Baked Goods: In which I don't bake

So this new kitchen of ours is having an effect on me. I seem to be baking more than normal. Not so much cooking although I think a bit more of that too. But I'm loving these new bigger counters, photo worthy lighting, and organized cupboards.
I made chocolate chip cookies on Wednesday and apparently, those weren't enough for my dad.
He's not really into baked goods. He pretty much only likes chocolate chip cookies, melting moments, and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
And so on Tuesday- after having cleaned out our stash of cookies by like Friday- he needed something more. He even bought more milk to go with it. (He obviously was trying to hint at something when he put that extra gallon in the cart.)
I gave him the choice of cake or more cookies. I found it humorous the amount of time it took to decided. But he went with cake. But the thing is..... we do cake with a box mix..... and I didn't really feel that was blog worthy. And so I made No Bake Cookies.

I was going to make these earlier but used all the vanilla in the house for the chocolate chip cookies (actually we only 1 tsp. when I needed 2 but they still turned out fine and you couldn't really tell..... I don't know why I told you that but apparently that was important to the story.)

I know, I know. Seriously, who doesn't know how to make no bake cookies. ummmm so I basically just wanted to do another food blog. At least you get to see a small portion of the kitchen..... (By the way, we are getting closer and closer to being moved in. I'm planning an official photo shoot when that is done and then will post pictures. Patience, my friend.)
And there is kind of an art to making these. If you don't do it just right they won't sit right. They also don't like to harden on rainy days but it was a rainy day and these set just fine so maybe our theories are off. (But don't worry if they don't set. That never seems to be a problem in our house. Spoons work just fine.)

So here you go- a step by step method of no bake cookies.

Let the cook book open up to where ever it wants to. Inevitably, it will open to the page with no bake cookies. On the other side you will find the recipe to melting moments. We don't make either of these very often in our house. Opening to this page has nothing to do with the stained, wrinkled, ripped page, our cook book just likes this page naturally.....

I highly recommend listening to this song while baking. It will inspire you..... or get you so distracted by playing the air cello that you forget to cook at all......


Melt the butter and sugar
and milk in a medium pan
Measure out the oats in a separate bowl
The recipe says to put the coco in the pan with the milk, butter and sugar. We always mix it in with the oats.Stir oats and coco until oats are well coated.

Decide after you measure everything out that there is not enough and quickly double the batch. (You have to do this quickly because the butter and milk mixture is already melted and starting to boil)

Don't forget to also add more oats and coco to the bowl.

Let the sugar, butter, and milk mixture boil for one minute.

Add peanut butter
and vanilla (I was having issues with pouring vanilla and taking pictures so mom helped me out here. Don't look at the hands here. I promised mom that there wouldn't be any hands showing and as you can see, there is a bit showing. So don't look at them. K? K.)
Pause this process to quickly save your cake from burning in the oven.

It works best to use hot pads. Just saying.

Quickly go back to your peanut butter and mix it in well to melt it. (You really shouldn't leave it as you don't want to have peanut butter lumps in the mix which could happen if you don't mix it together quickly enough. And you mixture could start to harden. Don't follow my lead here.)

Pour over the oats and chocolate. (Yes, Aubrey, I had to go back and edit all of my "pooring". Sheesh. I love spell check.) Stir until all is evenly coated and there are no dry spots left.

Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper.

Eat with spoon while still hot...... oh, oops.... I mean... wait for it to cool completely before you eat half the batch.

And there you have it..... No Bake Cookies.... My version.

