my latest acquisitions

Meet Zappa:


Meet Bella:


I've been contemplating getting a cat for awhile now, and sucker that I am, I walked away from the Adoption Center at PetSmart with two. I just couldn't help myself.

Can you guess why I'm calling him Zappa?

So it's a little bit of a stretch. Whatever, I like it.

He's a frisky little fella who plays hard and sleeps hard. He purrs when he eats, prefers to play with a plastic bag or Bella's tail rather than the silly toys I got, and of all the soft spots around my apartment, he chooses to sleep amongst the wires. I guess he likes the simple things in life.


Bella is all kinds of special; for one thing, she's polydactyl. She has an extra digit on each paw, and it makes her look like she's wearing little mittens--sooo cute.

Mutant paw! You could almost say she has MAN HANDS!

She sleeps in my lap, nestles in my hair, and pretty much won't leave me alone, but that's okay because Zappa ignores me completely.


She seems to be more of a ham for the camera too.

For the record, if she had been male, I would've had to call her something from one of the best movies ever. Not Count Rugen--he was evil--but perhaps Inigo. Or Fezzik.

I promise not to inundate you with kitty pictures, but I had to share. I'm a proud mama. :)

read on!

have faith, young grasshopper!

Have you ever gotten halfway through a recipe only to take a look at what you've done and question if it's even worth continuing? Sometimes my batter or dough looks so peculiar and unexpected that I begin to doubt a)the reliability of the recipe and b)my execution of said recipe (usually in that order--surely it couldn't be a mistake on my part...).


This was one of those instances. I very nearly took my mixed batter and transferred it directly to the trash can. Thankfully, wasting things goes against every fiber of my being, so I pressed on.

Here's the short story: I've made lots of muffins, and the batter is almost always pourable or, at the very least, easily spoonable. What I ended up working with here was more reminiscent of cookie dough, which certainly gave me pause. It was so thick that there wasn't even a glimmer of hope that it would spread out nicely in the muffin cup.


Regardless, I spread the sticky stuff out as much as I could and tried my best to mask the inevitable hideousness with blackberries and cinnamon-sugar. I then popped the tray into the oven and walked away, fully expecting to see ugly little mounds of cooked gunk upon my return.

Well, whaddya know, there's a happy ending to this story--everything worked out splendidly. The batter puffed and baked beautifully, resulting in something very similar in smell, taste, and texture to your typical bakery-style blueberry muffin.


I consider that success.

Gotta-Have-Faith Blueberry Yogurt Muffins
(inspired by this recipe)

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup Greek yogurt (I used blueberry-flavored Oikos)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup blackberries

Topping:
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with papers or appropriately grease.
In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients and set aside.
In a larger bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and eggs. Beat in the yogurt and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir until combined.
Spoon and scrape the batter into the prepared cups. Push the stiff stuff down with blackberries and liberally sprinkle the tops with the cinnamon-sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes for mini-muffins and about 25 minutes for regular muffins, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

read on!

happy mint-dependence day!

Sometimes you just need to step back and stop thinking. Turn off the ol' idea-machine. Let the engine cool down.


Leave your brain alone for a minute and it might surprise ya.

I spent way too long looking for and thinking about something festive to make for my coworkers in celebration of Independence Day. Ideas were few and far between, and none of them were good. I got frustrated and finally gave up, deciding not to make anything. Shortly thereafter, I had a miniature epiphany, and the Mint-dependence Day flag was born.

(I left the red part a bit swirly intentionally. Swirls are pretty.)

These are your typical cream cheese mints, which I've done before. A little food coloring, a little artistic positioning, and the result is a patriotic display of sweetness. It's not an outstanding production, but it satisfied me (and my co-workers, who I'm convinced will devour just about anything).

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

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no pathogens here

What a shame that something as delightful as cookie dough would be contaminated by something as nasty as E. coli.


What great fortune that I can make my own cookie dough, and that I can eat it willy-nilly.

Rather than eating cookie dough straight out of the mixing bowl like a heathen (ah, who am I kidding, I do it all the time), I decided to take a more sophisticated route. I saw some oatmeal cookie balls on Deborah's wonderful blog Taste and Tell and thought they'd be the perfect quick-fix.

Indeed, these are great little bites. I followed Deborah's recipe pretty closely, and my only advice is this: Chill the dough very briefly before rolling it into balls--it makes the process much less messy.


