.oreo cheesecake cupcakes.

If you eat what I'm about to share with you, you're probably going to end up with diabetes. Or at least that's how I felt when I ate about half of one. But anyway, they're awesome tasting and fairly easy to make. Boneapetit.

Ingredients

Oreos (or chocolate cookies with creme)

2 containers (8 oz.) of creame cheese, room temp

1/2 cup sugar

vanilla extract

2 egg

1/2 cup sour cream

pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Spray the liners with some of that butter spray. Recipe says to place the whole cookie in the bottom, but I just set half the cookie and scraped the cream in another bowl.

2. Microwave the package of cream cheese and the scraped off cream in a bowl. It took me about 2 minutes to get it melted enough. Add the sugar, vanilla, eggs, and salt to the mixture. Stir/blend (whichever you feel is easiest) until soft.

3. Take some left over cookies (however many cookie bits you want floating around your cheesecake) and smash them! Make sure they're in small crumbly pieces. Then when you're done crushing those, you will add them to your cheesecake mix.

4. Pour the cookie/cheesecake mix over the oreos that you put in the muffin tins! Fill mostly to the top. Note, this recipe really only makes about a pans worth, but luckily the math is easy and you can use that to make more/less :)

5. Put this in the oven and bake for about 22 minutes. Afterwards, transfer to wire racks to cool completely. You can put them in the freezer for quick chilling, or just in the fridge for about 4 hours until they're good enough to eat!!



.lately.

I have been so busy, that I have completely forgotten two friday updates! Eeek. Oh well. I couldn't really think of a topic anyway. But in this time I have been hibernating and working. We haven't really been doing much except trying to keep warm inside! I'm okay with that... aside from having a horrible case of cabin fever. Here's some pictures as of late:

Just some more cat pictures. I've got a bajillion more where those came from, but that's the gist of it. KitKat are becoming new best friends and Izzy still kinda hangs out and does her own thing. Recently, I had another opportunity to foster a cat in need, but unfortunately due to Chunk being really young still and KitKat stressed out from the last group of fosters, I had to turn this guy down. No worries, I'll be fostering more as soon as Chunk is old enough =)

On another note, I finally decided to  go out and have fun in this weather! My cabin fever was getting so bad and I was in such need of fresh air. Andy, Arnold, and I decided to go out on a hike. I had layers of clothing on, so it all went smoothly. Here's some pics from that:

.cinnamon rolls.

I know I said the chances of me posting recipes are very slim, but here is another one! Surprise, surprise... it's another cinnamon recipe. This time it's actual cinnamon rolls. So, due to the shitty weather and not having any sweets, I decided to raid through my baking collection and come up with a recipe that would take me a while to make and for me to enjoy sporadically. I figure I bake them tonight and then I have some to eat tonight and a fresh warm breakfast tomorrow morning! And yes, this is all made from scratch. Here ya go.

Ingredients:

YEAST MIXTURE

2 tablespoons of yeast

1/2 cup hot water

1 tablespoon of sugar

DOUGH

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of salt

4 1/2 cups flour

DOUGH TOPPING

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

ground cinnamon

FROSTING

1 cup butter (1 stick)

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
milk

Directions:

1. Dissolve the 2 tablespoons of yeast in 1/2 cup hot water (I just used hot water fresh from the tap - it seemed to work well) and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Let this sit while you make your dough!

2. Melt 1/2 cup of butter (chop up the butter, it melts better) and combine this with 3/4 cups of warm milk (I microwaved the milk and butter for about two minutes in the microwave). Mix the dissolved yeast and butter/milk mixture together in bowl.

3. Slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 egg. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 cups of flour. Mix this until smooth. You're going to then add 1/2 cup of flour at a time, stirring until smooth or you can't see the flower anymore and until you have added all 4 1/2 cups.

4. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of flour on the counter top. Knead dough until it doesn't stick to your hands (dough will still feel sticky, it just won't be stuck to your hands).

5. Place the bread in a greased bowl and cover this with a wet towel and let rise for about 1 hour, until it doubles in size. I put this in the oven because the temperature and air are consistant.

