White Chocolate Snickerdoodles...mmm

Today I am feeling like eating all of the desserts. This recipe has become my go-to when I have to make something quick to take to an event or a friend's house. I got the base of this recipe by googling, but I kind of made the rest up as I went, and everyone LOVES it! I took some of these to a friend's house a few weeks ago and the whole bag was gone in about 15 minutes. That either says something about my friends, or that these cookies are dang good! 

Ingredients: 

3/4 cup brown sugar 

1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 package vanilla pudding mix, dry 

1 12oz bag white chocolate chips 

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup cinnamon-sugar mixture in small bowl (Just a few spoonfuls of sugar and a few shakes of cinnamon until it's like you like it!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one large bowl, cream butter and sugars with electric mixer. Once mixed well, add one egg at a time, then vanilla. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, pudding mix). Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet until thoroughly combined. Fold in white chocolate chips. 

Spoon out tablespoon-fuls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture, then place on greased cookie sheet (I use a Silpat). Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes about 36 2-inch cookies. Enjoy:)

Seriously, try not to eat them all in one sitting, SO addicting! 

-A 

Jalapeno Pimento Cheese

I'm very excited to be posting the first recipe for the blog! The past few days have been interesting. First, with some news I cannot yet share, and second, with Joseph getting the stomach bug that I had last week. I am on call for work tonight, and ended up working extra today, so my usual "after work grocery run" to pick up a few items turned into "What is Abby craving right now?". 

Joseph is sleeping off his illness, so I was on my own for dinner. I have been wanting to make pimento cheese for the past few days, so I finally got some pimentos and went to town. The recipe I found is very similar to Taziki's (click link to see menu and if there's one near you!) pimento cheese, which is delicious and slightly spicy, which I always LOVE!

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and only switched fresh jalapenos for pickled because that was all I had at home. Click here for the original recipe. 

4 ounces cream cheese 

1 1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1/4 cup Mayonnaise

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 

1/8 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp garlic powder 

2 ounces diced pimentos, drained (1/2 of a 4 ounce jar)

2 ounces diced pickled jalapenos, drained 

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in standing mixer or with handheld mixer until well blended. Add salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy! You can double or triple this recipe to take to a party or tailgate. Dip with crackers, or make a sandwich. I used pretzel crisps, they're my favorite right now! 

In other news, I have a new guilty pleasure snack. I have always loved Talenti gelato (you can get it at any Publix), but I have never tried the Salted Caramel flavor. Well, ladies and gentleman, it is out of this world good! The flavor is wonderful, and there are little chunks of caramels in the ice cream with a hint of salt in them. You CANNOT just take one bite. I actually did that, then 5 minutes later I was opening the freezer to get another spoonful of goodness!

YUMM!

Anyway, here's to a quiet night on call and a great day tomorrow.  Fun shopping news to come later this week! 

- A

Organizing all of the yarns - (office overhaul part two)

Many of you may be thinking "What did Abby do on her sick day yesterday?"; "Maybe she slept in and watched movies with a box of tissue?"; or "What about some herbal tea?". NOPE.

So what didn't I do...haha. I DID sleep in, took some cold meds, then proceded to continue my office overhaul in the afternoon. Sometimes when I am home alone, I get stir crazy. No matter how bad or tired or whatever I feel I can't just lay there and do nothing. I think I have a disease!

So you may remember my last post on sorting all of my knitting supplies and such. Today I just have a few progress photos for you from the office. Keep in mind that I am doing this (hopefully) without buying any supplies at all! Just using stuff I have lying around the apartment, so it probably won't be as awesomely cool as someone else's office overhaul.

Here goes... (before pics)

 

Wall One

 

Wall Two

Wall Three

Wall Four

On a separate note, while I was organizing and cleaning, I made myself a strawberry-peach protein smoothie to sip on:

 
 1. 6 oz orange juice
2. 1 handful frozen strawberries and peaches
3. 1 large handful spinach
4. 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
5. 2 large spoonfuls plain, low-fat Greek yogurt

I blend mine with an immersion blender because it's easier than putting everything in the regular blender and having to clean the blender! Haha LAZY!

 

So...as I drank my smoothie I got some things organized. Here is what I have so far...

Progress on wall two

Beautiful, accessible, organization

 Cute little corkboards I found when I was cleaning out J's desk!

 Still don't really know what to do with the shipping supplies, but I at least got them somewhat under control.

More to come on this later, but right now I am home alone with J starting a job with his dad this week in Hville. Risky business? Nah. I think I'll just veg-out on the sofa and catch up on Walking Dead! Premiere Sunday Feb 10th!

- A

Bacon gone bad?

Have you ever let a whole package of bacon go bad? Hard to believe, I know, but I have. I think it has to do with having too much food in the refrigerator, bad meal planning skills, or maybe it's just me. 

(Almost Bad Bacon) 

Here's a tip. Next time you have too much bacon on your hands, cook it all! it doesn't take a long time, and you can do "many" things with it. 

(Sizzle, Sizzle) - I love that noise! - But not the grease popping on me! 

1. Put pre-cooked slices in plastic bags and heat up in the microwave for sandwiches or breakfast on-the-go

2. Crumble up and add to your favorite salad, soup and so on. Store in a airtight container in the refrigerator

3. Pour bacon grease into a bowl until it cools, then put in airtight container and freeze for future use on your favorite gumbo recipe! 

Ok, so maybe three doesn't = "many", thus why I put quotations around the word. This is where you come in. What are your favorite things to do with bacon? any other uses besides the ones I came up with? 

Now, I will enjoy my use for this "almost bad bacon"...potato soup! 

Delicioso!

-A