Macaroni Salad

I promise Im not dead, just tired. So a short post for today.

A few months ago I needed a recipe for macaroni salad to take to a company camp-out. So I googled and this was the first one that comes up. Its an extremely easy and very tasty pasta dish. I left a few things out from the original recipe but you can add whatever sort of vegetables you would like to this and Im sure it would still be awesome. Something like this I want to keep simple when Im making it.

Original Recipe from Allrecipes

4 cups uncooked elbow macaroni( I used ditalini this time)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/3 cup white sugar*
2 1/2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped


Cook your macaroni in salted water until they are just done. Dump into a strainer and shock them with cold water to stop the cooking process. Dont want to end up with soggy pasta.

In a large bowl mix together you mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper. Chop onion and pepper and add to bowl. Then dump in the macaroni and stir to combine. Stick in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

* I cut the sugar from the original in half. It was way to sweet for me with the full 2/3.

Everything oatmeal cookies.

These are almost my favorite cookies to make. I dont remember where I got the recipe from, though its a pretty basic oatmeal cookie. Extremely easy and very tasty, if they make it to the cookie sheets to bake. What? You dont eat cookie dough? Im sorry, we can no longer be friends. But not really. I refer to these as a dump cookie. As in when I make them if there is something in the kitchen that looks like a good idea I dump it in.

So this is only todays version, but put what ever you feel like into yours. These are actually gift cookies for one of my awesome friends Cindy who drew up a preliminary sketch for a new tattoo. Her work permanently on my skin, my cookies forever on her ass. I think its a good trade.

8 tablespoons(one stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 of those small packets of chopped pecans
1/2 of those small packets of sliced almonds
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment or a Silpat (I need more than 1 of these, I hate parchment). Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla, and beat until well mixed. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove in a separate bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter with the mixer on low speed. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the second half. Stir in the oats, pecans, almonds, and chocolate chips. Drop the dough, by the tablespoon, onto the cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on a rack. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.


So go make some of these for yourself and you will thank me, your ass wont but your mouth will. Or those of you close enough could sweet talk me and I just might make some for ya.

This is what $10 and bordom gets you.

   A Septum Mustache

Oh yes, it's awesome. A bit fiddly to put in as I posses a very high 'sweet spot' but soo worth it. This little guy. I will be purchasing the handlebar variety when it comes back into stock.

The Ugliest Candy You Will Ever Eat.

Basing what I made off of this recipe. Seroius Eats Almond Joy candies Its pretty damn tasty, almost more than the actual candy, and super easy. I wasn't able to get my hands on a silicone baking mat so I used tiny cupcake liners in a tiny cupcake/muffin tin. Worked out pretty well but mine aren't nearly as pretty as the ones on Serious Eats are.

Next time I make these I think I will heat up the pan as suggested(I thought this might have been something only for the silicone pan/thing) or maybe allow the first layer of chocolate chips melt a bit before adding coconut. The bottom of mine got melty but kept their shape. Like I said, ugliest candy ever.


Ingredients
     1 pack of tiny cupcake liners
     1 cup shredded coconut (I used Kroger's flaked sweetened)
     1/2 cup sliced almonds (I used Kroger's)
     1/2 cup Cream of Coconut (I used Kroger's)
     18 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels (I used Ghiradelli Semisweet)
    

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Line cupcake pan with tiny liners of your color choice. I promise once these are eaten no one will care if you use Easter ones in February.

2. In a large bowl combine the coconut, almonds, and coconut cream. Mix well. Cover bottom of liner with chocolate chips.

3. Place 1/2 teaspoonful of the coconut-almond mixture into center of each cavities, on top of chocolate morsels. Then cover coconut mixture with more chocolate chips. Try to give even coverage but if your coconut is peeking through a bit that's ok, it will get covered in a little bit.

4. Bake until chocolate starts to melt and is easy to spread, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven. Use the back of a teaspoon to smooth out the top(since we are cheating and using liners you wont be popping these over) of the chocolates. Gently shake the pan up and down a little to force out any air bubbles.

5. Place the pan in the refrigerator for 1 hour or so.

6. Remove from refrigerator and snarf.