Thank you for all your sweet words on my birthday last week. I can’t wait to tell you all about the party my dear friends threw for me. It blew me away. For realz. Here’s a teaser to whet your appetite.

I mean, are you dying or are you dying?!? How gorgeous is that? And not only do I have beautiful memories of Wednesday night, but equally beautiful photographs thanks to my dear buddy Skip Hopkins.

[I'm going to show you more, I promise. But I'm still having to narrow down from the 150 pictures sweet Skip edited and gave me on Thursday.]

[Also, I'm still just loving looking at them. So that's slowing the process down significantly.]

Part B: I’m the next Food Network Star

That may be the grossest exaggeration I have made on this blog all day in a long time.

But I did have an amazing opportunity last week to film a cooking segment on WSMV, the channel that hosted the Get Fit Challenge.

Here’s the link to video of the fruit parfait.

Now listen, I don’t care how many times I’ve practiced having my own cooking show in my kitchen, I’m still no pro. So forgive my amateurness. Cause it’s there.

And, I made a mess RIGHT after I said, “I don’t like to make a mess.”

[welcome to my life.]

And you better watch because seriously, this may be my only 4:45 minutes of cooking fame.

Part C: Amber + Ash

Ok, y’all know Amber- she’s my personal stylist a famous stylist here in Nash and she has become a friend that I insist on speaking to, in some capacity, every single day.

Well, brainiac Amber and her equally talented friend Ash, who is an interior designer, came up with this wicked idea.

Amber picks an outfit- Ash creates a room to match it. AND. Ash picks a room- Amber creates an outfit to match it.

Here are the two blog posts to prove it -

Outfit –> Room AND Room –> Outfit

You’re gonna love. I bet. Cause it’s one of the coolest ideas out there right now.

D. World Cup

I’m sad it’s over. It was a good one, that’s for sure. But the final game- sheesh. What it lacked in beautiful play it made up for in penalties. Yowsa. And I guess I’m fine with Spain winning. Whatevs.

E. Naked Windows

My home is full of naked windows. Help me! I want to do cheap and cute window treatments. I’ve already fully perused The Nester and The Inspired Room [2 of my friends and cohorts over at (in)courage], but I have lots of windows. So please. Help a sister out and send me links to some of your favorite window treatments online.

F. Is my middle initial.

That’s all. See y’all tomorrow.

I absolutely love the snack attack feeling that occurs post-pool time. I recall a day when that snack session *might* have involved oreos [guilty pleasure], but in my current Get Fit lifestyle, I wanted something substantial, protein-y, but delicious.

Enter Mama’s pimento cheese. It’s easy and relatively healthy.

• 1 (10 oz) package sharp Cracker Barrel cheese [I get the low-fat version.]
• 1/2 cup of mayo [again, low fat. And that new stuff with canola/olive oil makes this healthy heart happy. Or make your own, which I'm sure my friend LoraLynn does.]
• 1/2 tsp of yellow mustard
• 1 (4 oz) jar of diced pimentos with oil

Then you just shred the cheese, mix everybody else in and then booyah, you’ve got yourself pimento cheese.

[Which, by the way, I didn't ask my mom's permission before disclosing this recipe, so if she's ever at your house and says, "Wow, this pimento cheese is to die for!" and in her mind thinking, 'because it tastes just like my recipe,' don't tell her you got the recipe from my blog. And I won't tell your mom that you like my mom's pimento cheese recipe better than hers. Deal?]

AND. I was thrilled because in my pantry was Stacy’s Pita Chips. I heart these puppies, big time. And my post pool snack attack became a snack sanctuary with some pimento cheese spread across a pita chip.

I can have 10 chips for 130 calories, and with the pimento cheese and an apple, that was my dinner, about 400 cals.

Happy, happy girl.

Not to mention, I had proposed in the pool, so I was already feeling good. Now a healthy snack to boot? WHAT KIND OF AMAZING LIFE IS THIS?

