I bought a box of girl scout cookies a few days ago and it disappeared the same night.  O.o  Pretty crazy.  I decided to see if I could make my own girl scout cookies in the comfort of my home.  That’s when I found this recipe*.  It was fairly simple, and the cookies turned out yummy!

First, you take some sugar (1/2 cup) and butter(3/4 cup, softened) and cream together.  Then you beat in an egg and add some vanilla extract (1/2 tsp).  Add 2 cups of flour as you continue to mix, along with 1/4 tsp of salt.

Press the mixture into the bottom of a pan.  It’s almost like playing with wet sand – ahhhh!

Take some coconut (3 cups) and spread it over a baking pan.  Place in over for about 15 min, stirring every 5 min.

Once the cookies and coconut are baked and cooled, prep your caramels.  Unwrap all the caramels (12 oz) and place in a microwave safe bowl.  Add 1/4 tsp salt and 3 tbs milk.  Heat up for 3-4 min, stopping the microwave and stirring every so often to aid the melting process.

YUM!

Mix the coconut in with the caramel, and then while its still hot, spread it on top of the now cooled cookie base.  Use a spatula to help you.  Wait for it to set.

Once the batch has set, cut the cookies into squares.  (Hint – I sprayed my knife with cooking spray before I began cutting so that the cookies wouldn’t stick to it.  Picked up that trick when I made this* recipe)

Heat up some semi sweet chocolate chips (recipe calls for 10 oz).  Make sure you are heating it up in small intervals and stirring well between each one to avoid burning.  Dip the cookies in the chocolate, and drizzle some of the chocolate on top as well.

The cookies were not as sweet as the ones that the girl scouts sell, but I have found that many home made cookies are not as sweet as store bought cookies either.  I very much enjoyed this version!

It was a stressful day.  Between errands and auditions, I was driving through LA traffic when it was raining on a Friday afternoon during the peak rush hours.  By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was relax, snuggle up on my couch and watch some movies.  I had a hankering for some White Bean and Chicken Chili (which I made a few weeks ago – here*), and David made some Korean chicken soup.  The perfect dishes for a wet and rainy night.

He took an entire chicken and put it in water to make chicken broth.  Then he also added ginseng, dates, garlic, chestnuts, and salt and pepper.

The end result? A tasty and healthy soup that was perfect for a night in watching documentaries (we watched “The Cove” and “Food, Inc.”)

So I took the leftover pitas I had from the other day when I made Chicken and Arugula Pita Pockets.* I decided to follow Giada’s method of baking them in the oven for a few minutes so they were slightly crispy.  Then I took some chicken thighs from a jumbo bag of chicken thighs I got for around 5 dollars!  I pan fried them and the baked them in the oven (like I did here*).  I waited until it was cool and then I sliced it up into pieces.  I also sliced an apple into very thin slices, and some pieces of brie as well.

I spread the inside of the pita with some mayonnaise (although another option is to mix the pieces of chicken in mayonnaise) and tucked in the slices of apple and brie against the walls of the pita, and then spooned the chicken slices in the cavity.

I like using the pitas because this way all of the chicken and brie and apple wouldn’t fall out, like it might in a sandwich.  :)

I have been very busy, but I finally had some time to catch my breath the other day and cook, so I decided to make these lovely Glazed Bacon and Cheese Filled Burgers.  I had them for the first time at my friend’s house over the summer, and I was so enamored by this delicious burger that I asked her for the recipe. Here* it is.

You take a combination of spices such as cumin, paprika, brown sugar, salt and pepper and red pepper (they called for chipotle power but I didn’t have any).  Mix up the spices so that when you dip your patty in, it will get coated evenly with a number of spices.

The next step is to take a pound of ground beef and form them into pattys.  I find that its helpful to roll them into balls first, and then squash them down. You get a perfectly round patty.

Next, take some cooked bacon and crumble it (aka rip it into little pieces).  I took 2 long pieces and cut them in half.  I am eventually going to have 4 pattys, and so each one will be filled with one half of a piece of ripped up bacon.

Take some cheese (they called for cheddar, I used a combo of cheddar and mozarella)…

Put the bacon and cheese onto one patty.  Then take another patty and place it on top, pinching the edges together so that you have made one big patty with sealed edges, cheese and bacon inside.  Dunk the whole thing in the bowl with the spices, flip it around with your hand until it gets completely covered with the spices (don’t use a spoon or other tool as it may cause the patty to break).

Pan fry the hamburger, or cook it on a grill pan or a grill if you like.

Yum!

I  didn’t have any hamburger buns, but I did have bagels…and seriously I might start eating my hamburgers ONLY using bagels! It was perfect! Just slightly crunchy, since I toasted it, but it held its shape well and it tasted perfect with the burger!

