Shopping in America (2)

In January I wrote a post about the strange and crazy things I discovered while shopping in America (check it out here). Well the other week I went back and found even more incredible things!

True to fashion I found even more bizarre food - particularly candy.

Though I'm sure this many of these candies taste absolutely fine, I have to question the names. When I'm in the mood for something sugary "Baked Beans" isn't what my mind jumps too. I'm also not 100% why the caramel chews are named zippers.

Beyond these strange candies however most of the things I found this trip were pretty amazing. Strange and usually incredibly unhealthy but amazing.

I fell in love with this giant cupcake pan. It took a lot of willpower and reminding myself I have no storage space to walk away from it. The bottom looks like it's a little bit larger than your average cake pan and it also comes with a mold for the top half (under the icing). I'd love to make these as birthday cakes. 

While at the grocery store I also stumbled across some amazing icing in the baking aisle. It would be perfect for these jumbo cupcakes.

I think I would have to make 3 giant cupcakes. One for each type of icing. And if that wasn't enough dessert for the day...

Yup that's a cinnamon roll with chocolate icing. Why haven't I had one of these before?!?!

After a long day of shopping my family and I decided to get some dinner at what looked like a VERY popular restaurant (there was a half an hour wait at 3:00 pm) called the Texas Roadhouse. In it's simplest description this place is a steakhouse. In a more accurate description its a steakhouse to end all steakhouses.  (Sorry for the dark pictures! My flash didn't want to work)

We started with beer and rolls. This giant only cost $2.25! Don't get prices like that in Canada. And the rolls came with the most amazing cinnamon butter. I could've had them the entire night and been happy. 

I'm not much of a red meat eater, so I ended up getting the chicken fingers with a sweet potato as a side. They came with a very spicy sauce and had a pretty light breading which was also pretty spicy. Thankfully I like spicy food so this was a huge plus for me. The piece de resistance however was the sweet potato. I decided to get it "loaded" which meant it came with brown sugar and marshmallows on top. Want a better look?

Mmmm. It was a sugar junkie's heaven. My family thought I was crazy for ordering it but it ended up being my favourite part of the meal. The chicken fingers were quite greasy and heavy and I found I couldn't eat more than two of this one. But I ate every last bite of this beautiful sweet potato. 

All in all this was a GREAT trip to America and though most of the things I found are incredibly bad for you they were still things I totally wanted to buy and try out for myself. 

New Project! Need Recommedations!

Hello All!

I am embarking on a very new, very exciting YouTube project. I am already one YouTube - check me out HERE - but thanks to some very epic Mario-ing (yup its a verb) last night my boyfriend and I are putting together a video game YouTubey thing. I don't have a lot of details yet because we still in the planning stages but I do need some help from you!

First off we need some video game recommendations. They need to be multiplayer - like Super Mario Bros Wii - but beyond that the possibilities are endless. They can be for the following systems - Wii, PS3, PS2, Xbox 360. I'd ask for no first person shooters, but if there's one you think it really good (and it's not Halo) then suggest away!

Second, if you have any good Video Game related names I'd love to hear them. I am the WORST at thinking up names/titles, so if I don't have some help this channel will end up with a lame name like "Christa and Dan and Videogames". So suggestions for names would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you advance for any suggestions/ideas you have and I will be sure to post the full details as soon as I have them!!

Slutty Brownies

Thanks the wonderful creation that is Pinterest, I discovered this amazing recipe for Slutty Brownies. Yup you read that right. S-l-u-t-t-y Brownies.

Originally posted on the blog - The Londoner - Slutty Brownies have earned their name because "they're oh so easy and more than a little filthy". I can officially say, now that I have baked and consumed more than my fair share of these creations, that is the most accurate description.

All you need to create these amazing brownies are the ingredients shown above. Maybe a bit of oil depending how thick your cookie/brownie mix is. The wonderful thing about these brownies is the recipe doesn't expect you to make anything from scratch. I mean, you could if you wanted to, but why bother. These are amazing, even if the ingredients come from a box. Also make sure you buy real Oreos. Name brand cookies are just not the same. 

 

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Then the first step is the cookie dough. Mix it up according to package instructions. It it seems to thick add a little oil/water to make it easier to spread in the pan. Piece of advice - do not skip putting the wax paper in the baking dish. These brownies will glue themselves to the pan and you'll save yourself a lot of scrubbing. Once you have the cookie dough spread out across the pan add a layer of Oreos. As many as you can reasonably fit ;)

Next step - mix up the brownie mix and pour it over top of the Oreos. Try and make it as even as possible.

And that's it for assembly! Seriously these are the easiest brownies ever. It maybe took me 15 minutes to put everything together. Then you throw it into the oven to bake. The recipe called for 30 minutes so that's what I did. It was baked when I took it out but I think it could have used more time. Next time I make this (and there will definitely be a next time) I'll probably leave it in for 40 minutes. Now if you can restrain yourself let them cool for about 10-15 minutes.

 

And voila! The finished product. These are so delicious. The Oreos melt a little inside and you get the best of both the cookie and brownie world. The Londoner recommends having it with ice cream and I do as well. There's just so much chocolately goodness that a bit of vanilla ice cream helps balance it out.

These are ridiculously easy. I can't stress that enough. And they're guaranteed to be a hit. They didn't last long in my apartment and I'm already being asked to make them again. I hope you'll try making them for yourself. Let me know if you do and how they turn out!