Ready to Run… Part II May 19, 2012

I had every intention of coming up with a creative title, but it’s 6:45 am on a Saturday, people.

It seems like I’ve been saying this a lot; but really, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last posted.  I don’t really have a good excuse.  Since school’s out, I’ve pretty much just been chillin’ at the folks’ house.  My daily routine is unbelievably exciting, you guys.  First, I wake up 6:30-7:00, have the same breakfast (blueberry Greek yogurt + ½ serving of Fiber One + ½ serving of granola, a banana, and coffee) every day and watch Morning Joe on MSNBC.  Then, I either do a double in Jazzercise or one Jazzercise followed by running, depending on what day it is.  After that, I shower and catch up on all the TV I missed the night before.  Finally, about an hour or two before my mom’s going to be home, I kick it into gear and start on the list of chores she gave me.  So as you can see, I don’t really have time for blogging.  (Don’t you feel like this could have been a third graders school journal entry? “First, Then, After That, Finally”)

Y’all, I think I’m kind of actually becoming a runner.  I can say this with confidence because I actually went running yesterday.  In the heat.  And the wind.  Running in Nebraska in the summer is just going to be so much fun.  I’m almost finished with Week 5 of my plan.  Today I have to run 15 minutes followed by a minute of walking, followed by 14 minutes of running.  It’s crazy to think that about 5 weeks ago I was worried about switching up from one minute intervals of running to two minutes.  I think every time I had to add another minute I would text Emily M. and be like, “I can’t do this!  How am I supposed to run THREE WHOLE MINUTES at a time???” She’d respond with something along the lines of, “Of course you can.  You’ll be fine.  Don’t worry about it.”  She was usually right, so I stopped texting her with pre run anxiety.

A couple weeks ago, we were in Omaha because my sister-in-law was inducted into her high school’s Athletic Hall-of-Fame for being an incredibly awesome swimmer.  For real, she’s amazing.  I knew she was a great athlete, but didn’t know just HOW great until they started talking about her at the banquet.  We stayed over Friday night, so Saturday morning I was going to go running in Omaha.  I thought I could sneak in a run without my brother noticing (he is a real, actual runner) since he was trying to buy Springsteen tickets, but he realized what I was up to and wanted to come along.  Up until then, the only running partner I had was my iPod.  Y’all (I apologize if this becomes a thing.  I know I’m not southern, I’ve just been watching a lot of Hart of Dixie and GCB.  It will fade.), I didn’t realize how slow I was until I watched Grant running next to me.  I previously had this vision in my head of being all graceful and gazelle-like, and then I saw him almost jogging in place next to me and thought, “Wow.  I have a LOT of work to do.”

Running in Omaha is a lot different Running in Lincoln.  There’s not as much shade on the trails and it’s a lot more hilly.  However, Grant was a great running partner.  I was kind of nervous, since I usually have my music on, that I would be bored or somehow it would be harder.  Those of you who know my brother know that he is a constant source of entertainment, so I really shouldn’t have been worried.  At one point, I thought he was going to get us attacked by a family of geese.  They didn’t attack, but I had a feeling we were going to find out just how fast I could run.  After we finished my workout, I told Grant he could go on running and I could find my way back to their house (I couldn’t, but that’s a whole different story).  When he took off running, I realized – for the second time, how slow I am.  We are running in the A’ror’n Days Fun Run with my sister in June.  My goal is for Greta and I to finish the 5k without Grant lapping us while running the 10k.  And then, of course, to go home and have a delicious breakfast prepared by my mom.

Also on the fun run front, I’m going to be doing the Havelock 3k with some friends.  I’ve been worried about this one, but I’ve been going AT LEAST 2 miles on my runs, and last week I did a 10-minute mile (it hasn’t happened since), so I think I’ll be okay.

As far as Weight Watchers goes, this past week I reached my 15 pound point, which was pretty exciting.  Now that I’ve been attending meetings for over a month, I can kind of see patterns in the way my body loses/gains weight.  I’ll have two weeks of a multiple pound loss followed by two weeks of really small losses/gains or maintaining.  The weeks that I don’t lose much can be frustrating, but I just keep reminding myself that I need to hang in there.  And also that, if I lose weight too fast, I’ll have all that weird extra skin, and really, who needs that?

Lessons learned during The Process, so far:

1. Having a support group is CRUCIAL.  My family has been amazing.  My sister is doing the Couch-to-5k program, so I’m excited to run with her this weekend when we go to Denver.  My friends have also been awesome.  Emily M. recently banned me from watching old episodes of The Biggest Loser, because we decided that although it’s inspiring, it’s not realistic to lose 15 pounds in a week.  Especially without the help of Bob and Jillian.
2. Just because YOU’RE listening to your iPod and can’t hear anything, doesn’t mean that people passing you (and trust me, I get passed a lot) can’t hear your bodily functions.  I don’t feel the need to go into too much detail on this one, but if anyone has any tips on what to do when you need to “pass gas” while on the trail, I’m all ears.  3-10-year old Sally would just totally own it.  Present-day Sally, not so much.
3. I’ve kind of become a grill master, and can make a grilled chicken breast taste gooooood.  This could also be Stockholm Syndrome kicking it.
4. A good playlist is much more effective when you’re running for longer periods of time.  I was listening to a lot of rap music, then decided that I needed to listen to something more empowering, so I made my Girl Power Running Mix (Yes, that is the real title).  It’s basically music that either inspires me, or pumps me up, by women who I feel are somewhat empowering.  It’s basically the Beyonce show with help from a few others.

Sally’s Girl Power Running Mix

None of Your Business – Salt-n-Pepa

Who Says – Selena Gomez and the Scene

Run the World (Girls) – Beyonce

Countdown – Beyonce

Bug a Boo – Destiny’s Child

Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen (This is my guilty pleasure song.  I can’t help it.  The words are SO stupid and really don’t make sense, but I love it.)

