Toy Story Birthday Cupcakes

One of my friends' birthdays was the other day, and I really felt like baking (because I love baking more than I like this particular friend...), so I decided to make her some cupcakes. Even though they came from a box, they tasted like they were made from scratch. This adaptation on the box-mix recipe is a combination of several tricks I've heard around from various bakers, but can be found on Tidy Mom's blog.

Ingredients:
1 box of cake mix (the nicest kind you can get)
3 large eggs (or 4 if you want it to be really rich)
1/2 cup of melted butter
1 cup of milk

Recipe:
Melt the butter and mix all of the ingredients together until it has formed a nice batter.
Then, cook as directed on the box.
And then you're done. It's easy, but it tastes so good.

This alien toy is from Disney Land.

The trick to making a boxed mix taste like it came from scratch is to add 1 or 2 more eggs than the box calls for, use melted butter instead of oil, and use milk instead of water. My friend loved them, and so did I. I'll be using this trick from now on every time I use a boxed cake mix.

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Frowny Cookie

My best friend invited me to Poulsbo, WA with her mom yesterday. The day was quite enjoyable. We shopped and ate and shopped and ate some more. I always have so much fun with her, so of course today was the best of fun. Just before we left, we decided to stop into a little bakery, which had a line nearly out the door. The food in the window looked really good and as soon as we walked in, it smelled AMAZING. So, of course, we had to get something. We ended up getting some cookies. But these weren't just any cookies. The bakery sold happy face cookies, but these frowny face cookies just seemed so accurate. I mean, wouldn't you be frowning if someone tried to eat you? He wasn't happy to be eaten, but man, was I happy to eat him. He was so delicious.

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American Flag Truffleballs

This year, like the past couple of years, we had the chance to celebrate the 4th of July by showing a foreign exchange student what it's like to be an American. It is the third year in a row that we have hosted a student - our first hailed from Châteaurenard, France; our second from Lille, France; and our third from San Sebastian, Spain. My sister and I became quick friends with all three of these girls so we look forward to one day coming to visit them (fingers crossed).
Anyway, to celebrate our American pride, this Independence Day we went to the Hood Canal, where my boyfriend's family has a beach house. We swam in the Puget Sound, watched TV, played some soccer, shot off fireworks, and, of course, ATE. To show our gratitude, my sister and I made skewers of fruit, marshmallows, and brownies. But the real hit were these American Flag Cake-batter Truffleballs. The recipe comes from Six Sisters Stuff. I only made very slight changes to the recipe.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour 
1 cup + 4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix (separate) 
1/2 cup softened salted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3-6 Tablespoons milk Sprinkles (for this design I used the sugar crystal sprinkles, but other more solid sprinkles would likely work better)
1 package of white candy melts

Recipe: First, using mixer (electric or manual), beat together the sugar and butter until they are combined.
Then, slowly add in 1 cup of yellow cake mix, all of the flour, vanilla, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
Next, add in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it has reached the consistency of dough.
Then add in sprinkles by hand until you feel you can actually see the sprinkles throughout the dough (I used red and blue sprinkles for this design).
Next, roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper.
Then, chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. It was a very hot day and we were pretty busy elsewhere, so we chilled them for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
Just before taking the dough out of the refrigerator, melt the candy coating in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Be sure to stir between intervals and not to overcook, as this can burn the chocolate, which is not desirable.
Once the candy coating has been melted, you can add in the 4 remaining Tablespoons of yellow cake mix.
Now, you can take out the chilled balls and dip them in the melted candy coating using a fork. Be sure to coat entirely, but leave some for the rest of the dough balls.
After you have dipped all of them, you should place them in the fridge until you serve them. Since we were making these at home, we opted to freeze them for 2 hours and then bring them to the party. This was a bad idea, though, because the candy coating started to melt while we were transporting them to the party. This recipe makes 24-30 truffleballs. I highly recommend doubling the recipe, as they go quickly.

 

I loved this recipe. They tasted so good and were such a hit. They really did taste like cake batter. I especially liked that the candy coating, which usually doesn't taste all that good, was actually an enjoyable part. I highly recommend making these if you have the chance. However, be sure to do it for your own party, where you don't have to worry about transporting them without having them melt.


