Dessert in the Desert

Don't get all excited, this post is not about me going on some amazing trip and eating amazing sweets somewhere exotic.  It is, however, about me making and eating lots of new desserts in my desert like apartment.  Ok, Ok, so its not quite desert-like, but it's effing hot in here, so we are just gonna go with it.  Anyway, I tried out some new recipes with a BIG pay off.  These three are my favorite by far!

1) Whopper brownies:
Ingredients:
Brownies:
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
18 oz Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie mix
1/4 cup malted milk powder (it's easier than you think to find.  Your grocery store will probably have it it would be near the chocolate milk powder or the evaporated/condensed milk area)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped Whoppers

frosting:
1 cup heavy cream
3 TBSP malted milk powder
11.5-12 oz milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped Whoppers

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 and grease an 8x8 baking pan.
Stir together the egg, water, and oil.  Add in the brownie mix and malted milk powder and stir until combined.
Pour the batter into the baking pan and scatter the chopped Whoppers on top.  Lightly press into the batter.  Bake for 39-45 minutes, or until done.
Cool completely before frosting.
Meanwhile, make the frosting.  In a saucepan, heat the cream until simmering.  Remove from heat and whisk in the malted milk powder.
Place the chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the hot cream over the top.  Let sit undisturbed for 5 minutes, then stir gently until smooth.
 Place this bowl in an ice water bath and stir occasionally while the frosting thickens and cools.  You can put this in the fridge without the water bath, stirring occasionally, it will just take longer.  Once the frosting is totally cooled and thickened, place in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 1-2 minutes.  The frosting will become lighter in color.
Spread onto the cooled brownies.

  
Strawberry cheesecake swirl bars:
Ingredients:
For Crust:
1 1/2 cups crushed chocolate wafer cookies 
Pinch kosher salt 
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, melted

For Filling:
2 packages (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature 
3/4 cup sugar (extra fine if possible) 
2 eggs 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract 
1/3 cup raspberry preserves 
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease an 11 x 7 inch pan.
Stir together crushed cookies, salt and melted butter.  Press into prepared pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Beat cream cheese for 2-3 minutes until softened and fluffy.  Add in sugar and beat until well combined.  Beat in eggs and extracts on low speed until incorporated, scraping sides and bottom of bowl as necessary.
Pour batter into pan.  Use an offset spatula to spread evenly.
In a small bowl, stir preserves and lemon juice together until preserves have loosened.  Place into a piping bag or freezer zip top bag.  Snip corner pipe lines onto batter.  Use a knife or offset spatula to swirl preserves lightly.
Bake the bars for 22-26 minutes, or until set.  The bars will still jiggle a bit when pan is shaken, but should not be wet.
Cool on a wire cooling rack until cooled, then cover and transfer to refrigerator for at least one hour before cutting and serving.

Lemon bars:
Ingredients:
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting 
Pinch salt 
2 sticks butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing

Filling:
4 eggs 
2 cups granulated sugar 
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch pan.

Make the crust by combining the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter to make a crumbly mixture. Press the mixture into the prepared pan. You may need to dip your fingers into a little flour or confectioners' sugar to keep the dough from sticking to your fingers. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the filling, mix the eggs, granulated sugar, flour, and lemon juice. Pour this over the baked crust and bake for 25 minutes longer. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, if desired, when the bars are done.

30 Minute Meals

All of these blogs have amazing recipes that you definitely, totally gonna try.  You might even go so far as to buy the ingredients, but let's be real, if the recipe takes longer than 30 mins. everything will go to waste.  I'm not sure why people are ashamed to say that they won't cook unless it's quick.  That's just being real.  After working 9+ hours I don't think anyone is in the mood to spend a lot of time on dinner.  I find that knowing these quick meals that have minimal ingredients helps in the ongoing argument: should we just order?  I will post a few now, and do more posts like this as I discover more recipes.  Many of the cooking blogs that I talk about in this post have "30 mins or less" sections.

1) Garlic rice pilaf and flatbread:
Garlic rice:
2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
squeeze of lemon juice
parsley, optional for garnish

In a large sauce pan, melt butter. Add garlic, celery, and rice.  Cook and stir until slightly brown.
Add chicken broth, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
Cover and simmer on low heat until moisture has been absorbed and rice is tender. (This usually takes me about 20 minutes) Add lemon juice just before serving. Toss slightly and garnish with parsley if desired. Serves 4-6.

