Everything at TeePublic seems to be on sale as of this posting for up to 35% for the next 2 days. The new stuff is in my AIXeLsyD13 album there, but everything is on sale. It’s in the AiXeLsyD13 collection at RedBubble too. They both have rotating sales often, and I have been pleased with the stickers & clothing I bought from each. I wear my amp maze collage hoodie all the damn time. The designs & merch differ slightly across the two platforms, so I encourage you to poke around at both.

As always, you can definitely get my maze merch and maze books too.

Check out these video shameless plugs:

You can use my maze book like an adult coloring book too. Some people color in all the dead ends until the path is revealed. I fully support maze solution anarchy.

Maybe print these out & try them while you’re waiting for Easter dinner to cook, passing time before your seder meal for Passover, fasting for Ramadan, or you’re contemplating what to plant in your vegetable garden.

If you do celebrate Passover, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Beltane, Ostara, Imbolc, Chaitra Navratri, Ram Navami, Vishu, Ugadi, Vaisakhi, Baisakhi, Hanamatsuri, Qingming, Walpirgis, just Spring Equinox… or some other holiday… Would you like a maze themed for that? I try to approach everything with a mix of reverence & levity. I like to learn about other people’s holidays and the meaning & traditions behind them.

I may have to do a guinea pig themed maze soon…

Oh yeah, you can get the vegetable garden one on a T-shirt or a bunch of other stuff at TeePublic or RedBubble if you’d like to wear it while you garden or hang it on your wall.

I popped out the trusty can of Aldi corned beef hash, and noticed there were oven directions on the back. Oven directions?

I have always just cooked it in a pan. Am I missing out? I would have done eggs in the pan, too. I know I can do eggs in the oven. Wait. Cupcake pan? 8″x8″ glass dish? No. Ceramic pie dish.

I’m making a dish with what I have on hand.

• A can of corned beef hash.
• Bell Pepper (I had an orange one)
• 5 eggs
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• Maybe ¼ cup of bacon pieces.
• Black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, Dash table blend, white pepper, cayenne.

This is what I did…

1. So, I spread out the canned corned beef hash on to the bottom of the pie dish, and popped it into the preheated 375° oven for 10 minutes.
2. While that was going on, I diced an orange bell pepper & hit it with paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, & Dash table blend.
3. I pulled out the hash, added the pepper, and added it back in for 5 minutes.
4. While that was going on, I popped 5 eggs, some shredded cheese, bacon pieces, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne, & probably more Dash.
5. I pulled the dish out, poured the egg mixture in, put it back in the oven, and cranked it down to 350° for 12 minutes.
6. Then I pulled it out, put some more cheese & bacon on top, and put it back in for 7 minutes as it was still a bit liquidy.

It was awesome when I yanked it out of the oven & could not wait to eat.

I am faced with a quandary… Is this a casserole, a quiche, or a frittata?

A quiche would have a crust… perhaps like a pie crust or croissant dough? A frittata would be started on the stovetop, and this was all oven, albeit in & out. Maybe an oven-frittata? This wasn’t a particularly deep dish, but casserole may be it. I need you the readers to weigh-in in the comments.

The only changes I’d make are I think I’d like some fresh spinach or at least just parsley to freshen or lighten it up? Also, maybe I would crisp up the corned beef hash a little longer or a higher temp? Maybe on the air fryer or convection setting. Perhaps some sort of dough… like croissant dough on the top or bottom, or biscuits on the top? Maybe doing hash browns on the bottom and canned corned beef on that? I didn’t put milk or cream in the egg mixture, but I could have. I feel like some Red Hot or something would have been good too, or even hot ketchup on the side. A biscuit-gravy style gravy may have been good too.

I feel like I will be doing this again and tweaking the recipe many times.

How would you do it? Do you make something similar?

Celtic Shenanigans

(I also don’t drink much any more, but my Beer playlist also feels stereotypical and apropos.)

I also made a shamrock maze & a four-leaf clover maze, for a fun quick activity, & I uploaded them to my TeePublic & RedBubble shops. Everything is on sale right now at TeePublic, including these two designs. Get T-shirts for $16, stickers for $3, or all kinds of other cool stuff. You can even customize the colors of the products, so you can have a black hat or T-shirt, a green one, or whatever you prefer.

Which one do you like more, the shamrock (three-leaf clover) or the lucky four-leaf clover? Should I add this leprechaun maze to the shops too?

Check out all of these mazes, in a printable black & white if you’d like:

They work great as adult coloring book pages too. You can fill in the dead ends to find the path, or just color ’em however you please. I’m a big fan of anarchy.

