Kitty Deschanel | Food, Wine, and Travel Adventures Across the USA

 This recipe is wonderful. It's quick, easy, and doesn't make a mess or heat up the kitchen. Ooh, look at all this tasty cream. The next time I take a photo like this, I'm totally going to make two egg yolk eyes staring eerily out from the bowl. Is this 'The World's Greatest Toaster Oven'? You betcha! It's also a convection oven. Kinda sorta fancy, right? Sexy Nerd does not like quiche. Pica does though. Yeah right. Whatever, Sexy Nerd! By the way, this might be the longest that Pica has ever stood still! Toaster Oven Pizza Quiche Souffle (adapted from Orangette , who is awesome) (Serves 3 regular people or 1 Sexy Nerd) 1. Grease a toaster oven-sized pan 2. Whisk 1/2C + 1/8C cream with 2 eggs. Add a pinch each of salt, chili powder, and nutmeg. 3. Add 1 1/2 tsp. of flour. 4. Set your toaster oven to 350F 5. In your toaster oven pan, put a layer of pepperoni, then a layer of shredded cheddar and mozzerella cheese, followed by just a f...

After much procrastinating, the giveaway you've been waiting for is finally here. It's pretty straightforward - U.S. residents only, enter via Rafflecopter, and I'll email the randomly-selected winner. Del Taco is my absolute favorite fast food restaurant and there are tons of tasty options to make use of your $20 Del Taco gift card. Might I recommend a bacon quesadilla or one of their new Epic, avocado-stuffed burritos? Heck, with that much money to spend, you can order both. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you checked out AwkwardFamilyPhoto.com ? I was hooked on it, but have completely gotten over my addiction. Technically, that's because on Sunday I looked through every single photo on the site and nothing is new to me anymore, but the important thing is that I got it out of my system. While looking for an old prom photo for this post , I came across one that would fit in perfectly on the Awkward Family site. It's from high school, when my family went to Disney World for the first time. I was enchanted with the Disney magic, mesmerized by the characters and hyped out of my mind on the endless ride options. Apparently, none of the Disney pixie dust had been sprinkled on my dad and younger brother though. Sometimes, I wonder if I may have been switched with another baby at birth. Then, I see a photo like this and I'm sure of it. DISNEY! YAAAAY!!! Yes, dad, we are from New Mexico. And try not to look too excited, Michael. Switched at birth explains everything....

Here is what they are supposed to look like: Here's mine: As mentioned previously, I am not a patient cook. Therefore, mine look like this. Instead of waiting for everything to cool and carefully drizzling chocolate on top, I decided to simply combine the coconut, chocolate, and caramel into one tasty topping. It may not be as pretty, but it tastes good (and this was ready to eat much faster!) Hey, Kitchen Pig! That's not for you! Sorry, but Kitchen Pig's second cousin is this guy. See the resemblance? I don't want to take any risks by letting him eat so close to midnight! There is a comment from someone who made the original (pretty) recipe, complaining that these cookie bars are too messy. For that poster, I photographed the above and below post-cooking images. Ooooooh, so messy! Whatever will I do?! Baby. You can find the original recipe here . Thanks BakingBites!

It's time for another giveaway! I have a $20 Del Taco gift card with your name on it. (Or possibly someone else's name. That is how giveaways work, you know.) I recently tried the new Epic Grilled Chicken Avocado Burrito from Del Taco. Isn't it pretty? Oooh, pretty. As a $1 value menu kinda gal, I thought the price was a bit steep at first and almost didn't order it. Sure, it includes 6 actual slices of Hass avocado (so...an entire avocado?!) but $5 for fast food goes against every cheap frugal bone in my body (and they're all pretty cheap frugal). I was especially tempted to skip the burrito once I realized Del Taco lets you add avocado to any item for only 30 cents. Well, guess what? It was worth the cost. It turns out that the Del Taco Epic Grilled Chicken Avocado Burrito is HUGE! Do you see how the enormous burrito dwarfs the soda? And that was a massive soda! I tried to eat the entire thing (so delicious!) but it was more burrito tha...

I'm participating in an online blogging event. With a name like "Mom Sexy Prom 2010" (this link, to another prom goer, is one of my favorites), how could I resist? What's that, you say? I'm not allowed to play because I'm not a mom? Just who in the heck do you think you are, coming over to my blog and talking to me that way! I'll have you know that I have 2 beautiful babies: The Pica (recently spayed and drugged out of her little mind here) The Biscuit (so pretty...in her own, special way) Still not convinced? Well, then I guess you'll just have to call me a party crasher! How convenient that I have such fancy flowers for my prom photo. (HA!) See Pica's bone in the background? I think that qualifies me for Mom Prom right there! Who will be my date to Mom Prom? I pulled out an old photo from my senior prom for inspiration: Clearly, I would not be going with that dirt bag again. (Don't even get me started!) I...

Anonymous Flower Delivery Sexy Nerd and I came home from a day of running errands on Saturday to discover an odd message on my phone. It was a girl from a flower shop calling to confirm my address for a delivery.  I called and said there must be a mistake, as I wasn't expecting any flowers, to which she pointed out that people don't usually expect flowers. Oh, of course.  As nice as it would be to have someone send me flowers, it seemed unlikely. Sure enough, she was unable to find any orders for me when I gave my name. She did have a Danielle though, and asked if there might be a different last name. I told her my maiden name. There really were flowers waiting for me!  She confirmed the delivery address - the rental house Sexy Nerd and I lived in 3 years ago. I updated my address and ended the call, anxiously waiting to see who would send me flowers. Who sent me flowers from FTD? My mysterious stalker has beautiful taste! Strange? I had no idea h...

