Basket Cake

This is what I did tonight. I decorated this pretty cake. In case you can't tell from the picture, it is a basket of flowers. I made the flowers over the last 2 weeks. Inside are 4 layers of chocolate cake sandwiched together with cherry filling. It is going to be delicious when I get tired of looking at it.

Pizza Time!

Looking for a tasty substitute for traditional pizza sauce? Try this incredible cheesy version and you may never go back!

First things first, toss out your favorite pizza crust recipe into a disk to form your crust.


Thanks, Steve, what a fantastic demonstrator you are. And that apron makes you look as good as this pizza is going to taste.

Next you'll want to fill your food processor with some fresh spinach and pulse until its finely chopped. Throw in about 3/4 cup of cottage cheese, along with some minced garlic, basil, and oregano. You know how much you like these, add to your own preference.


Pulse until you get a smooth pale green sauce. The cottage cheese will have become more of a ricotta texture. Spread on your crust, but leave a fairly wide edge.

If you want to add some portabellas to your pizza, now is a good time to remove the stems and chop them to your desired size.

Brush the fungi with some olive oil, and while you're at it brush some on that edge of your crust you left bare.

Sprinkle heartily with mozzerella cheese, top with a little chedder and asiago if your heart desires. When it comes to cheese my heart always desires.

Sprinkle some finely grated asiago or parmesan cheese on the oiled edges of your crust. If you have any doubts about how fantastic this will be please throw them out the window and try it. Trust me.

Add your mushrooms, a little more cheese, perhaps, and some coarsly ground black pepper. Sniff and enjoy the aroma.

Bake in a preheated oven at 400° for 10-14 minutes. When the cheese is melted and the crust is lightly browned and your house smells like heaven it is done. Remove, slice, wait 2-3 minutes so you don't burn the roof of your mouth.

Enjoy! Tell me how you like it so I know if I should keep creating recipes for your personal enjoyment.

But I will, anyway... for mine.

Amazing Chicken Dinner

Steve is an inventor. He creates book series, designs things, and makes up recipes in his head. Wednesday night our family was treated to a series of chip-coated chicken nuggets by my one and only. It was delicious! He marinated the chicken all day, in several different types of marinade, then he coated all but the lime-marinated chicken in different varieties of crushed up chips. He used regular Doritos, Ranch Doritos, Chile Cheese Frito's, and Fiery Hot Cheetos. Yum! My favorite was his Fiery Hot Cheetos Chicken, so I'm going to share that recipe with you. It goes really well with some black beans flavored with lime juice.

Steve's Hot Cheetos Chicken

2 Chicken breasts, cubed

1/4 cup Plain Yogurt

1/3 c Vinegar

3-4 large dried chili peppers

5-6 garlic cloves

1/2 onion

1 (99¢ size) bag of Fiery Hot Cheetos

Combine the chili peppers, garlic, and onion in your food processor, processing until smooth.

Make a marinade with all the ingredients except the chicken and Cheetos.

Put the chicken cubes into the marinade and refrigerate for 3-5 hours.

Crush your Cheetos. A food processor works best, but you can do pretty well if you spend some time at it with a rolling pin.

Roll your chicken in the chips to coat. Place on skewers.

Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink inside.

Enjoy!

What to Do at Work When There Isn't Any

I now work for a clinic in Yakima as a Medical Assistant. I love it. The only problem is.. what do you do when the phone calls are answered, the patients are taken care of, and even the doctors have left for the day? I guess you blog!

When I was hired, I was offered the job on a per diem basis to find out if this was a good fit or not. Unfortunatly, the Human Resources department forgot to tell the clinic that I accepted the position, so they also had someone else start working here on a per diem basis while I was completing my training. So, there are 2 of us here to to the job of only one person. It works out well when people are out sick, but on days like today with only one person out sick and all 3 doctors not in the office it just means lots of waiting for patients to call with questions you hope you can answer without needing the doctor here.

I'll tell you what else you do- you read the wikipedia article of the day, text your husband, read Google News, and you look up the recipe that comes closest to Starbuck's Pumpkin Loaf.