Loving chocolate,

Ti-Ti

Baring My Soul

*WARNING: THIS BLOG IS VERY LONG AND MAY CAUSE YOU TO CRY. IT IS BEST READ WITH A CUP OF COFFEE IN FRONT OF A FIREPLACE WITH THUNDER, LIGHTENING, RAIN, AND A GOOD CHUNK OF TIME.* (but you can read it anytime)
So maybe this isn't the purpose of a blog. But this is what I want the purpose of my blog to be. I want to be open and hopefully encourage someone's walk with God.
I've been slowly reading through Beth Moore's book, “So Long Insecurity.” Wow- There is so much of this book that is exactly where I am right now. It sometimes feels like she's writing out of my diary. I'm planning a book review about it.....maybe.....later..... if can convince myself it's not like school and that I still know how to write one.
But for now, she has this prayer in chapter 9 that went deep for me. It took great effort for me not to cry at work while I was reading it.
And so I copied it all down by hand. Hey, listen. I had two subjects in school that were by far my worst. Spelling and Penmanship. I had to deal with incorrect formation of letters, hand cramping, and well... who seriously wants to sit there and copy someone else's letters??? Copying this down wasn't so easy. I started at 1 o'clock and ended at 5:30 (finally something profitable to do at Tynan's that's not painting my nails.) I used 24 pages- more than half of a medium note pad, ran the ink out of 2 pens, and can't fully stretch my fingers out all the way even 2 days later. And then I typed this all out. Talk about repeatedly hitting the mark.
This will no doubt be one of the longest blogs to ever show up here. And perhaps the longest blog you have ever read (just be glad you aren't reading my hand written notes- that would take you 5 days, just in deciphering my scratches)
And so to the small handful of people that read this. Please sit it out and read the whole thing. It's pretty much my journal, diary, and heart all written out (and who knows- you might be in it.)


Dear God,
I come to You this moment because I need my dignity back. [This is what Beth feels we have lost in our battle with insecurity. You might have to read the book to fully understand what she means here, but for now, just go with the flow.] You alone know what insecurity has cost me, what trouble- even torment- it has caused me. You are intimately acquainted with every time it's made a fool of me. You know how hard I've fought to play the game, but You also know that in the aftermath I've been defeated. I'm sick of failing. I'm sick of sulking. I desperately need and want to be delivered from my chronic insecurity. I am ready to discover what it means to be truly secure. I am willing to do whatever it takes to be free and to allow You to do through me what I cannot do for myself. You are the all-powerful, all-knowing Maker of heaven and earth and the grand Weaver of every human soul. You alone know how we are made and who we're meant to be. I'm not asking for anything You're not willing to give me. You have not shortchanged me. I have shortchanged myself and allowed my culture to sell me short. You know the way I'm formed. You know what motivates me. You know what shuts me down. You know how driven I am by fear and how exhausted I am from surrendering to it, Lord. In the most hidden places, I am so afraid that I'll get stuck where I am. That I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. That there isn't a purpose for me to achieve.

Deliver me, Lord. You have not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. That's what scripture says. I claim each of those priceless traits as mine this day. Your desire is for me to be free of every unhealthy motivation. Reveal any place they reside uncontested in me and supply the courage I need to refuse to do their bidding. You have searched the deepest recesses of my heart and mind. I don't need to hide anything from You or act stronger or more together than I am. Help me to come before you with complete transparency, and grant me a supernatural confidence that I am safe with You and loved by You. I don't have to muster feeling I don't process or hang my head in defeat and shame. Because of Your grace, I can come to You just as I am. This is the way I would describe myself to You right now... _____ [At this point I have written another half page of description but you aren't God so I'm not going to describe myself to you right now. Lol But feel free to add your own thoughts here.] But Lord, You know me better than I know myself. You know why I think like I do and why I feel like I do. You know my every thought. My every disappointment. You know every ugly or ridiculous thing I've ever said or done out of insecurity. You see every fissure in my soul, and You look beyond the point of my failure to the depth of my need. As You reveal Yourself to me, I ask that You also mercifully reveal myself to me. Grant me insight into patterns I've developed, and give me answers that bring healing. Make me wholly unafraid of anything that I might see in myself in the light You provide. Help me to trust that You only shed light where You're willing to heal.

