Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!

I don't know if I've ever mentioned to you guys the 12 Days of Cookies newsletter that Food Network does every year or hell maybe you've already heard about it yourself. But anyway, it's that time of year again and I just wanted to share the link with you all.

I love receiving a new cookie recipe in my inbox everyday. I have a ton that I've saved from previous years... hey, I'll never run out of cookie recipes. :P

If you want to get the newsletter just click on the link below and on the right hand side of the site there's a box where you can enter your email so that you can get the recipes in your inbox. Have fun with the recipes and if you try one let me know! :D

12 days of Cookies

Gila Ridge Cheerleading Coach/Spyder

I'm sure many of you have heard all the commotion about the cheerleader coach having been in adult movies under the name Tiffany Price.  Frankly, I don't see how that has anything to do with her job as a coach & I wouldn't be concerned about her past. She hasn't broken any rules or done anything illegal & the fact that she has gone through all that would make her want to keep those cheerleaders protected rather than trying to convince them to join that lifestyle.

Well, I read in the paper that she appeared on America's Most Wanted for an episode on sex trafficking in the U.S. What caught my attention was the fact that she was trafficked by a guy named Spyder.  It made me wonder if it's the same Spyder hanging out in the Foothills area which the Sherriff Dept. has come to know as a "child molestation sex offender".  If that's the only label this guy has on him, I think parents & people here need to be aware of the fact that this guy is DANGEROUS!

Firecracker Green Beans

Here's a recipe that we've had many times before. We absolutely love it! However, this is our 1st year actually making it ourselves! So excited!  :)

• 1 lb. Fresh Green Beans, ends pinched off. Use either the whole green bean, or snap in 1/2.
• 1/2 cup to 1 cup diced onion
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
• Salt
• 2-3 strips of bacon

Fry the bacon, and reserve a tablespoon of grease to quickly stir fry (on high) the above ingredients. Do not overcook beans. They should be crisp.

You can also toss all the ingredients except bacon in a large pot, and boil for about 5 minutes, and drain the mixture. Don't use a colander with very large holes. You'll lose all the goodies. (If you use this method, fry the bacon, and set aside) Add bacon after.

Some Thanksgiving favs...

Sorry for not posting yesterday; family is here and so I didn't get a chance. Anyway, I have some Thanksgiving recipes to share with you all.

1) Alton Brown's Good Eats Roast Turkey- Holy hell this is an awesome recipe! Seriously! I've been using it for the last four years to prepare my turkey. I change up a few ingredients to vary the turkey each year, but keep the basics of the recipe.

You know how sometimes you cook a turkey and no matter how much basting you did it still came out sorta of dry? I remember my mom's turkey was sometimes like that. But then one year when she was like, "Nah, I don't feel like making Thanksgiving dinner." I was like, "WTH!?! We always celebrate Thanksgiving!" So, of course I took it upon myself to cook the entire dinner and with the help of the booger we have been doing this for the last couple of years.

So, now we always use Alton's turkey recipe. The first time I used it I didn't think it was gonna make a huge difference or that the turkey was gonna be super moist or anything. I thought it would be a small change, but you wouldn't freaken believe the difference! It was super moist and the left overs were freaken delicious!

The recipe takes a bit of work though because you have prep and brine overnight, but trust me it's way worth it. As Alton would say, "Your patience will be rewarded." So, if you don't have a recipe for your turkey yet I highly suggest this one. And if you don't believe me on how awesome the recipe is just go onto the original recipe on the Food Network site and read the hundreds of comments.

Side note: This recipe has been the number one recipe on the Food Network site for the past six years. How about them apples??? :P

Good Eats: Romancing the Bird -Playlist - For a more visual example here's the episode of Good Eats where Alton uses the recipe. It's the whole episode so if you want to skip background information (e.g. What the pilgrims and Native Americans ate at the first Thanksgiving) then skip to video two at around 6:50 in to start the recipe.

Alton Brown's Good Eats Roast Turkey

Ingredients

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage
• Canola oil

Directions

Click here to see how it's done.

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skinliberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

Sorry for the crappy pic. I used my phone
for the picture since it's from a recipe book.

