It all started out when my friend gave me a bag of batter & a piece of paper. The paper said something about how to make Amish Friendship Bread. It said I have to mush the bag for 5 days, add stuff, mush the bag for another 5 days and then I could make it.
So I didn't actually look at the ingredients until today, day 10.
Well, first off, to this batter, you add 1 1/2 cups each of flour, sugar & milk, then mix it - and take 4 cups and divide them into 4 different gallon zip lock bags to give to friends and keep for yourself...THEN I'm supposed to add 3 eggs, 1 cup of oil, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of flour and a box of pudding along with miscellaneous spices, salt, etc. Uh - WOAH! It makes two loafs of bread. And according to the recipe, you can't let the "starter" batter go away, because apparently only the Amish know how to start it (never mind the thousands of web sites that tell you how to start it, I am sure my starter batter came directly from the Amish people back east about 50 years ago - yah, that's the story.)
It's cooking now. I've heard nothing but good things about this particular brand of bread, but I'm not so sure I should consume it. I mean - just smelling it cook is clogging up my arteries and putting me into a diabetic coma.
Anyone ever have this stuff before? Or was I dooped into keeping this old batter on my kitchen counter for a week and a half? I will know in approximately 54 minutes and 47 seconds - plus 10 minutes for cooling - if I shall live or die.
Edited to say - it needs to be revamped by the Amish - those starters I saved were just tossed in the trash - there's nothing special about Amish Friendship bread - especially not a 10 day anticipatory treat! I probably got a different recipe than Crysty - because she loves her Amish bread. Me, however, it needs to taste a LOT better than that for using a cup of oil & 4 cups of sugar & flour!!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Getting things ready
Santa needs a clean house! Don't want him walking in the "ouch" room as Brynn calls it! Too many things on the ground, if you go in bare-foot, your doomed to say "ouch!"
Thought I'd post one of my most memorable Christmas' - I don't have much of a memory, though - so I only have a few Christmas' that stick out in my mind - until someone reminds me of another. So -- from my own memory, we were living in Denton, TX. I was - oh - 5? We were on Knight Street. A year or so before, I got a Crissy doll. This was a red headed doll - probably 18" - 24" doll - if you pulled a string on her back, her hair would get shorter. Then you could grab the hair & pull it back out to make it long. Well, if you can imagine, that plastic barbie-esque hair gets tangled quickly if you play with it. So I had the doll taken from me for not taking care of the hair...
That Christmas of 1976? - I don't remember if I asked for anything in particular - but I got my Crissy doll back! Through Santa magic - her hair was all tangle free (at least for the following - oh - week?) and I was so excited. Nope, it wasn't a new gift. But it was one that I'll always remember. Maybe I got something else new, but Crissy stuck out to me.
I'm not sure why the "humble" Christmas' come to my memory first. Part of me is sad that my children haven't experienced it. I don't think it's necessary - and I don't think I have the "strength" to give them a simple re-gifted Christmas.
Share your most memorable childhood Christmas.
Thought I'd post one of my most memorable Christmas' - I don't have much of a memory, though - so I only have a few Christmas' that stick out in my mind - until someone reminds me of another. So -- from my own memory, we were living in Denton, TX. I was - oh - 5? We were on Knight Street. A year or so before, I got a Crissy doll. This was a red headed doll - probably 18" - 24" doll - if you pulled a string on her back, her hair would get shorter. Then you could grab the hair & pull it back out to make it long. Well, if you can imagine, that plastic barbie-esque hair gets tangled quickly if you play with it. So I had the doll taken from me for not taking care of the hair...
That Christmas of 1976? - I don't remember if I asked for anything in particular - but I got my Crissy doll back! Through Santa magic - her hair was all tangle free (at least for the following - oh - week?) and I was so excited. Nope, it wasn't a new gift. But it was one that I'll always remember. Maybe I got something else new, but Crissy stuck out to me.
I'm not sure why the "humble" Christmas' come to my memory first. Part of me is sad that my children haven't experienced it. I don't think it's necessary - and I don't think I have the "strength" to give them a simple re-gifted Christmas.
