Bad Girl Baking

I can’t believe that the week I finally got to choose the recipe for this weeks TWD, I posted late. I know, I know I have been so excited about picking the Granola Grabbers for this week because it was a very versatile recipe. But I posted late. This move is really taking it’s toll on me and I’m internet-less (I don’t know how I’m surviving). I pretty much moved on my own. I know I had my sister and the hubbs there to help but I came to the realization that they don’t like packing. I don’t like either but I know it needs to get done. Noe did do the majority of the heavy moving and my sister packing the majority of my glasses but there is still a whole house to pack. We shrink wrapped all the big furniture and any large items we know will be in storage till we find our own place. Saturday was a long day that started at 3am for the Hubbs and 5am for me. We began the 6 hour drive across to Orange County and thankfully everything and everyone made it in one piece. Sunday we got settled and tried to make Hurricane Milo’s room our own little space, with no bed it’s a little difficult though. But my sis-in-law Jeni and her husband Enny are making the move easier and being champs about adding two kids to their current three. The V. Family rocks my socks off.

Monday I finally got a chance to make this weeks recipe, I know I should have had it done a last week but with the moving I didn’t even get a chance to type up the recipe but I’m sure one of the lovely TWD bakers typed it up. I made two different batches; one with maple pecan granola and one with mango passionfruit granola. I know the recipe says not to use granola with fruit, but I figured that it wouldn’t hurt the recipe. And it didn’t. I got an enthusiastic thumbs up from the H and V family. Check out the other TWD bakers here.

ETA: I got this recipe from the awesome Miss Clara.

3 cups granola without fruit
3/4 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)
1/2 cup salted peanuts
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup wheat germ
1-3/4 sticks (14 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup AP flour

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 375F. Line baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.

Put cereal in a large bowl and break up any clumps with your fingers. Add in craisins, peanuts, coconut. Mix together. Cream butter at medium speed for about 1-2 minutes. Add sugars and beat until creamy. Add in egg and salt. Reduce speed to low and slowly add in flour a little at a time until just blended.
Slowly add the cereal mixture and use a spatula to fold it into the cookie batter. Scoop out the cookie dough in 1/2-1oz balls (depending on how big you want the cookies) and arrange on baking sheet about 1-2 inches between each ball. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Repeat with remaining dough.

The move has begun! Wahoooooo!!! But I don’t like packing. I really don’t. I would rather go to the dentist office, where everyone is eating Alfredo sauce and have big pictures of cockroaches everywhere. Three of the biggest things I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY don’t like at all.

Well… I wouldn’t want the last one or the first one and probably not the middle one either. But, I really don’t like packing. It’s the biggest and most pain staking part of the whole process. Sigh…

No TWD post this week, well… maybe a little later today or tomorrow. My little big sissy is in town to be my cheap FREE labor. I promised her something sweet so maybe the blueberry ice cream will be it. We’ll see.

But go check out the bakers here.

I know I’m a bit late posting this weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie but it’s been one of those weeks. Work has been extremely busy and it seems to just keep piling higher and higher. I do my best, get work done accurately and try not to get involved with the office gossip. But for the past week I have been having pain in my ear. I didn’t think much of it, I just assumed that I had been using my hands-ear piece too long on my recent drive to California. But it just seems to be getting worse and the pain is radiating towards my temple and throat. I came home Tuesday in a semi-crabby mood because my ear is a constant pain and bothering me to the extreme. I decided to make a doctors appointment for Wednesday to get this checked out. I used to get ear infections on a regular basis thanks to my swimming and water polo in high school so I began to recall the type of pain and symptoms I had then and diagnosed myself with a normal ear infection. Or so I thought.

I went to the doctors office and after a surprisingly short wait the Hubbs and I were escorted back. I sat up on the table and let the doctor know what the problem was. He rubbed my ear lobe, looked inside my ear and down my throat and came to the conclusion that nothing was wrong. He is telling me that discharge, pain and swelling I have in my ear is normal. Hhmm… I think not you piece of crap. He then patronizes me by saying “I can give you some drops, if you think it will make you feel better.” Are you fucking serious? You, a medical professional with years of education, are trying to tell me that I am making this up? I tried so hard to keep my composure and not go off in a doctors office. I didn’t really expect that type of treatment. I know I’m not a queen or any better than the next person, but gah-lee I do expect a smidge of respect. I just became so disappointed today. I would never treat my vendors I deal with at work like that. But then again, that’s how I was raised; give respect and you will get it in return. Oh well, what can you do?

This weeks TWD was chosen by Ashlee from A Year in the Kitchen and boy oh boy was it a hit at our house. I decided to halve the recipe and make them in muffin form. They were delicious and had a great taste. Like my doctor visit today, there was one thing I did not see coming from this recipe. It was dense, a good dense! I absolutely love muffins or breads that are dense. This bread was great, my marble skills are not all that good so I just did a half brown design. Thanks for the good choice this week Ashlee. Check out other TWD bakers here.

I had a well written post for this weeks TWD recipe, well I thought so at least. Then an earthquake hit Southern California and my world felt like it stopped. Ok, maybe I’m overreacting. The earthquake wasn’t as large as others, it didn’t devastate as much as the Northridge Earthquake did, there hasn’t been a death reported, no major building collapses. Which is an amazing and I thank the Good Lord. The Hubbs is over in California working with his brother on a big job. He was in the 11th story of a building a building in Irvine when the quake hit. He is A-Ok and so is my bro-in-law, they looked down and saw the water in a swimming pool was tossing and turning like the ocean. I know, crazy. The whole family is ok, a little shaken up, but ok. There are a few frames, plates and glasses that were sacrificed but the family is O-K.

I heard from almost everyone around 12:15pm Pacific Time, almost everyone. There was one person that I could not get a hold of at all, my sister Andrea. She has a pre-paid cell phone but only has text messaging abilities and no calling minutes. I was trying to call her and call her and call her but got nothing. I called my mom’s house, my grama’s house, the interview that she was supposed to be at and got nothing. The interview she was supposed to be mentioned she never showed up. I thought in my head, she’s a new driver and what if she was driving when it happened and she lost control, what if the highway cracked, what if someone crashed into her? Where is she! I called my mom and she hadn’t heard from her. I could hear the worry in my mom’s voice. I couldn’t say much, I was just as worried. I sat in my cubicle 300 miles away from my family and was so helpless. My entire family is within a 35 mile radius from the epicenter of the quake, with my mom’s house (where my sister might have been) only being about 8 miles away. I wanted to cry I didn’t know what to do. I held my cell phone with a death grip to ensure if I got a voicemail or text message I could check it within a millisecond and know if it was her. After about 1 hour of sucking my thumb under my cubicle while rocking back and forth (not really! ) I heard from her and she is A-Ok. She drives me absolutely crazy, but gah-le I love her.

Please pray and hope that the after shocks are minimal.

Here is a summer fruit galette chosen by Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs it was a good recipe, but my crust didn’t come out all that well. It taste good, but it was a bit burned. I really need to figure out why I always screw up this recipe. I also used mango jam and some super sweet nectarines in my galette. It was delicious. Check out other TWD bakers here. You can also find the recipe on Michelle’s website.