HARRY POTTER PARTY PT.3--HONEYDUKES BUFFET

It ain't a Harry party without Honeydukes!

Gummi Worms--these went quicker than anything else

Mini candy bars=Dementor Relief

Take Home Bags--plain white paper sacks, with the
Honeydukes tags
printed on large sticky labels and cut to size

Dumbledore's favorite---oh, my poor little fangirl heart, DUMBLEDOOOOOOOORE!

Chex's "Muddy Buddies" recipe
labeled as "Sirius Black's Puppy Chow"
This was 2 batches, roughly 20oz of cereal, plus all the yum
The kids barely touched it.  That night, the Big Munky found Tater and I  had
dug into it

. . .and consequently passed out on the comedown

Got froggy molds from Amazon.com for, like, $6
LeNell Chandler made them with melting chocolates and candy eyes

These were a pain in the ass to find out of season--again, it was Amazon to the rescue
Candy Apple, or Fall Flavors candy corn, for "Werewolf Fangs"

Another Amazon find--a box of 48 for less than $12

A buttload of different jelly beans, with a couple of boxes of real
Bertie Botts' thrown in for "flavor"

Ran out of time to do this right--Dum Dum suckers and Pop Rocks
for the "Acid Pops"

Cupcake cake, made by the awesome Carrie Sestina (fresh out of the hospital and STILL
MADE A CRAPTON OF CUPCAKES--what a woman, right?!) who also did the cake last year

Printable/editable labels, recipes, and great ideas can be found  here
Printable signs can be found at this site
This page has a ton of ideas as well.

BLUEBERRY BUCKLE

AKA, "ginormous muffin with streusel topping."

So last week we took the brood on a little field trip to a local orchard and set em to work in the fields.

And I did a lil pickin myself

So we went home with an assload of peaches and blueberries.

What the hell is a girl supposed to do with an assload of peaches and blueberries?!

Well, there's homemade granola with the berries, and sweet tea with the peaches. . .hmmm. . .on to Facebook and Foodgawker!

The Big Munky's wonderfully good-natured and humorous cousin (whom I share my name with, which makes her doubly awesome) gave a recipe for peach cobbler.  I've never actually seen cobbler up close, and was initially pretty against cooked fruit, but I thought what the hell.  But, since I can't follow any directions (I'm a rebel, yo) I did some other crap to it that I can't really remember--and it still turned out pretty damn good.  Good enough that all 3 of the kids and Big Munky ate it, and that it didn't last a day.

Sweet.

Then I found a recipe for Blueberry Buckle.  I'd never heard of it, so it registered as "weird as hell," and I was, of course, intrigued.

Again, Angified the snot out of the thing, but kept notes as I did so.  It was awesome, too, and tasted just like a blueberry muffin.

And, again, it didn't last a day.

Sugar--1 cup white
            1/2 cup brown
Shortening--1/4 cup
Egg
Flour--2 cups
Baking powder
Salt
Blueberries
Cinnamon
Butter
Vanilla

Mix 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup shortenin, and 1 egg.

Separately mix 1 2/3 cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt

Grab 3/4 cup milk.

Alternating the milk and first mix, add into the flour mix and stir well.

Stir in 2 cups of blueberries.

Pour into pan.

Topping:
1/4 white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Mix and pour over top of cake.
Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

Freakin YUM.

SUPER HEALTHY, SUPER YUMMY, SUPER EASY HOMEMADE GRANOLA

You heard me.

Preheat oven to 325.

In bigass bowl, mix:

4 cups instant or quick oats
1/4 c unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 c slivered almonds
1/4 c flax seed
1 tbsp cinnamon

In seperate bowl, mix:

3/4 c olive oil
3/4 c honey
2 teaspoons blue agave (opt)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Pour wet mix over dry mix and. . .well, mix.  Make sure everything gets coated well.

Spread out into roasting pan, or two baking sheets, and bake for 10 minutes.  Stir and bake for 10 more minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.  Throw some dried fruit in that bitch and you got some good shit for breakfast or snackin.

*Play with it, mix and match--sub in any nuts or spice, throw in some brown sugar, use different oils, whatever.  Let me know how it turns out for ya.

Another Take on Hummus

This is more a traditional recipe, with an Angie kick.

1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed, keeping 1/4 cup juice set aside
2 tablespoons tahini paste (Kroger, y'all)
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Throw all that in a processor, sprinkle with a bit of chili powder, garlic salt, and cumin, and blend well.  Scoop it our into a bowl and drizzle with generous amount of honey.  Tastes awesome with blue corn tortillas.

BLACK BEAN BROWNIES

Sounds pretty nasty, right?  But I was surprised--these jokers are yummy, lighter than most brownies, and packed with fiber.  BUT, they're also packed with sugar, so take it easy.

