Whoopie Pies

Lately I've been seeing Whoopie Pies all over the internet.  I don't know as I've ever had a Whoopie Pie.  Well, my interest was piqued and I had the perfect occasion to make these delectable looking mounds of fat and calories.  Pacen had a 4-H meeting coming up and I had volunteered to make cookies or brownies or what have you.  So, I decided to try my hand at Whoopie Pies.  I saw a recipe on Little Miss Momma  using a cake mix.  Well, I decided to try making them from scratch. Yes, I like to live on the edge.

My search for a "from scratch" Whoopie Pie recipe was on!  I typed "Whoopie Pie recipe" in Yahoo!  The option of "best whoopie pie recipe" came up so I thought, "Why not?  Why not make the BEST Whoopie Pie that can possibly be made?"  So I clicked and I clicked again AND I clicked once more.  Here is the recipe I decided to use.  Since I had many children to provide a delectable dessert to, I decided to double the recipe.  Plus I had a 13 oz jar of marshmallow creme on hand instead of a 7 oz, so it only made sense to double the recipe.

I mixed and mixed and when I was done mixing the concoction in the bowl looked just like a thick cake batter.  Maybe it would've been better and cheaper to go with Little Miss Momma's recipe.  Hmmmmm.  We'll soon decide.

When I started dumping mounds of batter on my cookie sheets I was making them rather small.  Then I looked the clock and though, "Crap!  It's past my bedtime and I don't want to be up all night making these things."  So I started dumping big ol' dollops of batter.  When they came out of the oven they looked like the tops of cupcakes.  Hmmmm.  Still thinking the other recipe might've been the better choice since this recipe seemed no different than a cake mix...just more difficult.

Once cooled, I started spreading the filling on the little cakes.  I started out putting just a little and then I decided they needed more.  I went back to the ones with little filling and pried them apart to add more.  They were then oozing with marshmallow-y goodness! 

In traditional "Brooke style" I had to try one before I allowed them to leave my house and be ingested by a bunch of kids, lest they be nasty!  I do not ever want anyone to eat anything I've made and think, "Good Lord!  WHAT is this crap?!  It's so gross!"  I almost always try food before I let anyone else try it, just for that reason. 

I obviously chose one with less filling.  Like I need the extra calories!

So do you want to know my verdict on these supposed "best" Whoopie Pies?  I was not impressed.  Not at all.  There is no way these are the best Whoopie Pies!  No way!  If I decide to make them again I will try Little Miss Momma's recipe.  I assumed the kids liked them though because both pans were completely empty!  I called Pacen to ask him what the kids thought.  He told me he didn't really care for them, but the rest of the kids thought they were great...maybe slightly too big though.  Yup, that settles it.  Next time I'm using a different recipe.

"You can say this for ready-mixes - the next generation isn't going to have any trouble making pies exactly like mother used to make" ~ Earl Wilson

Weekly Photo Challenge: Self Portrait

Last week I stumbled upon a blog called A Step in the Journey.  Laura mentioned a weekly photo challenge, lasting 20 weeks.  She even had an awesome list of the topics that participants will be photographing each week.  I got super excited!  As you probably know, I LOVE dabbling in photography, but I haven't dabbled as much as I'd like for the past couple of years.  I'm ready to get back into it.

This is the first week of the challenge and the theme is: Self Portrait.  I've never been good at self portraits.  I always look awkward, unless, of course, Pacen is around to make me smile or laugh.  Well, he hasn't been home since earlier this month.  He spends most of his Summers in Harrison with my parents.  So, I decided to do something different with my self portrait.  Something that would keep me from trying to smile without it looking fake or trying to look serious when instead I just look creepy.  Okay, so really, I just needed something to cover my mouth.  :)  Here is what I came up with:

 

Also, I don't know about all of you, but I think I look better in black and white.  It hides all my flaws.  :)

If you want to join in on the photography fun it's not too late!  Link on up for this week's challenge!

Oh, and here is a link to the weekly challenge list.

"I don't care about my looks but I wish people will see my soul and it appears more clearly in these photographs than in others." ~August Strindberg - said about a series of self-portraits.

"Road Rash" = Water Retention?

I play on a coed softball league on Monday nights during the Summer. I have been playing for years. It's one of my favorite sports (volleyball is another) and therefore I really get into it.  Sometimes I get a little TOO into the game and end up with "road rash". Well, last Monday night I ended up with the worst softball road rash I've ever had!

Let me first paint this picture for you. I was on 2nd base. A teammate was up to bat and another teammate was on 1st. I SWEAR one of my teammates yelled, "Brooke! You HAVE to run on this one!"  Being who I am, I hadn't been paying attention to who was suppose to be the last batter or how many outs we had.  I knew I was way down the line and so I assumed that the person up to bat was our last batter for the inning.  *SMACK*  He hit the ball and it was headed deep into center/left field.  I took off running and when I got to 3rd I happened to look to the outfield and noticed the guy had caught it and he was in a hurry to get it to the second baseman.  That's when it hit me. Oh shit!!  We'd only had one out before that hit and the batter was obviously NOT the last batter.  I had to get my ass back to 2nd before the ball or I was the third out of the inning.  Shit, shit, shit!  I hauled ass!  I got within 4-5 feet and I could see the ball coming.  I dove for it!  I hit the gravel/dirt and I slid and hit the base, but it was too late.  Barely.  I ended up with a massive rash on my right leg and on my right arm.  I did, however, do a very nice somersault out of the dive to land back on my feet.  :)

It was much worse than it looks.

