I got my mojo back!

So, I have been in a cooking slump.  It feels like it's been forever, but in reality it was about 2 days.  It started with me actually believing I could make an angel food cake.  I am making angel food cupcakes like a pro, they are so easy, and wonderful tasting, everything you want in an angel food cake.  So, I took that same recipe, and went and put it in an angel food cake pan.  Which I had to go buy, since I didn't own one.  I used to, but I was such a failure at making them that I sold it last year in a garage sale.  Well, needless to say, I didn't successfully make it.  So, I tried something else, I changed the recipe a bit, did more sifting, etc.  And failed.  At this point I had 24 egg yolks and no angel food cake.  I need an ice cream maker.  Any one got one they want to give me??  :)

So, angel food cakes, failure.  That day I had put chicken with salsa into the crock pot.  When I got home from getting my second tattoo recolored, i took the chicken out, shredded it for chicken fajitas and added this fresh salsa I had bought at the store a couple of days before when we made tacos.  It hadn't been open even 5 days, and had an expiration date of the 27th.  As I stirred it into the warm chicken, this smell came up to me.  It was the spoiled smell that veggies get when they go bad.  And it contaminated my entire batch of shredded chicken.  What was worse was I had cooked an entire bag, you know, the frozen ones you get at the store, the big ones?  Well, I cooked the whole thing.  I was planning to make chicken fajitas, then chicken fajita quesadillas, then chicken chili.  So, ruined.  3 meals, ruined all at once, with that.  So, I was still hungry for chicken fajitas, so Bart went to the store and bought the marinated, all ready to go with veggies and everything chicken fajita stuff at the butchers counter.  As it was cooking, I was doing Bart's taxes, since it was the final day, and they needed to get done.  Bart was on the computer, and spaced out that he was supposed to be watching them, until this horrible burnt smell filled the house.  Chicken fajita try 2, failure.  We gave up on dinner at that point, kind of.  We made burritos with the mexican rice I cooked up, plus refried beans and cheese.  Made pretty good burritos though.

Tuesday made croissant breakfast sandwiches, with eggs and cheese and sausage.  It was good, but I used processed cheese, like they do when you go through a drive through.  I bought the smooth melting cheese product, which was another mistake.  Talk about plastic.  I think it would have been awesome if I had used a different kind of cheese.  I ate half a sandwich.  Later that night I was making a shepards pie, like I did when I was younger, with tomato soup, green beans, corn and ground beef.  I tasted the mixture before making the mashed potatoes, and realized that you cannot use the roasted red pepper and tomato box of soup in this recipe.  You really do need to use a can of condensed cream of tomato soup.  If you use the box, then you have too much liquid.  And if you are stupid like me, you will add cornstarch, which ruins the texture, and boom, failed dinner again.

So, today I made chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes.  And they were awesome.  More than my other batches, this had the perfect texture.  It helps when you sit on them and don't let them overcook.  I was at the oven for the last 2 minutes of their baking, making sure that they came out right as they were done.  The frosting would have been better if I had left out half a cup of the powdered sugar, but it was still good.  I mixed the mini chocolate chips into the frosting, and this made for my only mistake today.  I couldn't find the tip I wanted for frosting the cupcakes, and the mini chips were not going to fit through any of the other tips I had.  So, I used a plastic bag with the tip out, and made do.  The frosting looked like strange poo, which isn't what you want frosting to look like, so I made sure to pat it a bit, taking out the definition of the shape.  I don't know if that made sense, just know that when I was done, the cupcakes didn't look like they had been pooped on.

Then I made dinner.  Dinner was AWESOME!!  Dinner was where I got my mojo back, bit time.  And, if you have read this all the way to this point, you get a recipe, YAY you.

I made beef filled crescent rolls.  I cooked a pound of hamburger with a can of diced green chilies, a tablespoon of garlic powder, and 2 tablespoons chili powder, and 2 tablespoons taco seasoning.  That is actually a me guessing, because I tasted the mix that we will get to in a minute, and added more of each until I got the flavor I wanted.  Once the hamburger was all cooked, I drained it and put it in a bowl with an 8 ounce package of cream cheese and 2 cups of shredded cheese, I used the pre-shredded mexican blend.

Yes, it looks nasty.  Bart was afraid to eat it, because it looked like dog food.  It was good though, really good.

I then took out 4 packages of crescent rolls and rolled them out.  On the base end of the triangle, I put a tablespoon of this beef mixture and then rolled it up.  I was very careful to try to seal it, because I was sure it was going to melt and leak and stuff, but it didn't, so just roll it up and don't be anal about it all sealing up.  It won't leak.  Then I baked it in a 350 oven for about 10-15 minutes, until they were golden brown.

I used my cookie scoop to put exactly the same amount of filling in each roll. 

This was my attempt at making sure the edges were sealed.  Didn't need to do this.

Same roll as the last picture, this time from the other side.  Once again, unnecessary effort.

They are cute little pockets.  Make sure the top part is like this.  It bakes up prettier.

This was a bit easier, though I actually did not realize that the one that is missing the filling was missing the filling until i took the picture.  The I was like, hrm, missed one.

They are really pretty when they come out.  Perfect little bites. 

You can see the beefy cheesy mixture in there.  It just settled in, and didn't spread or leak.  I was really really surprised

Then we ate them.  And they were awesome.  Everyone except Ciera ate them.  She ate bites here and there, but it was not her favorite thing.  She doesn't much care for bread, so I'm not really surprised.  This was a great dinner.  I want to try the same thing, except instead of chilies and taco and chili powder, I want to use mustard and pickle relish and try to make a cheeseburger roll bite.  Or use chicken and make a chicken melt.  i think that I can do a lot with this simple idea.  Got my mojo, YAY.