It's Always Sunny In...

I recently received my first perk of blog writing. Now - writing the blog and having people actually read it is perk enough for me, but I mean that I received my first opportunity via blog. After my post on using the Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecake recipe for H's b-day cake, TKTC offered me the opportunity to do a product review on Philadelphia's new flavored spreads. From what I can gather from her blog, TKTC has the world's most rockin' job for anyone that is interested in writing about food and she works on the PR campaign for Kraft. So she overnighted me a lovely package of with Philadelphia's Tomato Basil and Spinach and Artichoke Cream Cheese spreads, two boxes of crackers, and a cheese spreader and all I had to do in return was write about eating it! Seriously, not a fair trade on her part. Especially because as I have mentioned before, trying new products is one of my greatest joys in life (behind eating of course).






Needless to say, last week I ate cheese and crackers for dinner every night and I did not share. The tomato basil spread on its own tastes a little too much like pizza flavor to me. But I think it would be perfect for making a little cracker hors d'oeuvres with a piece of chorizo or an olive. Oh but the spinach and artichoke... yum yum yum. This one I could eat plain out of the tub - it is so good. I didn't have time to think of any other ways you could use it because it was just so good I couldn't stop myself from eating the whole container. I would defintiely use this to entertain with. I'm not sure if these are sold in stores yet or not, I haven't seen them, but I also have only looked at one very shady grocery store I visited over the weekend.


Why would I visit a shady grocery store you ask? I have this habit of stopping at the grocery store in nearest proximity to whatever random place I happen to be. I think I have shopped in the majority of grocery stores in the greater Cleveland area. I find that most people go to the same one or two grocery stores for the most part, but I am seriously all over the place. This weekend I was over on W. 117th and just needed some butter so I could make some banana muffins for Easter brunch (recipe below - turned out very nicely) so I stopped at this shady establishment that I cannot remember the name of.

Anyways, after a week of eating cream cheese for dinner and eating only sugar on Easter, I have put myself on yet another diet. This blog is gonna be taken over by healthy recipes!

Banana Muffins
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I omitted cuz I don't like nuts in baked goods)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 2 muffin tins.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together like you mean it, for a good 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway. Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.
Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Fish for Friday

As I read through my last post I realized I wasn't very specific on some things. To clarify, the movie Tyson is about Mike Tyson - not sure if you could infer that or not. And I wore a flower in my hair which is why we are into headgear for dance parties. I need to re-read before I post, sorry! Anyways...

My little monster friend had us girls over for dinner a long time ago and made a very delicious* coconut crusted tilapia. I made it once shortly after this dinner and it did not turn out anywhere near as good as hers, but tilapia was on sale last week so I took another shot at it. And hot dog! (that is for you G-Bone) it turned out awesome! So I made it again this week and it is still awesome and very quick and easy. All you have to do is marinate the tilapia filet in coconut milk, then dredge it in panko breadcrumbs with a bit of S&P and shredded coconut and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. The coconut comes out lightly toasted and the fish is flaky and delicious*. And it is so sweet you don't need dessert! (yea right)

A quick note on current commercials: Have you seen that Lincoln MKX commercial with that 80's song 'Major Tom' covered by Shiny Toy Guns? I want to download that song, please let me know if you find it. I also love that t-mobile commercial with the Little Miss Sunshine lookin girl who says, "she thinks your super delicious*" and that Visa commercial where everyone is singing "Super Freak".

Is anyone attending the Rock Hall Induction stuff in Cleveland this weekend? Do you think we will see Eminem out and about?

* I re-read my post and I used the word delicious 3 times - I need a thesaurus.

I didn't plan it, but I ended up seeing two fight movies this past weekend. Friday night CC and I went to see The Wrestler and on Sunday we went to the Cleveland International Film Festival and saw Tyson. I can understand the oscar nom for Rourke in The Wrestler, but overall this movie was a big downer. Tyson, on the other hand, was so intriguing. The movie is essentially him telling his life story to the camera with intermittent shots of fight footage. The guy is clearly nuts, but in the end I was surprised by how sympathetic I was to him. It was funny and touching, and I really enjoyed it.

We liked Tyson so much, we decided to check out another film while at the CIFF. Next up was The Wrecking Crew. Another true story; this one about studio musicians in the 1960's. It was an interesting story, but it ran too long and lost my attention after the first hour. I don't write about movies much, so while we are on the topic I have to say that my favorite movie of the past year is Pineapple Express. Maybe it is because I am butt-crazy in love with James Franco, but I thought this movie was hilarious. I'm a netflixer so I don't buy movies very often, but this one I had to order.

