Never Bashful with Butter

(or- “back in the saddle again”)

Doughnut, Donut, its all the same. A piece of fried dough, risen, fresh, cake or old fashioned, it doesn’t matter. Rolled in sugar, cinnamon, powder, soaked in glaze, dipped in frosting. Its all the same.

Or is it?

It seems the cartoon ideal for what a donut should look like, is circular, with a hole cut in the middle, fried golden and schmeered with a good helping of pink icing, and sprinkled with rainbow non-pareils.

Not being one to rock the boat, I’ve adhered to this standard since childhood.

Way back in the day, before my mom ever let me hover over a pot of hot oil to make my donuts, I was content to make them in other ways..

Playdoh, for one. I was a big fan of the clay donut. Ask my older sister, and she’ll even tell you- I used to try and eat them, along with my mom’s lipstick, chapstick, crayons and hand soap. I guess as soon as I leaneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comrned to walk, I also started eating everything I put in my mouth, and as most people know… Kids put everything in their mouths.

Later in life, I learned what was proper to eat and what was not, and I honed my donut making skills through arts and crafts.

My very first papier mache project was a giant Garfield-esque donut, complete with pink plaster icing, and real candy sprinkles. I also learned fairly quickly that when you start making giant food products in middle school art class, kids are gonna start making fun of any sort of weight problem you might have, and I became “fatty Mc-donut girl” to all the bullies at View Ridge Middle School.

I took solace in knowing my true motivation behind making my herculean ode to the almighty pink frosted donut- I had a bit of an obsession with Garfield the cat, and it just seemed like something everyone needed to have. I needed a big papier mache pink frosted donut, so I made one. its not like anyone else made anything useful, I think 5 of the 6 boys in the class made papier mache weapons, all of which ended up looking like giant penises. I was a quiet girl, so I never said anything… but I thought it.

The older I got, the more and more my obsession with the donut grew.

In highschool, I made a donut wand. It was a big clay donut atop a length of dowel. As tassles, I Made miniature donut “beads” and miniature Coffee mug “beads” which I hung from lengths of ribbon. All painted, it was truely a sight to behold. I gave it to my best friend at the time, though looking back, I always wished I had kept it for myself.

Later, in art class, I created abstract and realistic paintings and drawings of the pink frosted donut. I started drawing cartoons, a style in which I still draw.

(One of the few donut drawings I have from way back in the MSpaint days)

As time went on, I knew what had to be done. I was getting older, so it seems the best job for me to apply for would be one doing what else, but…

Making donuts.

I applied for and took a position as your friendly neighbourhood donut girl at a local Winchell’s donuts.

This job didn’t last long, only about two months, as the shop was closing. I guess donuts weren’t so popular anymore, The Atkins diet rolled through town, leaving “Low carb” superstores and Vitamin supplement depots in its wake.

I didn’t lose faith. I knew that someday.. me and my donut would be together again.

A few years later, I had taken a job at a grocery store bakery. I really didn’t start out with a very important “bakery” job. I was the person that cleaned up after all the bakers, did a little baking during the day, and then made everything spotless for the people that worked the morning shift, doing all the cool stuff. As time progressed, I worked my way up (at least when it came to shift start time) and I was asked if I wanted to take the lead donut baker position.

I even made a livejournal Icon displaying my title-

(yep, I’ve been on LJ forever.)

I was probably more excited about that then any normal person would have been. I had possibly the worst schedule ever, working 1am until 10am, it was a thankless, sweaty, and very very isolated job. I had my donut machine over in the very far far corner of the bakery. The only time I ever saw anyone, was when the people who unloaded the trucks came through to deliver our freight. I started to go a little batty, singing to myself, talking to myself..

I loved my job though. Once I got used to it, I asked my boss if I could wear a headphone, so I could listen to music, and she said that would be fine. I had full creative freedom. I was free to decorate the donuts how I pleased, so long as they looked appetizing.

I went crazy. There were pink frosted donuts, chocolate donuts with teal coloured zig zags, daisies on maple bars, flowers on the lemon filled bismarks. Smiley faces on the bavarians. Sprinkles on everything. My boss was so happy, because donut sales were going through the roof. The first thing people saw when they walked in the door and turned towards the bakery, was this brightly coloured barrage of sweetness. We actually had to hire a second person so we could keep up with demand.