Hot As Ice – Britney Spears

Can’t Hold Us Down – Christina Aguilera feat. Lil’ Kim

Fighter – Christina Aguilera

Firework – Katy Perry

Fly – Nicki Minaj & Rihanna

So What – P!nk

What the Hell – Avril Lavigne (I fought with myself over whether or not to put any Avril stuff on here.  I’m all for a woman’s right to choose, but I really didn’t really know if I can consider someone as a role model for female empowerment when they choose to date Brody Jenner.  However, her music makes me run faster, so she stays.)

Girlfriend – Avril Lavigne (This song makes me think of Emily M. having solo dance parties with her iPod in the Fall of 2007.  And then I smile.  A lot.)

Put It In A Love Song (featuring Beyonce) – Alicia Keys

Diva – Beyonce

Independent Women – Destiny’s Child

Survivor – Destiny’s Child

How I Roll – Britney Spears

Beautiful Girls Reply – JoJo  (by this point, I think it’s pretty clear I have no shame.)

Dog Days Are Over – Florence + The Machine

(I Got That) Boom Boom (Feat. Ying Yang Twins) – Britney Spears (any song that starts with “Shout it! We’re gonna go to the club and get crunk with Britney!” gets put on ANY playlist regardless of it’s nature)

I just realized that we’re supposed to leave in a half hour for Denver and I COMPLETELY forgot to put my clothes in the dryer, so I gotta go!  Have a good weekend, y’all!

Also… it was too windy to grill, but I made the BEST vegetables in a foil packet a couple days ago.  Zucchini, squash, mushrooms, peppers, onion, and basil mixed in a big Ziploc bag with olive oil, a bit of salt, and Mrs. Dash.  Soooo good!  Enjoy!

Ready to Run… Kind of (And also, PASTA!) April 20, 2012

So, I started my running plan this week.  (For those of you interested in exactly what I’m doing, check out The Runner’s World 8-Week Beginning Runner’s Training Program)  Monday was my first day and it was… interesting.  After school, I synced (this doesn’t seem like it should be a real word, but spell check is okay with it) my iPod and was ready to go.  I’ve never actually run in town before, so the whole trail system is kind of new to me.  Also, I’ve watched too many episodes of Criminal Minds to really embrace the whole idea of running trails.  The plan suggests a 3 minute walk for a warm up, so I started out just walking down K street.  Well, I kept putting the actual running thing off.  I kept saying to myself, “Oh, I’ll just go at the next stop light.” Then the sidewalk ended at Lincoln High (I realize now, it would have been smarter for me to start on the other side of the street) and I had to walk through the parking lot and then just kept putting off the actual running part.  I finally came up on 27th street (by this point, my 3 minute warm up was about 20 minutes) and couldn’t shake images of the entire Bluth family doing their chicken dances from my head, so I just went for it and started running.  That first minute was hell, but with every interval it got easier.  It was so nice out and the trail was so pretty that I kind of kept going not thinking about the fact that at some point I would have to turn around and head back home.  In fact, I didn’t even think about this until I reached Highway 2.  So then I had to walk all the way back home and a workout that should’ve been about 40 minutes turned into about 2 hours.  Wednesday was a lot better, as far as time efficiency goes.  My thighs hurt like hell (I blame this on the J. Lo leg workout in jazzercise) but I’m confident we will return to a place of peace soon.

Oh!  I almost forgot.  This story will be funny especially (and maybe exclusively) to my middle/high school classmates.  When I was in 9th grade, my science teacher found out some of the kids in my class were into bad things… like alcohol and whippets.  Not me, for real… I was at least 5 years behind my coeds when it came to rebellion.  I remember having to Ask Jeeves what a whippet was, and to be honest with you, I’m still not entirely sure.  Anyway, after our teacher found out about what was happening, he started giving us this long lecture about the choices we make and then went into this long thing about how he doesn’t let anyone drive his car unless he really trusts someone and there were very few of us he would let drive his car and that if we became teachers and he found out there was a possibility of us teaching his kids he would specifically request not to have us as a teacher.  I’m sure that he had very good intentions with all of this.  He was probably concerned, because really, 14-15 year old kids should not be drinking.  So I get it.  At that age, you still shouldn’t be able to understand anything happening in Clueless and your idea of fun should be starting a 2Gether tribute band.  After the car and teacher stuff, I think most of the kids had just kind of tuned him out and written the entire thing off as him being an out of touch “old” person (he was maybe in his early 30′s).  But then… he started talking about we just needed to find another kind of high.  And for him, that high was running in the rain.  And he didn’t leave it at that.  He very poetically talked on and on about the high running in the rain gave him.  To my family and friends who are or are going to be teaching middle/high schoolers:  Do not, I repeat, do NOT tell them that running in the rain gets you high.  You could be the John Keating of your school when it comes to teaching, but all your students will take away from your class is that running in the rain gets you high.  At some point in their college and young adult life they will be walking out of a bar when it will start raining.  They will not be thinking about the time you taught them about why/how it rains.  Instead, they will be running down the street proclaiming “I’m running in the rain and it’s making me so high!”  (These, of course, are only presumptions.  I would NEVER do anything like that…)  Oh right, I suppose I should get to the point of this story.  So, I was walking back down Capitol Parkway/K Street when it started sprinkling.  I panicked a little bit, because I am not at the point where running gets me high.  At best, I’m past the point of checking my watch before 30 seconds have passed in my minute of running.  Again, I was by Lincoln High when I spotted a billboard with a kid listening to his headphones that said, “What’s Your High?”  I was convinced it was going to start pouring by this point.  Luckily, it never did more than sprinkle a few drops but I had a good laugh and then had to call Emily M. to tell her all about it and we had a good laugh about it together.  </pointless story>

In related news, I lost 3 pounds this week!  My mom kept telling me it would show up on the scale eventually, and I’m glad it did.  I tried really hard to eat all the points I’m allowed to eat, and then took a break from exercise over the weekend.  I don’t know if my body just needed a chance to catch up, but hopefully I will keep losing.

