Sunday Sundae Showdown

Sunday is the best day of the week to eat an ice-cream sundae. It’s probably a proven fact. Since I live with two extreme individuals I turned Sunday Sundae into Sunday Sundae Showdown. 

The first step in the process was creating a mammoth sundae.

I have constructed a diagram to better explain the contents of the concoction.

Starting at the bottom of the bowl we have a pancake topped with a scoop of ice-cream and hot fudge.

Then comes cereal. More ice-cream and hot fudge followed by cookie pieces and more ice-cream topped with whipped cream.

Next a cookie was placed on top and the sundae was then covered in maple syrup.

These two ladies do not take ice-cream eating lightly. They have trained to hone their craft and perfect the art of eating.

Of course this was a showdown; There could only be one winner. Clearly Kristin won while Kaitlynn lost.

It is also now the season of fall food and my birthday! I’m so excited for candy corn, caramel apples, and pumpkin flavored everything.

21!

My mom and sister told me about a recipe they tried. I haven’t tasted it, since they live 400 miles away, but it looks de- wait for it… -licious.

Click here for the recipe!

Hoe Downs And Breakfast Goals

If you’re a UF student (especially a senior) then you’re probably working on the F Book.

Documenting the traditions in the F Book will earn you graduation swag. Since I don’t want to walk across the stage with a naked robe I’m getting started now.

My first to cross off: Broward breakfast.

I ate so much gator waffle, oatmeal, bacon, eggs, and coffee coffee coffee.

I love thank you cards, I love cake more. I assume that most people feel the same. In exchange for offering up your house for a party, I’ll most likely give you a cake rather than a card.

And I might make it with pancake syrup. It tastes like a giant panCAKE.

The party was actually a hoe down.

Mug Shot

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I Love College

You know how the song goes… right? Well I guess that song doesn’t mirror my college life anyhow, other than the fact that the singer loves college.

It’s really is great to be a Florida Gator. I love everything on campus from the historic buildings to the automated moving shelves in the libraries.

Now that I’m back to fending for myself I’m either eating super healthy or I’m eating, well, Moe’s. I can’t stay away from it. Not only does Moe’s have those fancy new Coke dispensers, but it also attracts all the champions. I love seeing Olympic competitors and UF athletes around campus and Gainesville. The first time I ate at Moe’s this semester my friends and I saw one of the gymnasts.

I have also recently joined a Christian sorority (Theta Alpha). This is something I never thought I’d do. Large groups of girls isn’t really my thing, but I love all of these girls. Plus they give me cookies.

Guess who learned how to make vegetables unhealthy? Me. It took a trial and error process to work out the kinks and get it right. Fried zucchini!

One more thing; despite my efforts to not give in to being a part of social media (Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, ect.) I have become an avid user of Spotify. The second I heard Bob Boilen mention it on NPR I was all over it.      http://open.spotify.com/user/autumnmccurdy      <CHECK IT YO

The Cutest Meal I’ve Ever Eaten

From the moment I saw my roommate’s Hello Kitty waffle maker two weeks ago I’ve been wanting to use it. Today I finally got my hands on it.

And yeah, she’s got the toaster too. She’s basically the most awesome person ever.

Luckily I had a chocolate bar in my freezer so I was able to make chocolate chip waffles. We created a sort of peanut butter waffle too. They definitely were not bad.

I butchered the first batch but, I eventually got the hang of it. If I didn’t love pancakes and waffles so much I would say they were too cute to eat.

I’m so glad I finally had a free day without homework or studying, not only to make waffles but to finally finished a painting I’ve been working on and start another one.

Acrylic on canvas.

Oil on canvas.

Autumn & Co.

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking with friends lately. This is partially because I’m too cheap to go out to eat and partially because I really should learn how to make things that you can’t put ice cream on top of.

I’m going to brag on my friend Kaitlynn and myself for our made-from-scratch chicken and dumplings. I’m pretty sure the recipe came from this cook book, but I can’t be sure.

Along with the chicken and dumplings we made asparagus and a molasses cake. The cake was AMAZING. I rarely use all caps to enphasize a point, but I’m doing it now.

 

More recently I had a lunch with my friends Katie and Betsy. We ate nothing but mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.

This post proves that I’m a carb junkie.

I’m The Girl With The Pizza The Kind That’s Good To Eatzza

I usually loathe being immobile for more than an hour at a time but that’s exactly what I did straight through five made-for-TV movies.

Today was definitely one of the least productive days I’ve had in a very long time, but after a busy week I think it was much needed. A small group of five close friends and I made pizza after pizza while watching low-budget movie after low-budget movie.

Pizza #1: Breakfast Pizza  Movie #1: Life Time’s Natalee Holloway

Okay we didn’t write down or make exact recipes but here’s a rough one.

