I haven't done much lately besides look for jobs and lie around the house, and when I'm lying around I can't even pick up the computer to update here. Life updates: Turns out I can't work in NY. Their office is too crowded etc. So I gave up trying to save that job, my boss said I can work part time on a "come in when I can" basis. It's 13 blocks from my house, I can ride my bike/walk/subway/bus it up there so no matter what I can get to work, they give me free health insurance eventually, and I get 20% discount off food. Plus, I get to work with food, and people, and its half a block from my favorite coffee place. (Favorite because it allows dogs, has good italian sodas in tons of flavors, and is comfortable and not usually crowded). This weekend I'm off to Boston for my ex's wedding (won't be awkward, we're good friends and had an easy breakup) then Monday I start working all the time. Thank god, being unemployed is the hardest thing. I hate not having things to do. Puff and I spent a lot of time watching all the movies in the house, got addicted to One Tree Hill, and spent a lot of money I shouldn't have on coffee and italian sodas. Which, by the way, are best when made with flavor syrup, seltzer, then a little bit of simple syrup. They should be a little sweet. In my opinion.
Kelly was bummed the other day and wanted chocolate, the grocery store was out of Jr. Mints (the craving of choice) so I got some semi-sweet Baker's chocolate because it had a molten chocolate mini cake on the front of the box and that's what I decided I needed to make, ASAP. So I did, as soon as i got home. And Oh My God.
Baker's Semi-Sweet Individual Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes:
| 4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate |
| 1/2 cup butter |
| 1 cup sugar, I used half white and half honey |
| 2 eggs |
| 2 egg yolks |
| 6 Tbsp. flour, I used 3 rice flour and 3 Bob's Red Mill GF Flour Mix, which I always forget I hate because when tasting the batter you can always taste the xanthem gum. So I'd just use rice, or regular flour if you're not GF, instead. 1 tsp cinnamon, which I used to compensate for the weird taste of the flour, which my sister and I liked but my mom didn't notice |
Preheat oven to 425. I don't have souffle cups, so I greased (very well!) a muffin tin. Microwave the chocolate and butter until butters melted, then stir to melt the chocolate. Mix in sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add flour. Pour (or spoon) equally among your custard cups if you have them, or muffin tins. Bake about 13 mins until sides are firm but centers are still pretty soft. Cool for a minute or two, then run a knife around the edges of each and invert onto plates (or if you used a muffin tin, onto a cutting board and then, carefully, plates). If you have it, dust with confectioners sugar, I was out so we just ate them like that. Eat as many as you can when they're hot, although they are still good later on as long as you reheat them. I brought some to my mom when we had a family get-together in CT, she and I are usually without dessert so I brought some for us to eat. Yum.
Today is fall, yesterday was 80 degrees, but today is beautiful. To keep myself busy, I made pumpkin cheesecake bars and pumpkin muffins (I wanted pumpkin bread, but I apparently lost my loaf pan, so the muffin tin came in handy, again).
The pumpkin bread I used the recipe in the New Joy of Cooking, substituting (again, I forgot that Bob's GF flour mix makes batters taste so bad) 3/4 cup GF flour mix and 3/4 cup rice flour. They came out fantastic. Being the laziest girl ever, I'm not going to go into the kitchen and get the Joy, but go buy it and make the pumpkin bread recipe.
The pumpkin cheesecake bars were good. I kind of made up the recipe, basing it loosly on about 10 other recipes I looked at while deciding what to do with the rest of the pumpkin. Plus, I'm really into my food processor, being the laziest girl ever.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars:
Crust:
3/4 c rice flour
3/4 c almond meal (they sell it at Trader Joe's or you can make it by putting almonds in your food processor)
1/4 c brown sugar
1 stick butter
Mix all these things in the food processor until they form a rough ball. Press into an 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 for about 15 mins.
Filling:
8oz cream cheese
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c pumpkin
1 t vanilla
healthy pinches of nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger.
Mix these all together until smooooth, pour on top of the hot crust. Bake for 35-45 mins, until set. Cool. I stuck it in the fridge and when trying to serve myself some ended up smashing my piece all together, which was fine, because I like things mushed all together than in bar form, anyway.
Hopefully working at Wholefoods will give me tons more food adventures than the lazy ones I've been having lately.
Also, my way of preparing steaks works just as well for porkchops. Butter makes everything better.
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