Homemaker's Guide to the Galaxy

40 Minute Hamburger Buns

2012-02-02T20:18:00.001-06:00

I will admit, I made these for the first time tonight. I was out of hamburger buns, but I wanted to make hamburgers. So, I did a quick search and found this recipe. It was a hit. Very similar to store-bought buns, but without all the icky chemicals. Very simple, very good flavor, and fast to make. I think if I make these again though, I will make 14, and roll them a little flatter, so that there is a better bun-to-burger ratio.

My only change, was to use my stand mixer to mix the dough. I started with the dough hook and let it mix up, then put it on 4 for about 5 minutes, adding in a little flour here and there as necessary. Otherwise, this recipe was perfect.

Savory Rice

2012-01-28T16:27:00.002-06:00

I made this one up on the fly one night, when I wasn't feeling up to making a big meal, but wanted a lot of flavor. I cooked some frozen chicken tenders in some water, to thaw them and cook them without killing them, and that was easy enough.

The rice however, I made to taste so amazingly good, that I will be making it that way again soon. I will find something to serve with it, even if it's just chicken again. I made a double batch, but I will go ahead and give you the single batch measurements, just to make it easy.

Savory Rice

2 cups homemade chicken stock (or store bought if preferred)
1 cup long grain white rice
1-2 tablespoons butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4-1/2 teaspoon herbs de provence, or Italian herb mix (based on preference)

Place all the ingredients in a heavy pan over high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. At the end of the 15 minutes, turn off the heat, fluff the rice with a fork, cover again, and let sit for another 5 minutes.

Lemon Blackberry Coffee Cake

2012-01-24T08:40:00.000-06:00

This one is just... yum.

BlackberryLemon Coffee Cake

1 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour

1 1/2teaspoons double-acting baking powder

1 cup sourcream

1 teaspoonbaking soda

1 stick (1/2cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 cupgranulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoonvanilla extract

Zest of onelemon

1 1/2 cupsfresh blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries (frozen works perfectly well)

Topping 1/4cup (1/2 a stick) butter melted

1/2 cupall-purpose flour

1/4 cupsugar

Butter a9X13 pan. Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl whisk together the flour, thebaking powder, and a pinch of salt and in another bowl stir together the sourcream and the baking soda.

In a largebowl cream together the butter and 1 cup of the granulated sugar until themixture is light and fluffy, add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after eachaddition, and beat in the vanilla and lemon zest. Stir in the flour mixturealternately with the sour cream mixture and stir the batter until it iscombined well. Pour the batter into abuttered 9 X 13 cake pan. Sprinkle blackberries evenly on top.

In a smallbowl stir together melted butter, flour and sugar until it is sort of doughlike and stuck together. Crumble toppingmixture all over cake

Bake thecake in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 35 to 45 minutes, or until atester comes out clean. Transfer it to a rack, and let it cool. Serve warm or room temperature. (This is best the day of baking.)

Breakfast Puff

2012-01-20T01:11:00.000-06:00

This recipe is about as easy as it gets. It has few ingredients, little direct involvement, and the kids love it. I'm not a huge fan of the texture personally, but to the kids, it's like a gigantic pancake. The love watching me pull it from the oven because it's enormous. It sinks a bit after a few minutes, but the kids still think it's neat. It is nice to have as a backup, for those days when you want to give the kids something warm and homemade, but not put a lot of time and effort into it.

Breakfast Puff

3 cups flour
3 cups milk
1 dozen eggs
1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 450*

Combine the flour, milk and eggs in a large bowl, and whisk thoroughly.

Place the butter in a 9x13 baking dish, and place in the oven. Once the butter is melted, pour the batter into the hot dish. Bake for 25 minutes exactly. Do NOT open the oven door! Wait until the timer goes off, and then remove the puff from the oven.

Serve with pancake syrup, jelly, powdered sugar, or just about anything else you might like.

Brisket With Garlic

2012-01-17T01:02:00.000-06:00

This is one of my favorite recipes. It is the only way I have ever tried cooking brisket, and it is probably the only way I ever will make brisket. Do not let the quantity of garlic daunt you, it is well worth the effort for the flavor. If you can, get yourself a garlic peeler. It's just a little silicone tube, but it makes this dish far easier.

The original recipe called for red wine, but I choose to use balsamic vinegar instead. I am not a fan of win in general, so I prefer not to use it. The balsamic vinegar gives more of a full flavor, without the alcohol overtone. I also use a smaller cut of meat, to fit in my pot, and halve the amount of garlic used. Everything else stays the same.

Beef Brisket with 40 Cloves of Garlic Recipe

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 (5 to 6 pounds) beef brisket, rinsed and patted dry

Kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper

40 large cloves garlic, peeled (about 3 to 4 heads of garlic - seeNotes)

1 large sweet onion, sliced and separated into rings

1/4 cup red wine (or substitute balsamic vinegar)

2 to 3 cups beef or chicken broth

2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed

1 teaspoon dried basil

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Season brisket liberally on both sides with kosher salt andfreshly-ground black pepper.

Heat a large Dutch oven or heavy, deep-sided, oven-proof skillet with alid over medium-high heat. Add olive oil to coat the bottom. Sear both sides ofbrisket, beginning with fat-side down, until golden brown. Remove to a platter.

Add garlic cloves and sweet onion rings to the remaining oil in thepan. Cook and stir until garlic begins to turn golden and sweet onions arelimp.

Add red wine (or balsamic vinegar) and deglaze the pan, stirring for 1minute while scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add beefor chicken broth, oregano, and basil. Bring back to a simmer, then turn offheat. Move garlic and onions to the side and return brisket to the Dutch ovenor skillet. Spoon garlic and onions over the top of the brisket, cover tightly,and place in the oven.

Bake for 1 hour at 325 F. Reduce heat to 300 and bake an additional1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until brisket is fork-tender. Remove brisket to a platterand cover to keep warm. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Remove half of of garlic cloves and most of onions to a bowl. Skim offexcess oil from the pan gravy and discard. Blend pan gravy and garlic untilsmooth. You can add a flour or cornstarch slurry to thicken gravy, if you wish.Return reserved whole garlic cloves and onions to the gravy.

Slice brisket diagonally across the grain. Serve with the pan gravy.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Light and Crispy Granola

2012-01-13T00:58:00.000-06:00

I got this recipe from a friend, made one little modification, and it is truly one of the best homemade granolas I have ever made. It has all the best yummy stuff in it, and is also very quick and easy.

Now, a lot of you might wonder what on earth puffed millet is, and why in the world you'd want to eat bird seed... but puffed millet is one of my favorite things, especially when mixed in with yummy sweetness. It adds a nice airy texture to this granola that is irresistible. If you don't like millet, or would prefer not to use it, just replace it with a cup of oatmeal.

When I make it again, I think I will add a vanilla bean to the liquid mixture as well, just to add some extra vanilla flavor.

Light crispy granola

3 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups rice crispy type cereal

1 cup plain puffed millet
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
2/3 cup natural sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 325*. In a Dutch oven, boil the butter, coconut oil, sugar,honey, molasses, cinnamon, vanilla and salt together for 2 min. Take off theheat and add oats and cereal. Mix well. Divide onto two cookie sheets andspread out evenly. Bake for 8 min, then switch and continue baking for 6 min.Make sure to watch it. You want it golden brown. The edges could burn.

Herb Peel-Away Bread

2012-01-07T09:54:00.000-06:00

I still remember the day I found this recipe. I remember what I was doing. I remember the store I was at. I remember the calender I languidly picked up from the counter, and thought... This looks interesting, I guess since it's free I'll take it....

I was at the Pfaltzgraff outlet, looking for table decorations for my wedding reception. My mom and grandma were with me, having come up specially from Kansas. I got 10 little clear glass, flat bottomed bowls for floating candles. I might have one left, the rest have broken by now. But, that's ok. I still have the recipe.

The recipe. Herb Peel-Away Bread. One of my first endeavors into yeast bread baking. The first few attempts were.... interesting. I was barely 20 at the time. Not even old enough to buy alcohol, unless my husband gave me permission. We never did try that... I wanted to though. Go to a bar and show them my marriage license showing that my husband had the authority to allow me to drink. What can I say, I like living on the edge. But, as the taste of alcohol was totally unappealing.... it never happened. And now I'm old enough to buy my own alcohol.

Back to the bread.

It is a pretty easy bread, which is nice. It's a quick rise bread, using double the amount of yeast you would normally use, to give it a very quick rise with lots of air in the dough. Such a light texture. Then, you add in all the herbs.... it's so good. I do have to keep an eye on the times, as you really want to eyeball the rising, rather than relying solely on the timer, but other than that it's pretty easy and tastes very good.

Herb Peel-Away Bread

3 ½ cups all purpose flour, divided

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 pkgs. Rapid rise yeast

1 tablespoon parsley, fresh or dried

½ teaspoon basil

½ teaspoon dried rosemary

½ teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup water

6 tablespoons butter, divided

1 egg, room temperature

Combine2 ½ cups flour, sugar, salt, yeast and herbs in a large mixing bowl. In a small saucepan combine water and 4tablespoons butter. Heat until hot totouch, about 125° to 130° F. Add liquidto dry ingredients. Stir in egg and justenough of remaining flour to form a soft dough. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 4 minutes oruntil smooth and elastic. Let rise,covered, for 10 minutes. On a lightlyfloured surface, roll dough into a 12 inch square. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and brush the topof the dough with the butter. Cut into36 squares. Overlap squares in threelayers, butter side down, in a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Let rise, covered, in a warm place untildoubled in bulk. Bake at 375° for 20 to25 minutes.

Yield: 1 loaf

Colorful Cookies

2012-01-03T14:57:00.000-06:00

This recipe was in the Betty Crocker Cookbook I gave my mom in 1987. I believe it was published in 1986. It has some really good recipes in it though, and Colorful Cookies was one of my favorites. I still like making them on occasion. You can be as versatile as the jello section at your grocery store allows. I like orange, personally. Lemon is good also. The kids like some of the funkier flavors. You can mix them too, and make several flavors and colors, mixing icings, etc.

Colorful Cookies

1 package (3 ounces) fruit flavoredgelatin

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup margarine or butter, softened

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Colorful Glaze (below)

Heatoven to 350°. Reserve 1 tablespoongelatin (dry) for the glaze. Mixremaining gelatin, the powdered sugar and margarine. Stir in flour and salt. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreasedcookie sheet. Bake until set but notbrown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool slightly;remove from cookie sheet. Coolcompletely.

