From Leftovers to Delicious! && Kittens!! :D

Hey everyone! I have a quick and yummy recipe for you guys today! It turns out that I MIGHT be going down and visiting C.R, and while we're there my moms planning on selling my cell phone. So I decided to sort through my pictures, what I would keep and e-mail to myself, or what didn't matter and could be deleted for good. While I was searching through them I found a picture of a recipe I never had the chance to post anywhere, so here it is! Me and my mom came up with this one because we had a whole bunch of left over, getting stale, bread and some shrimp. I hope you guys enjoy and scroll down for the cutest kittens I saw the other day!

Ingredients

French Baguette (*Mine was starting to get really hard and stale!)

Pesto

Sauce (*We used the 4 Cheeses sauce, I LOVE IT!)

Toppings: Shrimp, Ham, Cheese, etc. etc.

Basil for taste and decoration!

Directions

First you want to take your baguette and slice it into about 1/2 inch slices more or less. Make sure to turn on your little oven right about now, or you're regular oven. If you're using a regular large oven, heat it up to about 350 degrees F, and if your using a small conventional oven like me, use a heat setting your comfortable with. Around enough to toast the bread and cook or melt any of your toppings. Once your bread is sliced slather with the pesto and sauce, make sure it's not too much so that it drips off the sides, but enough so you'll be able to taste it after cooking it. Next up just smack on your topping, we had a couple pieces of left over shrimp so we used that, for my little brother we just smacked on some ham and cheese, since he doesn't like shrimp. I didn't think of taking a picture of his slices, but we left his in our oven for about 3-5 minutes. If your using shrimp like us, first we dotted some mozzarella cheese to the shrimp wouldn't slide off as we ate! And you can either cook the shrimp before hand, so it doesn't take so long in the oven, but we just smacked it on raw. Sprinkled some basil over it, and waited for about 5-10 minutes, rotating the rack to make sure the shrimp was evenly cooked all through out. Wait a minute or so for it to cool, and eat up!

I personally love toasted bread, and as a seafood lover the shrimp was a total treat. I hope you guys try it out and enjoy!!

Now...

I know this is the moment you have all been waiting for!

I was just walking around the mall, when I hit the pet store, and I saw these beauties, just screaming at me for a picture. I wish I could of bought them! But I wouldn't have the time or space to take care of them, so for now, they'll stay beautiful memories in my pictures!

Bye beautiful!~ :D

For all you Cheesecake lovers! :D

So, I feel like I haven't done a recipe on here in the longest time. I do have some pictures saved up for on healthy meal after this one, a yummy one to make you feel better about having eating a huge slice of cheese cake the day before. Anyways, for right now, my computer is working. Not to the best of its abilities, I can't edit my videos or anything on here yet, but it's definitely enough to be able to post some food blogs! What I have for you guys today is the pictures I had thought I lost, along with the cheese cake recipe! This wasn't my first time trying out how to make a cheese cake, but the last time I did was years ago, and let's just say I did not do it correctly! The recipe will be posted down at the bottom, and be sure to reference to the pictures in case you need any help! Or comment below with some questions, as I'm always happy to answer! :)

Patting down the crust. The reason why it looks so dark is because I mashed up some of my chocolate biscotti and used that as the crust, some extra yummyness! :)

I kind of forgot to take pictures during the process, I'm slowly learning guys! But here's an image of everything all mixed together, ready to hit the oven!

A little darker than I had actually anticipated, but as long as it's all good on the inside I'm happy!

Here's what it looks like after I de-panned it.

I'm sorry this picture isn't the best quality, it also looks quite dark! And since I was so eager to try the cake, I didn't bother wiping my knife down after every single cut, more like every other, which would explain the crusted cheese cake at the top. But let me tell you, it was delicious!

Ingredients for Crust

4 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup or more graham cracker crumbs or biscotti. (If you want more don't be afraid!)

Directions for Crust

Mix in the melted butter, sugar, and crumbs in a bowl. While most of the recipes I researched didn't call for this, before adding the crumbs to my pan, I cut out a piece of parchment paper under it, so I was sure the cheese cake would be able to slide out easily in the future. Make sure your crumbs are nice and coated with the butter, and start placing inside your pan. With the back of a spoon, or the bottom of a flat cup, begin to shape the crust. Once you're happy with the look, place it in the oven at 350 degrees F, and around 8-15 minutes at most. Take out of the oven, and allow to cool.

