Easy Potatoes

Mom made these for me on, I think, Wednesday night. They were the best things ever. I used to hate potatoes because they were bland, but Mom has a way of working magic in the kitchen, don't even ask me how she does it. If you asked me right now, I'd have to say I have no idea except for a few vague things because I didn't watch her make these potatoes, but I recreated them (or something similar...it might have just been a replica) and I think I did a lot better than I thought I would, but either way here they are in all their glory.

Ingredients

• potatoes (as many as you think you can eat)
• cheese
• sour cream
• green onions
• salt

Directions

1. poke lots of holes in the potatoes, wrap them in damp paper towels, stick them in a potato baker thing (you know those things). If you don't have one (or time), just stick them in the microwave. This worked for my dad who started making them and apparently worked for Mom, who finished the job (lucky for me, probably, because Dad's the only one I know who can burn water -- and I'm only mostly joking and I love Dad to pieces so I don't care what he does to my food). Microwave for 2 minutes.
2. take them out, slice in half from top to bottom, but slice them along the longest side. I don't really know how to make myself clear, but cut it in half. Fish out all the insides, put them in a bowl for later. Scrape like you would scrape burned toast. Get everything out like cleaning a deer -- you don't want to leave anything in that might make it not-so-great later. 
3. now stick just the "shells", potato skins, in the oven, turn on the broiler (on "HI"), and leave them there. Go back to your bowl full of potato guts.
4. get the sour cream, cheese, onions, and salt. Put in the sour cream until it's creamy and looks like mashed potatoes. Throw in some cheese, mix up, then chop up a couple green onions, throw them in too, and mix up some salt. Taste it and see if it agrees with your taste buds. Adjust as needed.
5. pull out the skins, put in the "filling" -- whatever you call that. Sprinkle lots and lots of cheese on the top, and try to avoid getting any on the pan (unless you've lined it with foil) because it will be a major pain to clean that pan off, trust me!
6. stick back in the oven until cheese is melted and potatoes have that great look where it's browned on the tips of the potato...mmYUM!
7. take out, eat!
8. and enjoy ;)

have a great...winter! Only 12 days until Thanksgiving and 43 until Christmas!

Biscuits for One (Or Two!) + Monkey Bread

Google "monkey bread single serve from scratch" and all you get are pages and pages (and pages) of recipes with packaged, store-bought dough.

Huh?

How is that from scratch?

I was raised with a mom who just pulled stuff out of a hat. Or, her brain. She just knew what would go together, what tasted good, and how to make it.

The opposite of me.

So tonight the church had a 25th anniversary dinner and so she and Dad went with my two sisters went and I made apple crisp for people who stayed at home.

Well, one thing I don't like is apple crisp. It's "eh" for me.

So Mom said I could eat anything I wanted, so I decided to get a little crazy and go for something pretty ambitious (for me). Monkey bread.

We have never carried store-bought dough, ever, I don't think, because Mom doesn't like the taste (I've never had it, so I don't know what it tastes like).

But that meant I was sunk. Without store-bought stuff or bread, how could I make the recipe?

Simply put: make the dough. Google "biscuits for one" and there you go.

Here's what I did. It takes, like, twenty minutes. But it's supposed to take seventeen. Oh well, words can be deceiving.

For the biscuits:
followed the recipe. When she says it should resemble course sand, don't believe her. It resembles flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar with some butter chunks that aren't mixing in well. But keep at it until you can't tell what's butter. Or just play by ear. You'll be fine.

And then, if you're going to just make biscuits, do it now. And enjoy, because it goes really well with tea, which is why I added the "tea" label. Just because.

If you're not making biscuits, get a custard cup and put some dough in it (dough is a little too wet for monkey bread), and add two spoons of flour and mix until, when you rip open the dough, it isn't wet and sticky. It should be a little bit stickier than pizza dough.

Then melt 1 Tbsp butter and mix 2 Tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Then roll the pizza-dough-biscuit-dough (PDBD) in the melted butter, until it's covered, and then plop it in the cinnamon-sugar-mix until it's well-coated.

If you run out of PDBD, and you don't want to go through the whole dough-"thickening" process a-gain (it's a huge pain), just get some wet dough, roll in butter and cinnamon sugar and there you go. It will be more like a cinnamon-sugar-biscuit (with the deceiving appearance of a sugar cookie), and become flat because the extra flour will stabilize it and keep it upright and more monkey-bread-like. So. That's the monkey bread. Bake it with the biscuits, if you're doing both (like me), at the same temp (400 degrees F), for the same time (10-12m...I did 11m).

And that's it.

Salted Caramel - My Way

You may remember my post on our favorite salted caramel recipe?

Well, that wasn't exactly the recipe we use. That's why I'm here. Like, that's why this post is here. That's why I wrote this post.

This is exactly the recipe we use.

More or less.

