My New Toy!

C#1 and C#2 went apple picking with their grandparents and picked a bushel of Cortland apples. These apples are the best because they are very versatile. You can just eat them or cook with them -- no boundaries. Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyy... Like I said I have (had) a bushel of apples and needed to figure out what to do with them all.  Pies, crisps, Brown Betties, bars, cookies, lunches, cobblers.

I was perusing amazon.com and came upon a dehydrator. What a fantastic idea! These would not only taste great, but, they would last! I don't have a nice cold place in my basement to store them, so it's either eat them or use them or they will go to waste -- and I'd rather they went to waist!  I purchased my "well researched" dehydrator and it arrived within a week.

The directions said dehydrate them for 6-12 hours. 6-12 hours?!?!? Oye! Well, I left them in for about 7-8 hours and they were great! More chewy than crispy and very tart! Delicious! 

And I should mention a wonderful side effect ---- the whole house smells like apples! No candle needed!!!

And they got C#2's seal of approval. She grabbed a handful on her way out the door, this morning.

More apple creations:

A recipe I got from my MIL. I may have messed it up though, since I had to use my trick since the oven runs too hot.

Apple Brown Betty with Peaches

Apple Bars

That's it for today... Till next time.

Ugh... It's that time of year again.

And by "ugh" I mean "YUM!" and "ugh!!!"  There is a very large influx of birthdays in my family. Which means lots and lotsssssssssssssssss of birthday cake or pie or dessert of all kinds. Which means I need to either exercise more or find my elastic waist pants (I vote for option #2.)

C#2 has a pending birthday. Which means there was a party. And at this party there were cake AND cupcakes. Let me just say they (the cake and cupcakes) were delicious!!! Store bought cake with thick butter cream frosting. I.HAVE.NO.SELF.CONTROL.HELLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!!! Thankfully most of the cake is gone and no edge pieces are leftover. And there are only two cupcakes left, as of today. MMMMUSTTTTTSAYYYYYYYNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  At this point if either C#1 or C#2 ask for either dessert for breakfast, I am going to say YES!! It needs to be gone ASAP!!

That's it for today. Till next time...

It's Fixed!

You know when I said I would blog about that thing that broke and how annoying it was that, that thing broke?!?!? Welllllll --- it's FIXED!

One lovely morning the dear hubby was yelling for help.  I mistakenly thought it was something minor and in my normal annoyed voice said, "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT?!"  I mean really... WHAT could be going so wrong at 6:30 in the morning?! Besides having to get up and go to work or whatever?!?!

Come to find out our fantastic (and by fantastic I mean it wasn't fantastic at all!) garage door imploded and fell on one of the vehicles. Not in a completely damaging way, but, in an annoying, scratchy way. Damn door!!!

The dear husband had to take the door apart piece by piece and then we had to enlist the help of
C#1 to get the springs free without killing someone.

Dearest was nice enough to deal with the insurance company and we/they were able to make everything ship shape. The vehicle was quick. It took less than a week to get that done from the time of the incident to the finish. The door, however, took almost a month. But, it's done. Soooo all is good in the world!!!

Andddddddddddddd there's pictures!!!!!

The stupid door. Lost its wheels and is now laying on one of the vehicles (NOT mine!)

Where the lovely door bent.... Hmmmm. Why'd it do that!??!  I'm glad no one was in the way!  That b@stard was HEAVY!

The cables hanging out.

The scratches. Not horrible damage, but, it still cost over $400!

A big pile of garage door.

Front view of the bent, big pile of garage door.

And now it's all fixed!! AND they (garage door installer peeps) even took the big pile of garage door! WhooHoo!  

Thankfully the insurance picked up most of the tab ANDDDDDDDD we got a rebate for the door from the lovely Lowe's! How about that?!?!  So all in all, it was a fairly "cheap" fix.  We are all happy campers!

That's it for today. Until next time!

A Little Rant About School Supplies.

