my over-scheduled life

I need a belt.

2012-01-09T21:05:00.001-05:00

When I started the clean eating plan, my pants, which are a size 20, fit just right. Not quite snug, but definitely not loose. At only 8.5 pounds down, my pants are close to too loose. I need a belt. That really makes me happy. I have these dress shirts in closet that I want to wear to work. 8.5 pounds ago they were very tight, buttons stretched tight. Now, they are just not flattering. The buttons all close without strain. In another 8 pounds they should look nice. Today I made sure to get my walk in at work. I wasn't able to really go fast because of lower back pain. I had hoped my walk would loosen it up, but no such luck.

Remember that NYTimes Mag I linked to in my post, it has been on my mind for a while. I keep thinking back to Mrs. Bridges and her constant focus on food and exercise. It does sound like she has some hobbies, friends, and family. But much of her day is spent focused on eating or exercising. I don't have that kind of time to devote to this. That isn't the life I want to lead. So I am trying to get over my free of failure. I am not going to let that fear keep me from trying. I need to figure out why I overeat. Why do I eat when I am stressed? What can I do at work when I need to give my mind a break? Walking helps, sometimes it seems impossible to get out of that chair. If I can't walk the full twenty minutes, why walk, right? Wrong. The minutes add up, the steps add up. 5 minutes is enough to get blood and oxygen flowing in my body and brain.

Today's Good Reading Links:

(1) Angie Mizzell's Embracing (and escaping) the big black hole of yuck

(2) Glennon's Momastry (the whole blog)

New Food Lessons/Rules:

(1) I stopped eating after 7 unless it is my dinner. But this plan is really all about planning ahead and taking control of your eating. So it should very rare that my dinner is after 7 pm.

(2) I have found a few different protein bars that have reasonable amounts of sugar that I can sub in for emergency meals. Having these available (actually physically available or as an option) takes an edge off the stress of working as much as we do and trying to keep on plan.

(3) Not sticking to the meal schedule results in unnecessary stress, so stick to the schedule. You might be sitting at your desk thinking, I'm not that hungry, I can wait. But then something comes up and 15 minutes becomes an hour and 15 minutes. And you are hungry, bordering on cranky, unable to focus and just not feeling well.

Day 7 of 28

2012-01-01T22:11:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the end of Day 7 & I am happy to report that I am down 6 pounds. (Hopefully, that is still true tomorrow am, although, I'll take better news too!)

I am getting in about 5 meals and I am not really hungry at bedtime. When I am, I have some almonds or a fruit. The rule is to have the sixth meal if you are hungry at the end of the day. As I write this, I am snacking on pistachios & almonds. I have been using the dry erase board on our fridge to keep track of what I eat every day. It is a bit freeing to not count calories. This article from the NYTimes Magazine (free but registration required) suggests that my preoccupation with food may gone on for a very long time. I still haven't managed to get exercise into the picture. The good thing about work is that I usually get at least a 20 minute walk in every day. I am planning on 2 - 20 minute walks this week when I go back to work.

This has been an easy week. The real test come Thursday. Thursday is our earliest start morning. I need to be at work by about 6:15 if not earlier to make sure everything is together for the 7:00 am morning briefing. (I am so not a morning person.) So my cooler needs to be packed and ready to go when I get to bed Wednesday night. On Tuesday, we have play practice so I have to pack 4 or 5 meals instead of 3. I can do this. I just need to keep an eye looking ahead for my traps. I need to look out for the places I can safely bet I will fall if I am not careful with my planning.

Day 4 of 28

2011-12-29T12:25:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was the hardest day so far on my 4 week clean eating challenge. On day 28, I am going dress shopping with my Maid of Honor. The MoH is also my personal trainer. She is an excellent personal trainer. MoH recommended that I try Tosca Reno's The Eat Clean Diet Stripped. The 3 big keys for me are: (1) No white sugar, (2) No dairy, and (3) No alcohol. For 28 days. The book is written for people at the end of their weight loss goal. But I need a moral/confidence boost to get going & get this first month and 10 - 20 pounds under my belt.

The first two days were easy. On day three, things didn't go exactly as planned. I did stick to the diet with the exception that I subbed a 100 cal popcorn bag for air-popped popcorn. I was cranky most of the day and my meals were not well timed. I am planning on a much better day today! I just noticed that I am not having enough protein with my breakfast. I think I am going to start adding a 1/2 scoop of muscle milk powder to my oatmeal. TR also makes the oatmeal with almond milk instead of water. So I am probably not getting enough calories with my breakfast either. Sleeping until 9 isn't doing much for my eating schedule either.

Good news!
I am down 5.5 pounds. Woo hoo!

Day 4 Meal Plan

Meal 1 (11 am):
Oatmeal (1/2 cup dry)
3 large frozen strawberries
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1 banana
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
water

Meal 2 (1:15 pm)*:
2 T hummus with celery
water

Meal 3 (3:30/3:45pm)*:
3 oz deli chicken
1 oz almonds (may eat with meal 2)
1 clementine
water

Meal 4 (6:30/6:45pm)**:
6 oz lean steak (may go with grilled chicken)
broccoli
dinner salad {romaine, tomato, cucumber}(may go with double broccoli)
water

Meal 5 (9:30pm):
1 oz. almonds
banana
water

text = planned
text = actual

* = cooler packed meal.
** = meal out with fiancé & the Girls

Scavenger Hunt 101

2011-08-19T22:22:00.000-04:00

I finally bought my DSLR. I went with a Nikon D90 I found on Craigslist. I love it. It is so much fun. It does so much and I am really enjoying exploring the features of this camera. I joined the Scavenger Hunt 101 group on flickr.

I tackled some of the easy topics first.

66. A dog

Talus & I were outside grilling up some dinner. She is a good dog (when she isn't trying to destroy my house). This is the photo I selected for my first entry. Here are some more of her.

67. Barbequed or grilled food

They were delicious.

Update

2011-05-22T22:18:00.000-04:00

Oh and this blog needs an update. I am not working in the nonprofit sector now. Although I do sit on two nonprofit boards. And I have abandoned my 101 Goals project. Sadly, I barely have time to post so I am sure getting a general about me section updated will take a bit of time.

What is for dinner?

2011-05-22T22:13:00.000-04:00

We have decided to start a year long food project where we eat only food which has not been genetically modified, only meat & dairy that has been ethically raised & produced. Actually, all of our food needs to have been ethically produced at every stage. When we first started talking about this project, I thought we'd have to generate our own list of rules. I was very happy to find Michael Pollan's Food Rules.

Tonight over dinner, we talked about what it would mean to follow these rules for one year. Pollan describes them as guidelines, but we are going to try to treat them more like rules. Kate is not happy about the "Don't eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk." rule. I pointed out that she likes oatmeal and pancakes. She agreed but she also likes cereal that changes the color of the milk. Berl is not excited about the "mostly plants" theme of the what do I eat section. The three of us are difficult, picky eaters who, I hope, will learn to like foods we have previously overlooked/ignored/avoided and foods we've never tried before. We are all thankful for the "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you make it yourself" rule. The hardest part will be getting us going on the project. With my work schedule and their lack of enthusiasm, it will be a slow start. These changes are long coming in our family, there can't be any downside to trying to eat in a more sustainable way.

An easy & good homemade gluten free pizza

2011-05-10T12:50:00.001-04:00

Pizza & Nacho Cheese Doritos are the foods I miss the most. I mean fresh, hot pizza with crispy pepperoni pieces. I loved both thin & deep dish crusts. I love a good pizza sauce. I haven't found a good homemade one or a good store bought one (but I have some leads on some good bottled sauces). I haven't worked with rice flour enough to make my own good crust. Guido's Pizza over in Okemos has great gluten free pizza, but that is quite the drive and they aren't cheap. Godfather's Pizza has a decent gluten pizza in Battle Creek and they do take and bake. But again, I'm not often out that way and it is quite a drive. I have tried two different frozen gf pizzas and a frozen pre-made gf pizza crust. All three were terrible. I have been picking up the Chebe bag of crust mix for at the grocery store for a while now. What if I paid $5 for it and put all the effort into it and it sucked? That would make me sad. (I think it was $3 and change at Meijer.)

Last night, I gave in and tried it. I was happily surprised. My complaint with the frozen crusts (and many other gluten free products) is the texture. It is dry and sandy with little to no flavor. When I opened this bag, I could smell the seasonings. It was a pleasant surprise. The directions were easy to follow and the dough came together as promised by the bag. The flour had a pretty smooth feeling to it. Take note GF producers, if the flour feels grainy and hard, the end product will probably not be that tastey.

The crust rolled out niceley and did not fall apart and break up easily. Places where I pushed too hard came back together easily. As you can see, I am an easy and simple pizza topper. Pepperoni and good cheese.

This picture doesn't give you much perspective. The cookie sheet is a smaller cookie sheet. I think I ended up cutting 16 squares from the end product. I ate the first 2 or 3 and then set about doing dishes and what not. The family had eaten before I got home but by the end of the night only about a quarter of the pizza was left. The crust could have been crispier but I wonder if that was due to my technique. I will definitely be buying and making this again.

I don't recall the packaging speaking to whether it was organic or whether they use any genetically modified ingrediants. I am planning to check more into those issues (so hopefully, I can keep eating it!) Chebe's website can be found at http://www.chebe.com/.

I will be posting a review of Guido's gluten free pizza as well as a review of Godfather's gluten free pizza in the future. For now, I would say that I would eat again at either restaurant!

Why I'll be writing about food

2011-05-06T08:00:00.018-04:00

If you know me, you know I love food. So it really can't be much of a surprise that I am going to be writing about food.

A few months ago, I learned that I couldn't eat gluten anymore. Gluten was the source of years of digestive chaos. During the first few weeks of being gluten free, I had been doing a lot of reading and talking about being GF. A few people had mentioned the idea that genetically modified foods were contributing to the increase food allergies. The day the third person said this to me I came across this video in either my facebook or twitter feed. After watching the video, I started following Robyn on twitter. I have learned so much about genetically modified foods and other food issues from her tweets. Her book is in my To Be Read pile (TBR). Her foundation - Allergy Kids - has a great section called "Do One Thing" with simple ideas for reducing genetically modified or chemical foods in your life. Check it out.

We are starting to eliminate genetically modified food from our house and our lives. The first step is to switch to as much organic as we can find and afford. As part of that effort, I am looking for local food. One of the first things I want to find is a potato crop I can buy a share of. I suspect it is too late in the year to get one this year. I am hoping to at least get a good supply of potatoes. My second goal is to buy a portion of a grass fed well cared for cow. I am thinking about buying a cow through our local county fair. I'll need at least 2 if not 3 families to go in on the cow with me. To be honest, I don't know anything about buying a cow.

Local Harvest is a great web site for finding local food. I have found a few farms that offer potatoes in the region. I am pretty close to picking a CSA to participate in (and to finding one that will let us join this late).

Food

2011-05-05T10:07:00.001-04:00

I haven't been blogging because I have been working too much. I don't want to blog from my work computer and I am drained when I get home. Word Press crashes when I launch it on iPhone. I finally found an app I can use with blogger.

I have been thinking quite a bit about what I will be writing about here. I want to spend some time writing and learning about how to avoid genetically modified foods. I want to look at that list of 101 goals and accomplish the goals I still care about.

Now I have to get to a meeting.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Moving

2010-07-09T10:33:00.000-04:00

Update: wordpress hates my iPhone so I am back where I began.

I am moving over to wordpress -- my craziness can be found here.

The Witchling - My Conclusion

2010-06-22T10:17:00.000-04:00

Please note the title says "My Conclusion" not the conclusion, my conclusion. My conclusion is I can't finish the book, it is too awful. It has been so long since I abandoned it that I can't remember why I abandoned it. I have vague memories. I didn't like the heroine, any of the heros, or the heroine's sisters. I was only mildly interested in the plot. I just couldn't get on her team. It was well written with a number of beautiful details and great language.

The Witchling - Disk 2

2010-05-15T15:38:00.000-04:00

Turns out the FBH is not our hero. Our hero is probably a Svartan named Trillian. This is a book on cd so I am guessing at the spelling. Svartans are intense beings - perhaps a race of the fairies, that isn't really clear to me. Apparently, after you've "had" a Svartan you can't go back. Svartans are so intense that they can't be monogamous. And neither are the fairies. Our herione spends much print time worrying about whether or not he'll dump her. It is okay if he sleeps around he just can't leave her. Trillian is dark skinned with long silver hair. I don't know if all Svartans are dark or if just he is. I am uncomfortable with the way this dark skinned individual has been set up as an "other". We'll see where that goes.

Oh yeah, the gentle giants name was Jacko, not Jack.

