Banana Pudding

 

There's 294824 different banana pudding recipes on the internet, so I took 2 and made a Megan version because I was worried that one would be too sweet for Teh German (and it also contained Cool Whip, which I don't eat) and the other wouldn't be sweet enough for me.  Soooo I fixed it!

Fret not, I was supervised.

Ingredients

Pudding, step 1:

2 cups cold milk

1 (5 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Pudding, step 2:

1 pint heavy whipping cream

4 tablespoons confectioners/powdered sugar

Assembly:

1(+) box vanilla wafers

10+ bananas

Directions

1. Mix sweetened condensed milk and milk together.  Adding pudding packet and continue mixing for 2-3 minutes.  Mash 1 banana and mix into pudding.  Cover and refrigerate for 3+ hours.
2. When ready to assemble pudding, after pudding has set: beat heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar (and vanilla extract, if using) together until stiff peaks form.
3. Mix pudding and whipped cream together until there are no streaks left.
4. Slice bananas (I did one banana at a time because I wasn't sure how much I needed).
5. In a container of your choice (I used a 9x13 dish), place a layer of vanilla wafer on the bottom of the dish.  Then add a layer of banana on top of the wafers.  Add a layer of pudding mix.  Repeat this step until dish/container is full/ingredients are used/you are satisfied.  You could also make this in individual portioned containers.
6. Cover and refrigerate 4-8 hours.
7. Serve!

Megan Tips

• Mixing a mashed banana into the pudding mix was a delight.
• I used ripe but barely bananas to avoid them turning brown.  I don't like green bananas, so not green, but definitely no spots.  Also, my recipes called for 14 bananas and I bought that many and didn't end up using them all.
• I don't use Cool Whip.  I'd much rather make my own whipped topping and it's super simple if you have a mixer (it's quite tedious by hand, but doable with enough dedication (yes, I have hand mixed whipped cream before because there weren't mixers in 1792).
• I was worried the whipped topping wouldn't be sweet enough for me so I added powdered sugar.  I would consider skipping this next time to see what a difference it makes.
• I sliced my bananas as I layered them in the dish because I didn't want them to turn brown.  There are ways to help slow oxidation (which causes the bananas to turn brown), but I was too lazy for all that.  I just made sure to quickly add the pudding on top of the layer.  My slices were not too thin (I didn't want them to just fall apart) and not to thick (I wanted to be able to recognize a chunk of banana in my bite).
• I like A LOT of bananas and A LOT of vanilla wafers.  Obviously, you can use how ever much you want.
• Crush up some vanilla wafers (less than you would expect) and write on your pudding!  Just place some wafers in a ziplock bag, crush the wafters so there are minimal chunks, then cut the tip of the bag off and use like an icing piping bag.  This was the most fun part!
• I made the pudding mix the day prior to serving and let the mixture set overnight because I didn't want runny banana pudding.
• I assembled my banana pudding at 9am on the day of serving it, knowing I was going to be serving it after 7pm. I wanted to give it time for the flavors to mingle and the wafers to soften.  I'm sure that you could prob serve it immediately, but would recommend at least a few hours of flavor melding.
• Make sure to let your dogs help with clean up, since they've probably been fastidiously supervising, by letting them do the dishes.  Pax and Meri were both super dedicated to cleaning the pudding and whipped topping bowls.

Chili Mac and Cheese

I've been attempting to mix up the menu on occasion and I was looking for crockpot recipes (because I'm still as lazy as always) and found a recipe for chili mac and cheese that I decided to cook on the stove.  Would recommend.

Megan's version:

Ingredients:
-1.5# ground bison

-onion

-red/yellow/orange peppers

-garlic

-1/2 box of pasta (I used cavatappi instead of macaroni)

-16oz fire-roasted tomatoes,drained or 1 16oz can rotel tomatoes, drained (next time I'll use the fire-roasted tomatoes I bought specifically for this purpose that I forgot about until after I'd opened the rotel, sigh)

-2 (8oz) bags "macaroni and cheese" blend cheese (1 bag was insufficient, if mac and cheese blend isn't available, cheddar is recommended)

-1 cup broth

-1-2 cans of beans, drained (I forgot this, but will add it next time)

-1-3 tablespoons chili powder

-1 teaspoon-ish oregano

-1 teaspoon cumin

-Cayenne pepper (if you want heat spice, I omitted this)

Directions:

-Start water to cook pasta, cook pasta while cooking meat.

-Dice vegetables

-Start cooking meat, add chili powder, when meat is almost cooked, add onion, peppers, and garlic. 

-Drain.

-Add seasoning.

-Add broth.  Simmer until pasta is cooked.

-Drain pasta, then mix with meat/veggies.

-Add 1 bag of cheese.  Slowly add the 2nd bag until your heart feels full (I'd probably use half the 2nd bag, we added mexican cheese because 1 bag wasn't enough for my cheese loving heart).

Megan Notes:
-I don't like ground beef so we use ground bison as a substitute, you can use whatever ground meat you prefer.  I think this recipe is versatile enough for most proteins or even as a vegetarian meal.

-I made sure to add enough chili powder and cumin that the food was well seasoned, especially since I wasn't using the cayenne pepper and I'm slightly scared of chili powder.  Teh German approved of the spices.  I explicitly asked him.  

-We didn't actually miss the beans, but the beans make it more like chili than hamburger helper, so I will fix that error next time.

-I will always pick the most fun pasta. 

Not Lasagna

So recently I accidentally merged 2 different recipes and the concoction turned out delicious, so I'm gonna share it here so I can reference it later.

