Tagged... once again!

Tagged again by Trisha and Jennyfer this time :) Let me see if I can come up with another 8 things about myself...!

1. I just had my wisdom teeth pulled - only interesting since most people get them out while they're a teenager and I'm almost 30! I was all worked up that it was going to be really gnarly - didn't phase me a bit! :) Either I'm one tough chicky or I just have a really good dentist! I do have to say I am so sick of eating bland soft food! Thank God this is healing really quickly - it will be nice to be able to eat an apple again!

2. My car is about to hit 100,000 miles! Not sure if I'm happy about that or not... I have to drive a lot for work so I put tons of miles on it.

3. I just started running again (I've tried this a bunch of times and just keep falling off the wagon!) and am really enjoying it this time! I've been able to get up to a 5K and have actually gone a little over the 3.1 miles. Trying to get up to 4 miles without stopping and then I'll sign up to run an actual 5K sometime this fall.

4. I'm currently working on my Masters in Teaching with an emphasis on educational technology. As much as I bitch and complain about the classes, I do really love them (I'm a school junkie!) and I'm now considering going back after this one to get another Masters in counseling or something! Maybe something like the National Board certification (I can call myself "uber teacher" lol) :)

5. Continuing the teacher geek stuff, I'm a huge science nerd and would love to get a thing that would allow me to teach middle school science. I know, how many people do you know who actually like working with middle school kids?! I think they're great - they are really some of my favourite students at my current job and I think it would be awesome to keep those young women interested in the sciences. :)

6. Sometimes I think I'm a bit too liberal for my own good! lol I think it gets me in trouble ;) It's funny, too, because my hubby is totally on the other side of the fence - we get into some very interesting political debates! (I'm Dharma, he's Greg...lol) Good thing I don't believe in judging people on who they are/what their beliefs are... I'd have no friends! I'm also a total greeny which he likes to make fun of me for (yes, I pick aluminum cans and paper out of the trash after he throws them in there!)

7. 98% of people mispronounce my name. It really irritates me... how hard is it?! Really people... give it a little effort! lol ;) Actually, when I first moved out here to San Diego from very rural northern England (yeah, I'll tell you about a culture shock!) and went with my mom (mum!) to register for 8th grade (crappy time to move - do not do that to your kids, please!) the secretary at the school office insisted on pronouncing my name incorrectly despite my mom correcting her multiple times. Idiot! My mom is still pissed about that... lol ;) The woman had the nerve to tell my mother she was pronouncing my name incorrectly! Who the F does that?! Honestly...
On that note, as a teacher, I really do my best to always pronounce names correctly or I ask the children how they pronounce it then make a note so I won't forget/screw it up!

8. I think it would be so much fun to drive a drag race car! Just once for the 1/4 mile... what a rush! I know, those things cannot be doing the earth a favour at all so I probably sound like a bit of a hypocrite! Maybe they can rig one to run on bio-fuel for me! lol - it will be the slowest 1/4 mile the Pomona drag strip has ever seen ;) My father-in-law is a huge race car guy (he used to drag race and currently works on his friend's stock car) and used to own a '55 Chevy that he converted to a dragster. It was awesome. Unfortunately he sold it, but he did buy the sweet '39 Chevy that we used as our wedding car after selling the '55 so I really can't complain :)

That's it... Fascinating, huh?! ;)

Fudge Glaze for Brownies

This is also posted at the end of my original brownie recipe but here it is again to make it a little easier to find :) I realized I promised to include it with the amaretto brownies recipe and then never did! oops...

Enough to coat 1 9-inch pan of brownies (I usually make a little less and just "drizzle" it over the bars before cutting them).

Ingredients:
1 oz. unsweetened or semi-sweet chocolate
3 tbsp. butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract (for the amaretto brownies use almond extract instead!)
1-3 tbsp. warm milk

Method:
1. Melt butter and chocolate in a small saucepan. Blend in sugar and vanilla with a wire whisk. Add enough milk to make a smooth, spreadable glaze.

2. Spread or drizzle over cool brownies.

This would probably be good drizzled over cupcakes or fruit (wonder what it's like on ice cream?!)

Amaretto Brownies, Take II (Fudge)

Those amaretto brownies I made last week were really good but I do really prefer fudge brownies to the more cake-like ones :) So, I have decided to give them another shot! I was actually going to make them tonight but discovered I had frozen my leftover almond paste so those will have to wait! I'm just going to do some kind of combination of my regular brownie recipe and the amaretto brownie recipe and see what I come up with. I hope they turn out OK! I'll come back tomorrow after I make them and let you know how they turn out/post the recipe if they are actually blog-worthy! And if not, then I still have the good cake amaretto brownies :)

Update (Wednesday): They worked!! Woohoo!! :) These are so good, even better than the cake ones which is what I hoped/suspected.
Here is the recipe I used/created for the fudge amaretto brownies:

Ingredients:
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, cut up
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup almond paste
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 tbsp. amaretto
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. aluminium-free baking powder
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square pan.

