Week in Review: Beginnings and Endings

Despite the fact that I haven't published a post since May, I'm going to push past that and get back to blogging!

Here are my blogging goals:

1. Publish a week in review each week.
2. Publish at least two Two for Tuesday recipe posts each month. So, every other week.
3. Publish one Making Memories or Cincinnati Dayscape each month.

I think that's doable!

And, without further ado, our week in review!

(That's even cooler, cause it rhymes!)

First of our "beginnings".

We started back to school this week (note "this week was actually July 21st).

We do this because

• A--we are all want to finish by early May. 
• B--we take every Friday in November and December off in addition to a two to three week Christmas vacation.
• C--it is too unbearably hot and humid outside to go anywhere or do anything
• D--when it does get nice in September, no one wants to be inside doing school, we all want to be outside doing something...so we have lots of field trips in September and October. 

Our first day of school started with me making personal omelets in one of my new cast iron skillets. They stuck a little and fell apart as I was getting them out of the pan, but no one minded. Schoolwork consisted of devotions with Sweetling, literature with Sweetling, and history with Sweetling and Toa of Boy. (Here's the curriculum and resources we are using this year if someone is interested.)

Then we made a list of the basic school supplies we would need for the year and went on a scavenger hunt through the house to round up what we already had. After a quick trip to the store to get the rest of the items, Mama treated us all to lunch at Sebastian's. (Neither she nor Sweetling had eaten a gyro before).

It was a great, easy, fun, first day!

Here's our tentative daily schedule, for now at least. We don't follow it to the letter, but it helps to have everything blocked out to make sure it's possible. Sweetling's day is on the left; Toa of Boy on the right.

Sweetling looks like she has a lot of open time in her schedule. That isn't actually the case.

It actually brings us to our second "beginning" of the week.

I'm not sure how much info I'm allowed to post on my blog, but Sweetling is participating in a large fandom writing project. (I'll omit the specifics, in case this supposed to not be public info yet.) She submitted a story summary to the organizers of the event. All the summaries were then posted anonymously, and certain artists were invited to select a summary they would like to work with and represent. Sweetling's summary was the fourth summary selected, and it was chosen by an artist Sweetling really admires. Sweetling has been in touch with the artist, and is working hard on the writing. By Wednesday she had already topped seven thousand words.  Thursday night she did a lot of revising. She still has a long way to go. This will be a novella by the time she is finished!

(no photo of the Sweetling hard at work. boo hoo, boo hoo).

When I first put the schedule up on the fridge, the Jedi looked it over and asked why Toa of Boy had Pokemon as part of his school schedule.

Behold, our third beginning...

Last April, Toa of Boy decided he wanted to embark on a two year project to draw all 718 Pokemon. He did some research on-line, and decided he wanted to use copic markers in this project. Then we priced copic markers, and he despaired. I told him that if it was that important to him, he could ask for marker sets for his upcoming birthday. He did that. (How many other boys want art supplies for their eleventh birthday?) The Jedi and I got him one set and Mama and Tia went together to get him a second set. We got my old drawing/drafting table out of the garage and cleaned it up. We got rid of the large computer desk in his bedroom and replaced it with the large drawing table and a small computer cart. 

He has decided, that for now, he wants to work at the kitchen table, in a more guided drawing lesson. I sit beside him with my sketchbook and he sits with his bristol board. Then I draw, pausing to discuss how I'm looking for the shapes, the negative spaces, etc. He draws as I draw. Bit by bit we get a Pokemon drawn. Then he inks over the lines he wants to keep, erases all the rest of the sketch lines, and uses copic markers to complete the Pokemon.

I have pictures of Toa of Boy working, but I don't have pictures of his finished pieces. Even though I think they are quite good, Toa of Boy is dissatisfied with them and doesn't want them photographed. I can respect that, even if I disagree.

And, our fourth beginning...

We started work on our doodle devotions this week. Each week, we are going to focus on memorizing and reflecting on a Scripture verse. 

 The daily doodles help us focus on the meaning of select portions of the verse. I proposed this idea as a family devotional time each day, and it was well received by Toa and Sweetling. Eventually, I plan to put together and sell pdf ebooks, each containing 9 to 10 weeks of devotions. I just about have a sample week's worth of pages to distribute....which are the pages Sweetling, Toa, and I worked on this week.

Now for our endings...

We ended our summer with a week of VBS. Sweetling did a great job in the drama as a special agent on the Truth Force.

She also wrote a follow up drama skit that was presented during our Sunday morning worship time. Several adults expressed to me how impressed they were when they learned she had written it.

And, finally, we need to begin a new timeline for this year's history study. Which means, last year's timeline must come down. Before that happened, Sweetling and I worked at making a short video of the timeline. We played Peer Gynt's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" for background music. (Sweetling offered to edit in the music after the filming, but I just wanted the project finished. So I took the amateur route rather than the more polished after-filming editing option.) Sweetling used my phone flashlight as our camera lighting, while I rolled the video camera over our timeline from start to finish.

Menu: the cheddar cheese addition

Every recipe I find that I really want to make has cheddar cheese in it somewhere, somehow.

This menu is the revised, slightly less cheddar edition.

Thursday: banana pancakes, scrambled eggs (with cheddar cheese of course)

Friday: Chicken Parmesan. no cheddar. OR orange chicken, also no cheddar. haven't decided which recipe I want to make on our vacation day. OR Cincinnati chili, which does have cheddar.

Saturday: Seder dinner with Beth Messiah. No cheddar here either.

Sunday: Easter: smoked ham; butter beavers (sweetling's request); hot pineapple casserole; dinner rolls. The pineapple has cheddar (of course), and the dinner roll recipe needs cut in fourth.


 Monday: leftovers

Tuesday: sloppy joe squares. again with the cheddar. The picture is from Pillsbury's official version. Not sure which recipe I want to follow.




Wednesday: One of the three Friday options I didn't feel like making on Friday.

Other recipes that looked good but that I'm not making is Pioneer Woman's ranch style chicken (cheddar) and crispy cheddar chicken (cheddar) and pecan chicken casserole (cheddar.)

Weekly Menu

Christopher Robin's menu board looks nicer, but my post has links. (Really, this is all about the links, having found my recipes, I don't want to lose them again.)

The clever reader will note that I haven't quite figured out some days. Very good, clever reader. 

Thursday: Taco night. It's like Taco Tuesday, but on Thursday.

Friday: Big Fat Nothing. Going to the symphony earlier that day (birthday treat from the Jedi), and then out to eat a SmoQ for lunch. By dinner, neither the Jedi or I will be hungry, but the rest of the family will still want food. Silly them. Maybe I can talk Sweetling into making baked salmon.

Saturday: Omelets

Saturday gaming snacks:

Chocolate Lasagna

Apple Pie Tacos

Sunday: Beefy Biscuit Cups, butter beavers, corn....wanted onion rings but Aldi's didn't have any.

