Halloween Party Treat

This is so adorable that I had to make it, whether it tasted great or not. I, along with some college pals, created another book club: Book to the Future. Since one can never discuss a book without treats or wine, we have an assignment-- mine was the snack. For my favorite holiday, I made this festive cheese ball. It was adorable as well as tasty. (Thanks again Food Network Magazine)
***Note: This does need to chill for 2 hours before serving****

What 'cha need:
2 8-oz blocks cream cheese-- room temp
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
3 T minced onion
2 T salsa
2 t ground cumin
1 t minced jalapeno
1 99-cent bag of Doritos
1 family size bag of blue tortilla chips
1 green pepper stem

What to do:
With a mixer, blend cheeses, onion, salsa, cumin, jalapeno
Scoop onto plastic wrap and form into a pumpkin-shaped ball-- chill at least 2 hours
To serve, unwrap, roll in crushed Doritos and serve with tortilla chips
Rip off green pepper stem and add to ball

C and D

C: creep

Until the age of eight, I was a very creepy kid. I was shy, quiet, anti-vocal, and lacked the knowledge of any sort of social norms. I remember selling Girl scout cookies in yet, another one of my bouffant dresses and I just awkwardly stood at the door handing a kind neighbor the order sheet. They knew what to do. In this case, my shyness paid off and I ended up winning prizes for selling the most cookies. My good friend Em even has pictures of us at her birthday parties where everyone is having a good time: eating cake, playing games, laughing, talking, and I'm in the background looking creepy, alone. I was too afraid to get involved and have to actually talk to people. This weird shyness disappeared with age. I finally found my identity: I was going to be a boy wearing men's jeans, striped T-shirts, and No Fear hats-- perfect.

D: Double Dare

Everyone has been involved in some sort of dare that has gone bad, but this one, was the worst. In first grade, my buddy Tony came by to ride bikes with me. I wasn't allowed to leave the surrounding blocks, so we mostly rode up and down the alley. That gets quite boring for the average six year old and so I came up with a great dare for him. My neighbor had all kinds of boards stacked up in a section near his garage and I dared Tony to ride right into them. Well, as a boy, he didn't turn down a dare and he rode over to them with me following closely behind. As the boards came crashing down, Tony moved out of the way and No-brains Shannon stood there. Lucky for me, the board that came crashing near my skull had nails in it. And since I inherited my mother's luck, the nail came crashing down on my head and scraping all along my face. I ran home in a blood-soaked yellow outfit. When I entered the door screaming and crying as if in a horror flick, my dad panicked and yelled, "Her nose is missing! Her nose is missing!" Again, since I have a horse shoe stuck up my butt, my eyes were ok and there wasn't any major scarring.

And, this is how I got my second set of stitches.

Homemade Hamburger Helper

Food Network Magazine claims this recipe is called "Beefy Mac and Cheese." However, this tasted very much like hamburger helper I had as a child. This is quite an indulgent dish, so don't eat this too often or you'll suddenly find yourself with a muffin top. A very hearty meal for a wintry night after running that will warm you right up.

Mmmm- cheesy goodness

Serves 4-- 35 minutes total cooking time
Needs:
kosher salt (don't have)
8 oz. medium pasta shells (I only had small)
3 T unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 T tomato paste (I only had frozen tomatoes from this summer)
1 T chili powder
8 oz ground beef (I used ground sirloin)
2 T flour
1 cup (1%) milk (I used skim)
21/2 c. shredded Mexican blend cheese (about 8 oz.)
2 T breadcrumbs (preferably Panko)
2 scallion (also didn't have)

1. In salted boiling water, cook pasta (reserve 3/4 c cooking water, then drain)
2. Melt 1 T butter on medium heat and cook onion-- 5 minutes
3. Add tomato paste and chili powder stir until bright red--2 minutes
4. Add beef and cook until browned -- 4 minutes
5. Spread mixture in a 3 qt baking dish (could use a deep 2 qt instead)
6. Melt remaining 2 T butter in a pot (important, I used a pan)
7. Add flour--stirring 1 minute
8. Add milk and reserved water, bring to a simmer and cook until thick--2 minutes
9. Add 2 cups of cheese, pasta, and 3/4 t. of salt and stir until cheese melts.
10. Spread over meat mixture, sprinkle with 1/2 c. cheese and breadcrumbs.
11. Broil until golden brown. Top with scallions

Savor this cheesy flavor

** Amendments: Mr. X says, "What's that weird taste in the meat?" I'm assuming he's talking about the chili powder. Since I love chili, I liked it, but it is quite strong, maybe just a couple teaspoons would suffice; or, tell your mate to suck it up and start liking beans, therefore, chili.

FN claims these nutritional facts: 642 calories; 35 fat; 122 cholesterol; 1179 sodium; 54 carbs; 3 fiber; 37 protein-- not exactly healthy, but you can cut back by using sirloin, skim milk, and 2 c. cheese not 2 1/2

Pumpkin Corn Muffins

Check out that melting buttah, mmmm

A fine curtsy to Food Network. I got this idea from the pumpkin page in the 2011 October issue. So easy, yummy, and cheap.