2) Philadelphia 3-Step Midwest Cheesecake- Easiest cheesecake recipe ever and it's pretty darn good too! The recipes calls for whole strawberries to put on the cake, but unless all your strawberries are of the same size it's gonna look funky. I usually just slice my strawberries long wise and place them on the cake from the inside out; it makes a pretty flower looking design. 

Philadelphia 3-Step Midwest Cheesecake

Prep Time- 10 minutes Bake Time - 40 minutes Makes 8 servings 

2 Packages (8 ounces each) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened 

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

2 eggs

1 ready-to-use graham cracker crumb crust (6 ounces or 9 inch)

1/2 cup sour cream

3 cups whole strawberries, stems removed 

2 tablespoons strawberry jelly, heated

Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs; mix until blended. 

Pour into crust. 

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Spread sour cream over cheese cake. Top with strawberries, stem side down. Drizzle with jelly. 

I also have an apple pie recipe with a crunchy crumb top somewhere but I have to find it. I'll update once I find it. :) If you guys have some cool recipes it would cool if you shared them too. I'd share my mom's stuffing recipe if I knew how she made it. It's one of my favorite dishes, but she's the only one who makes it. Perhaps I'll get it out of her. :P

  

For the non-fanboys/girls

Repost from my personal blog
______________________________________________________________

So, I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on midnight the day it came out and of course I loved it. What can I say I'm a nerdy HP fangirl. :P Anyway, for those of you who aren't quite as crazy about HP like me and are gonna watch the new movie, may I suggest a refresher "course"? 

I have heard from a few people who didn't read the books and have only watched the previous movies that they were somewhat confused at the beginning of the new movie. Well, fret not my friends (wow that was nerdy) I have found you a quick five minute crash course. Check it out below and I hope you enjoy the new movie. 

Peace off! 

Can do Better?

There's a new dating site called Can Do Better, where you post a picture of yourself & your wannabe date online & strangers get to rate "she can do better" or "he can do better" or "perfect match"  Is that weird or is it just me? What if your potential date finds it online & doesn't even know u've been stalking him or her? lol

Working Women & Heart Attacks

A study shows that women with stressful jobs are more likely to suffer heart attacks & strokes than those with less stressful jobs.  Makes perfect sense? Sure! But how do you keep from getting too stressed out?
The article says:

Doctors should ask about stress along with traditional heart risk factors like smoking and blood pressure, Albert said. "We need to start taking that seriously."

 She has these tips for workers:

•  Exercise. It clears the mind, lifts the mood and curbs other heart risks, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.
• Limit bringing work home.
• Get a life. Do things with friends, whether they're folks you work with or not.
• Build "me time" into every day. "It can be as little as 10 or 15 minutes to meditate, pray or take a walk," Albert said.

Prince William getting married!

Ok so for a long time coming now, we've known this would happen. However, am I the only person that doesn't like this girl for him?

I don't even really know much about her but seeing some of the pictures of the 2 of them together makes me wince.

All I can say is, if he's happy, great for him!   :)   Congratulations & hope you have a long, happy marriage!

Kissing Allergies

When I first read this article, I thought well duh! of course kissing someone after eating a food they're allergic to will give them an allergic reaction.  However, as I read more, I realized that even brushing your teeth doesn't help the issue. So why not let you all know about it since it can be a life vs death situation. ;)

Its totally not my day but......

Hi Ladies and Gents!

Ok so I know that it is not my blogging day BUT I came across some pretty cool piece of information and I thought I would share.

One of my professors from NAU-Yuma wrote a book and has now released it. It is called "The Formula: Transform your dreams into reality." It is one of these motivational books that give you a happy fuzzy feeling and give you hope that dreams can come true. :)

I have not yet read it but I have heard pretty good stuff from some fellow classmates that have read the book. My professor Dr. Barcomb is fantastic by the way I really loved the way she lectured and really brought life to everything in class.

For the cool news is that she will be having a book signing at Barnes and Noble on November 20, 2010 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. If you are interested breeze on by there.