A few lessons learned this week:

1. Rice cakes are not an acquired taste.  They are still as awful as when my mom used to be them for “snacks” when we were little.
2. Anything (with the exception of Rice cakes, of course) seems like a treat if it’s in a cute little bowl.  For instance, one of my favorite thing is to mix up a package of fat-free, sugar-free pudding then pour it into these adorable green ramekin dishes (see picture below) and put them in the freezer.
3. Pine nuts are really expensive.
4. Bottled roasted peppers are kind of amazing.  For real.  They’re my new obsession.
5. Running trails are not filled with serial killers/sociopaths.  In fact, everyone is pretty nice and politely waves, smiles, or nods as you pass each other.  However, I will trust no one.  Except it would be kind of nice for Emily M. and Emily P. if Dr. Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan and the rest of the BAU had to come to Nebraska to investigate.
6. Cooking healthy is easy.  I’m not so sure baking will be the same way.  I don’t see myself as being one of those people who bakes with applesauce.  I think when it comes to birthdays and stuff, I’m just going to have to make the real deal and work it into my plan.

Now, onto the pasta!

The Meal. Doesn't that cute little bowl make you want to go out and eat a bunch of baby carrots?

I found this recipe in the March 2011 issue of Cooking Light.  It was okay.  Actually, it was really good just not as good as the Vodka Pasta.  It was also just a completely different type of taste.  I would say it tasted healthier.  That’s not a bad thing at all, it just maybe had more of a pasta salad taste than a pasta entree taste.  It’s supposed to take 20-minutes to make, but it calls for pre-chopped onions.  Pre-chopped onions are a lot more expensive than just buying whole onions.  Now, as someone who has to wear safety goggles when I chop onions, I definitely appreciate the idea of someone else chopping my onions.  It’s just not a luxury I can afford.  I also grilled a chicken breast on the Foreman and cut it up to mix with the pasta.

Mini Farfalle with Roasted Peppers, Onions, Feta, and Mint

8 oz. mini farfalle (bow tie) pasta

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup prechopped onion

1/4 cup golden raisins

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 cup sliced bottled roasted red bell peppers, rinsed and drained

1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese (I used reduced fat feta.  It only comes in a 3.5 oz container, but I really don’t think that’s a problem.)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1.  Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.  Drain pasta over a bowl; reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid.

2. While pasta cooks, heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add nuts; cook 4 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add oil; swirl to coat.  Add onion, raisins, and garlic; cook 8 minutes or until onion begins to brown, stirring frequently.  Add bell peppers; cook 4 minutes or until heated, stirring occasionally.  Add pasta and 1/2 cup reserved cooking liquid; cook 1 minute, stirring to combine.  REmove from heat; stir in feta, mint, basil, and black pepper.  Sprinkle with nuts.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups pasta and 1 tablespoon nuts).

CALORIES 453; FAT 17.4 g (sat 5.1g, mono 4.1g, poly 3.3g); PROTEIN 16.6g; CARB 59.7; FIBER 4.2; CHOL 25mg; IRON 3.5 mg; SODIUM 558 mg; CALC 131 mg; Weight Watchers Points Plus 12

Hello Again! – Vodka Pasta April 11, 2012

You guys, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve posted anything!  I’ve still been cooking, I just haven’t had a whole lot of time (or, I suppose, desire) to do any writing outside of school.  However, I am back after a nearly two month hiatus so you can expect lots of posts.

About a month ago, I started Weight Watchers so there will probably be more healthy recipes on here.  We’ve been dealing with some pretty stressful health issues in my family, and I decided that I realllly didn’t want to be facing the same stuff in 30 years so I needed to kick it into gear.  I’ve only lost about 5 pounds since I started the program, but I’ve lost over 20 since the last time I tried it a couple years ago. So, I’m pretty proud of that.  I am a little sad that when Jennifer Hudson and I are singing a quartet with our old selves in a WW ad, those first 20 won’t count, but what can you do?  Also, I heard that after Jessica Simpson has her baby, she’s going to be a WW spokesperson.  Maybe then we can do a sextet with our old selves.  It will be epic.  I know that people, including myself, overuse the word “epic.” But truly… it will be epic.  I feel like all my years of singing in the car have been preparing me to sing with Jessica Simpson.

Throughout this whole process, I’ve discovered that I actually really like exercising.  I’ve been going to Jazzercise 5-6 days a week and I’m loving it.  It’s pretty much the only place I can hear Pit Bull in a song and not want to hunt him down and do bad things to him.  And when I say “bad” I don’t mean “dirty,” I’m talking about the kinds of things that will land you on death row.  I guess what Elle Woods says is true, “Exercise gives you endorphins.  Endorphins make you happy.  Happy people don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t.”  I’ve also decided to start running as soon as I find a place that can sell me a cord for my 2nd Generation iPod Shuffle for less than an actual iPod Shuffle.  I’ve made it my goal to run at least the 5k in the A’Ror’N Days Fun Run, which also happens to be my birthday weekend.  I figure it’s good to have a goal that isn’t directly related to the scale.  I have a feeling this is going to be a very interesting project.  I found a plan that starts out as intervals of 1 minute running followed by 2 minutes of walking (which, to be completely honest, sounds a lot like my approach to running in P.E., so starting out should be easy) then gradually adds more running and takes away the walking.  I’ve never really had an interest in running, but one of my favorite hobbies is making playlists, so… at least I have that going for me.  This whole journey is exciting to me.  After a month, I already feel a lot better and my clothes fit a lot better, so hopefully it will start showing up on the scale more.

Anyway… On to the food!

