Mock Nutella

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Today, to celebrate the meaningless holiday we call Valentines Day, I made crepes for breakfast.  Then, later on, I made my own little Nutella, courtesy of Chocolate Covered Katie.

I call it Love Potion Number Ten because:
a) I "fell in love" with it    
b) Love Potion Number Nine is taken... and Ten makes makes it sound cooler/better/more powerful

Of course, I had to modify it a bit.  This is MY version of it:

Potion Number Ten (Mock Nutella)
(Makes about 2 cups)

• 1 cup cashews (unsalted)
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 1/2 T pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup plus 2 T agave or sugar (A sugar-free option is noted in the directions)
• 1 packet stevia, or 1 T more agave or sugar
• 1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
• 2-3 tsp oil (Can be omitted, but it’ll be a little less smooth.)
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I used Almond Breeze)
• 1/2 bag chocolate chips, melted

Roast nuts for 10-14 minutes at 420 F.  In a food processor, blend the nuts, milk, and agave until they’ve turned to butter, then add all other ingredients and blend a long time until it’s smooth like Nutella! (This will take about 2-4 minutes)

Last but not least:  Spread on toast and eat in front of some person who is dieting... JUST KIDDING!!!  Actually, it's pretty healthy if you omit the chocolate chips and use xylitol or stevia in place of the agave, but it's yummier with them.  But seriously, enjoy the yummy goodness.

Question of the day:

Why in the world do we celebrate Valentines Day?!

My answer: 

I don't know, but I do like how I get an excuse to eat candy :)                                                                                                                                                 

Z is for Zipper as L is for Longboard

So, a neighbor of mine hired me to replace a zipper on her daughter's "to die for cute" jean skirt.  It was tricky, but I managed.  The tricky part was ripping out the zipper when it was rolled up with the fabric.  Oh well, I liked the challenge.

Right before I went to General Ruckus (My acting group), my longboard I ordered two days ago came!  YAY!!!  The best part was that I looked for one in the mall and the cheapest one in the mall was about $150.  But, I got a 5 star board for only $80 on Amazon!!!  Which one, which on... I vote the $80 one!  Anywho, I'm planning on waking up nice and early tomorrow to try out my new board... I'm excited!!!

Question of the day:
What is craziest price for something simple you have ever seen?    

Mine:
I saw a skate board that was made for five year olds that was over $200... Yeah! It was weird.

Swirly Bread

As you know, yesterday Mom and I made yogurt since I was learning about bacteria.  So, today, since I learned about yeast, we made bread.

Swirly bread to be exact.  

Makes you feel sleepy, doesn't it?

I was a little nervous to eat bread after learning about yeast because, it turns out, that yeast is actually a type of fungus!  It's actually part of Kingdom Fungi.  Gross, right?!  You might think I am trying to scare you out of reading my blog, but I think it is kind of nice to be a little paranoid about what you eat.  But, if you really want to, you can eat yeast-free bread... like I usually eat... just not for that reason... In fact, I only don't eat it because it messes up my train of thought... so does gluten.  Gee, I must have had some glutinous yeast bread...

Oh well... back to the point:

We made swirly bread!!! Woohoo!!!  

Swirly Bread

Makes 4 loaves

2 c warm water

1/3 c honey 

1/3 c oil

2 c whole wheat flour 

1 Tbsp instant yeast 

1 Tbsp salt

5 Tbs gluten or dough enhancer

2 1/2-3 c flour

2- 4 Tbsp cocoa powder

Mix together first 7 ingredients for about 5 minutes.  Add in 2 1/2c - 3c flour, 1 cup at a time until bread forms a ball.  Let dough rest for five minutes.  

Meanwhile, make the recipe again, this time increasing the salt by 1/4 tsp, increasing the honey to 1/2 cup if you want it a bit sweeter, and adding 2-4 Tbsp of cocoa powder in place of some of the second addition of flour. 

Cut each dough in half.  Roll each piece out into a rectangle about 8" x 16".  

Place one layer of chocolate bread dough on top of a layer of regular bread dough.  

Roll up and tuck under the edges.  

Place seam side down into a greased bread pan.  Repeat with remaining dough. 

Place in a warm spot, cover and let rise for about 35 minutes or until double in size.  

(Night-night little sleepy bread dough!)

Place in a cold oven (yes, cold) and set oven temperature to 350 degrees F.  Bake for 30 minutes.  

Remove from oven, let cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto cookie racks to finish cooling.

Enjoy it once it is cool!

We made Cinnamon French Toast with it, which was SUPER YUMMY!!!  Nothing like a little fresh breakfast for dinner!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite breakfast food for dinner?

Mine:

Crepes!

            

Homemade Yogurt

Cooked bacteria... My FAVORITE!!!  

Ok, in science I'm studying bacteria.  Did you know that your body is covered in microscopic critters, both inside and out?  Yup, it is!!  We also eat bacteria...   (Yummm...)