One more bit of advice: Always make (and eat, neanderthal-style) your own cookie dough.

E. coli-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Balls
(personalized from this recipe)

2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon (clearly, all oatmeal raisin cookie replicas should contain cinnamon)
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup golden raisins, chopped
1 cup powdered sugar

In a large bowl, combine the oats, sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa. With clean hands, mix in the water, vanilla, butter, and peanut butter to form a dough. Add in the raisins.
Chill the dough briefly, then roll it into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in powdered sugar until thickly coated. Pop into the fridge for at least 20 minutes before serving.

read on!

chow on chow-chow

Have you heard of chow-chow? If you're on a pickle kick even remotely as extreme as the one I'm currently experiencing, you need to familiarize yourself with it.


Apparently, chow-chow is a unique type of relish well-suited for topping a bowl of pinto beans, hot dogs, and a variety of other foods. More importantly, it has a great name. If you like pickled shtuff, you should give her a go.


Chow-Chow
2 quarts shredded cabbage, about one medium head
1/2 cup sweet onions, chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped green or red bell peppers
2 tablespoons salt

Combine chopped vegetables and sprinkle with salt. Let stand 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator. Drain well.
Combine the following ingredients and simmer 10 minutes (using a pot large enough to put the vegetable mix in later):

2 cups vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons celery seeds
2 teaspoons mustard seed

Add vegetables to brine mixture and simmer another 10 minutes. Bring to a boil. Then pack, boiling hot, into clean, heated canning jars, leaving only an 1/8-inch headspace. Place canning lids and rings on jars and tighten. Turn the jars upside down so that all the heat is on the seals and let cool completely.

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a rare pair

It occurred to me recently (in the middle of the night, if you must know) that I've never eaten, seen, or created anything combining bananas and cranberries. (Another middle-of-the-night poser: Why do we have electrons, neutrons, and protons? Why not protrons?)(Yes, my mind is a scary place, and yes, I'm a science nerd.)


I've been looking for ways to incorporate thick, luscious Greek yogurt (all Oikos, all the time) into my baking, so when I had a few bananas reach the brink of liquefaction, I decided a banana bread was in order. Recalling my concern about the lack of banana-cranberry recipes, I felt that a healthy amount of the little red gems was an essential addition.

Nooks and crannies and cranberries, oh my!

The result? A moist, fragrant, bespeckled bread full of flavor and healthful benefits. So why haven't the sweet, ripe banana and tart, chewy cranberry ever been united in baked bliss? It seems like it should be a good match, and indeed it is.

Cranana Bread
(adapted from this recipe)

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
4 bananas, mashed
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan or a tray of mini-loaf molds.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs, mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla. Mix in the cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and flours. Stir in the dried cranberries. Divide appropriately into prepared pan(s) and bake for 70 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

read on!

two roads diverged in a wood, and I...

...I took the rocky road.


And that has made all the difference.*

*Two back-to-back literary references--my English-loving little brother must be so proud.

We're all familiar with the combination of ingredients in a dessert bearing the "rocky road" descriptor--chocolate, marshmallows, and nuts. [I think the components are a bit different (but just as tasty) in other countries.] There are cookies, cupcakes, ice creams, fudges, cheesecakes, pies, and even bread puddings. Me? I went with bars. Why? Because I'm lazy.


Instead of the brownie base seen in many rocky road bars, this recipe makes use of graham cracker crumbs. I used a blend of chocolate ones and regular ones to make the end result more cocoa-flavored; they also made the bars a bit reminiscent of s'mores, which could never be a bad thing. The nuts I went with were pecans (from the Green Valley Pecan Store, to be exact, which just so happens to provide the finest pecans I've had the pleasure of eating).


This is a quick, fool-proof, and tasty treat, and I'm glad I went down the rocky road.

The [Rocky] Road Not Taken Bars (did ya get all that?)
(adapted from this recipe)

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 1/2 cups pecans, divided
2 cups mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in an 8x8-inch dish. Toss to thoroughly combine and press mixture firmly onto the bottom of the pan. Scatter (or painstakingly layer) 1 cup of the pecans across the top and bake for 15 minutes.
After baking, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle with 1 cup of the chocolate chips, the marshmallows, the remaining pecans, and then the remaining chocolate chips. Return the pan to the oven and bake 10-12 minutes, or until marshmallows are lightly browned.

read on!