Daring Bakers Go Italian!!

Greetings from Alaska, fellow foodies!! Welcome to another round of Daring Bakers yummy-goodness. Let me just say, I was SOOOO excited to do this month's challenge. The hubby and I are BIG-time pizza fans, and so when Rosa of Rosa's Yummy-Yums (link in the blogroll on the sidebar) announced this month's challenge just in time for the NFL season to kick-off, well, the only thing I had to decide was to make it on Sunday or Monday nights!

This month's Daring Bakers Challenge is dedicated to Sherry, of the blog What Did You Eat?, and her memory. Sherry was supposed to host this month's Daring Bakers Challenge along with Glenna from A Fridge Full of Food, however, life's tragic events prevented both from hosting this month. Sherry was an avid blogger, and I used to visit her blog all the time. After her death not too long ago, it was a shock heard round the food-blogger world. She had touched so many lives, and we will forever miss her.



I'm not going to post the recipe here, because it's quite lengthy and you can make it either regular or gluten free. Either way is posted on Rosa's blog and you can find it there.

I made three versions (so far): pepperoni & olive for the hubby, vegetarian for me, and a peanut butter & banana one for dessert. This pizza dough recipe blows my old one out of the water! The crust is tender and chewy and provides the perfect backdrop for a whole host of ingredients. Throw whatever you want at it, this dough can take it.

I did take pictures of me tossing the dough, however I'm having problems uploading them to blogger, but will post them later for sure.

Enjoy!

~Mehgan~

Quiche Kick

You know those weeks when it seems like if you didn't have bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck at all? That's exactly the kind of week I've been having. Drama-rama to the max, not only at work, but with my family, too. And then, once the big things start to turn bad, you start to notice all those little things you'd normally let go. Half way to work, you realize you left your cell phone at home on your nightstand. Or you get to the gym, and there are no treadmills left for you to run on. All these little things add up, and towards the end of the week, you just want to shout, "I give up!!!". Yep, I totally had that week. And to top it all off, it snowed last night. Yep, that's Alaska for you, baby.

I was also getting really frustrated, because I had attempted two other recipes for this month's Royal Foodie Joust ingredients (acorn squash, sage and oranges) and had come up with some of the most off-tasting dinners, it was insane. I tried making a cajun rice stuffed acorn squash dinner, but my husband was like, "Why is this dessert salty?". So that didn't work. Then I tried making an acorn squash scone that came out the consistency and taste of a softball. I was not pleased. I had given up.

So, by the time Wednesday rolled around, I was so ready for some comfort food. Something fairly easy, but still feels like a hug. I was just cruising around the internet, looking at different cuisines, and noticed that quiche is a German food (well, in a sense), so considering the fact that my hubby's German just sealed the deal for me. I adapted a couple of recipes to get to this one, so I'll just list how I made mine.

Super-Tasty Quiche-

Ingredients:

For pie crust:

-1 1/2 cups AP flour

-1/2 tsp salt

-3 to 4 tbsp ice cold water

-1/3 cup shortening (like Crisco)

For filling:

-6 large eggs

-1 cup of heavy cream

-1/2 lb sausage

-1 tomato, chopped

-1/2 white onion, chopped

-1/2 cup spinach, chopped (I used fresh baby spinach, you can use frozen spinach, but make sure you drain it really well before you add it to the quiche)

-2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced

-1 cup shredded cheese (your choice, I used 1/4 cup mozzarella, and 3/4 cup cheddar)

-salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions: In a food processor, combine all the pie crust ingredients and pulse until it binds together well (looks kind of like scrambled eggs). Gather all the dough into a ball, and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Carefully line the a pie tin with the pie dough and pop in the fridge for about an hour. This allows the fats in the crust to rest so that your crust doesn't melt into a puddle in the oven.

Preheat oven to 425F. In a small skillet, cook the sausage. Drain and let cool. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and cream. Stir in the vegetables, salt and pepper. Pull the pie crust out of the fridge and sprinkle it with 1/3 of the cheese and all of the sausage. Carefully pour the filling into the pie shell (don't fill it too full, or it'll spill over as it bakes), then sprinkled the rest of the cheese on top. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 300F for 30 more minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit for ten minutes (this is an important step, you don't want runny quiche).