I know this is weeks late, but, I still feel the need to share.

After spending a small fortune on school supplies it was determined that we did NOT have everything.  Mind you, it was only one little thing. But, after buying a ton of loose leaf paper, folders, 3 ring binders, pencils, pens and notebooks, I thought we were good. It should be noted that I went "school shopping" for the first time without the "lists." The thing is that you have to go shopping in late July - early August or you will miss out and have to buy stuff that is way more expensive or deal with that ugly notebook with a silly frog on it.

Okay, okay.... Onto the rant. Walmart had a very lovely sale of .17 cent folders. So I took advantage and bought a bunch. Lo and behold, C#2's teacher insisted on plastic folders for her class. They last longer, don't need to be replaced, blah, blah, blah...  Welllllllll... When we finally made it to the store to buy this coveted folder, it was a whopping $1.47!!! FOR ONE FOLDER!!!! I could buy 8 (YES EIGHT!!) of the other folders for this one. She could replace it every almost every month of school and still not spend $1.47. Sheeeeesh!!

I don't understand the logic behind this. It really isn't that hard to switch folders. And I don't give a crap about "being green."

So there you have it my school supplies rant.

Till next time...

Taco Avocado Wraps and the Movie "The Wave"

In my previous blog I made avocado cupcakes and what this means is that I had a couple more avocados that needed to be used. Soooooooooooooooooooooo... I perused one of my newer cookbook buys The Taste of Home Cookbook and found "Taco Avocado Wraps" on page 98. The first time I made them, I kinda sorta followed the recipe -- I basically used it as a suggestion. But, the second time I followed the recipe --- mostly. It was EVEN better!  Way more creamy and delicious!!

Here's the recipe:

1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies, drained

1 TB taco seasoning

4 flour tortillas (10 inches) warmed

2 medium ripe avocados, peeled and sliced (the avocados I used were more mushy so I spread it on instead of adding slices.)

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

5 green onions, sliced (I didn't have any so I used chopped "regular" onion.)

1 can (4oz) sliced ripe olives, drained.

1. In small bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, chilies, and taco seasoning.

2. Spread about 1/2 cup over each tortilla. Top with the avocados, tomatoes, onions and olives, roll up.

Super easy, super quick and super YUM!

And one day when I was looking through stacks of children's chapter books, I stumbled upon The Wave by Todd Strasser.  And then another day I was perusing dvds and saw a movie with the same name. Really!?! Could they be the same?!?! And alas they were.  Now the dvd was expensive to buy AND it was in German with subtitles. Subtitles are not my favorite, because then I have to actually pay attention to the movie, since I would need to read the dialog.  And then one day we got Netflix, because it actually works at our house now and I found the very German movie I wanted to watch, but didn't want to buy, and would have to read!!! WhooHOO!! 

Anyway, it is based on a true event that happened in a high school history class in California. The teacher did an experiment with the class to see if they would become like the Nazi's in Germany.  The book is set in the same scene, but, the movie is set in Germany with a few little changes.  The movie takes it one step beyond the book and actual story, but, the story is fascinating and highly probable in my opinion.  The book is written for the young adult audience, so you have to take it for what it is. I could have read it in one sitting, since it is short and reads really quick.  I highly recommend both.  I don't want to give it away, so I will say nothing more.  But, you can definitely see a mob mentality shining through and how easy it is to permeate whole groups of people.

I hope to blog about some apple recipes soon and some more interesting foreign ENGLISH films in the near future.

Till next time...

I Made This A-MA-ZING Chicken...

...And  I forgot to take pictures. Of course, I wasn't expecting it to taste so good. The Darling Hubby even said he would order it at a restaurant if it was on the menu. It seriously was that good. I will however share the recipes that created this fine meal.

