Sunday, February 28, 2010

~sunday blues~

does anyone feel this way on sunday?? i feel so blah. its not even like its THIS sunday....i can honestly say that sunday is my least favorite day of the week.....i HATE it.....its the predecessor as of what is coming starting bright and early monday morning......WORK. blah. its not even that i dislike my job....(well, i am not loving it lately, but not HATING it)....but it is work. i am tired of working period. oh well. cant complain, because quite honestly, nobody cares or listens anyway!

i wanted to post a fun giveaway that danica, from danica's daily is hosting! click HERE to get all the deets! fun chinese food~a target gift card and a whole lot more!!! super cool....did i mention i LOVE chinese food?!?

i hope you all had a fantabulous weekend.....we had a very low key, quiet, relaxing one to say the least. the boy worked late friday, which allowed me to make the heavenly, butter tasting caramel corn....refer here  for an amazing sweet fix! i think i have eaten 1/2 of it myself.....saturday we didnt do a whole lot. it SNOWED again. can i say i am over snow? i am tired of freezing. i am tired of having to hear that boy bitch  i mean, complain, about how many times he has to shovel the drive....ugh. i am just plain old over the white stuff. god, please bring me spring....QUICKLY!

i made a delish apple cake to pass the time away....if you like apples, cinnamon, CAKE...then you will love this recipe. its another super easy...(can you tell i am all about easy recipes?)...this would be quite delish on a fall day with a cup of coffee or tea.....it is SUPER moist!

apple cake

preheat oven to 350'. spray bundt pan with cooking spray.

5 apples peeled and cut into small pieces
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 stick butter or margarine
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsps cinnamon ( i also added some pumpkin pie spice)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

mix eggs, butter, oil and sugars until creamy. add dry ingredients and mix until blended. batter will be fairly thick. ( perfect for licking the mixing paddle!) fold in apples. pour into bundt cake pan.
bake for approximately 50 mins. 



















as you can see from my pic....it crumbled slightly....when i cut a piece....it was pretty warm when i transferred from bundt pan to cake plate.....ahhhh.....it was still heaven to the palate!! enjoy~

i hope you all have a wonderful end to your weekend.....it goes by TOO fast!
hugs and love,
t

Friday, February 26, 2010

crazy friday but yummy caramel corn!

its friday. yay. i am sure that this is everyone's fav day of the week, right?? let me just say that i am pumped its the weekend. i have no plans.....and thats good....great actually. i love when i can just hang at home and chill.....i have had a horrible work week. i had to travel monday and tuesday, which just adds mass chaos to the work week. it is tiring. boring. not fun. luckily for me, the hubby took both days off work to come with. that was the best part......and yummy sushi / thai food monday night (sorry no pics).....

anywho...i am babbling, as i sometimes do....i have to try and figure how to blog AND work at the same time! i have totally neglected my blog. seeing how i am fairly new to this, it might help if i was a 'regular' poster....i mean how am i going to get new followers, if i never BLOG?? der de der....key component, eh??

the boy is working a 12 hour shift tonight, so it was me and the kitchen. i finally quit working after 12 hours. blah. did i mention in paragraph one how tired of work i am? (dont get me wrong, i am thrilled to even have a good job, as i have said before......) but seriously....12 hours...on a friday.....not cool.

so as i was saying. i have to stop the insanity. i find comfort in baking. cooking. eating. this equates to great for my sanity.....not so great for the diet.....i typically have such great will power...but lately, my friends....um, not so much.....but no fault but my own....what do i do??? bake more. period. one would think i could figure this whole concept out. bake yummies. want to eat yummies. eat yummies. guilt. (i am blonde remember)....apparently i dont get it. ok....so hubs went to work....and i made this:






















yes, my friends.....caramel corn. sweet. luscious. golden. pure lust in every bite....(oh, there were two of these trays also).....heaven in my mouth. so in case you want the recipe.....here ya go! oh and did i mention easy peasy. super duper.





























caramel corn


1 cup oleo (i used 1/2 butter, 1/2 margarine)

2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
6 qts popcorn


Melt oleo; sitr in surgar, corn syrup & Salt. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Boil w/o stirring 5 min. Remove from heat, sitr in soda & vanilla. Slowly pour over popcorn, mixing well. Put onto 2 shallow pans. Bake 1 hour @ 225 sitrring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven & cool. Break apart. Store in tightly covered containers.