On Saturday night we went down to H&M's house in Akron to celebrate H's birthday with a dance party. She wore a headband (a la American Apparel) and I wore a flower - we are into headgear for dance parties. H has been one of my best friends since second grade and for as long as I can remember she has had cherry cheesecake on her birthday. So when M asked us to bring something, I had to try making one. I wanted a traditional recipe that would be somewhat similar to her mother's clearly superior recipe. I opted for the Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe from the Kraft website, with a slight twist: I subbed almond extract for the vanilla extract. The result was awesome! Here it is (you will notice Kraft brands are used, but whatever)

Cherry Cheesecake

6 HONEY MAID Honey Grahams, crushed (about 1 cup)
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
5 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla (I used Almond)
1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
4 eggs
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling

HEAT oven to 325°F.
MIX crumbs, 3 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Bake 10 min.
MEANWHILE, beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add sour cream; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust.
BAKE 40 min. or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours. Top with pie filling.

Size-Wise
Sweets can add enjoyment to a balanced diet, but remember to keep an eye on portions. (Thanks Kraft, note to self)

New York Lemon Cheesecake
Prepare as directed, omitting cherry pie filling and adding 1-1/2 tsp. lemon zest and 2 Tbsp. lemon juice to cream cheese batter before pouring over crust.

How to Bake in Springform Pan (I used springform cuz it is prettier presentation, see pic below)
Prepare and bake cheesecake as directed, substituting a 9-inch springform pan for the 13x9-inch pan and increasing the baking time to 1 hour 10 min. or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. (Note: If using a dark nonstick springform pan, reduce oven temperature to 325ºF.)

It's a blanket - with arms!

At the request of Miss Ally, here are some pictures from the Snuggie Birthday Bar Crawl. We started the crawl at Flannery's on E. 4th and crawled our way down E 4th and then over to W. 6th. We had a group of about 20, half in snuggies, half in street clothes (lame). We learned there are some high points and low points of snuggie bar crawls:

High point: The crowd at Hairy Buffalo was awesome and loved to dance with the snuggie folk
Low point: I was told I look like Jesus and/or Mary Magdalen
High point: Easy to find others in your group. If you get seperated from the crawl, just ask someone to point you in the direction of the blue cult
Low point: A little tricky to go to the bathroom
High point: No need to wear a coat and lots of room to hide jello shots in them
Low point: Corner Alley and Cadillac Ranch are not snuggie friendly
High point: People love snuggies! And they are so vibrant in pictures
Low point: You can only get blue at Bed Bath and Beyond and the shipping to order on-line is steep
High point: Soooo cozy! You can take a little nap anywhere you go.
Low point: They can drag or get caught on a fence if you're not careful. One size fits all...
High point: They come with this free reading light, as demonstrated by Mitro below, that make it easy to read a menu in a dark bar

Overall, I highly recommend the snuggie pub crawl! It was a great way to celebrate 26 years on earth!

Ketchup / Catsup

I am light years behind on blogging and it is giving me anxiety. So I am just going to rip the band-aid off and start blogging again and pretend that it hasn't been over a month since my last post.

But what a month it has been. So many potential blog posts. Since I last wrote I have turned 26!, had a snuggie bar crawl birthday party to celebrate, bought myself an autoharp, watched the first 3 seasons of Weeds, baked two birthday cakes (one for me, one for G-Bone), finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and had some craziness at work.

And now I am sitting in the waiting room while poor CC gets his wisdom teeth out. Last night we reminisced about some of my past oral surgeries. First there was the tongue surgery in eighth grade to remove a cyst from under my tongue. Next was the k-9 extractions. This was where they had to expose my k-9 teeth, stick a bracket on them, and then proceed to slowly pull them down with braces otherwise they never would have come in. And lastly, I had my wisdom teeth out. All of these were miserable!

And you know the one perk of surgery where some people lose like 10 pounds? Well that never happened to me. And I was never lucky enough to get mono. Come to think of it, with bathing suit season approaching, I could really use a good stomach flu or bout of salmonella.

Jokes! I love being healthy!

Hearty Lunch

Today I made the second of the two recipes that Blaze sent me. Blaze got this recipe from Snickerdoodle, so I have to thank them both for sending it my way. It is veggie, healthy, and flavorful! And really quite easy. Enjoy!

