This weekend has been more busy than usual. SO many birthdays this month! Including mine!

Friday night, we celebrated Kandy's birthday at Dave & Buster's in Tempe.

It was a fun night despite the SHITTY service from our douchey server. Unfortunately, I'm ancient and was falling asleep around 10 PM.

Saturday during the day, Julie and I hung out to celebrate her last weekend as a single gal. She and Jason are getting married this week.

We had pizza near where we used to live, shopped for shoes (OMG! Shews.) and then did something Julie loves... a mani/pedi.

This was my first time. It felt weird. Kinda ticklish. But otherwise, very relaxing.

Then last night we celebrated Mason's birthday.

It was a nice evening. Good to meet Mason's friends too. His friend Frankie made Redneck Sushi which should so be featured on This Is Why You're Fat. To be honest, it was more like an eggroll than sushi.

First Cookie Science and now the making of Redneck Sushi. Enjoy!

Photos are on Flickr here, here, here and here.

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Today at work, two coworkers decided to baked cookies in a car. After all, it is HOTTER THAN HELL here. It was pretty rad and fun and the office (and Holly's car) smelled like fresh baked cookies after.

And they were delicious!

UPDATE: Macy wrote about it on her blog. Pictures are below or on Flickr.

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Tonight Julie came over to watch the Heroes finale. I made baked pasta for dinner. It. Was. Awesome. Both the pasta and the finale.

It's good to see Julie. I miss her.

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Yesterday, I decided to tap into my Inner Homer and do a little baking. I bought a green tea muffin mix from Trader Joe's a while ago out of curiosity, but had yet to make it.

I mixed the batter as directed. Let's just say, looks aren't everything.

Ew...Is that Guacamole?

Okay...I admit I didn't follow the recipe totally as directed. I never do. I added a little ground ginger to give it a slight kick and iced them with a lemon glaze and a touch of yellow colored sugar.

Muffin!

They actually taste quite yummy. And don't forget that green tea is chocked full of antioxidant goodness!

Feel the antioxidant power!

And just in time for Christmas!

The Muffin Who Stole Christmas

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For Thanksgiving this year, I showed Thomas how to make Angry Black Bitch's Corn Casserole Yumminess. Here is Thomas excited to be given the task of opening the cans of corn.

Because Thomas is a vegetarian, I had to substitute the Jiffy Corn Mix with one that doesn't contain lard.

Mmm...tasty, tasty lard.

This is what the corn casserole looks like in the bowl. Disgusting looking...isn't it. That's a sure sign it's going to taste awesome.

After I added about 10 pounds of shredded cheese to it, it's ready for the oven.

While, they were baking, I decided to take a picture of Thomas's pantry so I could ridicule him on the internet.

Here it is in its sad, sad bachelorness.

Would you look at all that spaghetti on the top shelf of which has remained UNOPENED for the last two months.

Sometimes a Costco card is just not a good idea.

Time to check on the casseroles.

Still not done. This gives me time to mock the contents of Thomas's refrigerator.

Just look at all those microwave dinner for one meals. So sad. And check out that industrial bag of french fries. What goes well with french fries?

That's right...two vats of ketchup. With a gleam in his eye he announced, "Oh, I loves me some ketchup."

To reward Thomas for being such a good sport about making fun of his sad, sad bachelor kitchen, I gave him a tasty cake named after our Governor.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

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In honor of Matt Lauer's interview with Britney Spears, we had a very special dinner last night. Taking a cue from that gum-smacking mommy, the theme was decidedly white trash. The menu consisted of pigs-in-a-blanket, tater tots and for desert: cookies and creme flavored Pop Tarts. A feast fit for the king of the trailer park. Of course, now I feel sick. I may be from the land of rednecks, but my stomach sure ain't.

Can someone tell me what was up with her right fake eyelash? It looked like it was coming off and I was totally hypnotized by it thinking, "Why doesn't someone fix that?"

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Unfortunately The Thing I Shouldn't Blog About™ got much, much worse this week and resulted in a week of feeling frustrated, angry and upset, but it is, as they say, what it is and hopefully will soon be over and I can move on and actually feel like blogging without having to be evasive as to what is pissing me off. I like my pissed offness airing out in the open for public consumption and gossip mongers.

