Happy Eight Day!!

It is August!  The last few days I have not been sleeping well.  I have fidgets (aka: Restless Leg Syndrome) and they have been bad.  Plus I have had lots going on.

Friday evening we had breakfast for dinner over at the Gerber's.  I was making lots of syrups and one in particular I ended up dropping and the hot sugary mixtures all over my floor, counter top, front of stove, outside of the cupboard doors, and on the clean dishes I had sitting out.  I just stared at it not knowing what to do.  I ended up sending Bill and the girls to the Gerber's without me so I could stay and clean.  That was an adventure and I am sure I will still find sugar cement in places I didn't notice as I clean the kitchen over the next few days.

After leaving the Gerber's, I had a lot on my mind and went to the gym to run.  It was 2 AM (so technically Saturday morning) and it helped clear my head.  I love how I can go to the gym at any time of day.  At Snap I have a key card and can get in no matter what time.  I ended up being all alone and that was good.  I think I would have freaked out had someone came in.

Yesterday my cousin's daughter got baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was nice to visit with family that I don't get to see often.

That night we went over to the Orton's for games.  We stayed there until just past 2 AM!  I tried to sleep in the next morning but couldn't.  After church I took a nap and I am still exhausted.  I don't want to get sick from lack of sleep.

Speaking of getting sick and with it being the 8th month, I immediately thought of the comedian, Brian Regan, and his bit on the ER.  So I have added it here for your to enjoy!!!

"HAPPY EIGHT DAY!!!"

On Mother's Day...

I was thinking about some things about my mom today that have helped me become the person I am today. Today I am thinking about my love of cooking. My mother was very supportive of my desire to always make stuff in the kitchen.

Even though we never really had a lot of money when I was growing up, she still bought stuff to bake with. I remember experimenting with cooking at a young age. When I was about 9 years old, I remember grabbing stuff in the cupboard and mixing it all together into a concoction of goop. I remember reading the labels of stuff I was adding and smelling them. I will never forget the first (and last) swig of my goop. It was awful. I remember only two things I put into it: paprika and nutmeg.

Around this same time in my life, I remember being in the kitchen trying to make myself a cup of chocolate milk. We usually had the powder mix. So one day, I was craving some chocolate milk and reached up into the cupboard, found what I thought was the mix, and scooped heaps of chocolaty powder into my milk. I stirred and stirred. Little clumps of powder wouldn't mix and that was my favorite part of drinking it. Bottoms up! Hacking cough and spews of what was not chocolate milk mix but baking cocoa was all over the kitchen. I will never, ever make that mistake again.

Those last two experiences happened when we lived in Marina, CA at the first house. When we were in the second house, I had an unforgettable experience. I got home from school, starving. One of my favorite things to eat then was scrambled eggs. I left the light in the kitchen off and heated up butter in the frying pan. I cracked three eggs into the pan, salted and peppered them, and stirred until done. It smelled a little funny, but I was hungry and didn't care. I scooped it out onto my plate, grabbed a fork, and went to watch TV. After getting all comfy on the couch, looked down to eat my eggs and noticed there were little black things cooking into my eggs. On closer inspection, I realized they weren't pepper specks but ants. That's right, ANTS! It has been over 20 years and I still don't look at scrambled eggs the same way.

When I was 15, I was living with my aunt and uncle for a few months. I loved to make cookies for them. I made a variety of kinds, but the two that stand out the most in my mind: the sand ball cookies and the potato chip cookies. The sand ball cookies are like Russian Tea Cake cookies and don't spread out. My cousins teased me because they thought it was supposed to look like regular cookies. So I decided I would get back at them by making a bizarre cookie without telling them what was in it before they ate them. They liked the cookies and so I told them the secret ingredient. :)

When I was 16ish, I was living in Lake Elsinore. I remember making a white layer cake with kiwi and frosted it with white frosting. I loved it. My mom, not so much. I didn't know that she was allergic to kiwis - at least it makes her tongue itch.

I started experimenting with making stuff lower fat as I got closer to age 18. I have always loved crumb cakes or coffee cakes. So I made one that was fat-free. Ohhhh man, sooo good. If you want the recipe, let me know and I will post it.

Now that I am a mom, I have had to improvise dinners. I learned from my mom how to throw things together that will taste well. I have a love of cooking that I learned from my mother. I love her very much.

Thank you mom. MORE MORE MORE! :)

Baking With My Girls

It was high time I taught my little cookie-munchers how to make the cookies they so happily devour. Today was Early-Out day which means that they are home a full two hours before they normally are. Since it was just us three, and the boys needed a treat to take to mutual tonight, I figured it was the perfect excuse to bust out the flour and get some cookies made.

I decided to start taking pictures just after the girls and I mixed the butter and sugars.


Lily is wearing my Christmas apron I won from the RMEF banquet this year. It is from the Hunter-Cowan store in town.
Rebekah is wearing the apron I made Bill a couple years ago.


Mmmm, look at that sugary-buttery concoction!


Lily usually does really well at cracking eggs for me when I make pancakes.


Lily didn't mind cleaning up the eggy mess.


Lily pouring in the eggs, while Rebekah pours in the vanilla.


Switching the mixer to on.


Now it is time for the flour. Rebekah is checking for bay leaves in the flour. You see, I keep whole bay leaves in the flour bucket and it keeps the weevils from invading my flour. I only need to add a few in this huge bucket and I am bug free!


Lily with a plastic butter knife to level the cup of flour.


Ok, my turn!! I am wearing the apron that my mother-in-law made for me.