Favorite Skillet Lasagna + Baked Gnocchi

These recipes are very similar, so it wasn't a far reach to mix them up.

It might not look like much, but it tastes delicious!

Ingredients (I used):

-1 roll sage sausage

-enough mushrooms, thin sliced

-half an onion, diced

-enough garlic

-1 (yellow) squash

-1 zucchini (/green squash)

-1 package baby gnocchi

-fennel seeds (enough)

-16ish oz spaghetti sauce

-enough ricotta cheese

-enough mozzarella cheese

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 400°F.

-In a dutch oven (or some oven safe-stove cooking container), begin cooking sausage. 

-When sausage is almost done, throw in mushrooms, onion, and garlic.

-Drain

-Mix in squash, gnocchi, and spaghetti sauce.

-Cover and put in oven until squash and gnocchi are tender (i.e. you can stab them with a fork without too much resistance).

-Remove from oven.  Top/fold in the mozz cheese (you're welcome for that reference).  

-Drop dollops of ricotta cheese on top, as desired.

-Serve.

Weekend Review {9/28}

FRIDAY

In the morning was work things, lunchtime included dropping off Willow for 30,000 mile maintenance and picking up Willie Jewell's for take-away lunch, and the afternoon consisted of more work things.

I actually got to do a work task and it was minimal, but I did it!

In the evening, we went to Subaru to pick up my car, but it was locked, unlike what I'd be told, and I was PISSED we'd wasted a trip out.  I mean, I hadn't been overly pleased at the idea of leaving my car unlocked on the lot, but my ride (Husband) wasn't available until after they closed, so I figured it'd be fine.  It was not fine.  I couldn't bring Willow home.  DID NOT LIKE.

Since we'd eaten a big lunch, we snacked for dinner and spent the evening watching Silicone Valley.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning was going pretty good until Teh German asked me if I wanted to go pick up Willow and I remembered how livid I was at the dealership.  UGH.  We handled that situation, I went by the grocery store to pick up ice cream for the Willie Jewell's bread pudding we'd gotten on Friday and by Bojangles for a gravy biscuit since I was already out. #SorryNotSorry.  I got home and ate my breakfast and Teh German and I did some slight house keeping to make sure that the house was picked up since we'd agreed (despite how pissy I was about it) to let the buyers come view the house again.  I'm not really sure what they needed to see, they kinda did another complete walk through.

There was some initial sass about the dogs being home (although they were outside) but things smoothed out from there.  We tried to explain some of the smarthome stuff to them and explained that we'd leave a list of apps that go with each device so they can manage it.  I chatted with their realtor about Barbados (after she asked when we'd be vacating) which was fun.

They did decide they wanted the washer and dryer and we agreed that if we were required to replace the HVAC drip pan (that has a motherfucking rust spot in it, despite having been replaced such a short time ago, also, fuck that HVAC) that the money could come from that.

I was rather irritated when they arrived because we were literally sitting around waiting on them to arrive and we noticed a car pull up at 2:15 and then another 10 minutes later and they didn't actually come in until 2:30 and their appointment was for 2 and well.. tardiness and I are not close friends.  Also, I was just generally angsty because what if these people were horrible and wanted to replace the floors and take down the pallet wall and repaint the walls AND THEN THEY TOLD ME?!?  By the end, it wasn't so bad, but still, I'm an escalator and shit was escalating quickly.

They left by 3 and our day resumed it's normal nothingness.  I got motivated and decided to make this sweet potato/chickpea patty recipe I'd found (with a greek yogurt dipping sauce) and it was an absolute flop.

1- I had to hand grate an entire sweet potato.  Rude.
2- I don't oil fry things, so I had to determine time/temp to put these in the air fryer.
3- They just weren't that good.

So blah that Teh German and I agreed we wouldn't be eating the leftovers if I cooked them, so I didn't even bother to cook the rest of the patty mix and tossed it (I would have fed it to the dogs, but it had raw onion in it).

Teh German had posted our trailer and the fish tank for sale on Marketplace and the trailer was gone within 2 hours of the listing.  Teh German's next goal is to acquire a covered trailer, which he's been talking about for a while, with the money from the trailer and motorcycle sales.

In the evening, we watched Silicon Valley until WAYYY too late and finally went to bed by midnight.

SUNDAY

Teh German and I agreed that we needed to start hitting up some of our favorite CHS places before we leave and Holy City brunch was HIGH on that list.  We agreed to take the bikes out and go to brunch on Sunday morning.  We were functional at 0900 when the realtor messaged us asking us to call.  Things I was not interested in: dealing with house/realtor that early in the morning.  Things I did: ripped off the bandaid and called the realtor.

The buyers were negotiating repairs/washer dryer pricing, the also wanted to purchase the trailer.  I straight up told our agent, they should have spoken up yesterday when they were here/to my face if they wanted to buy stuff.  We're selling as much as possible so we don't have to move it...  We discussed some options and then I got off the phone and Teh German and I got ready to leave.

We headed out by 1030 and still there was a short wait when we arrived.  We were seated and had ordered when the realtor called me to discuss their rebuttal.  Gentle Readers, I HATE negotiating.  HHHAAATTTEEE ITTTTT.  I hate having to overprice everything to get what I actually want to get from a transaction.  Having come off a Marketplace selling streak, my skills are sharp right now, and also, I was really taken advantage of in Bahrain multiple times because of my ignorance.. so I'm bitter too.  But the reality is, these buyers are making me feel like I'm being nickeled-and-dimed for every.little.thing.