My super awesome boss surprised each employee with their very own cheesecake. Isn't she just the best? Considering that I've never really liked cheesecake, (I know, I know...) I wasn't sure I would like this. However, since there is just a teeny tiny bit of cheesecake sandwiched between chocolate fudge cake, chocolate ganache, and chocolate mousse, I was able to choke it down. (yum, yum, yum, yum, yum) (and only a little over 80% of your daily allowance of saturated fat per slice!) (seriously) My friend Jedica says that my boss is being crafty (i.e. she'll buy everyone a $5 bottle of wine and suddenly they forget all about the complete lack of benefits). Whatever, Jedica! Sexy Nerd's job provides health care. How many people can say theirs provides cheesecake?

Sexy Nerd and I have been together more than 6 years, during which we've learned each of us has our own wacky traits that irk the other (though I must insist that mine are nothing compared to his!) One of my pet peeves is that he's the kind of person who goes into the kitchen at lunch time, makes himself a sandwich, and eats it right in front of you, without the thought of asking if you would also like a sandwich ever crossing his mind. I've nicely (and maybe occasionally ever so slightly less than nicely) tried to train remind Sexy Nerd that this behavior borders on selfish cruel lazy being a huge,smelly jerk not very nice and he has slowly made improvements. At least, I thought he'd been improving. This morning, Sexy Nerd announced he would be smoking a chicken for dinner. He brined it and put it inside the smoker. The house was filled with the tasty smell of hickory for several hours. When it would be done smoking was a complete mystery (and source of a "...

My office is in desperate need of a makeover. Although we pulled up the dingy, gray-blue carpet from most of our house when we moved in, the gross carpet is still in my office! Keeping it company is an old garden tub, glass shower doors, and other dusty reminders of our master bathroom remodel. The thing I hate most of all? My office window looks out onto a street corner where drivers ALWAYS run the stop sign, leaving me yelling at them in my pajamas when I really should be working! Solution? Take over the guest bedroom, which has no view whatsoever of that damn stop sign. Really, it has no view whatsoever of anything, but I'm okay with that. What does this mean? In addition to fancying up my ugly, ugly office, I get to redo the guest bedroom! I've been browsing around and have found a few fun products. Isn't online shopping fun? I love this sofa, which could be used instead of a bed at night and could be a comfy place to watch TV during the day (and it's only $249 wi...

Today's blog post was provided by Kristy from Pampers and Pinot. She is one funny gal. I had some swimsuit anxiety myself a few summers ago, which resulted in buying a ridiculously overpriced swimsuit from Victoria's Secret. I figured that if there was anyone who could make me look good in a swimsuit, they could. Nope, just a big rip off! Damn you, Victoria's Secret. I am Kristy from Pampers and Pinot. I am Mama to Parker, who just turned two years old. Me and Parker, we’re like peas and carrots. If you know me already, you have also read that Parker has other names as well, like my bub, maniac, and angel boy. Well, I think that is really all the intro you need! I chose to share with you one of my earlier posts that deals with the gifts our children give us (20 extra pounds) and reminds us of the more important things in life. . . I’m Too Sexy for my Black Lycra Gown For crying out loud, people, why can’t it be normal to wear gowns as a...

Go away! Shoo! This is our dinner! Not Pica's dinner! Not Biscuit's dinner! OUR DINNER! Move it, punks! One day, after Sexy Nerd & I have tripped over one of the dogs and fallen down the stairs to our deaths, people will look back at this post. They'll see the way the dogs have us surrounded; the way Biscuit is silently lurking behind Sexy Nerd, anxiously waiting for him to take an unsteady step backward, to his doom. Avenge us.

Unlike other women, who all seem to have glowing, perfect, silky smooth skin, my skin HATES me. It doesn't matter that I spend an absurd amount of money on fancy schmancy creams - apparently, they only work on those other, radiant skin people, who I assume are the ones writing all those bogus cream reviews that make me throw away my money. Luckily, I have found a cheap, easy (and surprisingly tasty!) solution, courtesy of the brilliant "Sarah Woo". All you have to do to make her recommended facial mask is mix 1 Tbsp honey , 1 tsp cinnamon , 1 tsp nutmeg , and 1/2 a tsp of lemon juice . The longer you leave it on, the better. I try to aim for at least 30 minutes each time. No need to exfoliate first, as the nutmeg in the mask even takes care of that for you. I am completely in love with this and have been using it once a week for the past few months. Pica, on the other hand, isn't a fan. No pity here! Who else agrees that Pica deserves to be a little fr...

A special thank you to Shinxy at Vacuous Ramblings for providing a guest post today. I love the drawings she does for each of her posts. The drawing below is titled No Shoes . Without further ado, here is the one and only Shinxy: Yes people, this is as exciting as my life gets. I got to spend eight or nine hours in the car to see my psychiatrist. We got into Melbourne an hour and a half early, so we went shopping. Sadly I couldn't spend much money because I've spent about half my pay this cycle on a certain jobless hobo of mine. I went to Borders first. I finally found the Philosophy section.  It was looking pretty grim until I looked at the bottom shelf. Three Schopenhauer books! I was in pessimistic heaven. I found four books in total that I felt that I needed, but like I said, I had a budget. I decided on one Schopenhauer book and another on common logical fallacies (I love logic, but if I get too far in I get a little confused with all the Latin terms, so ba...