Monday night when I got home I rinsed my leg off in the shower.  Ouch.  That night I got maybe 2-3 hours of sleep because even the slight breeze from the ceiling fan blowing on my leg was too much!  It burned so bad!  I have had numerous softball induced road rashes before, but never one this big on my calf.  They are usually on my bum or thigh.  The calf is so different!  It feels all tight when I walk.  Ick.  Tuesday morning I decided I had better pour some peroxide on my leg and arm.  HOLY SHIT DAMN ASS SHIT!!  I may have blacked out for just a moment.  Okay, not really,  but holy crap it hurt like hell!  It brought back all kinds of childhood memories...memories of me running from my mom who was chasing me with a bottle of peroxide because I had wrecked my bike and my knees were all scraped up.  I wish I could've run from myself on this horrific Tuesday morning! 

My misery was not over.  Wednesday and Thursday evenings my right ankle swelled up into a disgustingly chubby cankle.  The worst part is that I naturally have cankles.  It's true.  One time in high school a friend bought me a one-size-fits-all ankle bracelet.  It didn't fit.  Embarrassing.  So, when my cankle swelled from the road rash I ended up with a fat roll!  Yes, I had a fat roll on my cankle!  I felt like the damned Michelin Man!  All I could think of that would be causing me to have these cankles from hell was that damned road rash.  Is it possible for road rash to cause water retention in the limb it is affecting?  I'm going to say, yes, yes it is.

 Now that the scabs are coming off I look like a burn victim.  It's gross.  It is definitely going to scar.  What's another scar though, right?  It will take attention away from my cankles, so it's all good. 

It's like some awful nightmare!  Ick!

I do not think I will be diving/sliding anymore!  Maybe I'll pull out some old triple jump skills instead.  Can you picture that?  Me hauling ass to a base...the ball has been thrown and if I don't do something to get there faster I will be out...so I hop, skip, and jump...I'm flying through the air...BAM! perfect landing and I'm safe...the crowd goes wild!  Okay, okay, so that is NOT how it would turn out.  It would be more like this:  hop, cankle gives out, falls on face...road rash on face and broken or sprained cankle...out for season. 

"It's not how good you are, it's how bad you want it."  (I wanted to make it back to base in a bad way!)  :)

4th of July...Pancakes...Awesome Beverage

This post is so late!  It has to do with the 4th of July.  *nervous whistle...avoiding eye contact*  Hey, at least I'm getting it done before the month of July is over.  :) 

The Friday before the 4th I had a couple of couch surfers from Colorado surf my guest room.  Surfer season is in full swing!  Anyway, the morning they left I made them some patriotic pancakes.  I'm pretty good at dyeing pancake batter, now I need to try the pancake art that I've seen around the internet.  The pancakes were delicious thanks to Bisquick.  :) 

On the 4th of July my family and I went to Crawford as we do pretty much every year.  This year was slightly different though.  Actually, in our family it was a huge change!  There is an annual 5k run/walk from Ft. Robinson to Crawford and my dad has run it every year for I don't know how long.  This year he didn't!  HE DID NOT RUN THE 5K!  Not only were we, his family, in shock over this, but there were numerous people that asked me where he was and why he wasn't participating.  You see, dad not only runs in this event every year, he also kicks butt every year.  He typically comes in 1st in his age group and he's usually in the top three to five overall finishers!  There are a lot of people who run this event so that is saying something considering my dad is in his mid-fifties.  He whoops my ass every year!  This year though, I set my personal best 5k time with 26:10!  Yay, me!  Even though my dad didn't participate, he was at the finish line with my mom and Pacen, cheering me on.  Maybe next year he'll get back into it. 

After the 5k we wandered to Main Street to watch the parade.  Just like every year.  Except this year Quinn, me, and our friend, Mika, sat on the other side of the street from where our family normally sits.  It was too hot to be in the full sun.  We needed shade, especially since Mika and I ran the 5k and we were HOT!  The Crawford 4th of July parade is...well...let's just say it is "something".  It is LONG!  It has quite the array of floats and participants.  It has too many "gaps"!  Pacen, Mika, and I left the parade about a half hour early (it lasted over an hour) to find a nice shady spot in the park where we would be spending the afternoon listening to local bands and pigging out on junk food. 

Aaron, LJ, and Jared aka Cheap Date.  Love them!

