Hot and Spicy - Last Post for 2012

How was your holiday season? Stressful? Relaxing? Exciting? Big news? This year the holiday season flew by in a flurry for us. I haven't decided if it was the number of dinners ( 5 dinners and still one to go) or or something else. The holidays for me are always a trying time and a little stressful. Are we celebrating for the right reason, are we caught up in the commercialism of Christmas.

This year was especially fun for me, because I felt truly accepted and loved by my future family. Being the first Christmas as an engaged couple, and the wedding just 46 days away, there was lots of excitement in the air.

It was nice to take my vacation time to work on Wedding planning. For those of you that have been following the wedding process through the blog, we have managed to buy a ton more decorations. My fiancé has finally gotten to see the venue that I picked out. My jewelry has been selected, we met with the Reverend about the type of ceremony we are going to have. The Groom's ring has been purchased, dress shirt and shoes have been purchased. The mason jars have been collected from a dear friend, song lists prepared, and invitations addressed. The list is still very long on what needs to be done, but at the same time, it will all come together in the next 46 days.!! 46 days! It still cracks me up and is unbelievable that this is really going to happen. I think I will honestly believe it when I am arm and arm with my father and walking down the isle.

Of course one thing over the holiday's that is always fun is the cooking part. Coming up with something new to prepare. This year I decided that a new item I would learn to make it Chex Mix. I know everyone makes it! I have never made it before. In my house everything you do needs to be spicy. The spicier the better. So I found a recipe on AllRecipes.com (http://www.allrecipes.com) called Hot and Spicy Chex Mix.

Hot and Spicy Party Mix

Ingredients
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Original TABASCO brand pepper sauce, or more to taste
1 1/4 teaspoons seasoned salt
8 cups your favorite Chex brand cereals (corn, rice, and/or wheat)
1 cup mixed nuts
1 cup pretzels
1 cup bit-sized cheese crackers

Directions

1. Combine butter, Worcestershire sauce, TABASCO sauce, and seasoned salt in a small bowl and mix well. Pour cereals, nuts, pretzels and cheese crackers into a large plastic zip-lock bag. Our butter mixture over cereal mixture inside Zipper bag. Seal top of bag securely. Shake bag until all pieces are evenly coated.

2. To prepare in microwave oven: Pour contents of bag into a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high 5 to 6 minutes, stirring thoroughly every 2 minutes and scraping the sides and bottom of bowl. Spread on absorbent paper to cool. Store in airtight container.

3. To prepare in conventional oven: Pour contents of bag into an open roasting pan. Bake 250 degrees oven for 1 hour. stirring every 15 minutes. Cool and store in airtight container.

Comments:
I have made this twice, and here is what I have learned. With the sauce mixture make a batch and a half. It adds more flavor to the cereal mixture. Keep all other ingredients the same. I saved a few bucks and used Franks Red Hot Sauce instead of TABASCO. I also used Gold Fish crackers (we got some for Christmas) in the batch. I used two kinds of cereal. Next time I want to try to use the Wheat cereal that is traditional in Chex Mix.

I also used the Microwave directions and appreciated the fact that it cut the prep time down considerably. Tonight for New Year's eve I whipped up a batch really quickly just for the friends to enjoy. I managed to get two large batches out of the ingredients that I purchased. To me that was a nice surprise!

In closing 2012 treated me pretty well. Did it treat you well? The nice thing about a new year is that new things can happen in our lives. Though I believe that 2012 will be really hard to top, I am super excited for the things that life will bring in 2013.

Happy New Years!

So this one flopped.

Okay, so everyone knows how I love cook, and I love to write about my cooking adventures. So here is a good one for you. I have been dying to make this Andes Mint Chocolate Cake with homemade frosting and chocolate Gonache. Here is what it should have looked like.

I got this recipe from the blog Bird  On A Cake. I love this website! ( http://www.birdonacake.blogspot.com ) 

Of course once I made all the pieces my cake didn't look anything like this amazing woman's cakes. It also turned out to be a gooey mess. Now I will admit that it tasted amazing, but VERY VERY rich! I can't even post a picture of what my cake turned out to be. I will admit it was my second cake from scratch, my first time making icing, my first time with the chocolate sauce, my first time making a layered cake. So it was an entire experiment. I have decided that cake baking probably isn't for me. Because it is a patient thing and I don't have any patience. when it comes to waiting on something to cool down COMPLETELY! 

You guessed it the icing fell off the cake, and I put too much chocolate sauce on the cake so it was a very gooey. It was a cool experience and I will probably try it again, when I feel like I have an entire day to commit to the cake, but as of right now. I might hang my hat on baking for awhile. Or at least a decorative cake.

The thing that made this disastrous cake even better, was I had to take the horrid looking cake to my future in-laws for my fiancé birthday. But I realized something. Even though it flopped, and it wasn't gorgeous. It still tasted good, and my fiancé was still thankful that I took the time to make something just for him. 

This is true in so many things in our life, but we never manage to see the blessings in the situation because we are so concerned with things not working out. As we enter this holiday season, look for the blessings that are all around you. Stress less about the little details that may not be perfect, and remember to think of someone else, and enjoy your day.

What is your biggest cooking flop? Maybe we can get a couple laughs today. 

Happy Cooking until next time.