Pumpkin Spice Addict

This is the look of a dog newly addicted to Pumpkin Spice Hershey's kisses. I was eating a few and he would not stop begging, so naturally I gave him one. Normally when he is begging for something weird (fruits, vegetables, pumpkin spice kisses) he will just spit it back out. Not this time! I have created a furry little monster.

(Disclaimer: This short little post was actually written about two weeks before I published, but I must have hit "save" instead of "publish", and then forgot about it. I found it in my files and thought it was too cute not to share!) 

Back to School and OmniFocus

Adam Sandler's "Back to School" song from Billy Madison has been stuck in my head all week! Lemme sing it to you now:

"Back to school, back to school, to prove to dad I'm not a fool!"

 Okay, it might only funny if you've seen the movie and can hear me in the right voice. :)

Moving on... I am just starting up my LAST first week of school so I've been working hard all day getting organized for the quarter. In the past I've always meticulously written out every assignment in a small planner and tabbed every single reading in all my books with little green sticky tabs. I was always good about keeping up with assignments (I've made it this far, haven't I??), but the reading tabs always got dirty, bent, lost, and forgotten. The only function the reading tabs served were to make me feel organized at the beginning of the quarter and then I would curse them as I furiously ripped them out of my books right before buybacks! Enter: my beautiful new MacBook.

I was able to pick up my Christmas present early (THANKS, Mom and Dad!!) and it has been so awesome for school. My old lappy had to be on life support at all times (both the charger and internet cords) so taking the behemoth to class was not really an option. Now I am that annoying girl sitting in the front row typing away (sorry classmates!). I can take notes directly into powerpoint documents so I am no longer printing out hundreds of ppt presentations every quarter.

One last awesome improvement in my academic life is a program called OmniFocus. This app was $40 through Apple (I had a gift card), and at first I was really disappointed and thought it was a waste of money. Although I was so utterly confused the first few times I tried to figure it out (even after watching 10 tutorial videos), today something just clicked! I had to just start entering in my coursework before I really started to understand the layout. I am so excited to have finally figured this out, and Adam is probably excited to quit hearing about it. :) The online explanations for this program were really vague, so I just wanted to give a quick overview of how I organized mine for anyone who may be interested.

I can view all my tasks in the order that they are due. Right now all I have are readings to complete, but I am sure this list will be much longer as the quarter goes on. The OmniFocus tab that is always on my bar (the little purple guy) will display how many items I have to complete soon (in yellow) or past due (in red) so I can quickly see how much I have to complete soon! 

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For anyone trying to use OmniFocus for school (the program is initially set up in a work format), the way I have it set up is this:

Projects: Main tasks, regardless of which class they are for. Mine include "Readings" "Exams" and "Assignments"

Contexts: This is where I have my courses separated under the "School" tab. This way I can easily click on whatever class I need to see quickly and focus on that first.

 Like I said, I am pretty pleased with my organization this quarter. Let's hope I can keep it up! :)

Cake Batter Chocolate Sauce, or Using Resources Wisely.

Hi all,

I just got back from a whirlwind weekend of cooking at a Girl Scout camp! This was our first year at Camp St. Albans (camp was traditionally held at Camp Klahanee) and there were a few fantastic improvements. The girls were able to go boating, swiming, and even shoot an arrow at the archery range. A feature the girls wouldn't notice is the wonderful commercial kitchen at St. Albans. Klahanee has very small home-sized appliances, which means one traditional oven to feed 100+ people.  St. Albans has FOUR commercial convection ovens, huge prep spaces, multiple sinks, and a walk-in refrigerator/freezer. The first few days of camp were so hot that we held many planning meetings inside the walk in refrigerator, so refreshing!

