Recipe: Sweet Potato Casserole.

Growing up, I never liked sweet potatoes. It was really only something we had on Thanksgiving, and even then I wasn't sold. Every year my mom would cook up these candied yam things and I'd be like "No, thanks. Pass anything except those slimy-looking orange blocks." So imagine my surprise when I discovered a version of sweet potatoes that I was not only willing to try, but that I actually love.

It was a lot of surprise.

This recipe comes from Eric's sister, Vicki. She makes these for Thanksgiving and you better believe I'm looking forward to doing some damage. T minus three days...

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 cups mini marshmallows
Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375F (190C).

1. Place sweet potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, approximately 15 minutes. Drain and cool slightly.

2. In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, sugar, butter, salt, and vanilla. Mash well with a potato masher (or use an electric mixer) until smooth. Fold in 1/4 cup pecans.

3. Pour mixture into an 11x7-inch baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining pecans.

Top with marshmallows. Bake until golden, approximately 25 minutes.

This recipe involves a buttery, rich, sweet, crunchy version of sweet potatoes. Not unlike pumpkin pie. While I can't guarantee everyone will love them, I can guarantee that I will. And that's just as good, if you ask me.

Boner'ppetite!

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Recipe: Spiced Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Continuing on with the "seasonal" baking, I thought this recipe would make a great addition to my holiday themed pig-out fest. I came across this recipe not too long ago and immediately thought to myself "That looks good. I will make it under the guise that it is for someone else and then I will eat the shit out of it."

SPICED APPLESAUCE CAKE WITH CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
From Epicurious.com

INGREDIENTS
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup walnuts

FOR FROSTING
5 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F (176 C) with rack in the middle. Butter an 8- or 9- inch square pan.

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

2. Beat butter, brown sugar, vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well with each addition. Add applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in walnuts.

3. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. (When you poke a toothpick down through the center of the cake and it comes out clean, it's ready.) Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen, invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake to a rack to cool completely.

4. Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy.

 Sift confectioner's sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. Spread frosting over cooled cake.

NOTE:

The original recipe called for unsalted butter. I only use salted butter because that's what I like.

When it came time to flip the cake out of the pan, of course, it broke and a quarter of it remained firmly stuck. I just pushed them back together and smothered in frosting. Either this cake calls for a thick layer of butter on the pan or it may need the butter/ flour one-two combo.

This cake is pretty dense. My mom suggested it's possible that I overmixed once the flour was added. For future reference, less mixing.

The frosting isn't very sweet and tasted a tad too much like it's original cream cheese state, in my opinion. Try bumping the confectioner's sugar up to 1 1/4 cups.

The walnuts added a nice crunch to the cake and I think I next time I will add more.

I'm also toying with the idea of adding real apple bits to the batter. Eric's coworker made an apple cake recently that had apple chunks and a caramel topping and it was really good. It was actually my inspiration for finally trying this recipe.


Boner'ppetite!

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Coffee with Mark.

It's always sad when someone you know passes away. Especially when it happens out of the blue and there's been no time to warm up to the idea of saying goodbye.


This past weekend I went to a funeral service for a friend I met while in college. His name was Mark and he was a goofy, awkward guy who always had a sneaky smile on his face, like he'd just played a practical joke on you, but didn't want you to find out. Kind of the way you'd picture your best friend's pesky little brother. There was more than one occasion when I found myself huffing and puffing for him to leave me alone while I attempted to finish my homework. He was funny as shit- always reliable to say something awfully inappropriate- and I remember having lots of laughs with him.

We worked together in the campus admissions office for two years. Over that period of time I got to see what a sensitive, caring, thoughtful, sincere person he was. And I don't mean that in a blinded, superficial way- like when a girl is talking about her boyfriend who's clearly a jerk, but she insists that he's really a "sweetheart." I mean it, genuinely. Mark was THE "nice guy" and everyone who met him could see it plain as day.

