Pizza Rolls

I like pizza rolls every once in a while, a unhealthy treat. In the pizza stores over here, they sell for around $2.50. But, guess what? You could make them yourself.

All you need for the simple version are: 32 egg roll wrappers, 1 lb. shredded mozzarella cheese (best if you shred it yourself, the pre-shredded has anti-caking agents which give the cheese a powdery taste), and 24* ounces pizza sauce.

Mix up the shredded cheese and pizza sauce. Spoon into egg roll wrappers, fold up and deep fry.

They were good. These were adapted from this recipe. The pizza rolls over here don't come fancy, sauce and cheese is what you get, so that's what we were aiming for. You might have noticed that we used less sauce in our recipe, that's because we used one jar of Barilla tomato and basil sauce which only come with 24 ounces. *Some family members (including ones who like things saucy) found it to saucy even with only the 24 ounces of sauce. So use your judgement.  Be careful, remember that the inside will often still be very hot even when the outside is cool. Next time, we might try to bake a few, and see how we like them. This makes for some awesome party food.

Enjoy!

Sequin Art

Ok, I promised you something sparkly a while ago and here it is. You're going to need:

 some styrofoam, a thin fabric or paper (I like black), sequin pins-I used head pins and don't really recommend them for this project, last but not least some nice SPARKLY SEQUINS. Optional Supplies include a strong magnet, ziploc bag, or container, and a safety pin (if you decide not to listen to me and use head pins).

Oh, that's right, you also need a sharpie, a template (in my case a fish), for kids I recommend you do a simple shape such as a star or a heart.

scrap of styrofoam

1. Take your piece of styrofoam

measuring how much I need, see my markings

and check how much you need for your picture, by laying out your template on top of the styrofoam

2. Next I measured how much fabric (can even use scrapbooking paper for covering) I needed to cover the styrofoam and made sure to leave enough to be able to glue it on the back.

Checking how much covering I need

3. Cut it and use a strong adhesive to glue it down, I used Elmer's Spray Glue Adhesive-only because I had it left over from a previous project.

bad pic of me gluing it up

better pic of me gluing it up

all done, looks nice

4. Now take your template, or freehand a drawing of your choice with your sharpie (mine ended up being a combination of freehand and template.

tracing

all done

all done, less light in this pic, because I wasn't sure which one would show up the sharpie better

5. Now, for the fun and tedious part, if you were stubborn and didn't listen to me and tried to use headpins, this is where the safety pin comes in. You will need to help the headpin by creating a hole using the safety pin for the headpin to go through. If you did listen to me, you should be able to skip this step.

safety-pinning the eye of the fish

holding the sequin in place, while I fish around for a headpin
(pun was unintended)

6. Using your sequin pins, put your pin through the hole in the sequin and push into the desired location in the styrofoam block.

I started with the eye of the fish and you can just do a bunch of these & have flowers

Here is it throughout it's creation and yep should have gone with something simple.

 REQUIRED SUPPLIES:
Styrofoam
thin fabric or paper
sequin pins
sparkly sequins
strong glue (NOT HOT GLUE-it will melt the styrofoam)
Sharpie

 What to do with those optional supplies:
What you never dropped a pin on the floor?

That's what strong magnets are for, they're for picking up pins that fall


Why do I need a ziploc bag or container?

Sequins as well as sequin pins have a tendency to escape, we'll try to contain them in the ziploc bag or container, especially as this project may take a few days to complete.

I've got tons of sequins left over, what can I do with them?

They have other fun styrofoam stuff, you can take one of those styrofoam balls and stick sequins in all over and you'll have a sparkly decoration. Or, (quick disclaimer: haven't tried this) you can carve out your own shape, 3d bear or something and stick in sequins all over, or repeat this project with your child's name or initial

Have Fun

 Linking Up At:

 http://www.iheartnaptime.net/

Fun with Google

http://mrdoob.com/projects/chromeexperiments/google_gravity/

Play around with it, then enter any search term and play some more.

then google- askew

Do you know any other Google tricks?

Battle at Kruger

I found this video fascinating. My professor showed it to us in class. He described it like a disney movie, it has a happy ending. 

Here's the wikipedia page on this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_at_Kruger

Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Source for this Pic: Here)

See that picture, it's not mine, I took it from the the blog where I got the recipe from. I made some and while they went pretty fast, they didn't come out so nice and delicious looking.

Now here's something that I didn't quite get the results I hoped for.

