Getting all Martha in here

I made salsa today! Woop! I got the pampered chef hand processor and being wowed by the ease the demonstrator made salsa I bought it. Today I threw some canned tomatoes, onion, (gasp! Yes onion!) and a bunch of spices. And I got.... Salsa! I don't have anything good for seasoning so it was pretty bland but not bad!

Making cookies

I decided that maybe I would try making labour cookies. Yes, laugh at me with the old wives tales, but I figured it won't hurt at all right?!???

Well, it did hurt. My bank account. There are a lot of spices in the recipe that we didn't have so I had to buy. And spices aren't cheap! You also can't just buy a few tbs of them so now I have new jars of spices. But anyways, back to the cookies. The whole point is they are spicy and the spiciness induces labour. Again, couldn't hurt. Especially since I have this cold. Figured it would at least clear out my sinuses.

So, here is the recipe I used.

Labor Inducing Gingersnap Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 tablespoons (or 1 stick) margarine
1/2 cup granulated sugar (will also need extra sugar to roll cookie dough in)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup molasses
2 egg whites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt and cayenne pepper in small mixing bowl.  Set dry ingredients aside.

Then blend margarine in large mixing bowl.  Stir in brown sugar and granulated sugar slowly.  Add the molasses, then the egg whites.  Finally, add the dry ingredients to your mix. 

Roll dough into ¾ inch balls.  Roll cookie balls in sugar to lightly coat each cookie.  Place balls on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Found here - http://www.justmommies.com/pregnancy/labor-and-childbirth/labor-inducing-cookie-recipe

I busted out my new kitchenaid mixer for the event.

No, the bottle of wine in the background was not ingested at the same time. It's probably not any good since it's been opened and sitting on my counter for at least 4 months now... At least.

Got everything all mixed up.

And..... It looked like poop. I laughed and felt rather odd knowing I was going to be eating these. Then, because I am truly my mother's daughter, I had to prove just how much it really did look like poop.

(and I am so sad I didn't realize the picture was blurry until after I was done baking.) it's likely blurry because I was laughing while taking it.

Anyways, as you can see by the recipe above, it said to roll them into 3/4 of an inch balls. Here are my balls, I obviously don't know what 3/4 of an inch looks like. These are huge.


And the final out of the oven product

Not going to lie, they look pretty darn good!


They came out of the oven about 4:30. I let them cool and then we sat down to play a rousing game of candyland. I thought, oh, I'll have some cookies while playing. This is where I admit, I'm glad I made big balls (bahahaha) because I ended up with a lot of cookies and couldnt even imagine having twice as many. I put a few on my plate, then a few more. I told myself, self, you can totally do 12 cookies. So I went and sat down with my 12 cookies. Austin saw them and decided that he wanted a cookie. I said ok, he could try one all he wanted. He took a bite. I'm not sure how to convey the face. Disgust, fear and a little wtf mom was going on. I tried to hold in my laughter. Dave was nice enough to tell him he didn't have to eat any more of the cookie.

I start on my first cookie. I'm chewing away thinking, wow, these are pretty good, but I thought they were supposed to be spicy? Then I swallowed. THEN it hit me. Yup, there's the spice. (for the record I am a wimp at spices so it may not have been that bad to a normal person) but, one must soldier on. I finished that cookie like a pro. Started on my next. By the 3rd cookie I was slowing down and needed some water.

Needless to say? I did not make it to my 12 cookies. I got to 5. 5!!!! I just could not do any more.

When I first saw the recipe/idea for these it said to eat as many cookies as you can then go have a nap. So I went an laid down. I'll tell you what happened. Due to the spicy-ness I was coughing and could barely breathe and had to take my puffer. I laid in bed rather bored. Baby girl kicked the crap out of me from the inside for subjecting her to that. And I got heartburn. I got up around 7, had something to eat and relaxed on the couch. No idea what will happen tonight, but here is my plan.

Finish this post. Fill up my water bottle and maybe a second one, just in case. Grab some more cookies and turn them into a cookie sandwich stacking as many as I can on top of each other. Stuff them in before I want to throw up. take my puffer. Go to sleep. Hopefully by tomorrow morning I will be feeling something. Even if it's just the ability to breathe out my nose again.

If that doesn't work, well, at least it didn't hurt!

Cake pop update

I covered a dozen of the cake pops today and took them to dinner with our neighbors. They were a hit. The hardest part about putting the colored chocolate on the pops was trying to get the chocolate to melt to the proper temp ke without messing it up. The best part was that because the cake pops came out of the freezer it didn't take long for the chocolate to harden on the pops.

Again, this whole thing, SO easy.

And don't they just look so pretty?!?!

Christmas baking

Ok, so I've really wanted to try cake pops. They taste delicious but I've never gotten the urge/ambition to make them. Until now.

Santa isn't getting cookies tonight, he's getting cake pops.

Now let me tell you, it is crazy easy. I thought it was some drawn out long hard baking to-do. I'm here to tell you it's not. I made a cake, according to the directions on the box. When the cake is finished crumble it into a bowl. Add 3/4 can of frosting. (thank you to my MeMo's for that tip instead of using a full can) stir it up, and ta-da!!


Then, get messy and roll the cake into balls. Put on a cookie sheet and put into the freezer.


I bought some red and green chocolates to dip my frozen balls into (bahaha, balls) and hopefully everything turns out yummy!!

Yummy Yummy

Tonight we had a potluck at work. mmm mmm mmm so much yummy food in one meal. I made a salad that Dave's mom has made before. It's called Broccoli Slaw Salad, but I've been calling it noodle salad. I got a lot of requests at work for the recipe so here it is

1pkg broccoli slaw
2 pkg of Mr Noodles (chicken flavor)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 green onions sliced fine
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

cook mr noodles - boil water or microwave to cook, set chicken seasoning aside for use later. Do not overcook noodles. Let cool enough to handle. Break Noodles into small pieces and put into a bowl. Add Broccoli slaw, green onion, sunflower seeds and almonds.

In a tempered glass (glass measuring cup) add sugar, vinegar, oil and chicken seasoning. Mix then heat in Microwave until sugar is completely dissolved. (1-2 minutes should be good) Let cool then add to salad.

Toss salad again before serving.

Enjoy every minute of the salad. lol. It's very quick to make.


Austin has been so adorable lately. If you ask him what noise a monkey makes he will say eee eee. He also plays the I hear ewe game on my ipod touch and when he touches the train he says hooo hooo. and tries to imitate the motorcycle sounds. It's so cute!

I finished reading Waiter Rant, it's by Steve Dublanica. It was a really good book, it's from this blog http://waiterrant.net/ all about stories from him and his time being a waiter. I need to start reading some more... got to get moving on it!!!