Graduation Festivities Begin

Sorry again for the lack of updating! Starting last night was the beginning of a week of graduation festivities for my little sister! Last night was the baccalaureate service, but before we get to that. Wednesday night we had a wonderful dinner. It was suppose to be a pork tenderloin in the crockpot with bbq sauce. However it was so tender that when we tried to cut it, it just shredded apart. So instead we made bbq sandwiches sans the sandwich part! I like it better that way anyways! It was really good, I have no idea what kind of bbq sauce my mom used but it was really good, tangy not smokey- just the way I like it (but usually not the way my parents like it, so I was surprised). On the side were some leftover zucchini and mushrooms.
Yesterday morning I woke up and had a green smoothie for breakfast. This combo was vanilla yogurt, 2 cups spinach, strawberry fruit popsicle, and a handful of mini strawberries. It was really good, I was worried because we were out of bananas and fruit yogurt and the strawberries we had were really not good but the strawberry popsicle makes all the difference!
Then for a quick lunch I had some leftover Moroccan Cous Cous
with a side of this awesome garlic and herb cheddar cheese. Holy cow this is seriously some of the best cheese ever! It is so good!
Then I had plans of making cookie dough cupcakes for after my sister's baccalaureate. I mixed up the cookie dough and rolled up half of it into balls and then was going to make cookies with the other half. However our drawer that holds the cookie sheets has been stuck for about a week. Luckily my dad was working at home and I told him that if he wants cookies he has to get the drawer open. We couldn't see what was stuck so we stuck my camera in the drawer and took a picture and found thisHahahah, my dad somehow got it open and the circle pan was very bent but at least we go the drawer open! So I was able to make these mini chocolate chip cookies- from the recipe on the back of the Toll House chocolate chip bag. This is my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, it never fails.
After my cookie dough balls froze I made some cupcakes. I used this Four Egg Yellow Cake Recipe. The cake itself was really good! I highly recommend this recipe, however the balls were so ginormous that to get any cake in there I had to overfill the cupcake tins, so they kind of overflowed while baking. And I topped them with purple buttercream because my sister's school colors are purple and black. The buttercream was one box of powdered sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup shortening, splash of vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of milk. And I also made some chocolate graduation hats to top the cupcakes with. They were so cute! Oh and I almost forgot, I was piping the frosting on and my tip totally just fell out, so I just piped the rest of them through the hole cut in the bottom of the bag, thats why they look kind of ghetto!
For dinner my mom made some tilapia topped with a parmesan herb mixture. I was still busy frosting cupcakes and cleaning the kitchen so I ate mine straight up off the pan.
Then we went to my sister's baccalaureate.
After my sister's baccalaureate service we came home for cupcakes!
She loved the little chocolate graduation hats!
And here is a picture of the inside with the cookie dough filling. It didn't really work as well as I was hoping for. I think if I made these again, which I probably won't, then I would definitely make much smaller cookie dough balls and freeze them overnight. The recipe's that I found online said freeze them for about 2 hours, but that was definitely not enough time.
Now I'm off to go find something for lunch. I hope everyone has a great day!

Moroccan Cous Cous

Today has been a pretty good day! I started my day off with a Green Monster! It had blueberry yogurt, one banana, about 2 cups of spinach, and a few ice cubes.
I dumped it into my waterbottle to drink on the way to church!
After church my mom and I went to Chipoltle while my Dad, brother, and sister went to KFC.
I have to say I was a little disappointed in this new Chipoltle in Gainesville! They don't fill up with as much stuff as other Chipoltle's! My mom got a fajita burrito and they put like 2 slivers of onions and 2 slivers of peppers on her burrito- it was so ridiculous! However because they stuffed it with less stuff I was able to eat it and not feel as stuffed as usual. After lunch I proceeded to lay outside by the pool for most of the day, taking a break to help my dad put away the pool cover and bring out and hose off some more of the pool furniture. I can't believe this is the first time I've got to lay out by the pool- tomorrow (or today I suppose) it is June! This is the latest we have ever opened the pool because our pump kept breaking. And even though I was laying out by the pool it still wasn't swimmable, we are still getting rid of the algae and balancing the chemicals- hopefully by next weekend it will be swimmable!

After a relaxing day by the pool I started cooking dinner- Moroccan Cous Cous inspired by the cous cous I had at Epcot in Morocco during my spring break trip to Disney World!
It was pretty delicious if I do say so myself! I looked up a bunch of recipes online and combine them all together to make my own

Moroccan Cous Cous
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1 large onion
zest of one orange
1 cup raisins
juice of half a large orange (or one whole orange if its a small orange)
2 cups beef broth
2 cups cous cous
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds

1. Combine the spices in a saucepan and gently heat together for a couple minutes
2. Add half the onion and cook until soft
3. Add the orange zest and 2/3 of the cup of raisins and cook for a couple minutes
4. Add in the orange juice and beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil
5. Add the cous cous, stir to combine, cover and remove from the heat.
6. Let the cous cous sit covered for 5 minutes.
7. While the cous cous cook the onions until they are caramelized
8. To serve the cous cous spoon some on the plate, top with caramelized onions, and sprinkle the extra raisins and almonds on top. (Also if you still have some of your orange leftover you can garnish it with an orange slice).

I really liked it but my carnivore family again complained that there was no meat, so my mom grilled hot dogs for them. Hot dogs and cous cous??? I really don't understand why they think that meat has to be in every single meal. I think we had enough meat to last the entire week in our burritos for lunch!

When my mom and I went to Costco yesterday we picked up one of their ginormous boxes of Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownie mix! Now I'm usually all for making things from scratch and hate box mixes- but these brownies are the exception. These are some of the best brownies ever and yes they come out of a box. I baked them up after dinner and enjoyed mine hot with some So Delicious Coconut Coconut Milk Ice Cream on top! It was definitely delicious, but I think the Vanilla Coconut Milk ice cream would have been a little better because brownies and vanilla ice cream just go perfectly together!
During dessert I watched the MTV Movie Awards with my sister- did anyone else see the New Moon trailer! I'm so excited I can't wait for it to come out!!!

Also I'm excited because Rachel and I are going to The Melting Pot tomorrow! She gets gift cards from her dad's credit card rewards, so every now and then we get to go! I love fondue and expect an update tomorrow filled with mouth watering fondue pictures!