magical

It has been one of those weeks.  Lots to do, not a lot of (free) time.  And as a result, my creative juices were not flowing in the least.  As made obvious by this recipe I am about to share.

What it lacks in creativity though, it completely makes up for in pure magic.  Like, mind-blowing magic.

When I was young and naive, I loved watching the cheesy Magic Show Specials that came on.  You know what I'm talking about - the David Copperfield specials.  With him getting hand-cuffed and straight-jacketed and locked in a car and the car getting put through the big car-grinder thing.  Just when the car would nose into the grinder, it would cut to a commercial.  Riveting.  Then it would come back on and he would magically escape at the last minute.  I ate this stuff up with a spoon.  Another one of my personal favs:  the love-story-slash-magic-trick where he would quasi-dance with his assistant to bad 80's music and then strap her onto a table and cut her in half with a huge rotating blade.  Awesome.

I was/am easily amused.  Sometimes all it takes it a little bit of 80's music and magic.  Other times, I am good with Almond Butter.  Which is what I made this week.  And it only takes one ingredient and about 16 minutes.  Really.  This isn't a joke.

For this next fact, you should probably sit down: Almond Butter at the store can cost anywhere from $10.00 to $50.00 (for real, I looked it up).  For 12 ounces.  This recipe costs less than 5 bucks.  You are welcome.

Here is the disclaimer - because, let's face it, something this easy and cost efficient has to have some kind of con, right?  Patience.  You're gonna need it.  16 minutes sounds tame enough, but after about 10 minutes I started to get kind of paranoid.  What if my almonds were bad?  What if I was doing this wrong?  Should I add some oil?  The answer: The almonds were fine, I was doing it right, and no extra oil is needed.  I promise!  Out of nowhere the ball of weird almond dough/paste completely transformed into a creamy butter - almost instantly.  It took it about 12 minutes to get there, and then I added about four more minutes for a nicer consistency.  You just have to ride it out...it is worth it.  Plus it is such a cool trick - "Watch me make smooth creamy spread out of nothing but dry almonds!"

I enjoyed this for breakfast on toast with a drizzle of honey - yum.  It would be awesome on some apple slices too.

This was just what my less-than-great week needed.  Something magical.  And lucky for you, I am a magician not afraid to give away my secrets.

Almond Butter

1 cup almonds

1.  Put almonds in food processor and pulse until almonds are finely chopped.  They will look like this:

                         

2.  Continue to pulse...this will take a lot more patience than you think...after a couple of minutes it will look like this:

3.  Keep going!  It will start to look like this:

4.  The almonds will form into a ball that looks suspiciously like Play-Doh...don't let this fool you.  Keep going, you are almost there.

5.  Finally it starts to look like an actual spread...keep going a few more minutes.

6.  TA-DAAA!  Pretty good magic trick, huh?

falling into football

I would be lying if I said I didn't totally geek out for Fall.  I usually geek out for the start of every season - it's always so great in the beginning - but something about Fall just makes me a little extra giddy.  For instance, it is the most perfect hair weather that I could ask for.  No fighting frizz, just enjoying the low humidity.  And as much as I love summer, I start sweating at just the thought of being hot.  It's nice to wear jeans and still be a little cool.  Preferable, in fact.  But one of my favorite things about Fall is the start of football.

I am a huge football fan.  Like, dorky huge.  I convinced my mom to drop an extra chunk of change so that we could have the NFL network.  That may seem like a waste to some people - who is going to have time to watch every single football game on Sunday?  The answer: Me.  Yes, last Sunday I sat in front of the TV flipping between 6 games at a time.  It was wonderful.  I also convinced my dad to buy me extra-dorky fake yellow and red flags like the referees and coaches throw during the game.

The yellow flags are wielded by referees and signal a foul on the play.  The red flags are wielded by coaches and are used to challenge a call made my the referees.  Basically the flags facilitate an argument between the refs and coaches - and let's face it, isn't that half the fun?  So not only did I sit in front of the TV watching 6 games simultaneously, I also threw a flag (color-coded to whatever call was being made) at the TV whenever a flag was thrown in the game.  If I was even a second late on the throw, my dad would shake his head and laugh.  "You aren't quite in midseason form yet, Al," he would joke.

My red and yellow flags - in all their glory!

I admit, I can get pretty riled up when it comes to football.  Like yelling-at-the-TV, getting-looks-from-my-mom-for-inappropriate-language riled up.  So it's a good thing that with football season comes football snacks.  A girl's got to keep her stamina up for all that game time yelling...er, game time watching.  Last Sunday, it was cheesy mushroom and sausage dip, hot wings, chips - basically anything unhealthy.  So, I thought my contribution for the football "tailgating" would be one of my favorites, and healthy to boot: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.

Weirdly enough, for being such an OCD chef-of-sorts, I never measure anything when I make this hummus!  I just throw in the basics and taste it until I got it how I want it (totally win-win).  So have fun with this recipe: it is fool proof!  A little hint: you will need more salt and spices than you think.  Chickpeas are a lot like potatoes - they are a great base but need some seasoning up!

 This hummus is great with pita chips, baby carrots, and even spread on sandwiches instead of mayo!  Simple, tasty, and quick (and somewhat healthy) - what could be better to whip up on Football Sundays?