I found this recipe in the April issue of Cooking Light.  Vodka Pasta is one of my favorite meals, and I’ve been looking for a good recipe for years.  There was a Rachael Ray recipe that I kept trying so hard to make work, but it was just lacking something… like flavor.  One time I made it and didn’t let the vodka reduce enough. I should also note that I accidentally doubled the vodka and used really, really cheap  (we’re talking Bartons) vodka.  Not only did it taste awful, but people got tipsy.  However, I was so pleased with this Cooking Light recipe.  The flavoring was amazing and the consistency of the sauce was perfect.  Also, it’s HEALTHY.  Or, at least, it’s not unhealthy.  I made it with chicken instead of shrimp since I’m kind of a hoarder when it comes to chicken breasts.  I’m not kidding, every time I go home, I end up taking a few Schwans chicken breasts back with me.  My freezer looks like one of those milk commercials, only with chicken.

I think this recipe is pretty straight forward.  It’s one of those crazy recipes where when it says it only takes 18 minutes, it actually takes 18 minutes.  I also had Spinach with raspberries, blueberries, and a light raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Shrimp Vodka Pasta

From Cooking Light, April 2012 

9 ounces refrigerated fettuccine

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

12 ounces large shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/3 cup vodka

1 1/3 cups lower-sodium marinara sauce (I used Trader Joe’s Marinara sauce, no salt added)

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil, divided

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1.  Cook pasta per directions.  Drain.

2. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add shrimp; saute for 4 minutes or until done.  Remove shrimp from pan.

3. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil and garlic to pan; saute 1 minute.  Carefully add vodka (side note: Every time Paula Dean cooks with alcohol she turns off the burner when she pours it into the pan.  I think this is a good idea for people with gas burners.  Especially if you’re as accident prone as I am); cook 1 minute.  Add marinara, 1/4 cup basil, cream, salt, and pepper; bring to a simmer.  Stir in pasta and shrimp.  Sprinkle with remaining basil.

Bon Appetit!

Nutritional info:

Serves 4 (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

CALORIES 427; FAT 12.6g (sat 4.9g, mono 4.8g, poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 24.6 g; CARB 60.1 g; FIBER 2.4g; CHOL 184mg; IRON 2.2 mg; SODIUM 632mg; CALC 65 mg; Weight Watchers Points Plus 12

How I Jason Segel became my Funny Valentine (and also, homemade pizza) February 16, 2012

I wasn’t going to post anything about Valentine’s Day.  My day was pretty uneventful.  I went to school, came home, talked to Emily M., talked to my mom, wrote a paper, made a pizza (Italian Sausage and Pepperoni), drank a portion of a glass of cheap red wine, and fell asleep to Secretariat on Netflix.  When I woke up this morning and checked all my forms of social media, I saw something too similar to be a coincidence, so at the urging of Emily M., I decided to post about my Valentine’s Day, after all.

Those of you who know me, know about my not-so-secret crush on the actor Jason Segel.  My first exposure to him was on Freaks and Geeks.  I think my friend, Savanna, and I probably were about half of the people who actually watched the show when it was on air.  We each had our own crush on the show.  Hers was Daniel Desario (played by a young James Franco).  Mine was Nick Andopolis (played by a young Jason Segel).  Nick Andopolis taught me how to approach unrequited love.   There’s one episode where he speak-sings the song “Lady” to his girlfriend, Lindsay.  It’s one of those cases where he’s way more into her than she is him, and she feels super awkward about it all.  At the time, I didn’t quite get that part of it.  I just saw it as the ultimate act of love.  I started practicing routines to different songs.  It seems like they were all to Marvin Gaye songs.  Not any of the gross ones.  Usually just “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.”  You guys, for real.  I was (am) a Smooth Operator.  Luckily, I never had the guts to go through with the “ultimate act of love.”  Nick and Lindsay broke up so he wrote her a song called “Lady L” but before he could sing it for her, Ken (Seth Rogen) smashed his guitar.  I feel like the entire show kind of did for me what Ken did for Nick.  I mean that in the very best way possible.

I first saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall when my dad was having surgery in Omaha.  It was right after I had worked on a campaign, so I was living at home.  Both of my parents were gone, and I was home alone worrying the entire first day.  Then I decided to pour a glass of Johnny Walker Blue (Sorry, Dad) and order FSM on pay-per-view.  I pretty much laughed straight through from beginning to end.  Anyone who writes a Dracula puppet musical is okay in my book.  I mean, it is truly one of the most amazing things ever.  With each scene of that movie, I fell more and more for Peter Bretter.  I starts out as having an enormous amount of pity for him.  He does, after all, get dumped while he’s naked.  Then things just get hilarious.  Maybe someday I’ll just do a post on my favorite scenes from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  I have an embarrassingly large amount of that movie memorized.  According to iTunes, I have watched the digital copy of FSM 16 times.  For now, I’m just going to let you guys watch probably my favorite scene from the movie.  This is kind of what happens when I make up songs.  Except usually I’m not around my piano.  Also, I’m a lot nicer to myself.

A little over a year ago my dad was diagnosed with liver disease and it was a really hard and scary time for me.  I felt like I was doing a pretty good job of keeping my emotions in check.  With school and stuff, I didn’t really have time to get emotional or depressed so I just kept every thing in.  At about the same time, Marshall Erickson (Jason’s character on How I Met Your Mother) was dealing with the loss of his father.  After the episode of his funeral, I just lay in bed and cried for hours until I finally fell asleep.  This was the first time I had really let myself cry, uninterrupted, since my dad’s diagnosis and it was exactly what I needed at the time.  The next day I felt like 500 tons had just been lifted off my chest and I was able to get on with life.  The acting was just absolutely amazing in this episode.  I still tear up whenever I see that episode.  It was definitely worthy of an Emmy or Golden Globe.  At least a nomination!  Jeez Louise, Hollywood.

