries as a garnish. I made adorable little flowers on a few of my cupcakes. It was a cute touch, if I do say so myself.

10. FEAST. They are very moist cupcakes, and because of the cool-whip frosting and berries, they are very light. So its totally fine if you eat 10 of them in one sitting. The berries make them good for you, right?

No Eggs? No Problem!

I have been having some wicked dreams the last few weeks. Everything from driving to the ocean (which is a long way from Wisconsin), to learning how to create greeting cards, to the peculiar dream I had last night. I was at an airport on my way to the East Coast. I am not sure where I was going, all I saw was a map with the plane shown heading that general direction. In said dream, I decided I was hungry and traveled through the airport in search for food. I stumbled upon a little fro-yo/cafe place. They had a giant selection of ice creams, coffees, and baked goods. I decided on a psychedelic rainbow fro-yo. When the cashier rang me up, she charged me for two muffins as well. She couldn't get the muffins to drop off of the payment, so I decided I was hungry and told her to bring me a apple-cinnamon muffin and a surprise muffin. The apple cinnamon muffin was so freaking delicious that I woke up wishing it was real, and I still have no idea what that surprise muffin was, because I woke up craving the muffin I was munching on in my dream. With my muffin-craving pushing me through the day, I decided that I wanted to bake when I got home from class. I searched through the fridge, and saw that we did not have eggs. I just about broke down in tears, and then I realized, HECK, vegans make no-egg baking goods all the time. And searched the internet until I stumbled upon THIS! Which I slightly modified and turned into Yummy Vegan Cookies!

Yummy Vegan Cookies

(makes two dozen)

I sadly, do not have a picture 

because my phone isn't working.

and neither is my camera.

or my webcam.

The Goods:

2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
3/4 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil 
1/2 vanilla almond milk

To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix all the ingredients together. I used a fork followed by smushing it together with my clean hands. It worked out pretty well. And you don't even have to worry about eating the raw cookie dough because you can't get salmonella! SCORE.

3. If you like, you can add chocolate chips, or nuts, or whatever you fancy. I think its pretty good plain. But I added chocolate sprinkles to a few of them, because I simply wanted some chocolate.

4. Place a tablespoon of cookie rolled into a ball a few inches away from each other on a baking sheet. You know the drill, I am assuming you've made cookies before.

5. Bake for 9-12 minutes. My oven took 12. Your oven may take 15. I don't know your life.

6. Eat them. Eat them all. Refuse to share. 

Scouting for Veggies!

WOAH! This past week was a whirlwind of adventure and advegture and I am exhausted! I spent the week as an adult volunteer at the Girl Scout camp I have attended since I was nine years old! It was a great tenth year of camp, although it wasn't what I was expecting. Goombah and I knew all year we would be returning to the camp we love as adults, but we had no idea we would be the leaders of the boys dragged to camp. I was nervous. In total, Goombah and I were in charge of around 20 boys twelve and under throughout the week. Surprisingly, the week ended up being (mostly) fun and made me want to return again next year. I definitely need a year to recoup from the week though. After a day of camp in the middle of a heat wave, I spent the night either at work(At the Waukesha Public Library) or in class(College Algebra at UWW.). By Friday my only energy source left was the caffeine rushing through my system. 

Luckily, I thought ahead and spent Sunday preparing two delicious veggie lunch options. At work the previous week, I ventured into the vegetarian cookbook section and picked up Better Than Peanut Butter & Jelly by Marry Mattare & Wendy Muldawer that had great veggilicious lunch ideas for kids! I picked out Veggie Salad and Where's the Tuna? Salad. I will be posting Where's the Tuna? Salad once I remake it, it was good, but it needs something else before I share it with the world!

