Facts of Existence: November 2011

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

My Blood Runneth Orange

In case you haven't heard, SC destroyed my Tigers this past weekend. Yes, I said it..."my Tigers". I'll get to that in a bit...but first lets talk about the rivalry for all my yankee friends that may or may not understand the Palmetto Bowl.

The rivalry is the longest uninterrupted series in the south, and the second longest uninterrupted series overall, having been played every year since 1909. The school's rivalry actually started out as a political issue way before it was about the amazing game of football. These schools have been at it for over 130 years.

From birth, children in the great state of South Carolina are raised Gamecocks or Tigers. The winning team of this rivalry game gets bragging rights for 364 days. There's a whole lot more to it than that, but that's not what's important right now.

Ok, enough history...time to get dirty.

I woke up Sunday morning after the big game more pissed off than I had ever been after a football game. Not because the Clemson Tigers stunk it up the night before, but because of the comment that was made on my Facebook status.

I didn't say anything like "I'm done being a Clemson fan" or "I hate South Carolina Football" or "Screw Clemson Athletics"...nope. My status read: "I have so much to say about the events of the evening...rest assured it will be blogged. Going to sleep still a Tiger and waking up with a conference championship game to look forward to."

Slight jab at the Gamecocks for not making it to the SEC Championship...but not as rude as some comments people were making on Facebook. For example: "Where are all the Clemson fans? What a bunch of freaking losers".

Those really don't bother me...they just make me realize that I have more class than some.

What bothered me is the smart ass comment on my status from a person that will not be named:

"Last time o (I) checked you are a Winthrop grad, not a Clemson grad. Go Cocks."

You're right, I went to Winthrop, Mr. College Football Nazi. I didn't know that I was not allowed to cheer for a team unless I went to that school. Damn. All these years wasted.

I also didn't realize I needed to justify my loyalty to my college football team...but here goes:

Grandfather was a Clemson grad
Stepfather was a Clemson grad
3 cousins are Clemson grads
Stepfather was a Clemson athlete
Grandfather was Executive Vice President, University Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Trustees for Clemson University

No, my name is not on that list...but does that forbid me from being a fan? I applied to Clemson, but then decided to focus on my artistic abilities and go to an accredited school for Interior Design (Winthrop University being the only in-state accredited school). Choosing career future over football loyalty - seems logical, right? Yep.

Winthrop does not have a football team...I know, a sacrifice for a college football fan to attend such a school. But Winthrop DOES have a basketball team that I DO support.

So, to you, Mr. College Football Nazi...BOOM. Clemson didn't pull out a win last weekend, but we're going to the ACC Championship game. Where will you be December 3rd? Oh, that's right...nowhere. And to your comment about "buying tickets to the Atlantic 'Cupcake' Conference just to see Clemson lose to VA Tech"...please do...the "Cupcakes" would love to take your money.

"Solid Orange...it's all about pride". Pride in a team, pride in a school...no matter where your Alma Mater may be.

On another note...congrats to the South Carolina Gamecocks on the win. We'll see you next year in Death Valley.

65-40-4

*Upon further investigation and chatter - Winthrop is actually considered Clemson's "sister school". They were both opened up about the same time, and Clemson was the state's all-boys school and Winthrop was the state's all-girls school. They both have Tillman towers, named for Benjamin Tillman. So...again...BOOM.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Christmas Baking - Week 3

I found a winner...and it only took 3 weeks of baking on a Sunday!

You HAVE to try this recipe!

De-LISH!!!!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes
Yield: about 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. instant coffee
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
4 large eggs
½ cup coffee or espresso, for brushing

For the whipped cream:
2¼ cups heavy cream, chilled
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

For garnish:
Ground cinnamon & Caramel sauce

Ingredients

Directions

1. preheat the oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, instant coffee, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Stir together and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, blend together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Using a whisk, and add the flour mixture in two additions, mixing just until incorporated.

5. Fill the cupcake liners about three-quarters full. Bake until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.

6. Remove the cupcakes from the pans and set on counter to cool.

7. While the cupcakes are still warm, brush them two or three times with the coffee or espresso, allowing the first coat to soak in before repeating. Let cool completely.

8. To make the frosting, place the heavy cream in a large bowl.

9. Whip on medium-low speed at first, gradually increasing to high speed.

10. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar gradually. Whip until stiff peaks form, being careful not to over-beat.

