2013

This is one of my favorite photos that I took in 2012 and going into 2013 I am trying to go with a positive outlook. I want to move forward, I'm not always sure where I'm going, but I know I want to grow and push myself forward.
One of the things I really want to do is try some blogging marathons. Eventually I want to do 30 days of bacon, but before I run I need to walk. That being said I would like to try some 7 days of cooking and blogging about certain topics. Eventually i would like to do seven 7 day challenges. I'm open to suggestions from my readers, I opened suggestions up for my Facebook friends too.
Some possibilities I've been tossing around are 7 days of:
Old bay
Spam inspired by what I saw at the grocery store today (see photo)
Bread
Repurposed ramen
Breakfast smoothies

That's all for now, but I'm soo open to suggestions

Dad's pizza palace

So technically this isn't a post on my own cooking so much as dad's. For Christmas I bought him a new pizza stone, he loves making cool pizzas and has turned it into an art form. The key to the pizza stone is making sure it has flour on it instead of oil and that you preheat it.
He makes everything from regular pizzas, to BBQ chicken pizza, one time he even made general tso pizza with his leftover Chinese food. Today when I made my first trip to the new trader joes I even picked him up one of their garlic and herb pizza doughs.

Rachel's cookies

While Rachel was in the hospital I made her a little care package and dropped it off with the nurses as she wasn't up for visitors. One of the things I put in her basket was a ton of oatmeal cookies I made from scratch. Oatmeal cookies were her favorite kind and I had promised to bake her some at Christmas time. They were nice and soft too. I filled up the cookie jar on Saturday morning when I made the cookies, then left Sunday morning to go to Atlantic city, by the time I came back on Wednesday afternoon they were all long gone. Here is my recipe as well as some photos.
FYI this recipe yields about 48 cookies

Ingredients
2 cups butter (softened)
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
6 cups quick cook oats

Preheat oven to 375 while you're mixing the ingredients. Cream together eggs, butter, both sugars, and vanilla extract in one bowl. In a second bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Combine the contents of both bowls and then mix in the oats.
Depending on the size of your cookies and the type of pans, you will want to bake them for 7-10 minutes. I used basic cookie sheets and found the perfect cooking time was 9 minutes.
They made delicious, soft cookies, that aren't too sweet. You can also add raisins, nuts, or chocolate chips to mix it up a bit. If you're adding any extras like that make sure you fold those into the mix as your last step, either with, or right after the oats.

Bad company

I have a little trouble maker helping me blog tonight. Nuzz is nuzzling against my hand while I'm trying to type because he wants attention. A least he's purring like a lawn mower and acting all adorable. Then I found this photo online that reminded me of Nuzz, it even looks like him. For a side by side the cat in the sink is not mine, the evil kitty bogarting the remote is mine. Enjoy

Crafty comedy

So I always love some craft related humor. Enjoy these slightly rude, but very awesome cross stitches. I know my readers have all seen my "lord beer me strength" cross stitch here are a few more I came across.

Back to reality

Time to get back to blogging. I was looking and realized I have a ton of photos which means I'm wayyy behind on posts. I have a whole Christmas dinner to blog about and a trip to Atlantic city. I'll start off easy...

Happy new year

I haven't been up for blogging lately, not like me I know. Sometimes it's like you can't shut me up. Last week I had my boss's wake and service, it was beautiful, but it was one of the hardest times in my life. Rachel was an amazing young woman, a boss, a mentor, and a friend.
At only 36 she had a beautiful family, a loving husband and adorable daughter. She also had done so much in business, gotten her masters and won many business awards, including being named one of the capital region's 40 under 40. She achieved so much in her young life and they're going to be some hard shoes to fill. I said that to her husband Paul at the wake on Thursday night. He looked at me and told me about the day she told him she had decided to hire me and how excited and sure she was. He reminded me how much faith she had in me.
I've been reading everyone's Facebook status' about 2012 good or bad and how they're ready for 2013. I didn't post one this year, you know the expression to hell and back? That's what 2012 was though I'm not sure I've hit the back yet.
Rachel was the strongest woman I've ever met. She faced every challenge head on with faith and unwavering optimism. The best compliment she ever gave me was that I reminded her so much of a young her. I feel so unsteady going into 2013, it's an unknown, I feel like I have no idea where I'm headed, but I know one thing. If the strongest woman I have ever met thought I was anything like her.... Then I will make it through.

And though she be but little, she is fierce. -Shakespeare