PrepareColorful Glaze. Dip tops of cookies intoglaze. Decorate with coconut, nuts,cherries, colored sugar, small candies or chocolate shot if desired.

Yield: about 4 1/2 dozen cookies

Colorful Glaze:

Mix reserved 1 tablespoon gelatin and 3tablespoons hot water. Let stand 5minutes. Stir in 2 cups powdered sugarand 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth and of desired consistency.

Recipe Courtesy Betty Crocker Cookbook 1986

Cola Roast

2011-12-30T14:40:00.000-06:00

Cola roast is about as easy as it gets, and it gives good results, too. All you need is a big hunk of meat, a can of cola (no diet!, though sugar soda is fine as opposed to hfcs soda), and some beef bouillon granules. It's taken a while, but most of my kids like this now, and they can be a tough crowd. Serve it up with a big pot of mashed potatoes, and add some veggies as a side, and you're good to go. I like to buy the huge 5lb. chuck roasts when they're on sale, cut them in half, and toss them in the freezer. On the day I'm ready to make it, I stick it in the slow cooker around 10 or 11 am, and it's ready for dinner at 7pm. I take the roast out about 20 minutes before serving, so that it has some time to rest before cutting. This helps keep your juices in where they belong. I also spoon extra juices over the top, and cover it with foil before placing it on the table. Serving extra juices on the side also helps keep the roast nice and moist. I have made gravy from the drippings too, but my family isn't huge on gravy so I don't make it often.

1 large chuck roast, enough to feed your family with a few leftovers if desired
1 can Pepsi or Coke
Beef Roast Seasoning (available from Penzey's, it adds a nice flavor but the roast is fine without it too)
1-2 Tablespoons beef bouillon granules
1-2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
OR
in place of the beef granules and onions you can use a packet of beefy onion soup mix, but I like a little stronger beef flavor

Place your beef in the slow cooker. If it is frozen, I like to put it on high for an hour or two to get things going, and then turn it down to low. Or you can put it in a little earlier, too. It's pretty forgiving.

Sprinkle the bouillon granules and minced dried onions on the top (and beef roast seasoning if you have it), then gently pour the can of soda over everything. Turn on the slow cooker and you're done.

You want roughly 8-9 hours for this recipe, but play around with it a bit to see what works. It's pretty forgiving, and you can go a little longer or shorter as needed.

Strawberry Apple Jam

2011-12-27T16:01:00.000-06:00

Strawberry Apple Jam is one of my most favorite jams ever. Even more favorite than Strawberry Rhubarb, which is really saying something, because I just love Strawberry and Rhubarb together.

Now, me being me and all, and not starting out with anything simple, this is one of the first jams I really tried to make. I did attempt one batch of raspberry jam a long, long time ago.... but we'll just forget about that.

Moving on. I chose this recipe, because I have a strawberry apple pie that is divine. It has such a soft, sweet flavor, one that you wouldn't expect from a combination of Granny Smith apples, and strawberries. But, the flavors balance out so amazingly, that you get a really beautiful, mellow flavor that is quite satisfying.

I did some digging, and found this recipe at Through My Kitchen Window. It does not use pectin, so it's an older style recipe that cooks down the fruits until it's all soft and mellow and yummy. I have found that with this recipe, it does require a bit of babysitting to really make it the right consistency. It seems to take me longer than the recipe states, so you do need to do a bit of looking around on how to determine the right consistency of the jam once it's finished.

Oh, and don't throw your jam scum away. Seriously, jam scum is the best. It sounds awful, but tastes just as good as the jam. It's nothing harmful, it just doesn't make your jam look as pretty in the jars. And believe me, this is a pretty jam.

A few other notes.... I tried reducing the water to make the jam cook quicker and thicken up better..... don't. It was so sweet it was practically unusable. I have one jar that I'm trying to find some way to use in a cake or something where the flavor will be mellowed. It's unbelievably sweet though. Another note... you can add in a vanilla bean for a bit of pretty flecks of vanilla, and to add to the soft, mellow flavor. I admit to being a vanilla addict though, so this is entirely up to you.

Lastly, this recipe does not have instructions for using a water bath, so I do half pints for about 15 minutes, and then cool. Quarter pints make great gifts too, and are so pretty in their teeny little jars. But, quarter pints are really only good for your friends who are single, or very small families who use jam very sparingly. Or someone you want to tease to get them knocking your door down at 3 am looking for more of that jam because they had a craving for scones and jam. Doesn't everyone crave scones at jam at 3 am? I like my jam scum right about then, personally.

Strawberry and Apple Jam

500gm strawberries (1 lb. plus 1 ½ oz.)
3 medium green apples
1/4 cup lemon juice
1kg white or caster sugar (2.2 lbs.) (5cups)
extra lemon

Hull and halve the strawberries. Cut out bruised spots and do not use any thatare too ripe. Set aside in a clean bowl.

Get some lemons; if you're fortunate enough to have a tree, pick them straightfrom the tree as the pectin content will be at it's highest. Select lemons thatare slightly underripe. You will get the best possible jelling results doingthis.

Squeeze a whole lemon into a big bowl of water; peel and quarter the greenapples; remove seeds and core; slice thinly. Place the apple slices straightinto the lemon water.

Take some muslin fabric and cut out a small square. You only need enough tohold the pips from a couple of lemons.

Take a clean bowl; pour in some boiling hot water and place your muslin squareinto the water. This is the next best step to sterilising the cloth.

Squeeze a couple of lemons and reserve the juice.

Line a small bowl with the well rinsed muslin square and place all the lemonpips you can extract from the lemons.

Secure the pips well and tie a knot with some twine to create a small muslinbag.

In a heavy based pan place the strawberries, drained apples, muslin bag, 1/4cup of lemon juice and three cups of water. Bring to boil; reduce heat andsimmer covered for about 20 minutes or until the apples have softened. Take outmuslin bag; pour the sugar into the center of the pot; stir gently till thesugar has dissolved then boil steadily for about 30 minutes or till the jam hasset. I place a saucer in the freezer and test the jam by dropping a little ontothe saucer; then pressing to see how wrinkled it looks. If it is quite runnythen more cooking is required.

It is important to allow the jam to sit for about 10 minutes before pouringinto sterilized jars. You risk the fruit sinking to the bottom if you pour itin right away. Make sure that any scum has been removed. You will find scumalways rises to the top and moves to the sides of the pot so it is easy tospoon off. I use the pictured ladle to fill the jam jars. Seal while hot.

Christmas Morning

2011-12-24T04:00:00.000-06:00

Around here, Christmas morning breakfast usually consists of, if nothing else, cinnamon rolls. The kind that come in a can. Although occasionally, I am able to get away with homemade cinnamon rolls. It does take some arm twisting, and a promise of bucketfuls of homemade cream cheese frosting.

However, I believe that this year, I may be able to get away with something slightly different. It's a Cinnamon French Toast Bake from Pillsbury. And really, it is worth it. With our family of nine (only eight of whom have teeth), we polished off two batches of this french toasty goodness. My only change was that I used walnuts instead of pecans. I'm not a big pecan person, but I do like my walnuts. I'm sure almonds would have been yummy too. I probably could even add apples, but I'll leave that for now.

I made this on Thanksgiving morning, because I do like having nice yummy things on holidays to splurge on. And with 4 cans of cinnamon rolls in two batches, I did need to splurge, just a teeny bit. But it was oh so worth it. And it will be made again. Soon. Very soon. Probably on Christmas morning.

Caramel Apple French Toast Strata

2011-12-21T12:26:00.000-06:00

This is one of the best french toast casseroles I've ever had. It's fairly versatile, too, which is nice. I usually make two pans, one with apples, and one without. Even with two pans, there are rarely leftovers.

This is a good one for a breakfast potluck, too.

Caramel Apple French Toast Strata

1 loaf French bread, cubed

2-4 oz cream cheese, cubed (according to preference... the original recipe called for 8oz, but I use much less)

2 apples, sliced

½-1 cup sliced almonds

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

¾ cup butter

¾ cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons corn syrup

Place half bread cubes into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Cover with cream cheese cubes evenly. Sprinkle with apple slices. Top with remaining bread cubes andalmonds. Beat eggs, milk and cinnamon;pour over bread mixture. (If makingahead of time cover and refrigerate overnight). Make syrup by combining butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in saucepanand bring to a boil. Pour over the topof the mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F.for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with powderedsugar and serve with syrup.

Cheese and Rosemary Breadsticks

2011-12-18T12:06:00.000-06:00

These have such a yummy flavor, that I love making them. It's worth it to get the Gruyere. You can always freeze it for later use. I like dipping these in marinara.

Cheese and Rosemary Breadsticks

¼ cup grated Parmesan

1/3 cup grated Gruyere

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemaryleaves

1 (11-ounce) container refrigeratedbreadstick dough (recommended: Pillsbury)

Finely ground sea salt, optional

Preheatthe oven to 350°.

Line2 heavy large baking sheets with silicone baking sheets or parchment paper. Ina food processor, chop the Parmesan, Gruyere and rosemary together untilcoarsely chopped. Set the cheese mixture aside. Separate the dough strips.Using a pizza cutter or a large sharp knife, cut each dough strip in halflengthwise to form thin strips. Working with dough strip at a time, coat eachstrip with the cheese mixture, pressing very gently. Twist each cheese covereddough strip and place onto prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with the salt, ifyou wish.

Bakeuntil the breadsticks are golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer thewarm breadsticks to a basket and serve.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Pineapple Strawberry Punch

2011-12-15T11:59:00.000-06:00

This is one of my favorite punches to make. I'm not really a big punch person though, so I suppose it would be more accurate to say that this is the only punch I make. It's simple, it's sweet, and even though I'm not a huge fan of pineapple, I actually kind of like this. I got it from a very sweet lady at church who shared it with us at a luncheon, and I begged her to give me the recipe. My only change is that I don't puree the strawberries. I like them intact.

Pineapple Strawberry Punch

2 packages (10 oz. each) frozen sweetened sliced strawberries, thawed

1 can (46 oz.) pineapple juice, chilled

4 cups lemon-lime soda, chilled

In a foodprocessor or blender, puree the strawberries. Pour into a large punch bowl. Stir in the pineapple juice and soda. Serve immediately.

