"Whoopehhh."

"Hey look! My mom's here!" 

"Whoopehhh." 

Name that movie.

Okay, so being from the northeast (Pennsylvania, to be exact) really instills a lot of things into your mind.

1. Amish people are people, too. This means that, yes, they deserve their own special parking area for their horses and buggies.

2. Knobles is a place you will never be too old to enjoy.

3. Turkey Hill sells THE BEST TEA EVER. If I could get my hands on a couple gallons of orange tea right now, I'd be a happy girl. But it has to be the Turkey Hill kind. None of the others taste right.

4. Whoopie pies are good anytime, anywhere. And that's a fact, Jack. 

I haven't had these babies in SO long. Honestly, I'm more of a fan of the cookie part, but that's just me. I've tried many different recipes for these, but the best whoopie pies you'll get are from random small restaurants...if you want to call them that. 

Here's the most recent recipe I tried. I LOVED the cookie part. The innards could use some work, though.

"It felt French."

I love Friends. Too much for words. I could probably watch that show 24/7. It's always hilarious.

Anyway.

Kyle, Selena, Gabe, and I went with my in-law's to my father-in-law's mother's house.

Mouthful, huh?

This was..in February. She had made us some food, and part of it was this french bread with about a half inch of garlic butter in the middle. Kyle's been going on and on and ON about it ever since. And it's almost April. Sheesh.

I was making spaghetti the other night and decided to give a try at some french bread with garlic butter.

It came out amazingly.

Until I screwed it up.

I had to bake this bread twice in two days. It was THAT good.

Fat Kid Night.

I posted..less than 24 hours ago about taking a blog hiatus. And I guess my choice of wording is wrong. It's more of a "come and go as fit" situation.

The amount of stress in my life is still at high, and *gasp* I'm out of crafts to do at the moment to take my time off of it. So, tonight I claimed myself to a Harry Potter marathon and baking.

And these cupcakes are totally worth not having a craft to do.

I guess they're a craft in themselves.

You know your mouth is watering.

I'm not built for the outside stuffs.

I'm really, really, REALLY not an outdoors person.

I don't do the whole camping thing. 

And here's why.

1. It gets freaking HOT in the summer. Pennsylvania wasn't so bad, but now that I'm in Missouri, it's like I'm walking outside to Hell. I prefer air conditioning.

2. There's no bathrooms when you go "real" camping. I'm saying "real" camping because Kyle, bless his heart, just gets into a tizzy when you bring up campgrounds. You should hear his rant. It's quite amusing.

3. There's bugs and things. Bugs are too icky for my taste. And skunks. And mountain lions. And armadillos. And possums. *shivers*

4. I'm a mosquito magnet, literally. If you want to walk outside with no bug spray on into a swarm of those things, take me will you. I promise that you won't get bit. They'll be too busy attacking me.

Now, camping food? I'm down with that.

Fire roasted hot dogs, I love. Jiffy Pop over the fire? Bring it.

And s'mores. S'mores are #1 on my fire food priority list.

In the summer, Kyle makes a fire in our yard to burn branches and random scraps of wood that I collect (because you never know what you can make from them!) and I can only stand about 2 minutes in the heat. And everytime I request a s'more, I hear the dreaded words...

"Make it yourself!"

*sigh*

But WAIT! I found the solution! Head over to Just Baked and find...

...THIS SUPER AWESOME RECIPE FOR S'MORES CUPPYCAKES!

^ Click above for recipe. ^

I'm serious. I don't kid about cuppycakes. Or s'mores. And these are as close as you're going to get to a s'more without having to fight the evils of being outside.

I'm not posting the recipe on here, but below are my photos of the process and end result. You'll drool, I promise.

Kyle and I are already fighting over them. :)

50th Post!

It's my 50th post today!

Wow.

I kinda can't believe that.

This calls for a celebration.

PIEEEEEE!

Who doesn't love pie?

Technically, I baked this for Kyle, but I'm the only one that's eaten any of it. >.<

Comfort Food = Important.

Comfort food and I go hand in hand. Especially during the cold seasons. There's nothing like curling up on the couch with a good book and a bowl of hot soup.

Except that I never tried to make soup before. 

Until now, that is.

Chicken noodle is my personal favorite.

Tomato with a grilled cheese is a close second.

Food Twister.

When I was younger, I got toted around. A lot.

I know, it's pretty typical for the kid to get toted places. You know, when we have no say in things. The good ol' days for the parents.

