boredom begets baking

so like today was a lazy saturday and i'm just putzing around doing not very much when suddenly i was hit with the urge to bake. it's wonderful when u can scrounge up ingredients from your pantry and come up with something yummy. browsing around i came across this blondie recipe and decided to give it a try. i substituted dark brown sugar for the light and hershey chocolate chips for the dove bar. i also used pam butter flavored spray instead of buttering the pan. on first taste they're just okay...not overly sweet (i love overly sweet). they'll probably taste better tomorrow. i prefer my brownies the next day too.

this post is about food

let me preface this entry with the following: i am an emotional eater.

last month i had a formal event to attend in a dress that *just* fit so i was on restriction during the couple of weeks leading up to said event. however, on my way home from the event i high-tailed it to wendy's to check out their new frosty shakes, which i read about on lex's blog. much to my dismay the shakes were not yet on the menu so i ended up leaving with only a small fry.

in the weeks to follow i would attempt to fill my strawberry frosty shake void with other food. shakes from all the majors (arbys, white castle, mcdonalds, and bk), coke floats, five guys burgers and fries, dairy queen blizzards, pizza hut, chick fil a, mickey d's chicken biscuits and this little baby here that i discovered by chance and desperation at walgreens.

oh nemo! thank you for your delicious single serving of real cake. unlike that nasty lemon pound cake with rubber icing, these little cakes taste like something i would bake. so far i've only tried the red velvet and banana cake but they also have carrot and chocolate.

i ended up seeing my long lost friend, qdoba's ancho chile bbq burrito, for lunch today. no pico de gallo to be had due to a tomato recall but i paired it with a smoothie from maggie moo's. the triple berry pomegranate smoothie had raspberry sorbet, blueberries, strawberries, and pomegranate juice and it was SO GOOD. like i want another one right now. i though the burrito/smoothie combo would rip right thru me but it didn't. thanks, digestive system!

i think i've satisfied all my cravings for now. although after seeing donald's birthday cake i really really want a slice of chocolate cake with cream cheese icing. but i weighed myself yesterday AND i'm kinda sorta constipated so it's back to my regularly scheduled program. plus it's about to be too hot to eat.

speaking of regularly scheduled programs, curses to panera bread for discontinuing the BEST salad on their menu! of course i'm referring to the fuji apple chicken salad. i'm gonna have to try to recreate it myself at home because i haven't found a proper substitute for it yet. i tried the bombay chicken salad at cosi but it didn't make me weak at the knees (their mojito lemonade is GLORIOUS though and would be even more so with some rum or vodka).

oh and i did finally get that wendy's shake. two thumbs up!

mark of the beast

so a short while ago i'm in the cafe deciding on what to get for lunch and i see they're offering small cookies for $0.50 (before there were only large cookies for $0.85). i think to myself, "hey! why not?" and pick one out of the cookie jar. after she rings me up, sylvia exclaims "UH OH!" because my whole lunch totals $6.66.

clearly, small cookies are the devil. i'll only be buying large ones from now on.

vacation - part 2

food

yeah so you know i ate everything on vacation that i had missed so dearly. chick-fil-a, wendys, mcdonalds, white castle (3 times but two of those times were onion rings only and i still haven't had a milkshake), some other stuff i had no business eating. but it's cool i'm back on track with my regularly scheduled healthy living program. i feel like i've gotten it out of my system.

i made my cookies but i didn't send any out. here's the recipe (courtesy of 101cookbooks.com):


chocolate peppermint bark cookies

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups chopped peppermint bark

Place the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler placed over but not touching barely simmering water in the bottom of the pan. Heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate and butter begin to melt. Remove from over the water and set aside to cool slightly.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until light in color and thick, about three minutes. Reduce speed to low, add the melted chocolate mixture and beat until blended. Add the flour mixture and beat until incorporated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough is firm enough to roll into balls, about 2 hours.

Preheat an oven to 325. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

To form each cookie, roll a rounded tablespoon of dough between your palms. Place the cookies 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press 2 or 3 pieces of peppermint bark into each cookie (hs note: more!). Using the bottom of a water glass, flatten the cookies slightly. Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until the tops are puffed and firm, 13 to 17 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the racks and let cool completely. Dust the cookies with confectioners' sugar. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes 30 cookies.

now, between the time i found this recipe and actually made the cookies, the website updated the recipe. maybe i should've gone with the new one because this dough was not easy to roll. i left it in the fridge for more than two hours and while i was able to roll it, a lot of it was wasted sticking to my hands. maybe my hands were too warm, maybe i should've used a frozen ice cream scoop...i dunno. but i think the next time i make these i'll use my own chocolate cookie recipe. these were quite delicious though and were a hit at home.

i made my own bark too, which was pretty simple. i used a bag of semisweet chips, a bag of white chocolate chips, and peppermints. the chocolate layer spread smoothly but the white chocolate not so much. probably because i added the crushed mints to the white chocolate before spreading. next time i'll crush the peppermints a bit finer and sprinkle them on top. there was leftover bark and i was going to try regular chocolate chip cookies with it but we kinda got to just eating the bark by itself. YUMMERS!

the aftermath

photo courtesy of fun express

there were lots of kids. some cute, some smelly, some too damn old to be trick-or-treating. i wore my costume and one said "i like your lunch lady costume!"...smart boy. another said "you look like aunt jemima!" but his friend corrected him, "aunt jemima? it's aunt jemEEma! whatchu talkin' 'bout aunt jemima?"...i almost died laughing. then there was young lloyd the r&b singer whose voice was much too deep when he turned his backpack towards me and commanded, "hook me up." as the night went on the kids got older and their costumes were non-existent. that was our cue to turn out the lights.

so now all i'm left with is this vanilla tootsie roll addiction. o man. i picked them all out from the candy bowl cuz they are so yummm-ay. i need to eat like a whole bag so i'll be over them and not crave them anymore.