FALAFEL...you know you want it.

Seriously one of my best finds yet. Falafel can be found at one of my favorite little spots here in Fayetteville, Petra. So, I found this recipe and am in LOVE. A seriously easy easy easy way to make this falafel in a crock pot. That's right....crock pot.  I got the recipe from this girl who does all her meals on the crock pot.  Here's her blog with the falafel recipe.  Here is the printable recipe.  

The falafel ingredients

MY AWESOME NEW CAN OPENER. I'm so easily amused.  

Smash the garbanzo beans like mashed potatoes. 

All of the spices, egg, onion, lemon---blended together.  

Ingredients:

- 1 15oz can garbanzo beans (chick peas)

- 1/2 onion, chopped

-1 T dried parsley

- 2 cloves minced garlic

- 1 egg

- 1 t kosher salt

- 1/4 t black pepper

- 2 t ground cumin

- 1 t ground coriander

- 1/4 t cayenne pepper

- juice from 1 lemon

- 1/2 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs 

- 2 T olive oil (for the bottom of your crock)

Directions: Set your crock pot on high. Pour about 2 Tablespoons of oil in the crockpot.  Drain garbanzo beans into a bowl.  I used my potato masher ---mashed the beans  until all the beans are completely mashed.  Set those aside. Then put all those spices, onions, egg and onion into the blender.  Blend that all up. Pout that mixture onto the beans.  Add in the bread crumbs.   Make little patties and place them into crockpot.  Let the patties turn to perfect falafel babies in your crock pot on high for about 3.5- 4 hours. 

And in other news........

Natalie's niece, Elynn. How stinking cute. I had to share this.   

Zeus and our new dog, Ella.  She's a hoot. 

Brown Sugar Blondies! Wait...what?

I started my internship earlier this month and I thought I should bring something sweet for the first day. I think that is a southern girl problem....thinking that I must arrive with some food or else I will be banished for good.  Anywho...I made these blondies with chocolate chips and they were a HIT! *applause. applause.* I got the recipe from this gal of Baked Perfection. This is no healthy recipe- shocking, I know. Here is the printable recipe! 

Brown Sugar Blondies

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup to 1 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.Melt 1/3 cup butter. Add 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar and mix well. Cool slightly. Add egg (beaten) and vanilla and blend well. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well. Spread in 9 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Sprinkle 1/3 to 2/3 cup chocolate chips on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

YAY, BUTTA! That's right, a whole stick of butter. 

Flour, sugar, etc. By the way...I love this turquoise bowl. 

Get ready for a blondie!!

I feel somewhat accomplished when I see this.
Kind of like "Yeah...I must have done something to get these dirty dishes." 

Anger management

My awesome friend, Lisa (owner of Fayetteville Pilates and Barre), asked me the other day why I bake and cook so much. Besides the obvious - in a British accent - "Oh, darling, don't you know I am a single, 20-something girl who lives by herself? It makes sense!" I responded that I just have a lot of time. Which- don't get me wrong. I am taking like a ridiculously light load of classes for my last semester. 

I don't know my exact reasoning for how much baking/cooking I have done in the last months.  But, I have a pretty good guess.  I think it is how I have been able to handle the changes in my life. I think it is what I do when I get upset about Sammy. (wow....I haven't said that in a while) 

Being in the kitchen...it distracts me. It leads me to prayer. A lot. I find myself browning some meat, or dicing and onion and breaking into song and prayer. Some of that may just be that I do, once again, live alone and can sing and run around naked if I want.  Baking makes me feel like I can be domestic. Which-if you know me- isn't something I necessarily dreamed about as a child. Being in my 5x7 kitchen (okay, I'm really bad with measurements but I do know that is a picture frame size. Which, yes, is how small my kitchen is) is an outlet. Being in my kitchen is an outlet for my anger. Well...that only took me half a page to get out the truth. I've been to confession a lot lately, #catholicgirlproblems, because I am just plain ol' mad sometimes. Have you seen "Diary of a Mad Black Woman?" The main character says my feelings perfectly.  "I'm not bitter. I'm mad as hell."  Wait, rephrase.  I was bitter. Then I was mad. Now, I just am disappointed.  And hurt. (I get nauseated- literally today I had to sit down- when I see a picture on facebook of my ex and his girlfriend.) Oh, hell. I'm still mad. But, I think I take that anger out on my cutting board. On my cast iron skillet. I brown those onions to the best of my ability. I make sure the noodles are cooked "al dente." I have made more peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in the last month than you would think possible. 

