Fall has arrived!

So a few things have changed- WE'VE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We have been beyond blessed and beyond busy- I think I say that every post! So far we have had only one major room redo, which is only major in the fact that we have painted over dark brown paneling to make it white. Pictures will follow when we * finally* finish it!

For now, head over to Mel's Blog and sign up to win a super cute and ultra useful plarn bag! Or..ya know...don't, because I want to win it! haha. But check out her etsy shop for real!

Six Months Later...

I am alive..barely. I can't believe that nearly six months have passed since I have written in here. I am nearly positive that no one still reads this, but I am inspired to share a few of my stories, and excuses as to why I have neglected this.

First and foremost, school. I completed my internship and I had the best and most gratifying experience that I could have. God placed me, through several strange and awkward paths, to exactly where I need to be. I began the year interning for 32 hours a week, with two classes on top. I ended my internship working 50 hours a week, with two classes on top (enter my excuse for the lack of updates) the 4 months felt like 4 years some days, yet I didn't want to leave my internship- so I didn't! My amazing supervisor asked me to work in the toddler room. So I did! I changed around my plans of finishing college next semester into working full time and finishing in 3 semesters (that kills me to write that!) I prayed (and prayed, and prayed) and decided that it was what is best for the family. I love where I work, I love what I do, and that is a hard thing to find. Thanks to my internship, I found where I was suppose to be. Irony= I told my professor that this was a back up plan and that I didn't want to work after I graduated, but rather pop out babies. Now my plan has changed. Apparently my plan=/= God's plan all along!

I have had some fun experiences so far! I am still cooking like a maniac! I bought an ice cream machine, and my favorite so far is the sorbet! who knew? I've made strawberry,
peach, blackberry, watermelon and all were yummy, here are just a few of the pictures!

I lost a very important man in my family very unexpectedly. My uncle passed away just a few weeks ago, and it still doesn't feel real. He was my dad's best friend and a genuinely great guy, his death made me realize how much I treasure my parents, and has driven my anxiety just a little further.


In other less life-changing news, I have pick my camera back up, dusted it off, and took some pictures... here's hoping it doesn't taken me another 6 months to update again!

Merry Christmas!

Goodness so many things have been going on in my life that I have, once again, not had time to focus on my blog! I have finished a very grueling semester and came out the other side. Despite the moans and groans and certainty that I was NOT going to have great grades or make the Dean's list- I did. I also secured an internship at the local YWCA (which I am anxious about! please pray for a positive experience!) My Father in Law completed his semester in grand style- BY GRADUATING with his master's degree. Joe and I are both extremely proud of him! This is Joe's father (obviously in the gown) and stepmother Karen. The rest are siblings/foster siblings etc.

So, since I am officially finished with this semester, and I have several days (ahem: weeks) to resume what I was made for, becoming the lovely wife who keeps the house clean and makes delicious food. What? Don't laugh- I can keep a house...clean, well, cleanish. Have you been talking to Joe? Moving on...
This Christmas, I decided to make my loved one their christmas present. Hopefully, none of them will read this blog! HA! I am making (highlight to read)::: Ranch Pretzels, Peanut Butter Choco Truffle, Pine Bark, Orangettes and Biscottis! :::Whew, that is a lot when I type that out! Hopefully everything turns out well! I am going to share a recipe that I really questioned, but decided to try since my loving mother gave me permission to steal as many grapefruit and oranges from her house as I would like! It was trial and error at first, but they came out so lovely!

The recipe!
Orangettes/Grapefruitettes

2-3 Oranges (or 1-2 grapefruit)
2.5 cups of sugar
2.5 cups of water

Score the rind of the fruit in eight equal (ok, it doesn't have to be equal!) sections. Peel off teh rind, and with a small sharp knife (think paring knife) remove as much of the pith as you are able to. This is no joke! The first 2 oranges I used, I didn't remove enough of the pith, and I had to throw it away. I liken it to skinning a fish. You will want to skin the rind so that you can see the small circles on the rind.
The 1st batch(which I didn't do properly) The 2nd Batch (see the little circles!)


Toss the rinds into a pot with enough water to completely cover, then heat until just boiling. Strain the rinds, rinse with cold water, and repeat the boiling process. I did this twice with the oranges, and four times with the grapefruit because I read that grapefruit tends to be a bit more bitter than oranges. Once they have been properly cooked, set aside.

Combine the water and sugar in a pot and bring it to a boil. The sugar should be dissolved. Carefully toss in the rinds, and simmer for about 25 minutes. When the rinds are transulcent, carefully remove the rinds and place them on a cooling rack.


I would suggest placing something underneath in case the sugar mixture drips off. From this point, you should dredge it in sugar, or let cool, then cover with chocolate! ENJOY! These taste almost...gummy like? It was a very surprising treat! enjoy!

Was it comcast, or just Blogger

I couldn't get on here to post that I wouldn't be posting my tuesday with Dorie. I am kinda glad that I skipped out because I read the results, and with the way I have been baking lately, I am sure it would have been horrific! I will not be baking the rice pudding, but may dip into another recipe for my BIRTHDAY party this saturday! Wahoo!

