Macaroni and Cheese

Cupcakes? Yes. Macaroni and Cheese Cupcakes

I can't believe I didn't post these! I made them a while ago, but I guess I never got around to it. So here it is, homemade macaroni and cheese, in cute little cupcake form. It was a really good baked macaroni and cheese recipe, my only complaint is that I should have used foil cupcake tins, the macaroni really stuck to the paper. 

I would also like to report that as of this morning I finished summer school. I am so glad to finally have a break and relax for a while. 

 Here is the recipe in case you're interested :)
http://www.framedcooks.com/2010/08/macaroni-and-cheese-cupcakes.html

4th of July nails

I love getting festive for the holidays. My nails are the flags and the other hand is a friends hand. I did her nails so I thought it would be fair to post them too :) its safe to say I had a great time celebrating yesterday and floating down the American river.

Sandwiches :)

Procrastiblogging 

I am happy to report that my iPhone has accepted procrastibaking as a word and autocorrects procrastinating to procrastibaking. I have one more week of summer school and it will be terrible. 4 exams (I took one this morning too) and two papers (7-10 pages and 4-5 pages) with 4th of July in the middle of my prime working time. I have all of one paragraph done. I am procrastinating this paper by staring out of my window at...nothing (as long as I'm not looking at my computer screen, who cares?) 

Anyways, SANDWICHES, if you know me, you must know I love sandwiches, I love making sandwiches. So I thought I'd share my sandwiches and give some techniques. 

1. ALWAYS separate the meat. Never just slop in on there in one chunk, its looks gross and won't taste as good. 

2. Put spread (whatever you like) on both sides, it incorporates more flavors into the sandwiches. 

3. If you're toasting the sandwich (like Subway) take note, don't toast lettuce, tomatoes, or other veggies that  will get soggy.

4. Put spacey things-things that create space- in the middle (lettuce, onions, bell peppers, pickles, etc)

5. Sandwiches are art, they are not to be rushed.

Apple turnovers

They just turned out perfectly. I used the filling from my apple pie and the leftover puff pastry dough from the buregs and I got these delicious turnovers.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Yes, that's what I said. Muffins. Those delicious cinnamony sugary cookies into a muffin form. This is the second time I made them, and I love them. I made them before going to class one day and I definitely spelled like cinnamon for a while, so worth it. 

 

Nails of the Moment

NOTM: This was definitely a procrastipainting night.

In my opinion, these were more work then they were worth. I don't have the patience to let the layers dry in between, so they got a little messed up and i'm itching to fix them.

Caramel Swirl Cheesecake

Caramel Swirl Cheesecake

I am a serious cheesecake lover. Of all desserts in the world, cheesecake is my favorite. When my roommates mom taught me how to make cheesecake last year I was the happiest person ever. Since then I've made many cheesecakes, some turning out terribly others quite delicious. Last night I made my first caramel swirl cheesecake. I'm not a fan of the caramel we used, but the cheesecake is still delicious. 

 I meant to take more pictures of the process, but I got distracted. We have the graham cracker crumbs before they turn into crust and the cream cheese I started with. 

 Pre-baking....

 My beautiful precious creation Cheesecake 

Armenian Beureg

Beureg, Bureg, Burek, its all the same. Transliterating from Armenian to English is just a matter of opinion but the food is delicious no matter how you spell it. This week I made Bureg, its shaped like a triangle and filled normally with cheese, or cheese and spinach. I made both kinds. Half with just cheese then I added spinach to the other half, I love spinach and melted cheese so naturally these are probably my favorite things to eat ever. I used my aunts recipe, but like an idiot I bought puff pastry dough instead of the phyllo dough. Needless to say I couldn't let a cheese mixture go to waste, so I improvised. Next time I'll be following the recipe a little closer ;) 

Just one tray of many :) 

White Chicken Enchiladas

White Chicken Enchiladas

My roommate and I have already made these twice. I love them. I could eat them every day. 

Here is a recipe, I can't find the one I used before which makes me really sad, but this looks to be about the same recipie http://damndelicious.tumblr.com/post/16811811825/white-chicken-enchiladas-with-green-chile-sour-cream. We added avocado and extra cheese, but other than that, it's just the same :)  

 This makes me want to make them again! 

Manti

Procrastiblogging?

I got lost between finals, summer school, and summer and somehow lost my blogging. Fortunately the baking and cooking hasn't stopped. I'll try and update all the things from before. For now I'll start with last nights adventure. Trying to learn Armenian cooking.

I made a dish called manti, let's call it an Armenian wonton of sorts. I used my aunts recipe and it turned out really well for the first time. Usually you eat it in soup with yogurt but I settled for just yogurt seeing as its over 100 degrees.

Caviar Nails

Fish Egg Nails

I used the "fish egg technique", I stole the different color idea from my roommate, she did the same thing with a different color and I loved it. Basically, you can paint your nails any color then  while your nail is still wet, dip it into the bottle or pour the beads on top and let it dry. Mine have stayed on pretty well for about 4 days now. If you don't pick at them you should be fine. I bought the microbeads from Michaels. 

 This was the bottle from Michaels, it came in a six pack with other colors as well. 

Cheesecake Filled Strawberries

Cheesecake Filled Strawberries & Raspberries

I absolutely love these! I saw them and I had to make them. They are incredibly easy to make but are melt in your mouth, I need to eat the entire plate of them delicious. I also filled a few raspberries with cheesecake. I had a raspberries in the fridge and thought, "oh why not?" they turned out just fine too; better fruit to cheesecake ratio in my opinion. But considering I was eating the filling with a spoon...no surprise I feel that the strawberry takes away from the cheesecake....

I also baked rice krispies treats. I made these with my roommate in about 10 minutes, they are super easy and I've never had anyone turn these down! One friend calls them "crack krispies" not surprisingly he will also eat an entire batch to himself...in one sitting. 

In the end, I had a table full of desserts from my stressed day 

(desserts is stressed spelled backwards, so baking desserts undoes stress) ha! 

Lemon Dinner

Lemon Salmon & Lemon Steamed Veggies

I am a lemon lover, anything lemon I will try it, and most likely love it. One day I steamed by veggies (always zucchini, broccoli, and carrots) with lemon juice and I fell in love. I eat them like this all of the time. Anyways, I baked my salmon in a lemon bath and had an extremely lemony dinner :)

Asian stir fry shrimp lettuce wraps

My first recipe/creation..

I should work on the name, but it's incredibly descriptive. I made shrimp stir fry, with an Asian stir fry sauce, then wrapped it in lettuce...or attempted to wrap. It turned out perfect. A little messy, but I'll sacrifice cleanliness for taste any day. Let's be honest here, who wouldn't? I don't have a recipe but I have pictures!

 I mixed these two sauces for my stir fry. I love all of the House of Tsang stir fry sauces.

 I threw in some shrimp, chopped onions, bell pepper, broccoli, and carrots. 

 Put in onto lettuce

wrapped and enjoyed! 

(in two separate meals, surprisingly enough I was full after two of these)