6. Remove from the bowl and place on a floured counter. Roll out in a 12x24in rectangle, and make sure it's not too thin.

7. Spread 1/2 cup butter over the dough. (I microwaved the butter until it was mostly melted and then put it back in the freezer for 5 minutes so when it came out, it was the perfect consistancy to spread). Sprinkle 1 1/4 cups of brown sugar and 1/4 cup sugar evenly over the dough. Lastly, sprinkle as much ground cinnamon over that as you feel fit.

8. Roll the dough tightly, in a "hot dog" way (so your log is longer), and cut into thumb-width slices. Place them side by side in a large cake pan. Keep in the oven (like we did with the dough) until they rise to your desired height.

9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Only bake on one rack, center oven. Cook for 15 minutes and then watch for desired brownness.

10. For the frosting, cream butter. Mix in sugar and vanilla. Add milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Put this in some kind of container wher you can squeeze it out and then drizzle this over your cinnamon rolls! VOILA!! I also added a little bit of cinnamon to the frosting :)

Before

After



This was a very easy recipe to follow and to make. Trust me, this comes from an illiterate cooker. If Arnold wasn't around, I would surely starve.

.snow.

Because it's snowing for the first time this winter season, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on snow. First of all, I don't exactly hate snow. I just dislike most everything that comes with it: ice, snow flurries blowing in my face, cold weather, scraping off my car, slick roads, and many other things. I might mention that the extra whiteness/brightness that the snow sometimes brings - hurts my eyes. If snow didn't do all of those things and many more that I have not mentioned, then I think I would like it.

Snow is beautiful though, and I don't have any personal pictures of my beautiful snow experience, but it does things like this to nature:

Too bad my daily experience in the winter with snow doesn't look like that. Unfortunately, it looks a little bit more like this:

Now can you see why I am bitter?

.sick.

Being sick lately is helping me realize a lot of things. First of all, it's telling me that being sick sucks, and that aside from allergies, I am generally a really healthy person. So naturally, I'm kind of a baby when I'm actually sick. I think I've been stricken with a sinus infection - I won't go into anymore details because as we all know, sinus infections are disgusting.

Arnold, being a great boyfriend, is trying to make sure I heal quickly. When I wake up, he immediately tries to make sure I'm doing alright and assists me in being doped up on medication. I don't like taking pills whatsoever, nor do I really enjoy taking any kind of gross tasting medication, so for me... that part sucks. It's not that I'm against medication (obviously, I work at a vet clinic, and our main way of treatment is western medicine - aka: pills, suspensions, etc.). It's the fact that I'd rather take an alternative :) Like laying in bed and miraculously healing!

With that, I have done some thinking. Using the new year as another motivation for my well-being, I'm going to try and eliminate a lot of my bad (unhealthy) habits. Being sick has been the fire under my ass that I needed. Arnold tells me that I need to start doing things because they are good for me - not things that I only feel like doing or not doing. Luckily, I've been getting by in life with that mentality, but as I age (22 isn't old, I know, but it's never too late!), I even moreso realize that I need to start taking better care of my body.

Health Improvement Ideas

1. Daily Vitamins: I don't think this is going to kill me, unless I choke on the pill - which is a high possibility considering that's the main reason I don't like taking pills. My goal is to find the best vitamin for myself and continue to take it!

2. Drink More Water: Surprisingly, I don't like the taste of water. It tastes like metal to me, and that's also disgusting. I only can stand water at room temperature or if I'm dying of thirst. I hear water is beneficial in all areas of the body, though, so I'll justify it with that :)

3. More Sleep: If you know me, you know that I really don't like to sleep. I feel like when I am sleeping, I could be doing something else more productive. When in reality, sleep is VERY productive and important. There's a possibility it will help me not feel like a zombie everyday. It's hard for me to get the recommended 8 hours of sleep because I work 10 hour days and would like to enjoy myself for a while before immediately going to bed.

4. Better Diet: Arnold and I keep on a decently healthy food regimen, but there are somethings that I could eliminate and add to make things better. Normally we don't eat a lot of snacks or sweets, but lately we've been on a sugar kick - must be the holidays? But I think we could add a lot more fruits and vegetables and things would be better. I would NEVER become a vegan, though.