I’m not engaged, by the way. But I do love Stacy’s Pita Chips and I have to wonder if Stacy is a man and if he is, will he marry me? Because I think I could do well leading a life where I am constantly surrounded by pita chips.

Am I right or am I right?

I’m rambling. Forgive me.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE healthy dip recipes, so if you have one, will you send it to me? Or leave a link in the comments to your blog where you posted about a delicious dip? Also, I don’t like hummus. So don’t push your hummus agenda on me.

Happy Monday.

[By the way, I'll proudly tell you that I received free product samples and that my post is eligible for a gift card via random drawing by One2One Network because I wrote about Stacy's. I also might be eligible for a restraining order if Stacy is a single male because I want to marry the pita chip man.]

And instead, I spent the entirety of my evening volleying between my couch and the kitchen, setting the oven timer for 8 minute increments- attempting to make homemade granola.

I think, to give you the full picture of my experience, I should mention these things.

a) I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients. For example, in lieu of cinnamon, I had to use pumpkin pie spice. And being that I only had one type of oats, I used a lot and then added craisins.

[I'm nothing if not kitchen creative.]

b) I didn’t measure well. And I was trying to use up all the honey in my honey bear. So there is a slight chance [real chance] that there was an abundance of honey in ye old granola.

I couldn’t bring myself to call Amber, the local granola goddess. She is full of grace and forgiveness, but I just didn’t want her to know I was actively butchering her recipe [the granola recipe is yours for the taking, by the way].

[Also. Amber and I made videos about making granola. A granola shopping trip and a granola cooking class.]

When I made said granola last night, instead of it taking 17 minutes to cook at 350 degrees, it cooked for ONE HOUR.

ONE HOUR.

I thought I was done after 17 minutes. I pulled the granola out and celebrated my culinary success with a bowl of granola and yogurt [raspberry goji yogurt, just FYI]. At this point, I realized it was sticky. Like major sticky. Like definitely not crispy.

So we cooked again. That’s when 5 sets of 8 minutes in the oven began. Stir, smell, put in oven, wait 8 minutes, pull out, stir, and repeat.

So while it may have turned out pretty [ooohh......aaaahh.....]

it stole my entire evening. Sheesh.

But just like a cute boy, I’m quick to forgive when it looks this good.

[aaaannnddd.....you're welcome.]

I have a favorite soup. That is actually good for you. And absolutely ridiculously easy. And with winter ending soon [please, God, can winter end soon?], I thought I better offer this recipe to you now while you still have the chance. Cause it’s March, people. It might be about time to dust off your flip-flops.

I’m going attempt to avoid writing another pointless paragraph and just give you the recipe.

[By the way, I just went to the kitchen to get the family cookbook and came back with a bowl of granola and milk. I sat down at the computer and realized I grabbed a snack and forgot the book. Classy.]

CAULIFLOWER SOUP

[Now, you may love or hate cauliflower, but I promise you will love this soup. Trust me. It's cheap and easy to make. If you hate it, oh well. Not a lot of time or money lost.]

Ingredients:

• 2 bags of frozen cauliflower
• 32 oz box of chicken broth
• 3 T ranch dressing mix

[Seriously. That's like $8 maybe. Sheesh.]

Combine all the ingredients. Cook until tender. Puree with an immersion blender.

[Seriously. That's like 12 minutes maybe. Sheesh.]

It makes 4-5 servings that are each like 80 calories. That. Is. Crazy. Low.

When you are done, it looks just like potato soup- it has the same consistency. That says one thing to me– “ADD CHEESE PLEASE.”

So I usually do. Add a little cheese, some turkey bacon, and you’ve got yourself a great low cal meal.

Speaking of low cal, there’s a new post up at the Annie Gets Fit blog. We are 6 weeks in and I can’t tell you how much I’ve lost, but you better love me while you can, cause I am disappearing in front of your very eyes.

Happy Friday. Heart you, bloggites.