Every day, my co-workers throughout the store would call me the donut lady. I’d walk in and my boss would say “time to make the donuts” like in the dunkin donuts commercial. I worked hard, I smiled through the day.. I was happy.

But happiness is often short lived, especially when it comes to big corporations. One day, doing what I do best, “the big guy” head of the bakery department for the entire company, came through our department. Where he had been prepared to thank us for our hard work, and give us a pat on the back for the increase in sales, as soon as he saw the donut case, he turned, told me to take all of the donuts out of the case,  and to make new ones that “Didn’t look so stupid”.

Everyone was shocked. I actually started crying. This was where things went sour for me, in both my professional and personal life. Within a week, I had suffered a total nervous breakdown, lost my boyfriend, been kicked out of my living situation, quit my job and moved in with my parents. I spent about three days, fully awake, unable to stop crying. Once the tears dried up, I was still crying, only I’d run dry. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I watched every movie my parents owned, and seemed to spend all my free time at the doctors office, where they prescribed me every drug imaginable for both my insomnia and depression.

… no, I don’t blame it on the donuts. I’m drawing a parallel.

It just seemed odd how it all ran together like that. It was the week after Thanksgiving, and I felt like everything I had been thankful for was ripped away, and I had to start over.

But life is funny like that. Donuts, are funny like that. I mean, what exactly IS a donut, anyways, but a bit of fried dough with a hole in it. A missing piece. The only thing that really makes it appealing is the sweet sugary coating we put on it.
The pink frosting. The sprinkles.

Without that, its just a boring bit of dough.. With a hole in it.

Life is kinda boring, without all that fun stuff. The ‘perfect’ job. Creative freedom, the boyfriend, the happy home.  I’d stopped admiring the donut for its beauty, taken a bite and found myself lost in the hole, where the sweet stuff drips off and onto the plate below.

Luckily, it didn’t take me too long to get back up onto the donut again. A dear friend stepped in and offered me a place to live, I was able to use my “mental situation” as a bargaining tool to get a better position in the bakery, where I ended up working my way up to lead cake decorator, and after a little while, I started dating again. And yeah,  that was sort of hit and miss at first, but after a while, I met my husband..

Before I left that company, I always thought it was funny, how sales fell abruptly after I stopped making the donuts. After a while, they restored the donut maker’s creative freedom, but it never was the same. I filled in a few times for the new donut maker, but I wasn’t ever able to get back into it the way I was before.

I’d moved on.

Sure, sometimes life gets to where I feel like someone’s taken a big bite of my donut again, and I’ve fallen into a hole.. But I just have to keep trying to get back to the sweet stuff on the other side.

I think more people should take donut photos like this-

Such is life, and donuts.

-A.

(P.S. That last photo is me watching Naked Chef through the donut hole. Mmm.. loves me some Jamie Oliver..)
(P.S.S. Yes, we have two TV’s in our living room. One is strictly for playing video games, though. We’re big nerds.)

I’d like to call this recipe-

“I took back my creative freedom with plain old ordinary cake donuts.”

It really is true, sometimes the simplest things make you feel all better again. These donuts are no different. Simple and easy, but for some reason, just making them put a little pep in my step.

You should give it a try, too.
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Set aside
In a larger bowl, whisk the egg until its solid yellow, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar, making a light buttery yellow emulsion. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the melted butter, then more flour, then half the milk, then more flour, followed by the second half of the milk and vanilla extract, and finished with the last of the flour. You should have a fairly firm dough ball. Turn it out onto a lightly floured board and roll it out to about 1/2 an inch thick, or slightly thicker. Use a donut cutter or a large round biscuit cutter and a small biscuit cutter, to cut out donut rounds.

