Edible Jack O'Lantern

Happy Halloween everybody! In celebration of this wonderful holiday, I have created a non-traditional jack o'lantern. You see, us college folks aren't allowed to have the large knives required to carve a pumpkin. And we aren't allowed to light the candle inside the pumpkin. And we don't have a front porch to place them on. So, instead, I made this. It was fairly simple, quite delicious, and close to nutritious. So here's how it works:
First, toast a piece of bread. It doesn't necessarily have to be completely toasted (in fact, I personally prefer it that way), but it needs to be warm and fairly solid (you'll be cutting it into a pumpkin shape later...or now, if you find that easier...which you probably will).
Then, spread a very generous amount of Nutella on your piece of toast. Come on, it's Halloween, you're allowed to get a little out of control.

It'll end up looking like this (except not sideways...I have no idea why my photos sometimes turn sideways when they're being uploaded. I took this picture portrait style. There's no reason it should look like that, and it doesn't when I look at the actual file. hmmmm....maybe there's a phantom haunting my computer....Anyway,)
Next comes the fun part. Making the face. Take a banana and cut it in half length-ways. Then, cut out the curviest part of the banana and use this as the mouth. Cut out pieces to make missing teeth.

(Again, I have no idea why it appears vertically on here. The file itself is not like that. grrrrr...). Be sure to keep the stem of your banana. Now, place this on your piece of toast where you think the mouth should go. (If you haven't already cut your toast into a pumpkin-shape, make sure to keep some room so you can do this later).
Next comes the eyes. You can use whatever you want/have available for this part. I thought of using cheerios because I happen to have some, but ultimately decided on raspberries because I want to use them before they go bad. I loved how the raspberries turned out, though. It made my jack o'lantern look blood thirsty. To make eyes like mine, using raspberries, first clean your raspberry (you should only need one). Then, slice off the bottom tip. Then, slice the remaining piece in half so that you have two rings.

Now, place these on your jack o'lantern where you think the eyes should go.
For the nose, I used an oddly-shaped banana chip. But you can use whatever nose-shaped food you have lying around. Place this where you think the nose should go.
Next, cut the toast into a pumpkin shape, being careful not to cut the mouth or eyes. (if you haven't done so already).
Finally, use the step of your banana from earlier and place it at the top, so that it acts as the "pumpkin stem".
And, voila: an edible jack o'lantern.

Feel free to eat the scraps as you go (that way you are able to have all the nutrition and deliciousness of a full banana....plus, you paid for this food, why would you want to waste any of it?). And be sure to eat, enjoy, and clean up the mess. Because if you used two plates like I did, there's definitely going to be a mess. And messes like this could be the scariest part of your Halloween.

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Des Crêpes du Nutella

J'adore des crêpe et j'adore le nutella. Donc, j'ai partagé avec ma classe de la parole. Avant-hier, j'ai cuisiné avec mon ami. Et nous avons fait beaucoup de crêpes. Désolé. J'ai tendance parler français quand je fais des crêpes....I love crepes and I love nutella. So, I shared with my speech class. The day before yesterday, I cooked with my friend. And we made lots of crepes. Sorry, I have a tendency to speak French when I make crepes.So, yeah, that's what I did Wednesday night after workshop (which ends at 8:10 at night). I ended up staying in the kitchen until about midnight. YAY!But...I made crepes. Which is just so much fun to do because they aren't always successful, but they're almost always delicious.And I'm pretty sure everyone in my class loved them (I was giving a tribute speech to nutella...yeah, I'm a freak). But anyway, here's how to make crepes. They aren't necessarily dorm friendly by any means, but I made it work. Also, the recipe makes about 20 crepes, so this is something to do when you want to make friends.

You will need:

A frying pan

Pam or other spray oil, or butter if you so choose

6 eggs

1/4 Stick of Butter2 cups of flour

Sugar (the original recipe calls for 2 tsp of sugar in 20 crepes, but I probably used more like 4-8 tablespoons...anywhere between these to limits will work)

Salt (about 8 dashes worth...real specific, huh?...this is probably about 1/2 tsp of salt)

4 cups of milk (or 4 of the things of milk they sell at the cafeteria...they're the same amount)

Nutella

KnifeForks (for mixing ingredients, though a wisk would be best if you have one)

Mixing bowl (I used 4 cereal bowls...which is a bad idea)

Spatula (unless you're one of those cool kids who can flip crepes in the air, in which case I hate you)

Recipe:

First, beat the eggs. This is pretty much the same thing as scrambling, if being done with a fork. Just stir it until the eggs are all one color.

