I party hard with Pictionary and baked goods

Yeesh, I am horrible at doing things in a timely manner.

So I have this group of friends that I've known since we were 8 years old (11 years!).
After middle school, we were spread out among at least 5 different high schools, but more likely 7 or 8. And of course, after high school, we're spread out over tons of colleges, in various states. But! During breaks we still manage to get together and act like we're ten years old again. Thursday, we all met up at Stephanie's house for PICTIONARY and Greek food. (because that's how these 19 year-olds party...with board games and Kool Aid). We started out with a rousing game of Apples to Apples, where I got the coveted "Helen Keller" card, and used it in conjuction with "Visionary". I'm offensive and that's okay. :) (and don't think it's too bad, I took three years of American Sign Language and have watched The Miracle Worker more times than you've wiped your butt XD )
Then there was some other round, and I'd played "Custer's Last Stand"
It didn't win.
So I, the drama queen that I am, exclaimed: "Custer failed me again! First at Little Big Horn, and now at Apples to Apples"
My friend Laura found this to be the most hilarious thing ever:

"She said it like it was SO personal!"
Haha.

ANYWAY. Then we got down to Pictionary, where my partner Lindsey drew this masterpiece

Can you figure out what it's supposed to be? I got it on the first try and baffled the rest of the group.

A SECOND ANYWAY, because I have failed to tell you what I even made that day! I'm sure you all remember those blackberries I picked with my mother. Well, I still had a few (and I mean a FEW) left over, so I decided to make a blackberry crumble bar. But then I realized that I really didn't have enough to do a whole pan, so I made them in the silicone baking cups my dad bought me a couple of weeks ago. I also made strawberry and chocolate ones. The fruit ones got DEMOLISHED at the party. I took the leftover chocolate ones to my grandmother's house while I got my hair done (down the street) and by the time I got back, she'd eaten all but one! And my grandmother eats like a bird, let me tell you. So I consider these a big hit, and hopefully, you'll like them too :)


Unbaked crusts

Blurry and unbaked D:

Fresh out of the oven, and fresh out of focus XD

Done!


2 - 2 1/2 cups of fruit (berries, peaches, plums are good ideas) (or chocolate, if you wanna go that route)(berries, peaches, plums are good ideas)
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar + a few tablespoons for the fruit
3/4 cup cold butter, cubed
1 egg
pinch of salt

crumble:
1 cup of rolled oats
3/4 cup of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of dark corn syrup or molasses
3 tbsp softened butter


Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix together the 3/4 cup of sugar, flour, and the salt. Add the egg and the butter. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or a fork OR be like me and rub it in with your fingers. JUST your fingers though, your palms are generally too warm and will melt the butter.
Make sure the butter is incorporated, to the point that it looks sandy. If you have big chunks of butter, it's not the end of the world, but the bar will look like you're trying to give someone a heart attack XD
Press that into a pan. Any pan will do. Just remember that the smaller the pan, the thicker the crust, so it's all down to your preferences. Bake the crust until it's a little golden.
While the crust is baking, mix together the fruit and the sugar and set it aside. Then mix together all the ingredients for the crumble in a separate bowl. You can substitute the sugar and molasses for just brown sugar.
Once the crust is baked a bit, spread the fruit over the crust. Then kind of sprinkle the crumble topping over the top of the fruit. Put the pan back in the oven and bake until the crumble topping gets a little brown.

LET COOL.

This is soooo imperative. If you don't let it cool fully and you try to cut it, you'll just make a big mess. It's got to cool and set up, so don't go making this the hour before you want to serve it, especially if you're going to cut and transport it.

Oh, and a hint for the pictionary picture...it's an object. XD

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I won!

Thanks to everyone that voted for me!
I'll be posting about my prizes (yay!) once I receive them!

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I love crepes

Savory crepes, sweet crepes, dessert crepes, breakfast crepes, crepe cakes...you name it, I'll eat it.

