Slacking...

Everyone deserves to slack every once and a while...

So that's my justification statement for telling you that I have not COOKED ANYTHING all week, with the exception of a thrown together meal on Monday (that I will tell you about shortly). After fulfilling my Christmas baking obligations, I just really didn't have the energy to really even eat. I tend to get so caught up in what I am doing that the days start running together and I realize that I haven't eaten for almost an entire day...it's such a great feeling to be in the zone! The phrase being "in the zone" brings back a Marine Corps memory when we were on the rifle range during bootcamp. I remember the Gunny asking who "was in the zone" after firing a string of rounds center mass on the target...OH YES...THAT WAS ME!!!! I have to say though, I probably never shot that well for the remainder of my time in the Corps (lol). I was an expert more than once, but that was probably my best score ever....oh the memories (violin playing) lol.

ANYWAY, I know you don't want to hear about old bootcamp stories; you want to hear about what's cooking at Ms. Hasty's!!!! WELL I'LL TELL YOU....NOTHING....just kidding...so this is what I have on my mind...I am really in the mood for a roast today (...pot roast that is). I am also thinking about making some sort of pastry with chocolate. YES, YES...I am a chocoholic!!! I don't have any orders pending, so I can make whatever I want! Yyyyyeeeeaaaa! Anyway, I'm thinking flaky pastry puff or crust with some chocolate and maybe xome cream cheese...we'll see...when I get started, it'll come together...let's hope! I may come back to you on tomorrow telling you about my BLOOPER in the kitchen (LOL)...either way...it's going to be fun! Too bad I don't have a video camera because I would take you along for the ride.

I have to go to the gym or go for a walk before getting in the kitchen today (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO), so I won't get started until sometime this afternoon. I really need the exercise because I have been slacking sooooooooooooooo bad! Okay...so let me tell you about this "bootleg" mac&cheese I whipped together on Monday night. What inspired the bootleg mac & cheese was me going over to my brothers the day after Christmas (...yes, I slept through Christmas...after standing 4 days in the kitchen with power naps in-between, I was BEAT) and my sister-in-law had cooked some meatloaf, macaroni & cheese, and mashed potatoes. I have to say that her cooking has improved over the years, so I was really open-minded about trying it. The meatloaf (which isn't my favorite food) was quite tasty and her mac & cheese also really good. So, here goes my fat soul singing harmonies after I make it home from their house...(fat soul whispers in my ears...hey black girl...you sure could use some mac & cheese here at the house...why don't you whip some together?). So now I'm home with  hardly any food to cook or ingredients to bake...my pantry and refrigerate are running on the skinny and my fat soul is SCREAMING AND CHANTING...MAC& CHEESE, MAC&CHEESE!!!!!...and I'm like OKAY, OKAY! Now that I have little to work with and my fat soul has peer pressured me in to making one of the most unhealthy dishes on the planet, here's what I found to work with...spagetti noodles, can of PET milk, 6 tablespoons butter, can of Cream of Celery, 3 egg whites, and 1/2 cup of sour cream. (***PAUSE***For those that didn't come from meager means, spagetti noodles in mac&cheese is not unusual. We had to be creative with what we had. It's just like eating rice for breakfast rather than grits because it was cheaper and you could use the leftover rice for dinner...anyway...back to my story (lol)). I only had two types of cheeses in the house which were Sharp and Parmesean...(I have never put Parmesean in my mac&cheese before, but when you're limited on ingredients you use what you have)....anyway, I mixed all of my ingredients together and while I was doing so, I became a little upset because if I had messed up the only pasta noodles in the house experimenting...I WAS GOING TO BE ANGRY...and so hungry after all of this work (LMBO)!  Needless to say, it wasn't a pretty sight mixing all of these ingredients together, but I pressed on and put it in the pan and baked it. LORD HAVE MERCY ON THE FAT SOUL IN ME....PLEASE! I baked it about 18 minutes and took the first spoon of it, I almost fell to the floor...THIS TASTED BETTER THAN MY REGULAR RECIPE!!!!!!!! WHAT????? Okay, so after I calmed down, I began eating........and eating......and eating...and I only have what you see in the pic left. And yes, I've eaten it all by myself...I should be ashamed...BUT I'M NOT!

So I know you're wondering...what else did she have with this mac&cheese...NOTHING! I forgot all about making a meal! (LMBO)!!!!

I'm going to enjoy doing things in the kitchen my way today...and I encourage you to do the same!

What a day!

It has been so great to be home and bake until my heart is content. I'm finally giving my feet a break only to begin again in the morning. 😊

I've made over 174 cookies and 3 cakes in the past two days...just plain wonderful. The Red Velvet cake has been the most popular this year; I guess because it resembles the spirit of Christmas by being red and white. The oatmeal, raisin, pecan cookie remains to be my best selling cookie.

The next day....

You won't believe that I feel asleep before finishing the paragraphs above (lol). Anyway, I'm about to work on an Italian Creme cake and German Chocolate cupcakes. Today should be a little lighter than the past two days, so I'm on a mission to cook a great dish and create something new!