You can check out my playlists on your preferred streaming service with these links from Tune My Music:

• Celtic Shenanigans
• Beer

Let me know if you think I’m missing something good for either list!

Also, what do you like to eat for St. Patrick’s Day? I have been hungry for something like this. Maybe with potatoes this time.

I post this as I contemplate selling mazes on Etsy. Think there’s a market? I see other artists selling small *.pdf packs of printable mazes, coloring pages, or other hand-drawn puzzles or activity pages. A lot of the stuff you can find free online via Pinterest, or places like here on my blog or r/mazes. Are there people looking for paid downloads? They would of course probably be exclusive or only elsewhere available in my books. It’s certainly way more about art & expression than money, but it is cool to see my mazes on stuff, even if I’m my own biggest customer.

Oh, can’t forget a small bonus maze first since it’s Valentine’s Day!

The Pittsburgh Parking Chair Maze.

You have to respect the chair. You can get an official one, or up your game and put out a walker, a table or even a statue of Jesus. Don’t park there if you didn’t shovel! Luckily now we don’t have to worry as much about it, but we lived in Dormont for years where no one really owned the spot in front of their place. The anger is real when someone ganks your spot after you labored for sometimes hours to clear it.

The Snow-Shoveling Maze.

A lot of people are over it. We got hot with an amount of snow in our area what we haven’t seen since 2010, and it stayed cold for quite some time. Removal was difficult unless you kept up with it through the storm… and even then some folks had their sidewalks piled upon by the snow-plow trucks. Here you can do some scrawling instead of shoveling. This might work as a coloring page too? You can work back from the dead ends and the solution will be left.

The Groundhog Day Maze.

Who doesn’t love Punxsutawney Phil? I guess a lot of people when he predicts 6 more weeks of winter. We can’t balk at tradition now, can we? If you get stuck in this maze, you might feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

There once was a groundhog from Punxy.
Instead of consorting with skunks, he
Sat with turkeys to gobble
On that famous knob hill
While all the bystanders got drunk, see?

So there you have a winter maze drop. As always, if you take the time to complete one, please share it & tag me on social media. If you dig these free mazes, I have lots more. I urge you to also maybe buy a book or a T-shirt or hoodie. Also, let me know what you think about selling *.pdf downloads on Etsy. Is it worth it?

The were absolutely delicious. Just posting this so I can pin it & refer back to it.

When caramelizing the yellow onions in a ridiculous amount of butter, I added some salt, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, ground mustard, & black pepper. I have no idea if this is “correct” but it was delicious. I start them out on medium until they’re translucent, then cook on medium-low for a ridiculously long time.

Fast forward to the next morning, I split some L’Oven Fresh English Muffins, spread butter on them, spread some of the leftover caramelized onions on them, and topped with half a slice of Swiss cheese… and baked in a pre-heated 350° F oven for about 13 minutes. (The onions were cold from the ‘fridge, & I wanted to be sure they were heated up before everything was too toasted.)

It was a great breakfast… but I did miss a beef broth or au jus kind of flavor. Would have been like French Onion English Muffins then. Maybe next time?

What would you call this? Have you done something similar? Would you do it different? Ever try the oven method to caramelize onions, or something other than slow & low on the stovetop? Let me know in the comments!

Instead of a Birthday dinner, we made this my birthday lunch, albeit a few days early. I have a problem with loving alliteration. Should this be dubbed the Carroll Clan Cut Crawl?

I’m not that guy that talks about one-bite rules or pizza flop, so I’ll rate all of these a 13/13. I think there are so many styles and recipes for pizza, they all deserve a spot at the table and some respect.

Beto’s – $1.92/cheese slice | If you can’t get your head around Ohio Valley Style… I get it. But, it’s worth figuring out. I don’t put it in the same class as these New York Style pies, but there is room for many styles of pizza in this world. Beto’s is an institution. They are always packed. This stuff is a hit with me. It is simple, the crust is thick and square like Sicilian style with a savory sauce. The Provolone is just perfect, and the decision to leave it uncooked is wild but it works. I mean, you can ask them to cook it, but why? I got a small Mug root beer from the fountain. I love it. My son loves it, my wife is on the fence, and my daughter is not a fan (she got the mozzarella sticks). My son said Beto’s is his far & away favorite.

