Goodbye November

I am saying goodbye to November with some flowers, which are a welcome sight and thought on a cold day like today. Today was a long day. I had a "hearing" to discuss whether or not I should get funding to go to San Francisco for my conference. I really want to go! I find out tomorrow morning. If I don't get the money, I will go home to Massachusetts, which is not a bad alternative at all.
Then I found out that I didn't get the job I interviewed for. The email was really nice, though. He explained that I would fit in more with a larger big oil company. But honestly, many corporate culture isn't for me. For some reason, I felt relieved while reading the email. I felt disappointment, too, but its more so because I feel I am letting people down. There is still Exxon though, and other options such as teaching programs and the Peace Corps out there, so if anything I have a world of options to consider now.

My cat has been doing something silly lately. She will sit or lay at the very edge of a surface. Then she will fall asleep. This sometimes leads to her falling off. In the picture, she is starting to fall off of the table. Such a silly cat. I have declared that when I move out and get a job, I am taking the cat with me (and chinchilla, too!). I am definately more of a cat person. They are independent and love their alone time, but they love cuddling and affection, too. They remind me of myself, because I get very antsy if I don't get my alone time. But I also get antsy if I don't get my required hugs and kisses.

Hopefully you had a good November, but I hope December is even more fantastic.

Homemade Pizza!

I hadn't made fresh pizza in a long time. I have been lazy lately and just buying the Pillsbury dough. It is good, but homemade is so much more satisfying. I bought some yeast today during groceries and made some pizza!

For fresh homemade pizza dough you need a few hours, some energy to use for punching and kneading the dough, and the following ingredients:
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water
2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cup wheat flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
This is what you do:
Combine the yeast and water and let rest for 5 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients to yeast mixture until combined. Knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes. You may need more white flour while doing this. When you are finished kneading the dough, rest the dough ball in a bowl that is coated in olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours. I usually leave it in the oven (not turned on).


This is what it looks like after you finish kneading.

After the 1 1/2 hours, it has doubled in size!
Now, punch the dough. Divide it in two, and roll each into a ball cover the dough balls in plastic wrap and let rest for 10-15 minutes.

Now, you can preheat the oven to 475 F and cook and prepare your toppings.

I used:

turkey bacon

sliced tomatoes

caramelized onions

garlic

bbq sauce

pizza cheese

After the 10-15 minutes, roll out and stretch one of the dough balls so that it fits a greased and floured pizza pan. Coat in some olive oil to prevent it from getting soggy. Then make indentations with your fingertips. You can see mine in the picture. Let this sit for 10 minutes.

Now, add the toppings. Cook in the oven for 12 minutes. Cut and serve right away!

It was wicked good!

Four-foot tall flower painting and some random drawing

I have not posted artwork in a long time, so here is a healthy dose.

I finally got around to hanging this painting on the wall last night. It is four feet tall, which is the largest piece of art I have ever created! It looks like it is on fire, which is kind of awesome. I have been drawing a lot this weekend. And for some reason, I have just been drawing people. I want to learn how to draw people really well. Right now, I am at the level of a very talented 5th grader.
I have always felt that my talent and intelligence, and even my height peaked at 5th grade. I was able to get straight A+'s, I was awesome in art class, and I was one of the tallest people in class. After fifth grade, everyone else caught up in intelligence, talent, and height. So I always say that my art is like a very talented fifth grader's.


A girl in a very gorgeous dress. I have no idea why I drew the flower, but it brings out the color of the dress. I really like this one.

I wish I had this girl's hair. It looks pretty awesome.

This girl got a little hot and decided to take off her sweater. As you can see, she isn't wearing the largest shirt underneath. I think this one is cute.

This is one is a combination of amazing and creepy to me. I found a dress of BlueFly that is absolutely amazing. It has a bra-style top, cinches below the chest, and then just flows all the way to the ground. I would get this dress, except it costs $500, which is more than I am willing to spend on a dress. This drawing is an attempt at drawing myself in the dress. I look slightly crazed and sad, but I love it.

