The Big Mac Conquered

Coming to you from Portland

For awhile now I have been trying to duplicate the McDonald's Big Mac, but I never advanced beyond the assumption that the secret sauce was mayonnaise and ketchup. (Turns out there is no ketchup anywhere in this recipe). I finally stumbled on a website where this guy reveals a bunch of secret recipes from famous food joints and has a great accompanying video as well. Neither the video or the recipe actually gives you measurements for the ingredients used, but someone left a comment under the video with the measurements they used and those worked perfectly.

 

 

They actually turned out wonderfully, and the sauce was SPOT ON. The only thing I forgot to do was toast the buns slightly which would have made the burger hold together better for eating. Also, the buns sold at the store are a little larger in diameter than the McDonald's buns so they end up being much more of a mouthful and the patties were a little small.

A few tricks that are mentioned in the video:
Only use a golfball-sized amount of ground beef for each patty and then really flatten them out.
Freeze the patties on a cookie sheet between two pieces of wax paper so that they keep their shape during cooking and are easy to flip. They are so thin that this would be very difficult if not frozen.
Use the bottom of another hamburger bun for the middle bun. Unfortunately they don't sell just middle buns at the grocery store.

 

I also found these amazing fries at the grocery store called "Fast Food Fries." They were fabulous and after showering them with a ton of salt they tasted very close to the real thing.

Oregon Plaque

Coming to you from Portland

This is another idea I got from Pinterest. The idea came from this website where someone sells these for $65, but I thought I would try to do it myself.

I bought a little wooden plaque from Craft Warehouse for $2, some green paint for $1, a roll of crochet thread for $3 and some 1/2 inch nails for $2. First I painted the plaque. Then I found an outline of Oregon online and cut it out. I taped this on the surface of the plaque where I wanted it and then nailed around the outline. This was the hardest part, because the nails are really tiny and it starts to hurt your fingers after awhile from holding them in place. Then I nailed the heart, which is approximately where Portland is located. Finally, I wrapped the crochet thread around the nails on the outside to connect with the heart on the inside. This was kind of difficult, because the heart has so few nails and the thread starts to stack up pretty quickly after wrapping around the same nail so many times. I also didn't know how to tie it off so you can see a knot at the bottom of the picture. I'm sure there is a cleaner way to do that. It only took me about two and a half hours to make and $8 for the supplies. The final product was just okay - worth $8 but definitely not $65 even if it was better than mine. In the end it's just something to hang or lean against your wall.

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

Coming to you from Portland

I got this idea from Pinterest.  There are no directions so I just kind of guessed what was going on in the pictures.  I don't know what that mesh stuff is, but I went to the craft store and they sell rolls of tulle for $4 - I'm pretty sure that's what it is. 

I picked some small clovers and flower petals from the garden and placed them on the eggs and then wrapped them in the tulle.  I tied the tulle in a knot, becuase I was lazy and didn't feel like sewing the end together, which made it kind of loose around the egg.  This resulted in my plant stamps not leaving a super clear print on the eggs, because some of the dye was able to get underneath them. 

Then I dyed them using brown onion peels.  I have used these before for dying and I love the natural, warm brown color it makes.

And here is the final product!  Again, my designs don't have hard lines and aren't completely white, but for something you are going to crack and throw away, I think it is reasonable to take a couple of shortcuts. 



Hearts 'n Things

Coming to you from Portland

I was inspired to get crafty for Valentine's Day after reading the February issue of Better Homes & Gardens - That is where all of these ideas came from. Click here if you want to see more ideas from BHG and get templates for these crafts.

These are just single servings of different candies/snacks that have cute little messages on them like "I Love You to Pieces" on the Reese's Pieces or "We're Mint to Be" on the York Peppermint Patty.  It was actually kind of difficult tracking down all of this candy in the perfect size to fit the templates I printed off of the website.  In the end I made some adjustments on a couple of things anyway. 

This is my favorite one: "I'm Bursting With Happiness That You're My Friend."  I just bought some little 3x3 ziplock bags to put the Starbursts in, folded the message over the top and secured it with double stick tape.

