Day 100: Eggs Benedict Via Annie

Yield: 1 Person
Time (Start to Finish): 25 min

Ingredients:
1 bottom English muffin
¼ avocado
1 slice red potato
½ string cheese
Hollandaise sauce
1 egg
oil spray
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook the potato until it is soft through. You want a center cut of potato so that is fits on half of an English muffin. When it is done, set aside.
2. Take the English muffin and toast until it is almost toasted through. Add the cheese on top and put it back in the toaster oven so the cheese melts
3. On a skillet, cook the egg over easy with salt, pepper, and the cooking spray so that it doesn’t stick
4. Take the English muffin with the cheese, put the potato slice on top, add the avocado. I like to smash the avocado up instead of adding slices
5. Put the egg on top and top with a little salt and pepper. Then add the hollandaise sauce. I didn’t add an amount because everyone likes different amounts. Serve and enjoy!

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: This was pretty wicked, I am not going to lie. I was just going to make some avocado potato thing in the morning, but instead this came out of nowhere and it was killer! I would have added bacon if I had thought of it, but then I think it would have been too amazing and I would have had to stay home all day and just keep making them over and over and eating them over and over. It is so tasty, and you can poach the egg if you like, but doing it over easy is not a bad substitute. Wake up your significant other with this and you will have them hooked for life.

Day 99: Breaky English Muffin

Yield: 1 person
Time (Start to Finish): 25 min

Ingredients:
1 english muffin
drizzle honey
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1/8 cup dried cranberries
1/8 cup toasted walnuts

Directions:
1. Toast the walnuts on the stove until you start to smell the nuts. Usually takes about 3 minutes. Chop them up
2. Toast the English muffin to your liking
3. Spread on the peanut butter, drizzle with honey, and top with cranberries and walnuts.

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: This is a nice quick breakfast or snack. Lots of protein and it sticks with you for a good long time, so its nice to eat as a break from a busy day. I know its pretty simple, but it really is tasty and really good for you. You must try it out. Try not to get the dried cranberries that are soaked in orange juice. Those are just gross. Enjoy guys!

Day 98: Pan Fried Potatoes

Yield: 2 servings
Time (Start to Finish): 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 med red potato
1 cap red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp white wine
salt and pepper
¼ cup Italian parsley
1 lime, juiced

Directions:
1. Cut the potato into small pieces
2. Place in a skillet with a little water and let boil for a few seconds
3. Add the wine, vinegar, salt and pepper
4. When they begin to brown, add half of the lime and cook until they are browned
5. Add the rest of the lime and when it is almost cooked off, add the parsley

Rating: 3 strawberries
Notes: These were nice and felt like a german style potato, but I didn’t cook them long enough. The flavor was there, but the texture was a little off. I would serve them with some meat or at breakfast. They are good, just not super exciting. If you don’t cook them though, they wont turn out ok.

Day 97: Gingersnap Ice Cream Sandwiches

Yield: 40 cookies, 20 sandwiches
Time (Start to Finish): 1 hour

Ingredients:
¾ cup shortening
1 cup sugar (+sugar for rolling cookies)
1 egg
¼ molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp powdered ginger
1 tsp cinnamon (+ ½ tsp for rolling)

1 pint vanilla ice cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a bowl, or mixer, mix shortening and sugar
3. When creamy add egg, then molasses
4. Mix the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon seperatly and then add to the mixture and mix until smooth. Dough will be a little wet.
5. In a separate shallow bowl, put about ½ cup sugar with ½ tsp cinnamon
6. Roll dough into 1 inch balls with your hand, roll in the sugar mixture, and then place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Flatten a tad.
7. Bake for about 20 min until they crackle on top and are cooked through
8. Let cool and then place in the freezer and chill.
9. Take the ice cream out of the freezer and let soften
10. Take 2 cookie and about a Tbsp of ice cream to make a sandwich. You can add more or less ice cream, and then put in the freezer again. Serve and enjoy!

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: This is my aunt Paula’s cookie recipe with my twist into making them sandwiches. They are WONDERFUL! You can add any kind of ice cream you like, but I think vanilla makes the cookies really stand out. I also used ben and jerry’s vanilla for the center, which was perfect. You must try these, and the gingersnaps are soft and perfect for holiday cooking. Paula would love that I made these!

Day 96: Grilled Cheese with apples and avocado

Yield: 1 person
Time (Start to Finish): 15 min

Ingredients:
2 slices wonder bread
2 slices craft singles
¼ avocado
¼ granny smith apple
1 Tbsp soft butter

Directions:
1. Heat a grill pan to med heat
2. Take the bread and spread the butter on one side of each
3. Slice the apple and the avocado thin
4. On one of the bread slices, the unbuttered side, but a slice of the cheese, then the avocado, the apple and the other slice of cheese on top. Then the top slice of bread.
5. Place on the grill and when it is brown, flip it. The cheese being on the outsides should make the apple and avocado stick.

