Another One Bites the Dust

We don't have a whole lot of employee turnover here at the DOB. In the five years I've been here, only two people have actually quit (well technically three, but he was politely asked to resign).  Just recently, we had one examiner resign to go work for the Fed. Now, we have another leaving to work for a bank in Austin. We are all so sad to see him go - especially me, since for the last 4 1/2 months, or the last 7 bank examinations, we've worked side-by-side. I'm not going to lie, it's going to be a little strange not working with Brandon anymore. And as much as I roll my eyes and send disapproving looks his way for some of his red zone comments, I'm going to miss him!! So, while we savor our last moments with him at his last bank as a bank examiner this week, I thought it would only be fitting to bake some cupcakes! I found the recipe on my new time-suck Pinterest.  Sidenote: have you discovered the awesomeness that is Pinterest?? If not, browse the sight...I'd be surprised if you weren't hooked after 5 minutes. And if you'd like, I can send you an invite.  Anyway, back to the cupcakes: OREO CUPCAKES. 

That's right Oreo cupcakes. Oreos in the cupcakes and Oreos in the frosting. Can you dig it?  (Also fitting, as it was pointed out to me this morning by our  resident smart ass examiner - OREO in banking terms stands for Other Real Estate Owned...get it?). Anyway, here is the original recipe. I was feeling lazy running short on time, so I cheated and used a box white cake mix and just added Oreos to the batter.  And I didn't cut up whole Oreos like the recipe recommends, I just used the other half of the Oreo not used for the bottom of each cupcake. Also, for the frosting, I used a different recipe:

• 1 stick regular, salted butter, softened
• 1-8oz block of regular cream cheese, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups (almost 1 pound) of powdered sugar

Then I just added some Oreo cookie crumbs to the frosting. I attempted to be fancy and pipe the frosting, but failed miserably (again), so I ended up just glopping it on each cupcake and spreading it around. It was 10:30 pm and I was in no mood to figure out piping. Maybe next time... Anyway, just FYI I used almost an entire package of Oreos for this. I think there might be like 3 cookies left in the package. Enjoy! And of course, we wish Brandon the best of luck in his future endeavors. Vaya con Dios, bro. Heh heh.

Valentine's Day

David and I aren't big on celebrating Valentine's Day. We don't do anything in particular each year, but this year, I wanted to go to dinner at Brio in Southlake on Sunday. We hadn't been back since we had our rehearsal dinner there, so I thought it would be fun to go! Before dinner, we stopped in at Three Dog Bakery. Have you ever been? I love it! We celebrated Casey's first birthday there.  And since it was Valentine's Day, I couldn't resist buying our sweet pup a treat! She got a cookie and a pupcake.

Dinner at Brio was delicious, as usual. Everything there is so good!

Earlier that day, I made strawberry cupcakes to bring to work. The recipe I found called for fresh strawberries, so I couldn't wait to try them. They turned out pretty good! Here's the recipe.

1 package (18 1/4 oz) white cake mix
1 package (3 oz) strawberry jello
1 cup finely chopped, fresh strawberries, with juice
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cake mix, gelatin, strawberries and juice, milk, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down sides again if needed. Spoon about 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it 3/4 full. Bake until cupcakes are lightly golden and spring back when pressed gently with a finger, 20 to 25 minutes*. Remove from oven, place pans on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool for another 15 minutes.

*I baked mine for 16-18 minutes, so it really depends on your oven.

For the frosting, I just made a basic cream cheese frosting.
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1 stick regular, salted butter
1 pound powdered sugar

Combine with a mixer and frost your cupcakes after they've cooled. Enjoy!

Trick or Treat!

Trick or treat, smell my feet....bring everyone something good to eat!

We had a Halloween party today at work. I organized it with the help of a couple other girls in the office. When we have parties at work, it's usually a pot luck...we work for the state and unfortunately, we don't have a party fund! Most people bring a little something to share with the office and we usually get a pretty good spread of food. So last night, I made spinach dip, mummy dogs, and snickerdoodle cupcakes! I've been asked for the recipe for the cupcakes a few times, so here it is!