On with our plot, so the FBH Johnson had a message for the trio from this Trillian. Word on the street was that some big bad demon had taken over the demon world and was looking to wipe out Otherworld and Earth to rule all three dimensions. They shouldn't expect much help from HQ - either because they couldn't or wouldn't give it.

Camille gets Menolly to agree to go somewhere with her but won't tell her where. Turns out to be a VA - that's right, Vamps Anonymous, meeting. Here we learn she has been a vamp for 12 earth-side years. 12 years and they are still tiptoeing around her. Seems a bit over the top to me, I get that they have longer lives, but after 12 years, I'd expect her to be a little more adjusted. Menolly has the name of Jacko's earthside GF who Delilah is going to track down. Menolly is going to go exploring dark alleys for information while she also feeds off of the dregs of society. Sometimes she decides who needs to die. It is unclear what her criteria are for deciding who dies and who is just a snack. The guy she takes out tonight was about to slice up a prostitute so he had to die. I guess that seems fair enough.

While Menolly is off snacking and gathering information, Camille goes off to talk to Grandmother Coyote aka one of the hags of fortune about everything that is going down. Grandmother Coyote sometimes gives advice to those who seek it. Here we learn that the big bad demon Shadow Wing has sent three other demons Earth-side in hunt of the spirit seals or some such thing. With these seals, all three worlds can either be brought together forcefully or brought in peace. We need to find some guy named Tom Hale who lives near Mt. Rainer.

The intrepid trio reassembles to share their information. At which time, we meet Trillion who appears in their house without warning. We find all three ready to fight the intruder (until he identifies himself). Menolly readies herself by flying up to the ceiling, Delilah draws a knife and a gun, and Camille gets some magic ready. They discover it is this Trillion and relax. Menolly gets catty with Trillion and so Delilah has another fit. Which means she has to be calmed down before she turns into a cat again. And once again, she is getting worked up because Menolly is upset with someone else (this time Trillian). Moments ago, she was going to face an unknown intruder, now her sister is upset and she freaks.

We end the disk with everyone turning in for the night after they have shared information. Camille and Trillian head upstairs to her room. . .

The Witchling - A Progressive Review

2010-05-13T21:35:00.000-04:00

A progressive review is the best phrase I could come up with to explain my intent for this review. I will be writing a mini synopsis and review at the end of each disk. The book I'm working on first, The Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn.

We first meet our heroine and narrator, Camille, at her bookstore in Seattle. We are front-loaded with a good deal of world building. Camille is half-Faerie, half-human, and a witch whose powers often go awry. She is the oldest of three sisters who are half-Faerie and half human. Mellony, the vampire whose name grates on my ears and Delilah, the were-cat. And by were-cat, I mean were-house-cat. Apparently, Delilah is a hard-edged clever PI who is good with electronics from our world (the three are from the Other World). But whenever her sisters get into an argument, she freaks and turns into a house cat. A lovely, but scared house cat. So far, when she changes, she doesn't seem to retain any of her human intelligence or knowledge. She also seems to spook easily.

Mellony is also pretty annoying. She is too emotionally scarred to tell our hero how she became a vampire, but is all bad-ass and tries to pick fights with him for what appears to be no reason.

Our presumed hero, whose name I can't remember, is a full-blooded human or an FBH. He has the hots for Camille which irritates all three for no discernible reason. Apparently, Camille has never had sex with an FBH and isn't about to start now. She gives us no reason for disliking him except that he is an FBH which means they are going to have sex. So far, he is the only character I like.

At this point, we have learned that someone with demonic ancestry has killed a gently giant whose name I think might have been Jack. He was garroted by the demon with a leather strap. We are told a couple of times that this killer must have been very strong to have killed a giant. The Other World Intelligence Agency (whose name I have already forgotten) has assigned the intrepid sisters to the case.

That brings us to the close of disk 1. I will start disk 2 on my drive to work tomorrow and probably finish it on my way home!

The New Old Blog that I Love

2010-05-13T16:43:00.000-04:00

Today I rediscovered Penelope Trunk. I had read her work before over at Yahoo!Finance - I liked it there too. I like it even more now. I love her honesty - she puts it all out there. I have been enjoying her work so much that I can't seem to write more than a sentence at a time without flipping back over to finish trying to follow another story line. With the Asperger Syndrome, the Farmer, her miscarriage, it is all so fascinating. In one post, she talks about how she and the Farmer use a technique discovered by Temple Grandin to calm farm animals to help her calm down and focus.

I am so inspired by her posts and her blog that I want to be a better blogger. I'm not even sure what that means for me. I think it means that I want to be able to write about a wide variety of topics that I find interesting. I would like to be able to take the stressful moments of life and turn them into lessons, to give them meaning and value. I also love a good story and would love to become a better written storyteller.

The good news is that even Penelope says she has a hard time blogging, the bad news is there is only one way to get better at it, which is to just buckle down and get it done.

I found Penelope again thanks to Inc. magazine's 19 Blogs You Should Bookmark Right Now.

Instincts

2010-05-06T13:56:00.000-04:00

Often times, our instincts are good and they are sending us messages we should listen to. Some of the messages are good, some of them are bad. Many of us don't listen to them often enough. A good friend of mine is trying to learn to listen to hers when it comes to dating.

In this afternoon's 85 Broads Jam Session with Danielle La Porte (WhiteHotTruth), Danielle said she generally knows everything she needs to know about a person and her future relationship with them in first 8 seconds she meets them. "As in the beginning, so in the middle and so in the end." Danielle recommends using your instinct and following Buddhist saying she quotes when you re embarking on a new relationship. Business relationship and personal relationships have the rules and we fall into the same habits of not trusting our instincts.

Back to the friend: A week or so ago, she asked me to dig around and see what I could find on this guy who seemed fishy on match.com. She hadn't yet met this guy in person and wasn't quite sure why he seemed off, but he did. Turns out she was right to listen to her instincts. I think the lesson that most of can learn from her experience is not about what made the bells go off, but what she did when they went off. When the bells went off, she asked herself why they went off and examined the bells and their cause. Then she trusted herself. Turns out, she did the right thing. Nothing bad came of the situation and he revealed his true nature quickly.

This morning, she forwarded me this message (her name is changed & her email address is redacted):

From: Robert Johnson
Subject: Hi Babe..
To: Friend
Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2010, 9:48 PM

Hi Nancy Babe...How are you doing ?I was online last night to chat with you but you were not online and i did tried to call you today as well but you didn't pick my calls,guess you were busy...Hope you doing fine and coping with your work...?Am missing you so much here and can't wait to see you angel ...Am so glad how far and how we got to meet and i know gradually with God's mercy things will work out as we planned...I realise we have been heart broken for along time or at a point in your life so does everyone at a point but the only thing that keeps us going is knowing we are here now and won't give up and finding that greener pasture and i hope and pray that i will look back to these days and smile because you have me and i have you babe ...I was able to book my flight for next week friday because am almost done here just trying to clear out somethings over here my love ...I miss you Nancy and am glad i met you and i feel the way i do with you ...Meeting you to see the smiles and tears is all i long for right now ...I know i can't change your past neither can i change mine but we've got alot more to hang on as long as we are still breathing...

Am sorry i was unable to email you my flight Itinery yesterday ..I had in mind to send it to you but i was just too tired last night my love and while i was online i slept off while waiting for you to come online babe ...Am going to send it to you Angel and i do hope i won't have to regret coming to see you or waiting for you at the Airport Angel..lol There's something i really need you to do for me now ..Its really important because i need to finalize everything have got to do before my flight on friday,Am done buying the collections i needed and it all went great because the collections are really worth what i was hoping for and am sure its a great deal once i get all all shipped back home from here but am having alittle issue with cash here...The whole collection are at the clearing office right now and i was told i needed to pay for the clearance for the collections because of the volume and its importance ..It's something i wasn't aware of or rather say planned for and right now am out of cash in hand to do the neccessary things needed which is paying for the clearing fee and getting the documents which i was told i would need and without these things one of the clearing officer told me they won't be releasing those collections for shippment because is a new reform or something and that's not nice not after all that have invested in it and the stress i went through..So have decided to sell some of the collections here to get the some collections i need so i could do what i needed..Since the money for the collections would be through transfer because that's the only way ..The money will be trasnfered to you and you can send me some of the cash that i needed back so i can do the things i needed and i hope i cant trust you with the Nancy and keep the remaining till friday when am back and i want to believe you will be honest with all of these,i know you won't give all of these away for something as silly as this or would you?.I do want to believe you not going to hurt or do anything and this is because am trusting you with this so i need to do this before next week friday so i can get done with every other things i need angel ...The payment for the transfer will be made through credit card transfer to you and once you have the confirmation i need you to let me know as soon as possible baby because i have to start up with the payment of the clearance fee immediately angel ..This is really important to me Nancy and this is also not just about me alone ..I believe this is also about us...

Let me know so i can get done with this and you have to know i have to do all of this before friday angel...Missing you and hope we can chat tonight my love ...Love ya ...

Love..Dream..Hope..Prayer..
Robert..

Lasagna for sharing

2010-04-12T22:55:00.000-04:00

Albion is not only the home of the Old Rugged Cross and Albion College. It is also home to some nice old Victorian houses,

some sad urban decay,

and some great food.

Last Friday, we decided to go for a nice quiet dinner with just the two of us. We've been to Cascarelli's in Homer a couple of times, but never to Cascarelli's in Albion. Cascarelli's in Albion is over 100 years old. We really enjoy Cascarelli's in Homer and were hoping it would be as good or better in Albion.

The menu was pretty standard fare and pretty reasonably priced. In Homer, they have this Annie's bread that is a buttery mess and tasty. So we tried the bread sticks. Unlike the Homer version, they were fried. They were lightly sweetened and garlicly. They have us a butter sauce and some Ranch. I often measure a restaurant by their Ranch. Cascarelli's of Albion knows their ranch. It was a sign of good things to come. While we were enjoying our salad and bread and waiting for our food, we also enjoyed some live music.

The music was a man playing his acoustic guitar and singing. We were treated to some Bob Dillan, Gordan Lightfoot -- naturally, there was some Edmund Fitzgerald -- Johnny Cash, and some other good classic songs.

We shared the lasagna plate in part because we always fill up on bread and in part because I was feeling cheap. There was definitely enough for both us. I know it doesn't look like much but there two good sized portions in there. There were also 5 or so meatballs. The meatballs were great! The lasagna was okay. I prefer less ricotta and more mozzarella. But there was plenty of sauce so that more than made up for the cheese issues.

We didn't leave room for dessert. Hopefully next time we will remember to leave room for dessert. I think we will try to head over to Albion for dinner again sometime soon. The service was great, the food was good, and the atmosphere was terrific. Worth the drive!

Did someone clean the shower?

2010-04-08T10:25:00.001-04:00

This morning, I asked the family if someone had cleaned the shower. I had been doing an experiment with my new Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner and was worried someone had ruined it! I set up my Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner when it came from bzzagent.com on Tuesday. (I love free stuff!)

No one had cleaned the shower! My shower is so clean! I'm not just saying that because it was free. I've been sent other free stuff that I didn't like and didn't blog about. So, (1) go get your self one of these and you can thank me later and (2) go to bzzagent.com to become a bzzagent and get your own free stuff. In addition to the automatic shower cleaner, I also have $3 coupons to pass on to friends. I have already given out 2.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting & Chocolate Glaze

2010-04-07T12:36:00.001-04:00

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting & Chocolate Glaze
(Printable Version)

I have been eying this recipe on Smitten Kitchen for a while now. I have been needing a reason to make this cake (I know, you never really need a reason.) Easter was a co-worker's birthday and her favorite sweet treats are chocolate and peanut butter. What better reason to make such a delicious cake!

Smitten Kitchen's directions were great. You should definitely freeze the layers before frosting. Not only will they frost better, but they will be easier to handle for the stacking. It was definitely worth the time spent baking and frosting! Enjoy!

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze

Adapted, only barely, from Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes - with thanks for Smitten Kitchen!

Makes an 8-inch triple-layer cake; serves 12 to 16 (SK and I agree, it will serve quite a bit more. At work, we got 9 pieces out of half.)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanut brittle (I skipped this)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans. (AG Note: I measured it out, I put about 2 1/4 cups of batter in cake pan - I only have 2 round pans so I had to be careful to make sure that all three were the same amount of batter.)

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. (Deb @ Smitten Kitchen note: These cakes are very, very soft. I found them a lot easier to work with after firming them up in the freezer for 30 minutes. They’ll defrost quickly once assembled. You’ll be glad you did this, trust me.)

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. (Deb note 1: Making a crumb coat of frosting–a thin layer that binds the dark crumbs to the cake so they don’t show up in the final outer frosting layer–is a great idea for this cake, or any with a dark cake and lighter-colored frosting. Once you “mask” your cake, let it chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm, then use the remainder of the frosting to create a smooth final coating. Deb note 2: Once the cake is fully frosting, it helps to chill it again and let it firm up. The cooler and more set the peanut butter frosting is, the better drip effect you’ll get from the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze.)