 Monday (St. Patrick's Day): maybe corned beef hoagies, fries. What is a maybe corned beef hoagie? It was my menu option, until I learned that the Jedi doesn't like corned beef. I might pick up corned beef from the deli for some of us, and roast beef for the Jedi.




Tuesday: Grilled Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas. Of course, I don't have a grill, but that won't stop me from trying this.









Wednesday: yeah, I don't know. I was going with Crescent Chicken Bake, but Toa of Boy has been asking for Chicken Curry, so I might have to suck it up and make a curry. Which of course requires the making of naan bread.

Two for Tuesday: Slow Cooker Ham and Potatoes; Pioneer Woman Dinner Rolls

I have two delicious recipes to share. I didn't come up with either of them, but I did modify both of them.

The first is from Rachel Ray, but the original involved mushrooms (which Sweetling and the Jedi hate) and fresh thyme (which I never have). I don't even have any dried thyme. So, I have no more thyme. Yeah, I kept myself amused with thyme puns while I was tearing through my spice drawer. You should all count yourselves lucky I only included one of them here.

Here's the recipe, with my thyme-less modifications. *Grin*

Slow Cooker Ham and Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 sliced yellow onion 
• 1 bag sweet chili peppers (someone at co-op said, oh, those genetically modified things? I guess so...I like sci fi. I don't mind mutant peppers when they taste this good.)
• 4-6 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and submerged in a bowl of water
• Mrs. Dash (yeah, I didn't measure)
• several slices leftover ham (I had a bunch of ham leftover and needed a way to use it up)
• 1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth (or homemade chicken stock)
• 1 cup heavy cream (next time, I'm going to try a cream substitute, but this time I just used real cream and took a lactaide pill when I ate dinner)

Directions: (don't be intimidated by how long it looks. I promise it's super-easy or I wouldn't have made it!)

1. Wash, peel, and slice the potatoes. Submerge the slices in a bowl of cold water as you make them. Let them sit there. The water keeps them from discoloring and also does something magical to the starch in the potatoes, or so I'm told.
2.  Wash and slice the onion and peppers. Melt butter in a large skillet and toss the vegetable slices in. Cook for a few minutes (3-5), till the onion turns just slightly translucent. You don't want to cook them down, just 'sweat' them a bit. (By the way, I leave the onion and pepper slices large so that certain people can pick them out of their food. I warned Sweetling and the Jedi that vegetables were involved, but that the vegetables were large and easy to remove. The Jedi said to Sweetling, "Mommy used to love us." And the two veggie-phobes leaned their heads together in sorrow.)
3. Slice the ham. This could have been done as step 2, but I forgot. 
4. Thoroughly spray a crock-pot with non-stick cooking spray.
5. Grab a few potato slices, shake the water off them, and layer them in the bottom of the crockpot. When you have covered the bottom with a single layer of potatoes, season them with Mrs. Dash. I didn't use salt, so I was very generous with the Mrs. Dash. Sprinkle in some shredded cheese Repeat with a second layer of potatoes and Mrs. Dash. These two layers should use up about half of your potatoes. If your crock pot is deep but not wide, you might have to do three layers of potato slices before you go to step 6.
6. Spread half of the onion pepper mixture on top of the potatoes. 
7. Add a layer of sliced yummy ham.
8. Add a big, big handful of shredded cheese. (When I made this on Sunday, I didn't put enough cheese in and wound up have to try to insert handfuls of cheese after the cream was hot and bubbly. Much easier to just increase the amount of initial cheese.)
9. Go back to adding seasoned potato layers (with some shredded cheese between the potato layers). 
10. When you've used up all your potatoes, spread the rest of the onion/pepper mixture on top.
11.  Add a final layer of ham.
12. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.
13. After 4 hours, pour a cup of heavy cream over the top of everything. Cover and continue cooking for another 30 minutes.
14. Now, the original recipe said to turn the crock pot off and let the meal sit for an hour before eating. You know that didn't happen in my house. We were hungry. I did let it sit for 15-20 minutes, but that's all the rest time it got before we dug in.

And once again, let me stress how easy this recipe was. The part that took the longest was peeling and slicing the potatoes. It was so easy, I threw it together on Sunday afternoon in between church and driving 45 minutes to an afternoon swim meet.  I had Mamma at home to add the cream if we weren't back in time for that, but as it was, we were. I had Mamma add the cream anyway, and I took Jupiter for a walk before dinner.

And it was super rich and delicious.

The second recipe I want to share is No-Knead Dinner Rolls from the Pioneer Woman. Another super easy, super delicious find.

 I made these almost exactly as directed. I did halve the recipe, and it still made 24 rolls. I also used almond milk instead of milk, because we had a dinner guest that couldn't tolerate any dairy whatsoever. And I topped them with margarine instead of butter for the same reason.

Photo is from the Pioneer Woman herself, because you know she takes way better photos than I do:

The World According to Jupiter

The Leash:
I know what that is! I'm ready! I'm ready! Here I am! Ready! Ready!

The Walk:
All is good and right with the world.

The Jog:
Oh yeah, this thing? This thing we are doing right now? This thing is the way it is done.

The Point:
There. There it is. It is right THERE. THERE. No, don't pull me; my muscles are frozen in place. It is RIGHT THERE. THERE. THERE. Right THERE.

The Squirrel:
That's right. You better run.

The Rabbit:
SWEET HEAVEN HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!

The Cat:
Hey! Hey you! Hey you right there! Hey! I'm talking to you! Run, you! Why don't you run? Disrespectful creature. Hey!

The Other Dog:
Hey there. Hey baby. Hey handsome. Hey....come on over and play. I'll show you how to play, you sweet girl, you handsome boy. I'm not picky... come on over and play.

The Escape:
Who's the dog? I'm the dog! Can't catch the dog! Look at me! Look at me go! Can't catch me! Look at me sit. I sit so nice....come a little closer human...see how I'm sitting? PSYCH!!!! Can't catch me! I'm the dog!!!

The Coat:
What is that? I'm not wearing that. Gangstas don't wear coats. Ok, fine. You have it on me, but now I don't want to go outside anymore. How you like them apples?

The Dog Food:
What is that? I'm not eating that. I smelled what you ate, and it isn't that. I have no interest in that. At least, not while you are watching.

The Squeak Toy:
Squeak! Squeak! My squeak! Look at me with my squeak! I have a squeak! My squeak!

The Rawhide Bone:
Bone! Bone! My bone! Look at me with my bone! I have a bone! My bone! I must take my bone outside and parade around the yard with it.

The Ball:
Ball! Ball! I see the ball! You have the ball! Yes! Ball! .........Where did the ball go? I don't understand. What do you want me to do? I'm so confused. I'm just gonna bite my butt.

The Bath:
I hate you. I hate you all.

The Human Food:
I smell good things. I smell good things and no human is in the kitchen. The good things are mine.

The Garbage Can:
I smell good things. I smell a whole smorgasbord of good things. I must stick my face in it and feast.