YIELD: ABOUT 12 SERVINGS (3QUARTS)

Marinara

2011-12-11T09:00:00.000-06:00

This recipe is one of my favorites, for a variety of reasons. I love going to Maggiano's, as they have some absolutely amazing food. My pocketbook doesn't allow me to go as often as I'd like, but I do make an effort. Their marinara sauce is so good, I would drink it with a straw. After having it a few times, I set out on a mission to make it myself. After a few tries, I came up with something almost exactly like what they make at the restaurant. I had the opportunity to speak with one of their very talented head chefs, and he confirmed that I was almost dead on. The only difference is they use fresh basil as their only herb, and I use dried Italian Seasoning. In any case, it tastes great either way. This is another recipe I hope to use in my canner some day.

Shana's Marinara Sauce

2 Vidalia onions, finely diced

4-6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 ½ tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 28 ounce cans whole peeled plum tomatoes

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce

1 -2 tablespoons sugar

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large pot. Stir in the onions and garlic, and sautéuntil the onions are very soft. Add theItalian seasoning, salt and pepper and stir well; simmer for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, paste and sauce, andsugar. Simmer on low for about an hour,stirring occasionally. Run through ablender in batches.

Shana's Chili

2011-12-08T10:00:00.000-06:00

Now, this here is MY chili recipe. Based off of several other recipes, but it's mine. All mine. And I love it. If you love hearty chili, this is it. You could probably make it spicier if you're one of those people who love really spicy foods, but this is just good old, yummy chili.

The beauty of it, is that it's so forgiving, and very versatile. You have a good amount of wiggle room as far as measuring goes, so it's pretty easy to work with. You can do it in the crock pot or on the stove top. One of these days, I plan on canning it, too. I'll let you know how that turns out.

So, here it is.

Shana’s Chili

1-2 pounds ground beef

2 chopped onions (white or vidalia)

5-6 cups finely diced celery

3/4 cup diced green pepper

2-3 cups tomato juice

1 can (28 oz) red beans, drained

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes

1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes (optional, I add it because I like a lot of tomatoes)

2 packages McCormick’s Chili seasoning

Brown ground beef, onion, celery and green pepper in a largeskillet and drain.

Return beef to the pot, and add remaining ingredients.

Cover and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook 1-2hours, stirring every 15 minutes.

Thisrecipe also works well in the crockpot on low, stirring every so often. Just cook the meat first, and then toss everything in the crock.

Homemade Soft Butter Spread

2011-12-05T10:00:00.000-06:00

I used to be a big fan of Country Crock. Yes, I admit. I loved that plasticy, fake butter taste. Don't ask me why. Eventually, I realized it actually was plastic, and switched over to real butter. But the problem with butter, is that it's a bit flat tasting, especially when you're so used to fake plastic butter.

I found this recipe, and gave it a try. I am hooked. I love it. It stays pretty solid in the fridge, but softens very quickly once you take it out for a bit. I used to keep it in a sturdy glass container, until I realized the kids were banging the butter knife on it and chipping away at the glass (so that's why I was crunching glass the one day.....). So, I need to find a better butter container. Soon. I miss my soft butter.

I have tried using coconut oil in place of the canola oil..... It tasted ok, but didn't behave quite the same. It wasn't as soft right out of the fridge (it hardens at a pretty low temperature), and got almost too soft when it did soften up. If you really want to use it, it is workable, but it will behave a little different. I am fine with canola for now.

Tasty Kitchen: Cornbread and Fluffy Honey Butter

2011-12-02T10:00:00.000-06:00

This recipe is now my go-to recipe for cornbread. I have tried various recipes over the years, but this one is definitely the best by far. It is a Yankee cornbread, for all you silly southerners who don't like sugar in your cornbread. This is sweet, moist, cakey, and heaven on a plate.

With my family, I double this recipe. Every. Single. Time. If I didn't, the masses would probably start gnawing on chair legs or something, so I try to keep them happy. I don't usually make the honey butter, but I have, and it is good. I prefer a big pat of homemade butter spread (I'll post about that one next), and a big spoonful of pure honey. I eat it with a fork, just like it was cake.

If you love a good Northern cornbread, this is it. This is what you have been searching for all your life. Make it with a big, yummy batch of chili (that recipe will be coming soon enough), and you will love me forever. I promise.

Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings

2011-11-30T10:00:00.001-06:00

I love this recipe. For so many reasons. It is a life changer as far as desserts go, and so yummy. I can say that the apples are healthy for you..... but that's about as far as it goes. You have yummy apples, wrapped in store bought crescent rolls, topped with a slurry of butter and sugar (and really, who doesn't love butter and sugar?), and to top it all off..... Mt. Dew. Seriously. Mt. Dew. That bright, green, antifreeze colored sugary drink.

Now, the original recipe calls for the apples to be cut into eighths. That is fine, but I found that the apples really just disappeared into the dough. Not bad in itself, but I wanted to know that there were apples in my apple dumplings. So my tip for this recipe is to cut the apples into quarters instead. Now, that will make it difficult to fit all of the pieces into the pan, but you can finagle it a bit, or just leave that last one out. I've thought about doing a little single one in a small ramekin, but I haven't been that ambitious. Yet.

Another tip, which Ree mentions in her post, is to not use all of the Mt. Dew. I pour just enough around the edges, and a teeny bit on top of the dumplings, just to give the dough a gorgeous crispy crust. I just pour it out without measuring, but I would guess it's less than 8oz.

This is a recipe best served warm, with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's very yummy, and well worth the effort, and it's also a good idea to have lots of friends around to keep you from eating it all by yourself.

It has been a long time

2011-11-29T21:46:00.001-06:00

It has been a while since I've really posted here, and I am thinking of starting back up again. A lot of people have told me I should blog about the foods I make. I don't really have the ability to take the nice pictures that everyone else's blogs boast, so I've shied away from it. However, being able to share the links to the recipes I try, and add what I've done to change them, is something that I can do, even if I don't have fancy pictures.

So, you may be seeing a few posts again, here and there.

Babylegs giveaway! Go enter now!

2011-02-24T13:43:00.001-06:00

Holy Cow! Babysnazz is giving away 20 pairs of Babylegs! I love Babylegs, they are so great for little babies, and with my boys and their long legs, these have been a lifesaver for us! Also great over a cast in the winter when long sleeves are hard to get on ;) Go enter now!

A review is on it's way. Until then...

2011-02-15T10:14:00.002-06:00

Take a look at these wooden swing sets, from another CSN store! Aren't they cute? I can't wait to have a yard again, our kids loved the swingset we used to have. Some day, right? So, just in time for summer, you can go take a look, and maybe order something for the kids!

And The Winner Is....

2011-01-01T17:41:00.002-06:00

Lisa_Iowa!!!! Lisa, drop me a line with your email address so you can receive your prize! Congratulations!!!

Another Giveaway Already!? Yes!!

2010-12-17T14:13:00.003-06:00

This one is much more of a fun one. Provided by Crayola through MyBlogSpark, this prize pack is for the very creative and artsy types. You know who you are.

These little items are a new product by Crayola, and are pretty neat little kits. Here are the kits you will receive if you win the prize pack:

Glass Pendant, Stationary Box, Water Bottle, Color Glow Lamp, Wind Chimes, Shadow Box, Glass Plates. Seven kits in all!

Visit Pop Art Pixies for more information on each kit.

Meet Skye! She’s sweet, thoughtful, and always thinking of others and how she can help save the environment. She loves the outdoors, playing soccer, friends, wildlife and hiking.
Skye’s Pop Art Pixies craft kits include: Create a Water Bottle, Wooden Charm Bracelets, Skye’s Herb Garden and Wind Chime kit.

Meet Maya! A free-spirited young lady, Maya lets her inner creativity show and encourages everyone to express themselves without judgment.
Maya’s Pop Art Pixies craft kits include: Create a Glass Pendant, Shadow Box Kit, Create a Water Color Frame and Create a Sun Catcher kit.

Meet Naomi! She is big into technology and music, and can mix music with the best of the best. Music is her life and her DJ spirit inspires her desire to communicate more through actions and sounds than words.
Naomi’s Pop Art Pixies craft kits include: Create a Stationery Box and Create a Color Glow Lamp.

Meet Tatum! The bubbly, social butterfly of the Pixies and famous for her cupcakes, Tatum is fun-loving, outgoing and likes to host parties for her friends because everyday is worth celebrating.
Tatum’s Pop Art Pixies craft kits include: Create a Decoupage Glass Plate, Party Lights kit, and Create a Mosaic Picture Frame.

You can also follow this link for a $2.00 off coupon for any Pop Art Pixies kit.

The contest will go through December 31st, and winners will be announced on January 1st, 2011. To enter, just tell me which kit you think your daughter would have the most fun with. If you don't have a daughter, then you can just pretend and pick a kit you like. Or something your boys would like. Or your niece, or your best friend's cousin's aunt's daughter. I'm flexible like that.

Good luck!

And The Winner Is....

2010-12-10T18:18:00.002-06:00

Debbie! Congratulations, you have won a $75 gift code for use in any of the 200 CSN Stores! Have a very merry Christmas!!! Please contact me with your email and I will send you the code.

Who's Ready For A Chrismas Giveaway?

2010-12-06T12:30:00.004-06:00

What are you looking for this Christmas? Flat screen tv stands? A new toaster oven (that's us)? Or maybe some monkey slippers?? Whatever you are looking for, you can enter to win a $75 gift code to use at any of CSN's 200 stores. Who wouldn't want something so awesome?

So here's the deal. Take a look around their sites, and come back and tell me what you would buy for $75. What's on your wishlist this Christmas? What do you need to buy for that person who already has everything? What would you splurge on if you could?

The deadline to enter is Friday, December 10, at noon. Winners will be drawn at random using the Random.org generator (that thing is so cool!). So hurry up and enter. Tell your friends too! This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents.

The Cake Is A Lie

2010-12-03T17:01:00.003-06:00

After watching hubby play the Portal game, which is hysterically funny, and not something I'm coordinated enough to play myself, I knew I had to eventually make a Portal cake. Well, yesterday was my birthday, so I made one. I haven't eaten it yet, but I plan on digging in right after dinner tonight.

