Inspirations

I am in the middle of trying to adjust my current eating habits to return to a healthier state of being, but I still find myself drooling over food porn. These are some of the items on This is Why You're Fat that will be inspiring future meals:

• Chili Cheese Corn Dog Fries
• Poutine Rolls
• Corn Cheddar Bacon Pancakes
• Breakfast Pizza
• Dessert Lasagna

Blue Cheese

Me: [extensionofbob] wonders how one knows when bleu cheese has gone bad.
Jay: @extensionofbob is it nasty and crumbly and smell really bad? cuz then it should be okay.

Homemade Pizza

I've taken to making pizzas, as a quick, cheap and delicious meals. I am not quite at the point where I can make the dough from scratch but a pack of Kroger pizza dough mix costs a whopping 85¢. I tend to make my pizza sauce using tomato paste, water, and tomato soup. A good recipe can (as usual) be found on All Recipe. (FYI: a can of tomato paste cost me only 44¢.) Here are some other ingredients I generally use:

• Shredded Cheddar - I usually always keep shredded cheddar, which I can get for under $2.
• Jalapeños - I also usually keep these on hand, as I love spicy foods. I buy them jarred in nacho slices, as they keep longer than fresh ones and cost under $2.
• Curry - One day it came into my mind that a curry pizza would be a good idea, so I added some curry and cinnamon to my pizza sauce, with very good results.
• Oysters - A can of boiled oysters can be very cheap and make for a delicious topping.
• Onions and Peppers - The two fresh veggies I try to always have on hand appear on pretty much every pizza I make.
• Spices, spices, spices

Food Week

This past week was Food Week over on Lifehacker. I recommend checking out almost all of Lifehacker's food related articles, but these are my favorite from this week. (I avoided the ones about fast food because I pretty much love anything about fast food.):

• Eating Ethically on a Food Stamp Budget
  
• Store Brand vs. Name Brand—When to Go Cheap
  
• Top 10 How-to Cooking Videos

Hot Places-I've-Never-Been Chocolate

Ingredients:

• 2.5 Tbls NESQUIK® Chocolate Powder
  
• 1 Cup Boiling Water
  
• 3 Tbls Condensed Milk
  
• 2 Tbls Triple Sec
  
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
  
• .5 Tsp Paprika

Instructions:
Combine ingredients and drink. Feel free to make any substitutions and adjustments for taste.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

In my never-ending quest for new cookie recipes and ideas, I came across a number of recipes that used cake mix to make quick, easy cookies. I decided to give it a try. (Note that I somehow think using a box mix to make something other than what it was intended for makes using box mix less like cheating. I would never use box cookie mix to make cookies. Haha.)

The base recipe I decided on was the Cake Mix Cookies VIII recipe from AllRecipes.com.

My modifications:

• I used Pillsbury® Devils Food Cake
  
• I added approximately two tablespoons of Peanut Butter
  
• I added around one teaspoon of imitation vanilla extract
  
• I also added a tablespoon of brown sugar

Since I started writing this post (a couple of weeks ago), I have actually used this basic Cake Mix Cookie recipe to make a variety of different cookies. I used the Pillsbury® Classic Yellow as a base for a delicious, thick chocolate chip cookie.

I've tried using brownie mix as a base, but I found the resulting textures to be less enjoyable. (I did, however, come up with a great taste combination when I added cinnamon and paprika to the brownie mix.)

Today, due to my lack of butter and my lack of funds, I attempted my original peanut butter chocolate cake mix cookies with a substitute of 7/16 cup of blended oil (canola + vegetable) for 1/2 cup of butter. I found that this gave the cookies a long-lingering bitter aftertaste and a less pleasant consistency. However, the cookies are still good. I've eaten more of them in one sitting than I did of the first batch (which I think has more to do with the less filling texture).

Peanut Butter Cookies

With no money to my name and very few sweets in my apartment, I rummaged through my cabinets to see what I could do about the problem other than pouring sugar down my throat. I realized I had most of what I needed to make peanut butter cookies. I followed this recipe for Classic Peanut Butter Cookies on AllRecipes.com. Here are the modifications I made:

• Since it's just me, I halved the recipe.
  
• I don't have any baking soda or baking powder (or money to acquire any), so I did without. While this of course affected the texture of the cookie, if I didn't know they were missing, I wouldn't know they were missing.
  
• I added a drop of cinnamon extract. It was just enough to add a hint of complexity to the flavor without distracting from the peanut butter.
  
• I also added a bit of honey. It's fairly dark honey. In the future, I would add less honey or add a lighter honey.
  

Overall, these cookies are delicious. I can't stop eating them, which could be a good or a bad thing.