Arrant Nonsense

Can I just, you know... start the day OVER?

First off, school didn't go especially well today. I had to get shouty a few times, and I hate that.

THEN I got to wrestle with my printer for over two hours trying to print out the BearFic, and the cover letter, and the labels. 31 pages of story that I can't use. Yay for wasted paper and even more yay for expensive wasted ink while I troubleshot the thing for-freaking-ever.

And then it turned out to be something weird that WordPerfect was doing. Which I thought I'd eliminated because it did the same thing when trying to print from OpenOffice. ARGH. However, it's fixed now. I can print it out and ship it off tomorrow.

AND THEN. I decided I wanted to make chocolate chip cappuchino muffins. We were out of chocolate chips. I hied me to the store to buy some. And forgot to put them in the mix.

This day sucks, man. I'm surprised I didn't have an accident or something on the way to the bank and the store today.

On the bright side, I've infested my protagonist's house with foot-long termites and had her insurance agent laugh in her face when she asked if she was covered. And I have a shitton of cheap Valentine's Day chocolate. And there's NASCAR truck racing on Fox tomorrow.

ETA: *looks entry over* You know, it doesn't really sound all that bad. I'm just...incredibly frustrated right now. It's like the whole day has just gone "pick pick pick" at me.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3-4 large/medium carrots, grated
3 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
2 cups raisins

Combine both sugars, eggs, applesauce, vanilla, and grated carrots. Beat until blended. Add flour, salt, powder, soda, and cinnamon. Beat until blended. Stir in raisins. Bake for one hour in two loaf pans.

---

The original recipe calls for oil, but I use applesauce instead because it works just as well in this recipe and cuts the fat content way down without affecting the taste. This was originally a zucchini bread recipe, but this time of year, carrots are easier to come by.

And it's ZOMG delish.

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 12-oz can evaporated milk
1 12-oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 8-oz bars Hershey's Special Dark
1 12-oz bag milk chocolate choc chips
1 1/2 7-oz jars marshmallow creme
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups nuts (optional)

In a six-quart Dutch oven, combine sugar, salt, butter, and milk. Bring to simmer, stirring constantly, over medium heat. As soon as first bubble is seen, boil mixture exactly eight minutes. Remove from heat immediately.

Quickly stir in remaining ingredients. Blend thoroughly. Pour into two oiled or non-stick 9x13 pans. Cover with foil and refrigerate until firm. Slice as desired. Bring to room temp before serving for fullest flavor. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

---

The Hubby made this tonight and it is ZOMGsogood. We actually use big cookie sheets with a 1-inch lip instead of the 9x13 pans, because that way they're thinner and last longer.

Writing? What is this writing you speak of? I think all this holiday cheer scared Antubis off, and he's gone back to South America to visit his bushy-tailed relatives. Without me, the fink.

This makes anywhere between 4 and 8, depending on how big you make them.

1/2 lb ground beef
3 small Roma tomatoes or one big tomato
1/2 a green pepper
3 handfuls of black olives
2 slices of onion
2 tablespoons of taco seasoning
3/4 cup water
soft taco sized flour tortillas
cheese (optional)
picante sauce

Chop the veggies and mix them up in a bowl. I add some parsley flakes and Italian seasoning too. Brown the ground beef, then add the taco seasoning and the water and cook until the water is mostly boiled out.

I don't really have to tell you how to do the rest, right? LOL We had these for dinner tonight. And they are so. good.

Also, pimping this: WriterCon Donations. Pick a theme and donate on that day.