Heat a quart of oil to about 375 degrees in a large high sided dutch oven or deep fryer. Drop the donuts in the hot oil one at a time, being careful not to crowd the fryer. I try to stick with two or three donuts at a time, so I can keep track of them and they won’t get burnt. Fry the donuts for about a minute on each side. Remove from the hot oil with a slotted spoon and drain on several layers of paper towels, or on a wire cooling grid. Allow to cool before frosting. If you’re going to roll them in sugar or cinnamon sugar, do it while they’re hot.

I made my icing with a mixture of about 1 cup powdered sugar and a tablespoon of milk plus a few drops of strawberry extract. Mix until you’ve got a thick paste, and pipe it on top of the cooled donuts. Smooth out the tops with a small icing spatula dipped in milk or water, and sprinkle with your choice of sprinkles!

Although the it seems that we’re taking a bit of a break from the scorching temperatures of last week, here in the Northwest, Its still warm, and I still don’t feel like heating up my house.

So I return to the waffle iron in search of another perfect breakfast.

At first  glance, these waffles might look a little plain, but let me assure you, they’re not.

They’re chock full of pecans, cinnamon and caramel!

They’re even drenched in a maple pecan caramel glaze.

I don’t rneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comeally have much of a story to go along with these, other than to tell you, they’re completely delicious, a bit addictive, and perfect for the breakfast lover with a sweet tooth ( though they’re just sweet enough, and definately not nearly as sweet as a dessert waffle.) Amazingly enough, they’re light and fluffy, and perfect for a summertime breakfast.

I Figured since I posted a savoury waffle recipe, I should go ahead and post a tasty sweet waffle recipe as well.

Just a warning, these waffles came out so light and fluffy and delicious, and they were so good, I actually ate a whole stack of them.

So without further ado, Here’s the recipe-

Cinnamon Caramel Pecan waffles-

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup caramel sauce (I used pre-made)
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 tablespoons cinnamon

I recommend letting the milk and eggs set out on the counter for about 15-20 minutes before using them. Cold ingredients lead to less fluffy waffles in this recipe.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pecans.
In another bowl, combine the egg yolks, milk, caramel sauce and oil. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients bowl, and stir until just combined (like muffins, small lumps are ok)

In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (electric mixer- hand or stand both work) Fold the egg whites into the waffle batter.

Fill and bake in your waffle iron according to waffle iron instructions. Each iron has a different capacity, but for my dual 5inch square waffle iron, this recipe made about 12 waffles.

Also, I recommend scooping with a ladle, from the bottom up through the top of the batter when you fill your waffle iron, that way you get a nice amount of pecans, which tend to sink to the bottom, and the rest of the batter on the top.

Also, I made a maple cinnamon caramel glaze for the waffles. Here’s the quick recipe for that-

1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup caramel sauce (I used store bought)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter
a handful of whole pecans

Mix all ingredients together, making sure that the cinnamon is dispersed through the mixture, add in the pecans and pour over top the hot waffles.

Eat and enjoy! I recommend serving with a nice big glass of milk. Mmm.. Mmm..

-A.

And, its totally delicious.

Cheddar waffles, bacon and eggs, all in one waffle iron. I like to call it “The MacGyver”.

Quick, simple, easy and best of all- I DIDN’T CHANGE THE TEMPERATURE IN THE KITCHEN AT ALL!

Trust me, its as delicious as it looks. If you’d like to read the story behind this kitchen endeavor, check out my post over at The Breakfast Blogger.

Basically, this entire sandwich is prepared using only a waffle iron. Constructed of Cheddar waffles, a slice of cheese (what can I say, we like it cheesy up in hurr..) an egg, some bacon and deli spread, I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t love this for breakfast.

Since its so simple, really, the only recipe I have to give you is one for Cheddar waffles, althneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comough you could go with another version from Brillynn from Jumbo Empanadas, or just add a cup of shredded cheddar to the waffle recipe you currently use. All that being said-

Heres my recipe-
1 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded cheddar (any cheese will work, depending on your taste)

Whisk together the liquid ingredients. Add the salt and baking powder to the flour, and then stir the flour mixture into the liquid mixture. Lastly, add the cheese a quarter cup at a time, stirring lightly between each addition, so it doesn’t form a big cheesy glob in the center of the batter.