God, You know the complexities of my soul and that most of the time I can't even figure myself out. [He's probably the only one out there that can figure me out...] You know how I swing like a dizzy pendulum between self-loathing and self-exaltation. As I begin this prayer of restoration, I ask You, Lord, to help me take responsibility for the insecurity that is my own doing. My own fault. My own sin. I am painfully aware that I've created some of my own misery. I have tried to make a god of myself too many times, and it hasn't worked. It will never work. [This is common head knowledge to most of us..... but how many times do we verbally admit it? Heart knowledge.] In calling me to this time of confession, Your desire is my freedom, not my self-condemnation. So with confidence, I welcome the one and reject the other. With these things in mind hear my confessions... ________ [And no, this isn't like Catholic confessions and so I won't put mine here for all to see....besides- it's gets pretty personal after this anywho.] Please forgive me for my self-worship. For my relentless pursuit of control and for my futile attempts at doing your job. [She has obviously stopped by my blog recently] Forgive me for my foolish pride. Forgive me for nursing my ego until it grows so fat that everything touching it bruises it. Forgive me for my miserable self-absorption. Forgive me for the jealousy and covetousness that feeds my insecurity. Forgive me for turning too many things into competitions. [Umm... seriously. Does she know my family???] For being so fixated on what I don't have that I leave the gifts You've given me undeveloped and much less effective than You intended them to be. Forgive me for thinking pitifully little of the person You've made me. Forgive me for committing the flagrant sin of despising myself and considering myself inferior to others. Forgive me equally for every time I've sighed with relief at the thought that I might be superior after all. Forgive me for my unbelief. If I realized how valuable I am, my insatiable need for affirmation would be quenched. Forgive me for being such a perfectionist that I resist doing something good out of fear that it won't be great. Forgive me for the inordinate self-protection that has only managed to imprison me.

This very moment I receive Your lavish forgiveness and Your complete cleansing and in Your name, I release all the shame that has come from self-inflicted insecurity. From now on, Lord, and every day for the rest of my life, heighten my conviction until I'm instantly aware when insecurity is my own making. Help me recognize any form of pride or unbelief and to refuse it immediately. Now, Lord, I ask You to pull up the roots of insecurity that were not of my own doing, and usher in healing and restoration. You know every single place where instability has touched my life. You remember details that were long erased from my memory but are still inflicting insecurity. You know what first frightened me into believing that no one and nothing could be trusted and that I'm on my own out here in a very unsafe world. You know the rational origin of every irrational fear. You know where I developed a belief system based on the frailness of man instead of the bedrock of you. You have been with me every moment, even when I felt there was no one to take care of me. I give You my whole heart. Touch every broken and wounded place with your healing hand.

Lord, empower me to forgive those who have let me down, failed to protect me, or inflicted injury upon me. Help me to see them as needy, broken people in their own right, and Lord, where there is still life and opportunity, bring redemption to those relationships. Help me to understand the gravity of this juncture: that if I do not seek healing and wholeness, I will instead end up perpetuating the cycle of injury. Break the cycle with me, O Lord. Break the cycle with me.

Lord, come and treat my heart and soul where they have been shattered by loss. No one on earth can esteem the loss of something precious the way You can. You know the pain, You know the unbearable emptiness that can come with loss. [Perhaps like me you don't have a loss/death of a person that is effecting you this way. Thank God for that. But maybe, you can think as I was, of simpler things to “loose” such as comfort in the familiar, innocence, or even just the loss of a close friendship that has grown distant.] You recognize my attempt to fill the void with things that never suffice. You know how my feelings frighten me and how the enemy of my soul would have me believe that I will never be okay. Make a liar out of him, Lord, Do not let him win, do not let loss win. Be my gain, Lord. Flood my life with purpose and compassion. Be my strength in weakness. [You are probably feeling weak with how long this is and wondering if I'll be done before dinner.... hold on a bit longer, my friend.]

Please do not let me confuse healing with betrayal. Help me to see any place in my life where I'm hanging on to my grief or anger in an attempt to hang on to what I've lost. Grant me the gift of healthy grief that does not fight the pain or the process of healing. Lord, please help me to see where I have suffered a substantial loss that I've never regarded. Where I lost innocence, grant me integrity. Where I lost a relationship, grant me true intimacy. Where I lost a home, grant me an internal unshakable sense of belonging. Where I've held someone responsible for my loss, grant me the ability to forgive. Don't stop until You've made a miracle of me.

