I passed and a Friday recipe!

1. I only missed four on my test, which I was happy about. The teachers of these courses leave a lot to be desired. I generally just studied the materials while he blathered on about his previous jobs or buying a car or whatever he was talking about at the moment. So I was happy with a minus four. Another bonus, besides passing the test? I got to sit next to a very fun and cute guy for three days. That doesn't happen nearly enough, unfortunately.

2. We had dinner group tonight. Three couples and me. I make myself do stuff like this so I get to know other people in the ward. It's not so bad being the only single girl. However, the first dinner group I was in they put three single girls with two couples. Totally lame. Kind of like those two couples were the only ones who could stand being with us or something. My last group was very fun, however. Anyway, tonight was a brand new group and it ended up fun because I brought The Great Dalmuti for us to play. I actually got two jester cards when I was the Greater Peon so I got to declare a revolution and switch places with the Dalmuti. It was fantastic! If you've never played, this will be meaningless to you but if you have, well, you're probably cheering right along with me. Oh and I have the German version of the game because I'm just that cool.

3. I bought Enchanted. Such a stinkin' cute movie!

4. The new Mariah Carey CD comes out April 15. I think I need to start a countdown on my blog. In case you weren't aware, she is probably one of my most favorite singers. Ever.

5. My almost four year old niece can recognize a picture of President Monson, which is exciting to me because her mother, my sister, was unable to name him on the cover of the latest Ensign magazine. No comments please! ;) Anyway, my sister asked her how she learned who he was and she said "Sunbeams." LOVE THAT!!

Here's the recipe for today. It's adapted from the Betty Crocker website and it's called Fudgy Brownie Trifle. I first had it at a Pampered Chef party years ago. This recipe is a little different than the PC version which has you mix the pudding and the cool whip together. But you can do that if you want -- either way works. The original recipe calls for a small container of cool whip but I'd recommend buying the bigger one and use what you think works for you or for your bowl. Also, you can use whatever pudding you like but I always use a "white" pudding like cheesecake or white chocolate or vanilla.

It's one of those desserts that looks and tastes really good AND it's so easy to make. You'll impress your friends with this one so you must try it!

Fudgy Brownie Trifle
1 package (1 lb 2.3 oz) Betty Crocker® fudge brownie mix
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
3 eggs
1 box (4-serving size) instant pudding and pie filling mix
2 cups cold milk
1 bag (8 oz) toffee bits (I just sprinkle on what looks good - never use a whole bag)
1 container (16 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan. In medium bowl, stir brownie mix, oil, water, and eggs until well blended. Spread in pan.

Bake 28 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out clean or almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Cut brownies into 1-inch squares. Place half of the squares in bottom of 3-quart glass bowl. Make pudding mix as directed on box for pudding, using milk. Pour half of the pudding over brownies in bowl. Top with half each of the toffee bits and whipped topping. Repeat with remaining brownies, pudding, toffee bits and whipped topping.

Cover; refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. Store covered in refrigerator.

Snow?

I haven't blogged all week - I'm not sure why. But this isn't going to be anything exciting except to point out that it snowed last night and it's supposed to snow again tonight. It's March. In Western Washington! It's so strange. Here are some pics looking out my front door:

Now I have to go study for a test I have tomorrow. I'll be taking it at 2 PM on Friday. If you're so inclined, shoot some good thoughts my way, will you? It's another Project Management class with yet another inferior instructor. Oh the pain...

A Friday Recipe

Okay so there's only 25 minutes left but it's still Friday so I'm not too late.

Here's a fantastic recipe for apple dip that I found in a PaperCrafts magazine a few years ago. Just remember it says it makes 12-15 servings, not 2 servings.

Candy Apple Dip
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2-2/3 cup toffee bits (of course you're gonna want to go for the 2/3 cup)

Mix everything together and chill. Or take a spoon and start eating right away. I'm sure you could use this with other fruit but it's just perfect with a slightly tart yet crisp apple. Yum!

The cupcakes I made yesterday actually turned out better than I thought. I gave away all but two. I also made Mini Morsel Shortbread Squares for the pizza & game party I attended tonight because I didn't have quite enough cupcakes for everyone. They were excellent, easy and quick and I will be making them again for sure. I had exactly one egg left and that's all they needed. Love that!

