Tiramisu

After posting Broccoli Rice Casserole recipe yesterday, by Sarah's request (glad to hear from you!) here is my tiramisu recipe. Background: after I went to Italy, I had the best tiramisu I've ever tasted. I went to numerous Italian restaurants in the US trying to find it again, and eventually realized that no one here has it. So I scoured several Italian blogs, found a couple of recipes that I played around with (not changing much...mostly altering to fit what I could find in the US) to create what I think is the perfect tiramisu. I have a couple of disclaimers that I'll throw in at the end. This recipe will make a 9x13 pan. You can half it for smaller ones.

5-6 packages of Mascarpone cheese (8 oz pkg. I usually buy mine from Super Target and its kept in the deli/bakery section close to the fresh mozarella and other specialty cheeses)

6 eggs (6 egg yolks, 4 egg whites. Separate into two bowls)

6-8 heaping spoonfuls of sugar (or more or less, depending on taste)

2 packages of ladyfingers (I usually find them at World Market - Vicenzovo brand in an orange pkg)

4-6 c. espresso (strong coffee will work just fine. Make it and then put it in a dish to cool)

Cocoa

Beat egg yolks and sugar. Add mascarpone cheese and whip until creamy. Beat egg whites until peaks form, then add to cheese mixture. Add extra sugar to taste (it shouldn't be overly sweet though).

Quickly dip ladyfingers in coffee one by one and line the bottom of your pan (I literally set it in the dish with the coffee, immediately flip it over and take it out. Very quickly or they get overly soggy). Put a layer of cheese mixture on top. Make another layer of coffee soaked ladyfingers. Add another layer of cheese mixture. That should be enough to fill a 2" dish. Sprinkle top with cocoa (a sifter works great for this). Stick in the refrigerator for a bit and serve cold.

Now my disclaimers:
- This never comes out the same twice. It all has to do with the consistency of the mascarpone cheese which is out of your control. Sometimes you may need a little cream to make it creamy (no pun intended) and sometimes it will come out entirely too thin and doesn't get a good thickness to make layers. Sometimes 5 pkgs of the cheese is perfect, sometimes you need 6, sometimes even with that it is too thin. Even when its a little thin though, it's still good!!
- You're probably wondering where the liquor is. When I was in Italy, I never had a tiramisu with liquor in it. Apparently, that is an American addition. Italians prefer to keep their alcohol separate...drink the wine on the side instead of throwing it into the dessert.

Hope you enjoy!! :)

Broccoli-Rice Casserole

Here is my recipe for Broccoli-Rice. We had another potluck today (for a different group) and I was tasked with dessert. I made homemade Tiramisu and it was a hit again! I'm just rocking out the potlucks this year. :)

1 stick of butter
½ onion chopped (or a little more or less, depending on how much you like onions)
1 package of frozen chopped broccoli
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 to ½ lb of velveeta cheese
¾ c milk
1 cup of uncooked rice, cooked (measure the rice before cooking it, but cook it before you put it in the casserole)

In a large skillet, sauté onions in butter. Add chopped broccoli and sauté until completely thawed. Add soup, velveeta, and milk and cook until all of the velveeta is melted. Stir in cooked rice. Pour mixture into greased pan and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

For a 9x13 pyrex dish, I made 1 ½ of the recipe above. The normal portion works great for a 9x9 square pan. I usually make it the night before and bake the day of. Hope you enjoy it!

Potlucks...mmmm

I love potlucks. I love potlucks even more when everyone raves about my dish and asks me to send them my recipe! It satisfies that scared child in all of us that is wondering "are people going to like my dish? Is the food that I think is good actually weird or gross?" Hooray for Broccoli-Rice Casserole! :)

Fruit Chillers

I love Del Monte Fruit Chillers. They make a great snack - especially for someone with a sweet tooth. Theres a couple of things I don't like about them though: 1) I'm sure they're full of sugar, 2) They always leave my teeth feeling really gritty (see #1).

So today I decided to make my own. I bought some fresh strawberries, blueberries, and bananas (apparently raspberries are out of season? I couldn't find any), put it in a blender with a little orange juice, then stuck it the freezer for several hours. It was great! I think next time I might try adding a little honey or splenda, but even without it tasted great and I know exactly what went in it, so I feel good about eating it. Hopefully it will help me increase my fruit intake as well - that part of the food pyramid is a little weak with me.

To my BFF Ashley...

P.S. Right after I took that picture....I made it REALLY good! :)

Pet Peeve: Bueno and Hot Sauce

There is a very good possibility that I might have blogged about this before, but I think it is worth repeating.

