Football and Baklava

So, unfortunately I lost this last week, but I am still number two in the league and I go up against Nick again in a few more weeks.

My graze box arrived today!!!!  Once I get a chance to go through it all, I will review this box.

As for the rest of life, I get paid Thursday and will be looking to cook a few awesome treats then.  I'm going to get the stuff to do a cheese fondue one night and I'll also be grabbing things to make baklava!!!

Here is my take on baklava.  It's a recipe I've played with since I was given the original my senior year of high school:
3 cups sugar
1.5 cup water
1&1/4 cup local honey
4 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 (3-inch) stick cinnamon

A few shakes of ground cinnamon
Combine ingredients in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Immediately remove from heat; cool syrup completely.

8 cups Walnuts (or other nut to taste) - CONSIDER subbing: 6 cups walnuts + 2 cups Dark chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
AT LEAST one of the three following:
1 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
1 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1 teaspoon allspice (optional

Combine the nuts and other ingredients, stirring well for nut mixture

1 (16-ounce) package frozen phyllo dough, (best to thaw for 2 days in fridge... can be thawed a few hours ahead of time on counter... DO NOT attempt to thaw quickly in bowl of warm water)
1 pound unsalted butter, melted (favorite option: cook the butter Beurre Noisette style.  It will give more of a nutty flavor to the pastry!)
Brush 2 (13- x 9- x 2-inch) baking pans with melted butter. Place ~8 phyllo sheets in 1 pan, brushing each sheet with butter; top with 1.5 cups nut mixture.
Place ~3 phyllo sheets over nut mixture, brushing each sheet with butter; top with 1.5 cups nut mixture. Repeat with ~3 more phyllo sheets and 1 cup nut mixture; top with ~6 phyllo sheets, brushing all but the top sheet with butter. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo sheets, butter, and nut mixture in second pan.
MAKE SURE you are keeping the phyllo dough covered during this process or it may dry out and become impossible to work with!!
Cut layers diagonally into 3/4-inch diamonds; empty remaining butter over the baklava
Bake at 300° for 1 hour.
Remove from oven, and pour syrup EVENLY over baklava. Cool completely in pans on wire racks.

Calling all glitter nuts!!

So, a lot of you know I work for Horizons School here in Birmingham.  I am working to keep up some craft opportunities for the students, and one thing several of the girls want to do is make nail polish.  I have decided to allow them to design one polish (I will do the pouring since the pigment and everything could be messy) and we will make two copies of it: one for them to keep and another to sell on ETSY.  The money from the sale of the polishes will be donated to the school.

If anyone wants to donate some leftover solvent-resistant glitter, please email me at larabeth.pm@gmail.com.  Any tiny amounts would be good: these will be for two 15mL bottles only.

Thanks everyone!

PS- if you want to make a monetary donation to the school, click here!!  We are non-profit. ^_^

Graze Box!

So, my graze box is being prepped on the website!!!

Remember, my graze friend-code is LARAK9D1P 

I'm not as excited about this box as the last one.  That's ok, though.  The whole point of me taking this subscription was so that I would branch out and try some new stuff.

I've decided to use my old gumball machine as a healthier snack opportunity for the students.  I thought I would put trail mix in there and readjust the settings so that for a quarter you get 100 calories' worth of trail mix.  I don't know how I will get this approved, but I'm gonna try!!!  If I had one machine up and running for a bit and it made enough to introduce a second machine with a second option for trail mix, I might do that.  I figured anything extra the machine made could go to the school to help with whatever we need.

I made it through day one of my sugar free drinking with success!!!  I'm halfway through day 2 and I must say: thank the gods for filtered water bottles!

Also, in fantasy football news, the waiver requests went through last night and here is my lineup for this week's matchup:

I really doubt the projected points are correct, but either way, I've got my fingers crossed!!!  I think Nick hasn't quite set his lineup yet, so I am predicting this will be a much closer game.  I really want to win this one!!

I've thought about setting some prototypes in my shop to sell to begin with.  I'm also currently working to grow my nails out so I can make better swatches myself.  I have butterLONDON's Horsepower on my nails currently and have started looking for a good prenatal gummies vitamin (best stuff for your hair and nails EVER!).

OK, off to the elliptical for 30 minutes!

Food and budgeting oops!

So, with everything going on, I was unaware of how close my budget is this week.  On that note, I am now working to clear out my freezer before I buy fresh things to cook.
Tomorrow I will be cooking the Pastichio from the Greek Festival we went to a few weeks ago.  I bought a frozen tray and have been saving it til now.

I'm currently on a 4 week commitment to drink non-sugared drinks (and mostly water).  Today was day one and I made it through without any blunders. 27 more days to go!!!

I have been thinking about picking up another job for some random shifts until my dispatch work picks back up.  It's a catch-22 because it means I won't be able to work the 12 hour dispatch shifts when I am scheduled at the other gig, but I'm not really getting any hours right now and I need to be able to eat and function.  I've applied at Starbucks and I may apply at Chick Fil A.  We will see how the Starbucks application process goes.