Monday, December 15, 2014

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.. my Recipe

This year I made Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups to share with my fellow swappers and they were a hit :)  So much so that these will be going on the cookie platters I bring to friends and family this year.  I shipped all my cookies with some vanilla bean marshmallows too... ya know, for packing material ;)



Basically these are a sugar cookie cup filled with a homemade chocolate marshmallow and topped off with a vanilla candy wafer.

Cookies:

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

marshmallows - regular, chocolate or homemade in my case :)

vanilla candy wafers

Directions
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a second large bowl and mix well. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture 1 cup at a time. Chill the dough for 3 to 4 hours.

Here is where I deviated from the original recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Roll the dough into 1" balls and place each ball into the well of a mini muffin tin.  Press a well into each ball with your fingers (or do like me and use the rounded end of a citrus reamer)

 Bake until the cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges, 8-10 minutes.

While the cookies are in the oven cut the marshmallows up.  If you're using a store bought marshmallow you're going to probably use half a regular sized marshmallow or two mini.  If you're using a homemade marshmallow I used about 1/8 of mine (I made them pretty big).

When the cookies come out of the oven put the marshmallows in the cups right away and top with a candy wafer.



 

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Holiday Gifts: How to Choose the Best Photos for Phone Cases (*Guest Post)

The holidays are here! With the flurry of fun Christmas greetings, cookies, and parties comes the reality of shopping for your family and friends. Just like you would design Christmas photo cards online, why not consider creating a personalized iPhone case for someone in your immediate circle? Whether your friend or family member has the new iPhone 6 or an older version, cases are a great way to protect their investment and help them express their personal style. Some may find it intimidating to design a case for someone else, but here are some tips to help you get started:






* Select something that’s meaningful to them. Browse any non-copyrighted photos you have and think about choosing a picture that features the people in your friend's life, her favorite vacation spot, or something else that’s personal to her. Remember, you want something that expresses her style and a little about her life – and often, these are the things that matter most to us. Another option is to design an iPhone case with a favorite quotes. Find or create a PNG or JPG image (that’s not copyright protected) featuring the quote against a backdrop your friend will love.

* Make sure the photo you pick has a high enough resolution. Photos without a high resolution will look chunky or blurry when printed. Most phone case photos should have a dpi (dots per inch) of around 300 or higher. For a brief comparison, most computer monitors display images at 72 dpi.

* Don’t choose a photo with a lot of white space. You don't want to waste space on your friend's new case, so crop the image as closely as you can in order to narrow in on the interesting part of the photo. Remember that, depending on the case and the size of the image, the photo may not totally fit on the case as is – so be sure when you load the image and place it on the case (during the design phase) that you’re okay with exactly where the photo will be cropped.

* Don't limit yourself. Many makers of iPhone cases will allow designs with more than one photo. Sometimes you can fit two, three, or as many as six photos on one case. See if a collage like this may be something you’re interested in. This works especially well if you don’t have one great photo or have too many to choose just one!

With the upcoming holidays comes the opportunity to get creative with your gifts. Have fun and happy designing!

Author Bio: Heather Hewitt is a seasoned writer and guest author who enjoys connecting people with thoughtful products, services and ideas as they relate to crafting, photography, gift giving and personal expression.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Spread the Word: Giving Tuesday

Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Everyone knows these days dedicated to getting your holiday shopping season off to a quick start. 

Now, we have #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back. This year, we’ve set a goal of raising $50,000 on Giving Tuesday, which will be matched by a generous partner. That means we have the opportunity to help connect kids with up to 1 million meals — all from one day's work. With your help, together we can make sure that every kid gets the healthy food they need to succeed, this year and beyond. 