Share your most memorable childhood Christmas.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Pile of thoughts running through my noggin....
I haven't been much of a cook lately - well, I don't mind cooking - it's just that it's so hard - the kids get home from school around 3:30-4:00 STARVING because they ate lunch at 10 a.m. - so they pig out - and since I start thinking about dinner around 4 - so it's ready by 5-6 ish - the kids are too full to eat - so I feel like I wasted my time in the kitchen...so when I don't cook, Ross comes home from work mad that the kids are going without dinner...which they're not...but that's a whole nother story.
SO - I was at the store with him last night - which is a rarity - and we decided on a menu for the following week.
He mentioned that he wanted me to make some manicotti. This goes back a few weeks - when I bought a frozen Costco lasagna. The kids love it - I can't STAND it - because - well, I actually know what good lasagna taste like. So I sat at the table & watched them eat as I picked on a piece of bread (probably too full from all the caramels!) and Ross started bragging to the kids of a time where their mother used to make homemade sauce and pasta and all kinds of wonderful Italian dishes.
But she hasn't done it in a LONG time. Lets talk her into it?!
So last night at the store he asked me what I needed in order to make some manicotti. I grabbed the Italian parsley, the ricotta cheese and some grated mozzarella. I have everything else here - I make the crepes, so I don't buy those pasta tubes that lazy people stuff w/ ricotta and call it good - no, I make my crepes and roll the cheese in it - like the Italians do.
Today I venture to make sauce & manicotti.
Why haven't I done it in so long? It's been YEARS since I made sauce. In fact, it's been a little over 5 years. I used to make it a lot - so when I talked to Grandpa I could have a fun conversation about how I can add different things to tweak it to make it perfect. Well, grandpa died 5 or so years ago. And I just haven't had the desire. Quite frankly - the nose and subsequently smell is the best form of memory I have.
I can't stand the smell. It reminds me of my grandpa. I loved my grandpa. I hate my grandpa. We were so close. I was on my way to Boise to visit and see him, he always made me gnocci's. We were leaving on Friday - I talked to him that Sunday before. He died on Tuesday. I haven't made sauce -- or anything Italian since. We make pizza, Ross does, I make the dough - but we have just resorted to purchasing sauce.
When grandpa made food, his whole house smelled, in fact, he smelled like sauce even if he wasn't cooking it! You could smell his meatballs from a block away.
So last night I'm in the grocery store. Pregnant. Grandpa was a jerk when I was pregnant. By jerk - I mean to say - he was always calling me asking me what kind of junk food he could mail me - what were my cravings? When I was pregnant and near him, he always took pictures of me. He'd make me take him to an ice cream place - Delsa's Ice cream, I think, on Maple Grove? I am not a big ice cream fan. But he made me eat it. And I enjoyed how much he enjoyed me being pregnant.
And now I'm pregnant. I am not particularly overly excited about it - smell is my biggest Nemesis right now - and I'm venturing to make some sauce. I can't make the meatballs --- or they'll be seasoned with puked (smell of cooking meat gets me going!!) but I'm pregnant - and he's not around to make me feel good about it...or mail me melted chocolate bars (it gets hot here, all packages melt!)
I miss my grandpa, I hate my grandpa. He was so good to me, and so hurtful to me & my family. It's hard to make sauce because it brings back such good memories - and I am not ready to have good memories about him. I loved him. I hate him.
SO - I was at the store with him last night - which is a rarity - and we decided on a menu for the following week.
He mentioned that he wanted me to make some manicotti. This goes back a few weeks - when I bought a frozen Costco lasagna. The kids love it - I can't STAND it - because - well, I actually know what good lasagna taste like. So I sat at the table & watched them eat as I picked on a piece of bread (probably too full from all the caramels!) and Ross started bragging to the kids of a time where their mother used to make homemade sauce and pasta and all kinds of wonderful Italian dishes.
But she hasn't done it in a LONG time. Lets talk her into it?!
