I was looking at my Instagram today when I came across a picture I had posted precisely 73 days ago. The only reason I know this is because the countdown to me leaving the country is now down to 7 days. (If you're a real math magician, you've probably figured out that the post was at 80 days...if not....oh well..) It has dawned on me that the last time I posted about my trip to the Philippines, I didn't have too many details and that a lot of people aren't exactly sure of what I'm doing, so people I know...here you go! For the people who don't know me and are still reading this, what's it to you!? (Jk. Thanks for reading it anyway!) The first question people ask is who I am going with. I normally answer with a hefty "me, myself, and I are flying together". Yeah, I've flown alone once. I left from a Florida airport where we walked out onto the Tarmac to board the plane and as the father behind was convincing his daughter, we loaded the plane through "the butt". While on that flight, I obviously didn't know the people, but they were pretty social if I say so myself. They both slept the whole way home. But what could be more welcoming than snow and ice welcoming you home with a little bit of turbulence!? It was great 😐 The second question: How long will you be there? A whopping six weeks! Oh, yes! At first, my plan was to go for 2 weeks, then it changed to three, and it just upgraded to six! Now, as some of you may know, my family and I are pretty close! Sometimes my mom and dad go on a vacation without me (peace out!) and I'm at home without them for a couple weeks. How are we going to get through six weeks!? Skype dates at 7:00am their time! Keep in mind, there is a 13 hour difference here. Question 3: How long will it take to get there!? Well, my first flight from Chicago to Tokyo is 14:30. I'll be in Tokyo for about 3.5 hours. On my first flight, I have prepared myself to be around many Asians and specifically Japanese people, have learned to say "nihongo o hanasenai" pronounced as "knee-hone-go oh hah-nah-say-nai" which means "I don't speak ya language". My second flight, is 4:30. I'll land in Manila at 11:00pm, but there's always bound to be a delay somehow, somewhere. Oh! I've also been learning some Tagalog, which I'll probably forget some of, but it's alright! Question 4: What are you doing there? Thanks for asking! On the Monday after I land, a preschool is opening and I'm going to be working with and helping the kids. I've seen pictures of some of the kids and I just can't wait to meet them!!! On Saturdays, there is a lunch program for the poor kids around town, also. Yes, I am preparing my heart to be melted and broken at the same time! There are a few culture shock things that I have heard about, but it's time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable! I just have to get some guts and jump in! A while back, I decided to tackle a pie. This is something I had not tried to make before, so I figured then was as good of a time as any. I planned on spending the whole day baking before babysitting that night. It turned out that my little cousin, Delia, needed a place to go for the day. So where else would she go to have fun other than anywhere with me!? (Stop laughing, I'm so much fun that you probably couldn't handle me!) So, I picked my little helper up and we started our baking. To start, you'll need the following: flour, butter flavored crisco, salt, sugar, two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, a big can of cherry pie filling, a big tub of whipped cream, and a small bag of sliced almonds. Start with the pie crust. Preheat the oven to 450. While waiting, mix 1 1/4 cups of flour and 1/2 tsp of salt together. Cut in the butter flavored crisco in little chunks and then work it together a little bit. Now, add the water a tablespoon at a time. The recipe called for 3-4, but just keep adding until the dough forms and stop before it is sticky. It took me about 8-10 I think. Once you have the crust ready to cook in the pan, poke a bunch of fork holes in it, but not all the way through. While the crust is baking, mix together the two packages of cream cheese and sugar. I put a cup of sugar in to start with. If it isn't sweet enough for you, just keep adding more sugar until it is. A little sugar never hurt anybody. The pie crust should be in the oven for 10-12 minutes. When it comes out, it should look like this. It would probably look better since this was my first attempt at getting a crust to look nice in the pan. Let the crust completely cool before putting the bottom layer in. Don't put the cream cheese and sugar mix back in the fridge because it needs to be soft for when it is added in. After the crust is completely cooled, now you can add the mixture. Make sure it is spread evenly across the pan. We wouldn't want a lopsided pie. Next, add the can of cherry pie filling. If anyone asks, you picked the cherries off of your nonexistent cherry tree and somehow you made the jelly stuff. I'll leave that to your own imagination! Next would be my other little cousin, Hunter's, favorite part! Take that tub of whipped cream and use as much as possible! Add the whipped cream in dollops to make it pretty. I wanted my pie to be pretty, so I added peaks to it. Just to add a special touch, throw some