coconut caramel chews

difficulty: moderately sticky situation
yum factor: 5/5 stars
price: less than $10

ingredients:
5 ounces soft caramel candies (about 24 pieces)
1/2 cup dry unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups sweetened coconut flakes
vegetable cooking spray

other stuff you'll need:
microwave
1 zippered bag
1 8x8 microwave safe dish
1 roll of plastic wrap
1 medium sized microwave safe bowl
1 sharp knife
utensil with the ability to smooth things

directions:

line the microwave save dish with plastic wrap completely (more than one sheet over each side, cheapo) and tuck the ends over the sides of the pan. spray the wrapped dish with cooking spray.

put the peanuts inside of the zippered bag and smash it around a lot. get the peanuts as crushed up as you'd like. if you have a food processor, feel free to use that.

spray the microwave safe bowl with cooking spray and add the caramels (unwrapped), peanuts, white chocolate, and 1/2 cup of the coconut. stir it around before microwaving and then nuke it for 1 minute on high, stir, and nuke again for 30 seconds on high.

quickly spread this into the first pan (the one you wrapped), flattening the mixture as evenly as possible. cover this with the remaining coconut (do it quick, before it completely reforms).

let the candy cool and use a sharp knife to cut it into one-inch squares. enjoy.

corn tomato avacado salad

difficulty: easy peasy lemon squeezy
yum factor: 4/5 stars
price: less than $10

ingredients:
2 cups cooked corn, fresh or frozen
1 avacado cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 cup finely diced red onion

dressing ingredients:
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp grated lime zest (aka the outside of a lime)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice

other stuff you'll need:
knives to cut
big bowl to put salad in

directions:
combine the tomatoes, corn, onion and avacado in a large bowl. mix dressing ingredients in a seperate bowl, pour over the salad and toss it up.

raspberry coconut bars

difficulty: EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY

yum factor: 5 stars

price: less than $10

ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut up and warm

3 tsp water (cold)

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 pkg coconut (7 ounces)

1/3 cup raspberry jam

other stuff you'll need:

oven

mixing bowl

9 inch square baking pan

fork

wire whisk (optional)

directions:

preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

take the butter out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for about 20 minutes. if you get annoyed waiting or are dealing with little time to partydom, you can melt it in the microwave and use it in the flour/salt mix.

mix flour and salt in a bowl. slowly add butter to this mixture. until it resembles cookie crumbs. gradually add the water, stirring it all with a fork until well blended. press this into the bottom of an ungreased sqaure baking pan and bake it for 20 minutes. be careful and make sure that it doesn't burn or else it will taste like crud.

after you take the pan out of the oven, reduce the heat to 350 degrees.

crack eggs into a bowl and beat them until they are frothy. add the sugar slowly and keep beating it until it's thick and lemon-colored. stir in the coconut carefully.

spread the raspberry preserves over the crusty-mixture that you just baked but be careful not to get too close to the edge (if you do, it will burn to the pan and be a pain to clean later). over this, spread the egg/coconut mixture over the whole thing.

bake this for 25 minutes (or until the top gets golden brown). after it comes out of the oven, let it cool for about 30 minutes and then cut them into bars.

voila!

welcome to yumyumdeelish!

yum yum deelish [adj.] - to be of an appealing nature

as a financially poor, yet personally rich graduate student, finding cheap yet toothsome (look it up, roget) meals is a must.

while watching specific food-related television stations made me yearn to cook, somehow making roasted garlic, feta and walnut dip on a whim wasn't so inviting to my wallet.
here i will share recipes and ideas about how to spread your dinner dollar out.

getting invited to soirees is great, yet i tend to cringe when thinking about what to bring. i hope that this blog will help readers discover lazy, simple and cost-effective ways of entertaining.

so, welcome!