While I was talking to the realtor, our food came and I started eating because I was starving.  I was confused at the presence of onions on my meal, but just kinda pushed them to side and dug in.. Then I got off the phone and was explaining the call with Teh German (since it was too loud inside for speakerphone) when another entrée arrived to our table and was offered to me as "the meal you actually ordered."  I hadn't even remembered what I had actually ordered.  In my defense, they entrée they brought first was actually my backup choice, so that's kinda why I couldn't remember... and I was distracted when the food arrived, so that too.

L: Poutine; R: taters + egg

Everything was delicious.  I had almost ordered the chicken and waffles, but we might actually go back to HCB next weekend because they are my favorite brunch place.  It is what it is.  We stayed for a while and sipped our beverages (mmmm sweet tea) and discussed the situation with the buyers and negotiation and just stuff.  Eventually, we decided it was time to go and we agreed to ride down to Folly Beach and then come home.

The ride out was great.  The weather is perfect riding weather, not too hot, not too cold.  Also, I hadn't been to Folly in a hot minute.  I was supposed to do a half marathon there in Feb, but I was dying of the Death Sickness (was it COVID?  Was it not?  no one knows!) so I didn't get to run that race.  Fun fact, riding the distance on a bike felt just as far as running it!

On our way home, we encountered a pretty bad accident where our entire side of the highway was shut down so we had to turn around and make a significant detour to get home.  Fortunately, the weather held out so the ride wasn't bad, but my poor inner thighs were screamin' by the time we got home and lawd was my crotch numb.

When we got home, I showered and started working on Meri's birthday cake.  Teh PT Kid came over for some math tutelage. We worked through his study guide so he'd ace his upcoming test.  When the cake was done, I fed him cake.  I also prepared birthday treats for all the beasties (resident hounds and neighbor hounds).  I dispensed bday cake (human vanilla cake + dog icing (greek yogurt mixed with crunchy peanut butter) topped with an apple slice and some mini marshmallows) to our beasts and new toys.  After Teh PT Kid departed, Meri and I walked down to Roux's house for some yard/social time and to deliver birthday treats to neighbor furiends!

Around doggy dinner time, I headed home to reunite with the fam.  Dinner was pizza fries.  Evening entertainment consisted of dog petting, screen time, and Silicon Valley.

______________________________________________

Overall, a fabulous weekend.  Good weather = motorcycle date, which is one of our favorite activities, for sure.

I cannot stress enough just how over the entire house selling/buying shit I am.  Because, truly, I hate everything about it.  From "that's the way it is done" to negotiating and feeling like an asshole for standing my ground.  I know that we'll walk away from this process with money in our pocket, but it feels tainted and there's no joy because it feels like every penny we get to keep in our pocket we've had to fight for and it's exhausting (also, most of that money is from when we were overpaying on the house payment, but ya know, details).  And the worst part is... we're only half way through this garbage.  So many of the things our buyers have asked for are things I'd NEVER ask for.. but I'm confident as soon as the MD realtor says, "that's just the way things are," I/we'll be asking for the same things and feeling like an absolute sleezebag.

We have to repair the HVAC drip pan and replace some vent cover thing outside the house that Teh German acknowledged breaking (which is a few dollars).  They also requested that we repaint the wall in the living room with all the photos on it and I straight up said NO (and the realtor backed up me on this since it's cosmetic).  We're leaving the extra paint for you to do your own touch ups.  You know what, you have to do SOME work when it comes to buying a house and moving in.  I'm not doing it for you.  I have to do MY OWN MOVE and buy my own house and deal with all the same shit.  How about you think of that?  Jesus, take the wheel.

I did agree to having the carpets cleaned because they have needed to be cleaned for a while and I never had it done because we were waiting on the HVAC to be repaired, then it got side-lined because school, then we painted and I wanted to wait till after that.. Then COVID.  Soo, fine.

They will be purchasing our washer and dryer, which saves us from having to move those bitches and being paranoid about mold from any water that remained in the washer and them from having to wait on ordering something that is currently backordered.  There was also talk about purchasing the curtains/rods, so I'm waiting to hear about that.

The appraiser came earlier today and took her photos and measurements.  It was super quick, she was very friendly, and we talked about the resident beasties. 

I am beyond NEEDING to go to the Chiro.  I'm about to have to have Teh German drive my broke ass.  I had considered going this evening but it's POURING rain and these fools around here can't fucking drive in the rain, so I'm not even going to bother.  This is extremely shitty since I'm not sure I'll be able to go tomorrow or Wednesday and I am in some serious pain.  My neck keeps tweaking and despite how warm it is, I imagine that a heating pad is in my future.

Ya know what we haven't had in a while?  A countdown to something that is ALL positive and barely causes any anxiety. 

So that anxiety causing is more of a when I don't actually put any detailed thought into the situation of international flights during a pandemic, but here we are...  trying to ignore real life, kthx.

Happy ALMOST OCTOBER, Gentle Readers!

Five on Friday #228

EINS - Random Shit

This is what the run calendar looks like now.. oops.

March:
7 - Myrtle Beach 5k for the Bless Your Heart medal
21 - Run Skidway Island half marathon
28 - Rock n Roll DC half marathon with Teh Bestie and Matilda

April:
4 - Myrtle Beach Divas half marathon
9 - i5k because tech and local and it's just a 5k.
18 - Tarheel Double Down Challenge: 4 miler + 10 miler.

June:
6 - Floppin Flounder 5k
12 - Hot Persuit 5k

July:
18: Rock n Roll Chicago 5k
19: Rock n Roll Chicago half marathon

September:
5: Rock n Roll Virginia Beach 5k
6: Rock n Roll Virginia Beach half marathon

December:
12: Kiawah half marathon

Total medal count for these 13 races: 19!!
I imagine there will be more races added in October and November.