You can spread the word today here, and join Team #NoKidHungry on social media December 2nd to celebrate #GivingTuesday and help us reach our exciting goal.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Peanut butter dog treats

My mind is always in 30 places at once and I can go from one thing to another in one fell swoop.  Yes, I'm weird... it’s part of my charm :p

I had gotten my landlord’s dog a giant peanut butter bone shaped cookie that I had gotten over the weekend and I hadn't seen him all week.  Well, I gave him that cookie and  I swear he walked away and was jumping for joy.   LL even shared a video of Apollo happily chomping away on it too :)

While I was home I decided I would make him some bones myself and I found the perfect recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction which, once my oven is fixed I will be making for the biggest mushball I know :)

Monday, October 27, 2014

my oven is on the fritz...

I moved into my apartment in July of 2011, and a few weeks after I moved in my stove broke.  It took them almost a week to realize it couldn't be repaired and finally since my LL was on vacation his son caved and just bought me a new one.

Well, last night as I was preparing a batch of blondies I turned the oven on and roughly twenty minutes later when I went to put the blondies in the oven I realized the oven wasn’t even remotely warm... the pilot wasn’t on, no gas smell... and my landlord wasn’t home.  So it turned my absolutely fine day upside down since I had planned on doing some baking and making a casserole for dinner.

When I left this morning at 7am LL’s car wasn't in the driveway and I didn't want to bother his wife so I’ll talk to him later when I get home.  The stove itself is actually working this time but the oven isn't going on, no gas smell and no pilot light so God only knows what’s going on here.  All I know is I can’t go very long without a working oven since I use it a few times a week for dinner.

Lets hope this isn't a week long debacle like last time... at least I know LL isn’t away or going away any time this week... at least not that I know of.

Monday, October 6, 2014

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014‏


I'm So in and SO excited to be a part of this again this year! :)

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014

Friday, September 19, 2014

Who wants to win some marshmallows?

Doing a little R&D this weekend with the marshmallows and since the holiday season will be here before you know it I figured why not share some marshmallows with a lucky winner?  Come visit the Fluffy n' Sweet FB page to get the latest news :)


Contest runs until Friday 9/26  :)


Saturday, September 13, 2014

Hello Keurig... my review of the Keurig 2.0

As an Influenster I sometimes get little perks and this has been by far the best perk yet! I love a good cup of coffee and although I still have my trusty old BHG Grind & Brew at home I'm the only coffee drinker here and making a whole pot of coffee is often wasteful.  I don't mind brewing a whole pot if I know I'm going to use it and over the summer it wasn't bad drinking coffee straight from the fridge, but it gets old fast.  Having the option now to brew just one cup or 3-4 in the carafe is very nice :)

 After taking a little coffee survey I was lucky enough to get chosen to try out the new Keurig 2.0.  After reading the reviews online and seeing the models here I was thinking we were going to get one of the basic models.  I was sure in for a surprise when the box arrived!


What I got was a Keurig 2.0 Model K550 Which is the top of the line model in the 2.0 series.  Lemme tell y'all I am NOT disappointed!  My BF has an older model Keurig and it's so noisy when you start it up and I was really kinda worried that this was going to be as well, BUT it's whisper quiet.

Say Hello to the Keurig® 2.0 K550 Brewing System — the first Keurig system that features revolutionary Keurig 2.0 Brewing Technology which is designed to read the lid of each K-Cup or K-Carafe pack to brew the perfect beverage every time. The K550 brewer allows you to brew a 4-cup carafe with the same ease and convenience of brewing a single-serve cup — all at the touch of a button. It’s so smart, and so simple!
The brewer has other great features including an extra large 80 ounce water reservoir, 2.8 inch color touch display, programmable clock, an auto brew option and a strength control setting for brewing bolder coffee. There’s even a separate setting for hot cocoa and other specialty beverages like lattes and mochas. The K550 model also has a customizable night light in the water reservoir and offers hot water on demand. So many options to choose from — not at all like a typical coffee maker.
Choose from over 250 varieties of coffee, tea and specialty beverages — including iced beverages — from 40 brands you know and love. Just look for Keurig Brewed® seal on your favorite K-Cup pack and K-Carafe pack varieties.
The Keurig 2.0 K550 Brewing System includes a Keurig Carafe, a 2.0 Water Filter Starter Kit with one filter, and K-Cup® and K-Carafe packs to get you started.
Variety pack includes:
4 K-Carafe packs:
  • Green Mountain Coffee® Breakfast Blend
  • Green Mountain Coffee® French Roast
  • Green Mountain Coffee® French Vanilla
  • The Original Donut Shop® Regular
6 K-Cup® packs:
  • The Original Donut Shop® Regular Extra Bold
  • Green Mountain Coffee® Hazelnut
  • Green Mountain Coffee® Nantucket Blend®
  • Barista Prima Coffeehouse® Italian Roast
  • Starbucks® Pike Place® Roast
  • Celestial Seasonings® English Breakfast Tea







