Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Cakewrecks

You have to check out "Cakewrecks" today. It is all about Barbie cakes.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Snow, Beautiful Snow



When I got up this morning I thought the weather was great. WRONG.

Here is Bear. I think he is looking for Midnight, his neighbor.

When he first went outside this morning, there was barely a skiff of snow.

Yes, that is snow all over his back.




Here is our car





And here is our pickup




And my backyard









I know it is still February, but I was really hoping that the snow was over. So here we are. Never ending snow.

Enjoy!!!!!!!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Animal Friends

If you know me very well, you know that I LOVE animals. All types of animals. Can't turn them away, which is why I had Cutie and Bear.

This video is amazing.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Finger steaks

First of all. I am from Boise. The home of the famous finger steaks. I have been eating finger steaks all of my life. I remember finger steaks from before the third grade.

For Christmas one year, too many years ago, I asked for a deep fat fryer. Way too many years ago. And I know just how much work it is to make this feast so I kept putting it off.

This week I decided to make finger steaks to celebrate Valentine’s day. Of course, by the end of the day I nearly chickened out.

A word to the wise… If your oil smells funny it probably has gone rancid. DO NOT USE IT. Besides that, you have to start all over. Oil does not keep forever.

So I cut up the steak - beautiful T-bone steaks. Then I peeled potatoes and cut them into French fries. Then the onion slices. And of course, no Bisquick for the batter. So Dell & Trish had to go to the grocery store. Aren’t husbands wonderful?

While they were gone I dipped the hot oil out of the deep fat fryer. Did not realize just how much oil fits in such a little thing. Probably 2 quarts. And it is really hot, so my glass measuring cup, glass bowl and soup mug are waiting to cool.

So to work I go. First I cook the meat. Then the onion rings. Then the French fries.
So here it is. A batch of fry sauce and off we go. They are wonderful. I am not quite sure why, but I got a lot of crumbs, which I never got before. If anyone can make a suggestion of what I could do different, it would be great.

Christine gave me a hard time about not leaving a recipe when I do something like this, but there really isn’t much of a recipe. You just make a batter out of Bisquick similar to pancake bagtter, then dip the steak strips and onion rings and fry. It is best if you use good steaks. I used T-bone today. I also bought the marked-down mean, since aged is always more tender.

Friday, February 13, 2009

This week has been kind-of rough. I had a nose bleed on Saturday, so I got out the NeoSenephrine, which worked quite well, and took it easy for the rest of the evening. Then Sunday afternoon I got another nosebleed. It quit after about a half hour, so I went to work at my normal time, 5:00. Unfortunately about two hours later it started bleeding.

Then on Monday it started bleeding about noon, so I laid down for a while. It took nearly an hour to stop, so I rested for about another hour, then I went to work. Unfortunately that only lasted about an hour and a half before it started bleeding again.

So I quit taking the diuretic because I thought it was because I was dehydrated. It must have worked because I did not have any more nose bleeds.

Unfortunately yesterday morning I weighed myself and an unfortunate thing happened. I have found 160 again. Nasty, huh. So yesterday I took the diuretic. I say unfortunately, because I have a nose bleed again.

Fortunately I have a doctor's appointment with the ENT guy for Thursday just to make sure there is no problem.



So now we have to start over. No more Oreos. No more toast. No more half and half on the oatmeal. No more baked potatos with lots and lots of butter.

That is, after this weekend. I am going to fix Finger Steaks and French Fries. And Dell has requested sugar cookes and I had also planned chocolate chip cookies.

SOooooo... Come Monday we will start all over. I'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Old Age

My sister-in-law, Beci, sent me this email. It is just too great to not share. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Went to the doctor for my yearly physical… The nurse starts with certain basics.
'How much do you weigh?' she asks. '135,' I say.
The nurse puts me on the scale. It turns out my weight is 180.
The nurse asks, 'Your height?' '5 foot 8,' I say.
The nurse checks and sees that I only measure 5'2'.
She then takes my blood pressure and tells me it is very high.
'Of course it's high!' I scream. 'When I came in here I was tall and slender! Now I'm short and fat!'
She put me on Prozac...What a trip.

Cupcakes

I was watching Studio 5 on KSL this morning and they had a wonderful spot that I want to share.



I think my favorite hint is the heart made out of candy canes. Others are:

• Frost cupcake with red or pink icing. Cover the top with a cornelli lace decorating technique. This technique is a freehand random lacy design made using a small round piping tip and white icing. For detailed instructions go to: www.bakedecoratecelebrate.com/techniques/cornellilace.cfm

• Wrap some cloth wrapped wire or pipe cleaner around a pencil to curl. Glue on tiny punched hearts to one end of the wire. Insert into cupcake to make it look like hearts springing out.

• Place cupcakes in a second liner after baking to create a prettier presentation.

• To make unique and fancy chocolate garnishes, melt chocolate (white or regular) and place in a pastry bag with a round tip. Pipe shapes, initials or scrolls onto wax paper and let harden. Use as a garnish.

• A cute Valentine train cupcake idea with video tutorial is found at: jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/printrecipe?id=50096

• Create and place items that go with fun Valentine sayings, for example create peanut butter bees http://www.grouprecipes.com/4861/peanut-butter-honey-bees-for-kids.html and place on a cupcake with a little flag on a toothpick that says "bee mine."

• Give cupcakes in a simple box. One cupcake in a pretty box tied with a ribbon would be a nice gift. On yesterday's show there were instructions on making a box out of cardstock. Check it out.

• Remember that cupcake cakes are easy to make and a heart shape works very well. See this link: http://studio5.ksl.com/?sid=4099006&nid=59

• At the end of the show she was suggesting her favorite sites. Of course, she mentioned the Wilton decorating. One of her favorite resources is fancyflours.com, an online store. They have cupcake picks and embellishments. They also have cupcake wrappers for any holiday or party.

• She also recommended a blog she found a blog: cucpakestakethecake.blogspot.com that she loves and I want to share with you.

Happy Baking

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Tamales


Christine tells me that I should have shared the recipe for Tamales. This was a Relief Society project, so I got the recipes from them. You purchase the mesa in the Hispanic aisle at the grocery store. They also recommended the purchase of the chillies at a specialty store.

Relief Society Tamales

10 pasilla or California dried chillies
2 garlic buds
2 c. broth
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbs chili pepper
1 tbs salt
8-10 pounds pork, beef or chicken.

CHILI SAUCE: Put chilies and garlic in a saucepan with broth. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Put in a blender and bled until smooth. Add cumin, black pepper, chili powder and salt.
MEAT: put met in a large pot and cover with water. Boil until tender. Put in food processor and shred or pull apart with a fork. Put all of the broth aside and save. Meat can be cooked ahead and put in freezer or fridge until ready to use. Add chili sauce and blend until ready to use.
MESA: Mix mesa according to the recipe on package and add 1 tsp chili powder. If mesa is too dry, add more broth.
NOTE: This is a mild recipe. You can add more chili powder to make hotter if desired. If you have leftover masa, you can make tamales out of cheese, thick chili or refried beans.