tips: 

i made my popcorn on the stove in two batches. i used my largest soup pot. poured canola oil in bottom and used a little over 1/3 cup of popcorn each time. put lid on. shake pot as popcorn starts to pop.when caramel is done, i had popped corn in two large mixing bowls and divided mixture between both. mix.  i  used two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper to pour popcorn   to bake in oven.  















this is the caramel sauce as it is boiling.....dont stir!!! 5 minutes! be patient! 

this is the easiest treat to make and you can put in bags and tie with curling ribbon and use for parties, treat bags, etc! i LOVE this stuff......oh and did i mention i am NOT getting on the scale tomorrow morning!

xoxo peace and hugs
t

Saturday, February 13, 2010

another snowy day in cleve town.....*sigh*

hello sweet blog land.....d/t the craziness of what i am calling  my real full time 'job' these days.....i have been MIA for a few days.....ahhhh.....gosh, how i do miss reading all of the excitement on those blogs i follow....and those that i continue to stumble upon daily......i think teresa over on bainbridge island made the blog post a while back, how bloggers continue to 'meet' new bloggers....one click here, another click here, and before you know it......minutes, i mean hours later you have found a whole new list of blogs to follow.......i didnt know how completely addicting this so called 'blogging' thing could actually be.......wait, i guess i did.....i am finally accepting it! lol...(isnt that the first step towards recovery....admitting you have a problem??!LOL)....mine is the love of finding so many new friends and loving every minute, whoops, there i go again....loving every stinkin HOUR....(or more~), of it!!!

anyway, the mister is out with the boys today at the MONSTER truck rally.....(ok, i am going to stop right here, before i put my foot in my mouth......anything that requires a ladder to climb up in, and anything that requires you to put ear plugs in your ears prior to watching, is JUST dumb to me.....dumb. in case those few people out there who may have 'stumbled' across my blog, havent realized it just yet, but i am the most girly kind of girl. anything that does not have pink or ruffles on it, is just not fun stuff to me.....a.k.a. MONSTER truck rally....but hey, everyone is different...right? to each there own! that is what, my friends, makes the world go round....we are all different creatures.....


but anyway, since the boy is out with a bunch of hooligans, i am having a completely FREE day to myself! i am BLOGGING!


i am going to paint the piggies,





eat something yummy,



maybe get some cardmaking in,




and THEN head out for girls night out!! can i get a whoop whoop! now, i am not a big time fan of going out during the cold days,  nights of winter......i love my house and i love being home



.....but i am going to venture out tonight for some girls night out FUN~~

i wanted to end the post with a really quick pretty healthy muffin recipe to whip up. if you follow weightwatchers, they are only 2 points and sometimes a girl just needs a little sweet treat to fill that 'void'....at my WW meeting today, the leader talked about taking time for yourself.....and that my friends is exactly what i am doing today....its all about ME.... :o)

easy peasy 2 point muffins

one box cake mix (i LOVE chocolate the best!)
one cup fat free vanilla yogurt
one cup water

preheat oven to 350'. empty cake mix into mixing bowl. stir in yogurt and water. mix until lumps are gone! (if making chocolate i have now added 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips) since its only 1/4 cup for the whole recipe it does not increase points)....fill either 18 regular size muffin cups, or 10-12 large( this makes them 4 pts).....bake for approximate 16-20 mins depending on size.....

this is a quick fix and makes a lovely low calorie dessert or muffin in the morning with a cup-o-tea! enjoy~

heres a pic of carrot ones....sorry the pic is not the greatest~i sprinkled sugar on top.....



alrighty all you blends, (blogger+friends) enjoy the rest of your funfilled weekend~

until we meet again~hugs and kisses,
xoxxoxo
terri 






Wednesday, February 10, 2010

spicy chili for a COLD snowy night!

hi bloggie world!!! brrrr....it has not stopped snowing in cleveland since FRIDAY!! yikes. well, i think it may have stopped momentarily......but it has been freezing and blizzardy out there for days.....(feels like months already)...i am SO ready for winter to be over.....

this week at work has been CRAZY. we are getting extremely busy again, (which i am so thankful to have a job in this economy), however we have been working overtime since after labor day....it stopped for a few weeks and we are back to the craziness, hell again. honestly, this makes me want to look for a new CAREER! anywho, no complaining here.....

so i made another batch of T's Sugar Cookies tonight to pass the winter doldrums away...(and its valentines day and i thought i could share them with the fam and friends!) xoxo
i also made an amazing pot of spicy chili that is pretty low fat so i thought i would share!

Spicy Chili for a Cold Snowy Night!

i apologize in advance ( i dont have exact measurements, but as most of you cook, i think you can guess pretty well!)

