Ten on Tuesday [Vol. 53].

1. What are your designated chores in your home?
Being that I still live at home, I am fortunate to only have a limited number of chores. For the most part, the things I'm responsible for are things that my mom doesn't want to do anymore. This means sweeping and mopping the kitchen and hallway floors, cleaning the shower and bathtub, polishing the kitchen cabinets, and cleaning the microwave. Everything else varies - sometimes my mom does it, sometimes she delegates to me.

2. What is your least favorite chore to do around the house?
Dusting. I'm a cleaning perfectionist, so I never do a "quick" dusting unless it's necessary. This means taking down every single thing off my shelves - dusting each of those things if needed - then dusting the shelf and putting everything back. It's a pain.

3. What was your designated chore growing up?
I never had one. Honestly, I didn't do any chores on a regular basis. Once I was old enough, my mom would ask me to dust or vacuum, but only in preparation of guests. Otherwise, she handled it. I never had to take out the garbage or do the dishes, nor was I ever really forced to make my bed (though I did anyway because I was a neat freak).

4. Did you get paid to do chores or was your allowance connected to you completing your chores?
My allowance had nothing to do with chores, as far as I remember. I was always a generally helpful kid - I thought yard work and cleaning were fun, so if my mom asked me to do something, I did it.

5. If you had a bit of extra money, would you hire a cleaning person or would you save the money for something else?
I don't think I would ever hire a cleaning person unless I was working a super stressful full-time job and the housework, for whatever reason, wasn't getting done. Cleaning is enjoyable to me (pick your jaws up off the floor), so I don't think I would ever find it that annoying or tiresome.

6. What chores will you make your kids do around the house?
I will probably be a control freak and not let them do anything. What if they don't get it fully clean? Yeah, I'm that girl.

7. How frequently do you do laundry? Wash your sheets? Dust?
My laundry gets done when one of the following occurs: I run out of underwear I like, the hamper is full, or there's one or more items of clothing in the hamper I want to wear in the upcoming days. That's usually every other week. I think I wash my sheets once a month or so, though I don't really have a schedule. I definitely don't dust as often as I should for somebody who has white furniture in her room, but let's say every six weeks. Basically, it's whenever I get fed up with the layer of dust I keep encountering.

8. Do you have a designated “chore day” during the week?
Nope. But that's because I live at home and I don't have much of a schedule in general.

9. What is your favorite chore–if such a thing exists?
I love what everyone else (typically) hates: cleaning the toilet and doing the dishes. Washing the bathroom sink skeeves me out more than cleaning the toilet, if you'll believe that. But like I said earlier, I enjoy cleaning and chores. Generally my favorite chores of all are when things are super dirty and you can see a really vast improvement as your cleaning. It makes me feel accomplished.

10. Do you do anything to help pass the time while doing chores (music, TV, etc.)?
Music, always.

These questions are a part of Ten on Tuesday which is run by the wonderful Chelsea of Roots and Rings.

Blue Moon Cupcakes.

Back in October, I had a party at my place to celebrate Erik’s birthday. Being the Martha Stewart wanna-be that I am, I wanted to bake something, but I wanted it to be cool. Erik and his friends didn’t want frilly color-coordinated cupcakes or any type of fancy dessert.

Thanks to the power of Pinterest and the internet in general, I found a few cupcake recipes that mimicked alcoholic beverages and knew that was what I was going to make. Finding the recipe for Blue Moon Cupcakes (link to the actual recipe here) was just pure luck, considering most people like Blue Moon and it’s one of Erik’s faves.

Today (yes, only three months late) I’ll be sharing my experience making these. Spoiler alert: they’re AMAZING.

You’ll need to grab the following ingredients: unsalted butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, vanilla extract, red and yellow food coloring, orange zest, milk, and of course, a bottle of Blue Moon.

Perfect! Okay, the first step is to mix the dry ingredients in one bowl. That’ll be the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Next, I zested the orange, which proved to be a more difficult feat than expected. You’re looking for about a half a teaspoon; I don’t know if I managed to get that much, but I don’t think it really mattered.

After that are a series of steps I didn’t photograph. You beat the softened butter first, then add the sugar slowly, making sure it gets incorporated as you go along. Next, add the eggs one at a time – again, you’re making sure they fully mix in before adding the next one. Finally, add the food coloring, vanilla extract, and orange zest, and you’ll have the prettiest batter I ever did see:

Now it’s time to open that Blue Moon! Mix the beer and milk in a measuring cup. (Note: when I did this, the consistency was off-putting because I think the beer curdled the milk, or at least did something weird to it. However! Everything turned out fine in the end, so if this happens to you, don’t panic… like I may or may not have done.)