Now, I know you probably are ready to barf up your lunch by now (aren't you so glad you had that cottage cheese/cheese on your sandwich?)...  But please, try not to...  Because there are different types of bacteria.  There is the good bacteria, the ones in your yogurt, cottage cheese, and some of the ones inside your body (like your intestines).  These little guys help fight off the pathogenic bacteria... you know, the bad ones.

So, just for the heck of it, we made our own bacteria!  One is edible.  The other one might help you in a very unpleasant weight-loss program.

The edible one is... YOGURT!!!
I love yogurt: so yummy, and squishy, and so easy to make.

While the other one is... BAD BACTERIA!!!  I like bad bacteria.  It's so easy to make... a little too easy, in fact.

Anywho, our yogurt will be ready to devour at ten o' clock tonight, so I'm excited.
The pathogenic bacteria is... ummm... also... errr... ready.

Hmmm... I wonder which one would cause the most physical pain?
A) Yogurt
B) Pathogenic Bacteria.

I vote B.  If A is the answer, at least I die while eating something yummy.

Homemade Yogurt

1 quart milk (or 1 quart hot water and 4 servings powdered milk)
1/2-1 packet yogurt starter (or 1/2 cup yogurt)

1.  Heat milk to 180 degrees F, stirring constantly!  OR... To use up stored powdered milk, combine powdered milk with hot water in a blender.

2.  Allow the milk to cool to 104-113 degrees F.  This takes a while...

3.  Put a little cooled milk in a small cup and add yogurt starter; stir until completely dissolved; stir mixture into the rest of the milk.

4.  Pour milk into a yogurt maker, cover, and wait 8-12 hours.

5.  Put lids on yogurt and refrigerate until ready to eat.  When you are ready to enjoy it, feel free to eat it plain or add in fruit, jam, honey/agave/stevia/sweetener, etc.  Add it to cereal, oatmeal, smoothies, whatever your little intestine bacteria desire!  Go healthy gut bacteria!!!

Super simple!!!  And super yummy!!!

Question of the day:

Would you rather eat this yogurt?

Or this pathogenic bacteria (you can call it bad bacteria)? 

Me: 

I vote for the yummalicous yogurt.          

Great-Grandma Pestana's Cream Puffs

Today, I got to have a little baking day with my Great-Grandma Pestana!

She taught me how to make her famous Cream Puffs.
First, we made the pastry.  It took forever because the mixer was being a little temperamental...
Next, we put chocolate pudding as the filling, then we smothered the pastries in whipped cream (YUM!), and finally, we topped them off with a dollop of chocolate frosting...
AGAIN YUM!
I think Mom would call it "death in one bite"...
Oh well, It was sooo worth it!!!
Sorry, I did not get a picture of the final product because they looked funny.  Thanks a lot temperamental mixer!  Next time...

Great-Grandma Pestana's Cream Puffs
Preheat oven to 400.

1c water
1 cube butter
Bring to boil
1c flour (all at once)

Stir until the batter forms a ball.
Put in the mixer and mix until thick.
Put on a non-greased pan (in blobs).
Bake until a nice crispy brown.
Cool on the pan.
Cut each pastry in half and fill with pudding, custard, whipped cream, nutella, whatever your little heart desires.  Enjoy!!!!

Question of the day:
What is your favorite pastry dessert?

Alli's Milk-Free Hot Cocoa

That's right! I made up my very own recipe for the first time... and it is REALLY GOOD!

I call it:
Alli's Milk-Free Hot Cocoa


This is the recipe for the hot cocoa I was talking about yesterday.
This is a little dark but not too dark.  Trust me... I don't like dark hot chocolate, but this stuff is good!

Alli's Milk-Free Hot Cocoa

1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp xylitol
1/2 tsp (2 packets) powdered stevia
Very scant 1/8 tsp salt
1c hot water

Mix dry ingredients in a mug; then add hot water...
Now sit back, relax, and enjoy some chocolate yumminess!

Question of the day:
What is your favorite type of hot chocolate?

Mine:
Peppermint hot chocolate.

Zucchini Muffins New and Improved

Today, I made Chocolate Covered Katie's zucchini muffins.  Again, it's even better than my zucchini muffins recipe which I thought was unbeatable... apparently it isn't. The only thing I added to the recipe were some Hershey's Cinnamon Chips... Because everything tastes better with them... well... almost everything... that would be disturbing to put them in your green smoothies or something.

 

Anyways, after eating dinner, I went to Young Womens.  We made baby shower presents for a lady in our neighborhood,  I helped quilt and create cute little bibs/spit-up cloths for the baby (It's a boy!).  When I finished, I hitched a ride home with one of my Young Women's leaders.  It was sooo cold outside!  Because of how cold it was, I made home-aide hot chocolate... it was so good! But, unfortunately, I can't remember what I did, I just remember that it was really good. 

Question of the day:

What is you favorite zucchini recipe?