Excuse Me, Paula Deen...

Make way for the new gal in town!

Alright, so maybe I cheated on my "diet"  new way of living...again. But I truly don't care! The scale said I was two pounds down, so I threw some flower down on the countertops and began expanding my cooking skills.

There could be many readers out there that don't know that I have absolutely no cooking experience. Sure, I worked in a bowling alley snack bar-but that only required knowledge of how to drop a fry basket in some old oil.

Because I live in a dorm with only a griddle, a crockpot, and a portable cupcake maker...I don't get to cook that often. So far this winter break I've made:

• Chicken Alfredo
• Biscuits and Gravy
• Capellini alla Puttanesca (hold the anchovies)
• Gluten-Free Brownies
• Mediterranean Bruschetta (many times!)
• Brat-worsts
• Homemade Ravioli (three times) with my Pesto-Alfredo-Marinara
• Those cheese stuffed burgers you saw
• Phyllo dough stuffed cream cheese/goat cheese appetizers with honey, brown sugar, and walnuts (thanks to my boyfriend's sister)
• Raw Brownies from My New Roots

Tonight I added: 

• Buttercrust rolls from Jenna's Blog
• Jenna's home-made (from scratch!) chocolate chip cookies

I felt like I didn't know some cut and dry basics in the cooking world. Now I know how to make the most delicious, moist cookies. Actually, I'm pretty sure these are the best homemade cookies I've ever had. I also know how to make some interesting rolls. Now, I'm not sure if they tasted like soft pretzels because I lacked actual buttermilk, or because they are supposed to taste like that. Sometimes it's difficult to recreate other bloggers' recipes when you don't know what it's supposed to taste like. 

Today I woke up at a whopping 12:38 PM....

*Round of applause for your bum blogger*

because I know that I won't get any sleep when school picks back up.

When I woke up, I made up for missing lunch by adding it to my breakfast of steel cut oats and fresh granola, berries, nuts, and yogurt. My lunch addition was merely leftovers from last night's dinner that I was unable to photograph for you.

After lunch I carted my old clothes off to Buffalo Exchange, a thrift store that gives you cash in exchange for your old clothes. I was granted almost $50 for a few pairs of old designer jeans that I most likely got at Buffalo Exchange in the first place. Afterwards I went to Victoria Secret's because of their annual PINK sale. Now, if you don't know me, you don't know that I despise the color pink. But I love comfy sweats! As I went in to the "PINK" store...I discovered two pairs of sweats that were each half off! Instead of that dreadful highlighter pink that consumed every shelf, I bought a pair of black sweats and a cute velvety pair of dark blue pants. Oh, how I love feeling so comfy!

Per the usual, I wore the most unsuitable outfit in the kitchen. My new black sweats and a white tank top. As I washed all of my dishes prior to cooking, I soaked the shirt. Unfortunately there were no judges for the wet t-shirt contest. Just my two kitties secretly snickering at me on the bar.

After I started my baking process, I accidentally added sugar to FIVE cups of flower when I was supposed to caramelize it. UGH. I ran outside, chucked the flower out of the bowl, and then stomped my way back to the kitchen. As I stomped, little puffs of white followed my each and every foot-stomp. I looked down to find my new pants covered in white. Smart move, me. After a while I giggled, reminded of how, like me, my grandmother always wears a white shirt when she makes a dish containing red sauce. She always ends up changing for dinner only to splatter it on herself once again at the dinner table. Like grandmother like granddaughter.

All of these ingredients (and homemade buttermilk) turned into the dough-balls below after an hour and a half...

After almost another hour (and lots of N64 time in between):

I finally resided to the couch to get some much-needed studying in after I packaged up the rolls. As I tapped my fingers on the boring pages of my textbook, I realized that I itched to make something else. Without thinking, I headed to the kitchen and began making the soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe I had seen earlier on Jenna's blog. It yielded well over 3 dozen cookies, so I decided to keep a giant bag of cookie dough to make fresh cookies next time my boyfriend comes over. 

 Truly the best cookies I've ever had. Now my tired eyes are going to focus on my Kindle and I'm curling up into my comfy fuzzy blanket.

Feeling Aloe-t Better About my Determination

Like my corny food words? Yeah I get it. I need to stop.

Today I woke up determined to stick to my new years resolutions of eating healthy. I may still have yet to go running, but that doesn't mean I didn't work out. I did some serious shopping today at the grocery store. Thousands of steps were recorded on my pedometer.

Crap. I think I just revealed to you guys that I'm a nerd. I bought as many healthy things as I could think of that could make a number of interesting dishes. I wish I had taken pictures for y'all, but I was a little embarrassed by my messy kitchen. So here comes the old fashioned bullet list.

• Steel Oats
• Organic Quinoa 
• Butter Lettuce
• Romaine Lettuce
• Black Beans
• Kidney Beans
• Cucumbers
• Broccoli
• Vine Tomatoes
• Bananas
• Apples
• Frozen Blackberries
• Frozen Strawberries
• Frozen Blueberries
• Blueberry Activia
• Peach Activia 
• Diet Peach Snapple
• Diet Green Tea with Citrus 
• Seltzer Water in a variety of flavors
• Organic raspberry granola
• Sandwich-thins
• Honey Turkey sliced extremely thin
• Fat-Free cottage cheese
• "All Natural" cola soda (for those unruly cravings) 
• Brown Sugar (to caramelize onions)
• Green Beans (canned and fresh)

Sorry for my inability to keep my grocery list in a categorized fashion. I get SO excited to go to the grocery that I am there for hours, browsing the many varieties of each type of food. It took me a good five minutes to pick out an apple. My friend, Hailey, takes about twenty minutes to pick out the ice cream that she so desires...and then puts it back and gets her original choice that she made right off the bat. 