2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, chocolate, and almond paste over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

3. Blend in sugar, vanilla, and amaretto. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in salt, baking powder, and flour.

4. Bake 20-25 minutes until the brownies are set in the center (test with a toothpick). Be sure not to overbake them. Allow the brownies to cool and cut into squares. If desired, you can spread or drizzle the cooled brownies with the fudge glaze.

Enjoy! I bet these would be really good with a cup of coffee that has some amaretto stirred into it!

Mexican Rice

Told you my menu for this week would change :) We ended up having "taco night" tonight instead of burgers or whatever it was supposed to be! So... I decided to make this yummy Mexican rice I found in Amber's blog a while back (I think she found it on AllRecipes.com). Here's my slightly (hardly at all!) modified version - very yummy!

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 cup onion, chopped finely
1/4 cup tomato sauce (I usually just make my own - mix 1 1/2 tbsp. tomato paste with 2 tbsp. water)
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth (obviously will only be vegetarian if you use the veggie broth!)
1/4 cup fresh salsa (ie: not the kind that you find on a shelf in a glass jar.. ick!) Pico de gallo would also work well

Method:
1. Heat the oil over medium heat and add the rice. Cook the rice, stirring constantly until it becomes puffy and golden. Sprinkle with salt and cumin.

2. Stir in the onions and garlic and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and broth; bring to a boil. Stir in the salsa and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed.

Great as a side dish for tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, etc.

I finally tried....

...a bloody Mary! Guess I can cross that off my list of things to do before I'm 30! lol, don't worry, that was not on the list! I actually don't have a list and since I'm turning 30 at the end of September I really don't see any point in worrying about that :)

So, finally tried one. I never thought I'd like it. I love tomatoes but have just never had anything tomato juice-y (like V-8 or whatever)... we were out to breakfast on Sunday at a place on the pier in Santa Barbara (oops, forgot the name of the restaurant) and the people I was with ordered the bloody Mary's. I almost did it but chickened out and got a mimosa instead :) Well, they looked so good so I had to have a sip. Dang! Think my brunch mimosas have been replaced! lol
So spicy - it was great! And the huge shrimp hanging on the glass looked really yummy, too! lol...
Next time we're up there (um, next August), I'm definitely going to have to remember to order one of those! Yum yum...

Amaretto Brownies

I usually make these very fudgy chocolate brownies which I think are the best brownies I've ever tasted... might be a bit biased, but they are damn good! Anyway, being the huge brownie fan that I am, I have been on this "must find new brownie recipes" kick lately. I'm also a huge amaretto fan (well, almonds in general fan) so you can imagine my excitement when I found this! I almost started turning cartwheels down the hallway! ;) That would be quite a sight - I think I haven't done a cartwheel since I was 14...
Anyway, these are a little more on the cake brownie side, but they are still really good! DH tried one and said "wow, did you put a whole bottle of amaretto in these things?!" No, honey, that's just 2 tbsp. and a big hunk of almond paste! ;) Yes, I was eating the almond paste straight from the tube.. maybe it's a good thing that stuff is $8 for a tiny little tube! Prevent me from eating it so much!

This will make 48 brownies - I actually cut the recipe in half which is usually not a good idea! However, seemed to work Ok for these!

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/2 of an 8-ounce tube of almond paste (works out to be about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
2 tbsp. amaretto or milk (now who on earth will sub milk for amaretto?! If you do have to sub milk, you could maybe add some almond extract to it...)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. aluminium-free baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup milk
Optional: fudge frosting (I'll make sure I post the recipe I use) and some chopped almonds to use as a topping

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. Grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan and set it aside. In a pan, heat the sugar, butter, almond paste, and cocoa powder over medium heat until the butter is melted. I also used a wooden spoon to "smush" the almond paste around until it was all melted, too. Remove from the heat and cool slightly (we are not going for amaretto scrambled eggs here!) Add the eggs, amaretto, and vanilla; beat with a wooden spoon just until combined.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively to the chocolate mixture, beating after each addition.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (mine needed about 23 mins). Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours. If desired, frost with fudge frosting and sprinkle with chopped or sliced almonds. Cut into bars.

Reference:
I found this in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.
Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen (1996). Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Meredith Publishing Group: Des Moines, IA.

Menu for week of July 22-28

I'm slacking this week! Already Tuesday and haven't posted this yet... here's the plan for this week:

Sunday/Monday: we ordered pizza on Sunday (oops...) and Monday DH was out/I never got hungry. Easy days! lol

Tuesday: Spaghetti with marinara (homemade) and meatballs for hubby.

Wednesday: Cuban-marinated chicken

Thursday: Cream-cheese chicken

Friday: Margarita salmon - I might just do salmon for hubby and do mine with shrimp... not sure yet.

Saturday: Baked teriyaki chicken for dinner; no idea for lunch! Maybe tuna melts for lunch