I Forgot to Mention . . .

My wonderful husband took me to Tucanos for my birthday! (Erica, we did sign up for the free birthday meal). We also had a gift certificate to use there, so it ended up costing us nothing! The waiters were a little awkward this time since there were few people in the restaurant, but we had lots of fun anyway. My Tucanos dream has come true!

Toffee Crunch Grahams

*From a recipe on allrecipes.com*
Toffee Crunch Grahams:

Ingredients

• 12 whole graham crackers
• 1 1/2 cups butter (no substitutes)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups sliced almonds (optional---because I am poor and can not afford such luxuries at this time)

Directions

1. Line a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with heavy-duty foil. Place graham crackers in pan. In a saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Carefully pour over graham crackers. Sprinkle with almonds.
2. Bake at 400 degrees F for 4-6 minutes or until bubbly (watch them so they don't burn). Cool in pan for 4 minutes. Cut each cracker into four sections; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I cut this recipe in fourths (which means I used 3/4 of a cube of butter and 1/4 cup of brown sugar and about 3/4 pack of graham crackers), because it is completely unhealthy and two people do not need to have that much butter and sugar in one sitting. :) I was happy this recipe worked out so well. Just make sure the butter and sugar combine together when it is boiling. You don't want a layer of melted butter on top of the sugar (this is how it is before it begins boiling). 

Also, make sure you take the grahams out of the pan while they are still warm and malleable. I can just imagine trying to get hardened toffee grahams out of the pan later...impossible! 

These are addicting and terrible for you, so of course I'm putting this recipe on my blog! 

It was that kind of day today. :)

Husband's Reaction: "This is really sugary. They are really good!"

P.S. the little extra toffee pieces are so good. I didn't share many of those.

FHE and No-Bake Cookies

If you know me and Danny really well, you know we made probably a hundred or so no-bake cookies while we were dating/engaged. And we haven't stopped there!

Danny loves making these from his "ancient" recipe that he used as a teenager. He has it memorized. I think in the last month alone we have made them at least every week. They are easy and we both love them! (sometimes it's not always easy to find a treat we both LOVE). 

We made them for Family Home Evening a little while ago, and I took pictures. You can also see us enjoying our new *old* video game thing (I don't know what it's called. I don't know how to play most of the games) that Danny's brother shipped to us. Danny was very excited to play NBA Jam? Or something like that. Anyway, it's fun!

 See those wrinkles on my forehead? I used to worry a ton in 6th grade, and my teacher told me I was going to have permanent lines on my forehead when I was older because I would scrunch up my forehead when I worried. Don't worry (haha), they aren't permanent yet, but this will give you a visual of what I'll look like when I'm older. . . .you can even imagine I'm missing my teeth the way my mouth looks in this picture.

 We were playing MarioKart. It says "congratulations" on the screen, so Danny must have just beat me again. I never even make it to third place.

And here is Danny's memorized recipe for his favorite no-bake cookies: (I often cut this recipe in half for just us. Half makes about 14 small/medium cookies).

2 cups sugar

1 stick butter

4 Tbs cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

Stir these ingredients in a heavy saucepan until mixed. Bring to a rolling boil. Let it boil without stirring for 1.5 minutes. 

Remove pan from heat and add:

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 1/2 cups oats

2 tsp vanilla

Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper, waxed paper, or we just use saran wrap over a cookie sheet.

Let cool so they harden and enjoy!

Tucanos. . . A Place Only In My Dreams

I wish I had something to post here. Sadly, I am now a student again and I barely have time to put pasta with canned sauce on the table. I would post a picture of that, but would it even be worth seeing? No.

So, I'll dream about going out to eat instead! I've been wanting to go to Tucanos since April. It's overpriced, it's not like amazing, but it has special memories for me. Danny took me to Tucanos when I graduated. He didn't have the money for it, and I protested, but he still did. And I secretly loved that he took me.

(Except, now he knows cuz he just came up and sat by me while I am typing this...oops. :)

Anyway, since I have no pictures of real food, here:

Come to Tucanos with me in my mind and eat whatever is on that huge skewer held by a college-aged man. It'll be fun! :)

Potato Chip Chicken Nuggets

Potato Chip Chicken Fingers--From Lisa Summers' mother, Betty

1 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast---adjust amount depending on how many mouths you must feed

5 to 6 oz. potato chips (plain, sour cream and onion, barbecue, or sour cream---I used plain)

1 egg

2 Tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut chicken into finger-size pieces. Fill a large sealable plastic bag with potato chips and mash with wooden spoon. . . or your fist if you're feeling feisty.