5. To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze, put the cake plate on a large baking sheet to catch any drips. Simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving. Decorate the top with chopped peanut brittle.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes about 5 cups
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a commercial brand (because oil doesn’t separate out)

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
8 ounces seimsweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In the top of d double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.

Love, Brotherhood, and Slow Motion

2010-04-02T22:28:00.001-04:00

I suppose a more accurate title to this post would have been Sherlock Holmes and Man Vintets Sauvignon Blanc. I strongly recommend both the latest Sherlock Holmes starring the delectable Robert Downing, Jr. and the 2008 Man Vintets Sauvignon Blanc.

First the movie. I love a mystery, love it! In this movie, we know the villain the entire time. But that isn't the point of the movie, here we get to know Sherlock in a new way. He isn't some genius who smugly lives among us. He is a troubled man who cannot help but be flooded by every sight, sound, smell, and sensation in his proximity. He doesn't enjoy it, he doesn't seek it out. In fact, he would prefer to dull it.

The other thing I loved about the movie were the unexpectedly deep emotional moments, like the moment when we believed Watson to be dead, or the moment when Watson's beloved confronts Holmes. I loved Holmes' love as well. She was great. It was another example of his imperfection. In some ways, it reminded me of Iron Man, not just because they shared a a leading man (and isn't he something), but also because the lead character is flawed. In some ways, deeply flawed and yet, his flaws are a part of his charm, his power, and his strength. In many ways, we are like Stark and Sherlock, our flaws are also are our strengths. Sherlock's strengths are his need for a challenge and his inability to turn off his powers of observation and his need to share his observations.

I also loved the soundtrack and will be checking it out very soon.

Now for the part of my post you have been waiting for, Man Vintets Sauvignon Blanc 2008. Excellent wine, it was part of a Christmas gift so I can't speak to price but I can't imagine it was much. Not much of an after-taste, nice and smooth.

I loved the way they left it open for a sequel. I am really looking forward to seeing the sequel.

By the way, if you haven't discovered Roger Ebert on Twitter, you really should follow him at @ebertchicago. Brilliant and funny.

Baby Bzzzz

2010-04-01T14:22:00.001-04:00

I've mentioned before that I am a bzzagent. I get great stuff free from http://www.bzzagent.com and all I have to do is tell you about it - so far, I've liked everything I've been sent. Right now, I am participating in a promotion for the movie Babies. I am under no delusions that I will win the traffic contest. (although, maybe with all the foodies from my listing on the Foodies Blogroll can help . . .).

Everybody loves... BABIES. Coming to theatres this Mother's Day Weekend (May 7th), this visually stunning new movie simultaneously follows four babies around the world - from first breath to first steps. From Mongolia to Namibia to San Francisco to Tokyo, BABIES joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all. Check out the trailer!

Disaster!

2010-03-28T16:54:00.001-04:00

Goal 100. I will participate in the Daring Baker eight months for every twelve months of the 101 goals, not missing two consecutive months. {2/12}~{0/12}~{0/12}

That word describes both the state of my kitchen and this month's Daring Baker results.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Things seemed to go wrong from the beginning. I bought the wrong kind of oranges and had to do another run, I forgot to add the marmalade in the second to last step. I waited too long to mix the gelatin in with the whipped cream. I decided to go family style with my springform pan because I didn't have enough little cookie cutters. Sigh. And I don't really care for citrus desserts. I was hoping I would like it as it was quite a bit of work. But I don't really. On the upside, I know how to make marmalade and how to segment an orange. I didn't even know I didn't know how to segment an orange before. I was going to deviate and go with a chocolate and strawberries yumminess. But I went with the original. In the end, I am still glad I did it! It was fun making such a mess of my kitchen!

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread - Yums!

2010-03-07T18:46:00.000-05:00

I had some time on my hands and some bananas on the counter. This meant it was time to test another recipe from the Joy of Cooking. This time it was Banana Bread Cockaigne, page 628. I usually make banana bread from my Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook.

According to wikipedia, "Cockaigne or Cockayne (pronounced /kɒˈkeɪn/) is a medieval mythical land of plenty, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist." What a delicious concept!

As always with baking, it is best to start with all ingredients at room temperature. I don't usually plan enough ahead to achieve this. Someday, I will.

I really need to work on taking pictures of food. I am not that good at it. This does not look as delicious as it was!

It wasn't as banana'y as I would have liked. Maybe next time, I'll add a fourth banana. I also left out the lemon zest and added a teaspoon of vanilla.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening or butter (I used butter)
1 to 2 large eggs (I used 2)
3/4 teaspoon lemon zest (no lemons on hand so I skipped this part)
1 to 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional and I don't add nuts)
1/4 finely chopped dried apricots (also optional and not found in my banana bread, maybe someday)
8 ounces of chopped semi sweet chocolate

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease bread pan.
2. Whisk together all dry ingredients in a small-ish mixing bowl.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, butter, and vanilla until creamy. Then beat in 2 large beaten eggs.
4. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, beating until smooth with each addition. Fold in the nuts, apricots or chocolate, if desired.
5. Pour into greased bread pan and bake for about 60 minutes or until a knife comes out mostly clean. The melted chocolate will give you trouble with the clean knife, but you should be able to tell if the banana bread is done with the knife.
6. Cool slightly before unmolding (otherwise it doesn't come out of the pan quite right).

The book says to cool completely before serving, but that is nonsense. I love warm, fresh banana bread, especially with a little bit of butter! Yums!

Sloppy Joes!

2010-03-03T16:27:00.000-05:00

The last Blog Improvement Project assignment was to work on creative post titles. Clearly, I am not implementing that particular advice yet.

Last night, I cooked for the first time in a long time. I was not feeling that creative and really wanted some comfort food. What I wanted was Manwich, I love Manwich. But we are trying to have more home cooked food. So I quickly googled martha stewart sloppy joes. Loaded the recipe on my iphone (I don't have the Martha app yet, I was just browsing in Safari). It turned out pretty good with minor changes to the recipe.

6:33 pm We started with 1onion, 1/2 green pepper, 1 celery stalk and 2 cloves of garlic, all finely chopped. Okay, it wasn't really that finely chopped.

6:50 pm Add of this to heated pan with a tablespoon of olive oil.

I added some McCormick's Hamburger Seasoning to the onion mix.

6:55 pm Put the frozen broccoli in the microwave.

7:02 pm Add meat to pan, brown until no longer pink. Sadly, for the next few steps, my phone was in use so I don't have pictures of the adding and browning of 1 pound of beef.

7:13 pm Add 15 oz of tomato sauce, 1/4 cup of ketchup, and 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.

7:15 pm Set the table.

Next time I make this instead of ketchup I might use tomato paste. My goal is to make it more Manwich like. Manwich seems to have less vegs and more tomato taste and feel.

~ 1 tablespoon olive oil
~ 1 medium onion, finely chopped
~ 1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
~ 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
~ 2 cloves garlic, minced
~ Coarse salt and ground pepper
~ 1 pound ground beef
~ 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
~ 1/4 cup ketchup
~ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
~ 4 hamburger buns, split and toasted

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Add ground beef to skillet. Cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until it is no longer pink, 6 to 8 minutes.

3. Stir tomato sauce, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce into beef mixture in skillet. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes.

4. Season the mixture with more salt and pepper, as desired. Spoon onto buns, and serve immediately.

Captivated

2010-03-02T13:45:00.000-05:00

"This place where you are right now, God circled on a map for you."
~Hafez 14th Century Persian Poet

I found this quote while reading Lucy March's blog. It is really resonating with me today as I am constantly looking for and applying for new jobs, trying to work out a more permanent future for my career. Although this position is not permanent, right now, it is where I need to be. I just wish I could see the map God was looking at.

International Badge Day!

2010-03-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

Today is International Badge Day! So I am wearing my badge on my blog and my suit jacket.

I am aware of image of greek orgs and sororities in popular culture and media. That image is nothing like the reality I experienced as a member of Alpha Sigma Tau. I attended a predominately male university. I think the male to female ratio was 3:1, but it could have been 4:1. I started out thinking I was going to be a chemistry teacher. Turned out, I don't actually care for chemistry or science or math. I appreciate them, I just don't want to study these things. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with my career (okay, I'm still not quite sure). I know what I want to do with my life, I'm not sure how my career fits into that. So I waffled around a while in college, didn't study like I should have, was not a great student. However, I kept my grade point respectable so that I could stay in the sorority. I stayed in college so I could stay in the sorority. I learned a lot about myself and other people while living in a house with 4 phone lines, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 2 televisions, and 20 women. I learned quite a bit about politics without ever talking about politics or government. I learned about leadership by living without any, attempting to be a leader and by watching leaders in action. I learned the most from leaders who weren't trying to be leaders, just trying to do the right thing. My membership in Alpha Sigma Tau helped me become the woman I am today.

Online television & The Vampire Diaries

2010-02-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

I am a supernatural/sci-fi addict.{And I'm okay with that.} I also don't currently have cable or satellite. We haven't had it since April of 2008. It has been a while. But thanks to hulu.com I have been able to watch a good number of shows I love Pysch, Monk, Stargate, Bones. . . I have also been able to discover old shows I had never heard of like Day Break.

Hulu is nice because you only have one commercial at each break. The commercial stays at full screen. And there is some variety within the commercials. You can watch multiple episodes of the same show and not be hit with the same commercial over and over again. This weekend I discovered CW's The Vampire Diaries. There are one four episodes up and they are all on CW's site. I have seen more trailers for The Crazies than I ever wanted to see. I think there are two of them and they alternate with the episode. There are two commercials at each break. I was also hit with a heavy dose of tmobile's my touch (I think that is what it is called, all those commercials and I'm not sure I remember).

If you are looking to kill some time or to find an episode you missed, hulu.com is probably the place to go first. I found The Vampire Diaries through fancast.com.

Books I enjoyed last week

2010-02-14T14:21:00.001-05:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
My leisurely life of reading and snacking is over. Yes, that's right, I get to go back to work on Monday (finally!)! I am part-time until Wednesday when I hope the doctor will say I can go back full time. Keep your fingers crossed! Last week, I did quite a bit of reading. Here are the grades with extended reviews likely to come soon on a few of them.

James Patterson's I, Alex Cross, ~ decent read. ~ B/B+
Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant's Steamed, Simmer Down, Turn Up the Heat, and Fed up. ~ B/B+
Kate Carlisle's Homocide in Hardcover ~ A-/A
P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast Tempted ~ A+
J. R. Ward Covet - A
Tanya Huff's Blood Lines & Blood Pact (read The Enchantment Emporium a week or so back, that one was an A+) ~ A
Jennifer Crusie The Cinderella Deal ~ A

The reviews will have to be from memory and with some help from plot summaries online. I want new books and can only have 50 out at a time. I still have a few books to finish and Kate & Mom always get books too.

Before I can go to the library, I have to finish this week's menu and grocery list. Last week, we strayed from the menu. We are getting back on course and trying some new recipes!

Blog Improvement Project Task One - A blogging to do list

2010-02-14T13:06:00.003-05:00

I love to do lists, I really do. I love the google task feature in my gmail. I can take the tasks and rearrange them, check them off, clear off the completed tasks. Love task lists.

Yet, this task - making a blogging to do list, was a challenge. Kim & Jackie sent us over to Chris Brogan's 50 Ways to Take your Blog to the Next Level. The first item on his list is to make your goal and your target audience crystal clear. Hmmm, I am not really a good foodie, I love food, I enjoy cooking, *but* and you knew there would be a but, it isn't all I do and I'm not a good cook. I am learning, but frankly I don't do it enough. I also love books, LOVE books, possibly a little more than food. Only a little though. I also enjoy politics. Quite a bit actually, perhaps not as much as food and books, but quite a bit. I love my daughter (more than food and books). And, finally, I am trying to finish my 101 Goals in 1,001 days project (not trying as hard as I should). So I guess this blog is about me. I have no idea who my target audience is. I'd like to think it is smart funny people. :) Because I find this particular suggestion to be such a challenge, I am going to skip it. Instead, I am going to write about what I want to write about and not worry about creating a niche or fitting into a niche.

So here is my list:

Design (eg. template, colour scheme, sidebar content)

I will create a unique design for my blog (or get someone to create said unique design).
I will create a unique design for the Eaton County Humane Society's blog that is professional and friendly.

Quality of posts (eg. post length, variety, images)

Here my goal is both quality and quantity.

I will post at least daily to my personal blog.
I will vary my post topics and avoid simply reposting someone else's recipes, etc, expect when I think it improves my content or needs repeating.
I will post three times a week to the Humane Society's blog.