Black Bean Stew over Coconut Lime Rice

for the black bean stew:

2 tbs olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine

large handful of yellow baby carrots

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste (I used a little truffle salt cuz why not?)

2 cups vegetable stock

2 cans black beans (30 oz total)

half a pound of frozen corn

large can of stewed tomatoes

I also added a bit of cinnamon, definitely optional

sweat the onion, carrots and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat in a stock pot until onion is soft. add seasonings and cook for a few minutes more. enjoy lovely aroma of onions and cumin. add stock, corn and one can of rinsed black beans. bring to a simmer. in a mixing bowl with a stick blender (or in a food processor) puree the tomatoes and second can of rinsed black beans. add tomato mixture to pot and simmer on low about 20 minutes.

for the coconut lime rice:

1 1/2 c basmati rice (I used brown jasmine rice)

14 oz can of lite coconut milk

1 1/4 c water

1 tbs sugar

juice of one lime (I added the zest too)

2 tsp salt

1/8 c chopped cilantro

incorporate all ingredients except cilantro in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer until all liquid has been absorbed, about 25 minutes (mine took forever, I am terrible at cooking rice). fluff rice with a fork and mix in cilantro.

Green Post

I have to admit this post is recycled from Facebook. If you are on Facebook I'm sure you have seen the notes with 25 random things about yourself. Well here is my submission, I'm sorry I don't have time for a more thoughtful post.

1. I have had surgery on my tongue

2. I love non-dairy creamer and prefer it over regular cream in coffee

3. But I love cream in my tea

4. I love to peel things, especially people peeling after a sun burn. I know it is gross, but it brings me a creepy sense of joy

5. At points in my life I have memorized the Gettysburg Address, the Periodic Table of Elements, all the state capitals, and numerous other things. I have a terrible memory and have since forgotten the majority of each

6. I love maps and could study them all day if given the opportunity. Side note - Does anyone know how I can turn this into a career?

7. I worked in the Kroger produce department for one day in college. The smell of the trash room made me ill and I never went back. I was hoping to become a cashier and to this day would love to work as a cashier in a grocery store.

8. I would also like to try being a waitress at a fancy restaurant where I love the food and the menu changes with the seasons (like Crop). And I would love to go to culinary school if chef’s work hours weren’t so terrible. (this was a two-fer)

9. I have some interesting relatives including a child prodigy, a nun, and an ultra-marathon runner.

10. I have run (very slowly) two half marathons and a full marathon. I would like to try doing a triathlon someday (no day soon)

11. I am a sucker from new products and infomercials. If you recommend something I will try it.

12. I got a tetanus shot last year and it turned out to be one of the worst experiences of my life. I still haven’t figured out what went wrong, but I couldn’t lift my arm for a few weeks and the pain kept me awake at night.

13. Popcorn is probably my favorite food. I also love bread with oil dip and I love Nutella, but try to not to eat these too much.

14. One summer I spent six weeks canoeing 1,100 miles through Canada. I think this proves I am capable of being outdoorsy, however I have not actually gone camping since.

15. I went on a missions trip for a week every summer in high school and became an accomplished roofer

16. I took piano lessons for 10 years and learning to play the violin/fiddle is on my list of things to do in life. I would also like to learn to play the accordion.

17. I have a very itchy face and don’t realize when I make funny faces to get rid of the itch, but I think I do it a lot

18. I think my skin would completely crack and fall off and I would be left skinless if I didn’t apply lotion to my entire body every time I get out of the shower.

19. I went on the Sound of Music tour in Austria, the hills are alive!

20. I was born in Vicenza, Italy and lived there until I was 2

21. I am a pisces as are a lot of my friends and I don’t think this is a coincidence. When I told my Dad that I thought there was meaning in astrology he told me he was “very disappointed”

22. I got caught shoplifting from Kohl’s in high school and was justly punished. I have not stolen anything since and I’m not sure why I did it in the first place. Its feels good to get this out in the open and stop hiding my shame

23. I really enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles, the Jumble, crosswords, Sudoku, and logic puzzles. Also murder mysteries, scavenger hunts, Road Ralleys, and solving mysteries in general. Actually I pretty much enjoy all games

24. I don’t enjoy really hot water. In turn I don’t enjoy hot tubs or whirlpools. But I would like to call the number on one of those signs on the side of road selling hot tubs just to see who is selling hot tubs via hand written signs. I mean they must make money or you wouldn’t see them EVERYWHERE, right? It must be a pyramid scheme. No - a Ponzi scheme

25. I still sleep with my blankie