This morning (rather almost afternoon because I stayed up until almost 5am addicted to finding new food blogs) I made an open faced turkey sandwich with goat cheese and asparagus with parmesan cheese. I tried this new drink called "Alo: Exposed." It's merely Honey, Aloe pulp and Aloe juice. I don't much care for the pulp but overall it's a decent drink. If it causes rejuvenation and a refreshed feeling post-drink, I'll buy it! 

I decided that I deserved a dessert, so I made an apple nut salad. I used walnuts, sunflower seeds, yogurt-covered raisins, sliced almonds, and honey. I sliced a half of an avocado and sprinkled fresh ground pepper over it. Even my kitties were trying to eat my delicious dessert!

As for dinner, it was ABSOLUTELY amazing! Unfortunately my fat ass forgot to take a picture of it. I sautéed onions, tomatoes, black beans, corn, and spicy taco flavors in a pan and then added brown rice. It was my rendition of a mexican fried rice. I added cheese and then stuffed it into a wing of butter lettuce. For dessert I made an amazing yogurt + granola dish with frozen blackberries, walnuts, and sunflower seeds. 

I'm finally proud to tell my readers (rather my friends that are so nicely reading this) what I ate today. Paula Deen's habits have left my kitchen! 

I'm slacking and my cat's crapping

Alright (0) followers (though this is a pity, I do have hope that I will eventually get one person that finds me the least bit interesting), I have failed to follow my new years resolution to "eat healthy." Well, I haven't been that bad. I spent the last two days with my carnivorous football playing boyfriend whom eats like the grocery stores might run out of food.

I love him though, he's my food critic. Tonight I made "mini" cheese stuffed burgers. I made his list of best burgers he's ever had at a whopping #2. His number one remains a prime burger at Houston's (an exquisite restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona). I can live with this.

Now, before you comment on my lack of picture quality and fresh spinach garnish...remember that I am a broke college student. 

Maybe they don't photograph like Carmen Electra, but they were definitely just as juicy. Filled with sharp cheddar and havarti cheese, they were absolutely mouth watering. Scroll down to find the recipe. 

I'll tell you a little bit more about my night: Will (my boyfriend) and I watched Bad Teacher. Usually he refuses to watch any sort of movie with a chick as the main character, but the guy at Blockbuster insisted it was hilarious. It was a riot, I'd recommend it to anyone with a good sense of crude humor. 

Afterwards we broke out the childhood games and played a round of Battleship. Well, it sort of turned into battleshi.....you know where this is going.  

For all of you cat owners, maybe you have experienced a situation like so. My male kitty, Anakin, never liked Will. He used to take steamy dumps on all surfaces that he detected Will's scent on. After a year and a half of knowing Will, he began to like him. The dumps subsided and only the occasional diarrhea after a catnip trip would show up. Tonight I was blog surfing and thought it was sweet that Annabelle, my girl kitty, jumped up on the couch to hang out with me. With the white computer screen contrasting against the surrounding darkness, I couldn't see much of what she was doing. 

I'm sure you know what's coming.

After about five minutes I began to smell a foul odor enveloping the room. She had taken a shit while sitting next to me. Wow, did I feel like an idiot! My cat has mastered the art of ninja shitting. It was in the exact spot that my boyfriend had resided for the past four hours. With him finally gone, she must have felt like she needed to get my attention. Now that I think about it, we cuddled all day yesterday until Will picked me up for a movie night at his house. This is why I'm a dog person.

Now I know I won't get any readers. I have taken my inability to converse with normal topics to a whole new level....

The Burgers (if you still have an appetite after my story)

1.5lbs of all natural 20% fat ground beef

1/4 of an onion, minced

About 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce

Fresh ground pepper

A pinch of salt 

Garlic powder

**To add some spice, we added a round of chili spices from a Dave's insanity spice set 

A slice of havarti cheese

About a cup of freshly shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

Roma tomatoes 

Fresh pickles (thinly sliced)

For the amazingly unhealthy but savory buns:

A package of hawaiian sweet dinner roles (if they have the hamburger style ones...get those!) 

Mayo

Mozzarella cheese 

Instructions 

Mince the onions and add them to the ground beef to your liking. Combine Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, ground pepper, and salt with the ground beef in a bowl. Make sure it is evenly distributed and then begin making burger patties thick enough to make wells in for the cheese. 

Once you have made six bottom patties, place the cheese in the wells. I sliced up the havarti cheese into small squares and layered about two to three squares in each burger. I filled them the rest of the way with the sharp cheddar. Feel free to add any cheese to your liking. These were just the cheeses that I had on hand. 

After you have filled the wells, make thin patties to layer over the top. Press down around the patties and mold the sides into one another until you cannot see a fine difference between top and bottom. 

Before you cook the burgers, prepare the buns. If you were able to get the hamburger buns, lucky you! I could only find the small dinner rolls. For the big burgers that we made, I didn't pull four dinner rolls apart and cut them in half with a bread knife. First you put a slab of mayo on each side and then lay them open-faced on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle a generous amount of mozzarella cheese on top. Put them in the oven on low broil and MAKE SURE TO KEEP AN EYE ON THEM!

Because of my broke college state, my grill has no gas. Thus, we had to cook the burgers in a skillet. They are much worse for you this way because they have no way of draining. Nevertheless, they turned out DELICIOUS! I garnished each burger with diced roma tomatoes, pickles, ketchup, and mustard.