so buying a house means that everyone gets homemade presents for christmas. also, its pretty obvious, if its winter and it doesn't involve a bonfire or food, i'm not doin it. sad, but true. when its cold outside i cook.
lets talk about chex mix. it is delicious.
gather some ingredients. its a really weird simple thing to make.

check the dates on the spices you don't use very often. like this worcestershire sauce, it expired in '06. ew throw that junk away. onion powder that expired in '07? why did you even move it when you moved into this apartment? hoarder.

prepare your assistant.

measure out about nine cups of chex. rice, corn, and wheat chex. put it in a huge bowl that you can safely microwave for a long time.

get some bagel chips, probably about a cups worth. break em up into smallish pieces. be sure to have your assistant sample a small piece for quality control.

gather a cup of peanuts.

prepare a cup of mini pretzels.

dump em all in the bowl!

measure out 6 tablespoons of butter. put it in a dish to melt.

gather some spices and put them in a dish to blend. seasoning salt!

garlic powder!

onion powder!

go ahead and microwave that butter, melt it real good.

dump in the blended spices

whisk em together!

now add some worcestershire sauce. 2 tablespoons i think, you can add a little more but not too much.

add the blend to the dry cereal mix. stir or shake it up so that everything is evenly coated.

see, a little bit of sauce on everything.

microwave it for six minutes. i don't think i've ever microwaved anything that long, ever.

every two minutes, take it out and stir it up. otherwise everything on the bottom of the bowl will burn. or melt into the plastic of the bowl, oh the horror.

give it a good toss over!

lay out some wax paper for cooling/drying of the mix. you can use paper towel too, if you're making regular mix, but since we're making white chocolate covered chex mix we're gonna need wax paper.

two minute mark! stir it again!

reassure your assistant, it is important to let them know that they are really helpful.

okay. so the mix is done micorwaving. spread it out on the paper to cool and dry. i guess ten minutes or so?

now lets get the chocolate all melted. i'm really bad at chocolate stuff, i learned this a year ago when i ruined chocolate over and over. i like to think i've gotten better at it, now that i've had some practice.

start small. its hard to guess the melted volume of a solid, i think. put it in a glass bowl and start to microwave it. every 15 seconds or so take it out and stir it. even though it is still a solid shape, it will continue melting as you stir it. it holds its shape even as it melts, oh chocolate you deciever! that is why it is so easy to burn it...you may think that because it is still a square, it is not melting. next thing you know its chunky and ruined. bummer.

also i learned that you can add a tiny bit of oil if it is not the consistency you want. not too much or it will not set properly, but a tiny drizzle of almond oil can save you if your chocolate has tricked you and it is getting thick.

drizzle that chocolate everywhere. let it cool. bag it to give it away or eat as much as you possibly can. its real good and very addictive.

it is likely that your assistant now needs a nap.

just in case you were wondering

bacon potato corn chowder

days off mean crockpot soup time.
this monday, to combat the unexpected snow, I made a batch of bacon, potato, corn chowder that is already almost gone. DAG!

go to the grocery store.

you will need about six or so medium sized potatos. since the skin is really where the nutrients are, i always get red or yellow potatos so i can leave the skin on.
chop those thangs up into small pieces. but not too small.


while you are chopping, maybe you want to make the bacon at the same time. maybe you like to tackle one thing at a time, but i like to do as many things as i can at the same time until my brain explodes.


you will need to taste test the bacon. if your quality control boyfriend is not home to do it, you will have to do it yourself. BUMMER. maybe you should get the dogs to try it too, make sure it is not poisoned.


after potatos are chopped, make sure you rinse em. get all that starch out. gah-ross.


chop up the bacon. chop up an onion. assemble the spices: some parsley, some pepper, three to four chicken boullion cubes, half a stick of butter.


put it all in the crockpot.


put the lid on. put it on high. cook it until the potatos are soft. this means you have a few hours to do as many other things as humanly possible.


maybe now is the time to go through all the boxes you got out of your moms attic, they are filled with treasures and relics of your adolsecence. things like horrible clothes, toys, notes from middle school friends, bizarre jewelery, rainbow yamacas, earthworm jim action figures, he-man stamps, broken speakers, bouncy balls that have been destroyed by time and summer attic heat, and unicorn wallets.


maybe there are some awesome cassette tapes in there too. ones you loved in highschool so much that you put em in a box and forgot about em forever.


maybe now could be the time to give all the dogs a bath? who knows?! do you even have dogs?


if you do have dogs, be sure to torture them as much as possible when you bathe them, they secretly love it.


guess what? its been three hours! your potatos are soft! dump in a can of evaporated milk and a package of frozen corn, stir it up. put the crockpot on low and go mop the floor three times. you have an hour to do lots of things.


the hour is up. your boyfriend is home and hooooo-weeeee-boy is he hungry. time for dinner!


good job.

a sad week for friend's dogs.

bye, Mr. Wiggum.


bye, Piggy.


sweet old friends. hug your dog extra tonight!

I am not really one to foodblog, but this is hands down my new favorite soup to make.
Let me tell you about it.

To start, you get:

onion, carrots, apples, celery, butternut squash, and potatos

you peel that squash, it sucks but you have to do it.


and those carrots


then you get ready for a bunch of chopping. you might want to crack a beer before you handle the pork, so now's the time. get to work!


omg cut it all up into nice bite size pieces, for serious.


oh ya, even the pork


take some butter in a pan, melt it, then put that pork in there.


BROWN IT! now is also the idea time to add some salt and pepper.


you should take 3 cups of chicken broth and put it in your crockpot on high. also mince a couple cloves of garlic and put it in there. also, maybe some rosemary and a bay leaf. and a dog? your call there.


i said BROWN IT!


then pour it into the crockpot juice, all hot and sizzly


dump all the rest of that stuff you took forever to chop up in there.


then crockpot it for an eternity! take this stuff and put it in your compost. or don't! i don't care what you do.


this doesn't make it look very appetizing, but i swear it is.


it will take you forever to eat the whole crockpot full by yourself, so maybe you should freeze some or give some away. either way, it is delicious and you will love yourself for making it

early thanksgiving with friends and a firepit







delicious. there were three different green bean casserole, deep fried (infrared) turkey and oven baked turkey, and so many other sides. best meal.
in other news, dottie is hilarous. turn the volume up to hear her snoring.

busy weekend. snuggled with dogs as much as possible, but still had tons of stuff to do.

saturday night was a double bonfire night. barrel fire at the bowl, volcano bonfire at pats.

as always, danger abounds