I would like them in a house, with a mouse? – Cheeseball mouse

Cheeseball with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, walnuts, pecans shaped like a mouse with a toothpick nose

I might have a thing for cheeseballs.

Cheeseball with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, walnuts, pecans shaped like a mouse with a toothpick nose - Edible food art look-a-like

And really, if I’m going to shape something made of cheese, doesn’t a mouse seem perfectly logical?

Cheeseball shaped like a mouse

Right, because I make my food choices based on logic.

Cheese ball recipe with raisin eyes 
That’s kinda like saying that I didn’t feel bad when I popped his little nose off.  

Inside of a cheeseball with nuts and peppers

And sliced him open…

*cries…and then digs in with a cracker* Mmmm.

Broccoli raisin salad – Recipe or no recipe?

I was recently denied from a food blog site because I didn’t post enough recipes. So fine, here, have a recipe, pfft. :P

Broccoli Raisin Salad

Dressing:

  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup sugar

Mix together first and let set while you make the rest

Salad:

  • A head of broccoli (maybe it’ll be 2 cups, maybe it’ll be 4 cups)
  • The half an onion that’s sitting in your fridge (or maybe that small red one you didn’t have plans for yet)
  • The rest of the raisins in the box (about 1/2 cup, if you really want a number)
  • 1/2 cup of almonds…or walnuts…or both….or maybe 3/4 cup if you like nuts…or maybe chop a whole cup ‘cause you’ll likely eat half of them while you’re making this

Mix together. Add dressing. Mix some more. Make more dressing if you think you need it or like it creamier….or don’t. Maybe add some salt. Maybe don’t. Maybe sneak the kids some broccoli while you’re at it ‘cause they’ll think it’s a treat at this point…not a veggie. Put in the fridge until ready to be served. The mayo/sugar dressing gets better with time and nothing in the salad can really get “soggy” with it, so don’t be afraid to let it set for several hours or even overnight. Or eat it now. Whatever.

And that’s why I don’t do many recipes. I don’t *remember* the recipes. I didn’t *follow* the recipe I found online in the first place.

As much as I hated my mother always telling me “until it looks right” (and still do! how do I know what it’s supposed to look like if I’ve never made it before??), that’s how I end up cooking a lot of times. I work with what I have in the fridge or pantry….I adjust to taste a lot….I leave out ingredients (this likely called for bacon or something….and vinegar in the dressing) or add other ingredients.

In the end, if it tastes good, we eat it, and nobody cares if it was supposed to be walnuts instead of almonds or if the recipe called for red onions instead. It just works. But it really doesn’t translate well to publishing a recipe online. :P

Peanut butter and raisins – Let the art begin

strawberries frozen fruit, peanut butter and raisins on rice cakes

For me personally, I’m not a huge fan of peanut butter and raisins. Part of that might be because I can’t stand celery, and therefore “ants on a log” are out of the question.

The above rice cakes? Uh, yeah, please keep the cardboard to yourself. I’ll pass.

But raisins are awesome, nonetheless, because you get to draw with them…..create faces and shapes and abstract art and even just piles of fruitiness that are somehow better because you make them yourself. Raisins are incredible like that….even if they are just dried up, wrinkly fruit blobs.