For those of you who are gamers, or have gamer husbands, you'll probably get this. If not, then you'll have to content yourself with a web search on what on earth the Portal cake is all about.

Look at me still talking when there's science to do.

Review: DeLonghi Deep Fryer

2010-11-02T09:08:00.004-05:00

So, after quite a bit of consideration, drooling, and debating what to review, I finally decided on a deep fryer. I like frying things, but feel like I waste so much money throwing out the oil every time I use it, because I don't want to store it in my pot on my stovetop for several weeks. So, I thought a deep fryer would fix that to a degree.

We decided to go with the DeLonghi, mostly because I have been happy with their products in the past, and felt that I would be happy with this setup as well. It seemed to have everything I was looking for, so it made a good choice for us.

Firstly, let me review the customer service with CSN. It is really great. I ordered this late in the afternoon last week, and had it on my table the next day. I was very impressed with that, because I was sure I had ordered it too late in the day for it to have arrived that quickly. But arrive it did, and I got to work digging out my recipes.

First up, of course, were wontons. Wontons are something I have been making for nearly 20 years. That's how much I love this recipe. I found it the recipe in an old, yellow, Chinese cookbook when I was 13 and doing a project for our Social Studies class. It is a family favorite, and something that I don't make nearly often enough. I do try to make it once a year at least, maybe twice if I'm in the mood for it. And I was definitely ready to make a batch or two to test out the new fryer. I will include my recipe at the bottom of the review, in case you were wondering.

Now, onto the fryer. I am fairly happy with the overall performance of the fryer, except for one thing... It comes with a sensor to tell you when the oil is hot enough once you've turned the unit on. However, I found with several different tries at making fried items (we found a few goodies at the grocery store just to test it out in various situations as well)... I found that the initial few batches seemed like the oil wasn't hot enough. Eventually it seemed to warm up to the right temperature, but it took a little longer than the sensor seemed to indicate. But, nothing I can't work around just by being a little more patient. And we all could use a little more patience, right?

Overall, I am happy with the performance of the unit. I intend to drain it and filter the oil within the next few days, but that looks pretty easy so I'm not too worried about it. Now the only trick will be finding space in my miniscule kitchen to store it. But I'm sure we can find a home for it easily enough.

Now, for the recipe! As a side note, I don't bother measuring any of these things anymore, and usually add more than called for. I would start with this as a base, and increase ingredients as desired. Personally, I like quite a bit more ginger and scallions, and also a little more sugar and soy sauce. Be careful with the liquids though, it's easy to overdo it and then you have a liquidy mess that leaks out of the wontons. Which, as I found out, will affect the taste of other things fried in the oil. I got a little carried away this time. But, they were still good. I also usually make a double batch, but that disappeared so quickly this time that I will probably quadruple it next time, especially now that I have convinced my daughter to help me out. She enjoyed it, and it was an easy task for her to fill the wonton wrappers and seal them up. If you try these, please comment and let me know what you think! I have loved this recipe for so long, and whenever I serve it to friends they are always amazed by the flavors and beg for more. It will be a hit at parties everywhere.

Happy frying!

Shana's Wontons

1 whole boneless chicken breast, cooked

2 scallions

1 thin slice ginger root

¼ cup fresh parsley

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 teaspoons soy sauce

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon oil

1 pkg. wonton wrappers or egg roll wrappers cut into 4ths.

1 egg, lightly beaten

Oil for frying

Mince and mix the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. In a small bowl mix the remaining ingredients (excluding the wrappers and the egg). Combine both mixtures and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Place a teaspoon of mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Using a chopstick or the back of a spoon, place a small amount of egg around two edges of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half, touching the sides with egg to the sides without egg, forming a triangle. The egg will seal the edges shut. Deep fry in oil until a deep golden brown. Serve warm or chilled.

Another Reveiw On The Way

2010-10-27T10:41:00.003-05:00

Once again, I have been asked to do a review of a product by CSN Stores. They really are a great company, with a wide range of products available. And when I'm doing comparison shopping, more often than not, they have the best prices and products available. From barstools to beds, cookware, home improvement, children's toys, etc., they've got just about all the bases covered. The hubby and I are looking at getting a new mattress eventually, and so far, their prices are great, and even include free shipping! So we will definitely be taking a look over the next few months before we decide.

So, in the coming weeks, I will be offering a review of one of CSN's products, along with a recipe for something tasty ;)

And The Winner Is....

2010-09-24T19:35:00.001-05:00

Michele! Thanks to the www.random.org number generator, your number was chosen!

I will be contacting you shortly :)

I'm back!

2010-09-21T15:58:00.004-05:00

And what better way to make a comeback than with a giveaway!

Once again, CSN Stores is allowing me to do a great giveaway for you all, so go check out their sites! They have so many great things, and really, they have some great prices too. I'm an admitted cheapskate, and even I can find deals with them. On one site, if you're ever in need of a twin bed set, you can find all sorts of really cute goodies! If my daughter is ever in need of a new bed, I'd love to drool over these options. My boys on the other hand, will need something forged out of steel to last them a while ;)

So, for this giveaway, you can enter to win a $100 gift card, to be used at any of the CSN Stores websites. You can look for baby gear, cookware , shoes and accessories, toys for your children, and all sorts of other goodies.

This contest is open to all U.S. and Canadian residents. Please take a look through the various websites, and in your comments, let me know what your favorite items are.

You may post on Facebook for an extra entry, but please do not tag CSN directly, it violates their company's Facebook policy. But feel free to link to my blog and then leave a comment for that entry :)

Good luck everyone! Winners will be chosen on Friday, September 24th and announced sometime that day.

A Review, Followed By A Hiatus

2010-07-20T14:16:00.002-05:00

As promised, I have a review for you from my experiences with the cookware site I mentioned previously. I chose this time to review an item, and chose a pressure cooker/canner, as the needs of our family are growing, and this seemed a good way to meet some of those needs. So I chose this little number, a 23 Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner from Presto. First of all, the price is really good, at least in my opinion. I haven't checked it against other sites yet, but I know that these are not inexpensive. And with free shipping, you really can't go wrong. Second, the customer service is very good. Great communication through emails, frequent updates, and fast service. I was notified immediately of my order, and it shipped within maybe a day, possibly less, though I'd have to go back and check. In any case, I had it within less than a week, which included the weekend, which was really fast.

Now, onto the pressure canner. I tried that out this weekend. Let me tell you though, that baby is really big! The pictures really don't do it justice to the real size of it. Now, as far as pressure canners go, I'm sure it's a normal size, but I just didn't really grasp the size of this thing until I got it home and opened up the box. But, it has tons of room for lots of cans, so it's perfect for our family. I took it for a test spin on some homemade chicken soup, made from homemade veggie stock and a simple chicken soup recipe fit for canning. The pressure cooker worked great on the first try, though I was a little nervous never having used a pressure canner before. It was a really interesting process, but the canner worked great and all the little instructions that were included with it kept me pretty well informed about what to expect. The only thing not included was how long it would take to get up to pressure, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't figure it out as I went, and I'm sure a lot depends on what's in there and such too.

Overall, I was very pleased with the results, and can't wait to try it out again. Which brings me to my hiatus... I will not be around for some time, how long I'm not sure, but probably a while. I am having surgery this Thursday to repair a compressed nerve in my elbow. Lucky me fell in the shower 5 years ago and it finally caught up with me. So, my exploits in canning will have to wait for a little bit. I will be looking over some canning books for recipes though, so hopefully I will have a good idea once I'm back of what I want to make, and will try to share those ideas as much as I can.

Have a great rest of summer!

Another site worth checking out

2010-07-07T12:05:00.003-05:00

Remember back in March I did a giveaway thanks to a great site promotion? Well they have contacted me again with a request to review their websites and a product again, so I am very excited to share with you.

CSN Stores have quite a few websites designed to help you find what you need and want, and pretty reasonable prices. For instance, if you want a really neat bathroom sink, check out the vanities at their website called Just Vanities. There are some pretty artsy ones, and some fairly basic as well as old fashioned sinks in there. I think the prices look pretty good too, although I can't remember the last time I shopped for a bathroom sink ;) I think this one is really pretty though.

There are also sites for toys, modern furniture, shoes and accessories, and cookware.

So go check out the sites, and see what you think. Maybe you'll find something you like. Stay tuned for an upcoming review of a product from one of their sites.

And The Winner Is....

2010-05-18T06:49:00.003-05:00

Debbie! Thanks to Random.org, you are the lucky winner! Please contact me so that I can get your information to the sponsor and you can receive your prize pack.

Shrek-Tastic!

2010-05-12T08:35:00.003-05:00

General Mills is celebrating the May 21st release of Shrek Forever After, the final chapter of the Shrek films. Look for Shrek-tacular savings in the grocery store on your favorite General Mills brands like Go-GURT, Pillsbury, Fruit Roll-Ups, Bisquick, Green Giant and more. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for specially-marked packages of Big G cereals, in which you can find collectible water squirters and markers, which are shaped like your favorite Shrek characters.

To save even more green, visit www.everydaysaver.com/events/shrek to download coupons today. While you’re there you and your little prince or princess can get in the mood to see Shrek Forever After by taking a peek at the movie trailer.

Through MyBlogSpark, General Mills is being kind enough to provide a great prize pack to one lucky winner. If your name is chosen by the random generator here is what you will receive:

Shrek-tacular tote bag filled with participating products including Big G cereals, Fruit Roll-Ups Minis snacks and Betty Crocker Brownie Mix or Muffin Mix. The prize pack will also include a $10 Shrek-tacular Savings coupon book with fun Shrek trivia, a Shrek water squirter, a Shrek highlighter and a $25 gift card that you can use to purchase tickets to see the new Shrek Forever After film.

Please leave a comment for an entry. I will be using the Random.org random number generator to pick a winner. All submissions must be in by Monday, May 17th by 12 noon to qualify.

And just for fun, please answer this question in the comments section (will qualify as your entry):

Who is your favorite Shrek character?

Winners will be announced sometime Monday afternoon.

After America, There Is No Place To Go

2010-03-25T11:02:00.001-05:00

This is an incredible article about a woman's experience in Nazi Austria.

