Peer pressure.

Lately I have been doing great pretty good with my healthy eating kick. I stopped buying junk food while out grocery shopping. Traded in Doritos for raw almonds and chocolate for grapes and apples. By not having this stuff in the house I have been forced into either eating healthy, or not eating at all (which we all know is impossible). What I didn't think of at the time was that, although I wasn't purchasing junk food, I still had everything I needed to make my own!

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I spend a lot of time chatting with a group of ladies that I met through TheKnot.com while planning my wedding. We were all June 2011 brides and formed pretty strong bonds during the process. Although many think we are nuts for keeping in touch like we do, Juneville (as we have dubbed it) has been a great support for me and full of inspiration! Hell, the girls on there probably know more about my life than most of my real life friends! Anywho, today our little township was full of junk food talk. What are your favorite junk foods? Who wants me to send them amazing cookies? Which is better, Pepsi or Coke? FYI: The answer is Pepsi. So, I caved into the peer pressure, dug through my over-packed baking cabinet and got out all my supplies. COOKIE TIME!

So, without further ado, I give you the recipe for (what I think) are some of the most amazing cookies ever made. Ever.

Double Chocolate, Double Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter: About 1 cup, a little colder than room temp works best.
• 1¼ cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup peanut butter: I chose chunky because that's what I had plus, I like the added texture.
• ½ cup dark cocoa powder: I used Ghirardelli, unsweetened.
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 6 ounces of peanut butter chips: I'm a snob and use the Reese's ones. About half a bag.
• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips: About ¾ of a bag.

How to:

First off, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease your cookie sheet(s).  Begin by cubing your butter and mixing it with the sugar until fluffy-ish (about a minute or two). Then, one at a time, add your eggs and once they are well blended add in the peanut butter. At this point the mixture will be kind of runny. Next, slowly add in the cocoa powder, followed by the flour, salt and baking powder. Mix at a medium speed for roughly 3 minutes to ensure that all the lumps and such are polished out. Lastly, add your chocolate and peanut butter chips. I definitely recommend mixing these in by hand because, while your mixer will do it, it also kind of destroys the chips as they are smashed up against the side of the bowl.

After you are all blended up, drop the batter by "heaping teaspoons" onto the cookie sheet. Generally my heaping teaspoon was a ½ inch-ish ball. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. When you remove the sheet from the oven, let it sit and cool for 2-3 minutes to let the cookies harden a bit. Otherwise when you try to move them to cooling rack they will just fall apart. Once they are cooled a bit, use a spatula to move the cookies to a cooling rack (Or in my case wax paper since I don't own a cooling rack. How does that happen?!) and you are done!

The recipe makes about 3 dozen very yummy cookies! Which is WAY too many so I recommend having friends come around quite regularly for the next few days because otherwise... That's a LOT of calories.

And, because I haven't mentioned it yet, cookies are NOT part of my zombie apocalypse survival plan. First off, the high calorie count will eventually cause you to gain weight which will inevitably make you run slower. This is a Z.A. no-no. While, in some scenarios, zombies are slow and clumsy (see the old school "Dawn of the Dead" or "Night of the Living Dead") in others they are quick and relatively smart (as in "The Walking Dead" and "28 Days Later"). In event of the latter situation, you definitely need to be quick on your feet and able to run for long distances to avoid having your brain eaten. Second, sugar is good to burn for a quick fuel source, but it doesn't last long. To keep up your energy you are going to need more protein and carbohydrates than a cookie can offer. Thus, I recommend beef jerky and peanut butter.

So, kids, invest in your dehydrators now!

Jumping on the freezer food bandwagon!

Normally, I'm a good wife. I try my beset to have dinner ready, on the table (or at least in the oven) by the time my husband comes home from work in the evening. The last few weeks has made it nearly impossible to do this, however. Juggling class projects, finals, work, job interviews and general life maintenance caused me to be out of the house a good 13-14 hours a day. This meant that I've been arriving home at the same time, or later, than both my husband and my roommate. This experience has taught me 2 very important facts:

1. The men in my house are useless in pretty much all things house related. 
2. If I don't cook, everyone will starve. Literally. They just don't eat. I mean, how hard is it to throw a couple hot dogs on!?

