Nutty Chocolate Fudge

1, 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup walnut halves

2 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp coarse sea salt

In a heavy bottomed saucepan on low heat or over a double boiler add the milk and chocolate chips.  Let them sit, untouched for 5 minutes (Chocolate has a tendency to seize so, be patient). Then stir slightly once a minute until all the chocolate is melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and walnut halves, ( I like to leave them halves whole, instead of chopping them, because when you cut the fudge it is really beautiful to see the slices of walnut).  Pour into a greased 8x8 inch pan and sprinkle with the sea salt.  Cool in the fridge for 30 minutes, cut into 1 inch squares and enjoy.

Fall Semester Reading

This semester I didn't have much time for reading books other than my microbiology textbook, but I did get a few fun books read over breaks, long weekends, and those moments when I needed an escape from reality.

• Bossypants by Tina Fey: A humorous autobiography filled with Tina's unique comedy from the very beginning. Example: "[I have] straight Greek eyebrows. They start at the hairline at my temple and, left unchecked, will grow straight across my face and onto yours."  She talks candidly about the scar on her face, her relationship with her dad, how her husband hates flying, parenting struggles, and the inside of the SNL set.  While reading this book I burst our laughing many times, looking around to make sure no one was around to give me the stink eye for interrupting the silence.  There were also times where I had to read a sentence or paragraph a couple times before I got the point that she was trying to make a joke, her comedy did not always translate to the written word, but all in all it was a funny, lighthearted book.

• The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion by Leonard Sweet: This book discusses the success of Starbucks and how their philosophies can be applied to churches.  He goes through every dimension of Starbucks and translates it to how it would work in churches.  He focuses EPIC, 4 elements imperative for a good church: Experiential, Participatory, Image-Rich, and Connective.  There are many good points brought up in this book, some even inspiring, but the Starbucks analogy to the church got pretty old pretty fast.  The book was also littered with quotes and short stories about coffee in boxes on most of the pages that interrupted the flow of the book.  This book is worth a glance through, but not one I would recommend reading cover to cover.

• Bed and Board: Plain Talk About Marriage  by Robert Farrar Capon:  This book was published in 1965 by and Episcopalian Priest.  I read it because Tyler Blanski used it as one of his references in Mud and Poetry, one book I read this summer.  In this book Robert talks about the institution of marriage, the problems and joys of it and how to do better.  He uses some beautiful language especially when talking about the family, how each family is its own community and has its own liturgy.  There are some wonderful gems to be found ind this book like: "My wife is not my destiny, and she cannot stand being treated as if she were."  He talks a lot about grace and how we all need to slow down and pay attention to the beauty of life.  There are some times when he lost me, I think this mostly because I read it in 2011 and it was written in the early 1960's, so there is some cultural context I don't understand.  Other than that I really enjoyed the book and thought Robert shared a lot of wisdom.

Mock Tagalongs

Everyone has their favorite Girl Scout Cookie.  Mine has always been Tagalongs.  There is something about chocolate and peanut butter that is just magical.  But there are two things bad about Tagalongs: they are over $3 a box and you can only buy them once a year.  You also have to know a Girl Scout, which can be problem for college students.

Last week I was talking to a friend about our favorite holiday cookie recipes.  She mentioned how her mom always spread peanut butter on crackers and dipped them in chocolate.  In my mind that translated to "Tagalongs."  So of course I had to make them!

Mock Tagalongs

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 sleeves Ritz crackers (~35 crackers each)
1, 24 oz. pkg. chocolate almond bark

Break up the almond bark and place in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes, stir and microwave at 1 minute intervals until smooth.  Place parchment or wax paper on a table and line with half the crackers.  Spread each cracker evenly with a heaping teaspoon of peanut butter.  Place the remaining half of crackers on top.  Using 2 forks put each cracker sandwich, one at a time, into the almond bark and cover with almond bark, shake gently to remove excess almond bark.  Return to parchment paper, cool and store in an air tight container

This is an awesome holiday serving tray my roommate owns.

This would be a great tray for serving Santa cookies.
 I'm sure he'd love some Tagalongs.

Sprinkles only improve them, right?

My roommates and I have been in a baking frenzy for the last week. 
We've made a total of  6 batches of cookies so far.