The Thunderstorm:
Doomed! We are all doomed! Doooooommmmmed. Doooommmmed.

The Laundry Machines:
The thunderstorm is inside! Doomed! We are all doomed! Dooooommmed. Dooooooooooooooommmmm.

Making Memories: Christmas Elves

We've been invaded. Maybe infested.

It started on the first of December. We woke up to see this on our table.

The little green ribbons each had a line of a silly elf song. When Sweetling had put the ribbons in the correct order, they sang...

We are Christmas elves,
And our jolly selves...
The days we'll count down
Till Christmas comes round,
O, We are Christmas elves.

Behind the elves was a folder with the following transcript....

The Great Assembly convened at half-past Cookie o'clock on Counting Eve. Four hoondred and twizzenty elves are in attendance. Insufficient sprinkles and party hats led to procedural delays, but emergency pixie stick rations have been distributed and the Czar has taken the podium.

The Czar of Twinkling Toes (CoTT): All rise and dance. The Assembly recognizes the Right and Mischievous Count Von Marshmallow (CVM) in today's proceedings.

CVM:
Sales, commercials and waaaaay too dry fruitcake,
Do not a holiday make.
Where's all the MAGIC? The LOVE, the FUN?!
We're talking CHRISTMAS, for heaven's sake!

We need JOLLY, and SPARKLES and...
All elves lean in
ANTICIPATION! To grace just one family's dwelling.
Once we do our part, the cheer will do its...
Joy will spread far beyond quelling!

CoTT: Let the record show that the Right and Mischievous Count Von Marshmallow has not made a motion. Count, Assembly Law requires that you either put forth a motion at this time or cede your rhyme.

CVM does the electric slide.

CoTT: Thank you, Count. Please continue.

CVM: My jabber is just, and my solution is simple,
I've even found the right family's home!
I've searched the Earth over--you can trust this dimple--
Their imaginations are like fertile loam.

We'll send a contingent, we have 25 days,
to inspire and scheme and make messes!
We'll travel tonight; there will be no more delays,
We'll return with tales and successes!

CoTT: Do we have a second for the Count's proposition?
Dr. Peppermint jingles her bell.
CoTT: Thank you, Dr. Peppermint. The Assembly will now vote. All in favor, jingle.
The room erupts in jingle bells.
All opposed, cough out snide remarks.
The hall is silent.

CoTT: Let the record show the proposition has been approved unanimously! Operation Countdown will be implemented immediately. Wee elves are on the cake!
Dr. Peppermint: Please let the record show that the Czar meant 'case.'
CoTT: What? Why would we want a case? Is there a cake _inside_ the case?
Dr. Peppermint: ...No?
CoTT: What? There's no cake? You mean the case is filled with solid...frosting?! My fellow fae, this is--
Inaudible. Inaudible. The crowd is too raucous. The Assembly is dismissed and a search ensues for the case of frosting.

We weren't quite sure what to make of the elves at first. And perhaps, the elves weren't quite sure what to make of us, or perhaps they were a little shy. At any rate, they just sat on the table all day on Sunday. Other than having to brush off a few sparkly sequins that they had spread all over the table, no one in our family took much note of the elves.

The next morning, we woke up to find that the elves had left this on our bathroom mirror.

Sweetling brought me the report. She also told me that the elves had, fortunately, used the vis-a-vis markers. Otherwise, said she, the elves might be in big trouble.

The next morning, Toa of Boy woke up and immediately asked where the elves were. I told him that he should eat his breakfast before he looked for them. He would have, except that there were no plates in the cupboard. Instead there were these three signs.

I began to worry that perhaps our elves had a bit of Nac Mac Feegle in their ancestry.

Fortunately, the elves were found not too far away in the pantry, where they had assembled a sweet surprise.

We had powdered sugar donuts for our morning snack at 10.

The next night, the elves pulled the penguins into their fun.

Toa of Boy had a few comments to make about the elves' spelling skills.

The next morning, we learned their understanding of printed game rules didn't seem to be much better. Said Sweetling, "I don't think the elves know what game they are playing."

You can just glimpse the Uno cards marking 20 more days in the background. The 2 is upside down.

They can nail a candy cane trapeze though.

Chess and flux might be beyond the elves, but they proved proficient with the Wii. They left an 18 in the case with the Wii disc. Sweetling discovered it when she and Toa very kindly put the Wii-motes away and cleaned up after the elves.

It isn't all overnight tricks either. If you don't watch these little guys like a hawk, they sneak off during the day for more play.

And sometimes, we think they might sneak off for black-ops missions.

Making Memories: Homemade Whoknew?

Cranium has a great game (one of their manys) called Whoonu. But, truth to be told, we prefer our homebrewed version of the game. Here's how it works.

Materials needed:

• creativity
• index cards
• pencils
• scrap paper for score keeping

First, you need to cut a bunch of 3x5 index cards into halves or fourths or something. Basically you need several small cards for each person to write on. (Say 8-15 cards per person depending on how many players you have and how many rounds you want to play).

Second, you distribute an equal number of cards to each person. Each person also needs a pencil.

Third, each person writes one specific thing that people might like on each card. (If your index cards are lined on one side, write on the lined side). The more specific the better, so as to avoid duplicates. So, "Graeter's double chocolate chip ice cream" is a better bet than "ice cream". These can be nouns, activities, whatever. Players need to complete this step without discussing or comparing what they write on their cards. Print neatly so that others can read your card easily.

Fourth, all the cards are placed face down on the table and shuffled. (Given the nature of the card quality, just put them in a pile and mix them up a bit. Think back to your "Go Fish" days when your five year old hands were too clumsy to shuffle cards correctly.) After they are shuffled, the cards can be neatly stacked.

Fifth, each player is dealt four cards. It's perfectly all right to get some of the cards you wrote. That won't matter during game play.

Now....actual game play progresses as follows.

One player is chosen to go first. You can go with the youngest or the oldest or the player whose birthday is next or roll a dice or whatever. That player is the first "judge".

All other players pick ONE card from their hands that they think the judge will really like. They lay their cards face down in front of the judge. The judge mixes up the cards and then turns them face up and reads them all aloud.

The judge then puts them in order from the card they like best to the card they like least. This can be a difficult process and the judge is encouraged to think it through out loud. Other players can contribute suggestions and try to sway the judge's opinions as long as they do not reveal which card they laid down.

Once the judge has ranked the cards, the cards are scored. For a game with 6 players you score 10 points for the favorite, 7 for the second favorite, 5 for the next one, 3 points, and then 1 point for the least favorite. (You can adjust the scale for more or fewer players as needed. Make the favorite worth 12 points or take off the 1 point score or whatever. But each player should be able to get a score each round.)

Once the cards have been scored, the players claim the cards they laid down, and their scores are recorded on the score sheet. REMEMBER, the players get the scores of the cards they played, regardless of who the author of the card was!

