Monthly Archives: January 2011

DC: A Photo Essay

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I had a fabulous two days of shopping, eating, sightseeing, and catching up with old friends this weekend in DC.

Highlights include:

Pretending I was the paparazzi outside the White House,

Losing my sunglasses and FINDING them again (<3 Five Guys),

An amazing dinner at Kinkead’s,

Reliving my college days staying out till 3AM dancing (fact: DC’s bar scene beats Boston’s by a landslide),

A caramel s’mores bar from Baked and Wired,

and encountering the largest squirrel I have ever seen in my life.

*Alert* There may or may not be a squirrel obesity epidemic in our nation’s capital.

Sunset on the flight back to Boston!

Homemade Kit Kats

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Gimme a break, gimme a break…

Today I made my very own KIT-KAT-BARS (if you sing along to the tune, it totally works)!

Kit Kats just so happen to be one of my favorite candy bars. I love the mixture of crispy crunchy wafers and smooth, creamy chocolate. When Fina sent me the recipe for (none other than) Paula Deen’s homemade Kit Kat bars, I thought…No.Way.

These bars are sinful. They are made entirely out of things that are bad for you and are more addictive than drugs. And, do you WANT to know what is used to recreate the crispy crunchy wafers? CLUB CRACKERS. My faaaavorite cracker. Club crackers remind me of being 8 years old and tomato soup and creating the perfect crumb-to-soup ratio. Crunchy and flaky and salty and buttery. Perfect for soup and even more perfect in homemade Kit Kats.

Truth be told, I think these bars are more like a mix of Kit Kat and Twix. The crispy wafters are layered with a caramel sauce that is made up of sugar, butter, and graham cracker crumbs, otherwise known as heaven. Then the whole mess is topped with a chocolate-butterscotch-peanut butter sauce. Perfect.

Here’s the recipe.

Homemade Kit Kat bars

Ingredients

  • 75 Club crackers
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

  1. Line 9- by 13-inch rectangular baking pan with one layer of Club crackers (you may need to break some to fit).
  2. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add graham cracker crumbs, dark brown sugar, milk, and granulated sugar. Bring to boil. Boil for five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat. Pour half of butter mixture over crackers in pan. Smooth surface with spatula.

  3. Arrange another layer of Club crackers over butter mixture. Pour remaining butter mixture over surface. Smooth surface with spatula. Arrange a third layer of crackers over top.

  4. Combine peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips in small saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Spread evenly over crackers.

  5. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate two hours. Cut into 2-inch bars. Bars will keep for two weeks, stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.


 

Wildlife Wednesday: Welsh Terrier Edition

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Remember the Wildlife Wednesday from a few weeks ago where I posted a bunch of pictures of Mike’s Airedales and promised to show you the MINI version? Well, here they are…meet the Welsh Terrier (aka mini Airedale Terrier otherwise known as Iwantthispuppyrightnow).

Please excuse the strange woman. Look how TINSY it is!!

An Airedale and a Welshie together. Mini-me! {Photo credit here}

And finally, puppy photos. Love, love, love.

From The Daily Puppy.

Get me one of these and french bulldog and my life is COMPLETE.

In Search of Warmth

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Temperatures over the past 48 hours have hovered between -5 and 20 degrees. COLD. Freeeeeeeezing. F.r.i.g.i.d.

There are exactly three food items that make me feel warm and toasty:

1. Brownies

2. Chili

3. Chocolate

So, I made some Nutella brownies. Then I made some chocolate-infused chili. CHOCOLATE-infused chili. As in chili with chocolate in it.

First things first - let’s discuss these Nutella brownies. Remember that GIANT jar of Nutella I discovered in my cabinet as a result of a grocery store blackout?

Yeah, it’s gone. These babies used up the last of it.

Also, the recipe I used said to mix the Nutella into the batter, but I felt like the Nutella flavor got lost that way. So, next time I will swirl the Nutella in the last minute so there’s nice little gooey pockets of it here and there.

Here’s what you need…

1 cup butter, unsalted

11/2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

4 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup of cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup Nutella

1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter, allow to cool, and mix it with the sugar, vanilla, and eggs.

Then, sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined, add the chocolate chips, and pour into a greased 9×9 baking pan.

Melt the Nutella in the microwave until slightly runny, then dollop into the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake for 45 minutes.

Unfortunately I was fighting a losing battle against the sun and tried to cut the brownies 2 minutes after they came out of the oven in an attempt to catch a good “natural light” picture. The result is this crumbly, sad, albeit DELICIOUS, mess..

But trust me when I say it…these brownies are goooood. Served warm with a little vanilla ice cream? Even better.

I also wanted to shared this fabulous, healthy, yummy, filling, comforting turkey-chili-made-with-chocolate-recipe.

Once it has been mixed in and simmered for a few minutes, you can’t taste the chocolate. But I think it adds a whole other level of heartiness.

Get the recipe here.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pancakes

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I woke up this morning wanting one thing… pancakes. But not just any pancakes. PEANUT BUTTER pancakes. Did you know you could put peanut butter inside pancakes? I didn’t. And I’ve been missing out on a world of deliciousness.

So fluffy and chocolate-peanut-buttery. MMmmmm.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pancakes

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

1/3 cup peanut butter (I used chunky peanut butter and it was GREAT)

3 tablespoons melted butter, cooled

handful chocolate chips

Mix together dry ingredients and chocolate chips in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, beat together milk, egg, peanut butter and melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Pour 1/4 cup of batter on a large nonstick griddle over medium heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side.

 

Wildlife Wednesday: Talking Animal Edition

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For this edition of Wildlife Wednesday, I bring you a hilarious video of “talking” animals.

I also have a cute fish picture, from WW enthusiast Kaitlin.

Kaitlin is currently going to library school and working at a library, so she naturally takes pictures of fish who live in a library (bowl) within a library (actual). Meet Microfiche (pronounced micro-feesh).

If I had to hazard I guess, I would say Microfiche’s favorite things are sipping brandy and reciting Shakespeare.

Thanks for the submission, K.Marie!

Cake Pops Volume II

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When I heard about snow day #2, I had one thought: CAKE POPS. It just so happens that my sister’s birthday is today, so I knew these would be a perfect gift to send to her.

I started with some funfetti cake, frosting, and rainbow sprinkles to get in the birthday spirit.

Dipped in pink!

I also got inspired by all that snow…

SNOWMEN!!!

SOOOOOooooOOooooooOOOO cute!

Snowventure 2011

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When I found out that we had a snow day on Wednesday, I screamed so loud that the precious nine-year-old that I babysit asked me if I got engaged.

When I found out we had a SECOND snow day on Thursday, I thought I was being punk’d and compulsively refreshed Boston.com for 15 minutes.

Snow days = bliss. Fact.

Snow day #1 was made better by the fact that Mike had one as well. Adventures ensued.

During the blizzard...

 

And the aftermath!

 

We are attractive.

 

Ready...

 

Set...

 

SNOW ANGEL!

Building a snowman is harder than I remember!

Meet Sam.

 

Cutieeeeeesss

Byebye Sam!