Once a week a featured animal,
Once a week a pet/animal health/happiness post/cross link, etc,
Once a week a fundraising issue (sometimes subbed with a featured animal).

I will include a photo or image with every ECHS post and in most of my posts.

Social Media Integration (eg. Twitter, Facebook, Digg)

I will twitter each update to both blogs. (maybe). {that sounds more task like than I will better utilize twitter. . . ).
I will develop facebook as a promotion and information site for ECHS and the ECHS blog.

Search Engine Optimization (eg. meta tags, keywords, page descriptions)

I would like to learn about this. . .

Ease of subscribing (eg. RSS button, email subscription option)

And this.

Branding (eg. gravatar, favitar)

Need help here too.

So there is my to do list. Some of it not very to do like more goal like, that's okay, that's where I am right now.

**update: first obvious task, fix list items so they aren't white and can be read. ug.**

Turns out pot roast is harder than it looks and I'm not so good with biscuits (but we knew that)

2010-02-03T21:43:00.000-05:00

Tonight's culinary adventure was an effort to knock off number 19. Learn to make a good pot roast.

So we started with the basics, onions, potatoes, a pan, and a bag with seasonings.

Yes, that's right a bag with seasonings. The first problem we hit is that the directions with the bag said it would be done in an hour and a half. It wasn't even warm enough to be rare after an hour and a half. So we did it for another 30 minutes and it was, eh, okay. It was a tad on the tough side though. Mom's theory was that she cut it wrong and it should have been cut on the grain which she couldn't locate. Next time, I will try the crockpot method, recipe suggestions welcome!

I also made some biscuits, from a mix this time. Still not that great, I am pretty sure I over-rolled them and probably over-floured the dough when I was kneading and rolling it. In the end, the biscuits were okay. We ate them first as we waited for the roast to get done. Next time, I guess I will not roll them out so thin and I don't know what I will do about the over-stickiness factor (other than switch to freezer biscuits - aka surrender).

In other news today, I realized that if it weren't for CNN's emails and The Daily Show on hulu, I would have no idea what is going on in the world. Being off work has apparently also meant being off of the news. That doesn't seem good but I'm not compelled to do anything about it.

Nothing to see here folks. . .

2010-01-30T23:46:00.000-05:00

Today was yet another day of rest. So much so that while I am somewhat tired, I am not 11:33 p.m. tired, like I should be.

Most of my day was spent ready Kresley Cole. A Hunger Like No Other, If You Dare, and Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night. I finished Hunger and Wicked. I am half way through If You Dare. I am disliking her alpha hero's and their asshole ways. I'll probably read at least one more of the werewolf books and one more in the If series before I decide if I dislike her books in general. So far in all three the hero of the book is a dick and seems to generally get away with it. Sure, he eventually suffers angst, but in the end, he gets what he wants. In the first two, the hero does reform, but I haven't decided if that is enough for me.

Earlier, I heard this funny dragging noise and was ready to yell at the toy poodle (boxer was in his usual place sleeping on the couch). I turned around and it was the big cat with Kate's pajama top in his mouth. I thought it was caught on his tooth or something so I got up to help him and it turned out he didn't want help. He was stealing her pajama top. So I took and put it back in her room and didn't think anything of it. An hour or so later, there is another dragging sound. This time, he has her pajama pants.

I couldn't find my camera so I had to use my iPhone. The lighting conditions were less than ideal and he was moving. But I think you get the picture. To be honest, I couldn't figure out what he was up to, but he was behaving very strangely with the pajamas. The dogs noticed me watching him so Zeus (the boxer) got off the couch to investigate. Kofi's response was to mark Zeus and rub his head all over Zeus's head. I don't know if Zeus knows what Kofi is doing when he does that because he has always just let him do it. Eventually Kofi (big brown cat) left the pajamas and ran to the basement. He now walks by the pajamas as if they aren't there. Such a strange creature.

Today was a boring food day. I had leftovers and mac & cheese. We are still sticking to the schedule!

A good end to a disappointing day . . .

2010-01-27T21:13:00.000-05:00

I called the doctor's office today to find out when I'd get to go back to work. I thought my request to go back part-time next week was perfectly reasonable. Turns out, it was perfectly insane. I don't get to go back for another 2 weeks.

So to help me not do anything except sit on the couch and sometimes at the computer table, Berl made dinner again and did the dishes again. According to the schedule, tonight was leftover spaghetti night. Berl turned the leftovers into baked spaghetti using up cheese, sauce, and angel hair pasta from the fridge. Then he raided the freezer and found some broccoli that we should have eaten sometime ago. There are still leftovers for Friday. It was quite delish!

This week we have been working on number 7 from the list. We have eaten at the table together for dinner 3 times this week. (7. Eat dinner together at the table 3 times a week at least 15 times.)

I have also started a good run on number 43. (43. For two weeks, eat no take out or fast food.) I can't remember the last time I had take out or fast food. I am sure I haven't had any since I got out of the hospital. But I will have to double check this because that puts me 10 days already! If I can make it through Sunday, I'll be set! I'll have knocked off a goal! Woo hoo!

Number 72 is to document the accomplishment of each goal with a photograph. Hmmm, I guess I could take a picture of the dinner table for each goal. Tomorrow night, I'll take a picture for number 7 and Sunday night's dinner will be number 43.

A Picture A Day for 365 Days - Goal 44

2010-01-27T20:59:00.003-05:00

This goal started out as take a picture a day for 1,001 days. Well, that would now be impossible so I am revising it to take a picture a day for 365 days. The pictures will all be posted here in this post. I will always have the most recent on the top. I am an absolute amateur so keep those expectations low!

Day 13 - February 3, 2010

Some of the other pictures from today's album are from the last few days.

Day 12 - February 2, 2010

Day 11 - February 1, 2010

Day 10 - January 31, 2010

Day 9 - January 30, 2010

I wish my camera had been in reach. I am sure there is something wrong with this cat.

Day 8 - January 29, 2010

A nice Friday night.

Day 7 - January 28, 2010

Don't look at the messy couch!

Day 6 - January 27, 2010

In addition to being offended by the tulip last week, the cats now have it in for these flowers that were in a vase. Now the flowers are hanging in Kate's room above her door. The rest of today's album is here.

Day 5 - January 26, 2010

January's Daring Baker's Challenge!

Day 4 - January 25, 2010

The small cat, Chrissie. She could do without people, but she does enjoy a good snuggle now and then. The rest of the album from that day.

Day 3 - January 24, 2010

Day 2 - January 23, 2010

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding!

Day 1 - January 22, 2010

This is a picture of Kathryn. I was trying to snap shots of her while she was learning how to make chocolate waffles with my mom. Here is the rest of the album from that day. The tulips were my second favorite picture.

25 Hour Books has moved!

2010-01-26T23:48:00.000-05:00

With all of my design and re-design drama, I lost some links so I was very glad when Amanda over at Redefinition Mission had a 25 Hour Books post. I had forgotten I had lost it! Well, good thing she posted it, because I would have missed the cool give away! Tara is giving away a bunch of stuff, books, tea, gift cards, mugs! Woo hoo! Visit, read, enter.
{Time for bed folks! More tomorrow!}

A Food Experiment

2010-01-26T23:23:00.002-05:00

Our household is embarking on a food experiment. I setup a monthly menu that is posted on the fridge. With the exception of leftovers, foods are only repeated every 30 days (one of the goals is to get that 60 days). There are a few no pasta weeks in there at Mom's request. I am planning to add in one dessert a week.

Here is the next couple of weeks:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
n/a	n/a	Hamburgers, Fries, Green Beans	Leftover Pasta & Sauce Garlic Bread Leaftover meatballs green beans	Taco Night Turkey Tacos (soft shell) spanish rice salad wax beans	Spaghetti & Meatballs (likely to change)	Leftover Tacos
Mac & Cheese Brocolli Oranges	Chicken Fingers (Kate makes these) Pears peas seasoned, roasted red potatoes	Turkey chili, Rolls, Apples salad	Pot Roast Mashed Potatoes Green Beans Gravy Bread	Leftover Turkey Chili (love this stuff!)	Leftover Pot Roast (hope it is good enough to eat twice!)	Daddy-Daughter Dance I'm working it, Kate and her Dad are attending it!
Homemade Pizza Salad Oranges	Pretzel Crusted Chicken Breast Salad Pears	Leftover Pizza! salad fruit of some sort	Spinach & Artichoke Calzones bananas Dessert?	Turkey Dogs Tater Tots Salad Fruit Salad	Leftover Spinach & Artichoke Calzones Salad fruit salad	ECHS Murder Mystery Event!
Turkey Dogs Salad Oranges	Italian Sub Stoup Salad Oranges	Grilled Chicken Breasts salad Beans Apples	Leftover Stoup Salad Oranges	Cheesy Penne Bake Salad bread	Salmon Burgers Cucumbers, Tom Wedges bananas	Leftover Cheesy Penne Bake salad broccoli

The only rules:

the occasional no pasta week,
1 veg and 1 fruit at every meal,
30 days no repeats.

Possible future rules:

1 no-meat day a week,
60 days no repeats,
2 vegs 1 fruit at each meal.

We'll see how this goes first.

So you can see I had very little "health" rules here. I am not expecting this to result in any great health benefits except those you get from sitting at the table with your family and eating together. Also I think for the most part this will be slightly healthier than eating out because the portions will be smaller and we can control the oils, the fats, the salts, etc. Tomorrow is our first leftovers day. We are trying to clean out the fridge before we have to clean it out. Novel concept in our house.

This all started because Kate and I are notoriously difficult eaters. Mom will often say that she would have started us dinner but she didn't know what we'd eat. So here it is, this is what we will eat. Plus, I am trying to be more frugal, you can see there are leftover nights all over the place. There are very few eating out nights and those are planned ahead. I have the calendar done through March 26. I'll share it as we go. Many of these recipes come from my Rachael Ray Cookbooks that I got for Christmas, there are also some internet sources, my 75th Edition Better Homes & Gardens, a Kraft Family Cookbook, and my Joy of Christmas. I am actually pretty excited and wish we were starting tomorrow with cooking! But also, the food is there and needs to be eaten while it can be done so safely!

Nanaimo Bars - January 2010 Daring Bakers' Challenge!

2010-01-26T22:20:00.001-05:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Yums!

I am still not quite up to par. So Mom actually tackled these. When she first saw the recipe the other day, she could not believe it, she had made this recipe 34 years ago and had gotten the recipe from a Canadian while she was attending Lake Superior State University! They called them Manaimo Bars. The recipe was the same (well, it didn't call for gluten free graham wafers. . . )

The gluten free graham wafers were delicious all on their own!

Here is the recipe and the directions.

Tulip vs. Cat

2010-01-25T23:21:00.000-05:00

Naughty cats:

I found this all over my living room this morning. Apparently this tulip offended my cats in the middle of the night.

The animals and I had a very restful day. I finished Tanya Huff's Blood Trail (Book 2 in the series) and Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. I think I enjoyed Blood Trail more because it took less work. The Lost Symbol was a good read. Thick, long, but a good read. Parts of it were predictable. **SPOILER** I don't know at what point I figured out who the bad guy was in relation to our main characters but it was quite a bit before the end of the book. While it was obvious it wasn't as bad as other bad guy mystery identities.**END SPOILER**

I am feeling too tired to do a real review of either book, but I would recommend both.

Tonight we are working on this month's Daring Baker challenge for the big reveal tomorrow. I've noticed on the forums that some folks get their challenge done right away. It does not appear as though I will be that kind of a daring baker.

Last summer, we hosted an band and orchestra group from Germany through Blue Lake Fine Art Camps international programs. I am being asked to do so again and feel torn. The only reason it worked is because we were able to connect with a vibrant and well-connected high school junior who made stuff happen. I am just not confident that I know enough people in town to make it happen without her connections. Plus, I am practicing not committing to as much as I normally do (not liking at all by the way). If your community has the opportunity or you are interested and in the mid-west (MI, OH, IL, WI, etc), let me know, I'll hook you up with the organizers and then I won't feel bad for not doing it. :)

I have been meaning to write about the horrible SCOTUS decision in Citizens United v. FTC since it came out. It was just a surprising decision when you take out who voted for which side. Basically, corporations have more "free speech" rights than individuals. Money == speech and corporations are people. Corporations have been people for a while, but limited people. They can't vote, they have to exist for a purpose, they have restrictions. Slate.com's David Kairys discusses the fundamental flaws in the decision in his article Money Isn't Speech and Corporations Aren't People. Mother Jones also has an article about the decision. Even food bloggers are ~~dismayed~~ ~~upset~~ outraged by the decision. Thankfully, smart people are trying to devise work arounds for us. Hopefully, they will be well thought out.

Other political action: Jon Stewart scolds Keith Olberman, excellent piece, I do so hate it when liberals become like the right-wing talking heads (just name calling and hate spewing, no real arguments, etc.)

