Bake Therapy

Bake therapy.  The amount of eggs that have flown in and out of this kitchen in the last weeks, insane amounts of butter, flour and sugar: bake therapy has overtaken my life.  I think at this point it might actually be economical to get some chickens and turn hipster.  I already have flannel shirts, it could work for me.  My cousin's chickens lay 4 eggs a day.  Thats enough for two batches of cookies a day or a batch of Shawn Taylor's favorite brownies.

Bake therapy is my go-to in times of stress.  Last Sunday? My friend Danielle invited me to bake and within 3 hours, we had made gooey chocolate cookies, carrot cake cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and banana chocolate chip muffins.  She didn't know what to do with me. Yesterday? 3 hours resulted in caramel apple spice cookies, cranberry salsa, prepping a pumpkin pie baked oatmeal and sweet potato crisps. 

I have been looking for any and every excuse to bake recently.  So I love the fact that it is Thanksgiving and there are lots of willing recipients of delicious fall treats.  So, what do I do? I invite all of my friends over for Friendsgiving on Sunday.  There will definitely be a repeat event next year.  I decided to take a break from my massive baking sessions and spent the last week pouring over recipe books and food blogs to make the perfect meal.  Theme: Southwestern Thanksgiving.  Challenge: Take all of the ingredients of thanksgiving and give them a southwestern twist.

It all started with the one recipe I failed to document, turkey cranberry quesadillas. I can't even tell you about how they tasted but I can tell you that people were delightfully surprised. You all will have left overs.  Make these.

Next? On to the carrots.  Chili Roasted Carrots.  Yeah. They were delish.  Had the leftovers today for lunch.  I still vote delish.

The mashed potatos were by far the hardest recipe to choose.  Turns out people like mashed potatos and adding lots of crazy stuff to them.  I guess it is the land of meat and potato lovers.  And I guess I shouldn't really be shocked since people are even doing things like adding bacon to milkshakes.  Chipotle roasted corn mashed potatos won the recipe battle.  Buuuut I am confessing here that I added sour cream to the recipe.  I also confess that I do not feel guilty because I didn't eat any.  I often make dishes with all the bells, whistles and extra calories when I know it is a recipe I won't eat.  So, sour cream happened. And now you know, for my friends? I don't cut calories.  You are worth every one of them. 

So with all of these trial recipes (which I question now why I didn't throw in an old faithful to make sure I at least had one good thing to eat at my Friendsgiving), this recipe was my favorite.  Squash Stuffed Roasted Poblano Peppers. Oh. Wow. They were delicious.  This will definitely be a repeat recipe.

Green beans are traditional at any Thanksgiving dinner.  Most often they are in the form of a green bean cassarole.  I really dislike green bean cassorole however.  I feel like each poor little green bean is screaming from the cream of mushroom soup saying "Help me! Get me out of this sad excuse of a claimed serving of vegetables."  I need crisp. I need fresh.  This recipe is much more that.  I was a happy girl crunching into one of these beans.

I threw in some turkey buscuits even though they are really just Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits, cut up and made into the shape of a turkey, with some of my pumpkin butter.  They were gobbled up by two little munchkins named Ty and Ryan who came to the feast.



It ended all with a pumpkin parfait. THIS was the recipe I was waiting for.  You see, generally I am content to nibble away in my rabbit food style at fruits and veggies, but then pumpkin happens and my cravings overtake my life.  I. love. pumpkin.  Can I get a witness?  (I don't actually know the appropriate time to use that phrase, it felt appropriate so I typed it.  I apologize for misuse of the English language if it occured.)

So, bake therapy.  Turns out there are some more delicious recipes out there, I need to get me some chickens, I need a sponsor for my baking addiction and most importantly I need to just face my anxieties, rolling pin in hand and take what the Lord is throwing at me.  Uncertainty is overwhelming but it compels me to trust in God and proclaim His sovereignty over my life. Uncertainty makes my heart race, my jaw tighten, my nights sleepless, and my free moments spent baking for the masses but slowly God is letting me release that grip and surrender my plans, my dreams, my desires.   He knows what's up when I don't and for that I am grateful. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

ABC, 123

The start of my endeavors in the culinary world began here.  Cranberry Sauce.  Every Thanksgiving, since I was seven, I was in charge of the cranberry sauce.  1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 bag of cranberries.  I will forever have that etched into my memory.  I think if I ever suffered an illness or injury that resulted in a loss of memory, I could still make cranberry sauce.  Thanksgiving, for this reason is the height of my baking season.  I. love. fall. food.  Pumpkin? Cranberries? Apples? Can it get any better?  The answer is no.  (That was not really a rhetorical question or one where you had the option of disagreeing with me.  It's my blog people.)  So today I get to go to a pumpkin fest, where we cook and share fall recipes.  I chose pumpkin butter, spiced apple drop cookies and this cranberry upside-down cake that I found from Browneyedbaker.  The cranberries were a tribute to my roots, a reminder of who I am, what has made me, me.