He was always doing really thoughtful things, like coming into work with baked goods that his mom had made. I remember one time in particular, he brought in two loaves of banana bread. One, he gave to the emplyees in our department. The other, he gave me personally, so my roommates and I could have plenty for ourselves.

And when it came to working, Mark gave it his all. Even though we were student employees, he took his responsibilities seriously. My friend Melissa worked down the hall in a different department, and she even admitted to bringing the "difficult" parents to Mark because he had a calming and reassuring way about him. There was one dad in particular who was a real asshole... Mark never even batted an eyelash at him.

After I graduated, I didn't see Mark anymore. We never ran into each other around town and it had literally been years since we'd been in contact. Randomly, two months ago, Melissa ran into him at Target. They caught each other up on stories related to people they both knew, myself included. That same day, I found a message in my Facebook inbox. The message said "Ahhhhhhhh-HAAAAAA! Found you." Of course. It was Mark. We messaged a few times back back and forth. And although my initial reaction to seeing the message was "Pesky Mark again..." it was actually a really nice surprise to hear from him. I had always remembered him as being a funny, sweet guy, so it was nice to hear the same goofiness come across in his emails. Upon finding out that I was unemployed, he quickly sent me advice on how to find paying blog gigs. He had also caught himself up on my personal blogging efforts and said that he was happy to hear about my "new butt."

In one of those messages, he mentioned the possibility of meeting with him and his girlfriend to catch up over coffee.  I dismissed it, thinking it was just polite smalltalk. Looking back, I wish I would have taken him up on his offer.

His service this weekend was a somber event and any attempts I would have made to hide my sadness would have been pointless. I imagine that after crying for the past hour, my puffy face and melted makeup looked like a cross between Jocelyn Wildenstein and Joker Cat. Soon enough, the time had come for guests to give their condolences to his family. I didn't really know what to say, as I was sure that pretty much every other person there meant more to his family than I did. When it got to my turn, I gave my condolences, introduced myself, and told them how I knew Mark. His parents seemed genuinely happy and even said "Oh! I know you!" when they learned who I was. They said that Mark would have been very happy to have me there. I don't know if that was just the polite thing to say in a situation like that, but it made me feel good. I was glad that I was able to go to this event for Mark and I was glad that I had the chance to meet his family.

___________________________________________________________________

I'm sharing this story not to get sympathy, but as a reminder of how fragile, and sometimes unfair, life is. And knowing that Mark was a fan of writing and storytelling, I think he would truly appreciate this post.

I know he is in a better place and I look forward to the day when we'll get another chance to catch up over coffee.

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Recipe: Pumpkin Cheesecake Pasties.

If you've never lived in the U.K., or been to the U.K., or had friends from the U.K., or spent any time getting tanked in a British pub, you've probably never heard of a pasty.

Basically, a pasty (pronounced pass-tee) is a pocket of dough filled with meat, vegetables, or sweets. Kind of like an empanada. In case you're wondering, this is what they typically look like. In the good, old fashioned England times, worker men would take pasties in their lunches because they were essentially fully-contained party bags for your stomach.

I don't know how pasty'ish this recipe is because they actually look and taste nothing like any pasties I've ever had. (My qualifications? I did spend a short amount of time living in London, I was married to a Brit, and I eat a lot of food.) They seem more like rugelach, if you ask me. But they're still really, really delicious and definitely worth your while. Especially because people like to maximize their pumpkin intake during the month of November. That's a thing, right? I mean, I know I do.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pasties
(Recipe from Bakingdom.com)


INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
8 oz cream cheese
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
3 to 4 sheets of frozen puff pastry

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

For the egg wash:
Whisk one egg with two teaspoons of water until frothy


DIRECTIONS

Thaw puff pastry before you start baking. To thaw, I usually wrap each roll of pastry (typically, two come in a pack) with a clean tea towel and let it sit for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator. I saw on a cooking show one time that the towel prevents the dough from getting soggy as it thaws. So far, it's worked great for me. If you've never used puff pastry before, it's surprisingly foolproof and usually results in something very impressive looking.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.