With a normal full time job on the horizon (YAY!) I decided that it would probably be a good idea to prep some easy, man proof meals. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all men are useless in the kitchen. In fact, I know that's not true. I've known many guys that have much more skill than I do in this area. Hell, even my roommate claims to be some sort of master chef who enjoys spending time in the kitchen. This is proven by the fact that he has prepared dinner a total of 3 times since December; two of which involved him ordering pizza. With mushrooms which I'm allergic to and can't eat. WIN!

So, in order to possibly remedy this situation I've decided to join in the new freezer meal fad! I figured that worse case scenario, I can start my day by tossing a bag of whatever into the crock pot and be on my merry way. At least then I will get to eat legitimate food rather than Taco Bell, Dominoes or, my personal favorite, beer. I started out small by prepping 5 different meals, each of which will probably have a day or so of left overs. So, technically, my prepped meals should feed us dinner for at least a week. If this goes well (meaning if the guys are able to comprehend this advanced concept) then I'm considering shopping and planning 2 weeks at a time. A week at a time seems too time consuming and I don't think my freezer is big enough for a month. Also, you have to keep in mind that freezer meals will be somewhat useless during the zombie apocalypse. Once the power goes out all of your food will go bad so you don't want to prep too far in advance or you'll just ruin a bunch of food. We can't have that now can we?

Part of the aftermath to my Costco shopping spree.

Here is the cliff's note version: I created 5 main courses to put in the freezer and save for days when I am unable to be home to make dinner. The reason I only did main courses is that my crock pot is actually really small. Much smaller than I would like it to be. If this experiment goes well then I'm going to invest in a larger one. I found an AWESOME deal on a clearance one that I've been tempted to pick up every time I go into work. I also invested in some really good Ziploc brand bags, rather than the cheapy ones I usually pick up from the dollar store. I figured I'd better be safe than sorry. On each bag I used a Sharpie to write what the meal was, how long to put it in the oven/crock pot and at what temperature, and a recommended side. I highly doubt the boys will be able to handle making a side, but it doesn't hurt to try! In each bag I put all the vegetables, meat, spices and broth needed for the meal. The only thing they need to add is a bit of water if the pot starts getting low. Hopefully that won't be necessary but I had to add it on the bags just in case. You pretty much have to spell out every.single.step involved in the processes or something will blow up. And if they blow up my crock pot I'm going to be pissed.

The meals (Just a heads up, I used a lot of chicken. Mainly because it was on sale...):

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken:

 

Ingredients: 

•  I used 3 thighs and 3 drumsticks, but that will vary depending on how many people you're cooking for. 
• 2 cups of BBQ sauce, which ended up being about 1/2 a bottle. I used sweet and spicy.  =)
• 3 small white onions, diced. 
• 3 Tbs. minced garlic. There's a chance I may have added more than that. I LOVE garlic. 
• 2 small tomatoes, cut however the heck you like really. I just sliced them up. 
• 3 tsp. hot sauce, for a little bit of zest. 
• Salt and pepper to taste.     

How to:

Easy enough. Just pour the bag into the crock pot with 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for about 6. Ish. I recommend pairing this with mashed potatoes. That is probably because I'm obsessed with mashed potatoes...

Crock Pot Chicken Marinara:

 

Ingredients:

• Again, I used 3 thighs and 3 legs. Because I'm awesome like that. And I like symmetry.
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. Or more... I'm unhealthy. 
• 1 jar of marinara sauce. I used the store-bought stuff but that meant I had to add more spices.
• 1 Tbs. oregano
• 1 Tbs. basil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 diced tomatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to:

Pretty much the same as above. Put the contents of the bag into the crock pot with 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for about 6. I bought a few loaves of garlic bread to put in the freezer and cook as needed. 

