And I'm Spent..

This weekend was fabulous. Emily and I had plans to spend the day trolling for treasures at flea markets, etc. .... until we realized it was going to be 90+ degrees and sunny. Pool-side margaritas trumped anything else we could think of (we did stop at a garage sale as we got lost on the way to the pool... so that counts.. right?)
Too bad I'm Irish and invariably end up looking like this:

Many hours later........ DANCE PARTY (and no emily and john are not getting sucked into a sci-fi black hole in space or morphed into anything.... my hands were just shaking and i was too lazy to get out the real camera, and instead used the low res iphone camera)

Sunday John and I watched Milk.... loved it. How lucky is my generation to have not been really (i mean really) persecuted? Deep thoughts.

Also we won tickets to a comedy club nearby to see hanging with Mr. Cooper (ironically, john and i had seen him there a few years ago)... i heart comedy.

So last night I felt it was my blog duty to make some things I hadn't yet made. So.... I tried my hand at Granola

• rolled oats


• sesame seed


• almonds


• brown sugar


• salt


• cinnamon


• ginger


• applesauce


• honey


• canola oil

My entire apartment smelled like baking applesauce.... yum.

The lumpy mass below is my attempt at a hot pocket feast. After my failed martha attempt a few weeks ago, I decided it would be fun to try making different kinds of hot pockets. I've been asking my OH-SO knowledgeable food aunt Anne dough questions so I can make my own healthy whole grain stuff from scratch. However..... because this is an all around new attempt (however simple in its nature) I thought I would remove potential for it to fail on the first time (let's be real here). So... pillsbury pizza dough it is. BTW, how annoying is it they don't have a multigrain option? The uber processed was less desirable, admittedly, but... here we are.

My first attempt was a 'veggie' pizza HP (hp = hot pocket, not harry potter.. or hewlett packer) anyway i added spaghetti sauce with peppers, mushrooms and part skim mozz cheese shreds.

the next one was cheddar cheese with broccoli and cauliflower.

Then tex-mex-ish (yeehaw!) and had corn, peppers, black beans and cheddar

Then swiss with chopped turkey and spinach.

All together now (ignore the one on the bottom left, it's ugly and was a scrap one). So what IS the difference between a Lean/Hot pocket and a Calzone and a Pizzone? Marketing? Square versus half-circle shape? Can I call these Lauren Pockets? I do really like pockets.

So I baked these according to the dough directions (10-15 min?) and hope to be eating these bad boys all week.

Jerry's Thoughts:

• get a rolling pin. (What is it that is so difficult about dough? It's a sticky, unmanageable concoction that is impossible to spread without poking fingerholes).... the dough was way too thick, and I'm guessing the famed kitchen tool would be helpful in the future


• do NOT use spaghetti sauce. For all things spaghetti/marinara spag. sauce has always worked (a tomato is a tomato is a tomato, right?... wrong). This time it was leaking out corners and pretty much dissolved during baking. TOMATO PASTE is where it's at next time people, tomato paste


• just make the homemade stuff.... all of that carby processed stuff finds plenty of other ways into my diet (re: margarita weekends), when I'm home cooking and experimenting the least I can do opt for the fresher/healthier stuff.


• That Heidi and Spencer make me want to gouge my eyes out. That if i'm a celebrity get me out of here' is on every monday night all summer, then I'm throwing my TV out the window.... onto the street... from the fourth floor. OI.

Special shout out to Anne/Grandma/Mom who went to the most FABULOUS little artist's colony in Wisconsin where yours truly was born. So Jealous... want to go back. Hope you ladies had a wonderful road trip!!

More shout outs (what is this a radio station?) HAPPY 18th Birthday to my SEESTER! She totally doesn't read this blog, but she is SO wonderful.

Hope everyone is having a FANTASTIC week thus far!