Kitteh!

Only two weeks left, and he will be ripe enough to bring home!

This is going to be a long two weeks.

Help!

Can't somebody do something about this guy? I mean, really... I don't wanna buy your crappy crap. Yelling at me isn't going to change my mind.

If your crappy crap was that great, then it will be on the shelf at the store - where nobody is yelling at me!

People have too much time on their hands...

I found these massive goodies on Pimp That Snack. I think it's a cool idea, but I don't think I have the patience to try it.

Pies, cats, and other things.

Pumpkin layered cheesecake. So bad, and so good.

This can be made slightly less deadly by using the "1/3 less fat" Neufatchel Cheese.

This works best with a 9" springform non-stick cake pan.


INGREDIENTS

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg


DIRECTIONS


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter. Mix until nice and crumbly.

Carefully spread the crumbled graham cracker mixture around the bottom of the cake pan. Use a large fork or spatula to evenly press the crumb mixture into the pan, then set aside.


In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread carefully onto the graham cracker crust, then set aside.


Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter that is already on the crust.


Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the center is almost set. Allow it to cool, then refrigerate for 3 or more hours.


I kinda messed up and used a 9.5" springform pan... so that's why mine is so "flat". (click the pic to see the whole thing)







Kitty

I'm back

Sorry about that. I got a little side-tracked.

For those of you in the mood for a little food porn, here you go:

Breaded, seared Ahi tuna with mashed red potatoes and asparagus.

Beef kebabs on the grill (marinated in worchestershire, lemon juice, garlic).

Fried mozzarella sticks.

Last, but not least... the best ever oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

8 oz unsalted butter softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

2 cups flour

1/2 cup rolled oats/oatmeal

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugars, and salt with an electric stand mixer with whisk attachment until creamy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, oatmeal, baking soda, and 1/2 cup flour until blended.


Stop the mixer, remove the whisk attachment, and replace it with the dough hook.


With the mixer on slow speed, add the remaining flour, then slowly add the walnuts and chocolate chips.


When all is mixed, cover and chill for half hour or so.


When ready, form 2" diameter, 1/2" high "hockey pucks" and place them on ungreased non-stick 12x15-inch baking sheets (lined with parchment, if you desire easy clean-up). Bake at 400F degrees for approximately 8-10 minutes, until the edges are brown, but the middles are still slightly pale. After removed form the oven, the centers will settle to make moist, chewy cookies. This recipe makes about 3-4 dozen, depending on how big you made your cookies.

Secondary Cat

Ed is our primary cat. Since he's decided to go on his own little vacation, we've had to rely on our secondary cat, Dumpling.

She's not very smart, but she's cute.

Really?

Ok, this is mostly a foodie blog, so I feel this is appropriate.

Dr. Fredric J. Baur (June 14, 1918 - May 4, 2008) was a chemist and food storage wizard, perhaps best known for conjuring up the famous, tubular Pringles pop-top can for Procter & Gamble.

Dr. Baur died last month, just shy of his 90th birthday. At his request, some of his ashes were buried in a Pringles can!

WTF?

Sure, the Pringles can is certainly a unique, recognizable chip-storage device. I'll give him that... but it's not like some revolutionary life-changing invention. I mean, it's not like he invented the actual crispy crunchy deliciously processed fake salty potato treats that reside in the can. No, he just invented the can. Plus, if you think about it, it wasn't even that great of a can to begin with. One minute, you're reaching in and getting your perfectly formed chips... and before you know it, your hand is stuck in the fucking can and you can't get the chips out. Solution? I say -slightly bigger chips, bigger can.

I wonder if his ashes were buried in a new can, or a used can (with some salt and crumbs mixed in).

Bart's House

I took these random pictures at Bart's house a couple weeks ago. Bart's house is awesome.

I got these random flowers, poppy phases, and the artichoke.... among others.

I had to resize/crop, in order to fit them here, but you can still click on them to see them a little bigger.

tic tac

Matt ate all of my orange tic tacs.

Calabash

I found this at the grocery store. Why haven't I seen these before?

Also known as - cucuzza squash, Italian edible gourd, bottle gourd, long fruited gourd, long melon, long squash, peh poh, woo lo kua, hu lu gua, opo squash, New Guinea bean, Tasmania bean, snake gourd, suzza melon, or zuzza. The name given to this squash in other countries include: yugao (Japanese), po gua (Cantonese), kwa kwa or hu gua (Chinese), upo (Filipino), cucuzzi (Italian), bau (Vietnamese), and dudhi or lauki (Indian)...