I know that other political stuff is going on, but this is all that is striking my fancy tonight.

Tomorrow will be the big reveal for this month's Daring Baker!

Done! And Fixed!

2010-01-24T00:07:00.002-05:00

I think I am finally done tinkering with my blog layout. I have all the element back up that I want, the date function is fixed. This has been my longest post-op day and it is time for me to hit the sack!

almost there!

2010-01-23T23:28:00.001-05:00

The offending page element was located (it was the search element, weird). Now to re-fix the date problem!

hijacked!

2010-01-23T23:05:00.001-05:00

The Cutest Blog on the Block has completely hijacked my blog. I tried to switch templates to one I found on BTemplates.com. I was going to go with Girly Diaries, very girly, very pink. And my old School Girl Charm bg refused to leave. Earlier today I had a different CBotB bg, that one did go away. So after wiping out my elements and my template, I foolishly tried a different CBotB bg and school girl charm is back! Ug. This is really out of control. After I get rid of this CBotB bg, I don't think I'll go with another one. I'm not sure if blogger is the problem or if CBotB is. Anyone out there know? Oh, on a positive note, my dateline was fixed, now it is gone. I'm hoping when it comes back it will still be fixed.

A busy day!

2010-01-23T21:55:00.003-05:00

Today was my busiest day all week! I made my own lunch and dinner, did some dishes, watched Sanctuary and Fringe, and made some homemade chocolate peanut butter pudding. Now I am getting ready to head to bed for the night after I finish watching Iron Man. I love Robert Downey Jr. and cannot wait for Iron Man II. May 7 cannot come fast enough!

The recipe comes from my Better Homes & Gardens 75th Anniversary Edition New Cookbook, page 255. Well, it started out their recipe, the peanut butter part was all me {although, you may have guessed that by my unit of measure - globs}. Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/3 cup Dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder or unsweetened cocoa powder*

2 2/3 cups milk

4 beaten egg yolks

2 globs of peanut butter (creamy or crunchy your pick, I go with creamy)

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Separate and beat 4 egg yolks in a small bowl.

2. In a medium heavy saucepan, combine sugar, chocolate, and cornstarch. Whisk in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove pan from heat.

3. Gradually stir 1 cup of milk mixture into egg yolks. Add egg mixture to milk mixture in pan.Bring milk mixture to a gentle boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir for two minutes more. (I totally forgot this step - that being the gentle boil.)

4. Remove pan from heat. Stir in butter, peanut butter, and vanilla. Pour pudding into a bowl. Cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap. Serve warm or cold. Do not stir during chillings.

*it is possible I accidentally used 2/3 of cup, I can't remember now, the recipe calls for 1/3 of cup.

Book Review ~ Smash Cut
While in the hospital, I finished up Sandra Brown's latest book, Smash Cut. Amazon.com indicates the book had good reviews. I found it to be a slow read. It was 367 pages long. I figured out who the bad guy was pretty quickly, I don't think it was supposed to be a secret. Then the rest of the book was watching the main characters figure out who done it and figure out how they were going to catch him. Pretty slow going, then the twist in the end, weird. **SPOILER** I mean really, Paul was okay with people thinking he was having an affair with his daughter rather than let on that he was her father. Their weekly meetings in a hotel room? She didn't want to dishonor her adopted father so she hid her relationship with her biological father? Don't make a lot of sense to me. Also if Paul was the honorable man she kept making him out to be, he would have disinherited Creighton a long time ago. I know that both of those twists were supposed to keep us guessing but they were a bit much. Julie had no reason for keeping it from Derek either. The inheritance maybe but the relationship, no, not really. **END SPOILER** I would give the book 2 1/2 out of 5. I finished it because I couldn't leave the hospital and get a better book from the library. Plus, I started it and I hate not finishing a book.

p.s. if anyone out there knows how to fix my dateline, please let me know, it is starting to annoy me to enough to leave blogger. . .

Life Update

2010-01-22T19:51:00.001-05:00

I had an abdominal hysterectomy on Monday. Good times. I was released on Wednesday. I am off work for at least 2 weeks, but possibly more. :(

I have been thinking about my blogging and 101 goals for a while now. I haven't been blogging for a while because I'm listed on the foodie blog roll which means that I agreed to make sure that half of my posts are about food and cooking. I haven't been cooking as much as I should for a variety of excuses. But here we go, surgery is over, recovery is going well, it is time to get the show back on the road. While this post will talk about the chocolate waffles that are being cooked for me right now, the main point of this post is that I felt like I needed to revamp my 101 goals.

Chocolate Waffles page 647 of Joy of Cooking. Excellent breakfast! I topped it off with strawberries! Yums! Definitely an excellent choice for breakfast. JoC recommends you top these with ice cream, we will definitely try that one night!

I thought that I had some repeats on my list, but looking at my 101 list, I don't see any and I don't see any I can't do. So I guess it is time to get it in gear! Last month we did the Daring Baker's Challenge which was really fun and tonight we are getting ready to do this month's challenge (photos, recipe and adventure details to be posted on 01/26). Next week, I am starting on the lose at least 80 pounds goals by starting with a healthier diet. I am eating better this week, but I haven't been tracking my food and I have been drinking 7-Up. I am planning to use SparkPeople.com to track my food. I can't do any real exercise for 6-8 weeks. In the meantime, I can and will eat better and take slow walks ~ well, slow walks when I am up for it. Right now, showering is tiring.

Here is another picture from today ~ the beautiful tulips sent from family:

The Brotherhood of Fame & Polanski

2009-12-30T23:39:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've been too tired & busy to post about politics, media, celebrity or even Palin. But I have been reading about all of those things on various web sites. Tonight, I read a number of op-ed pieces regarding the Polanski extradition. I haven't been able to make sense of the arguments by his supporters to let him off the hook. Yesterday Michael Seitzman posted an article in response to an article defending Polanski. It was a good response, but I think that the articles by Judge H. Less Sarokin and Eve Ensler better articulate the reasons for extraditing Polanski.

Like Keli Goff, I generally ignored claims that Hollywood is run by the liberal elite in part because I didn't understand these claims and in part because I don't care who runs Hollywood. I care about who runs Lansing and who run D.C. Actors, directors, producers can all support who they want, make crazy statements all they want. For the most part, they live in a bubble and I don't take what they have to say too seriously. Some of them remember what it is like out here for the rest of us outside of their bubble and are able to articulate coherent, logical opinions. Sometimes, even logical, coherent opinions that I disagree with.

But now, we have these "Hollywood Elites" running around saying, well, it was a long time ago and it wasn't that bad. It is as if they have forgotten they are talking about the drugging and rape of a 13 year old girl. Keli is right, this is why people don't like the "Hollywood Elite". Frankly, this Polanski business isn't about liberals. It is a group of people who think that the law doesn't apply to them. They don't have to follow the usual rules. This belief is not limited to liberals. Roman Polanski may have had a crappy hand dealt to him. Lots of people have and most of them don't drug and rape 13 year old girls in response. Eve Ensler says is better than I just did when she says:

No one is arguing the genius of Roman Polanski, or even the pain and tragedy of his difficult life. But in the end, that has nothing to do with the crime he committed. Being an artist does not make any of us exempt from the laws of humanity -- in fact, it actually makes us more responsible to them.

Quoting Keli Goff's article:

Hollywood hypocrisy is one thing when it takes the form of a celebrity touting their environmental consciousness while globetrotting in a fuel-guzzling private jet (ahem, Madonna.) But when people like Mr. Weinstein, who supports a plethora of liberal candidates, and was the producing arm behind Michael Moore's iconic, cinematic Bush takedown "Fahrenheit 9/11," seem content to paint the former president as harmful to Americans but Roman Polanski as merely misunderstood, they are proving Sarah Palin and every other anti-Hollywood conservative's point for them.

So read the articles I link to, they are better written than this rant. I probably could have just said, folks, remove heads from asses, Polanski pled guilty to "engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor" - he drugged and raped a 13 year old child. It is time for him to face the consequences.

The Joy of Waffles!

2009-12-27T21:57:00.000-05:00

One of my fabulous Christmas presents was The Joy of Cooking! So this morning I made Belgian Waffles (page 647). I was worried they wouldn't turn out right because it didn't rise much at all during the hour and 15 minutes I let it rest. I think next time I will make it the night before and let it rise in the fridge. They turned out quite delicious! We topped the waffles with strawberries and real whip cream! What a great way to start the day!

The Daring Baker December Challenge - COMPLETED!!!

2009-12-27T21:23:00.003-05:00

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Another requirement was that the house had to be edible. I don't know who in our house came up with the idea of making it for all the birds Mom feeds in the front yard, but that is what we decided to do early on. I didn't feel any pressure to make it pretty because it was for the birds. I am happy with how it came out. It isn't beautiful, but I know the birds will love it! I can't wait to check out all of the other gingerbread houses! I used a stencil I made based on one I found online. I used the recipe from Good Housekeeping. The instructions said to roll the dough out to about 3/8 of an inch thick. It suggested you use wooden dowels to ensure uniform thickness and the right thickness. I was going to go to the store to buy the dowels when my Mom suggested I use hangers. She measured them and sure enough, 3/8". The hangers really helped keep the dough even and the right thickness. I'm sure my house would have never stayed together if we hadn't used a guide. We had left over dough and used it to make gingerbread treats! They were quite tasty!

Final assembly did turn out to be a bit trickier for us because I did not check or trim my pieces when they came out of the oven. Then after melting the sugar, I burned my finger when I dropped the brush with the hot, hot sugar on it. (It even blistered! :( ) Mom helped out by finishing up the assembly - okay, I didn't have any of it together when I managed to burn myself! In the end, it was all worth it.

UPDATE: Today (12/28) I saw two birds on the house, but couldn't get to the camera in time!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-18T11:28:00.000-05:00

We have been having such a fun and busy December that I haven't been blogging! What have we been so busy doing?

We attended the Michigan State University vs. Notre Dame Hockey game. It was Kate's first hockey game and as you can see we right at the glass! It was great! More than one player was slammed up against the glass in front of us! We had a great row of older women behind us. They seem to follow MSU hockey on a regular basis as they knew quite a bit about our team. Sadly, we did not win.

We also attended Irving Berlin's White Christmas at the Wharton Center here on campus. My pictures of that are at home. It was a great show and Kate had a great time!

I attempted to make cream biscuits as featured on the Smitten Kitchen, but they did not rise and cooked too fast. I will have to finish this post tonight at home. Time to get back to work.

It has been a while. . .

2009-12-05T22:07:00.000-05:00

I am trying to get back on the 101 Goals bandwagon this month. Tonight, we are rearranging some of the furniture to help us get the house more organized. It is a very, very busy night here tonight. Earlier we went to the City Christmas parade. Kate's Girl Scout troop was in the parade. After the parade, there was a tree lighting event down by the water.

I missed last month's Daring Bakers' Challenge. I am really looking forward to this months!

On an unrelated note, I am considering applying for a vacancy on our school board. The member who resigned was just elected mayor. Like most districts in Michigan, ours is facing a financial crisis.

In the next week, I need to find a cherry cake recipe to make a cherry cake with cream cheese frosting for the birthday of one of my closest friends. So if any of you have any recipes, you would like to share, I would really appreciate it!

I guess this post is just going to go up without photos because the computer I keep the photos on is down as part of the rearranging project. My title block is also just going to have to stay not quite right for the night too.

Tomorrow night, I am going to try to make some cream biscuits as found at the Smitten Kitchen. I will try to catch you up on photos and let you know how the biscuits go! We are having turkey chili to go with our biscuits. Biscuits get top billing around here!

Cheesy Penne Bake

2009-11-15T18:24:00.001-05:00

I am finally mostly recovered from the bug that hit me last week. I haven't been cooking, taking pictures, or blogging. Today is the first day since probably Monday that I didn't have a nap.

I found a new addiction - My Kitchen Addiction. Tonight, we had her Cheesy Penne Bake. It was really quite good - even Kathryn said she liked it! When a My Kitchen Addiction recipe calls for a large baking dish, she means it. I ended up using another 8 ounces of colby jack. Next time, I will double the mozzerella if not triple it since I also won't be using the ricotta. We aren't really fans of ricotta cheese around here.