You can see the difference in size between a standard K-cup and the K-carafe cup here.



 In my box I also received a full box of Decaf Breakfast Blend which I was a little befuddled with at first because I don't drink decaf but I will totally use it in chocolate cake and brownies :)  Since I got my box well after coffee drinking time for me (which I usually cut off to no later than 2 PM otherwise I know I won't sleep) the first one I brewed was the decaf to see how it worked, poured myself a small cup and then poured the remaining coffee into the ice cube trays and toss the cubed into my already strong iced coffee and it's awesome.





I love how quiet the Keurig is

Alright so it may not be the greatest sound in the world, but man do I love my coffee mug from Our Name is Mud.  I got this mug almost ten years ago and it's chipped and I broke the handle once, but it's really held up great and I can't seem to find another one just like it.

All in all, I love this machine, it's quiet, I can brew my coffee while I'm getting ready to haul ass out the door at 7am (I did mention in my last post my child is going to college and it's a two hour train ride each way didn't I?).  Pods can get a little expensive and for now this isn't compatible with any of the reusable cups but if you go to the Keurig site and sign up for special offers and Amazon always seems to have a good deal.  Otherwise every grocery store has them, for the new brewers make sure they have the Keurig logo on them, or they won't work with this machine.  For me it isn't an issue since this is my first Keurig.  I love all the varieties and that The Kid can use it also for tea and iced tea and cocoa when the weather gets cold.

So grab a mug and Enjoy your coffee with the new Keurig 2.0.  I definitely am :)

Saturday, September 6, 2014

This summer in review...

Monday was Labor Day... the unofficial end to quite possibly the shortest summer in memory for me. This summer was like this for me... Memorial Day, Bestie came to visit, BF got into car accident and totaled his car, Kid's Senior prom, Graduation, 4th of July, bestie left, it got hot for about 2 days, Birthday parties and cakes.  Never made it to the beach..again.  Two years in a row.  Ok, we did get to Long Beach once... but we went for dinner and then walked on the boardwalk so that doesn't count because it was nighttime.


Thursday The Kid started his Freshman year of college.  College.  If you follow me on my FB page You already know this ;)


My biggest adventure this summer was the cake I made for my nephew's first birthday.  It was my first attempt at working with fondant, both the boxed kind and a homemade marshmallow version.  It was interesting to say the least and probably not something I care to ever work with in that volume again.  It's fun to make decorations with, but I not only made decorations with it, but I used it to cover an entire cake and it was not fun.

The boxed fondant was fine to work with and I was able to squish it and mold it and screw it up multiple times before finally achieving the right shape and size crown to top the cake.

The homemade marshmallow fondant was, well.... interesting. after kneading the powdered sugar into the marshmallow I felt like it was good to go after a good 45 minutes and set it in the fridge overnight to finish the next morning when we got to our destination  but once I started rolling it out it didn't seem to have enough... umph? Structure?  It tore easily and sagged a bit once I finally had it on the cake, but still it wasn't bad for my very first try.