You'll Need

• 1 stick butter, unsalted
• 1/2 c light brown sugar
• 1/2 c granulated (white) sugar
• 1 c cream
• 1 tsp salt

Directions

1. Melt the butter
2. Dump in sugars, stir, mix in
3. Stir until sugar mix starts to get a little bit hard. You'll know when it gets "hard" because the mix will start sliding off of your spatula, leaving close to nothing behind when you pull it up out of the mix (tell me you do that too because if you don't, I have no idea how to explain what "hard" means here)
4. Once it's "hard", add cream, stir until boiling. Keep stirring, even after it's started boiling, then after a little bit of stirring (30-60 seconds?), turn off heat.
5. Add salt, stir until salt is well mixed in.
6. Pour into quart jar, store in fridge until needed.

For Heating Directions

1. Put jar in microwave
2. Microwave for 30 min, no more
3. If it's not runny and easy to use, put it in for 30 seconds more, but BE VERY CAREFUL -- you can overheat it and then it's "hard" and gloppy and gross
4. Take out, serve and

Salted Caramel is great for...

1. drinks
   
   1. (hot) coffee
   2. cold coffee
   3. hot chocolate/cocoa
   4. cappuccinos (frozen)
2. frosting/topping (see #1 under #10)
3. decor on cake
4. candy
5. desserts
   
   1. ice cream sundae
   2. mug cake
   3. cake
      
      1. or, decor on cake (see #5)
   4. pie (pecan pie - yum!)
   5. pizookies
6. sweet dips
   
   1. cookie dough dip and the like
7.  or your mouth!

Apple Spice Dump Cake

Hi guys! Long time, no see, right?

Yeaaah, don't get me started.

Anyway, I found this recipe from a long time ago when I went on an overnight hiking trip (which was really fun by the way -- it was very pretty). The food wasn't all that fantastic, but the best of it was the dump cakes we had. My favorite was this one -- apple spice dump cake. It's not terrific, but it'll get you by on a camping trip.

Me, I was starving, so it was great.

But it probably wouldn't be if I had it again. Besides, I was younger then and was willing to eat anything set before me. Now...not so much.

So, the cake.

DIRECTIONS FOR CAMPFIRE APPLE DUMP CAKE

You'll Need

• 1 can apple slices
• 1 bag/box spice cake mix 
• 1 stick butter, unsalted

Directions

1. dump apple slices into dutch oven
2. dump in cake mix, dry. Smooth over apple slices
3. cut butter into slices abt 1/2 inch thick, put them in dutch oven, checker-board style, starting in center and moving out
4. put lid on dutch oven, put on fire for 30 min
5. take off, serve, and

Enjoy!

Or you can do it at home.

DIRECTIONS FOR HOMEMADE DUMP CAKE
Note: this isn't homemade if you don't make the batter from scratch. Just so you know.

You'll Need

• as many apple slices as fit in 6 oz. can (1-2 small apples, I'd guess)
• 1 batch batter (I'd make my batter from scratch because that will boost the yummy but you do what works for you)
• 1 stick butter, unsalted

Directions

1. do steps 1-3 in the directions for campfire apple spice dump cake
2. put lid on dutch oven, put on stove for 30 min on 6 or set oven to 350° and bake for 30 min, checking to see if it's done (I say check it because I've never made this at home, so I have to guess)
3. Take out/off, serve, and

For additional flavors, you might want to try these combinations below. You can switch out the fruit for any other fruit you like. You can also switch out the cake mix, but make sure it doesn't clash with the fruit!

The first ingredient is the fruit, the second is the kind of cake mix. For example, "apple and spice". "Apple" is the fruit, while "spice" is the kind of cake mix.

1. peach and spice
2. raspberry and chocolate
3. blueberry and chocolate
4. apple and lemon
5. apple and white
6. peach and white
7. lemon and lemon
8. raspberry and lemon
9. pineapple and spice
10. strawberry and spice
11. raspberry and rhubarb

Mix and match, test the waters, and see what you like!

Key Lime Pie, Mom's Way

Happy Pi Day!

Because of it being Pi Day, I'm going to go back, delete my previous post on "Key Lime Pie, Mom's Way" and repost it here, because we're going to make it today, because it's easy and it's Pi Day, so why not?

And, I don't want to be repetitive, so to everyone who doesn't read this blog frequently (haha, I don't even read it frequently), it will just look like what everyone else is doing on Pi Day.

So, simplest pie ever for Pi Day.

Copied directly from Mom's recipe on paper to here. Enjoy!

You'll Need...

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 11 graham crackers)
• 3 T white granulated sugar
• 5 T unsalted butter, melted

Lime Filling

• 4 tsp grated lime zest
• 1/2 cup strained lime juice from 3-4 limes (if you use Key Limes, you need 11-12 limes)
• 4 egg yolks (the yellow part... haha, ask how I know)
• 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Whipped Cream Topping

• 3/4 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions...