________________________________________

I opted NOT to put my dirty dishes in the dishwasher while Teh German was gone and he came home and got upset about the sink with dishes in it when he came home.  He asked why I didn't put my dishes in the dishwasher and I said, "You don't do your own laundry when the hamper is empty."  Apparently, this wasn't acceptable and I had to say that I was tired and didn't feel like it.  I could have.. I just chose not to... because sometimes, husbands don't need to be spoiled.

________________________________________

Runcations with Teh Bestie and Matilda are the best.  Here's why.

Matilda likes making the hotel reservation.  We split it 3 ways, she gets points, we get to stay in nice places.  Everyone wins.

Teh Bestie manages the expo and race start time/place details.  She gets us where we need to be on time.

I manage the food situation.  I scour Yelp for good places and determine what is reasonable and what isn't. I make suggestions before we go to make it easier when the time comes to make a decision.

Each person manages their own travel situation.

Everyone is winning.

________________________________________

Oh, yeah I was an asshole and didn't show you the outfit that I/we actually selected for the award dinner.  Mah bad.

With my red power heels, of course.

________________________________________

I brought my coworkers Krispy Kreme doughnuts for Fat Tuesday since I had to go into the office for a meeting.  Gah, I'm awesome.

________________________________________

The 2nd worst thing about Teh German changing companies.  He is no longer working right by the airport for when I need someone to drop me off.  The #1 worst thing is that he's not in a convenient location for drop-bys, which I used to do fairly regularly just because if I had the time.  No more.  Boooooo.

________________________________________

On Teh German's birthday, I discovered my $100 chopping knife that we received as a wedding present in the dishwasher to be washed.  DO YOU KNOW WHAT DOESN'T BELONG IN THE DISHWASHER?!  MY $100 KNIFE.  Do you know what I did?  I took it out and hand-washed it with all the love it deserves and said ZERO THINGS to Teh German about it, because 1- it was his birthday and 2- I rarely use that knife because it has to be hand-washed and I know he hates that.  I will admit that if I see it again, I will definitely say something.

________________________________________

Let's assume you receive a file named "Lastname Firstname CompanyName FormName.pdf".  When saving your file, would you:
A) Name it whatever the fuck you want like the rebel (asshole) you are.
B) Leave the name the same and let the computer decide if it wants to put a (1) after it or not.
C) Some combination of both
D) I'm not downloading your stupid form, it's probably a virus you are trying to get me to download.
E) Fill in the format given with your applicable information.

Because my coworkers tend to think that any option but E is a solid choice.
WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK PEOPLE.

________________________________________

There is a Trump rally in Charleston today.  We've planned to completely avoid the area.  Also, why it have to change from MAGA to KAGA?  (vomit).  This rally comes AFTER the shitshow that was the democratic debates on Tuesday night that also took place in Charleston.  Our primary election is on Saturday, so I know why all of this is happening, but it doesn't make me hate it less.

I'm over here all, "Get off my lawn!" and my lawn happens to be all of SC now.  Sooo there's that.

________________________________________

For Teh German's bday, we went to his favorite pizza place for dinner and I suggested dessert, even if it was just a vanilla milkshake.  He really went all out and ordered a Snickers milkshake at Cookout.  I ordered from my standard options: peanut butter fudge or strawberry cheesecake. 

When we got home... I shared my strawberry cheesecake milkshake with the garage floor.  You better believe that I salvaged what could be salvaged and put it in a bowl and ate it (no pics of said bowl, but it happened). 

I told Teh German that we were going to have to start taking more selfies since there were almost no photos of us together since NYE.

SOB.
The verb and the noun.

________________________________________

As a surprise to Teh German, I had a BroBasket delivered to Teh German at work.  It wasn't an actual delivery person, but FedEx and the package arrived the afternoon before his bday, but thankfully he had already left and then there was a mix up and someone ended up opening the box?  IDK, it was weird when he was telling me about it.  Thankfully, they realized it wasn't work related and the package was ultimately delivered to Teh German's desk.  THEN.. THENNNN he proceeded NOT to open it ALL DAY LONG until he got home.  WUTTTTT???  He's the worst at presents, I swear.

I mean, I'm glad I got to watch him open it, but it was meant to be opened at work so kinda give him a boost for the rest of the day.  Siiiiiiigh.  I explained to him it was my version of sending him flowers, since he probably wouldn't appreciate flowers in the same way (he concurred).

I did a customized BroBasket with a beer selection, cigars, some pretzels, and beef jerky.  I would totally do it again.  Then again, I could just reuse that same basket and load it up and deliver it myself for cheaper.

I'd show you a pic of the basket, but Teh German opened it so fast and I didn't even think to take a photo while he was opening because I was in the moment.  #NotSorry

He even commented that it was an awesome crate he could use for something else.
So I felt like I did pretty good.
Too bad his coworkers still don't know my #BestWifeEver status since he refused to open the package at work....
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

ZWEI - Money Shit

-All the race registrations.  ALL OF THEM.
-AirBnB for one of those races.
-Runcation in CLT (meals, gas, hotel, parking, etc)
-Bendy Brewski Yoga
-Sunday brunch
-Fancy award dinner outfit/professional outfit
-Krispy Kreme
-Dog donations for WV track greyhounds
-New phone case for Granny after she showed up with the manufacturer's loose plastic still on her phone.  No wonder she "can't see" the screen and "can't get it to work"......
-Paid for the remaining balance on my phone after the rebate hit
-Chuggle for Granny.  She has never stopped talking about that game since 2002.  There was an ad after every game and I wasn't even playing it, but was annoyed by it, so I spent the $6 so she could play ad free. 
-Gas
-Bojangles
-Groceries

DREI - From My Phone Shit

I live with a monster.
Obviously.