Here's a link to the website:
https://sites.google.com/a/theformulasite.com/home/home
or
just go to: www.theformulasite.com

Namaste,
Steph

HP Sountrack

By on Amazon: Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows Part One

I don't know if you guys are those type of people who actually buy the soundtrack to movies, but I'm one of them. Ya, I'm talking about the orchestra type of background music in the movies, LOL. I know it's kinda weird but if  you think about it all movies would suck without music added to them. The music just helps the viewer develop the exact emotion that is trying to be conveyed by a scene. And I for one think that aspect is awesome and thus why I buy the music from some movies.

Anyway, AOL Music posted the soundtrack to the new Harry Potter movie that comes out this Friday. If you want to have a listen click on the link:

AOL Music: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Soundtrack

Make sure to turn up the volume because some songs start off really low. I haven't finished listening to the whole thing so I'll refrain from commenting on the emotional ride I'm going through. I hope it's good being that it is the second to the last movie! :P It's a different composer than the rest of the movies so we'll see how that goes.

PS. Who's all going to the midnight showing? I know Steph and I are going to the one at Harkins. If you're going you should come sit with us so we can all geek out together! :P

Uh...

And that's how mermaids are made???? I think I'd be laughing and shit scared at the same time if this happened to me. No means no Mr. Dolphin! 

She definitely needs a rape whistle! 

Never Been Kissed

Did you guys watch this week's Glee episode? :O was my reaction a few times. LOL. Check it out below if you haven't watched it yet and let me know what you thought. :)

PS. I liked the whole never been kissed thing. I know how that goes.

Censorship

Censoring the interwebz, who the hell do they think they are are???  Burma? China? Cuba? Egypt? Iran? North Korea? Saudi Arabia? Syria? Tunisia? Turkmenistan? Uzbekistan? Vietnam? 

Ya, those are all the countries that censor the web. I don't know about you, but I don't want the U.S. to be on that list. But it looks like "they're bringing back the Internet blacklist bill for a vote on Thursday. 


Remember, this bill--in blatant violation of the Constitution--would let the Attorney General create a blacklist of websites that every American ISP would be required to block. Wikileaks, YouTube, and others are all at risk. Human rights advocates, constitutional law experts, and the people who invented the Internet have all spoken out against this bill -- but some of the most powerful industries in the country are demanding that Congress rush it through. The music industry is even having all of their employees call Congress to pose as citizens in support of the bill."


"We all use the web now for all kinds of parts our lives, some trivial, some critical to our life as part of a social world," says Tim Berners- creator of the Web. "In the spirit going back to Magna Carta, we require a principle that: No person or organization shall be deprived of their ability to connect to others at will without due process of law, with the presumption of innocence until found guilty. Neither governments nor corporations should be allowed to use disconnection from the Internet as a way of arbitrarily furthering their own aims."


Sign petition to let Washington know that you want them to stay away from your internet! 


Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) S. 3804 Fact Sheet 


    

Full Body Airport Scanners

Opt IN or OUT?

Opt in for the full body imaging machine aka backscatter machines and the machine will store, record, & transmit the unfiltered image of your naked human body. The link has a picture of what the image looks like.

OR

Opt out for a non-technological pat down which includes the crotch area.

Even though I find them both to be an invasion of privacy, I prefer the pat down over a digitally stored image!

Check out this article about Meeting Resistance with the pat down. Be sure to click on part 2. Pretty funny! lol

Okay, Okay, okay

Ladies and Gents....if you haven't noticed I have been MIA from blogging for a while.....and honestly I think it might continue that way for a while longer. School and work are sucking up all of my wonderful creative energy(if there was every any to begin with that is) lol

No but seriously I have been finding it super hard to work, go to school and blog or do anything for that matter at the same time. Sometimes I go for days without going on to the computer because I am just exhausted, mentally and physically and then when I do I stay on FOREVER. lol

Mainly I just wanted to give you all a heads up on what was going on with me, besides being eaten alive by fungus.....I have to add a bit of exaggeration of course hahaha No its actually much much better now. I can deal with it and I don't have to keep staring at my arm. yay for the treatment that's working! :)

I bid thee a goodnight and a great day tomorrow!

Namaste,
Steph :)

HATERS: The World is Full of Them

Honestly speaking, we are all guilty of hating on others at some point in our lives.  However, it seems like lately everyone is hating on everyone else.  What's up with all the hate in the world?  If you read a news article someone will bring it back to politics, then an argument ensues where someone will call someone else ignorant, dumb, etc.