I honestly could go through every movie or TV show on his IMDB page and give some anecdote as to why I think he’s great.  I think (or, in order to make myself feel less crazy, hope) that pretty much everyone has that kind of celebrity crush.  Obviously, nothing will come of these crushes.  If celebrity crushes were meant to be, my next birthday would be spent with my three best friends and Dr. Spencer Reid (for the sake of argument, fictional characters can be included), Rachel Bilson, and some odd breed of Leonardo diCaprio, Paul Rudd, Adam Brody, and JC Chavez (Seriously, Emily P., who exactly IS your celebrity crush?).  Any way, I have never thought in a serious way, “OMG, I’m meant to be with Jason Segel.”  Logically, that’s silly.  I’ve pretty much been able to write off any similarities between Jason’s characters and my life (with the exception of the Freaks and Geeks years, when I truly thought he was my soul mate), as coincidence.  That is until this morning when I woke up to see what had happened on all forms of social media the night before and found this from Jason Segel’s Twitter:

I’m not sure if you remember, after all the rambling.. But, you guys, that’s EXACTLY what I did on Valentine’s Day Night, minus the potato chips.  So… although he might not be my true soul mate (at least not in the romantic sense), I like to think that maybe he’s like my own comedic guardian angel sent here to make me laugh when I’m said and make me feel less pathetic about things like having a weird passion for speak-singing and watching Secretariat alone on Valentine’s Day.

I suppose after all of that, I should share information about the food.  This is a food blog, after all.

I use my mom’s recipe for pizza dough.  She usually make a big batch of the mix to keep in the freezer and it’s super handy.

Donelle’s Pizza Dough Mix (makes about 22 cups)

5 pounds wheat flour (for those of you who live in Aurora, the Grain Place sells whole wheat flour at Espressions Coffee Shop.  I think that’s what my mom usually uses.  You can also buy it at pretty much any grocery store in Lincoln)

3/4 cup sugar

4 teaspoon salt

1 cup instant nonfat dry milk

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Put in a large airtight container.  Label.  Store in a cool, dry place.  Use within 8 months.

I lost the actual recipe for the dough, but this is what I’ve been doing:

3 cups Pizza Dough Mix

1 cup (maybe a little more) water

1 package quick rise yeast

1/4 cup (maybe a little more) oil (really any kind.  I usually use vegetable.  My mom uses peanut oil.  Last night I used olive oil)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.  Put three cups of pizza mix in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl, dissolve a package of yeast in a cup of warm water.  Stir together mix, water/yeast, and oil.  Sprinkle a flat surface with pizza mix and knead the dough until it forms a ball.  Put ball of dough back in large bowl and cover with a dish towel for about 20 minutes.  On a greased, sprayed, or oiled pan, roll out the dough and let sit for 5 minutes.  Spread pizza sauce and your choice of toppings. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes.

When I started making the pizza last night, I had every intention of posting about it.  I have been trying SO hard to create a good pizza and it just never works out for me.  The main problem is that I have just a truly awful oven.  It’s really small and overheats anywhere from 50 to 150 degrees which causes inconsistency as far as times and burning goes.  I should just ask for a new oven, but my landlord bought a new one before I moved in.  It’s never worked properly, but I feel weird asking for a new one.  Any way, things were going my way last night and I was ready for the perfect pizza.  The dough had risen properly, my oven was within 50 degrees of the desired temperature, and to make things even better – I had fresh mozzarella left over from when I made lasagna not too long ago.  I browned the sausage (I used ground sweet Italian sausage.  I think next time I will try the hot instead of mild), layered the pepperonis over the sauce, sprinkled the sausage over the pepperoni, and cut the cheese to arrange over the sausage. [note: As I was doing a quick proofread of this I realized I had actually used the term "cut the cheese."  I was going to change this, but then realized everybody who loves me also loves a fart joke, so I kept it in.  Also, before handling fresh mozzarella, I put it in the freezer for maybe 10 minutes.  This makes it easier to cut, grate, or slice.]  It never occured to me that I should check to see if there was anything different I needed to do to make a pizza with fresh mozzarella instead of grated mozzarella.  That was a big mistake.  When I went to rotate my pizza (if you have a regularly functioning oven, you don’t need to do this) at the halfway mark, i noticed the pan was filled with liquid.  After a quick Google, I realized that since fresh mozzarella is wet, when you put it on a pizza the water gets released.  So I poured the liquid into the sink and put the pizza back in the oven.  The dough was a little soggy, and there were places that the liquid had burned onto the pan, but I have to admit the pizza was amazing.  It really was the best pizza I’ve ever made in my apartment.  The sausage and pepperoni worked great together.  The dough was perfect.  It just all turned out amazing.  Next time I’ll probably try to follow instructions on how to do the cheese.  Google sent me here:  http://www.ehow.com/how_8288916_put-fresh-whole-mozzarella-pizza.html.  Also, I sprinkled Italian seasoning and parsley on top of the cheese and chopped up a few cloves of garlic to cook with the sausage.

Please excuse the old bananas... I'm making banana bread tomorrow!

 

Admit it, your Valentine's Day would've been more fun had you consumed boxed wine from a TMNT glass.

I’m going to try to be more consistent with my posting.  So far, it’s been pretty random.  I’m also going to try to make my posts more polished.  I’ve noticed I use a lot of parenthesis and ramblings and I KNOW my sentence/paragraph/grammatical structure is not always proper.  Hopefully if I get on a more regular schedule and my posts aren’t so sporadic (Thank you, Cher Horowitz), I can be the blogger I’ve always dreamed of being.  Happy Belated Valentine’s Day, Everyone!  Also, I might try to steal my parent’s digital camera back so I can have slightly better than iPod quality pictures.

