Two: Wax Paper On, Wax Paper Off.

I'm a perfectionist. I told you that last post, but I want to tell you a little more about it so you get to know me a little better. I'm not exactly sure when this stage of my life started, but it was the worst it has ever been while I was in graduate school. I was balancing two jobs and a full course load in my first semester after taking three full years off from being a student to pursue a career that I ultimately decided wasn't my true path. I was really nervous about my ability to jump back in to school after that much time away but, much to my nerves delight, I managed to pull off a 4.0 in the first semester. Some time after that, it became the driving force for the rest of my time in grad school. I pushed every semester, added internship hours to my schedule, bringing me to working seven days a week, interning for two, and classes for three, yet told myself I had to maintain my 4.0. It consumed me, especially while working on major assignments. The stress manifested into physical symptoms; I often rocked a mean eye twitch during the last few weeks of the semester (I've never quite figured out how to wink - the eye twitch is the closest I can get). I would pace around my house to burn off anxious energy or catch a dance class when it would fit into my schedule, but my favorite stress reliever was spending time in the kitchen. I could whip up some buffalo chicken mac and cheese or some chocolate chip cookies and take my brain off of the giant research paper on the legal history and intricacies of sexual harassment on college campuses. (Quick synopsis: don't do it).  When I'd show up to work the next day with food for all, it was known that the treats were a result of stress due to my neurotic obsession with getting perfect grades.

For the most part, I could keep the perfectionism tied to school work, but that wasn't always the case. Here's an example. 

I spent the last Fourth of July at work (and the one before that and this year's, too). When possible, I would bring treats in to the girls at work to show them some love for working on a holiday (as if that really made up for it, but I was trying!) I then went to a free Andy Grammer concert where he didn't sing one patriotic song but that's neither here nor there. I don't exactly remember where I got the idea to make Rice Krispie Treat Flags, but alas, I went for it. (Quick side note: when was the last time you had Rice Krispie treats?! If you haven't had homemade Rice Krispie treats since you were 12, you should probably make this happen for this weekend. You're missing out. They're delicious and this recipe was easy, or at least I thought it should be).

Basically, you make a batch with red food coloring and press it into a cookie sheet, make a batch with no food coloring and press it into another cookie sheet, and a batch with blue food coloring into a deeper baking pan. There's some assembly required (we'll go over that in a second when you see the recipe), but I thought it was easy peasy (is that how you spell peasy? Have you ever typed it out before? Is it a word that should ever be typed out or just something your third grade teacher told you when you were told the rhyme on how to remember how many days are in each month?) Anyways, I go through the motions of making three different colored batches and go to press them into the cookie sheets and baking pan only to find out that I must have larger than normal cookie sheets and the melted Rice Krispie treat mixture doesn't take up the entire space. I'm not panicked yet. I think, I'll just grab the wax paper out of the pantry and use it to push down and spread the melted layers to the edges of the pan. It doesn't 100% work, but I leave the wax paper on each batch and give it time to cool down. Once they are sufficiently cooled, I go to peel the wax paper off only to find IT WON'T COME OFF. Now, I'm not the creator of wax paper nor would I ever claim to know the science behind wax paper, but I'm fairly certain people use it when they have sticky food things that they don't want to stick. Am I wrong? Why did it stick? I mean super stick like trying to take a sticker off of a mirror that the edges only peel up and you have to use some sort of machete or google home remedies to figure out how you're going to get it off.

As you can probably imagine, I am NOT amused by this. Not at all. Now, my mom was in town from Arizona at this time and she witnesses me throw what I'd classify as an adult hissy fit. I'm not proud of this. She probably had flashbacks to my childhood where I apparently would scream bloody murder in the car that she was driving in the wrong direction on our way home from my Grandma's when she wasn't. (I honestly have a killer sense of direction right now so maybe I knew something she didn't in my wise age of 3). I can't be sure, but there was probably tears and a curse put on Snap, Crackle and Pop. I was frustrated. I wanted the Rice Krispie treat flags to come out perfect and instead, I had wax papery treats that weren't symmetrical because the cookie sheet was too big. This is where I tell you how my mom is Supermom. She spent a long time with me slowly getting square centimeter by square centimeter of wax paper off of each grain of Rice Krispie. Much, much later, I was able to finish the assembly and get a handful of good looking flags and a bunch of pieces that didn't make the cut but still tasted like freedom or heaven or Rice Krispie treats. I survived my meltdown about the melted wax paper and my team got some patriotic goodies. (I also took a wooden hanger to the face this day and ended up with a black eye but that's a story for another time).