All depending, this should make about 5 bread slice shaped waffles (my iron makes 5 inch square waffles, and it made 5 of them)
You can add whatever you like to the inside of your sandwich. Lettuce, tomato, lunch meat, ham, whatever. Basically, you can do whatever you like with these waffles, just pretend they’re bread!

Enjoy!
-A.

In the same vein as Tang and various other astronaut safe foods, today I bring you the wonder that is freeze dried Ice cream.

Freeze dried ice cream, more commonly known by its “street” name of Astronaut ice cream, can be purchased in many places. My first introduction to it was, of course, at OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. I was  still  nearly a baby, and I was fixated on becoming an astronaut. Astronaut Ice cream just seemed fitting as myneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.com favourite snack at the time.

I can’t tell you when from memory, but  from the beginning of time for me, I wanted to be an astronaut.  Knowing what I do know now, I can tell you that this dream of space exploration began in 1985, when I was four years old.

You see… Barbie was my best friend at a very young age. She was much more popular then than she is currently, and I think at least 4 of ever 5 of my friends owned at least a handful of barbies, if not more, even at four years old.

Sure, most of mine were hand me downs. My sister is three years older than me, so when she got “too old” for barbies, it was like I hit paydirt, and suddenly I was raking in the motherload, or rather, The Barbieload.  I was bathing in miniature plastic people. Heck, I even had the Barbie bus. You know, the cool one that was big enough for a 25 pound two year old baby to fall asleep inside of it.. Yep. That’d be me. I loved that bus, and my mom even has photographic evidence of me safely slumbering inside its rigid plastic interior (I also liked sleeping in closets, so. yeah, I was a weird kid even early on.)

1985 was a good year for Barbie. That year, among other outfits and careers she took on, she was an elementary school teacher, a business executive, and Andy Warhol painted her portrait that year.

Also, after a twenty year hiatus, she took up her old career as an astronaut.

Click here to see the youtube video of the 1985 Astronaut Barbie that encouraged my interest in space, and shoulder pads.

Anyways, so I was hooked. Shortly thereafter, my other heros, the carebears, released a book featuring tenderheart dressed as an astronaut, and it was all over.  I was going to be an astronaut..  I even went so far as to tell my grandma that I was either going to be an Astronaut or an artist when I grew up. She told me “don’t be silly, girls can’t be astronauts, and you’ll never make any money as an artist”  I hated that she thought that way, and I was going to prove her wrong.

OF course… it was not meant to be. At least not the astronaut part.  My dream ended on Tuesday, January 28th, 1986, in my elementary school auditorium.

I went to a tiny elementary school. There were probably only about 200 kids from Kindergarten up to 6th grade, and everyone knew everyone else. Such is life in a small town. Just about everyone’s parents went to school with each other, too.  I was 5 years old, and I was in Kindergarten.  It was assembly day, when everyone would gather in the auditorium for whatever various reasons that the teachers could come up with every week, and we LOVED it.  I mean, really. It was an excuse to get out of regular class and sit with your friends. We barely paid attention regularly, but this assembly seemed special. It was in the morning.

They lined us up, kindergarteners sitting on the ground infront of the televison, first and second graders behind us. third- sixth grade got to sit in chairs, and they were behind all of us, lined up, waiting for whatever they were going to show us on TV.

I can’t tell you what happened that day, I blocked it out. I only know that that was the day that the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing everyone on board, because my mom came to pick me up from school, because I wouldn’t stop crying.

For years later, I kept my dreams and aspirations on the ground. Barbie doll, carebears or not, I wasn’t about to go explode-y on national television. My dreams were up in smoke.
Luckily, I was young and impressionable. I kept up with my dreams of being an artist, proving to my grandma that you can make money as an artist, and developing another dream of mine.. To become a baker.

So thank Barbie, every time you come here and see a delicious looking cupcake, muffin, breakfast treat or baked good. Thank Barbie for it all.

-A.

As an incentive, I offered to bake a batch of vegan cupcakes for the lucky purchaser.

It just so happened that the person who responded to the post I made about it on damnportlanders is the wife of one of my husbands co-workers. They ended up buying the car, and last night I made a batch of vegan cupcakes for my husband to bring to work with him, to give to his co-worker to bring home.

