Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Bars

Last night's adventure was trying to bake something with ingredients I already had so it's a good thing this recipe was so simple.  Admittedly, I did burn the bottom of the pan and have to spend 20 minutes scrubbing it so that was a bit of a mistake but I think the finished product turned out pretty well!  

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup unsalted butter

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 3 cups easy oats

- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

- 2/3 cup peanut butter

Directions:

- Melt butter in a large saucepan over low-medium heat.  This is where my mistake started because I had the heat way too high.  Don't do that.

- Once the butter is melted, add the brown sugar and vanilla and stir.

- Once combined, add the oats and continue to mix for a few minutes to allow the oats to cook.

 

- Remove oat mixture from the heat.
- Place chocolate chips and peanut butter in a microwaveable bowl and melt together.
- Combine oat mixture with chocolate and peanut butter mixture and pour into a greased 8x8 pan.

 

- Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before cutting into bars and enjoying.

Hanksy's Best of the Worst

Yesterday we went to Hanksy's Best of the Worst show and it was out of this world.  I heard before we went that Hansky had described the event as being "theater for the eyes"and that was really what it was.  There were arcade games and a photobooth and a dumpling stand, not to mention a series of installations which were, really, just too punny for words.

Drake-O Malfoy, Get Rich or Nye Tryin, Miley Coyote, and Trailer Swift

A closeup of Hamuel L. Jackson

My favorite sighting was teeny tiny and not for sale.  Every surface of the space had been transformed.  I loved spotting the outlets turned into a couple of pals.

And here's me and my love after the show.

Sweet Spaghetti Squash Kugel

Every year for Passover we get to have one of my favorite dishes - Lokshen Kugel.  It's egg noodles with cottage cheese, cream cheese, butter, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and JOY.  It's the best but it's not the healthiest so I tried to make a healthy replacement that was still the bomb dot com.  It turned out super cheesy but was still healthy-lifestyle friendly which should be alright by just about everyone.

Ingredients:
- 3 cups Spaghetti Squash (cooked)
- 3 packets Splenda
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- Dash of Nutmeg
- 1/2 cup Egg Beaters
- 14 oz. Part Skim Ricotta

Directions:
- To cook spaghetti squash I just cut it in half, scoop out the guts and bake it in the oven at 425 degrees with the inside facing down.  Once the outside is easy to pierce with a fork (about 45 minutes), it's done!  Take those cuties out of the oven and scrape the insides with a fork to make spaghetti strands.

- Turn your oven down to 375 degrees
- Combine splenda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, egg beaters, and ricotta with the spaghetti squash

- Pour contents of the bowl into a greased 9x9 casserole dish

- Cook for 45-50 minutes and make sure you are so hungry that as soon as you pull it out of the oven you cut right into it and serve it up forcing you to take a weird picture that tries not to showcase that you already cut into half of your dish.

Momofuku Cookies

Someone gifted sweet Kathleen from work this ready to rock and roll mix of Cornflake-Chocolate Chip-Marshmallow cookie mix from Momofuku Milk Bar.  It's been 4 months since the gifting and the mix remained in the tin because, as it turns out, no one has a giant stand mixer in their tiny New York kitchen.

Since it is sweet Kathleen's birthday on Monday, I decided to try my luck at mixing these bad boys by hand for her breakfast party this morning.   Cookies for breakfast always and these had cornflakes in them so they are a food group.

I took a risk and softened the butter for 30 seconds in the microwave because my feeble wrists just couldn't mix the cold butter!  It worked out pretty well, though.  After I chilled the dough for an hour, I plopped them on the cookie tray and they looked pretty much like cookie dough should.  Then, after baking for 15 minutes, they looked TOTALLY like cookies should!

Not too shabby, right?  I found out you can buy the mixes here and now I'd like some more.

This Is A Conversation That Just Happened

After Mike walked in from walking Leonard in the rain without an umbrella:

Me: "Oh wow, it's raining really hard out..."
Mike: "Yeah but it's fine - it's just big drops of water."

So true, babe.  So true.

What Should I Do With My Life?

Doing work that is slightly more fun.

I have a great, solid job that bores me to tears 5 days a week.  Obviously I shouldn't be working at this job.  The real problem isn't the job, though.  The real problem is that I have no idea what I want to do with my life.  So I Googled it.  

Google came back with an article from Time and it told me to figure out what my gifts, passions, and values are.  Figuring this out is harder than getting into a graduate program to pursue whatever I wind up wanting to do.  I have a gift for academic writing and editing.  I have helped two friends get into graduate school and another pass law school.  I am passionate about children, books, Judaism, healthy eating, and unhealthy eating.  I don't think this makes a career.

Google also sent me to a tiny Buddha with 6 questions to answer.  These questions are too fanciful to help me, I think.  When I think about what I love in life, my greatest accomplishments, and what I'd do if I had a billion dollars I think about decorating my future house, taking care of kids, and the joy of working at summer camp.  This also does not a career make.

I took a quiz on Buzzfeed that told me I should move apartments.  This slightly more serious quiz told me I should do something having to do with writing.  I think this would bring me joy but, really, how to start?

This is the craziest dilemma as we start thinking about moving and kids and long-term life.  All of a sudden, plugging away at my marketing job doesn't feel like an option for even one more week, much less another year or more.  This is the beginning of everything, though, isn't it?

P.S. Google turned up this extremely helpful site: http://wtfshouldidowithmylife.com/  It says I should be a taste tester and I am down with that.

Yo Leonard

This handsome fellow is our dog Leonard (named after this legendary man) - he is almost 1 year old and the joy of our days (which start very, very early thanks to him.)  His favorite things are babies, towels, peanut butter, and other dogs.

Trying Hard

I read this article on NYMag about how nobody wants to be the girl on a diet because watching what you eat and being conscientious and just trying in general is perceived as the opposite of easygoing and no fun at all.  I hate and love this article because it's true and I wish it wasn't.  And I'm big into trying hard.  I like to cook and bake but I'm not very good at it.  I like to craft but I don't sweat glitter.  I'm planning my wedding on a budget and that's really hard.  I, like half the women in America (according to this article) am on a diet and that's REALLY hard.  So I'm trying all of these things and I'm going to try to write it in a blog.  So, hey! I'm Hannah.

Sometimes Mike and I wear hats and sunglasses to see if anyone thinks we are celebrities.  So far this has fooled an exciting 0% of people!