If your pumps have TAP TO PAY, ENABLE THEM.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
So much rage when my excitement to use tap to pay was denied and I then had to fetch my wallet and my credit card to pay like a peon.

Potato skillet bowl:
Fried potatoes
Crumbly sausage
eggs
mushrooms
+ cheese, cilantro

My Stats teacher left this photo of Jack the service dog up for the entire class to boost morale.
He also brought in a package of oreos.
And he also extended the homework by a week.
Best teacher ever?

Sweet, sweet Easter, how I love thee.

I made sunset soup.
otherwise known as: BABY FOOD.
/facepalm for days.

Q: HOw many steps are there in the OPSEC process?
A: Two, Five, Six, Too Many.

When your bestie sends you are super soft hoodie shirt like she has because she loves you!

And then the string from the new shirt comes out in the wash and it was too long anyways, so a problem was solved.

What do athletes wear on Leap Day?
Jumpsuits.

VIER - From the Internet Shit

Be brave and say what the heart longs to say.
-MHN

You have known what it means to lose and you have also known what it means to look within and find that courage to come back stronger than you have ever been
-MHN

FÜNF - Things that made me happy this week

1. Not being overly sore from the race on Saturday and all the rain this week.
2. Birthday surprises for Teh German.
3. Birthday date with Teh German.
4. Sweet tea at work.
5. Teh Granny coming to visit, even if she got lost and caused me to have to leave work due to a "family emergency" during a meeting.  Granny being lost = a family emergency.
6. Soup for dinner on "cold" nights.
7. Plans to gather with Teh Neighbor Besties this weekend.  It's been like 1290481934910342 years since I did that (they were all together without me last weekend at the beer festival).
8. Teh German agreeing that we should take more photos together.
9. Sitting/snuggling with Teh German on my couch since Granny had taken his normal seat last night.
10. HOODIE WEATHER.

Happy Almost Leap Day, Gentle Readers.

Lazy Chicken Pot Pie

Sooooo, it's no secret that I'm lazy AF energy efficient.  But, recently I'd come across a recipe for chicken pot pie that I thought looked delicious, but required waaayyyy too much effort for me.  You can look up chicken pot pie recipes on your own, but I'm going to tell you Lazy Megan's Chicken Biscuit Pie.  Also, let's be honest, biscuits > pie crust any day.

Lazy Megan's Chicken Biscuit Pie (CBP)

Ingredients

Chicken breast(s)
Herbs/seasoning packet
Frozen veggies
1 can cream of (your preference) soup
1ish+ can of water
1 tablespoon corn starch
Canned biscuits (at least a roll of 8)

It tastes a lot better than it looks.

Directions

1.  Cook up some chicken breasts with seasoning of your choice.
-I cooked my chicken titties in the crockpot all the day long with a Crockpot's Savory Herb Chicken seasoning packet, because it's my favorite non-taco/non-bbq seasoning.  I originally cooked the chicken for another dinner so I used 2 very large chicken titties with most of the seasoning packet, and there was prob 1-1.25 boobs remaining for the CBP.

2.  Locate your pie pan and spray with cooking spray. 

3.  Take your can of biscuits and slice all the biscuits in half (like you would if they were cooked and you split the biscuit apart to add butter or jam or whatever).  You are trying to make the biscuits thin so they cook through.
-I used flaky biscuits so that way they would maybe already be kinda separated and easier to split.
-Also, don't EVER think to yourself, "I should just get this tiny can of biscuits since there's only 2 of us, I don't really want biscuit mix leftover."  That's dumb AND what I did and I regretted it because I didn't feel like we had enough biscuits.  Just get the big can (8+) biscuits.  If you don't use all the biscuits, cook them while you're eating and you have breakfast in the morning.  Learn from my mistakes, do as I say, not as I do.

4.  Line the bottom of the pie pan with split biscuits.  Set aside enough biscuits to cover the top.

5.  Cook "pie crust" until biscuits are cooked through. 
-This took some figuring out.  Since they are split, I set the oven to the temperature as directed on the biscuit can, then halved the time and checked on the biscuits about that time to judge how much more time they needed to cook.  I think I ended up cooking my bottom layer for 5-10 minutes.

6.  While your "crust" is cooking, cut up cooked chicken into chunks or shred, then put into a mixing bowl.
- I shredded the chicken with the KitchenAid Mixer (w/ paddle attachment) straight from the crockpot because #energyefficient.  This trick doesn't work well with cold chicken, from my experience, just FYI.

7.  Add 1 can of Cream of ____ Soup to the mixing bowl with the chicken.
-I used Cream of Mushroom and added 1/2 a tablespoon of Better Than Bouillon Chicken to give it some flavor.

8.  Add 1 can of water to the mix.  Mix well, making sure your soup isn't in goopy chunks.

9.  Add 1ish tablespoon of corn starch.  Mix in well.

10.  When the chicken/soup mix is blended well, put it into a pot, add enough frozen veggies to make yourself happy, and heat until the mix starts to bubble/boil. 
-Enough veggies for me was at least 2 cups of veggies, if not more.
-The purpose of this exercise is to thaw the veggies and heat up the mix so you only have to cook the CBP for the length of time it takes to cook the top layer of biscuits.