Every time I go through the Drive-Thru at Taco Bueno, they ask the question "Do you need hot sauce?" Every time, I answer "No thank you!". And every time, they put at least 2 or more packages of hot sauce in my bag!

If it were in packages like soy sauce or ketchup, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But Bueno basically scoops out hot sauce into a little plastic container with a lid on it. The lids are really easy to pop off and on more than one occasion have spilled before I got home. SO ANNOYING....especially when I said I didn't want it!

So tonight I went to Bueno. "Would you like hot sauce?" "No thank you" Sure enough, when I got to the window there were THREE hot sauce containers in my bag(for my one party burrito and tortilla soup). So when the guy handed me back my credit card, I handed him back his hot sauce and said "I'm sorry, I don't need this."

My question is this: Why does Bueno even ask me if I want hot sauce if they're just going to give it to me either way?

Things That Make Me Smile: Hot Tamales

This morning as I was driving to work, I looked in the rearview mirror and noticed I hadn't put on any mascara. So I stopped at Walgreens to buy some and right by the register, I saw it: a giant box of Hot Tamales!!

I love cinnamon flavored things so Hot Tamales have always been one of my favorite candies. Wade Weaver used to have a giant jar of them in his office at Altamesa and I would always go and grab a few before I did anything else at church. I haven't seen them in a while, so it definitely made me smile today. And the fact that I walked around sharing them with my coworkers near me made them smile too! What a great way to start a Friday. :)

Jiffy Pop

Interesting thing about my new house....I don't have a microwave. My apartments always came with microwaves and although I know a microwave costs all of $50, I just have always decided there are other things that I'd rather spend my money on. So I decided that I would wait until I just couldn't handle it anymore and I'd go get one. That hasn't really happened yet, but every now and then I wish I had one to make popcorn. So tonight when I was walking through the grocery store and saw stovetop popcorn, I just couldn't resist!

Coming from the Scream generation, I definitely looked over my shoulder more than once while I was making it. And when my phone rang in the middle, I just let it go to my answering machine. Luckily I don't have a "huge football player boyfriend" to find tied up and gutted in my backyard, so I got to make my popcorn in peace. :)

So now the real question: was it as good as microwave popcorn? Eh, not really. But it wasn't bad and it definitely satisfied my craving tonight!

Table for One

Sweden was the first trip that I have taken where I was entirely alone for a big portion of the week. People asked me when I got back what I thought about traveling alone. I said that I absolutely loved it - you could go anywhere you wanted, if you walked into a museum and thought it was stupid you could walk right back out without wasting time wondering if other people liked it, there was no debate over what to do each day. I absolutely loved it....until dinner time. When you're traveling alone, you have to eat alone in restaurants. People can't ever hide their surprise when you say "Table for one," but you're in a different country so you suck it up and deal with it instead of eating at McDonalds all week.

I have always felt really awkward eating alone. I remember having an hour lunch break over tax-free weekend when I worked at Limited Too in High School and I wore my name tag to Subway because I didn't want people to think that I was just eating at Subway alone because I was a loser. Most of the time if I'm going to eat alone, I grab something and bring it home...so I can be a loser in private I guess. One time I went to Breadwinners in Dallas alone thinking it was a takeout place and when I realized it was a sit-down place I was too embarrassed to leave, so I sat alone feeling like all eyes were on me.

Today, I found the one place that I felt completely comfortable eating alone: Luby's! I went down to Hulen area around lunchtime to buy tickets for a sneak preview of 27 Dresses for several people and decided I wanted Luby's for lunch. So I just went inside, got my food, and sat by myself. I did not feel self-conscious at all! Maybe it helped that everyone else in there was either over 70 years old or by themselves too, but for the first time, I felt completely comfortable eating in a sit-down restaurant by myself. I think I need to go there a few more times before my next solo trip to train myself on eating alone. :)

Milk on a shelf?

I am not a morning person. When I have to get up for work, I basically get out of bed with just enough time to get ready, grab a Diet Dr. Pepper to drink in the car and run out the door. Needless to say, not much time for breakfast in there.

Everyone is always talking about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so lately I've been trading in my Dr. Pepper for a Slim-Fast shake...not quite a full breakfast, but definitely an improvement. For the first time today, I've noticed the first ingredient on the list: Fat Free Milk. Now I know that I bought these off of a shelf - not in a refrigerated section. For the past two weeks I've been drinking milk that has been sitting out on a shelf. Does anyone else think that's kinda weird?

Are they trying to tell me something?