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Candy Graduation Caps

My sister graduated from high school the other day! But this recipe can be used for any type of graduation. High school, college, preschool, what have you. Our high school colors were blue and silver (they were navy blue and cyan when I was a freshman, though, so I like to say that our colors are blue and blue), but this can be done with any school color. In a few years, I see myself making this with purple (the color for University of Portland).

Making these candies is a lot simpler than it looks. It does, however, require two shopping trips: one trip to any craft supplies store, and one to your regular grocery store.

Ingredients:

12 chilled but not frozen Reese's Cups

12 chocolate squares

12 M&M's of your school's color

1 colored licorice rope of your school's color

12 candy sticks (the kind used for lollipops)

Candy Melts (chocolate is probably the best idea. I used Vanilla, but mistakes show very easily with this one).

Recipe:

First, cut the colored licorice into about two inch sections. Then, either pull the licorice apart or cut it apart so that you have a thin two inch rope, which will look like a tassel.

Next, melt the candy melts. Follow the instructions on the package, but generally this is done by melting in the microwave, on defrost or half power. You won't need the whole package. Just a handful should do. If the candy melts harden while you're working, just microwave it again. That's the best part. You can always go back and reuse. It's not really that time sensitive.

While you melt the candy melts, unwrap your chocolates and Reese's cups.

Once you've done that, take one candy stick and dip the end into the melted candy melts. Take this end and insert it into an upside down Reese's cup.

After the candy melt has hardened so that the sticks are firm in the cups, coat the top of your Reese's cup with melted candy melts and place a chocolate square on top. Let this harden, too, so that it looks like a graduation cap and is firm in its shape.

Next, stick the "tassel" (licorice rope) on the top using melted candy melts as glue. I used the tip of a sharp knife as my paint brush. Be sure to make the line as thin as possible (or even better, paint half of the licorice rope and then place it firmly on the top of the cap.

Then, paint the "M" half of the M&M with melted candy melts. Place this in the center of the top of your cap.

And now you're done. You have candy graduation caps that, once the candy melts have hardened, will stay together and be enjoyed by all your graduation party guests. Do be sure to clean up your mess as quickly as possible. If your candy melts have hardened in your mug, melt them again before you clean, which will make it significantly easier to clean.

These candies were a hit at my sister's graduation party. They'll be a hit at yours too. They're a lot more personal than candies you might find at the grocery store, but a lot easier than other graduation-themed treats that you might make for your party. I found a similar candy on Pinterest but it didn't come with a recipe. So, I used ideas from this How To. There are several different ways to make this candy, but this is, by far, the easiest. And it can be done in a dorm kitchen. All you need is a mug and a microwave, as well as all the ingredients.

Happy graduation to all the graduates out there!

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Scat on a Log

I don't remember who in my family decided to name this snack. It was probably my sister. Anyway, Scat on a Log doesn't actually taste like scat. Or logs. But it does kind of look like scat on a snowy log, I guess. Based on Ants on a Log (or Bran on a Log like I made back in August), Scat on a Log is simple to make.

You will need:

Celery

Cream Cheese

Sliced Black Olives

First, wash your celery. You may want to rinse the black olives, too, since canned olives tend to have unnecessary salt added to them.

Then, cut the celery into lengths about the length of your index finger.

Next, spread cream cheese along the pieces of celery. Place slices of olives firmly in the cream cheese, along the length of each piece of celery.

Finally, eat, enjoy, and clean up the mess. The cream cheese will start to smell if you leave your dishes unwashed for too long.

This tasted pretty good. The cream cheese is rich, the olives are salty, and the celery is healthy. What's not to love with this snack?

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Topped Ramen: Number 3

In the last Topped Ramen post, I tried the Oriental Flavor Top Ramen. I didn't really like the flavor. However, I had another package of the flavor leftover. So, I decided to try something new: making Ramen without the flavor packet. Essentially, this Topped Ramen involves Ramen stir fry.

To make this, I first chopped vegetables. I used baby carrots and regular celery, slicing in 1/4 inch pieces.
While I chopped the vegetables, I soaked the ramen noodles in boiling water.
After all the veggies were chopped and the ramen was soft, I mixed them with two tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. Then, I let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.
After a couple hours, I put the mixture onto a hot frying pan with just enough oil to keep it from sticking. I stirred constantly while it cooked, until the noodles darkened.
Finally, I put I ate, enjoyed, and cleaned up the mess.

