Its a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake

Five years ago today we were welcoming a tiny baby into our family. For four and half of those years I enjoyed her still being my baby. Over the last six months it has been all to obvious that she has been busy turning into a big girl. She is no longer hesitant to run right in the middle of a pack of bigger kids in our court. She nolonger sits on the sidelines waiting to jump in. She dives right on in head first. She is still learning how to deal with a bully though. grrrr

For four long years she loved blue. We had to search for blue everything. Do you know how hard it is to find blue girly shoes? Not navy blue either. That would have been too easy. A light blue close to periwinkle purple was her fav. Now it is pink. Pink everything. The icing on the five year old cake was the sudden interest in dresses. Zoinks! My baby wants dresses and not overalls.
Recently she decided that she wants tons of new dresses for when she starts school this fall and she wants to go shopping for them.

Last Friday, she had her party at a local bouncey place and we all had tons of fun. Tonight she has requested that we go out to eat and get chicken shwarma. I think I can handle that.

For now I must go and make a cake with pink layers and pink icing. *sigh*

Sew Me Something, Mamma!

I'm a sucker for the fabric department. Try not to laugh too hard. All of those rows and rows of pretty fabrics all nice and neatly on display. *swoon* I guess all the strolling down those pretty aisles did something to me. I hauled out my sewing machine a few weeks back and I have been sewing like a mad woman ever since.

I made Kaileigh a new pillow, mattress and a quilt for her baby doll crib, dolly cloth diapers (omg are they ever cute), Oh new dog beds, too. The list just goes on and on.

Today, Kaileigh and I had a coupon burning a hole in our collective pockets so we went to Hobby Lobby. Help me Rhonda! Kaileigh and I both fell in love with some of the new fabric lines they have in. Seriously, you can stop laughing now. Kaileigh saw some fabric that made her decide that I need to be making her a skirt. Me. Make. A. Skirt. Now we can all laugh together.

I gave in after a few sweet pleaaaaaaases. It really is pretty fabric and I am sure I can do something with it and the three other fabrics friends that just fell into my cart.

Hopefully I will be posting something pretty very soon. Otherwise I will be posting something we can all laugh at.

Dough!

I was in the mood today for some falafel stuffed into pita. Yet I had no pita. The horror! Whats a girl with a brickof yeast in her freezer to do? Make some pita of course! Sadly, I have yet to make a passable pita. What I made today ended up tasting like pizza crust. A very good crust but still pizza crust is not pita. I used half the dough for the pitas and the other half I made into a free form loaf of bread. It was not pretty but oh was it good. I think the honey and olive oil did the trick.


3 1/2C flour
1 1/2C water
1T yeast
2T olive oil
1 1/2t kosher salt
2T honey

-add water, honey and yeast to mixing bowl and allow to bloom.
-then add flour and olive oil. Mix part way and add salt.
-mix on low speed for 10min

form into loaves and bake at 370F for 15

For the first loaf, I slathered it with garlic butter but Chuck suggested that this dough might make a good cinnamon toast. I think I will try that tomorrow but make another to roll up with cinnamon, brown sugar and butter so it is all swirly and pretty.

Granny Annette's Fried Chicken

The first meal I ever had at Granny Net's house was her fried chicken legs. I really hated to tell her that chicken legs grossed me out but I had a plan. I sat down and ate the kale, ate the fresh corn and taters. Then I stole a freshly gnawed on chicken leg bone from Chuck's plate and slapped it on my own. Yes, I lied. Don't you judge me either! Granny Net is one of the sweetest ladies I have ever met. Right up there with my own Mammish and that says alot.

Granny Net was all smiles when she saw that I "ate" her chicken. Then she plunked another one down on my plate. "One chicken leg isn't a meal. Have another." Busted! I knew I should have gone all green eggs and ham on her! I really don't like messy foods and chicken legs certainly fall into that category. You have to get in there and nibble and hunt for meat AND watch out for *gag* a tendon.

In true green eggs and ham fashion, I discovered that I really did like chicken legs. But only if Granny Net made them. Chuck spent a long long time on the phone with her getting a recipe that really isn't a recipe. Now I can reap the fruits of that labor anytime I bring home the legs. Yeehaw. My man can cook! I'm guessing that if we pester him enough he will post his recipe.