So on to topics that can be discussed among the four of you who read my blog. It's Easter weekend and that means one thing: dinner at Kristin and Kandice's. There is always good eating to be had a those ladies' house. I have been requested to once again make Angry Black Bitch's Corn Casserole Yumminess. In fact, it was such a hit last time I brought it for dinner that I've been instructed to bring two so there would be leftovers for everyone to take home.

I'll say this about the ABB, a Bitch knows how to cook a good casserole. Dayum good!

Other than that, I plan on either cleaning or sleeping all weekend. Wanna take bets which one wins out?

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Homer likes to post pictures of food he makes. And also pictures of him talking on the phone with me. (Doesn't he seem delighted with talking to me on the phone? I must be a stunning conversationalist.) So it seems only fitting that I post pictures of the soup I made while talking on the phone with him.

First there are the finest ingredients: chicken strips, vegetable broth, garbanzo beans, black beans, roasted corn, roasted tomatoes...all good stuff. Pretty much I just go through my cabinets and freezer and pull out anything that sounds good.

"What about the spices?" you may be asking. No need for spices here because I'm going to let you in on my little secret: Chicken Chile Verde from Trader Joe's. All the spices and chiles you need are nicely frozen together in one need little blob. Just throw it in your pot with the broth and let it melt on medium heat. Once I melted cheese with this for a tasty dip. It's very versatile. [Insert gay joke here.]

Once I added the tomatoes, there was very little room left in the pot. (Oh no!) I had to choose what not to add. I like black beans so that was staying for sure. I'm too lazy to make hummus so I needed to use the garbazo beans. The choice was clear. Roasted corn...the tribe has spoken. Back to the freezer for you. This was about the point where Homer started talking to me about his cat's anal glands again. Not exactly what you want to hear over a pot of soup. Then again, when is a good time to discuss feline anal glands?

So finally, the soup is done and ready to be devoured. I serve it over tortilla chips. I went a little overboard on the cheese. I also have a ton left over to take some for my lunches this week.

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I have a feeling I am going to go into diabetic shock before the 25th. There is candy ALL OVER the place at my work. As if that weren't enough, people are bringing in homemade candy and cookies to pass out. I hope Jenny Craig has group rates cause we are going to need it.

So to retaliate and not add to the madness, I decided to not make holiday candy to give to my co-workers, but instead a mix CD of holiday tunes. I snagged a few of them from Womenfolk. Check out what's available. There's some cool stuff there.

Holiday Mix 2005

The Christmas Waltz - Peggy Lee
Christmas Time Is Here - Shawn Colvin
Blue Christmas - Bright Eyes
All That I Want - The Weepies
Let It Snow - Luscious Jackson
Christmas Song - Stevie Wonder & India.Aire
Baby, It's Cold Outside - Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone
I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus - Brenda Lee
Merry Christmas from the Family - Jill Sobule
What a Wonderful World - Russ Taft

But then I had a change of heart and decided to add to the madness and made candy anyway.

Peppermint Bark

2 16 ounce packages white chocolate chips
3 cups puffed rice cereal
1 7.5 ounce package hard peppermint candies, unwrapped

Spray a 10x15 inch rimmed (tee hee) baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray; line with waxed paper.

Double bag and then crush the shit out of your candies. I used a wrench because I'm just a butch stud like that.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. Stir in the cereal and spread to the edges of the pan.

Sprinkle the crushed candy and cover with another piece of waxed paper. Press and then chill in the fridge.

Break apart and enjoy the minty deliciousness.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

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I made this tasty dish Sunday evening. I started with a recipe in a magazine but eventually just started adding what I wanted in it. Also, I'm not really good at following recipes, so the amounts, unless in a can or bag, kind of vary. Adjust depending on the amount you want to make.

1 - 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into chunks
olive oil
garlic, minced
1 bag of prewashed baby spinach
1 - 2 cans ground tomatoes (1 would be fine, but I wanted to eat this for my lunches so I threw in more)
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can artichoke hearts
chopped, pitted Kalamata olives
salt and pepper

Cook chicken in a little of the oil. Once done, put aside.

Heat some oil in a pot and cook the minced garlic. Add the spinach. Let it cook or wilt or whatever the cooking term is.

Add the tomatoes, chickpeas and artichoke hearts. Let it cook, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chicken. Add the olives. Season to taste.

Serve nice and hot. I sprinkled a little feta on top. Very yummy. Enjoy.

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