Valentines Day Par-Tay

I’m not hungover anymore! yay! But im pissed about all this friggin snow. Spring where the hell are you?
So my Valentine’s Day party was amazingly fun! I started the day with a loving mug of hot cocoa.
I’m getting good usage from my Valentines Day Pressie!

My biggest mistake was taking these babies out when my guests arrived… My heartmallow supply is starting to dwindle. Sad Panda.

Had a really quick Breakfast because I had a lot of prep and cleaning to do before the party peeps started to arrive. I love entertaining guests- it gives me a reason to mop my floors a million times.

On the menu pizza rolls, lasagna, turkey meatballs, garlic cheddar drop biscuits, chips and not pictured sausage dip (aka mommy crack). The sauce for the lasagna was cooked the night before. I like to simmer my sauce with the meatballs for about an hour. My first mistake was when I decided to assemble the lasagna the night before- I usually know better than this but I was eager to prepare so i can enjoy the party as much as possible.

Pizza rolls were the first to go. And the Cheddar biscuits were pretty damn good, if i may say so.

The lasagna, in my opinion was edible but it was not Stellar. The sauce was spot on….theres nothing like homemade sauce. But assembling it while everything was still hot and then refrigerating encouraged the noodles to suck up the sauce. The lasagna lost alot of its volume and pretty much looked like noodles glued together. Not my best lasagna but my guests might be too polite to say so. They ate it and were happy. Love you guys for that!

I invited 5 people, and a few people brought someone along. So My guest number was about 10 ppl. I love having company. And almost everyone bought some wine. We killed 2 JUGS of Sangria and 5 bottles of wine. One thing I dislike about red wine is the purple lips. Maybe I dont drink it right but if I have more than 2 glasses, my lips, teeth and tongue turn purple. Not the best thing when you are socializing. Good thing there were no potential boyfs around!

Heres some of the group looking at which karaoke songs they wanted to sing. We managed to sing about 3 songs but everyone was running their mouth (which is a good thing!) but at some point they really wanted to chat instead of sing. My lovely Mickey took the moment to command the attention of everyone in the room when she entered the center of our conversation circle and proceeded to squat and pee on my hardwood floor. I picked her up and put her in her room for about an hour. We played some Catch Phrase where I kept shouting Lady Gaga and then teapot… and we tied up the game. We took an indefinite break because someone came out of her room and people wanted to score some sausage dip.

Ariel is holding a very confused Mickey. Sorry Ariel! it was the only photo where you and Mickey didnt have reflective eyes (isnt Ariel Adorable? I think she looks like Snow White…but her nickname is T.I. )

Minaal was holding Mickey for a while too. this is how Mickey likes to sit in this chair. We sit together watching tv while i rub her belly. Behind Minaal is the sausage dip… clearly Mickey wanted in on the action! And I just realized… Mickey with Min-nie… not quite minnie but close enough!

I got a Valentines Day Present too! A Hugh Jass chocolate bar!

About half of this remains in my fridge.

I had a great Valentines Day Party! I got pretty sauced too… and as you already know woke up with a raging hangover.

Truffles! I made Truffles!

Before you get all Drooly on me… on my way to work I noticed several BRIDES with postcards. They were working for Sun Crystals and handing out recipes using sun crystals… and giving out free cupcakes and cookies. Momma told me never take candy from strangers but she never mentioned cookies. I took a cookie. I tasted it. I thought it was the most revolting thing ever made with fake sugar. And whats with the design? Looks like a cookie with little frosting “pee-pees” on it.
Anyway, with my cake carrier in tow I tossed the lame as penis cookie and presented this to my buddy Rose.

It’s a 3 layer devils food cake with vanilla frosting. Due to time constaints I made a box variety but the heart and effort was still there! i wish i had a chance to photograph the innards but it was gone really quickly. this was my first time making a 3 layer and i have to say its quite pretty on the inside. When one makes a 3 layer though, they end up shaving a lot of cake to make it all pretty and stuff! I thought ahead because there was another birthday the following day so i had plans for the cake shavings!

TRUFFLES! Cake truffles to be exact. This is a great way to use up leftover cake.

Crumble cake scraps into a large bowl with some frosting. Mix it up really good until it looks like mush.

Roll cake stuff into bite size balls…

and place them on a cookie sheet that is lined with wax paper. Place the bite size balls in the freezer for about an hour…or if you’re me put them in the fridge for a day.

On day two set up a double boiler or a pot of simmering water with a heat safe bowl on top.

fill with chocolate chips of your choice. I used semi sweet chocolate with a drop of cream in it to loosen it up.

stir till melted. The next step is not shown because my assistant had to go… but take the cake balls and roll them in the melted chocolate till fully coated. Use a fork to scoop the new TRUFFLE out of the chocolate and tap off excess chocolate- then place back on the cookie sheet.

This was my first time doing this so it was a bit messy- but in my opinion if it tastes good- its okay to be a lil messy… right? refrigerate.