My thoughts: I love quiche, but haven't always been so fond of it. When I was a kid, I hated it. Egg pie? Yeah, no thanks. But, since being married I've given it another chance, because it seems like every family holiday I'm at, I get asked to make it for breakfast, so I grew to like it again. I like mine loaded up with good stuff, almost to the point where there's more "stuff" than there is eggs. I like how it's so versatile, you can put anything in it.

Which is why I tried to give this month's Royal Foodie Joust ingredients one more try with some of the extra quiche ingredients I had leftover...

...and made these cute little mini quiches!! Aren't they just adorable? I only made the two, because I didn't have much of the original ingredients leftover. The filling for these is about 3 tbsp cooked acorn squash, 1 tsp dried sage, and just a sprinkling of orange zest on top with the cheese.

It was an interesting combination, that surprisingly worked really well together. The sage and acorn squash brought a nice earthiness to the quiche, while the orange zest gave it that wow factor, a refreshing punch on the roof of your mouth.

Sorry I'm not posting any "carnage" photos of these (you know, like with a bite out of them or cut in half) because they were bite-sized and I just popped 'em in my mouth. Which probably wasn't the best idea when they were piping hot from the oven, but oh well. They were worth the scalded tongue.

What would you add this month's Royal Foodie Joust ingredients to?

~Mehgan~

My Favorite Combination

If you were to ask anyone in my family what my favorite flavor combination is, they'd tell you (without blinking or hesitation): peanut butter and banana. I think it all started when I had an amazing peanut butter and banana smoothie from World Wrapps in Bellevue, WA (what made it even better, is it was free!). I used to live about 45 minutes from Bellevue, so getting my smoothie fix from World Wrapps was a rare occasion, since I never really went there.

So, I went on a search for a yummy replica. Jamba Juice has something similar called Peanut Butter Moo'd, which is pretty tasty, but not the same. Same thing goes for Inta Juice. They had one that was close, but they added chocolate to it. I didn't mind the chocolate, but it seemed to overpower the banana flavor. I even went so far as to try making it at home, but it still wasn't the same. And now that we've moved to Alaska, I have a feeling I won't get to have my beloved peanut butter and banana smoothie for a long, long time.

Out of pure boredom (and desperation, I'll admit), I hopped on over to www.allrecipes.com and plugged "peanut butter" and "banana" into their search engine, and I was bombarded by many recipes that incorporated my favorite flavors. I see I'm not the only one with this fixation!!

Since it was really cold today, freezing in fact it snowed (!), I decided to go with something warmer than a smoothie. I settled on peanut butter and banana muffins, and boy am I glad I did! I always have such a hard time justifying making muffins, because I know they're just a glorified, naked cupcake with little to no nutritional value. Well, these bad boys are actually not that bad for you. They have little sugar, and they also include rolled oats, which are yummy in a muffin for breakfast. Although there is 3/4 cup of peanut butter, it's evenly distributed over 18 muffins, so they can't be that bad, right?

Peanut Butter & Banana Muffins-

Ingredients:

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-3/4 cup quick cooking oats

-1 tbsp baking powder

-1 cup milk

-3/4 cup peanut butter (I'm a JIF fan, there is no other brand of PB for me)

-3/4 cup mashed bananas

-1 egg, beaten

-2 tbsp vegetable oil

-1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

-1/4 cup all-purpose flour

-2 tbsp butter, melted

-2 tbsp packed brown sugar

Instructions: Preheat oven to 375F. Grease or line your muffin tin. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, then slowly add them to the dry ingredients, mixing until just moistened. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full. In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients. Sprikle topping evenly over poured muffins. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

These muffins came out SOOOO delicious!! The batter was excellent, and after they were baked, they were divine. I'm guilty of slathering a wee bit of butter in the middle of my warm muffins, for some added indulgence. My mouth is watering just thinking about them as I type this.

Enjoy!

~Mehgan~

A Collection

You've seen them everywhere on everyone's blogs. The lists. You know what I'm talking about. The Omnivore's Hundred. And multiple other ones. Everytime I saw one, I'd think to myself, I should do this and post it on my blog! But, after seeing various incarnations of them, it seemed like I'd be posting a new one every other day. So, I started collecting the lists, and had them saved up till I could post them all together. So, what you're getting is a few of the ones I've gotten so far and managed to find the time to change the answers to my own. I'll give a brief explanation of each as I post them.