These are just large Hershey's dark chocolate bars that I wrapped in Valentine paper, ribbon and cut-outs.  Craft Warehouse had a miscellaneous package of paper cut-outs that said things like "Made With Love" and "All Love is Sweet, Given or Received."  They just added a little something extra to the design.  (Side note: Ribbon is very expensive! In order to get a variety I had to buy most of it by the yard and even that added up.)  I also bought the paper in a variety pack along with a few 12x12 sheets.  Paper is also really expensive and variety packs are usually the most cost-effective. 

I also did a few miniature Hershey bars.  After I purchased them I realized that the small ones come in plastic packages instead of paper and foil, so I had to wrap them in foil myself, but it turned out to be really easy - just like wrapping a present. 

I like this website, because it gave a lot of good ideas for things to get men for Valentine's Day which is always difficult - it's not really a holiday designed for men.  This is a homemade scratch-it and it was a lot easier to make than I thought it would be (go here for directions).  You just print off the template and write something into each of the hearts like 30 min. back massage or home-cooked dinner.  Then you trace the heart shape four times onto some contact paper ($7 a roll and I only used about 1/1000th of it! But now I will have it for a lifetime) and paint over them with two coats of a mixture of dishwashing liquid and metallic paint.  Then you just cut out the heart shapes and pull the clear part from the paper like a sticker and stick it over each of the messages you wrote in the hearts.  Add a shiny penny and you have the perfect homemade gift.

This is another easy gift for a guy.  I just went to the store and bought a nice case of beer with a red label.  Then I wrapped it in Valentine paper and velvet ribbon and added a little tag with a message. I also covered the handle with some white paper so it matched.

These are sugar cookies I made using a recipe from the website that I wrapped in cellophane and sealed with paper and ribbon.  They are not frosted, but I added some pink food coloring to the dough to make them more interesting.  All I did was cut a piece of paper to slide in behind the cookie and another one to fold over the top.  Then, using a small craft hole punch, I made two holes through the paper and cellophane and then strung a ribbon through and knotted it in the front.

Unlike Michelle I was not bombarded with Valentine's (I think I just got one from my mom and someone from work), but it really doesn't matter, because I had so much fun making everything, and I got to spend my Valentine's Day with the Trail Blazers :)

Kitchen Remodel

Coming to you from Portland

This was only a one day project for me, but my dad spent all weekend building these custom shelves.  They are stacked, open-style cupboards for a kitchen.

The open space on the right is where the fridge will slip in.  I sanded over all the places that had been filled for imperfections in the wood.  Then three of us lifted the shelves up to the wall and finally after about five attempts we got them installed.  There was a vent on the wall that made it impossible for us to place it in at an angle.  My dad had to cut out the back of one of the shelves so we could slide it striaght in.  He will later have to build a false back to replace what he cut out.

The open space straight ahead in this picture is where the stove is going.  We had to position the shelves on each side just right so that they were only about one sixteenth of an inch away on either side from where the vent and the stove are going to fit in.



Recipe Box Wedding Gift

Coming to you from Portland

Hopefully Mo and Nora have already opened their wedding presents, because I wanted to share this project, but I don't want to spoil the surprise.  They registered for a Martha Stewart recipe box at Macy's and I wanted to include Martha recipe cards, but I couldn't find any.  Instead I just bought some rainbow colored index cards from Fred Meyer that fit perfectly.  The colors are a good way to sparate the recipes between the different tab categories that are included in the box. 

I picked about a dozon or so of my favorite recipes and copied them onto the cards to include with the gift. 

Then I made all of the recipes, and took a picture of them to print off and put on the back of each recipe card.  I know I am much more likely to make something if there is a picture of it so I thought those would help.  I'm always looking for a way to do something beyond the registry and this was a really fun way to personalize and put a little extra thought into something they asked for.  Michelle did a great personalized gift for them as well using her magnent idea that she posted about before. 

