Favorite Brownie Recipe

When I was younger, I didn't know that you could make brownies from scratch.  My mom always made them from a box because it is faster and easier.  When Rob first introduced me to brownies from scratch, I wasn't too excited about the long process; boxes were just easier.  I really hate melting chocolate because even with a double-boiler, I can get impatient and burn it.

My life was forever changed with my good friend Mary introduced me to her brownies.  They have a wonderful crust on top, are very chocolatey, and gooey.  The best part is they do not involve melting chocolate!  I made them last week for my boss' birthday.  He loves peanut butter and chocolate, so I added a layer of Reese's.  Here was the finished product:

Hello, lover...

Mary Winter Brownies:

What you need:

3/4 cup room temperature butter (I use unsalted)

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa (I use Hershey's unsweetened)

1/2 bag chocolate chips (dark chocolate is best)

How you make them:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, mix the salt, baking powder, flour and cocoa together.

3. In a different, bigger bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.

4. To this, add the vanilla and eggs, mix well.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients .  I usually do this in 3 parts so I don't make a huge mess.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Pour batter into a greased 9x9 pan.
8. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Double batch bakes for 45-50 minutes)

Variations:  These brownies are really yummy with Heath bar, either on top or mixed in.  In the picture above, I made a double batch without the chocolate chips, put in half the batter, placed 25ish Reese's on top, then poured the rest of the batter on top.  A double batch bakes for 45-50 minutes.  Mine got a little too done on the bottom (in a Pyrex) because I didn't want them to be too gooey, but next time I will take them out a little sooner.

Enjoy :)

Weekend Craft: Magnetic Memo Boards

I hate white walls.  I feel like I'm in a hospital when I'm surrounded by sterile white.  Some people might think the amount of things on my walls is overkill, but I just like to cover them.  It's easier than painting since I will probably move when my lease is up, plus, I hate painting.  I'm messy and I tend to bump into the wall.  Butt prints aren't a good texture.  I digress...

Are any of you avid Instagram users?  I love Instagram.  It makes me feel like I'm a real photographer because of all the cool filters.  The one thing I didn't like about it was that it crops all your photos to a square, which made them hard to print-until now.  There is an app called PostalPix (for iPhone) that prints adorable 4x4's of my beloved Instagram photos.  When I discovered this awesome app, I printed about 30 of my favorites to see how they looked.  I got the prints a couple weeks ago and they are awesome!  Ever since, I have been itching to do something with them, which brings me to the weekend project.


I knew I didn't want a cork board and white boards were expensive and kind of boring, so I decided on something else magnetic.  After I found out the cute ones on Etsy were around $100, I decided to make something myself.  I found my inspiration from Better Homes and Garden (see it here).  I went to Walmart (yes, I hate that place, but I knew they would have a cheap option) and found this:

That's right, my magnetic memo board only cost $0.97!  I liked the suggestion of covering the middle in scrapbook paper, so I went to Michael's and found a simple design.  I used the sticky stuff that was already on the cookie sheet (from the above paper) to adhere the scrapbook paper.  You could use tape, too, but I just went with what was in front of me.  Since there wasn't a hole in the pan to hang it from, I used the 3M Command strips with the velcro.  Lastly, I arranged the photos and used some small magnets I picked up at the craft store.  The finished product:

I didn't intend on making one colorful and the other more B&W, but that is what happened. I'm excited to keep updating  the boards as I take and print more photos.  The best part is how inexpensive and simple they were!


Enjoy!

25 was a great year!

I'm pretty sure the only people that read this are people who actually know me, so I feel safe assuming that y'all know my birthday was this past week.  I was thinking back on what a crazy/wonderful year 25 was...here are some of the highlights:


1. I graduated with my Masters.  Like, I officially graduated.  I walked across the stage, got my fake diploma, finished my last 2 papers, and got a letter that says I will be getting my diploma sometime around March.

2.  I decided to kick the carb crutch, started Atkins, and lost 40 pounds.

Michelle and I last January (2011)

Michelle and I this January (2012)

2.  Our posse (yep, I said posse) expanded by a pod this year.  We spent many a Monday during the last year at Morts, enjoying half-priced martinis, Wednesdays at Trivia night, and had 1 or 2 ridiculous weekend shindigs.  I miss my friends daily and I can't wait for my next trip to the Sunflower state to see them.

The Tropic of Cancer team for Crawl for Cancer (aka Pod)

3.  I traveled the world.  Literally.  I visited Alyssa in Seattle in February, Di in Madrid in March, Carrie in Chicago in May, Evan in DC in July, the Iowa State Fair in August, Elise in LA in September, not to mention all the random trips to KC.  In November, Carrie and her family were sweet enough to have me over for Thanksgiving since I couldn't go home.  

Alyssa and I were excited for the Harry Potter exhibit.  Obvi.

Di and I in Toledo, Spain

The kids at the White House.

Elise, Minnie, and I, ya know, chillin' at Disney Land.

Iowa State Fair!

4. In October, I accepted a new position and moved to Indianapolis.  I have already been on a couple work-related trips and made friends!  I am loving my new city and can't wait to keep exploring.

Allison and I cheering on the Celtics at the Pacers game.  

This past year was beyond amazing.  I don't know that there is an adjective strong enough to describe how fantastic it was...I can't wait to see what 26 has waiting for me! 


P.S: If anyone wants to visit me, I have an extra bedroom...

