recipe

Recipe: Dirt Dessert

/ aidan, christmas, food, pictures, recipe

When I got Aidan from the airport on Tuesday, there was a yellow Post-It in his blue pre-boarding sleeve. I fished it out and noticed that Aidan had written down a recipe. “It’s Dirt Dessert,” he said. “I want to make it with you. It’s from the book HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS.”

That dream came true last night. So, without further ado, here’s DIRT DESSERT.

Dirt Dessert

ingredients
1 box of chocolate brownie mix
1 can of chocolate frosting
10 chocolate wafer cookies
20 gummy worms

Making Dirt Dessert

directions
make brownies as directed on box
once cooled, frost with the icing
(we used Betty Crocker milk chocolate Whipped)
break the cookies and make “dirt”
(we used chocolate sandwich cookies with chocolate creme)

Making Dirt Dessert

spread the dirt on the frosting, and garnish with gummy worms
(Aidan added green sprinkles to for “grass”)

Making Dirt Dessert

Maybe sneak a gummy worm or two.

Tasting a Worm

ENJOY! Or be afraid. Very, very afraid.

Making Dirt Dessert

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Recipe: No Bake Mac & Cheese

/ food, recipe

I’ve posted this recipe before, but seeing as Christmas is in 9 days, I thought I’d share it again in case you’re looking for a yummy addition to your holiday menu. This recipe is easy, and if *I* can pull it off, then you definitely can!

My Mac and Cheese

ingredients:
– elbow (or whichever shape you prefer) macaroni/pasta
– butter (or margarine or any sort of spread)
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
– shredded sharp cheddar cheese
– shredded mild cheddar cheese
– shredded Mozzarella cheese
– grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
– milk (evaporated is the best, but any will do)

directions:
Boil the macaroni with butter, salt, and oil until desired firmness.
Drain (do not rinse).
Put the macaroni back in the pot, turn on low heat.
Add butter and just enough milk to coat the noodles.
Gradually add cheeses, stirring as you do so.
Once you have desired cheesiness, season to taste.
Because I’ve boiled the noodles with butter and salt,
I usually find that I don’t need to add any more seasonings,
but some might want to put in a dash or two of salt.
It’s totally up to you!

Enjoy! 🙂

5 Comments

Potluck Entry

/ recipe, ronni, sick, Uncategorized

Happy 2008, everyone. I have a feeling this year is going to be amazing for me. 🙂 Let’s see why:

– I’m moving to Chicago
– I’m marrying adamselzer ♥
– Aidan’s 5, the best age EVER
– I have a new computer

It’ll be even better if this sinus pain or stuff would clear up.

Today was a so-so day. Healthwise, I was in the worst pain by far all day. Ibuprofen worked enough to make me very sleepy, but didn’t really knock out the pain. I called my doctor to see if he’d have mercy on me and prescibe me something to help me sleep, but I haven’t heard from him yet. Will try again tomorrow. Cause it gets infinitely worse at night, I don’t sleep, I’m miserable, and I am crap all day at work because of it.

I hope this thing clears away soon. The Psuedovent I am on is supposed to be thinning out this stuff, and making it come out of me, but I swear, things have gotten worse. My ears feel like they are perpetually on fire. And my eyes. People look at me and go “do you have pinkeye?” They’re red and all gunky and just, blah. I’m hoping that means things are draining and moving in there, but we’ll see.

Went to the dentist. That’s always fun. I have to get two fillings. Last time I went and they told me that, the cost was frightening and prohitibitive. This time, it didn’t seem so bad. I should probably get it handled before I move, because who knows how long I’ll have to wait for insurance after then? Other than that, my teeth look good, she said. Yay.

My dentist office is cool. I go to The Gentle Dentist. At my appointment today, I sat in a massage chair, and the hygenist and I chatted about Rachael Ray as the Food Network played above me. I got cherry toothpaste for my tooth polishing.

I think I should probably get my eyes checked too, and maybe get some new glasses. The problem is that my insurance says everything is “discounted.” Nothing is “covered,” actually. I’m a little bit wary, because there is no information about the size of the discount or anything.

newlifeinstpaul has been requesting that I post my recipe for macaroni and cheese, so here goes:

Ronni’s Macaroni & Cheese
elbow macaroni (or whatever shape you prefer)
shredded sharp cheddar cheese
shredded mild cheddar cheese
grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
shredded Mozzarella cheese
2% milk, or evaporated milk
butter
salt
vegetable oil

Boil the macaroni with butter, salt, and oil until desired firmness. Drain. Add the macaroni back to the pot, and turn on low heat. Add butter and milk. Gradually add cheeses, stirring as you do so. Once you have desired cheesiness, season to taste. Enjoy!