CRUST
Heat oven to 325. Mix crumbs and sugar in medium bowl. Add melted butter, stir with fork until well-blended. Scrape into a 9" pie pan; press crumbs evenly over bottom and up sides of pan to form even crust. Bake about 15 minutes, until just a shade darker. Cook to room temp, about 20 minutes. Leave oven on.

FILLING
whisk zest and yolks in medium until tinted green. (Isn't it pretty?) It'll take about 2 minutes. Don't skimp on time! Beat in milk, then juice; set aside for 10 min to thicken. Pour lime filling into cooled crust; bake until center is set, yet still wiggly when jiggled (look at all those "g"s! Onomotopoeia!) Cool to room temp and refigerate until cold, at least 3 hrs (at this point, you can cover with oiled plastic wrap directly on the filling and hold in the fridge for 24 hrs).

WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
Up to 2 hrs before serving, whip cream to very soft (floppy) peaks. Add confectioners' sugar 1 Tbsp at a time while whipping to stiff peaks. Don't over-beat or it will be greasy. Spread over pie and serve.

5 Min or Less - Microwave Mug Cake No. 5

Good golly, I have FOUR OTHER RECIPES for mug cakes!

...though, not all of them are good.

Here's the best one yet -- I've never had molten lava ones, I don't think, but I hear they're really good. This one might be a molten lava one because it's really good!

I got the recipe from Pinterest, so if you're following me, then you've probably seen it in your feed.

It's really good. I had it ... two? days ago and I'm going to make it this Sunday for a snack because that's what I do on my weekdays. :P

Anyway, click here. I don't want to post the recipe on here because I feel bad about taking other people's pictures and this feels like the same thing only second degree.

But I do have to say it made me feel better to see that the Remodelaholic lady does the same thing.

However, it doesn't make me feel good when I see this lady do it.

But enjoy!

5 Min or Less - The "Real Deal" Microwave Mug Cake No. II

This is, in fact, one of the best mug cakes I've tried. The original recipe was posted yesterday, and I've tried it before, but I didn't like it, so this is my changed version. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying mine's the best -- the way I had it (the way my sister made it), it was the best, but when I followed the recipe I just didn't like it, so I changed it a little bit to make it more moist and flavorful. 

Hopefully I changed it for the better, but give it a try, see how you like it.

Serves: 1

Time: 1 min, max

Ingredients

• 1 T & 1/2 tsp dark brown sugar
• 1 T flour
• 1 T cocoa powder
• ​1 T oil
• ​1 T cream
• ​1 T water
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 T semi-sweet chocolate chips

mix in that order, excluding the chocolate chips. 

First put in the dark brown sugar, flour, and cocoa powder. Stir. For an additional zing, I put in 2-4 tsp instant coffee which adds a nice background flavor, cutting the richness in half a little bit. Then put in oil and cream, stir. After that, water to act as a sort of cleaner by washing out the oil and cream. Dump it into the mug. 

You can add the salt any time you want since you're just going to use your fingers for the pinch, but you should definitely do a hefty, generous pinch because it's delicious with a little bit of salt to give it some bite -- I don't normally like salt in sweet things, but this takes the cake! 

The great thing about this recipe is that it only takes one tablespoon measure if you add the ingredients in that order, according to my directions. But you do what you want. No skin off my nose. 

Then onto the decor. The decor has nothing to do with the taste, really, so don't bother about how it might taste or how it might mess up the flavor. It's fine. But for looks, if you want, you can add one dash of cream on the top, then with the tip of your spoon, gently stir it in. Then sprinkle on some light brown sugar to give it a sort of crunchy top layer. If you want that top layer, you're going to need to add a lot of brown sugar. Don't give it a light touch, give it a heavy punch. Sprinkle it on so that you can see the mix underneath, but there's a lot on top. Don't worry about it, some of it will sink in, some with get hard, some will get soft, melty, and dark. Don't worry, it doesn't matter. Just do what you want, play by ear.

Now, if you don't like that decor procedure, or you don't want to do anything with cream, don't. Just put on the brown sugar (or don't, it doesn't matter), and then get some chocolate chips and dump them on. But dump gently so that they don't sink into the mix below. They're going to in the microwave but don't dump because then they're really going to. Or, that's my theory. It probably doesn't really matter so go ahead and dump hard. But do it like the brown sugar -- play by ear, yes, but also put on a lot. You want a lot of chocolate because mmm, chocolate! Yummy in my tummy!

Or, you can just leave off the decorations. It doesn't matter what it looks like because it's all going to end up in your stomach anyway.

(but I do have to add that it gives some richness and flavor to the mug cake, just saying)

Also, I find that the cream doesn't really do anything to the looks when you put the chocolate chips on (the chocolate chips melt on top of the cream, covering it and the brown sugar, both) so if you want the crunchiness of the brown sugar and the decor of the cream, put them on after you put the chocolate chips on.