The cupcake recipe is from Martha Stewart.  Mine came out a little dry. I think next time I'll substitute some canola oil for butter to make them a little bit more moist.

For the frosting, I didn't use Martha's 7 minute frosting. I made cinnamon cream cheese frosting!

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar (I used 3 1/2 cups)

In a bowl, combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.  Add the cinnamon, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar (1 cup at a time). Beat until smooth and creamy. Delicious!

Oven Baked Onion Rings

I made these onion rings tonight to go with PW's Italian drip beef sandwiches. They were SO GOOD. You'll never missed the fried stuff!!! I got the recipe from this guy.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups Cornflakes
• 1/2 Cup Plain Breadcrumbs ( dried)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Cup Low Fat Buttermilk
• 1 Medium Onion ( Vidalia, Spanish) Sliced and broken into rings
• 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/8 Tsp. Cayenne Pepper
• Coarse Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 450 Degrees
2. In a food processor, pulse breadcrumbs and cornflakes until fine crumbs form, then transfer to a medium bowl
3. In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, flour, cayenne, and pepper
4. Dip onion rings into egg mixture ( letting excess drop off ) and dredge into cornflake mixture; place on a large platter
5. Pour oil into rimmed baking sheet and heat in oven for 2 minutes
6. Remove sheet from oven and tilt to coat evenly.
7. Arrange rings onto sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes turning once or until rings are golden brown.
8. Season with salt.
9. ENJOY!

By oiling the pan and preheating it in the oven before you put the rings on it, you'll be sure to get nice crispy onion rings!

4th Annual DVCBQ

Yesterday was one of our favorite days of the year - the DVCBQ!! For those of you who don't know, David and my birthdays are exactly one week apart. The DVCBQ tradition started when David and his best friend, Clayton, moved into a rental house in Dallas. We had a birthday/housewarming BBQ and had so much fun that we started having one each year in March for our birthdays. I'm not sure who dubbed it the DVCBQ, but the name has stuck and this year was the 4th annual! (DVCBQ stands for David, Victoria & Clayton BBQ)

As always, we have a ton of delicious food. David and I take care of the main dish, and our friends help out by bringing yummy sides. This year, I made the Pioneer Woman's Spicy Shredded Pork tacos. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.

I used an 8 1/2 pound pork shoulder and slowly roasted it for about 6-7 hours. The final product basically shredded itself and was so tasty and flavorful! David also grilled about 60 chicken drumsticks because it's not a DVCBQ without something on the grill!

This year, we decided to get a keg of Shiner. And of course, our good friend, Zach, brought jell-o shots galore! I think he made a total of 120 jell-o shots...

You're never too old for a jell-o shot!

I think we had about 30 people over, and I think they'd all say it was a blast!

Our neighbors brought over a really tasty dip, and I got the recipe from her, so I thought I'd share it with you! We had it with tortilla chips, but I think it would be absolute perfection to have it with Fritos! Enjoy!

Mexi-Dip
Serves 10-12

11-ounce can of Green Giant Mexicorn, drained
8 ounces grated Colby or Cheddar cheese
4 scallions (including the white part), thinly sliced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Chill for several hours.

27

I turned 27 yesterday. A year older...a year wiser...? Something like that. My day started out pretty good. Starbucks was honoring my birthday by giving out free pastries with the purchase of a coffee! So I went ahead and got myself a $2 daily drip and an apple bran muffin. When I got to work, our administrative assistant told me she made me a cake and we had to eat right away. Which means...Cake for breakfast! She made a banana split cake, which I have never had before, but it was out of this world DELICIOUS!!

When I got to my desk, my computer was covered in birthday cards! I buy a birthday card for everyone in our office each year. So every year, I wonder if I'm getting a birthday card, since I'm certainly not going to buy myself one for everyone to sign! And each year, I usually get one or two cards. But this year...! This year I got EIGHT birthday cards!! My cubicle wall of birthday cards now looks like this:

Needless to say, I felt pretty special.

I met my brother and his family for lunch at Panera. When I got there, Daniel handed me a box of cupcakes. And not just any plain old, run of the mill cupcakes. These were red velvet cupcakes from The Red Oven in Arlington. THE. BEST. CUPCAKES. EVER.