This one.. well..

It “didn’t fit” in the container, so.. I had to keep it. What can I say?

Its Cherry almond flavoured. I loves it. Last night after I made the icing, Aaron licked the beaters because he liked the flavour so much. Best thing, its completely vegan, and oh so tasty.

Today is another super hot day here ineverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comn the Northwest, and tomorrow is looking like it will be even hotter. For the next week or so, I’ll probably post mostly no-bake or low-bake goodies and foods, simply because turning on the oven is nearly painful with all the heat in the house.

Here’s the recipe- (which is very similar to previous vegan cupcake recipes I’ve posted. Go figure)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 Cup plain soymilk
1 1/4 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon. baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon Almond extract
1/4 Cup finely ground almonds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350º. Line muffin tin with paper cupcake liners, Set aside.

Mix together the soymilk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. Stir well and set aside for about five minutes (the mixture will curdle).

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another mixing bowl whisk together the soymilk mixture, oil, vanilla, and almond extract. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and whisk together until all of the large lumps are gone. (the recipe actually said to use a hand mixer, but I felt that it’s much to easy to over beat your batter with a mixer, so I just whisk it.) Fold in the 1/4 of finely ground almonds.

Fill each muffin cup about 2/3rds full. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the pan and place on a wire rack. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

The icing I used was-

1/2 cup non hydrogenated vegan shortening
1/2 cup vegan margarine (earth balance)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons plain soymilk
2 tablespoons almond extract
1 tablespoon cherry extract
one drop of whatever kind of food colouring you’d like. (I used pink, the cherry extract kind of gives it a light pink colour anyways)

With a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the shortening and margarine together until fully incorporated and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar to that and beat until the mixture is crumbly, but the powdered sugar is fully incorporated. While the mixer is still on, add the soymilk slowly, and then the flavouring and then the colouring. Beat for a few minutes.. just until its fluffy.

Make sure the cupcakes are FULLY cooled before frosting. The frosting melts quick, so the colder the cupcake the better. You can refrigerate the frosting, but if you chill it longer than a few hours, you’ll want to “re-fluff” it in the mixer before you use it. Just let the icing warm up on the counter for about 15 minutes and whip it in the mixer for a minute or two.

I have to tell you, this recipe makes DELICIOUS cupcakes and the icing is to die for. It is wonderful. I’m not even vegan and I want to make it all the time!

Use the cake batter immediately. If you don’t, you never know if you’ll end up with something chewy and shaped like a hockey puck.

Sometimes this recipe bakes up and the cupcakes are kind of tough on the top. Just make sure to ice them, and store them in the fridge overnight, and they’ll be just fine. The more practice you get with this recipe, the less likely you are to have tough topped cupcakes though.

Another little tip, this recipe is for cupcakes. It will not rise properly if you try to make a full sized cake with this recipe. Same for most of my recipes. Its just not a good idea.

These cupcakes are seriously tasty. I love them. You should make some today!

-A.

The other night, my husband and I did just that.  They must have been out of boxes, so they gave the biscuits to us in a bucket.

I couldn’t pass up a little LOL Hamster photo shoot, starring my hamster, Dave.

Its true. Dave has a bucket.

No comment from our other hamster, Marcus, who didn’t seem anywhere near as interested in the bucket as Dave did.

-A.

So last night, I couldn’t sleep. I thought of maybe making cupcakes or bread, or something that required the use of the oven, because really, it cools off quite a bit at night, and the heat would have just blended in with the daytime temperature.

I sat down by my cookbook shelf, and looked through all my neglected cookbooks. So many neglected cookbooks. I’ll fully admit, I’m a compulsive cookbook purchaser. I’m mostly attracted to niche cookbooks- cookbooks that have some sort of hook, or theme- Something different than the typical betty crocker bible. Also, I LOVE the kind that have a photo for every recipe. Then there are the kind that I rarely open, but have plenty of. Brand cookbooks.  I don’t usually buy them, but my mom does. Then she passes them on to me, and being the kind of girl who can’t let a cookbook go without a home, I take them in and let them live amongst the rest of my cookbooks.

