Breakfast Bread Pudding

I'm having a horrible time trying to get my pictures (with descriptions) from Mexico City up on my blog for some reason, so for now, I'll share a recipe. I got it from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook Eat Well, Lose Weight.

Breakfast Bread Pudding

5 to 6 slices whole wheat cinnamon-swirl bread or cinnamon-raisin bread

Nonstick cooking spray

1 1/2 cups fat-free milk

3 eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 5 1/2 oz can apricot nectar or peach nectar (2/3 cup)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat oven to 325. Cut enough of the bread into cubes to make 4 cups. Place bread cubes in a shallow baking pan. Bake about 10 minutes or until bread is dry, stirring once. Cool on a wire rack.

2. Lightly coat six 6-ounce souffle dishes or custard cups with nonstick cooking spray. Divide bread crumbs among the prepared dishes. In a medium bowl combine milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg; beat with a rotary beater or wire whisk. Pour milk mixture evenly over bread cubes. Press lightly with the back of a spoon to thoroughly moisten bread.

3. Place souffle dishes in a 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Place baking pan on oven rack. Carefully pour hot tap water into the baking pan around dishes to a depth of 1 inch.

4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife inserted near centers comes out clean. Transfer dishes to a wire rack. Let stand for 15 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, for sauce, in a small saucepan gradually stir apricot nectar into cornstarch until combined. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more.

6. If desired, remove puddings from souffle dishes. Spoon sauce over warm puddings. Makes 6 servings.

Make Ahead Directions: Prepare as above though step 2. Place souffle dishes in a 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill overnight in the refrigerator. Uncover, add hot tap water to pan. Continue with steps 4 through 6.

My notes: I had a really hard time finding wheat cinnamon bread, so I just got Pepperidge Farm Cinnamon Swirl. I also used bigger souffle dishes that I use for chicken pot pies since that's what I had (the recipe ended up making 2 of them), and I had to cook them for around an hour. I guess you could also try to up the temperature if you are using bigger dishes.

Letter to Summer (Break)

Dear Summer,

I have such fond memories of you when I was growing up. Three months free to do whatever I wanted before school started up again. So many days were spent swimming at the pool or Burraston ponds, hiking around the mountains in my backyard, or just hanging out with friends.

Oh, how I’ve missed you these last six years! Working 40+ hours a week and spending all my time indoors, not even being able to enjoy you! Well, Summer, since this is the first time in a long time that I get to be with you, I intend to make the best of it. I’m planning to fill the time with trips (Mexico City, Canada, Utah), lots of hikes, lots of house guests, photography classes, and private Spanish lessons.

Summer, I realize my time with you is short. I also realize what is waiting for me on the other end of you (Intro to Human Rights, International Communications, and Strategic Management - Communication Campaigns along with more Spanish lessons), but I know that I will most likely only get to enjoy you twice before I return to work, so I promise not to take you for granted.

I am so close to joining you, Summer. I only have a short Spanish interview and a take-home final left to finish up. And then...it’s just you and me for the next 15 weeks!

Love Always,

Cassi

Meet Ellie

This is Ellie. She is coming to visit in July. I am excited to meet her and have a feeling that I might have to talk her into staying here to live with me. She is seriously the cutest dog I have ever seen.

Ellie, I can't wait for you to visit!

(Oh yeah, and it will be nice to see Danette again, too :))

Homework...

I am currently writing two papers. One on the dominant patriarchal paradigm and one on feminism.

Nic is afraid I am going to hate men by the time I finish this Culture, Gender, and Global Communications class. LOL

Trip to Estes Park

We decided to take a short road trip up to Estes Park yesterday to get out of the house.

Estes Park is a beautiful little town up in the mountains. It's sort of like a smaller Park City.

It is also home of the Stanley Hotel (which was Stephen King's inspiration for The Shining). They have ghost tours and play The Shining 24/7 on TV. I am determined to stay here sometime before I move away!

We drove through the national park which was beautiful!

We saw lots of local wildlife.

We took a longer way home through Glen Haven, Drake, and Loveland. We loved driving through the small towns and the beautiful canyons. One of the best finds on our trip was the Colorado Cherry Company. They had all sorts of jams, honeys, salsas, etc.

Overall it was a great day, and we can't wait to go back to Estes Park!

The Wild Animal Sanctuary

While Ben was here we decided to visit the Wild Animal Sanctuary. It is the largest and oldest sanctuary in the US that is dedicated to carnivores. In other words, they rescue carnivores that are being kept illegally (in homes, for backyard circuses, etc.) and bring them here to live out their lives. They told us that there are more tigers in captivity in Texas than there are tigers in the wild.

We saw some big cats in Africa, but these tigers are HUGE!!!

This is a video of the tiger cages. They put them in one of these by themselves when they first arrive. After awhile, if they've learned to play nice, they can move in with another tiger, and when they are ready, they place them in a large environment.