Slice on Broadway – $3.50/cheese slice | They claim it’s NYC style pie made by Yinzers. I have never had a slice of pizza in NY, but I hope for New York’s sake it’s as good as this. The sauce is ever so slightly sweet… not overly sweet, but it hits. The crust is crispy and doughy. The cheese is absolutely just right. It was so nice & warm on a cold day… and it hits the spot consistently every time, even across different locations. I paired it with a Boylan’s Birch Beer. I ordinarily like to get it with Ricotta & meatball here. My daughter, son, & wife all loved it as usual. Of course I loved it too. I think Slice was my wife & daughter’s favorite.

Badamo’s – $2.50/cheese slice | So much love and attention to the craft goes into this pie! Anthony & the people that work there are just incredibly cool and super welcoming. I opted for Pepperoni this time, but my son was getting full so I ended up eating his cheese slice too. The sauce is savory and delicious, it’s not sweet but it’s not acidic. The crust has an entirely different feel & taste than anyone else around. It’s delicious and perfectly crispy. I really need to try their Sicilian style too! The pepperoni is small and delicious without taking over. On regular trips, I like the Ricotta & basil. I paired it with a carton of Turner’s iced tea. My wife & daughter really liked this one, my son nope’d out for being full, and I loved it enough to have two slices. (Hey, listen to Black Tie Revue!)

All in all, to me the nearly side-by-side comparison was super fun, and confirmed that they’re all great pizza that can stand on their own, or stand together. It was a cool afternoon activity with the family & everyone was enthusiastic about the mini adventure.

Of course I have a Punk Rock Pizza Party playlist on Amazon Music & Spotify. You can import it to your preferred service too.

We are lucky to have so many great independent & small chain pizza shops in the area with a wide variety of styles and flavors. I remember the first time trying Beto’s and I took it back to the old apartment in Dormont & the cheese was sort-of half-melted and it was just perfect. I remember when Slice opened and we checked it out and it was absolutely delicious. I remember going to A’Pizza Badamo in Mt. Lebanon before it moved to Dormont and absolutely loving their pie & the great people.

Of course, there are great spots all over in & around the city… but I kept this Crawl tight. If you did a pizza crawl, which spots would you hit? Bonus points for keeping them within say a 5 mile radius! Would you do more than 3? Could you?

I didn’t really measure, but this is close…

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes Kraft mac & cheese (noodles & powder packets)
• ½ cup butter & ¼ cup butter (for later)
• ½ cup flour
• 1 block sharp cheddar cheese (16 oz.?), grated
• 4 cubed chunks (approx. 1″ cubes) of Velveeta (I used the Aldi version)
• 1 cup shredded colby jack cheese
• 2½ cups 2% milk
• ½ cup half & half
• ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
• ¾ plain breadcrumbs
• yellow mustard (a dash)
• ground mustard (to taste)
• black pepper (to taste)
• white pepper (to taste)
• salt (to taste)
• onion powder (to taste)
• garlic powder (to taste)
• table blend salt-free seasoning (to taste)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Boil the pasta in some water with bit of salt, for about 5 minutes… the time on the box overcooks them.
3. Melt ½ cup butter in a cause pan on medium, stir in the flour (season it here), cook 2 or 3 min. until golden.
4. Slowly stir in milk & half & half. (Season it here too.)
5. Slowly stir in the grated sharp cheddar & chunks of Velveeta. I put the squirt of mustard in here. (Season it here too.)
6. Slowly stir in one of the cheese powder packets from the Kraft box. (Season it here too.)
7. Drain the pasta when it’s done while you’re doing all that, then put it in an 8″x8″ glass baking dish.
8. Stir in your cheese sauce. (If I understand correctly, that was a roux, then a béchamel, then a mornay… right?) Season it again if you nasty, and you’re reading this, so I know you are.
9. Melt the ¼ cup of butter in a small bowl with a handle. (Season it here too.)
10. Stir the breadcrumbs, the other Kraft cheese packet, & the table blend seasoning into the butter bowl.
11. Sprinkle the shredded colby jack on top of the cheese n’ macaroni.
12. Spread the buttery cheesy breadcrumbs on that.
13. Pop it in the oven for like 18 minutes.

Notes:

• I popped it in for 20 minutes, and while the breadcrumbs got a little overdone, they weren’t quite burnt. I may cover it in foil for a bit next time, or put the breadcrumbs on after a bit of cooking?
• I’ll use a bullion cube in with the macaroni next time. I do that with pasta a lot but was worried the Kraft cheese packets may be salty, they weren’t as bas as I expected.
• I needed some grated parmesan shake cheese, but didn’t use any because I couldn’t find it. Ha ha.
• What about crushed Cheeze-Its instead of breadcrumbs? What about bacon pieces in there?

