265/365: Jalapeno Poppers

I decided that the perfect complement to all of the tv show premieres tonight was the Pioneer Woman's jalapeno poppers! they were awesome!

Of course, now that The Office is back I no longer get to watch Project Runway in real time. No spoilers, please!

Hump Day Brain Dump

Here's what's rolling around in my brain today.

• On monday I went to the dentist with a three year old and her mom. I may never want to have kids. And if I do, well, I'm not taking them to the dentist. And if by some chance I do, I'm giving them a tranquilizer before.
• I've stayed late at work the last few days. I don't plan it, it just happens because there is something really interesting that is going on or I am helping someone out. I've gone in late to try and balance it out but then I somehow end up staying late those days too. I'm not going in until 11 this morning and I'm still not going to make any ground on balancing out the hours I should be in the office. Yikes!
• Yesterday I supervised a visit with a three year old boy. At the very end he declared "I have to go poop! I am not kidding!" Well, we were at the park and I didn't really have the time to go with the mom to take him to the bathroom so I loaded him up in my car and we went back to the office so he could use the bathroom there. I was helping him button his pants and he told me "you're very nice" and then he gave me the sweetest hug.
• The sad thing about this is he barely knows me so he shouldn't be giving me hugs. I'm afraid he might have reactive attachment disorder because he is either sweet to the extreme or aggressive to the extreme. And he has more resentment than I have ever seen in a three year old. 
• I am wondering if I'll be able to finish my internship at Catholic and if I can't what will happen. Hoping things go well in court today, because I really like my internship!
• It's a good thing Seth and I got to spend the whole weekend together because we've hardly seen each other this week. Between my late(r) evenings and his meetings we just haven't seen each other very much this week.
• I have realized I love reality television. Not the Real Housewives of New York type so much, but more the Project Runway, Chopped, and Design Star reality shows.
• Speaking of television, The Pioneer Woman has a show premiering on the Food Network next weekend. I am so excited!
• Speaking of excited, I get to babysit Charlie all day friday. Can't wait to see my favorite (and giant) two year old!

93/365: Schmixer Mixer

I have been plotting about how to get my hands on a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Everyone swears by them. They last forever. They also cost A LOT of money. Which is why I don't have one.

No more. My grandma gave me hers. I didn't even know she had one. Turns out they weigh a ton and she only used her once because it was so bulky and difficult for her to maneuver by herself.

Of course, this thing is ginormus and takes up literally half of my kitchen counter.

It's totally worth it though. It saved me a ton of money and maybe it will just mysteriously pass on some of her cooking skills to me.

Sounds like a plan.

70/365: Aperture

Today, I learned about aperture from a very reliable source, The Pioneer Woman.

Not only is she a genius in the kitchen, she also knows her way around a camera. I happened across her "What the Heck is an Aperture?" series on her photography blog.

I won't even attempt to explain it--complicated stuff!

However, I did mess around with the aperture on my camera and came up with this photo. The flower is much more in focus than the rest of the picture, especially if I had used the auto settings. I don't think the effect is as dramatic with my camera, though, since mine is still a point-and-shoot. It is probably the point-and-shoot that is closest to a SLR, although I'm no expert. It does allow me to adjust aperture and shutter speed, but not as much as if it were actually an SLR.

Or it could just be that I don't know what I am doing--totally possible.

All I know is I'm pretty proud of myself, I taught myself something new today!

56/365: craving

I have been craving pancakes all week long. Today I finally made the Pioneer Woman pancakes. Actually it is the recipe from the Marlboro Man's grandmother, Edna Mae. She cooked for cowboys for years, so the recipe had to be good! They have sour cream in them, which is unusual--not going to lie. However, with the sweetness of the syrup it really works. My craving is satisfied! They're so delicious!

Here's the recipe: Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes

1 cup sour cream       7 tablespoons all-purpose flour     1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt       1 teaspoon baking soda                 2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla   Butter                                            Maple or Pancake Syrup

1. Place an iron skillet or griddle (or whatever) on medium-low heat. You want to get it nice and hot.
2. Place sour cream in a medium bowl. Dump in flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
3. Stir together very, very gently. (According to PW, it's not necessary to have the mixture totally combined so that there will be interesting texture.)
4. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl.
5. Add the vanilla to eggs and stir to combine.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the sour cream/flour mixture.
7. Stir together gently. Don't worry about the mixture being totally combined; a little white and yellow swirling is fine! (PW's words!)
8. Melt about a tablespoon of butter in the skillet. Pour the batter into the skillet 1/4 cup at a time.
9. Cook for 1-1 1/2 minutes, then flip the pancakes over. Cook for another 45 seconds and remove to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.
10. Stack the pancakes as high on a plate as your appetite dictates. See how high you can go-make it a personal challenge! (PW's word's not mine!)