What I find helps is to put the chocolate chips on, microwave for 15 seconds, take out, put cream and brown sugar on, pop it back in for the remaining 15 seconds. Unless you do yours for a minute, and then 30 seconds, take out, 30 seconds again.

Or you can put the cream on before you melt the chocolate chips, and then the brown sugar, you know. Whatever tickles your sister.

Or you can just skip both entirely.

But I'd advise you do add chocolate chips to your mug cake because that makes it all the better!

​Anyway, back to your mug cake.

Your mixture should -- by now -- be pretty smooth and liquid-y. If it's doughy, you might want to add more cream. But if you don't want cream, water. If not water, not oil either. Just leave it and move on.

Put the mug in the microwave, microwave on high (it really doesn't matter, but I think mine is automatically set to high. If you don't know, it doesn't matter. Really, if you're that worried, why do you cook at all? Cooking is basically playing a game you don't really understand. You have to take some chances sometimes because if you don't, it's not fun. Besides, it's just a dumb mug cake, it's not like it's important or it's a meal but if it is, take a lot of precaution because meals are very important! Haha, just kidding). Since you probably forgot what I was saying before the parenthesis, I will go ahead and say it again.

Microwave on high for 30 seconds.

It should have some liquid-y dough around the edges That's perfectly fine. It's more of a syrup and the drier dough will taste better (if there is any dry dough) with the syrup-y stuff, as long as you eat them both together.

But, whatever floats your boat or boats your float!

This time, you should find that the cake is a much wetter, moist cake than the one that I posted earlier.

5 Min or Less - The "Real Deal" Microwave Mug Cake

A while ago my sister made a delicious mug cake.

She's also made this pretty kitty, which I find better than the one I'm posting now, so check it out and see how you like it. Tomorrow I'll give you the REAL "Real Deal" Mug Cake. (that's totally 100% my own name for it, that's not what it's called... but you call it what you like, I don't mind -- especially because it's not really my mug cake haha)

But for now, here's the "Real Deal" mug cake, mug cake recipe no. #3. No. #4 coming tomorrow (the revised edition)!

Serves: 1
Time: 1 min, max

Ingredients

• 1 T dark brown sugar
• 1 T flour
• 1 T cocoa powder
• ​1 T oil
• ​1 T water
• 1 pinch salt

Directions
The directions are simple and straightforward. Follow them (or don't follow them) and you can't go wrong. Like, who could go wrong with a mug cake?

Ha. Ha.

1.  Mix ingredients together in order of listing in a  7 oz. mug
2. Microwave for 30 seconds

Aussie Bite Comparison No. II

Yesterday we tried yet another recipe for Aussie Bites!

I'm going to just jump right into the comparison right before I start talking about anything else because I'm already starting to forget all that I liked and didn't like about just the recipe. Just the recipe, I've not yet started on the website.

Just wait.

It'll come later.

Sweep Tight's: 
let's see if I can remember everything.

Taste: it tasted almost exactly like Costco's - exception being the quinoa taste was a little bit too there. But you can hardly tell.

Look: it looked almost exactly like Costco's (not to be repetitive or anything), except that there was a lot more quinoa in the copycat ones, and they were darker.

Instead of canola oil, we used coconut oil for both the canola oil and the coconut oil. We didn't have any oat flour, so we ground up the oats in the food processor. Instead of coconut sugar (I don't even know what that is, but I'm sure Mom does), we just used plain ole light brown sugar, and we did use the sugar that was optional because we found that the other recipes weren't as sweet as Costco's and we wanted this recipe as close as Costco's as possible.

Result: it was almost identical to Costco's, but unfortunately, only in taste. These were much darker than Costco's, were much wetter and more crumbly, so next time I would grind my oats much more finely and I will also reduce the amount of quinoa, since the amount was noticeably much more than Costco's. Overall, they were very similar and I will definitely use this recipe next time I make Aussie Bites (which will probably be very soon).

And I know I didn't do pros and cons, because I feel like I end up repeating myself when I describe everything. But they were (con) wetter, and more crumbly. I could hardly get them out of the pan! It was not very nice.

Also, another thing is that the people who run the blog don't sound like very nice people.

You'll notice in the little "about me" paragraph at the bottom, Shelley talks about her accomplishments and her BS in science. Jennifer was married in a casino by a pirate pastor.

Just doesn't seem like the "Kate Middleton" sort of classy.

Seems more like -- I don't know -- Kim K?

Nothing against her, there's just not a whole lot of class going on.

Not to mention their blog's banner which spells "matress company" to me, not "food blog".

Is it just me, though? What do you think the banner looks like to you?

Christmas Queso

I'm not really a fan of queso, and this didn't turn out great but it was because of the cheese we were using and I still found it really good. It's an American thing, though. "Queso" is Spanish for "cheese", not for the cheesy dip that I tried yesterday for a dinner I was hosting...

so try it. See how you like it.

If you've never heard of this, comment below. I'm curious to see how many haven't tried it.

I myself have only had it once. Last night.