Lunch: Pomegranate chicken salad sandwich; Dinner: Sausage Sandwich with Sorullitos de Maiz

Ah, I am obsessed with pomegranates these days. I made a chicken salad with chopped chicken breast, pomegranates, mayo, mustard, and toasted garlic. I also put some lemon zest into the chicken salad. It was an awesome add, because it added this great citrus taste to the sandwich. I served it on toasted grain bread with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and pomegranate mayo.

Here is the pink mayonaise. I just added POM juice to some mayonaise and stirred. There are some pomegranate seeds in there, too.

Dinner tonight was a sausage sandwich with caramelized onions, cheese and tomatoes on potato bread. I just cooked some italian turkey sausage with half a sliced onion in some olive oil. I toasted the potato bread, too, so it was pretty yummy. And for the side:

Sorullitos de Maiz (don't ask Stephen to pronounce that, he will get mad at you). They are like hushpuppies. Corn sticks that they serve for an appetizer in Puerto Rico. They are easy to make, because all you need is:

2 cups water

1 1/2 cup corn meal

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzarella. Queso de bola is usually used.)

First, you bring the water to a boil. Then, add the corn meal, sugar, and salt into the water. Stir quickly until it makes a soft dough that starts to separate from the edge of the sauce pan. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese. Lay a clean dish cloth over the mixture for about 5 minutes to let it cool off.

Heat some vegetable oil (I used canola oil) in a skillet. Take the cornmeal mixture by tablespoons and roll them into tubes (like sticks). Cook them in the oil. They cook pretty quickly, only about 5 minutes or so.

Serve with their typical dipping sauce, which is made with ketchup, mayo, and some spices.

Pomegranate Lemon Tea Cakes with Pomegranate Frosting

Today was take two for my Pomegranate recipe madness. I decided to make something much more simple than the peanut butter cake. Something that you can just snack on whenever, with tea, or milk, or juice (POM juice, anyone?), or anything at all. I made pomegranate lemon tea cakes. They are pretty lovely and yummy. They are a cross between a scone and a cookie. I LOVE scones, and I use to declare cookies as my favorite food, so the texture here is heaven for me. These are pretty good.

Ingredients

Tea cakes:

2/3 stick unsalted butter softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp POM pomegranate juice

Zest from one large lemon

1 ¾ cup flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

¾ cup pomegranate seeds removed

Frosting:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

½ stick butter softened

1-2 tbsp POM pomegranate juice

Frosting:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

½ stick butter softened

1-2 tbsp POM pomegranate juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease two baking sheets.

First, prepare the wet ingredients. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in one egg at a time, then beat in the pomegranate juice and lemon zest.

Now, prepare the dry ingredients. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Now, beat the 2 mixtures together until combined.

Fold in pomegranate seeds. Form into balls that fit in the palm of your hand and slightly flatten. Place on baking sheets. You will have about 11 or 12 tea cakes. Bake for 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

While the cookies are baking and cooling, prepare the frosting. Cream the butter. Add the Pomegranate juice. Slowly beat in the confectioner's sugar until the frosting is light and fluffy. Put the frosting in a zip lock bag and cut a small hole in the tip of the bag. Use this to pipe the frosting on the tea cakes in swirls or a design of your choice once the cakes are completely cooled.

I have to admit that it is pretty fun and exhilirating to try making my own recipes with ingredients that are new to me. Before yesterday, I had never even opened a pomegranate by myself, so to make two desserts is pretty awesome to me!

Peanutbutter Pomegranate Bread with Pomegranate Icing

I decided to create a recipe with pomegranates! Why? Because I have never opened up a pomegranate by myself. Because I love the taste of pomegranates. And because I wanted to try something different. I couldn't get the idea of peanut butter and jelly out of my hand. So I came up with a PBP, a peanutbutter and pomegranate bread.

The bread has peanut butter, POM pomegranate juice, and cocoa powder. So it's a nice quickbread with peanut butter and chocolate taste. There is also a nice layer of pomegranate filing in the middle of the cake. On top of it all is an icing made with POM pomegranate juice.