If you read about celebrities, someone has a negative comment to make about their appearance, action, wording, etc. Why can't human beings ever just be happy with their own life, problems, or issues?? Why do they have to bring it back to others' issues?!  Do they really have nothing else to do? & what happened to the old "If you got nothing nice to say, don't say nothing at all?!"  Seriously, some things are better left unsaid...especially when they're said out of knowledge, context, or anger.

Venting is good but if you're mad or upset over something, don't take it out on everyone else. Why make someone else miserable? It's not like it's going to solve your problems or help you feel any better...

Who the hell do they think they are?

So, because you are an immigrant you should be treated like shit and have to take it, right? Apparently that's what Giumarra; a huge California-based agriculture conglomerate, thinks in regards to the farm workers it has working in their fields.

It really pisses me off to read about the shitty conditions these farm workers are put through. It's a tough job as it is and is made worse when they are denied meal or bathroom breaks and aren't allowed to drink water in the hellish triple-digit heat. And not only that, according to the article, Agriculture Giant Giumarra Calls Its Farm Workers 'Stupid Indian,' a 17-year-old female worker on one of their farms was sexually harassed and after she and a few other workers complained to management about the disgusting behavior, both the victim and those who stood up for her were fired. WTF?

It must be awesome to work in a place where you don't feel safe, are treated like garbage, called "stupid indian" and told you are useless. F THOSE PUTOS! I'm glad those people stood up to them even though they were fired. I'll stand with them too! I just signed a petition written to Kroger, one of the biggest customers of Giumarra's produce, telling them to not accept the worker mistreatment.

If you too want to sign just click on the widget below:

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Do you see what I see...

Seriously I feel like a total perv! LOL. I just saw a picture of Matthew Lewis... you know the "kid" who plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies. Well he's not a kid anymore and he's turned out to be quite the good looking guy, IMO.

Still makes me feel like a perv though 'cause I remember him from the first Potter movie when he was wee little kid. Now he's a twenty-one year old guy... gosh time flies!

         

  

Symptom Check

I keep wanting to type Sypmton instead of Symptom...had to stop & think there. lol  My brain is off I'm telling you!  Anyway, I found this neat little tool online as a reference guide for symptoms & what could be the causes.

I don't know how well it works since I have yet to confirm the cause(s) of my symptoms but I figure it's worth a shot.  If nothing else other than to serve a starting point: Symptom Check.  If anyone has proven it to work, let me know & I'll be sure to do the same.  :)

Toy Story 3 - A

I watched Toy Story 3 this weekend & it was a cute movie;I highly recommend it!



My favorite part was when Ken said, "nobody appreciates clothes here Barbie...no one!" lol Poor guy! It wasn't really my favorite part but it was pretty funny.

What did you do this weekend?

Inspirations

So yesterday I found this music video by Natasha Bedingfield called Strip Me. You know how sometimes you find something; in my case this time a song, that inspires you? You usually find something like a phrase or a tune or a picture or what have that just reaches you on that whole other level.

For some reason in this video I was inspired by a phrase she sings: "I'm only one voice in a million but you ain't taking that from me." I don't know, it's a bit corny, but I feel in this time and age with all the craziness happening that this line really sums up how I feel. You know what I mean?

What are some things that have inspired you? 

Natasha Bedingfield - Strip Me (Official Video) [www.extasyradio.com] found on Pop

PS. I freaken love the makeup looks in the video. The one that really stood out to me was the one where she has gold leaf on her face. I even had a dream last night that I went shopping for supplies for this look. LOL. I'm gonna have to try it out! :D

Want a beautiful BACK?

Shape Magazine wrote an article on how to sculpt your back for better posture & to get it in shape.  I agree that the back is one of the places, we focus LESS on.  So, since we could all use a posture pick me up, HERE is a link to the ways to a more beautiful back.  :)

Have Leftover Pumpkins? No Problem! :)

6 ways to use your leftover Jack-O-Lanterns.  Read more. My favorite is donating them to a farmer or using them as compost.  :)  Perfect!

Happy November 1st by the way!