two W's, a hair cut and a baking spree

Last week started out just splendid, sleeping through my 8am because I set my alarm for pm and not am, go me. Happy Monday. Despite the rough start the day, it ended well when we got revenge on Villanova and beat them 69-64, always exciting stuff.

Monday: homemade chicken fingers, salad and roasted brussel sprouts with olive oil and garlic.
Tuesday: Chicken sausage with spinach and roasted red peppers, salad and roasted green beans with tomatoes.
(We may or may not have been on a roasted vegetable kick in the earlier part of this week)
Wednesday:Chicken and Vegetable Dumpling Soup
(I changed it up a little, eliminated celery because quite frankly it does nothing for me and added corn instead, we don't have thyme so I used a mixture of basil and parsley and it worked out just fine. The dumplings were like little clouds floating in our tummies!)

well that doesn't seem right..

 also, we ran out of olive oil (!!!) so I had to use butter instead to saute the vegetables

Thursday we fended for ourselves as I had to meet for a project right at dinner dinner.
Friday: Lighter Eggplant Parmesan
I know, I know you are probably thinking how can you lighten eggplant parm, are you crazy?! The best part is all that cheesey goodness. Not only did it use reduced fat mozzarella and fat free ricotta, you don't bread the eggplant. Instead, you roast it in the oven with olive oil, I could have just eaten the eggplant dipped in sauce off the baking sheet. Oh, AND all the normal sized eggplants are frozen in Texas. Like reallllly? So I had to use baby eggplants. Not a happy camper.

 It's always a fun surprise when thawing the sauce from my mother and you find it packed full of meatballs!

It kind of looks like one cheesey mess but there really is eggplants in there!


It's not secret we love to bake and we are always looking for excuses to bake..this weekend our baking adventures led us to: homemade m&m brownies, Samoa M&M Blondies and chocolate chip and raisin pumpkin bread (so we could make Pumpkin Bread French Toast)


I failed in the picture department but here's the jist of everything..

 How much sugar is too much sugar?

 You coat it in a egg-milk mixture like normal french toast, brown it for a few minutes then bake it and serve it with syrup!

 

After our wonderful breakfast Saturday morning we had the pleasure of watching the basketball team beat Georgetown 58-51, it was an entertaining game. As usual it was a nail biter. 

Last but not least..I rarely get my hair cut. Last time I got it cut was over Thanksgiving, I know, I know probably not the best idea but I just don't find it a necessity. But it has gotten real bad, I sit in class and just stare at my dead ends, the amount of dead ends I had was quite frightening. So one day in class I texted Mariah and Emily and said, "guys you're cutting my hair"..that and quote Parent Trap (because clearly every time it is on TV I recite every line for them.) We've been saying we would cut it for a while and finally Friday night Mariah took the scissors to my disaster of a head.

 before..

After..and today I straightened it to see if we needed to do any touch ups and we didn't it was perfecto, way to go Mariah. If math and econ don't work out for you, I could see you hacking hair all day every day :)

Spring break is SO close just:

-8 days of classes

-Business Comm Presentation  

-Eric Schlosser Presentation (author of Fast Food Nation)

- Nutrition Test

-Home for a night :)

-a 21st birthday weekend (which entails SO many activities)

-Last regular season basketball game

-Midterm

-Finallllly home for a night before my mother and I go to California for a fun filled week :)

Stay tuned next week for all the goodies that will be baked for the big party this weekend!

happy birthday to the most wonderful man i know

Today is a very special day, it is my daddy's birthday, since my father is the driving force behind my love of food and this blog I knew we had to concoct the perfect birthday cake for him because he sure does deserve it! My father loves almost everything, after conversing with my mother we chose carrot cake, as it is his favorite. It wasn't just going to be any carrot cake, it was going to have the works, loaded with raisins, coconut and pineapple. After sifting through our various recipes we decided on Ina Garten's Carrot and Pineapple Cake. We adjusted it slightly (used canned pineapple and substituted walnuts for coconut). We got to spend the afternoon yesterday with my parents, they trekked in the blizzard to come to watch the basketball team squeak by Rutgers in overtime. We planned on meeting them for lunch and then off to the game but the weather was atrocious and you could barely see in front of your face so we ordered up some pizza and wings, which arrived an hour and a half later, but that's besides the point. After we scarfed that down quick we presented daddy with his cake.