That's all I can come up with on the top of my head, but I found this website that has some nice suggestions, too. And some cute animal pictures :)

.something new.

Lately, a lot of my free time has been spent looking at blogs and seeing what kinds of things people are updating about. My friend, Julie, is kind of my inspiration to get this whole thing started. She got into blogging when she was pregnant, so most of her updates are pertaining to her family and son, Parker! I, on the other hand, don't have a bun in the oven or kids or anything, so that's not what I'm going for (yet - someday I'll be in that boat, but not anytime soon.) I'm just going to use this blog as a place for me to talk about my daily life and things that I find interesting. If you've been reading this, you'll see that most of my interests somehow involve cats or photography :) but, there are more things that I like to talk about. So with that said, I'm stealing Julie's (and other people's) idea of Friday Five. I hope to find different things for each Friday to share with my readers.

Friday Five: 5 Things I Cannot Live Without

My prelude for this is that it's not going to be what I really cannot live without, such as food, water, shelter, oxygen, and blood (or whatever), but things that make my life run smoothly and happily! I also find this fitting as my first Friday idea just because it gives you another glimpse into my life.

1. Arnold :) - So obviously, he's the love of my life, and I think he makes every day worth going through, even though most of my time is spent at work without him. It's very comforting to know that when I'm done with a long and stressful day, I have him to come home to. He does a wonderful job of taking care of me and our three cats.

2. Animals - My greatest passion is animals; basically everything about them. I love learning about their bodies and their health, watching them move, their behavior, and of course helping them. The 3 cats I own: Chunk, KitKat, and Izzy, are my main focus as of now. If you've began to notice, pretty much all of my pictures revolve around them. They're like my kids in a way :p Together, Arnold and I take care of these little guys and make sure they have the best life possible!



3. Coffee  - Does it make me shallow to have something like this on a list of things I "need"? Oh well, because I don't think I would be able to function correctly without it. I usually have to wake up early every morning and then drive to work. Without coffee in my life, I would pass out or be super grumpy; no one wants to deal with a grumpy Chelsea.



4. Family & Friends - Putting them down on this list is another obvious one. Where would I be in my life without people I love? Sometimes I feel like the kind of person who is very self sufficient and could get along by myself, but having other people in my life makes it so much better! Plus, now that I'm getting older, I find that the people in my life are exactly the people who are meant to be in it.



5. Music - Although I am not a super talented muscician like my boyfriend and a lot of my friends, I feel that without music, I wouldn't be able to connect to a lot of things. Music is everywhere in my life - with song, instruments, and even sounds that animals and objects make in nature.

Hot Club of Detroit!!!

.happy 2012.

This year is definitely starting on a very lazy note. Since ringing the new year in, all Arnold and I have done is basically sit and watch Cake Boss. For those of you who haven't seen that show, it's basically this Italian family that makes awesome cakes/pastries/sweets for people. And we're addicted. Now that I've almost watched the whole series (trust me, this makes me feel really lazy), I'm pretty sure we could whip up a cake in no time: Baking, decorating, and ALL. Arnold even wants to find a really sweet fondant recipe, so if anyone reading this can help out, please do!

I briefly mentioned in the last post that I wanted to do a photo a day thing.. and due to my business, I have failed to do this. I don't have as much time as I would like to take out my camera and go get some nice shots. It's really hard to do when it's dark and cold. Winter time, unfortunately, turns me into a hermit. BUT, through my iphone, I have taken a picture every day this year. Here's my year so far:

January 1 2012 : Arnold and I ring in the new year all classy like.

January 2 2012: Us & Chunk doing nothing. Amen.

January 3 2012: We made a boiled egg. Aside from work, the photography of this egg was the most exciting thing to happen for us.

January 4 2012: As Arnold cooks for me, I take horrible pictures of Chunk.

That is my 2012 so far, and that may very well be the last time I post consecutive photos of my day like this. Unless Julie requests more because I think she's the only one who reads this :) BUT, happy new year!