Here was the promise: Using this SECRET ingredient results in chewy, fluffy chocolate chip cookies.  Now, that's just the way I like my cookies.

Your wondering what this secret ingredient was?

Wait for it................................................................................................Wait for it....................................

And the secret ingredient is CORNSTARCH.

I've been using my mother's recipe for chocolate chip cookies and those are awesome, so I decided to try these to be adventurous and see what would happen. I conveniently forgot that I do not like making cookies, because it takes me forever to scoop out the balls, or if I double the batch because they go so fast, I get overwhelmed with all the cookies to make. (Now it is quite possible that the previous sentence is a run-on sentence-I don't care right now). If you hate your current recipe, give these a try. I do not think that this was emphasized in the original recipe, THESE COOKIES DO NOT SPREAD. I'm not shouting, jut want to make the point. I used the cookie scoop and ended up with ball shaped cookies, not quite what I wanted. I flattened them out by hand with the last batch, but left them in the oven a drop too long, so they were a tiny bit on the tough side, but still plenty edible. I did substitute margarine for the butter because I wanted non dairy cookies.  Really, Really do not cook  longer than the recipe says, these cookies turn more tough than crispy. For some reason, some of these tasted like they needed to be mixed better and others tasted ok and this was a with a KitchenAid. It's also quite possible that my expectations are quite high. There was this one kid in my class, whose mother used to make her chocolate chip cookies for snack everyday and she shared them with the rest of the class. They were delicious and perfect in every aspect for the chewy cookie lover. My mother made cookies too, but she's on the other side of the fence on this one, she likes crispy cookies and that was the way she made them. When I made them, I made them soft.

I'm sharing this recipe, because it seems that many other people have had better success with the recipe. It also seems as if I identified my mistake. In my opinion these were good, but I've definitely had tastier chocolate chip cookies. So go ahead, try it out, let me know your opinion(s) (believe me I know some people got a lot to say) or your favorite cookie bar recipe (since I don't like doing cookies) I especially like unusual or different, as well as easy, you get bonus points if the recipe doesn't include evaporated milk or condensed milk. Why? Because I feel like it.

Here's the recipe for the Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with Secret Ingredient:
(My Source For This Recipe Can Be Found: Here)

Ingredients: 

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 c. brown sugar 

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

2 c. all purpose flour 

2 tsp. cornstarch 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.

4.  Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.  (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)

5.  Let cool, on the sheet, on a wire rack for five minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely.  Try not to eat them all.

Stay tuned for something fun, and something sparkly coming your way.

Linking Up At:




http://womenwhodoitall.blogspot.com/

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/


Stay tuned for something fun, and something sparkly coming your way. 

Crispy Chicken Sandwich

This recipe tastes great and is so easy, especially when you have leftover chicken cutlets. Chicken cutlets breaded with cornflakes are really good and will get you the crispy part of this sandwich, but any form of breaded cutlet works.

Ingredients:
Baguette
Breaded Chicken Cutlet (already cooked)
Mayonnaise
KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce (it has to be this brand)

Optional:
Lettuce
Tomato
Onion

1. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on your baguette.
2. Place lettuce, tomato, onion on your baguette.
3. Put your chicken cutlet on the baguette
4. Drizzle BBQ sauce over the chicken cutlet.

That's it, really easy and delicious.

More options:
You can play around with other types of flavorings, by just changing the sauce you use, for example a spicy tomato dip in place of the BBQ sauce will give you a different type of sandwich.

Just a Comic

*sorry about the size of the comic

Maker Faire

I've been remiss in posting for a while and with the holidays coming up, it's not going to get much better for a while. This post was actually supposed to go up a while ago, but I wanted to add more pictures to it, oh well.

I had an awesome time at Maker Faire a few weeks ago. For those people unfamiliar with Maker Faire-check out their website to get a small idea of what they are all about. One was able to learn how to solder, pick locks, make a pinata or a marshmallow shooter. These were only some of the cool stuff going on at Maker Faire. One was able to learn knitting, crocheting, needle point, and/or cross stitch. My needlepoint and my crocheting are coming along nicely. Admission to Maker Faire also included admission to the NY Hall of Science which is in itself a great place.

This fire breathing dragon was an interactive piece of art,
 that kids loved climbing on.

inside of teardrop sculpture at night-gorgeous

Check here for more awesome pics of the events and hopefully one day, I'll post the rest of my pics.