All players draw another card to have four cards in their hands. The player to the judge's left becomes the new judge.

Play continues until all the cards are gone or until the majority of the players vote the game over. We've never run into that as a problem. In fact, we sometimes play till all the cards are gone....then go cut up another bunch of index cards.

Sweetling and Toa of Boy played the homebrewed Whoknew? with their cousins the day after Thanksgiving. I found the stack of cards they made and have to share them.

• Being the all powerful super sugary epic insanity merican of taco incorperations EVERYWHERE
• DoctorWho
• Slippery Ducks
• ALPACAA
• Nyan Cat
• The M.r fluffy friend.
• Minecraft PVP
• Pecawn PIEE
• orange
• Jumpropes
• Hobbits
• Hungers Deens
• Girfar Jiggle Stand
• DerpDerp Day
• being a ninja
• Phineas and Ferb
• one direction
• freddy
• Charades
• dry ice & soap
• Gravity Falls
• bubble gum
• Cookie Clicker
• hump day
• Smokey the Bear
• singing
• children
• otters
• Pokemon
• creepers
• Beagles
• PoP music

Thanksgiving Menu: with links

Once again, this isn't for you....this is for me. Not to sound selfish or anything, but there you go. Of course, you are welcome to use the recipes and the links....but I need a quick reference guide while I'm in the kitchen.

My sister makes a spreadsheet with all her recipes, ingredients, prep work, times, etc. I have a list on the kitchen whiteboard and this post. (though I will add cooking start times and dates to the kitchen whiteboard list.)

Here we go:

Thanksgiving Day:

Turkey (The Jedi is picking up our pre-ordered smoked turkey from SmoQ on Wednesday afternoon.)
Gravy (I have no idea. Put out a plea on Facebook. Likely going to end up buying a jar. Yuck.)
Stuffing. (Stovetop. It's what my family likes best. I aim to please.)
Sweet potato casserole. (prep wed, bake thurs)
Mashed potatoes. (in the crock pot. I think I'll boil and mash them the day before and pop them in the crock pot to heat up the morning of. Also, the Jedi hates sour cream. Substituting velveeta cheese. I swear it will work.)
Corn
Snow Peapods (minus the mushrooms, cause I want my kids to eat them)
Rolls (prep and prebake Wed, finish Thurs)
Caramel Apple Nut Pie (the Jedi picked up a frozen one from GFS. I just need to bake it Thursday a.m. or Wed p.m.)
Pumpkin Pie. (I have a yummy recipe for deep dish pumpkin pie. but this year I'm just going to bake traditional pumpkin pie. Recipe on the can, because I'm not even baking it down from a whole pumpkin this year.)
Flourless Chocolate Cake

Day After (Thanksgiving Repeat with cousins who left us for Florida. The traitors.)

All of the above reheated, PLUS

GF version of Sweet Potato Casserole (yeah, I don't know. I'm going to use GF bisquick in place of the flour and cross my fingers and hope.)
Brazilian Cheese Rolls
Peach Pake

Two for Tuesday: GF Cheese Rolls; Snow Peapods

Both of these recipes come to me via Christopher Robin, who knows my google-fu skills are weak. I have no where she originally found them.

Sweet Tiff from co-op was kind enough to bring me a bag of tapioca starch (same thing as tapioca flour). That saves me from hunting it down at the grocery store!

GF Cheese Rolls....better known as

 Brazilian Cheese Bread

                                                                      ...who knew?

Simple and gluten-free Brazilian cheese bread, or Pão de Queijo, made with tapioca flour, milk, eggs, olive oil, and cheese.

The recipe as presented is fairly basic. Feel free to dress it up a bit with herbs or spices of your choice.
•    Prep time: 5 minutes
•    Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
•    1 egg*
•    1/3 cup olive oil
•    2/3 cup milk
•    Scant 1 1/2 cups (170 grams) tapioca flour
•    1/2 cup (packed, about 66 grams) grated cheese, your preference, though we got the best results from Mexican farmer's cheese - queso fresco
•    1 teaspoon of salt (or more to taste)
Special equipment recommended:
•    One or two mini muffin tins. Mini muffin tins are about half the size of a regular muffin pan. The muffin openings are about 1-inch deep, and 1 3/4 inch wide at the top.
*It helps when baking with eggs to start with eggs at room temperature. If you don't plan ahead (that would be me, usually) you can put the egg in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes to gently take off the chill of the fridge.

Method

1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a mini-muffin tin. Put all of the ingredients into a blender and pulse until smooth. You may need to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender so that everything gets blended well. At this point you can store the batter in the refrigerator for up to a week.

2 Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until all puffy and just lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for a few minutes.

Eat while warm or save to reheat later.

Note that Brazilian cheese bread is very chewy, a lot like Japanese mochi.

Yield: Enough batter for 16 mini muffin sized cheese breads.

******

Mushrooms and Snow Pea Pods

When making this for my family on Thanksgiving, I think I will have to omit the mushrooms. I do want my children to at least try it! I'll half all the spices and broths and such to reflect the reduced volume. But what I'm posting here is the original recipe, with its original amounts.

Ingredients:

• 6 oz mushrooms, button, fresh
• 6 oz pea pods, fresh or frozen
• ½ t sugar
• 1 t salt
• 1 t sherry
• 2 T chicken broth
• 2 T cooking oil

Directions: 

1. Stir fry oil and pea pods for one minute.  Add mushrooms and stir fry additional minute.
2. Add salt, sherry, and sugar, stir fry one minute.
3. Add broth, stir fry one minute.
4. Serve immediately.

Cincinnati Dayscapes: Arcade Legacy

Looking for a fun, reasonably priced, indoor activity for the family to enjoy?

Let me recommend Arcade Legacy in Cincinnati Mills mall.

Arcade Legacy is packed full of lots of old and new arcade games, a row of pinball machines, three tables of console games, two 'big screen' projections (one with a console game and one with guitar hero...i think...), plus a ddr machine, a ping pong table, and likely a few other things that I'm forgetting. ALL the games are unlimited play included with the price of admission.

Friday nights are family nights. The whole family (everyone living in the same house) gets in for $20. You can also add in a few friends for $5 each.

How long can you stay? As long as you want. Can you leave and get something to eat and then come back. Absolutely. You get a wristband when you pay that's good for the whole day. (I even saw one family bring in Little Ceasar's pizzas and eat at a big table that looked like it was set up to be a snack/food table....but I would recommend calling them and verifying that outside food is ok before you plan on it.)

We went tonight and met our Florida cousins who were in town for Thanksgiving and friends and cousins of cousins. Toa of Boy got to hang out with his Minecraft posse.

We stayed for three hours and had a great time. Absolutely a win of a place!

Daybook: Shoeboxes and Tetnus Shots

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...the birdfeeder needs to be brought in, cleaned, and refilled. The TWO birdfeeders need to be brought in, cleaned, and refilled. I think I'm beginning to see the downside to this hobby.