You will need:
1 can black beans--drained, rinsed well, and smushed to creaminess
3 eggs
3 tbsp canola oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder (optional)
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Blend all that ish together and pour into 8 inch square dish.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes and yeeeeeaaahh!

Hawaiian Spinach Bread Bowl thingy recipe

This is more of the kind of thing that exits my kitchen when we ain't been to the grocery store.  It's super creamy, super yummy, and prolly some kind of nutritious, too.


1 King's Hawaiian round bread loaf
2 cans tuna
2 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp sandwich spread
1/2 can Lay's spinach dip
handful of fresh spinach leaves, spun through the food processor
2 tbsp finely-chopped celery

Hollow out the loaf of bread through the middle, leave an inch on all sides.  Cube the cut-out parts of bread.  Put the cubes and what's now a bowl on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until lightly toasted.  I wasn't paying attention so I have no clue how long that took.

Mix up err-thing else.  Pour it into the baked bowl.  Boom.  Done.

Super Yum Fraptastic Crappucino Recipe

Enjoy this look at my new favorite sipper, courtesy of my
 "you're so wrong for that!" friend, Manda.
 BTW, she's awesome.

This stuff is grrrrrreat.

Start off with 2 cups brewed iced-coffee (go on and make a full pot, you'll be drinking all of it over the course of the day anyway) at triple strength.

hello, friend

Let it cool a bit, then put in a blender and add 1 cup milk.  I used almond milk and YUM.

Then throw in 2-3 scoops vanilla ice cream, a splash of vanilla creamer (if you use real milk, just throw in a capful of vanilla extract) and cover with chocolate syrup.  Blend that shit and voila!  You have some excellent  Starbucks-wannabe slurpsalistic coffee.

Homemade Pita Bread & Taco Bell Hummus

Alright, so I took someone else's recipes and Angied the hell out of them to get some pretty good shit.

PITA BREAD:
Mix up
1 cup warm water
2tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp brown sugar
in a big bowl.  No need for a mixer, my arm worked just fine.

Add in
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 cups flour

Mix mix mix

Cuss a little as your biceps give out,  and mix more.

Add in enough flour to make a thick dough.  Let sit for about 10 minutes.  Then add up to a cup of warm water to loosen up the dough a bit.  Knead on floured workspace for a couple minutes.  Grease up another big mixing bowl with olive oil, roll your dough into a ball and put it in the greased bowl, rolling it around just a little to grease it up.  Cover with a damp towel and place in a warm spot to rise for an hour, or until doubled, which is pretty freaky to see.

After that hour, punch down your dough, then roll out your dough onto floured space again.  Cut it up into about 8-10 pieces, depending on your size preference. Shape these pieces into 6-inch circles.  Cover with towel and let rise for another 30 minutes.

Yeah, it's a pain in the ass.  I guess that's why they call it PITA bread.

Heat oven to 500.  Bake your little circles 3-4 at a time (I used a broiler pan) for just 5 minutes.  As soon as they come out of the over, move them to a plate and cover with a cool, damp towel until the next batch comes out.  This is some kind of steam process, I don't know, but it makes them all nice and fresh-like.

And there ya go.

ONWARD--TACO BELL HUMMUS

Thusly named because, seriously, it tastes like Taco Bell.

Into a processor, chunk 1/2 can drained garbanzo beans and 1/2 can drained black beans, about 3tsp garlic powder, 3 tsps cumin, and 2 tbsp olive oil.  Knock the shit out of your processor trying to get all this mixed, and add in 1/4 liquid from the garbanzo beans.

Oh, yeah, you should've saved about 1/2 cup of the liquid when you drained the beans.

Anywho, mix until desired consistency, and serve with some of that awesome pita bread.  I imagine throwing some cheese up on this shit, and sour cream, and eatin with tortillas would be pretty damn good, too.

Try it, let me know how it works out for ya.

Cumin Shrimp Ramen

So we haven't been to the grocery store in a while, and I had limited sources to work from.  Thus, this hot mess, which ended up pretty good.

Cook up 3 packages of Ramen (flavor doesn't matter, since you won't be using it anyway)
In a separate bowl, mix one can cream of celery with one can broth--any kind will do, dump in some garlic salt and a bunch of cumin (I love that crap)
Mix all that, throw in a bag of frozen cooked shrimp
Hit the microwave for 5-7 minutes to get that good and cooked

Drain the Ramen noodles, throw in the sauce and shrimp, and voila, some pretty good pasta stuff.

Yum

Honey Bun Cookies

I rock.

