Do you remember when…?

Beach, here we come! Just picture it cloudier and more overcast. How we got such nice weather in January and such crappy weather in March is beyond me.

Ok, I cannot apologize enough.  I didn’t get another post done before today and today I am going on vacation.

I am so sorry.

Don’t think I have been sitting on my laurels.  I have been trying to crack the code for a particular cookie that I am working on and I have it at about 85%.  I am dedicating it to someone so I want to get it just right.

While I am gone I want you to read these blogs A is for Awesome and Saporito Means Tasty!, they have been so supportive of me and they are super funny and nerdy.

I am going to leave you with some GeekyLinks and an old favorite recipe.  I am not going to post a link to the new Doctor Who Season 7 trailer but I did post it on my Facebook page if you want to check it out.

My other GeekyLink is in regards to a past time I have had since before I can remember.  Watching soap operas.  Yes, o yes.  ABC soaps to be exact and yes I was devastated by the cancellation of All My Children and One Life to Live.  Now I must be honest, I hadn’t watched faithfully for awhile but the good thing about soap operas is that you can keep up even if you miss a few.  Okay, maybe that is why they got cancelled but I digress… One of my Twitter pals (Sandy @cookie9965) is OBSESSED with soaps and she forwarded a review of General Hospital by a young lady who had never watched One Life to Live and her reaction to some of that shows characters moving to Port Charles.  It is too funny and it is nice to know that some soaps have a few young passionate fans.

I am going to leave you now with a link to my Mexican Chocolate Cookies.

I made these on Friday morning for my daughter’s easter party at school.  Mostly I wanted to see if the kids could identify the flavor.  They sure could and that made me happy.

Rainy St. Patrick’s Day in Southern California

I shouldn’t complain too much about not going anywhere or really doing anything on St. Patrick’s day, but it was kind of a bummer.  We had WonderCon here in Southern California (it was a temporary location) and although I complain I didn’t have any money, I really just didn’t want to have to leave the house with three kids all bundled up.  I wouldn’t have taken them all but I would have had to at least taken the younger two to Grandpa’s house.  Thank goodness I don’t live anywhere that it snows.

Leprechaun Candy

They already had to be bundled up for their big sister’s soccer game at 8am.  It lightly rained but that was one day where I was thankful the game was so early, any later and we would have been soaked.  It was totally worth it too, not just because my kid was playing but it was a really high scoring game (with Angela scoring one!) and she got beaned in the face with the ball and shook it off (this is a kid who has no issue with crying on the field) but a minute later had to come off the field when her nose started bleeding.  The best part was after her coach took the tissue off her nose, my daughter spit out a bunch of blood.  My husband wishes that we had a picture of that.  It was pretty badass if I do say so myself.  She then proceeded to get beaned in the thigh, while playing the best defense I have ever seen her play, and started limping but then shook that off and now has a nasty bruise.  She is not the best player on her team but she really loves what she is doing and I think playing with the boys has actually boosted her confidence.  I am kind of bummed that we never had her play spring soccer till now.

Irish Soda Bread

The rest of the day was really boring and rainy.  I had made two treats the day before and I just had to make the Corned Beef and Cabbage and an Irish Soda Bread.  Mostly, I just read tweets about Wondercon and other parts of the country where it wasn’t rainy and people were out on a beautiful day.  It is not supposed to be that way.  I live in Southern California, dangit!  It is just as well I guess, my little ones had been sick all week and it finally hit me this weekend.

Onto the food…

Yes, I fit this all in there but paid for it later with corned beef and cabbage juice all over my counter.

I loved the idea of this Leprachaun Candy from Sweet Treats and More because she also calls it Sour Patch Grapes and I have two Sour Patch Kids lovers in my house.  One didn’t even try them (my husband) and the other (Angela) didn’t really like them but I don’t think she really gave them a chance.  My Bob and I ate most of them on Sunday.  The other treat I made on Friday was a Pistachio Cake.  You make it with a cake mix and I know I make lots of cakes and things from scratch but you can’t (at least with two little ones at your knees) whip one up from start to finish like I did with this one in an hour.  If I had realized the pistachio pudding mix that goes into it had actual pistachios in it, I would have bought some more to toss in there.  The cake was really good and moist and the passed the picky test in our house.  My Sarah had a piece and loved it!  She is wary of anything that looks strange but she ate the green cake (and normally doesn’t eat cake, she is that picky)!

