Midnight Again

I recently had my wisdom teeth out, so I'm learning a new appreciation for food that isn't mashed. I'm also trying to figure out what to buy people for Christmas with very little success. Usually, I'm able to find some quirky gift that people will appreciate, but this year, I'm all out. Perhaps it has something to do with the lack of fun in my life this year. Ever since S and I both started working full-time on opposite schedules, doing anything other than sleeping has seemed difficult. I did find two gifts on Etsy today, though, so there's that. And 3 or 4 on amazon, so I'm pretty pleased about that. The Christmas season is definitely stressful.

But I digress. This is about food. Though, tangentially, gifts brought the food into existence. Recently, (or not that recently), I gave my parents airline ticket vouchers for their 40th wedding anniversary, in the hopes that they would use them to go somewhere fun. They have not. And have been trying to give them back to me because they expire in late February to early March. I am unwilling to accept that because that would in essence mean that I gave them absolutely nothing for their 40th wedding anniversary, which I'm not prepared to embrace. So, the plan is to now get a groupon to hotels in California (near the Redwoods, where they want to stay) and actually just organize a vacation for them. Unfortunately, that requires money.

Again... Veering towards food, I swear. I went to livingsocial.com to look for deals and saw an awesome deal on a Thailand vacation and was instantaneously struck with a desire for Thai food that I can make quickly, using the ingredients I have at work. So, the journey begins.

With any luck, updates later.

Almost the end of September

I'm not sure exactly where the last 4 months have gone. Something about not working full time just makes my brain melt into nothingness. Also, it's possible that time has just decided to speed up so that I can be 30 sooner. That would suck.
But what doesn't suck is my baking frenzy last night. I decided to make some peanut butter bars, pretzels, and tasty pull-apart bread. I've recently discovered an obsession with foodgawker, so I've been trying their recipes.
The peanut butter bars are your typical Nestle ones with this recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups peanut butter, divided
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar, divided
• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 1/2 cups (8-oz.) Nestle Toll House Mini Morsels, divided

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Directions

GREASE 13 x 9-inch baking pan. 

BEAT 1 1/4 cups peanut butter and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in 1 cup powdered sugar. With hands or wooden spoon, work in remaining 1 cup powdered sugar, graham cracker crumbs and 1/2 cup morsels. Press evenly into prepared baking pan. Smooth top with spatula. 

MELT remaining 3/4 cup peanut butter and remaining 1 cup morsels in medium, heavy-dutysaucepan over lowest possible heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Spread over graham cracker crust in pan. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until chocolate is firm. Cut into bars. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

The only change I made to this is to add fewer morsels because I don't like the thickness of the chocolate coating. Otherwise, these are pretty easy. The only thing to watch out for is the inconsistent texture. Watch it like a hawk to make sure that it's creamy enough to stick together, but not creamy enough to not be able to be pressed down. If yours is grainy, add more creamed peanut butter and sugar. If it's too creamy, add more graham crackers. Then, refrigerate and enjoy. :)

I make these for work frequently and this recipe is usually enough for about 20 people. Unless I happen to be working with people who love peanut butter and chocolate. Then, it's enough for 10.

Aggression Cookies

I read a series of books called "Hannah Swensen Mysteries". Not so much because they're fascinating and wonderfully well written, but more because of the recipes. Anyway, I found a recipe for some cookies called aggression cookies in the book and ended up with an awesome recipe for light, crispy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies. Because this is a library book, I'm going to transfer the recipe onto here. You're welcome, future Valerie. I made very few changes to this recipe except making it much smaller. I especially love it because you can pound this and feel better.

Oven Temp: 350 degrees
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten-ish
1 cup of butter or 2 sticks
2 cups of oatmeal
1/2 cup of chocolate chips or raisins. Or both or neither.
1/4 tsp salt

Grease two cookie sheets. All you need to do with this is throw all the ingredients into a big bowl, make sure your hands are clean and squeeze and stir the cookie dough with your hands. Make sure the dough is smooth. Think angry thoughts. Stir some more until it's mostly smooth. My dough was really soft, so I was concerned for a bit, but it ended up making some tasty crispy-edged cookies, so I guess it was alright. I didn't like the cookies as much with added flour, so don't make that mistake.

Scoop the dough into rounded balls with a tablespoon and coat in granulated sugar. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Cool them on the sheets for a few minutes, then put onto wire racks.

And you're done. So, if you're ever short on time but craving some cookies, try these, future Valerie. Try these.