Veggie Salad

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

1/2 red pepper-diced

1/2 green pepper-diced

1/2 onion-diced

1 cup broccoli in small florets

2 carrots-diced

1 tomato-diced

6 mushrooms-chopped

1/8 cup fresh cilantro

1/4 cup fresh parsley

1 can chickpeas- drained and rinsed

8 oz cooked macaroni (I used rotini)

1 tbls vinegar

3 tlbs low-fat plain yogurt (I used sour cream)

pepper to taste

Do'in It:

1. Combine all the veggies, herbs, chickpeas, and cooked pasta.

2. Drizzle oil and vinegar over ingredients. mix well.

3. Plop sour cream or yogurt and mix well again. (You can also put cottage cheese through the food processor and use that in stead of yogurt)

4. Add pepper to taste.

5. Refrigerate.

6. Pack in your lunch, or your veggie loving child's lunch.

7. Eat it at lunch. Love it. Refuse to share.

Chick'n (Kinda) Parmesan!

Chick'n (Kinda) Parmesan 

(because I used Mozzarella.)

Ingredients:

5 Gardein Crispy Chick'n Tenders

Pasta sauce

Mozzarella (Or Parmesan)

     

                               Makin' It

1. Start making the tenders according to the "conventional oven" instructions on the package. (You know, preheat the oven and all that madness)

2. With about 5 minutes left on the timer, take them out and put about a spoon-full of pasta sauce and a pinch of mozzarella (or parmesan) on top and put them back in the oven for the remaining 5ish minutes. 

3. Take them out and eat them, I shouldn't have to explain that! 

"Turkey" Grilled Sandwich

Ok, before I get to the recipe I have to complain a tad. First of all, going out to dinner with The Parental has become a unexpected challenge. We sit down to eat and suddenly they both scavenge through the menu for something that I can eat. It is very nice of them to be thinking of me, but I can't help but think, "Yes, I can, in fact, read." My inner sass (I was voted Sassiest of my senior class in high school.) became unleashed at our last outing at Pallas Resturant in West Allis. The Parentals kept reciting things from the menu and I snapped, "Can you just find things for YOU to eat!" My sincerest apologies, my hanger (hungry-anger) got the best of me. When the waitress arrived I ordered the Vegetable Panini. It sounded great; mushrooms, peppers, onions, cheese, the veggie-works. I was hoping for something similar to the sandwich I had gotten in Boulder. I was mislead. This sandwich was disgusting. As I lifted the sandwich to my mouth, it became apparent that the pickle placed as a side had been leaking. The bread was half grilled, and half pickle-juiced and soggy. Not a very appetizing feeling, but still, I gave it a chance. At first bite I was disgusted. The mushrooms were like thick pieces of rubber, and the pickle juice had given the sandwich a horrible flavor. Still, I thought it may just be the first bite that was so horrific. I gave the sandwich a second chance. I was incorrect. It was disgusting through and through. I decided to order a Caesar Salad instead, it wasn't impressive, but hey, it was food.

Now on to the fake turkey sandwich!

The Goods:

4 pieces "Turkey"

2 slices provolone cheese

6 slices cucumber

1 tbls hummus

1 handful lettuce

2 slices multi-grain bread

To Create:

1. Spread hummus on bread. 

2. Pile the goods on the sandwich.

3. Place top slice..on top...duh.

4. Grill it. If you are lucky enough to have a Panini Maker, use that. Otherwise I used our good ole' George Forman. It only takes a few minutes to get to be golden brown. YumYumYum.

5. Eat it! Eat it! Shove it in your face and eat it! (To the sound of Beat It by Michael Jackson)

Fun Fact: I was cautious about the "turkey." Its texture is similar to the real deal turkey, but the "turkey" itself has little flavor. The added flavor of hummus and the cheese was nice. I think it would be even more delicious with a pepper-y hummus. The Mom got the "turkey" at Target.

Chai Tea Cupcakes

I have a confession to make, I am absolutely obsessed with Chai Tea Lattes. Goombah introduced them to me this year at college, and ever since I've been a true addict. I drink them hot or cold. I buy them at Starbucks, Caribou, Dunn Bros, and even have mix to make them at home. If there is something with chai tea in the name, I will devoured it. That's why, this past week for her birthday I made Goombah these Chai Tea Cupcakes.