So last night at the store he asked me what I needed in order to make some manicotti. I grabbed the Italian parsley, the ricotta cheese and some grated mozzarella. I have everything else here - I make the crepes, so I don't buy those pasta tubes that lazy people stuff w/ ricotta and call it good - no, I make my crepes and roll the cheese in it - like the Italians do.
Today I venture to make sauce & manicotti.
Why haven't I done it in so long? It's been YEARS since I made sauce. In fact, it's been a little over 5 years. I used to make it a lot - so when I talked to Grandpa I could have a fun conversation about how I can add different things to tweak it to make it perfect. Well, grandpa died 5 or so years ago. And I just haven't had the desire. Quite frankly - the nose and subsequently smell is the best form of memory I have.
I can't stand the smell. It reminds me of my grandpa. I loved my grandpa. I hate my grandpa. We were so close. I was on my way to Boise to visit and see him, he always made me gnocci's. We were leaving on Friday - I talked to him that Sunday before. He died on Tuesday. I haven't made sauce -- or anything Italian since. We make pizza, Ross does, I make the dough - but we have just resorted to purchasing sauce.
When grandpa made food, his whole house smelled, in fact, he smelled like sauce even if he wasn't cooking it! You could smell his meatballs from a block away.
So last night I'm in the grocery store. Pregnant. Grandpa was a jerk when I was pregnant. By jerk - I mean to say - he was always calling me asking me what kind of junk food he could mail me - what were my cravings? When I was pregnant and near him, he always took pictures of me. He'd make me take him to an ice cream place - Delsa's Ice cream, I think, on Maple Grove? I am not a big ice cream fan. But he made me eat it. And I enjoyed how much he enjoyed me being pregnant.
And now I'm pregnant. I am not particularly overly excited about it - smell is my biggest Nemesis right now - and I'm venturing to make some sauce. I can't make the meatballs --- or they'll be seasoned with puked (smell of cooking meat gets me going!!) but I'm pregnant - and he's not around to make me feel good about it...or mail me melted chocolate bars (it gets hot here, all packages melt!)
I miss my grandpa, I hate my grandpa. He was so good to me, and so hurtful to me & my family. It's hard to make sauce because it brings back such good memories - and I am not ready to have good memories about him. I loved him. I hate him.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Saturday, December 15, 2007
I've decided
that family pictures with Santa are for the birds. Maybe next year, I'll bring in some duck decoys to take pictures with Santa - they'll cooperate better! Here's my last year's picture...
And this year's isn't much better...Brynn was hiding from Santa - you know if you can't see them, they can't see you...
And this year's isn't much better...Brynn was hiding from Santa - you know if you can't see them, they can't see you...
Friday, December 14, 2007
NAGS!!!
Oh, you all know who you are! Here's Ross' Grandpa's Peanut Brittle recipe and his English Toffee Recipe below that - (which - is SOO much better than any toffee you've ever had before!!)
Peanut Brittle
3 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups lite Karo
1 c water
*****Cook above 3 ingredients to 240 degrees; then ADD
5 cups RAW Spanish peanuts
*****cook to 295 - STIR CONSTANTLY
*****remove from heat and add:
2 Tbs butter
*****stir until butter is completely melted then add:
3/4 Tbs baking soda
1 tsp salt
*****stir until dissolved then pour onto TWO greased cookie sheets. After it cools, break it up & dish it out!
NOTE: When adding the baking soda - it turns the mixture frothy, I like to keep it frothy by *not* "spreading" the brittle out on the cookie sheet with a spoon after it's been poured, this tends to make the brittle more brittle and less chewy.
NOW for Grandpa's English Toffee (makes about 2 pounds total - 1 pan)
2 cups sugar
1/3 c lite Karo syrup
1 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs baking soda
1 Tbs vanilla
5 c walnuts & nuts to grind - (about 2 cups ground)
1 1/2 pounds chocolate - almond bark (for dipping)
Place walnuts in oven on cookie sheet at 200 degrees.
in a large pot, bring sugar & Karo to 310 degrees, stirring constantly. Stir in butter and heat again to 290 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda, salt, vanilla and warmed walnuts (straight from oven). Mix in until nuts are coated. Spread on greased cookie sheets (2), cool & break into bite-size pieces.