I specifically remember getting toted to the mall when my mom wanted to shop for old lady clothes. I was always restless. I've never been able to really simmer down. I get bored easily.

So everytime we went to the mall, I ended up with either a slice of amazing pizza or an awesome soft pretzel. And you know what? The love of soft pretzels has never left me. Ever.

I prefer making them as pretzel nugs, but I just had to try the actual pretzel shape.

I suck at it, by the way.

Also, I reached a huge plateau in my bread baking. I totally bought a jar of yeast instead of using packets.

I'm BACK! With brittle!

Oh my God, I can't believe how long it's been since I've been able to post via laptop.

I'M SO FRIGGIN' EXCITED.

And I wanted to post the awesome peanut brittle I made for the dad-in-law. Because he's speshul.

Yes. I meant to spell it like that.

And I only have 5 pictures of this. So you get no starter picture...

Just the information that this stuff can cause some serious damage to your teeth. But it's totally worth it.

Cheesy Peasy

Cheese is a HUGE staple in this house.

Mainly because of Kyle. >.<

We all dig on cheese, but Kyle? He LOVES cheese. He's infatuated with cheese. Cheese and him go hand and hand. There's never such a thing as "too much". *sigh*

On the upside, it helps me throw some veggies into food without him making bad faces. So I guess it's a win.

I wanted something easy, simple, and different tonight for dinner. We all love pasta/italian. And pasta goes with cheese well. I debated macaroni and cheese, but I bet I'd never hear the end about how it's not his Aunt Terry's, but it's good.

I'm okay with that, though. Terry makes some bomb mac and cheese.

So, I threw some stuff together in a dish and BAM. Dinner.

I love easy and cheap dinners.

Cooking + Kids = Hard

Gabe's been in and out of his separation anxiety phase. But the only time it kicks in full blown is when he knows I'm making or have food.

Boys. Growing boys. Ugh.

Ontop of that, money's been pretty tight. Christmas put anyone and everyone in a bind when added in with the economy.

(Times is hard...Times is HAAAAAAAAAARD. - Channeling Sweeney Todd)

Needless to say, I've had to try and figure out how to make a good dinner for little monies.

Alas. Soup.

No, I didn't just throw soup in a pot and call it mine.

It's simple. It's pretty cheap. It's chicken.

My favorite things all in one.

Together in perfect harmony.

Me and chocolate have a love/hate relationship.

It's mainly "OMFGILOVEYOUSOEFFINGMUCH!"

And then I step on a scale.

*sigh*

I don't quite care for dark chocolate. I prefer milk chocolate. And white chocolate. And very rarely do I use semi-sweet chocolate chips in cookies.

This is no exception.

These will be gone in a matter of days.

"It's a fruit. That means it's healthy!"

I have a feeling I say this to myself WAY too much in life.

That can't be good.

So many things these days give us cancer, cause obesity, etc. Where's the enjoyment in food anymore?! 

THROW CAUTION TO THE WIND!

Yeah, okay, maybe not that extreme...but why not enjoy food while you can? I can promise you, you won't be able to taste it when you're dead and gone.

So, while these may not be the healthiest side dish in the world, they're amazingly delicious.

And, come on. Everyone loves apples.

Unless you're weird.

I'm poor and can't afford a Daddy.

My Daddy's Cheesecake is delicious. That's a given.

BUT managing money + My Daddy's Cheesecake? Yeah. You know what that equals to without me even saying it.

Anywho.

We're going to Kyle's aunt's house tomorrow for their Thanksgiving get together. And let me tell you, this side of the fambam is amazeballs. I get along with..most of them, if not all of them. And the first time I was at this particular aunt's house, her husband, Kyle's uncle ofcourse, had me cornered on their porch and forced me into talking. I was still on the fence about in-laws after my past experiences. But the conversation started out with...

"Okay. I gotta ask....Rocketship?" 

^.^ Oh, Moonshoes. The amount of confusion that comes from our names is totally awesome.

Again, anywho.

I was asked to bring a pumpkin pie or something of the sort, but once I told Kyle, he went on about how EVERYONE brings a pumpkin pie. Yeah, that didn't flow too well with me. Not because I have to stand out (atleast, when I'm sober...), but because I didn't want there to just be pumpkin pie. Don't get me wrong, I can eat the crap outta pumpkin pie (I think it's mainly for the whipped cream, don't hate on my inner fat kid) but after a while it just gets monotonous.

