The Monday Million

...Just kidding.

I decided to postpone the Sunday five for one day. Two reasons: 1. its my birthday so its the best day to celebrate all the stuff that makes me happy, and 2. I was really tired yesterday.  Driving in the dark is a major energy suck! So what is making me happy on my 22nd birthday? Read on to find out...Hint, its more than five less than a million!

1. My new Whirley Pop popcorn popper.  If you know me personally or have been reading the blog for a while you probably know how much I love bacon, but my love for popcorn is a close second place.  A while back I read an awesome post about kettle corn over at Chica and Jo.  Well for my birthday I asked for the popper and my parents came through.  I already tried the movie theater mix that came with, AWESOME!! I love it!!
2. My Birthday play list, which I tried SOOO hard to upload here for you guys to listen to, but I will just had to add some links so you all can listen!  This is just a 5 song sample from the birthday mix I got when I turned 16! I am very lucky to still have the giver in my life! Song 1 Song 2 Song 3 Song 4 Song 5.  Happy listening!
3. Vampire Diaries.  Are you following me on twitter? Well if you are you know I am totally obsessed.  The last episode literally drove me insane.  I can hardly wait for the next episode, the show is just so good, I can't put it into words. 
4. Palm Springs.  Over Easter and this past weekend I was visiting my parents in Palm Springs that is where I have been with no internet access.  But it was super relaxing and a great way to celebrate with my parents. 
5. My new favorite drink!  Diet Mug Root beer with some no sugar added vanilla ice cream.  SO amazing low sugar and low cal root beer float! Tasty!   
6. Living at the beach.  Sometimes San Diego feels just like any other city.  But 80% of the time the air has a hint of salt. The morning starts with a hint of onshore flow and some pretty white clouds keeping the spring just cool enough. I love everything about the beach, except sunburns. 
7. LIMES!!!  My roommates and I are totally obsessed with anything hint of lime.  Hint of lime chips, popcorn and beer have all been approved here! SO SO SO tasty, cannot even convey! We are currently in search of a lime salt so we can give a hint of lime to even more foods!

Get ready for some awesome posts this week, and some fun pictures of my trip and some of the trinkets I acquired along the way!

Food Friday

Today's Food Friday will be quick. I am much to excited about tomorrow's post to do this recipe justice. All I can say is make them. Please make them!

I want all of you to click here to be transported to the Seattle Times. Here lives the recipe for the best tasting, easiest to make, dinner rolls EVER. The article has pictures to help, and they are almost impossible to mess up. So run to the store, grab some yeast and some powdered buttermilk and get ready for heaven. in. your. mouth. Another positive, they freeze great so make a bunch, put them in a gallon zip top bag and the next time you are feeling lazy, open a can of soup and warm up some of the best dinner rolls ever. You have to trust me they are awesome!

Here's the pictures from the first time I made them....

Before


After

Here is that link again!

Food Friday

Welcome to Food Friday!

I promised you a non-bacon themed food post and I am delivering! This week I am proud to present a recipe that people request all the time! Popcorn Balls. These are amazing, they are sweet and salty, portable and easy to eat! They are very similar to rice krispie treats, another one of my specialties! For these guys make sure you are heavy on the non- stick spray and have some wax paper to set them on to set. This recipe makes about 20 small popcorn balls, but you can make them any size you want. They can be store in an airtight container for about a week. I keep mine in individual snack bags, but large ones work too, or large containers with wax paper between layers!

To start gather your ingredients:

- popcorn- I air pop mine but you can also use the microwave kind. You need about 8 cups, 1/2 c seeds or about 2 bags from the microwave.
-2 tablespoons butter
-1 bag of marshmallows
-Non-stick spray
-wax paper
-pinch of salt

Pop your corn! Spray the bowl with non-stick spray first to prevent the marshmallow from sticking later. This part is pretty easy, after you are done pick out the un-popped seeds. You really don't want to bite down on one later. You might also want to spray the popcorn a little and add the pinch of salt. This step is for the air-popped only, it amps up the salty sweet combo awesomeness. If you are using microwaved corn, you don't need to salt it- just remember to spray the bowl!

Lay out some wax paper in a spot where the finished treats can set up!

Before you turn the heat on, spray the pan with non-stick spray. This will make clean up much easier. Now add the butter to a pan on the stove. Keep over medium heat until the butter is almost all melted.

Don't let the butter get to the brown stage.

Add your marshmallows.










Here I added a couple of drops of red to the partially melted marshmallows. My finaly product ended up as pink- you will see soon!
Keep stirring until the mixture is smooth and uniform.










When the mixture looks pretty smooth like this-->
You can stop stirring. Turn the heat on low










Pour most of the mixture into your popcorn bowl. Using a spoon covered in non-stick spray, mix the marshmallow and the popcorn, covering as best you can. Don't worry it doesn't have to be perfect, we can fix it up as we go.

Once you find that stirring isn't doing anything, grab your non-stick spray and cover your hands with it. I mean use A LOT. Like a gross amount, this is the only way to move quickly or else you will never get past the shaping steps. You might need to re-coat a couple of times!