Flatbread:
Pillsbury biscuits
Butter

Stretch biscuits into 6 inch rounds
Melt butter in pan
Toast biscuit for 30 seconds-1 min on each side on medium high heat

Chicken noodle soup:
4 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 small onion, fined diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
5 carrots, diced
1 pkg chicken gravy
2 cups uncooked noodles (I used large elbow noodles)
2 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken

In a large stock pot, place 12 cups of water. Add the bouillon, onion, celery , and carrots to the water. Bring to a boil.
Once the water is boiling cook for 10 minutes. Add the uncooked noodles and cook until noodles are tender, I do this according to the noodles I use. The large elbow noodles I used it was 8 minutes.
Next stir in the cooked chicken.
In a bowl, whisk together the gravy mix with 1 cup of water.
Drizzle the gravy mixture into the soup while stirring until all is mixed in. Let the soup cook for 1 minute more and serve. Serves 10.

Pasta Primavera with chicken (you can also do it without the chicken) and garlic knots:
Pasta primavera:
1 medium zucchini, sliced
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, quartered
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium red or yellow pepper, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 (12 oz.) package Chicken Sausage, slice at an angle
12 oz. linguine, uncooked

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper in a shallow baking pan.  Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper; toss to coat.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender and lightly brown; stir occasionally.
In the meantime, cook linguine according to package directions and drain.
After vegetables are soft, sprinkle sausage on top of vegetables and bake 5 more minutes or until sausage is heated.
Toss cooked pasta with the vegetable/sausage mixture,  sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve. Makes 6 servings.

Garlic knots:
1 tube (12 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits ( I used Pillsbury Golden Layers Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits)
4 tbsp butter
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I did use the green can stuff)
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Roll each biscuit into a 12-in. rope and tie into a knot; tuck ends under. Place 2 in. apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; brush the warm knots with the mixture. Yield:10 knots.
If you wanna do it a slightly different way, chop garlic and in a frying pan cook butter, garlic, and herbs. When butter is melted, turn off heat.  Dip the rope into the mixture and tie into knots.

Greek salad:
1 cucumber
1 onion
1 tomato
1 cup feta cheese
1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette  

Chop into squares each thing and combine.  Add feta and dressing. 

Enjoy!

Speaking of...

My last post was about Pinterest.  I mentioned in that post that it was great because it meant that I didn't have to search through a bunch of blogs to find what I want quickly.  That does not mean that I don't search for hours anyway.  For those of you not interested in cooking I suggest you skip this post.  I wanted to update you on my list of cooking/baking blogs:

Cooking:
Domesticate Me

Lemons and Anchovies

101 Cookbooks

The NPR food blog...recipes mixed in with intersting articles about food

Kitchen Scoop...great section about cooking for yourself or you and one other person 


Baking:
Bakerella

Lovin' in the Oven (great for unique ideas)

Bake or Break (great straight forward recipes)


Here is another post that I did about cooking blogs and good recipes in case you missed it!

My Pinterest Obsession

I got a Pinterest account about a year ago because of recommendations from many many people.  At first, it confused and overwhelmed me.  Then I realized how fan-fucking-tastic it is.  It has ideas for EVERYTHING.  It takes out searching through hundreds of apartment/cooking/gardening/crafting/everything blogs and condenses everyone's research into one place.  It's awesome.  That being said, I've found that its good to test out these recipes before you depend on them because a lot of them are missing a few helpful hints.  I've been meaning to write more about my Pinterest explorations and what I would do to fix some of these recipes, so keep an eye out for them!

1) Dorito Chicken!!!!

 It's baked chicken, but with Doritos.  I highly suggest that you use a strong flavor of Dorito because the original (cool ranch and nacho cheese) are a bit bland.  Other than that the recipe was pretty great.  Definitely use chicken tenders or strips not breasts (unless you cut them into smaller pieces) because the Doritos will burn.  Another variation on this that I have tried is Jalapano pretzel chicken.  The strong flavor of the pretzels really adds a kick to the chicken. 

2) The "Better than Fries" Potato

THIN SLICES.  That is the best advice I can give you.  Other than that the recipe is pretty dead on.  Chris and I used herb butter from this awesome market near our apartment.  I highly recommend using something like that.  You can also top them with cheese or sprinkle it between the layers so it melts into the potato. 