After my parents got divorced, I went to counseling. Duh, everyone and their mom goes to counseling- I highly recommend it (as in I know what marriage counselor I will use one day. NO, not you, Dr. Phil.) But, apparently at the young age of 5, I had a lot of anger. At this point, if you are still reading, you're thinking "I didn't need to know all of this about you, homegirl.  Like, I would scratch walls and yell kind of anger problems.  I wasn't necessarily violent. So, I colored pictures of how I felt. And now my sweet, sweet mother has these chicken scratch drawings framed. So, yes. Having an outlet for my emotions is a good thing. 

Let's get some things clear: I do not have anger management problems. Instead, I cook. I didn't say I eat a hell of a lot of the food I make, but I try to not let it go to waste.  I bake. I make bran muffins. Whatever I can find....so that is all for now.  

Cream Corn Potato Soup...low cal!

One word: easy and delicious. Okay, that was two.  This soup was easy for a couple reasons.  I actually took my moms advice and had all the ingredients ready before hand so I just had to throw 'em all in the pan. Why didn't I do this before? I chopped the onion and potato and measured out the rest of the ingredients, too. I have a ton of this soup left over, but I figure it will get better with time seeing as it has a ton of spices that will soak into the potatoes and such.  Here is the printable version.  It is also called corn chowder.  


1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
2 large onions, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced- I added yellow and orange for color.  I would add more spice, possibly
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 bay leaf
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 potato, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 12-ounce can nonfat evaporated milk
Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
Pinch cayenne pepper
You can add some 


 Heat oil in a large heavy saucepan over low heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add celery, bell pepper, garlic and cumin; cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add corn and potatoes, return to a simmer and cook until all the vegetables are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Place cornstarch in a small bowl, slowly add evaporated milk, stirring until smooth. Stir into the soup and return to a simmer. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne.

Let's be honest. I didn't follow any of the directions for boiling, covering, etc. I like spice, so I added cayenne and pepper to the end soup.  It will be really good, though, for cold nights to come! If you are a fan of the corn cream soup at Chili's (I FREAKING LOVE THAT SOUP), it  has more calories but I do hope to make it soon and post! 

Boys cook? LIke, a real meal?

Seeing as how I was out of money and out of time, I told Kevin and Adam I would make them dinner.  Little did I know...how LITTLE these boys knew about the kitchen. Which was awesome, seriously, because I got to really refine my own cooking skills.  The chosen meal was the Pioneer Woman's Calzone! This is from her recipe book, and I can't find it on her blog! #frustrated.  Here is another blog with it, though. The recipe calls for making your own pizza crust...I kinda skipped that step and just bought a pillsbury crust.  Tasted marvelous.  

Here is the printable version! 

Cowboy Calzone

1/2 lb. breakfast sausage (I used spicy!)

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 onion, finely diced

1 – 8 oz. can tomatoes and chilies (Rotel brand)

8 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese

1/2 C grated mozzarella cheese

1/2 C grated Monterey Jack cheese

1 egg, beaten

salt and black pepper

1 recipe pizza crust (1/2 of above recipe)

olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large skillet - I prefer the cast iron as usual- combine the sausage and hamburger with the onion.  Brown and drain off extra grease.  Pour in the tomatoes and chilies. Stir to combine, and cook for 2 minutes on medium.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.  While meat is cooling, combine the three cheeses and the egg.  Add a dash of salt and pepper. Add the cooled meat mixture to the cheese mixture and stir to gently combine.  Rub some oil on the pan you plan to cook the calzones on. Spread the pizza crust onto another platter or pan with flour spread on it. This part is really all based on how much dough you want on your calzone. I like a lot of calzone and a medium amount of meat.  So roll the dough onto the floured pan, then put your desired amount of meat onto the dough. Roll like a tootsie roll. No,  but really roll the meat into the calzone like you would roll a crescent roll. Put onto the pan and brush oil onto the top. Pop into the oven until desired brown-ness.  12-15 min is when you should really start to pay attention. 

Kevin, aka, marvelous onion cutter. He didn't even cry!

Mixing the batter for the meat... 

Adam made oreo balls...they were delicious! He was super inent on crushing  

Mixing the ricotta cheese with the meat....FYI, don't eat ricotta cheese by itself. It. is. gross. 

Making the dessert! So proud!

My new favorite drink....gin and tonic with lime. Not just any gin, sapphire gin. 