You need turkey sausage, sharp cheddar cheese, frozen hash browns, and about three eggs. After you’ve stretched out your pizza dough (or defrosted a frozen one for the lazier people) pile everything onto it in no particular order and bake at 375° for 30 minutes.

The movie was cheesy with terrible acting, it was awesome, my second favorite of the day.

Pizza #2 Berry Dessert Pizza  Movie #2: Keeping Up With The Randalls

First you need to bake the crust with butter and honey spread in a thin  layer over the top. Once it’s cooled add either cream cheese frosting or cream cheese mixed with powdered sugar on top. Then, using either fresh or frozen, add berries on top of the cream cheese.

As for the movie, it seemed like a combination of The Family Stone, The Proposal and about two other movies. Let’s just say it’s not one I’ll watch again.

Pizza #3: Cheese Pizza

Movie #3: Murder at 75 Birch

Unfortunately I had no part in making this one. I did however, have part in eating it. It was awesome.

I believe it was a six-cheese pizza with roasted garlic and alfredo sauce.

The movie was pure drama: a sister-in-law murdered, a tragic accident killing a husband, a brother-in-law cheating with two women and killing for love (and insurance money).

Pizza #4: Chocolate Dessert Pizza  Movie #4: One Angry Juror

Again just a basic pizza crust already cooked. Chocolate frosting, marshmallows and M&Ms are added one top. And that’s it.

I’m pretty sure I was either asleep or distracted during this movie, but I do remember a lot of yelling. That must mean it’s good right?

Snack #5: Cheesy Breadsticks  Movie #5: Last Man Standing

It’s a no-brainer, it’s just bread with cheese on top.

The movie was super suspenseful, but by far my favorite, mostly because Mekhi Phifer was in it.

By the way, I’m super great at making pizza crust now.

Frozen Fruit And A Killer Sandwich

I’ve been forcing myself to learn how to make real food. In a few weeks I’ll go back to living on my own and I refuse to eat nothing but green beans, frozen yogurt, peanut better, or grapefruits for every meal.

I’ve mastered baking, but I should really broaden my horizon.

I figured out how to make fruit popsicles. The recipe is really easy to make.

You just combine fruit and sugar, about 2 cups of fruit and 2 table spoons of a fine grain sugar will yield 3 medium-sized popsicles.

I made two flavors: strawberry and yogurt and lemon blueberry. I tried adding plain yogurt to the strawberry for a cream sickle.

Okay, the next recipe is a tuna sandwich with humus. If you’re skeptical I don’t blame you, but I promise it’s good.

I like to make my tuna salad with olive oil, capers, parsley, lemon and onions instead of mayonnaise and relish. I used toasted wheat bread, spread the humus on, layer sliced cucumbers then the tuna salad.

It’s been a relaxing week because I got a chance to not only make food and blog but I also managed to find some free time to do a few paintings. This is my favorite from this week.

The End Of An Era

Devotion is planning one month in advance, sewing costumes, buying 20 tickets and waiting in line for seven hours in the rain for a movie. It sounds insane, it is insane, but it is necessary.

I’ve grown up with the Harry Potter series, ever since I was a third grader I’ve been an HP reader and life-long fan. It was only fitting that my friends and I go all out for the midnight premiere.

Two of the guys from our group decided at 5:30 to begin their wait to get prime seats, so I made them a Harry Potter themed paper bag dinner.

The main course: Lightning bolt sandwiches. These were made to resemble Harry’s scar.

Dessert: Crystal ball cookies with fortunes.

And a few extra treats.

Popin’ 4th

The 4th of July is for celebrating all the wonderful things about America. Freedom, baseball, jazz music and gluttony.

My sister and I made cake pops for an Amurica (yes spelled with a U) themed party, they were pretty much a hit.

We used a  red, white and blue funfetti cake mix made by Pillsbury. That way the pops are American inside and out.

Cake pops are super easy to make.

The first step is to make a cake. Once the cake is cooled you’ll crumble the cake into a bowl, make sure you get rid of all the big chunks.

Next mix in frosting with the cake. Be careful not to add too much so it doesn’t get too thin.

Roll the cake/frosting combination into balls, or whatever shape you’d like. I made a few star-shaped ones and a few flag- shaped ones.

Let the cake freeze for about 20 minutes.

While they are freezing melt baking chocolate in a bowl to dip the cake pops in.

Once fully frozen put the cake balls on a stick then dip them into the chocolate covering the entire cake ball. Freeze the chocolate then decorate!

My friends and I are probably the only people over the age of 20 who still have slip-n-slides at our parties.

For more decorating ideas and recipes for cake balls check out www.bakerella.com