More Exciting Things

This weekend I attended a quincenera. It was incredible, nearly as fancy as a wedding. The girl who's party it was looked spectacular. She had a white dress for the Mass and a violet one for the dance. She recieved a corona, ring, bracelet, a "medal" (apparently a necklace with a saint on it), a rosary, and a Bible. After that, she renewed her vows to be "pure" until marriage and dedicate her life in honor of Christ. At the dance, she received her last doll, changed her shoes, and had a last dance with her father. It was cool.
Switching subjects, I'm thinking of getting feather extensions. What do you think of them?
And lastly, a few photos I like.

Bonnie Wright at the premier. One of my friends mistook her for my cousin. Which my cousin loved.

the cast

Emma!

Like those heels.

Doesn't get much better than this does it?

She looks like a Barbie, yes? Nicki Minaj.

Wink, wink.

This was soo incredible.

Professor McBadass. "I always wanted to use that spell."

Ohh.

This is amazing!

Oh. Pie.

I know I keep saying how sorry I am I'm not posting, but I am. It's dead week at school at we've been totally slammed....At any rate.
Today Annamarie and I had to bake pies. We put in two apple pies during lunch and went to class.

When we came back this is what we saw.

Annamarie immediately thinks the pies burned. Beyond recognition.
I think "Oh. Pie."
It was pretty funny. Obviously neither of us were really with it. Maybe someone could make a study of that. "Sleep Deprivation And Homework Overload In Teens" To the far left we have "jumps to conclusions" and on the right "jumps to nothing." As it turns out, our friend came and got them when they finished cooking and put the new ones in. And just to keep you amused, here's a few funny pie pics.

Potatoe Salad

What You’ll Need: Serves 4

*1 pound (6-7) medium-size white or red-skinned potatoes

*1/3 cup coarsely grated carrot

*2 green onions

*2 tablespoons fresh, chopped dill or parsley

Dressing:

*1/4 cup each: plain yogurt, low-fat mayonnaise

*1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, such as “Grey Poupon”

*2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

*Freshly ground pepper

*Salt to taste

What You’ll Do:

1. Chop the potatoes into quarters, then cut the quarters into (about) one-inch pieces. Put them into a large saucepan with just enough water to cover the potatoes. Cover and turn the heat on high for a minute, then lower the heat to simmer.

2. Cook for about 20 minutes just until the potatoes are tender when you insert a fork. If you overcook the potatoes, they’ll fall apart, making mashed potato salad. Put a colander in the sink and carefully pour the potatoes into the colander to drain. Stick the colander into the refrigerator to cool down the potatoes.

3. Grate the carrot and chop the green onions into thin circles. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the dressing ingredients. Add the carrot and green onion.

4. When the potatoes are no longer warm, add them to the salad. Stir carefully with a wooden spoon until the dressing is mixed in. Chop the dill or parsley and sprinkle over the salad. Serve; or cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until mealtime.

Other Ideas: If you don’t care for carrots, chop a stalk of celery instead. If fresh dill or parsley are unavailable, sprinkle the top of the salad with paprika for color.

Banana Muffins

What You'll Need: Makes 12 Muffins

1 cup mashed banana, about 2 ripe bananas

1 large egg

1/4 cup canola oil

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

2/3 cup reduced fat buttermilk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup rolled oats (thick “old-fashioned” oats)

1 1/2 cup sifted whole wheat pastry flour* or unbleached white flour

What You'll Do:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Place the paper liners into the muffin pan. Try not to use non-stick muffin pans; they cause the muffins to get too brown. If that’s all that you have, it’s OK, the paper liners will help insulate the sides and bottom from burning.

2. In a glass measuring cup, mash the bananas with a fork. In a large mixing bowl, add the egg, oil, sugar, and molasses. Mix well, using a mixer. Mix in the banana and buttermilk.

3. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. (cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, oats, flour) Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and mix slowly just until blended. Pour into the muffin pan, filling each muffin liner almost to the top.
Tip: If you want to fill the holes easily, without globs of batter everywhere, use a glass measuring cup with a pour spout or use a small soup ladle.

4. Bake 20 minutes until they're lightly browned. Pull out the oven shelf and stick a toothpick into the center of a muffin to see if it comes out clean or without wet dough. Muffins get tough if they’re over cooked, so watch carefully. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack or on top of the stove. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Other Ideas: Add 1/4 cup currents, raisins, or golden raisins.

Chococake

What You’ll Need:

1 1/2 cups sifted unbleached white flour or whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup canola oil

1 cup cold water

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

What You’ll Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Oil the bottom of an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan (or a 9-inch round cake pan) with a small piece of paper toweling and a few drops of canola oil. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. Pour in the oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed just until the batter is blended. You may have to scrape down the batter on the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix again. 

3. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes just until an inserted toothpick into the center of the cake comes out clean. (A 9-inch pan will take about 30 minutes.) Remove from the oven immediately and cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.

*Hey, I love to add in chocolate chips. They're really good if you add just a few, like 1/4 cup. Or try white chocolate or butterscotch. Nom.*

Eggplant! Yay!

I've found some recipes I like, so I'm posting them. I'm not putting them as one post, because this way I can tag them differently. :D

What You’ll Need:
4 tbsp of Olive Oil
1 Eggplant
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
2 Tomatoes
20 Black Olives
Garlic Powder
Italian Seasoning

What You’ll Do:

Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Get a large baking sheet, cover with foil, and spread olive oil to cover the foil.

Cut round slices of eggplant as thin as possible and lay on top of the foil. Don't let the edges touch. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of cheese over each slice of eggplant.

Dice up all of the olives and spread 1 tbsp of olives on top of each eggplant. Cut the tomatoes into round slices and lay 1 slice on top of each eggplant. Sprinkle garlic powder and Italian Seasoning on top of each eggplant slice

Put in oven for 30 minutes. When ready let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!

More eggplant-y goodness!

Wizard Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• Box of white cake mix and the called-for ingredients (A mix that uses egg whites and oil instead of butter will make your colors look brighter)
• Assorted pack of food dye
• Icing (Make your own or use canned)

Directions:

1. Mix up the cake mix per the directions on the box.

2. Divide the batter into bowls. Use one bowl for each color (think red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet).

3. Add your food coloring until you get the desired colors.

4. Line a muffin pan with cupcake wrappers. I like using silver or white wrappers.

5. Use a fork or spoon to drizzle each color of batter on top of the next. Start with purple, then blue, then green, then yellow, then orange, then red. Be careful not to mix the colors.

6. Bake the cupcakes as directed on the cake mix box.

7. Cool and frost as you like. I prefer a white, whipped-cream icing, but anything will work.

For step-by-step, drool-worthy photos, check out the recipe on spearmintbaby.com.