Some of them are so simple, they’re not even recipes. Putting coolwhip and chocolate pudding togethneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comer in a pre-made graham cracker crust (thank you- keebler) isn’t a recipe. Its assembly.

But some of them are pretty darn cool. Like this Jello recipe book that I’ve been harboring for the past few years.

Its as old as I am, having been printed in 1981, so I feel a sort of kinship with it.

also, I happen to think the price tag on the front is HILARious..

You know, because.. well, we all know what gelatin is made of, right?

Anyways, so this book has some pretty nifty recipes in it. Sure, It was made in the 80’s, so as expected, there are more Jello salad recipes than you could expect to see at a church potluck in Utah, but still, if you think of it as more of an idea book, its very helpful. I mean, everything you could ever hope to learn about jello, can be found within its pages. I never thought about making Jello marshamallows, but really, marshamallows are made with gelatin, so it makes sense! It tells about making moist cakes with it, how to add fruit to it, how to make different textures (whipped, flaked, cubed, cutout, tilted, layered) and a lot more.

My favourite thing about it, is that while most of the “recipes” are more like the assembly directions you’d find in most brand cookbooks, These are way more creative.

Like the “recipe” I used to make Lime Jello Sherbet-

A few ingredients that most people have around their house, no fancy equipment, and best of all, It only takes a few hours to make it, and then overnight in the fridge for it to be finished!  I should know, I made mine between Midnight and 4:30AM this morning.

Needless to say, I’m pretty impressed with this simple recipe. I’m pretty impressed with my Jello cookbooks too. I’ve got two different ones, “The joys of Jello”, and “Easy homemade desserts with Jello pudding”, Which, obviously, focuses on Jello pudding, rather than Jello Gelatin. (It also is three years older, and has more real recipes, AND it holds the coveted Jello Pudding pop recipe from my childhood)

I’m thinking I’ll be doing more Jello recipes this summer. There is very little heat involved with most of them, and the bright colours really make it feel like summer.

Since this recipe book is no longer in print and I haven’t been able to find reference to this recipe online already, I’m just gonna post it here. Its quick, easy, and most people have all the ingredients in their refrigerator already!

here goes-

Lime Jello sherbet- (from the Joys of Jello 1981 edition)

Recipe makes about ten servings (5.5cups)

1 package (3oz) Jello brand Gelatin (any flavour)
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 container (4 oz) Cool whip non dairy whipped topping, thawed

Directions-

Dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water. Stir in the sugar, continuing to stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Stir in the milk (the mixture will appear curdled, but will be smooth once frozen)

Pour into a 13×9inch pan. Freeze for about 1 hour, or until ice crystals form about 1inch into the outer edge. Spoon into a chilled mixing bowl, and beat until smooth. Blend in the container of cool whip. Return the mixture to the 13×9inch pan, and freeze again for about 4 hours or overnight. Spoon into individual dishes and serve!

-A.

When I heard that twelve 7-11’s across the United States were turning into KWIK-E-MART’s as a promotional deal for the upcoming simpsons movie, I searched through the internets to see where these kwik-e-mart’s were.

Unfortunately, none of them are near me. The closest one is in Seattle, and although in my past I may have driven in all matter of random directions for random things (Silverdale for a toaster, Coos Bay for cheesecake, central oregon for Afri-kola, you get the drift) I just didn’t feel like driving to seattle to take photos of a kwik-e-mart was at the top of the list.

Anyways, I found out that most of the regular 7-11’s are carrying the Simpsons merchandise, so.. off to 7-11 I went.

Apparently there is quite the demand for most of the products, so they were out of most of the merch, but I did manage to snag a box of Krusty-o’s.

If you’ve watched more than a single episode of the simpsons, chances are, you know what Krusty-o’s are. Here is what I bought-

Part of a balanced simpsons breakfasneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comt (no, I didn’t accompany my bowl of krusty-o’s with a stick of butter wrapped in a waffle, wrapped in bacon, ala Homer)

Yep, they’re basically just fruit loops. Nothing special.

Box front-

I guess I should have known better-

Movie poster, as seen on the side of the 7-11.