From this point, you can either serve/eat as is - OR - dip in melted almond bark and roll in ground walnuts...use wax paper to allow chocolate to solidify on toffee. This makes a TON - no joke! And for now, I have no pictures, but I should be making this on Saturday - so I'll post pictures - come back to take a look-see!
Enjoy - I really hope you do - I don't like being the only pudgy one at Christmas-time!
Peanut Brittle
3 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups lite Karo
1 c water
*****Cook above 3 ingredients to 240 degrees; then ADD
5 cups RAW Spanish peanuts
*****cook to 295 - STIR CONSTANTLY
*****remove from heat and add:
2 Tbs butter
*****stir until butter is completely melted then add:
3/4 Tbs baking soda
1 tsp salt
*****stir until dissolved then pour onto TWO greased cookie sheets. After it cools, break it up & dish it out!
NOTE: When adding the baking soda - it turns the mixture frothy, I like to keep it frothy by *not* "spreading" the brittle out on the cookie sheet with a spoon after it's been poured, this tends to make the brittle more brittle and less chewy.
NOW for Grandpa's English Toffee (makes about 2 pounds total - 1 pan)
2 cups sugar
1/3 c lite Karo syrup
1 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs baking soda
1 Tbs vanilla
5 c walnuts & nuts to grind - (about 2 cups ground)
1 1/2 pounds chocolate - almond bark (for dipping)
Place walnuts in oven on cookie sheet at 200 degrees.
in a large pot, bring sugar & Karo to 310 degrees, stirring constantly. Stir in butter and heat again to 290 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda, salt, vanilla and warmed walnuts (straight from oven). Mix in until nuts are coated. Spread on greased cookie sheets (2), cool & break into bite-size pieces.
From this point, you can either serve/eat as is - OR - dip in melted almond bark and roll in ground walnuts...use wax paper to allow chocolate to solidify on toffee. This makes a TON - no joke! And for now, I have no pictures, but I should be making this on Saturday - so I'll post pictures - come back to take a look-see!
Enjoy - I really hope you do - I don't like being the only pudgy one at Christmas-time!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
I realize
it doesn't get lazier than this! BUT, I sent out my Christmas cards - I only ended up with 14 - so I had to do a lottery as to which of my family/friends gets one! Then I realized that I never sent out notices that we moved & have a new address...dad-gummit! So I hope I can rely on the postal service to forward my mail to me!
Anyway - For those of you who care - here is my "newsletter" for our 2007 edition.
I realize you can't read it from this size, but you can definitely click on it to make it big enough to read...
I do plan on posting the recipies to the rest of the Christmas junk food I'm making - I may have to make another batch of caramel AND peanut brittle - as most of it has found it's way to my ever-lovin' mouth - it just FALLS in, I swear I have nothing to do with it!
Anyway - For those of you who care - here is my "newsletter" for our 2007 edition.
I realize you can't read it from this size, but you can definitely click on it to make it big enough to read...
I do plan on posting the recipies to the rest of the Christmas junk food I'm making - I may have to make another batch of caramel AND peanut brittle - as most of it has found it's way to my ever-lovin' mouth - it just FALLS in, I swear I have nothing to do with it!
Friday, December 07, 2007
All I want for Christmas is....
more money from my lost teeth!
Howie came in about 8:30 the other night hysterically excited that he had lost his tooth - his FIRST tooth, literally LOST it - he was pushing against it and it FLEW out of his mouth.
Luckly he was in his tent, so it was contained in an area and we found it shortly afterwords.
While we were looking for the tooth, Kiersten came out indicating that she, too had lost her tooth - but this was a special tooth - this was a tooth that was hanging around with undissolved roots because the other tooth didn't come in directly above it - but slightly - shark-wise...so when her tooth came out - she yanked the root & all.