Have you done this? Obviously I could just use regular pasta & forgo the Kraft powdered cheese sauce concoction. Got any tips or tricks? If you say nutmeg or cinnamon you can see yourself all the way out.

Share your thoughts in the comments!

It was fun to be included in stuff like this! (I got some art in the 90’s FIEND CLUB Bleeder’s Die-Gest too!)

Check out the maze, and the pages it was part of:

You should try to solve it, post your solution, & tag me @AiXeLsyD13 on your preferred social media platform. And, of course I spelled refrigerator wrong.

You can check out a few more pages on my Threads post or on Instagram:

Did you dig the Survival of the Fattest, Punk-O-Rama, Greatest Shits compilations, & all the associated bands? Who were your favorites?

Snuff, Guns ‘n’ Wankers, & Dogpiss always stood out to me!

I have seen it out there on the internet for years, and I was afraid. Surely the ready-to-bake lasagna noodles are drastically different from the regular ones, right? I’m not talking fresh pasta that needs no prep… I mean the dried boxed stuff that food snobs will tell you is inferior.

I did it. No one died. Everyone seemed to like it. I’ll put my recipe down here first & the shenanigans after that… because Threads gave me some shenanigans. Trigger warning for Nonnas worldwide: I put brown sugar in jarred sauce. Proceed with caution.

Here’s what I did…

Ingredients:

• (3) 15 oz. containers ricotta cheese
• (2) 8. oz/2 cups bags shredded Mozzarella/Provolone cheese
• (1) 2.41 lbs. package 90%/10% ground beef
• (1) small zucchini, shredded (maybe 2 cups?)
• (3) 24 oz. jars marinara sauce
• (1) 1 lb. box Barilla lasagna noodles
• (2) eggs
• ½ cup grated Parmesan/Romano cheese
• shredded parmesan (to taste)
• fresh curly parsley (to taste)
• Italian seasoning (to taste)
• dried parsley (to taste)
• brown sugar (to taste)
• jarred minced garlic (to taste)
• garlic powder (to taste)
• onion powder (to taste)
• black pepper (to taste)
• paprika (to taste)
• Mrs. Dash table blend (to taste)
• salt (to taste)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375° (Next time I may do 350° for a longer time, but we were in a but of a hurry.)
2. Brown the beef in a pan on the stove with some of all your spices to taste. (I could/should have included onion here.)
3. Mix the ricotta, one bag of the shredded cheese, the grated parmesan, a bit of the shredded parmesan, the eggs, fresh parsley, & shredded zucchini in a large bowl, again with all the spices including the garlic.
4. This filled two 9×13″ glass baking dishes for me. I think I layered them both a bit different. Follow your heart. Put sauce on the bottom, sprinkle in some brown sugar, the dry lasagna noodles, the ricotta mixture, the ground beef, some more shredded cheese, more sauce, more noodles, and just keep going. I did put a very little bit of water in the jars of sauce to swirl around & empty more.. and put that into the dishes too. Sprinkled cheese and made sure there was lots of sauce on top of each.
5. Cover them tightly with foil & put them in the oven for 50 minutes.
6. Take out, sprinkle on some more of the shredded parmesan, cook for another 10 minutes.
7. Pull out, rest for a bit, then serve.

Notes:

• Like I said, lower & slower next time. Maybe 350° for an hour then uncover & go for another 15 minutes?
• Carrots may be good in with the ground beef… and/or mushrooms?
• Maybe spinach in the cheese mixture or as another layer. Let’s get some fiber up in here.
• I don’t generally like sausage, but if you do it’d be good here for sure.
• What would you do?

Readers, let me tell you… people have feelings about calling that strip of pasta a “lasagna noodle.” There is also the fact that “American” lasagna has ricotta, but traditional does not. I was even told that because I added shredded zucchini it is no longer lasagna. I have made it replacing the pasta with long thinly-sliced zucchini planks and still called it lasagna.

People have lost their damn minds. No one knows that food and language evolve over time and across regions and even households?

I did plug my ingredients list into Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Copilot to see what they would churn back out, but honestly I didn’t follow through with any of their advice.

I also make wedding soup incorrectly and put beans in chili. Clutch those pearls! Enjoy a meatball club. Hell, join the meatball club!

I look forward to your thoughts about lasagna, your tips, tricks & recipes, and the nuance of semantics involving pasta naming conventions in the comments. How do you layer yours? I feel like I need a way deeper pan. Do you go “traditional” and eschew ricotta? Do you call lasagna noodles lasagna noodles or are you pretentious?

I leave you with the discourse:

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