 3) Oreo+Chocolate chip cookies= AMAZING

So clearly there was no recipe there, but I think that's mostly because there isn't really a need for one.  Use my chocolate chip cookie recipe or one of your own.  When you have made the cookie dough, take a double stuffed oreo and wrap cookie dough around it.  I suggest making a flat, round patty, placing the oreo in the middle and folding the dough around the cookie.  They are like crack.  Seriously.
*Also, be aware that it only makes about 12 or so. 

Rural Space Warrior God Covered in Graffiti

Confused?  Well, let me break it down for you.  I work at a kids art camp during the summer.  It's a job that I've had for a few years now, and I am now co-director.  The camp goes for four weeks, and each week is a different theme.  This post is about fun projects that you can do yourself or they can be used for a babysitting/teaching job. Rural came from the American Gothic: Art in Rural America week.  Space came from the Space: The outer frontier week. Warrior God comes from the Greek Mythology week. And last, but not least, graffiti comes from the Urban Art week.  Hence the crazy name for this post.

Week 1: Urban Art
Architecture project:
The point if this project is to experience (roughly) the process of being an architect.  You start by having them draw several designs from all angles.  Show them pictures of interestingly designed buildings, and discuss materials.  Collect lots of different materials and have them select a few to work with.  Have them work with the materials and see what works where and what doesn't work.

Keith Haring sketches:
Keith Haring was/is an important figure in Urban art and expression.  While some information about him (he died of AIDS in the early '90s) is a bit difficult to go over with kids, his art has strong messages about peace and love.  Show them pictures of his images, have them practice drawing in his style.  Give them colorful thick paper and pastels.  Make sure they are using thick dark lines with brightly colored in people.

Graffiti/tagging project:
**Necessary to discuss that it is illegal to do without permission.
Discuss and show different types of graffiti and what a tag is.  Give them scrap paper and different materials and have them test out different tags that they like.  Make sure that they understand that a tag should be short, repeatable, and should mean something to or about them. When they have selected the material and tag that they like give them card stock paper and have them make it big.  You can also take them outside and have them graffiti places in chalk.

Found art mobiles:
Found art is fun because kids can make anything they want into art.  Have them look around the house for things that they wanna use. Give them a wire hanger, and have them attach the objects using string, yarn, guitar strings, etc. Use a hot glue gun to keep things in the place that they want them on the hanger.

Week 2: Greek Mythology
Amphora clay pots:
Get some clay that air dries(preferably red clay).  Make a coil pot of medium size.  Make a top separate, but make sure that it fits.  Make handles and attach them to the pot.  Let dry for 2 days.  Using black paint have them make designs on the pot of images of Greek mythology.

Dionysus masks:
Cut strips of plaster gauze.  Cover the child's face in Vaseline especially in their eyebrows.  Have them make the theatrical happy or sad face.  Dip strips of plaster gauze in water and place them on the child's face.  Don't get the gauze anywhere that the Vaseline is not because it will hurt to take off.  Start with the top of their face that way they do not have to hold the happy/sad expression too long.  Do several layers criss-crossing the strips.  Leave the mask to dry for 10 mins. Peel the mask off of their face and leave to dry overnight.  Give them paints, and have them decorate it however they want.

Arachne web dream catchers:
Using wire cutters, cut the hanger in half and twist it into a circle.  Duct tape where the circle connects.  Have the child pick out some yarn, and wrap the circle in yarn.  Have them pick another color and tie it across in an x.  Take another string and tie it so that it looks like a pie with 6 slices.  If you want you can tie strings connecting the slices to make it look like a real spider web. Use beads, feathers, and anything else you can find and attach with yarn.

Mythical creatures:
Give each kid a few pipe cleaners.  Have them form a rough version of a mythical creature that are in the stories, or one of their own imagination.  Have them cover the pipe cleaners in tinfoil, then cover the tinfoil in masking tape.  Give them strips of news paper and glue mixed with water (2 parts glue, 1 part water). Have them dip the newspaper into the glue mixture and smooth onto the tape animal.  Have them cover it completely making sure to smooth after each one. After they are done with the first layer have them do it AT LEAST 2 more times making a total of at least 3 layers.