sliced almonds on top. It also adds a little crunch! ;) Now go enjoy this awesome and indulgent treat! You deserve it! There are so many times from my childhood that I remember going to the fridge and searching for something appropriate for my favorite exercise. This exercise is a combination of a lunge and a crunch, it's called lunch. Last week, as I was talking on the phone with my friend and trying to decide what would work with her diet, I dug through the fridge. All I could find that would fit and we could tweak was chicken. We went to training at work and after, she came over and we started the chicken. As the chicken started, I realized we didn't have anything to go with or on the chicken. So, what did I do? I started digging through the fridge looking for a good mix. It all started out with sautéed onions and minced garlic. Then, as I kept looking, I found bacon bits. I was thinking it would be a good concotion, because let's face it, bacon is always a good add-in. Then, for some reason, I grabbed the carrots, too. Why not? Maybe it would add a little crunch to the sauce. As I walked by the spice cabinet, I figured why not look in that too. So, there I found the red pepper flakes. Then, as I got the oil, I found soy sauce. Maybe this would add some salty to the sweet bacon! Fast forward to everything being cooked and it was glorious! What have I been craving now? That chicken! To start out, you need the following ingredients: oil, soy sauce, garlic, carrots, bacon bits, onion, and the red pepper flakes. First, the obvious defrosting of the chicken. Then, put it in the convection oven for 35 minutes at 425 degrees. While this is in the convection oven, the topping will be made just in time. Now, take 5 little things of garlic and chop them up finely or to your liking. Next, chop about half of a medium sized onion up into smaller pieces. Add both the onion and the garlic into a medium saucepan and drizzle oil over it to get it sautéed and maybe a little extra oil. While the topping is getting started, grab 5 carrots out of the bag and chop them into smaller chunky pieces. At this point, the onions and garlic should be starting to bubble. This is when you get the rest of the stuff together. For the rest of the toppings, it's pretty easy. In a small bowl, add about 3/4 cup of hickory bacon bits, the 5 sliced carrots, and about 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (if you like it extra spicy). At the time the onions start to turn brown, add the mixture from the other bowl into the saucepan along with 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and mix it all together. When the chicken is almost done and the carrots have started to get slightly softened but still crunchy, take it off of the heat. It should look like this. Now, make sure the chicken isn't pink on the inside. If it is, put a lid on the topping and cook the chicken longer. If the chicken is done take it out and load the topping on! This chicken and topping combo probably sounds really weird, but it really is delicious! Just a warning: Dad said he was crying and his mouth was burning. But let's be real, he doesn't like spicy stuff. So eat at your own risk! :) First of all, sorry I haven't updated my blog lately! This last month has been really busy! To get things back on a roll, I have a really simple recipe in mind that has been approved by many people! There is a story behind everything you bake, and this recipe has a good one. The past few days, I had been babysitting for a couple. We had a blast on Thursday night! On Friday, we woke up, I took the kids to a relative's house, and then went back to the house because I had forgotten my socks (stupid I know!). As I was pulling out of the driveway to go to school, I heard a thwack, or something along those lines. You know how every once in a while you have an "oh crap" moment? Well, this was mine! I jumped out of the car and saw that I had hit the mailbox. This made me so nervous, but I went to school in a frenzy. I told the office ladies what had happened and they said to go talk to the school's resource officer. So as I was talking to her, I called the owners and explained what happened while the officer drove over to take a look. Isn't this ridiculous!? Haha. The officer came back and said, "the good news is that it is fixable and the bad news is that I'm taking you to jail for damage to federal property," which I certainly didn't find funny even though I knew she was joking! Luckily, I have favor at school with the staff and the maintenance guys/custodians had my back and went over to fix the mailbox. They're the best!!! I knew this was something I'd have to pay them back for, so I just waited to be told what they wanted in return. After a few laughs, Shane oh so vaguely said, "that lemon blueberry cake is good enough, I guess" with a smirk on his face. I was so thankful for them fixing it, so my immediate response was, "you'll have Monday morning"! This is certainly the easy way out of an embarrassing situation! Here goes the rule-defying cake recipe: First, use two lemon cake mixes for two different 8x8 pans. (One for each pan, if you didn't catch that) Mix the ingredients according to the box and then pour it into a lightly greased and floured pan. The only thing you need