good wife...almost

so after being away from the home and husband for about 10 days, it took awhile to get back in the swing of things. after a week of being back my suitcase still wasn't unpacked. and i have to say, i have the best husband. B is a neat freak and he knew i was working hard so he didn't even hassle me about it. love him. this sight graced the LIVING ROOM FLOOR for a week. that's right, i never even took it upstairs.



in return for the understanding i made him cookies. he likes yellow cake cookies and i like making them because they are easy. there were, however, some problems with this plan; the first being that my kitchen is too small to have my kitchen-aid out all the time and so pulling it out of the bottom of the pantry is a pain in the ass. i did not pull out the mixer this time and my arms are not strong enough to mix the batter with the requisite 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of oil. and so, like the lazy housewife that i am, i added a bit more oil and egg to the mixture which resulted in this mushiness:



and this:


FLAT COOKIES :( i added a bit of flour to them and the other batches came out better.




yay! not that flat!

the day after the cookies, i was apparently feeling martha-esque and decided to make a paula deen recipe for empanadas that i had seen on foodnetwork.com. it seemed totally easy. i went to the grocery and got all 5 ingredients (this is the optimum number for any recipe i attempt)and started making them. i am including the recipe below so that you can all laugh at how easy this shit was.

needless to say, "easy" involved a gigantic mess and me flipping out at B for not being enthusiastic enough over them after all my hard work! poor husband. i apparently wanted a parade and all he could muster (after waiting 3 hours to eat) was a, "these are good baby."

oh yeah! and towards the end of this process i was totally over cutting out those stupid little cirlces and so i just made one BIG one with all of the leftover crust. it was the size of a calzone and i ate the whole thing. i just figure less carbs because less crust, right?




Ingredients
3 cups chopped, cooked chicken
1 (8-ounce) package shredded Colby and Monterey Jack cheese blend
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts
Water
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly grease a baking sheet. In a large bowl, combine the chicken and next 7 ingredients. Unroll 1 piecrust onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 15-inch circle. Cut out rounds, using a 3-inch cookie cutter. Re-roll dough as needed. Repeat procedure with remaining piecrusts, making 12 to 15 circles total. Arrange 1 round on a clean, flat surface. Lightly brush the edges of crust with water. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of chicken mixture in the center of the round. Fold the dough over the filling, pressing the edges with a fork to seal. Repeat with the remaining rounds and chicken mixture. (Up to this point, the recipe can be made ahead and frozen for up to 1 month). Arrange empanadas on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.