I'm sure hers was worthy of more than the golden dollar coin she got for it, but Howie was just pleased as punch to come back downstairs 20 minutes later to see that the toothfairy, indeed, got the memo that he lost a tooth and had come to pay up!
Meanwhile -
the school brought in 2 tons of snow for the kids to run amuk in - as is evident in the flip flop, non jacketed wearing children, snow is just not something we in the suburb of Phoenix know how to dress for!!
Howie came in about 8:30 the other night hysterically excited that he had lost his tooth - his FIRST tooth, literally LOST it - he was pushing against it and it FLEW out of his mouth.
Luckly he was in his tent, so it was contained in an area and we found it shortly afterwords.
While we were looking for the tooth, Kiersten came out indicating that she, too had lost her tooth - but this was a special tooth - this was a tooth that was hanging around with undissolved roots because the other tooth didn't come in directly above it - but slightly - shark-wise...so when her tooth came out - she yanked the root & all.
I'm sure hers was worthy of more than the golden dollar coin she got for it, but Howie was just pleased as punch to come back downstairs 20 minutes later to see that the toothfairy, indeed, got the memo that he lost a tooth and had come to pay up!
Meanwhile -
the school brought in 2 tons of snow for the kids to run amuk in - as is evident in the flip flop, non jacketed wearing children, snow is just not something we in the suburb of Phoenix know how to dress for!!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Death by Caramel...
Each year about this time, I make a variety of candies and goodies to give away as teacher & neighbor gifts! NORMALLY, I have 5 or 6 other friends come over and we make a HUGE variety of goods and then share our spoils of the day with each other. WELL, I can't do that this year, as my kitchen is truly a one-fanny kitchen. SO I started my venture last night and will continue making some kind of poisonous junk every day until my rear end is roughly the size of the kitchen door. (They wrote a song about me - something involving a 2x4? haa!)
I start my journey with probably the easiest recipe...My dear friend Kris has this highly dangerous recipe for caramel which is, well, you just have to make it to understand the effects it can have on your hiney...she shared the recipe with me last year with the following warning "Be careful, this tends to skip the mouth and go straight to the hips" so - - with that warning, I share her caramel recipe!
Heat the following to 260 degrees:
1 3/4 cups Karo Syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
while still on the heat, add:
2 cups of room temperature heavy whipping cream and heat to 260 (hard ball stage)
remove from heat and add:
1 teaspoon vanilla
mix well and pour onto buttered cookie sheet.
Once mixture cools, apply directly to hips.
OKAY - so I did that last night - and this morning I decided to dip some of them in chocolate. This is a fairly easy recipe - and even easier to apply the chocolate - directions for that include - cutting the caramel, and dipping it in melted almond bark chocolate - it works best when you eat every-other one...
My agenda for the rest of the day includes sitting on the couch regretting all the sugar I consumed for the day - and daydreaming of all the things I should be doing, but can't because the sugar high has left me nauseated and tired...or maybe that's the baby? You never can tell....
I start my journey with probably the easiest recipe...My dear friend Kris has this highly dangerous recipe for caramel which is, well, you just have to make it to understand the effects it can have on your hiney...she shared the recipe with me last year with the following warning "Be careful, this tends to skip the mouth and go straight to the hips" so - - with that warning, I share her caramel recipe!
Heat the following to 260 degrees:
1 3/4 cups Karo Syrup
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
while still on the heat, add:
2 cups of room temperature heavy whipping cream and heat to 260 (hard ball stage)
remove from heat and add:
1 teaspoon vanilla
mix well and pour onto buttered cookie sheet.
Once mixture cools, apply directly to hips.
OKAY - so I did that last night - and this morning I decided to dip some of them in chocolate. This is a fairly easy recipe - and even easier to apply the chocolate - directions for that include - cutting the caramel, and dipping it in melted almond bark chocolate - it works best when you eat every-other one...
My agenda for the rest of the day includes sitting on the couch regretting all the sugar I consumed for the day - and daydreaming of all the things I should be doing, but can't because the sugar high has left me nauseated and tired...or maybe that's the baby? You never can tell....
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