to change from the box is to use only 1 tablespoon of oil instead of the massive amount the box calls for. This makes your cake nice and dense instead of close to being dried out. Put it in the oven until it doesn't wiggle when you shake it and a toothpick comes out clean. Now, let it completely cool and level it out when it is done (meaning make the top even). While it is cooling, you can make the frosting. This is where the baking rules are defied. I didn't follow a recipe last time, so I was just winging it. First, use three 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, a can of blueberry pie filling, some sugar, and some milk and mix it together. I know it bothers some people to not have exact measurements, but use your judgement here and make it to your liking. Mine turned out a little chunky (like really small curd cottage cheese) and I left it that way to add a different texture to the cake. After the frosting is done, add half of it on top of the previously level first lemon cake. At this point, add the second previously leveled lemon cake on top of the layer of frosting. It should be wiggly. After all, it is tall! Oh! Make sure you put it on upside down! Then the crumbs from leveling don't get in the frosting. Now, add the other half of the frosting on top and on the sides filling in the gaps (mostly the corners) that are empty between cakes. Don't worry about frosting the sides of the cake, it looks good like this and it is still delicious! For the final touch, add a special message for whoever you made it fo! Even if it says "I love you", and you're the one eating it! Enjoy! Sorry for the sloppy writing! Working in the office at school, you really get to know the people well! And if they like you enough, they'll let you go home and get the dessert you forgot to bring them (that has happened before) or the breakfast you accidentally left on the kitchen table (this too has happened, even within the last week). I work with the athletic director at school and our motto in the little office we share is "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas". If only I blabbed about everything that happened! You guys might die of laughter if I told you, so I'm saving not only you, but your families by not sharing! What a lot of people don't know, is that we share a love of baking! I mean how many guys do we know that really love to act all tough but are truly softies?! A lot!!! Sorry men, just face it. It's okay to be soft! Say it with me if you're a guy, "I am soft. I am lovely. I love to bake, and I am a manly man". Okay, maybe that's a little out there. I really needed a recipe to try for tomorrow. A friend has suggested peanut butter bars, but sometimes you just have to be in the mood for those. While they looked delicious, I just wasn't in the mood for it. I had tried some caramel (if you said "care-uh-mell", you're doing it wrong, but that's none of my business) brownies the athletic director had made, and they were just amazing! I instantly sent a text to him asking for the recipe, to which I got the reply "I'll bring it to school tomorrow". It was hand-written and everything! I thought about this recipe before making it and decided I would try turtle brownies with the recipe. So, I'm contributing to the original recipe by adding pecans! I know, it's a big risk. Hold the applause until the end please, and thank you! Are you ready to start this process!? First, begin with the ingredients! (sorry, was that too insulting to humanity??) You'll need a German chocolate cake mix, evaporated milk, chocolate chips, a bag of caramels (say it right "caramel". No, say it again, "caramel". One more chance, say it right, "carmel". There you go!), and pecans. Now, mix all of the ingredients for the cake mix together. My best advice for this is to choose as small of a bowl as possible, but still be able to fit everything in it. The smaller the bowl, the less you have to clean! (Dear Future Husband, I'll cook, you clean. Thanks!) Add in 1/3 cup of evaporated milk, and 3/4 of melted butter. At this point, you only need to put half of the batter in a greased pan. Now put it in the oven for 6-10 minutes. That's what the original recipe said, so basically 8 minutes. While it is in the oven the first time, melt the bag of caramels ("Carmel!") and 1/3 cup of evaporated milk in the microwave. This should take 3-4 minutes. After the time has passed, take it out. Now add the bag of chocolate chips to the top, along with the melted caramel ("carmel!"), and the rest of the batter on top. At this point, the recipe said "It will be a little bit set up. You'll need to mix it with your hands." Uhm, no! That's gross! I'm not a fan of people using their hands to mix! Like what if that person had forgotten to wash their hands before baking and were picking their nose before that!? THAT'S GROSS!!!! DON'T DO THAT! With that being said, you should get a fork to swirl it. It works good enough. If you're as skilled as I am, you'll probably drop the fork while you're swirling everything together. This calls for immediate intervention! First, get a new fork to swirl it. Second, lick that fork clean! (It's delicious!!!) Once again, the time for dishes has come. There's no better way to clean than by licking the bowl clean! Oh, and you better