Week 3: Space
3D space ships:
Have each child draw the spaceship that they want to make.  Since it will be 3D make sure that they draw from all angles.  Collect all sorts of materials (large bottles, toilet paper/paper towel rolls are the best).  Have them construct the spaceship.  Use duct tape to attach things.  Give them paint and have them paint the whole thing.  Let the paint dry and have them put details onto the ship in paint, markers, buttons, etc.

SciFi posters:
Show the kids pictures of old hokey SciFi posters from old movies or books.  Let them draw a few different posters and different names for their SciFi poster. Have them use water colors and pastels to Create the poster on big watercolor paper.

Plaster gauze aliens:
This was a favorite of all of the campers.  Get old Barbie dolls either from an old collection or from somewhere like Value Village or Good Will. Have the kids attach tin foil to make extra limbs, tentacles, a cone head, etc. Cover that tinfoil and the entire Barbie in masking tape.  Give the kids strips of plaster gauze and bowls of water.  Dip the strips into the water and wrap the Barbie and extra limbs in the plaster gauze.  Let dry for at least a day.  Give them paint the aliens.  Let dry then paint details.

Planets:
Ball up newspaper loosely.  Cover in masking tape.  Give them newspaper strips and glue/water mixture (2 parts glue 1 part water).  Dip the strips into the glue/water and cover the tape with newspaper. Make sure that there are AT LEAST 3 layers of news paper and make sure that they are smooth.  Let them dry for 1 day.  Paint them like plants.

VanGogh Hubble telescope paintings:
Show lots of pictures from the Hubble telescope.  Give them paint pad paper, watercolors, and pastels.  Have them do the general outline of the constellation with watercolors, but the details with pastels. 

Night constellations:
Show pictures of different constellations.  Have them pick one.  Give them a large piece of black paper.  With pencil, have them mark where they are going to make holes to create the constellation.  Give them a large dull needle.  Have them poke holes in the paper where the pencil marks are.  Give them pastels to connect the dots and write the name of the constellation.  Hold up to the light.

Week 4: Art in Rural America
American Gothic self portrait:
Show them pictures of the famous American Gothic image.  Give them a mirror and pencil.  Have them sketch themselves as a farmer with a very basic landscape.  Give them a choice of things to use (colored pencils, pastels, paint, crayon, etc.) and have them fill in their portrait. 

Grandma Moses collage:
Show them examples of collages and of the paintings that Grandma Moses did (landscapes, small villages, family scenes). Give them many magazines and different colors of paper.  Have them cut the pieces up and glue them down onto a large piece of construction paper to make a Grandma Moses scene.

Quilt squares:
Bring lots of different kinds of fabric. Show the different designs of quilt squares.  Have them draw the design on card-stock paper.  Have them pick out fabric, cut it and glue it down (make sure there is NO excess glue).  Flatten the fabric down under a book as it dries. 

Farm animals:
Give the kids pipe cleaners and have them make the rough shape of a farm animal. Squeeze tinfoil around the pipe cleaners and wrap them in tape.  Give them plaster gauze strips and water.  Have them cover the animals in plaster gauze.  Let dry overnight and paint the next day.

Corn husk dolls:
I'm not even going to begin to try and explain corn husk dolls because I don't have pictures to go along with making it, and that would be insanely confusing for you guys, so here is a website that shows you exactly how to do it.  How to make a cornhusk doll (video).

When life gives you lemons...

Much like many "recent" (dear God has it really been a year?) post-grads, I live in a non-airconditioned, very hot apartment.  While sitting (really sprawling) out on the couch fanning myself with really anything I could find, I decided to make something thirst quenching and cool: LEMONADE!  After that first batch (which was so delicious it was gone in less than 24 hours) I felt inspired to come up with some of my own unique (read pretentious hipster) lemonade recipes.  And now I will share them with you!

Sugar water (hint: use for iced coffee)

Classic:
7 lemons (6 for squeezing, 1 for garnish)
1 cup sugar
About 5 cups of water

In a sauce pan boil 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar until all sugar has dissolved (about 10 mins total). 
While this is happening squeeze 6 of the lemons (if you don't have a squeezer use a strainer so that you don't get seeds in the lemon juice).
When you are finished you should have 1 cup of lemon juice. 
Put the lemon juice, the sugar water, and 4 cups of water in a pitcher and stir completely.
Cut the last lemon in whole circle for a garnish.

You can add more water if you want it a bit more diluted. 