Birthday Cakes! February 15, 2012

This past weekend was my niece Whitney’s first birthday.  It’s so crazy to think that a year has past already.  The year has gone by so fast, but at the same time it’s hard to remember life before Whitney.  She has changed and grown so much in one year.  I know that as an aunt it’s my duty to brag on Whitney, but really – she is awesome.  She has soooooo much personality for someone her age.  When we have story time, she’ll pick out a book and let me read about 3 or 4 pages, then she’ll want down and will walk (because she’s already walking like a boss at a year old) over to her books to pick out a new book and lift her arms and say her universal sound for book, up, yes, or more.  Again, she’ll have me read a little bit then she’ll pick out a new book.  This cycle can go on for a long time, but I love it.  I have a confession, though.  This might make me seem like a horrible aunt, but I had to hide a book from her when I was babysitting on Super Bowl Sunday.  She kept bringing me the book “Doggies” by Sandra Boynton.  Now listen, I LOVE Sandra Boynton books and I totally get the point of this book.  It will have one doggy and that doggy’s barking sound.  The next dog will bark twice, and it has a different sound for that.  The next one will bark three times and so on and so forth.  I understand that it’s a counting book and for that purpose it’s great.  I’m sure there are a lot of kids who learn how to count from it.  The problem is, I’m HORRIBLE at making animal noises (with the exception of a velociraptor).  I’m lucky to just get out a “woof” in the right voice, but then I have to do it ten different ways.  Some of them are weird, too.  When have you ever heard a dog that goes “nnn-nnn-nnn??”  I think a dog making noises like that probably needs to go to the vet, because he probably just ingested a bunch of chocolate or raw chicken and things are going to get ugly soon.  Any way… when I was babysitting her, she KEPT bringing me this book.  To top things off, this wasn’t a read 3 pages and put away.  This was a read all the way through book.  I swear she knew what she was doing to me, because this is not one of her usual favorites.  Maybe she just liked hearing Aunt Sally sounding like she was having some sort of stroke or attack, but she was so into this book.  Eventually, I had to put it on her dresser behind the lamp.  She initially looked at me like “ummmm… what did you do with my book.”  It was worth it, though, because we spent the next 30-45 minutes reading Jamberry, Goodnight Moon, a variety of Little Pookie Books, and ended the night with a continuous replay of Barnyard Dance.  I honestly think I probably read it seven times before she fell asleep- and maybe a few times after she fell asleep.  I sooo did not want to put her in her crib.  It’s such a rarity for her to fall asleep while I’m holding her anymore, so I was willing to just spend the night in the rocking chair but I did eventually put her in her crib.  I always have this weird anxiety about putting her to bed that the second I lay her on her mattress she’s going to wake up.  However, she handled the transition magically this time.

I suppose it’s time to move on to the cakes.  Not only was Whitney’s birthday on the 11^th, but my brother’s was on the 12^th, AND Whit’s cousin Will’s birthday was on the 13^th.  This meant I had a lot of cakes to make.  Grant wanted an ice cream cake, so I didn’t have to worry about that.

Will’s Cake – Chocolate Butter Cake with Instant Fudge Frosting

The Birthday Boy! Isn't he adorable?

I got the recipes for both the cake and frosting from Smitten Kitchen.  I have to say, this was my favorite cake.  It was my first time using these recipes and the cake turned out sooo rich, that I was worried the kids might not like it.  They said they did, but they’re polite kids so they could’ve just been using their manners.  The recipe was for three 9” square pans, but I ended up using two 9” round pans.  I had every intention of using the left over batter for cupcakes, but by the time I got done with all the cakes it was about 11:00 or 11:30 pm, and I still had to clean.

A couple notes:  You want to use a REALLY big bowl for the cake.  I started with just a normal big mixing bowl and realized after mixing the dry ingredients it wasn’t going to be big enough so I switched to my mom’s giant Tupperware bowl that she mixes puppy chow in.  It was plenty big.

Also… The recipe calls for cake flour, which the Aurora Mall did not have.  To make my own cake flour, for every cup of all-purpose flour I put in, I took out two tablespoons of flour and replaced it with two tablespoons of corn starch.

So… Mathematically speaking: 1 cup flour – 2 T flour + 2 T corn starch = Cake Flour.

This might also be a good time to let you know, Mom, that you are out of corn starch… And also cocoa powder, but we will get to that later.

Chocolate Butter Cake

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/project-wedding-cake-the-cake-is-baked/

Makes one 8-inch square, three layer cake

3 cups cake flour

3 cups sugar

1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)

3 teaspoons baking soda

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups buttermilk

3 eggs

1 ½ cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature (I only had about a half cup of coffee left after my daily consumption, so I filled the rest with water.  I think it turned out fine.)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter three 8-inch square cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.  (My method of preparing cake pans is spray or butter, then flour, parchment, spray, and flour.  Flouring twice might be excessive, but I’m a little cautious when it comes to cake sticking to the pan)

2. In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. With the electric mixer on low speed, blend for about 30 seconds. Add the butter and buttermilk and blend on low until moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Whisk the eggs and coffee together, and add to the batter in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only until blended after each addition. Divide the batter among the three prepared pans; each pan will take about 3 1/4 cups of batter.

4. Bake for 38 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Carefully turn them out onto wire racks and allow to cool completely. Remove the paper liners only when they are cool.

Instant Fudge Frosting

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/08/espresso-chiffon-cake-with-fudge-frosting/

Note: the recipe calls for the frosting to be mixed in a food processor.  Unfortunately, I don’t have one.  Instead I just used a regular mixer.  It might not have been as easy, but it got the job done.

Makes about 5 cups (this was enough to frost this cake, decorate the owl on Whit’s cake, and have some left over).

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled.

4 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature

6 Tablespoons half-and-half or whole milk

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate, then process until the frosting is smooth.

Whitney’s Cake! – yellow cake with Swiss Buttercream frosting

I have another confession to make.  For the actual cake, I used a box mix.  I had every intention of making it from scratch, but our road was blocked so I couldn’t get into town to get to the grocery store until about 3:00 or 3:30 when our neighbor came through and cleared it.  By that time, i decided to just settle on a box.  My favorite kind of box mix to use is Duncan Hines.  Unfortunately, Aurora Mall didn’t have any.  (Seriously, AM step up your game in the baking aisle!)  I think instead I used Sara Lee.

This was my first time making this frosting recipe.  For decorating, it was a dream.  It spread smoothly.  It piped smoothly.  It was just kind of perfect in that sense.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the taste.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  I liked it a lot better when it was actually on the cake, but I had my doubts when I was just tasting the frosting.

