A Date With Walmart!!!

When home, I really don't have that many dates with Walmart, even if it's an easy drive and a nice place to spend the afternoon.  When I'm baking, I probably have more dates than usual, but it's not a permanent affair.  You might think since I'm single, I would be more understanding and give them a chance at a long term relationship, but there are just SOME things I can't overlook, even if I have been alone for 14 years!!

You can see my main gripe right here.  This product, Kellogg's Special K protein bars (a big part of my recent diet) has an expiration date of Nov 11 2014.  I realize it says "better if used before" ... wish I had read that BEFORE I took that big bite of stale nastiness ... but really Walmart, it IS better before the expiration date.  With our wonderful past history, I didn't expect such a slap in the face from my longtime partner, but this is unacceptable behavior and worthy of a separation!!  I DID however, meet someone else while looking for Adkins Cookies 'n Cream Meal Bars that taste exactly like Oreo cookies.  Since my all-time favorite Oreos have been deemed the worst thing on the planet you can eat, I think I've met my new soul mate.  I'll have one more date with Walmart ... to return this outdated, stale, awful product before I ride off into the sunset with my Prince Charming .. Save Mart!!

This was the main reason for the Walmart trip ... I was out of butter for my baklava recipe.  I won't tell you how MUCH butter is in this pan ... just know that it is MOST delicious!!

Once baked, the baklava gets smothered with syrupy sugar and honey goodness that almost came to a rolling boil all over the stove.  Talk about a big mess ... but I was able to stir it down just in the nick of time!!  All this goodness is now in the freezer, waiting for Christmas Day!!

I had a hankering for breakfast burritos one morning, and in a fit of insanity, volunteered to make a bunch for the Indio Rally group of 35 people.  What was I thinking???  When I mentioned my big mistake, someone said they would rather eat cinnamon rolls ... so on the list they went.  You KNOW my taste trials don't always come out very tasty, but I think these will be a winner.  This is a copycat recipe of Cinnabon cinnamon rolls.  Not really an easy task to accomplish, there are LOTS of steps to making homemade sweet rolls from scratch.  Once they come out of the oven however, you KNOW it was worth every crazy minute!!  They smell DIVINE!!!  Just like I was walking in the Mall!!  There will be no taste testing of these babies, they'll go right into the freezer!!  

Here's a disclaimer ... you may not want to look any further.  There is a good chance you will loose your breakfast.

Okay, I warned you!!!  All those burials I have in the back yard??  Here's a good example of one disastrous dinner.  If you thought I was kidding about my cooking skills, now you know the truth!!  This was supposed to be a beautiful chicken dinner.  Here's the recipe.  Cut up chicken breasts into thin strips and place in a 9 x 13 pan (thank goodness I only did half the recipe).  Salt and Pepper.  Cover with a layer of fresh spinach.  Cover THAT with a layer of mushrooms.  Add 1/4 cup olive oil to 1/2 cup white wine and a bag of Lipton special recipe herb mixture.  Whisk together and pour over the mushrooms ... top that with mozzarella cheese.  Easy, right???  Except for the part where I didn't see the "convection" light on my oven, meaning it is set on Convection Bake and not just bake.  See all that dark brown stuff??  That's the beautiful melted mozzarella!!  All the juice is from double the mushrooms because I thought more would be better!!  Hahahahahaha

It's not exactly inedible, so I didn't throw this one out, but now you know what the burials are all about!!  How can one recipe be so disastrous and one be so delicious???