The rest of the lemonades use the classic recipe as the base. 

Strawberry:
Use the classic lemonade recipe, but wait to add the 4 cups of water (so you have a pitcher with lemon juice and sugar water).
If you can, use your squeezer, if you don't have one use a strainer and crush the strawberries so that the juice goes into the measuring cup.  1 standard box of strawberries should make about a half a cup of strawberry juice. 
It is usually easier if you cut the strawberries into quarters.
Add the half cup of strawberry juice to the lemon/sugar water, and stir. 
Add 5 cups of water to the mixture and stir again.
Use the left over crushed strawberries and some slices of lemon as garnish.

Sage and Thyme:
Again, you will use the classic recipe, but before you start anything crush the sage and thyme.
As you are boiling the sugar water add the crushed sage and thyme.
When mixing everything pour all of the sugar water including the sage and the thyme.
Right before you are about to serve it put the lemonade through a strainer to pull out the herbs.

Ginger Mint:
Before beginning anything cut off part of the ginger root shave off the skin and chop the ginger (not too finely). You should have about 1/3 of a cup. 
Chop the mint leaves.  You should have about 1/3-1/2 cup. 
Start boiling the sugar and the water, and add the ginger and mint.  Let boil for about 10-15 mins on medium high heat.  Stir frequently.
Continue with the classic recipe, but as you are pouring the sugar water in, use a strainer. 
Save some mint leaves so when you are serving it you can put a little sprig of mint leaves on top.

Black and Blue:
So you need about equal amounts of blackberries and blueberries.  I used 2 small containers of blackberries and 1 large container of blueberries.  Since blackberries have the dominating flavor its ok to have a bit more blueberries than blackberries. 
Make the classic lemonade, but before adding the final 4 cups of water juice the blackberries and blueberries using a squeezer or a strainer and a press. 
Add the berry juice to the lemon juice and sugar water then add the last 4 cups of water.  Use lemons for a garnish, the berries fall apart if you use them.

Blueberry Pomegranate:
The trick with this one is the seeds.  Pomegranates have a fuck ton of seeds, and they go EVERYWHERE.  I found that when you cut them in half (I used 2 btw) it helps to scrape some of the seeds out before hand using a spoon or a fork.
Once some of the seeds have been taken out, use the squeezer (even if you use a squeezer you should also use strainer, and if you are using a strainer be careful that the seeds don't slip out. 
Juice the blueberries in the same way.
Follow the directions for the classic lemonade, adding the pomegranate juice and blueberry juice after the lemon juice. 

And last, but not least:
The Arnold Palmer:
I know this is not technically a lemonade, but it's half lemonade, so I think it counts.  That, and it's DELICIOUS.  Making an Arnold Palmer is easy: half lemonade and half iced tea.  I have compiled a list of some interesting combinations for your consideration. 

Blueberry tea
Peppermint tea
Cranberry tea
Ginger
Elderberry
Green tea

Buffy

Unfortunately, while in D.C. my very old, but very sweet cat Buffy died.  Contrary to what you may think, she was not named Buffy after the vampire slayer, but instead because of her beautiful buff coloring.  We took her in after her owner (who had raised her from bottle feeding) passed away.  She was recluse, but eventually came out of hiding and we grew very attached.  She was 20 years old, and lived a well deserved long, comfy life. 

Lovin' that sunshine!

Napping adorably.

Favorite spot.

The lovely flowers from Chris to celebrate her life.

Brought all the way from NYC on the train.

Home again, home again

Most people ages 18-26 have a difficult time defining home.  For those years I felt I was being split into thirds.  Instead of thinking of this in an angst-y way, I considered myself lucky to have three homes.  Now, since college is over, I consider myself to have only the two homes now. I spent the last month in the first one (D.C.) working for the summer camp that I am co-director for.  I know, I know it's no excuse for not posting, but things were crazy hectic, but not to worry, I documented everything so expect quite a few posts to follow. Here are some highlights from my trip to D.C.:

Pretty kitty.

Despite how annoying it is, sometimes it's funny when Skype gets stuck.

Oh, you know, just a trip to the Army Navy store.

Ladies night at the Watergate!

Fashion forward.

Rained out :(

Seeing friends!

Star Wars cat mad-libs on a lazy Sunday.

Apparently I'm part Silly-Putty.

Some highlights from camp.  More to come!