Decorate if you wish. Birthday Girl’s fav color is green.. so green it was. Serve cold. Otherwise they melt and look like poopie.

Oh, the verdict? DEEELISH! they did not taste like cake- they were rich and fudgey and totally worth all the time! Not expensive to make either so if anyone is looking to make a fancy treat- here it is!

Its Griddler Pan Time!

I’m Whipping out the Appliances these days to get my cook on. Lucky you.

Saturday mornings are my “Nice Breakfast Days” and I really enjoy taking time in the kitchen to cook a nice meal after a nice long walk with Mickey. Today I was craving some pancakes. And I was craving them even more when I discovered a bag of chocolate chips begging to be battered… pancake battered. I got my dry ingredients all ready, I was heavily involved in a recipe I stole from Smitten Kitchen (LOVE THIS BLOG!) and just managed to take a pic of my flour only. sorry.

I spooned 1/4 cups full of batter onto my griddle and sprinkled the chocolate chips all over their faces; politely of course. I waited a few minutes for them to bubble up and then I flipped them. My Sous Chef, Mickey, stayed close but fell asleep on the job… She was working for crumbs but never got any… Which made it difficult to flip pancakes…

But I did my best. I put one of its ugly side to illustrate that next time I make chocolate chip pancakes, the chips will be in the batter first.

They were extremly tasty but I would have liked them to melt more (some were too metly and got crispy). I hate burnt pancakes so I made some notes for next time. I might use mini chips since they can take the heat… and they might even distribute nicer? whatevs.

Hi, I’m allergic to trees

Hey ya’ll! Boy, is it hot today!
I woke up with itchy eyes, a runny nose, and a sore thoat. The culprit: TREES! I am allergic to tree pollen…and grass pollen but mostly tree pollen. Where do I live? Surrounded by trees. Where do i walk my dog? In Forest Park. FOR-EST = TREES.
Is the allergy medicine working? hell no.
So my itchy runny sneezy self seeks comfort.
last night i remembered a european chocolate yogurt someone gave me from trader joes and i loved it. I had some plain yogurt in the fridge and chocolate syrup…
I mixed it all together.And created my chocolate yogurt. I used the plain yogurt because of all the sweetness from the chocolate. It wasnt too sweet and definitely satisfied a sweet tooth. However, i ate with my eyes and there is more than half of this bowl sitting in my fridge right now (but at least its healthy).I went to Dunkin Donuts this morning on a mission for iced coffee (as I sip my 2nd iced coffee of the day) and saw in the window that they have a new sammie. Egg white and cheese on an english muffin. I used to order that (back when i was rich) every morning from the deli before work. It was a great deal and it was pretty damn tasty. I shall be ordering it again.

Yesterday, i raved about my Dr. Praeger Burgers and I made one for todays lunch. This is a shot from last nights dinner but I made two, one for dinner and one for lunch. I added goat cheese to the mix and it was fantabulous. Alongside these babies are some BBQ popchips. I wanted polenta fries but didnt feel like slicing, grilling, waiting, etc. Chips did a good job! At lunch though, I munched on carrot sticks.

For dessert, I indulged in a square of my truffle cake chocolate bar. This was a great gift from my coworkers. One square is rich and delicious and is a total treat. I am almost done with the bar and am savoring every last bit.

And around 3 pm i was craving some yogurt and granola….so I had some! It was supposed to be my breakfast but that egg white and cheese sammie sounded more appealing. I used plain fat free greek yogurt, honey and a crumbled granola bar and had a party in my tummy. Sometimes (i said SOMETIMES), you have to listen to what your body is craving -it will prevent you from going overboard.

I dont have any plans for dinner but think I might open up my new Dr. Praegers TEX MEX burgers to bring for lunch tomorrow!

Mail Call!

I got home last night a lil bleary eyed but I managed to see there was a foodie type of package with my name on it.
Looks edible… Oh the brownie bowls I will have! As much as I nibbled on at the party, being buzzed makes me munch mindlessly…And I picked a good one. SCORE! its like the best part of the muffin… the top! very smart.
This one is bigger than my TV! thats insane!
Correction: the photo above is insane. It might be me having a giggle over chocolate. Don’t act like its just me people…
In the kitchen was this big ugly brown paper bag. I think Brown Paper bags are so ugly! I dont know why i hate them so much… but inside was mexican that my roommate ordered oodles of and kindly saved me some. He doesnt get to feed me often so I let him hook up some chicken and steak fajitas. they got some guac love, sour cream, refried frijoles, and hot sauce… oh dont forget the meat! Plopped everything onto the wrap and nuked it for 1 minute. I should have whipped out the George Foreman and grilled these suckers. But I decided this was fine. My verdict: Not authentic Mexican. But it was edible and extremly kind of Roomie to feed me (since I feed him a lot) and I was grateful….Not so snobbish now am I?