Needs:
1 8.5 oz box of jiffy corn muffin mix (88 cents)
1/3 c. milk
2 eggs
1/4 c. pumpkin ($1)
1 t. pumpkin pie spice.

What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Mix all ingredients together, let sit 2 minutes.
3. Line muffin pan with cups (or grease a muffin pan)
4. Stir batter, fill up cups half way (I made 9)
5. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Cost: about 3 dollars total.

Vanilla Rich Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Something about Fall always gets me in the baking mood. Since I'm not running because of Das Boot, I have some time to bake. I found this recipe in an ad in Cooking Light (although, there's nothing light about this recipe). Thanks McCormick :) They were quite yummy. However, there are almost 3 sticks of butter in these cookies so I can't make them often. Unless I need to pack on some pounds to move up a weight class.

Ingredients:
3 1/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 c. butter, softened (no joke)
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 c. packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp. McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract
1 pkg. (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I only had chocolate and peanut butter, oh darn)
1 c. walnuts (Mr. X hates nuts, so I avoided)


Whatcha gotta do:
1. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugars in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium, until fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
4. Gradually stir in flour mixture on low speed.
5. Fold in chocolate chips (and nuts).
6. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet (2 in. apart)
7. Bake in a preheated 375 oven for 8-10 minutes. Makes 5 dozen (or 40, whoops, large cookies)

The perfect cookie

Creamy Wild Rice Soup

A little blurry-- my bad

Life has been quite interesting as of late. I hurt my achilles and am now in a boot (prior post... running + Shan + bear hunter = disaster). To add to my pain, I now have a sinus infection brewing. It never fails--every school year it happens. I'm starting to believe it's unavoidable. I've been eating healthily, exercising, using the neti pot, taking vitamin C, and sleeping at least 8 hours. Really, there isn't much else a girl can do. Because of these said issues, I made some homemade creamy wild rice soup that I would love to share with you. It was very delicious.

Needs:
1 c. Minnesota wild rice cooked (does not have to be MN :) )
3 c. chicken broth (made from water and better than bouillon)
1 c. half and half
2 T. butter
1/2 onion (I used yellow)
3 cloves garlic
1/2 c. carrots diced
1 c. mushrooms sliced and diced
1 c. broccoli
thyme (several dashes)
s & p
garlic powder
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. water

Doing:
1. Melt butter in sauce pan
2. Saute onion and garlic
3. Add thyme, garlic powder, and s&p-- let cook until onions are clear
4. Add cream and broth - let simmer 5 minutes
5. Mix water and flour in a bowl
6. Add (roux?) to soup
7. Add broccoli, carrots, mushroom, and rice

This is after I had a heaping bowl--so darn good.

Road Rash

School's in session and the daily blog posting is definitely a thing of the past. I'm just too busy running, grading, actually working, cooking, etc. You know, all the daily things that keep us too busy to call old friends, run errands, and do laundry.

Today's post is about another run gone bad. Today I was to set out for my 7-miler. As I left my driveway, I thought, this is it. This is going to be my good run. Shin splints? Gone. Sore feet? Gone. I've been able to go on the elliptical for 50 minutes without a problem. If I only knew how this would end....

As I was a mile in, I heard a loud gun shot and it scared the hell out of me. I turned and saw a hunter on the side of the road who then slowly lowered himself into the brush near the ditch and I looked to make sure I wasn't being hunted like Bambi's mother. When I turned my head, I rolled my ankle and fell to the side of the road, scraping my hand and whole leg. Instead of stopping, turning around, and going home, I pressed on. Like Angela Davis, I was on the run.

At mile 5, my lungs were starting to get tired, but then the torrential rain started to drop and stung the cuts on my leg. And then my knight in shining armor showed up to get me only to find: a soaking wet girlfriend with blood running down her legs and gasping for air. Half marathon? Bring it on..I outran a madman hunter :) Or, swiftly sauntered away.

5k Fun

At this point in the training, I believe we're about half way through. The half marathon is now coming up quite quickly-- only 6 weeks left. On my schedule this weekend I had to complete a 5K, which seemed quite easy at this point. And luckily, there is the Ed Hansen Memorial Run in Ontonagon, which interestingly enough, was my first 5K ever in elementary school. I "ran" a half marathon 2 years ago and I have not run a race since then so I was actually quite nervous. All the runners out there can guffaw at my time, but I was excited to have done it without stopping and at a 12 minute mile since I've been averaging a 12.5 mile lately--progress, progress. I couldn't run one mile 6 weeks ago. This put a little hop in my step (Is that the saying? I always screw those up).

So here is my good friend E$ and me after the run. It was fun, good weather, and a nice reminder of what fun we'll have in a few weeks.

We stayed after the race for breakfast with T-Ice and his family and then watched the town Labor Day parade. We ended our day with a performance of a local favorite--- Marty's Goldenaires. I also ended with a nice bright red sunburn to show off on the first day of school on Tuesday.

Also, E$ got 1st in the 10K in her division and I took fourth in the 5K. However, I will NOT tell you how many runners were in our events. :)