And she came bearing a life-changing cream cheese experience.

Of course, giving dairy credit where dairy credit is due, this recipe is originally from BooMama, my mentor in many things of life and all things of cheese.

So Mama and I, we went to a party to watch some Georgia football. And we brought along what has since been named “Heaven On A Cracker.”

Trust me. I tried to take a picture before people started eating, but it didn’t happen. Apparently, my friends have a strong like for all manner of cheese dips.

But, I did have to keep saying, “it’s a glaze, not grease” because when you pile bacon on cheese and then pour a glaze over top, believe you me, it looks like grease. Which honestly, didn’t stop some folks. In fact, I think Sonnie said, “that’s a lot of grease, but everyone is eating it, so….”

Please. Try it. I mean, I may not really know you, but I know you enough to know that you won’t hate this. [That statement is not true at all. But I still hope you like the dip.]

Captain Rodney Cheese Bake

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 6 Ritz crackers, crumbled
• 8 slices cooked, crumbled bacon
• ½ cup Captain Rodney’s Sweet & Spicy Glaze or Boucan Glaze

Mix first 4 ingredients, then spread in a square casserole dish.  Sprinkle crushed crackers on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Then sprinkle bacon on top and drizzle with glaze over all.  Serve with Ritz crackers, pita chips or your favorite cracker.

Note: Captain Rodney’s is available at Whole Foods. Boucan Glaze was the old name and Sweet & Spicy Glaze is the new name. The glaze is available online from www.bellbuckle.com if you don’t have a Whole Foods nearby.

We doubled the recipe and put it in a 9 x 13.

[Also, just FYI- we used light mayonnaise and turkey bacon. So obviously, it was a healthy alternative to the other snacks, such as carrots and hummus.]

And y’all. It was gone by the end of the evening and we had about 20 people eating. Which you KNOW Mama loved cause she got cook for and hang out with 20 of the cool kids of Nashville.

Like Marisa.

And Chris and Ansley. [who have recently started an INSANELY awesome blog for wives who have traveling/on the road husbands- a much needed area of ministry here. Check it out.]

The only thing I would do differently is that we served the cheese bake with ritz crackers and I would opt for a saltier cracker, maybe a pita chip. Cause I’m not a huge fan of ritz crackers. I’m not one to fear an overly rich experience, but you know how ritz crackers are so buttery and kinda soft? Yeah, I just wanted a hearty chip. Personal preference maybe.

But hello. It’s my blog. This place aboundeth with my personal preferences.

In the fall of 2000, some friends and I took a trip to Boston. It was, and is still, one of my favorite college years memories. And we found a bakery. A bakery that, I’ll be honest, I fell in love with.

Said bakery? Mike’s Pastry. Not the most awesome website in the world, but they never claimed to be internet nerds. They are bakers. Give ‘em a break.

I don’t know what it was about Mike’s. Maybe it was Mike, maybe it was the crisp fall air, maybe it was the blue and white decor, maybe it was Little Italy that just stole my heart. Or maybe it was just the idea that me and a handful of my college buddies had actually been crazy enough to fly up there and spend our fall break and we were going wherever we wanted because HELLO we were 20 years old and mature and no one was the boss of us.

Something about Mike’s stuck with me. [In my heart and on my thighs and you are welcome for that.] And as a better Annie says, Boston is a city I like to crush on.

So last week, when my friend Molly was telling me that she was headed north, I said, with more enthusiasm than one healthy minded adult should have towards a bakery, that she must Must MUST go to Mike’s. I then continued to share with her minute and ridiculous details of my two trips to Boston and how, because I’m just not right in the head, I had paid a taxi driver to stop by Mike’s on the way to the airport last time I visited.

People. I am addicted to sugar. Deal with it.

Fast forward to Wednesday night, say around 6:15pm. I’m watching DVRed episodes of Flipping Out [duh] when I hear footsteps on my back porch.