Ingredients for Cheesecake

5 8oz packets of cream cheese. (I believe this is around1 or 2 lbs?)
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbsp of flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 or 1/3 cup of sour cream (I used the 1/2)
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
6 large eggs

Directions for cheese cake

Preheat your oven around 400 degrees F, or 500 degrees if you aren't afraid of your oven exploding like me! Make sure that your cream cheese is at room temperature, or else, like me, you could break your blender. (Not when doing this recipe, but in the past.) Start by slowly mixing in all the cream cheese, you don't have to flop it all in at once. Work with half's until it's all fully incorporated. Next add your pinch of salt. After this I added in the flour, now this ingredient is actually optional, but I read that it helps to prevent cracking on the surface of your cheesecake and doesn't affect the taste of the cheesecake, so I was all for it. Then I slowly added in my sugar, in 3 parts, all around 1/2 of a cup each. Then measure out your sour cream and mix that in. Wipe down the edges of your mixing bowl with a rubber spatula and make sure everything is evenly mixed. Now add in the lemon juice, zest, and vanilla. Follow up with your egg yolks, making sure the first is completely incorporated before adding in the next one. Repeat with the eggs, do not add them all in at once, let the slowly blend. Lastly, add the mixture onto your cooled crust. Place in you 500 degree F oven, and DO NOT open the oven for 10 minutes, keeping the same temperature. Afterwards, lower your heat to 200 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours. Allow the cheesecake to slowly feel the changing of the temperature, and try not to open your oven. While I was baking my cake, I heard a giant POP from my oven, and although I freaked that it had blown up and covered my oven in it's yummy-ness, I didn't open it untill about 15-20 minutes later, just slightly, to make sure I wasn't cooking up a giant mess. Once your cheesecake is done, leave it in the oven. Make sure your oven is off of course, but let the cheesecake cool inside of it. Once you can reach in and touch the pan with  your bare hands, still feeling a slight warmth emanating, place it on a cooling rack for a couple hours. Before going to bed, or going out, cover your cheesecake with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. Allow it to cool over night (I did!) or at least 4 hours. Make sure to take out the cheesecake half an hour before serving. While slicing, do what I didn't do and wet down, wipe, or clean off your knife after ever slice for a clean cut. Make sure to add your favorite topping, or eat it plain, and enjoy! <3

Ingredients and Directions of Strawberry Topping

1 regular bow (A pint?) strawberries.
1/2 or more of strawberry Jam
1/2 cup sugar (*Optional)

Wash and slice your strawberries thinly, on medium heat start to cook your strawberry jam until it becomes a syrupy consistency. Add in your fresh strawberries, and sugar if you wish. Allow to cool a bit before pouring on your cheesecake!
For this of course you can use any time of berry or jam you wish, I just happen to like cooked strawberries a lot. You could maybe also sprinkles some chocolate syrup on your cheesecake if that's more yummy to your sweet tooth?

Just so you guys know, this recipe was made by me and also not. I researched a lot of different recipes from websites and other blogs, and based on their pictures and recipes took bits and pieces from theirs to create my own recipe. I would like to have posted the links to the recipes I mostly looked at, but because my computer broke down on me in such a way, I don't know if I can locate the sites again. If I do, I promise to post them here in case you guys find them helpful!

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed! Make sure to try it out and tell me how it comes out! Bye for now! :)

Technology.

Can I just give a nice punch in the face to the man who invented technology? Like, from the very beginning? Just like everyone else on the planet, I couldn't live with out technology. But man. Technologies a real pain in the butt.
So recently, as I think I said in my last post (..scroll down ;D) my computers been going wacko on me. Seriously, wacko. This computer has got to stop taking crazy lessons from me, it's bad enough having a crazy person with a computer, now try a crazy person with a wacko computer. Yup, that's me right now.
So let me rant about it, if you'll allow me. ;)
AHHHHH! WHY!? My computer goes completely BLACK after I log on! Then when we though it was fixed, it goes half screen black, half squished in monitor! It's FREEZING all the time! It decideds when it wants to work (like right now) or when it doesn't. GRR. DON'T GO REBELLIOUS ON ME! I created youuu! :(
(Kind of, not really. Hehe)
But still.
Computer. Baby. Without you. I'm nothing. Please stop going wacko with me. I still love you. <3

Okay, I'm good, have a rockin' day guys and go watch dogs dancing salsa! :D

Why Oh Why!?

I'm so sorry... myself! >.<
I keep meaning to post... I SWEAR!
But ughh, as my luck would have it, COMPUTER PROBLEMS! My mom ended up having to pay up a whole bunch of cash to these darn expensive not-helping-me-fro-free Sony people. :( And in the end, they couldn't really solve the problem, so they told me to reset my computer. So yay. Now.. everything is gone. Lucky for us, I didn't upload the pictures to the next food related topic I'm posting, so I'll get that done for sure! :)
It's late, I really should go hit the hay now, but I'm totally pumped for some flimin' tomorrow, so stay tunned for my videos!