I made two 8″ round cakes and two 4″ round cakes with the box mix.  I reallllly wish I would’ve made the big cake at least 9 inches.  It was harder to fit everything on the 8 inch pan.  Also, the owl kept getting bigger, so then I had less room to write.  If I would do it over again, I would probably do the writing part first.  I was so paranoid of hitting the owl that I felt it didn’t look the best.

Swiss Buttercream Frosting

adapted from: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/07/project-wedding-cake-swiss-buttercream/

2 cups sugar

8 large egg whites

6 1/2 sticks of butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk occasionally until you can’t feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.

Transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size. (Here’s a tip: when you transfer to the mixer, make sure you wipe the condensation off the bottom of the bowl so that no water gets into the egg whites. This can keep them from whipping up properly.)

Add the vanilla.

Finally, add the butter a stick at a time and whip, whip, whip.

Beth (my sister-in-law) swam at Rice University and owls are so in right now, that it just made sense to have Whitney’s cake be owl themed.  I wish I would’ve taken pictures of every step of decorating.  It was a lot of making it up as I went.  I pretty much traced a small circle on the cake and went from there.  The little smudge of yellow at the bottom of the cake is not the owl having an accident.  Initially, the owl had feet, but when there wasn’t enough room to write Whitney’s name, I had to amputate them.

Oh!  I’m sure you’re wondering how the Birthday Girl liked her cake.  After all, one of the best parts of first birthdays is getting to see the baby go crazy on their cake.  Right?

She went crazy, all right!  I won’t hold this against her.  I mean, how can you?  She manages to look adorable while crying.  This talent will get her far in life.

All Better! Seriously, how cute is she?

Me with Whitney and her adorable cousins, Will and Kate.

Thank you, Beth, for taking such great pictures!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies January 27, 2012

Cookies! Please excuse the quality of the pictures. I took them on my iPod.

Sorry, it took so long to post another recipe!  I was without internet in my apartment, but I have it now.  Woohoo!

Last weekend I was missing Emily M. like crazy.  Specifically, I was missing our Cookie Company cookie dates like crazy.  When she was in school in Lincoln, we would meet at the downtown location and sit on a bench outside and eat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies while people watching.  Their cookies are seriously the best.  So when I was at my parents’ house last weekend with free range of their kitchen (and ingredients) and nothing to do except miss my friend and watch the documentation of Kim Kardashian’s failed marriage (Please don’t judge my viewing choices.  I was watching Chopped, but a guy cut his finger then put a latex glove on so he could finish making his meal and the glove kept filling up with blood, so I had to change the channel), I decided to make some.  I found this recipe at the Brown Eyed Baker’s blog and was very pleased.  I think the recipe only made around 15 cookies, but you could easily double it.  Plus, it’s sometimes nice not to have a ton of cookies around.  Trust me, you’ll want to keep eating this.  A limited quantity is probably a good thing.

Now on to the cookies… The blog post said that each ball of dough should weigh 1.7 oz.  I weighed the first couple on my mom’s food scale and the battery ran out.  But really, unless you’re entering them in the fair for 4H you probably don’t need them to be that perfect.  A 1.7-ounce cookie was pretty much my mom’s big cookie scoop (I think it was probably closer to 1 or 2 tablespoons than 3, which is what the recipe calls for) with a little bit more dough added on.

Also, I can get a little out of hand with chocolate chips.  Usually I measure out what the recipe says and then pour a little more into the dough… and then usually a little bit more after that.  I don’t know if it’s because I love chocolate chips or if straying from the recipe just makes me feel like a rebel.   It doesn’t matter what I’m making.  I always add more chocolate chips.   However, this recipe had the PERFECT amount of chocolate chips.  I was pleased.  Enjoy!!

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

This is either a picture of the ingredients, or an Affiliated Foods ad. On that note, I shall deliver the best grocery related pickup line ever: "Do you work for Affiliated Foods, cause you're Shurfine!" Get it???

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

I feel it's important to make sure you have plenty of Diet Coke on hand before starting any project. At least any day time project. If it's after 5:00 p.m., replace Diet Coke with wine.

3. On medium speed, cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oats, and then the chocolate chips.

See... perfect chocolate chips:everything else ratio.

4. Use a large cookie scoop and drop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden. Cool completely on the baking sheet and then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

I love when so many cookies have been made on a pan that you can see the cookie outlines. I spaced these out a little bit more since they were bigger and I wasn't sure how much they'd spread out.

First pan, finished! Actually, I looked at these for about 2 minutes after taking them out of the oven and decided the needed to go back in for a little bit longer. So this is the NEARLY finished first pan.

Second pan, finished! I decided to keep these in the oven a little bit longer after the timer went off. I started doing some dishes and forgot about them, so they were a little big crispier--but, luckily, not burnt.

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/02/24/peanut-butter-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Thanksgiving Pies January 5, 2012

Left to right: Pumpkin, Cherry, Apple

I think I probably made my first pie when I was around 12 or 13.  It was sort of like a rite of passage.  It was, however, a much more pleasant rite of passage than everything else teenage girls had to go through.  My maternal grandma taught both my sister and I how to make pies.  I remember rolling out a perfect pie crust to start with, and my grandma praised me so much for it.  Being a typical youngest child, anything that gets me positive attention gets a repeat.  I thought that pie making would be my thing.  And while I do love making pies, I’m not so sure I’m as good as I thought I was when I was 12.  My sister is the true pie expert in our family.  Since she couldn’t make it home this year, I made the pies.  Sometimes I think it would be easier to just buy a crust, but where’s the fun in that?

Also… for the pumpkin pie, I just used the recipe on the back of a Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Filling can.  I’ve tried using real pumpkin, but in my opinion the can is just a lot easier and tastes better.