Chai Tea Cupcakes

(via the lovely, Betty Crocker)

Makes about 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box of Betty's French Vanilla cake mix

Water and Eggs according to instructions on mix.

4 tablespoons of the crack-like instant chai tea mix

(side note- I've never experimented with crack or any other drug, but I am sure my addiction to chai tea has sarcastically similar qualities.)

Such a cute touch!

Comes with little cupcake-holder inserts

Frosting:

1 container vanilla frosting

1 cup vanilla baking chips 

(I got mine from Jo Ann Fabrics along with the absolutely adorable cupcake accessories)

Cinnamon (to substitute sprinkles)

 

Instructions:

1. Do everything you would normally do when making cake, preheat oven, make the mix according to the directions on the box. Funny story, I once was baking with a friend and he put 2 cups of water instead of 1 cup + 1/3 cup water. He was looking at the pictures instead of reading the box. If you want cupcakes instead of a sludgy warm mess I suggest you read carefully.

2. Put the chai mix into the cake mix. Yes, it really is that easy.

3. Put them in the oven, bake as directed on the box. 

4. Stay near your kitchen because the aroma from these cupcakes as they are baking in heavenly.

5. Let your cupcakes cool. 

6. Put the vanilla baking chips into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave them first for 30 seconds. Stir. Then in microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring in between until all of the chips are completely melted. Immediately add frosting to melted chips and stir. Put mixture into either a pastry bag, or if you aren't a fancy-pants baker you can plop the frosting into a plastic bag. Seal the bag and then cut one of the corners off. 

7. Make a cute little swirl of frosting on your cupcake by squeezing the make-shift pastry bag so that the frosting comes out the corner you snipped. I prefer less frosting on my cupcakes, but put as much as you want.

8. Sprinkle a wee little bit of cinnamon on the tops.

9. Smell the cupcakes. They smell almost as good as they taste. 

10. Put my last statement to the test and devour them. 

I hope you enjoy them as much as Goombah and I did!  

Asian Apple "Chick'n" Sandwich

My first recipe! Yay!

Made with:

5-6 pieces grilled Gardein Chick'n

1/4 thinly sliced apple

2-3 leaves of artisan lettuce

1 tablespoon of Asian toasted sesame dressing

1/4 loaf whole wheat french baguette 

& some home-grown vegetarian love.

 Instructions for the sandwich-creating impaired:

1.  Grill the Chick'n. I used our George Foreman grill. They are fairly thin, so this shouldn't take more than a few minutes. I like to get a couple burnt sections on them, to add a little more flavor! 

2. Cut yourself a nice section of the baguette. (I, having quite freakishly small hands, keep my sandwich sizes rather small so that I can hold them with ease.) Split it...you know...so you can put the yummy-ness in the mdidle.

3. Cut the apple into thin slices. Make sure they'll still pack a nice crunch, but you don't have to chomp too hard to bite through them. When you've placed enough apple on your sandwich, you can either cut the rest into fry-style pieces, or lather some lemon juice on the cut side (to keep it from browning) and put it in the fridge for later!

4. Get a few leaves of lettuce. Rip them into sandwich-appropriate sizes.

5. Put all of the yummy-ness on the bottom half slice of your bread. I skillfully layer my insides: lettuce, apple, chicken. But any order is acceptable.

6. Pour some o' that Asian dressin' over the insides. I used Kraft's Low-Fat Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing.(pictured on the right.) I am sure any other sesame dressing would taste just as delish!

7. Put your top on. Top of the bread, obviously. 

8. Eat it. Enjoy it. Duh!

I ate it with steamed split peas. They are obviously healthier than french fries, but can be eaten as finger foods the same way.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! YUM! Won't miss meat when you are eating food like this!

OH! I almost forgot. IT HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN 2 WEEKS OF VEGETARIANISM. 50 more to go!