Only in America are the people too lazy to be free, 1938 Austria

By Norman Adams

The following story was sent to me in an e-mail:
"After America, There is No Place to Go"
The author of this article lives in South Dakota and appears to be very active in attempting to maintain our freedom. I encourage everybody to read this article and pass it along. I see so many parallels in this country– are we going to sit by and watch it happen? Spread the word; also contact your congressional reps; vote them out if they don’t do what they should. If you don’t want to be bothered, then you’re part of the problem! Google Kitty Werthmann and you will see articles and videos.
America truly is the greatest country in the world.
Don't Let Freedom Slip Away By: Kitty Werthmann
What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.
I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.
Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.
The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna, Linz, and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.
We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.
After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service. Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education. Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had. My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men. Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children.. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna . After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries. As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control. We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
"Mercy Killing" Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness. As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily. No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom. After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account. "It's true...those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity. America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
"After America , There is No Place to Go"

Review: The Hows and Whys of Science Kit

2010-03-22T10:37:00.002-05:00

Well, we finally opened our box, almost a week after we got it. And a busy week it has been, but I won't go into that right now.

I ended up working on the kit with my 3 year old and 5 year old, as the others were outside enjoying the unseasonably warm weather we were having. They loved it! There is a neat little telescope, a hand-crank flashlight (they loved that one), and some magnets, among other things. There are a lot of activities in the book as well that really look like a lot of fun, and once the weather warms back up a bit, we are going to go do some of them.

I really wish I had been able to take some pictures, but my camera decided it didn't feel like cooperating this week, so I will have to wait for a bit to get some pictures. I am very much looking forward to trying many of the experiments out though, and will be adding some activities to my kids' work boxes for school. I'm sure they'll love that idea.

My overall opinion of the kit is that it's fairly straightforward and very simply covers a wide range of topics. There were bits about magnets, soil, bugs, rocks, and a few other things. We haven't gone through everything in the book, but most of it seems very easy to do without a lot of extra work.

And the winner is.....

2010-03-10T13:29:00.004-06:00

Marcie! Marcie you have won the Hows and Whys of Science kit! Please contact me by email and we can work out the details :)

Worth Checking Out

2010-03-02T12:57:00.006-06:00

I was recently contacted by someone from the Promotions Team of a rather interesting site for kids furniture, among other things. I was allowed the option of choosing something for myself to review and tell all of you about, or to host a giveaway. After spending two days looking through their site, and finding not only a ton of great furniture, I also found lots of games and activities that I know my children would absolutely love.

I found all sorts of really neat science kits, which was fun for me because I love science. I love getting into the whys and hows of how things work. Take this Genetics Kit for example.
Seriously? How cool is that? And it's only $24.99 on the website.

There are tons of other kits like it too. Physics, Chemistry, Solar Systems, not to mention some really nice furniture. But for the giveaway, I think we will be going with this little number.
Again, because I love science, and it's the one area we haven't gotten into as much with the kids schooling. I would love to be able to share this with one of you lucky readers :) So here are the rules. Because of course, there are always rules.

1. Go to the website and poke around. Take a few hours, or days, or however long it takes to look through all the really cool stuff.

2. Come back here when you're good and ready, and tell me what you liked most.

3. Do it by March 10th, which is my oldest child's 10th birthday. He's quite excited since it's his golden birthday this year. Deadline for signing up will be March 10th, 2010 at 10:10 AM central time.

So I guess it's not when you're good and ready, but I'm giving you plenty of time to look through the site at least. For extra entries, share the link back to this contest with your friends, and post again telling me you did so in the comments section.

So again, you are entering for the Hows and Whys of Science, you're entering by March 10, 2010, 10:10 AM, and you're telling your friends :)

Wow, it's been a while

2010-03-02T12:01:00.002-06:00

So yeah, it's been busy here lately. Not much time for blog updates, and since I really hate how my pictures turn out with the lack of appropriate lighting, I've not wanted to do much food blogging.

So quick update, we've been working on using workboxes for the kids for homeschool, which has been working out quite nicely. They are getting tons of work done in less time than before. Using a timer helps tremendously as well. I am hoping to upgrade from paper covered cereal boxes to nice little drawers before long, but those cost money, so it might be a while :) They do work nice though, so that's a good thing.

Zachary, our youngest, turned 2 on Sunday. Well, technically not quite, as his birthday is officially the 29th of February, which only comes every 4 years. But we use the 28th for his alternate birthday, since we have plenty of March birthdays already, and that fits in with our goal of having one baby in every month.

Our oldest, Ben, will be TEN YEARS OLD!!! Oh Lordy, where has the time gone? He's gotten so big, and grown so much since he was just the tiny little squirt I held so long ago. I know in a few years he will be driving, and then getting all grown up and moving away.

I do hope to start updating again before long. At least a little more often than once every 4 months, hopefully.

ICE: Apples

2009-11-23T09:03:00.004-06:00

Apples, I can do. I love apples. My great grandfather had an apple orchard where my cousins and I used to tramp about and pick apples and run through the fields and the forests, and play on the railroad tracks (shh, don't tell my mom!). Then we'd go inside for Granddaddy's apple pie that was better than my grandmother's. And yes, I made the mistake of telling her so once. It wasn't pretty.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time at my grandmother's house, and on weekends, we'd have these big huge breakfasts with sausage, bacon, and best of all, apple pancakes. I loved those more than anything else. Grandma would even warm up the syrup so that it went and soaked into the pancake quicker, and tasted so good with the hot apple chunks. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

I came up with these cupcakes a while back for another contest, but they fit so perfectly here that I wanted to enter them today. These cupcakes remind me so much of my grandmother's apple pancakes that they just taste perfect. I also added some glazed maple walnuts, just because they tasted so good.

I've been lax about entering ICE lately, but I had to enter when I saw that it was apples this time around. Plus, I knew I had the perfect recipe, too :)

Check out the sponsors for ICE, and see what they're providing for their prize pack this time around. You can also get more information about ICE here at Iron Cupcake Earth. The winner will receive this prize pack.

Now go vote for me starting this Friday, November 27th, at No One Puts Cupcake In A Corner.

Our Generous IronCupcake:Earth Prize Providers:
The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
Bella Cupcake Couture
Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne
Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

Apple Pancake Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon maple extract (this can be adjusted to your tastes, I just sort of kept adding)
1 cup buttermilk
1 apple, finely diced

Preheat oven to 300⁰F. Place liners in a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until it looks creamy. Beat in the egg and the extracts until the mixture is smooth.

Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir until almost combined. Add the buttermilk and stir, again, until almost combined. Add the rest of the flour and the apples and stir until all the ingredients are mixed in.

Using a cookie scoop, fill the cupcake liners just under 2/3 full. You will probably have some leftover batter, and you can either fill more liners in another muffin tin to be cooked at the same time, or save it for the next batch. (**I am going to work on some of the ratios for this recipe and hopefully finish perfecting it. I will post changes then.)

Place the muffin tin into the oven and raise the temperature to 325⁰F. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, checking frequently during the last 5 to 10 minutes. Just take a quick peek, as they are a tad difficult to judge when they're done. They are very moist.

Let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes, and then remove from the muffin pan. Cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Icing

2 cups sifted powdered sugar
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the ingredients with enough milk to the desired consistency.

To frost the cupcakes, place the frosting in a zip top bag, cut the tip off, and place a nice sized blob on top of the cupcake. It will spread out a bit over the next few minutes.

Maple Glazed Walnuts

2 cups walnut halves
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat a dry skillet over medium high heat. Add all ingredients and cook, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes or until the walnuts are toasted and the syrup is caramelized. Spread out on waxed paper and allow to cool.

For garnishing the cupcakes, place one or two walnuts on top of the cupcakes in the center. Alternatively, you could also add some thinly sliced apples, and then top with walnuts.

Go Enter This Awesome Giveaway!

2009-11-20T15:56:00.002-06:00

This looks like a really great giveaway, so go check it out :D

And the winner is.....

2009-10-23T08:56:00.002-05:00

Mexmarr, aka Misty!

Congratulations, if you could contact me with your address I can forward it to the company.

Sorry for the delay in posting this, I decided a little trip down the stairs would be so much fun, and found out that it wasn't. But, nothing is broken so that's a good thing :)

About That Contest I Promised...

2009-10-19T09:26:00.002-05:00

Here it is! We got our games in the mail a few days ago. Giraffalaff Limbo, and Scatterpillar Scramble. Now, I have to be really honest and review these games in the way that our own family interacted with them, and how we were able to play with them and whatnot.

I'll start with Scatterpillar Scramble, as that is the one we started with. We got the game set up pretty easily once I found where the baby had hid the batteries. So that part is pretty straightforward. The goal of the game is that up to four people get to use a set of tongs to place marbles on the moving hands that are stacked 7 high. They send you two extra marbles too, in case you lose some, and we lost one within the first few minutes of the game. We spent more time chasing marbles than actually playing the game. Now, some of that could be the manual dexterity of my children, or the fact that we played on a table instead of on the floor, or any number of factors. But the kids weren't too thrilled with having to spend time chasing after the flying marbles, so for us, it didn't go as well as we'd have liked. But again, that could be just our family dynamics, so don't necessarily take my word for it.

Now, Giraffalaff Limbo was pretty cute, but took a while to set up. We were able to figure it out fairly quickly, and got it set up and running. One thing I noticed though, was that even my smallest kid couldn't have possibly fit under the giraffe without knocking him down, and yet the goal is to do just that. To me, that didn't make sense. I couldn't even fit under the highest level, and I'm not that big. So it's pretty much just for the kids. The younger ones had a lot of trouble understanding that there were different ways to go under (you get a little spinner to pick which move you get to make to get under the limbo bar). The older kids thought it was alright, but it wore out quickly for us. Again though, don't just take my word for it. We don't play those types of games as often, so perhaps we're just not used to it.

All that said, the games had the potential to be a lot of fun, and you can enter to win your own set of games right here, right now! Just leave a comment and make sure that I can contact you either through your blog (if you have one), or an email, and when the contest ends on Thursday, October 22nd, (my best friend's birthday!), the winner will be notified, and then your address will be sent to MyBlogSpark so that you can receive your games. Good luck!

Feeling The Love

2009-10-19T08:22:00.006-05:00

Thanks so much to Jacquie over at Joy Made Full for sending me this lovely award :)

And now I get to send this on to a few more blogs that I like. I don't get to do as much blog reading as I used to, so my list is a little short. I have been spending some time on a few food blogs, looking for ideas and inspiration, and lately I haven't been doing as much of that as I'd like either. Such is life with 6 littles underfoot. But, I wouldn't trade it for anything (except maybe a nap), and even though I don't get to do this as much as I'd like, I still try to get to it as often as I can :)

1. Needle N' Thread
2. Bake at 350
3. Salt and Chocolate

So I will pass this along too, and hope everyone has a great day :)

How Do You Dress Up Your Hot Cereals?