Lord, help me to learn how to hang on tight to You when my life is rocked by dramatic change. [umm...again.... this is getting kinda scary.] Empower me to trust You and not to panic or fight for control. Help me to stop confusing a change in my circumstances with a change in my security status. You are my security, O God. You are the one sure thing. When everything around me shakes, You are unshakable. Nothing has the propensity to reveal false gods to me like a sudden change in my circumstances. [Never thought of it quite like that, and oh how much easier it would be if I hadn't.] Help me to see them and surrender them instantaneously. Use change to provoke what needs changing in me, Lord, and to increase my appreciation of the only One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Lord, I now ask You to single out everything You entrusted to me as part of my physical and psychological makeup: personal limitations, my appearance, and my God-give disposition. You know what You were doing when you formed me in my mother's womb. Nothing is without purpose. Nothing has thrown off the plan. Every gift, challenge, and obstacle is meant to shape the specific destiny You ordained for me before time began. Your intent is to make a wonder out of me and show what You can do through me. You mean to increase the praise that comes to You because of my life. You want to defy the odds in order to make Yourself conspicuous in me. Please deliver me from self-pity and a life of excuses and rationalizations. And Lord, where I've otherwise lapsed into self-adoration and self-centerdness instead, help me to recognize my narcissism and no longer tolerate it. Of all things, please don't let it be said that I loved myself too much to fully love anybody else. Please don't let me gain the world but lose my soul.

Father, help me to see where I am overly sensitive and where I put too much pressure on relationships. Help me to see where I insist on making a situation all about me. I really want to change. Help me to quit saying, “This is the way I am,” and remind me that I am capable of tremendous transformation with you. Deliver me from insecurity in my relationships. Help me to cease being so easily wounded, but at the same time, keep me from growing hardened. Help me to resign my position as a game player and manipulator without resigning myself to a life of misuse. Help me to realize that it's pointless to demand that others love me more or love me better. Real affection cannot be coerced. I cannot put a human in charge of my security without setting him or her up for certain failure. Help me to stop using a person as my mirror and start seeing myself as You alone see me. Lord, even in the midst of all these requests, I thank You with my whole heart for working so diligently in my life. Yes, there have been people who have hurt me and have done a very poor job of taking Your place, but there have also been people who have shown me glimpses of You. Not perfect people, but genuine people. In particular I thank you for... [At this point I could stop and let you fill in the blanks as I have done with the others like this, but felt like it would be good to publicly thank some people in my life. Please don't take it badly if your name isn't mentioned. I tried to keep it fairly short and sweet and have so many people who have touched my life. Many of you in a small way that was big in my life. Thank you.] Dad- always being there to give hugs and surround me in his love. Mom- listening quietly when I'm blowing up and crying with me when I'm upset. Mike- giving me good advice and being willing to hear my poorly thought out arguments. Mindy- always caring about what's happening in my life and including me in hers (and for that “look” she sends my direction every once in a while- you know it ;)). Laura- hearing me complain about my life and never telling me the truth- that hers is much worse. Lol Rod- making me laugh every time he calls me Roseann and lets me call him Billy. Jenni- telling me in sisterly fashion when to “shut up” (oops mom) and then jabbering with me until 4 in the morning. Aubrey- giving me attack hugs just when I need them and following my ADD conversations. Stephanie- keeping my gaze on the Lord and turning it back there when it's strayed. AND SO MANY MORE!!! (Grandmom, Christy, Mrs. W., Kelli Colas, Danielle B., Christina, Katie, Mrs. Aardsma, Auntie Sharon, etc.).........

I thank You for all You have done to get me to this place and for the plan You have ahead for me. I come now, Lord, to the apex of my petition: please restore to my soul all that insecurity has stolen from me. Overturn every single thing the enemy meant for evil into something good. Perform a miracle on me, Lord. Cover me with Your trustworthy hand. Clothe me with strength and dignity. Transform what drives me. Quell what triggers me. Make me a courageous woman in this harrowing culture. One who refuses to be reduced and defined by the media. Help me to make conscious decisions about whether or not the cost of what they're selling is worth buying. Give me the discernment to call a lie a lie.

Make me the kind of woman a little girl could follow to dignity and security. I actively and deliberately receive- and vow to keep receiving- everything that I have requested in Your will this day. Let this statement reverberate into every corner of my life and invade the bone morrow of my belief systems. Today I receive my dignity back. No one can take it from me because You are the One who gave it. Help me to recognize that I've lost my dignity only because I have surrendered it. Empower me to claim it back and hang on to it with all my might. Because of Your mercy, Lord, I am no fool. Only a wise woman shifts her trust to You.