Very easy, very yummy.

Hmm. I had some other stuff, but now that the drugs are kicking in, the fuzziness is taking over and I am not quite sure of what that other stuff was. Well, one is that I am reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. So far, it’s delightful.

Lucy’s been awesome lately. She’s so chill these days, and I now LOVE having her in the room with me at night, or anytime I am in here. One of my favorite things to do is to lie on my tummy, and to have Lucy lie on my legs and purr. It’s so relaxing. Now, she’s taking a bath. :O

Brr! Cold! Temps in the teens and low 20s. But tomorrow, things are supposed to warm up again. Yay.

Yesterday was awful, it went SO SLOWLY! Today was a little bit better, except when the ibuprofen made me really sleepy. Tomorrow’s Friday, which means I’ll pop by the library on the way home, and possibly the grocery store to get some wine. Wine is really good at helping me sleep. 🙂 Then, I’m going to enjoy my weekend of nothingness. Well, sort of. I SHOULD take down the Christmas decorations, as Christmas officially ends January 6th, but I probably won’t. We’ll see how I feel. I really want to get better, so I may simply rest.

Speaking of rest, I should try to do that now. The meds are kicking in hardcore now, and I want to lie down. I have to pay a bill first, though.

Till next time!

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Food & Aidan & Spinach & Stuff

/ aidan, food, recipe

I’ve discovered that I kinda like cooking things other than spaghetti or Cream of Wheat and bacon. And now that autumn is rolling in and the oven won’t turn the apartment to 38957495 million degrees, I can get back into baking.

Last night, I made chili, and I made enough for lunch today and for lunch or something another day. I sprinkle LOTS of cheddar cheese and crush Fritos on top of it. Yummy. I had spinach as a side.

It’s getting to the point where spinach is a part of almost every meal I prepare. I crave it like I crave spaghetti, and sometimes I have them both in my meal. It’s so good and so good for me.

Tonight, I cut up a chicken breast and sautéed that, and I also sautéed some spinach, made some mashed potatoes, and some corn. What made me very excited about tonight was this:

Aidan willingly ate vegetables. I mean, corn probably doesn’t really count, but hey, it’s a start, right? He ate almost all his chicken, a great deal of his mashed potatoes, and HE EVEN TRIED THE SPINACH. I had some spinach last week and I could tell he was curious, but not quite ready to try it. Tonight, I reminded him that he loved it when he was a baby, and so he said “pretend I’m a baby” and then he tried a bite. I don’t know if he’ll eat it again, but at least he tried it, right?

Anyway, my “recipe” for sautéed spinach is really not a recipe at all. It’s just a way to cook up some yummy goodness really quickly:

Fresh spinach
a bit of olive oil
water

Coat the bottom of the skillet with a bit of olive oil.
Add in some water.
Add spinach.

Sauté until the leaves are bright green.

ENJOY.

I prefer to use organic baby spinach, but as that’s quite expensive and hard to find, I usually end up buying Popeye bagged spinach. At Marc’s, a bag of mature spinach (http://www.popeyefreshfoods.com) costs about $1.78, and it keeps me happily fed for about a week. If I can’t find bagged, I can find Popeye canned spinach, which is just as good, especially if I get the no salt added can. The only problem is that I eat the entire can in one sitting–that’s three servings!

Bedtime for both of us. G’night.

P.S. Sore arm due to a flu shot from this morning. Eeeek!

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[Recipe] My Spaghetti

/ recipe

Star asked me what’s so dang good about MY spaghetti. This stuff is craved by people all over Ohio. The funny thing is that it’s cheap and easy! So, I decided to post the recipe. Seriously, folks, it’s so simple.

Here goes:

I boil water (duh). When I add the noodles (usually vermicelli or thin spaghetti), I also add in a tablespoon or so of margarine/butter/vegetable spread whatever, about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and some vegetable oil. I let it boil. What this does is flavor the noodles as well as keep them from sticking as much. Still, keep stirring as it boils to your desired tenderness. I like mine just a titch softer than al dente, but it’s up to you.

Drain, do NOT rinse. Or else you’ll rinse off the buttery/salty goodness!

Add Hunt’s tomato sauce (usually 2 of the small cans), parmesan cheese, a bit of garlic powder, and a bit of onion powder. Stir and TA-DA! My cheap and easy spaghetti.

Of course, I like to add an Eckridge hotdog, cut up. Sometimes I like to eat those hard breadsticks with it, or Keebler’s Club crackers.

If you guys try it out or have any questions, let me know! Enjoy!

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