Get your hands in there! Grab some popcorn mixture and shape it into a ball. Set a finished one on your wax paper. Be careful the mixture will still be pretty hot. As you can see I didn't have any wax paper I used a plastic bad and a Trader Joe's bag! They worked ok. As you continue shaping you might notice that you need more marshmallow mixture, grab some of the leftover that is still sitting over low heat and add it on. You can also add extra popcorn from the bottom that isn't coated yet to clumps that have too much marshmallow...wait too much... is that possible?

Keep going until you have used all the popcorn,

Once the treats have set store the popcorn balls

in airtight containers or in zip-top bags.

To clean up just soak the pot in some hot and soapy water, worked like a charm.

Happy Snacking!

An Ode to Bacon

I really like bacon, not like a normal person does. But when have I claimed to be normal? Bacon is actually my favorite food. But since it's not the best thing for you I eat turkey bacon most of the time. Bacon is more of a special occasion food for me. But I really really love it, so when I opened my e-mail this morning and found this at the bottom of my Hungry Girl email, I kind of freaked out, and then I decided to write about it.

They are called Mmmvelopes and they are bacon flavored envelops!! I, like most people don't enjoy licking envelopes, but its just part of life right? Well once I order some of these puppies I will be writing letters to everyone I know. That 2nd cousin once removed I met when I was three? Getting a letter! My cat, SOOOO getting a letter.

Once I got this e-mail I began to ponder the other bacon subliminal signals I have been getting lately. Have you seen this add from Jack in the Box yet?



Then there is this site all my friends keep sending me a link to. 6 Reason Bacon is Better than True Love. You should defiantly check that out. Just a sneak preview the first one says, " True love only happens once in a lifetime. Bacon can happen seven times a day, if you want it to."

It's really amazing where you can find bacon in your life. This is really only a smattering of the ways bacon has infiltrated mine. As I have been know to say...the only thing that would make this better is MORE BACON!!

Superbowl & Food

I guess this is becoming a theme, starting a blog entry with things I love. Today is the Superbowl, which is a day that combines SOO many things I love. Football, TV, food! Oh how do I love the food I get to eat because of the Superbowl. So today I thought I would share a couple different things I associate with game days. The first recipe, if you can call if that, comes from my grandma. It is SOO terrible for you, but I have remade it so I never feel guilty eating it and sometimes even have it on days other than game day...

First grab those ingredients I mentioned in my last post
-Hot Dogs
- Bacon
-Cheese
-Toothpicks
-a bun, or bread if you have some around

Now this is how my grandma makes them. First she butters the buns, wraps them in foil and sticks them in the oven so they will be warm when you're done. Next she takes a hot dog and cuts a slit down the middle. Here she inserts a few cubes of cheese. Next grab three toothpicks and a slice of bacon. Attach one end of the bacon to one end of the hot dog with a toothpick. Wrap the bacon around the hot dog securing with another toothpick in the middle and at the end. Now place on a broiler pan and broil this puppies until the bacon is cooked to your liking and the cheese is melting. Unwrap a bun, remove the toothpicks and take a big bite, today is the Superbowl you deserve it!!

What if you are like me and want that bacon to extra crispy? Here's my advice, cook the bacon a bit first in a pan. Now don't go to crazy here, cook it low and slow, and remember it has to bend once you wrap it so don't cook it all the way.

Another version? Lighten this up using Hebrew National reduced fat, or 97% fat free hot dogs and turkey bacon. I can't tell the difference between reduced fat and the regular, but the 97% guys do taste different, but its a small price to pay when they are 35 calories and when wrapped in bacon, I mean what doesn't taste great wrapped in bacon??

Another great way to make these is with a George Foreman Grill. I wrap mine and stick it on the grill, this way I don't need toothpicks, just make sure you rotate every a couple of min. Then I toast my bun in the oven with a couple of slices of cheese on the bun. Fantastic!

One final tip, if you are doing this on an actual grill outside, soak your toothpicks first so they don't catch fire. This makes them extremely hard to remove...

Have you got your cheese grated for the typical gameday nachos yet? Here is my number one tip for great nachos, layers. It is all about the layers people! For a big batch lay out some foil on a cookie sheet and then a thin layer of chips. Take care that the chips are not in a huge pile, spread them into a thin layer. Next add your shredded cheese. Add another layer and then more cheese. Do not skimp on the cheese, it is the binder between the layers and it's also really yummy! Layer up until you have enough and put your cookie sheet into a hot oven. Somewhere around 350. Check often and make sure the inside layers are melted before you take them out. If the top is getting too done, put a sheet of foil over the top. You can also do this on a microwave safe plate, but cover with plastic wrap before you cook, and remember to leave a vent.

If you plan on adding various veggies put them in the layers as well. Some add ons are better just on top, because they are so flavorful, like jalapenos. Some good veggie ideas? Green onions!! These are the best topping EVER!! Also tomato or a pico de gallo are good for tomato lovers, or make your nachos Cali style and cut up some avocado! The options are endless, just remember LAYERS!! Layers people, layers!

See you after the game! Enjoy whatever Super food you decide on this afternoon!

Super Sunday

Log in Sunday morning for an amazing game day recipe using these....



Run, do not walk, to your kitchen and make sure you have these righttttt.... NOW! Also look for my tips on achieving the perfect nachos!!

Make sure you log in after the game to get my Sunday 5 as usual! See you all tomorrow, twice!!