This blog never really had a focus–other than to communicate with friends and family about our travels, changes, and life updates. Until I find a real niche, it’ll probably stay that way. However, this un-focused blog does make it hard to come up with writing topics.
So today, I thought I’d talk about the thing that’s been on my mind a lot lately: food!
I love the holidays because it’s a chance to try out a whole slew of new recipes! Some have worked, and some have not. But I thought I’d take the opporunity to share some that I’ve tried from the last few weeks.
1) Junior’s Cheescake – This was *amazing!* I’m not sure how close it really is to the original Junior’s, but it had an excellent consistency, creamy texture, and delicious flavor. The sponge cake crust was OK; honestly, next time, I think I’ll just stick to the graham cracker crust. It’s not right when you spend more time and effort on the crust than you do the actual cheesecake filling.
2) Emeril’s chicken pot pie – A friend of mine in VA passed this recipe along to me a couple of years ago, and it never ceases to make an excellent pot pie. I haven’t mastered the art of making a crust from scratch, so the Pillsbury pre-made crusts work just fine for me. 
N8 and I just had this for dinner, so I’m happily digesting at the moment.
3) White chocolate cherry chunkies – Okay, so I modified this recipe quite a bit. I’m not a huge fan of cherries, so I substituted dried cranberries instead. The first time I tried it, the white chocolate and dough combination were way too sweet (even for me)! So the second time I tried it I mixed 1/3 white chocolate, 1/3 dark chocolate, and 1/3 semi-sweet chocolate chips; that balanced out the sweetness so much better.
4) Pork tenderloin – This was a decent marinade; it didn’t make me drool, but it did a nice job of keeping the pork moist and adding a nice hint of flavor. I think it’s mild enough to compliment just about any side dish.
5) Real Meatballs and Spaghetti – N8 and I made these one night for a date night. Ohmygosh–so good!! I splurged and bought all the meat at Whole foods, so it was a nice hormone-free meal. (We’re trying to veer more that way in general. . .but that’s another post.) It’s not a complicated recipe, but it does take a bit of time. Don’t let that scare you, though; it’s absolutely worth every minute!
6) Caramel popcorn – The recipe I linked to isn’t the exact recipe I used, but it’s close. I have a recipe passed on from the grandmother of a friend of a friend, but it’s similar. It’s fantastic! I made a batch of this yesterday for a Bronco party. Sadly, it brought no good luck for the Broncos, but at least everyone at the party enjoyed eating it. I hadn’t made caramel corn in 2 years because the last time I did it, I burned myself pretty badly.
Even worse, it happened the night before N8 proposed to me. So I’ll finish this blog w/ the famous engagement picture. Consider it a warning: sugar and butter at 276 F is very very hot!
A caramel corn mis-hap put me in a bandage for my one-in-a-lifetime photo moment. Nate texted this image to his brother, who was out of town at the time, and wrote, "I only had to break one of her fingers before she said, 'Yes!'"