I guess I kind of thought they would make the krusty o’s special, or something. Maybe include a toy or something. But no, I paid 4$US for a box of slightly stale fruit loops.

But hey, It was the experience I was paying for, right?
We’re keeping an eye out for when the rest of the simpsons food merchandise gets to us, but in the mean time, if you’re interested, check out this blog FULL of photos from someone who visited one of the 7-11’s that turned into a Kwik-E-Mart.

-A.

One thing I’ve never gotten used to, living in the Pacific Northwest.. For every 10 months or so of rain, sleet, freezing rain, cloudy days, and lack of heat, we have just about 2 months of sweaty, sticky, hot hot hot, weather.

I don’t know what the deal is, but I just can’t seem to function on these days. Never have. During my childhood I was thankful that it was hot during the summer when school was out, because I knew I’d be miserable in our school building, which lacked air conditioning, fans, or any other sort of cool down devices. We had these little half windows that on the hotter days that actually happened during the school year, they’d prop open with a stack of books, and students would be so distracted creating paper fans and being hot, that it was nearly impossible to focus on whatever our teacher was trying to tell us.

During recess, most students would go run outside, try to burn off their fidgets, or cool themselves under the shade of the overhang in the back of the school yard.  Not me though. I went to the libraryneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.com.

Sure, I loved books. I loved school in general. I was a teachers aide, an office aide, I gave up my lunch hour recess to file papers and answer phones in the principals office. But my reason for visiting the library wasn’t exactly in the search for higher learning.

They kept all the fans in the library.

Me, and a handful of other kids who’d learned this secret, would gather around one of the short tables, and the librarian, who apparently felt sorry for us, would set one of the fans next to our table, so it would blow the already cool air of the windowless library on us.

We had a pretty cool librarian, she told us we could eat our lunches in the library, so long as there were no books on our table, and anything we drank had to have a resealable opening.

My mom would make my lunch every day. We didn’t have a lot of money, so I basically had the same thing for lunch every day. I didn’t mind, it was full of my favourite stuff-

Capri sun, peanutbutter sandwich (or fluffernutter, or peanutbutter rollups. Some variation of peanutbutter and bread) 1 or 2 boiled eggs, carrot slices and a little tupperware container with ranch dressing, and a fruit cup.

You know the kind, Del Monte brand fruit cups, in the metal containers with the lid that made the “PhhhloaOCk” sound when you popped it open?

They were cheap, I remember my mom buying them 5 for a dollar. Normally they weren’t so cheap, but she bought them from the canned food warehouse, which is a place that sells stuff for less because its been mislabeled, or something else. Its where all the halloween themed cereal goes AFTER halloween.

So, I had one in my lunch every day. I remember my favourite part of the fruit cup was the cherry slice, even though sometimes, it didn’t have one. Otherwise it was made up of  peaches, melon, pineapple, orange bits, pear and whatever else, I loved this bright ending to my lunch.

So here is my version of the fruit cup. More cherries, melon, some peach slices, lychee, and a little agave nectar.

Anyways, so the librarian wouldn’t let me drink my capri sun in the library, but she made an exception for my fruit cup. I think maybe after a few lunches she realized that my family didn’t have the money to put everything in resealable containers, or something. I dunno.

Either way, I’ve always been fond of fruit salads during the summer, when the only way to escape the heat is by sitting infront of a fan, sipping on a cold beverage… and enjoying a bowl full of cool juicy fruit.

Pretty tasty for a hot summer day like today, when its impossible to cook inside your house. I think we’ll be barbecuing for the next feel weeks, if this keeps up.

Hope everyone else is doing well, and enjoying their summer!

I know we’ve all experienced fruit salads. Some weighed down with cool whip, whipped cream, or even submerged in gelatin.

My summer fruits salad is quick, easy, and the fruits are interchangeable. So long as they’re in season, its a nice pick me up for a balmy day when the sun has taken just about everything out of you.

There are only two things I think every fruit salad needs. Sweet Cherries, and agave nectar.

Have you ever had a fruit salad where all the fruits were a similar colour, even if they weren’t naturally that colour? Thats because the juices were all absorbed into the various fruits. Agave nectar actually keeps that from happening in the short term, making the salad look more fresh, crisp, and the fruits their natural colours.