The ones in Bold I've done, the ones in red I'd never do, and the ones in green italics I want to do.

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby’s diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said “I love you” and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris – would LOVE to go there
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game – Go Seahawks!
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty – can you even do this anymore? I thought they closed the top of it off after 9-11.
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun – It helped me win #62.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving – also on my list of things I want to do in my lifetime
42. Visited Ireland – I have been to Scotland, but not Ireland (yet).
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight – yeah, right!
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving – one of my biggest fears, no thank you!
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don’t
56. Visited the Great Wall of China – also on my list of things I want to do.
57. Started a business – another of my personal goals
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days – I was VERY ill last March.
61. Made cookies from scratch- um, hello, look who you’re talking to!
62. Won first prize in a costume contest- Yes, I was dressed as an elf from the Lord of the Rings along with my best friend when we were 17. It was awesome.
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone- I’m counting verbal arguments.
67. Bounced a check- I was young and still getting used to managing my own finances.
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over- Just this past summer!
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi- I LOVE sushi.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes- I made these myself, as well as used store-bought. I love them.
92. Read The Iliad- Not the whole thing, but excerpts. I still count them, though.
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair- my family had a booth at a farmer’s market, does that count?
102. Dyed your hair- I’ve been dying my hair since I was 13.
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep- I love doing this.
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Prepared a dish where four people asked for the recipe
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train- It really is underappreciated. I love riding the train.
123. Brought an old fad back into style- I’m constantly looking for vintage fashion.
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need- Hello, timeshare! But, in retrospect, I do think it was a good purchase, we love vacationing.
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt- I’m working on this one.
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one- It was a fluke.
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class- So much better than coach, but I rarely get to do it.
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa- really want to go.
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking- helped me get over my claustrophobia.
144. Learned how to take a compliment- my mom taught me to just say, “Thank you very much”. (Not, “I know”. That’s just rude).
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted-I’ve been sketched, but not painted.
148. Written a fan letter- I was a crazy tween.
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane- Cody thinks he’s a Great Dane.
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss- I’ve been a mentor/supervisor, but not a boss (yet).
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous- I’m counting an e-mail I received from Johnny Whitworth (he was in Empire Records).
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz and polka.- I can belly dance, though.
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life- I helped someone after a car accident, but I don’t think it was life or death.
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival- I’m counting the Renaissance Fair.
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel- this will most likely change once we travel more.
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime
200. Responded to a NJP newsletter

This next one is very similar to the last one. Everything I've eaten are in Bold, the things I've eaten and love are in Bold Green, things I would never eat are in red, and things I'd like to try are in green italics.

