Gingerbread Men, Women, and Deer!

It's that time of year again! Everyone is running around shopping, baking, and cooking! 

We are included in that, with all the shopping done it's time to be with family and friends. 

With just 2 days before Christmas we are going to share a recipe for Gingerbread cookies.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/3 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves or allspice

(We used allspice this time)

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup molasses

2 tbsp milk 

Do you see this Beauty? Rachel gave me an early Christmas gift, an 8 cup food processor!!!

It was much needed (as you could see from our last post) and I have been using it quite a bit ^_^

But anyways back to the post, Preheat oven to 350, add all your ingredients to a food processor and pulse on low until it is mixed.

You do not need a food processor, this can be done with a whisk.

 I am just using it because it's a new toy and I can!

Once you mix it, it should look like this.

Next add the wet ingredients pulse on low for about 10-15 seconds and then on high until well blended, again can be done with a whisk or spoon.

Use softened butter (Leave it out on the counter for a few hours! Don't be impatient like us and use the microwave XD)

after mixing:

You know it's done once it looks like POOP!

Now I know most people chill the dough then use a floured surface to roll it out.

I use a different method, 4 sheets of parchment paper the size of the cookie sheet you are using, split your dough in half, and roll the dough with rolling pin (or wine bottle! Whatever is handy >_<) 

between the 2 sheets. 

Make it thinner if you like crunchy cookies (Like Rachel) or thicker if you like them soft (Like Me)

Load the flattened dough onto your cookie sheet and stick it in the freezer for about 15- 20 mins

You know it's done when you can do this:

No cookie sheet under there!

Peel the top layer of parchment paper and start cutting

We used the reindeer, men, and women cookie cutters.

Lots of cookies!

Repeat the rolling process with the excess dough until it all gets used.

Place cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (you can reuse the ones from the freezer)

Then stick them in the oven!

Makes the house smell so good!

Let the cookies cool.

And then decorate them!

For the icing we used a cup of powdered sugar and 4 tsp of milk.

add a tsp less of milk if you want the icing thicker while you pipe it.

It makes a nice hard glossy decorating finish.

Icing does take a few hours to dry completely

Our strange cookies!

Top: Pop culture singer, lazy underwear man

Middle: Normal Gingerbread woman, Diabetic cookie man, Lost his leg in Nom

Bottom: our best Reindeer, and sad working man. 

And the moment you have all been waiting for!

Thorin's first Christmas tree!!!

He was very curious, but thankfully has not tried climbing it!

He has however tried to eat the lights that blink on it XD

Merry Christmas Everyone!

And if you don't celebrate this one then Happy Holidays!

Not So Fully Raw Pumpkin Pie

Rachel and I have been doing a lot of reading into the Fully Raw Lifestyle. 

While we love our meat we want something to make our diets healthier and add more fruits and veggies.

We watched hundreds of YouTube videos and found Fully Raw Kristina.

Her videos are fun and uplifting and the recipes all look wonderful.

For Thanksgiving we decided to try her Fully Raw Pumpkin Pie Recipe, only ours wasn't fully raw because we used vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean because I really couldn't find any :-/ 

But everything else is raw!

Ingredients:

One Pie pumpkin

2 lb of wet dates

1-1.5 pecans

1 ripe persimmon 

1 large tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger or a small piece of fresh ginger

scraping from a vanilla bean (or vanilla extract)

We started by cutting and pealing the pumpkin and set it aside.

For the crust it is just a pound of dates and a 1-1.5 cups of Pecans. 

I have an extremely small food processor so we had to do this a little at a time. 

Press the mixture into your pie pan.

Kristina somehow made one  pie out of all of this, I am assuming she had a deep dish pie pan.

I have regular ones so we made 2 pies.

Next you add your pumpkin, other lb of dates, Persimmon, ginger, and cinnamon.

In the original blog she has a Vitamix blender which is much better than my blender so we had to add some water to get it to blend. We also used the food processor to get the Pumpkin chopped up finer.

Only ended up using half the pumpkin because it was rather large. 

Taste as you make the filling as you go and add more or less to your taste.

Scooped it out into a bowl to mix it better. Then you just scoop the pumpkin mixture into your crust.

I used the extra pumpkin for smoothies ^_^

Freeze for about an hour and a half (makes it so much easier to cut)

Here it is! It was very tasty and sweet with zero added sugar!

I felt no guilt eating an entire pie in 3 days XD

Rachel said it was too pumpkiny for her taste, flavors were too strong, and was too sweet for her (that part amazes both of us)! She preferred the traditional pie to this one. 

But it get 2 thumbs up from me and I will be making it again!

This is our dog Twi, she likes to sit on the scale. 

I have to remind her that she is beautiful just the way she is >_<

Food Truck Bazaar!

Sorry for going so long without posting. My job takes up more a lot of my time and I have had a hard time balancing everything. This week we didn't cook anything but it is still a food related post!

