And then came the awesome brownie cookie recipe. The dough tastes like a Tootsie Roll and the finished product? Chewy, chocolaty awesomeness…and I don’t even like chocolate. After that, I created an Orange-Cardamom shortbreadish cookie based loosely on my go-to cookie. I also have a Rosemary-Lemon cookie in the works. 

When Wyman’s contacted me to see if I’d like a coupon to try their frozen wild blueberries, my first thought was, “I’m going to make blueberry cookies!” I figured it would be as easy as pie a piece of cake simple to find an existing recipe. I was wrong. I found a lot of “drop cookie” recipes but if you’re going to decorate the resulting cookie, you need a smooth surface. 

Coming up with this took way longer than I planned mainly due to the fact I was stuck on the idea the frozen berries needed to stay whole. Once I finally realized whole berries actually wouldn’t be the best thing for a rolled out cookie, the recipe came easy. 

Thanks to Wyman’s for the blueberry coupon. The two links in the notes section of the recipe are affiliate links to Amazon. Through your clicking and buying via those links, I shall make pennies. 

My experience in cookie making up to that point was basically…welp, I had no experience. I also didn’t know how to make royal icing or even what goes into making royal icing. Piping bags made me shudder and why would you want to frost a cookie anyway?

And who really needs cookies when there’s bacon? Am I right or am I right? 

Then I made the boneheaded move of signing up to make X-shaped cookies for Ollie’s class.

OF COURSE I knew how to do that! OF COURSE I didn’t hate making sugar cookies and OF COURSE all my attempts at sugar cookies hadn’t failed epically.

And OF COURSE I didn’t say any of that. I would make those cookies work!

And ya know what? They didn’t turn out half bad. Sure, they weren’t perfect but they weren’t hideous either and they tasted good. 

Amy – 1 Cookies – 0

Basically all that is a post for another day and I’ve gotten a lot better and I’ll post some pictures and schtuff since I know not all of you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr and those places are where the cookie journey (or whatever you want to call it) has been chronicled. 

If anything, the cookie thing has shown me that I kind of don’t suck at this baking/decorating thing and all of that gave me the confidence to try a “fancy” cake.

No reason. Just because I wanted to. 

The cake was a $0.99 box from Target and the frosting was the cheap Target brand “vanilla” kind. Frost your cake before you add the fondant. The piping (If you want to call THAT piping.) was made from leftover frosting I colored. I had the colors from my cookie making escapades.

Good luck!

Simple Syrup isn’t just for drinks. It’s used in all sorts of recipes and comes in handy for sweetening cold drinks. Substitute granulated sugar with simple syrup. 1 tsp granulated sugar = ~1 1/2 tsp simple syrup.

You can get as creative as you want when it comes to flavoring. Add mint when you’re heating the mixture, strain it as you pour the solution into your container and toss in a few leaves to live in the syrup.

Toss in a cup or two of raspberries while the sugar and water are heating for a berry infusion. Use orange and lemon zest and toss in a couple of curls to hang out in the syrup. You’re literally only limited by your imagination and what sorts of things you can find to add to the solution. 

Simple Syrup

2013-08-27 10:47:56

A must in tons of recipes, this is one of the most simple things you'll ever make.

Write a review

Save Recipe

Print

Cook Time

5 min

Cook Time

5 min

Ingredients

1. 2 cups white sugar
2. 1 cup water
3. Optional: 1 TB vodka
4. If you're feeling adventurous: mint, rosemary, berries (fresh or frozen), cinnamon...you get the idea.

First option

1. Dump your sugar and water into a pan, put it on the heat, bring it to a boil, stir until the sugar is dissolved and then let the solution cool. Add in your vodka. Pour in a bottle and you're done.

Second option

1. Dump your sugar, water and vodka into a container of some sort (A mason jar is a good choice.) and shake the hell out of it until the sugar dissolves.

Notes

1. The vodka helps preserve the simple syrup (Yes, it will go bad eventually.). However, a 2:1 ratio by itself will stay alive for ~6 months. Vodka mix lasts longer. Of course, this is assuming you don't use the stuff at all. I highly doubt you're going to have the syrup sitting around for six months.

By Amy Tucker

Taste Like Crazy http://tastelikecrazy.com/

Believe it or not, your pancakes won’t stick to your pan if the pan is hot enough. Promise. I made 12 of these bad boys Saturday and not a one stuck. I didn’t think it was possible either but I listened to the wise man who is Alton Brown and he didn’t let me down.
Here’s the video I mentioned. Heather made it.

Yay for visual aids!

The soil an idiot at Lowe’s recommended to me was essentially softwood and “wood products” mulch which caused weird deficiencies in the plants and when paired with me planting all of my seedlings too early…well…

Eventually the garden got its act together and the plants started to rally; that took the entire summer. I learned a lot from that disaster:

1. Don’t plant too early. The Old Farmers’ Almanac has a fantabulous guide for when to start your seeds–inside and outside–and also when to transplant all those seedlings you lovingly started indoors. The weather was a bit of an ass this year since it decided to give us a very late, hard freeze the day after I transplanted everything. Stupid weather. 
2. Make sure your soil doesn’t suck. This year, me two bags of Jungle Growth soil for Mother’s Day–one for each raised bed. After Tucker cleaned everything out all of the beds and mixed in all of the awesome new soil and judging how junglelicious the two beds are right now, I am willing to hump Jungle Growth. [Which makes me think of the movie Jungle Fever but that’s a WHOLE different thing.]
3. Slugs are assholes as are just about bug that makes its way into your yard. They are going to eat your garden. Punks don’t care how much pesticide you put out; they will adapt and overcome.
4. One really doesn’t need six cherry tomato plants. Really. Especially when you’re the only who who will eat them.