Whoever said cats don't like water didn't know this tiger!

Sleepy Lion

They have lions, tigers, bears, wolves, cougars, leopards, servals, and a camel. As Nic pointed out, camels aren't carnivores, but she was going to be euthanized, so they saved her anyway.

Nic and Ben loved these masks!

This sanctuary is a really cool place and we can't wait to go back again!

Death by Chocolate

Nic's little brother Ben has been in town this weekend, and we were all feeling like dessert. I told Ben to look through my 500 Cookies book (thanks Courtney!) and pick something.

This is what he picked. The recipe calls it "layered birthday cookie", but we call it "death by chocolate." Our goal was to put some pounds on Ben while he was visiting, and I think we succeeded. Here's the recipe:

Layered Birthday Cookie

For the Cookie:

1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter

2 cups light brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

6 tbsp. Dutch process cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

For the Topping:

1/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup (9 oz) cream cheese (we only used 8 oz since that's a package size)

1 cup (8 oz) melted bittersweet chocolate

1/2 cup (3 oz) M&Ms

1/2 cup (3 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Line two 11-in springform pans with parchment (we used two 9 inch cake pans and just used Pam instead of parchment).

Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Sift the flour, Dutch process cocoa powder and baking soda and stir into the batter. Divide the dough in two, and press into the prepared pans. Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then transfer to a wire rack.

To prepare the topping, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar together, then beat in the cream cheese and melted chocolate. Spread the topping over the cooled cookies, place one on top of the other, decorate, and top with chocolate chips and M&Ms.

Another option is to omit the cocoa powder, use whipped cream (2 cups heavy cream whipped with 2 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tbs confectioners' sugar) instead of topping, and decorate with fresh fruit.

The Reporter

Last night Nic and I attended a documentary called The Reporter. It was about New York Times op-ed columnist, Nicholas Kristof (winner of two Pulitzer Prizes). He is known for bringing human rights abuses in Asia and Africa, such as human trafficking and the Darfur conflict to light. He writes about all the things the rest of the media should be covering, but doesn't. If you get the chance, I would highly recommend watching the film. In the meantime, check out his blog.

What are YOU saving for?

AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo

A text from my friend Lucy in Kenya:

"starting frm Dec at least i've save 35 thousand (bob) am happy cauze i've bought a cow 4 my Dad..so that we will b selling the milk"

Oh, how different life is over there!

2 Weeks Down, Only 8 to Go!

Well, I made it through the first two weeks of classes. I can't believe how quickly time goes when you're on the quarter system and only have 10 weeks for each class. I ended up with only two classes, but they seem to be keeping me adequately busy, so that's good. I hope to start volunteering at the African Community Center soon to help keep me busy (plus, I want to do an internship with them next year).

After two weeks, I still don't love my Spanish class, but it's pretty much a necessary evil, so I will stick it out. :) I absolutely LOVE my Culture, Gender, and Global Communications class. According to the syllabus, it explores the ways in which culture, gender, and communication intersect and shape a variety of issues from an international and intercultural perspective. We pretty much sit around for four hours and watch videos, listen to guest speakers, and have discussions.

On a completely unrelated note, Nic and I made eggplant parmigiana last night and it was fantastic! We like to try a new recipe every week, so Danette gave me a book called 500 Casseroles, which is where this recipe came from:

Eggplant Parmigiana

2 tbs butter, melted

1/2 cup Parmesan, plus 2 tbs

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2/3 cup evaporated milk (one of the little cans)

2 medium sized eggplants, cut into 1/4 inch slices (we just used one bigger eggplant and got 6 slices out of it)

8 oz plain tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Pour melted butter into an 8-inch square casserole (we used a 9x13 casserole with 3 tbs butter). In a small bowl, combine 2 tbs grated parmesan, flour, salt, and pepper. Pour 1/3 cup evaporated milk into a shallow dish. Dip each eggplant slice in the milk, coating both sides. Then roll each cutlet in the flour mixture. Place the eggplant in a single layer in casserole and bake for 30 minutes.

In another bowl, combine remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk with 1/2 cup parmesan. Remove eggplant from oven. Pour tomato sauce around the eggplant, then spread the milk and parmesan mixture over each slice. Return to oven for another 20-25 minutes until bubbly.

You can also replace the eggplant with 4 chicken breasts if you'd rather do that. It takes awhile because it has to cook for so long, but otherwise, it's really easy and yummy!

So Much For My Last Free Weekend Before School

I ended up getting into an additional class (I think the professor, who also happens to be my advisor, took pity on the lack of open classes and let me into her class):

Culture, Gender, and Global Communications T 4-7:50

I was pretty excited to get into this class, bringing my credit total up to 13 for this quarter, but knew that it would add a lot more work onto my load. I figured I could just take the weekend to relax and gear up for classes Monday morning. That idea was short lived as I received an e-mail from the professor this afternoon with over 50 pages in PDFs to read before class.