It began with a VERY well buttered spring-form pan (2 tablespoons if you really want to know), a layer of 1/2 cups sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon allspice.  Over all that? Cranberries.  Oh yeah baby!

Then? Some batter.  I mixed 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 6 tablespoons of butter, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla.  You know the drill, sugar and butter, then wet (minus milk), then dry, then milk.

Mixed and poured on top.  Confession?  At this point, I looked at the batter and thought, there is noooo way this is gonna be enough.  Feeling too lazy to make more, this was not going to be good. But...

Guess what? It was enough! I know I had you all worried.  I apologize for the anxiety I may have caused. If you were truly traumatized, I will make you an apologetic cranberry upside-down cake. Happy?
   

350 degrees and 35 minutes later? Ta-da! Oh man, I love fall! P.S. did you know that until this year I claimed summer as my favorite season?  True story! But then I realized that the fall foods, scarves and boots really made fall my favorite season and I had been denying myself claim to the best season ever. I. love. fall. 

O.K., so remember in the beginning of this blog when I was getting all sentimental over cranberries and the ooshy-gooshy back to my roots?  Well here is why:  this week I have been baking a lot and thinking a lot.  Still as unaware of the next steps on this path of mine, I was drawn back to the basics.  The basics of God's love for us, God's plan for our lives, God's goodness and the sweet blessing of His provision.  So often, the uncertainties of life draw us back to those simple truths that roll off our tongues in the good seasons without a second thought and they sound so much bigger.  To grasp these "simple" truths in these times seems difficult.  I am grateful however, that these are ingrained in my memory much like the cranberry sauce recipe.  God does love us.  God does have a plan for our lives.  God is good. God provides. 

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him." Psalm 34:8

From Scratch

I have been blessed with an incredible chapter on this journey uncharted.  The map from here is unknown but I am hopeful and trusting in a God who loves with a love that is furious as my man, Jeremy Riddle sings, a God who knows the deep desires of my heart and delights in blessing me. So I'm waiting in faith for what is to come. 

This is my blank slate. My canvas.  How about a devil's chocolate cake canvas?  Typical me, when I am in need of deep processing and meditation, I have some bake therapy.  Today, the therapy was at my summer camp and my victims were two unsuspecting user groups.  Group 1: 25 women who traveled all the way to camp to quilt.  Yeah, that's right. Quilt.  For the record, these people mean business!  I walked by at 12 pm, there were people quilting.  On my way to work at 6:30, quilting.  I would like you to know that I value sleep very little, buuuut I would definitely choose sleep over a quilt. 

So naturally, a quilter needs a cake with a quilt on it.  If all quilts involved caramel and chocolate, I might just change my mind about quilting.

A layered quilt cake.  Betcha can't do that on a sewing machine! Feeling accomplished and also slightly tempted to finally dig into one of my creations, it was time to move on.  Group 2? Nothing like group one.  Try 90 crazy high schoolers and their youth leaders (who pretty much act like high schoolers by profession) at a Harry Potter themed retreat. 

So, I decide these lovely youth need a piped frosting creation.  I regretted this decision about this far into the piping project.  I contemplated other hobbies, but then remembered that other hobbies were things like quilting and sports that require coordination I do not have so I kept piping.

End result? The monster book from Harry Potter.  Eyes? Check! Bookmark tongue? Check! A massive amount of sugar on top to send these kiddos into a sugar coma as they consume these along with the pumpkin pasties and butterbeer? Double check.  Seriously people, butterbeer is cream soda with butter, brown sugar, heavy whipping cream, and a few other things all topped with a dollop of whipped cream.  Sugar rush inevitable.  Also convincing me that if you could develop Diabetes over night, this would do it for you.

Piping.  Not something I will ever do again to this degree on a cake of this size.  Bad life choice.  But its so fluffy (It's so fluffy, I'm gonna dieeee!)! So the perfectionist in me desiring a wonderfully fluffy monster cake was glad for the piping (while my hands were not). Details.

So, now at the end of the day, I now sit here.  I am wishing my life canvas were as complete as my cake canvas because the unknown is not always a comfortable place to be.  But I relieved to know there is an end, there is a plan, and a God who knows whats up when I don't.

"And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail." Isaiah 58:11

 

Does anyone have a checklist for things you need to do to be type-B?