I am thinking...that I am not coming out from my little penguin blanket cocoon until the temperatures are once again consistently above 60. Also, cocoon is a weird word to spell.

I am thankful...for the fifty-eight Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes a small group of co-op students packed up today.

In the kitchen...I stopped by Aldi's on the way home from the shoebox packing party. I picked up a refrigerated pizza, a box of hot wings, a box of sweet bbq wings, and a box of chicken tenders. Move over Martha Stewart.

I am wearing...a penguin blanket. Under that is my pink turtleneck with the pretty little snowflake necklace a Brunswick elf made for me, jeans, and unicorn slippers. I am a living fashion plate.

I am creating...shhhhhhh....it's a secret.

I am going...to the dentist sometime this week I hope. Toa of Boy has a loose tooth. The loose tooth looks suspiciously like a permanent tooth and not very much like a baby tooth.

I am wondering...can I make my Thanksgiving rolls on Wednesday? They won't be warm on Thursday. But, they'll be done....and that's worth a lot. Also, we have six people for Thanksgiving. And two pies and one cake. And I think I need to add another baked good. Ooooo....I know! Peach pake! 

(Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey footnote here. I went to bed at this point on Monday evening and am writing the rest of this daybook on Tuesday morning. Thus change in tense and day and what not.)

I am reading...haven't started Ender's Game yet. I am doing a Bible study on the life of Abraham called The Magnificent Obsession. I'm just using the participant's guide, not the book by Anne Graham Lotz.

I am hoping...that this week comes together as easily as the last couple weeks have. I've gone off my 'to-do' list and am trying to take a Mary approach to life rather than a Martha approach. But, that's hard to do on Tuesday morning when all I can think of is all the stuff that needs to get done.

I am looking forward to...my cousin and his family coming over the Friday after Thanksgiving. They moved to Florida last fall and we haven't seen them since. Sweetling and Toa of Boy really like getting together with their kids and we really like getting together with the grown-ups. We used to get together at least once a month....but alas, those good times had to come to an end.

I am learning....that my pediatrician's office doesn't have Toa of Boy's shot records on file. I kind of think that in the five years we've been a patient there, someone should have asked me about that on one of our well-child visits. Instead I find out when I call to make sure Toa of Boy is up to date on his tetnus vaccine because he took a nasty fall in the woods last night. I'm a little miffed about this.

Around the house...don't ask me about the house. The house needs vacuumed. The laundry needs done. The dishwasher needs unloaded. The bathroom needs cleaned. The tub needs scrubbed. The house is not in a good state this morning.

I am pondering...there have been a few other 'glitches' at my doctor's office. Every time one of those happens I think about switching to a pediatrician for the kids. But, I don't really want to wind up in a group of pediatricians where its spin the wheel to see who sees your child. I like having a family doctor that sees both me and the kids, who knows my family, who supports homeschooling, etc. So, I never switch doctors. I like my doctor; I don't like her office staff.

A favorite quote for today...elephants. It's not a quote, but there is a herd of elephants escorting Sweetling around the house this morning. Last night the discussion was, if we had access to a shrink ray and could make elephants small enough to be house pets, what would a good size be for a pet elephant?

One of my favorite things...God's hand is on my day and on my life. I don't have to worry about the big picture. I just have to be faithful moment-by-moment. That's hard enough in itself.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Tuesday: tetnus shot? Call the dentist. Call Lazer Kraze and pre-pay to save our spot for Wednesday. Vacuum and clean.
Wednesday: laundry? school. Lazer Kraze.
Thursday: grocery store. school. Y classes.
Friday: Week TWO of the Jedi's holiday time! We might be going to the range. Also, I need to bake and decorate cake for a first birthday.
Saturday: Vaya's baby's first birthday. Dr. Who's 50th anniversary special. Originally a souffle was to be made that morning, but the birthday party preempted that.

A peek into my day...
No peeks. No peeks for you. Some horrible person forgot to take a SINGLE picture at our shoebox packing party. That horrible person could kick herself for that right now :(

---Format courtesy of The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Week in Review: Achoo!

Of all the great weeks with the great projects that I didn't take the time to write about, it's the week where a cold kicked our butts that I'm blogging about.

We limped through this week.

On the plus side, Sweetling has a new weekly schedule that seems to be working really well for her.

Last week she got everything done, including the first art lesson from her Artistic Pursuits curriculum, something that hasn't happened yet this school year.

(This week, not so much, but I'm counting the new schedule as a win.)

For Toa of Boy, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Minecraft is the best thing that has happened to Toa of Boy's education. Usually, he flies through his schoolwork so that he can get on Skype with his Minecraft buddies. Again, this week, not as much. This week both Toa and I struggled to function through sinus congestion. We skipped fractions altogether. We spent extra time just reading.

But, since it's been a while since I've blogged, let me take this chance to do a quick update on one change we made to Toa's curriculum that I really like.

A few weeks ago, we started using the book Spelling Power.

It promises spelling in just 15 minutes a day (which was my selling point to get Toa of Boy on board). It doesn't lie.

We start with a quick pre-test of spelling words. We set a timer for 5 minutes. I read the word from the awesomely organized word lists. Toa repeats it (so I can check his pronunciation. If he doesn't pronounce it correctly, he won't have much of a chance of spelling it correctly.) Then he writes it, and we check his spelling. If he can spell it correctly, we move on to the next word. If he can't, we immediately spell it correctly in the 'words to learn' column. We get through a good amount of words in just five minutes. When the timer goes off, we are done with that section.

Generally, Toa only has a couple of words in his "words to learn" column, so we don't do the 10-step study sheet every day. (That's not how the program is designed, but Toa feels rewarded by not having to do the middle section every day.) So, when Toa has accumulated at least five words in his "words to learn" column, we take 5 minutes and do the 10-step study sheet. It's fast; it's simple; and it's effective.

Lastly, I write his 'words to learn' on small cards that accumulate in a little plastic box. (I take 3x5 index cards and cut them in quarters.) He picks an activity card (lots of different hands on activities) and spends five minutes practicing a few of his word cards. Each time he practices a word card, I mark it with a little penciled x. When he has practiced a word card three different times I clip it in a 'completed' stack. When he has about 15 or so 'completed' cards, we retest those words during the first 5 minute spelling block. If he spells them correctly on that second go round, I throw the card in the garbage. (Again, this is a little different than how the program prescribes. The program suggests retesting the words to learn the very next day. I find that delaying a few days really helps to guarantee that Toa has mastered the word.)

Toa likes using a timer. He likes knowing that each section of spelling only takes five minutes. He likes that he is only spending time studying and practicing words that he needs to learn. This is by far the most successful spelling program we have tried. It has been so successful, that Toa of Boy (whose most hated subject for years was spelling) has come to me and requested words to be added to his spelling list because he wants to learn how to spell them. That, my dear friends, is a successful spelling program.