I recommend using about a tablespoon of agave nectar for every half cup of split red berries (this doesn’t work so well with raspberries, those should be added JUST before serving). Put the berries and the agave nectar in a ziploc bag, and toss until the berries are fully coated.

Other fruits you can use for this fruit salad-

Apple chunks or slices
Melon balls, or chunks
Peaches
Pears
Apricots
Citrus Supremes
lychee segments
cherries
strawberries
blackberries
raspberries
blueberries
boysenberries
marionberries
huckleberries
olalie berries
(you get the drift, any kind of berry will work)

Just make sure you cut the pieces into bite sized sections, toss together, and let their natural juices be the connective tissue, rather than using dairy products or gelatin.

Be sure to serve cold, and enjoy!

-A.

So, on friday, I posted the Lychee experiment. This weekend I started actually experimenting with lychee recipes.

Saturday early morning, I started work on these cupcakes.

The cupcakes themselves are made with a combination of coconut milk, coconut oil and lychee puree/juice in lieu of the dairy products in the recipe, so I figured I’d just make it all vegan and I used a commercial egg replacer.

I decided to continue the trend, and make the icing with earth balance margarine, apple sauce, lychee puree and powdered sugar. Again, vegan.

Just under the icing is a thin layer of smushed raspberries.

Topped it off with a thin slice of apple and some sugar sprinkles…

And I ended up with the most moist, tender and delicious cupcake I’ve ever made.

The only thing I would change, is maybe applying the icing as a glaze, as opposed to a glob. You can tell that the apple sauce and the margarine really didn’t bind together too well, and it looks lumpy. It doesnt FEEL lumpy though, and the texture is smooth and silky. It was just a bit too much for the delicate cake underneath.

I was amazed at how well this experiment came out. I was expecting something weird, but really, the lychee flavour is light, and not overpowering, neither is the coconut.

The icing, you can really taste the lychee, but then again, its not overpowering, its just more noticeable than it is in the actual cake.

All in all, its a pretty good cupcake. I liked it, and so did my new neighbours, who I shared them with yesterday.

Anyways, so I’ve been experimenting with lychee, and here is one of the recipes I’ve come up with using lychee puree. I offset the sweetness of the lychee with the richness of coconut milk, and basically converted a regular cake recipe to a vegan cupcake recipe, by using coconut oil instead of butter, and the aforementioned lychee puree/coconut milk mixture instead of regular milk. I had some Ener- G- egg replacer, so I used that instead of regular eggs.

I topped it off with some smashed raspberries and coated it with an apple/lychee coconut oil icing.

This recipe only makes about 12 cupcakes, depending on your cupcake tin size.

So on with the recipe!

You’ll need-
3\4 cup self-rising flour
Heaping 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1 cup sugar
Equivalent 2 eggs worth, egg replacer
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 lychee puree
2 tablespoons lychee juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a separate bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
In another bowl, mix together the coconut milk, lychee puree, lychee juice and vanilla.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, pour in the melted coconut oil. Add the sugar slowly and beat until fluffy. Add the egg replacer. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the coconut milk mixture. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

When the cupcakes are completely cool, you can frost them however you like.

This was the recipe I used for the icing-

2 tablespoons applesauce
2 tablespoons coconut oil or earth balance margarine
2 cups powdered sugar
Lychee juice as needed

Beat together the applesauce and coconut oil. Add the powdered sugar and beat until crumbly, add the lychee juice while the mixer is on, and stop when the mixture starts coming together and smoothing out.

The frosting looks lumpy, but doesn’t feel lumpy. Also, keep it refrigerated, or it will separate, because the juice will start to separate from the fats in the icing, This only happens in the icing bag, mind you, and doesn’t affect the cupcake once iced. (it may have also only been because of the extreme heat here)

So there you go!

Before I iced the cupcakes, I smashed some raspberries in a bowl and spooned a little onto the top of the cupcake. The flavour really added a punch the the cake, that everyone loved.

Top with an apple slice, or some coconut.

Enjoy!