In small bowl, whisk egg and milk. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then put in bag of potato chip crumbs. Shake to cover chicken. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping once during cooking time. Serve with barbecue sauce or honey mustard. (or fry sauce: ketchup, mayo, and Worcestershire sauce mixture)

Husband's Reaction: "Nobody has ever made chicken nuggets for me that weren't frozen."
Me: "That's how you know that I love you more than anyone else, right?"
Husband: "Yes."

We had chicken nuggets, baked french fries, and mango slices for lunch. . . . like 2 months ago! I'm just barely posting it now, because I have not had time or energy to cook many new things lately. Plus, the heat makes it almost unbearable to even think about turning on our oven. Here is what our thermostat looked like two days ago around 7'o'clock p.m.:

I refuse to cook in such conditions! :) Don't worry, we cooled it down...eventually.

This recipe is a winner; it's easy, tastes good, fun, and Danny said it was way better than going out to eat and seemed to feel good that it was *a little* healthier than the fast food versions of the same meal.

I'm Back!

So, I kind of just left you all hanging without any explanation.

Explanation now: This past week I've been out of the country on a cruise to Mexico!

While on this cruisey little adventure of mine, I got to sample some pretty interesting dishes.

Don't worry, I took pictures! :)

My favorite thing was this creme brulee I had one night at dinner for dessert. I've been craving it ever since!

I got to go to a cooking demo done by the head chef on the cruise ship. That's him on the right. He has a white handkerchief tied around his neck, which shows he is the highest chef. Blue handkerchiefs are the lowest, and red are in the middle. When asked what his favorite color was, the head chef said white...then he pointed to his necktie. Pretty clever, chef. :)

The head chef made this roasted chicken with potatoes and mac and cheese during the demo. The macaroni and cheese was sooooooooooo good. The best I have ever had! Bonus: I got to taste two dishes that had truffle oil in it. I have never tasted truffle oil. It's very decadent.

I honestly don't think I had ever tried lobster before the cruise. I've had crab several times, but lobster was a new one. They kind of turned the lobster tail inside out so that the meat was easily accessible. Not the prettiest looking lobster, but it was fun to try. And those mashed potatoes hiding on the side were so creamy and yummy. Ohhhhh yes.

 I had this dish for dessert one night. It had apples and puff pastry in it. The caramel sauce had a slightly burnt taste. Those at our table who tasted the sauce gave it mixed reviews. Most hated it, but I thought it was ok.

I don't even remember what this was, but it was good. I love the presentation.

I tried a lot of dishes on the cruise that I would rarely get a chance to eat someplace else. Lobster, frog legs, alligator fritters, smoked salmon, sushi, and, yes, snails. AKA escargot. I had tasted escargot before, actually, but I wanted to try it again. Hey, why not? Things like these cost tons of money at a restaurant. We had already paid for our tickets. We didn't pay anything extra for these delicacies. I took advantage. And they were pretty good. Danny made faces while I ate them, but his favorite food is still pizza so I didn't pay too much attention. :)

The Perfect Combination

Okay, so, this picture doesn't look that great. These are actually some day-old bagels I brought home from a work conference. But! As I was eating them I got some flash-backs to my first year of college when I would buy a bagel, cream cheese, and a bottle of orange juice and savor my breakfast in the food court on campus. 

It was the perfect combination.

I guess I'm kind of a "perfect combination" kind of girl, because there are other combinations that are similar in my life.

1. Popcorn and sprite at a movie in a movie theater...my perfect combination!
2. Chicken and honey....I know, kind of weird, but I ALWAYS get out the honey when we have chicken. It's one of my perfect combinations. Must be from eating honey with chicken nuggets when I was little.
3. Ice cream and french fries...you know what I'm talking about. If you don't---try it!
4. Chocolate and peanut butter.
5. Tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole.
6. Rice and black beans.

And so on...

So tell me: What are YOUR perfect food combinations?