In Jesus' saving and delivering name, AMEN.

Whoosh- You made it. I hope this has touched you like it touched me. I don't think I'll be the same person after this book. I pray that I'm not. Please forgive my long blog and take pity on me for any misspellings, incorrect grammar, and missing or incorrect words. One can only proof read so many times.

Praying to become a courageous woman,


Ti-Ti

All credit for this prayer goes to Beth Moore (So Long Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us, pg. 165-174, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., copyright 2010). If anyone knows her, thank her for me.

Before the Break of Dawn

Why, yes, I am writing this on an air sick bag. I know that I always get the urge to blog/write when in an airport and I still failed to include notepaper in my Barbie-stuffed pursed and carry on.

'Twas quite the process getting here. First of all my flight is at 6:30...... A.M. If you know me at all, even if we are mere acquaintances, you have most likely been introduced to my aversion to mornings. My solution- stay up all night. Brilliant idea in theory but the execution could use a little work. So after hanging with Aubrey until 11:30 or so, I finally get to packing. Since Mike and Mindy's house is closer to the airport, I'm heading that direction- at 1:30a.m. Their house, of course, is dark so I tiptoe in....... which Mike and Mindy's house is strangle creaky. After fighting to stay awake in movie, I stop at a 7-Eleven for some much needed coffee and sugar.

And then the fun starts, I'm puttering steadily down the tollway and I even have no problem getting the some times sneaky airport exit. But you see- My parents left Friday at 12 and when I come home- most everybody else won't be back yet. So I must park my baby in a loverly parking lot. Eesh.....

Just FYI, for you in future, if you want to park your car- it's in the rental car exit place.

But if you want to miss that exit, slow down to 35 in a 65 to figure out where you are going, end up in the economy lot (which isn't that economical if you ask me), take a ticket and hope you don't have to pay, get lost in the parking lot and can't find the exit, finally get out and decide to try the rental car exit and hope they don't try to steal my baby as a rental car, find an arrow pointing to where I'm supposed to go, wander around in the boonies for a while and finally enter the right parking lot, then be my guest. I'm not even sure where I parked Vallin.

And so we finally get to the airport and my favorite- people watching.

-There is this nice, clean cut kid with the huge, expensive head phones. He's head banging it up and I'm about to do it with him, even though he's 7 people in front of me. Yeah, it's that loud.

- Sitting at my gate, there is at least 4 people curled up on the floor with their bags as pillows. This one guy is pretty far gone.... I know. I almost stepped on him and he didn't flinch.

- There's a bunny rabbit that wants to fly with me.... and yes, I'm flying Frontier but this is a real bunny rabbit.... I wonder if he has his own seat of if he has a lap seat.

- There's a group of Boy Scouts at the next gate over. It's kinda funny to see 15 year old boys dressed up in boy scout uniforms. One of the sponsors has decided that shoes are overrated and thinks that he should demonstrate his taekwondo moves to the young impressionable boys.

- The flight attendant is on the verge of being hilarious... at least for this early in the morning. "Make sure that your purse and man bags are completely under the seat in front of you." "You pull up to release your seat belt like this and- whala..." In a very annoncerish voice, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls...... we.... have.... arrived."

After getting my suitcases, I waited around for about 45 minutes as "my ride" got a bit lost in Milwaukee. Actually it's not really her fault. There is a ton of construction and detours there.

And so the craziness of the wedding begins........ with craziness.

Wishing I could sleep for 20 hours,

Ti-Ti

Betrothal: Jenni ♥ Lance

So I went to visit Jenni at the end of May because I love Wisconsin so much. Ha.


Actually I love my sister so much so I went for a super fast wedding planning/ engagement photo shoot.


Life was crazy.
1-She was trying to move (she had to be out of her apartment by the 1st of June). I love her but she's a pack rat. I don't know how she fit all of that into the little apartment. At least her couch was super comfy.

2- She was dealing with medicine that was making her sick- like really sick.

3- She wanted to do everything with me. Go everywhere. Plan everything. See everything. Discuss everything.