In bigass bowl, mix:

1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk

After you've worked up a good sweat over that, add in:

1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon

and just try to handmix THAT all together.  Also, be sure to lean back/turn your head away when you chunk in the cinnamon.

Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.  Warning: looks like poo.  If kids are around, much giggling and gross sound effects will ensue.

Sprinkle with a bit of powdered sugar, just in case there's not enough already in the mix to give you 3 cavities with each cookie.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, longer for bigger drops.

Gobble up as many as possible before the kids realize they're done.  Praise Angie for giving you such awesomeness.

















You're welcome.

Strawberry Refrigerator Cake ROCKS!

Cake:
1 pkg strawberry cake mix
1 10oz pkg frozen sweet strawberries, thawed

Frosting:
1 box vanilla instant pudding mix
1 c milk
2 c Cool Whip, thawed

Prepare cake according to box directions, bake and cool.  Poke large holes one inch apart in cake top.  Puree frozen berries and pour over cake, let soak into the holes.

For frosting, mix pudding and milk.  Fold in Cool Whip, spread over cake.  Garnish with fresh strawberries.  Cool in fridge at least 4 hours before serving.

Freakin YUM.

This recipe courtesy of my awesome aunt-who's-really-a-second-or-third-cousin-but-I-grew-up-calling-her-Aunt-so-screw-it, Brenda Scott.

MY MELON

Step 1:  Choose your victim.

This'll work.

 Step 2:  Cut off the top "corners."

and realize you can't cut straight.  Say bad words.

 Step 3: Use big knife and gut that sucker.

MUCH easier than carving a pumpkin

 Step 4: Get scoop to help with diggin err-thing out.

Wait, this is a scoop for---

 Step 5: Get distracted by scoop.

Yum.

 Step 6: Get your head back in the game.

Get bigger scoop.

 Step 7:  Consider calling it soup and quit for the night.

maybe give it some pepper?

 Step 8:  Get back to it.  Beer yourself and start cuttin on the "handle."

Cutting again?  Crap!

 Step 9:  Cut zigzags or whatever all around "basket."

CRUCIAL:  Drink enough so that this looks cute.

 Step 10: Observe aftermath. . .

. . .and cry.

 Step 11:  The next morning.  Fill the basket with fresh and frozen fruit  and call it done, dammit.

Step 12:  Drive an hour and forty minutes away with masterpiece to impress folks at family reunion.  Learn that the reunion is next week.  Say bad words, give the fruit basket to the nice ladies at the bait shop by the reunion site.  Drive home.  Say a few more bad words.  Laugh at the thought of calling this a trial run and doing it again next week.

NOM NOM NOM

For those of you who know me (personally or from Facebook), y'all can attest to the fact that I'm all about some  food.  I love me some nom noms.  By all reasoning, I should be a lot fatter than I am, but I can honestly say that God must love me---or else He wouldn't've given me such bitchin skinny genetics.

Food.  Hells yes.

I get more excited about good eats that I should.  I know I worry some folks.

Anyway---if any of you hellions are ever out Tipton County way, take yo asses out to the Bluffs. . .Drummonds, that is.  They have this secret little place called Dakota's Cuisine la Luzianne and they are friggin amazing.  "Mr. Errol" is a damn fine cook, who brought his family up from LA around Katrina's time.  Go in and see their scrapbook on the counter, it will blow you away (heh.  see what I did there?).  He makes all of cajun dishes aww-then-tick-a-lee, and I've before asked if he put some voodoo shit on some of it.  There's no earthly way possible some of that stuff is that good.

I especially love the classics--gumbo, jambalya, catfish, and etouffe. . . oooohhhh, the etouffe. . . ahem.  Yeah.  My all time fave is the catfish Delacroix.  Seriously.  I get more excited about that dish than I do a freezer full of ice-cream AND a cabinet of Oreos.

Their po-boys are huge and stuffed and good God I am running out of words to describe just how effin good this shit is.

The service is pretty amazing too.  They're friendly, easy-goin folk, very accommodating, very comforting.  Tonight me and the Big Munky took the Brood out there.  I said I was becoming close to having an affair with the catfish delacroix so I needed to try a new plate.  Couldn't decide, so I asked for a surprise.  Dayum.  A plate of cajun sausage and shrimp pasta came out. . .by the end of the meal, I was slouched in my chair, head lolling to one side, stuffed and satisfied.  And they gave the Brood free cake.

I love that place.

On facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000881621169

Directions: http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v=2&pc=FACEBK&mid=8100&where1=5754+RICHARDSON+LANDING%2C+Drummonds%2C+TN+38023&FORM=FBKPL0&name=DAKOTAS+CUISINE+LA+LUZIANNE&mkt=en-US#bGlkPXluODE2eDEzODc2ODc3