Lo and behold, this arrived at my door. “This” being “Molly with a blue and white box.”

Are you seeing what I saw?? Sweet Molly and her travel worn box from Mike’s. It could have brought tears to my eyes. But it didn’t. If I cry over pastry, then we have proof that I take dessert too. seriously.

Truly, is that not the kindest thing? That Molly took time to bring me a cannoli? FROM MIKE’S PASTRY??

Three cheers for Molly loving me enough to get stopped and questioned by airport security for smuggling baked goods below the Mason Dixon line.

I’m not showing you the other end of the cannoli because it is absolutely none of your business how much I had already eaten at the time of the photo shoot nor is it important whether there is any cannoli left in my life.

But THAT was the highlight of my Wednesday night.

[Insert polite curtsy here.]

And good day to you.

[So. With that being said, we press on.]

What it means is that I did a little breakfast experiment and I was totally thrilled about it. And the breakfast is shaped like a muffin. And I think you’re a champ. So that’s where the combo came from. I thought it would make more sense. Somehow to combine “breakfast,” “muffin,” and “champion” so you would know this would be a delicious recipe.

[I've over-explained at this point.]

Here’s what. I wanted to make a breakfast that was low in carbs, easy to eat on the run, and still awesome. So I figured that I could make little quiche kinda thingys.

[My ability to blog well seems to be spiraling downward. Let's insert a picture.]

Here’s the turkey bacon. I know, Sophie would tan my pork-free hide for using this fake stuff, but I choose turkey bacon. I cooked it up in the oven.

Here’s the bacon, post cook. [And I think it is rude that you noticed IMMEDIATELY the missing piece of bacon and no, I don't know what happened to it. Move along. Nothing to see here.]

So while the bacon cooked, I scrambled the eggs in a bowl. And then I chopped the bacon up. See, I had this picture in my mind of literally, mini-quiches. So I wanted tiny bacon for tiny quiche.

I gathered a handful of other ingredients, just cause I was home alone and when I’m cooking home alone I feel like I’m a big deal chef. [As evidenced by the "dry mustard". Sheesh.] I went ahead and mixed the bacon and cheese into the egg mixture and added those other really important and fancy ingredients. Like salt.

So then I ladled the mixture into a greased muffin tin. And pretty quickly you’ll see the main flaw of this recipe.

See how Mr. Muffin Top Middle is LOADED with goodies and Mr. Muffin Bottom Left is eggy? Yeah. Lesson learned. Next time I make these [and I will because good gracious I loved them] I will portion out the bacon and cheese and then pour the egg mixture over it.

[I'm betting many of you already had that trick in your cooking skillz bag. Now it's in mine, too.]

And by the way, I think each little muffin quiche [that would have been a good blog post title] needs a piece of bacon, crumbled, and one egg scrambled. Cheese to your liking. You, maybe a sprinkling. Me, maybe a cup. I like cheese.

I cooked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until a knife came out clean when I tested it.

As you can see, there was a bit of what one might call “EXPANSION!!” They came out okay, but for some reason, spraying the muffin tins didn’t allow these little puppies to come out clean. I don’t know why though. Do you?

But y’all. They were really good. I ate one immediately. Then bagged the rest for breakfast the next few mornings. How cute is that little baggy of breakfast?

But I do feel like I should warn you: apparently this breakfast of choice will give you a bad case of the crazy eye.

[Sigh. I have no shame or discretion when it comes to embarrassing pictures. Sometimes I wish I did.]

So I hope you try this recipe, throw in some of your favorite veggies or other meats, and let me know how it goes.

But don’t say I didn’t warn you about the crazy eye.

Like a baby. Like a “Get yourself under control, child!” kind of cry.

[I actually cried twice during the movie. But let's not talk about it.]

I cried because the movie was full of me- the food lover, the blogger, the unpublished author, the woman.

