Down & Dirty Cake

Get your nasty little mind out of the gutter! Gosh, I can't believe that is what you thought I was talking about! Bad Mixing Minx reader, bad!

Nah, it's cool, but seriously, this is my Down & Dirty Cake. I recently took part in a gardening adventure which resulted in the flickering of a few light bulbs in my head. Gardening requires quite a bit of time, effort, and patience. Preparing the yard, where you rake up the leaves and discover a whole new species of bugs that you never knew existed. Next you get super friendly with the dirt as you dig holes for the seeds and plant them. After planting all of your seeds you rejoice with a feeling of confidence that you completed the task you had planned. You begin to water these little seeds which is then followed by waiting....and waiting some more. Here is where the Gardening Gnome Gods (aka the GGG) come into play, they snicker behind your neighbors bushes and mutter back and forth about how much fun they are going to have watching you wait for your seeds to show some kind of action.

Well there you are, great job Mr. Green Thumb, you got those seeds in the ground and you have been keeping up with the watering, but what now? Oh, yes, now you wait even longer, you sit on your cute tushie and wait.

After waiting for what seems like forever, after putting in so much effort, hard work, time, money, care, love (yes, plants need love too) and after considering some therapy services for the strange Gnome-e like snickers you seem to be hearing, something abso-freakin-loutly amazing happens. Those seeds that you cherished and cared for so deeply begin to sprout and with continued care, they grow buds, and finally blossom in to the most beautiful flowers you have ever seen. Why are they so beautiful you ask? They are because you put your time, effort and patience into growing this garden.

So basically, to sum up, there are many aspects of life that can be compared to gardening. If you have a goal, if you are determined to do something, if you strongly believe in what you are going after, if your feelings are so intense that you truly believe that they are real, then go for it. Go for it big and as you do, remember that to see your seed grow and bloom into a flower, you will need to put in your time, effort, and a great deal of patience. Amen!

My Down & Dirty cake is made with yellow cake mix, chocolate frosting, oreo and chocolate graham cracker “dirt,” sesame seeds, and marzipan sprouts and flowers. I am hoping you caught on, gardening can be quite a dirty job that requires you to get down to plant and care for your seeds, also “Down & Dirty” sounds quite incising to convince you to actually read my blibbity blab. 

This cake represents my determination to go after those things that I feel are important, I continue to put in my efforts and care, and secretly I hope and pray that what I am going after is worth the time, effort, and patience....if not, I am so joining the GGG and muttering with the rest of the Gnomes as you try to plant a garden. :)

xox – The Mixing Minx

Patience and Cherry Pie

I am a Mixing Minx, I love to cook, bake, and concoct anything that I can in the kitchen while being some what sly and minxy. Some of my mixings are simplistic, and take minimal time and effort while others are more complex and require time, patience and accuracy.

Take a cherry pie for example, first you have to take out the dough and let it come to room temperature before you can even roll it out. After flouring the work surface and rolling pin you can roll out your dough and place it in the pie dish. Don't forget to turn on your oven, which means that you need to wait for it to preheat before you should place your pie inside. Damn, we haven't even put the pie filling in (the easiest part) and I am already loosing my patience.

So then you open your can of pie filling (if we were making an apple pie, well that would take even longer, no canned filling for that) and carefully pour it into the pie dish. Now re-flour your work surface and pin, roll out your second pie crust and hold your breath as you carefully align it on top of your filled pie dish. I like to get all fancy and punch out cute shapes for decoration, so tack on extra time for that.

Finally, push the top and bottom pie crust together around the edges, fold any excess under and use your fingers to create a waved edge. Then wet your hands, gently wipe them around the outside of your pie and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top. Are we done yet? No! Grab your pie crust ring, or for kicks and giggles, have a grand time making one out of tin foil.

Super duper finally, if you are like me and your delicate cherry pie is ready and the oven is preheated, say a little prayer: Dear Cooking Gods, please let this incredible cherry pie bake thoroughly, remind me not to open the oven too often, and for the love of all goods that are baked, let this cherry pie be tasty and worth the effort and time I put into it.

Let your cherry pie bake, baking time may vary depending on oven, size of pie, placement in the oven, and a variety of other factors. When the time is right, take your cherry pie out, let it cool and enjoy the fruits of your hard work.

Of course, if you are a wise Mixing Minx reader, you will be able to read between the lines and realize that this is not just about a cherry pie...

xox – The Mixing Minx

Caffeine Cupcakes

Oh yeah my friends, these are Caffeine Cupcakes! Caffeine – an unusual drug that I have slowly become accustomed to out of necessity. The past two weeks and the following two weeks will be sufficiently doused in caffeine from my two cups a day of espresso. Which means that the past two weeks and the following two weeks will also be accompanied by multiple trips to the bathroom, but that's besides the point.

Grad school is a witch, with a b. It has forced me to lower my standards on the number of hours slept per night, increased my production of tears and their spontaneous ability to spew out at any given point, and has aided in my reduced mental stability. Grad school has done something so terrible, it has forced me to do something that I really rather not, it has enabled me to become a caffeine addict!

In honor of caffeine and the Gods (devils?) who created it, I have made Caffeine Cupcakes. These cupcakes are made with a yellow cake base, chocolate espresso frosting, and topped with dark chocolate covered espresso beans, all for your caffeine in take pleasure :)

So as this semester comes to an end and my fate in a course is in question, I reflect back on the previous semesters and conclude that the first two weeks and the last two weeks of each semester provide the proper breeding ground for an overly caffeinated, immensely sleep deprived, one step forward and twenty steps backward, psycho basket-case. Adding any other outside factors to this equation results in a new psycho basket-case hybrid form that can only be tamed by chocolate and hugs.

xox – The Mixing Minx

Have Faith and Trust, Not-Cakes

My faithful and caring Mixing Minx readers, I have something new for you, something out of the ordinary and unusual. If you are here only to admire baked goods, then leave. If you are here and do not like cheese, and/or its pairing with meat, then leave. If you are here and strongly object to fried foods, then leave! Otherwise, hold on to your jaw, so it doesn't drop to your belly button when your mouth overflows with saliva from ogling at these Have Faith and Trust, Not-Cakes.

Have you ever had a situation arise where someone who seemingly cared for you did something to break your faith and trust in them? Trust is such an important factor to have in life, trust in your family, your friends, your significant other. Once the trust is broken, and the faith in that person is lost, how is it recovered? Can it be recovered? How long will it take? My thought, it depends. Every situation and person is different, some faith and trust will be forever lost, and others will return with time.

I like to think going with your gut feeling is often the right way approach and handle a situation. Currently, my gut is screaming, (not from a lactose induced frenzy, I haven't eaten one of these yet) I have trust and faith in it, and if on the off chance it is wrong (if I am wrong) then at least I can be wrong with a bang. BANG!

In honor of my pleasantly surprising new found old friend, and the new friends I have recently made, I present to you a daring mix, a twist on the typical cheese stick you may find at any restaurant, this is a munster cheese and salami stick. I carefully rolled munster cheese and salami together, double breaded it, and then said a little prayer, as I always do before cooking....it goes something like this: Dear Cooking Gods, please let this food turn out alright, Amen. I trusted and had faith in my gut feeling about this new dish and fried up a storm. 

Since I am a fairy fan, I will conclude with this:

“All you need is faith, trust, and a little pixie dust.”

xox – The Mixing Minx