It ended up tasting really good this way. I'd never made stir fry before, and I have a lot to learn, but for an experiment, this recipe turned out pretty well. I would recommend trying this recipe. The only change I might make to it is possibly steaming the veggies first, as the carrots, especially, were a bit too crunchy.


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An Update

It has been way too long since I posted last. I apologize. There's really no good excuse. I just got busy and sidetracked and just never seemed to have both the time and the heart to blog. I also didn't have much to blog about. I haven't really had too many cooking experiences. I had to spend a lot of food points at the cafeteria and I didn't really feel up to doing much cooking (or eating) either. Anyway, here's what you've missed in my life since I last posted (I'll be posting recipes and food-related content soon, I promise):

• I turned 18!
• I went home multiple times.
• My parents bought a condo on the Oregon coast (so I'll be visiting the coast quite a bit in the future).
• I survived finals.
• I made the dean's list (my biggest and hardest to reach goal for this semester).
• I went home for the summer.
• I had surgery! (I had my gallbladder removed. It was pretty damaged, apparently, but had absolutely no stones, so that's good. And it doesn't look as though I damaged my liver, which was a concern since I'd been sick for so long by the time I was able to have the surgery. They also discovered that I've had multiple appendicitis attacks in the past...how did I not know that?! They didn't do anything about it, though, and apparently it does not mean that I'll have any other attacks in the future, but now I know what an appendicitis attack feels like...which, for me, is almost nothing. It's been two weeks since my surgery I've been feeling pretty ok, getting better everyday.)

That's pretty much all that you need to know about the past couple months. I promise to start posting recipes right away.


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Cookie Dough Cupcake Fail

So, as I said before, I was entering a baking competition with one of my friends. I did most of the baking, while she did most of the decorating. It was a perfect team. Except for one thing, I failed miserably at making our star cupcakes. I was inspired to make these cupcakes by a variety of cookie dough filled cupcakes I found on Pinterest. In fact, Cupcake Project's cookie dough cupcakes were my first pin on Pinterest. More inspiration came from Chef in Training's cookie dough cupcakes with cookie dough buttercream frosting. The recipe I ended up choosing, however, came from Frosted Bake Shop's chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes. In hindsight, I should have followed the recipe exactly as it was given, but I got carried away making substitutions. I ran out of eggs so I did a little research and saw that you can replace eggs with a combination of baking soda and water. This was wrong. Especially when making cookie dough cupcakes, since cookie dough already has baking soda. The cupcakes ended up exploding, made quite a mess, and tasted disgusting.

Since this isn't exactly what anyone wants to eat, I recommend following the directions given by Frosted Bakeshop, adapted slightly in order to accommodate dorm baking.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cups softened butter
1/4 cup regular sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips (regular chocolate chips will work if you don't have mini ones)
1 box white cake mix (yellow cake would work, too)
1 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Recipe:
The first step is to prepare the cookie dough. Beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth (you can use a manual mixer, if you have one, but if you're only using a spoon, it will be much harder). Then, add in the egg and the vanilla, mixing well until blended.
Next, slowly mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt until it is doughy.
Then, fold in the chocolate chips. Form the dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet (covered in parchment paper if at all possible). Freeze the dough balls for at least 2 hours.
After at least 2 hours have past, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl (the one you previously used will work fine), mix together the box of cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and eggs. Do not make any substitutions for the eggs.
Next, pour batter into a cupcake pan lined with baking cups, as you would any other cupcakes. Place frozen dough balls in the center of each unbaked cupcake.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, then allow to cool before removing from the pan and frosting the cupcakes.
Finally, clean up your mess and enjoy your cupcakes.