Despite limping through the school work, this week ended on a spectacular note. Every year, the Jedi spends some of his unused vacation days (those that won't roll into the next year). He manages to take every Friday off in December, and many Fridays off in November. This week was the first of those....so from here until 2014....we have three day weekends!

To kick off our holidays, we packed today with fun activities. We went to an 11 o'clock showing of Thor: The Dark World in 3d! That was awesome!

After the movie, we came home for 'specialty' sandwiches. I make a habit of grabbing yummy loaves of flavored bakery bread off the discounted day-old bread rack at the stores. We slice them and load them with ham and turkey and cheese (and veggies for those who want it). Then I slather them with butter and grill them and serve them with a side of fresh fruit. It's like a gourmet deli sandwich.

The Jedi got a little yard work done and I got some co-op emails done. We had time for a nap. Then we had spaghetti for dinner and went to see Despicable Me 2 at Danbarry dollar saver theater.

We capped off the night with dessert at BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. (Delicious pizookies and strawberry beignets.) Back at home, everyone wound down by spending time on their own computer activities. (Toa played Minecraft; Sweetling is probably on some forums chatting about Thor; the Jedi is leveling up a rp character; and I blogged.)

Perfect, perfect start to the holiday season!

Simple Woman's Daybook: Jumping Back into Blogging

I know. Months without blogging and now, what, three posts in one night?

I wanted to write this on Monday at co-op....but, co-op is a busy place.

I really want to get back to blogging regularly. Ideally, I want to have at least two posts a week...a Two for Tuesday and a Week in Review.

But first, I need to get over my guilt at having let my blog slide, forget all the posts that I meant to write, but never did...and just start blogging again.

Easiest way to do that is with a Simple Woman's Daybook. Don't worry about my "to-write" list. Just focus on the now.

FOR TODAY


Outside my window...
Last week I put up a bird feeder. Two in fact. In my front yard on a double shepherd's hook. I can see them from my kitchen window. (Yes, my kitchen faces the front of the house.) I got two bird identification guides from the library and signed up for project feeder watch. So far it's attracted several house sparrows, three cardinals (one male and two female), a pair of house finches, and at least one chickadee. In my backyard, I think I saw a Northern Flicker.

I am thinking...
Writing is hard. Writing is so hard.

I am thankful...
For how well school is going with both kids this year. This is what homeschooling should be, I think. Sweetling has a really, really heavy workload, but it's mostly things that she wanted to learn. Her new weekly schedule seems to be working well for her. And Minecraft is the best thing that has ever happened to Toa of Boy's education.

In the kitchen...
Fish tacos were not as yummy as they sounded. Oh, the fish tacos Sweetling made a couple of years ago from scratch were delicious. The frozen fish stick tacos I tossed together after a long day at co-op were about as good as one would expect frozen fish stick tacos to taste.

I am wearing...
Jeans, unicorn slippers, an old college honors society sweatshirt, a wool wrap. I was wearing electrically heated gloves that plug into a usb cable or something while I type, but I took those off to facilitate the nose wiping. Sexy, I know.

I am creating...
Germs. Maybe a year of pies. Not at the same time though. My pies are germ free. Thus I prove that I am sexy and have great marketing skills.

I am going...
To see Thor: The Dark Planet on Friday. The Jedi is home every Friday for the rest of the year. It's one of my favorite parts of the Christmas holidays. Agents of Shield next Tuesday has a Thor tie in. Thus, a movie trip is in order.

I am wondering...
Where I can buy an inexpensive elf on the shelf. I need an elf. I've given up on a house elf, but think an elf on the shelf is withing my power to acquire.

I am reading...
Ender's Game. Or re-reading it. Toa and I are reading Michael Vey and the Prisoner of Cell 25 together as his literature read aloud. I've read all three of the Michael Vey books, because it was my job to pre-read them, of course. Not that I got sucked into the story line and had to find out WHAT HAPPENED. That never happens to me.

I am hoping...
To get over this cold soon. Toa of Boy has had this lingering cough for at least a week now.

I am looking forward to...
Fridays. I love having the Jedi home for several three-day weekends in a row.

I am learning...
That I can't tell the difference between a black-capped chickadee and a carolina chickadee. Personally, I think it's very unfair that an Ohio girl should have to worry about a carolina chicakee, but apparently Cincinnati is graced with both varieties. Lucky me.

Around the house...
Clutter. I suffer with severe flat-surface syndrome. Fortunately, there is a medication derived from the cocoa tree that can relieve my symptoms.

I am pondering...
Why, at 11:10, I just got an email from my daughter whose school night bedtime is supposed to be 10:30.

A favorite quote for today...
"I shot a superior officer in the chest." (Simmons, Agents of Shield).

One of my favorite things...
How quick the Jedi is to help me, fix things for me, and take care of me.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Wednesday: pick up Sweetling's holds from the library. Bellydance class at the Y was on the list, but we'll see how much energy the cold leaves me with.
Thursday: Y classes, if the energy is there. Though, I think I can do the stretching class and skip the stability ball/core strength training.
Friday: Thor.
Saturday: house cleaning party at a friend's before her surgery, shoebox packing at church, gaming :)

A peek into my day...
Slept in. Fed the dog. Stared at the snow on the ground. Snow. No birds at the feeder. Made my breakfast. Started my devotions. Got a shower. History and Bible with Sweetling and Toa. Vacuumed. Swept the kitchen floor. Sorted and started laundry. Made and ate lunch and watched Code Lyoko prequel with Sweetling. Transferred laundry, straightened my hair, took Jupiter for a walk. Not a jog. I'm not jogging in the cold. I can't figure out how to stay warm and not sweat. Did school with Toa. Figured out the bird I saw in the backyard was probably a northern flicker. Wrote two blog posts. Let my family scrounge for leftovers in the fridge. Played hookey from evening Y classes. Watched Downton Abby and ate tacos. Watched Agents of Shield with Sweetling and the Jedi and drank hot chocolate. Ignored the laundry still in the machines and wrote this blog post instead.


(add your picture here)
You'll note there is no picture. I think I should make another goal for Friday be "ask the Jedi to teach me how to get pictures off of both my phone and the camera. I can't do either.

Two for Tuesday: Gaming Recipes

This first recipe was discovered by the Jedi at a potluck at work. It was appropriately called "Crack Dip" for it's additive qualities. He brought the recipe home along with an injunction that we must make it on our next gaming night.

We did.

It was well received. And very well named.

It isn't healthy. Not even remotely. Don't come here for healthy recipes.

Crack Dip

Ingredients--

• 1 lb. Bob Evans sausage regular or hot (red wrapper)
• 2 blocks cream cheese cubed – do not use low or no fat (why would you even consider that?)
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes with diced chilies – do not drain

Directions--

1.  Brown sausage in pan. (Usually grease is cooked off but drain if needed.)
2. Add cream cheese and Rotel tomatoes.
3. Blend until creamy smooth. (Can be transferred to a crock pot to be kept warm.)
4. Serve with tortilla chips. (The 'scoops' variety works very well.)

