National Oatmeal Day

Today is National Oatmeal Day! It is not, however, National Oatmeal Cookie Day (April 30) or National Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day (March 11) or even National Oatmeal Month (January), which means we can't cheat the system by making oatmeal cookies or oatmeal crumb topping. Nope. We actually have to make oatmeal.

How to Make Oatmeal That Doesn't Taste Like Ground Up Senior Citizens

Start by boiling 1 1/3 cups water.

Add 3/4 cup oatmeal. Turn down the heat (because your stove kind of smells like barbeque sauce because your roommate spilled who knows what on the burner) and cook for 7-ish minutes until most of the water is gone.

Put your oatmeal in a bowl.

Add 2 tbs milk.

Add 1/2 tbs brown sugar (because the internet is watching and you can't add 1/4 cup).

Get tired of measuring and throw six shakes of cinnamon on top, then a shake of nutmeg just to mix things up a little.

Stir it all up and enjoy your mostly healthy breakfast!

Happy National Oatmeal Day!

Vegetarian Chili Recipe

It was a chilly day today and my roommate and I (who were both home--on a weekday, no less!) decided we needed to make a gigantic pot of chili. This, my friends, is that chili:

First we gathered up all the ingredients....

....and then I chopped the green peppers....

....and then I chopped the onions....

....and then I chopped the jalapenos....

....and then we dumped it all in a pot....

....and then I typed up the recipe while we waited.

Ingredients:
3 medium onions
2 green bell peppers
2 jalapeno peppers
12 oz tomato paste
29 oz petite diced tomatoes
30 oz canned kidney beans
15 oz canned great northern beans
1 tbs basil
2 tbs chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Water as needed

Instructions:
1. Drain all your beans and dump them in an enormous pot with the canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook them for about 90 minutes over low heat. Add water if it gets too thick.

2. Chop all your veggies and add them to the enormous pot along with the basil, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Cook for another three hours or so. Add water if it gets too thick.

3. Pour into bowls, top with cheese, and serve with crackers. Share with the neighbors.

For those carnivorously inclined, feel free to add a pound of browned ground beef about an hour before you plan to eat.

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Dip Recipe

Disclaimer: I stole this recipe from Lori on AllRecipes.com. Check out the original there!

Heads-up Hallween party throwers: YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS!

Heads-up moms everywhere: YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS!

Heads-up hungry students: YOU NEED TO MAKE THIS!

Heads-up everybody who makes this: YOU NEED TO INVITE ME OVER TO EAT IT!

This is absolutely delicious and can easily be tweaked to your personal tastes. What are you waiting for? Pull out your cream cheese right now and keep reading.

Caramel Apple Dip

Ingredients:
At least 20 caramels
1/4 cup water
1 8-oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions:
1. Unwrap caramels.
2. Mix the cream cheese and brown sugar together in a bowl.
3. Put caramels in saucepan with water and melt over medium heat. Stir lots.
4. Pour caramel into cream cheese. Stir.
5. Eat. With apples or with a spoon, your choice.

Save the leftovers (yeah right!) in the refrigerator. The dip will stay soft even after it has been chilled.

Let me know how this recipe turns out for you!

Halloween Candy Review

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love the weather, the decorations, the costumes, and of course, the candy. The fact that I am a pansy-assed wimp is entirely beside the point.

Anywho, here is my review of some of the cool new Halloween candies out this year.

1. Pumpkin Spice Kisses

Everybody loves chocolate, right? And more than chocolate, everybody loves pumpkin spice, right? Of course they do! So what better way to celebrate autumn than with pumpkin spice kisses from Hershey? I speak rhetorically, of course, as these are utterly disgusting and my brother and I both spat them out.

2. Jolly Rancher Caramel Apple Lollipops

The Great Apple Crisp Bake Off

It's about to get real, people.

I love my roommate. I love him a lot. He's a great guy. He's a great cook. But when he tried to tell me his apple crisp was better than mine, I flew into a mad rage and proceeded to bake the best apple crisp known to mankind, ever, in the history of the world.

Then he baked an apple crisp too.

In our inability to come to an agreement over whose recipe was better, we turned to the only logical solution: a bake off, to be judged by our coworkers. Or, rather, my coworkers, as he only has two coworkers and they are obviously not as awesome as my coworkers.

It took two days and, like, twenty people before we finally reached the final verdict: it was a tie. (this photo does not reflect the final score, I just like it better)

Clearly, my coworkers are not as awesome as I thought.

This leaves it up to you, dear internet. Which of these recipes do you like best? Try them both and put your vote in the comments!

Steve's Apple Crisp

 

Thinly slice 4-5 large apples. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over apples. Add a dash of salt. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with margarine. Pour apples into baking dish. Pour 1/4 cup water over apples. Stir together 3/4 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup melted margarine until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over apples. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.


Katie's Apple Crisp

Thinly slice 4-5 large apples. Stir 1 cup sugar, 1 tbs flour, 1/2 tbs cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp nutmeg into apples. Pour apples into a 9x13 baking dish. Mix together 1/2 cup melted butter, 1 cup quick-cook oatmeal, 1 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp baking soda until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over apples. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Happy baking!

Garlic Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

Garlic Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:
2 cups of pumpkin seeds
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Rinse all the gook off your pumpkin seeds and pat them dry.
2. Stir seeds with olive oil, garlic powder, and salt.
3. Spread the seeds on a cookie sheet lined with tin foil.
4. Bake at 350 degrees, stirring every ten minutes until desired level of crunch is attained.

That's it! The worst part is gutting the pumpkin, but these seeds may just make it worth the effort.

Almost.

Pretzel FAIL!

I woke up this morning to a chilly drizzle and the house to myself. Guess what that means? Today was the perfect day for baking.

Until I baked.

And ruined everything.

* insert sad emoticon here *

I used the Papa Drexler pretzel recipe from AllRecipes.com. The only changes I made were to heat the water before adding it to the yeast (per the directions on the yeast), I divvied the dough into 12 pretzels instead of 6, and I increased the bake time for the second batch based on done-ness of the first batch.

First of all, I had a little trouble getting the hang of the pretzel shape:

But with a some practice, I figured it out:

Then I flipped the pretzels over....

And then I looked at the cookie sheet:

My oven must be mad at me for not using it enough.

Oh well.

Does anybody have any other pretzel recipe recommendations for me? Put them in the comments!

10 Things to Do With a Bushel of Apples

My roommate came home from his latest voyage to backwoods New York with a bushel of apples. Not just any apples, though. No. These are 20-Ounce Apples, the best kept secret of autumnal bakers. Well....it was, until I spilled the beans on the internet. Oh well.

After I calmed down from my gleeful hopping up and down over having my very own bushel of 20-Ounce Apples, reality set in. I had a bushel of 20-Once Apples. A bushel. A whole bushel. That's a lot of apples. So what's a girl to do with an abundance of fruit? Make a list, of course!

Things to Do With a Bushel of Apples:

1. Make apple crisp.

2. Challenge your roommate to an apple crisp bake off.

3. Win the apple crisp bake off.

4. Make apple sauce.

5. Give away apple sauce.

6. Make a bong.

7. Remember weed is illegal in Virginia and that your roommate didn't get his sister to smuggle you pot from Colorado.

8. Make caramel apple dip.

9. Put caramel apple dip inside apple bong and hope nobody notices your slightly criminal fruit.

10. Get sick of apples and give them away to old ladies who like baking.

What would you do with a bushel of apples? Tell me in the comments!