11.  Assuming that your "crust" is finished cooking by now, add the chicken/veggie mix to the pie pan.

12.  Cover the chicken/veggie mix with the remaining split biscuits.

13.  Cook in the oven as directed by the biscuit can (400° for 10-12 minutes or whatever). 

14.  Remove from oven, decide that the underside of the biscuits aren't cooked enough, flip them over and cook for 5-15 more minutes (until they are definitely done).

15.  Remove from oven, serve, and enjoy!

16.  Think to yourself how easy this was and how delicious it was and how you should blog about it and you will make this again, but you will DEFINITELY buy a non-small size of biscuits.


After note:
I'm actually thinking you could skip the part where you heat the mix on the stove, you'd just need to thaw the veggies before adding them to the mix.  Then you could add the cooked chicken/thawed veggie/soup mix to the cooked crust, cook for ~10-15 mins, add the top layer of biscuits, cook for ~10 mins, flip biscuits, cook another 5-10 minutes and DUNNN.  1 dish saved from the dishwasher.

Panna Cotta

I've posted a few times about panna cotta on Teh Blog.  The first time I had it was Labor Day weekend 2014 and I've been craving it ever since.  I was sure it was going to be difficult.  I looked up recipes a few months later and I got overwhelmed at the mention of gelatin.  I gave up the idea for a while.  Then one day I really wanted some freakin' panna cotta so I looked up all the recipes I could find and decided to mix and match to make the easiest one.

A pretty picture of panna cotta I didn't make. (Source)

I wanted to share my recipe with you since it's UNBEARABLY easy to make.  Seriously.  Stupid easy.  I've made it twice and didn't make it the same way and it still turned out perfectly both times.

I scoured the internet for panna cotta recipes and finally settled on this one since it seemed to have the most information on everything panna cotta and so many options to make it easier.  Some of the directions are straight from that link.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups half and half
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
1 packet of gelatin
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
little bit of salt

Directions:

1.  Pour the half and half into a pot.  Empty the gelatin pack on the milk relatively evenly BUT DO NOT STIR!  The gelatin will start to get a bit wrinkly after about 5ish minutes.
2.  Turn on the stove to low heat to slowly heat the milk and finish dissolving the gelatin, stirring "frequently" (which I took to mean constantly).  The mixture should NOT boil or simmer.  If the mix starts to steam, remove it from the heat.  After about 2 minutes, check to see if the gelatin is dissolved by rubbing some of the mix between your fingers to make sure it's smooth or dip a spoon in the mixture and check for granules.
3.  After the gelatin is dissolved, add the sugar and dissolve, stirring frequently.  The process of dissolving the gelatin and sugar shouldn't take more than 5ish minutes.
4.  Remove the mixture from the heat and add heavy whipping cream, vanilla, and salt.  Mix together.
5.  Pour into whatever containers you've set aside for your panna cotta.  I was super classy and used mugs because a ramekin is something I neither comprehend or own.
6.  Let the panna cotta set in the fridge.
7.  Eat your delicious noms.

Notes:

• The notes on the source explain that she sometimes uses half and half for both the milk and whipping cream so it doesn't separate.  I use half and half instead of milk because I didn't want to have to deal with the possibility of separation with the milk and heavy whipping cream since we only have 1% milk in the house.
• The last batch I doubled and my pot was too small.  So bigger is better when trying to contain liquid.  One would think this is common sense, but nothing about me in the kitchen makes much sense.
• I've messed the original directions up both times.  The first time, I stirred in the gelatin to bloom it.  Oops.  It still bloomed just fine.  The second time, I bloomed the gelatin on top of the milk, but when I stirred in the gelatin, I also stirred in the sugar.  It still was fine.  I did at least wait till the end to stir in the whipping cream and vanilla.
• The original recipe calls for greasing the ramekins but I skip this because I'm not classy in anyway and just eat my panna cotta straight from the mug instead of proudly displaying it on a plate or some classy shit that classy bitches do.
• I topped the panna cotta with sweetened strawberries.  I actually could have just used the strawberry juice from the strawberry mix, because I felt like my strawberries were just getting in the way of my panna cotta.  
• I calculated the nutritional content (at the end) because I'm glutton for punishment and really I just needed to find out how many calories were in each cup so I could know how many cups a day I could eat.. DON'T JUDGE ME.  I learned I needed to limit myself to ONE cup per day.
• I usually make this before bed/after dinner so that way it can set overnight and I'm not tempted to check it all the day long.
• I'm definitely not a professional food photographer... don't judge these photos, just be proud that I took them for you before I ate all the panna cotta.

It tastes way better than it looks in my photos!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Cruising All Recipes I saw this recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake dessert and it looked deeeelicious.
Sadly, I was disappointed, but over 500 other reviews said it was the most delicious dessert ever.

Ingredients:
2 (8 ounce) packages
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract
2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup honey

Instructions:
1.  Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.

3.  Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one piece into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.4.  Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish. 

5.  Cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.

5.  Stir together 3/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake.

6.  Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 minutes (the cooking time on the overview said 45 minutes, so I was confused.  I did 30 minutes at first and we tried it and I wasn't impressed so I put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes, which didn't seem to make much of a difference). 

7.  Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey. 

8.  Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 squares. (oops, didn't follow this step, maybe this would have made the difference?)

A reviewer on the All Recipes site mention that this dessert wasn't "pretty" and I mocked this lady in my head because her comment was "the best part about desserts is when they are pretty."  Yeah well, she was right about this because it just looked like a pile of sugary goop... and I'm not one to shun sugary goop.