1 pound steak ( i used just round steak ~you simmer so it will get nice and tender!)
1/2 pound all white ground turkey meat
3 jalapenos diced
1 med. onion diced
1 cup flour
lots of garlic chopped ( i used a whole bulb with like 6 cloves)
salt
pepper
garlic powder
chili seasoning
crushed red pepper flakes
1 green peper diced
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato soup
1 can tomato paste
1 can chili beans (or kidney)
1/2 cup milk and 1/4 cup flour to make a thickening

brown turkey meat in about 1 tbsp olive oil. set aside.
cut steak meat into small pieces about 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch. dredge in 1 cup flour.
heat about 2 tbsp olive oil in large pot. brown floured meat. remove and set aside.
add a bit more olive oil. saute onion and garlic. add meat back to pan (steak and turkey).
empty in all cans of soup,sauce, paste, chili beans and tomatoes. add diced jalapenos, and diced green peppers. add all spices. i add a lot of the crushed red pepper and a lot of the chili powder!! mix well. bring up to a boil and then turn down and simmer for about 2 hours....to thicken, mix milk and flour to form thickener and add until desired consistency.

serve with greek non fat yogurt, low fat cheese, cilantro, diced onions.
this pairs well with a nice warm loaf of french bread !...mmmm...enjoy!!




















i apologize the pic is not the best.....but you get the drift!!......hot spicy chili on a blizzarding night, doesnt get much better then that to heat ya up!!!

i hope everyone enjoyed their hump day and i will be back tomorrow!
nighty night blog world!!

xoxo ~terri

Saturday, February 6, 2010

dessert or diet DEBUT!!!!

hellloooooo bloggy peeps!!! oh who am i kidding....the only one who is actually going to READ this and be somewhat amused......is none other then MYSELF! but .....if by some small chance one person stops to READ....thank YOU! from the bottom of my beating heart! can i get a whoop! whoop!

soooooo i have been wanting to blog for a while now.....but fear.....the unknown, being computer illiterate......(the reasons are many)....i just havent. i have been quite amused in reading about other's lives, learning new recipes.....purely fascinated by this thing called 'the bloggin' world'....it intriques me, and sadly (yes, i guess i dont have a life).....keeps me entertained at my computer for minutes.....hours. :o)  after being online at work for 8-10 hrs a day.....one would think i would come home and want to stay as far away from the computer as possible.....but alas....my friends...i have come to acknowledge this WAY COOL form of entertainment!

i want to give a shout out to caitlin over at the 25th year! her inspiring post yesterday was AMAZING. this girls got talent.....but anywho....she was too sweet with a reply to my comment and said she hoped we could become great BLENDS!  blogger friend = BLEND! too cute....so miss caitlin...you have officially been my first inspiration to officially start this blogging process! xoxo

ok....on to next random topic....since the name of my post is dessert or diet....i constantly struggle with baking and a. eating it.....or baking and b. letting it sit on the counter and taunt me.....i have amazing will power, but c'mon...i am a GIRL who loves her sweets.....so i would love to share the most amazing sugar cookie recipe EVER. i am a sugar cookie FREAK. ok, i am a freak period.....but i have SEARCHED high and low and have tried to recreate a sugar cookie from the famous cheryl and co. i originally tried these sweet delectable indulgences about 6 yrs ago and it was heaven in my mouth.....between the buttercream frosting and the soft cookie dough....LUST. (remember i said i was a freak!).....so from that day on, i have made a ton of SC's trying to find the perfect one....so here my BLENDS...(thanks, C!)....is the best RECIPE ever....

T's Sugar Cookies















3 cups powder sugar
2 cups Butter (softened)
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
5 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda (omit if you do not want your cookies to spread!)
2 tsps cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350'. In large bowl blend powder sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs. Stir in dry ingredients. You can cover and refridgerate for about an hour to firm up. (i have no patience, so i typically roll out ASAP!) you may need more flour on hands, counter, if you choose to be an impatient beotch as myself!....i cut them pretty thick. place on cookie sheet and bake for 7-9 mins. allow to cool before decorating.

refer to this ADORABLE site on icing tutorials: Our Best Bites!















so there ya have it....a delectable recipe that i am quite sure, you will LOVE if you are a sugar cookie addict as myself!!! in addition to the recipe, MY FIRST BLOG POST!!! brown chicken brown cow....(sung to the tune of a naughty porn song!!)

peace out, bloggies! xoxo