 happy birthday daddy, I love you so very much and am so glad I got to spend the day with you yesterday since I couldn't be with you today. You are the best daddy any one could ask for, thank you for all that you do for me to make my life as wonderful as it is. I hope you have a wonderful day of R and R and I miss you already, can't wait to see you in a few short weeks, even if it's only for a day before me and momma leave!

here's some pictures of the process..

 so many ingredients. we also learned the hard way, buy shredded carrots. Half the time was spent shredding carrots..and we had to get creative on just how to shred them.

 we decided we would make more frosting next time, and add more to the middle layer, it is a lot of dense cake, it needed some more frosting.

 our frosting was a little lumpy..but it still tasted yummy!

 yum!

in the spirit of valentines day

I have this thing, well actually two things. A weakness, that's the correct word I believe. My weakness is anything pasta related or anything blue cheese, so when I came across this and died a little bit. We were supposed to have this last week but with the sicklings and things getting rearranged we had it last night. Know how the washer always eats one sock? Well our fridge ate our heavy cream...we searched and searched and it is no where to be found. We had people over all last weekend, and some were scavengers..but heavy cream? Highly doubtful someone borrowed it with out informing us..luckily you can make your own..so off we went and made our own. This will not disappoint.

 It's SO simple to make and quick!

  Deliciousness. 





















After dinner it was time to get ready before friends came over and we started the evening..we have a tendency to keep the apartment at a cool 8o (so it feels), my father would not be a happy camper since he keeps the house at what feels like 5o. The heat plus blow dryers and hair straighteners results in a 1oo degree feeling house..so we had a brilliant idea that we would make up the frozen hot chocolate my mom had gotten for us and add a little butterscotch schnapps for a nice refreshing drink as we were sweltering..it was so good.

Tonight we may or may not have done something bad. Very bad. But good at the same time..we baked up some treats for all the Valentine's we have..not one, not two but THREE different treats. Opps..it's okay we are giving them all away tomorrow. The three of us are not much of Valentine's Day fans but our neighbor helped us dig Mariah's car out for a half hour, so we kind of owe him. Also I had a revelation, there are so many people and things that I love in my life, so maybe not the conventional ooey-gooey lovey dovey aspect of Valentine's Day, but celebrating all that I love in my life.


On the menu:
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Blondies with Chocolate Chips


We have wanted to make red velvet cupcakes for the longest time, why? I'm not too sure because it turns out none of us have ever even had red velvet cupcakes even though we pretend we have..We decided why not take a shot at it with some cream cheese frosting.

 We have a Babycakes Cupcake Maker that makes the cutest little baby cupcakes in about 5 minutes, it's great.

 The only problem with it is there is not a sufficient way to get them out, you have to just wiggle them out and use your fingers but they are HOT and I had a bit of a causality (surprise, surprise) I flung the cupcake out and tried to get it onto the plate but it landed in the batter instead. Bummer.

 We are serious bakers. Hence that little gadget. Mariah turned out to be pro so Emily and I got to sprinkle (I mean, the sprinks are the best part)

 

 My job was to unwrap the caramels..I swear they don't trust me to do any of the important fun things!

 um, yum.

 yep, those are indeed heart shaped.

 We got these great little heart shaped cookie cutters so I thought it'd be perfect to cut the blondies into hearts, I mean it is V-day and all..It was a great idea but it created lots of scraps and burnt fingers but they are so darn cute.

and finally..

don't you wish you were MEM's valentine? :)


and since I had a revelation..

i love my parents, my fays and myrtle beach, all three of these hold a very, very special place in my heart. 

i love my roommates, that goes without saying..but they have given my the best year and a half of my life.

 i love the feeling of sun shining on my back, the carefree life of summer, camp, tye dye and most importantly, tal.

  

i love food and family traditions.

 i love coffee and Dunks caramel lattes. thank you dear roommates for this addiction.

 

i love my best friend.

 i love taylor swift, especially taylor swift jam sessions, whether it be in the mel mobile with tal or in living room of our apartment with MEM. tay never gets old.

I love my ugg slippers, there is never a moment when I don't have them on. I wore my first I pair out but refused to give them up, good thing I got a new pair for my birthday. I passed my old ones down to Emily because I couldn't bear to throw them out.