5. I wanted to be all kum ba yah with nature and stuff and use only organic and natural methods for pest and weed control. I bought enough neem oil to fill something that holds a lot of neem oil. I picked off bugs. I tried demetrius earth for the slugs. I adhered to the companion planting edict. What happened?



6. When your daughter gets a pumpkin at a fall field trip and the thing eventually starts to rot, don’t let your well-meaning husband toss the thing into one of the fallow beds. Come spring, said bed will resemble this mess:



7. Even when you think your garden was complete and utter failure, some of your plants from the previous year will persevere, manage to have little plant babies and those dudes will surprise you the following spring.

Let there be garden pictures!

But I could eat these cookies all day long. They’re a little crisp around the edges and gooey in the middle and are heaven when they’re just a little warm from the oven.

Easy Chocolate Yogurt Cookies

2013-08-18 17:16:57

Yields 21

My favorite cookie in the history of cookies. Period. Double period. You get the idea. Make sure you double this recipe since these cookies don’t last long.

Write a review

Save Recipe

Print

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

20 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

10 min

Total Time

20 min

Ingredients

1. 1 cup all-purpose flour
2. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3. pinch Kosher salt
4. 5 tablespoons butter
5. 7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
6. 2/3 cup granulated sugar
7. 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
8. 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
9. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10. parchment paper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt and set it aside.
3. Melt the butter in saucepan. Once the butter is melted, take it off the heat and add the cocoa powder and sugars.
4. Add yogurt and vanilla. Stir until everything is well mixed.
5. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, until everything is mixed together.
6. Drop tablespoon sized dollops of cookie dough about 2 inches apart.
7. Bake for 10 minutes. Cookies will “fall” when you take them out of the oven.
8. Cool on pan the pan for a few minutes and then cool all the way on wire racks.

Notes

1. Did I mention you need to double this recipe? And hide some. For your own good. And make sure you try them frozen. SO GOOD.

By Amy Tucker

Taste Like Crazy http://tastelikecrazy.com/

I wanted her to eat something more than sugary cereal–which I worried wouldn’t keep her full–but I didn’t want to have to wake up any earlier than absolutely necessary. Enter make ahead and freeze breakfast stuff.

Kid Sized Crustless Quiche

2013-08-18 17:20:56

Serves 6

These little crustless quiches are perfect for a quick breakfast that just about any kid will like. Change the ham to bacon or sausage or leave it out completely. Leave out the scallions. Add spinach. Just use cheese. The options are just about limitless.

Write a review

Save Recipe

Print

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

21 min

Total Time

31 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

21 min

Total Time

31 min

Ingredients

1. 6 eggs
2. 1/2 cup 1/2 and 1/2
3. 1/4 tsp salt
4. 1/4 tsp pepper
5. 1/4 garlic powder
6. 1 cup shredded cheese
7. 1 cup diced ham
8. 2 scallions, chopped fine

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with non-stick spray.
3. Beat eggs and 1/2 and 1/2 until smooth. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Spoon ~1/4 cup of the mixture into each muffin hole. The mixture is going to expand a lot while it’s cooking so make sure you leave some space at the top.
5. Bake for 20-22 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.

Notes

1. Freeze in a single layer in a gallon sized freezer bag.
2. Warm frozen quiches for ~ 2 minutes in the microwave.

By Amy Tucker

Taste Like Crazy http://tastelikecrazy.com/

2012 has come to a close and now we’re on to 2013. I can vividly remember it being 1990. I feel quite old all of a sudden. We’ve been in the house a year now. Cara started school. Tucker’s almost done with his. I got offered a job. I found my biological mother and siblings. I got almost 30k words into a book and had no idea where I was going with it. It has been a heck of a year and here are the 12 posts I liked best. My Favorite Posts on Taste Like Crazy from 2012

1. Do You Embrace New Tech At the Expense of Old?–Do you get rid of your old stuff when something better comes out or do you hang onto stuff for sentimental reasons?
2. I Was Scared of My Three Year Old Today–Ollie at three really, really sucked. A lot.
3. Garden Redux, Yo–Pretty pictures of garden stuff. You know…after I killed the first wave of plants.
4. Doctor Who and Donna Complete with Gifs–Donna, I love you. That is all.
5. Game of Thrones Game Review Gif Heavy YAY!–The review is fun to read. Too bad the game sucked so hard.
6. They Didn’t Pick Up Their Toys So I Confiscated Them–They pushed me too far.
7. Mango Tomato Pico de Gallo Recipe–So yummy the recipe made it on this list. That means it’s pretty awesome. Just so you know.
8. My Life In Bullet Points–This was, by far, one of the most painful things I’ve ever written. Damn hard to just lay yourself out there and wait for rejection.
9. Notarized Field Trip Slip?–I’m not especially proud of this post but it got some really good comments which I appreciate a whole bunch.
10. I Killed My Fifth Black Widow Spider Yesterday–If you have a problem with spiders then I would suggest you read this.
11. Crappy Coffee and Shooting–The month of November wasn’t a good month for me.
12. I’m Depressed Maybe Possibly Or Not–Explains the lack of posts for November and December. And there are gifs! Yay for gifs!