"Warm Artichoke and Asiago Cheese Dip"
from My Italian Kitchen by Janet Zappala, pg. 11

1 9oz box frozen artichoke hearts, chopped into small pieces (I used artichokes from a jar.)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup shaved Asiago Cheese (I didn't have any, so I used 1 cup of Parmesan cheese.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used a little more to make it creamier.)
1/4-1/2 cup grated Colby jack cheese -- I would have used cheddar, but, this cheese brick was already open.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium size bowl, add artichoke hearts, black pepper, and Asiago and Parmesan cheeses (I used ALL Parmesan cheese.) Stir to combine. Add mayonnaise; stir thoroughly. Spoon into 1.5 quart casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

While this is cooking, make the chicken using this recipe from Taste of Home: Dinner on a Dime:
"Parmesan Chicken" on page 132-133.

I only used half of the recipe, since I had other plans for the chicken.

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs. (I used seasoned Panko crumbs.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
2 TB spaghetti seasoning
I used the above seasoning instead of 1 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper -- the spaghetti seasoning was easier.
1 egg
1 TB water
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halves (I only had thawed out 2 1/2 chicken breasts, which I cut in half - to make 5 pieces, total.)
2 TB butter (I also added a little bit of olive oil.)

1. In shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and seasonings. In another shallow bowl combine egg and water. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then coat in the bread mixture.
2. In large skillet, cook chicken in butter on both sides until juices run clear.

After the chicken is cooked, top with 1/4 cup or healthy portion of the artichoke cheese dip on each piece. Serve and enjoy!

I also made this cabbage casserole - which I liked. The hubby, C#1 and C#2 weren't impressed. The hubby ate some of it, but, the children whined and complained that there was cabbage in it.  There were a LOT of leftovers and I finally figured out what this dish reminded me of.... Stuffed peppers, which I do love, especially with a little bit of ketchup.

Here's a picture of the cabbage casserole (cabbage layer, ground beef layer, rice layer, tomato sauce/paste layer,) sans ketchup.

That's it for today. Till next time...

No Storm... Time to BAKE!!

Once it was determined that there was going to be no storm -- at least nothing that was going to interfere with cooking -- I decided to go ahead and bake.

I bought a bag of avocados from my favorite Sam's Club and I was worried that they were going to go south very, veryyyyy soon.  Two of them had that squishy feel. OH NO!  But, thankfully they were A-OK! I bought them to make "avocado cupcakes."  I found this recipe in United Cakes Of America by Warren Brown on page 185-186.  C#1 and C#2 asked me what I was making and they made a resounding, " EWWW!" *insert sarcasm* Realllllly. Ewww. They hadn't even tried them yet. I was gonna force them to try them whether they wanted to or NOT!  These lovely babies had cream cheese frosting to boot. These are definitely NOT ewww!

Anywayyyyy, I mixed the ingredients in the wrong order and it really didn't seem to matter. Plunked them in my too hot oven and about 8 minutes later, they were done. Anddddd, I did use their cream cheese frosting recipe. I had to control myself to NOT lick out that bowl. IT-WAS-SO-DELICIOUS!!!  Once those little buggers cooled off I frosted them and only licked the knife off once (and of course, when I was done...)

All cooked.

All frosted.

I only added a little bit more frosting. I swear!

Survey says: They were delicious! No ewwwing necessary!

Ingredients:

Flour 1 1/2 cup

Cornmeal 3TB

1 TB or more of cinnamon (their spices were allspice and nutmeg and I said NO!)

Salt 1/4 tsp

Raisins (1/2 cup)

Walnuts, crushed 1/2 cup (I did not add walnuts, since no one will like me if I did.)

Baking soda 1 tsp

Buttermilk 1/2 cup (I used the milk/lemon juice trick.)

Avocado, cut into chunks 1 cup (I used two avocados and didn't cut them up. I just scooped them 

into the bowl.)

Unsalted butter 1/2 cup (I used salted - I'm a rebel!!)

Sugar 1 cup

Eggs 2

VANILLA!!!!