I wish I had followed these instructions more precisely, as I'd been looking forward to these cupcakes for so long. Next time I try these cupcakes, I'll be more precise. And, just like the other cupcakes I made, I have learned that I need to test recipes well in advance. Because a mess like this the night before a competition is the LAST thing I needed.
But, when life gives you extra cookie dough, make extra cookies. Homemade chocolate chip cookies fix every problem in life.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes with Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting

Well, that's a mouthful, isn't it? I made cupcakes with one of my friends for our school's baking competition. Our original plan was to make two types of cupcakes, but as you will see in my next post, that didn't work out too well. But these ones were successful enough to enter into the competition. We did learn a lesson, however. Always test your recipe well in advance of entering them into a competition or using it for an important event. Also, using a boxed cake mix is not the best plan when entering cupcakes into a baking competition.
These cupcakes were inspired by the Dangerously Decadent Cupcakes on The Something Shiny Blog. We did, however, make quite a few alterations.

Ingredients:
1 package of Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
24 of mini Reese's cups

Recipe:
First, unwrap about 24 mini Reese's cups and place them onto a baking sheet. Put the sheet into the freezer and freeze the Reese's cups for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven, following the directions on the box for the chocolate cake mix.
Shortly before removing the Reese's cups from the freezer, prepare the chocolate cake mix as directed on the box (by mixing water, vegetable oil, and eggs).
Next, scoop the batter into a cupcake pan lined with baking cups. I did not use baking cups because I was out of them. This was my first mistake.
Just before placing the pan into the oven, place frozen Reese's cups in the center of each unbaked cupcake. Do not press them all the way down into the pan. This is where ours went wrong. The cupcake batter is very thin if it comes from a box, so the cups would have sunk a lot on their own. But, I pushed them all the way down, which meant that the peanut butter cups were touching the pan. Bad idea.

Next, bake according to the instructions on the side of the box apx 20-25 minutes.. After baking, allow to cool before removing from the pan and frosting using Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting. Decorate as you please.

As you can see from the pictures, the cupcakes turned out beautifully. My baking companion is a fondant genius and created those beautiful roses you see on top, as well as a little banner that says "City of Roses," which is accurate since Portland is, in fact, the city of roses. Plus, she taught me a better and much cleaner way of frosting cupcakes, which I appreciate.
These cupcakes didn't win any awards, but they were still pretty good and I'm proud of how they turned out. Take the lessons I have learned from this, though. Try a new recipe well in advance of using it for a competition or large event. And always use baking cups when making cupcakes like these.


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Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting

This recipe was shared with me by a lovely friend, my partner in crime at our school's baking competition. It's actually a really simple recipe, using only two ingredients, but the combination of tastes is so perfect. It's a perfect balance between rich and sweet.

Ingredients:
1 tub of Betty Crocker/Hershey's milk chocolate frosting (any milk chocolate frosting will work well)
1 cup of Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread

Recipe:
In a small bowl, mix together milk chocolate frosting with Nutella spread.
Then, whip well until it is slightly fluffy.
Finally, you can take the frosting and spread it on cake or cupcakes.

I absolutely loved this simple recipe. I usually hate the taste of premade chocolate frosting because it tastes too chalky. But this frosting was delicious. I'll definitely be using this recipe in the future.


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Mardi Gras!

Today is Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. I'm at a Catholic school now, so I wonder what all of this will mean. I guess tomorrow I will find out. Most likely, it'll mean absolutely nothing to me personally, since I do not participate in Lent. But, I'm curious to see if there are any noticeable changes, especially in the cafeteria.
Anyway, back to Mardi Gras. It's a pretty big deal, especially in the Cajun culture of Louisiana. You probably already know all of this...and I am probably boring you. I apologize. Anyway, to celebrate, the cafeteria was serving Cajun food. Feeling adventurous, I gave it a try. I ordered Bourbon Saute, which was supposed to be prawns and crawfish over dirty rice, but ended up being sans prawns (which was saddening because I love prawns). For dessert, I got a bignet, fried dough covered in powdered sugar, similar in taste to an old fashion doughnut. The entire meal turned into a round of Bad News, Good News.

Bad News: The dumb cafeteria worker put my bignet on top of the crawfish. Nothing tastier than a fishy dessert...or crawfish covered in powdered sugar.

Good News: I got it to turn out looking pretty ok anyway. Thank goodness I have plates.

Bad News: It turns out I don't like crawfish.Or bourbon. Or dirty rice. Which is a shame, because I like other Cajun food. And, when I edit the picture enough, it actually looks delicious.
Also, it was very, very, very messy (partially because the cafeteria worker just dumped rice all over everything). I can't complain too much about the cafeteria worker, though, because I had a class with him last semester and he seems like a pretty nice guy.