Kevin approved! 

A knock off of Emeril Lagasse Pasta

Mom's best friend, Melissa Beatty, is the best cook. And the best acupuncturist.  If you've never tried acupuncture and you have headaches, terrible migraines or just endless pain, you should really look into it.  It does NOT hurt. In other news....Melissa made this great pasta one night for a dinner party. IT IS NOM NOM. We had a little dinner get together on Saturday with the Katie's. Or as Mom likes to call them...Katie 1 and Katie 2.  This is labeled an "easy" recipe...which it isn't difficult, it's just not easy. Here it goes...

This is the printable version :) Pasta Recipe!

The recipe is pretty much like Emeril Lagasse's Crawfish and Cream over pasta dish. But with some changes- like chicken instead of crawfish. Don't get me wrong, shrimp or crawfish would be excellent with this.  The biggest ingredient in this whole thing is Emeril's essence which you can probably buy pre-made, but I made it with the below spices.  The seasoning mix is also referred to as bayou blast.  

Emeril's essence recipe:

• 2.5 T paprika
•  2 T salt
• 2 T garlic powder
• 1 T black pepper
• 1 T onion powder
•  1 T cayenne pepper
• 1 T dried oregano 
• 1 T dried thyme 

For the dish, you will need: 

• 1 lb chicken
• 1 lb fettuccine
• 2 T olive oil
• 6 T butter
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion- I highly recommend getting the already chopped onions- saves time and tears. :) 
• 2 T minced garline
• 2 t emeril essence- recipe above
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t cayenne 
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream 
• 1 T lemon juice

First, put about two T butter 2 T oil in a pan and put stove on medium.   Put about 1/4 cup or more (just a heaping amount) into a bowl and layer the chicken with the emeril's essence seasoning.  Then put the chicken breasts into the pan, cook until done.  It's a personal decision for how you want the chicken to look- I like mine a medium brown. Put the chicken aside.  Cook pasta in large pot of boiling water until al dente for about 8 minutes. Drain and reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Return pasta to the pot and toss the olive oil and the cooking liquid into the pot.  Cover to keep warm and set aside.  In a large pan- I used my cast iron skillet and it worked perfectly.  Melt the butter over medium high heat.  Add onions, and cook for about 6 minutes.  Add the 2 t of emeril essence, garlic, salt and cayenne, cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until the wine is evaporated.  Add the cream and lemon juice and cook for about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let sit for another 5 mintes, stirring occasionally.  Add the sauce to the pasta. Stir so sauce is covering noodles.  Now, add chicken.  I just cut my cooked chicken into thin strips.  Toss it and you're good to go! 

The spices to make Emeri's Essence 

The goods. 

Once you make the seasoning, you lightly coat the chicken with the seasoning then put it in a skillet.  

Seeing as how you only need 1/4 cup of white wine, this bota box of chardonnay works well. 

NOM! WINNER! 

Schuett gave it a thumbs up! Find her funny blog here!

EASY sweet and salty cookies.

If you're wanting to get a girl a good present for any occasion...get her a subscription to REAL SIMPLE.  Fact, it is the best thing ever.  I made one of the recipes from the December issue this week. Flourless Peanut butter cookies.  But! I added in toffee and pretzels.  YUM YUM!  This is the peanut butter cookies for dummies recipe. RS adds in instructions for parchment, to rotate the baking sheets....blah blah blah. That takes time, watching the cookies in the oven, which I am not up for this week. Or ever.  

2 cups creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar (I didn't add this in the first time I made the cookies)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

a PINCH of salt.  

a couple of heath bars

pretzels, any kind will do. I used stick thin ones.

Heat oven to 350, butter those pans (pam will do).  Put all the heath bars and about a cup of pretzels in a bowl. Mash with a potato masher- wait- don't do that. That is what I used. But, hey, it worked! So yes, use a potato masher and mash the heath bar and pretzels together.  In small pieces - these will be placed n the cookie mix. Set aside. 

In another bowl, mix together the peanut butter, sugars, eggs, baking soda, and salt until smooth.  I used a mixer, much easier.  

You will then add the pretzel and heath bars in the peanut butter mix.  Mix with a spoon, or mixer, either way is fine just so heath bars and pretzels are evenly in the mix.  Roll the dough into small balls. Put onto the pans! Put in oven! I kept the cookies in for about 15 min, but I let the cookies cool out of the oven after about 10 min. Everyone loves a soft cookie. 

