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.

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!

5 Min or Less - Frozen Cappuccinos

I'm surprised I haven't posted this yet. I was sure (so sure that I even searched this blog just to make sure) that I had already posted this recipe.

If not, then I'll go ahead and do it, because everyone should have this recipe.

It's really good -- especially on a hot, hot melting summer day. The ones that are creeping up on us. Today it was -- is -- like, 70 out. It was terrific! I love summer. Cannot wait!

Serves: 4 (if you're serving in small glasses -- but it really serves 1, in a coke glass)
Time: 5 min, max

Ingredients

• ice cubes, a lot of 'em
• 1 t inst coffee
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 1/4 c cream
• 1/4 c milk

Directions

1. fill the cup you'll be using to serve with ice cubes, up to the brim. Pour into the blender.
2. pour in sugar, cream, milk in that order (saves cup measures and cream -- explanation later)
3. dump in inst. coffee
4. pulse on high till smooth, or until ice breaks down (about 5 pulses)
5. pour into cup(s) and

 
You know how I told you to pour the sugar, cream, milk in that order into the blender because it saves cup measures and cream? And how I told you I'd explain it later? This is the later. One, it saves cup measures because you only need one cup measure to measure those three ingredients because once you've gotten the dry ingredients out of the way, you can measure lots of wet ingredients and reuse as you please. Second, it saves cream because you know how cream is thicker than milk? Well, that means cream's going to "stick" to your cup measure and leave a lot behind, unlike the milk (unless you're using 2% or whole, or anything other than skim -- I use skim. Can you tell?) which just slides right on out -- all of that white water that people slap a label on and call "milk". Or, more accurately, "skim". So if you use cream and then pour the milk in after you've used the measuring cup, it will act as a cleaner-outer and clean out all that cream and dump it in with the milk, cleaning the sides of the measuring cup, too. Simple, right? You betcha. Enjoy those dishes that aren't as much as you'd use if you had used two measuring cups -- one for the dry, one for the wet. You can thank me later. Like, this later, in the comments. winky face.

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?

Aussie Bites Recipe Comparison

Recently I've been yearning for Aussie Bites from Costco.

They've got a de-lish recipe that I absolutely adore!

So, to quench my "thirst", I went online to find a suitable recipe, one that was just as good as Costco's, but easy to make at the same time. Also, not such a hassle. We don't live too close to Costco, so going there just for the Aussie Bites seems a little extreme. So I also wanted one that was easy so that I could just make Aussie Bites -- no big! -- at home.

I found and tried both the Aussie Bites from Bad Girl's Kitchen and the Aussie Bites from Stay-at-Home Chef.

Note: I put some words in boldface so that you could skim and just read the words in boldface and not the extra, fluffy words. If it's hard to read with some words in boldface, please tell me for future reference! Thank you!

First, the Aussies from Bad Girl's Kitchen.

Taste: these didn't taste the same as Costco's, and they were drier.

Look: they didn't look very much like Costco's, but they looked like Aussies! They also had the same size and shape, being cooked in a mini muffin pan, just like Stay-at-Home Chef's and Costco's.

Pros: they tasted really good. The coconut was a bit strong, but once you got eating, like really eating, you didn't really notice that much. I really really liked them. I have to say, I think I liked them more than the ones from SHC (Stay-at-Home Chef). But I'm not sure. I also liked the fruit taste. It was very there.

Cons: they were dry, and the Costco ones stick together more -- they're not sticky, but they stick together. These, when I ate them, I found that I was automatically holding my hand under them as I ate them. That wasn't a great feeling, but they stuck together pretty well. Also, they had bigger chunks of fruit and oats, and Costco's don't. They also had a stong coconut taste in them that I didn't like at the beginning. At the beginning of eating one, I mean. At the end I had a craving for another one which isn't bad in itself, but it's horrible when you want them to last as long as they can! They also don't have the same things as Costco's do.

Now onto the Aussies from The Stay-at-Home Chef.

Taste: they did taste pretty much like Costco's, and I found them to be a bit wetter than Costco's, but not that much.

Look: they did look a lot like Costco's, with more seeds and less fruit showing, and in the size and shape.