I am type-A.  Hyper type-A.  Trying to be type-B is difficult.  I cling to lists, schedules, budgets and plans.  Life somehow has a funny way of making all of the above go awry though.  For those situations, God invented frozen yogurt and a cozy bed.  And in the mean time I would like to report that I successfully made it through an off-schedule day.  One of the many unscheduled events was a going away party for one of my students.  This student will truly be missed.  Why?
Reason 1:
This student wrote me a letter every day talking about how he liked me, how he liked being in my class, etc.  Adorable letters, really, and sometimes even cartoons.  Then, one day he got in an argument with one of his classmates and I handled their argument with a "Welp, you're a big boy, work it out!"  He didn't like my answer.  So, his letter the next day?  Dear Ms. A, today I am not writing you a letter because I am mad.  Love, Me.  Classic.  (Fear not, after this not-letter letter? He continued with nice letters, although the not-letter letter DID make me chuckle).
Reason 2:
This student had the most enthusiastic attitude of any 7 year old I have EVER met.  He would come in to sharpen pencils at the beginning of the day and rattle off all of the day's occurrences.  He would talk for 20 minutes and I am not even sure he ever stopped to talk a breath.
Reason 3:
Today, during his going away party, he asked to share 2 magic tricks with the class.  Neither worked, but both were attempted multiple times with a final concession that magic works better at home.
So? Buh-bye, my little ray of sunshine! You will be missed! 

I am still in the hunt for the next baking project, but I feel it might be a cooking project.  I, the vegetarian, will be hosting a carnivore for a few weeks and I feel that my adventures into the world of cooking meat will be documentable to say the least.  I have begun my mad clipping of recipe after recipe and even have this new cool addiction otherwise known as Pinterest to aide in this adventure.  We will see how it goes...  You never know, I may end up sleep walking and try to free the chicken tenders from the fridge in my sleep.  Ok, probably not because that has nothing to do with why I am a vegetablearian, but it is going to be bloggable.  So I guess I should get one of those bumper stickers and just tweak it a little bit to make it say: for every chicken I don't eat, I'll cook 3?  Yup, sounds about right.

In honor of all you carnivores out there.  I will finish with a joke (y'all know I love my cheese).
Q: What do you call a cow with no legs?
A: Ground beef!
Ha... ha... ha...

Peace, y'all!

Its all over your face.

For the record, I never need an excuse to bake but I also rarely actually consume what I bake and so I need some taste testers.  Luckily, I teach and I have hungry little mouths greeting me every day so every once in a while I mix them up a little treat.  Today's treat was hamburger cupcakes which I had mentioned making in a previous blog.  I had made a resolution to begin including my recipes but this recipe has not been perfected for our mile-high location so this will be more a how to.  What you need?  A recipe for a white cupcake, I used a vanilla cupcake with a light spring feel.  Its almost fall, but who cares. None of my students said ummmm this cupcake has more of a spring feel to it, I would have gone for some more fall spicing, so I think I'm golden.  Before you bake the cupcake, sprinkle some sesame seeds on top to give it that bun-y feel.  Bake it then slice that baby in half.  Wa-ching! (I felt it needed a sound affect and  I didn't know the sound for a bread knife so you got a machete.  Details, people.)

Now you have successfully sliced cupcake and it is time for the burger (and yes I am aware that this is a slightly odd project for a vegetarian to be doing, and no I did not eat my imitation burger cupcakes because it did in fact weird me out if you were wondering.)  Take a chocolate butter cream (way to delicious and easy to just get a tub of frosting, 4 ingredients people.)  To ice the cupcake, put the frosting in a frosting bag and use the 1M tip. Make sure to be messy so you can lick your fingers upon completion. 

Lettuce anyone?  How about some green food coloring mixed into coconut.  Yup.  Win.  I recently converted to the gel food colorings.  They are cooler.  To be honest, I don't even know the benefit to using it verses the liquid, but its cool.  All the cool people could potentially be doing it, so I am to. 

Whats left?  Well this one you can decide on.  I went for a raspberry jam ketchup.  Some I have seen use butter cream died red and yellow, which in hindsight might be the route I take next time.  There will be a next time because this perfectionist has not yet perfected this recipe.  Plus, there is an apartment warming party to be had.

Upon completion, put the top back on the cupcake.  Want a little rebellious baking fun?  Don't put the top on the cupcake you got it from.  Troublebaking, I'm pretty sure it is right up there with buying a motorcycle or sneaking into an outdoor pool after 10, right?  I'm such a rebel...

Face shoving.  It is the only thing left to do.

