Apple Cinnamon Monkey Dumplings.

Hello there lovelies!

It's been grey and raining here since this afternoon...gotta love New England Weather.
I've been in the mood for something warm and sweet and gooey and wonderful... like this.
If you have any other names, please let me know!
Apple Cinnamon Monkey Dumplings
Ingredients:
- 1 tube of crescent roll dough (they make crescent roll dough sheets... technology is amazing.)
- 2 large apples (I like granny smith)
- 3/4 c. granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3-4 Tbsp butter, divided
This is kind of a spin off of monkey bread... but I don't know why they call it monkey bread. I'm not too fond of monkeys. I think they're creepy.

So.

Preheat the oven to 350
Chop the apples into 1 inch pieces. Don't make them too much smaller or they'll turn to mush.
Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a medium sized bowl, adding more cinnamon or sugar to your liking (I'm a fan of more cinnamon myself).
Pop open the crescent rolls and roll the dough out into a sheet about half it's original thickness...If you stretch it too thin, the dough will tear when you try to make the dumplings.
Cut the sheet of dough in half. Cut each half into thirds the long way, then into sixths the other way...

like this...

Take each square and fill with about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon-sugar mixture and 2-3 pieces of apple (this is obviously subject to change depending on the size of your squares...and how much love you wanna cram into each little dumpling)...melt the butter in a small dish.

Now for the actual baking... if you can get your hand on a bundt pan, PERFECT. Monkey bread is generally made in bundt pans so the hot air has a chance to circulate evenly through the pan. But since I know not every college student hapens to have one lying around, I've tried it with a loaf pan and it works just fine.

Butter the pan and place the dumplings in a layer on the bottom of the pan. pour about 1/3 of the butter over the layer and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Continue layering with dumplings, butter and cinnamon sugar until all the dumplings are used up.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the inner laters are no longer "doughy".

End result... delicious.

Anyone Else Feeling Snackish?

No? Just me?
Ok. Well, I need something to munch on and sadly, all I have are jelly beans. Although they're fabulous, they don't come anywhere near as close to the drool-worthy snack-tastic perfection of these bad boys.

Crunchy Hippie Bars

Ingredients:
- 4 c. uncooked quick oats
- 1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 c. butter, melted
- 1/2 c. maple syrup
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 c. combined of walnuts, almonds and pecans
- 1 c. crasins
- Optional sesame seeds and/or coconut
             *In my opinion, when something says "optional"... it's never a bad idea to go for it.

Mix everything in a decent sized bowl... don't try to use a bowl that's too small or you'll end up sloshing oats and syrup everywhere...trust me, I've done it many times.
Press firmly into well greased sheet pan. If you're fortunate enough to have a Silpat... I hate you and that's not fair. If not, either cooking spray or butter works. Don't use Crisco. That's gross.
Bake at 450 degrees (convection usually works best) for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
Cool and cut into bars... it's better to score them when they're still a little warm, otherwise they crumble all over the place.

Wrap the bars individually in wax paper and they should keep for like a week or so...if you can last that long without devouring them

Taco Salad

This has to be one of my favorite things ever. No really. It's crunchy and satly and creamy and cheesy...dang. I have to go make some now.

Anyway.

Ingredients:

· 1 lb ground beef
· 16 oz kidney beans
· 1 green pepper
· 1 medium onion
· 2 tomatoes
· 1 package of taco seasoning
· 1/2 c mayo
· 1/2 c french dressing
· 1/2 c milk
· 1 head lettuce (or 3 hearts of romaine)
· 2 cups shredded cheddar
· 8 oz tortilla chips (crushed)

I get it. This kinda looks like a long list of ingredients and we're poor starving foodies. BUT. The pepper, onion, tomatoes, milk, (possibly the french dressing) and lettuce can all be found in your school's salad bar.

Bam. Creativity.
Side note: Use 80/20 ground beef (80% lean 20% fat)... it's not really lean, it contains some fat but guys come on. Fat is flavor. Duh hoy.

Once you have scavenged for all the ingredients, mix the mayo, french dressing and taco mix together in a medium bowl (I've used a coffee mug in a pinch) and set aside.
Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain the juices from the pan. If you don't have a pot lid, a plate held in place with a kitchen towell works just as well.
If you've gotten the lettuce at the salad bar, it's all chopped up for you. So chop the peppers and onions into like 1 inch chunks and toss with the lettuce, cheese and ground beef.
Drizzle the entire thing with the dressing and toss with the crushed tortilla chips.

You won't be able to stop eating, I swear.

Oh Hey There.

My name is Emily Joy.

 I'm a 20 year old English and Secondary Education major living in the lovely state of Massachusetts. I really like books. And the smell of books. Seriously, I could walk into a bookstore and just stand there and sniff (I wouldn't reccomend it though... people can give you some pretty strange looks). I like to think I'm a nice person. Sometimes people tell me this.

I have awesome friends and family. They're my favorites. AND...I have an adorable dog named Jane.

Oh yeah. It's love.

I have a problem with sweets. Sugar, chocolate, baked things (http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/ is like crack to me) are all my weaknesses. My room mate and I recently tried to see how long we could go without eating something sweet. I lasted about four days...then I realized I had an unopened bag of popcorn and a jar of Nutella whispering sweet nothings into my ears.

But I don't like avocado. I know, I know...but I find them slimy. The only way I'll eat them is in sushi. And I don't like people who don't know how to dress. Here this is probably easier:

Some things I like:

- Eye makeup

- Edgar Allan Poe

- Owls

- Chile Spiced Mango from Trader Joe's

- Heels

- My Bible

- Coffee

- Zombies

- Music

- Sparkley things

- Tiramisu

- Green things

- Tea

- Unlined journals

- Dresses

-The beach at night

- My car

Some things I don't like

- Negative people

- Stickers that come off of fruit

- Diet food

- Mayo (by itself as a condiment... it's fine mixed into other things though)

- When people wear brown and black together

- When it snows in April

- The frayed edges of paper after it's been ripped out of a notebook

- Incorrect grammar

-Bleu cheese

Basically, I love music, food, writing and life!

College Food Sucks.

It's a sad fact of life, friends. Every once in a while College cafeterias may have "Panini Day" or "Soup Night", but this is a rarity. We are subjected to meal after meal of fattening fries, peculiar pizza, contemptuous chicken-fingers and primeval sandwiches. And even if we choose to turn to supermarket alternatives, the options are often so expensive we find ourselves at a loss. Are we to suffer semester after semester of bad pre-made food? Good news... we aren't. With a few solid tricks on our side, we can go from freaking terrible to freaking amazing.