There have been many things cooked this summer.. a new amazing recipe to recreate a cookie from childhood for an attorney in my building, an ice cream roll cake that was precariously delivered to work on an exceptionally hot day, marshmallows, the best batch of brownies I've ever made, cakes.. two birthday cakes in two weeks, cupcakes.  It was great and amazing and Busy!

I've gotta get over here more often and now that things are semi-normal again (or, at the very least I'm not getting home at 8pm anymore).  With the kid back in school schedules are more or less fairly normal and meal planning has GOT to become more of a regular thing in my house instead of this daily craze of "ok, what do you want for dinner, omg I need to go to the grocery store again?

I need to get a new crock pot too... I had the insert of my crock pot on the floor after taking it out of the dish drainer to get it back in the cabinet once I was finished with the dishes and dropped a bowl on it... a dollar store ceramic bowl smashed my crock pot insert and didn't even chip -_- I tried gluing it back together but yeah, that didn't really work so well.  One of these days when I get to Target I'll remember to get one.. for now there's two on my amazon wishlist. ;)

Have a great weekend :)   I'll be back on Monday with a review of my new toy... a Keurig 2.0 :)

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Hey Y'all ... I'm still here :)

So much has gone in the past three months since I last blogged.. I'm really sorry.. jeez, cobwebs and crickets all over the place here :/

The Kid Graduated high school in June (MY KID GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL!! I still can't wrap my head around the fact that he's gonna be a college freshman in a few short weeks!)

Right before Graduation and prom my BF got into a really bad accident and got his car totaled. Luckily he was mostly OK and the airbags definitely saved his life (but, unfortunately the fact that I work for attorneys has not made this any easier or better when the asshat who hit him is still being uncooperative... but I digress...) Luckily I got a car in April so at least one of us has a vehicle, and we're back to carpooling.

This summer has been mostly a blur and gone bye way too fast! I still haven't been to the beach!

I'm still around if you don't see me here, I'm still posting away on the FB Page when I can.  Work keeps me busy and most nights I'm not home until almost 8:00 lately, but if you ever need me I'm never farther than an email away.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was asked if I ever make regular cookies.. sure, when I'm asked I'll bake just about anything.

These cookies are soft and perfect.. with big chunks of chocolate.


Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand-held electric mixer, cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

 Dissolve baking soda in hot water then add to batter along with salt.

Mix in flour until incorporated.

Fold in chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

Using a spring-loaded ice-cream scoop, drop even and large spoonfuls of dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet

. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Formal UberDork Cafe Jr Launch!

I'm all about helping a fellow momma out and Natali is The Most amazing monkey momma that I know. Not only is she full of spunk but she's got two little geekling firecrackers of her own that she's raising to be two amazing little girls. She had a dream that she was determined to make come true and NOW IT'S COMING TRUE!! She needs a little help getting some necessities
There is one giant thing we need to open- a refrigerated display case. We also need to build a giant work table (or buy it) for the classes. And signage- a big sign and two standup boards.

Those are the expenses we need help with. If we pass our goal, we will be able to add a projector for movie night, a small freezer for popsicles in the summer, art and science supplies, and ordering some dream stock we’d love to carry. (Natali is secretly hoping to be able to buy a commercial cotton candy maker as well.)
so lets all band together and help a truly amazing momma out! And, We're not just helping Natali here, but it's for the entire community :)

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Marshmallows... for sale!



Marshmallows are for sale Here before it gets too hot to ship them After then, well.. probably only local shipping unless I find a way to get crafty without the expense of extra packaging and dry ice or something crazy like that.
Custom orders are welcome, just message me and we'll work it out. Express delivery is available at an extra charge. Please message me if you have questions about anything.


All my marshmallows can be made with sugar or sugar free. Marshmallows are shipped fresh 1-2 business days after ordering and are always shipped priority mail. Express mail is available at an additional cost.


All My Marshmallows are made without corn syrup and can be made 100% corn free (no cornstarch in the powdered sugar) at no additional cost, just leave me a note in the comments when you check out.




As always, I use No artificial colors or flavors in my marshmallows.





Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Hi there

Yeah... so I've been such a complete slacker with blogging lately.  I do post to the FB page quite a bit (Or, at least I really try to).  I've had a lot going on lately and quick dinners have been more often than not and aside from a batch of cookies here and there nothing much has been baking in my kitchen.

This morning before I left for work I left some bread cubes soaking in custard for The Kid to bake up when he wakes up (ahh, spring break... I miss weeks off at a time with nothing to do).  On the days he stays home I always try to make sure there's stuff for him to eat and his cooking repertoire is pretty basic from eggs to pasta and he does make a really good grilled cheese (that boy LOVES cheese, all kinds of cheese that even I find adventurous.  For example we went to Ikea over the weekend and stopped for dinner while we were there. Kiddo sees a cheese platter and asks if he can get it...I'm kinda weary of this odd looking cheese and lingonberry platter but whatever, sure, go nuts.  So, while I've got chicken fingers and fries and here's The Kid with his Swedish meatballs, a cheese platter and a little marzipan custard cake... and he ate every.single.bite.  I can only dream of having a metabolism like this kid.

With Easter coming up this weekend (and snow on the ground today O_o) I'll be baking up a storm this weekend.  I have a Lasagna planned for Saturday and a Ham and fixin's for Sunday dinner.  Definitely have to make some Marshmallows and a few other things.

Hopefully within the next few weeks things will start to calm down or at least settle a bit and I can get back into blogging a little more.

As always, if you have any questions for me or would like to contact me you can here.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Milestones and chocolate cake...

My son turned eighteen today.

EIGHTEEN.

Wait.. what?

Yeah, you read that right.  Eighteen.

Half my age  -_-

We went out to dinner and had an excellent meal at a nice little Italian place by my office and I was nice enough not to embarrass him with the waitstaff singing happy birthday and making a scene.

I asked him earlier in the week what kind of cake he wanted and he requested a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.  I have an excellent chocolate cake recipe that I've been using that is the moistest, most decadent chocolate cake not to mention comes together quickly and bakes up without a hitch every time.

I made the cake when I got home last night, split it this morning, filled it with ice cream, wrapped it in plastic wrap and set it back in the springform pan this morning and took it out when we got home from dinner.  He's got a few friends who got here a little later than expected so while they're watching TV I had to put the cake back in the freezer.

While the cake firms back up I decided to sit here and share the recipe with y'all :)



Super moist dark chocolate cake

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Instructions:

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.

 Beat with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.

 Remove mixer; stir in boiling water by hand.

 Pour the thin batter into a greased and floured 13x9x2-inch baking pan or two greased 9-inch layer cake pans or three greased 8-inch layer cake pans.

Bake at 350° for about 35 minutes for a rectangular cake or 30 to 35 minutes for layers. A wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center should come out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in pan on rack then remove from pan and cool completely.

Frost as desired.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

One day I'll have a dog again...

But for now I get my daily dose of 'puppy therapy' from Facebook. My first dose came through a friend who shared a beautiful pittie girl who was in need of some rescue named Selena.  Selena was rescued by Fighting for Dawn  as a heartworm positive stray who was scheduled to be euthanized and was pulled right before.  I was in love at first sight with that baby and I've been following FFD ever since. The good and bad thing is they're in Georgia. Good because I know there's no way I can bring a dog randomly home to my honey one day (I can't have pets where I live, but he's got two cats). Bad because I wish there was more I could do to help and volunteer.

While I can't have a dog of my own, what I can do is share my love for the FFD family and all the rescues I follow, share the good they do and spread the love. From Dawn's story to the story of Marilyn and the Muttleys and all the babies (not all are babies, but all dogs are babies to me that deserve love and companionship) that they rescue daily. A lot of these dogs come into rescue in poor shape, they need donations to pull the dogs from the shelters, for vetting and are always in need of fosters.