...in some cultures, they make penis gourds out of these!

Now that you've had your funky squash lesson for the day.... What am I supposed to do with it?

Spanish Balls

Last night, I pulled this menu idea out of nowhere... I needed something new, yet easy.

I made Southwestern-style meatballs with a creamy tomato sauce, Spanish rice, and stewed seasoned tomatoes... topped with light sour cream, guacamole, and cheese.

I thought it was pretty good. Matt is picky, though - he said it was good, just that Spanish stuff isn't his style. Bah.

The guacamole on tomato was an appetizer.

Tater Skins

I found these cute little gold russet potatoes the other day. They're perfect for making potato skins because you can scoop them out into little bowls - and all the cheese, bacon, and onion won't fall off.

Matt and I had these for dinner Tuesday night.

Pizza Fix

I fired up the KitchenAid mixer this evening (she and her dough hook had been seriously neglected lately), to try a seemingly promising thin-crust recipe I found online, only to be disappointed. I mean, it was edible, but it wasn't thin-crust.... and just not what I was hoping for.

It was way too bland for my taste. Next time I figure I'll try it with more seasoning, less yeast.... I'll also replace the Italian cheeses with some Feta. Live and learn.

On the plus side, considering it was pizza, it was relatively low in fat/calories. No sauce, no meat, and lots of veggies.

Top O' The Muffin To You

How could I forget?!

Last night, I made my very first blueberry muffins from scratch (no box here!) with fresh blueberries, and a crumbly brown sugar crusty top.

I think Matt approved, since two more were missing when I came home for lunch this afternoon. :)

Little Bites from Heaven

It was hot yesterday, and I wasn't in the mood to cook a regular dinner, so last night I made these little bacon-wrapped mini-burgers with swiss cheese on toasted sourdough. I seasoned the ground beef with some no-salt seasoning and onion. They were pretty damn good. Small, yet satisfying..

Squirting Device

I got this handy little decorating syringe tool yesterday. It cost me a whole dollar. YAY for cheap stuff!

Of course, I had to try it out as soon as possible, so I made deviled eggs.

Fat Girl

Matt and I have discussed this, but I felt the need to mention it.

Why is there no Fat Girl ice cream? Fat Boy is acceptable.... why not Fat Girl?

...and, what would Fat Girl ice cream look like?

Gratuitous Ed Pictures

Ed the cat.

Ed has his own MySpace page - CLICK HERE to check it out.

Campbell's mmm...mmm... good?

Surplus Soup.

I got about a hundred cans of "ready to serve" Cream of Chicken, Cream of Mushroom, and Tomato soup - from my work. According to the date on the cans (by Campbell's standards), they were canned 2 years ago - which means I should probably do something with them relatively soon, but if stored at a proper temperature they'll probably last a hundred years.

Anyway, they're pretty good for making flavored rice - 1 can in place of about a cup of water. But, at this rate, the cans will last forever. I need more ideas.

Bruschetta

I spent the day cleaning and organizizing my spices. Not exactly what I had planned, but it all worked out.

I have an awesome spice rack that I got as a gift a couple years ago, but it turns out it came with a bunch of spices I never use. SO, today's mission was to empty, bag, and label the unused spices, then label and fill those empty jars with stuff I actually use - in the process, I was able to consolidate/throw away/clean up the cabinet where the non-rack spices were kept. I think this will be a very good thing.

By the time my cleaning and organizing was done, it just seemed too warm to cook a real dinner, so I prepared us some bruschetta - with artichoke, tomato, red pepper, green pepper, portabella mushrooms, and a whole mess of Italian cheeses.

In Matt's words, it was "tasticus".

Do chickens have fingers?

What a week! I had a great dinner planned last night, but my after-work nap got the best of me. Once that was over, I was in lazy mode - so, I made chicken fingers.

Breaded, seasoned, and fried in vegetable oil. I served them with light ranch dressing, and Beaver brand sweet hot mustard.

The Beaver ruled.

Whack A Mole

Matt's buddy stopped by to get his laptop fixed, so I thought they might like some guacamole.

I was busy working from home and didn't feel like doing much about dinner, so I served some steak quesadillas.

Lazy Bones

Matt went to his Cisco class tonight, so along with my woman issues, I was pretty lazy...

aside from the Bloody Mary, I fixed myself some split pea soup with parmesan cheese goldfish crackers.... when Matt got home, I made him a steak sandwich with swiss cheese, tomato & sourdough.