Hooray...

Hooray for the Hawks.

Hooray for sisterly love.


Hooray for grandmas that whip tail in "Hungry, Hungry Hippos."

Hooray for homemade cards and corresponding with friends via snail mail.

Hooray for breathtaking sunrises.

Hooray for music. Good music.

Hooray for tutus.

Hooray for concerts.

Hooray for spontaneous, living room dance parties.

Hooray for summer.

Hooray for Ms Julia.

Hooray for cute, ridiculously funny comedians. And puns. Lots and lots of puns.

Hooray for John Brown reenactments...

and fake cardboard guns in bars.

Hooray for roomies.

Hooray for cute friends with cute puppies.

Hooray for cookies INSIDE of cookies.

Got your attention, didn't I?

Why yes, that is an Oreo inside a chocolate chip cookie. Crazy you say? Crazy delicious is my reply. If you couldn't guess it from looking at the photo, these are super rich. I could only eat half of one, but they are awesome with a nice, cold glass of milk. This recipe got me to thinking about what else I could put Oreos in and tonight I made Oreo pancakes--> pancakes with crushed Oreos. Slap some peanut butter on it with some syrup and you've got one heck of a party going on in your mouth. Shout out to my friend, Bailey, for making and baking these cookies with me!


Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Picky Palate

2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla
3 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
10 oz. bag chocolate chips
1 pkg. Oreos, regular, double-stuff, peanut butter, whatever kind sounds good!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars, until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla. In separate bowl mix flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Scoop about 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo. Take another scoop and place on the bottom of the Oreo. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until the Oreo is covered and enclosed in dough. Place onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 9-13 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack. Pour a tall glass of milk, cause you're going to need it and enjoy. :)

Almond Joy Bread Revisted, Because I Love My Brother

I'm about to get a little emotional. Bear with me...

This is my brother.

(Note the baking skills. I'm trying to teach him.)

He had been relentlessly hounding me to make Almond Joy bread since Christmas break began. Our convos went a little something like this.
"Dude, make me Almond Joy bread."-Brother
"Ehhh, not now. Later. I promise."-Me

Later turned into days which turned into weeks which turned into a good month and a half. About a week ago I was messing around on my computer, going through and deleting unnecessary files and what not. I'm a proud Apple owner and use those handy "Stickies" on my desktop. I've got "Stickies" for many things; To-do list, Music list, Baking list and a Bucket list. I like to go through and read my bucket list every once and awhile, revamping and tweaking here and there. I opened it up and found this at the bottom...
Just a simple note, but it brought tears to my eyes.

Over the last couple of years I've realized how much I cherish my relationship with my brother. Four years older than me, he was my playmate for a long time growing up. Sure I was probably conned into playing "Deer and hunter" (myself being the deer and being pelted with rolled-up socks), but nonetheless I got to play with "Brother."
Soon he was in high school, discovered girls, and spent a majority of his time out of the house. Being a typical teenager he wanted to be with his friends and deciding to join the Marines after high school, he seemed to spend every waking moment with them. I don't blame him, I probably would have done the same thing.
He left for boot camp after graduation and for the next four years he did and experienced more than anyone will probably do and experience their entire life. Boot camp, SOI (School of Infantry), two deployments and traveling all around the world. Needless to say, my family and I did not see him very often. Letters, phone calls, occasional e-mails and short visits home were all the contact we had with him for those four years.
He missed my years of high school. Missing basketball games, track meets, music programs, and my first dating experiences. For me personally, I felt that our relationship had grown distant. He was my brother and I loved him, but it just wasn't the same. I take a majority of the blame, knowing I could have done more. I beat myself up when I think of his deployments. I rarely wrote him and to this day regret not writing more.
His four years of duty were up in 2007, just in time for him to make it back for my high school graduation. For the next few years, my brother and I began to build that brother-sister bond we once had as young tykes. We lived in the same town, went to the same college, and hung out all the time, catching up on the years we had lost.
My brother will graduate come May and become a commissioned officer for the United States Marine Corps. He's a great son, an awesome brother, and a loving father. I'm so proud of him and all his accomplishments and don't tell him that enough.


Nate, you're the ideal "big brother" and I thank God everyday He has blessed me with you in my life. Even though we don't agree on a lot of things and I blame you as "the reason why Hannah, Harlee, and I will never get married," I wouldn't trade you for anything or anyone.

Love you too...-Al

P.S. I will make you Almond Joy bread anytime. ;)

What I Ate During the Super Bowl (I'm Not Creative Right Now, Hence Blog Title)

I'm tired.

I'm ready for this semester to be over already. (Yeah, yeah, "don't waste your life away..." I get it, whatever.)

Because of this state of "tiredness" I find myself in, I'm beginning to neglect things, such as eating dinner and updating this blog.

I need to do a better job of both.

I'm tired. Wait, I told you that already. I'm losing my mind...

Here's what I made for a Super Bowl party this past Sunday. (BTW, how about those commercials? Kudos to VW and Doritos, but Groupon, shame on you. Wanting to raise awareness is good, but you could have done it another way.)

Now, to the food.

Buffalo Chicken Dip.

This could easily be a meal in itself. Believe me, I've done it. (Shout out to Sara for introducing me to this delicious dip!)

For dessert, I made this again. And of course it was a hit.

You need, nay, MUST make these dips soonish. Can you say, "Thursday night dinner?"

Buffalo Chicken Dip
adapted from Swanson


1 pkg. (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 ounces)
1/2 cup blue cheese salad dressing or ranch salad dressing
2 cans (12.5 ounces each) Swanson® Premium Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained
1/2 cup any flavor FRANK'S® RedHot® sauce
Assorted fresh vegetables or crackers

Heat the oven to 350° F. Stir the cream cheese in a 9-inch deep dish pie plate with a fork or whisk until it's smooth. Stir in the dressing, pepper sauce and blue cheese. Stir in the chicken. Bake for 20 minutes or until the chicken mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir before serving. Serve with the vegetables and crackers for dipping

And it Snowed and Snowed and Snowed

Snowpocolypse, Snownami, Blizzard of Oz, Snowmaggedon, the Great Blizzard of 2011. Whatever people are calling it, the Midwest got a nice, hefty blanket of the white stuff all day yesterday. So much in fact, that my school canceled classes for the first time in years. Hooray! So here's what I did during the "blizzard" yesterday...

I totally slept in (thank you, snow day), woke up and checked out the conditions.

Lots of snow!

I became obsessed with the robins outside my room. I'm sparing you from the many pictures I took of them.

Checking on Mr. Frog.

Then my friend called, tempting me to brave the blizzard and go eat lunch. I debated going, but I needed some social activity, so on went the ball cap and off I went.

After some delicious pad thai and lovely company, I decided cookies needed to be made.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

and Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.

While the cookies were in the oven I checked on Mr. Frog.

The last picture of birds, I promise.

A warm oatmeal raisin cookie is hard to beat.

I ended the day eating too many of those cookies and playing "Dance Central" with the roommates.

I learned that my roommates have some serious moves.

Freestyle. :)

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1/2 c. butter, softened
2/3 c. light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. rolled oats
3/4 c. raisins
*Note

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins.
Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes for a thicker cookie or bake right away for 10 to 12 minutes. Cookies are done when golden at the edges but a little undercooked-looking on the top. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*Before adding the raisins, I added the oats to the dough and then split the dough, adding dried cranberries and white chocolate chips in one and raisins in the other.