NYPD Maced My Friends in the Face

Yeah, I don't usually cover this kind of political news commentary sort of thing, but I am now.

In the following videos, you will see a demonstrators during the 2nd week of Occupy Wall Street. This was a peaceful protest on Wall Street mostly about bank bailouts, mortgages, and our crumbling economy. There were also a number of people defaming the recent execution of Troy Davis who was convicted of murdering an off duty Savannah, GA police officer in 1991. Many witnesses in Mr. Davis's case testified that they were coerced by police to give false statements.

September 24th was a hot, hot day in NYC. Police were sectioning off protesters with orange netting in an attempt to keep them out of the street. We all know how we feel about being corralled, but already yelling hot, sweaty protesters REALLY hate it. So when it starts to get a little out of hand, certain officers took  matters WAY too far.

Keep in mind, this was not an anti-government protest. This wasn't a "Down with the Cops" event. This was a demonstration to protect the rights of everyone, including police, to social security, Medicare, a pension, and a home.

So don't just pay attention when you see a photographer get slammed into a cop car. Don't focus on just the one girl who was punched in the face and dragged by her scalp across the street. Take a special note, however, when a cop sprays mace across a crowd of already sectioned off, peaceful protesters AND fellow NYPD. Seriously, who is administering these police exams? Officer Barbrady?

In this last clip, you can really see the pepper spray cover the crowd, including my friends, the blondes up in front, AND the police. The police maced the police. Excellent work, Officer Doofy.

As I said, I try to keep  my opinions on political matters and anything serious in any kind of nature OUT of my blogs. But when you mace my friends, you mace me. You mace me.

Hahaha, anyway, my friends are doing OK. They seem a bit hesitant to sue. We'll see.

Love,

Liz

My Nanna's Homemade Beef Stew

Me and My Nanna. If you know me, you know ONE thing for sure; I love my Nanna.

Honest to God, I spent every Friday night of my life at my Nanna's house until I left for college. You know that Shepherd's Pie recipe I have of hers? She would make that for me every almost Friday night. After dinner, I'd have it as a snack while I watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch. If there was any left over, I'd have it for breakfast.

My Nanna is the best cook in the world. Everything she makes reminds me of those Friday nights I spent at her house eating and drawing and painting and eating. Not eating paint, though. But, yeah, my Nanna is awesome. And I miss her A LOT.

So my favorite way of NOT missing her is to cook! And since Autumn is on it's way, I've been craving some comfort food, New England Style. PLUS, my Nanna makes the BEST Beef Stew so I called her up and made my demands clear. From the intel I gathered, your orders are as follow:

You will need:

• 2 lbs. stew beef (cut into bite-sized chunks)
• 3-4 carrots (sliced)
• 4 beef bouillon cubes OR 4 cups beef broth
• 3-4 yellow potatoes (bite-size)
• 2 yellow onions (diced)
• 1 14.5 oz. can cut green beans OR peas (I used green beans)
• 2 TBSP cornstarch
• 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
• salt
• pepper
• parsley flakes

Get a  big old stew pot and slap it on the stove. Dump in the stew beef and Worcestershire sauce. While the beef is browning, use this time to dice up the onions. After the beef has browned a bit, add the onions then continue simmer on low.

If you have beef broth, skip this step. Dissolve each beef bouillon cube in it's own separate cup of hot water. That's 1 cup for every 1 cube. Once the beef has fully browned, add the beef broth or beef stock you created.

The carrots go in next because they need to cook a little longer than the potatoes. You can take this time to add some salt, pepper, and parsley flakes to your liking. Now add the potatoes, and green beans. Simmer until both carrots and potatoes are fork tender.

Mix the cornstarch with 1/3 cup of cold water until it's completely dissolved. Gradually stir it into the stew. This will thicken up the base and make it more gravy-like.

You're ready to reduce the heat and serve! I like mine with a bit of bread and butta'.

Love,

Liz

Double & Double Cookies & Cream Cupcakes!!

That would be 2 DOUBLE Stuffed Oreos inside a Dark Chocolate cupcake. Double the Oreos. Double the Cream. Double the chocolate. Double the DELICIOUSNESS!!

This is perfect for when you want to make a fancier dessert for minimal effort and cost.

You will need:

• 1 box of Double Stuffed Oreos
• 1 box of Dark Chocolate Cake mix
• eggs
• vegetable oil
• water

I left the amount for eggs, vegetable oil, and water blank because different cake mixes have different instructions. So preheat your oven and gather your 'gredients. Start by mixing up the cake mix and preheating your oven. Set up your cupcake pan with all the little sheets. Fill up the cupcake cups 1/3-1/2 of the way full, and brace yourself, it's about to get complicated.

Just foolin'. This is easy. Take one Oreo and gently twist off one cookie part. Get another Oreo and stick to the cream side of the other cookie. Simple enough concept, ya? You should end up with something representing the photo. Otherwise, you need to go back to basics. Way back.

After you place the double stacked Oreos in the cupcake batter, push them a little in to stabilize them. A couple of mine that I didn't push in came out a little crooked. It was still kind of cool, the Oreo cream actually oozed out the top a little, YUM. Now pour some more cupcake batter over the Oreos, just enough to cover the top.


You might not have enough Oreos for all the cupcakes, but you can use the other part of the Oreo, the part you twisted off, to top off the rest of the cupcakes. Or buy 2 bags of Oreos and have a lot of left over cookies. I would never throw out left over cake batter.

Anyway, you don't want to bake them for as long as the instructions on the box. Keep checking on those cupcakes. I used Betty Crocker cake mix. Instead of baking them for the suggested 42 minutes, it wound up taking about 30 minutes. A good way to check to see if they're done is to take a tooth pick and stick it into the sides of the cupcake. If the toothpick has no crumbs or batter on it when you take it out, then the cupcake are probably done.

Once they're done, let them cool in the pan for about five minutes then enjoy!

Love,

Liz

We Have a WINNER!!

The results are in and our distinguished panel of judges has chosen the winner of The I Love Trader Joe's College Cookbook READER GIVE-AWAY!! And the winner is . . .

Tere Garcia with her recipe for Mustard Chicken!!

 (mmm . . . those fried plantains don't look half bad either!)

In this recipe, Tere combines chicken thighs, diced potatoes, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and chicken broth among other things to create this simply FANTASTIC dish!

I chose this recipe because you can add and substitute ingredients easily while sticking to the basic dish outline. This is perfect for nights when you have some, most of the ingredients and gives you the option to realy explore with different flavor combinations.

Miss Tere wins a FREE copy of The I Love Trader Joe's College Cookbook by Andrea Lynn! To see more photos of Miss Tere's Mustard Chicken, please visit our Super College Chef Facebook Page. Don't forget to click "Like" at the top of the page to get even more down with Super College Chef with more recipes, tips, photos, forums, and cooking help!

 On the next post (aka after I go grocery shopping for the first time in weeks), I'll be trying out Miss Tere's Mustard Chicken recipe for myself. And trust me, our panel of judges cannot wait to try it!

Keep cleaning those plates, people.

Love,

Liz