Good News: I still like bignets. What am I saying. I love bignets. Some year I will learn to make them myself. And I will be just like Tiana in Princess and the Frog. Boy, I cannot wait for that day. Until then, I must say, this was delicious. Even with the awful taste from the crawfish stuck in my mouth, and the crawfish juices and dirty rice stuck to the bottom, this was SUPER TASTY. 

There is good and bad in everything, I guess, even Mardi Gras.
Oh, and no, I do not have any beads. This is a Catholic university. Come on, guys. We don't party. We study. Or at least, that's what I do...


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Knock You Naked Brownies

I didn't name these. Or invent them. Or do very much in making them. But I did eat one (but no, I did not get naked for these).
Seriously, though....my friends were making brownies Friday afternoon, and I thought I would join them because, well, brownies. And also friends. And, most importantly, one of them happens to be a really great baker...like an AMAZING baker. She was the one who found the recipe by The Pioneer Woman.
The recipe was altered, slightly, but tasted delicious anyway.

Ingredients:
Chocolate Cake Mix
Evaporated milk (2/3 cup and 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup of melted butter
30 Riesen caramels (unwrapped)

Recipe:
First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Then, mix together cake mix, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and melted butter. Stir, stir, stir!
Divide the mixture in half and press half of it into a square baking pan (make sure to grease it pretty well). Be sure to make edges with the dough, so that when you add the caramel, it won't leak.
Next, bake it for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Then, melt the Riesen caramels with 1/2 cup evaporated milk (you're supposed t do this in a double boiler, but it worked just melting it in a pot over the stove). Stir constantly, in effort to avoid burning any of it.
Next, pour this sauce over the cooked brownie in the baking pan.
Then, take the second (unbaked) half of the brownie dough and shape it into a large square about the size of (or a little smaller than) the pan. Then, find a way to get this on top of the caramel and brownie in the pan, without causing the hot caramel to splash. Good luck!
Now, bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Allow it to cool to room temperature. Then cut it, cover it and refrigerate for several hours.
Then, finally, you're done. You have some delicious brownies. Like, seriously, amazing brownies. SOOOOO good. You'd be crazy not to try these.

What else would you be crazy not to try that my dear friend Sarah has shown me? Inbox Dollars. It's great for anyone who checks their e-mail everyday...like me. I just got an account and I totally recommend you to do the same. In fact, just for making an account, you'll get $5! (And for every dollar that you make, they will send me an additional 10 cents...just a little perk that I'll be getting from this). Check it out, if you want. If not, I won't be offended. But do try the brownies...that's a necessity.

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Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

So, I have this favorite drink at Starbucks. But it's a seasonal drink, and one that is not offered at the Starbucks-brand coffee stands on campus. This makes me a really sad panda. That is, it did until I came up with a brilliant idea today. I can hack my way towards a Starbucks salted caramel hot chocolate. It's really easy and I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before.
Step 1: Order a caramel hot chocolate. On its own, this is nothing special. I really actually hate normal caramel hot chocolate.
Step 2: Add salt. Not just any salt will do. It's got to be coarse sea salt. Which my cafeteria happens to have in the spice section by the taco station. I didn't add to much (about half a spoon full for my 12 oz hot chocolate).
Step 3: Stir like no other. This way, there won't be any suddenly super salty bits in the drink. Also, since they tend to make everything at our coffee stands super foamy, this will help get rid of some of the foam so that by the time I made it back to my room, there wasn't any foam at all (which usually isn't true unless I stir it first).
And that's it.
Delicious slated caramel hot chocolate just like Starbucks, that I hardly had to work for. I'm going to be doing this from now on.


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Topped Ramen: Number 2

I decided to get a little adventurous. So, I tried Oriental flavored Top Ramen...apparently I don't really like it as much as the chicken or beef flavors. It wasn't bad tasting, it just wasn't great...I also ended up feeling sick afterwards, but that is probably mostly my body's fault, not the recipe.
This time, I included a lot more ingredients than I did last time. In addition to my Oriental flavored Top Ramen, I added some canned chicken, sweet peas, and some black olives. The peas and olives especially added some tastiness to this meal. The chicken was a little odd since I'm not used to canned chicken, and possibly added to the fact that I felt too sick to even finish my meal. However, it did add some much needed protein. I think it's one of those food items that I'll get used to over time. I think, too, if I start using my own sauce, I might be able to add flavor to the entire dish, instead of having flavored noodles with bland meat stirred in later. I'm still experimenting with everything...obviously.