The Chicken Story or Knock Knock

The Chicken Story or Knock Knock (courtesy of Pinterest)

pick your title

Knock Knock!!! This morning I had a fight with Victor about towels. I can’t tell you the details because it wasn’t interesting enough to document at the time, but it was basically me telling Victor I needed to buy new bath towels, and Victor insisting that I NOT buy towels because I “just bought new towels“. Then I pointed out that the last towels I’d bought were hot pink beach towels, and he was all “EXACTLY” and then I hit my head against the wall for an hour. Then Laura came to pick me up so we could go to the discount outlet together, and as Victor gave me a kiss goodbye he lovingly whispered, “You are not allowed to bring any more goddam towels in this house or I will strangle you“. And that was exactly what I was still echoing through my head an hour later, when Laura and I stopped our shopping carts and stared up in confused, silent awe at a display of enormous metal chickens, made from rusted oil drums. Laura: I think you need one of those. me: You’re joking, but they’re kind of horrifically awesome. Laura: I’m not joking. We need to buy you one. me: The 5-foot tall one was $300, marked down to $100. That’s like, $200 worth of chicken for free. Laura: You’d be crazy not to buy that. I mean, look at it. IT’S FULL OF WHIMSY. me: Victor’d be pissed. Laura: Yup. me: But on the plus side? It’s not towels. Laura: Yup. me: We will name him Henry. Or Charlie. Or O’Shannesy. Laura: Or Beyoncé. me: Or Beyoncé. Yes. And when our friends are sad we can leave him at their front door to cheer them up. Laura: Exactly. It’ll be like, “You thought *yesterday* was bad? Well, now you have a enormous metal chicken to deal with. Perspective. Now you have it.” Then we flagged down a salesman, and we were all “What can you tell us about these chickens?”, as if we were in an art gallery, and not in a store that specializes in last years’ bathmats. He didn’t know anything about them, but he said that they’d only only sold one and it was to a really drunk lady, and then Laura and I were all “SOLD. All this chicken belongs to us now.” (Insert-inappropriate-cock-joke-here.) So he loaded it onto a trolley, but Beyoncé was surprisingly unstable, and the giant 5 foot metal chicken crashed over onto the floor. And Laura and I were all “CHICKEN DOWN! CLEAN-UP IN AISLE 3″ but he didn’t laugh. Then the manager came to see what was causing all the commotion, and that’s when he found the very-conservative salesman unhappily struggling to right an enthusiastically pointy chicken which was almost as tall as he was. The salesman was having a hard time, and he told everyone to stand back “because this chicken will cut you“, and at first I thought he meant it as a threat, like “That chicken has a shiv”, but turns out he just meant that all the chickens’ ends were sharp and rusty. It was awesome, and Laura and I agreed that even if we got tetanus, this chicken had already paid for himself even before we got it in her truck. Then we got to my house and quietly snuck the chicken up to my front door, rang the doorbell, and hid around the corner. Knock-knock, motherfucker. Victor opened the door and looked at the chicken in stunned silence for about 3 seconds. Then he sighed, closed the door and walked away. Laura: What the fuck? That’s it? That’s the only reaction we get? me: That’s it. He’s a hard man to rattle. Victor was surprisingly pissed that I’d “wasted money” on an enormous chicken, because apparently he couldn’t appreciate the hysterical value of a 5 foot chicken ringing the doorbell. Then I said, “Well, at least it’s not towels” and apparently that was the wrong thing to say because that’s when Victor screamed and stormed off, but I knew he was locked in his office because I could hear him punching things in there. Then I yelled through his door, “It’s an anniversary gift for you, asshole. Two whole weeks early. 15 YEARS IS BIG METAL CHICKENS.” Then he yelled that he wanted it gone, but I couldn’t move it myself, so instead I said okay and went to watch tv. Then when the UPS guy came I hid, but he was all “Dude. Nice chicken” and Victor yelled, “IT IS NOT A NICE CHICKEN”. Which was probably very confusing to the UPS guy, who was just trying to be polite, Victor. Victor seemed more disgruntled than usual, so I finally dragged the chicken into the backyard and wedged it into a clump of trees so that it could scare the snakes away. Then I came in and Victor angrily pulled me into his office so that I could see that I’d stationed Beyoncé directly in front of his only window. And I was all “Exactly. YOU’RE WELCOME.” I told him that he could move Beyoncé if he wanted to, but he totally hasn’t. Probably because of all of the giant rocks I piled on Beyonce’s feet to dissuade burglars. Or possibly because Beyoncé is growing on him. Still, I can’t help but think that we wouldn’t even be having this argument if Beyoncé was towels. Honestly, this whole chicken is really a lesson in picking your battles more carefully. Plus, he’s awesome and I can’t stop giggling every time I look at him. Beyoncé, that is. Best. 15th anniversary. ever.

