Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Belated Birthday Sarah!: Inception Pops (Pie-Cake-Ice-Cream Pops)

OKAY! These are Inception Pie-Cake-Ice-Cream-Pops! That is, pumpkin pie, within german chocolate cake, within cookie dough ice cream. They are a dream, within a dream, within a dream. 

Get it? 


They were not supposed to be what I posted on today. At all. That was supposed to be cupcakes. For Sarah's birthday. Not an homage to Inception. Clearly, this is not what happened. Let's start from the beginning. 

So, for those of you who live in DC, you listen to the KANE show.

If you don't, I judge you. It's on 99.5 FM in the mornings and makes my work drive cheerful. It's on iheartradio too if you guys who don't live in the area want to listen with the cool kids. 

Anyway. So for those of you who listened today, you know that besides the usual news and general shenanigans the KANE show team discusses, it was a bit of a celebration. Or at least, it was mentioned with many positive comments and cheers every few moments. 

It was Sarah's birthday.


Now, I may not KNOW Sara but, I had really wanted to make her some cupcakes for her birthday. That had been the goal of today on top of some other plans and agendas. I guess it may not make sense to some people, making cupcakes in honor of a stranger... but these guys are so much more than that. I suppose no public figures are really strangers but, Sammy, Sarah, and Kane really do make my morning drives better. I am more awake listening to their fun and energy. Or at least, happier to be awake so I can be entertained by them, with them, for that window of time.


A lot of KANE fans can surely relate. I listen on my drive, park my car, time it for a commercial, and practically run to my cube to plug my headphones into iheartradio before they come back from commercial, and am in my cube until 10 when they are off air.

Or maybe that's just me. 

I highly doubt it though. The show is instant entertainment and cheer in the mornings. You just want to grab a cup of coffee with them and continue to be charmed.


Well, anyway. So I clearly am a BIG fan. And as I had said, I had wanted to make cupcakes in honor of Sarah's big 3O. She had talked recently about Pinterest and how she is threatened by what some people whip up and I wanted to make something easy in honor of her that she could make whenever. From one kitchen clutz to another. I love Pinterest, I really REALLY do, but I knew what she meant. A lot of these people just HAVE to have a background in cooking. Or I am lacking a gene somewhere. So the goal was also something simple but, pin worthy. And that had been the plan this morning.

But, then again, a lot of things had been the plan this morning.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Girl Scout Brownies

Once upon a time, I had a box of brownie mix, 3 boxes of girl scout cookies, and a dream. Below, you'll see the results of that dream.


Meet my Tag-along brownie cups. Baked in a cupcake pan, I simply poured some brownie batter (boxed, as I was pressed for time/lame), put a tag-along in, and then topped it with more batter.

Then, being truly sinful, I swirled it with peanut butter. 

Yes, it is indeed as delicious as you'd imagine. 


Here we have the Samoa version. Same idea, just this time I topped the combined cups with not peanut butter swirls but rather, coconut and caramel.

I know, I'm pure evil sometimes. But you know it's so so tempting...



This is a deconstructed Samoa brownie cup. Because  I couldn't help myself.



And then, finally, there were my favorites. The Thin Mint brownie cups. 



I didn't top these with anything but powdered sugar, and I did that after they were done baking.



But oh my gosh, so good. The minty crunch held within cakey brownie. You need to make these now.



Make any of these now. I promise you, you'll thank me. As the girl scout cookie orders start rolling in, you're going to want to keep this in mind :)

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

In A Rut- Help Me, Guys?

Hey, it is TOTALLY February! 


When the heck did THAT happen? 


So, fact. I haven't posted since my Mom's birthday. 


(Love you, Mom. Sorry again the recipe isn't up yet...)
Which, as I forgot to put up the accurate recipe of blueberry pizza, even that needs to be updated. Not a great showing for Team Meaghan. 


I have been focusing a lot this past month on myself and me time which, has been very helpful. New Years resolutions include getting myself more involved with the city of DC, getting my body more in line with the streamlined diva I feel I am inside my slightly more curved (don't be shocked, this is a cooking blog!) diva shell, and connecting with all my loved ones so I stay balanced on all sides... 


But perhaps most importantly: my resolution is to NOT lose my creative edge. Which, hey, I have been.