You’re going to alternate between adding the beer/milk mixture and the flour mixture. There’s no exact science here, but make sure the last thing you add is the remainder of the dry ingredients. Now the batter will look a little less orange, but still fun.

 

Scoop the batter into cups – about 2/3 of the way full – and bake. Let them cool completely, then decorate! The original recipe calls for homemade frosting, but I cheated and went with store-bought vanilla. You can garnish with little orange slices, but like I mentioned earlier, Erik and his friends likely wouldn’t, erm, appreciate my decorative skills; instead, I went with blue sugar.

These are so delicious and moist. The Blue Moon flavor is definitely there, but it’s not overwhelming. I couldn’t really say if non-beer drinkers would enjoy these – the Blue Moon/beer flavor may be subtle enough to not be too strange – so just be aware of that if you’re making these for a mixed crowd.

~*~*~*~

Blue Moon Cupcakes

 

Ingredients

3/4 c unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 c sugar

2 1/2 c flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

2 drops red food coloring

10 drops yellow food coloring

1/2 tsp orange zest

1 c Blue Moon beer

1/4 c milk

Frothy White Frosting [recipe here], or any homemade/store-bought vanilla frosting

small orange slices, for garnish

Directions
1. Line 24 cupcake trays with liners. [Use white liners if you can, they become translucent during baking and really sell the mini Blue Moon image]. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking power and salt.
2. In a large bowl beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar a little bit at a time, beating well. Once it's all added beat for 2 more minutes.
3. Add eggs, beating after each.
4. Add vanilla, food coloring and orange zest and beat.
5. Mix beer and milk in a measuring cup. Alternatively add beer / milk mixture and flour mixture to butter mixture in the large bowl, beating after each. End on the flour mixture.
6. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 18 minutes at 375 degrees F until cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Once cool, frost each cupcake with a generous amount of frosting. Just before serving, garnish each with a small orange slice.

Cookie Week: Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Time for my second contribution to Erin's Christmas Cookie Week! I may have a third recipe in store for you - I'm baking tonight & we'll just have to see how it goes. Click over to The Speckled Palate every day this week to see some awesome recipes!

It's not Christmas in my house without chocolate chip cookies. My mom did the bulk of the work when I was a kid - we just got to measure things and then put the cookies on trays. We use the recipe right off the bag of Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet chocolate chips, and I probably always will. Even if I try out new chocolate chip recipes, I'll always come back to the yellow bag. It's what I know and it tastes good, so why mess with it?

Let's get started! Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grab the following items: flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, brown sugar (I've found little difference between light or dark, so go with what you have!), eggs, butter, vanilla extract, and of course, chocolate chips. This year I've also added some Nestle Mini Toppers, which are teeny-tiny white chocolate chips that are colored red and green.

The butter needs to be softened before you start. In one bowl, mix your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt).

In your mixer bowl (or a second bowl), cream together your wet ingredients except the eggs (sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract). Add the eggs one at a time, making sure they get mixed in well in between.

Add the dry ingredients gradually, in about three or four parts. When your done, the dough will look delicious and be stuck to the paddle.

 

At this point, add the chocolate chips. Sometimes I use the mixer to distribute them in the batter, but sometimes my mixer thinks that's too much work. This time, I tossed in the chocolate chips (and the Toppers) and mixed with a spatula. It was a good arm work out!

Drop the dough onto ungreased baking sheets. The size is up to you. I go with heaping teaspoons - not the measuring spoon, but an actual teaspoon. (Does that make sense? I hope so.)

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes. I find that 9 usually works, though occasionally I wait another minute. They're done once the edges are golden brown, but sometimes I like to leave them until they're almost all brown.

Cool for a minute before taking them off the tray, then cool them on wire racks (or your kitchen table, like I do). Feel free to eat them immediately because just-baked chocolate cookies are the best - just don't burn yourself! Otherwise, I've found that you can leave these out and they stay soft and chewy for a day or two. Past that point, put them away or else they'll start to taste a bit stale.

Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe copied straight from their website)
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Weekend Recap + BEDS Day 19.

This weekend was really wonderful. I ended up spending the majority of my time with E after we decided last-minute to hang out and watch a movie on Friday night. We already had plans to spend Saturday and Sunday together, so it was fun to have a whole weekend together.

There were several games of Mario Party (in which I won once and lost horribly once), a free Neon Trees concert at the local music festival, walking around hand-in-hand weighing our options for greasy overpriced fair food (we went with a cheesesteak, hot pretzel, funnel cake, and fried Oreos between the two of us), lounging around in bed all Sunday morning, and fulfilling the Taco Bell craving I had by getting it for lunch.

And now, time for a BEDS prompt since I need a little ego boost anyway and this topic definitely does that.

