Anonymous asked: My name is Romy and I was just wondering how you invented post-its?
Great question! Well, ordinarily when you make glue first you need to thermoset your resin and then after it cools you have to mix in an epoxide, which is really just a fancy-schmancy name for any simple oxygenated adhesive, right? And then I thought maybe, just maybe, you could raise the viscosity by adding a complex glucose derivative during the emulsification process and it turns out I was right.
People talk a whole lot about our BBQ, grilled meats and deep-fried delights (hello, Stroud’s Fried Chicken). But if you think we’re exclusively a meat & potatoes kind of town, think again.
Did you know KC has, in our humble opinion, some of the best vegetarian cuisine in the country? True…
Today is the 52nd day of my I-don’t-want-migraines-anymore-so-I’m-being-extreme diet. I tried no cheese and no MSG a couple years ago without good results. So this time, I’m doing the Eat Right 4 Your (Blood) Type Diet. It’s not widely accepted in the medical community, so I didn’t give it a lot of hope. However, since I’m type A (which is the most likely to suffer from migraines), I’m supposed to focus primarily on vegetarian/vegan food anyway, and that is a logically healthy way of living. (no red meat, dairy or wheat) Anyhoo—I’ve actually had amazing success with this, but being a foodie, I greatly miss yummy treats. When I find something that is consistent with my diet AND tasty, I get pretty happy.
Which brings me to an “ice cream” recipe that is delicious enough to sneak to your kids, friends or family members even if they aren’t crazy vegans.* My co-worker, Jessica , who has listened to my complaints about food cravings and has been kind enough to send me recipes that might actually work for me. I browsed through a ton of ice cream recipes, most of which had long lists of ingredients I didn’t want to invest in and/or too many complicated steps. I don’t find food I slave over any more rewarding than buying something from the store; I just want it to be tasty. So the easier the better. Original recipe came from here, and my modifications are below. Adding the chocolate makes it sort of like chocolate chip ice cream, but with tinier chocolate pieces. Ideas for the future include making it more liquidy (yes, that’s a word), and pouring it into our new Zoku Quick Pop Maker for a fudgesicle—in which case it wouldn’t matter that its consistency is so hard. Without further ado, the recipe…
Chocolate Peanut Butter Tofu Ice Cream
<—picture from the original that I don’t think mine will EVER look like
Microwave one cup of chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (I used Williams-Sonoma’s chocolate chunks because I still have leftover wedding gift cards from there—woo woo.) Let the mixture cool slightly (while preparing your other ingredients).
In a blender (not a 4 cup food processor that will not hold all this) combine:
*you can also substitute 6 Tbs chocolate syrup as the liquid sweetener, but please don’t use toxic Hershey’s syrup
Add the melted chocolate and blend until combined.
Chill your tofu concoction thoroughly in the refrigerator if you are cool enough to have an ice cream machine. If you’re one of those elite ice cream maker owners, add the concoction to the machine and process however you’re supposed to (you would know better than me!)
OR, if you’re machine-less like I am, freeze in ice cube trays for a couple hours (NOT OVERNIGHT even if you must stay up until midnight to do this step).
Pop out the cubes with a knife and mix in the blender. 
For this step, your friend is the SPOONULA (did I make up that word, or is that what we call a spatula+spoon?). Even after a measly two hours in the freezer, your cubes will be pretty hard, and your blender might struggle. So be prepared for some womanual (girl version of manual) labor with your spoonula. 
After it’s as blended as it can possibly be, pour it into a container (I used my awesome Oxo pop containers) and return to the freezer to harden into a scoopable ice cream. And by scoopable, it’s still going to be as hard as a rock the next day, so you’ll have to let it melt a little.
Nutritional info as calculated on the handy-dandy Livestrong My Plate tool.
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.
*my version of this isn’t vegan, because I obviously had to add chocolate chips which have a little bit of milk—cheating for me, but I will never give up chocolate
Easy Recipe = New Wife Cooking Confidence
My new husband and I are pretty devoted to chicken dishes, so making Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast was quite a leap for us. I was a little nervous, but it turned out beautifully! (and smelled delicious)
Without further ado, here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 (2-3 pound) boneless pork roast
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp dried basil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place roast in slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, honey, soy sauce, basil, garlic, oil and salt; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160°.
Remove meat to a serving platter; keep warm. Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a small saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. (Tip from my mom—put cornstarch and water in a jar and shake instead of stirring). Gradually stir cornstarch/water mixture into pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice roast; serve with gravy (The blog where I found this also made mashed potatoes and put the gravy on top. Since we’re not really potato people, we made quinoa instead and it was perfect!)