After listening to my friends' band we decided to head on up the hill to Harrison.  We shot off fireworks the rest of the afternoon and evening and then I headed home cause I had to work the next day.  I did do something somewhat special for Pacen this year.  I found a fun recipe on Family Fun's website.  It is simply called "Patriotic Drink".  All you need to make it are the following ingredients:

• Ice cubes
• Cranberry Juice
• Diet 7-Up
• Blue Gatorade
• Blue food coloring (if you can only find the light blue Gatorade)

Fill a glass all the way with ice.  First pour in the Cranberry Juice.  Next, slowly pour in the Gatorade, making sure to pour it directly onto an ice cube.  Finally, slowly pour in the Diet 7-Up, again making sure to pour it directly onto an ice cube. 

 Since each drink has a different sugar content (Cranberry Juice having the most sugar and Diet 7-Up having the least) the drinks are able to "stack".  They will eventually mix, but I think it is so cool to see them stacked up.  Pacen thought it was pretty cool too, and even though he's not a big fan of Cranberry Juice he drank many glasses of the "Patriotic Drink". 

"I love my freedom.  I love my America." ~ Jessie Lane Adams

Atlantis Review

So last month when Pacen and I went to The Bahamas we stayed at the Atlantis Resort.  It is a gorgeous resort and it is HUGE!  It boasts a water park, casino, numerous restaurants, a very large aquarium, many pools, a couple beaches, a theater, lots of shopping, and numerous other things.  The view from our room was amazing!  We were suppose to be staying in The Beach Tower and ended up in Coral Tower.  We could see almost everything!  The ocean and most of the resort!

Here is a link to the resort map just to show you how huge it is: http://www.atlantis.com/content/pdf/ALLPROPERTYMAPFINAL.pdf

The first day we were there we carried a map with us and I was sure we would have to use it the rest of the week.  We kept getting lost and frustrated.  By the second full day at the resort (The second day of vacation we went on a powerboat adventure. More on that later.) we had it pretty much figured out. 

We spent most of our time at the water park (Aqua Adventure) and on The Current (a lazy river full of rapids and other surprises).   Another of our favorite places was The Dig, which is a huge Aquarium!  There are so many awesome animals in it, including a massive Manta Ray, sharks, hundreds of different kinds of fish, and stingrays.  We also enjoyed a glass tunnel that weaves through the bottom of one of the shark pools near our hotel (Coral Tower).  There was a huge Saw Fish that liked to swim over the top of the tunnel, which gave us a great view of him.  During the evenings we like to wander over to The Harbor and look at all the huge yachts and check out the shops. 

Part of the view from our room

 We only spent part of one day at Atlantis Beach, and it happened to be our last full day there.  The beach was nice and the water was crystal clear.  Pacen thoroughly enjoyed snorkeling around and finding crabs and seashells.  My only complaint about the beach is the fact that the swimming area was rather small and there were way too many locals hounding the tourists about jet ski rides, para-sailing, etc.  It seemed like every 5 minutes someone would ask you if you wanted to purchase a jet ski ride or go out on a para-sail.  It got old in a hurry.  I just wanted to lay back and relax, but it was hard to do. 

Another part of our view!

 My biggest complaint about Atlantis is the dining.  Holy EXPENSIVE!!!  I didn't purchase a meal plan because I thought that Pacen and I would go over the bridge into Nassau and eat a few nights.  We didn't cross the bridge once!  "The best laid plans of mice and men..."  Atlantis sells a few different meal plans and one I looked at was $95.00 per day per adult.  Kids 11 and under eat free.  Well, I got to doing the math.  I think we actually saved by not buying a meal plan.  For breakfast we would normally eat leftovers from the night before.  Lunch was usually a sandwich or Conch Fritters and drinks (at the Pisces restaurant by the beach - cheap and good), which typically ran between $20.00 and $30.00.  Dinner was normally at some restaurant and ran between $40.00 and $60.00.  So I'm going to guesstimate that we spent less than the $570.00 the meal plan would've cost me.  Plus, Pacen doesn't eat like a child...he eats like a grown man so the kid meals would not have filled his belly.  I would imagine that a larger family would save money by purchasing a meal plan, but I think we did right by not purchasing one.  We also didn't have to buy lunch the day of the power boat adventure as it was included in the price of the excursion. 

So my rating for Atlantis would have to be 3 stars out of 5.  It was a beautiful resort with many things to keep us entertained, but it was just too expensive.  Meals were outrageous and I feel that more things could be inclusive with the price of the rooms.  A 1-liter bottle of water in the room cost $5.95 for crying out loud!  The last day there we found 1-liter bottles of water for sale at The Bahamas Logo store near the Harbor for $2.00!!  Dang it!  If you ever decide to go to The Bahamas I would suggest the following:

A.) Stay at the Sandals resort between the Airport and downtown Nassau, which is an all inclusive resort (I believe) and get a day pass to Atlantis so you can check out the resort and enjoy the water park.

B.) Find some resort or something in The Exumas (chain of islands south of Nassau) and enjoy the Caribbean for what it is...crystal clear waters, laid back island life, and relaxation!  My last trip to The Bahamas is what I'm talking about. 

 "Vacation: a period of travel and relaxation when you take twice the clothes and half the money you need." ~ Author Unknown