Bye beautiful! <3 :)

Food, Thoughts, And Fireworks :)

Hey lovelies! I realize I'm actually slowing down a bit on my blog posting, but I assume that that (double!) was bound to happen. I wish I could cook everyday and, even if I'm the only one reading them, continue to post recipes on this little blog of mine. But, like most other females, if I eat too much sugar to often, I'm going to blow up like a whale. Even though I LOVEEE eating, I just can't! I don't know about anyone else, but feeling uncomfortable with my own body is one of the worst feelings in the world. While others may say "no way! you're so skinny!", well, darn tootin', I appreciate that. But I know in reality, I'm not, nor do I want to be like a tooth pick. Ewwie, I would log way too weird that way. I'm hispanic, meat on my bones is what it's all about! Besides, like I said before, I could never quit eating. Or give up the delicious, but no-so-good foods. Ahhh! How many women, even men, suffer from this!? This stupid standard we've all set for one another. Although, the United States does a pretty good job in ignoring that, seeing as we're the fattest in the whole world. If only everyone was fat off delicious food though, but I find that the weight gained by everyone is eating take out from McDonald's, or chugging soda all day. Hot dogs, burgers, fries. Okay, I take that last part back. French fries are the shiz nits! And I could totally dig a nice well made burger. Still, not everyone else sees it that way, and they're eating nasty squashed looking burgers from McDonald's. Yuck. And I'm sorry if you're a person who really loves McDonald's, but consider your health, that stuff isn't good for you at all. You don't have to quit it completely, I'm simply head over heals for their frappes! They're yummy, and a much cheaper alternative to Starbucks. Haha, the words of a poor person! It's okay, in a way isn't being slightly poor the best in the world? You learn to value the things that are really essential and important to you.
But because of that, today I noticed I don't really have anything like that. Who's really my friend? I was promised to go out tonight, head to the beach, and enjoy the beautiful display of fire works. My friend never called though, not a text or a FB. It's okay though, If I were to see the fireworks with someone, I'd like it to be someones company that I really really REALLYYY want!
I also really really really want to find a dream for myself. What's your dream? Catch the biggest fish in the world? Snort ice cream? Play poker with a polar bear? Eat tomatoes with sugar with the Littler Mermaid? Maybe it's something a bit simpler that that... whatever it is, I wish I had something too.
My dream has been to find a dream for a really long time.
I try not to think about, and hope that in time it will present it's self to me, but doing nothing, I feel that this non-existent dream of mine is disappearing.
Wow, I sound quite depressed don't I? I'm sorry if someone is actually reading this and thinks so, because I'm more along the lines of disappointed in myself then depressed about life.
Also, if you've taken the time to read about this, whatever time or place your at, why don't you tell me some of the things that are bothering you?
I actually really enjoy when people talk about themselves. Not in a bragging way, but in, this is my life, and I want you to know, type of way. I love it!
I'll continue to share my experiences, thoughts, and feelings with you all. My non-existent little friends.
I called you little! Haha, j/kkk! Idk how big or small you are! There, I feel a lot happier now, so you should let out whatever you're feeling too and know that...

The world is BEAUTIFUL! (Even if some people aren't! ;P)
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

Ohhh! BTW! Sorry I didn't say what I was going to use the biscotti for! You'll see in one of my next posts, sorry! I'll make sure to have it up later! I hopeee! ;)

Biscotti

Hello my fellow bloggers! Or nottt! So yesss, yesterday was my birthday, hello Sweet 16's. (Ew. Getting older by the second! Haha!) So yesterday I made some yummy Biscotti, a recipe I got from eat me, delicious, I'll post the link to her blog and recipe at the bottom as always. This time around, I was so concentrated, I totally forgot to take pictures of the whole process, so sorry about that guys! But I did manage to take some so they'll be posted bellow of course. I'll also include what I used in my biscotti and what I'm actually planning to use them for. ;)
(I had some for breakfast this morning if anyone cares! ;P)
By the way, my baking sheet thing, LOOKS DISGUSTING. It is washed though, it's just stained, just don't misunderstand that! I know, I'm sorry. But since I'm the only one, and maybe my mom and brother, who are eating off this, I can deal. I really hope to by a new and cleaner one soon, sorry for the nasty-ness of it! :(

From rolled log to... squashed log.

After the 30 minutes.

Choppin' them up!

Placing them on the board, and I didn't take a picture of the end result, because it's basically the same thing haha.

Ingredients:


2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powderpinch of salt
1 cup chopped almonds
2 oz semi-sweet chocolate
3 tablespoons original Cocoa
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a baking sheet, either cover in parchment paper, or just PAM it like me! Mix together the flour sugar, baking powder, salt, cocoa, almonds, and semi-sweet chocolate. Mix together wet ingredients; eggs, vanilla, and vegetable oil. I start of mixing with a big wooden spoon, then use my hands to roll the dough into a big chocolaty ball. Roll dough into two logs. spread out about 4 or 5 inches in width, and as for in length as you can. I use a bit of flour so that the dough doesn't stick all over. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F.
Remove biscotti from oven, I cut them in half, move them to a wooden board, and chop them up into about 1 inch strips, placing them back onto the baking sheet on their sides and bake for another 15 minutes. After the're done you can place them on cooling racks, but because I was in such a rush, I just turned off my over and left them there, I like my biscotti extra crunchy, so I wasn't worried about them being too hard for me.

Remember that those were the fillings I chose, but you can use whatever you want!
Check out eat me, delicious's blog!: ->
http://www.eatmedelicious.com/2008/07/any-way-you-want-it-biscotti.html

On my next post you'll see what I used these babies for! ;)

Happy baking everyone!