Then, add the milk. Again, mix it until it's all one color.

Next, add the dry ingredients. Stir in the flour and add salt and sugar. It's gonna be a bit lumpy. That's only temporarily ok.

While you do this, melt your butter. Stir this into the batter. Seriously stir. Then stir some more. Keep stirring until it is all uniform. Stop for a moment. If anything at any point floats to the top of the batter, mix some more. Make sure there's no flour on the edges either. Really, it should be super thin and uniform.

Once this has finally occurred, heat up your frying pan (which should be greased) on a low to medium, but more like low, heat. As it heats, stir the batter even more. Really, this is an important step.

Put about 2 tbsp of batter into the pan and move the pan in a circular shape so that the bottom is covered entirely with a very thin layer of batter.

When the edges are golden brown, flip the crepe. Then, after about a 45 seconds, check the other side to see if it's done. Both sides should (hopefully) be golden brown. If it's too white, just continue to fry the crepe. Then, put it on a plate.

Repeat this about 4 times (putting something like paper towel between each crepe you put on the plate). Then, regrease the pan.

Do this whole process about 5 times.

And by this point you've wasted several hours and have a rather large stack of crepes.

Pez eyeing the crepes.

Now, you can spread the nutella on them. You can use other things to fill your crepes too (like apple pie filling and cinnamon, lemon juice and powdered sugar, strawberries and whipped cream, bananas pineapple and coconut, whatever you want). Since these are sweet crepes, you should not use meats and cheeses to fill it - it just won't taste right with this recipe. If doing a proper crêpe du Nutella, then be generous with the nutella because nutella is the best thing on earth and you can never have too much nutella.

When you are done with this, eat, share, enjoy, and for the sake of humanity and clenliness: CLEAN UP THE MESS! It's awful to clean up after it gets hard (I know from experience because I missed several spots which are not rock solid clumps of yuckiness). This might need to be done before you eat, share, and enjoy. It is seriously a mess, even if you clean up as you go.

Despite the mess and the fact that it takes several hours, this is so much fun and tastes so good. I recommend trying it if you are a) adventurous, b) not hungry at the moment, c) have a lot of friend, and d) have nothing better to do with your day.

I'm sorry, by the way, for not posting this yesterday. Yesterday was...awful. The fire alarm went off in the middle of the shower. My dr's appointment lasted 1 hour and a half and required getting another 2 vials of blood taken from my body. I couldn't eat anything (and still can't). And everything appeared to be collapsing. Then, when my day finally calmed down, I decided to self inflict personal drama that turned out not to be drama at all and instead was seriously just my imagination (perhaps I'm going insane...maybe that's why my stomach's been hurting so much...this would not be much of a surprise...anyone who knows me knows that I'm completely crazy). Anyway, now tomorrow I have to cross town to determine if my spleen is enlarged (which, if it is, could be a sign of just about anything from mono to infection to blood disorder...

hurray!). On the bright side, if I gain the courage to ask (which knowing myself, I probably won't...I never have the courage to ask questions), I might be able to see the inside of my body tomorrow (which would seriously be the coolest thing ever, ever). We'll see what happens with that.

Anyway, crepes. Yes. Very good. One of the few things my body lets me eat at the moment and I am oh so glad of it. Seriously. Delicious. Enjoy! =)

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Nutella and Pineapple Toast

Yes, this recipe is exactly as the title implies. And yes, I know how ridiculous it sounds to combine the acidic flavor of pineapple with the rich flavor of chocolate and the starchy flavor of toast. Believe me, I was skeptical at first too. But, I’m the one who came up with the idea and I’m one to test every idea I come up with, before deciding that it was a bad idea. And this one? Not a bad idea, at all.

You’re still skeptical. And I understand that. But I urge you to give this a try, and I’ll explain why it tastes to good after I tell you how to make it.