2009-09-29T09:32:00.002-05:00

Maybe I'm the only one, but around here we make large pots of some sort of hot cereal for breakfast. Usually it's either Malto-Meal or oatmeal, but I fill my big dutch oven pretty fill with whatever I'm making that day. Since it's usually fairly plain tasting, I've found some ways to help my kids learn to love these hot cereals, with just a few additions.

Like today, to my massive pot of Malto-Meal (about 10 servings worth), I added somewhere around 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, about 1 cup of brown sugar, and roughly a cup of milk. Other days I've done plain cinnamon and brown sugar, and sometimes I add nuts and/or raisins as well, depending on what I have on hand and what the kids are in the mood for. The nice thing about cinnamon, is that it has a lot of good properties, one of which being that it helps control blood sugar to a degree, so that the kids don't go on a sugar high from all the carbs. I love that about cinnamon, among other things. And my kids love the extra flavor.

Other flavors I've done are apple pie spice, as well as just a mix of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg (sort of like ginger snaps). They really liked that one. I have also added vanilla extract in the past (homemade of course), and honey in varying amounts.

While they weren't too thrilled about the plain hot cereals at first, after a few trial and errors, they seem to love it now, especially as the weather starts growing colder. Even the baby loves it now, with all the yummy flavors.

Another Contest Is Coming, But While You're Waiting....

2009-09-24T15:38:00.005-05:00

Check out this coupon for $4 off any Elefun & Friends game. The coupon is available for download through October 31st, and good for use until December 31st. So while you're waiting for this giveaway, you can get a really great coupon to use for some fun games for your kids. The giveaway will involve two new games from Elefun, and I will let you know as soon as I can start it :)

They Want To Inject My Kids With What?

2009-09-18T13:05:00.002-05:00

This is a link to an article containing several videos discussing the dangers of vaccines.

Watch the first one especially, if you have a daughter nearing the age of getting the Gardasil Vaccine.

They Want To Inject My Kids With What?

Lemon Ginger Cookies with Boysenberry Cream Cheese Frosting

2009-08-31T17:34:00.006-05:00

This is my first entry in Bake at 350's Flavor Of The Month carnival. I missed out on the last one, which was pie, due to, well, life. But, I made it this time, and I'm excited to participate in the theme of lemon and/or lime. I chose lemon, mostly because I can't stand lime, but also because I have some good recipes with lemon in them. The following recipe is one I stumbled across recently, and fell in love with it. The frosting was something I concocted because I was in a crazy mood that day, and thought I'd be adventurous. I'm not sure how the adventure turned out, but the cookies are very good, and the frosting, while tasty, doesn't necessarily add to the cookie, though it doesn't take away from it by any stretch. As my husband put it, he's ambivalent about the frosting. But, it does make it look pretty :)

So, go check out the carnival over at Bake at 350, and if you have any lemon and/or lime recipes, go turn them in :)

Lemon Ginger Cookies

1 c. butter

2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1/3 c. dairy sour cream

1 tsp. lemon extract

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 1/2 c. sifted flour

2 tsp. soda

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground ginger

Cream together first 7 ingredients until fluffy. Sift remaining ingredients together and add to creamed mixture, blending thoroughly. Drop from teaspoon 2 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 12 minutes or until done. Remove at once from pan. Delicious!! Yields: 6 dozen.

Boysenberry Cream Cheese Frosting

I took a half recipe of my favorite cream cheese frosting, and then melted down some boysenberry jam until it was runny. I then blended that into the frosting until it looked about right and I could taste the jam. I think I used only a few tablespoons.

The frosting is completely optional, you could even use a plain cream cheese frosting for these. I ended up topping them with some coarse sugar too, just to make them pretty.

Hair

2009-08-20T12:24:00.002-05:00

I've been making some changes to my hair routine, and so far they're going well. On Monday, I washed my hair with a baking soda rinse, and followed it up with an apple cider vinegar rinse. Then, I didn't wash my hair for 3 days. It's insane, I know. Usually by the end of the second day my scalp is begging for mercy from the itching, but I didn't have that this time. Today, I get to wash my hair again with the baking soda, but no ACV rinse. I've made a rosemary rinse though, so we'll see how that feels. It's too hot to use it yet, but I'll be doing that in a little bit. I was surprised at the 'rosy' color of the tea though. I simmered a sprig of rosemary in some water for about 15 minutes, and it turned out a really pretty rosy color. I can't wait to use it, it smells so good.

Here are the sites where I got my ideas from:

Babyslime

and

Rosemary

I am hoping that the rosemary will help with my hair strength, since after 6 kids my hair has gone a bit brittle. Wish me luck :)

Ice Cream Bon Bons

2009-07-27T15:37:00.005-05:00

I don't know if anyone else remembers the little ice cream Bon Bons that were around when I was a kid, but I remember them being very good, covered with lots of chocolate. After seeing a yummy recipe on the new Tasty Kitchen, which Pioneer Woman has so lovingly created for all of us ^_^, I started coming up with all sorts of ideas. The original recipe called for vanilla ice cream, banana slices, and chocolate. Then, I thought about nilla wafers, ice cream in a number of different flavors, and more chocolate coating. Then I started thinking about about a billion other possibilities.

The basic structure is the same. Something on the bottom, ice cream on the top, dip the whole thing in chocolate.

Oreo cookie
Oreo or vanilla ice cream
Dip it in chocolate

Nilla wafer
Any flavor of ice cream
Dip it in chocolate

Banana
Vanilla ice cream
Dip it in chocolate
Top it with nuts! Mmm!

Small chocolate chip cookie
Vanilla ice cream
Dip it in chocolate

The possiblities are really endless. Any combination of small cookies, covered in ice cream dipped in chocolate (even white chocolate might work), would taste soo good. I will have to experiment, and if you're lucky, you'll see the results :D

Oh, I had another one!

Nilla wafer
Raspberry ice cream
Dip it in either white or dark chocolate

Now I'm drooling :D

Yep, Another Giveaway!

2009-07-27T14:04:00.009-05:00

Since I didn't hear back from me, Amanda is the next winner. If you could please contact me within 24 hours that would be great. Congratulations! However your profile is not available and you didn't leave an email, so I will need to hear from you for you to win.

******
And the winners are......

me **I don't have an email address for you, so if you could contact me with that, I would appreciate it. If I don't hear from you within 24 hours, I will pass the prize on to the next entrant.**
and
throuthehaze

I used random.org to choose the winners, and I will be contacting you shortly. Congratulations!

*********************************
I've been given one more opportunity to host a giveaway, this time for a nifty little prize pack from Pillsbury Simply Cookies. I have a package of those yummy looking cookies sitting in my fridge at this very moment, waiting to be cooked up.

And while my cookies are waiting to be cooked up, you can enter the contest for this nice little prize pack:

A coupon for a free package of simply... cookie dough

A tote bag

A small ceramic cookie jar

I've used the bag at the grocery store a few times already (it holds quite a bit!), and once I get the cookies baked up I"ll be putting them in the cute little cookie jar :)

Enter in the comments section, and make sure that I have a way of contacting you either through your profile or by leaving an email address. Once the contest is over, I will contact you for your address which I will forward to the host of the contest, and they will mail you your prize pack.

While you're commenting, here is a question for you:

What do you do to make your meals more simple?

Contest ends on August 2nd at 5pm.

Mmm... Tasty!

2009-07-21T16:38:00.003-05:00

***Congratulations to Kelly and April, you have both won the Chex Mix Turtle Bars prize!!***

I have been given another opportunity for a giveaway here, and would like to share with you Chex Mix Turtle Bars. I don't normally care for the cereal bars like this, but these were very good, and my kids ate them up pretty quickly too.

So, if you want to sign up, just enter in the comments section with a way for me to contact you, and I will forward your information so that you can receive your free Chex Mix Bars too!

Deadline to enter is July 26th, 2009 at 5 pm.

Good luck!

How To Repair A Tear In Microfiber

2009-07-16T09:59:00.007-05:00

I recently acquired a nice microfiber couch from a friend who was getting rid of one. It is in much better shape than our old couch, which ended up in the trash bin (it was un-salvadgeable). Anyway, the only flaw in the couch was that there were a few tiny little tears in the fabric of one cushion that needed a bit of repair.

So, I set out to find instructions on repairing microfiber or microsuede, and found very little information. A few sites suggested expensive kits, but they didn't seem right for the type of material I was working with. The rest of the sites were all asking the same question, with no answers.

I managed to stumble across a site suggesting using a Fray Check on the edges of the tear to prevent further tearing, and then sewing the hole shut, but didn't give good instructions for sewing the hole shut. So, I decided to make my own instructions, and created a way to sew the hole shut so that it not only blends, but should be very, very sturdy, even with 6 kids jumping on it.

How To Repair Microfiber

You will need:

Fray Check
Buttonhole or Button Craft thread to match your fabric (it's a sturdy thick thread that is good for tears like this)
A sharp needle
Scissors

Find the hole in your microsuede, and treat the edges with Fray Check or some sort of anti-fray treatment available in the sewing section of a store. Allow it to dry completely.

When your fabric is dry, take a length of buttonhole thread that will be just about the length of your arm (it's better to have too much than too little, and I am repairing a small hole). Tie a small knot on the end and trim off any excess thread. Thread your needle through the hole and down a little bit under where the hole starts.

You want to be able to start your sewing just a little before the actual hole.

Make a few straight stitches under the hole. You want it to be taut, but not tight enough to make the fabric pucker. I could have made mine a little tighter than I did.

When you get to the actual hole, you will want to begin a sort of weaving process with your needle. Come up through the fabric to one side of the hole, put your needle through the hole, and bring it up on the other side of the fabric. Pull it taut (not too tight), and repeat the process.

You can use the fabric itself as a guide here, following the weave of the fabric to make your stitches. Continue "weaving" until you reach the top, keeping it taut as you go.

When you reach the top, create a few more straight stitches. When you're ready to tie off, make a small knot using your needle (like a French knot), and pull your needle through about an inch of fabric, bringing it up and pulling it tight. If you can pop the knot under the fabric, that would be great. If not, just clip the tightly drawn thread and let the tail get sucked back under the fabric.