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cupcake pan with nonstick spray and place paper liners in the cups (I didn't have the liners, so I didn't do that.) 

Combine the dry ingredients, except raisins and walnuts. Toss 3 tbl dry ingredients with the raisins and walnuts, set aside.

And then the recipe gets long and wordy and annoying. 

I seriously just threw all the last seven ingredients together and mixed them with my hand mixer. Then once that was a sloppy mess, added the rest, minus the raisins. Mixed that until it was a thicker sloppy mess. Then folded in the raisins.

I used an ice cream scoop to deposit the batter into the cupcake pan. I cooked them until a toothpick came out clean. The recipe says 18-24 minutes, but, with my super heat it only took 8-10.

Take out of cupcake pan. Cool. Then frost (cream cheese frosting - whatever is your favorite would work.) Delicious! (Please pardon the weird order of the ingredients -- this cookbook was set up weird.)

And since my oven was on, I decided to make a funky pizza for lunch. I drug out Mr. Food Pizza 1-2-3 and found "Hearty Artichoke and Pesto Pizza" on page 93.

1/2 cup pesto sauce

1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, quartered

4 oz mozzarella cheese (grated)

For the dough I used two frozen bread doughs, thawed.

Preheat the oven to 450 (mine's super hot, so it was set to 250.) Spread the pesto sauce evenly over the prepared base, then scatter the artichoke hearts over the sauce. Cover with the cheese (I also sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese.) Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cut and serve.

C#2 was the only one who didn't like this. But, she's sometimes hard to please. 

There you have it. Today's cooking. Till next time...

There's a Storm's a Comin'!

Well, that is what they are saying... Of course, when you look at the radar on any weather website or look on the tv, it does indeed look like there's a storm a comin'!

In preparation I already took my shower (you know in case the power goes out.)  I also filled up a bunch of juice/water pitchers with water.  I wouldn't want to be without my coffee -- regardless of the power being out or not! Yet, another reason to be thankful for my gas stove. P'SHAW! You power outages. I can still boil my water!

There is also a potential for some crazy a$$ wind and hail. It would hurt me physically if my tomatoes that are still hanging on got damaged because of some stupida$$ storm, so I picked all the red/orange/green-orange tomatoes. I am even tempted to pick the green ones of fear of destruction.  But, I resisted.

Here are the green/orange ones, that will need to sit in the sunlight to get red. But, I know they will cooperate, since I have done this in the past.

Here are the more red ones, that were "saved" from the impending storm.

And then I thought, I maybe should "harvest" what is left of the swiss chard. I cut a bunch of it down in my grow boxes and then proceeded to pick it from my little pots. Then it occurred to me ---- I could just bring those inside. Duhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Here is my little pot of swiss chard, my dinky basil, my lettuce that has gone to seed and my ridiculous parsley, that I mostly ignore.

And here is my "big" pot of swiss chard. The leaves are all little, so it takes a TON to make a decent amount. But, beggars can't be choosers.

So far all it's done is rain. But, the "good" stuff isn't supposed to happen until later.

Last week I took C#2 to a local consignment shop. She didn't want to go, but, I insisted. I used to visit this place all the time and have lessened my visiting, since I spend wayyyy too much money and I already have wayyyy too may clothes.

This is what she scored:

3 jeans, 1 dress, 3 shirts (actually 4 -- I missed one,) and a pair of Nike sneakers. ALL for $28.50!!!  I looked up Nike Jordan sneakers (which is what they are) and found they are selling for quite a bit on ebay. I could not convince her to give them to me, so I could make a profit. Okay. Fine. Be that way! She was very excited to find them and I was very excited to only pay $3.25 for them.  I only buy off of the half price rack at this store (well mostly.) I am such a cheapskate and it pains me to pay "full" price.

Well that's it for now. I do have some cooking stuff I was going to do today, but, with this stupid storm coming through, I might just wait.

Till next time...

