Steak!! How fancy!

Since my wonderful Grandmamee sent me back to school with a 6 pound beef tenderloin, I figured it was high time to have a small gathering. Part of my rec league co-ed basketball team came over and despite the fact that there weren’t enough veggies, we had a really yummy dinner!
The Menu:
Rosemary and garlic tenderloin… Such an easy recipe from William Sonoma!
Roasted sweet potatoes (pretty generic stuff but oh so yummy even to our picky, “non-sweet potato” eaters
French green beans… Made by Jordan but burnt by me when I forgot all the things going on in the kitchen!
Blackberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream!! My absolute favorite dessert! I’ll share the recipe!

Take your blackberries and wash them. Put them down in your casserole dish and make your crust out of one egg one cup of flour and one cup of sugar. squeeze half a lemon over the blackberries then pour your crust crumble over the mixture. Then melt a stick of butter and pour over the top of the crust and blackberries!

Something I will never make…

Marinara Sauce! I just don’t understand why people buy marinara sauce. Is it just to prove that you are better than the rest of us grocery shoppers? Congratulations! You win! And you have too much free time! Forever will I proudly load my grocery cart up with delicious red marinara sauce in a jar!

My life is complete

A grandma asked me for my chocolate chip recipe! MY recipe! I have a recipe people want! AHHHH! Clearly I’m thrilled! This is IT! I’ve arrived at what I perceive to be baking greatness!!! I’ll share my recipe here!

Grandmamee’s World Best Chocolate Chip Cookie
Makes 10 dozen

1 cup sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup butter
1 cup crisco wesson oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3.500 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup oats
1 cup Rice Krispies®
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup or more semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cream the butter, and sugars together. Then add the oil, and egg and beat well. Add vanilla, flour, soda, and salt and mix well. Stir in the oats, Rice Krispies, coconut, pecans and chocolate chips. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes.

Three things everyone should have…

A wonderful momma, Lilly pajamas and a football helmet cookie cutter!
I came home for the weekend for youth sunday at church so mom and I spent a day getting beautified and buying a lamp to make the living room more beautiful! Dad and I went to the grocery store and then went to dinner as a family which I love love love!! Now mom and I are making my great grandmas sugar cookies! Yum yum!!

Rolled Sugar Cookies:
1 cup of butter
Cup and a Half of sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
3 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream sugar and butter then add eggs as vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Chill the dough at least one hour (we didn’t know this was a step so that’s why we have time to blog!).
Preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough very thin on marble or a floured surface. Bake on a lightly greased sheet for about 6-8 minutes! Then decorate!

Just because you eat alone doesn’t mean it cant be delicious!!

So in an effort to save money, to eat the chicken thats been in my freezer since November and to eat a delicious dinner before class, I cooked my own speedy meal. By no means was it a complicated meal. I defrosted a chicken breast, heated up some olive oil in the pan and flopped the chicken in. Then I sprinkled in some black pepper, salt and red pepper flakes. Waited not so patiently until it was done (made some risotto in the meantime). When I say patiently I mean I cut the chicken in half so it cooked faster… Then I cut up some tomatoes, put them in the pan with the chicken, cooked them for a bit then put it on my plate then put it in my belly! Yum yum!!

Call Tim Allen… I’m making Home Improvements!

So to preface this, there’s still a long way to go on the apartment. I want to add shelves, replace the furniture that is about to leave, and get rid of those blue balls hanging from the ceiling! And when I say get rid of, I mean burn them until they are just ashes in a pile then I w ill flush them down the toilet. How much I hate them is another discussion for another day. I added the curtains which has made an incredible difference. Any suggestions for apartment help will be much appreciated!

 

Dont even ask… I know they are terrible… hopefully they will be gone sooner rather than later!

The windows, pre curtains…

Two hours, lots of swear words and one bloody finger later… Voila!

Speedy salmon

My friend made this for me for dinner tonight and it was the second best salmon I’ve ever eaten! Second to Dad’ big green egg salmon! We ate the rest of the risotto from last night and steam fresh green beans jazzed up with a little lemon, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese! So quick and easy!

 

Here’s the recipe:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000002012803

Brunswick stew… Take 2

After I cried for hours over my first failed attempt at Brunswick stew I realized it was time to buck up (as dad would say) and try again! So thats what I’m doing this Saturday morning. So far so good… Don’t worry I knocked on wood so I don’t jinx it! Since it’s so good to try twice, I’ll share my recipe!

1 whole chicken (no giblets… I mean you can stick your hand up the dead chickens butt to pull them out but that gross. To each their own I guess)
1 BIG can diced tomatoes
2 (regular sized) cans of corn- mom uses white corn but since I live in Tuscaloosa, the local Publix carries yellow corn. Corns corn in my opinion
1 bag of potatoes (peeled and chopped)
1 onion (chopped)

Boil the chicken in enough water to cover the chicken until it’s cooked and easy to pull.
Peel and chop your potatoes and onion and set aside.
Once your chicken is cooked, remove it from the water and set aside to cool.
Make sure there are no bones and such in the water.
Add everything but the chicken and cook. When the chicken is cool, pull it apart and add it in!
Stir frequently and don’t fall asleep so you don’t burn your stew!
Salt and pepper to taste!

Independence day?

Today has been my own version of independence day. First, I ate lunch alone… That’s a big deal for me seeing as up until today I would have just gone without food rather than eat alone. And now I’m sitting in Lloyd alone… Another big step. Understand when I say alone, I’m not alone. There’s a boy who just sat down and is drinking a minute maid and a girl typing (rather loudly, I might add) on her computer while eating chick-fil-a which is killing me because all I wanna do it steal her perfectly cooked waffle fries and shove them all in my face! While I understand that’s a little hostile, it is what I want to do. I have nothing of any real substance to talk about! I did hang some curtains and install some new things in my apartment… I’ll post pictures of the incredible improvements in a bit! Well, the pull of the waffle fries have become too much… I’m going to walk 30 feet to the chick-fil-a and get me some. After all it’s been 2.5 hours since I last ate chick-fil-a! Later gator!

You know you’re maturing when…

• your friends give you throw pillows, oven mitts and a cookbook for your birthday and you are thrilled!
• it’s 10:36 and I’m baffled as to why I’m still awake!

As the final hours of my birthday come to a close I decided to do a little reflecting on the past two decades. It’s weird to think I’ve been a live TWO WHOLE DECADES! True, in reality it’s just not that long but it me it’s a lifetime… hehe. I can never again use the phrase “it was a stupid teenage mistake.” One of my friends texted me today and he told me that all my teenage fun was over and it was time to start having adult fun. I don’t know what adult fun constitutes yet but I guess I have time to figure it out. Since it’s now 10:51 I need to sleep. Night night sleep tight!