*Confession: I used baking powder (it was all I had) and just added a little extra because that's what some website told me to do. I googled it.

39/365: Homemade Pizza

I can no longer eat a pizza that comes out of the freezer. I almost constantly have pizza dough in the fridge, just waiting to be baked. Of course, the recipe came from the Pioneer Woman. It's got to be the easiest meal to make and to eat! If I were more dedicated and actually felt like getting off the couch I'd post the recipe....

14/365: Improvisation

Calzones....yum. This was one of the first recipes that I tried from the PW cookbook. The first was her pizza. My husband liked it so much that he insisted we have pizza two nights in a row. I made a double batch of the pizza dough so I used the other half of it for calzones.

I'm not going to lie, I was very concerned about these. The recipe involved division. I had to divide both the dough and the filling into eight parts. I'm pretty good at division on paper but not so much when it comes to food. I had a significant amount of filling left over so that had me concerned.

I popped the pan in the oven and tried to wait patiently for the calzones to be done. Fifteen minutes later, I opened my oven to find that they were not cooking. The calzones were not golden brown as promised. I'll be honest, I was not too surprised. You see, my oven is ridiculous. For starters, the oven dial has no numbers on it so I am always guessing as to what temperature the oven is actually at. I figured that the temperature was lower than recommended so I would just leave them in a little longer. A few minutes later and no golden brown calzones. I noticed that the bottoms were turning a deep brown, while the top was barely cooking at all. That prompted me to notice only the lower coil in the oven was on. This was very annoying, but I was not going to be deterred by my ridiculous oven. I flipped the calzones over and began to put them in the oven only to notice the bottom coil was no longer burning a bright orange-ish red. The top coil was bright orange, however. Flipped 'em back over and all was well just a few minutes later. Thank goodness!

13/365: P-Dub

One of my Christmas presents was the Pioneer Woman Cookbook. I absolutely love it. I found about her from a friend of mine and have been following her blog for several months now. My favorite part about her blog and the cookbook is that he posts pictures of each and every step. If I have any doubts about a recipe or if it looks a little weird to me I consult her pictures. So far, so good.

Wednesday

Wednesday is always a letdown for me.

Monday and tuesday are so full that by the time I get to wednesday I want to crash.

And I usually do. I'll do some cleaning, but that is usually the most productive thing I can accomplish. Sometimes I'll cook something. Like today, I cooked a Pioneer Woman meatloaf. Yum!

Usually, this isn't a horrible issue. But tomorrow I have a midterm. That I haven't started studying for at all. And I've already had three midterms so I'm even more tired than normal.

That being said, I'm going to go study.

And eat some meatloaf.

Conversion Stories

Lately I feel like I have been spreading the good news about two things. C25K and PW.

C25K

Also known as the Couch to 5K running program. I have been doing it for two weeks and I love it. Of course, that is easy to say when I am only two weeks in. About week eight I may just want to die. I think C25K is fabulous because it gets me exercising, which makes me feel good and it isn't super hard or scary. I will confess that I am a bit intimidated at the thought of actually running a 5K. Even though I am intimidated I am confident that I will be able to run a 5K, no matter how slow, by week nine. Between the first and second week I went from running 60 second intervals to 90 second intervals. Ninety second intervals of running was intimidating at the beginning of the second week. That could just be because I am so horribly out of shape, though.

After finishing just the first two weeks I feel so empowered and motivated to complete the full nine weeks of the program. I thought the first two weeks would be so terrible and they weren't so that gives me the courage to get back out there and do it again next week. Now, if I could just find evidence-based-research to support my findings. This whole exercise thing started because of a class, you know.

PW

Pioneer Woman. Or PW for short. The Pioneer Woman is my hero. I want to be the Pioneer Woman. Go google her right now and check out her story. Or, if you're in a hurry, just know that she has changed the way I view cooking. I've always been a bit nervous in the kitchen. Especially in my kitchen, the one with the oven that doesn't have numbers on the temperature dial. Cooking is always an adventure in my kitchen. Regardless, her recipes are so simple to follow and she spells everything out for you, complete with pictures. I am obsessed with her cookbook and can't wait to own it. Until then, I will follow her blog religiously.

These two things have changed my life. I have converted to the way of the Couch to 5K and the Pioneer Woman.

Amen. (If you've read PW's blog this will make much more sense.)