November...now you see it, now you don't

I have gotten settled into Indy and I really like the city, so far.  I don't have to venture far to get where I need to go; pretty much everything is on the north side and off of 86th St.  I haven't had to use my GPS yet!  Well, ok, once to get back from the mall because there was construction and I was confused about which entrance I came out of.  But, other than that, I haven't gotten lost!  Today, however, I did have to go to three different Walgreens before I figured out which one my prescription was at.  It's really confusing when there is one on every corner.  

Tree in my apartment complex

I have turned in the second draft of my final grad school paper and I'm looking forward to finishing it!  That has taken up my time, so I haven't really explored the city yet.  I want to go downtown, to Broad Ripple, and Mass Ave.  Downtown has some cool buildings and monuments.  Broad Ripple and Mass Ave are neat little shopping areas.  I might wait for a nice day since it's about to get cold :)


So even though I have been living here for almost a month, I have only been in the city for about 2 weeks because I've been on the road again! (cue musical interlude)  I had to go to NYC for work...rough life, I know :) While I was working, I had a little bit of down time to play.

The view from NYU: Washington Square Park.  You might remember it from August Rush.

Mmmm, chocolate.  Max Brenner is amazing.

 Chinatown has gotten a lot more sophisticated since I was there last time.  If you want a fake LV, Michael Kors, Coach, or Tory Burch bag, you just have to walk down the street.  Just listen to the people standing around and they will repeat the brand names over and over.  If you want one of them, just ask and they will promptly whip out a laminated catalog of what they have.  When they tell you the price, offer them half.  I offered a little more than that and it was eagerly accepted, so I totally should have offered more.  Oh well, next time :)

My super shady back room deal from Chinatown.

HP ad in TSQ!

The Lord and Taylor window display.  I love the light bulbs.

One of my faves.

I love cities at night.  Seriously, look at those gorgeous lights!

Christmas tree abstract.  When my mom saw this she asked why it was blurry.  I told her it is art.

On our way home...look who is in the background!  I hope you were nice this year!

This year was my first time celebrating Thanksgiving away from my family.  It was outrageously expensive to go home for Turkey Day, especially when I'm going home for an extended Christmas break in like 3 weeks, so I went to see one of my best friends and her family in Chicago.  

Atkins approved pumpkin cheesecake. YUM!

The official vodka of the Klipp family.

Racing cars, a favorite Klipp family pastime.

Thank you to Carrie's dad for finally putting on my license plate holder!

All-in-all, a great first month in Indy!  Maybe when I stop traveling I will attempt some real cooking instead of burgers on my George Foreman...

Hoosier State of Mind

I recently moved from the land of Oz to the Hoosier state.  I will begin blogging again, but I'm not making any promises on the regularity of the posts :)  I'll chronicle my life as a first-time apartment dweller and new Indiana resident.  Well, that might not be official, yet, as I still have a Kansas driver's license.  


Fun Hoosier Fact: They call it a BMV instead of a DMV because it is a Bureau, not a department.  Also, I have suffered my first kitchen injury.  It's really my own fault for buying such sharp, serrated knives.  Well, that, and the fact that I was cutting cherry tomatoes mid-air instead of on a cutting board with a steak knife.  I guess I won't treat those as paring knives in the future.  I'll probably cut on a flat surface, too, just to be on the safe side.  My mom would be so proud!


If you want to see pics of the new apartment, click here.


There's no place like home!
A

Spain 6: Last Spanish Update

#42 Start a day with churros with San Gines

Que delicioso!

Yum!

#68 See the Plaza of Neptune

This is where Atletico de Madrid celebrates all their wins

#24 Enjoy the art at the Prado

I really enjoyed having a personal tour guide!

#17 Eat a calamari sandwich in the Plaza Mayor

Delish

We love crossing things off the list!

#20 Eat patatas bravas in Las Bravas.  Ok, this was at the Plaza Mayor, but Di says these are better than the ones in Las Bravas, so I'll take a half point.

#9 See the Cibeles Fountain

This is where Real Madrid celebrates all their wins!

#4 See the Crystal Palace

#3 See the sculpture of the fallen angel

So dramatic..

#22 See the sunset at Templo de Debod

Gorgeous

So random to have Egyptian ruins, but so pretty

#99 Search for the best mojito in Madrid

We found the best one at this random, 1950's American diner -looking restaurant.

#93 Wander through Plaza 2 de Mayo

#92 Have a botellon in Plaza de Espana

Well, we were in Plaza 2 de Mayo and there weren't very many people around, but we did the most important part of the botellon: buy bad Spanish beer from a random woman selling it from her purse.  Yum.  This was only a half point.

Di and I with our bad beer.

This concludes the list!  There are few that I did, but no pictures.  It was a crazy, fun week and I can't wait to do #101:  Do it all over again.  With friends.

Until next time,

Spain 5: Un dia en Toledo

Who knew you had to wait in line to get tickets..boo

Since we had time to waste because we missed the train we meant to be on, we were able to cross some items off the list...

While trying to find the train memorial, we stumbled upon these lovelies...

#2: See the Memorial to March 11

Inside the circle is a big plastic column with words in all different languages.

#1:  See the gardens at Atocha

This one took a little searching, but we finally found it.

Friend Di with the gardens.

TOLEDO!

We love the Man of La Mancha!

Getting us lost...

Gorgeous architecture...this really doesn't even capture it.

Awesome cloisters

I swear, I don't look for inappropriate things, they find me.

Until next time,