As I’m writing this, I’m thinking I should have tried something a lot simpler for my first post, but we will get through it together.   Remember, it’s my first time.  Please, please, please be patient.  Hopefully, I’ll get the hang of all the formatting stuff.

This pie crust recipe dates back to at least when my older sister made pies for 4-H.  The recipe we have on hand is copied down on a piece of paper that has details for the 4-H Song Contest on the back, so it’s not too thorough.  I will do my best to give better directions, but just ask if you have questions… and then I will ask my mom what she would do.  I think in general, a good rule of thumb is to mix all ingredients so they stick together and form a ball, but you really don’t want to over mix it.  If you over-mix, the dough will become tough and you might become grumpy.  Not that I know anything about making an imperfect pie crust or being grumpy…

“Good Pie Crust”

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

1/3 cup cold water

1 tsp. vinegar

1 cup lard or Crisco

Mix dry ingredients with pastry blender.  Add in Crisco.   (Side note:  I hardly ever bake anything with Crisco anymore, so it seems silly to have a big thing of Crisco on hand.  I do, however, LOVE Crisco Baking Sticks.  They come wrapped like butter and are so much easier to measure and add into recipes.) Beat egg; add water and vinegar.  Add egg, water, and vinegar into Crisco and dry ingredients mixture.  Form into a ball.  Let “rest” before making into pies.    This crust recipe will make enough for one 2-crust pie and one 1-crust pie.  For example:  An apple pie and a pumpkin pie.

I don’t really know what tips to give on rolling the dough out.  I usually just cover everything with a lot of flour.  If you are at all worried about making a mess, I think you can roll it out between 2 sheets of wax or parchment paper.  And… I do have to say… Although I usually LOVE my pampered chef utensils, I much prefer our basic rolling pin to their fancy pie rolling pin.

The recipes for fruit pie came from the 1969 edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook.  This might be my favorite cookbook.  When we were little, my sister and I would experiment with all the muffin recipes.  I didn’t think anything of it then, but our mother had to have been so patient to put up with that kind of mess every Saturday morning.

The recipes include amounts for 8, 9, and 10-inch pies.  I made a 10-inch cherry pie and a 9-inch apple pie, so I will probably just include the recipes for those.  If you would like the recipes for other sizes, let me know and I can post them!

10-inch Cherry Pie

1 2/3 cups sugar

½ cup Flour

3 cans (1 pound each) pitted red tart cherries, drained

1 teaspoon almond extract

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

Cherry Pie Filling: This might be my favorite color combination.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Stir together sugar and flour; mix with cherries.  Turn into pastry-lined pie pan; sprinkle with almond extraxt and dot with butter.  Cover with top crust which has slits cut in it; seal and flute.  Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning;  remove foil last 15 minutes of baking.  Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.  Side note:  I usually brush my crust with an egg wash.  Usually I just mix an egg with a little bit of cream or milk.  In the past I’ve done this as a last step, but yesterday Paula brushed her crust before cutting the strips for her lattice crust.  I might try that next time.  I should also note that the last time I made the cherry pie, I was also making an apple and pumpkin pie.  I thought it would be more time efficient to make the fillings for the different pies then roll out the crusts.  By the time I got around to putting the cherry filling in the crust, there was a lot of juice so I had to scoop a lot out.  Next time, I’ll immediately fill the crust and put it in the oven to avoid this dilemma.

9-inch Apple Pie

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup Flour

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Dash salt

6 cups thinly sliced pared tart apples (I believe I used Golden Delicious)

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Apple Pie Filling

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Stir together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt; mix with apples.  Turn into pastry-lined pie pan; dot with butter.  Cover with top crust which has slits cut in it (I chose to do a lattice top); seal and flute.  Cover edge with 2- to 3- inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil last 15 minutes of baking.  Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.

Thanks to my mom for finding this awesome apron at TJ Maxx!

I’m always sooo bad at knowing what to do on 2-crust pies to seal the crust.  I usually just kind of pinch the two crusts together, but I would appreciate any help on what you do!  I just never thing that part of my pies looks quite polished enough.

I Went and Started a Blog January 5, 2012

I finally did the unthinkable and jumped on the Blog Bandwagon.  I know, I know… I’m at least 5 years too late (probably even 10?), but I feel that you all could benefit from my culinary expertise.  [cue eye roll]

Who in the world am I?

I am a (seemingly eternal) college student from Nebraska who loves to cook!

Why in the world did I start this blog?

In addition to all the narcissistic reasons one starts a blog, especially a blog related to their talent (or lack thereof), I think I just wanted to share my experiences in the kitchen with you.  You – of course – being my mom and The Emily’s.  I love trying new recipes and experimenting with old ones.  I also love feedback.  If someone out there has a secret to get pie crusts to roll out perfectly on the first try, I wanna know about it!

What in the world am I going to blog about?

I think I’ll probably just blog about the food I make.  If you’re looking for a serious commentary on the day’s events, you won’t find it here.  Unless, of course, I bake something related to it.  Once I find my coveted donkey and elephant cookie cutter set, we’re all in trouble.  And hello, what could be better during Pride Week (you know, besides equality) than rainbow cupcakes in a cone decorated with Skittles?  Okay, I’m getting carried away now.  There will mainly be easy, cheap, healthy(?) recipes with some mediocre pictures edited to look all hipster-ish with a fancy iPod app.  Actually, scratch that, I pledge to keep my Blog hipster free.  The one exception, of course, is the name.  I’m sorry, guys.  When I came up with the blog idea a little over a year ago, I was going through a huge Iron & Wine phase.  And, I mean, come on.  Such Great Bites… That’s just clever, right?  RIGHT???

How in the world am I such an expert?

Well… Admittedly, I’m not.  I have, however, had the privilege of growing up around many culinary experts (whether they know it, or not).  I can’t think of a family member or close friend who hasn’t taught me some extremely valuable lesson.  I also consider Nigella Lawson, Paula Dean, Ina Garten, and Martha Stewart to be among my very best friends.  So, you know, they give me a lot of personal advice.