Healthy Foods Look Like Body Parts

1. Carrot: Eye

Slice a carrot in half crosswise and it's easy to see that the veggie resembles an eye—look closely and you'll even notice a pattern of radiating lines that mimic the pupil and iris. And the old wives’ tale is true: Munching on carrots will actually promote healthy eyes. "Carrots are filled with vitamins and antioxidants, like beta-carotene, that decrease the chance of macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in older people," says Sasson Moulavi, MD, medical director of Smart for Life Weight Management Centers in Boca Raton, Florida. Photos by iStockphoto

2. Walnut: Brain

The folds and wrinkles of a walnut bring to mind another human organ: the brain. The shape of the nut even approximates the body part, looking like it has left and right hemispheres. And it's no surprise walnuts are nicknamed "brain food"—according to Lisa Avellino, dietitian for Focus28 Diet, "they have a very high content of omega-3 fatty acids, which help support brain function." Photos by iStockphoto

3. Celery: Bone

Long, lean stalks of celery look just like bones—and they're good for them, too. "Celery is a great source of silicon, which is part of the molecular structure that gives bones their strength," says Dr. Moulavi. Another funny bone coincidence: "Bones are 23 percent sodium, and so is celery," reports Avellino. Photos by iStockphoto

4. Avocados: Uterus

The lightbulb shape of an avocado looks like a uterus, and it supports reproductive health as well. "Avocados are a good source of folic acid," says Elizabeth Somer, registered dietician and author of Eat Your Way to Happiness. "Folate has been found to reduce the risk for cervical dysplasia, which is a precancerous condition." Photos by iStockphoto and Shutterstock

6. Grapefruit: Breast

The similarity between round citrus fruits––like lemons and grapefruit––and breasts may be more than coincidental. "Grapefruit contains substances called limonoids, which have been shown to inhibit the development of cancer in lab animals and in human breast cells," says Dr. Moulavi.Photos by iStockphoto and 3D4Medical.com

7. Tomato: Heart

Slice open a tomato and you'll notice the red veggie has multiple chambers that resemble the structure of a heart. "Studies have found that because of the lycopene in tomatoes, there is a reduced risk for heart disease in men and women who eat them," says Somer. And, she adds, if you mix them with a little fat, like olive oil or avocado, it will boost your body's lycopene absorption nearly tenfold. Photos by iStockphoto and 3D Clinic

8. Red Wine: Blood

Red wine, which is rich in antioxidants and polyphenols, including powerful resveratrol, looks like blood. "When you drink it, you're really loading up on the healthy stuff that protects against destructive things in the blood, like LDL cholesterol, which can cause heart disease," says Somer. "There's also a blood-thinning compound in red wine, so it reduces blood clots, which are associated with stroke and heart disease." Photos by iStockphoto

9. Ginger: Stomach

Anyone who's ever reached for a glass of ginger ale when they’ve had a stomachache knows about the antinausea effects of ginger. So it's fitting that the herb somewhat resembles the digestive organ. According to Dr. Moulavi, "gingerol, which is the ingredient responsible for ginger's pungent scent and taste, is listed in the USDA database of phytochemicals as having the ability to prevent nausea and vomiting." Photos by iStockphoto

10. Sweet Potatoes: Pancreas

The oblong sweet potato bears a strong resemblance to the pancreas, and also promotes healthy function in the organ. "Sweet potatoes are high in beta-carotene, which is a potent antioxidant that protects all tissues of the body, including the pancreas, from damage associated with cancer or aging," says Somer. Photos by Shutterstock

 from Woman's Day.

Have you ever looked at a fruit of vegetable and thought it looked like a body part. There's a reason for this, it's interesting and makes sense. The doctrine of signatures is an ancient European philosophy that held that plants bearing parts that resembled human body parts, animals, or other objects, had useful relevancy to those parts, animals or objects.  A Siced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes. A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.  Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food. A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.  Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.   Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glyc emic index of diabetics. Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.  Grapefruits, Oranges , and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts. Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.  Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.   Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).  Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility. From http://www.wellsphere.com/vitamins-supplements-article/fruits-and-veggies-look-like-body-parts/440013