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: This is really quick and easy. I stayed at the folks house and this is what we had in it. It is also a nice comfort meal. Ate it for lunch after a long day. It was so colorful and yummy, and nothing feels like a kid like wonder bread and craft singles. My mom cooked a LOT growing up, but things like this were a treat, so we remember them. Enjoy it guys

Day 95: Coconut Chocolate Macaroons

Yield: 16 cookies
Time (Start to Finish): 45 min

Ingredients:
2 egg whites
½ cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
¼ tsp vanilla (or almond extract)
¼ cup flour
1 ½ cup shredded coconut
48 chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. In a pot on the stove over med heat, heat up the eggs, sugar and salt. Make sure to stay with it and keep stirring so the eggs don’t cook and just heat until heated through.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and chill in the fridge until cool to the touch
4. Make a 1 inch ball out of the batter. The batter will be sticky. I used a small ice cream scoop, but a spoon will be fine, and put in the center 3 chocolate chips. Place on a cookie sheet. They wont spread
5. Bake for 15 min until they aren’t shiny and a little brown on the bottom. Don’t over bake or they will be dry and hard to eat. Enjoy!

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: My mom has been craving macaroons, and I was going to visit her, so I thought, what better than to make her favorite cookie! I would for sure add more chocolate to the centers if you want a real bang, but otherwise, these turned out perfect. You don’t want them too brown on the outside or they will be way to dry, so watch them, and watch out, these are so yummy!

Day 94: Sweet and Spicy Walnuts

Yield: 1 cup nuts
Time (Start to Finish): 20 min

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp butter
¾ tsp cinnamon
¾ tsp cayenne
` 1 cup walnuts

Directions:
1. In a skillet on the stove over med heat, mix all ingredients until you smell the nuts and the brown sugar and butter have stuck to the nuts and aren’t super greasy anymore
2. Feel free to add more cayenne or cinnamon if it isn’t spicy enough, but I like it when you get hit in the back of the throat with the spice, not right away

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: These flew into my mouth and I ate them so fast! They are incredible, and great to throw into bowls around the house during a party. That is how I invented them. They are perfect, but I just put them on the kitchen table for the roomies, but they were gone in no time. Try them out, and even with different nuts. You can leave out the spice, you can throw them on a salad, and they are just to die for!

Day 93: Alley-Pop’s Birthday Cake

Yield: 1 9inch cake
Time (Start to Finish): 4 hours

Ingredients:
Yellow Cake:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup softened butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
¼ +1/8 cup whipping cream
Chocolate Cake:
¾ cup flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup softened butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
¼ +1/8 cup whipping cream

1 quart mint chip ice cream

Chocolate Frosting
¾ cup cocoa powder, sifted
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup whipping cream (maybe more)

Directions:
1. This is the same for both cakes. Make them seperatly
2. Preheat oven to 350 and get a deep 8 by 11 pan. Deep enough for a layer of cake and one of ice cream and one of frosting.
3. Mix the butter and sugar until smooth, then add eggs, vanilla and mix again, scraping bowl. Then mix the salt, flour, (cocoa when making chocolate cake), baking powder. Alternate with the whipping cream. When everything is mixed together, make sure smooth
4. Spread the vanilla cake on the bottom of the pan, then add the chocolate cake on top, mix with a fork so it is marbled and bake until a knife comes out clean. Should be about 25-30 min
5. Take the cake, and when cool, feel free to cut off the bump in the middle so the cake is level, but put in the freezer so it is super chilled
6. Take the ice cream out and slice it and lay the slices on top of the cake. Don’t forget, feel free to cut the box the ice cream comes in, you wont be using it again! Smooth with your hand or with a knife until it is an even layer. There still should be about an inch of space on the top of the pan for the icing. Put back in the freezer
7. Frosting: make sure all the ingredients are room temp.
8. Add the cocoa, powdered sugar, BOTH SIFTED, butter, vanilla, and a little of the whipping cream and mix until smooth. If it is too thick, add more cream until it is spreadable.
9. Take the cake out of the freezer and spread the frosting evenly on top. Cover and put back in the freezer. Feel free to write happy birthday on it!! Enjoy!

Rating: 4.5 strawberries
Notes: The cake was PERFECT for this, but I think more ice cream next time for sure. It travels well as long as you get a lid with your pan, and it fed a ton of people! It was a success! Alley asked for this cake because she didn’t have an ice cream cake growing up, so, here it is! It worked, with left over, and it tasted amazing. I also didn’t even out the cake so it wasn’t as pretty as I would have liked, but that’s ok, the taste is what matters! Happy birthday Alley!!

Month 3

Annie’s Current Weight: 131
Pleasures: This month had Halloween, caramels, friends in town, travels to Portland, handball tourneys, all sorts of craziness!! I even lost weight! Whats that about?? It was a great month and things turned out well. Only a few things I didn’t like so much, but I challenged myself, stuck to the plans I had, and handed out a TON of business cards!
Pains: There were a few days where I slacked, but I always cooked something, but I know I could have done better. I made a lot of things with pumpkin, and I feel like I challenged myself, but I STILL didn’t do any themed weeks or anything like that.
Promises: November I think will offer a lot of holiday cooking, cakes, pies, cookies, and a lot of homey winter/fall things. I promise to cook things that challenge me more, and try to go out on a few limbs and even really mess something up sometime!
Ponders: October is a fun month and I really feel fall in the air, so thanks to all of those to helped, aka, Meghan and the roomies, and everyone who gave ideas and support.