The pomegranate seeds are so pretty. It is pretty amazing how many seeds are in one pomegranate. I felt like a little kid while I was getting the seeds out in a bowl of water. It was so much fun to do, and the seeds are so incredibly tasty!

Ingredients for the bread:

1 ½ cup flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup butter (melted and cooled)

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

¼ cup POM pomegranate juice

½ cup chunky peanut butter

Ingredients for the filling:

Seeds from ½ of a POM pomegranate

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup water

1 tbsp corn starch

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine the dry ingredients

Whisk the eggs. Whisk in the butter and sugar. Add the pomegranate juice and peanut butter.

Stir in the dry ingredients.

Now, prepare the filling:

Simmer the water and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the pomegranate seeds and simmer. Stir in the corn starch until the filling thickens. Remove from heat and let cool.

Pour ½ of the bread batter into the loaf pan. Spread the pomegranate filling on top of the batter. Cover the filling with the rest of the batter. Spread some pomegranate seeds on top.

Cook until a toothpick comes out clean. About 55 minutes.

While cooking, prepare the icing:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 tbsp POM pomegranate juice

Stir the confectioner’s sugar slowly into the juice. This will make a glaze that is thick enough to spread, but thin enough to run down the sides of the loaf.

When the cake is cooled and removed from the loaf pan, spread the icing on top of the bread.

Wait until the icing sets before you put the breadi n an airtight container. Or go ahead and cut yourself a slice. It tastes pretty great! Perfect for breakfast, dessert, or snack!

Wheat cornbread turkey sandwiches

It is the day after thanksgiving and I love turkey. So it is time to use up the leftover turkey that Stephen's mom sent us home with. I decided to make corn muffin turkey sandwiches. I made yummy whole wheat corn muffins with dried cranberries.

For these, you just need:

1/2 cup corn meal

1/2 cup wheat flour (or white works, too)

1/6 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1 egg

1/8 cup canola oil

1/2 cup milk

generous handful of dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Mix the dry ingredients (including the sugar). The mix in the wet ingredients until combined. Fold in the cranberries. Pour into prepared muffin tins and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. About 14 minutes.

After they were baked and cooled slightly, I cut the muffins in half.

Then I filled them with turkey, cheese, tomato, and mayo or mustard (mayo for Stephen, mustard for me).

Eat and enjoy! These are yummy little healthy sandwiches, and they came out wonderfully!

Baked chicken, black beans, tomato, and cheese

Today was pretty great.

I got a phone call from Exxon saying that I have a spot for a second interview. So now I feel like I actually have a chance to get a job at some point in the future!
Stephen and I went to the driving range today! I haven't swung a golf club in a while, so it was really fun. I finished before Stephen did and then coached him on his swing. For some reason I am definately better at coaching or directing things than I am at doing them myself. Those who can't do, teach! I am one of the those who can't do.
I got to bake cupcakes!

Okay, so maybe not a very exciting day, but I liked it.


Today's dinner was brown rice with chicken, tomatoes, black beans and cheese. I cooked the brown rice. While it was cooking, I cooked the chicken in olive oil, pepper, parika, and garlic. I simmered the black beans and diced tomatoes with some paprika, garlic powder, pepper, and cocoa powder. When everything was cooked, I poured the beans and tomatoes over the chicken, and then I mixed the rice into it. I sprinkled lots of mozzarella cheese and chives on top and popped under the broiler under the cheese melted. I served with a toasted buttery english muffin half and some veggies.

The chicken, rice, beans, and tomatoes.

With cheese and chives on top!

Enjoy!

Dark chocolate pumpkin cupcakes with brown sugar frosting

Today is the day before Thanksgiving. To be annoyingly cliche, I decided to make lots of thing with pumpkin today!

I have realized that pumpkin puree goes well in a lot of things. And, a bonus, it is super healthy for you!

So for breakfast:

I swirled it into my oatmeal! I cooked my oatmeal with oatbran and then swirled in half of a chopped banana (I ate the other half before my morning run), a spoonful of pumpkin, cinnamon, and milk. It was very yummy!