Serves 10 or more.

Ingredients

• 12 oz. cheese (I used pre-grated, but it turns out rubbery because of the starch. Either grate by hand, or use a hunk of cheese, roughly 12 oz., to produce the best results)
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes (with jalapenos)
• 1 tomato, chopped

Directions

1. put cheese into med.-size saucepan over medium heat.
2. open can, chop tomato, if not chopped. Once chopped, set aside.
3. once cheese has melted, put in chopped tomatoes, stir until well-mixed.
4. pour in can of tomatoes, minus the can.
5. stir until well-mixed,
6. serve immediately with tortilla chips and

 and happy holidays!

P.S. Yes, I did put this under "toppings" because some of the girls at the dinner put it on their tacos. Doesn't sound very good to me, but as long as they liked it.

Post Review | Microwave Mug Cake

This is just a temporary thing... I'll probably do a few and then stop for good, but these are just in case I ever want to "review" my posts.

Click here to see the original post.

Normally I would have you click on this post's title but I find it kind of a pain when I want to see comments or comment on someone's blog and I can't click on the title because it takes me somewhere else, so this time I decided to embed the link in the post, not "on top" of it.

If you know what I mean.

So, how did I like the microwave mug cake?
I didn't.

It was horrible!

Dry, rubbery, not at all sweet, even though I'd added an extra tablespoon because I had tasted the batter and gone, "ah, not quite right - doesn't taste very sweet to me" and besides, I was making it for a little girl, so I knew she would want it sweet.

Good thing she liked it, because I sure knew I didn't.

When I told Mom she told me she'd never found a recipe she liked - they always turned out to be dry and not very good.

What I wanted was moist. What's a cake - even a mug cake - if it doesn't have a bit of moisture to it?

Same goes for brownies. Can I advise, if you're going to make it from scratch, save yourself the trouble and just get Ghirardelli's mix? It's delicious! In fact, it's basically the same recipe I used when I would make brownies from scratch. And no I'm not being paid - this is 100% my own opinion. It's moist, flavorful, and sweet, with pockets of melted chocolate (chips) here and there. Mmm, makes me want some. I used to not like brownies, but now I do. Good ones, that is.

Not ones some people I know make. Wouldn't touch some of those with a 10' pole and that's saying a lot.

I'll eat mostly everything.

Mostly.

There are a few exceptions, like badly-made - or just plain made - eggs. I don't really like eggs, unless I have bacon to go along with it, to drown out the taste. Sometimes I'm in a mood for eggs, but mostly not. Unless I'm really really hungry and that's once in a blue moon because I can just make myself something.

So, about the microwave mug cake, if I can stop straying from the path like I tend to do.

There I go again.

That kid will eat anything I make and pronounce it good, but I'm a little bit more picky. This tasted vaguely familiar to some brownies I've tasted before, see above. Except mine wasn't as sweet, which made it all the more horrible.

If the bad brownies I've had before pale in comparison to this, something's not right.

What's not right?
Here's a list of aaaaall the things wrong with the recipe I've been discussing.

1. No sweetness
   So it calls for three tablespoons of white sugar. I put in four. Still didn't work. I put in 1/2. Still didn't work. It wasn't bitter, per se, it just wasn't sweet. How to fix it: I would say get a better recipe, but if you don't have any idea where to look, I'd say America's Test Kitchen because Mom recommended one of their mug cake recipes to me and I have yet to try it but if Mom recommends it, how can it go wrong. But if you don't want a different recipe, try adding 6-7 tablespoons of sugar. Sound like a lot? Wait until it's cooked!
   
   (What's the saying? "Don't judge a book by it's cover"? In this case, "don't judge the sweetness by the dough")
2. No dome
   It was more like upside-down flan than a cake. It just went down. It sagged in the middle, the opposite of me. Just kidding, no more jokes. haha. How to fix it: to tell you the truth, I absolutely have no clue. Cook for less time? I wish I knew. I'm not a cook, so LMGTFY. Click it. It won't harm you. Maybe get some laughs out of you, but that's about it.
3. No moisture
   This was like eating flour and water, only harder. More like eating dough. Dough that isn't sweet. I don't know, it was so unlike anything I've ever tasted that I can't find anything to compare it with! So what was wrong with it? It was that you had to use your saliva to break it down. Mug cakes are supposed to break down and almost seem to melt in your mouth! You're not supposed to do the work! How to fix it: Try adding some water to it. I don't know how much, and I don't know if this will work, but when I read the thing about mug cakes in the America's Test Kitchen recipe (hopefully I'll have time to try it and write about it before 2016 - but don't hold me to it), they talked about how all mug cakes they came across were dry. I said to myself, "Exactly!" so they advised (if I remember correctly) adding some water to it. Since this isn't a very big mug cake (though big enough that you can't use a 7 oz. mug, you need something more like 12 oz.), use 2+ tablespoons of water and stir thoroughly before putting it in the microwave. Try it out and see how you like it. If it's still dry, add another 2 or so tablespoons, depending on how dry it is. Practice makes perfect, even if it means wasting ingredients. Try using friends or family as guinea pigs - always works for me. ;)

And I could probably think up some other problems with it if I wanted to but for now I'm going to close up shop and call it a night.

