In the dark

This was fun. As father was getting home from work, we quickly turned off every light in the house and hid. The object of the game is to keep everything off without getting seen.
He turns on the kitchen light and kettle. Leaves the room. Off. Off. Hide. He comes back, "What the heck". Leaves the light off but turns kettle back on. Leaves the room. Off. Hide.
Now he's getting a little frustrated. Especially when he goes back to the office and the light is off there too. Then mom got caught (maybe on purpose, not sure). Dumpling fell asleep in her hiding place. Something about it being dark and warm. Teenagers. Anyways, it was great while it lasted.

We did end up eating dinner a little late though. Used a quick fix for a fast meal.

Spanish Rice-
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
2 cups chicken broth or water
1 can tomatoes or tomato sauce
1 pound ground beef
1 onion
1 cup frozen corn, peas or green beans
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder (or not)
Salt & Pepper

In a small pot over high heat, put water or broth on to boil. When bubbling, add a bit of salt and the rice. Turn to medium-low heat and cover pot. In a big frying pan, cook ground beef over medium heat. Peel and chop the onion into small pieces (dice it if you know how) and add it to the meat to fry. When the meat is brown with no pink left and the onions are turning clear, add tomatoes or sauce, chili powder, garlic powder (if using) and frozen vegetables. Check rice. Water/broth should be mostly absorbed by the rice. Add rice to frying pan and simmer together with meat and tomato until no longer watery. Serve.
You can add a bit of salt and pepper to your liking.

This recipe is so easy and will impress your friends when the lot of you are having a hard time scraping together enough for a pizza.

Brain Food

Exam time. This is when my parental unit pulls what her friend would call 'hippie crap' and delves into the special foods. I made myself a peanut butter sandwich. And I also drank this.

Liquid breakfast-
2 cups orange juice
1 banana
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup frozen fruit (mango, peaches, pineapple or strawberries)
(Now for the weird stuff. You can add all or none of these. Health food stores sell them, and some grocery stores. The bonus if you're adventurous enough is that they will drag you out of the slump)
Extras- 1 tbsp greens/veggie/alfalfa powder
          - 1 tbsp hemp hearts
          - 1 tsp flaxseed oil

If you add the extras, you get to call it bog juice. Otherwise, smoothie is a far more socially acceptable title. Suck it up, buttercup. It's exam time.

Sweet Attack

Mmmmhooha ha ha. I am hijacking this blog today. Dumpling won't like this. But my recipes are better then hers.
I need dessert. When you eat these you'll know why they're called this.

OMG bars-
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup butter
1 can condensed milk
1 1/3 chopped pecans (or other nuts)
1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Turn oven on to 350 F. Put butter in a 9x13" cake pan (big rectangle). Stick in oven for a few minutes until melted. Keep watch or you'll end up with brown sludge. Remove pan from oven when butter has just become liquid. Wearing a hot mitt to hold the pan, add crumbs and mix, then flatten evenly in pan to make bottom crust. Pour can of condensed milk over crust. You can puncture the can and pour, but I always use a can opener or peel top so I can use a rubber scraper to get all the yummy goo out. Spread the condensed milk so it covers the whole crust then sprinkle the remaining ingredients over the top, one at a time. Press topping down into goo with the back of a wooden spoon. Then bake for for 25 - 30 minutes (top should be turning lightly golden brown).

Now's the hardest part- waiting for them to cool before you cut them into squares and eat them.

Early winter blahs

I'm trying to digest the fact that there is snow on the ground this morning. It's not working. So I'm getting around for school very slow because it looks COLD and I'm in no hurry to be outside. Need a hot drink and something filling before trekking to the bus.

Hot Milk Smoothie-
1 mug milk
1 spoonful of maple syrup
tiny dribble of vanilla extract

Put milk in small pot on stove over medium heat. Whisk once in a while and check with finger to see if it's getting hot. When starting to steam a little, add syrup and vanilla. Beat like heck until frothy (not cuz you have to but it's better that way). Turn off burner. Pour into mug.

Banana breakfast on the go-
1 banana
1 flatbread (tortilla, wrap, whatever)
Peanut butter (or whatever nut butter you tend to eat)

Spread flatbread with peanut butter. Peel banana and put in the middle of your wrap. Roll flatbread up around banana. This snack also works well if you replace the peanut butter with cream cheese and honey, or sugar and cinnamon.

There's no need to go hungry or eat crap. No food in the house? Why? Where the heck do you live?
Parents not making you a snack today because they're busy or you're, say... thirteen! Don't curl up in a corner to die or beg for pizza pockets. Here, try this to start-

Muffin pizzas-
1 english muffin
Tomato sauce
Grated or thin sliced cheese
Any pizza toppings you want (diced green pepper, sliced mushrooms, lunchmeat, pineapple bits)

Use a toaster oven or a normal oven set on broil to lightly toast the english muffin halves. Then spread with sauce. put on your toppings and top with cheese. Toast again until cheese is melted and getting golden. Make sure to turn off your oven and let the pizzas cool a few minutes before you eat them. Hot cheese is like molten lava when it sticks to the roof of your mouth.