Apple Crisp!

05/12/201630/11/2016 / khargs / Leave a comment

In general, I really like baking. I’m not great at cooking (love crock pot meals and anything involving a tortilla), but I do like to bake. The main problem is that baking makes a lot of food. A lot more than I should eat on my own.

Thankfully, I was staying local for Thanksgiving! I was going home with my man friend and asked his mom what I should bring. She suggested a dessert and I went perfect! I have this dope apple crisp recipe that I have! I have combined a few different recipes and tweaked it to make it my own. Here it is!

It’s super basic and most ingredients you probably already have (I’ll list the recipe straightforward at the end).

Start with your apples. I like to mix red and green for baking. I suggest you try it too! Just make sure you peel them and slice them up.

They need to be heated to make them more malleable for mixing later. As they are getting warmed, you can start your crust. I ended up having a little extra crust material and just added some more butter and made a small crisp with the leftover materials.

Now the apples are warm and have a place to go once the sugars are mixed in. So let’s do it! I like to mix the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl to then pour over the apple slices.

Mix it all up as evenly as possible and put it on top of the crust. Then we can do the topping. It’s my favorite part since I love oatmeal.

Mix it and crumble it over the apples. And let it bake! The scent is mouthwatering. And then when it pops out, it looks like this:

So here’s the recipe straight up for my apple crisp crumble mess of love:

Crust

Filling

Topping

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. This recipe is good for 8×8 or 9×9 pans. I recommend glass pans but it’s your call. Use a small/medium bowl to mix together the crust. Press it into the pan and up the sides as far as you’d like. Slice the apples and warm them in the microwave in a LARGE bowl, large enough to mix around the apple slices. Pour the apple filling into the crust on top of the pan. Use a medium bowl to mix together the ingredients for the topping. Make sure to mix it well. And crumble it over the filling. Make sure all the filling is covered and go crazy at the corners! Bake for 45-60 minutes (dependent on ovens and if you’re making it the night before). Enjoy!

Big Hart Brewery

10/08/201602/08/2016 / khargs / Leave a comment

My family has a lake house up in Michigan. After the last wedding my man friend and I decided to head up there for a bit after the third wedding of the summer. We would be able to relax for a bit.

There was a new brewery that opened up in one of the towns nearby and we checked it out for dinner. One of the best things about Michigan is that everything is so much cheaper there than DC. It makes me yearn for the Midwest.

The beers were so delicious. Everyone liked the glasses that we ordered.

After a few brews at the bar, our table was ready and we got to get some nom.

The food was delicious. We had whitefish, a black and bleu burger, and a reuben. They are listed from top to bottom there. I could’ve used a little more whitefish but hey, it was cooked perfectly. It’s definitely going to be a new local favorite for sure!

Birthday Bash!

13/07/201615/07/2016 / khargs / Leave a comment

Hey hey hey! I haven’t had many friends around to celebrate my birthday in recent years so I decided to go all out this year! And I wasn’t really planning too much, just a boozy brunch and some walking around. A bunch of friends came with and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The lighting was quite awful but it didn’t bother me, I had bottomless mimosas! I didn’t take a picture of any of the food because I ate it too quickly but the shrimp and grits were tasty.

Afterwards we went for a bit of a walk nearby and saw some sites. Even played a round of duck duck goose!

After the walk we went to the apartment where my roommate had prepared some cupcakes for us. I do quite enjoy blowing out candles I must say!

To 25 being a fabulous year!

Baked & Wired

07/12/201520/07/2016 / khargs / Leave a comment

My oh my! It has been quite a bit of time since the last post. I have been so very very busy with school and working I haven’t had much time or energy to explore. It makes me sad, but as the semester winds down I think I’ll have some time to get out into the city again!

After many weeks of missing the company of a good friend, we decided to grab a quick and easy brunch. I had heard many good things about Baked & Wired so when it was suggested I was all for it!

The concept is that there are baked goods (cupcakes, brownies, cookies etc.) in one half of the store and the other half is where you go to buy your coffee. It’s really brilliant. That way you don’t have to wait too long for whatever you’re looking for.

Because it is the holiday season, the store is super stocked with fun flavors of cupcakes. We obviously decided to get giant cupcakes and coffee for breakfast. As any sane human would. The display was overwhelming at first!

I went for the Flap Jack. Because bacon, obviously. It is brunch after all! Elyse got a chai cupcake. Then we split a pumpkin muffin donut. I really cannot rave enough about the deliciousness!

Look how cute the little handle is on the to-go version!

Everything was so scrumptious. And considering it’s just over the river from me, I anticipate returning sooner rather than later. Clearly Elyse enjoyed her cupcakes as well! Just a nibble here, a nibble there…

In the back there was a wall of napkins that were drawn upon. I think that I definitely will need to come back to add a little art of my own!

Spinach & Artichoke Dip Stuffed Baguettes

10/11/201520/07/2016 / khargs / Leave a comment

There has been a video floating around the internet of a delicious looking snack. It’s spinach and artichoke dip back inside a hollowed out loaf of French bread. It might sound like an okay treat, but it’s actually fabulous. So Roomie and I decided to grab the ingredients and make it happen. We had to approximate the amount of each ingredient and I will list what I think you should use.

Things you need:

Cream cheese, spinach, artichoke hearts, mozzarella, garlic powder, butter, parsley, and a loaf of French bread.

First you need to saute your spinach real fast. We just used a few handfuls of spinach leaves.

While your lovely roommate tends to the spinach, put your cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. It should be decently soft for mixing. Then add your cooked greens.

Add your mozzarella. If you’re fancy you can get fresh cheese. Or be like a grad student and buy the shredded kind like I did.

It’s best to work with a partner. So that while I was cutting up the artichoke hearts, Roomie could be gutting the bread. The bread also needed to be cut into sections to make it easier to stuff.

The instructions call for adding garlic powder to the mixture. We couldn’t tell how much was used and put in a tablespoon. I would venture that that was too much. 1-2 teaspoons should get the job done.

Then mix that sucker up!

Once the bread is stuffed, transfer your concoction to a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil. You aren’t quite done yet. You need to mix your… marinade?

Melt some butter and add some garlic powder and parsley. Then go ahead and spread it on top of the bread.