Pros: they looked like Costco's, they felt like Costco's, they tasted a little bit like Costco's. Overall, they were pretty similar to Costco's. They were also really good, but I'm not sure if I like them better than BGK's (Bad Girl's Kitchen) or not. The ingredients were very similar to Costco's.

Cons: they were a bit wet, wetter than Costco's, but they stuck together really well. The seed flavor and quinoa flavor was a bit strong, but like the coconut in the BGK ones, you didn't notice it after just a little while.

Which do I like better?

I have to say, the SHC Aussies were very close to Costco's, both in taste, texture, appearance, and ingredients, unlike BGK Aussies which had things that Costco's don't have.

They both had some strong flavors, the BGK ones being mainly coconut and SHC's being quinoa, but SHC's was less apparent than BGK's, which was really nice.

Overall, I think SHC's was more accurate, but they were both just as tasty.

If I had to choose between which one to make, I would probably go with BGK's because they tasted delicious, even if they weren't like Costco's (which they were - to a certain extent).

Which one was easier? I think they were both the same level of simplicity. I'd have to make them again to make sure.

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.

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. ;)

5 Quick and Easy Recipes

...including breakfast. Enjoy!

NOTE: these are not supposed to go together. That's why lunch and snack are both pizza. Don't worry, though - lunch is a more filling pizza!

- BREAKFAST: oatmeal -
ingredients: oats, hot milk, sugar, fruit

• oats
• hot milk
• sugar (opt)
• fruit (opt)

directions: put rolled oats in bowl. Put milk in microwave, warm it until it's hot. Pour it over oats until oatmeal is clumping together. Don't add more, don't add less. It shouldn't be floating in milk, it should be clumped together. If you put in sugar, put it in until it's sweet-ish. If you put in fruit, put it in now and eat up! (warning: to those of you who don't like oatmeal, you won't like this.)

- APPETIZER: yogurt parfait -
ingredients:

• yogurt
• maple syrup
• fruit
• granola

directions: put yogurt in wineglass. Put granola on. Put fruit on top of granola. Drizzle maple syrup over fruit. Eat up! (warning: this is better with granola, so do not leave it out or sub something like rolled oats over it - that's gross.)

- LUNCH: bagel pizza -
ingredients:

• bagel(s)
• tomato/pizza sauce
• cheese (preferably mozzarella)

directions: put bagel in toaster or oven until lightly toasted. Put on tomato sauce and put on cheese (I use shredded cheese because it will melt evenly over bagel, but if you use cheese sticks or slices of cheese, it may not melt evenly). Put in microwave (oven will brown your bagel even more, and your bagel may burn before cheese is melted) until cheese is melted and golden brown on top. Take out and enjoy! (warning: bagels aren't pizza dough, so you can also buy dough that comes in little circles and put pizza sauce and cheese on and then put it in the oven until either cheese is melted and golden brown or the dough is cooked and golden/lightly brown.)

- SNACK: mini pizzas -
ingredients:

• tortilla(s), large if you're making more than four or five
• tomato/pizza sauce
• cheese (preferably mozzarella)

directions: place can as close to edge of tortilla as possible without going over it. Push down - hard - on can until you have cut out a circle with the edge of the can. You can also use a glass and a knife, but a can is easier. Cut out as many circle as is fitting for you (remember, as you're cutting this out, this is just a snack, not a full on meal. Only make enough to make your hunger pangs go away). Put tortilla circles in muffin tin (mini muffin tin, not those normal-sized ones - those are too big!). Put tomato or pizza sauce on/in. Sprinkle cheese over it. It has to be grated (or, pre-grated, for your convenience), not sliced because sliced will pool at the bottom once melted and cheese sticks you can't put on the edge - the cheese should be all around the tortilla circles. Then put muffin tins in oven and wait until cheese is melted and golden brown and then take out. Slide knife underneath tortilla and remove carefully. May burn you, so be careful! Put on decorative plate, if having guests over, or just put on normal plate if it's just normal you. Serve to either guests or normal you and enjoy!

- DESSERT: cookie in a mug -
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: melt butter in microwave, add sugars, vanilla, and salt. Put in yolk, stir. Add flour, stir. add choc. chips, stir (it should now look like cookie dough. Cook in microwave 40-60 seconds, and start checking for doneness at 40 seconds (time may vary for different people's cookies). 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. Serve warm and enjoy! (note: if you like your cookies slightly coffee-like - add 1-1/2 t inst. coffee, stir until well-mixed, and then put in microwave.)
Thanks for reading and

Taco Salsa

I know, why a special salsa just for tacos and burritos? Because normal salsa isn't as good as taco salsa.Love eating this with my burrito, on a hot, summer day. It's better cold, but whatever suits you. Besides, it's your taco.