(my apologies on this one, blogger keeps turning it sideways on me, and I can't figure out why...but, you get the idea, don't you?)

And, you're done! A nicely repaired hole, that, unless you're sitting next to it staring at it, will blend in fairly well and stay repaired for a very long time.

Pillsbury You Be The Judge - And Win Prizes!

2009-07-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

You have been invited to participate in the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. For the first time, everyone gets a chance to vote on the final winning recipes. Every two weeks there will be a new pair of recipes to vote on. To help you decide who is worthy of your votes, please watch this short video.

On top of all the fun of drooling over new recipes, I have been given the opportunity of giving away not one, but TWO great little prize packs! In each prize pack you will find:

A magazine featuring past Bake-Off recipes
A Pillsbury Doughboy Giggle Doll (my kids would love that!)

So please, go watch the video, vote for the finalists, and enter the giveaway by answering one or both of these questions:

What do you think makes a winning recipe
If you've seen the Pillsbury Bake-Off before, what are some of your favorite past recipes?

Voting will close at midnight on Sunday, July 19th, central time. Winners will be chosen at random on Monday, July 20th, and announced later that day.

Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you, or I will pick another winner. Good luck!

Do These People Want To Lose Their Jobs?

2009-06-29T11:12:00.003-05:00

Scott Walker tried shortening the workweek by about 5 hours a person in an effort to save some money for the county. However, an arbitrator tossed it out. Where do these people think the money is going to come from? Everyone is losing money like crazy, and the spending overall is out of control. Walker has been great about making budget cuts and cutting spending (though the board keeps overruling him when it's important). If you don't make small cuts here and there, you're going to have to make big cuts later, like whole jobs will just disappear because there is no money. Would these people rather lose a few hours a week, or their jobs altogether? There aren't many jobs left to be had, so where do they think they're going to go?

Let The Propaganda Begin Continue

2009-06-18T08:14:00.000-05:00

Not only will the White House be in charge of televising a push for Socialized Healthcare, he is apparently planning on leaving out any opposing voices.

This is blatant propaganda, and yet millions of Americans will swallow it hook, line and sinker. We have been so indoctrinated in the ways that our benevolent government would have us follow, that we don't even realize that we have been programmed to believe what we are told, no matter how absurd.

***Here is yet another example that this is blatant propaganda.***added 6/18/2009

When will we wake up and start asking questions? When will we realize that we have been lied to repeatedly, while we are patted on the head and told to trust, while our livelihoods are taken right out from under us? We need to think, use the brains that God gave us, and realize that we are being led like sheep to the slaughter, and we're dancing along the way. We need to question policies like Spend Money To Save Money, or taking money away from one group simply to fund Socialized Healthcare (which in the end, everyone will be one whether they want to be or not, because the more you take money away from a person to give to someone else, the quicker that first person will end up like the second). We are logical creatures and yet we ignore the facts in front of us.

Study, research, ask questions. Before you become the sacrificial lamb.

Are We Blind?

2009-06-18T07:26:00.004-05:00

Or are we been so self absorbed that we don't even care about our fellow men?

Police say there were several customers walking around the store after the crime. But only one called 911 for help.

When asked what he finds most disturbing about the surveillance footage, Titus said, "The fact that people went in and out of the store and didn't call police. There is a man laying there. Nobody thinks to dial 911 or check to see if he's OK or anything."

The clerk got shot, and these people acted like nothing happened. They just kept shopping. No one checked on him to make sure he was alright. Are these people just that self absorbed that they would rather keep shopping than help their fellow man? This reminds me of the Good Samaritan. The people you expect to help you are the ones who leave you stranded because they're too self-important to be bothered with a person who's dying.

HR 2749: Totalitarian Control of the Food Supply

2009-06-17T17:01:00.001-05:00

HR 2749: Totalitarian Control of the Food Supply

Shared via AddThis

Please read this article. Read up on the bill. Our food supply is going to be controlled by the government soon, to the point that we will not be much different from many of the third world nations who have to fight to keep their food from the government. We are very close to that edge.

Havarti and Ham Herb Brioche

2009-06-16T13:01:00.002-05:00

I got the idea for this from a comment that a friend made. She told me how she used to work in a bakery, and how the favorite item was the Havarti Dill and Ham Brioche that the bakery would sell. I had been wanting to make the Brioche from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, and this sounded like a perfect experiment.

I am not a big fan of dill, so I took the herb mixture from my favorite Herb Peel-Away Bread, doubled it to fit the amount of dough in the Brioche recipe from ABin5, and then got myself some plain creamy Havarti cheese, and some ham. I would have gotten some nice, maple honey ham from the deli, but they were closed up by the time I actually made it to the store, so I had to settle for cheap ham from the packaged section. Nothing terrible, but the deli stuff would be really good in this.

So, here is my recipe for the Havarti and Ham Herb Brioche.

Havarti and Ham Herb Brioche

Make a batch of the Brioche dough from ABin5. To the dough add:

2 Tablespoons dried Parsley
1 teaspoon dried Basil
1 teaspoon crushed Rosemary (try to find the crushed stuff, you don't want big rosemary leaves getting caught in your teeth)
1 teaspoon dried Thyme

Mix it all up and allow the dough to rest overnight. It is much easier to work with when cold and you need the dough to have set for a good amount of time.

3-4 ounces thick sliced ham
3-4 ounces thick sliced turkey
4-6 ounces creamy havarti cheese, plain

When your dough is ready, chop up a few pieces of ham and/or turkey. You can use whatever kind of ham or turkey you want, just dice it nicely so that it will go into the dough easily. Shred or dice some havarti, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup or so.

Flour the top of the dough, as well as your hands. Have a little flour on the side to help with stickiness. You don't want to over flour these, but you don't want them sticking to your hands either. Look for a nice balance.

Take a piece of dough roughly 3 ounces.

Flatten it out a bit and make a well with the dough. Fill with a little bit of Havarti, some ham, turkey or both, and a little more Havarti.

Close the dough around the filling, and place in a very well greased muffin tin. Do this 12 times (or 24 if you want to do two muffin tins). Make a nice little indent in the top of each brioche. Take a walnut sized piece of dough, roll it into a nice little ball, and place it on top of each of the brioche (this will be your top-knot).

Turn your oven on to 350 degrees. Allow your dough to rest for about 20-30 minutes or so, or until they've risen a bit. You don't quite want it to double, but you want it to have sufficient rising time.

Brush with your egg wash, andake for about 30 minutes or so, or until the bread is a beautiful golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes, pop out of the muffin tins, and eat warm.

I just barely managed to save a few of these to freeze and reheat, which would make a wonderful backup lunch for my husband. I'll let you know how well they reheat. **they reheated pretty nicely from the fridge**

As my husband and I were talking about these, we started coming up with some other ideas too. I thought about using an Italian herb mix, and filling these with some Provolone, mozzarella and pepperoni, to make some little pizza bread brioches. I could probably do some turkey and havarti or another type of cheese as well. The possibilities are endless :) My husband said they're like little hot pockets, but way better.

Homemade Granola Bread

2009-06-11T08:56:00.003-05:00

When I saw this recipe in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, I was a bit skeptical at first. But, the homemade granola looked easy enough, and modifiable to my liking, so I figured I'd try the bread out at the same time.

I made up a batch of granola (which I couldn't stop munching on while it was cooling). I did modify it a touch though...I left out the sesame seeds and dried fruits (keeping the raisins), and I used sliced almonds in place of the pecans. It turned out very good. I mixed up a batch of the bread dough, let it rise, and stuck it in the fridge overnight.

This morning, I shaped the dough into my loaf pan, realized that the instructions for the egg wash weren't included, checked online for them (just to be sure), did the egg wash and sprinkled with more granola (took a few more bites of granola, mmmm), and then popped it into the oven. Hopefully it rose long enough, though it seemed like it could have gone longer. I went by sight more than timing, and it "looked" like it was doubled in size, so we'll see.

The bread cooked up beautifully, and tastes very good. I don't have any pictures at the moment, but hopefully a little later. The only thing this bread needs is a little butter and cinnamon sugar, but I'm out of butter so that will have to wait.

So Let Me Get This Straight...

2009-06-01T09:46:00.003-05:00

If I don't mow my lawn, I could be fined and lose my driver's license. But, if the city decides to leave the grass growing in a public park, and a person decides to mow it for them, for free, he is the one fined, not the city.

Now how does that work?

Wontons

2009-05-15T20:50:00.004-05:00

I started making these wontons when I was in 7th grade. That was a very long time ago :) It started out as a foreign foods project for Social Studies. I ended up with China. So I went to the library, and started looking through all the cookbooks for Chinese cooking. I managed to find one that looked interesting. The cover was yellow, with red writing. I don't remember what the name of the cookbook was though, otherwise I'd probably be trying to find it now.

So, I looked through the recipes, looking for something that wasn't too "weird" or called for strange ingredients I'd never heard of. The first one I found was the recipe for Wontons. They looked relatively easy, and we had most of the ingredients available. The one thing we couldn't find was Chinese Parsley, which I found out many years later was actually cilantro. But, I hate cilantro so I stuck with our substitute of regular parsley.

Over the years I've tweaked this recipe to the point where I really don't even measure anything, I just add it until things look right, or smell right, or whatever pleases me that day. The liquids usually stay roughly the same (although I'll add a few extra squirts of soy sauce usually), but the dry ingredients usually get upped a bit, especially the ginger root. I love ginger root, and add probably about 10 times what the recipe calls for. It makes these taste soooooo good.

So, without further ado, here are my instructions for making some very good wontons. I will share the original amounts, but you can always feel free to increase or decrease whatever you like.

Wontons

1 whole boneless chicken breast, cooked
2 scallions
1 thin slice ginger root
¼ cup fresh parsley
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon oil
1 pkg. wonton wrappers or egg roll wrappers cut into 4ths.
1 egg, lightly beaten
Oil for frying

Mince and mix the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. In a small bowl mix the remaining ingredients (excluding the wrappers and the egg). Combine both mixtures and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Place a teaspoon of mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Using a chopstick or the back of a spoon, place a small amount of egg around two edges of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half, touching the sides with egg to the sides without egg, forming a triangle. The egg will seal the edges shut. Deep fry in oil until a deep golden brown. Serve warm or chilled.