Day 19 → A talent of yours

It's your lucky day, because I'm going to share a few with you - four to be exact.

First is baking. I'm not the greatest at cooking, but I have yet to have a truly epic baking fail.

Second is dancing. The following video is from a few years ago when I danced solo in a shopping mall for a charity event.




Finally, I'm particularly good at picking out good gifts and finding the positive in any situation. I talked about these a bit more during VEDA:

chocolatey goodness.

Folks, it's almost Valentine's Day. That can only mean one thing: time to go all Martha Stewart on random people in my life. Last night I spent some quality time with my (mom's) stand mixer, our finicky oven, and two bags of Dove chocolate. Don't worry if these pictures give you a crazy chocolate craving - the recipe's at the bottom, and they were totally easy to make.

The willpower it took not to eat half of these is really indescribable.

Any batter that includes melted chocolate as a key component is a-okay in my book.

More chocolate!

Confession: I make huge messes when I bake.

Final product in it's perfect form - cool enough to eat, warm enough that the chocolate bits are still melty.

I also made a batch of snickerdoodles, since they were all the rage at my birthday party last month. These are destined to be packed up and sent away to a few lucky folks - half will be in a care package to Lynds and the other half are off to Mark's place, since he's got a humongous test coming up at the end of this week.

Of course, this is just phase one. Phase two has yet to be dreamed up, but will include yummy treats for both my family and my Valentine. And then in a week, I have to figure out what to make for my mom's birthday! I love having so many excuses to bake.

---

Original recipe, found in a magazine (can also be found here, but they use Snickers instead of dark chocolate bits).

Chocolate Fudge Chunky Cookies

Prep time: 25 min.
Baking time: 10-12 min.
Difficulty: Easy

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
• 1 bag DOVE® PROMISES® Milk Chocolate
• 1 bag chopped DOVE® PROMISES® Dark Chocolate
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

WHAT TO DO:

1. Coarsely chop the DOVE® PROMISES® Milk Chocolate and melt them either in a bowl on top of a double boiler or in the microwave for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes.
2. Stir the chocolate until smooth. Add the sugar, butter, eggs and almond extract.
3. Stir in the flour and baking powder.
4. Add 1 cup of chopped DOVE® PROMISES® Dark Chocolate.
5. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter on an ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
7. Cool on the cookie sheet.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

holiday week 2010: day 3.

Gift Wrapping
Okay folks, get ready to point your fingers at the crazy girl because I love wrapping gifts. Picking out presents is a fun journey in and of itself, but there's just something about sitting amongst a pile of successful purchases, pretty gift wrap, and shiny ribbon and bows that makes me so happy. And don't even get me started on how lovely I think a stack of wrapped gifts looks.

(Also, I totally want to gush about the gifts I got, but most of my friends read this blog and I don't want to spoil the surprise.)


Gift wrapping war zone.


All wrapped and pretty!

Cards
This is the second year that I unleashed my creative side and hand made my Christmas cards. I was extremely proud of myself this year, as I adored pretty much all of my designs.


Work station.


More supplies.


Some of the finished products!

Treats
This section is going to provide you with so much evidence as to why my family calls me their mini Martha Stewart. I might've gone a bit crazy this year, but I have so much fun making any kind of food, so it was worth it.


Cupcakes for a bake sale hosted by my cat shelter.


Peppermint bark, nom nom.


Chocolate-dipped Oreos.


Chocolate-dipped Chips Ahoy!


Lots of chocolate and sprinkles.


Chocolate-dipped pretzels!


Finished goody bags!

The Christmas season brings out the giver in me like no other time of year. I go overboard on picking out gifts and giving things a personal touch, hence why I spent so much time crafting cards and dipping everything I could find in chocolate.

What gift(s) are you super excited to give this year, or in past years?

holiday week 2010: day 1.

Pretty simple. We have three large Rubbermaid bins filled to the brim with tons of decorations. Usually it's an afternoon-long process of trading out the year-round knick knacks and replacing it all with lots of lovely Christmas trinkets. I took pictures of most of it, but we would be here forever if I found all the spots where we have decorations up.

Then it's time for the tree, which is a process I complete pretty much 100% by myself now. (My family is a bunch of Grinches... or, they're just lazy.) Since we have a pre-lit fake tree, half of my work is done by the time I take it out of the garage and set it up. Then I add gold garland and the biggest variety of ornaments I have ever seen. It's good practice for letting go of my OCD tendencies because I just hang things based on a feeling and the only thing I monitor is if there are empty spots.

Around the House












The Tree






My Room

There will only be four days in my Holiday Week, so expect long, photo-heavy posts. I hope you enjoy them anyway! Thanks to Nora for the inspiration to talk about all things Christmas for the week.