I should know better by now than to hand over the camera to the girls when I am teaching them how to cook.... ok, so I posed for this picture... But still. :-) I am explaining to the girls what baking soda does for cookies.


See, this is me explaining how the cookie puffs up. I told you I was explaining baking soda! :-)


Rebekah adding some flour.... small amounts at a time.


I LOVE the look on Lily's face. When she was pouring the flour into the mixer, it made the flour poof up and drift everywhere. She didn't care for that much.


I let the girls pour the chocolate chips in. There are semi-sweet, white, and milk chocolate chips.


I had to explain to the girls how to stir in the chocolate chips without flinging cookie dough all over the kitchen.


Rebekah did manage to make a small amount fling out, but the girls were happy to eat the dough, so no harm done.


Lily enjoying the dough.


Rebekah REALLY wanted to eat that.


Look at the cute little cookie dough balls!!! I LOVE my cookie scooper!


Lily learning how to operate the cookie scooper.


Rebekah cracks me up in this photo. She is so gentle with that cookie dough that it looks like she is ready to tuck it in and read it a story.


It looks like Lily is blowing it kisses!


Rebekah all covered in flour scooping cookies to cool.


When all the cookie were done, Lily got the bowl and instead of using a spatula (why waste the time to get one) she used her fingers.


This is not the best picture, but this cookie looks like it is smiling at me and that chocolate chip on the left makes it look like it is sticking its tongue out at me!!


Ooooo, look at all that gooey goodness.... the kids are just waiting for the all clear.


Lily took a while but then settled on this one.


Lily so happy to finally get a baked cookie.


I love the look on her face.


She seriously did not take normal bites. She constantly gnawed at it as she shoved it in her mouth until it was gone.


Rebekah found the one she wanted.


She tore into that like a monkey on a cupcake.


Here she is saying, "Mmmmmm!"


She is trying to get the little bits of cookie off her lip.


What does a cookie need?? MILK! Lily and her milk bubble tower.


Oooo, that cookie has my name on it!! Look at all those chocolate chips!!!


Ah, this cookie is smiling at me, too!


It is cookie paradise. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.


Here is the recipe (I halved this recipe since I didn't want 10 dozen cookies)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 pound (4 sticks) butter, softened (DO NOT USE MARGARINE!)
3 large eggs (if you have to halve this like I did, just use two eggs)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional, if not used, add an additional 1/2 teaspoon vanilla)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, I rarely add it)
6 cups unbleached flour
Lots of chocolate chips (what ever kind you have on hand. I usually just dump some in until it looks good.... which is about 4 cups)
2 cups chopped nuts (optional, and I left them out this time because Lily does not like nuts in her cookies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream sugars and butter together. Blend in eggs and extracts. Mix well. Add dry ingredients, a little at a time. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by (or use cookie scoop) tablespoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet (I use Air Bake, they are the best.) Bake for 8 minutes. Let them cool on the rack for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wax paper covered wire rack.

Makes about 10 dozen.

Monday Menu Done on Sunday (10/18/09)

Well, with the kids having a 5 day weekend (gotta love Harvest Holiday, AKA Hunting Holiday) we decided to have our new menu food on Sunday and take it to a friend's house to enjoy the Sabbath and not worry about having to get to bed early because there was no school the next day.

Bill has been dying to have Shepherd's Pie since we got married. I didn't want to make it because his version sounded gross to me and what I grew up with sounded gross to him. However, he was so insistent that he wanted Shepherd's Pie that I finally told him that if he wanted it then he could make it. While this isn't a new recipe, per se, his version was new for me.

And even though I don't have exact measurements for most of the ingredients (or pictures, I was too hungry when it was finally done to think about taking any pictures), you can adjust it to your tastes.

2 1/2 lbs (or less) of ground beef
1 packet of aus jus mix
Garlic Salt
Pepper
Frozen Corn
Potatoes
Butter
Milk
Salt
Bacon
Cheese

Peel and cut up potatoes. Boil until soft enough to mash. While they are boiling, brown ground meat, garlic salt, and pepper. When meat is done (or almost done) add aus jus packet. Then stir in frozen corn. Heat on low until thoroughly warmed.
Drain potato chunks and begin to mash them. You can use an old fashioned potato masher or electric mixer. While mashing, stir in butter, salt, and milk. When mashed, stir in bacon bits (not the fake ones, these ones) until thoroughly mixed.
Spread meat mixture into 9x13. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Then start plopping on the mashed potatoes. Cover with foil and bake at 250°F until thoroughly warmed. Sprinkle bits of bacon on top of potatoes, then cheese on top of the bacon. Bake until cheese melts. Serve warm.

Now for dessert we made those Cookie Dough Pies. Granted, I have made the original recipe before, but wanted to try some fun variations. You will need to click on that link to get the recipe, but I will tell you the variations here:

I got a bag of Keebler Chips Deluxe Coconut Cookies. Between each layer of whipped cream and cookie, I sprinkled some sweetened flaked coconut on. Then when done, I drizzled chocolate syrup on top and then sprinkled a bit more coconut on top. I LOVED this one! It was VERY good.

I was going to use the Keebler Chips Deluxe Peanut Butter Cookies but the ounces of the bag were only 15 and I didn't want to buy two bags and have extra cookies to tempt me.... so I just bought the original kind and then a couple Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (I ended up using 8 PB cups). So between the layers of whipped cream and cookie, I sprinkled some chunks of chopped up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Then I also drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with more chopped up cups. This one was FABULOUS! It went the fastest.

Things were yummy that night. It is nice to have one day off a week from my diet. :-)