Yesterday I worked from home in the morning and went in after lunch. I was running late so I grabbed some Wendy's. Today, I only worked a 1/2 day in the afternoon and just got some McDonald's on my way in.

Both times, I ordered a normal, full sugared drink. Dr. Pepper at Wendy's and a Coke at McDonald's. Both times, they hand me my drink, I take a sip, and its Diet Coke!! Have I gotten so bad that the people at the fast food restaurants are trying to tell me I'm fat?? It's like they're saying "Really? REGULAR Coke? Ummm....I don't think so....."

P.S. I would seriously be paranoid if they hadn't already had the drinks poured before I pulled up to the window. ;)

You Always Want What You Can't Have

I honestly couldn't tell you how long it's been since I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I've always liked them, but when you are never around children its just not something that comes up. But yet today when I was at the grocery store, I walked past the sad empty shelves that usually house the Jiffy, Peter Pan, and good ole' Walmart brand peanut butters that are gone from the big recall and all of a sudden, I couldn't think about anything but peanut butter and jelly. They still had the large sizes of Jiffy that weren't recalled as well as a couple of "all natural" brands, but it just reminded me too much of my brother's Firestone tire that detreaded back in the day but wasn't included in the recall because it was a 15" and not a 17" or something like that.

After walking around the store for a bit, I couldn't get it out of my head so I finally went over and bought some of the natural stuff. You'd think that someone who has just gotten over being seriously ill for a month would think twice before eating something that has been known to put people in the hospital....and you'd be right! When I got home, I chickened out and made a turkey sandwich instead. But I still have the risky peanut butter. Maybe some day soon when I'm feeling daring, I'll eat some of it. :)

Thought and Quote of the Day

Thought of the day:
Why do fast food mexican restaurants ask you if you want hot sauce? They're going to give it to you anyways. They ask "Would you like Hot Sauce?" You say yes, they give you hot sauce. You say no, they give you hot sauce. You say "Do you speak English?" They give you hot sauce. I bet they could cut some overhead if they'd stop handing out so much hot sauce.

Quote of the day:
Some of you might have heard that for our Integrated Project, they broke up the team that I had formed and reassigned about half the class randomly. I get put on a team with a lady in our class who is....we'll leave it at "interesting." It hasn't been nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be (although its only been 2 days....8 to go!), but I have gotten some really funny quotes out of it, such as the following:

Today, we were talking about passwords people use on the internet. A guy in my group said, "I know a lot of people use their kids names and birthdays as passwords. So sometimes its really easy to figure out if you're not careful."

She says, totally serious: "That's why I use my kids' names and their conception dates."

Its going to be an interesting week. Please pray for my sanity.

A Letter to My Love

My Dearest McDonalds,

It is with great regret and deepest sorrow that I write you this letter. I feel the time has come for us to go our separate ways. We’ve had some great times over the past few years, but this is just something that I have to do.

I know what you’re thinking – there’s another restaurant. And I promise you, I am not just running into the booths of another burger provider. I know we had the whole Whataburger incident last year, but I told you then, and I’ll tell you again, it meant nothing. It was just lunchtime and you were too busy for me. I had to get food somewhere! But it is your chicken nuggets that I crave; no one else’s can come close!

You say you can change, and I know that you’re not lying. But its not you, it’s me. You have tried your best to offer me grilled chicken sandwiches, asian salads, and other healthy options, but as long as you have those delicious fries on your menu, I will always just fall back into my old habits and we both know its not good for either one of us. I can’t live in this kind of codependent relationship anymore. The best thing for me right now is to make a clean break. Pretend we never met. Believe me, this is harder on me than it is on you. You will find other college girls to share your golden arches with, but me; this is then end of my fast food excursions. I’ll always look back on our times together with fondness, and I hope you’ll think of me in the same way. I wish you the best of luck in the future.

With love,
Emily

Unanticipated effects of weird food....

So you're probably expecting something really gross out of this post. Sorry to disappoint any 12 year old boys reading today, but this post is about my check card.

Today I went and checked my mail and had a letter from Wells Fargo with a new check card. My card is just fine and doesn't expire until 11/07, so I was a little confused. Then I actually read the letter: "In fulfilling our commitment to detect and prevent fraud on our customers' payment cards, Wells Fargo regularly reviews cardholders activity to identify unusual purchase and ATM transaction patterns. As part of this review process, your Check Card number was identified as being at risk for unauthorized transactions." Then it goes on to say that my old card is cancelled and I have to activate the new one.

