Joy de Vivre

A good friend once advised me that life is not worth living if you cannot indulge in comida deliciosa.  My newfound  joy de vivre. This insight helped reality check me from silly body insecurities in my early college years.

While I'm not the type to fret over the appearance of a plate. Nor be particularly anal about how perfect it looks in pictures. This evening I flirted with my oven. After a rigorous day of physical therapy, cleaning, and being generally tired of not being able to do anything due to said injury, I baked. Double-time. And while baking isn't my forte due to above disregard for perfection regarding appearance, measurements, order of ingredients etc., I did it anyway!

With a little ingenuity, I turned this:

into this:

Bailey's Pumpkin Muffins

Instead of milk, I opted for Bailey's and added some cinnamon. I topped off the first couple with whipped cream and chocolate pieces. But they melted. Because I am also the type of cook that does not wait until the food has cooled down to eat slash "decorate" it.

And of course, I dabbled with one of my all time favorite foods:

3-cheese pie!

I used a basic dough recipe, Trader Joe's Tomato Basil sauce, shredded some reduced-fat smoked gouda (even the reduced version is amazingly delicious), Dubliner cheese (swiss & cheddar's brood), and Parmigiano Regiano.

Bad pictures be damned. It was all delicioso!