So, I made cheesecake. :)

Cherry and blueberry. I can't wait.

Dear Bestie, Thanks For Letting My People Take Your Food.

It's no secret. My sister (*coughbestfriendimetonline4+yearsagocough* is Cherokee. So much, infact, that her ringtone on my phone for the longest time was the most amazing thing ever. The fact that we called eachother a lot made it even better. 

"CHEROKEE PEOPLE! CHEROKEE PRIDE!"

^.^ 

Well, I'm part Native American, too. No idea how much, but I know it's in there. Which is why I'm one of the few Asian-American's that can tan like it's nobody's business..and why people constantly mistake me for being Mexican.

Anyway.

My first time ever making a Thanksgiving dinner by myself, she was visiting. It was after Dot was born, and I kidnapped her and Logan for a month. The best month ever, might I add. She helped me figure out what to make, I converted her to a from-scratch cooker.

Yeah, that's not completely true. Let's say she cooks MORE things from scratch now.

This? This was one of our favorites. And the kids' favorite. They were like vultures. No joke.

Suh-weeeeeeeeeeeet potatoes. Yum.

GOO(lash)! I'm channeling Billy Madison.

This is honestly the easiest, simplest, and probably cheapest meal I ever make. Everyone digs on it, thank God. It's my fall back, to be honest. 

I'm talkin' goulash.

There's plenty of ways to make it. This is just a VERY basic recipe. You can add/remove whatever you want to make it your own. Corn is a vegetable a lot of people like to add to it. Me? I just keep it basic.

And cheap. SO beyond cheap.

But I always pair it with mashed potatoes. Sometimes cornbread, too..you know, when I'm feeling fancy.

I'm pork's and poultry's worst enemy.

It's no big secret. I love chicken. It's a family thing, I think. Me and my dad could eat chicken most, if not all, of the time. Don't even get me started on some turkey. Birds must hate us.

I definitely dig on some pig, too. Bacon is good times, but sliced ham? I love it. Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches? Yum. Yum all day long.

So, you know, you just HAVE to combine the two. And throw some cheese in there.

HOW MOUTH WATERING DOES THAT LOOK?!

Rainy Day Baking

It's a pretty gloomy day in my parts. Raining on and off, dark..okay..light grey..clouds all over the sky, and a nice, cool breeze. Which, I love cool breezes. I love having the windows open and the smell of the rain just filling the house.

*sigh*

I'm on a pretty tight pantry right now, so I was pretty limited on making something, but it's a given. When it's a day like today, baking needs to occur. 

Unwritten rule? Yes. Very yes.

I wanted whoopie pies, so desperately bad (hollaaaa to the north!) but I had nothing close to what I needed to make them. But what I did find was the exact things I needed to make the easiest thing ever.

And these things are always in my kitchen. Helloooo baking safety net.

Yeah. Totally talking about some amazing, versatile peanut butter cookies.

Oh, and it helps that they only take 3 ingredients.

I may not be a southerner, but I'm cooking like one.

Biscuits and gravy?! I never knew that was a breakfast until about 7th grade after going to Hardee's with a friend. I guess sometimes being from the north faults me, or maybe it's having an asian mom? I don't know. But I'm getting better at this south thing. I'm making tea (seriously, I never drank tea until coming to Missouri), I'm frying a lot more stuff, it's just a culture shock all over again.

But biscuits and gravy. That's something I love now.

And see this? That's bacon grease. I'm actually keeping extra bacon grease in a jar. Did you know people do that?! I didn't. Not until coming to the south.

Where's the beef?

Growing up, I ate a lot of roast beef sandwiches. They were usually what was for lunch.

Now that I'm older, I'm pretty much inlove with Arbys.

I love their beef and cheddar sandwiches, I loved the Big Montanas when they were around, I even worked there for a time. The discount was BOMB.

Luckily, I married a guy that shares the love of roast beef sandwiches. How did I get so blessed? 

I've been on the lookout for an easy way to make some french dip sandwiches, and I finally found one we all love, even Selena and Gabe. 

Potatoes Are The #1 Side

Atleast in my life, potatoes are the #1 spot for a sidedish. I could live on potatoes, I think. They're completely versatile, delicious, and just amazing. Especially when they're potato skins and it's the superbowl. Yum. Calories FTW!

So, since I end up making potatoes a lot, I try to find ways to change them up. Can't have them be monotonous all the time. Right?

Nom. Delicious. Especially paired with some bar-b-q chicken.