1. New York pizza
2. Hoppin' John
3. New Mexico green chile
4. Homemade buttermilk biscuits
5. Tasso
6. Whole Maine lobster
7. Calabash-style shrimp and hushpuppies
8. Kansas City barbecue ribs
9. Hot glazed Krispy Kreme - I don't eat these very often, though, I restrain myself because I know they are satan donuts, but still, they're very tasty.
10. San Diego fish tacos
11. Cheese curds
12. Key lime pie
13. Philly cheese steak
14. Memphis pork barbecue sandwich
15. Lowcountry boil
16. Huckleberry pie
17. New England clam chowder
18. Boiled peanuts
19. Buffalo burger
20. Eggs Benedict
21. Pastrami on rye
22. Corned beef and cabbage
23. Pancakes with maple syrup
24. Everything bagel with cream cheese and tomato
25. Thin Mints
26. Frito pie
27. Potato knish with mustard
28. Silver Queen corn on the cob
29. Soft pretzel from a street cart
30. Fresh-picked blueberries
31. Sourwood honey
32. State fair funnel cake
33. Chesapeake crab cakes
34. Candied yams
35. Oyster dressing
36. Snow cone or snowball
37. Wild Alaskan salmon
38. Sautéed morels - I hate mushrooms.
39. Persimmon pudding
40. General Tso's Chicken
41. Frozen custard
42. Italian sausage with peppers and onions on a hoagie bun
43. Chili dog
44. Buffalo wings with blue cheese
45. Spam musubi
46. Saltwater taffy
47. Fluffernutter sandwich on Wonder Bread
48. Black and white cookie
49. Frybread
50. BLT with thick-cut applewood bacon
51. Baked beans
52. Pumpkin pie
53. Collards with vinegar and Tabasco
54. Tex-Mex fajitas with skirt steak and sautéed peppers
55. Fried green tomatoes
56. Succotash (I hate lima beans)
57. Shrimp and grits
58. Hot water cornbread
59. Barbecue chicken pizza with red onions – I love Pyramid Alehouse’s in Seattle.
60. Chicken fried steak
61. Carnitas burrito
62. Apple butter
63. Geoduck
64. Soft-serve ice cream cone dipped in chocolate shell
65. Pecan pie
66. Catfish supper at a church or fire station
67. Oysters Rockefeller
68. Homemade cranberry sauce
69. Pimiento cheese
70. MoonPie washed down with R.C. Cola (well, without the RC Cola)
71. Pickled watermelon rind
72. Cracker Jacks at the ball game
73. Smithfield ham
74. Meatloaf and mashed potato blue plate special at diner
75. Chicken and waffles
76. Po'Boy
77. Green bean casserole with French's fried onions
78. Stuffed sopaipillas
79. Turducken
80. Shad roe on toast
81. Sweet potato casserole with or without marshmallows
82. Cioppino
83. New York cheesecake
84. Pan-fried river trout
85. Jambalaya
86. North Carolina pig pickin'
87. California rolls
88. Burgoo
89. Penuche fudge
90. Fried peanut butter and banana sandwich (the Elvis)
91. Scrapple or livermush (I have had haggis, though)
92. Elk medallions in red wine reduction
93. Muscadine grapes
94. Cheeseburger at backyard barbecue
95. Open-face turkey sandwich
96. Chicago deep dish pizza
97. Cobb salad
98. Peach pie a la mode
99. Macaroni and cheese with Tillamook sharp cheddar
100. Root beer float

The next one is very similar, so I'm including it:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (I have had ‘gator, though)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle (my dad bought me some for my 20th birthday)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (I refuse to EVER eat this)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper mama didn't raise no fool!
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/€80/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

This next list is much the same as the others, but about books.

1) Bold those you have read.
2) Put an asterisk next to those you started but didn't finish.
3) Italicize those you intend to read (or have started and intend to finish).
4) Red the books you LOVE
5) Reprint this list in your own blog.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky *
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen*
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (I put this one in red because it was my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia collection, but as a whole, Chronicles of Narnia wasn't my favorite)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

(Boy, was that a pain in the butt to put together, no wonder I waited so long!!)

Well, there you go folks! Four VERY long and complicated lists of things I've done, eaten and read, a few that I'd be willing to try. As you can see, I'm very open-minded to new adventures, whether they be tasks, dishes or books, I'm up for pretty much anything! Hope you liked it!

~Mehgan~

I Love Pancakes!

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a serious breakfast lover. I wasn't always like that, in fact, a few years ago, the closest thing to breakfast I ate on a normal basis was a venti caramel macchiatto from Starbucks. That is sad. Especially since my mom was always harping on the fact that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". Goodness, I can hear her in my head!

I typically eat a small breakfast during the work-week, but go hog wild on weekends. That's when I can really flex my cooking muscles and branch outside the usual english-muffin-with-cream-cheese-and-fruit rut and try new things. Not crazy, insane, huge breakfasts, but you know, the good stuff.

I had some extra cooked pumpkin hanging around my fridge from the Pumpkin Spice Muffins last week, and really wanted some pumpkin pancakes. I've been seeing these bad boys everywhere. Except one thing: I was cooking for one. I didn't need a huge stack of pancakes (though, that would have been gluttonously satisfying), so I tried to cut the recipe down a bit. Probably not a good idea. There's no easy way to half an egg (which I ended up omitting, which is most likely the root of my problems). But, the end result wasn't repulsive, just a more dense/heavy pancake, which was fine by me.

I adapted this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Pancakes/Detail.aspx , but I added a dash of cardamom for a little something extra. It was delicious. I had my pancakes with a healthy slathering of maple syrup, a side of vanilla yogurt and sliced strawberries and a nice big glass of OJ.

Oh, breakfast, how I love thee.

Cheers!

~Mehgan~