Here's how to make it.

Ingredients

• 1/3 sour cream
• 1/3 mayo (I use Hellmann's)
• 1/3 salsa (any kind)

Depending on what kind of salsa you use, the taste differs. For instance, if you use a hot, spicy salsa, you'll get a hot, spicy taco salsa. If you use a very mild, basic salsa you'll get a mild taco salsa (it's not a "basic" salsa because not everyone makes it)

Directions

1. Put ingredients in medium-sized bowl. 
2. Stir until well-blended and light pink (there will be some chunks if your salsa has chunks--that's fine. There should be chunks. If there aren't, that's fine, too)
3. Put it on your taco/burrito and

I thought this was appropriate with this recipe. Instead of using a cliched "lol" use "ILSHMSFOAIDMT" which is "I Laughed So Hard My Sombrero Fell Off And I Dropped My Taco". Poor me. My taco's a mess on the floor.

Summer Smoothies: My Own Recipe

What's a better summer treat than smoothies? Milkshakes, but that's not the recipe I'm going to give you.
How good is this recipe? (1-5 stars) ★★★★★
Prep Time:* 1-3 min
Total Time: 5 min?
Ingredients:

• 2 cups strawberries (chopped if you want, but since you're just going to put it in the blender, why waste time on that?)
• 2 cups mango chunks
• 1-2 cups mango nectar (sub: apple juice but really this recipe was made with mango nectar, so it's a lot better with mango nectar)

Optional Ingredients:

• 1 cup pineapple
• 1 cup mango

But...I used 1/2 cup pineapple and 1/2 cup mango nectar, so if you want, use that instead. The reason I did only one cup of each (instead of the usual two) was that the pineapple enzymes cut into your tongue and if you use more than one cup, it can hurt to drink more so instead of hurting your guests' tongues, just reduce it to 1 or 1/2 cup of both. ;)

Also, another ingredient I put in was a banana. I chopped it up and it came to about one cup. So put in

• 1 cup banana, chopped

I'll tell you what to do next soon. But first; make sure you put all the ingredients in at the same time, otherwise you'll have the problem I did: chunks of fruit on the sides of the blender so that when I poured the drink into cups, you got little chunks of fruit in the cup, too. So dump all the ingredients in (one by one or all together if you put all the ingredients in a cup) BEFORE you blender them all together and make one shebang of a drink. Now comes the directions.

Directions:
Uhh...blender, serve, and drink? At least, that's what I did. But if you want to know what exactly to do (or, if you always follow DIRECTIONS), read below.

REAL Directions:
Pulse all the ingredients in a blender until the fruit begins to break down (about 5 pulses), then blend on high until completely smooth. And then you serve. And that's all there is to it!
Thanks for reading.

P.S. You can add a few things, take off a few things. Bananas, it seems, don't exactly add anything to the drink, so if you want, you can just take them/it entirely out. Doesn't matter to me.

Broccoli Muffins

These muffins will get your kids to eat broccoli. Maybe not like broccoli, but they'll eat it. I know, because I don't like broccoli at all, I dislike it a lot, but my Mom baked the muffins, all warm, and so we had them for breakfast. :) Anyway. Here's where she got the recipe: www.snackinginthekitchen.com
(c) Snacking In The Kitchen May 9th, 2010

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
1 pound Italian Sausage (sweet, mild, hot variety depending on your preference)
1 cup broccoli florets
8 large eggs
1/4 cup milk (or half and half depending on how you're feeling that day)
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp baking powder
salt & pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese as needed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a large saute pan, over medium high heat, brown Italian Sausage for about 5 minutes, or until the sausage is no longer pink. Remove from heat and stir in broccoli.
3. Whisk together eggs, milk, oil and baking powder. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Lightly spray a 12-cupcake pan with oil.Spoon out the sausage and broccoli mixture evenly into each cupcake.
5. Ladle the egg mixture over sausage and broccoli.
6. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.