As for taste, it was all sugar.  This could have been enhanced because the "pie" was still warm and it was practically liquid sugar.  I couldn't even tell if the crescent rolls were baked or still doughy, which was why I put it back in the oven for 10 mins.

I doubt I would ever do this dessert again, honestly.  I had such high expectations because I love not-Mexican sopapillas (meaning, I like the flat sopapillas, not the puffy ones, judge me, idc).

**After refrigeration**
Ok, I would potentially make this again.
1.  Teh Bear said he liked it.
2.  When it was cold it was much more delicious.  You can differentiate between the crescent dough and the cheesecake and it doesn't feel like you're spooning straight sugar into your mouth.

After making these, I just want to make Sopapilla Chips again.

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Several weeks ago I made Chicken and Gnocchi Soup (like from Olive Garden) and ZOMGGGG it was deeeellicious. I ate it for breakfast the next day and Teh Bear actually said that he wanted to make sure he had some to bring in for lunch on the next work day to make his coworkers jealous.

The recipe I used was from Copykat.com

Ingredients
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup finely diced celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart half-and-half (yes really)
2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth (if you enjoy a thicker soup, use 1 can)
Salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup finely shredded carrots
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh spinach leaves
1 cup diced cooked chicken (you can use a rotisserie chicken but chicken thighs would be delicious as well, I feel like chicken breasts aren't going to have the flavor you're looking for)
1 (16-ounce/500g) package ready-to-use gnocchi
Instructions
Melt the butter into the oil in a large saucepan stockpot over medium heat.  Add the onion, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes translucent (or until you're done dicing all the other things).  Whisk in the flour and cook for about 1 minute.  Whisk in the half-and-half. Simmer until thickened.  Whisk in the chicken broth.  Simmer until thickened again.  Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, the thyme, parsley, nutmeg, carrots, spinach, chicken, and gnocchi.  Simmer until the soup is heated through.  Before serving, season with additional salt, if necessary.


Lessons from our experience:
-Use as much of the ingredients as you want, just keep them proportional to the recipe.  I usually an -ish to all the vegetables and I add "enough" of each ingredient.  This could have been part of the pan problem.
-Having all the ingredients ready and chopped prior to starting to cooking probably shouldn't be looked at an inefficient use of time.  The cooking goes faster if everything is reading for adding.
-All of these things will over flow a saucepan.  We ended up switching to a stockpot mid-cooking so I could finish adding all the ingredients and chicken broth.
-This recipe has enough vegetables to cancel out whatever ill effects could happen from adding a quart of half-and-half.  At least that's what I told myself.
-When things are "optional" they aren't.  Just do them.  (The nutmeg step was listed as optional, I removed that for you)
-Don't throw away your chicken carcass (if using rotisserie chicken) when you know your dog is a foodie and will break into your lockable trashcan and eat all the bones, ensuring you worry about his poops for the next 3 days.
-Don't use chicken breasts.  Just trust me, they won't taste as good.  The "healthiest" I'd go would be boneless, skinless, chicken thighs and it would need to be precooked.  Despite the mess (and hassle (for me)) of getting a rotisserie chicken, it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.
-NOT eating all the leftover the next day is going to be difficult.  This is the correct point to remember there is a quart of half-and-half in the soup.
-If you prefer more liquidy soup (like standard chicken noodle), make sure to use the max amount of chicken broth.  If you like thick soup, like we do, add 14-16 oz.  I just filled to the spilling point of our glass liquid measuring cup and called it good (I think its the 2 cup one).

Our leftovers, which were delicious!!

I made it a 2nd time!
Using the big pot this time..

The new soup bowls are definitely bigger than the regular bowls.

Extra long weekends make me happy!

My weekend started early on Thurs after the VX-1 Change of Command.  Apparently, it was considered a good idea to let all the VX-1 military stand for the entire ceremony.  I definitely appreciated that test of endurance, although there were 4 others that didn't appreciate the test so much.  After grabbing some munchies, I headed home to change and wait for my hair appointment.  After 2.5 hours, I had curly hair!  That evening, I attempted to write my paper that was due, but Teh Bear made it impossible by watching the worlds most ridiculous crap on Netflix.

Friday morning, Teh Bear went to work and I spent most of the day finishing my literature review.  After finally completing it, I headed to Walmart to pick up a rotisserie chicken for chicken and gnocci soup.  After getting home from my errands, I took the pups on a walk/run and then returned home as Teh Bear arrived home.  I started on the soup right away, but it took a little longer the recipe indicated, but it worked out ok since it was absolutely fabulous...  I mean, I ate it for breakfast on Saturday morning and Teh Bear wanted make sure there was still some leftovers for him to bring to work on Tuesday so all his co-workers would be jealous of his lunch...  DEEEELICIOUS.  After we had our dinner, it was time to go to Teh Singing Cat Lady and Teh Singing Podcaster's house for yard games and dessert and puppy snuggles.  After a few rounds of ladder golf, which I proved to be absolutely terrible at, we headed inside for ice cream sundaes.  As the evening wound down, we headed back home and crashed.  Writing 7 pages of literature review is exhausting work!

Chicken and gnocci soup, NOMNOMNOM...

Ladder golf in the yard!  Teh Singing Cat Lady was very excited since Teh Singing Podcaster had just scored!

HAI!