Melancholia: A Review

Our internet recently decided to cooperate and we can actually use Netflix. Which is like really awesome! Of course, you could sit on the couch searching tv shows and movies all day.  Anyway, I was looking to maybe purchasing "Melancholia." It got good reviews and it sounded gloomy. My kind of flick. I didn't buy it and I'm glad.  1. I could watch it on Netflix. And 2. I don't think I would have watched it, ever, again, ever.

The first five to ten minutes were very weird. Classical music with funky images. Then it goes to a wedding and it is very clear that everyone is messed up in this bridal party.  It slowly meanders through the wedding and then another problem is presented. There is a blue planet headed straight for earth, or is it?!

It should be stated that the female lead has major issues with depression and her sister isn't much better.  There really isn't that much going on and I can't really say anything else, otherwise I would give away the ending.  Read: Slow drama, more slow drama, and then the end.

It wasn't a horrible movie, but, definitely not something I'd recommend or watch, again. I am glad I was "multi-tasking" -- aka working.  Otherwise, I would feel like I sort of wasted two hours of my life. And the fact that it was on Netflix, saved me some moola, too.

That's it for today... Till next time.

This is THE perfect sentiment.

Thank you to my SIL for posting this on FB.

Maybe I will have more blog motivation later --- no promises. :)

The Fair and a Recipe For Rice Pudding!

This past week me, C#1 and C#2 went to a local fair with my BFF and her grands.  C#1 and C#2 were very excited to go on the rides and eat fair food, to say the least.

We got there mid afternoon and I was pleased to see that the rides weren't too grungy (meaning old and rickety,) the carnies weren't too scary and it wasn't too busy either!

What I thought was adorable was when C#2 and my friend's grand reunited. They were immediately "besties", again.  They only see each other a few times a year, but, they enjoy each others company immensely!

I only went on one ride. It was fun, except for the feeling in your head, when it's over. Of course, that might be because I tried to turn my head during the ride to see the girls. Bad move.

This was taken when the girls were on it in the evening.

C#1 and C#2 went on this beast (see below.) It ended up being "traumatic" for C#2. She lost her retainer while she was being flipped around.  Thankfully it fell straight down and was very easy to find. I call it divine. I mean what are the chances of it being found that easily?!?!

So all in all it was a very fun day. And everyone slept very well that night...........

While I  was perusing my "garden" and I have a "few" tomatoes. I planted a couple in small pots and ended up with this:

An itsy bitsy tomato! I found it to be rather amusing.  I have even tinier ones, but, they're still green.

Then one night this past week, the dearest husband said he wasn't that hungry, so I decided to make something the I like and never make --- ground beef stroganoff.  I had a bowl full of rice leftover from a previous meal and in my opinion that is the perfect accompaniment.  DH didn't agree and wasn't even going to try it, but, alas he did and lo and behold,  he concluded I was right! HaHAAAAAAA!  I know my beef stroganoff!!  But, that is just an aside.

Before eating this he realized that there was cooked rice (obviously) which could only mean that I must make his favorite rice pudding.  Which I did and it was an extra tasty batch.  

I think I "stole" the recipe off of a can of evaporated milk. I haven't tweaked it that much, besides adding vanilla, raisins and cinnamon. 

Creamy Rice Pudding

1 cup cooked rice (I used a little bit more, but, not much.)

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk (I added about 1/4 cup more of 1% milk, since I added more rice.)

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

Vanilla, raisins, cinnamon

1. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 cup milk, sugar and salt. Add cooked rice to milk mixture and continue to cook over medium heat  for 10 minutes stirring constantly.

2. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the remaining milk. Gradually pour into the hot rice mixture, stirring constantly. Continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add vanilla, cinnamon, and raisins. Let cool and then eat!

The trick to this recipe is to make sure you don't add too much rice, or it won't be that creamy. But, like I discovered this time, by just adding a little more milk, seemed to fix it.

That's it for today. Till next time!