be sure nobody is watching when you do that! If they do watch, then they now know that you've had those calories! If they're not watching, they don't count! You're welcome. While the brownies are baking, chop up some pecans (as many as you want) to put on top. The brownies should be done eventually. They took longer than I originally thought they would. I think they took around 30 minutes to bake. That's plenty of time for the dishes to be done...only if you want to do them. ;) Next, go relax! Eat your brownies and watch a movie. Don't be ashamed, go ahead, take the whole pan with you while they're warm! (These were just the movies I picked! They were both good!) First of all, I have to get some shameless promo out there and tell you all that I have created a Facebook page for my photography. It's obviously called Shutter and Doe. I'll be posting some of my personal photography along with some portraits here and there. Second, that had nothing to do with my title. Preparation had been a big theme in the last two or three years. I have this insane desire to travel the world and see everything! I enjoy meeting people and listening to their stories, just out of curiosity. A couple of those people actually popped into my mind as a transition into what this is supposed to be about. Over Christmas break, I went to Florida with my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Mike (he might deny it, but we're the best of buds)! We went to the same beach a couple times and it never failed to offer more than I expected for photo ops. I had gone out to the little Boardwalk and as I was walking back a couple (they were just adorable!) asked if my camera weighed me down. I answered and then they were asking what I did with my camera, other than the obvious "take pictures". And then this is where the conversation took a turn. They asked if I traveled to take pictures. Although I don't, I mentioned taking it on an upcoming trip to the Philippines. As some of you may or may not know, I will be leaving this May after graduation for a little while. I will flying to the Philippines and staying there for six weeks. A lot of you probably just raised your eyebrows thinking "her parents are letting her do that!?" The answer is obviously yes! They are excited for me to go and grow! This trip is something I've been wanting for a couple years now. When I first started looking for trips, I looked through some random companies and my parents weren't too excited. Last summer, they still weren't too excited and when I had prayed about it, I never got a response from God saying that I was supposed to go at that time. So, I gave up on the idea and was like "well, I guess now isn't the time, so I'll just keep waiting". Last August, by chance an opportunity opened for me to go to the Philippines, where I've been longing to go. Long story short, I've been praying as time goes by and my trip comes closer and closer. In three months, I will be half-way around the world doing work for the Kingdom of God. I get to work with a load of new people and be comfortable in being uncomfortable. As these next few months go buy, and they will go by quickly, I ask that you would pray for me. That you would pray for my footsteps to be guided and be a blessing to others! Thank you for all of your prayers and help throughout this journey and I can't wait to get over there and share everything with the people and to come home and share it with all of you here! Birthdays ALWAYS call for baking! About a month ago, I made a snickerdoodle apple cobbler to take to the office at school. When my parents saw pictures while they were on vacation, there was a request put in for another one upon their arrival home. At first I though "man, another one"! But, after seeing the popularity of it in the office, I knew it was good! So like the perfect daughter I am (okay, that might be a little bit of a stretch, but who are we kidding!? We all know I'm something special!) I made my parents another snickerdoodle apple cobbler. Then, my friend had seen it and his first reaction was "Oh my gosh! You are a baking goddess! You must bestow this marvelous concoction upon my taste buds". Mayyyybe that's not quite what he said, but close enough! Once again, I was going to be making this little piece of heaven! It is soooo easy! 30 to 45 minutes at most! To start out, you need seven apples. I used gala apples because I wanted it to be elegant and everything. Next, you have to cut all of those apples up! The joy of potentially cutting your fingers like crazy (I know from my experience the first time) is immense, so be careful! Or if you have a grandma that lives really close, she'll probably have something to save the day, like this little gadget! It's a corer, peeler, AND slicer!!!! Stop laughing! I'm not the only one to get excited about this! I'm sure that Nate over at terminatetorkitchen.com would be excited about too! (If you've never checked his blog out, it's funny and has loads of delicious recipes! Ecpecially the cold-brew coffe!) So, where were we? Right! If you have one of these, put each apple on the stick thingy and start spinning the handle. Then the rest is obvious. You're going to make a big mess! Not only is this required, but it is encouraged at any time of baking, unless you're