leftover marshmallow creme.

A leftover jar of marshmallow creme from the S’mores Cookie Bars.
The solution is pretty obvious, right?

I wish I had wax paper and pressed these down more, though. They’re kind of loose and fall apart the minute I pick them up. -____- I wanted them to be firm but pretty much failed.

Rice Crispy Treats

3 tablespoons butter
1 7-ounce jar of marshmallow creme
6 cups Rice Crispy cereal

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the marshmallow creme and stir until melted and fully incorporated. Remove from heat and add cereal. Mix until fully coated and then spread evenly into a pre-greased 13×9 pan with a buttered spatula or wax paper. Press down into pan and let cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

I took the liberty of dipping them in Nutella. :)
As if they weren’t already sweet enough.

If you want to dip your’s too, just melt the Nutella in a double boiler until it’s soft and malleable, and then add a couple tablespoons of milk or heavy-cream at room temperature and beat until it’s thin enough to your liking. Then, dip or drizzle the rice crispies while the Nutella sauce is still hot and let them cool and harden before serving.

I’ve been praying recently about forgiveness and being a better person. I feel being patient has always been a struggle of mine… When someone says or does something that doesn’t sit right with me or rubs me the wrong way, I’m quick to take a note about that person. I don’t like him/her. Mental check. I get frustrated, annoyed, and my tongue is quick to retort back whatever it is that I’m thinking, which is not very nice most of the time.

I don’t try to get along with everybody I meet, and I know I’m a difficult person sometimes, so I’m not asking for the impossible, but I do know that I need to try to forgive those around me who I can’t find the patience for.

I also need to forgive the people who’ve hurt me in the past…

If anything, this is most difficult for me. I tend to hold grudges.

College has been an eye-opener for me. Met a lot of people, some great, some not so much. Some people who I absolutely loathe. Wouldn’t care in the very least if I never had to see them for as long as I lived.

See? Things like that. Can’t keep it to myself.

So, I’m struggling with forgiveness and patience.

But every time I feel like I’m forgiving someone, I feel like God just throws somebody new in my face who I feel like strangling. Or pushing off a mountain. Whichever happens to be convenient at the moment. I want to embrace people because they are His children, but we’re all imperfect and annoying and flawed, especially me.

So. How do I deal with myself? So that I can deal with everybody else? And learn to love forgive forget accept? I hope this gets easier with practice and time. I want to be a patient person. I think I am most of the time….. I’m not sure. I can be outwardly patient but imploding inside.

It’s a work-in-progress.

I think I’ll have a marshmallow treat and think on it.

Who ever said dessert can’t be brain-food.

i wonder…

what is the most effective way to let somebody know you are not interested?

any thoughts?

first midterm DOWN = more cookies

I’m just going to relax. I really wanted to sleep when I got back from my exam, but then, I got that undeniable ITCH to bake something. So, here we are.

I used to not bake cookies when I first started baking because I thought they were the most difficult thing EVER. Even now, I’m most hesitant when I try new cookie recipes. Breads, cakes, muffins, brownies I’ll just dive into even though I might screw it up, but cookies….

I think it’s because I was always scared to pull them out looking so undone and uncooked and unbaked.

It’s the OCD half of me. Not crazy, I swear.

I’m slowly learning my lesson. Learning to take it out when it looks a bit undone so it sets on the pan, instead of taking it out looking done and enjoying the first one and then throwing a batch of chocolate chip ROCKS into the trash.

Today’s recipe is a sweet pick-me-up for the depressed and insomniacs.

I don’t know why I can’t sleep and why I feel lonely right now. I’m updating this post at 5 a.m. with no intent of publishing it until the sun rises and I get some quality pictures with a lot of natural light. I thought baking would help me sleep after passing some time, but nope. Here I am. On my blog. Do I really want to be around for the sunrise on a Thursday in the ghetto? You’d think after a day of hardcore cramming, I’d be ready to crash and burn in my cozy bed.

Depressed Jean, have some S’mores Cookie Bars.

Feel better. Enjoy the chocolatey, gooey goodness and forget your worries.

What? Too sweet? If there arguably is such a thing.

Is that a hint of graham cracker crumb I taste?

Why, yes, Insomniac Jean, yes, it is.

A little summer campfire goodness for the cold night.

Ooey, gooey marshmallow fluff.

S’mores Cookie Bars
recipe from Lovin’ from the Oven

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

And to resist falling asleep in the middle of the day…

Meaty marinara whole-grain farfalle pasta with some pinot. :)

Hello weekend!

delayed labor day weekend

I’m in the middle of doing my Operations Management homework though, so this post probably won’t be very interesting. I was just uploading my pictures, so not so much talking, just try to focus on the pictures. :)

I’m doing whatever I can to procrastinate. Senioritis is no bueno. Especially since this is my last shot at raising my GPA before I graduate and then apply to grad school in four or five years. Scary. I’m not quite as stressed as I thought I would be. Just wanna party all day every day all the time 24/7 forever!!!!!!!! My body won’t sit still and focus. I just want to go out and explore and play and drink and eat and take photos and hop an airplane and get the hell out of here. I think it’s my travel bug. It’s itching…..

I need to give it a good scratching sometime soon before I go absolutely crazy.

Got out of LA for a little bit last week though and broke in my new car (Yes! New car! Did I tell you I got a new car? :) Mini Cooper FTW!) on a spontaneous road trip to San Diego.

The weather wasn’t as nice as I had hoped, but it was a nice breather from LA.

You bet I drove two and a half hours just for a famous burger. HODAD’S!!!

Strawberry milkshake with scoops of strawberry ice cream floating around. Need I say more?

Wedge cut fries hot out of the fryer!

Massive burger. How did that fit in my mouth???? I don’t even know. The onion was a bit too much but it was so juicy.. Mmmmmm.

Can’t not go to Extraordinary Desserts right? So beautiful I almost didn’t want to eat it! Almost. Nothing is ever too pretty to eat though.

vs. Virginia Cavaliers

We just had our first home football game of the season! My last first game…. Football games really make being at USC worth all the crap I feel sometimes. I’m really going to miss sitting in the student section. Next to rowdy, drunk kids, stealing other people’s kettle corn, taking photos of everything, screaming for no  reason, and telling off some obnoxious dumbass who doesn’t even go to SC who kept yelling at my roommate about the VMA’s. Despite the bowl ban, nothing can get down our Trojan pride. :)

Man, I’m gonna miss these.

And a little baking bite for you, of course.

I made my orange yogurt loaf again. Back by popular demand from my sister…

The last time I made this cake was in March of 2009 right after my 20th birthday. I remember baking it for my mom because she had been feeling down, and then my aunt and cousin came over and devoured it in  one sitting! It was such a hit, I made it again for my godmother, but at the last moment realized I only had brown sugar and lemons…. That was not a good move on my part.

Do not deviate so strongly from the original recipe ever unless you are a professional and you know what you are doing.

I’ll repost the recipe for your convenience.

Orange Yogurt Loaf Recipe

Yield: One loaf.

For the loaf:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 extra-large eggs
3 teaspoons grated orange zest (approximately two oranges)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the syrup:
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 9-by-5 inch loaf pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, one cup sugar, eggs, orange zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup orange juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. While the cake is still warm, pour the orange syrup mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

life lesson.

Don’t ever handle heavy machinery (aka toenail clippers) after drinking a bottle of wine.

Ouch.

I think I’ll make myself feel better by doing a little shopping today with the girls. Bev Center, here we come~~~~~

Inspiration from Sartorialist!

What I really want though…. is this:

Oh, Hong Kong.