Shirley Temple

You probably all heard that Shirley Temple died earlier this week.  You probably knew more about her than I did.  I watched a few of her movies and I knew that she had pretty hair as a child, she became a diplomat later in life, and a sweet, tasty, non-alcoholic drink was made in her namesake.

For a long time, I didn't know that these were called Shirley Temple's.  When we would go out to eat for special occasions growing up, we would get to order them but they were called, "Kiddie Cocktails"  (which I mistakenly thought were, "Kitty Cocktails").  So, obviously a lot of things escaped me as a kiddo.

My 'Kitty Cocktails" always had to be "light on the red" as per my mom's request...I was a little bit hyperactive.  When I mixed myself a Shirley Temple the other day, it brought me right back to those dinners with my family and my grandparents.  I remember bouncing around in the seat on a serious sugar high and pretending like the fruit patterned wallpaper actually tasted like real fruit.

Now, I can see why I wasn't allowed to have as much sugar and red food coloring :)

Applesauce Bread (Bread Machine Recipe)

I told you a little while ago that I was going to start using my crockpot so I can eat real meals at work (as opposed to the dried apricots and pretzels that I'm having today).  Well, that hasn't quite happened yet.

Along that same vein, I really need to find my bread maker again.  I know that bread is not that hard to make by hand, but the fact is, it takes a lot more time and lot more attention.

While I really do love to knead bread and wait for it to rise, when I have the whole day to sit around at home, I also really love just having freshly baked bread with almost no work.  I also love putting all the ingredients into the bread maker and then going to the gym, showering, getting dressed and walking into the kitchen just in time to take a big, warm, steaming loaf out to cool.

The drawback to using a bread maker?  Dryness.  I don't know why it's so hard to find good bread maker recipes, but it's something I've really struggled with.  I also don't know why applesauce can make things that would normally be dry, not dry, but it seems to do the trick.  This bread has a little bit of sweetness from the applesauce, it's great with a little butter, or to make it more apple-y, I topped it with apple butter.

365: Week 6

February 3 | It's so western out in the backyard!

February 4 | Remember back when Austin and I went up to Yellowstone, well he also gave me this!

Salted Honey Popcorn

I don't remember if I told you this already or not, but my first job in high school was at the local movie theater.  I had to wear XXL t-shirts that advertised upcoming movies (like Fat Albert, just as one example).  I had to wear a baseball cap inside always.

And, I had to upsell.  If you don't know what upselling is, basically it's when the little acne-ridden kid getting your popcorn asks you if, "for just $0.25 more, you'd like to make that a large?"  You give in, walking with your tub of popcorn and bucket of Coke to your seat.  Then, you eat all of that popcorn and drink all of that soda and leave the theater with a tummyache :)

I pretty much hated that job.  The perks were minimal, the hours were not conducive to having a social life, and every night I left smelling like oil, popcorn, and "butter."  There was a pretty long period when I just couldn't eat any more popcorn.  Looking at it kind of made me sick to my stomach.

Things have changed though.  Now, I could eat it as a replacement for meals.  Now, I'm trying to find new ways to dress up the stuff just in case I ever get sick of good ol' butter and salt.  Salted Honey Popcorn tastes a lot like kettle corn but it's a little easier to make and it tastes more like honey, less like sugar (duh!).

Frosted Mocha Drops

You ever have this super special family recipe that no one else knows and you have to guard it with your life?  Even when close friends ask for the recipe, you have to tell them that you can't share.  Sorry, not sorry.

Well, I am going to break the rule and share the recipe for these frosted mocha drops with you even though it's a very special, secret, Flinn family recipe handed down from my Grandma.  And who knows who gave her the recipe.

Well, I didn't.  Until the day that I did.

One day I was flipping through my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook (the checkered one that everyone has), and I found the exact. same. recipe.  It's not a secret.  It's not even all that special (besides in flavor).  And learning about this little bit of deception made me really wonder which other recipes "from Grandma Flinn" were really just taken out of a cookbook or a newspaper clipping.

Maybe it's better to just push it out of my memory, pretend like my Grandma was a genius in the kitchen, and not look too closely in cookbooks anymore.  No one wants to view their loved ones as liars, but let's be real, every liar's got a family too!

Apple Chip Cake

Can we all collectively drown our sorrows in cake for a day?  First of all, the Broncos lost the Superbowl yesterday.  Second of all, they looked like a high school team out there.  Third of all, my sister now gets to gloat that the team she was rooting for won.

Not only was it a bad game because "my team" lost, but because it was so lopsided, it was also unbelievably boring.  This is precisely why I watch hockey.  I will say that football food is better than hockey food though.  Actually, I don't know what hockey food is.  If I had to guess, I would say poutine?

In other sporting news, this weekend the Olympics start!  And you know there's no better way to support the (American) athletes than with apple pie chip cake!

365: Week 5

January 27 | Making Valentine's at work.