the one doing the dishes! Now, you toss all of the apple slices into a greased pan in an unorderly way, just to make it more fun! After that, toss some brown sugar over the apples. Don't forget to be generous with it! Now you need precisely 1.5 packages of sugar cookie dough. The other half of the second pack should be left over in the end. Take each little square and roll it into a ball. After that, roll it in a mix of 1/2 cup of sugar and 3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon. Take each ball and put it on top of the apples close enough that when it bakes, they will cover the top because we can't have our dessert showing any skin! Then be like Paula Deen, Ree Drummond, or my Aunt Peggy and add a generous amount of butter all the way around the pan. The original recipe called for 1 tablespoon, but what fun is that!? Now, put this calorie free (what a joke!?) dessert in the oven and bake it until the cookies are baked. Or, if you're part of my family, until they're barely baked. It should come out looking along the lines of that picture. And if it doesn't...I don't know what to tell you. With this being the birthday present, what kind of a friend would I be without at least getting a card to go with it!? And what kind of a card would it be without mentioning one of my friend's greatest loves, food!? With all of this in mind, just remember, a dessert is always a way to brighten someone's day, even if they are counting the calories! Just a few days ago, I decided to invite one of my friends over. I hadn't seen her in a while and was really excited when she said yes! Also, I had really been craving breakfast burritos and was crazy excited when she said those would be sufficient for her extreme hunger. Fast forward to today at 10:30am. Me-"So you'll be here at 12 right?" Her-"I thought we were meeting at Taco Bell" Obviously, you can imagine (1) my disgust at Taco Bell and (2) the terror of being compared to Taco Bell. I made it evident that I was the one cooking. (I figured it would be quicker for me to cook than wait on the workers at Taco Bell to go to Texas to get a cow.) The second problem of the morning was Netflix. Netflix has a way of just ruining everything! As I walk by the blu-ray player, it's almost like it's screaming "Watch me! Watch me!" and it gets me almost every time. So, I gave in this morning and decided to watch an episode of White Collar. Starting it at 10:45 AM should have given me enough time to get through one episode before preparing lunch. But, I forgot to take into account the amount of time the phone call that was bound to happen would take. So add in an extra 15 minutes. Now we are up to starting lunch at 11:40. Great, the perfect amount of time! Luckily, this is such an easy and quick recipe! Here it goes! First, whisk eight eggs and some milk (however much you think is necessary) together in a bowl. At the same time, you should get some butter melted in your pan. As always, be very generous with the butter. Now is a good time to add some dashes of salt and pepper to the eggs, just for taste. The best part is next! Add whatever you like in your eggs to the mix. Personally, I love to have cheese, bacon (the more the merrier), and turkey in mine. Next is the obvious part, mix it all up. If you're lucky, your friend will try to be in the picture during this crucial cooking time! Our stomachs depend on this! This is no joking matter!!! Your eggs should now be light and fluffy (and crumbly if you like them like I do) after not a great deal of time. Here is where things can go fatally wrong. To have a really good breakfast burrito, you HAVE to microwave the tortilla. (The Mission Wraps Garden Spinach Herb tortillas were really good with these!!) If you're lucky, you'll find a fabulous hand model (Aka Dad)! And everyone will live happily ever after when they finally get to attack and demolish the breakfast burritos. You should probably give yourself a pat on the back for saving the poor people from hunger, as if they couldn't have found the microwave meal in the freezer. Those nights when I have the house to myself are THE best! I can dance around, sing some karaoke, and eat anything and everything without anybody else knowing! Tonight is one of those nights! As my parents walked out the door, they left me with the delivery menu for a local gem named Padano's and no cash. So frozen pizza, or the good stuff? What did I do? I looked every inch of that menu over! After finally deciding I'd pay for my pizza and delivery, who else would I call but my grandparents to join me in eating a heavenly supper?! So of course, then I ordered the bacon cheddar cheeseburger pizza (and they loaded it with toppings)!!! Test one: take a picture of the box before actually opening the pizza. Test two: actually take the pizza to Grandma and Grandpa's before devouring it! After I drove the whole 2 driveways and about 1/8 of a mile to get there, we opened our heavenly box. OH MY GOSH!!!!! It was pretty great! It was probably one of the greatest meals I've ever cooked! And if anyone asks, it was homemade and I have a secret sauce. |
AuthorMy camera is sewn to my hip and there is absolutely no way you can get it off, but good luck trying! Archives
May 2015
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