David is working out of town this week (again). He had a meeting in Waxahachie yesterday afternoon, and since he's the best husband in the world, he stayed in town to take me to dinner. We went to Piranha for dinner and had the sushi boat for two:

Delicious! Unfortunately, after dinner, David had to head back out to Tyler. So there I was, sitting on the couch at home. All alone on my birthday. Feeling sorry for myself. And eating leftover cake. By myself.

Then, the doorbell rang. I usually never answer the door when David's not home. So I looked out the peephole and saw a bouquet of flowers and my good friend, Krissy! She stopped by to bring me the prettiest flowers:

I am absolutely horrible at arranging flowers, so I promise, the flowers are a lot prettier than I have them looking here.

All in all, I had a great birthday and got to spend it with some pretty great people who all made me feel pretty special!!

So, since we devoured the banana split cake before I even thought to take a picture of it, I will leave you with the recipe so that you can make it for yourself.

Banana Split Cake

2 c. crushed graham cracker crumbs (twelve 2 1/2 x 5 inch crackers)
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 stick butter butter

Melt butter. Blend in crumbs and sugar. Press into 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool before adding the filling.

2 c. powdered sugar
2 egg whites
1 stick butter
4 bananas
1 large can of crushed pineapple, drained
1 large container of Cool Whip
Nuts (I think Carol used chopped pecans)
Maraschino cherries, for garnishing

Mix sugar, egg whites and stick butter; beat 10 minutes. Pour over crust. Next, split bananas longways and lay over mix batter. Pour drained crushed pineapple over bananas. Cover with large container of Cool Whip. Sprinkle nuts and cherries on Cool Whip. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with chocolate syrup drizzled over each piece.

Chicken Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of the easiest, fool-proof dishes to make. It's pretty forgiving and you can put whatever you want in it - chicken, beef, shrimp, ham, pork, or any combo you want! I made chicken fried rice tonight because it's what we had in the fridge. The key to really good fried rice is to use day old, cold rice. If you use fresh, hot rice, it will be mushy and you'll end up with a big goopy mess. Here's what you'll need:

2-3 cups leftover white rice, cold
1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and diced
2-3 eggs, beaten in a bowl (I like eggs in my fried rice, so I used 3)
3 stems of green onions, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas & carrots, thawed
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
Soy sauce
Black pepper
Salt, if needed

You'll want to use a deep skillet because of how much stuff you'll be cooking in one pan. Drizzle the pan with some vegetable oil and turn the stove to medium-high to high heat. You want the pan pretty hot. Once the oil is hot, pour in the eggs and swirl them around the pan to coat the bottom. Don't scramble the eggs, just swirl the pan. The bottom should set pretty quickly and the egg on top will still be runny like this:

Now, dump in the rice and mix it together with the egg.


Next, throw in all your other ingredients - veggies, meat, and green onions. Mix it together.

Now season it all with black pepper and soy sauce. I usually just eyeball the soy sauce - about 2 tablespoons. If you're using low-sodium soy sauce, you'll also probably need to add a little salt. Just season to taste.

I like to let the rice sit in the hot pan for a little bit - this kind of "crisps" the rice, which I love. Just let it sit for about a minute, then stir and let it sit for another minute. And that's it!

Yum!! Enjoy!

Chicken Divan

Chicken divan is one of my favorite dishes. It's so, so easy to make and it's so, so tasty!! It's one of my go-to recipes during the week.

Here's what you'll need:



1 cup of cooked, diced chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1-10 ounce package of frozen, chopped broccoli, thawed and drained (in the photo above, I bought a 16 oz bag and used a little more than half)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
Hot, cooked white rice - enough for 4 servings.

**Note: This recipe serves 4.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine soup, mayonnaise, and curry powder. Stir to combine, then add cooked chicken and thawed and drained broccoli.

Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish and top with shredded cheddar cheese.

In a separate bowl, stir and combine the breadcrumbs with the melted butter. Sprinkle over the cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbly. While the casserole is baking, make your rice. Serve the chicken divan over hot white rice. Enjoy!