Using a mixer, combine cream cheese and sugar mixture until light and fluffy, about one minute. Add egg and stir until combined. Make sure to scrape down the walls of the bowl every so often. Stir in pumpkin puree until throughly combined. Stir in vanilla and lemon juice. This is your filling.

Roll out the puff pastry until it's roughly 12x12. To avoid the dough sticking and/or ripping, make sure to flour both side of your dough. Liberally. Trust me on this.

Move your dough to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a pizza slicer to cut 16 even squares.

Spoon a generous helping of the filling into the center of each square.

Brush all four edges with the egg wash.

Fold two opposite corners up, so they just overlap on top.

Do this until all of your dough or mixture is used. Chill for 30 minutes.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to FULLY COOL before glazing.

To make the glaze, whisk sugar and milk until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla. Drizzle glaze over pasties. To get an even "drizzle" effect, I used a piping bag. If you don't have piping bags, just load your icing into a Ziplock baggie and cut off one of the bottom corner tips. Finish with a dusting of confectioners' sugar.

Note:

I've only made these once, but they turned out surprisingly well. Not one slip-up or mistake. I took them to Eric's office as a nice midday snack. I hadn't even been back on the road for five minutes when I got the text that they were all gone. I also found out the next day that one of his coworkers took one for her daughter, a notoriously picky eater. Apparently, she ate it right up. My voodoo priestess magic is working afterall!

With that said, these ended up causing quite a scene in our kitchen by the time I was done baking. And by "quite a scene", I mean it could have easily been mistaken for one of Def Leppard's 1985 hotel rooms. It was a disaster. Baking sheets and cooling racks: everywhere. Mixing bowls: everywhere. Powdered sugar: everywhere. Glue-like icing: everywhere. I think you get the idea. Don't make these if you're going to be pressed for time with guests coming over. Unless you have a housekeeper. In which case, why aren't you hosting more events for me to come to?

Try these out and let me know what you think! Maybe serve pasties instead of the usual pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. Even with all the effort and cleaning involved, the presentation and taste are totally worth it.

Boner'ppetite!

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Unbaby.me, You're a Genius.

Have you heard of the app called Unbaby Me?

I saw the creators on The Ricki Lake show (what.) and immediately I knew this app would be right up my alley.

Basically, it searches through the Facebook images your friends are posting and changes anything recognized as a baby and/or child to other enjoyable items, like walruses and bacon. It doesn't actually change the original image, it just changes what you, the app user, sees.

Ha! It's genius, right??

I know what you're saying. Yes, it's a little mean spirited, and yes, my hair does look good today. It's all in good fun though. I'm the first to admit pretty much every tyke's face that shows up in my Facebook feed is so ding-dang cute they all make me want to smother them. With kisses.

I just may have to put this sweet app to use soon. -Partly because my jealous, barren guts are crying on the inside. But also because my face is laughing on the outside.

I'm kicking myself for not having come up with this on my own.

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The Big Reveal: Halloween 2012

Did YOU guess what we were going to be for Halloween?

Several of you guessed correctly what both Eric and I were going as, but nobody guessed correctly on Pearl's costume.

Here it is. The moment you've all waited for since first clicking on this blog title two seconds ago.

Eric was. . . . . . . .

MC BAT COMMANDER, FROM THE AQUABATS!

For this costume, Eric ordered the cap, goggles, and shirt through The Aquabats website. He made the belt with blood, sweat, tears, and discount material from Joann fabric and craft. The shorts, socks, and Converse are all out of his wardrobe. And lastly, you can't forget the mustache (face paint) and missing tooth (tooth black-out).

Funny story about this costume: Pearl was trick-or-treating with her mom on Halloween night. Eric wanted to make her night (because she LOVES The Aquabats) by surprising her and fooling her into believing he really was the Bat Commander. As we drove down the street and found Pearl, we were both pumped and imagining that she would always remember the time she met her favorite superhero. As Eric ran up to where she was, scripted monologue in his head, she saw him and came running over yelling, "Daddy!!" Lol.