Saturday morning, we had vowed to do go and see something, DC/Annapolis/Baltimore, and after breakfast (of gnocchi soup), we showered and headed out to Annapolis.  I made a poor clothing choice and wore pants, so I was pretty miserable the entire time we were there.  Additionally, I chose to carry around my purse and camera bag and I was one miserable Teh Megan.  We had El Toro Bravo for lunch, which I wasn't super impressed with (we should have just went to the Irish Pub that Teh Greyhound Neighbors had recommended, but I smelled the mexican first).  After lunch, it was time to walk around town and do some picture-takin'.  It was weird seeing lots of Midshipmen just hanging around in their uniforms.  I know it's what they do, but it was strange seeing kids, literally, that were set to graduate from the Academy in 2017 (its really too bad 2017 is already in caps, or I'd caps lock it for you).  As in, these kids are freshman... babies!  And for once, I felt validated in the thought that they were just military babies, like I was at one point.  After seeing the capitol building and turning down a tour of a garden with no flowers, we headed towards the Naval Academy to walk around.  We toured Preble Hall first off, to enjoy the, much needed, air conditioning.  After checking out the museum, we headed towards the chapel, which was beautiful.  After we toured the crypt of John Paul Jones, we decided to head back to Yurtle go to home.  As we walked back, we found an ice cream shop, where the temptation was too strong for me to fight.  Ice cream was a great distraction for the rest of the walk to Yurtle.  We stopped at Texas Roadhouse on the way home for dinner, which was a much desired craving I'd been having for a while, then we went home to feed the pups dinner.  Saturday night we started watching Sherlock, and by we, I mean me, since this is Teh Bear's 2nd time watching.

Douches with balls on their trucks are douches.

Representing the NC STATE on the first day of college football for 2013.

TRH rolls are the best.. dipped in ranch dressed and washed down with sweet tea?  NIRVANA!

Dogs that use the wall as pillows are adorable.. especially if their mouths are hanging open.

Sunday morning, I got up and reviewed my literature review and submitted it.  Then we got ready for church and when we arrived at church, I got a surprise, I didn't have to run the slides, I got to sit in the congregation with Teh Bear.  After church, we made plans with Teh Singing Family (Cat Lady and Podcaster) for lunch.  They had made bbq, so they were going to bring the meats and we were going to supply the buns and mac and cheese.  After hanging out for a bit, it was time for Teh Bear and I to take the doggies for a walk, so Teh Singing Family left and we packed Phil and Roofie into the car and headed to St. Mary's River State Park.  We only went to the first mile marker and turned around, which with the hills and roots and terrain was a sufficient effort for all parties.  We stopped 2x on the way back to Yurtle for the pups to get in the water and cool down a bit.  We headed home and the dogs got soaped up and rinsed off and then fed dinner.  We had leftovers and continued watching Sherlock until it was bedtime.

New puppy = Shelly.
Phil is really a horse, I know it.

Hai!!!  I'm widdle and adorable!

Mom, we lub you cause you're gonna take us on a walks!

Dis water is nice, fanks Mom. -Phil

These facial expressions accurately represent our feelings on this walk.

Monday morning we actually slept in.  I got up to let the pups out and then forced everyone back upstairs for naptime.  I couldn't seem to get comfortable at first, and then Teh Bear was like, snuggle with me (and I don't mean bow-chicka-wow-wow snuggling, pervs, this blog is mostly PG-13 rated), at which point I finally got comfortable and passed out for another hour and a half.  It was delightful, since I rarely sleep in much anymore.  I've learned that I can get SOOOOO much accomplished if I just start my day when I get up to feed the beasts than if I go back to bed and re-wake up.  Teh Bear and I had discussed going adventuring again Sunday night, but we hadn't decided on anything by Monday morning.  While we were discussing breakfast options, Teh Bear announced that we should go to DC to visit the Natural History Museum.  I concurred with the plan and we got ready and headed up to DC.  We decided to take the Metro into the city instead of driving in, so we parked at Branch Ave.* and headed towards the National Mall.  We toured Natural History Museum, saw some rocks and fossils and genetics stuff and gems and crystals and the Hope Diamond.  Then since we still had some time before we needed to start heading home, we went to the Art Museum to look at old paintings.  We stopped to check out the food trucks to see if anything good was there and I wasn't impressed.  After we finished at the Art museum, we went to Starbucks so I could finally fulfill my pumpkin spice latte craving.  I went with a pumpkin spice frappuccino instead, but craving fulfilled.  Starbucks in hand, we headed back to the Metro to get to Yurtle and go home.  When we arrived home, we had 2 very excited pups.  After feeding them dinner, Teh Bear washed Lionel Richie and Yurtle and I did laundry and dishes and prepared leftovers for dinner.  We ended the evening with Sherlock and football.  One of these things was more exciting than the other.

*taking the Metro is like going into Wal-Mart.  Holy Moly.  I couldn't take photos of all the ridiculous things we saw without it getting awkward, but I'd encourage you to ride the Metro yourself.  Not only will you be in DC and get to see awesome things, but you'll get so much horrific entertainment.

Teh Bear called this his "Doppler" shoes, after I referred to them as his Hurricane Katrina shoes.

DIREWOLVES ARE REAL!!!  George R. R. Martin wasn't lying!

Hope Diamond, IRL.

This definitely makes me want to go diving again.

Bear paws.

Crazy hats.

Capitol Hill looks much better without all the construction in front of it!

Food trucks at the National Mall.

Please notice the dogs in the background......
Painting by: Aelbert Cuyp

Horse, you are drunk, go home.
Painting by: Piero Di Cosimo

Pumpkin Spice in my belly!!!

The closest Phil has allowed Roofie to lay near him since she moved in.

YAY much needed long weekends make me happy!!!!!  Boooo work on Tuesday!  YAY for a short week!!


PS.  Yes I know I didn't post Annapolis pics.  Expect a post in the near-ish future.. and by near-ish I mean, eventually.




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