whatchama-who-it?

when i'm in the mood to make something different, the first thing i usually do is turn to pinterest and peruse my "stuff I wanna eat" boards. i've amassed quite a collection of recipes both tried-and-true and "must-try."

when i was younger and a craving hit, i used to walk a half mile (seemed so much longer than that back then) to 7-eleven with, like, a dollar to pick up something sweet. and something salty to balance it out, because that's how i roll. and more often than not, the bag i toted back home would contain one of these:

i'd recently pinned something that looked super easy and sounded really delicious - whatchamacallit popcorn. air-popped corn, a basic homemade caramel sauce, peanut butter, rice krispies and some chocolate. that's a whole lottagood stuff in one snack, and i had to give it a try.

the bean was more than happy to help, and quite enthusiastically poured the kernels into the most awesome hot-air popcorn popper that ever was. 

we flipped the switch and waited for the magic to happen.

in no time, the bowl was full.

into my saucepan went some brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and a pinch of salt. 

when it was all melty and golden and perfect, I stirred some peanut butter into it and then measured out some rice krispies. 

I busted out the roasting pan, stirred everything together, and popped it into the oven for an hour.

meanwhile, i unwrapped the candy bars and chopped them into little pieces.

when the popcorn was done, it got spread out onto some parchment paper and topped with the candy. the recipe called for chocolate chips to be melted and drizzled on top, but i decided to just sprinkle mini chips on top and let it all cool completely. 

this stuff is good, you guys. the recipe says to keep it in an airtight container for 3 days. 

let's be real here. it's not gonna last that long. duh. 

chomp, chomp. 

back in the saddle, er, kitchen, again

well, whaddaya know - i actually cooked dinner last night!

okay, i did make a pan of my beloved tater tot casserole for me and the bean the other night, but that doesn't really count.  well, it does, but kinda not really.  bah, i'm confusing myself.  anyway..

while the ILs were home, we did a lot of eating out.  this is totally cool, i love eating out, and the few times we did make dinner it was usually BBQ (which i also adore).  but i've kind of lost my way in cooking meals at home lately, and it was good to finally get down and dirty in the kitchen again.

remember my grand plans to do deep-fried oreos and funnel cake at the bean's birthday bash?  in all the craziness of the day, i had zero time to do it.  i was so sad - i'd even borrowed my buddy lilcee's little deep fryer to get the job done!  instead it sat in the corner of my kitchen, unloved and unused.

then the other day, i was watching a show called "top secret recipes" where the dude attempts to recreate stuff from national chain restaurants.  it's actually really fun to watch, and the first episode was all about trying to make original recipe kentucky fried chicken from scratch.  of course, this left me with a mad craving for fried chicken (but not the desire to buy it from KFC).  you know where i'm headed with this, right?

i put some chicken in salt water to soak for a couple of hours, and when it was time i busted it out:

i really would've preferred to do this outside to keep the house from smelling like a fast-food joint, but it was dark and i just didn't wanna. so i turned the fan on high, dredged my chicken pieces in some flour, and dropped 'em in.  look, so cool:

i closed the lid and watched the steam pour out from the top and get sucked up by the fan.  while it cooked, i chopped up some cabbage and ham for the side dish and tossed some crescent rolls into the oven.

i'd also baked half a batch of hot cocoa cookies from the how sweet blog, but lacked the patience to let the dough chill in the fridge before baking.  hence, these sad (but delicious) morsels.

and then i forgot to take a picture of my dinner until i'd already hoovered half of it up.  oops.

i'm so out of practice with this taking pictures of my food thing.  geez.

the second episode of the show was about cinnabon.  mmmmmmmmm.