Peanut butter oatmeal breakfast bars

I got home from work last Friday without any plans, and when I saw this recipe by Emily from Sweet to the Soul, baking sounded like the perfect thing to do with my Friday evening.

I've now made these breakfast bars twice, and both times they were great!  I didn't have any dark chocolate chunks either time, so I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead.

The second time I made this recipe, I decided to try a mashed banana instead of the applesauce to add some banana-y flavor to the already great combination of peanut butter and chocolate.  The blending of the three flavors is awesome.  And if you haven't had a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich with slices of banana in between, you should go try that right now.  It's great, as are these cookies, I mean, breakfast bars!

Yogurt or Cream Cheese Frosting Filled Strawberries

The other day ChocolateCoveredKatie posted a very simple recipe for Yogurt Filled Strawberries that would be great for a dorm room!  This recipe only requires a few ingredients and tools and is very quick to make.


Tools:
knife
plastic bag
scissors

First, I set out all of my ingredients.  I decided to try both yogurt and some leftover cream cheese frosting as fillings and cocoa powder and cinnamon as toppings.

Then I washed the strawberries.  I like doing this by soaking them in a bowl of water, but you can just as easily rinse them under running water.

Updates and Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal (Boatmeal)

Sometimes when reading a post on a blog that I haven't read much or at all before, I'll check out the author's "About" section.  And sometimes even after reading only a few posts, I can tell that it hasn't been updated for a while.  The poor, neglected "About" section.  And what about us new readers?  But don't worry, if I can tell that the section might be a bit off, it's probably because the content of the posts is really rich.  So I just move on and read more posts. :)

And even though I've noticed things like this, somehow I let my "About" section become outdated.  However, there is not really much there.  But hey, I'm a junior now, not a sophomore, so I guess that's exciting. :)  Okay, and now for something much more interesting: Boatmeal!

This is another great (and easy!) recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie.  Baked Oatmeal = Boatmeal.  Since it is now definitely fall, I decided I wanted to make something with pumpkin in it, and this was a really easy way to do so.  I increased the size of the recipe (and the ingredients proportionally) and made my boatmeal in a 2-cup class container.  When I got back to my dorm room, I shared it with two of my friends.  I had bought a pack of about 10 small single-serving vanilla ice creams, so we each had the perfect amount of ice cream to go along with the pumpkin boatmeal.  Delicious!

FDOC, getting into classes, and how to make an awkward salad

Happy FDOC (First Day of Classes)!

Here's a quick note/reminder that if you really want to get in to a class, but it is full, attend the first class and then go talk to the professor/TA teaching it afterward.  One of my friends asked today about a class that he had been hoping to get in, starting, "Hi, I'm currently on the wait list...", to which the instructor responded, "Not anymore you aren't!  Let me get your name and student number, and I'll make sure that you are added."  Awesome-sauce!  It's not always this easy, but sometimes it is.  And it never hurts to try.  :)

And here is how to make an awkward salad.  I was super excited about my cucumber, tomato, and feta cheese salad.

First cut the cucumber and add it to your salad bowl.  I used half of a cucumber. 

Homemade Peanut Butter Bars

I found this recipe for peanut butter protein bars on Chocolate Covered Katie's blog and it sounded wonderful.  It has only a few ingredients and very simple directions.  I was looking for something like a granola bar, not a protein bar.  Also, I don't have any special protein powder.  So instead I replaced the protein powder with chocolate-flavored Carnation Instant Breakfast.  I haven't put the full recipe on this page per Chocolate Covered Katie's request, but here is the recipe and below are pictures and notes about my experience making these yummy peanut butter bars.  Next time I make them, I will try covering them or mixing in them mini chocolate chips and/or crushed pretzels.


Tools:
-two bowl
-spoon(s)
-knife
-gallon-sized plastic bag
-rolling pin (optional, as you could flatten it with your hands...or a textbook)
-1/4 and 1/2 cups
-1/4 teaspoon
-1 tablespoon

I first gathered the necessary ingredients and tools.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls

One weekend I thought it would be nice to make a special brunch-like meal.  I googled different things that I thought I would be in the mood for, and ended up with a recipe found on this site.  It looked great!  It only required a few ingredients, and those were items that I could use for other meals.  It was a very simple recipe.  And so I made them.  And they did not lead to a nice brunch.  This was due to a couple of important problems.

Problem 1:  Brunch did not happen until after lunch time.  I had gotten up early to make these, but was waiting on a friend to come over and eat them with me before I put them in the oven.  Suddenly, it was afternoon and I had eaten nothing all day and I was not happy for it.

Problem 2:  The pasteries did not get done in the middle.  The oven was too warm, so the outside crust got a nice golden brown look to it while the middle remained gooey and uncooked.

Final result:  I was too hungry for this very sweet and thus overwhelming pastry, and the gooey middle had to remain uneaten (or maybe I ate some of it and that contributed to not feeling well).

Fixes:  Make sure this isn't the only thing you are eating on an empty stomach unless you tolerate very sweet things in large quantity well.  The oven needs to be cooler than mine was.  I don't know if this means that the recipe needs to be changed or that my oven just runs hot.  But next time I will reduce the temperature just in case and cook them for longer.