Day 92: Pumpkin Icing

Yield: 2 cups frosting
Time (Start to Finish): 15 min

Ingredients:
¼ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup cream cheese
2-3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Make sure ingredients are sifted and softened
2. Mix with a fork until smooth. You can add a splash of milk if it is too thick or more powdered sugar if it is too thin.
3. Enjoy!

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: so, I didn’t have anything to put this on, but I think a nice yellow cupcake or a spice cake would be wonderful. I docked it a little bit because I think the adding of vanilla made it taste less like pumpkin than I wanted, but it is still a delicious icing. Happy Halloween!!! This was out of the table while we had us a Halloween party, and it was nice to see a few people took nibbles out of the bowl. It was also something that was quick so I could get back to getting into my Ginger for Gilligan’s Island costume! Have a good holiday!!

Day 91: Glazed Carrots

Yield: 2 servings
Time (Start to Finish): 30 min

Ingredients:
1 cup (8 oz) carrots
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 lemon, zested
pinch salt
1 Tbsp butter

Directions:
1. In a sauce pot, add the brown sugar, nutmeg, lemon zest, salt and butter
2. Add the carrots and put on med high heat
3. Let it reach a boil and cook until soft, about 20 min
4. Strain and serve. You can reduce the sauce if you like and pour it on top. You can also add a squeeze of the lemon juice

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: This is a very fall side dish. You can serve it if you are making a thanksgiving meal or anything wish gravy and deliciousness. I just ate them alone for dinner. They really took no time and are a one pot wonder, so clean up is easy, and you can just throw them on and cook other things. You can add different root veggies too like sweet potato and it will taste wonderful

Day 90: Pumpkin Waffles

Yield: 2 waffles
Time (Start to Finish): 40 min

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/8 cup brown sugar
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
¾ cup half and half
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp soft cream cheese
¼ cup pumpkin puree

Directions:
1. Preheat the waffle iron
2. With a whisk mix the pumpkin, sugar, cream cheese, butter together
3. Add the dry ingredients, and then the half and half and mix until smooth. Then add the butter
4. Cook in the waffle iron until the temperature you like. I like mine a little crispy so I leave it in for longer.
5. Enjoy with syrup, butter, or cream cheese on top!

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: ok, so I forgot the egg when I cooked them!! Normally you would add an egg to this, but I didn’t, and they still worked out great. I looked over on the counter after I put the first one in and saw the egg sitting there. Lame! But, they still worked out great, so, you can leave it out or put it in if you like. This was so so yummy, and day 90! I am doing so well! I ate both waffles super quick, and they really took no time to make. Enjoy egg free or full of egg!

Day 89: Persimmon Ginger Blood Orange Drink

Yield: 1 serving
Time (Start to Finish): 15 min

Ingredients:
4 blood oranges
½ persimmon
1 Tbsp fresh ginger
½ lemon
pinch salt

Directions:
1. Squeeze the oranges and the lemon into a food processor or a blender
2. Peel and chop the ginger and persimmon into small pieces and put in the blender too.
3. Add the pinch of salt and blend until smooth.
4. Pour into a glass and enjoy for a morning boost! You can also strain it if you like

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: First of all, this would be much better with a shot of vodka or some type of liquor. And also, its quite a bit gingery, so if you don’t like it so much, maybe add less. It was really a terrific way to start the day. Very refreshing. You can add ice to make a smoothie. This is pretty great, and id never really eaten persimmons before, they are great! Christina’s friend Mike brought them over from his grandmothers backyard. They were phenomenal. Enjoy guys!

Day 88: Mini Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Yield: 4 dozen
Time (Start to Finish): 45 min

Ingredients:
8 oz pumpkin puree
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 ½ cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp ginger

1 cup dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. In a bowl, mix the pumpkin, eggs, vege oil, sugar and water
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger
4. Mix the 2 together with a whisk until smooth. Try not to over mix
5. Grease mini muffin tins, and feel free to line with little papers if you like.
6. Fill each muffin about half way with batter
7. Sprinkle the dried cranberries on top of each muffin. About 5 per mini muffin. You can mix them in, but I like them on top in case people want to pick them off.
8. Bake for 15-20 min until they are springy

Rating: 4 strawberries
Notes: These were so cute and yummy! My roomie took them to a baby shower which is think is perfect, and they are a great little 2 bite to hold you over until breakfast. I put cream cheese on them in the morning, which was a perfect little topper. You can make regular sized muffins, or even a loaf of it. I have been using a lot of pumpkin lately, and am not yet tired of it, so I hope you are enjoying pumpkin mania 2009!