The One Not About Food...

I've been putting off posting to just have the last week overr with. To tell you the truth, it was hell for me. Just when things were beginning to look up, it all came crashing down again. It was very trying and stressful for me. And it was everything too...
-My job started it all... First of all, I work M-F and should not recieve emails from my boss (who knows that I have a Blackberry) on Saturday afternoon regarding sales numbers. I won't go into details, but what was written was something that should have been discussed in person and some was completely off base. I think it's about to time to move on...
-School is just stressful. Enough said.
-Life with the boy was made even more complicated by the fact that both of us are stressed with work and stuff. We've been nitpicking at each other, to the point I honestly thought that we were done.
-Stress wreaks havoc on my body and especially my head, giving me killer migraines that I cannot do anything about. I had one everyday basically, and they just killed my plans to work out or do anything else productive. I cannot do anything that gets my heart pumping when I have a migraine because I feel like my head will explode.

Argghh... It's good to get it out and hopefully my week coming up will be better and have better food involved in it too...

Managing Life and a Pizza

Veggie PIzza, originally uploaded by scarlettvr.

I made this one last week and just never wrote about it, school and work keeps me busy! I'm only a week into school and I'm already bombarded by papers due and the stress of my books still not arriving on time. I love that it's WAY cheaper to buy your books online, but even when you pay for expedited shipping, it still takes over a week to get here. I hate being behind on my reading. Ah the joys of being a student.

Anyway, on to the pizza! 

I used a recipe (forgot where I found, sorry guys!) that was supposed to make a 12in crust and just made two smaller pizzas out of it. I made homemade pizza sauce and just cut up a bunch of veggies. I also browned up some turkey italian sausage for the boy and went at it. I think mine ended up with lots of sauce (coz I like it saucy) onions, zucchini, broccoli and some italian blend cheese. Threw it in a 500 degree oven for about 10 minutes and it was done... It turned out so good, and I even had half left over for lunch the next day. I will totally make this again, and I will find the dough recipe and post it!

Egg "Cupcakes"

Egg "Cupcake"
Originally uploaded by scarlettvr

So school has officially started, and it's a little bittersweet because I had my last "first" day as an undergrad. It's only taken me SIX years to get to this point. Oh well, I guess that's what I get for working full time and going to school. I'm excited about this year though, I actually have some interesting classes, well interesting to me at least. Most people I know think that I am weird for making History my major.

But on an unrelated note...
I came up with these "cupcakes" on Sunday when J was hungry but all I had was little bit of everything, not enough of anything to make a full meal out of it. So I used the last of my eggs and stuff to make these cupcakes. J LOVED them and requested that I make these again.

I used 4 eggs, a slice of bread, some leftover turkey lunchmeat and some shredded cheddar. Put the bread and turkey on the bottom, added scrambled eggs ( pour slowly because it takes a minute for the egg to settle in all the nooks and crannies) and topped it with cheese. Baked them at 350 for 18 minutes and they were done. This made about 4 because I way overfilled one and lost quite a bit of egg.

One thing I learned though is that I won't use paper liners again, they stick to the "cake" WAY too much for my liking. It was like losing half the cake and the meat and bread stuck really badly to them. So I'll just grease the pan well and do it that way. The bread will probably get crispier that way and that would make it even tastier.

Why...

Red Robin why must you taunt me with your commercials with tasty looking burgers and fries? More importantly, why are you doing it 10 minutes before I leave for the gym? It's so much more appealing to go to Red Robin than to sweat my ass off...

ETA...
So I'm on vacation this week, which means that I SHOULD be exempt from doing any work activities right? Ok, so out of the kindness of my own heart, I went to drop off an order form for one of my stores yesterday, despite feeling like poo and wanting to sleep. I knew it had to be done because the order would not ship in time. But now they want me to go back tomorrow and do more... I would like to mention that the job that I am doing isn't even mine... Not going to happen at all...

Overnight Rolls...

Cinnamon Rolls
Originally uploaded by scarlettvr

So, I've decided that I need to start blogging again, as I've been baking and cooking like crazy and taking pictures, but really have nowhere to put them except on my Flickr account. It's much more fun to post about them here.

J and I have a ritual of going to Barnes and Noble for date night and read magazines, food for me and cars for him. Unfortunately, that night we had to go through the food court which of course has the ever mesmerizing. I had to all but drag J away from there, as that was all he wanted and all he talked about all night. I made a deal with him, instead of buying one of those gut bombs that are oh so tasty but horrible for you, I'd make him some instead. He readily agreed, as he prefers my cooking to most resturaunts. But after all of our stops, including a stop at Starbucks to watch the cruisers, it was pretty late.
Luckily, I found a good recipe on allrecipes.com that allowed me to make them the night before (well, a couple hours before) and refrigerate them. They turned out so yummy, even better with cream cheese frosting. Plus they were super easy to make and I like that I can make them the night before and pull them out a half hour before baking them.

CLONE OF A CINNABON
from allrecipes.com

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon ( I used more like 2 tablespoons)
1/3 cup butter, softened
(I also added a teaspoon of nutmeg)

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
-Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. ( I do not have a bread machine, I just mixed them together like I would bread and they came out fine.) In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
-Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover. ( At this point, I put them in the fridge)
-Pull your rolls out 30 minutes before baking. Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 22-25 minutes.
-Make frosting and cover while still warm.

Spring Fever

DSC00340
Originally uploaded by scarlettvr

I don't know if it's the up and downs of the weather or what... But it seems as if people are just becoming meaner and inconsiderate. I know that I'm not too overly sensitive to it, it's one of those things that has to just roll off your back. Besides... The more people talk bad about you, the more pathetic and jealous they look, and hey, (as my friend Lauren says) it makes you famous. Ok, not really, but it's a good way to think. I just think people are sick of the crappy weather and are taking out on everyone else.

But food related... I made Shepard's Pie. It was yummy. And I had to listen to J constantly repeat "I've got shepard's pie in my knickers" for days before and after.

It was good, I just made a couple substitutions though. I don't eat red meat, so it was made with ground turkey breast, and I added some onion, carrots, celery, corn and mushrooms to it. It was topped with mashed garlic Yukon Gold potatoes. This was the first time I used Yukons and they were mighty delicious, so much so, I just bought a five pound bag of them.

Ahh To be Young Again

DSC00482
Originally uploaded by scarlettvr

I want to be one again... You get your own cake for your birthday and you get to smash it around and get dirty. It got much messier than this but I didn't get anymore pictures. Her cake was amazing... White cake with a strawberry filling and an almond flavored frosting. It was good.