For lunch:

I made a peanut butter, pumpkin, and tomato sandwich on grainy bread. It was excellent. I know it sounds strange, but it was very delicious.

And now for the main event:

My Thanksgiving dessert!

Yes, I made cupcakes. But they are chocolate pumpkin cupcakes with butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, and mini chocolate chips. They are topped with brown sugar frosting. I just ate one...

It was GREAT!

For the cupcakes, preheat your oven to 350 F, and do the following:

Sift together:

3/4 cups flour

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

Whisk together:

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

Slowly comine the 2 mixtures. Fold in the pumpkin puree, some butterscotch, white, and chocolate chips (add to your heart's content, that is what I did!).

Fill the lined cupcake tins about 2/3 full. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. For me, that was about 20 minutes.

While they are cooking and cooling, make the frosting.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan

Stir in 1 cup brown sugar and bring to a boil. Bring heat down to a medium low and simmer for about 2 minutes. Stir constantly!

Add 1/4 cup milk and bring back to a boil, keep stirring.

Remove from heat and let cool to almost room temperature.

Slowly stir in 2 cups of confectioner's sugar.

It will come out nice and creamy.

I put the frosting in a zip lock bag with a small hole cut at the tip and piped the frosting onto the cupcakes. They came out lovely. I can't wait to share them with Stephen's family tomorrow!

Pizza Potatoes

Two days until Thanksgiving! That means that I don't have to worry about school for a few days, right?
But really, I still do. I have class tomorrow. And I still need to rotate data. And I have to figure out whether or not I am going to San Francisco, since the department decided to not give me any funding. We shall see.
Now to some happy things: food!

Today I made pizza potatoes! I am calling them pizza potatoes because after Stephen took a bite, he said, "Mmm, it's like pizza on a potato!" I baked the potatoes at 425 F for about 50 minutes. Then I cut them in half lengthwise and scooped out a little bit of the middle. I then stuffed the potatoes with turkey sausage. I cooked the sausage out of the casing, in some canned diced tomatoes, paprika, pepper, and cocoa powder. So it was kind of like a chili mixture for the potatoes. I then topped with lots of cheese and popped the stuffed potatoes back in the oven for about 5 minutes. They came out delicious! Like pizza on a potato. I will definately be making different variations of this in the future!

Served with a little salad and some sour cream.

For some additional amusement, here a picture of Ginger. She had a bath today. I was downstairs and was still bombarded by her screams of terror. She hates water. And she definately know what is going to happen when she gets locked in the bathroom. The pour thing. Hopefully it will help her fleas.

Pumpkin butterscotch blondie cupcakes

Sunday's can be so relaxing, and a little boring. I feel like I shoudl relax and not stress, but then I stress out about whether or not I am relaxing properly. Oh well. This morning I ran 4 miles, which is the longest I have run so far! I was pretty proud of myself. And what is wonderful is the fact that I haven't gotten shin splints yet. I usually get them right away. Maybe it's the yoga that is helping? I don't know. I won't complain.

Last night I finally took a deep breath and booked a cruise!! I have been meaning to book it for a while, but for some reason I was too scared to do it. It leaves from Galveston and goes to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Conzumel. I am so excited!! This will be my first cruise without my parents. We even got our own balcony!! I cannot wait. 42 days (the Royal Caribbean website gives you a countdown)!


Sunday is a baking day! And the Sunday before Thanksgiving is an experiment with Thanksgiving dessert day. I decided to make pumpkin butterscotch blondies and bake them in muffin tins. They are delicious! I had a few casualties while taking them out of the tin, but the survivors are good.

What you need to do after preheating the overn to 350 F:

Cream together:
1 stick unsalted butter softened
a little over 1/2 cup of brown sugar

Mix in:
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
Then:
1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Slowly mix in:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt

Stir in:
1 cup butterscotch chips

Pour into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

I may make more and take them to Thanksgiving, or I may make it in cake form with some time or forsting or glaze. I have some thinking to do! But in the meantime, I have these to snack on.