Lemon Poppyseed Almond Brioche "Bostock", Continued

2009-05-07T11:17:00.002-05:00

Well, I've got it baking right now, and so far, it looks pretty good. I had trouble with the dough though. Being that it's such a wet dough, it does make it difficult to work with. I think I may have rolled it a bit thin, too. So when I put it in the freezer, it ended up spreading out quite a bit. So I just sort of rolled it over on itself, which will make for some interesting swirls... though I don't think they'll be well defined at all. Even after a 20 minute set in the freezer, they were still pretty loose. However, they're looking good, and baking away.

Now, for this recipe, I ended up making a homemade almond paste. I love the texture of homemade almond paste much more than the storebought stuff, and it's really pretty easy. Here is the recipe I use:

Homemade Almond Paste
Ingredients:
• 1-1/2 cups blanched almonds
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Place almonds in a food processor; cover and process until smooth. Add the confectioners' sugar, egg white, extract and salt; cover and process until smooth.
Divide almond paste into 1/2-cup portions; place in airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to 1 month or freeze for up to 3 months. Yield: 1-1/2 cups.

I then pulled out 1/2 cup for the Bostock recipe. Which is starting to overflow in the pan by the way.... I think I had too much dough. I need to work on those measurements again... It does smell good though.
40 minutes didn't seem to be long enough.... when I turned it over there was still some raw dough on the bottom. So, back in the oven for another 10 minutes. We'll see how that goes...

And another 5 minutes just because I still don't think it looked quite cooked (thought much closer than last time...)

Mmmm... much better. And pretty. This looks so pretty with the poppyseed in the dough. This turned out very well :) I can taste the almond cream mixed in throughout the dough, and the poppyseeds, like I said, make it so pretty. And then there are the yummy sugary almonds on top... Mmmmm! I will definitely try this again soon. Hopefully with actual raw almonds for the almond paste instead of roasted and salted (a little purchasing mishap). It's still good though :) Maybe I'll even break down and use that storebought almond paste just to see how well it works.

Lemon Poppyseed Almond Brioche "Bostock"

2009-05-07T08:39:00.004-05:00

I have been reading through Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes A Day for a few weeks now, and I just love the book. The concept of minimal input for maximum output is just great. My husband and children love having fresh bread at almost every dinner, and I love trying different ways to vent the bread. I am planning on using the next batch of dough to teach my two oldest how to mix the dough and how to shape the dough when it's ready to be baked. It's so easy they really can do it, and I know they will be happy to help with the meals a little more.

So anyway, as well as reading the book (which you really must buy), I have been following their website. There have been some very good ideas of how to make variations of their doughs, with different recipes using already made bread, as well as variations on the doughs themselves. The most recent one was a recipe for a Lemon Poppyseed Brioche dough, which was used to make little "muffins". It didn't turn out too bad, but I'm a muffin girl when it comes to lemon poppyseed, so it seemed a bit odd to me. It tasted good, don't get me wrong, but the texture just didn't seem right with the flavor.

So, I remembered reading in the book about an Almond Brioche "Bostock". Looking through the book, I found it. A simple brioche dough (which in this book, really is simple), rolled up with an almond cream, cut up like cinnamon rolls, topped with more almonds, and baked. I even found this example while searching for an image of what Bostock should look like, and it looks very tasty.

Now, onto today. I have a bucket of Lemon Poppyseed Brioche dough that needs to be used, and no immediate desire to make more "muffins". Enter Lemon Poppyseed Almond Brioche "Bostock". Using the dough from this variation on the website, filling it with the almond cream, changing everything from orange to lemon, I hope will produce something tasty and pretty.

I will be making this recipe today, and posting it this afternoon.

Eggs In Toast

2009-04-29T09:59:00.004-05:00

I've been looking at some of the recipes for Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, as well as perusing their website, and when I saw this recipe, I got excited. These look so tasty, and simple, and if you've already got the dough and eggs onhand, you're in luck. These Eggs in Toast looked so tasty I knew I had to try them.

I started out with my dough. Being that it's a wetter dough than most yeast breads, it can be a little tricky to work with. I covered my counter in waxed paper (I hate cleaning dough off my counter), floured it, and rolled out the dough. It rolled out nicely, but when I tried to pick up some of the squares I had cut for the recipe, they were a little sticky. I managed to get them up thanks to the waxed paper, and then put them into the prepared muffin cups. By the time I finished all the squares (I made more than 6, I just used what was left of my last batch of dough), the first ones were puffing up a bit already. I just pushed them down again, tossed cheese in the bottoms of each cup, and then came the eggs. Some of the eggs had a little more volume than I had room for in my cups, so hopefully the mess won't be too much... I topped them off with cheese and now I'm waiting for them to come out of the oven. So far, they smell really good. 4 minutes left....

Mmmm.... Tasty :) These turned out great, and the kids love them too. I wish I had some bacon though. That would make these even better.

I think next time though, to avoid overspill, I will make them with scrambled eggs. Maybe I'll even add in some frozen shredded potatoes with onions and peppers. The kids would go nuts over that :)

A Little Strawberry Goodness

2009-04-24T20:31:00.003-05:00

I recently acquired a little MP3 player, which has been very nice. But, I felt it needed a little case, so I went in search of a pattern to make one. I found this cute little pattern for a Happy Star, but the pattern needed a little tweaking, and I wanted a slightly different shape. So, I made a strawberry shape, and cut down the size of the batting pieces by 1/8", making it much easier to sew and assemble. I also altered the size to fit my player, and turned it upside down so that I wouldn't have to make an extra hole for my earphones. Much less work that way.

Mother's Day Giveaway!

2009-04-24T16:56:00.002-05:00

Go check out 5 Minutes For Mom for their annual Mother's Day Giveaway!

Company Demands Murdered Man's Rent

2009-04-24T13:53:00.003-05:00

Here is the full story: Company Demands Murdered Man's Rent

This is an interesting story. On the one hand, you have a man who is dead, and obviously unable to pay his rent. On the other hand, you have a lease that has been broken. Where does the law come down on this sort of thing? Does the landlord have a right to that money, regardless of whether the man is dead or alive?

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

2009-04-23T08:03:00.003-05:00

I recently acquired a book titled Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. It is amazing! I made up my first batch of the master dough in only a few minutes, and after some rising time, made a beautiful loaf of dough the next day that tasted like a beautifully aged sourdough. The concept of the breads in the book are so easy that anyone can make these, even without experience. I am planning on teaching my 8 year old daughter how to make this dough, and possibly even my son, if he's interested. I will try to take pictures of the next loaf I bake, but it disappears so quickly it's hard to catch it!

Do Not Buy From Hot Book Sale

2009-04-17T09:10:00.002-05:00

I recently bought a book from www.hotbooksale.com. While the book did arrive in a reasonable amount of time, and the price was decent, you are automatically signed up for a program that takes out $12.00/month whether you want it or not. According to the person I spoke with, you cannot complete your order without signing up for this "trial". I read the terms, and there was no mention of any charges that would be made to me for this "membership". So I call, and the person of course barely speaks English and is very difficult to understand. When I say I want the charges removed, she tells me it will take up to a week, and she will email me the cancellation number "later". After about 5 minutes of insisting that I get the cancellation number immediately (at which point she keeps trying to explain that she can't give me the number until she cancels it, and I keep trying to explain that I'm happy to wait until she can give me the number), she finally puts me on hold for all of a minute and comes back with the cancellation number. Oi. Such a headache over buying one little book. Don't buy from this company. It's not worth it. Thankfully the email arrived pretty quickly, with the same confirmation number that she told me, so at least they're keeping their word about cancelling it. Hopefully it will be done though. I will definitely be doing a lot more research next time I try buying from one of these supposed discount book places though. Lesson Learned.

Hello Propaganda!

2009-04-15T12:13:00.001-05:00

Donald Duck and Taxes You Pay to International Bankers

While this lovely little piece of propaganda is from 1943, it's idiotic to believe they don't do this sort of thing to us now. They've just learned to be more subtle.

Taxation Is Extortion

2009-04-13T15:20:00.001-05:00

I couldn't have said it better myself.

This Looks Like It Could Be Interesting

2009-04-08T16:42:00.000-05:00

Is This Really All That Weird?

2009-04-07T12:53:00.003-05:00

Newborn Breast-fed By Wrong Mom In Mixup

The father of the baby in the mix-up asked that he only be identified as "Mark." He said his daughter is now being tested for viruses and other illnesses.

"It's a sick feeling," he said. "I don't know the word other than it physically makes you sick."

"I think I am almost borderline obsessed about it -- what could have happened and what still could happen," said Mark.

Now, I understand getting a little weirded out about it, but really, to feel physically ill? Mothers used to have wet-nurses, even Selma Hayek breastfed a starving baby in Africa, and no one was "physically sick". I can understand the question of communicable diseases, but even that is pretty low.

Now, I'm a bit surprised that the hospital had this sort of mixup in the first place, considering they've made those baby wards into veritable fortresses, but still, there are humans involved and there will be error. At least this was caught before the baby went home with the other family.

Who'd Have Thought?

2009-04-02T08:57:00.002-05:00

Peta Kills Animals

Really, none of this is surprising though.

Etsy

2009-04-01T12:36:00.004-05:00

I've updated my Etsy site with all sorts of goodies, so go check it out!!!

Maybe Some Day....

2009-04-01T08:38:00.000-05:00

Curious....

2009-03-18T17:18:00.003-05:00

Divorce Judge Orders Religious Woman's Kids Sent Back To Public School

This raises an interesting question here. As far as I can tell, this woman got involved in a religion that at first glance appears to be a cult. Her husband didn't like this new religion, and filed for a divorce, and asked that the kids be returned to public school, presumably in an attempt to help the children not be so heavily influenced by the mother's new religion.

Where do the rights fall here? Is this issue really about homeschooling or religion? Does the father/husband have any rights now in the lives of his children, or will the mother now have all the say over the children's futures?

There are a lot of issues here that could beg tons of questions in any given direction. I am a homeschooling mother, and wouldn't be very happy if I was told I couldn't do it anymore. If I were involved in a cult, I probably wouldn't realize it and would also be unhappy if I felt that my religion was being attacked. But does that make it right? Who gets to decide what is or isn't a cult? So many questions. Any thoughts?