11. Use a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip to frost the cooled cupcakes.

easy way to fill pastry bags

12. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and drizzle with caramel sauce. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate.

i made a mess...

And yes...I made my own cupcakes for my birthday!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Christmas Baking - Week 2

So I just finished Seven Soup Sunday and I'm pooped. Thankfully I was able to sit down long enough to type the last post.

I'm not a quitter, I will make it all 7 weeks to Christmas with this Sunday baking crap. Sometimes I don't know why I do this to myself.

Either way...onto Week 2's Baking Adventure: using chocolate.

Have I mentioned that I've never baked from scratch until last week? Yea, I was a cheater. Even when commissioned to make birthday cakes I used box mix and "doctored" it up to make it work for my application.

Geoff's 30th Birthday Cake

Ok, so back to the chocolate. Since I'm on this pumpkin kick (it's on sale right now) I searched for a recipe with chocolate and pumpkin. Found one.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

Ingredients:

2 eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3 oz unsweetened chocolate

Directions:

1.) Preheat Oven to 350. Grease a 9x13in pan.

2.) In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and the 2tbsp butter

3.) In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and sugars together until fluffy.

4.) Add the vanilla and melted butter then mix thouroughly

5.) Add baking powder. Then add flour in small amounts and mix until smooth.

6.) Separate the batter into two separate bowls.

7.) Add the melted chocolate to one of the bowls of batter, mix. Then add the cream cheese, nutmeg and pumpkin to the other bowl of batter, mix.

8.) Pour the pumpkin batter into the pan. Then drop spoonfuls of the chocolate batter on top. (I used my scooper from Pampered Chef)

9.) Using a knife, swirl the chocolate batter into the pumpkin batter.

10.) Bake for 20 minutes, then check for doneness with a toothpick in the center.

YUMMMMMMM!

This one is really good...next time I'll need to swirl a little more!

Seven Soup Sunday

Ok, so my blog has turned into Suzie Homemaker on Sundays. Oh well…I guess that’s what happens when there’s nothing worth a damn to write about anymore.

So when I moved into my own place after my “divorce” (I wasn’t married…just call it the divorce because it’s the closest to a divorce I ever want to go thru) my sweet mother brought me all the crap from her pantry that she would never use. While that sounds terrible, it was awesome! I had NOTHING to stock my new pantry; I was taking any charity I could get. In this plethora of “crap” was a Harry and David gift set of 6 dry soup mixes. It sat in my pantry until today.

Collection of Soup

You want to know what happens on a Sunday when you’ve done NOTHING the night before and slept for nearly 11 hours? You come up with crazy ideas like making 7 soups in one day.

I made it to the food store before 11:00am and $21.48 later I was headed home to start this ridiculousness.

Purchases

Ok, you’re wondering why it’s called 7 Soup Sunday and there were only 6 in the box? Well, back in March my dad had an oyster roast at his house. We had ½ a bushel left after the party and he shucked them and froze them. They, too, have been sitting in my freezer since then.

Oysters.

So, I Googled “Oyster Stew” and my lady Paula Deen’s recipe came up first. Sold. Good thing I bought butter.

Super Simple Soup – 15 minutes to done...recipe here.

Soup #1: Oyster Stew

While I was cooking the oyster stew, I took the 6 chicken breasts I bought and baked them with just salt and pepper for about 25 minutes in the oven. Here’s my secret on the chicken…Bilo had split chicken breasts on sale for .99 a lb. I would never normally buy something that I have to butcher again at home, but they were on sale – and I’m cheap. All I really had to do was cut the breast away from the rib and I had boneless, skinless chicken breasts for .99 a lb. Go me.

The first soup was simple…what was not simple is figuring out how the hell I was going to make 6 more soups in a tiny kitchen with one stock pot and one 3 qt pot. So, I lined up the mixes with the ingredients in order of time to cook.

This is looking a little nutso...

Before I get into the soups, let me explain how much I love freezing meals and not having to cook when I get home from work. All I want to do is change clothes, eat and relax on weeknights. I do this a lot during the year…make meals (spaghetti, chili, chicken and dumplings) and freeze them for really easy dinners later.

So I labeled Ziploc baggies with the date and the soup name. Then I took the baggies and put them into these sweet stadium cups that one of my sales reps got me…they were perfect sized. This helps hold the baggies upright while you divvy out the soup. I first scoop out the goodness (everything but the broth) and divide it equally between the baggies. Then I use the spout on my bowl to pour in the broth equally.