Bad Baking Mojo

Here's the deal.... Lately, my baking has sucked. Seriously. I don't know what's wrong. I believe that it's Arizona rapidly climbing temperature. Or aliens. Either way, last few things I have baked have just not turned out. I tried making homemade fudge rounds I got from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, but they just didn't look right. Then I tried making a small birthday cake for my niece Selena's first birthday, and it was so fluffy and moist it fell over. So today, after having banana pancakes with peanut butter smeared on them, my helper and I decided to make Apple Cranberry Walnut Bread..... (drum roll please...)

..... And it was a success!!!

Then it was topped off with a browned butter glaze.

And, it was very tasty too! So, if you are wondering, I got the recipe from the food network magazine. It's a really easy, and interchangeable recipe. And I was too lazy to type it all out, but I did scan it so you can all try one yourself!

 

 Give it a try! I think my next one will be carrot and pecans with a cream cheese glaze. And I very curious about a pear bread.

Stay tuned, because I still have to type up the bbq recipe, and tell you what we had for dinner last night!
 

A week or two of leftovers....

Let's break it down... what have I made lately worthy of blogging, and the pictures came out okay? Hmmm... not much! Haha. Well, today I made brownie bombs ( like cake bombs, only brownies). We made some delicious ribs last week and homemade bbq sauce that was sooooo good that I wrote down my recipe to share. We made homemade ravioli with a roasted red pepper cream sauce and crab stuff portabello mushrooms. And before all that I finally made some Ranger cookies in honor of the New York Rangers (yes I know, I was really late on that but they still tasted good!)

And I might become the bulk manager soon if all goes well at my store. Yes, I still don't like my job, but getting the position will give me more freedom and time to live my life outside of Sprouts. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get it. My store manager doesn't really like me, so there's always that chance of not getting it even though I'm over qualified. And I know you're thinking, "who wouldn't like you?" Well that's life. Some people just don't like you.

And Chuck's sister is having a baby girl, and the baby shower should be coming up and I've been drafted for making the cake. And since I've been busy with photography and work lately, I really haven't thought of anything to bake. But now I can get down to business, and put all the great present I got for my birthday to use!

 Our ribs with a yummy rub on it.

 The finished product. The corn was so good, and I am not a huge fan of corn on the cob.

 Our mushrooms.... cream cheese, crab, bread crumbs, and some seasoning. yum.

 Chuck helping with the ravioli. He's such a good helper!

 Teito begging for the ravioli. He did a dance, but got nothing. Haha.

 Mmmm... it was so good. Italian sausage and mozzarella stuffed ravioli. And Chuck's yumtastic garlic bread!

And the ranger cookies. Great for breakfast! (It has oatmeal and cranberries in it, so that makes it okay right?)

And now I'm gonna go eat my turkey sandwich since Chuck is closing tonight, watch the season finale of Glee and go to bed so I can wake up early and go to work so they can tell me I'm promoted. :) And I'll post the BBQ recipe later!

SORRY!

Yes, I know. I'm still a slacker. But I have been super busy this last month. Chuck and mine's birthdays were in April, and I also had a wedding to shoot. So most of my time has been spent editing gorgeous wedding photos and working. And this last weekend we went camping. So I really haven't had any free time to cook anything, and it sucks. I've been reading a lot more, and trying to write, and clean some clutter in my life. I don't really know why... wait, I do. I just turned 24 and it freaked me out that I really have nothing to show for 24 years of my life. Sure, I'm ceative and talented, but so far it's all hobbies. So I guess I got into a funk and didn't really want to do anything. But now I think I'm back and ready to start creating things. I took a lot of great photos this weekend, and spent a good protion of the day editing them and then I actually wrote a little. Now I'm cooking eggrolls for work tomorrow, and I might make some cookies while watching The Walking Dead. I feel inspired and relaxed after our weekend get away, and ready to tackle some new things. The only thing that sucks is my sun burn. 12 hours in the sun... sunblock really doesn't help anymore. But I just wanted to give a little update that I have some ideas floating around in my head, and I'm ready to try them. So have no fear, I will come back strong!