The sweet and salty ingredients

Heath Toffee bars crushed.

PB MIx with the toffee and pretzels added. Looks gross, I know.

Bun in the oven. More like cookies in the oven. 

yum yums 

When the cookies start to break like this is when I pull them out to cool. 

A messy kitchen is a good kitchen.  

Finished product. 

Don't make these for diabetics...too much salt and sugar. 

Enjoy! 

Cooking, my new passion

Living alone has so many perks. It also has its downs. One of which occurs in the kitchen.  It is so hard to cook for one person! All the single ladies living alone out there hear me. For instance, this weekend at the farmers market I only wanted one cucumber & one tomato because if I get a whole basket full, the veggies go bad- and go bad quick.  The sweet farmers took pity on the single girl living alone and gave them to me for free, but I couldn't do that so I gave them the change I did have.   


Although I definitely have the junk in the trunk to prove I never go hungry, it is hard to consume a gallon of milk, a whole bag of potatoes, an entire salad mix...the list goes on and on.  I'm not complaining, I love love love   living on my own.  I especially love cooking in my sweet little kitchen.  I made some nutella cookies the other day from this blog.  So stinkin' yummy.  I took them to UATV and was critical of my dessert, but soon realized the cookies were delicious.  However, I ate the leftovers on top of ice cream (sinful) and stepped on the scale.  Cringed. I would choose chocolate over a run any day. 

*For those that don't know what nutella is...run to the peanut butter aisle and shove your head in a jar

I used a knife to mix in the nutella, but you can use any sharp object: toothpick, husk teeth.  

First two rows are batter mixed with nutella.

Licked it clean!

Vanilla: I've started adding it to pancakes.
 It is a totally essential ingredient to have in your spice cabinet.  

In other news....Madalyn's wedding is a month away.  Pictures from her bachelorette party are soon to come in the next post! 

Sweet Saturday

It is so nice to have a relaxing Saturday!


 Yesterday I made a really great banana ice cream from scratch! Was so very proud of myself.  My PapaJoe made banana ice cream all the time during the hot summers at the lake. He used a wooden ice cream maker and it was a staple of 4th of July.  I can just hear the sound of the handles churning away outside my grandparents lake house...it was what I looked forward to at the end of every school year.  Although I used my Cuisinart ice cream maker, I think PapaJoe  is still impressed.  Katie is going to try some tonight...I'll post about that on Sunday! 

Starting to thicken...

Yummy!

Katie and I went to the Farmers Market, another one of the precious moments every Saturday.  Saw my good friend Glenn from Mason Creek farm; they have the best, organic meat! Here is their site.  I did my final package for TV 2 on the flood that had a tremendous impact on their farm.  It was devastating.  The package wasn't my best...I just got off my IV steroid treatment for an MS flare up, but I was proud to tell their story.  


Painting the UATV studio today! Here are some of the colors we are looking to use! 

Wedding season never ends.

Katie and I have come to the conclusion that engagements are at an all time high right now. Maybe it's the fact that we are 22 and living in Arkansas? Or maybe it's just the fact that we are growing up. See, I didn't say growing OLD. 22 is a great age, but no one really writes about it. There are many a love story regarding twenty somethings and their one night stands. I take back the idea of that being called a "love story." It's not.

22 is the time after college and right before you get married. Or so, that's what society thinks. Now, 22 is the time for women and men to learn and grown; to find what makes their hair stand on edge. And if that happens to be the man and woman you love, then go for it! But personally, I don't know how to keep within my own budget on groceries-seriously, I spend hours just walking up and down aisles, preferably the cereal one- so I can't imagine bringing someone else into that adventure.

Do I sound like Betty Friedan yet?

My sister is going to be the most beautiful bride. We checked out music this weekend for the wedding! Mom is definitely going to need a Xanax, I'm going to need some serious waterproof mascara and a terrible amount of powder. Fun fact: I'm a real ugly crier. Maybe I should put that on my resume? Definitely not, but should tell all that ask me to be in their wedding, that this whole crying this is unavoidable. This last week we did cupcake testing. Since Madalyn's wedding is in November, we tried a variety of flavors, especially fall tasting ones. Although the weather has been so nice lately, I am ready for fall. J Crew is as well...bad combination. Below are just a few of the shots I took from the tasting, which we held in our own little dining room!

The remains....

Mom made the bride wear her wedding cake headband.

Not so sure about that flavor.

Maybe this one?

She's gettin' hitched!