I don't have a picture. Sorry. Don't come here for pictures either.

This next recipe I have for you comes from ShugarySweets, which is my new favorite source of dessert and snack recipes. I didn't change anything, not a thing, from her directions. They were perfect and the treat was sinfully good.

So, pretty much, I'm bringing you crack and sin today.

I 'm just going to give you a link to her outstanding recipe and steal a picture from her blog so that you know how much you need to visit her blog and make this recipe. It does make a lot, so be prepared to take it to a pot luck, or cut up the leftovers and make little thank-you presents for teachers or secretaries or something.

Butterfinger Fudge Cookie Bars

Trust me, you won't regret making these. Your waistline might regret it, but I can't help that.

Year of Pies

Back story:

Late last winter, I brought home from the library the book, A Year of Pies. Because, after all, my family needed a year of pies.

We tried three recipes from the book, and found that they weren't quite the sweet, old-fashioned flavors we were looking for. They were good and they were unique, but they weren't the comfort food that I expect in a pie.

(Sweetling called them "Hippy Pies." There was, in fact, a recipe for a fern pie made from freshly harvested fern fronds, but we didn't try that one.)

The book did have the absolute best recipe and directions for a pie crust that I have ever encountered. And that includes the personal instructions and tutoring of my Mammaw, who was the best of country cooks.

Those beautiful step-by-step directions and the clear accompanying photographs made the book a treasure of a find.

There is no way I can do those pie crusts justice by reposting any of them here. (And yes, pie crusts, plural. The book had butter-shortening or all butter traditional crusts as well as four different types of crumb style crusts.)

You must find, beg, borrow, purchase, steal a copy of this book to learn to make the most flavorful, flaky, perfect crusts ever:

Nevertheless, there was some disappointment in my home over the actual pie recipes. That, and Toa of Boy felt cheated that "A Year of Pies" didn't mean three hundred sixty-five pies.

This fall, when the weather was cooler and it was time to start baking pies again, I got the book back out of the library. I need that perfect pie crust recipe.

The return of the book sparked a dinnertime conversation about what "A Year of Pies" might look like. A pie a day is just crazy. A pie a week is possible. Very, very possible. But, a pie every OTHER week is much more realistic.

So, from now until I get tired of doing this, I bring you....

Mrs. Random's Year of Pies. 

I might even sweet talk the Sweetling into making a graphic for me.

Now, the first pie I bring to you is a crustless pie. This will give you time to find a copy of Ashley English's incomparable crust recipe. I'm serious about this. Don't settle for a crust that's adequate or even one that's pretty good. Go for the best. Ashley English is the absolute best.

In the meantime, I'll be super ambitious and try to share three crustless pies in November.

The first, and the best, was originally titled "Fudge Pie". I'll post the directions exactly as they were given to me, and add my notes in little parenthetical italics. (Like this.) The original recorder put in his own parenthetical comments. Don't get confused. Clearly mine are the wiser quips.

Here is the fudge pie recipe. It serves 8-10 people, or 1 chocaholic  The changes for the chocolate chunk variation is at the bottom.

It comes from a cookbook called "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen"

11 tablespoons (1 stick + 3 tbsp) butter or margarine + more for greasing pan
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (pecans are better)

Place an oven rack in middle position, preheat to 350 degrees. Melt butter and chocolate together in a double broiler, stirring occasionally. (Seriously, use a double broiler.)

Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl, mixing them together. Add eggs, mix well. Add vanilla, salt and walnuts (pecans) and mix again. Add melted butter and chocolate, mix until thoroughly combined.

Heavily rub bottom and sides of 8-inch or 9-inch pie pan with butter. Pour mix into pie pan and bake for 25-35 minutes. Insert knife into pie after 25 minutes, repeating every 2 minutes until knife comes out clean (or almost clean, as my knife never comes out totally pristine).

Remove pie from oven and let cool on a rack, then move pie to the refrigerator for at least several hours (I prefer overnight). Serve it cold, cutting it into slices. (Ok, it does need to chill some. It never survives overnight in my house. It's lucky if it gets to sit for a couple of hours before I'm serving it up.)

For the chocolate chunk variation, it is the same except for the following:

-- Instead of 1 1/2 cups of sugar, cut back to just 1 cup (I went to 1 1/4 cups.)
-- Use 3/4 semi-sweet chocolate chunks instead of 1 cup chopped walnuts (I like 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, because they are easier AND 3/4 cup chopped pecans. What is this 'instead of' nonsense?)
-- It seems to be ready right at 25 minutes, maybe a couple minutes longer, but no more than that.

Public Service Announcement: This pie is highly addicting. It might be concentrated magic. You can bring it to someone and garner their lifelong servitute after they have partaken in its amazingness.

Boy Sleepover

Toa of Boy had three good friends spend the night. I love posting quotes and snippets about their time together. I'm that sort of mom.

Dinner was pork chops and baked potatoes, because Toa of Boy wanted a Minecraft dinner. During dinner one of the guests shared a list of bugs he had eaten, including three live flies whom, he said, he was certain he could feel crawling around in his belly. After dinner he gave me his tried and true recipe for roasting crickets. You catch the crickets and put them in the freezer to put them in a coma. Meanwhile, line a baking tray with aluminum foil. Remove crickets from freezer and pull their legs and wings off. Place them on the baking tray and bake....though he wasn't sure the exact times and temperatures but assured me that I could find the directions online. (Because you all know that roasted crickets is just moving right to the top of my menu plan. Not.)

Then, while the Jedi set up a Minecraft lan party in the basement, the boys played bull fighting up and down the hallway. They took turns being the bull and the matador. Casualties befell both man and beast. Minecraft was played until bedtime, with two breaks for grapes and popcorn and later for cake and ice cream.

Breakfast this morning was bacon omelets and cinnamon rolls. My house now smells like bacon and boy sweat.

Currently they are playing "divorce mode" on one of the Wii Mario Bros games. I can't keep track of all the titles. I'm super impressed with the fact that there is virtually no arguing going on while they are playing.

Here are my favorite quotes from the morning and evening--


"No one fall into the creeper pit. Its full of zombies, so now it's a death pit."

"Yeah but, I had to hit you."

"I shot you through the skull, so you are dead."

"Superman is wimpy."

"Let's play a game. The first person to talk looses." Followed quickly by, "I hate that game."

"That was delicious. Too bad it's gone now."

"I'm hungry."

"Can we have chocolate cake for dinner and pork chops for dessert?"

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

We've been making our own ice cream for some time now, maybe a year or more. We rarely buy store made any more. And we consume a gallon a week. Yum.

And when I say "we", I mostly mean the Jedi. He is the Ice Cream Master.

The rest of us just kick back and enjoy the deliciousness.

Until now. dun-dun-DUN!