Duck Scarf

Coming to you from Portland

This is the scarf I made Emily for Christmas. The yarn was kind of expensive, but the yellow felt was only 3/$1.00. After I knit the scarf, I hand drew the letters for Oregon and a little duck shape into the felt. Then I cut them out and sewed them onto the scarf using the left over yarn. I puposely used a vsiable stitch so it would look homemade, but it also kind of looks like it was done by a child. It didn't help that I sewed them on crooked. I used a wide needle, because I like when scarves are stretchy and not too stiff. However, for this particular project, a stiff scarf probably would have aided in sewing the letters on. It still worked out though - those letters aren't going anywhere.

Famiy Christmas Card

Coming to you from Portland

I know this is cruel, but she is so cute!  This is the picture we used for our Christmas cards.  She always runs away from me when I grab one of her outfits, but once I get it on her she stands completely still, which makes her easily maneuverable.  All we had to do was upload the picture onto the Walgreens website and choose from one of their Christmas borders.  It was $10 for each set of 20 - a very simple way to pump out your cards a week before Christmas. 

Ribeye Steak with Blue Cheese Butter and Walla Walla Onion Rings

Coming to you from Portland

The one from Laurelhurst Market is above and mine is below.

I got this recipe from one of my bon appetit magazines which I featured on a previous post.  I was hoping to duplicate the look and taste of this menu item from Laurelhurst Market and then go to the restaurant and compare, but it goes for $38 so I might have to wait to do that taste test for when I have a real job.  I was very pleased with how mine turned out.  It was very easy and the onion rings were really fun to make.  The onion ring crust is light (nothing like the thick fried ones you get at Red Robins) which I love.  They are best served hot, but you have to cook them in batches so once they make it to the table they have cooled down a bit.  I added a bed of spinach to place the steak on to soak up the juices and add a little color.  I spent about $30 for three servings of this meal, so that's quite a bargain compared to the restaurant price, and I'm going to venture to say the quality of my dish is comperable even though I've never tasted the original.

Sky High Apple Cranberry Pie...That totally rhymes

Coming to you from Portland

Martha's is the one above and mine is the one below

This is another one from Martha - a recipe from her Thanksgiving issue.  Nobody thought this would work because there was so much filling and the top of the pie was a good 6-8 inches tall, but Martha says to just keep piling on the filling even if it looks like too much, because the top crust is made extra wide to seal it up.  The recipe says to top the pie with sanding sugar, but I could not find such a thing at the grocery store.  I ended up sprinkling it with raw suger which is a large granule brown colored sugar.  It doesn' say to foil the crust, but this pie goes in the oven for almost two hours so I secured some strips of foil aroung the crust to keep it from burning and it turned out perfect.  Make sure to set the pie dish on a rimmed baking sheet!  This pie is designed so that it will inevitable overflow with juices (as you can see by the pictures).  Luckily my mom was finished with all of the Thanksgiving cooking by the time I lined the bottom of the oven with cranberry drippings.  I cut it right away because I was so excited, but the filling needs time to set.  It turned out great asthetically and tasted delicious too.  I served it hot with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream.

epic p-town sisters weekend

Julie came to Pullman!  We were in the same "P-town" for 4 days - Halloween weekend.  I didn't have an exam to worry about, and I was off of surgery block the following week, so we basically chilled, and cooked, and partied, and were crafty the whole time (well, Julie worked on the house when I was at school).

WSU vs. U of O

What are the chances that the weekend that Julie comes to visit, the cougs are playing the ducks?  I didn't have a lot of hope that we would win, but enough to watch the game at a local bar.  Julie insisted on wearing duck gear so I took her to my favorite bar where I knew there wouldn't be very many people - particularly, no drunk coug fans that were going to be drunk and disappointed.  See what a good sister I am, protecting my sister like that?

I think that the cougs did a good job of hanging in there in the first half.  And I think our 2 point conversion in the last 2 minutes of the game despite being behind by quite a bit really highlights our heart.  The coug fans never give up, so I really appreciate when the coug football team doesn't give up either.  I had the fish and chips as usual with extra cole slaw and Julie had a very unique southern style burger with a vegetarian patty made of black beans and corn.  Delicious! 

