Life gets in the way sometimes...

Wow! It's been over 2 months since I last posted on here!  That's pretty sad...  My only excuse is that I was definitely in a rut during that time and I just got really lazy, especially with things like cooking.  But, I took a week-long vacation in Mississippi to visit my friend Melody and when I came home I felt totally refreshed!  It was exactly what I needed to live each day less tired and more inspired (hey that rhymes!) And with summer coming and my extreme obsession with Pinterest, I feel like I am ready to attempt my mission again.  I've been feeling really crafty lately, so this might be the perfect time to actually TRY some of the crafts on my Pinterest instead of just pinning them.  So here goes my renewed attempt at cooking, baking and crafting for the summer.  Wish me luck!

Sweetly creative

I LOVE sweet potatoes.  It's probably my favorite food that my grandma makes for Thanksgiving, along with everything else that she makes :)  But it never occurred to me that I could eat these beloved vegetables anytime of the year until recently.  Baked sweet potatoes with black beans, cheese and salsa.  So good.  Sweet mashed potatoes.  Amazing.  Candied yams.  Heavenly.  They're all delicious.  But the one way to prepare these little babies for every day meals and my personal favorite?  Sweet potato fries.  These sweet fries have more vitamin A and beta carotene than the traditional french fry, giving you just a few more reasons to eat sweet potato fries without feeling guilty.  


Last week I wanted to bake a sweet potato for dinner because I had nothing else to eat but I discovered that we didn't have anymore foil.  I know that I could have just baked the potato in the oven without foil but I wanted to get creative and try something new.  So I decided to make sweet potato fries :)


The Ingredients

2 pounds sweet potatoes, about 3 large ones
1/4 cup olive or other vegetable oil
1-2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt
1-2 Tbsp spice or spice combination of your choice: chipotle powder, smoked paprika, Chinese five-spice, pumpkin pie spice, garam masala, Cajun seasoning, etc.




The Process

1.  Preheat oven to 450°F. (For more crispiness, preheat your oven to 500°F.)

2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut off the ends. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and then, if they are really long, in half crosswise. Cut each piece into large, even wedges. (Alternately, you can slice the peeled sweet potato into disks either with a mandoline or a sharp knife.)

3 Put the sweet potatoes into a large bowl and add the oil. Mix well to combine. Sprinkle with salt, sugar and spices of your choice. Use your hands to mix well, so all pieces are coated with oil and spices.

4. Spread the sweet potatoes out in a single layer on a baking sheet; the oil they are coated with should keep them from sticking to the pan. (Note: You can also put them on a wire cooling rack on top of a baking sheet, so that the oven air circulates around the sweet potato pieces and you don't have to turn them in the next step. You can also preheat the baking sheet to help the fries get crisp.)

5. Bake for a total of 25 to 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven and turn over all of the sweet potato pieces. Return to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until they are well browned. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Don't they look delicious?!

Recipe from http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/oven_baked_sweet_potato_fries/ 

The Perfect Combination

I live in a house of eight girls. Yes, you read that right. Eight. 8. Ocho. The reason six is afraid of seven.  The number of children Octomom gave birth to at one time. You get the idea.  And with eight girls in one house and various tastes and eating habits, it can be hard to find something that we all like.  But two things that we all like and agree are probably the perfect combination of foods are chocolate and peanut butter.  Whoever invented this magical and delicious combo should deserve some kind of award because chocolate and peanut butter are amazing together! The hints of sweet and salty makes these two ingredients perfect for dessert that most people can enjoy.

Last Wednesday was my roommate Mady's birthday and I wanted to make a dessert for her and all of our roommates and friends to enjoy.  So I looked up an easy recipe for peanut butter and chocolate desserts and this is what I found and modified thanks to http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/tagalong-peanut-butter-parfaits/

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Parfaits

Note: The recipe makes 4 mini parfaits so I doubled everything.

The Ingredients

For the peanut butter mousse
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup plus one tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream

For the cookie/chocolate layers
Vanilla wafers chopped (You can use any type of cookie that you like)
Fudge sauce (store bought or homemade)
1/2 cup heavy cream plus 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), whipped

The Cost

I spent about $12 on the ingredients and I already had peanut butter and vanilla at home. I would have spent less if I had checked my cabinets because we already had powdered sugar... But for $12, I made dessert for 8 to 10 people which is pretty darn good!

The Process

For the peanut butter mousse

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream until thoroughly combined and fluffy; about 3 minutes.

It should look something like this :)

Crush the cookies into small pieces. Smashing them with a rolling pin really helps to let off some steam :)

The Set Up
I set out the ingredients for everyone to make their own dessert and I wanted to use mason jars because I thought it would look nicer than regular cups.  The regular cups were a little bit easier to fill than the mason jars but I will definitely use them for other recipes. It was also really fun to have everyone make their own dessert so that they could be involved and make however much they wanted. Plus, it was less work for me :)

Layering
1. Place a layer of chopped cookies into the bottom of each cup.
2. Pipe or spoon in a layer of peanut butter mousse.
3. Add a layer of chocolate fudge sauce and repeat layers.
4. Top with whipped cream and finish with chopped cookies, sprinkles or other toppings.


The Result
Layers of delicious cookie, peanut butter mouse, fudge and whipped cream all in one tiny cup! SOO good!!!

Enjoy! And you're welcome :)

My Mission

Hey there!  My name is Megan and this is my first blog.  I wanted to start this blog as a challenge for myself to start cooking and baking more.  As a human, I love to eat healthy, delicious food and sweet, chocolatey treats but as a semi-recent college grad with not a lot of time or money, I don't always have a lot of time to cook or bake.  

To me, my idea of cooking is boiling water, tossing in some pasta, and pouring some canned tomato sauce on top.  And baking? Opening up a package of pre-made, pre-cut cookie dough and evenly placing them on a cookie sheet until golden brown.  So that is why I'm starting this blog.  

I'm going to try a new recipe each week that is quick, easy and inexpensive to prepare for when you don't have a lot of extra time or money to spend.  And hopefully I'll be able to learn how to cook... with just a hint of nutmeg :)

Please feel free to post any comments or recipes that you would like me to try. I would love to hear some feedback/encouragement!!