Mellie Dee

Recipe | M&M Blondies

August 12, 2011 by Mellie Dee 2 Comments

Here is the other dessert I made. This one is divine and I know I will make multiple more times in the future. They stole the show and I personally loved it

Is it shocking that I’ve never made or eaten a blondie before? It’s really just a brownie but made with brown sugar to create that blonde color.

This is the other dessert I made. It was divine and I know I will make multiple more times in the future. They stole the show and I personally loved them which is saying a lot coming from a non-sweets lover.

These are my favorite m&ms! But I can only have a few before I get sick of them since I’m not a lover of sweets.

via

Aren’t they beautiful? One day I’ll take pretty pictures like this.

M&M Blondies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 bag mini M&Ms (with a few reserved for the top)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray.
Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until it browns and begins to smell nutty. Make sure not to burn it! Allow the butter to cool lightly.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the browned butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
Stir in eggs, vanilla, and salt.
Add in flour and stir until just combined.
Add in M&Ms and stir to combine.
Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle a few additional M&Ms on top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

My final product is just as gorgeous.

Seriously, make and bring this to the next party. Adults and kids alike will love them.

Just make sure you have a very good knife to cut through those M&Ms. Plastic knives do not cut it (pun intended). I learned the hard way as I broke a plastic knife in half and one of my co-workers broke another one in thirds.

In Allie’s recipe, she had coconut shreds put in … but I’m not a big fan of coconut and was afraid some people might be allergic so I opted out of it.

Recipe | S’mores Bars

August 12, 2011 by Mellie Dee Leave a Comment

This is one of the desserts I made on my last day. I loved the other one better than this one so I’m posting the one I simply just like.

[Recipe from Chocolate and Carrots]

S’mores Bars

Ingredients:

16 sheets of graham crackers
25 big marshmallows
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preparation:

Spray cooking spray in an 8 –inch pan.
In a food processor, crush the graham crackers completely.
In a large bowl, combine marshmallows and butter. Microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring in between until completely melted.
Put in the melted mixture in the food processor with the graham crackers and grind until blended.
Knead in the chocolate chips and push into the pan.
Place into the refrigerator until hardened and cut into squares.

The reason I was not a big fan of this recipe is because it was hard to work with. Everyone knows when marshmallows are melted, you have to work fast, else everything will be super sticky and hard. Lesson learned.

Plus on top of that, it was so hard to cut!

Just look at it … it doesn’t look that appetizing to me. And I didn’t have the pretty layers like Caroline did in the previous picture. All in all, it was a fail.

When it came time to eat it, it was very chewy and for some, it felt hard because they didn’t have teeth of a teenager anymore. Whoops. Really need to think of your audience before making something. Lesson learned.

If I ever make this again, I might just use fewer marshmallows so it’s not as hard so it’s more of a cookie texture and less of a bar of chewiness.

But don’t get me wrong. It really was tasty. I’m just a hard critic when it comes to my own foods.

Capture That Dream

August 11, 2011 by Mellie Dee Leave a Comment

If you follow me on Twitter, you can hear me talk about FTK (For The Kids) a lot. It’s an organization that helps promote pediatric cancer and collect donations in hopes of finding a cure, all by throwing events throughout the year.

I’ve been coming up with logo ideas for this year’s theme as well as others in the organization. Our theme this year is “Capture That Dream.”

I don’t really share my ideas with people I know but I felt pretty confident to share them with y’all. They are just very rough sketches I made in a few minutes.

Kids frolicking in the meadow catching butterflies. Bright and happy. There is a cloud in the back because dreams.

I think this one is quite hideous but these are kids on the cloud grabbing a star or stars if you want. I’m not that big of a fan of this but it was just an idea.

This is my fave. It most likely won’t be our logo but I am hoping they will want to use this for the words portion of it. A “C” in the-the form of a dream catcher.

It’s a long shot they will use any of this but it was pretty fun.

I’ll be putting up the recipes of the desserts I made and what I thought about them in the future post. Keep a look out! 🙂

Farewell To Old Friends …

August 10, 2011 by Mellie Dee 2 Comments

Let’s raise a glass to the bitter end
Farewell to old friends
Will you be the same when we see you again

-Dixie Chicks, Bitter End

I had last Friday off so Sissy and I spent some time together. We went to eat at Cheddar’s before heading to Walmart to buy some things.

Sissy

Then we came home and she wanted a new profile picture for her Facebook so we took a bunch. I’m well aware our family lives in like the freaking jungle. So many plants that you can’t even see in our backyard.

My first Black Tire (Guinness and Flat Tire)

Then I went out to celebrate Nicole getting her first job ever!! A teaching job right here in Katy! So proud of her. Nicole, Michelle, Rachael, and I met at Otis (?) first because Rachael was hungry. Then Nicole, Michelle, and I headed to Baker’s Street.

We talked about a lot of things which will leave me scarred for a little while. I can’t share the details because they’re all personal but … let’s just say I’m educated. If you can guess what we talked about I’ll give you a cookie.

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Today was my farewell party. One summer has passed and it was time to move on to my last year of college.

My team here do it B-I-G. An invite to everyone on the team or anyone I might know to come to my party. Cake, gift giving, and speeches.

They made me take home the remainder of the chocolate and vanilla marble cake. The flowers look blue but it was actually purple. Preeety! There were two more flowers at the bottom but two of the ~~men~~ boys swiped them because they love frosting. Weirdos. It’s kinda cute.

Cute little gift bag. $25 gift card and Twix bar. Cute little card. Signatures. I felt very loved. So dang shy and kept saying “Thank you.”

I am very blessed to have worked with them for 5 summers and one winter. It has been a great experience.

Then I ran home and had my phone conference with FTK. I am so excited for this year. It is going to be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

To give thanks to the co-workers, I went to H-E-B to buy some ingredients. I just finished making two desserts to bring tomorrow. I’ll share with you the recipes soon!

Going off to blog read and Prison Break.

One day of work left then my one week of summer starts.

Trader Joe’s in Texas?!

August 5, 2011 by Mellie Dee 6 Comments

Yes. You read that correctly.

Sissy overheard a man that works at Kroger, here in Houston, that a Trader Joe’s will be popping up soon.

The first one is said to be in Dallas. Then building in Houston and Austin as well. So those of you who moved from places that have Trader Joe’s and landed here in one of those cities, you’re in luck!

Here’s an article for you to read if you’re skeptical about it.

I will finally get to see what they hype is all about!

I wish they build one in San Antonio. Guess if I like Trader Joe’s that much, I’ll make the drive to Austin for it.

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I tried some Whey Protein today. It was pretty yummy but I don’t know if I would need it. Maybe once I’m in San Antonio where I don’t eat that much meat.

How does one know how much protein to take?!

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If you follow my twitter account you would know this.

I won my first giveaway!!! Thanks to Team Giles and Flatout Bread!

It comes with so much stuff and I’m very excited to try it all out! Eeep!

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It’s been a really good Friday so far. Got to hang out with Sissy and winning the giveaway.

But the day isn’t over. I get to see some of my best girls tonight! Whoo!!