Green Cake Batter

My go to recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage is this one from FamilyFun.  It meets my two requirements.  I don’t want carrots in it and I want it to be made in the crock-pot.  I have used it since before we had kids.  It is super simple and yummy and foolproof (okay not entirely, one year I put the cabbage in too early and it was totally obliterated).  This year I decided that I would make an Irish Soda Bread.  I picked this one from Brown Eyed Baker because there wasn’t anything in it.  They usually have like raisins and/or seeds in it and I wasn’t feeling it.  My favorite part was the crusty outside but that was the part that the kids didn’t like.

Pistachio Cake

My GeekyLinks for this week are firstly, two things coming up on YouTube.  YouTube will be hosting original content on different “channels”.  I will be watching Nerdist’s Channel (helmed by Chris Hardwick) and geekandsundry’s Channel (helmed by Felicia Day) both set to start their programming on April 2nd.  Subscribe!  I did!  One thing that was revealed at Wondercon was a reel of “Walterisms” at the Fringe panel.  So awesome and so funny!  For my Doctor Who fans, here is a Tardis Wedding Ring.  I not only encourage you to take a look at the ring but the entire When Geeks Wed site.  I wasted way too much time on there when I found it.

Just really wanted to share this picture. Doesn't it just make you want to go eat some grapes?

Strawberry Yogurt Pie for Pi day!

Okay so this won’t post until late Pi day (3/14) but I figured I just need to get this up because I had made a pie, it was Pi Day and I needed to post something.  I was debating about wether or not to post this because I didn’t get a picture of the pie after it was cut.  Let’s just call it a brainfart and move on. I am sorry it has been awhile but SO MUCH is coming up!  I need to stop dreading doing things and just do them.  Things get done faster that way.  Things I am not dreading are the ideas I have coming up of things to bake for you.  I LOVE them!  I can’t wait to get started.  I really hope I can bang some stuff out tonight and tomorrow so I won’t be leaving you silent for as long as I did this last week.

I used butter too.

This is my second time making a pie crust and instead of trying to fit all the ingredients into my mini-chopper (I don’t have a food processor!) I decided to kick it old school and work the dough with two forks (I don’t even have a pastry cutter).  It totally worked!  Julie from Willow Bird Baking recommended using lard in the crust and I would have to say she was right.  May I recommend, however, not tasting the dough till it is cooked cause then you could get a crumb of lard in the bit you are tasting and that may make you want to spit it out and completely question what you are doing.  Once it is baked it will be completely awesome.

Are you drooling yet?

So in the interest of more and better future stories and recipes to make, I am going to leave you early with some GeekyLinks and the recipe.  First up is an awesome story about how How Dolphins Say Hello.  It is just the neatest thing ever!  Next up is some Princess Bride awesomeness.  Lastly, is something I REALLY want but will NEVER be able to afford Harry Potter Wizards Collection.

Filling!

Cream Cheese Wontons and an Oscar Party

Before we get down to it, I want to ask any of the cooks or bakers out there if there is one dish that they have eaten and loved and tried to recreate and if it worked out or not.

Yummy, yummy filling!

These Cream Cheese Wontons is one of those recipes for me.  My husband doesn’t like Pick Up Stix so I hardly get to have them (and when I do, I eat WAY too many).  This was not my first attempt.  My first try was at my first Oscar party I ever had about 6 years ago.  Now, I say party but what that really means is that my friend Jennifer comes over and I cook for her (I don’t know why but it has always been 2 appetizers, a popcorn, an entree, and dessert), we play Oscar Bingo and I kick her butt at predictions (it was close this year, I only beat her by 2).  Anyways, the first time I tried to recreate them I only used cream cheese and green onions and that was just wrong.  Well, a few years later and I do think I have perfected it.  I mean Jennifer and her boyfriend (a new partygoer!) had to physically move the plate so they would stop eating them.

Assembly line!