After all, this is only making me hungry and we don't need that.

Post Review | Cookie in a Mug

Click on the post title and it will take you to my original post.

This was really quite nice.

Actually, I'm just a bit embarrassed about this but when I read the recipe it said to put in the yolk and guess what I thought the yolk was.

Not what the yoke actually was, I can tell you that!

No, really, I used -- ok, yes, I did -- the egg white.

*slaps forehead* I felt maybe a little bit dumb when I asked my mom and realized I had...well...gotten it wrong. I always get those two mixed up.

Which is probably why the cookie didn't taste very cookie-like.

The "dough" tasted cookie-dough-like, though!

Also, Mom said you can just use a whole egg if it's single-serving size. Or maybe she just said you could use the whole egg period, I don't know.

I guess I wasn't really listening.

But that is very convenient.

Then you don't have to think up some way to use the egg yolk (no, not the egg white, I really do truly mean the egg yolk).

But I have to say that every time I made it, no matter what I did (cooked it shorter, put some water in, put in oil...ok, I didn't put in oil) it still came out as dry and not at all what cookies should taste like.

So be forewarned.

Also try this. You might like it better than I did.

Easy Cinnamon Bread | Buttered Side Up

Today I went to Buttered Side Up. Like I do a lot.

What else is new?

But she had a new post (wow, yes, a new post! Who'da thunkit) and it was fairly recent (being posted yesterday). "Easy Cinnamon Bread". That was it.

Guess what caught my attention.

You guessed it. The word "easy" never fails to do that.

So, I read over it. Doesn't seem to hard. Sounds pretty simple, but then, so did the Cafe Mocha (previous post), and heaven knows that wasn't.

But I think that was just a bad luck day.

This may be different.

So, Buttered Side Up links back to a different blog, "The Best Remedy".

The Best Remedy links to allrecipes*spoon-here-just-so-you-get-the-mental-picture*.

allrecipes*spoon* doesn't link to anything.

sigh of relief.

So, here are the different links just so you can take your pick and choose whichever one you want to follow. Me, I'm going to follow Buttered Side Up because none of the others I follow fairly regularly. Also because Buttered Side Up is the more familiar of the three.

What? Different people have different opinions.

(also, The Best Recipe's directions were a little confusing)

Easy Cinnamon Bread (Buttered Side Up)
Cinnamon Bread (The Best Recipe)
Cinnamon Bread I (allrecipes*spoon*)

Also, all the links open up to new tabs, so you don't have to ctrl+click like I do a lot. Takes so long. Errr.

But, I'm not going to make it today. I'll make it when the sink vamps up it's cooperation, because right now who knows what it's doing.

Not working, I know that much.

So no cinnamon bread because no sink. There's a sink in the laundry room but that's a pain. You have to lean way over. Actually I don't know because I haven't been washing dishes lately (yay and also oopsie-doops). But I don't want to know, so I'm not going to make the bread just yet.

Maybe for a future breakfast.

Mmm, my stomach is saying yes.

As is everyone else who will get a slice of this.

Loaded Nachos

These are Pioneer Woman's nachos and they are deeeeee-lish! I mean, I love these! Especially with the jalapeños! And, no, the jalapeños aren't spicy after you cook them, for those of you who live in the South and can't abide anything spicier than bone marrow (not trying to hurt anyone's feelings). You can't even taste them, it just looks prettier. Maybe you can taste them, I don't know. They seem to have a lot more flavor than the ones without the jalapeños, though, so maybe it just adds some flavor. But trust me, you'll love these.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 lbs ground beef 
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 can (14-5 oz) black beans
• tortilla chips
• 1-1/2 c grated cheddar cheese (diy)
• 1-1/2 c grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 jalapeño, chopped

salsa 

• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes
• 1 jalapeño, diced finely
• 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 tsp salt

optional toppings

• 1 whole avocado, pitted and diced (not optional for me!)
• sour cream 

INSTRUCTIONS

I'm sorry guys, but there are so many words in the instructions that I don't want to take the time to write them all down by "hand", so if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to copy and paste...take or add a few words, because Pioneer Woman uses half an onion, I just use all of it. Besides, it's not any spicier and let me tell you it's wayy faster to just cut up all of it and toss it in. Well, if you don't count crying over it, then it's easier. Half of an onion doesn't get to your heart as much as a whole onion does. It's touching. So, I know it's so unoriginal, but at least you get Pioneer Woman instead of me! That's good, right?