Halloween Festivities

Costumes were Julie: cheerleader night one and girl from future night two.  the cheerleader costume that she wore was my mom's when she was in high school.  and michelle (me) in the ghost costume.  i've been planning that one for a while.  I have decided i'm going to be a minimalist, on halloween anyway.  and i'm not going to flaunt my sexuality and use halloween as an excuse to be half naked in public.  nothing against that...just seems like a lot of work, and since we were on the verge of "no shave november", I thought I would just start my support of prostate health awareness early.  a lot of people actually asked me if i was a man or a woman.  before halloween people made fun of my "lame" and "unoriginal" costume idea, but when was the last time you saw someone dressed as a sheet ghost on halloween?  nobody had the same costume as me, and i had a lot of fun when they played the ghostbusters theme song at the bar :) 

 Food

Starbucks: This is the only way to eat breakfast when you've stayed up until 3am the night before.  We did that three of the four nights.

Ice Cream Sandwiches: These ice cream sandwiches were a serious FAIL!  For one thing, the freezer wasn't very cold to begin with, but we were also supposed to leave the ice cream in the freezer for four hours before cutting out each sandwich.  I waited 30 minutes and the cookie part was so hard that, while attempting to cut it, I just squished it down and all of the ice cream bulged out of the sides.  The decorating was fun, but only a very small part of the project.  In the future I would just buy ice cream sandwiches from the store and dip them in melted chocolate and decorate them with candies.   (from Michelle - my roommate Jill ate one a couple days after we made them and they had had time to harden up, and she said even though they look weird, they tasted good!)

Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans?  When I saw all that extra melted chocolate laying around, I thought, this would be a good opportunity to make chocolate covered coffee beans.  Well, there must be more to it than just having coffee beans and melted chocolate because the chocolate was so runny that I could keep it on just one bean and ended up making coffee bean chocolate bars. they are yummy, and deliver a lot of caffein, but I would like to look into making actual chocolate covered coffee beans in the future.

Pulled pork BBQ Sandwiches with Slaw and salad: Sadly we did not get a picture of this one even though we had it two of the four nights I was there.  The slaw is a great fresh side for the pork sandwiches.  Another product of Bon Appetit.  Here is the recipe.

New York Steak with Boursin and Merlot sauce, fried green beans and roasted potatoes: This was absolutely delicious, but a lot of food for one person.  Sadly I also forgot to put the Boursin cheese on top of the steak after removing them from the pan.  This is one of my favorite Bon Appetit recipes.

The result of all of our mad carving was a ton of pumpkin seeds.  I found a bunch of recipes online, but I wanted something cajun stlyle.  I was going to buy seasoning which is hella expensive, but I happened to be purchasing some chicken breasts from the butcher and remembered that you get free seasonings/marinades with your meat.  I got the perfect seasoning.  It was some sort of cajun, southwest, BBQ type of thing.  I just asked for it in a separate container and it was plenty for what I had.  The recipe is just vegetable oil, cajun seasoning and salt.  Super good and a nice change if you are used to the salt and Worcestershire recipe for pumpkin seeds.  

Being Crafty

jar and candle idea that i saw on pinterest, pinned from this 

blog.  hers are prettier.  think i need more of them and have

 them be inside to get the full effect.

michelle's pumpkin vs. julie's pumpkin.  i decided to go

off the grid with pumpkin carving this year and free style

them.  this was my first creation and it was a success.

when i saw the wind-up teeth at the dollar tree, i was

thinking, this will be a great spin on the marth stewert

project that julie did with pumpkins and dracula teeth

in this earlier blog.in the end i decided that this is just

creepy and not very cute.  won't be doing this next year.

the full effect on halloween.  I got a red light because the bright white light that is normally there was making it hard to see the glow of the pumpkins.  only had one trick-o-treater, which is on par with the last 4 years, but that didn't stop me from buying 4 bags of candy.  I even bought the good stuff, or "rich people candy" as my roommate called it. 

Overall, a successful trip.  Julie got a lot of yardwork done, and cooking, and I didn't get any studying done while she was here.  Maybe I'll have better luck over thanksgiving break. the p-town sisters will be in the same town again, this time in Portland.