Rachel and I are fortunate enough to live in a city that welcomes food trucks from all over Florida to come and sell their food here every once in a while.

It is called The Food Truck Bazaar and it all started in 2011. I didn't discover it until earlier this year.

But it's loads of fun and if you live in central Florida there is a good chance this event happens somewhere near you! Click here for more information about it and see if it comes to your city.

Now we wanted to try something from all the trucks, but seeing as we are only two people and there were like 15+ trucks there it is impossible!

So we each decided to try 3 trucks, 2 dinners and a dessert. We walked around looking at all the trucks and menus to see what we might like and then each ordered a meal and shared.

The trucks we could choose from were Bem Bom, Cafe Rouge, Fork in the Road, The Crepe Company, SwedeDish, Twisted Cuban, TasteBuds, Up In Smoke BBQ, The Treehouse Truck, The Pastrami Project, Monsta Lobsta, Dixieland Diner, The Big Cheese, Midnight Sun Ice Cream, Yum Yum Cupcake Truck.

I decided to do something healthy so I went with The Treehouse Truck. I ordered the Nada Burger!

The Nada Burger was not really a burger XD but a grilled Portobello mushroom cap topped with goat cheese, arugula, tomato, and balsamic vinegar on a toasted bun.

I am not a fan of raw tomato so I did pick that off, but it was light and very satisfying. There was way too much bread for the mushroom so I got rid of the bottom bun. Rachel liked it although was not a fan of the vinegar or goat cheese, it was not what she was looking for that night.

Rachel walked around for a bit not sure what truck to order from until she came to The Dixieland Diner where she ordered shrimp and grits!

I am going to directly quote her for this one "Cheese grits were amazing and creamy. And I thought the shrimp would clash with the grits, but they tasted great together! I couldn't stop thinking about it for days after we went!!"

Needless to say she was in love.

She really didn't want to share... I had to remind her she had some of my burger.

I had to agree it was wonderful! I even liked the grilled cherry tomato!

Now last was Dessert, and Rachel demanded we go to Twisted Cuban for Churros!

We got 5 churros and all about a foot long.

They fried them, put them in a bag with plain white sugar, and shook it up.

Our only problem with these was they didn't put any cinnamon on them. Other than that they were wonderful.

If you live in the Central Florida area we both recommend you go to one of these events. Be prepared to spend about $10 per person though.

Thorin's favorite activity after our grocery shopping trips. Play in the pile of plastic bags! 

Thank you for reading!

Halloween Party

I meant to post this a few days before Halloween, sorry about that, but the good news is I just started a full- time job! I can be forgiven right?

Alright lets get started! Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love watching scary movies, eating candy, and most of all the costumes!

(Sate puts up with my homemade candy corn costume)

For our Halloween party we made lots of yummies!

I am not going to post all of the steps to making everything because there are so many. 

We found most off Pinterest so I will post the links to the original source for recipes!

To start off with we carved a pumpkin to throw up my guacamole.

(It looks like it's in pain XD)

(Helpful hint: When you cut the top mark the back so the lid fits every time)

It was gross looking, many guests had a problem eating it at first!

For my guacamole recipe click here.

(Best part of carving pumpkins is roasted seeds)

Our next treat is a Kraft recipe.

Oreo Truffles, the recipe can be found here.

We followed the recipe but used white chocolate for dipping.

I ran a toothpick with red food coloring through the freshly dipped truffle to give the affect of irritated eyes 

Color the the remaining chocolate what ever color you want the iris to be.

and then black food coloring for the pupil.

Scary eyeball truffle!

(these didn't last long)

The next recipe isn't really much of a recipe. You make deviled eggs the way you would normally make it.

We use Dill pickle relish, mustard, and mayo.

All you have to do with this is cut black olives in half and cut smaller slices for legs.

For the original picture click here

(Cute aren't they)

I would normally go overboard with decorating cakes and cupcakes, this year we went simple and even used cake mixes (I know terrible, but we had lots of stuff going on)

The icing is homemade and I will have to figure out exactly how much of everything I put into it.

I have always made icing just by eyeing it and by taste.

We will do a post on my icing once I figure it out.

Candy and caramel apples always find their way onto the party table.

These are the store bought mixes.

With the leftover red candy coating we also made blood-pops.

And these treats were made by the Lovely Vianne Chestnut. You can see her blog here.

These are rice crispy treats that look like raw meat! People were doing double takes with it!

For the recipe click here.

Now for the drinks!

First we have Shrunken' Head Cider.

The recipe can be found here.

It was warm, sweet, and I was told it was one of the creepiest things at the party! 

And last but not least the wonderful Candy Corn Punch!

Recipe can be found here.

I made these once before with Vianne Chestnut for one of our horror movie nights.

It takes a lot of time to prepare, but well worth it.

Her post about it can be found here.

Well that was a our party food. We the Pandas hope you had a wonderful and safe Halloween!