I'd suggest trying this one out if you're a fan of oriental flavored Top Ramen and if you are already used to eating canned chicken. It really isn't all that bad, it just made me sick... (yeah, I'm probably not selling this one too well, am I?)


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Topped Ramen: Number 1

The time has come. I have begun to eat Top Ramen. It's time for true college food now. I'd like to thank my brother for giving me an electric kettle for Christmas, as well as the school for now selling Top Ramen in their new market (which is pretty much a mini-convenience store in the basement of the cafeteria, which uses meal points to pay for purchases instead of actual cash).

If I were to just eat Top Ramen as per the actual instructions on the packaging, this blog would be pretty boring, as would my meals. So, instead, I introduce to you Topped Ramen. From time to time, I will be sharing different ways that I have improved these instant noodles. Some of the inspiration comes from Serious Eats: Ramen Hacks, while some, too, comes from the Ramen Homepage.

My first Topped Ramen is extremely simple and only requires two ingredients. Yet, it tasted much better than plain top ramen. To make it, just follow the instructions on the packaging using as much or as little of the seasoning as you want. I also poured out some of the water, which makes the flavor a bit more concentrated so I didn't need to use as much and it also made it a bit less soupy. Then, I simply added a few whole, pitted black olives. I did this with Beef Flavor Top Ramen, but any brand should work, and I am sure other flavors would work quite well, too.

This ended up tasting delicious and it was super easy, fast, and cheap to make. There were very few ingredients used to make it. However, it was absolutely not healthy. While scientifically, olives are considered a vegetable, when it comes to nutrition, they should be considered an oil. Not to mention, each package of Top Ramen includes 2 servings of noodles. That makes the entire package (with flavoring) have about 22% of your daily fat intake. Plus, both olives and Top Ramen are high in sodium. So, it's not intended to be a nutritious meal, by any means. But it is hot and tasty, which was all that was important when I made this.


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Back for More

Spring semester began on Monday, so it's official: I'm back. Which is lovely, really, because I enjoy my dorm, I enjoy learning, and I enjoy being at school in general.

Over break, I didn't really do all that much cooking. Actually, after Christmas, I didn't do all that much of anything. I had several doctors appointments and spent most of the rest of my time with my boyfriend (I'm slightly concerned with the fact that I may be becoming one of those girls who spend all their time with their boyfriends and not with their friends, but to be fair, my friends were in school while I was enjoying an entire month away from school). I did end up playing Zelda, which was something I've been told to do for quite some time. And, most importantly, I did end up with a few answers about my stomach aches. It turns out I have some decreased functionality in my gallbladder, as well as a hernia in one of the muscles around my stomach, which caused a bit of bleeding, apparently. It took several doctors appointments including two outpatient procedures at two separate hospitals, but I finally have a few answers. Now comes the fun part of visiting a surgeon over spring break, and we can decide what to do from there.

Anyway, now that I am back to school, I will be getting back into the habit of blogging. Besides cookies, I didn't make very much that was blog-worthy over break. But now, I'm back and I have plans for some amazing food in the months to come.

So far, I've been enjoying a lot of oatmeal and hot chocolate, thanks to my brother who gave me an electric kettle for Christmas. It's been slightly snowy (though until last night, nothing was sticking to the ground...and today everything was just a slushy mess by the time I was heading off to class), so a nice mug of hot chocolate and a bowl of oatmeal every morning feels absolutely perfect. In addition, I've been munching on some quiche, which, as my mother loves to point out, can serve as breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Essentially, that is all I've been eating in my dorm room. My cafeteria eating has been pretty limited as it is quite cold and wet outside so I've been trying to avoid evening food ventures.

Basically, that's about it. There's not all that much to say since it's only my third day back to school and not too much has happened yet. As this is a new semester, I'd like to start fresh with my blog so if you have anything you'd like to see on here, leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do. Just a warning, now that my brother has given me this electric kettle, I may start experimenting with TopRamen...be warned.


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