The base: chickpeas

Not the most visually appealing, but darn tasty!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 can of chickpeas, drained
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons Tahini Paste
1/2 of a lemon, juiced
4-6 slices of roasted red pepper
1 teaspoon of chopped garlic
1-2 teaspoons of oregano
1 teaspoon of cumin
Salt and Pepper, to taste

1.  Blend chickpeas, olive oil, Tahini Paste, and spices in food processor until smooth.

2.  Add lemon juice and roasted red peppers, blend until smooth.

perfectly imperfect

I hate the dentist.  I wrinkle my nose at the smell.  I avoid the mirrors because of the horrendous lighting.  I hate the dentist more than I hate a full body sunburn that inhibits sleep - and you don't mess with my eight hour sleep minimum.  But at least I get a tan out of the sunburn deal.  Long story short: I avoid the place like the plague.  I have conveniently "forgot" about appointments so many times that my mother now schedules them for me and drives me there against my will.

Since last week I have been looking with complete disdain upon our family calendar with "Alex, Dentist" in black ink on September 8th.  Since three days ago, thanks to my kind brother, I have been nursing a head cold.  And last night, I decided to take a stand against the cruel and unusual punishment of a combination dental-exam-with-a-head-cold.

I rallied the troops of Grandma and Dad with my sniffles and "sad eyes" and convinced them of the pure horror of laying in a dental chair with a stopped-up nose while trying to hold a conversation with the Doctor while his hand was holding my tongue.  One word: unsavory.  My mom looked on with a smile as I was giving a (convincing) speech over dinner.

"Fine, we will cancel your appointment and you don't have to go ever again," she said to me.  She knows that this is NOT an empty threat - the only thing worse than going to the dentist would be for all of my teeth to rot and fall out.  Which, being the rational person I am, is what I imagine would happen to people who stop going to their dental exams.

So I went.  Not kicking and screaming, but somewhat resigned to the gritty mint tooth paste and lectures about flossing.  I sat in the waiting room with my mom, watching the TV slide show of dental procedures, leafing through the National Geographics from 1998, and doing a combination of a cough and sigh that I thought sounded pathetic (which is what I was going for).

Ten minutes later, I was belly up on a dental chair, squinting at the overhead lights.  To my horror, my foot started keeping the beat of the Smooth Listening station that was being piped into the office.  Ironically, "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain, a mushy song about love that has been a Prom theme song for about every school in America, was followed by "Love Is A Battlefield"by Pat Benatar, which was my personal theme song for the whole of my junior year (boys suck).

After being scraped, shined, and rinsed, I was on my way towards freedom.  Or so I thought.  I forgot that it wouldn't be a trip to the dentist without the lectures about flossing (which I had escaped due to my diligent flossing habits) and braces.

I don't have perfect teeth.  Shocker.  And ever since I have been eleven years old, my dentist has been itching to get me wired up.  I can't blame him - I am somewhat of a perfectionist myself.  But since the first talk of braces, I have started to learn that it isn't always about perfection.  Sometimes its about accepting what you got - and owning it!  So I smiled and pretended to listen to his talk of the new versions they have and the pricing options available.  I didn't feel the least bit self conscious about my one crooked tooth as I smiled at the receptionist and grabbed a sugar-free sucker.  After all, sometimes its kind of nice to be perfectly imperfect.  Plus, I had a whole nine more months until my next dental exam.

My reward for surviving - a free molar-shaped and sugar-free sucker. 

gooey goodness

I have to be honest, I have celebrated countless holidays and enjoyed school being closed, but about 98% of the time, I have no idea why we are celebrating.  Labor Day being no different than the rest, I was feeling a little guilty so I broke down and looked up the origin.  It was short and sweet: Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 and was created to pay tribute to the many achievements and contributions of the American Worker.  That's pretty much it in a nutshell.  For me, Labor Day has so many more meanings and memories and has cemented itself as the last summer weekend of sorts.  

Every Labor Day weekend (as with most holiday weekends) my grandma goes to work and makes us a meal that could "feed Cox's army" as she always says.  I don't know who Cox is, but I am not sure his army could handle the abundance of grilled meat, salads, potatoes, vegetables, breads, and most of all deserts.  My grandma cooks for about 5-8 people by making servings for about 20.  I am not complaining one bit - I alone usually eat enough for about three people!  And no matter how full we are - I usually end up groaning on the floor in a fetal position - everyone always has room for desert.  

My grandma has been pumping me up for a whole week about this year's desert selection: Gooey Butter Cake.  Weirdly, I was not really that excited about it (Give me chocolate any day!).  But when I saw this cake...and then tasted this cake...I was one happy camper.  The Gooey Butter cake is 100% Midwestern America.  You can't get this stuff anywhere but here, and I know plenty of people who would go to some extreme lengths to get it.  I'm not sure why I never "got it" before today, but for some reason a light went on in my head - maybe it was the sugar-induced coma that I was slipping into?  No matter what the reason, it was one decadent experience.  And to add to the fun, the recipe came out of an old school Catholic Church Cookbook - straight from the Hill in Saint Louis.  My dad and I read through the book trying to pronounce the awesome/hilarious Italian names while we gobbled up the cake - just to give you an idea: Alline Finocchiaro had great recipes for Tiramisu, Sicilian Steak, and Zesty Potato Salad.  

Overall, this cake is the perfect end-of-summer combo of chewy crust with a gooey, sweet center.  Plus, I am a sucker for anything with a sprinkle of powdered sugar.  Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you have yourself pure summer Americana.  Yum!

Gooey Butter Cake

Adapted from "A Taste of the Hill Cookbook"

1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick of butter, melted
3/4 - 1 box of powdered sugar (reserve approximately 1/4 cup to sprinkle over top of cake)
3 eggs
1 package of cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Mix cake mix, 1 egg, melted butter.  Pat into bottom of un-greased 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish.

2. Mix powdered sugar, 2 eggs, cream cheese, and vanilla.  Stir until well mixed and then pour over the top of cake mixture, making sure that the cream cheese mixture covers the edges.

3. Bake at 350 degrees, for approximately 45 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining powdered sugar and cool.