A list of why's

• Why are the receipts from Lowe's so freakin long? I bought one item and the receipt is literally 21 inches long. Yes, I measured.
• Why is it so much easier to keep my house clean since I prettified my living room?
• Why does this recipe say it makes 24 cupcakes but no matter how hard I tried, I could only get it to make 20?
• Why did I buy TWO copies of the same movie? You're thinking it must be a 4 star AFI top 100 movie, aren't you? Um, no. It's Grease 2! I'm thinking it'll have to be a blog candy prize at some point. Better tell your friends to get on my blog bandwagon now!
• Why does it seem like there are no normal, decent, single men in my general age range?
• Why do people feel like they can wear tiny little dresses to work when they probably shouldn't?
• Why do my roots grow out (grow in?) so fast?
• Why is this stuff mixed with cream cheese so dang good? Is it sweet? Is it spicy? Why, it's both!
• Why do I sometimes doubt promptings from the Spirit?
• Why was I blessed with such amazing friends?
• Why haven't I bought something cute and fun to wear to church on Easter?
• Why does American Express send me an application for a credit card every couple of weeks?
• Why doesn't everyone use online bill pay?
• Why did I overcook my 20 cupcakes?
• Why did I let myself run out of cereal?
• Why doesn't my upstairs neighbor get a non-squeaking bed? Let's just say, I'm SO glad she hasn't had a boyfriend in awhile.
• Why do I suck at goodbyes?
• Why can't my mom figure out sudoku?
• Why can't I get rid of the mugs that came with my dishes when I haven't used them once in the 10 years or so that I've had them?
• Why can't I get into "Wives and Daughters?"
• Why did I increase my Netflix subscription to unlimited when I tend to keep movies for far too long?
• Why aren't my eyelashes growing back any faster?
• Why am I still awake?

Only two days late...

Here are pics of my newly decorated living room. I really wish I had before pictures. But just imagine only the sofa and chair, nothing on the walls and you'll get an idea. I also really wish I was a better photographer. For example, why do I sometimes have little spots on my pictures? Someday I'll learn how to use my camera.

Here's my entry way. I bought the table & mirror at Costco Home, the jug and sticks at Pier One, the frames (still need to get pictures of people I love in them) at Kohl's and the cool little DVD boxes under the table at IKEA. I went to Jasmine's the other day and she had the same boxes. Funny! The framed art by the door is a cool quote by Gordon B. Hinckley. I'll post it another day.

This is the actual living room area. I still need to get something on the wall behind the lamp but it's almost there. Artwork and end table are from Costco Home, throw pillows from Kohl's, luxurious mink-like-throw from Bed Bath & Beyond and lamp from Lowe's. The Shut the Box game on the ottoman is from eBay. So fun.

This is my favorite place to sit -- my comfy chair. The lamp is from Lowe's and the basket containing all of my Wii paraphernalia is from Tuesday Morning.

The floor lamp is the one in which I tried to use one of those earth-saving fluorescent bulbs and had to go back to one of the earth-killing regular bulbs. It was truly as if I had a spotlight in the room. Horrible. I do have an earth-saving bulb in the table lamp though. Hopefully Leonardo Di Caprio will approve.

And finally, here's my cool TV from Video Only, Nintendo Wii from the Nintendo store, old DVD player from who knows where, cute "Be's" sign that Jeni brought back from Utah a few years ago and my favorite thing: my new clock from Target. You can't really see it but it has a pendulum in it. And best of all? It does not tick. I had to take one clock back because it ticked noisily. Call me Captain Hook but I truly cannot stand a ticking clock in my home.

There you have it - my fabulously lovely new living room. I love it! Now I'm working on my dining room/craft area. I hope that by the time I clean sweep/gut the room, I'll have enough money saved to buy a new table & chairs and artwork. I have to work around one of those white cube style bookcases from IKEA but I feel hopeful that I can cute-i-fy that room as well as we did my living room.

Finally -- I LOVE that Google changes their look on holidays and other times throughout the year. Go look today. I'm sorry TBA but I love Google! If Live does this, tell me!

I'm going to be late to work but didn't want La Dilettante to be bored today. Hope this helps! :)

Happy Monday

TMI alert -- but I turn into a total insomniac once a month. So annoying! Thus, I'm still awake at 10:43 PM when I should be asleep. Here's what's running through my brain right now:

1. I made these brownies tonight to give to a friend with a St. Patrick's Day birthday. They turned out great. I have a much more complicated recipe for these where you make a brownie from scratch using a can of Hershey's syrup (seriously!) but these were easy, quick, wonderful and best of all? I had all of the ingredients in my cupboard already (come on, who keeps cans of Hershey's syrup on hand??) Plus they made a ton! I had enough to give a plate to...