I was curious as to what triggered this flag, so I started looking at my purchases recently: King Tut's egyptian restaurant, Edohana Sushi, Pho Bella Vietnamese, Bombay Grill, ATM withdrawl (for a small amount), and a purchase at Fiesta grocery store (I wanted to buy some Guarana - a brazilian soft drink). Everything else on my account is totally normal...rent, WalMart Neighborhood Market, Jack-In-The-Box, so the weird food is the only thing I can pinpoint! Stepping out of the box can have unintended consequences - a new check card number!

Weird Food

If you haven't eaten with me in a while, you may not remember that I am a plain food eater. My ordering typically goes like this:

"I'll have a Cheeseburger plain and dry."
"Could I get the enchiladas with no onions?"
"Chicken quesadillas with just chicken and cheese"
"Victoria's Filet with steamed broccoli, please."
and on Taco Tuesday at Rosa's, "Taco special with no tomatos."

I don't like anything that is too spicy, too hot, involves onions or peppers (unless you can't tell they're there, which I usually can), or tomatos.

So now onto my life right now...I am constantly with people who eat weird food. These are the kinds of calls I get now:

"Hey! We're going to go eat Greek food tonight!"
"Wanna go to Bombay Palace for some Indian food?"
"I'm having a goat roast next weekend..."
"Let's go to Pho Bella for dinner." (me) "Whats Pho Bella?" (them) "Vietnamese Food."

And the call last night: "We're going to go eat Egyptian food tonight." (me) "Okay, now you're just making up food types." (them) "No, seriously. Its a restaurant called King Tuts"

So I am now being forced to venture out of my "plain and dry"/"chicken and cheese" world and into the world of Chicken Shwarma, goat thighs, Shrimp Tandoori, and Nhan. Now is the part where I'm supposed to say that trying new things has expanded my horizons and I actually like stepping outside of my food box...but I can't. My stomach has never hated me more.

I ate Goat.

So Lindsey is going to kill me if I don't write a post about this. The rumors are true. I ate goat. My friend, Doug, decided to have a barbecue at his house in Granbury and invite our whole MBA class, but wanted to have a little spin on it - he wanted to cook goat. At first I thought he was kidding, and then I realized that it was Doug and he would be insane enough to actually do it. He then promised that he would have "normal food" for those of us that didn't want goat. I was thinking he would grill some hot dogs or hamburgers or something. So I make the 45 min drive out to Granbury, craving a hamburger. I get there and see what the "normal food" was....the side dishes. He had crackers and cheese and fruit, macaroni and cheese, and corn casserole. That was it. Besides the goat. So if you wanted to eat, you ate goat.

For those of you who will never have the joy of eating goat, it tastes a lot like lamb - very greasy meat with kind of a weird texture. It really wasn't bad...until I got sick the next day. I'm not saying it was the goat that got me sick, except to say that it was the goat that got me sick.

And now for the most disturbing part of the story that Doug swears is true and I really believe him. Doug has a 2 year old son, Alexander. Thursday Doug took Alexander to the petting zoo and he petted a goat. Friday Doug comes home with the dead, skinned goat that we ate and says "Look Alexander! This is what a goat looks like with no skin on it!" He claims it didn't affect Alexander in any way....I wonder if Alexander's therapist will say the same thing in 20 years...

What is the most odd thing that you've eaten? Have you ever emotionally disturbed a child?

The best cookies ever...only not at all

Have you ever had those really soft thick sugar cookies with the thick icing on top from the grocery store? Because if you haven't you probably don't live in the United States or are diabetic. I hate those cookies. Everyone else in the world thinks they are the greatest things ever and go nuts every time they are around - usually in Youth Group functions. I think they have absolutely no taste and the icing makes me sick. I thought I was the only one in the world who didn't like them until last week when I found out that Lindsey doesn't like them either! It made my day to learn that someone else doesn't like them either.

The reaction I get when I tell people that I don't like them is usually pretty horrific. Have you ever told someone that you don't like something they love? Here is how the conversation usually goes: Me - "I don't like those cookies with the thick icing on top" Other person "WHAT??? YOU DON'T LIKE THE COOKIES WITH THE THICK ICING ON TOP??? WHO ARE YOU???" I mean seriously, you'd think I insulted their mother or something! Why is it that it is awful to admit that you don't like something? The same things happens with movies, when you don't like a movie that everyone else loved (for me, its The Village. Great movie until the creatures were fake. The only good twist was Joachin Phoenix getting stabbed) or a speaker/preacher/teacher that you don't think is great (for me, its Stephen Moore at ACU. I think he is the most overrated teacher/chapel songleader ever). I am hoping that someday, society will accept me for who I am - someone who dislikes thick icing cookies.