oh, here’s some pictures from my birthday! @oramuda and I went to Surrey’s Juice Bar in NOLA (the Lower Garden District location). I had to take pictures bc it was so lovely out & because old high-ceiling houses are very nostalgic to me. and this one was great.

I had the lox BLT with tomatoes on the side. It was insane. I am not a fan of bacon much, but it was perfectly cooked and paired with the saltiness from the lox, and the creaminess of the cream cheese + avocado. A+++

I made boiled eggs, lemon+ginger tea and some quick pickle carrots -- farmer’s market produce that was about to expire -- for breakfast. 

But I accidentally burned my sweet potato muffins! so I had to get creative: I scooped out the tops, then them layered with apple butter, local honey and a little granola.

voila! a parfait.

For Easter, I made a lemon blueberry cake and some banana pudding cupcakes! (pictures are from my Insta so hopefully they look ok on here.)

The recipe for cupcakes is my own & the lemon blueberry cake is adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I wanted the cake to be a bundt, since my aunt used to make lemon bundt cakes with a glaze and they’re so nostalgic. Plus the cupcakes are very rich/sweet and the cake is light and slightly tart so it’s a good combo.

(I can post the recipe for the cupcakes if anyone wants! :D)

Photos I Took That I Couldn’t Be Assed to Share Pt. 01

I used to be in the habit of taking food pictures, but forgetting to post them because I’m like, what’s the point? I never post any photos anymore. This is a new series of photos I call “(Food) Photos I Took That I Couldn’t Be Assed to Share.” (I might pull a Mel Brooks and leave this as the only part. Who knows.)

Last summer I was all alone in the house for many hours. A rare occasion, so that meant a favorite indulgence: cooking for one! I had a craving for mac-n-cheese, but that’s not fun enough.

You know what IS fun? Some spicy peppers, diced tomatoes, and -- even though the FDA recommends Tabasco for a lil kick -- Crystal hot sauce. Crystal is the only hot sauce I’ve liked enough to actually lick off my arm when I spilled it making blood marys. Have I told that pig story? Probably.

I don’t even have to tell you the mac was great. Or to make spicy mac yourself.

Pictured also is a nice garden salad and glass of sweet tea because GOD DUH I’M FROM MISSISSIPPI but I thought it made a pretty plate as well as being tasty! And healthy sorta!

Sophie saw me taking pictures, though, and didn’t understand.

“Why are you spending five damn minutes doing that and not sharing with baby dog!!” 

(I was spending five damn minutes and not sharing with baby dog.)

“I hate Meg.” (She hates Meg.)

There’s a happy ending, as only time can allow: after I finished delicious meal above, I let her lick a little cheese from the empty plate -- that’s how we’re still friends to this day.

CAMP CUTTHROAT GOT TOO INTENSE so I had to run from the living room LMAO 

and I’m doing a post I haven’t done in a while: sharing somethin’ I baked. My little brother turned 15 (!) yesterday and wanted a cookie cake. His favorite color is purple, so y’know decorating was easy. It ended up delicious & was a big hit. :>

Expect some art from me soon! ;_; this has been a rough patch of days recently, but I’m trying to bounce back.

Homemade Oreo Sonic Blast

I have been on a strange ice cream and Oreos kick. I never really am interested in the two together, though I like them separately. Every time I get a treat, it's what I've wanted for a while and since the nearest DQ is an hour away and the McD's in town has questionable ice cream at best, Sonic never lets me down. I love Blasts.

They're too expensive for what they are ($4 for fast food ice cream? I'm a broke child) and the portions don't work for me. So! Necessity birthed invention, once again. 

Ingredients

Directions:

Soften ice cream and whipped topping at room temperature, for a few minutes, until pliable. Ice cream shouldn't be melted, but should be easy enough to scoop/blend.

While these soften, crush mini Oreos. Use a grinder, or chopper. Since my chopper has had its lid missing since the move (RIP) I went old-school & crushed the mini Oreos in a ziplock bag with a tin can. Set aside.

Scoop out your ice cream/Cool Whip into a blender. Half of a container for ice cream, and half of an 8 ounce Cool Whip tub were my precise measurements. Don't add the cookies & blend!

Know your blender. If yours is like mine and mildly easy on the blending, it may take a stir or two plus a minute of blending to get it perfect. If yours is high powered, don't liquefy it. You want the consistency of soft serve, remember! (I say this because I wouldn't suggest softening it a ton and then refreezing it. I refroze the leftovers and they just weren't the same.)

As soon as the mixture is well-blended, serve immediately and add a few scoops of the crushed Oreos, blending with a spoon. Voila!

Yields about four 8 ounce servings

A few notes: I didn't blend the Oreos because given the nature of the time I blended (about 60 seconds) it would pulverize them and I don't like them that small. Secondly, I used mostly store brand products, but even using name brand you could achieve the same savings.

*Also, I used a 6 oz bag of cookies and it was too much; Oreo Mini Go-packs are like, $1 and 3.5 ounces, which is the perfect amount.

I've been told these are better than fast food, so go blend yourself a cheap-ass ice cream treat!!!

Since it was brother's 14th yesterday, I made him a BIG cake. He wanted funfetti, and he wanted it big. The cake is like 6 inches tall lmao

I successfully made marshmallow fondant (first time I did it months ago the texture gave me hell) but this time I troubleshooted and it came out perfectly.

I molded an Xbox controller for the top of the cake with fondant and kneaded it til it was the consistency of clay to make it easier to work with. I've worked with clay for a few years, so that helped.

The buttercream, as always, was home made too and everyone loved the cake, including birthday boy (who has eaten himself sick off of it today.)

This is a really good marshmallow fondant tutorial/recipe (with video!) to try.

let me tell you about this potato salad i made last night for dinner. let me tell you. i will tell you: it was so delicious. i've never made potato salad before (how??), so if you walked in at any point during its creation i'd probably look vaguely unsettled and tell you to leave. 

I made banana pudding cupcakes!! On a whim. They're my favorite homemade white cupcake with banana pudding filling, a buttercream/cool whip icing and crushed vanilla wafers on top.

I am so glad I only made 14 or so, they are super super rich but taste just like banana pudding.

late lunch: oatmeal with roasted apples, cinnamon and honey.

i made whoopie pies for the first time at like 1 am because that's what i'm about.

I made a cookie cake to celebrate. Celebrate what? Who knows. Maybe celebrate the fact I have a cookie cake now.

i made some cupcakes today (with store bought toppers because they were rly cute ok) and i used this recipe on a whim and by god, does it live up to its name.

lunch: penne w/ vodka cream sauce + steamed broccoli 

I made a cake today!!!! It's a white cake with cream cheese frosting and a handmade marshmallow fondant flower :D I wish the pictures were a little better, but by the time I finished it it'd already gotten dark.

This is my first time working with fondant, no less fondant I made myself, but I enjoyed it.

It tasted wonderful, by the way and I sure don't mind saying.

I made an Italian cream soda using this recipe and it turned out pretty delicious. 

a riff on this recipe I made for dinner tonight. it's minus the mango chutney because I really don't dig it.

the other difference was that I used bone-in chicken quarters, which were boiled, then shredded, then sauteed lightly. I also boiled the pasta in the water from the chicken.