i just finished filing my md tax return. boy oh boy, i wish i had some common sense in money. i kind of just with whatever the online thing says and who knows if i'm doing it right or if i'm actually getting back my money! and don't get me started on my federal tax return. that is a whole nother mess of a story with turbo tax! but back to the picture, i wish my life could be as tranquil and beautiful as a sunset. those trees are actually some of the cherry blossoms in dc, they're just going for a bit of a swim in the flooding waters:)
so enjoy the little things and take it easy w/ the money and the future. do a little baking or something, eh?
the problem with having to pack a lunch is that it invariably requires some amount of planning- is there bread to make a sandwich? how much of the pb is really left after i took a spoon to it last night, and so forth. and there's the fact that you can't eat pb&j sandwiches everyday (or i could try, but then there would be a pb shortage...) so these are some efforts on my part to incorporate some vegetables and non-pb&j sandwiches into my life.the red peppers in this picture look like giants taking over the meal! i add a spoonful of pesto, freeze this whole thing and then the day i want to eat this for lunch just zap it in the microwave and the spinach gets cooked.i bought some hot curry powder from a middle eastern market the other day hoping it would taste like indian curry. it didn't. however, it tastes like the yellow curry used by koreans. it's just some onion sauteed with the curry powder, then potatoes and any vegetables that were hanging around in the freezer. you can see that i couldn't wait for the food to cool before snapping a picture!
hellooooo spring. where have you been all my life? it's been about the most perfect weather possible this weekend so nothing like a picnic with friends to really top it off. got these candied kiwi from ann's house of nuts (so much fun!) and they just pop with a beautiful green spring feeling. happy spring!
it's a baking withdrawal...probably best that way so my stomach can resume some sort of non-pregnancy look:) this was an easy breakfast i threw together. fry the thinly sliced potato first in a little butter, then throw in the spinach, then an egg or two with some red pepper. salt and black pepper and ta-da, a beautiful and nutritious breakfast!
these are another variation on our crushed cookie in baked cake, cake bites. these have fudge striped shortbread cookies in a white cake mix box. s4 and i tried out plymouth pantry almond bark instead of our usual wiltons candy melts. the bark is cheaper and doesn't seem to mind being microwaved at full power but there was only milk and white chocolate flavors. we also shaped the bites into squares! it's much harder to be square than round:) life is like a box of chocolates (or in this case, like a tub of chocolates)
can you smell that? it smells like warm chai tea...this recipe comes from baking bites. s4 and i had stopped by ann's house of nuts earlier and they were selling prepared mixes of chai with unknown ingredients (but it smelled like chai, so probably in some proportion of cinnamon, cardamon, and such) but it was so cheap we couldn't say no. and talking to the lady she recommended trying out making cookies or something so here we are to moist deliciousness! it's vegan friendly too! yay to s4 for pictures and tinting/sepia fun times:)
yarm yarmmmmmm. cake bites from bakerella! we made the nutter butter cake bites and then added a surprise on the inside of half a hershey kiss or half a minature reeses peanut butter cup. the oreo cake bites are a bit different. it was sort of like the red velvet cake bites but a white cake mix with crushed oreos baked into the cake (s4's idea). it comes out much lighter than just the oreo version but it's a nice fluffy white kind. an army of cake bites....they don't stand a chance against my mouth. one more look at drool worthy goodness
eummm. any excuse to bake is a good enough excuse for me. these are from anna at cookiemadness. they were about the easiest thing to make ever. well, except for when the marshmallows kept rolling away from me:) i used salted peanuts. they're disappearing so fast in my house (it helps that we're all so addicted to peanuts). good thing i wrapped some up to give away before they all got gobbled up.
i figured if i can't bake i can at least take pictures of interesting things. the deer were passing right through our backyard and even with a window between us i still got a great shot. school and work are piling up. but once i get through my bio test today tomorrow will only be work and baking! which of course, is the best part:)
these might look like little granola bites, but surprise, frozen cookie dough! i've been reading the bakers' banter from king arthur's flour these days in between my "studying." one of their posts were about freezing cookie dough so then you could bake however many cookies you want at the time you want them! how brilliant. so i decided to try it out. but i think i did something a bit off. b/c mine aren't baking right or maybe it's the oven. too bad i didn't think to bake a cookie before freezing it to see. i'm guessing it's either the applesauce that doesn't let the cookie become a cookie (mine stay round, and i press them down with a fork halfway through baking to get the whole thing cooked) and the bottom gets burnt too quickly! i will have to try the recipe again sometime.
oh, and yay for me, i actually used half butter half applesauce in this recipe (i do get a better crispiness to it when baked)
Chocolate Orange Cranberry Cookies
Makes 2 dozen
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup butter (1/2 stick), softened
¼ cup applesauce
1 egg
1 ¼ cup oats
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
½ cup dried cranberries
1 tsp orange zest
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl. Beat brown sugar and butter until creamy in a medium bowl. Add apple sauce. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats, morsels, cranberries and orange zest. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes.
Adapted from Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies from Nestle Toll House
i just finished filing my md tax return. boy oh boy, i wish i had some common sense in money. i kind of just with whatever the online thing says and who knows if i'm doing it right or if i'm actually getting back my money! and don't get me started on my federal tax return. that is a whole nother mess of a story with turbo tax! but back to the picture, i wish my life could be as tranquil and beautiful as a sunset. those trees are actually some of the cherry blossoms in dc, they're just going for a bit of a swim in the flooding waters:)
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