I was assigned to help prepare dinner for about 150 ladies (and 2 guys!). The last night we planned to have angel food cake with berries for dessert, but the berries had been accidentally used for a different meal! What is that old phrase about having too many cooks in the kitchen? Anyway... being on a limited budget, we tried to come up with alternatives. The weather was unexpectedly hot, so we had two cases of hot cocoa mix that were going unused. I decided to tinker around with the mix and see what kind of chocolate sauce I could come up with. This sauce was made entirely with leftovers from other meals at camp. The end product was insanely decadent and well-loved by all! Here's what I did:

Melt margarine (or butter) over medium heat in a large sauce pot. Stir in hot cocoa packets. This will look very grainy and will separate into a chunky sludge and a dark smooth oil like substance. Do not be deterred, it will work! 

Crack and beat eggs in a spare bowl. Spoon a bit of the chocolate oil into the egg mixture. This tempers the eggs and prevents you from making a scrambled egg sauce. Once your eggs and sauce are mixed around, pour the egg mixture into the pot of chocolate goop. 

Now get to whisking! I alternated between a whisk and a large metal spoon, but keep in mind I was making a huge quantity. A whisk will probably get the job done in your kitchen. I kept the heat around medium to medium high and stirred the mixture around for about 5 minutes before it became a silky smooth chocolate sauce. 

At this point, the sauce was good, but not outstanding. Rooting around the kitchen a bit more, I found some leftover sour cream. THIS is what gives it a true cake batter feeling. Silky, smooth, creamy, and a little tart bite. I spooned the sauce into glass syrup dispensers and kept them in the fancy-schmancy warmer (held at 140 degrees or higher) until we were ready, but you could easily serve it immediately. Pour over angel food cake (with some donated blueberries- thanks Kim!), canned pineapple chunks, and a dollop of whipped cream. Or dip giant serving spoons in the pot like the entire kitchen staff did. Either way, your taste buds (and camp budget!) will love you. 

Anyone who has watched me cook knows I am a professional eye-baller. I will try and give you quantities, but I did not measure so you may have to play around with it. I made both the "home quantity" and "camp quantity" and they both turned out fine without measuring. 

Camp Quantity- Served 150 (approximately 30 cups sauce)

• Extremely large scoop margarine, probably close to 5-6 cups or more. I probably used close to a 1:1 ratio of margarine to cocoa. 
• 48 packets hot cocoa mix (50 in a case, but I practiced with 2 first). Using bulk cocoa, this almost filled up a small metal kitchen bowl. The packets should contain cocoa powder, sugar, and non-dairy creamer. 
•  About 18 raw eggs. All leftover from breakfast. 
• 1 container sour cream, approximately 12 ounces. 

Home Quantity- Probably 6 healthy servings

• About 1 cup margarine 
• 2 packets hot cocoa mix 
• 2-3 eggs 
• A healthy dollop sour cream

I know the math between the two doesn't quite add up, but that's just what I did and it was fantastic both times. Sorry for the lack of pictures- there is probably a food safety rule about cameras in a commercial kitchen. ;) I am already thinking of ways to change this chocolate sauce up at home, using peppermint cocoa mix, white chocolate mix, etc... anything goes! Enjoy! 

Summer and Salt Water

It's 10pm in Ellensburg and still 80 degrees (and about 90 in my poor-ventilated apartment!). The smell of summer is usually delicious here, a mixture of hay fields and warmth. And the occasional cow pasture, but I digress... While I'm not complaining about the nice weather at all, I am longing for fall and all my favorite things that come with it. Pumpkin spice... stews... pumpkins... *snap out of it*!!

I haven't blogged in a while because I've just been enjoying my summer. I've been spending time with my Grandma and Grandpa B, doing a little gardening and lots of cooking. I have also been helping Grandpa E deep clean his house, I'm positive some of those dust bunnies were older than I am!

I was home for a few weeks, so Adam came to visit me! We watched a lot of movies and went to the beach!

At the Jetty in Ocean Shores

The sky was bright blue and the beach was beautiful! The sand was hot enough to burn your toes, a rare phenomenon around here. Adam "tolerated" all my picture taking... (click on photos to view them larger)

Well, he was being a good sport... 

TONS of horses on the beach. They stunk. We really don't like horses. 

And kids flying kites! So fun. 