Crockypot Chili

I find that sometimes I spend far too much time in the kitchen. Making good use of my crock pot is helping to remedy that. I would love to be one of those people that are OAMCers(once a month cooking) but I am not. It just does not work for me. I am more of a shortcut kinda girl. When I find organic beef on sale then I stock up. I take several pounds at a time and brown it in my giant cast iron skillet, allow it too cool and then foodsaver it up into amounts that are recipe ready.


Crock Pot Chili

1C dried black beans
1C dried kidney beans

8oz diced tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1lb ground meat of choice, I used beef
1/2oz Bloemer's Chile Powder
2t Tony Cachere's Original Creole Seasoning
1/4-1/2t red pepper flakes (ground)
1can green chillies (I like the whole ones)
2C chicken stock(or enough to keep covered for duration of cooking time)

-soak beans the day before, rinse and drain. Cook on low in crock pot over night.
-rinse and drain again.
-add back to crock pot with the rest of the ingredients
-crock pot on low until dinner time

I made a pot of this chili on Friday. We have eaten it as straight up chili, with chips, and on hotdogs. My fav is to slightly steam a tortilla and use the chili as a burrito type filling. I use a slotted spoon so that it isn't too saucey.

I like to use dried beans instead of canned. Dried beans have a better texture and taste.
I also prefer to saute my onions before adding it to the crock pot. Yeah I know, I'm picky that way.

No doubt about it

No doubt about it, I am a big big fan of Lambic. My favorite is the kriek (sour cherry). Which has a slightly sweet yet sour aftertaste and a bit of fizz to to round it out. Our last trip to the Newalbanian left me hopeful that a certain homebrewer that I know would whip up a batch and slap it in the carboy but alas it takes time.

For now, I will wait. I do have to admit that I am fear the addition of a fruit again. Anybody remember the strawberry incident.? I do.

Pizza dough with a side of garlic knots

My mom started making Chef Boyardee Pizza when I was little and I thought that was the best darned thing ever. Then she started making her own dough in a giant green Tupperware bowl. She explained how the yeast was asleep and she had to feed it. That the yeast belched and that is what made the dough rise and get flavor. I was both fascinated and grossed out all rolled up into one. The dough was sealed up in that container and stuck in the garage in the summer or near the wood burning stove in the winter. I loved watching that dough.

Maybe that is why I still like making bread so much. The smell of belching yeast just makes my heart flutter :)

Pizza Dough
1T yeast
7oz lukewarm water
2T sugar
2 3/4C flour
2-3t kosher salt
1T olive oil

-dissolve yeast in water with sugar. Allow enough time for yeast to activate and become foamy.
-dump the rest into the mixing bowl and knead on lowest speed for about 10min.
-drizzle a bit of olive oil onto the dough ball and roll around until covered. Cover with plastic wrap.
-allow to rise until double in size at room temp or allow the dough to rise in the fridge over night
- roll or stretch into desired shape
- add your favorite toppings
-bake at 500F for about 7min


If you want something really good then double the pizza dough recipe. Cut it in half and use half of it to make garlic knots.

Garlic Knots
1 recipe pizza dough
1/2c butter
4-6 crushed garlic cloves
salt

-melt butter with garlic and salt and set aside.
-plop dough onto work area and form it into something that resembles Jabba the Hutt.
-keep half of the dough covered with plastic wrap while you work with the other end.
-using your bench knife, lop off sections that are about the size of a Snickers bar.
-roll in your hand like playdoh until it is long enough to loop into a knot.
-place on cookie sheet and brush with garlic butter.
-bake at 375F for 10-12min.
-brush with garlic butter before serving

The House That Nug Built

For those of you that don't know it already, Chuck is one very creative person. He and Kaileigh love to take apart the latest Amazon box or a simple paper bag and turn them into something really fun.

<--- Like this















Kaileigh and Chuck spent a Saturday afternoon making this fine house for Boo. A lovely two story abode with a porch, windows and various hatches so that Boo can reach out and try to attack as you walk by.

Boo loves his house. He likes to sleep inside and carry all of his treasures in there for safe keeping. At first, Jessie thought she would give his house a try. She quickly discovered that a sneak attack from a spry kitten was certainly not something that she ever wanted to experience again in the confines of a box. I certainly wish I had the video camera on the box that day.






Sneak attack on Riley