Ooh....I forgot to tell you all about the cakes that I took to both of my work Christmas parties! So I made a chocolate swirl cheesecake and what was named at the party to be my " Irish Creme coffee cake." The cheesecake wasn't much of an experiment because I just mixed some melted milk chocolate morsels and 1/3 cup of the batter to create the swirl. Now the Irish cream coffee cake was different...imagine a spice cake with a hint of Bailey's Irish Creme, coffee liquor and Creme de Cocoa liqueur. I only added a tablespoon of each and added a little chocolate syrup...(you know I LOVE chocolate, yup, yup)! The icing contained all of the spirits listed above, butter and whipping cream. It came out a little fluffier than I had imagined, which caused it to not want to stick to the cake easy. I managed to get the cake covered in icing and decided to let it refrigerate a little longer than usual. (...sshh... I also poured a little Bailey's on top)...oh goodness it smelled good! I'm going to make it again because I didn't get to take a picture.

Well I hope everyone had wonderful holiday and don't forget to give...YOUR WAY...and enrich someone else's life!

Okay, so I've got to get with it!!!!

It's time for Christmas and people are ordering...unlike Thanksgiving (yyyeeeaaa, but I've got to get a move on).

I didn't cook anything interesting this week, but I did bake my nieces birthday cake. I had a great time baking and decorating it.

I have friends coming in from out of town this weekend and I can't manage to figure out what I want to cook. I'll tell you when I start flipping through all of my recipes, I always manage to find at least ten that I want make ...PURE INSANITY...I know! Anyway, I rather have a taste for something because it keeps me from going overboard!

HELP!!!

What a weekend!!!!

Whew...I was able to try a couple of things that had been on my mind for a while this weekend! Whooohoooo! I have so many things on my mind that I want to try create or just try, that I have yet to bake and cook everything that I've planned to experiment with in one weekend.

On Saturday I set out to make homemade donuts, 4 sweet potato pies, spinach and tomato tortellini, double chocolate cookies and rum cake. I didn't get to make the rum cake at all and I ended up trying my version of a double chocolate chip cookie with Godiva white chocolate liqueur and Creme de Cocoa liqueur on today.

My donuts were the biggest result of kitchen BLOOPERS that I have had in a while!!!! OMG!!!! THEY LOOKED LIKE SUPERSIZE BROWN LIFESAVERS!!!! AHAHAHAHHHHHH! I was all excited when I made the dough and cut them out, so I dropped them in the hot oil and..they started cooking really, really fast!!! My girlfriend that I bake with was at my house and I was running around like crazy because as soon as I dropped them in the oil they were GONNERS!! I'm going to try it again because I have been wanting to make homemade donuts for a while and I DON'T WANT CAKE DONUTS! So after, I gathered myself (fixing my clothes and getting my composure) and decided that I was going to end my night in the kitchen, but before I did, I had to successes!!!

The first were my sweet potato pies with pecan strussel and the second was my spinach and tomato tortellini! Everyone that knows me knows that I am not a pie maker...PERIOD! One of my friends insisted that I make her sweet potato pies and I gave in...(hey! who am I to deny someone else's fat soul some Hasty Pastry gratification!???). You won't believe that she was there when I made them...maybe she'll comment on this post. My mom couldn't believe that I was making pies...I've just always steered clear of them.

Now, the tortellini recipe is not mine; it was one that I found on the AllRecipe website. I was looking for something new (without meat) and I found it! OMG! This dish turned out great!!! If you search for spinach and tomato tortellini on that website, you should find it and give it a try.

Oh! And I almost forgot, I made double chocolate cookies that turned out more like brownie cookies with white chocolate chips. I added the beverages above and they added a great aroma to the cookie and a richer flavor. I am going to continue on my quest to make that irresistible double chocolate cookie ...(only because I am a choco'holic), but this one was GOOOOD and had a great texture. It had this perfectly crunchy outside and soft inside that made me think of that "corner brownie"...and a glass of ice cold milk (yyyyuuummmyyy...fat soul belts out an A-flat).

I also made wings tonight with some type of mystery sauce that included honey, lemon juice, lime juice, worchestire sauce, crushed red peppers, garlic and pepper. I fried the wings lightly first (lightly seasoned them with seasoning salt and white pepper) and then baked them until golden. I guess I'll tell you that I am in the bed about to sleep like a baby and dream about those golden wings...that's probably what I should call them!

Anyway, I've had a great weekend in the kitchen and I hope that you did also! What did you bake or cook this weekend? I had a few visitors this weekend while I was baking and cooking some of these dishes, so hopefully you will hear some of their observations if they decide to respond to this post, but until then...continue to do things YOUR WAY...IN YOUR KITCHEN!

Love ya!

Oh! And I forgot that I made a couple of pound cakes...one of which is being shipped to Florida to some of my extended family members...so cool and thanks for the support!

Later...