At the end of the day, would the wax paper fiasco or less than a 4.0 be the end of the world? No. They wouldn't. And that's something I've had to learn in order to keep the eye twitching to a minimum (unless I'm actually attempting to wink but I usually know better). I'm sure everyone has something that causes them stress but I imagine that a lot of that stress is out of our control. How could I have known that the wax paper was going to fail? Did perfect grades really mean anything then or now that I'm a year post graduating? In the words of my good friend Mase, we have to "breathe, stretch, shake, let it go". Celebrate your successes and your learning moments like you will the Fourth of July - eat a hot dog and run around your backyard with a sparkler. I'll be there, spelling out my name and singing "Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue" (because if Andy Grammer won't do it, I will).

Recipe Number Two: Flag Rice Krispie Treats

1 Large Box of Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Cereal

2 16 oz. Bags of Mini Marshmallows or 3 10 oz. Bags

2 Sticks of Butter

Red Food Coloring

Blue Food Coloring

Salt

First, make two batches of Rice Krispie Treats (Each batch: 5 tbsp. butter, 5 cups mini marshmallows, 5 cups Rice Krispies cereal).  Leave one plain and color the second with red food coloring.  For best coverage, put the food coloring into the melted marshmallow mixture and then add the Rice Krispie Cereal.

To make the Rice Krispie Treats,  melt the butter in a medium sized pan on medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the marshmallows. You don’t want the pan to get too hot or the marshmallow mixture to boil or you will have tough/chewy Rice Krispie Treats. Stir the marshmallows slowly as they melt. This process should only take a few minutes. As soon as the marshmallows are melted, turn off the heat and add the food coloring. When the marshmallow mixture is the color you want add the Rice Krispie cereal and a pinch of salt (trust me - the salt makes it delicious).

Press the plain and red Rice Krispie Treat mixtures into two cookie sheets (make sure they are the same size) in a thin layer. If you're going with the wax paper, be sure it's going to peel or maybe use some nonstick cooking spray to give yourself a little assurance. They should only go up about 1/2 of the way up the side of the cookie sheet.  Let them set for approximately 15-30 minutes.

Cut the sheet of Rice Krispie Treats into three equal pieces. (Look at the cookie sheet horizontally and make vertical cuts). Each of these will be a “stripe” in the flag.  If you want, make a guide with a piece of aluminum foil to help make even cuts.  Repeat with the sheet of plain Rice Krispie Treats.

Start with a red layer, then place a plain layer on top of the red. Repeat one layer of each color to create the base of the flag.

Cut the remaining third of plain and red Rice Krispie sheets in half vertically. Layer the red, plain, and repeat on the right side of the base.

Make up a smaller batch of blue Rice Krispie Treats (3 tbsp butter, 3 cups mini marshmallows, 3 cups Rice Krispie Treats.)  This is where I used the deeper baking pan. It shouldn't cover the entire bottom; condense it to make a thick blue section for the flag. You will want to butter up your fingers a bit so you can mold the blue piece into its place on the base of the flag (remember, no one likes when thing stick to things they shouldn't).

Try to make sure the top was as flat as the bottom.  Once completely cool, use a knife to cut you Rice Krispie Treats Flags.  Trim off a little bit on the left and right edges if necessary.

For a play by play of this recipe with picture steps, visit here.

I wanted to post this ahead of the holiday weekend so some of you brave souls could give this a whirl for your upcoming celebrations! I will be attending a cookout on Sunday and plan on making some fun summer sides. I'll be sure to keep you posted so you are ready to impress at your next BBQ!

Happy Cooking!

- Kela

P.S. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the love after my first ever post. You sure know how to make a girl smile! If interested, feel free to share the blog with friends!