4- We were trying to squeeze in a nice length photoshoot in between rain, wind, eating, Lance's work schedule, my limited number of days, outfit changes, sleeping, light, muddy ground, eating, headaches, wedding dress shopping, eating, registering, and Jenni's crashing.

5- All the wedding dress shops were in Delafield or Milwaukee area.

6- The medicine makes her hungry. And if she doesn't eat, well, you'd better watch your toes. Or your fingers. Or pretty much anything you don't want her to eat.



But when it came down to it, we managed to get quite a few nice pictures.

I get a kick of telling non-photographer people that I took roughly 800 photos in all. *giggles*


And hopefully I helped Jenni feel a bit less stress and slightly accomplished. We did find the wedding dress. Do you wanna see the dress?

Here it is........











Really??? You actually thought I was going to post a pic of the dress? Ha. You'll just have to come to wedding or see the aftermath pictures.

Until then- you can look at the engagement photos.

They were so cute I could throw up.


Definitely need a bucket over here.



I think if she smiles any bigger her face just might crack.


Awww...

Proof that Lance is a goofball. Not as bad as Jenni but maybe he can hold his own.

And this is why I should get an assistant to help. I barely had a hand for my camera.


(yes, that is Lance's bribe for sitting still and smiling- donuts. And believe it or not- they actually worked....... *ideas for future shoots*)

There are lots more photos but I promised I wouldn't put all of them up so you'll just have to wait to see the rest when Jenni posts them on Facebook. :)

I loved having the practice of an engagement shoot, even if it was kinda weird to be doing my sister. Bring on the engagement shoots!!!! I've got lots of free time now!!!




Standing by for *your* photoshoot,


Ti-Ti

Brainstorming: Change

Why is it I keep coming across things that are telling me to change? To get out of my comfort zone?
I can't even read a christian novel without coming across “Sometimes, to get God's very best, we have to let go of the mediocre we hold to so tightly.” And then I think of the song by Brandon Heath about trust. There's a line that says “It’s never easy changing my direction, It’s so unnatural to loosen up my grip."

I'm not a person that likes change. Who does, right? For those of you that know me you would never think that I'm quiet. That's because you know me. (That sounded redundant) I take about a month or more to get comfortable with people. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule. At Tynan's, I'm known as the “quiet girl.” They are constantly walking by my desk and telling me to “keep it down over here” or “I don't even want to hear it. Keep it quiet.” It's because everything and everyone is constantly changing there. I feel as though I'm getting close to being comfortable enough to poke my head out of my waxed-shinny-hard-as-a-rock turtle shell (I wax my shell with turtle wax- “made FOR turtles, not FROM turtles.” Direct quote from Crush. Of course, most of you didn't know Crush ever said that because I talked to Crush personally. Ha, so there. Be jealous......Sorry, I digress). As soon as my head comes out, the people inevitably change and back I go. I hate change.

And yet- in Beth Moore's book, So Long Insecurities, it feels like she's writing down exactly how I feel. “Maybe I just get bored easily. I'm forever wanting to go someplace with God. I forget that in order to really want to go, something has to happen to make me want to leave where I am.” (I like this book- I'm only on page 12 and already I've found a few epic quotes.) Again, if you know me you know that I'm ADD and like my brother, I can't sit still. I'm like that with God. I want to keep moving and growing. I hate it when I feel like I'm still in the same place I was a month ago or even a week ago. I feel like I'm such a contradiction. I can't stand change and yet I can't stand still. (I'm a mess people. I don't even know if I'm coming or going. :))

Maybe God created me to have a feeling of discontent to keep me moving, but a fear of change to keep me leaning.

Remember that post a while ago about my sister praying for change in my life? Ever since then it feels like my life has become like a messy peach upside down cake- but not half as sweet. Don't tell her this, but I'm actually kinda glad she's been praying that. (No, seriously, don't tell her, because I'm still sending her a bill for all these so called “changes.” If she's gonna pray like that she has to except the consequences.) I can already tell that God is using these changes in my life for good.