First, toast your bread. I use Franz Columbia River Sweet Oat Bread. Partially because the founders of Franz went to the University of Portland and donated the building all but one of my classes are in; partially because they’re local and local food is always good; partially because it’s the sweetest bread and healthiest bread I’ve ever eaten; partially because it toasts really well; and partially because it’s what my family uses and it reminds me of home. I am no spokesperson for them, by any means, but, man, I would make a great spokesperson for them because I am becoming OBSESSED with their bread. Oh, also, I discovered that, while I am not allowed to have my own toaster in my room, there are toasters in our hall’s kitchens. The smoke detectors are super sensitive and there are eight floors in Mehling, so I decided to toast my bread on Level 2. I would recommend the same to any college student because, let’s face it, you don’t wan

t to be known as the kid who set off the smoke detector and made everyone have to evacuate the building. Plus, I like my toast warm and just slightly crispy anyway.

Second, spread Nutella on top of the bread. For best results, this should be done while the bread is still warm. That way, the Nutella slightly melts, which gets it into all the nooks and crannies of the bread and creates a nice texture.

Third, add pineapple chunks to the top. Try to avoid the juice by taking each chunk, one at a time, from a jar, can, or fruit cup of pre-sliced pineapple. I would suggest not using quite as large of chunks as I used (which you can see in the picture), because it made it a tad difficult to actually eat. If your chunks are too large, you can cut them into smaller cubes, again, avoiding juice by placing one cube at a time on top of your toast and Nutella.

Finally, eat, enjoy, and clean. Pineapple is acidic and Nutella hardens when it dries, so it is important to wash your dishes and utensils sooner, rather than later.

This recipe is sooooooo good! It might be my favorite thing I’ve ever made. And it’s so simple! Surprisingly enough, the chocolate and Nutella tastes combine really well. You know when you have a sundae and you use chocolate sauce and then add pineapple sauce or chunks on top? It tastes sort of like that. And the seeds in the bread kind of act to add some crunch, which I enjoyed. I really look forward to adding to this recipe. I can imagine adding bananas and strawberries (though not for a while because, as I grow my own strawberries at home, I refuse to pay for strawberries at a store) to this and having a super fruity, somewhat chocolaty, midnight snack. This is not your start-of-the-day breakfast toast because it is way too sweet to handle first thing in the morning. But it makes an excellent snack or dessert. And it’s so easy! Everyone should try this.

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Triple Something Hot Water

I woke up this morning with the thought I need something warm to drink. Perhaps it was the first night that I actually felt cold with the windows open and no blankets (I knew I would be too lazy to make my bed this morning) and I wanted something to warm me up. Or perhaps it's because in celebration of the fact that choir auditions were over (or so I thought) and I missed being able to drink milk. Or perhaps it was because hot chocolate has always been a de-stresser for me and I kind of needed that to get me through my long Wednesday (I have 6 classes on Wednesdays...yay double majoring). Whatever the reason really was, I decided I wanted hot chocolate. Actually, to be more specific, I wanted a white chocolate steamer to go with my Honey Smacks. So, I took my giant University of Portland mug and filled it about 3/4 the way full with water, and heated that in the microwave for about a minute and a half, so it was steaming. Meanwhile, I ate all of my bowl of Honey Smacks.

Then, I added my leftover milk to the water, and stirred.

Next, I took the white hot chocolate mix my mother gave me for Easter. The container was a glass Eiffel Tower, filled with what I swear my mother told me was white chocolate, though it was unlabled when she gave it to me. I used one spoonful an it didn't quite taste right. So I added another. And another. And then one last one just to be safe. After stirring, it still didn't taste right, so I decided it must have been powdered vanilla or something.

So, I decided to add some flavor. My roommate happened to have some chocolate, so I took what was there (3 chunks of Hershey's milk chocolate with almonds) and added it to my drink, allowing the chocolate to melt in the heat and stirring until it was uniform. This still didn't taste ok.

So, I decided to add Nutella. I happen to have a Costco pack of Nutella because Nutella is my favorite thing in the whole wide world. So, I added one spoonful of Nutella. Still not good so I added one last, declaring that if it didn't taste good, I was done trying. It still didn't taste good and I only had 10 minutes to get to class, so I gave up and dumped it down the sink.

So, long story short, DON'T DO WHAT I DID!

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