Cheesy Penne Bake (Printer Friendly Version)
+ 14.5 ounce box of multi-grain penne
+ 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
+ 1 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
+ 1 yellow onion, diced
+ 2 cloves garlic, minced
+ 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
+ 14 ounce can tomato sauce
+ 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
+ 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
+ Kosher salt
+ 8 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
+ 8 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
+ 2 ounces parmigiano-reggiano cheese, grated

Prepare the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and brown in the oil. Once the sausage is cooked, add the onion and garlic. Saute with the browned sausage until the onion is soft (about 4-5 minutes). Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce to the pan. Season with the basil, thyme, and some salt (to taste). Stir to combine all of the ingredients, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Prepare a large baking dish with cooking spray. Coat the bottom of the dish with one cup of the meat sauce. Add one third of the pasta and top with one third of the remaining sauce. Spoon half of the ricotta cheese over the pasta and sauce. Sprinkle with one third of the mozzarella and parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Repeat the layers of pasta, sauce, and cheeses. Top the cheese layer with the remaining pasta and sauce. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and parmigiano-reggiano cheese on the top of the pasta and sauce.

Bake the casserole for 30 minutes until all of the cheese is bubbly and has melted. The top should be golden.

The Worst Biscuits

2009-11-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

Chili & Biscuits

So this is an old post I started last week. Last week, as you remember we had Kim's Chili last Tuesday. It was quite delicious. I made some biscuits. While I was making the biscuits, I was distracted by a very tired and cranky Kster. So I was not paying as much attention as I should have. I accidentally used baking soda instead of baking powder. And I didn't add the salt. I don't think this picture conveys how very flat these biscuits were. Oh and awful, they were awful. The chili, however, was delicious and lasted until Saturday. Saturday for lunch I warmed up the last of the chili and stirred in some shaved asiago cheese. Very delicious, we will be making this at least monthly! Next month, I will add some jalepeno pepper to the recipe. The chili is a make again and the biscuits are a try again.

That Foster Cat (& brownies)

2009-11-08T22:18:00.002-05:00

We have been fostering a cat since some time in July. It is a big cat, about 16 pounds. Not declawed. It loves my couch and my bed. As in loves to scratch them up. We are front declawing our 2nd cat so that I can keep her in the house. I am fully aware of both sides of the declawing arguments and have really thought a lot about this. This cat (mine) also HATES having her feet touched. So our monthly claw trimming is an event. She generally doesn't even like people, she sleeps with me, and insists I pet her at night. But the rest of time, she is out of sight. But, back to the foster cat, I was rummaging around in the bottom of our storage drawers in the kitchen. I found what the lid I needed to cover the brownies (details to follow) and walked away. I forgot to close the drawer. I covered the brownies and sat down to finish my pumpkin posts (here and here). I heard the cats playing with plastic and making digging sounds. I turned and saw my cats in the open drawer. I shoo them away and come back to blogging/surfing. Five minutes later, I hear the same noises and see my cats sitting on the kitchen floor staring at the second drawer. Then I find this:

He was trying to rock the drawer open.

I opened the drawer for him.

I feel like I should wash all of those kitchen linens. But I must admit, I don't want to.

Prior to the foster cat adventure, I made some fudgy brownies. They were heavier than I like but not bad. The frosting was very good. The recipe is from my Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook 75th Anniversary Edition. I'll be using the frosting recipe again, though, I'm not sure if I'll make these brownies again. Notes: I didn't sift the powdered sugar. I mixed the cream cheese right into the chocolate in the saucepan and then stirred in the powdered sugar. And as you can see below, I didn't chop the unsweetened chocolate. None of these changes were on purpose.

Fudgy Brownies with Chocolate Cream Frosting (printable version)

1/2 cup butter

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 recipe Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (see below)

1. In a medium saucepan melt butter and unsweetened chocolate over low heat. Stir constantly. Remove from heat to cool.

2. Grease a 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Stir sugar into chocolate mixture in saucepan. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each just until combined. Stir in the vanilla.

4. Mix the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture until just combined. (If adding nuts, do so now).

5. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes if using an 8 inch pan, 25 if using a 9 inch pan at 350 degrees.

6. After they have cooled, frost with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.
In a saucepan, melt 1 cup semisweet chocolate chip pieces over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, allow to cool some. In a small bowl, stir together 2 3 ounce packages of softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar. Stir in melted chocolate until smooth.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

2009-11-08T22:07:00.000-05:00

It is pumpkin night!

Next we have the Pumpking Whoopie Pies, I found this recipe at what megan's making. These also went to the church potluck.

These were a pretty gooey yummy treat!

Here is the recipe as found at what megan's making:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (Printable Version)
adapted, slightly, from Rachael Ray

Cookie:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-2/3 cups flour

Icing:
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, chilled
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 pinches of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

a few shakes of cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour.

Using a spoon, drop small mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

For the icing: using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners' sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and cinnamon; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Spread the flat side of half of the cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another cake.

Happy Baking!

Pumpkin Bars

2009-11-08T21:43:00.000-05:00

This is what 5 hours of pumpkin looks like. Yesterday, I spent 5 hours, washing, seeding, scraping, baking, and peeling 2 pumpkins. It wasn't hard, just time consuming. Each pumpkin took up 2 cookie sheets and each cookie sheet needed to bake for about 50 minutes.

Turns out the pumpkins I bought were much larger than we needed and possibly the wrong kind of pumpkin. I'm not sure what kind of pumpkin I bought, but I don't think it is a pie pumpkin as those are much smaller than these were.

The average pumpkin pie seems to take about 2 cups of pumpkin. I don't know how much we have, but I think it is way more than 2 cups. So I decided to make pumpkin bars for the Harvest Dinner today at Mom's church. I found the recipe at My Kitchen Cafe. I think I've mentioned how much I love My Kitchen Cafe. It was originally a Paula Deen recipe. I am also a big fan of Paula Deen.

The bars turned out wonderfully. I don't have a picture of the final product. After 7 hours in the kitchen yesterday, I went to bed without frosting them. Mom frosted them this morning while I slept in as long as I could and still make it to church on time. There were none left after the potluck. Mom and I both had a piece. We both really enjoyed it. I think I might make some later this week for the students. This was definitely a make again!

Pumpkin Bars (Printable Version)
from Paula Deen

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute 1/2 cup applesauce for 1/2 cup oil)
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Mom, remember how you wanted me to play the violin?

2009-11-03T13:34:00.000-05:00

I don't know where to start! There were fireworks, flames, lights, and a pink electric violin. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra really knows how to put on a show! It was a 3 hour show. We didn't get home until 11:30 p.m.

The storyline in the first half of the show was Christmasy and cheesy (as expected). The performers were excellent. Kathryn really loved Anna Phoebe, the violinist. Anna was so wonderfully enthusiastic. Kathryn has announced that now she wants to play the violin. She has an album on iTunes and I might buy it for Kathryn. Kathryn promised she would practice every day - even at her Dad's house (sorry Cory).

If you can get to a TSO concert, go, it is well worth the money!

Dinner

2009-11-03T12:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight for dinner, we are having Kim's Chili. Mom is getting it started for me when she gets home from subbing at a high school about 20 minutes away. We are adding some chili powder. I am starting with this recipe and then overtime making it more exciting. I know that I like this particular recipe because Kim has brought it into work a few times. But I would like a more interesting chili. I am also making homemade cheesy biscuits from the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. This doesn't really count as cooking a meal for friends and family, but it does count for trying new recipes.

Kim's Chili

2 lb. Ground beef
2 cans chili beans (do not drain)
2 15 oz cans tom sauce
2 15 oz cans diced tom
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Chopped onion

Cook all together and enjoy!
Printable Version of Recipe

Daring Baker Challenge!

2009-11-01T11:03:00.000-05:00

I am so excite this is my first month as an Official Daring Baker! Yesterday, I was nervous that I wouldn't like/wouldn't be bake to make whatever was announced today. But it looks delicious and I think I can pull it off! I'll have to take a look at the calendar and plan a Saturday after with Kate! We will definitely be posting some pictures!

Photo Scavenger Hunt!

2009-10-29T09:30:00.000-04:00

So the October Photo Scavenger Hunt is done on October 31! I have two more days. Yikes! I've crossed off what I have done so far:

Couple
Slope
Plate
Going Places
Scrambled
In the Distance
Underneath
Bright
~~11 p.m.~~
Today
Everyday
Resemble
Childhood Memory
~~In the water~~
~~Flower~~
Button
Heritage
Glow
Clock
Closed
Smile
Back
Plastic
Handle
In my fridge
Look back at me

Yep, that's right, 3, I have 3 of 26. Kate doesn't have anything after school tonight and Mom will be busy with Kate's costume. So maybe we will have some leftover sloppy joes and go out hunting!

Day 0025 & Day 0026 POD

2009-10-26T20:58:00.000-04:00

The best of friends, slightly blurry.

We are collecting food items for the local food pantry's Thanksgiving Project. This is our list.

The Roast Chicken

2009-10-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

So after a week of thinking/planning/talking about this roast chicken, I finally made the roast chicken with much help from Mom. I completely forgot about the biscuits until it was too late and ended up doing canned biscuits. We also ended up using a Reynolds bag instead of the Joy of Cooking recipe. It turned out nicely. Here is a picture of the bird before it went in the bag.

I actually did all of the dinner dishes after dinner!

Everything turned out nicely! And our friend Connie joined Mom, Kathryn & I for dinner. Mom made a delicious apple pear crisp for dessert. She ended up baking it in the toaster oven because we ran out of room in regular oven. I don't have any lovely food pictures because I forgot to take them. Sorry guys.

Here is Mom's Apple Crisp Recipe. She used 2 pears and 4 apples for the Apple Pear Crisp.

6-8 apples
1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 c. sugar

3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon

Peel, core and slice apples and place in a greased baking dish Mix butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon with a pastry blender till well blended. Spread on top of apples Bake 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes Serve warm with ice cream.

Listed in the Foodie Blogroll!

2009-10-23T21:46:00.000-04:00

Look!

How fun is this!

Food talk time. You may recall I was supposed to go out to dinner tonight. Instead, I ended taking my fall photos, having cheerios for dinner, and planning tomorrow night's menu. We are having Roast Chicken, Green Beans, Corn, Cheesy Biscuits, and Rhubarb Pie. I am hoping I have time to make something else for dessert as I am not really a fan of Rhubarb Pie. Rhubarb Pear Pie is delicious, plain rhubarb, eh. The green beans and corn really should be simple enough as I am just warming them up. The chicken, however, will be new. It will be especially fun as my Mother is obsessed with not undercooking chicken. So I will be strictly following the Joy of Cooking directions and using a meat thermometer. Hopefully, I will get some good shots of the chicken.

I have that job interview tomorrow morning so I am going to so get my suit ready, take a hot bath and read for a bit! Wish me luck!

Goodbye Flickr, Hello Zooomr!

2009-10-23T19:57:00.000-04:00

I had briefly used Zooomr about a year ago. Then when I came back to blogging, I forgot about it and started using Flickr. I've been watching my % of space used creep up as I uploaded pictures. So tonight I started uploading my pictures onto Zooomr. I am hoping I can create a photostream in my side bar like I have right now with Flickr.

Tonight I went out and took some pictures of our beautiful fall colors. Michigan is so beautiful in the fall. It was drizzling, but not too rainy. I have some great pictures of our little island.

Every time I walked closer to the ducks, this big one started carrying on and stearing the others away from me.

It was really quiet at the park (with the exception of that one duck). Until another woman came walking through. I almost asked her to participate in my 100 strangers project, but I didn't have anything to give her. So I just took this shot.

Pictures & Dinner

2009-10-23T11:53:00.000-04:00

I have fallen behind on my photos. I let myself off the hook Wednesday because I had had a long doctor's appointment and generally felt crappy when I got home. Plus we had a meeting at K's school for high potential youth. Yesterday, I have no excuse. I did think about it briefly as I sat surrounded by the mountain of paper I sorted for shredding, recycling, and trash. But I decided that no one needed to see that and I'd take another picture of Kate later on (my favorite subject). Well, I didn't. I went to bed instead. Tonight, I think I will be eating out. I'm not really sure what the plan is yet. So tonight's picture will be delicious food. Now, I need to figure out where we are going for dinner. . .

"Well, this is fantastic. It's almost like we're living in Mao's China right now."

2009-10-22T15:18:00.000-04:00

Well, Glenn Beck thinks as much.What would compel him to say such thing? Sit down, this is big. The President has called for more Americans to volunteer for non-profits. Upsetting, I know. I just cannot believe the President would do something so awful. I mean, volunteering? What's next, Obama? Do you expect us to vote and to care about the future of our country and world?

S'mores Cupcakes!

2009-10-22T11:56:00.000-04:00

So I just discovered the Serious Eats Photograzing site. Wow! So many beautiful pictures of so many delicious foods! Wow! I found these S'mores Cupcakes. I will be making these very soon!

I found out this morning that I was accepted for the Foodie Blog Roll! Now I have to try to figure out how to get the blog roll on my blog.

Dinner

2009-10-20T20:57:00.002-04:00

So I signed up to be on a foodie blog roll. I don't know if I've been reviewed yet. If so, I hope they don't hold today's post against me. This weekend, I decided I would make a roast chicken this week, a whole chicken. When I bought my chicken, I wasn't really paying attention. I thought it was a 1 pound chicken. It seemed awfully big for a pound. But it said 0.85. Perfect, it is just Kate and I (sometimes Mom eats with us) so a pound would be fine.