This year I made the Cream Cheese Wontons, Baked Artichoke Squares from shutterbean.com, Buttery Brown Sugar Popcorn, and Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken.  Over the years, adding kids and having each of them go through their stages, sometimes it is tough getting everything you want to get done, done.  So I decided to make my entree in the crockpot because I didn’t plan as far enough ahead as I usually do and it freed me up to make everything else.  I am contemplating doing that every year or something similar that needs low slow cooking.

Artichoke Squares ready for the oven!

My dessert was a chocolate cake.  Remember when I talked about recreating something you ate years ago?  Well, the cake was also one of those recipes and this time, I failed.  Still totally delicious but not pretty and not quite right.  When I perfect it you can have it and you will LOVE it and you will be able to make it right when I give it to you and not have to wait 9 years to try and figure it out.  Yes, trust me 9 years and it will TOTALLY be worth it.  

Found this from last year. You can see some popcorn and our mini-corn dogs!

This was my first time meeting Jennifer’s new boyfriend and I can’t say enough good things about him.  I LOVE how well he ate!  My husband didn’t eat any of my food that night (OK, he was sleeping) but he still didn’t nibble on or sample anything before work either.  Plus even if he had eaten anything, he would have been tentative about it.  Jennifer’s boyfriend Jay—clean plate every time!  Nothing means more to a hostess.  I just wish I had won Oscar bingo.

Pretty little pocket, ready to be fried!

My GeekyLinks this week are first from Felicia Day she tweeted this awesome article from NPR about this almost extinct insect.  She said it made her tear up.  I didn’t believe her.  I was wrong.  Then I have Pulp Shakespeare tweeted by Paul and Storm.  Yes, that is Pulp Fiction rewritten in iambic pentameter and set in the 1500s.  Please, please watch at least till the foot massage conversation!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats

Wow, even I have to say that I have had an adventurous few weeks.  I realize that I was super lucky that both things I wanted to do came at the end of the month when we actually have some money.

Anyways…

Looks like a giant cookie, but it is about to be destroyed! Also, I should have rolled it a bit thinner.

Here are these flavors again!

I didn’t realize as I got older that you get nostalgic for certain things (besides pop culture references) like tastes and sounds and places.    For me it is surprising because these flavors are still so readily available to me.  I can drive down to the panaderia and get me some pan dulce and go home and make a saucepan full of Abuelita or Ibarra to dip it in.  I think what bums me out about it and why I feel like it is so far away from me (like far away in my youth, ugh) is because my kids don’t seem to enjoy it as much as I did.  Don’t get me wrong, give them pan dulce and they will do some damage to it.  But except for my oldest and my son dipping once or twice per bread (it needs to be EVERY bite people!) they don’t seem to be into it.  Sarah won’t even try it.  And get this, Mexican chocolate or not, my girls don’t like hot chocolate!  Are you kidding me?  You are a kid!  Have some fun!  Live a little!

I used to live for the days that we would happen to go out when it was cold and my mom would LET me order a hot chocolate!  I can’t even beg these kids to order one.  I don’t know.  Maybe they are just fuddy duddies.  I just don’t want them to tell me five or ten years from now, “Why didn’t you tell me hot chocolate was so good?”  I guess all I can say is, “I told you so.”  Did that just come out of my mouth?  Not quite yet, just out of my keyboard.

The first time I made these they were WAY too sweet.  This chocolate has sugar in it and I knew I would have to figure out some way to deal with it but I went in head first and ended up having to deal with it after a BIG batch was made and pictures were taken.  The sugar not only makes it sweeter but also seems to make the marshmallows break down a bit more (I also think a certain four year old may have distracted me during my count so there may even have been an extra cup of marshmallows in my first batch).  So I knew I had to fix it before I posted it.  The adjustments were made and I am entirely happy with it.  However, my husband, the man who will go to an Italian restaurant and order the spaghetti, smelled the cinnamon and said, “Why couldn’t you just have made plain ones with cocoa krispies?”  Ugh…

My GeekyLinks this week are outer space related.  Yay!  First, this post answers the question Why do astronauts crave spicy food in space? and the second asks Where is Curiosity while on its way to Mars?  Sweet!