1. In a skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and the (diced) onion. Cook it until starting to soften, then add the ground beef. Cook the meat until it's totally browned. This is the part where Pioneer Woman (no, this is not copied, this is me) drains the fat. Are you kidding? Ain't nobody got time fo dat! So, just let it cook a little. Add the chili powder, paprika, cumin, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Add the beans and stir. Reduce the heat to low and simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.
2. To make the salsa, lightly blend all ingredients in the food processor, the way we always make salsa. (Or, you can just use your own salsa recipe! I know, shocking, you don't have to follow a recipe! Who knew?)
3. To build the nachos, place a layer of tortilla chips on a platter or plate. Top with a layer of the beef/bean mixture, then all but 1/4 cup of the cheddar cheese. Add another layer of chips, another layer of the beef/bean mixture, and the Monterey Jack cheese. Add a final small layer of chips, then a small layer of beef and beans, then a final sprinkling of cheddar. Top with chopped jalapeño.
4. Place the sheet into a 325 degree oven. Just leave it in until the cheese is melted.
5. Immediately sprinkle on the diced avocado and plenty of salsa.
6. Optional: Add dollops of sour cream here and there! (See, she put the avocado down in the "optional toppings" list, but she includes it as non-optional in the instructions! Soooo, I think we can all agree we're supposed to put avocados on?)
7. Serve immediately and 

P.S. Sorry for the funky sizing of the font...for some reason it won't just be the normal size that it's supposed to be. But oh well, as long as you can read my witty comments about this whole endeavor, then who cares how small it is. ;)

Latkes

A fancy word for "fancy potato pancakes". Don't stop reading because it sounds gross. Because it really isn't, trust me. Potato pancakes are made out of 100% potatoes that you buy at your local grocery store. But these are fancier than potato pancakes, which is why they're called something fancier than "fancy potato pancakes" or "yummier than potato pancakes". This is simple and easy. Not to mention quick. I love quick and easy, don't you?

Update: after I had these, I decided these weren't my thing. They made me feel a little queasy, even when I think about them they do. So, if you get a little nervous about the idea of being queasy or not liking them but making too much, cut this recipe in half and make just a small batch. This recipe makes a lot of latkes, and you may not like that (I think around 20). But if you like latkes, then enjoy.

Ingredients

•  2 c potatoes, grated
• 1 T onion, grated
• 3 eggs, large
• 2 T flour
• 1½ t salt
• ½ c oil, for frying

Directions

1. peel potatoes, then grate them and put in medium-sized bowl.
2. peel and grate onion, put them with grated potatoes.
3. break three eggs into potato-onion mixture.
4. stir until well-mixed.
5. put in flour and stir, then salt and stir until all of the ingredients are well-mixed in with the other ingredients. Do not over-stir (you don't need to stir as often if you don't want to), or the eggs will get tough.
6. pour oil into frying pan or non-stick skillet.
7. once boiling or has bubbles, scoop out about ¾ of a cup of latke batter and pour onto skillet, about the shape of a pancake.
8. if you can fit three, do three at a time, flipping them over like pancakes. Latkes are potato pancakes, so if you don't know if you're cooking them right, just pretend they're pancakes because they are...they're just not made out of the same ingredients and they're a little bit more lumpy. Whatever you do, make sure you don't burn them, and make sure you enjoy them, which leads us to the last step...
9. Once you've used up all the batter, put them on a plate or platter, serve and

P.S. got this recipe from my sister. I have no clue where she got it, but if you see a pin on pinterest that has good-looking latkes, that may be where she got the recipe. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of this...it made my stomach feel a little queasy and I'm even queasy thinking about them. So, these may not be for you, so let me forewarn you that this recipe makes a lot of latkes, so cut the recipe in half and you should be good. ;)

Perfect Pizookies

Never heard of pizookies? Don't worry, you're not the only one in the dark. If you take the word "pizza" and the word "cookies", you get...? That's right, "pizookies". It's basically a cookie cooked in a skillet/pan. But me, I just cook mine in a ramekin. They're sooo delicious, and take about 5 minutes. This recipes serves around 3 pizookies. Just make however many you think the ingredients makes. It's up to you. Here's how to make these delicious, simple, perfect pizookies.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp shortening
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1 shake salt
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tbsp +/- choc. chips

Directions

1. turn broiler on high
2. mix all the ingredients, one at a time, in a med. sized bowl
3. spoon the mixture into different ramekins/microwave-safe bowls
4. put in microwave for 30s-1 min, or until cookie-like in texture and in looks
5. put in oven for 30s-1 min, or until golden brown
6. scoop ice cream on top, serve hot
7. eat — quickly, before the ice cream melts — with a glass of milk and

P.S. I copied this recipe from a sister who just wrote down the ingredients so I'm just guessing at the directions, so just guess, too, and put in the microwave for no more than 2 minutes, and put in the oven for no more than 5 minutes. You can put the pizookies in for less, just not for more because, as I mentioned before, I don't know the directions! I'm just guessing because she didn't write down the directions, she only wrote down the ingredients! Sorry, maybe later! ;) Enjoy!