I wanted some butter pecan to go with my tub of Heggy's hot fudge. (Best hot fudge on the planet, by the way!) So, I looked up a recipe for butter pecan....and then I changed it drastically. The recipe below makes a gallon of ice cream. Go big or go home.

Here's what I did...

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 2 qts heavy cream
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 Tbs butter
• 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Melt butter in small frying pan. Add pecans and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until just beginning to brown. DON'T BURN THEM! Remove from heat.
2. Whisk 4 eggs in a mixing bowl and set aside.
3. Measure brown sugar into large pot. Slowly add cream and stir till sugar is smoothly blended. Heat over medium high burner while stirring till cream just begins to simmer. Again, don't you let that yummy cream scorch. Remove from heat.
4. Now you need to temper your eggs. Here's how. You need to grab a ladle full of your cream and slowly pour it into your eggs while whisking them. Repeat. The goal here is to slowly bring your eggs up to the temperature of your cream. If you do add the hot cream mixture too quickly, your eggs will cook. Gross. You don't want bite sized chunks of eggs in your ice cream. Again, gross.
5. When you have a hot mixture of eggs and cream, slowly stir it back into the pot with the rest of the cream. Turn the heat back on and bring it close to, but not to, a simmer. (The original recipe said test for doneness by inserting a spoon. Mixture is done when it coast the back of a spoon and you can wipe a clean stripe off with your finger. I have no idea what that's talking about. All I can say is, you are dealing with raw eggs. Make sure you get them to a germ killing temp and keep them there for a couple minutes.)
6. Remove from heat.
7. Stir in vanilla.
8. Transfer your pecans to a small container and put them in the freezer. Transfer your cream mixture to a large container and put it in your fridge. It needs to cool down and get chilled before you can make ice cream.
9.  When the cream is honest to goodness refrigerator cold, then make ice cream in your ice cream machine. When the cream is thick and done being processed in the machine, then stir in the pecans, transfer it all back into a large container, and put it in the freezer to harden off. 

Two for Tuesday: Strawberry Lemonade & Peanut Butter Pie

Two for Tuesday is back!

One of my goals for myself while I'm on a self-imposed Facebook fast is to get back to regular posts on my blog.

Thus, the return of Two for Tuesday :)

First up..... strawberry lemonade.

This stuff is to die for! We had some strawberry lemonade at Longhorn Steakhouse (where we went for our anniversary dinner.) It was yummy, so I found a recipe on my phone. We stopped and picked up strawberries and lemons on our way home. The next day was Saturday. The Jedi ran the smoker and put three racks of ribs in. We had another family over for dinner, and I made this strawberry lemonade.

The drink we had a Longhorn was good.....the homemade stuff was much much much better.

Warning, it can be a bit labor intensive, so I recommend recruiting a couple of children to help. I'm all about free child labor.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 4 cups water, divide
• 2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice (4 to 5 lemons)

Directions

1. Combine one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a small sauce pan. Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture is clear. Remove from heat and let it cool.
2. Rinse and hull your strawberries. (Or give this task to an older child to be working on while you are making the sugar syrup.)
3. Put strawberries and one cup cold water in a food processor. Run it till the mixture is pretty smooth. Transfer to a pitcher and stir in 2 more cups of cold water.
4. Cut your lemons in half and juice them. THIS IS NOT THAT HARD, even without a fancy juicer. Check out this video on how to juice lemons with a fork. (And again, grab a couple of kids to help.)
5. Pour the cup of lemon juice and the cooled sugar syrup into the pitcher and stir.
6. You may know chill the mixture for up to 8 hours. (It will need stirred again before you pour it.) OR you can serve it right away. 
7. Either way, when you are ready to serve, fill clear glasses two-thirds full with ice. (Yes, the glasses do need to be transparent; this is too pretty to hide behind opaque plastic.) Then pour your homemade strawberry lemonade over the ice. I like to pop a pretty colored straw in the glasses too. This will make enough to fill 8 glasses. 

And my second recipe for the day is...peanut butter pie. 

This one is nice for these last dog days of summer because it doesn't require much, if any, baking. I threw this together at the last minute when I needed something to take to a friend's house. I didn't have a prepared graham cracker crust on hand, so I made one. Sweetling and the Jedi don't care for chocolate, so using Oreos as a crust wasn't an option. (I did have heavy cream on hand. I pilfered the Jedi's ice cream making ingredients and bought another carton for him from the store the next day.)

Here's the recipe I used, and aside from swapping out the crust, I followed it and it worked perfectly. It's late, and I'm lazy, so I'm just going to post a link.

I didn't put shaved chocolate on the top, but I did make the hot fudge sauce to put on slices. The hot fudge sauce was ok, but it wasn't Heggy's. I'm still on a quest to find a hot fudge sauce recipe comparable with Heggy's. I also made a strawberry sauce from scratch, for the non-chocolate lovers....but I was told that the strawberry did not go with the pie as much as I thought it should. I was told that caramel would have been a better topping option. 

Menu Plan

Again, super boring. Don't come to this blog for bling. I got no pictures and no witty comments. Just a list of days and some recipe links.

Wednesday: Beef and Rice Enchiladas

Thursday: Chicken Alfredo

Friday: Cheddarwurst and Mac and Cheese

Saturday: leftovers?

Sunday: Japanese Beef Bowls

Monday: Rotisserie Chicken, butter noodles, broc n cheese

Tuesday: Manicotti

MAKE AHEAD for Monday--

Bacon and Egg Cups

Pepperoni Pinwheels; Ham and Cheese Pinwheels.

The Perfect Blueberry Muffin

I have no idea how I had the good fortune to stumble across this recipe. All I have of it is a food splattered print-out in Toa of Boy's recipe binder. The corner of the print out has a url for tastykitchen.com....so I have to credit that site with the recipe.

Here it is. Truly and without exageration,

 The Perfect BlueBerry Muffin.

Muffin Ingredients:

•  1 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 egg, room temp, beaten (yeah, I'm not sure how well I follow the room temp part)
• 1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and patted dry

 Topping Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 chilled unsalted butter, cubed
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1  1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400 and line muffin tin with liners.
2. Mix dry muffin ingredients together in a bowl. (I always wonder why recipes specify 'in a bowl'. Do they think I might get confused and mix up my flour in a hat?)
3. In a small bowl (not a hat), whisk milk and egg together. Add oil and whisk.
4. Add milk and egg to flour mixture and blend with a wooden spoon until all the lumps are out. The batter will be thick. Like, playdough, what have I done wrong, type thick. Don't panic.
5. Gently fold in blueberries. (This is really tough to do in playdough, but you don't want the blueberries to bust open.)
6. In another bowl, because hats are for heads, combine topping ingredients and cut in the butter.
7. Spoon batter into liners. Do not fill to top.
8. Generously sprinkle topping crumble unto muffins. Generously = pack it on, baby.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. 
10. Let them cool for 10 minutes or so before trying to remove them from the pan.
11. Be amazed at their perfection.