Before heading home we picked up a bag of saltwater taffy, because you can't go to the beach without getting taffy! I thought a margarita flavored taffy would be yummy (limey, a little salty) but it was just pure salt- YUCK. We even stopped at the casino on the way home because I had never been to one. I played penny slots and doubled my money- put in $1 and won $2!! Whooo... that will probably be the end of my gambling.  

My goal is to keep the posts more regular than they have been. We'll see how that turns out! :) 

Apple Pie Oatmeal

While flipping through Pinterest the other day, I came across this spectacular oatmeal recipe. I love oatmeal and this recipe made me pine for crunchy fall leaves and pumpkin patches. I didn't take any pictures of mine because it looked like regular mushy oatmeal (follow the link above for her pictures and original recipe). I decided to add some brown sugar to mine, and I would probably use a bit less next time because it was like eating an actual apple pie, not breakfast oatmeal. I doubled the recipe so I would have enough to take to my Grandpa and have leftovers. Here's what I did:

Combine 2 cups steel-cut oats, 5 cups apple juice, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 (or more) diced apples, and a splash of cinnamon and vanilla in a slow cooker. Mine cooked long enough for the dog and I to walk around a lake and clean the house (about 3 hours on high). You could cook it for 7 hours or more on low. I did end up adding an extra cup of water towards the end, you'll just have to watch it. It is important to use steel-cut oats in this recipe because they keep their shape and texture. 

This recipe has joined my arsenal of go-to recipes, even Kona approved! I hope you try it! :) 

Good Old Fashoned Fender-Bender

Do you believe in fate? Chain reactions? "Everything happens for a reason"?

I sure do. Whenever something happens I think "If I had spent 2 more minutes in the bathroom this morning, I would have missed this event completely". I couldn't help thinking about that yesterday after my car was backed into in a parking lot! :( Adam was having car problems, so I was on my way to help him. I decided to swing by 7-11 and drop off a Redbox. If I had decided to drop it off later in the day, or if I stopped at Starbucks first, this all could have been avoided. But unless I whip up a time machine, the damage is done.

After the wreck, the jerk that backed into me and ran around the parking lot looking for witnesses to tell the police it was all my fault. Some guy that watched it happen told the police that I was on my phone and wasn't paying attention. This made me absolutely furious because I was NOT on the phone!! Ugh. Since this all happened just yesterday, we don't know what is going to happen yet. All I know is my near-perfect little car is so ugly. :( The only saving grace is that this happened on the passenger's side, so I don't have to look at it every time I get in the car.

My poor, poor car. :( 

Just my luck- he had a ball hitch :-/ 

I do not handle car problems well. Adam's poor brother has seen me flipping out and crying after my car broke down last summer. Lucky for me, I have the best parents ever who always swoop in and solve my problems (extremely spoiled, I know). Mom was on the phone all day with the insurance company- thanks Mom!! Hopefully this all gets resolved soon.

I'm heading to my parent's house for a few weeks (or however long...). I'll get to hang out with my (four year old) puppy and have plans to help my Grandma in her garden! Now, I just have to pack.... 

Live Long and Prosper.

Star Trek, anyone?

Adam picked up his new car last weekend, courtesy of Shalee's sister! It's an Oldsmoblie Aurora which looks uncannily like a spaceship. It is extremely comfy and has all four wheels that run beautifully so there are no complaints about the car, but it has earned Adam the nickname of Captain Kirk. This has been my favorite joke all week- "Hey Captain, let's go to ____." I'm sure he thinks it is just as funny the 15th time. :)

Even the mirrors look like the SS Enterprise!

The above picture isn't his actual car, but it is the same make/model. I have a little surprise for his car next time we (the car and I) are alone. Being computer/Silhouette savvy, I cut a Star Trek (Technically, Starfleet Command) logo out of black vinyl. I can't wait to slap that baby on the bumper!

I'm not going to tell him and see how long it takes before he realizes he's been commanding the SS Enterprise. He has a 24-hour shift today, so I have to be patient for the car to come back. Patience has always been my strong suit. :)