Berl came over tonight for dinner. So I was going to make the roast chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli. At 20 minutes per pound plus fifteen minutes, we could be eating by 7:15 at the latest.

Turns out, it is actually 4.5 pounds and it was $0.85/pound. Thankfully, I figured this out before I had it out of the package. At 20 minutes per pound plus fifteen, it would have been much, much later than 7:15 before we ate.

So tonight, we had spaghetti & meatballs with broccoli and garlic bread. None of it was homemade. None. But everyone enjoyed it and Berl helped with the dishes after dinner and everything is put away. We did have some of that very delicious Apple Cider Pudding Cake with Edy's Double Vanilla Ice Cream after dinner. The cake was homemade and still quite delicious. It was more cakey than puddingy tonight. Still great warmed up with a scoop of ice cream!

After dinner, I studied the Joy of Cooking section on Roasting Poultry (421) and Roast Chicken (424). I feel almost ready for Saturday. We will also be having Cheesy Biscuits Saturday (638). I really do love this Joy of Cooking and might actually fork out the $30.00 for one of my own!

We're having roast chicken on Saturday night before Kate's play.

Day 0018's POD

2009-10-19T21:47:00.000-04:00

The Last Dandelion

Apple Cider Pudding Cake

2009-10-19T21:41:00.001-04:00

Apple Cider Pudding Cake is in the oven with less than 5 minutes to go so this post will be interrupted by some deliciousness! Okay, I'm back! It is out of the oven cooling so that I don't scald my mouth. It smells so good!
This is another recipe from My Kitchen Cafe. My pictures are never as beautiful as hers, but here you go! Here is the final product. Check out my flickr photos of the process.

In The Pan

In The Bowl with Double Vanilla Ice Cream!

blogger is making me angry

2009-10-17T21:47:00.004-04:00

Ug, blogger is broken. Well, my template is broken. I can't get the date stamp on my posts anymore. So until I figure this out, you'll just see undefined where the date is supposed to go. If you know how to fix it, please let me know. Thanks.

*update* It is filling in the date but using 2 lines to do so. I am not using a third-party template. This is not how it shows up on template preview. This is driving me nuts.

Exciting Saturday Night

2009-10-17T21:24:00.002-04:00

As a reward for all of her work this morning and afternoon, I took Kate to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was an adorable movie. And we went to a local theater so it was a bargain too!

Before we went to the movie, I tried another recipe from My Kitchen Cafe (I'm starting to develop a blog crush on her and her recipes!) This time, we went with her Skillet Macaroni & Cheese. I cut the recipe in half. She was definitely right about eating it hot. It was delicious hot. Unlike boxed mac & cheese, it actually some substance so you don't really need to eat nearly as much. Kate did not seem to care much for it. But this is the second time I have ever made real macaroni & cheese. The first time was with a recipe off of the Velveeta box. It was not good. I will definitely be making this mac & cheese again.

Last night, I bought a bottle of Newman's Own Wine. I wanted to chill it before dinner and then forgot about it. I am so used to leaving vodka in the freezer that I didn't give it a second thought until this afternoon when I found it like this in the freezer.

The cork was still in, but just barely.

And finally, you will notice a few changes to the blog. My favorite is this signature at the bottom of all of my posts!

Broccoli Cheese Soup!

2009-10-17T12:36:00.003-04:00

Last night, I made Broccoli Cheese Soup and it was pretty good. I found the recipe at My Kitchen Cafe. It was very easy to make. I used an entire package of frozen broccoli - which was way too much. I also added some sea salt when it was all done. I don't normally add salt to soup, but I don't think I used enough pepper and it needed *something*. We had some warm delicious french bread with it too. I also think that next time I will chop up the broccoli.

I love My Kitchen Cafe. Tonight, we might try to make her Apple Cider Pudding Cake. Today is cleaning day and I am being beckoned.

Breakfast

2009-10-17T11:32:00.000-04:00

Kate is making me breakfast! She was going to surprise me but I got up and saw her. She is making pancakes from scratch.

The last one was my blueberry pancake. Yum!

Another Application In!

2009-10-16T15:51:00.000-04:00

15. Get a new job.

I've applied for three jobs in the last 2 weeks. Two with nonprofits in the area, the third an attorney position north of here. But commutable for now. Wish me luck!

Books, Pictures, Life, & Stuff

2009-10-15T16:21:00.000-04:00

I have been enjoying some good books this past week.

Day 0015

Last night, I read MaryJanice Davidson's Undead and Unwelcome. It was a good, quick read. I liked where MJ took the story with Betsy's sister & half-brother. This is book 8 in the series so you might want to read a book or two prior to this one. If you like the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, I think you'll like the Undead and . . . series by MJD.

I just saw that Charlaine Harris has a new book coming out in November in Grave series. I am really looking forward to reading this!

Most of my pictures for the last few days are on my camera which died last night. Here is last night's picture.

Day 0014

The baby, I snapped this picture of her after my camera died. I love my iPhone but it sure is hard to get that dog to be still.

Day 0012
I originally checked this out for a dessert night fundraiser for Kate's choir. Then I got sick and didn't make anything. Mom made her delicious Scotcheroo's. I took the picture because I was going to return it and wanted to make a note of the book to re-check it out at a better time. I decided to keep it so that I could make Intense Chocolate Mousse Cake (recipe by Nigella Lawson)

I can't wait to make this. The picture in the book is delicious! I might try to make it this weekend. Or for work tomorrow because we have a work birthday this weekend.

I need to make a page that is a slideshow or otherwise puts the pictures in order.

Missed two days!

2009-10-13T13:47:00.000-04:00

I really thought that I at least blogged on Sunday. Spending Saturday in the ER and Monday getting labs and ultrasounds really threw me for a loop and has screwed up my sense of time. I did manage to take pictures both days and will post those soon (maybe even tonight).

Accounting Firm Admits Cost Savings Left Out of Report Prepared for AHIP Repor

2009-10-13T13:14:00.000-04:00

Most notable about the statement, issued late last night, is an acknowledgment the cost savings from the bill weren't included, though PWC points out that is noted on page one of the report.

Read more. . .

This really just shows more of the same from the right and from the health care industry. Why talk about actual issues when we can issue false and misleading reports?

Day 0010

2009-10-10T23:06:00.000-04:00

Here is today's POD. It is Kathryn & her Dad after her performance at her choir concert tonight.

Day 0009 & An Update

2009-10-10T23:00:00.000-04:00

First, here is yesterday's POD:

These are 3 of the people I went to go see Hamlet with last night.

Gallbladder update: Things are looking up! I am "due" for another Vicodin and actually feel no pain! So I am going to head to bed and hope that I stay sleeping all night! This gallbladder thing might turn out have a silver lining. It really wouldn't kill me to give up fried food. In fact, it might kill me if I don't.

Gallbladder & Ovaries

2009-10-10T18:35:00.000-04:00

I spent 4 hours in the ER this morning because my gallbladder is very angry. I got very little sleep last night. It seems to be trying to kill me. The magic stuff in the i.v. drip they gave me was pretty awesome. I could not believe how quickly it worked. I am at home and on Vicodin now. This is a good time. Kathryn has a concert tonight so I am waiting to take my next dose until I need it so that I can make it through the concert.

When they did the CAT scan, they found cysts on my ovaries. So Monday, I am in for ultrasounds on my ovaries and gallbladder. I can't eat after midnight on Sunday night and the ultasound isn't until 12:30. That will be a good time.

I did take a picture last night, but I haven't been up for posting it yet. Activity is limited to as long as I can handle it and to gentle activity.

Day 0007

2009-10-09T13:10:00.000-04:00

This is the picture of the day from Thursday.

Kate & the dogs in bed sleeping. You can barely see the dogs. This is one of the problems with using my iPhone to take pictures.

Day 0008

2009-10-08T20:51:00.001-04:00

Here is today's picture. Yesterday's picture is on my computer at work.

This photo is captioned, the foster cat has got to go.

My Eye

2009-10-08T20:37:00.001-04:00

So my tear duct is obstructed and my left eye has stopped producing tears. I am on antibiotics for 14 days. She thinks it should clear up in 7 days. But it might not. The swelling is pretty bad and hurts. It hurts to have my glasses on now too and is tender under my eye. The eye itself is dry. So I am going to watch an episode of Castle and head to bed. Oh yeah, still need to take a picture for today. . . I will be posting a few pictures over the next couple of days. . .

Template Help

2009-10-08T20:28:00.000-04:00

Apparently, you can't leave comments because it won't give you enough room to type in the verification code. If there is a blogger template expert out there, who'd like to help out, let me know please.
Thanks.

Almost went to bed . . .

2009-10-07T22:52:00.001-04:00

I almost went to bed without blogging. Tonight I had yoga and I am
feeling extra tired. I did get a picture today and yesterday. I'll
post them tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon I get to find out what is wrong
with my tearduct. I don't really have anything to report. Tomorrow I
will need to get going on some goals.

Lunch

2009-10-06T12:13:00.001-04:00

Today's lunch had 473 calories. Yesterday's lunch had 1,120 calories. Today is much better.

Update: I am hungry already. It is 1 p.m. I ate my sandwich at 11:30 a.m. Another 400 calorie sandwich would be a bad idea. But I could do some cheese and crackers. . . .

BzzzKit!

2009-10-05T21:38:00.003-04:00

Today my Softsoap bzzkit arrived! I love my bzzkits! In exchange for testing, commenting on, and sharing products, I get cool free stuff in the mail. This time it was the Softsoft(r) Brand Nutri Serums samples. I have 4 little Moisture Retaining Omegas 3 & 6 and 3 little Restoring Vitaman E. I have $1 off coupons and some "ChatThread" cards (little cards to let you know what Softsoap wants me to tell you about the product. You can become an bzzagent @ http://www.bzzagent.com/.

I am off to a hot bath and then to bed. I will let you know what I think of the Nutri Serums.

Here is today's picture of the day:

Weigh-In Dates ~ 69. Track my weight 3 times a week.

2009-10-05T20:46:00.000-04:00

Week 1
10/05/2009

Yoga

2009-10-05T20:01:00.002-04:00

Part of the 3. Lose 80 pounds is this yoga class I'm taking at the local Y. It is normally once a week but I missed last week so I am going twice this week. This class is kicking my ass. Tonight was night one of this week.

3. Lose 80 pounds

2009-10-05T10:52:00.002-04:00

Reaching this goal will not be easy. And it will take some time to achieve. So I am starting today.

People who keep food diaries lose more weight and keep it off longer (as long as they are keeping up with the diaries). I am lazy. I use sparkpeople.com's food tracker because it is easy. It has many foods already in there plus you can use the nutrition data from others or enter your own. The site also has a fitness tracker that can tell us how many calories you have burned. I am tracking everything I eat on sparkpeople.com. I even their free iPhone app to help with this.

I am also drinking 96 ounces of water a day.

My goal with this part of the project is to become healthier in incremental steps so that these changes will stick.

Dinner

2009-10-04T22:51:00.003-04:00

Tonight Berl & Donald came over for dinner. I made Rachael Ray's Chicken Kiev, Cheesy Orzo, and creamed corn (I didn't read the label clearly, I thought it was regular corn which I am not a fan of but Donald prefers it to broccoli). We also had Jello Instant Oreo Dessert which I made this morning. After dinner, we played Sorry. Donald beat us despite our group effort to keep him from winning.

I didn't use fresh herbs for the Kiev, I just used some italian seasoning mix from the cupboard and fresh garlic. Next time, I think I will lightly brown or seal the chicken in the oil and then bake it. I ended up needing to add a cup of water to the orzo in the end and let it go for another 5 minutes and was happy with it. I also used the thin sliced chicken breasts instead of slicing open regular ones. I am undecided as to whether I'll do that again. I probably will has it is lesson hassle, all I had to do is pound them down to 1/4 inch. Each piece was only 4 ounces. I guess that is fine, Donald had 2. (If he moves in, feeding a 16 year old boy will be much different than feeding a 10 year old girl.)

Everyone liked the Chicken Kiev (recipe & link below) and only Berl & I liked the Cheesy Orzo (recipe & link below).

I completely forgot to take pictures of the finished product. So I just have 2 cooking pictures and then pictures of the recipes with my notes on them. I like to make a note on the page of when I made that recipe last and who liked it. The cheesy orzo says, 10/04/2009, Amy & Berl liked it, Kathryn & Donald do not like it. (Kathryn & Donald's dislike will not stop me from making it again. . . ) Although, in the future, I will probably half it as it does make quite a bit.

So today, I took a couple of pictures (see today's below) and made a dinner for my family. Making progress on a couple of my goals!