I’m the blogger who makes decisions for her blog readers, celebrates the comments, and sometimes has to bring my blog life into submission to my real life. A common mantra around these parts are, “just remember- if the internet dies, so does AnnieBlogs.” Cause it can’t hurt to remember that every now and again.

I’m the cook who was raised to FEEL the food. To eat it, but more to experience it. Maybe it’s a Southern thing. Maybe it’s a family thing. Maybe it’s because of where AND who I come from. Either way, it literally pains me to eat healthy because, I’m going to be honest here, butter is what makes things lovely.

But more than any of those, I’m the writer. The author. Who is DYING for that letter or that call. Just dying for it. The call that says “your writing is legit and we have an offer.” The call that says, “Yep, keep working on that second book cause baby, the first one is going to press.” The call that says, “in the next year or so, you are going to open your mailbox and find a large envelope containing the first copy of your new book.”

I cried because I’ve been pretending that I don’t care if my book gets picked up soon or not. And watching both Julie and Julia live in that place of wanting to be a published author but not quite there yet, well, it killed my pretender.

Because I do care. I care so much. I care to point that I compose emails to my agent EVERY DAY and delete them because really, who wants to be that annoying girl who asks AGAIN if we’ve heard anything? [Not me.] Because somewhere, in this deep part of my chest- behind my ribs but before my backbone, is this place that gets almost cold and tight with desire. With hope. With the feeling that I was made to be a writer.

I cried because in the dark of that movie theater, surrounded by my dear friends, I remembered how much I want my dreams to come true.

Bon appetit.

This is what they looked like.

Yikes. I know. And if it is possible, they actually TASTED worse than they looked. Shocking, but true.

After I recovered from the debacle, I called Kathleen. Cause Kathleen knows how to make everything. And after I over-dramatically retold the nightmare that was my baking experience, I begged her to try to make them. I emailed her the recipe and just said, “when you get a chance, will you see if it’s the recipe or…. sniff…. me?”

Because I usually pride myself in my baking skillz, so this was a tough situation.

And late last week a package arrived at my door with this note:

Apparently, it wasn’t the recipe. Because good gracious these are delicious.

So now that I know the recipe is trusty, I will share. Because I don’t exactly remember where it came from [sorry bout it], I’m going to rename them.

___________

KATHLEEN KNOWS OREOS

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

_____________

I still don’t exactly know what I did wrong, but you better believe I’m going to give this recipe another whirl. Probably.

After, of course, I finish eating the ones Kathleen sent me.

On to the more important bloggy things. Like dessert.

So Annie Parsons introduced me to Deb Barnett.

And Deb Barnett introduced me to what shall be called “The Dessert That Defined My Summer 2009″.

Here’s the recipe – go get it from Deb. It just makes more sense that way. But here is a photo-montage of the day my addiction began.

Ye ingredients, gather round. I’m going to tell you a little story of a 29 year old blogista who has a soft spot in her heart for low-fat desserts with fruit.

Here’s the mixed jellos [had to go with raspberry instead of cranberry. But still delicious.] with the milk and sour cream.

Then I mixed in the Cool Whip and as my friend Marisa says, “Oops.” Maybe that isn’t exactly in the recipe directions, but how is one supposed to resist dipping a Nilla Wafer in the pudding? Sheesh. What do you think I am? Made of steel?

Then I attempted to set up the camera so I could be photographed with the parfait. Dear Annie, remember to actually SET the timer when you want to use it. [Let's all be grateful I didn't go into brain surgery as a profession.]

And let’s try that again.

Much better. But still a bit weird to take a picture of yourself, alone at home, with a dessert. But whatevs.

Now. I’m no Pioneer Woman, but I kinda love this shot. Deb is always looking for the perfect bite and I think I may have captured it.

Momentarily.

Oops.

I highly recommend this recipe [and really any recipe that Deb has on her blog]. I think with this one, you could substitute any fruit jello and any fruit. Make it your own. Embrace it. And join me in celebrating summer correctly- with a parfait in one hand, and your camera in the other.