...well, unless you put mushrooms in it...ewww.
This morning, I was starving. Yes, literally. Anyhoo, I was SO VERY HUNGRY, but I didn't want yet another peanut butter sandwich (my way of gaining back the weight I lost after surgery XD), or bowl of Cocoa Krispies. I thought to myself "I'll make pancakes!"...but then I decided I didn't want to, because I'd made so so so many batches of pancakes this past week. And then, like a stroke of brilliance, it came to me.

CREPES!

Yummy yummy crepes.

My usual crepe is filled with nutella and whipped cream, but I had neither, so I took this as an opportunity to go a healthier route. Strawberry banana crepes with honey.
Yum yum yum.
I also decided to make scrambled eggs for when my dad woke up. (he still hasn't, so I put most of the egg mixture back in the fridge. What a lazy bum :) )

Anyhoo, here's what you came for!


Cookin'

This is what happens when you get overzealous in your flipping XD

Can you read my awful handwriting?

Seriously, can you? It's awful :P

Line up the bananas

Then the strawberries

Add some honey

Roll it up!


Pretty!

Yummy!




Crepes:
1 cup of flour
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup of water (um, I think these liquid measurements are right. The stuff's gonna be the consistency of water, nearly XD)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter (or oil, if your name is Kiara and you're too lazy to melt butter ;) )


Heat up a pan over medium heat

Whisk together the ingredients, adding the liquid slowly (this helps reduce lumps)
Beat it until it's smooth
Spray the pan lightly with oil/cooking spray/whatever.
Add 1/4 cup - 1/2 of a cup of batter, depending on the size of your pan.
Swirl it to coat the pan! If it's hard at first, that's okay, it gets easier with practice
Let cook for 2 minutes. FLIP! Be daring and do the one handed flip...it's fun :) But if you can't, it's okay to use a spatula.
Cook for another minute, then store on a plate under a towel while you make the rest.
Repeat until the batter's alllll gone.
Fill it' with whatever you want! (but if you want cheese, I'd stick it back in the pan for a little bit, enough to melt the cheese. The professionals add cheese while the second side is cooking, but if you're making a ton to serve at once, that may not work out )

EAT LIKE A PIG.

Seriously.
Do it.

oink oink.

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A Blackberry Story

A couple of years ago, on one of my daily summer biking trips through the woods behind my house, I discovered what I thought were raspberry bushes.
So I made sure to check that spot every day, and I soon discovered that they weren't raspberries, they were blackberries!
I was too much of a scaredy cat to taste them back then(Who knows what's going on in those woods? XD ), but Friday, I thought "to heck with it", and I decided to go pick some.
I mentioned it to my mom, and she wanted to go along too! So we got all geared up and headed to the spot.
Unfortunately, they weren't quite as ripe as I'd hoped, but we still got plenty of good berries (at least a couple cups XD).
Well what in the world does one do with a couple of cups of very tart, fresh blackberries? Well, I don't know what one does, but I made little blackberry turnovers.

I had to overcompensate for the tartness of the berries with a lot more sugar than I'd usually use, so keep that in mind. :)



Me, braving the thorny bush!

Pretty berry

Mom got caught XD

"hold still, let me take a picture!"

"this is what you get"

berries!

My mom thinks this is a persimmon. Does anyone know if she's right?

She also found flies doin the nasty XD

allll of our berries...blurry.

This is what the mixture looks like at first. No worries, it gets better.







Yum yum yum! :)


Blackberry Turnovers:
1 - 1 1/2 cups of washed and dried blackberries
4 tablespoons of sugar (I know! it's a ton! Adj1ust accordingly)
1 tbsp of honey
Juice from 1/2 of a smallish lemon
Puff pastry (one to one half of the two sheets in the box of the Pepperidge Farm kind should work)

and a simple glaze of milk, powdered sugar, and a little lemon juice. :)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit

Mix together the berries, sugar, juice, and honey, and let it sit until the sugar's all dissolved.

Cut the pastry into squares, size doesn't really matter. for a 2inch square, a tablespoon of filling should do nicely. Either turn over the edges in typical fashion, or bring all four corners together. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry just starts to brown on top.
LET COOL a little. (hot fruit filling = mouth burns = suck) Then drizzle the turnover with the glaze. Yay!

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