Chicken Kiev

Vegetable oil, for frying
4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast (6-8 ounces each) or 4 chicken cutlets (6 ounces each)
10 blades fresh chives, chopped to about 2 tablespoons
A palmful fresh parsley, finely chopped to about 2 tablespoons
A palmful fresh dill, finely chopped, about 2 tablespoons
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
6 tablespoons chilled butter
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup plain bread crumbs
A wedge lemon
Salt and pepper
Plain, round toothpicks (for securing chicken)

Preparation

In a large, deep skillet, heat 1 1/2 inches vegetable oil over medium-high heat. The oil needs to be 360°F for frying. If you do not have a frying thermometer, add a cube of white bread to the hot oil. If the bread browns in a count to 40, the oil is ready.

Cover work surface with waxed paper. Arrange breasts on paper. Butterfly small chicken breasts: cut into flesh and across, but not through the breast, and open them up. The cutlets may just be removed from package and arranged on waxed paper. Cover breast meat with a second sheet of waxed paper. Pound out cutlets to 1/4-inch thick with a small heavy skillet or a rubber mallet. Be careful not to tear meat. Roll up waxed paper and breasts and set aside.

Combine chopped herbs on cutting board with chopped garlic. Cut six tablespoons cold butter into four pieces (1 1/2 tablespoons each) and coat each piece liberally with the herb garlic mixture.

In three disposable pie tins, add flour, eggs beaten with a splash of cold water and bread crumbs (one ingredient in each tin).

Uncover chicken and squeeze a wedge of lemon over breasts. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place an herb-covered piece of butter on each piece of chicken. Wrap and roll cutlets tightly up and over the butter cubes. Secure stuffed chicken with toothpicks. Roll stuffed breasts in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs.

Fry the Chicken Kiev bundles 7-8 minutes on each side until deep golden brown all over.

Cheesy Orzo

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans (14 ounces) chicken or vegetable broth or stock
2 cups orzo pasta (enriched rice may be substituted)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat a 8 inch pot with a tight fitting cover over moderate heat. Add oil, onion and garlic and saute for 2 or 3 minutes. Add broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Stir in orzo and return broth to a boil. Cover pot and reduce heat to simmer. Cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until liquid is absorbed and pasta tender. Remove lid and stir in cheese. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. You favorite fresh herbs may also be stirred into the orzo or rice to strengthen the flavor even more.

Dinner tomorrow night

2009-10-03T21:34:00.001-04:00

Berl & Donald are coming over tomorrow night for dinner (assuming Berl doesn't get called into work). Tomorrow afternoon I will be at a pet blessing for the humane society (pictures will be posted!) and Mom will be volunteering at the home tour for Advent House.

I am trying to figure out what I am going to cook. I am going through Joy of Cooking, one of Sandra Lee's cookbooks (if I can find it), and the interwebnet. I am going for something homey, something K & D will both eat, something not complicated, but something that takes some effort & care. So far all I've found is a Chicken & Broccoli Braid. But I don't think it is what I am looking for.

I found what I was looking for in my Rachael Ray's 30-Minutes Meals 2. Cheesy Orzo page 63 & Chicken Kiev page 176. We will also have green beans and maybe even an Oreo Dessert.

This will be the first time I've cooked for Donald. I've cooked for Berl a few times - not too many. So I'd like this to turn out nicely. I have made Chicken Kiev before and I *think* I've made Cheezy Orzo. The green beans and Oreo Dessert are no brainers. The green beans are probably in my freezer and the Oreo Dessert is one of those instant imitation cheesecake style desserts.

This dinner by the way will help me with goal number 42. Cook fifteen different meals for my family & friends. As you may have figured out, I don't cook that often. I make various excuses for not cooking but what it seems to boil down to is I am either not prepared, didn't plan ahead for that night or I am uninspired by cooking meals for just Kathryn and I.

There will definitely be pictures of this meal. I think I will go ahead and cook this meal even if he gets called into work. It will be good practice and a good dinner.

J. R. Ward

2009-10-03T20:13:00.000-04:00

I am a big J. R. Ward fan. She has her critics, but I love her stories and her style. I just saw an ad on hulu for her new book series. I am definitely going to be finding and reading it!

Day 0003 - 44. Take a picture a day for 1,001 days & post them on the blog.

2009-10-03T19:42:00.000-04:00

44. Take a picture a day for 1,001 days & post them on the blog. {3/1,001}

Day 0003 -This morning at our pancake breakfast fundraiser.

Pictures Day 1 & 2

2009-10-03T19:04:00.000-04:00

44.Take a picture a day for 1,001 days & post them on the blog! {2/1,001}

Day 1: one of the pictures of the office we decorated this morning.

Day 2: The movie theater where we watched Zombieland.

26 Things ~ 65. Do a photo scavenger hunt with a friend 6 times

2009-10-02T13:22:00.000-04:00

I just sent out an email to some friends to do a photo scavenger hunt using the 26 things theme from Sh1ft.org. Here is the first list:

1. Couple
2. Slope
3. Plate
4. Going places
5. Scrambled
6. In the distance
7. Underneath
8. Bright
9. 11pm
10. Today
11. Everyday
12. Resemble
13. Childhood memory
14. In the water
15. Flower
16. Button
17. Heritage
18. Glow
19. Clock
20. Closed
21. Smile
22. Back
23. Plastic
24. Handle
25. In my fridge
26. Looking back at me

I will post any links people share for their photos here.

Day Two

2009-10-02T11:28:00.000-04:00

Last night, I went to open mike night at a bar with my brother and our friend Connie. This morning, I feel like a swallowed gravel. I really can't wait for Michigan to pass the indoor smoking ban. Tonight B & I are going to see Zombieland and have dinner at Max & Erma's. I am really looking forward to the date!

A stranger every ten days

2009-10-01T17:37:00.001-04:00

To complete the 100 strangers goal, I will need to take a picture of a stranger every ten days. I am printing out some business card sized cards to give to people when I ask to take their pictures. I need to go pick up some print-able business cards this weekend.

Where to start, where to start?

2009-10-01T16:13:00.001-04:00

Last week, I was all geeked and wanted to start on all of the list right then! Today, I look at the list and don't know where to start! I did take a couple of pictures today of our office manager's office after we decorated it for her birthday. I also started on my 1,000,000 grains of rice goal over at freerice.com. So far today, I have donated 610 grains of rice.

Day One!

2009-10-01T09:20:00.001-04:00

Today is not only the first day of my 101 goals project, but also, the first day of windshield scraping season. Or, as it is called in our house, the season of windshield washer fluid.

The Final List

2009-09-30T13:51:00.006-04:00

Learn to make my own pasta.
Learn to make good bread.
Lose 80 pounds.
Do yoga 3 times a week for 12 weeks 2 times. {{{0/3}~{0/12}}~{0/2}}
Run a 5k by the end of summer 2010.
Eat breakfast together at the table 3 times a week at least 15 times. {{0/3}~{0/15}}
Eat dinner together at the table 3 times a week at least 15 times. {{3/3}~{1/15}}
Take a multi-vitamin daily for 30 days 7 times. {{0/30} ~ {0/7}}
Give up processed sweets {homemade sweets okay} for 30 days 5 times.{{0/30}~{0/5}}
Eat at least 7 servings of vegetables a day for 30 days 5 times.{{0/30}~{0/5}}
Make my own font.
Make 50 Morsbags.
Plan a gala for A.H.
Get the basement cleaned out.
Get a new job.
Write a book {word count: {0/100,000}}.
Get an academic legal article ready for submission.
Get a nonprofit article ready for submission.
Learn to make a good pot roast.
Make Martha’s Thanksgiving Turkey {fresh} without fire, smoke, or flame.
Switch to earth friendly household cleaners.
Walk dogs every day for 90 days 3 times. {{0/90}~{0/3}}
Do 2 special events with Kathryn a month – 10 months.
Learn to ride a horse.
Have vegetarian day 15 times.
Go to a fun concert.
Take Mom out for a mani-pedi.
Get all student loans consolidated.
Get the complete Prince cd/iTunes collection.
Take Mom out for Chinese 1 time a month. {0/33}
Learn how to make really good shortbread cookies.
Plan a Walk for Hunger/Homelessness for A.H.
Teach Zeus or Delilah 2 new tricks. {0/2}
Go to church every other week for 1 year {0/26}.
Clean out car every week for one year {0/26}.
Write to the Grandmas 30 times.
Get the ECHS cookbook done!
Start, monitor and stick to a budget for 3 months.
Host a board game night.
Get a henna tattoo.
Host a Christmas party.
Cook fifteen different meals for my family & friends. {6/15}
See number 68. This one is redundant and might get changed.
For two weeks, eat no take out or fast food. {10/14}
Take a picture a day for 1,001 days & post them on the blog! {2/1,001}
Amended to Take a picture a day for 365 days & post pictures to the blog. {6/365}
Take a cooking class.
Make a good pizza from scratch.
Send at least 20 postcrossing postcards.
Take a family portrait once a week for a year. {0/52}
Improve my credit score by 100 points.
Donate of all the clothes I don’t actually wear.
Donate 1,000,000 grains of rice. {610/1,000,000}
Get passports for myself, Mom & Kate.
Use said passports.
Get up by 6:30 a.m. every morning for 30 days {0/30}, get up by 6:00 a.m. for 30 days {0/30}
Find 50 geocaches. {0/50}
Replace all the carpet in the house with sealed flooring.
Donate $5 to Advent House & the Eaton County Humane Society for each item on this list that I do not complete.
Make a Blanket of Hope.
Make Christmas cookies for all of my friends and family.
Have good family portraits taken with Mom, Dan, Kathryn, Katie, Talus, Zeus, and Delilah.
Take a belly dancing class.
Get one other person to participate in 101 things in 1001 days.
Get a fancy SLR camera.
Pay off one of my credit cards.
Do a photo scavenger hunt with a friend 6 times {0/6}.
Visit 3 US cities I've never been to before {0/3}.
Complete the 100 Strangers Project.
Make 25 new recipes. {0/25}

Track my weight 3 times a week. {0/3}~{0/143}
Decorate the house for Christmas.
Decorate the house for Halloween.
Document each goal as it is achieved with photographs.
Get rid of 101 things that I don’t actually need {0/101}.
Clean all dishes before going to bed every night for a week 52 times. {0/7}/{0/52}
Grow something we can eat {and then eat it}.
Help Kathryn host 12 sleepovers. {0/12}.
Learn how to can something.
Take Kathryn to a large museum.
Finish a 30 minute screenplay for Kathryn.
Film and edit the 30 minute screenplay.
Finish a feature length screenplay for Kathryn.
Film and edit the feature length movie for Kathryn.
Make my linkedin.com account complete.
Learn and use 75 new words.{0/75}
Create and use a composting bin.
Do not use the elevator for distances of less than 5 stories for 30 consecutive days 9 times. {0/30}~{0/9}.
Wreck a journal with Kathryn.
Make a good homemade pumpkin pie from scratch (from fresh pumpkin).
Help Kathryn finish her screenplay.
Blog every day.{0/1,001}
Exercise every day for 30 days for 15 months. {0/30}~{0/15}
Identify 100 things that make me happy, then do/see/experience all of them. {0/100}
Print and frame 25 photographs. {0/25}
Make a pretty party dress.
Wear the pretty party dress somewhere nice.
Make a fundraising plan for ECHS to increase revenue by 10 - 20%.
Drink 96 ounces of water a day for 30 days 12 times. {0/30}~{0/12}
Take a golf lesson with Mom and Kathryn.
Be able to do a real push-up.
I will participate in the Daring Baker eight months for every twelve months of the 101 goals, not missing two consecutive months. {0/12}~{0/12}~{0/12}
Make another 101 in 1001 list and do it all over again.

The Daring Kitchen

2009-09-29T21:51:00.001-04:00

I signed up to be a daring baker with the daring kitchen. I am excited. I am bummed that I can't start until October 1. That is goal 100. I will participate in eight months for every twelve months and not miss two consecutive months. I am adding The Daring Kitchen badge to my site even though I can't start until October 1.

2 days to go!

2009-09-29T17:12:00.000-04:00

My project starts in 2 days and I still need to come up with goal number 100. I am thinking about going with Joining The Daring Kitchen and completely at least have the challenges. But I need to review the last year of challenges to make sure I am likely have the necessary equipment.

Possible dresses

2009-09-26T16:10:00.002-04:00

I want to make a rockabilly or swing style dress. (See #95. Make a pretty dress.) I am having a hard time finding swing style dresses that I like. Here is a modern example of a pattern I like. It doesn't really fit either of the two styles but it has a light-ness to it that I like.

Vogue Pattern V8470

I really like this dress:
Cherry Sun Dress

I don't think I'd do it in the cherry pattern.

This black & white dress is pretty as well.