Unless you rocked the face shoving and you got a little somethin somethin on that chin o' yours.

Peace, love, and yuuuuum!

-Me

Victory in Slow Motion

Do Do Do Do Do Dooooo Duhduhduh Do Do Do Do Do DUHduhduhduh. In case you are wondering what that song is, its this one: Chariots of Fire.  Yeah that one.  That's the sound of victory.  If you want to know, this song can be contextual to my life next to never because I HATE to run.  I loooove to work out, its something psychological maybe but regardless, running is not my thing.  But today I am feeling victorious, hence the song of victory.  You see, last year I was coerced into running a race.  Remember the aforementioned hatred of running?  Yeah, was more true then than it is now.  But, I like my friend, so I accepted the invite and my stubborn butt ran the whole 4 miles.  I was slow, but I did not stop.  By slow, I mean I could have power walked around the mall 10 minutes faster than I ran this race.  I finished with an end time of 58 minutes and some change.  The most ironical thing is that I was assigned the number 1 for my running tag last year.  I was definitely NOT in first place or in any hopes of getting there.  So this year I moved from turtle categories.  Last year I would have been classified as a box turtle (about .25 mph) and now I will call myself a terrapin turtle, which apparently is comparatively faster, while still a turtle.  I cut 9 minutes off my time!  Still slow? Definitely but I whopped old-me's butt.  So, ha! Take that old-me.  VICTORY!  Maybe the bigger feat was that I did it without anyone making me except my own stubbornness.  Maybe next year I will attempt again and chop some more time off. I am determined.  Also, you should know I named my playlist for the run "Si se puede" which I think helped.  It started off with some Van Halen's Jump. Mid run, right up the hill, the song that came on was this: Mika's Big Girl (You Are Beautiful).  That song took me right up the hill.  Finished up with some Da Family's Boom Boom Mama.  Playlist also equaled victory.

I love this feeling but as I relish in my own little victory, I am feeling overwhelmed by the awareness that God's victory is so much greater.  He does things far bigger in the blink of an eye, almost as an afterthought.  Like what about that one time God helped David kill Goliath with a sling shot, or helped Joshua conquer a city by just marching around it 7 times, or won a battle with 300 men, or a battle was won just because Moses held up his rod above the battle.  Now THAT'S victory. 

I'm gonna end today with my song of victory.  It is not one that you will find on a soundtrack but I love God's victory.  He is good!

"But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

Peace and love y'all!  (And don't worry, I'm baking soon!)
Me

The times they are a changin (or really just the length of my hair)

So, besides the fact that I thoroughly enjoy educating the future of America and my kiddos are a lovely part of my day, in my other life I really really really really want to bake. (Really really really).  So, how do I combine those two loves? Oh yeah, throw a party and make my kids these awesome cupcakes for no reason at all.  See awesome cupcakes here: Juicy Lucy Burger Cupcakes.  Yeah. Awesome, right?  So its happening.  I give my students marbles for each time I catch the class doing exactly as I asked and let's just say the marbles have been flowing into that jar so I can make them these cupcakes soon!  It helps that this class is ridiculously well behaved and I am blessed this year with that, but none the less... CUPCAKE fever. 

Also you should also know that when I am not thinking about cupcakes, I am shaking in my boots over this haircut that is occurring in my life tomorrow.  I donated my hair to Locks of Love five years ago for the second time, but the stylist gave me a fro and since then hair cuts have been few and far between.  I am to beauty shops as kids are to the dentist.  I avoid them.  So tomorrow I am doing the big chop again.  I emailed the stylist and put in bold, NO FRO PLEASE.  Okay, I didn't go that far but I was tempted to.  She is coming to the school tomorrow and my students get to watch the transformation.  Seat belts for safety! or helmets, or whatever you might need for this life-rocking event.

Finally, I will officially be done with my masters this Saturday.  I will celebrate, but not until October after I forget my strong dislike of my professor and the bitter taste has left my mouth.  I plan on having a baking project.  I have been mulling over ideas.  I am wanting to make more artsy-fartsy goodies that look as bomb as they taste.  So, here it goes.  As a rule, I avoid the cutesy things because it often comes at the cost of taste, but I will be a purist and make only the best.  No fondant here!  So off we go! Next baking challenge... waaaaahooooo!

Welp, thank you all for stumbling upon these musings and actually making it to this paragraph.  I applaud you (and if you are around me I might even hug you- sorry readers from afar, you don't get one of those).  I have to say, I feel like God has got me in a good season right now.  I'm blessed!  Until next time!...

Peace, love, and enjoying my last day with long hair and using a half bottle of hair products per day.

(Don't worry I'll take pics!)