College, Cookies, and Chocolate Chips

Yessir, I'm a sixteen year old in community college. It's a totally new experience since I homeschooled all my life, but I'm loving every second. I have A's in English, A's in Psychology, A's in Music, and I'm hoping an A in art. It's a blast. Of course, I'm really busy. I'm taking part in a production o'er there, too, so I've hardly had time to post or write or draw or anything.

I did a lot of work yesterday. I cleaned up my schedule then so today I did get to draw. I'm gonna write. And right now I'm posting! I'm super happy that I got this time to lay out some sketches. We don't draw people in Art class--we draw vases. It was nice to go back to my cutesy cartoons for a little while.

I started rewriting Kings of Darkness. It's coming out pretty cool.

I don't feel like taking the time to polish this post. I just want a place to shout out my delight. Also, I'm making cookies. Cookies. How cool is that?

Yesterday

Late Night rocks. I mean really rocks. It'd be nice if all the 'bars' were open longer, but hey. It still totally rocks. If I were to sum up yesterday in a couple words, I guess I'd have to say "I played Late Night". That's just about it, heheh - I usually obsess over sims after getting a new EP, at least for a while. But let me think; I know I did a bit more than that.

I did try a magic trick with Brother1. Brother2 wandered around in a Darth Vader costume, and chased after the bigger boy with a pillow. Dear sister and I baked muffins. I practiced piano. We all watched that really cute TV show Raising Hope (which is just adorable, I'll have to post about it sometime). I wanted to get some typing and/or drawing done yesterday, be eh. It didn't happen. I role-played for a wee bit at the end of the day; that was fantastically fun, and I got some practice writing while I was at it. Beyond that I guess I just played with my newest Sims 3 expansion pack, random bits of chatter, observation, and food preparation not included.

Sweet Potato Pudding

Everyone in my family loves sweetpotatoes (id est, Dear Sister, Brother1 and Mommy), or is at least indifferent to them (id est, Daddy and Brother2)... except me. I gag on sweetpotatoes and I can't--literally, for some strange reason I can't--choke down more than a few bites. Don't ask me why; I don't get it myself...


...and that's why it's so ironic that out of this whole family of sweetpotato lovers no one loves sweetpotato pudding half as much as I do. So that's why you must try it (just to warn you, if you eat a lot of sugar on a regular basis than this will not be as good to you as it is to me, but if you haven't had something too sweet in a while you will love this). The best part is that this is good for you, as sweetpotatoes are actually some of the best possible things that you could eat, so you can have it as much and as often as you like!


I've written how we make it here:


INGREDIENTS:

1. 1 large or two small-ish sweetpotatoes (I cannot stress enough how imperative it is to have SWEETPOTATOES and NOT yams. Yams are orange on the inside, sweetpotatoes are more off-white; trust me, this will NOT turn out good if you use yams).
2. 6-8 pieces of pineapple; more or less to taste
3. 1/4 cup orange juice (I'd start with a little less and add more or less to taste)
4. 2 handfuls of walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook the sweetpotatoes by placing them in an oven at 350 degrees for one hour. Check on them then by poking them with a fork; if they aren't a near pudding-like texture leave them in longer. Sometimes they can take two or more hours to finish. Once you've cooked them just peel off the skin; it should be easy if you've baked them long enough.
2. Place the sweetpotato, pineapple, orange juice and walnuts in a blender. Blend it all together for 30-ish seconds, stop, and then stir. Repeat this until the pudding looks white-ish and is creamy.
3. Taste and add more of anything you think it needs more of; it's near impossible to get it just right.
4. Bon appetite!

Warning: DO NOT USE YAMS--USE SWEETPOTATOES!!!

Honestly, this stuff is divine!--and this is from someone who hates sweetpotatoes!

Galaxy

Baking Blueberry Muffins With Brother1

I made muffins for breakfast a couple of days ago and thought I'd post about it... and yes, I did do some of the work, Brother1 isn't responsible for all of it!

First I had to grind up some oat flour...

Mix that with some salt and baking powder...

I almost forgot about the blueberries, hehe.

Now the maple syrup, water, and pumpkin (a fitting fruit for fall, I thought)
Somebody's stealing a taste...
Now the long half-hour wait...

One word left: Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Galaxy ;-)

Galaxy's Pudin' Filled Crusties

Here is a recipe I invented. I've tried it many times and it's become a family favorite... hope you like it!!!

COOKIE CRUST:

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
⅓ cup powdered walnuts

Wet Ingredients:

⅓ cup water
¼ cup apple sauce
2 tsp vanilla

FILLING:

1½ cup crumbled tofu
⅔ cup cane sugar
⅓ cup carob powder
2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Dark chocolate chips for garnish (optional).

Cookie Crust:

1: Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing boll and stir well.
2: Place the wet ingredients in a medium mixing boll and stir well.
3: Preheat the oven to 350oF
4: Poor the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well.
5: Take a small portion of the dough, roll into a ball and flatten on a cookie sheet. Repeat until the cookie sheet is covered. Place the crusts in the oven for fifteen minutes.

Filling:

1: Boil a small pan of water and place one tofu in it for five minutes. Crumble the needed amount and place it in the blender.
2: Place the remaining ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

Puddin’ Filled Crusties:

1: When the crusts are done let them cool slightly and then remove from the cookie sheet with a pancake flipper.
2: Spread a very thick layer of the filling in the middle and fold the other end of the crust over; garnish with the chocolate chips (optional).

Serve immediately.

Approximately five Crusties.

Galaxy’s Tips:

The filling should be blended for a long time before stopping. That way the filling will as smooth and creamy as possible—but be sure not to blend too long, as the filling will stop being creamy and become pasty.