Graduate School, my dear friend, I have a feeling we are going to have a very strong love/hate relationship for the next two years. Here's hoping there's far more love than hate!

What the Next 10 Weeks of My Life Will Look Like:

Beginning Spanish M-Th 11-11:50

Human Rights in the Global World M, W 12-1:50

Not quite the heavy load I had planned (9 credits instead of 18), but since I’m a new student, I was the last to register and almost everything else was already full. I’m hoping to use my extra time to study Spanish and skip a few classes for an earlier graduation date.

I have a lot to do before classes start next Monday (insurance, books, student id, etc), but I’m definitely ready to begin this new adventure!

Greetings From My New Home

The somewhat gloomy view from my window today

(if you squint you can see downtown Denver in the fog)

The last week has been a whirlwind of craziness. I spent last Wednesday training my replacement at work, Thursday running errands and packing, Friday loading everything into the U-Haul and spending the evening with my family, Saturday cleaning, Sunday driving 12 hours to Denver, Monday moving in, and yesterday I had some appointments at school. Today I was finally able to relax a little bit (between trips to Walmart and the grocery store).

I'm working on getting settled in my new place, but I love it so far. Where else can you get free hot chocolate, cookies, personal training, yoga classes, car washes, etc? Oh, and to top it off, this was waiting for me when I moved in:

I think I'm definitely spoiled.

I register for classes on Monday, and they start a week after that. I'm getting pretty anxious to begin school as I really have nothing to do until then (except for all of the unpacking of course :)). I won't know which classes I will be taking until I register (and see what's still available), but I'm getting really excited about the possibilities.

I still find it hard to believe I live in Denver and am not just on some sort of vacation! It's just crazy to think that a few months ago, I applied to the IIC program at DU, thinking I didn't have a chance to get in, and now here I am, about to start a program that's more perfect for me than I ever could have imagined. Here's to going after your dreams, no matter how unattainable they may seem!

This...

...is the chaos I currently call my life. I can't wait to move to Denver, unpack, and actually have space again!

Thanks Financial Aid!

I am the proud new owner of a MacBook Pro! I've wanted one for years, but decided that since I'm heading back to grad school, now was the perfect time to get one. Now I have two months to figure out how to use it before school starts!

Reason For My Blogging Absence

Remember this post about giving up a great opportunity for the chance to follow my dreams? Well, it seems that I made the right decision!

I was just accepted into grad school at the University of Denver and will be moving to Denver in March! I will be getting my M.A. in International and Intercultural Communications with an emphasis in human rights. I couldn't have found a more perfect program since it's a hybrid between their communications school and their international school.

I'm slightly overwhelmed with everything I have to do before I go, but I'm very excited to see where 2010 will take me!

Who's on First?

Me: Hi Danette, I have a question. I’m reading this book, and it says it’s a novel, but then it has a preface by the guy it’s about, and he says it’s a true story. Aren’t novels fiction?

Danette: Yes, that’s weird. Let me look it up. What’s the title?

Me: What is the what?

Danette: What is the title?

Me: What is the what?

Danette: The title!

Me: What is the what?

Danette: THE TITLE! What is it?!?!

Me: The title is What is the What?!

I Am Still Here

Sorry for my absence. I have been in LeaderLuncheon Land which means I've been working insane hours for the past couple of months. The luncheon was Friday, and it went pretty well, so I'm just starting to recover. For now, I'll leave you with a few pics...

A few weeks ago, Nic and I hiked to the top of Granduer Peak during the full moon. This was the view of the city (although night pictures never turn out nearly as amazing as the view is).

Last weekend we took the tram to the top of Snowbird....

...the view was beautiful...

...and then we ran/walked down the mountain. I'm going to be sad when winter comes and we can't hike anymore...I guess that's what snowshoes are for!

I just got this new phone, which I am totally and completely in LOVE with! The best part is that I got it for FREE! T-Mobile rocks.

Today...

...I gave up the opportunity for more money, good experience, and a great career...to have a slight chance at following my dreams.

Here's hoping it was the right choice. :)

Sister's Weekend

The Science Museum of Minnesota had a huge Titanic exhibit that I really wanted to see, so over the 24th Nic and I flew out. I've spent quite a bit of time in Minnesota over the years visiting Danette. This time, Robyn and Dejan decided to drive down so we could all spend the weekend together. I hadn't seen either sister in a year, and we hadn't all been together for two, so it was great to spend some quality time together, especially since I spend hours on the phone with both of them each week! Hopefully the boys didn't get too bored. :)

PS the Science Museum of Minnesota ROCKS! I could go again every time I visit and never get bored!

Robyn and Danette

Nic examining my eyes at the science museum

Cute Robyn and Dejan taking a break from bowling

This is what I will look like in nine years :)

Danette showing off her bowling skills