But I'm still holding on tight like a kid- kicking and screaming as his mother pulls him off the merry-go-round. Like the previously mentioned song said- It's hard to me to open up my hands and let things go. It makes me feel venerable and bereft. But, with the risk of making this whole blog simply quotes (sounds like what I did in school to fill up my papers with fluff), in Matthew West's song Strong Enough, he says “Maybe that's the point, to reach the point of giving up. Cause when I'm at rock bottom, well, that's when I start looking up and reaching out.” And the one thing that I can keep my hands gripped firmly around, is the thought that “You are God and you are strong, and I don't have to be, strong enough.”


Living life with open hands,

Ti-Ti

Because

Because I'm weird. Because I love puppy chow. Because I felt the need to have a photoshoot and didn't know what to shoot. Because I read too much Pioneer Woman Blogs. Because I haven't really tried doing food photography. Because I love puppy chow. Because I'm insane in the head to do this when we don't really have a kitchen. Because I'm even more insane in the head to do this under the influence of latex. Because I needed a new blog. Because there is a thousand other things I should be doing but am avoiding. Because I love photography. Because my Aunt thought I was literally eating dog food when I said I love puppy chow. Because I'm crazy.

But ultimately it comes down to this- because I love puppy chow and photography.

So here it is. My own attempt at a food blog.

I would normally start with the putting on of an apron on but ummmm well...... they're somewhere.... else right now so bring on the mess!!!

Thank goodness I know where to find the chex mix, peanut butter, and chocolate chips..... now where did I put the powered sugar and vanilla??? And where in the world is my glass bowl- created specifically for puppy chow??? Okay, so it's not created specifically for puppy chow... but it's awesome!


First rule of thumb in making puppy chow: ALWAYS, always, always double the batch. Don't start it if you can't make 2 batches. It's not worth it. You just get into the groove of chowing when you discover that the bowl is empty. And then you cry. And blame your mother for not getting enough chex. And feel awful that you did that. Then apologize. Then cry again as you rock and lick out the bowl.


And by doubling the batch, maybe, just maybe you will feel like you might have enough to share with your family and friends. But probably not.


Second thing you must do is invite your friend Aubrey over to help you cook. If you don't have a friend named Aubrey, you live a very sad, depressed life void of ADD-ness.

Thirdly, you make sure you actually have a recipe for Puppy Chow. If not, print it off the computer, realize that you're not connected to the printer after your computer's memory got wiped, write it on a JCPenney receipt and then discover that it's on the box the whole time. This takes approximately 10 minutes.

Measure out a heaping bowl of chex mix. I prefer the rice or corn chex. Wheat is too thick and takes away from the light fluffyness of the powder sugar. Besides, it would probably be too healthy anyways.

Combine chocolate chips,

peanut butter and butter in microwave safe dish.

(Do they even make un-microwavable dishes anymore??? Maybe fancy dishes.... but why in the world would you put chocolate and peanut butter in a fancy dish...and then stick it in the microwave???? Ignore me.)

After a minute in the microwave, add the vanilla. I once accidentally forgot the vanilla. The whole bowl just seemed off. Like it was missing it's best friend. Like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the jelly. Like coffee without the creamer. Like Gilligan without the Skipper. Like Tiffany without her camera. Like a computer without internet connection. Like a person without a friend named Aubrey. Like Puppy Chow without vanilla. And it's really hard to add once you mix the chocolate with the cereal. I don't recommend that method. So don't forget the vanilla......

Pour the chocolate/peanut butter mix over the chex, making sure you refrain from licking your fingers..... yet.

Mix until evenly coated.
(And why did I think a messy dish like this would be good to photograph while I made it????)

Scoop into zip lock bags.

Pour in powder sugar. Don't follow a recipe for this. Just pour to your hearts content. I like mine with lots and lots of sugar....

Now comes the fun part....
1- Lick your fingers.
2- Lick the bowl.
3- Watch Aubrey lick the spoon.

Next- shake up the plastic bags.... good and hard. I find it pretty stress relieving.

Pour back into the cereal bowl- you can wash it out or just pour it all back in..... I'm for the easier version of not washing. It's just going to get dirty again with the same stuff....

And then the best part. Eat it down so you can close the lid. You must have a lid. How else will you be able to hide the puppy chow sufficiently???

And there you have it. My perfected method of puppy chow making.

Now please excuse me. I have..... a job..... I must complete.

Possessively hugging a bowl,

Ti-Ti