Tuesday Treat: Pita Chips

Okay, so today's Tuesday Treat is not a recipe. But I do want to recommend the pita chips found at the Dollar Store. There are tons of flavors and they are yummy! I'm sure they are available elsewhere if there are no Dollar Generals or Family Dollars or whatever near you. My favorite right now is Bacon and Cheddar. Yum!

Tuesday Treat: Bacon Cheddar Deviled Eggs

Easter is coming up and I hate holiday get-togethers. Drama, messes, and a house full of people. My anxiety levels go up just thinking about it. But what I do enjoy is the food. Well, some of it anyways.

One of my favorite family dinner staples is deviled eggs. I can't make them worth a damn (I fail at peeling the hard-cooked eggs) but my mom and my grandma can make deviled eggs that are out of this world. I found a recipe for bacon cheddar ones that I'm going to beg someone to make this year.

Tuesday Treat: Chocolate Pudding Cake

My editor Steven took on a project promoting an Italian cookbook and I got the chance to taste his cooking on Saturday. Simply put, he is a fantastic cook. We ate herbed chicken in a marinara-wine sauce. /drool Check out Booksteve Presents for his blog about his adventures in Italian slow cooking. While I was there, Steven told me about this amazing recipe in this book for chocolate pudding cake that is made in a slow cooker. Really. The book is Italian Slow Cooking by Ellen Brown.

If you want the recipe, you'll have to find one yourself... or buy the book! It is available in May 2012 and you can pre-order it here.

Tuesday Treat: Crayon Cake

I hope you enjoyed President's Day, working or on holiday. We had a lot of fun around here. Since the kids had a four day weekend from school, we started an art project using wax crayons, poster boards, and a hair dryer. It was a lot of fun. I got some video of it and the finished pictures. I will post at least the pictures later this week.

Today's Treat celebrates the fun that we had this weekend with a patriotic flare.

Crayon Cake!
So here are the directions (I assume you can figure the ingredients out on your own).

1.  Get a cake mix of your choice. We used a yellow cake mix. Let it cool completely. And I do mean completely. Otherwise it will crumble to pieces and will not work for this.
2. While your cake cools, mix 1 can of vanilla frosting between 3 bowls and tint two bowls with red and blue, giving you a bowl of red, white, and blue icing. Trim one end of 5 ho-hos to a point (to look like a crayon!) and set them on a wire rack one at a time. Microwave a bowl of icing for 5-10 seconds to make it slightly like whipped cream and then spread over the ho-ho. Make 5 blue crayons or 2 red 3 blue crayons, or 2 red 2 blue 1 white crayons, or 3 white 1 red 1 blue crayons... you get the idea. However you want to work it. Let those sit so they can harden on the wire rack.
3. While the ho-hos set, return to your cake. Make sure it is level first. Then, at one of the short ends, score out a half circle (give it a decent diameter, about 4") so that it looks like the open end of a crayon box. Using a sharp knife, cut out the half circle at a depth of about 1" and discard the half circle (or use it for some other mini-treat). Frost the cake in the white vanilla icing, including the inside of the half circle. Another can of vanilla frosting will probably be needed.
4. Place the "crayons" in the opening of the "box" and trim them to fit the curvature of the opening. Using a combination of the three colors, line the opening of the box and the bottom corners of the box (don't use white on white... you want it to be visual), the markings on the crayons which are the lines around the top and the crayon circles, and any kind of message you want to put on the cake where the brand would usually be at.

You can use candy strips (like licorice strips) to make the lines on the box instead of frosting if you'd like. Or you can skip the patriotic colors and go for a more traditional look. I got the original idea here and they used yellows, oranges, and greens. They also made a suggestion of using disposal zip lock bags as icing tubes, which I had never thought of before. Just put the frosting in, squeeze it into a corner and seal the bag, then snip the corner and voila, instant icing tube. We used real ones but that is only because we happened to have them. Not everyone has those just laying around the house.

Since we didn't take a picture, I'll describe our cake as best as I can. We used a yellow cake mix and made 3 red crayons and 2 blue crayons. We iced the cake in white frosting and then lined the open end with blue. The bottom corners were also blue with an additional blue line around the inside edge. We used white icing for the lines and circles on the crayons. We drizzled red candy stars into the blue corners and then throughout the white box portion of the cake. In the middle, we chose to leave it blank rather than write on it. It looked really cute and the kids loved it. They started eating it before I could get a picture. Or, I should say, our father started eating the cake before I could get a picture. Ha!

Tuesday Treat: Beer Battered Cheese Sticks

When I was younger, I walked to and from school every day. No, it wasn't up hill both ways. But it was a decent mile path each way. Rain or shine, frigid cold or sweltering heat, drifting snow, or flooded streets be damned, we walked to and from school every day until we got drivers licenses. And cars. Since I worked at the library, it took me considerably longer raising the funds so I walked well into my Junior year of High School. Most of the time, I didn't mind. Why? Because just before reaching the school, I passed a dairy bar. On the way to school, they were closed. But on the way home, they were open for business. My favorite items were the pizza hoagies and their cheese sticks.