Hints*

*I added sliced up avocado to my burger

*As the burgers were grilling, after they were just about done, I added some leftover shredded cheese to the top and melted it to create a cheeseburger

*I added spread mayonnaise with chili pepper on my bun.  So good!

My dear readers…I have been a bit MIA lately and I apologize! I have been very very busy (which if you are an actor you know is a good thing) but I also have been encountering some technical difficulties in uploading pictures on my blog!  I have been cooking up a storm and can’t wait to share with everyone as soon as I get this snafu fixed up.  Thanks for all of your support and for reading my blog!

When I was visiting VA, I went to Annandale*.  Annandale is the place to be if you are looking for Korean BBQ, Korean desserts (like Bing soo!) and Karaoke.  I ate some pretty darn delicious food with D and his family, and at the end of our meal, we were presented with Korean Sweet Potato – Maatang – for dessert.  I was inspired to make some of my own, and I found this* handy recipe online.  It can be a bit challenging – although the recipe itself is quite simple, the execution is prone to various pitfalls.  But keep trying, and I promise you, when it turns out well, its AMAZZZZZIIINGGG!

* I didn’t have any black sesame seeds at the time.  I think it looks better when you have some sprinkled on top, but I don’t think it altered the taste too drastically not having them

I am always looking for ways to spice up a plain old sandwich.  When I saw this recipe for Chicken and Arugula Pita Pockets*, I must say, I had some high hopes.  Fortunately for me (and for D!), they were DELICIOUS.

Take some pita pockets, cut them in half, then put them on a pan in the oven for baking.

The recipe called for pesto created from Arugula, olive oil, salt and pepper, a garlic clove, and Parmesan cheese.  I didn’t have arugula, so I used a spring herb mix from Trader Joe’s and some dandelion leaves.  The dandelion leaves added the perfect bite to this pesto!

Take about a tsp of zest from a lemon….

…and combine with 1/4 cup of mayonnaise and the pesto!

Last, cut up some cherry tomatoes.

Add the cut up pieces of chicken to the pesto mixture (I cooked my chicken by first pan frying on the stove and then cooking it in the stove, which I did here*) and mix.  Open up the pita pockets and put in the chicken and pesto.  Top with some more pieces of the spring mix, and add cherry tomatoes.

This is something that you can easily make when you’re hungry with not much time.  Usually, its better to use some leftover rice, but since I didn’t have any, I made some from scratch.  Make sure you are using a bit less water than usual – the reason why its better to use leftover rice is that it will be slightly drier.

Then I cut up some yellow onion and green onion, and some leftover chicken pieces I had.  I started out with heating a frying pan (you should usually use a wok) with oil in it.  Then add the yellow onion and cook until heated through.

Add rice to the pan as well as some soy sauce. Then take 2 eggs and beat them.  Add them into the pan, letting them cook for just a little while in one spot and then before completely solid, integrating it with the rest of the rice by mixing it all together.

Finally, add the chicken pieces (mine were already cooked) and green onion and mix.  Leave in the pan until just heated through, while continuously mixing.

I didn’t use set amounts of anything because the great thing about friend rice is you can just throw it together.  For instance, I only had about half a yellow onion in my fridge, and I think I used about 3 green onions.  I just added enough rice until I thought it would be a good ratio of vegetables/eggs/chicken to rice.  Also, I just used however much chicken I had left.  :D  So the best thing is to kind of experiment and play around until you get what you want/use up whatever you have!

This is by far one of my favorite restaurants in ALL OF LOS ANGELES.  Miss Peaches* is like walking into your mother’s kitchen and eating some amazing home cooked southern food.  I have eaten almost everything on the menu, but below I’ve highlighted some of my favorites.

Isn’t it homey and wonderful?

Their sweet tea is divine

I am very excited.

Dirty Fries. Good!

This is what D got.  Some hot wings (yum!), greens and coleslaw.  I particularly like the greens because they are not overcooked – they are cooked just thoroughly enough where you can still experience the texture of the vegetable.

I got the fried chicken with macaroni and cheese and potato salad.  This is my favorite combination of sides!

The owner suggested that I mix some baked beans with macaroni and cheese.  This combination was AMAZING.  These are my two sides for next time!

This is their butter gooey cake.  It is AMAZING.  In fact, many people call this “Crack cake” because it is so addictive.  SO GOOD!  As you can see, its not a whole piece.  D was too excited and ate half the slice before I was able to take a picture.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  Although Valentines Day is a “hallmark holiday” as many people say, I think it is always valuable to spend time appreciating people and things you love and people who love you.  This weekend was absolutely lovely and filled with so much love I wanted to share some of my great experiences with you!

Absolutely perfect weather in LA

Lovely long walks

Big, fat, purple irises blooming in February

Childhood nostalgia

An amazing calender my friend got me for Christmas (I hadn’t seen her since then!!!)

A yummy dinner of hot pot

Chocolates and Flowers from my D

Valentines someone left on a walking trail for their dog