UPDATE: When Eric made his surprise appearance, he also took with him a letter he'd designed on mock Aquabats stationary. It read something like "Don't eat too much candy! Listen to your mom and dad! And don't forget to brush your teeth! -Love, Ricky Fitness."

Even though Pearl knew better than to fall for Eric's impersonation, she TOTALLY believed the letter was real because of the "authenticity" of the stationary. Apparently, she slept with it all night. Lol.


Pearl was. . . . . . . .

PUSS IN BOOTS!

Pearl's costume came together like a dream. I lucked out by finding an old Tigger costume at the thrift store. Two days, and an additional $5 later, my seamstress decapitated poor Tigg. Since the weather ended up being 5,000 degrees outside that day, I also ended up cutting off the mittened portion of the hands and turned the legs into shorts.

The thrift store provided the floppy, sun hat (still had the original tags from Charlotte Russe) and braided belt. I added a small stitch to the hat to keep one side up and I affixed an ostriche feather (from Michael's). The "boots" were pirate-type boot covers. I used fabric glue to add red ribbon trim and attached them to the Tigger suit. Those, along with the cape and fencing foil, were all from the Halloween store. The final touch was face paint. Eric took over on that part because my attempt the night before looked a lot less "Puss in Boots" and a lot more "Oompa Loompa on crack."

(Oompa Loompa on crack, doing an impersonation of Guy Fawkes, while firing his agent.)

Pearl and her "cousin", the Ninjago (my nephew, M, from Original Thoughts of an Unoriginal Thinker) 

Pearl was entered in the 4-6 age division of the costume contest. We made sure to tell her over and over how it doesn't matter if you win a prize or not, just have fun, yadda yadda, whatever, all those other things you say when you know you're going to win. We told her all of this knowing fully well she was going to clean house. And then the unthinkable happened. SHE.DIDN'T.EVEN.PLACE. She lost to a soap bar/ loofah combo (it was creative and homemade, so I concede they deserved it), Alfalfa from The Little Rascals (again, homemade and cute so it totally deserved it too), and the first place winner was. . .
. . .
. . .
fucking Jack Sparrow.
As in, the store-bought costume that's been played out for the past nine years. I was shocked when they announced his name, especially considering that when we first arrived all the kids were like "Look! It's Puss in Boots!!" AND she was the only Puss in Boots there. AND when we went trick-or-treating afterward, everyone was oohing and ahhing over her costume.

I should totally just be proud that Pearl was cool with not winning a prize and had fun regardless. But I'm not. Clearly, we know who needs to learn the meaning of "sportsmanship."


And lastly, I was. . . . . . . . .

MARY POPPINS!

I had been wanting to try this costume for several years, but for one reason or another, never got around to it. Surprisingly, it was easy to put together. I found a long, wool skirt and a white button down shirt at the thrift store. The hat was some kind of vintage, short-fur covered derby hat from Italy that I also snagged at the thrift store. I just crushed the top down and glued on the flowers and strap. The bow tie was from the Halloween store. The bag, umbrella, blazer, gloves, and boots were out of my wardrobe. I also made sure to part my hair down the middle and pin my bangs down, ala the Pringles mascot.

Surprise of all surprises, I ended up winning third place for the adult costumes! I guess that makes me feel a little better about Pearl not winning. (Not really, she was robbed.)

Graciously accepting my prize. 

Also, my sister and her other son, L, went as the Kia Hamsters. She made their heads out of paper mache and furry fabric and glued witch nails onto furry gloves. She wore giant sweats and stuffed the hips with canteens. (Based on this picture, you'd never know she's stick thin.) L ended up winning a prize for his age division. Yay!!!  (Again, Pearl's group was rigged.)

And how could I forget Biscuit, the latest addition to The Harlem Globetrotters??

So those were our costumes this year.

What did you and your friends/ family go dressed as??

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