Our homemade costumes, Rachel a Dalmatian and I (Megan) a Voodoo Doll! 

Begging for a treat!

My puppies costumes, also homemade (wigs and all).

Here is an old lady kitty with a fake candle!

Megan's Weightloss Journey Begins

Let me start off by saying I have always had a weight problem. I have been overweight most my life, people have made fun of me for it, and let me say kids in middle and high school are cruel! I lost my Mom when I was in the 7th grade to colon cancer. Depression caused me to gain more weight as I took comfort in food.

But in High school I decided to change that when I started dating someone online and was terrified to ever meet him in person. So I started dieting and working out. I didn't diet correctly though, I basically starved myself :( I can still remember my calorie count for different foods I allowed myself to eat even 8 years later. 90 cal yogert and 70 calorie chicken and stars soup at hand cups by Campbell's were my typical choices for breakfast and lunch. Dinner I just ate the veggies and small piece of meat my Dad or Grandma fixed.

It worked... But eating next to nothing and walking a lot will work. Doesn't mean you should do it.

I had lost 80 lbs doing this in about 10 months

I started out at 230 and got down to 150

I could never get below 150 and it irritated me to no end!

But after I had lost all that weight suddenly in 10th grade I was getting noticed more... 

Guys were flirting with me 

(and I have to admit I had no idea that was happening, my older sister was the one who had to inform me that the guy that was talking to me at Seaworld was flirting XD)

I also became best friends with a wonderful guy at school. My relationship with online boyfriend started to fall apart. I ended up breaking up with him to go out with my best friend (who I now call my husband)

David (Wonderful man of my life) made me comfortable with myself and I started to eat normally again (chicken nuggets and french fries became a typical lunch for me) but I continued to exercise so I didn't start gaining weight again too quickly. But I was gaining it back.

2 years later David and I graduated early from High School and got married.

 In those 2 years I gained back 40 lbs. (Stress of exams and planning a wedding didn't help my mood eating) And Still I was happy with myself, I mean I wasn't thin, but I still felt good about myself.

After High School we continued to live with my Grandparents and Dad. I had a lot of responsibilities and I took them seriously. My Aunt who had Spina Bifida needed to be cared for and my Grandmother couldn't do it alone anymore. And my Grandfather who suffered from Dementia also needed constant attention.

Needless to say my weight was the least of my concerns. 

Sadly the health of my grandfather and aunt started to go bad. My Aunt passed away in 2009 and then my Grandfather in 2010. I grew depressed and took comfort in food.

There were several times when I looked at myself in the mirror and knew I needed to start dieting and exercising again. But I could start next week right?

Now in 2013 I am still living in the same place, with my loving husband, taking care of my Grandmother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's back in 2011, I am  taking back my life. I cut soda, white breads and rice, and my candy (that I still allow myself but on special occasions) and I lost 13 lbs! 

About a month ago I started to go to a doctor (for the first time in years) was diagnosed as Hypertensive (Very high blood pressure) from being so over weight (obese). So now it's not just my appearance that has been affected but my health.

After loosing the 13 lbs I am at 300 lbs. The heaviest I have ever been in my entire life. I can't believe I let myself get this far and it's no one's fault but my own. I am living up to my mistakes and on the road to good health. And this time I am doing it right.

I will do an update in a few months.

Would like to Thank my fellow Panda Rachel, my amazing husband, and my friends and family who have been giving me so much love and support (you know who you are)

2 posts this week, but I just wanted to put this out into the universe so maybe it will be a bit easier for me ^_^

Next week will be back to our regular food related posts! As you know Halloween is coming up and we have several treats to share with you!

A Sate ready to go shopping with Mommy!

Rachel's Favorite Cheese Ball

Megan here! This past week we celebrated my birth ^_^ 

For the party Rachel insisted we have a cheese ball she had at another party.

She and a friend nearly ate the whole thing by themselves.

She tracked down the person who made it just to get the recipe only to find out it was ineradicable simple.

3 Ingredients... That is all for this delicious appetizer.

1 8 oz package cream cheese softened

1 can corned beef

1/4 cup  green onion

(I keep green onions in water on my windowsill. I use what I need and they just keep growing!)

(Looks a bit gross but Rachel says it's finger lickin' good)

We mixed the corned beef and cream cheese together. You can use a spoon... Rachel did not!

And add the onion.

Mix it up again and refrigerate for a few hours until it is hard.

Form it into a ball, serve with crackers, and veggies. 

It was very good. About half of it got eaten at the party. 

Rachel happily took the rest home to eat herself!

I also wanted to share the awesome cupcakes my Sisters made for my birthday!

It was an ode to my childhood (All the cartoons I was obsessed with as a child... and as an adult)

We have a page on Facebook for our awesome cakes,

Daughters of Pamela Cake Decorating

This week we have for you a different pair of pets.

This is Kit and Twi. Aren't they cute?