5 Minutes or Less: Coffee Cake in a Cup

So I tried out the "Top 25 Microwaveable Dessert Recipes" and though I didn't try each and every one of them, I randomly chose (well, ok, looked at the pictures and said, "Which one looks most appealing to me?") and picked the Coffee Cake recipe! So, here's "5 Min or Less: Coffee Cake in a Mug". Enjoy!

So, basically, what I did here, was follow the recipe. I used a custard cup instead of a ramekin, I used a small red mug (about...errr...7 oz?) instead of a large mug, because I really wanted to have the top like overflowing. It lived up to my expectations, that's for sure! Anyway, so just click on the link below and you should have it. Mmm, I give it all to them. It was good. It wasn't as moist as I would like it to be, but then...coffee cake never is. :) Enjoy, though! It's pretty quick.

5 Min or Less: Coffee Cake in a Mug (and in a microwave)

Microwave Mug Cake #2

Here's another one--a different way to make it, but about the same idea.

Ingredients

• 1 pinch salt
• 1 dash vanilla extract
• 3 T milk
• 1 egg
• 3 T oil
• 3 T sugar, white
• 1/4 c flour
• 2 T cocoa powder

Directions

1. melt butter in microwave (in mug)
2. stir butter, sugars, and salt in
3. stir in egg yolk and do not use egg white!
4. add flour and cocoa powder and stir again
5. add choc. chunks (or chips)
6. stir until well-mixed
7. cook abt 45 secs in microwave. time may vary. do not overcook.
8. serve hot and

P.S. for a more coffee-like mug cake, add 1-1/2 T inst. coffee. stir until well-mixed.

Microwave Mug Cake

This is more like a brownie in a mug, but whatever you want to call it, here it is.

Ingredients

• 1/4 c flour
• 3 T sugar, white (I put in 3 1/2 T because I find it just doesn't hit the sweet spot but you do wat you want)
• 2 T cocoa powder (I use unsweetened, Kirkland baking cocoa)
• 1 egg
• 3 T milk
• 3 T oil  (I use olive oil, but it might be better to use vegetable oil, but who knows?)
• a dash of vanilla extract (I put in about 10 drops? Most likely more)
• a pinch of salt (I put in two small pinches but one generous pinch does the job well)

You don't need to add these ingredients in this order, you just need to end up with all of these ingredients mixed up.

Directions

1. Mix until combined
2. Microwave on high for abt 2 min
3. Serve, and

Notes:
When I had mixed all the ingredients, it came out as a soupy mixture.
I cooked mine for 1:30min, checked on it when 30 seconds were left and it was up against the sides but it was doughy in the middle. It looked kind of like a pool with sides. so I put it back in for 30s, and when I took it out of the microwave it closely resembled flan, with it kind of like an upside-down dome. But at least it was cooked on the top. On the top, at least. In the bottom it was a bit doughy but it didn't taste doughy when I put it in my mouth, so that's good!
Also it wasn't sweet. It was sweet-ish, but it really wasn't that much fun to eat.
So, updated:

You'll Need

• all of the ingredients and
• 4-5 T sugar, white (or sweetened to taste...MAKE SURE THE DOUGH IS SWEET. If it's not, keep adding 1/2 T sugar until it is DO NOT MICROWAVE UNTIL DOUGH IS ACTUALLY YUMMY TO EAT) 

Directions

1. Mix until combined
2. Microwave 1:30min EXACTLY
3. Should look like a "flan brownie", looking like an upside-down dome. If it doesn't look like that, that's good, too.
4. Serve and

Hopefully you'll enjoy. If you don't, can't say I don't believe it.

I don't really like it that much, either.

But maybe I'll like the second recipe better. Maybe?

P.S. to make this a nutella cake/brownie, take out the salt and vanilla and switch it with 3 T nutella or more!

Cookie in a Mug

This is the same idea as the microwave mug cakes, only it's a cookie. Mmm, love me some good cookies! And this is one of them. ;)

Ingredients

• 1 T butter
• 1 T dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 T granulated sugar, white
• 3 drops vanilla extract (or, a dash)
• small pinch salt, kosher
• 1 egg yolk
• scant 1/4 all purpose flour (slightly less than 1/4 flour)
• 2 T semi-sweet choc. chips (heaping)

Directions

1. melt butter in microwave
2. add sugars, vanilla, and salt
3. put in yolk, stir
4. add flour, stir
5. add choc. chips, stir
   (it should now look like cookie dough)
6. cook in microwave 40-60 seconds, and start checking for doneness at 40 seconds. do not cook past one minute, because like all other cookies, it will continue to cook in the mug until it's cooled off. if the cookie is dry and cake-like in texture, you've cooked it too long, so shorten the time the next time you make a cookie in a mug.
7. serve warm and

if you like your cookies slightly coffee-like, add 1-1/2 t inst. coffee. stir until well-mixed.