Recipe adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff who adapted it from Everyday Tastes
Poppyseed Ritz Cracker Chicken Goodness (both poppyseeds and Ritz crackers optional)
A combined tried-and-true recipe from both my grandmother and dear friend, Reta. My twist on it is to use no poppyseeds because all they do is get stuck in your teeth (I can never taste them) and instead of Ritz which has all sorts of bad stuff, I use Back to Nature Classic Round Crackers with no hydrogenated oils or artificial preservatives (I didn’t say no fat or sodium). :)
When cooking the chicken, I use frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts. I put them in a crockpot, cover with water and season with garlic power and/or garlic salt, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. (you can also use celery salt and onion powder, but I don’t miss it when I don’t) Just sprinkle seasonings on top of water. (I feel like more of an expert when I don’t measure.) If trying to limit salt, just use the powders or use fresh garlic, onion and celery. Cook on high for about 8 hours.
I also use Healthy Request soups. Using reduced fat in place of regular sour cream doesn’t affect the taste. I have even used non-fat Greek yogurt.
My friend usually serves green beans, baked potatoes and a green salad with the Poppyseed chicken. Fruit salad goes well with it also.
The recipe can be cut in half and baked in an 8x8 baking dish, so in case most of you are in my boat (just you or just you and a friend/spouse), I’m showing the already cut in half recipe. If you are feeding four or more, or want LOTS of leftovers, just double this and put it in a 9x13 pan. For two people, it makes a few leftover meals, which also taste great! Okay, here’s the official recipe:
Poppyseed Chicken
* Cook and debone and remove skin from a 1.5 pound chicken. (I prefer to use 1.5 pounds of frozen, boneless skinless chicken breasts.)
—as stated previously, the frozen chicken can be left in the crock pot all day on high…if your chicken isn’t frozen, good luck…I have no clue how long to cook it!
* Arrange cut up cooked chicken in an 8 x 8 baking dish
* Mix together can of Cream of Chicken Soup with a 1/2 cup of Sour Cream
* Pour soup mixture on top of chicken
*Mix together 1.5 Tbsp. Poppyseeds and 1.5 cups of crushed Ritz crackers with 3/4 stick of melted Unsalted Butter
*Place cracker mixture on top of soup mixture
* Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (or 35 min. on 375 if you have a ghetto oven like mine!)
This plan of attack commences tonight. Now that Zach and I are married and our honeymoon has been over for more than a week, it’s time for us to grow up and start using our kitchen. We had a trial run last week where we made Pioneer Woman’s fancy macaroni. It was heaven, and we ate the leftovers for a few days. But now it’s time to really get serious. I was going to do that whole meal planning thing, but the time to go grocery shopping arrived before I got to it. So…the entire week will pretty much consist of chicken recipes. And mostly from Pinterest.
On the agenda:
-Zesty Italian Chicken (using the crockpot for the first time even though I’ve had it for 4 years…woop!)
-Poppyseed chicken (also a crockpot thing)
-Garlic Parmesan Chicken (yum)
Non-chicken recipes:
* Roasted Garlic Mac & Cheese (this one lets you use milk instead of cream and not a ton of butter, so that’s a plus)
* Gnocchi with pesto (using our food processor for the first time and pretty pumped about it!) — no recipe for this one, just going to do it — inspiration from our favorite Italian deli, Cupini’s
Dear followers, if you have ANY recipe that is easy and will boost our kitchen confidence, please send at your nearest convenience.
Thank you,
A New Wife
Anonymous asked: Question. If you had to choose one favorite memory from your bachelorette weekend, what would it be?
The trail of pink feathers I left everywhere I went (from the boa). OR—when everyone went around the table and shared “Rachel memories.” Priceless. :)
Anonymous asked: Question. What kind of bear is best?
Well, that depends. The Grizzly Bear…
Kansas City was named the world’s Most Positive Community by an organization called Celebrate Positive (and voted for by a committee of United Nations Non-Governmental Organizations).
Once again, Kansas City has a reason to be proud. I love it when someone or something is recognized for what we already knew to be true!
P.S. My favorite part of the incredible video is when the crowd in front of the KC Live stage goes crazy…since it was actually shot during a World Cup game. Good editing! ;)
Shame on you, @UrbanOutfitters.
One of my lovely customers sent me a message today with this link.
And here is my United/World of Love line:
My heart sank a little bit. The World/United States of Love line that I created is one of the reasons that I was able to quit my full-time job. They even stole the…
Real life Mario Kart
Correcting the disgusting office coffee problem. One French press cup at a time.
*This post (and beverage) brought to us by Jessica.
Goal: obliterating 30% of my closet by using the haven’t-worn-it-in-a-year rule
Soundtrack: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Attitude: ruthless
Menu: Talenti caramel cookie crunch gelato
Resources: best friend who has impeccable taste & is studying for law school finals so obviously needs emails every five minutes with questions (i.e. Are you positive floor-length gauchos from Harold’s are never coming back? Don’t forget to take into account the store went out of business, so there’s no changing my mind.)
One regret: waiting the weekend after my parents’ garage sale to finally do this
My name is Rachel, and although I may not always be happy, I aim for an overall trend of joyfulness.
wedding photo idea: find a photo from your parents’ wedding and recreate the same pose.
Today was a monumental day in my life. I sat for a few hours in front of a panel of...
Little man turned one month old yesterday! To celebrate, we held an impromptu photo...
While I don’t have time to type out the full birth story just yet,...
The long hours aren’t getting to us at all!