Tuesdays with Dorie

This is my very first blog about my TWD experience. I joined a few weeks ago, but just got the book this week. SO- I made Rugelach. I have never heard about it before, and I was super excited to make it. Until I made it. I don't have a food processor, so I had to mix it together with two knives. I'm not sure if that's what made the dough so- crappy for a lack of a better term. I was so unimpressed with this dough. It was tough to roll out, and looked clumpy after it was cooked. I even used my super awesome new rolling pin, andn it was HORRIBLE. I was very dissapointed, as my face shows. I won't post any recipe ingrediants, but these are what pictures I took. They turned out so bad that I didn't even take pictures of the final product.

Mixing the dough...



Before they went into the pits of Hell (my oven)

It's fall alright!

AUTUMN IN NEW YORK....

So, this blogging has proven to be a little more work than I thought. It's not the cooking part- it's the posting part! HA! My loving husband was forced to reboot our computer- but saved all of my work (including pictures of recipes that were waiting to be posted!) So I was waiting to post those, but I am going to just move forward and post what I have been up to. The most exciting thing (cooking related!) is that I am offically part of tuesdays with dorie! I will be proudly adding my badge soon, and I will be forced to post more often!
For now however, I will post some of the chocolate cookies I made. I wasn't super impressed with them, so I won't be posting the recipe until I make it perfect. It was a thick chocolate shortcake type of cookie that wasn't moist enough. Here are a few pictures! I also included my adorable but naughty bunny benny. We let him play on the floor that isn't carpeted, so he ran for cover under a dresser (and is trying to clean the dust off of his face- THAT SHOULD TEACH HIM!

C IS FOR COOKIE...

Moving on! I have a few great cookie recipes that I want to share. None of them are my own recipe, so I am adding where I found them under the name! =)
Homemade Oreos:
Created by the wonderful Smitten Kitchen, who ripped it from Wayne Brachman

Homemade Oreos
Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar*
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

* Let’s talk about the sugar for a minute, shall we? This is a sweet cookie. A good, sweet cookie. Yet, if you think of an actual Oreos, the wafers are fairly un-sweet and actually on the slightly salty side, which contrasts with the super-sweetness of the filling bringing harmony, happiness, yada yada. If you want your cookie closer to that original, you can take out a full half-cup of the sugar. I usually do. If you want to make the cookie by itself (as I did a while back for ice cream sandwiches), go ahead and use the full amount.

I am adding a photo of the cookies that she (I'm assuming it's a female who posts!) took- THIS IS NOT MY PHOTO!

CRISP SOUP!

Today, since it's colder than a witches teet in my house, I made homemade chicken corn soup. Only without eggs or potatos (which are part of my favorite things about this soup.) I tried to make it a little healthier for DH. It made my house smell so good!

For those of you that know me, you know that I love rules. I thrive in a controlled situation, and that's why I love baking more than cooking. Baking requires exact measurements. Today however, I wandered away from the norm. I made my own crisp. Now to be fair, I have made crisp about 20 times this year, mostly apple. but today, I looked at the 1/4 peck of Mac's, and I knew what I had to do. I needed to make a crisp on my own, without measuring cups or a printed out recipe. I needed to make my own crisp recipe. This is what it made:

Apple Crisp:

6 apples (I used Mcintosh, but won't suggest that breed of apple, it mushed)

a pinch of flour

a handful of brown sugar

whatever amount of flaxseed that you have left in your cabinet

cinnamon and sugar that was left over from a failed snickerdoodle cookie

a pinch of salt

oats

melted butter (enough to bind the mix together)

This next part is fairly standard. I peeled them cut the apples:

I mixed everything else in a bowl, then topped the apples:

I baked this piece of Heaven in 275 degree oven for about 45 minutes.
I ate it right away, there are no pictures!

Iced Coffee

There is nothing like starbucks. I love a local coffee joint called sparky and clarks, but there is something addictive about the taste of starbucks coffee that I've never tasted before. I know people say it tastes burnt- I love burnt things, so we fit! Regardless since I have have decided to place myself into poor college student category, I have not been to starbucks in a looong time (or S&C for that matter!) I have been reduced to making my own coffee I know, I know, I lead a rough life. I could never find that perfect blend to make ICED coffee though. It always tastes watered down and bland. Hopefully- I have found the solution!
In my travels through the gobs of baking/cooking blogs I have found the SMITTEN KITCHEN (ok, that just took me 20 minutes to find again...you had better go there and see it!) and her'his version of iced coffee. Of course, Joe isn't here to persuade me to NOT make it, I dove right it!
First, I have to give mad props to my grinder. I can't call it a coffee grinder because I have used it to grind sugar into powdered sugar, grind flax seed small enough to hide it in dinner and occansionally it grinds coffee! Mr. Coffee! Moving On... The "recipe"

1/3 c coffee( medium grind)
1 1/2 c water

No really, it is that simple. Grind the coffee and add it into the water. Let it soak over night. In the morning, strain the grinds twice through filters. Add equal amounts of water and coffee . I will be adding creamer. mmm. I will update tomorrow with the finished results!