Now, these cheese sticks were the mother of all cheese sticks in my opinion. They were perfectly golden brown, about 2/3 the length of an un-sharpened pencil, as big around as a quarter. They were greasy, messy, and 100% unhealthy. And $4 for an order of 5. I picked up an order a couple times a week to eat during my walk home. It occurs to me now that I might have raised the needed funds a bit sooner had I laid off the cheese sticks but oh well.

To my disappointment, the dairy bar burned down to the ground sometime near the end of my Junior year I think. I've never found another place that makes cheese sticks like this place. I've searched for recipes countless times but always seem to find ones that make puny cheese sticks that end up tasting like cardboard. Until now.

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground white pepper
1 cup beer
4 cups safflower oil
1 egg white
1 pound mozzarella cheese sticks (frozen)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and white pepper. Gradually pour in the beer. Whisk briskly. Cover and allow mixture to stand 90 minutes.
2. In a large, deep skillet, heat the safflower oil to 375 degrees.
3. Whip the egg white into the batter. Dip mozzarella cheese sticks a few at a time into the batter.
4. With a slotted metal spoon, place coated cheese sticks a few at a time into the hot oil. Fry 2.5 to 3 minutes, until a crisp golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.

Ideas:

• Make sure the cheese sticks are frozen when you dip them into the oil, otherwise they will melt and run everywhere.
• Roll the dipped sticks in breadcrumbs before frying for an extra crunch.
• Don't like cheese sticks? This recipe works for everything! Zucchini, mushrooms, pickles, tomatoes, etc.

Sunday Sales: Vegas, Baby!

Do you feel like you just NEED a vacation? I feel like that about 90% of the time. My brother and my dad went to Las Vegas and would not shut up about it forever so I decided to check it out... virtually at least.

There is so much to do in Vegas. Gambling, of course. The Vegas shows. Incredible restaurants. Spas and salons. The list goes on and on. I am not a fan of giving away money unless it is to charity so gambling holds no interest for me. Now the shows and food... yes, please. Between today and the end of the month, look who is going to be performing in Vegas: Charo, David Copperfield, Australia's Thunder from Down Under (OMFG this), Blue Man Group, Brad Garrett, Chippendales, Crazy Girls, The Lion King, Jersey Boys, Men of X, Cirque Du Solei, Peep Show, Penn and Teller, and Stripper 101. That is a selection from just the first 3 pages of events (out of 37!). There really is a show for everyone. Of course, my friends and I am partial to the ones where the guys take off their clothes, but that doesn't fit the bill for everyone. Magic shows, comedies, musicals, bands, circus acts, vaudeville-type acts, etc. I'm sure my brother and my dad spent the whole time in a random assortment of casinos and golf courses, so I think they missed out on the real Vegas. Maybe my opinion is biased considering I'm staring at a picture of the Australians.

Also the food just looks wonderful.  It looks like the places with celebrity chefs require reservations (naturally), but the site linked above makes it all so simple to plan ahead. Check out Top of the World in the Stratosphere Casino and Hotel. The restaurant actually spins 360 degrees while you eat 800 feet in the air! While I am not so sure I could eat knowing all that, it looks stunning! Mcfadden's Restaurant and Saloon features half-dressed women dancing on a bar in the picture so that definitely looks like a place where I'd have fun. It is a given that I'd enjoy the copious amounts of available alcohol, but seriously, what is there not to love about an Irish pub... in the desert?

If you are thinking of taking a trip in the near future, consider Vegas (and take me with you!).


Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Friday Five: Snacks (not Snakes, as I tried to type it 100 times)

This post has been difficult to write! I posted it as a regular post instead of scheduling it first (all Friday Fives are written ahead of time and scheduled for later in the week... Fridays suck for me! lol). Had to delete it because it wouldn't go away. Then, I realized I wrote "Snakes" instead of "Snacks" in the title and repeatedly wrote it wrong. *sigh* It's been one of those days.

So I'm going to try this one more time. Here is my Friday Five for Snacks:

I can get very wrapped up in writing and tend to forget to eat. It sucks because I love food. It also sucks because I am mildly hypoglycemic. I think that is the right word. My sugar bottoms out if I don't eat. Anyways, to combat this (passing out is not fun), I keep some snacks handy. Pretzel rods, gold fish crackers, fresh fruit (apples, oranges, and blackberries oh my!), yogurt (strawberry and keylime), and cubed cheese. These are my go-to snacks. If I hadn't absolutely forbid my better half putting a mini-fridge in the living room by the recliner, I would bring a mini-fridge into my bedroom and stash it under my desk. Besides, what would the guys use to lay their Magic: The Gathering *cough nerds cough* cards on if I took the mini-fridge? I made them get rid of the kitchen table so I had room for a deep freeze!