I follow a few rescues and most are out of state to me... Except one...which I know when the time is right and I see that baby that I know will be mine I'm gonna go and get her from there. 

I miss having a dog, The Kid loves dogs and gets his dose of puppy love whenever he visits his friends with dogs (which is a good lot of them)  I, on the other hand am puppyless :( so I get my puppy fix from pages like Fighting for Dawn, Puppy Breath Rescue, Big Fluffy Dog RescueAngels Among Us Pet Rescue ,New York Bully Crew, Bama Bully Rescue and the shelter/rescue where my honey got his oldest Kitty Tyler The Little Shelter.  I admire so much what these rescues do and I donate when I can.

If you're an animal lover, do what you can to support rescues like these and support your local shelters & rescues.  Shelters are always in need of supplies like blankets (but usually not comforters) Fleece blankets that you can get on clearance at Walmart for $2 sometimes or less. Collars, leashes, food, puppy pads and the like.  I know FFD has an amazon wishlist.

This is my Tuesday Shoutout to all these rescues.  I'm showing my love and respect for all they do and all the babies they save on a daily basis.  No dog deserves to be thrown away because they're sick or old, no dog deserves to be starved to death because the owners are too poor to afford food or just don't want the dog anymore.  No animal deserves to be left out in the cold to die because the people don't want them in the house.  If you can't take care of your pet find someone who will.  They are all living beings and deserve a good life.  Over these past few months I've seen some really sad stories, pictures of these babies when they're rescued and then of their amazing recoveries and have cried when they just couldn't be saved.

These animals can't speak for themselves so we have to be their voice.  Lets do the best we can for them.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Alright Winter, that's enough.

Since 2014 started I've missed now 4 days because of the snow.  This.is.Insanity!!

Due to a bunch of stuff that's been going on I am still without a car and I've been hoofing it to the train every day when I realized I was wasting $25 every week by taking the bus when it was faster to just walk to the train myself.  The only problem?  The train is over 2.5 miles away.

Under normal circumstances this isn't a horrible walk and I can get there in under 30 minutes.  In 5-8" of snow though, it's not impossible but frustrating.  The plows don't come around regularly, people neglect to shovel their sidewalks and while it's sometimes "safer" to walk in the street... it's really not because people can be real jerks.

So... once again today I'm home.  I couldn't catch a ride to the train and catching a bus proved to be unsuccessful without walking totally out of the way, getting splashed with slush from rude drivers that mock people that have to walk or not falling flat on your face on unshoveled and untreated walkways.

Today is one of those days when I'd (believe it it not) really rather be at work.  I have stuff to get done in my office, and while there's always stuff to get done at home I really didn't want to take another day off because of the damn weather :(


Just saw the snow totals for the area and we're averaging 3.5" already.

What's Your weather like?


Monday, January 20, 2014

The worlds worst can opener

Hi guys :)
Happy new year. 

Sorry it's a little dusty around here, I've had a lot going on but I try to post over at the fb page when I can. 

Today's post is about can openers. I used to always have a hand cranked one but when I started to grow my nails (when I finally kicked the horribly disgusting nail biting habit) my thumbnail always got trashed by using it. Fed up I bought an electric can opener. I've had it a few years and for probably since a week after I got it I've said I'm throwing it in the trash. 

I got it in target and probably paid $15-20 for it and it's the crappiest can opener. I have to literally push the can through 99% of the time and on the off chance I get a can to completely go around it's like a freaking miracle. It leaves sharp gnarly edges and I can tell you it's amazing I haven't needed stitches yet from the condition this thing leaves cans in. 

Why haven't I replaced it? Simple... It's the last thing on my mind when I go to target or shop on amazon. With a good recommendation I'll happily go out of my way to get one... Or at least add it to my shopping list. 

So... I ask y'all. What's a good electric can opener? I would ideally like one that's not doing to possibly slice my finger open with gnarly and sharp edges like this one. I don't need bells and whistles and I also don't want to spend a ton of money on something I use maybe once or twice a week.