Beef burgers with mozzarella, honey mustard, and veggies

I know, another burger. I'm sorry, but I think they are my most favorite thing to cook. They are so simple and you can do so many things with them! Also, they are fast to make. Today's burger was especially great, and it's been the first beef burger I have made in a while. I usually opt for turkey, chicken, or pork.

The beef patties were made with minced garlic and chopped green onions. Mozzarella cheese was melted on top and tomato, onions and lettuce were put on the burger along with honey mustard that I stirred together at the last minute. The bread is potato bread. I saw in on the shelf today, and I swear it called me to buy it! I usually take forever to choose bread, but this time I just looked and picked it right up. It was a good decision, too!

I usually make potatoes or plantains for a side with burgers. Today, I made deviled eggs! I mixed the yolk with chives, mayo, and this tabasco mustard that I have. They were quite delicious. I hadn't had deviled eggs in quite some time, so these were very satisfying!

My tummy is definately happy!

Last night we went out to a bar called the Fox and the Hound. It is a pretty awesome bar. They have shuffle board, pool tables, dart boards, and an amazing selection of beer! They even have a page in their menu with all the layering combos you can make with Guiness! I love Guiness, and I especially like it layerd with something else. I think it is just the novelty of seeing the layers. I got a Snakebite (Guiness and Woodchuck cider) and a Patriot (Guiness with Sam Adams). I am a huge Sam Adams fan (any kind at all), so I was very excited when I saw that choice!!
It was a fun night, and since I only had two drinks, I felt good enough in the morning to run 3 miles. I really wish I liked running. But I do LOVE the feeling afterwards. I love dripping in sweat and feeling my body cool down. Maybe one day I will like the actua; exercise part. Maybe.

Dinner tonight was Quesadilla or tortilla pie! This version came out a little better, because I used different tortillas. It was so delicious. I could maybe eat this every day. I made this one with black beans, ground turkey, tomatoes, and green onions.

And for dessert...

Some warm brownie (rocky road) with ice cream. It is a belief of mine that every good dinner should end with a good dessert. This one was delicious! But next week is Thanksgiving week! So it is thanksgiving dessert time and some of those are my favorites.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Grilled ham and cheese

One of my favorite types of meals is a good soup and a sandwich. I love a soup that is thick, but not super chunky, and creamy, but not too rich. This soup was pretty awesome. Stephen even liked it, and he has never had butternut squash before! The apple in the soup is a granny smith and it adds a nice tartness. It's a healthy soup and is so comforting at the same time!

It is easy to make, too! Just one peeled and chopped butternut squash and 1 peeled, cored, and chopped green apple. Cook some onion and carrot in 1 tbsp of butter for about 5 minutes. Then add the squash and apple with 3 cups of chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Then puree, and ta-dah! Soup!! Be sure to spice it up with some cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and whatever else you want to add.

The grilled ham and cheese was also excellent. It is a basic grilled sandwich, but I sprinkled some cheese on the outside, too, before placing the sanwiches on the buttery skillet.

It was the best lunch in a long time. So yummy and tasty.

Strange thoughts...

This has been a strange week. I have been super productive on my research. The problem is that I am not getting the right stuff done. I need to figure out how to magically rotate my data and I honestly have no idea how to find the correct numbers. I hope I find them soon. Want to help?

I was ushering Riverdance tonight (which is awesome by the way), and got to talk to my chemistry professor. My one complaint about Riverdance is that the curtain call is absurdly long. I like the show, but I had no desire to see every piece of it again. Maybe dance shows just are not my favorite. That might be it. Give me a nice long play and I am happy. Or a musical! But honestly, just being in the theater watching a show, any show at all, feels like home. Even if I get impatient at the very end.

Yesterday I got two acorns dropped on my head. I think the squirrels are out to get me. I really don't know how I can get by acorns two times in one day. That is just terrible luck on my part!

You may have noticed that I put up a poll. I want to know what your favorite type of holiday dessert is. Go ahead and answer! It will make me very happy.

Cookies!

Chocolate?

Cake?

I'm sorry, I have no pie pictures. I haven't made a pie yet. Maybe I should get on that.