Crock Pot Lemon-Herb Chicken and Asparagus:

 

Ingredients:

• Once again, 3 chicken thighs and 3 legs.
• 1 bunch of asparagus, which is about 6-7 stalks. Can you measure asparagus in stalks?
• 3 small tomatoes
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 Tbs. basil
• 1 Tbs. oregano
• 1 Tbs. minced onion
• 2 Tbs. minced garlic
• 1/2 Tbs. celery seed (crushed, whole... doesn't really matter)
• Salt and pepper to taste. I like a decent amount of pepper with this recipe. 

How to:

Same old, same old. Pour the contents of the back into the crock pot with about 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-ish. I'm a big fan of steamed rice with this meal. White or brown. 

Crock Pot Pot Roast:

 

Ingredients: 

• 3 to 3 1/2 pound beef pot roast
• 1 pkg brown gravy mix
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 cups sliced baby carrots
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup diced green peppers
• 3 Tbs. minced garlic
• 1/2 can beef broth
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to:

Add bag contents to the crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 6-7. Sauce should thicken as it cooks, but if it doesn't add 1-2 Tbs. of flour and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. I really like cooking this with diced, roasted potatoes with garlic olive oil and rosemary. 

And, lastly, Baked Italian Seasoned Chicken with Veggies:

 

Ingredients: 

• 6 thighs and 6 legs. Gotcha didn't I? My baking pans are bigger than my crock pot. lol
• 5 Tbs. Italian Seasoning (basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, sage and thyme)
• 3 Tbs. minced garlic
• 1 large green pepper
• 1 large red pepper
• 3 small tomatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to: 

Put contents of the Ziploc into a 13"x9" baking dish and cook for about 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Really any kind of pasta is great with this. Then again... I love carbs. A lot. 

That was it for my first attempt. I'll let you know if it was a massive success or not. Or, even somewhat of a success. I'll take whatever I can get at this point in time. There are still a ton more non-chicken meals that I'm looking forward to trying, but the next crock pot meal will definitely be loaded baked potato soup. Oh man that sounds amazing!




Until next time folks!

Dog park drama.

Lately, my evenings have been ending with the dog park. As much as I'd rather it not. My goal on most days is to arrive at the park before 3pm and get the heck out of there before 4:30. "Why" you ask? Because (as my title alludes) the dog park is drama. More drama than you would anticipate from a place where puppies go to play, but the last month or so that's pretty much all it has been. One of my dog park buddies and I have decided we're going to submit the show idea to that TrueTV channel. They have reality shows on pretty much everything anyway! So, I figured I would give you folks a sneak peak at our first episode of "Bradshaw Brawls." Or "Dog Wars." Or... something better.

We open the show with Lucy, a tiny silkie terrier. Her owner Angela brings her to the park everyday, but little do they know that today they will find themselves in the middle of a Bradshaw brawl. Dun dun duuunnnnn.... (I'm pretty much awesome at the intros).

Lucy found a playmate in a snobby little poodle. By playmate I mean she followed him around the park in circles because that's what the little dogs do. Suddenly, poodle dog snaps and a flurry of fur ensues! For like a second and a half. The two dogs separate and poodle boys owner is hysterical claiming that her dog was bitten. Granted no one knows for sure since she refused to let anyone check the pup out (suspicious much?).
So, what is the most logical way to handle this totally common situation? Well obviously poodle boy's mom should threaten to pepper spray Angela because, you know, that's how we roll out here in Sacramento. But wait! She does better than threaten, she sprays! She eliminated the threat of the 50 year old women with the 5 pound dog.
Police arrived on scene and thus ended this portion of BRADSHAW BRAWLS!!!!!

I'm making this episode short and sweet, mainly because I have to head out to class to take a final. But I think you get the idea. Basically, people are freaking NUTS! I have a ton of other stories but, sadly, you will have to wait until the next episode.

However, if you have any name suggestions for this segment they would be greatly appreciated! I will give you creative credit when our shows airs on TrueTV and becomes wildly successful prompting T-shirt and DVD sales. I imagine the shirts will look something like this:

So, until next time!