2. My fantastic home teacher. He came over tonight and re-hung my new mirror with these molly-screws or bolts or some thing to keep the mirror from ripping the sheet rock and then falling and breaking into a million pieces. I love having a faithful home teacher who even though he's not Mr. Handyman and he's totally and completely busy, he's always there when I need him.

3. Speaking of my new mirror, I will post pics of my newly decorated living room tomorrow. It is bee-YOO-ti-ful.

4. This is probably the most important topic of the night but Oprah's hair is just too long. Jasmine and I were discussing it and I think O's hair is out of control. I really noticed it last week when she had it back in a pony tail. Check out her show and let me know your thoughts. I really won't sleep until I know what you think. Oh but speaking of Oprah - did you see today's show with Leona Lewis singing my most favorite song of the moment, Bleeding Love? Fantastic.

5. I still love Guitar Hero but will I ever be able to move past easy and play the medium songs? EVER?!?! I guess if I played more than once every couple of weeks then maybe.

And finally, I ate at CPK for the fourth time in two weeks today. Isn't that just ridiculous? But I seriously love it and I don't think I can get sick of the BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad with no jicama nor can I ever grow tired of Panera's Broccoli Cheddar soup. Two of the world's most perfect meals. Enough said! :)

A recipe and a more upbeat, albeit long, post.

Okay, today is much better. The funk has moved on to overtake someone else (my heartfelt apologies if it's you) and I'm feeling more like my normal happy self. Phew! First a few random thoughts before I share a yummy recipe:

1. I'm not normally a fan of the Bachelor series. I've watched it here and there over the years but most of the time I'm just too embarrassed by the girls to watch. But have you seen the new Bachelor? Holy cow. And have you heard him speak? Dreamy. A guy I work with is Irish and I practically swoon whenever he calls. You gotta love a good accent!

2. I'm really looking forward to General Conference. I just called Comcast and added the BYU channel to my lineup. I normally just watch at my mom's or at a friend's house but I'd really like to be able to watch it at home too, if necessary. So I am giving them even more of my money for like 3 channels. I don't even watch the half of the ones I have now.

3. My recent iTunes downloads include: New Soul by Yael Naim, Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, and Proud by Richard Niles (the theme song from Biggest Loser). I love the Leona Lewis song so much. It's fantastic.

4. And speaking of Biggest Loser - do you watch? If not, you should. This week's episode was both good and bad. I like that Alli got to come back and now I think I'm rooting for her to win. Bad was Mark coming back and them ending the show without showing us who got eliminated. Annoying. Although, I think I can figure out who didn't get eliminated just by some stuff I saw on the internet this week. They didn't go out of their way to keep it a big secret.

5. My goal when I was YW president was to make it through my "tenure" without anyone getting pregnant and I am happy to say no babies were had on my watch. However, I just learned of someone (not from around here) who isn't so lucky. What are 14 year old girls doing having sex? I do not understand and it just breaks my heart.

6. I've had a box of Samoas in my cupboard for one week and they're still unopened. That might just be a new record! Actually, I think I'm going to give them to my friend who is coming over to help me hang pictures & shop for lamps tomorrow. I might just make it through this year without partaking of even one Girl Scout cookie!! Woo hoo!7. I got a nice little raise and an excellent review at work this week. I love my boss - he's super kind, supportive and so very fun. Unfortunately, I cannot keep doing the job I'm doing much longer only because I will not be able to get a substantial raise next year as I make too much for my current job classification. 2008 - the year of change for me!

8. The new Top Chef - Chicago was good! I love that show. Most of their recipes are way too out there for me (Peach Pizza??) but it's a fun show to watch. Way too many f-bombs however. Wouldn't you think you'd check yourself knowing you're on TV and maybe not swear quite as much as you usually do? People are dumb.

9. One last pop culture item -- I'm excited to see Mariah on SNL this weekend. Love her.

And with that, I'm sharing a wonderful recipe a friend gave me called "Cowboy Caviar." I was going to share another bar cookie but decided I should show that I do make other things besides desserts (actually, I pretty much only make appetizers and desserts - the easiest thing for the single girl to bring to a party!!) Anyway, this is super easy, super tasty. You MUST buy the Fritos scoops to serve with this, however - that's an order!

2 cans of northern beans (white) or black eyed peas
2 cans of Green Giant white shoepeg corn
3 large tomatoes ~ chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped (to taste)
1 white or red onion, diced
3 fresh jalapeno peppers, chopped (optional - I never put these in)

Mix in a large container/bowl and pour 1 cup of bottled Italian salad dressing on top and stir. Chill then serve with FRITOS or tortilla chips. Yum, yum!