"It tastes better than it looks!"

That's what I had to tell Ryan last night when he looked, very skeptically, at our supper of Chile Relleno Casserole. It was tasty, but horribly unattractive. It looked a bit like radioactive sludge. (Seriously, if the three-eyed fish from the Simpson's had leapt out of it, I don't think anyone would have been shocked.) I was actually a bit glad that my camera is on the D.L., because it gave me a good excuse to not photograph it. As I said, though, it did taste fine. Not so fine, though, that it's going to make the Repeat List. It basically tasted like enchiladas sans tortillas. And I like my enchiladas a lot better. In fact, how about I share that recipe instead? (I'll just post all the recipes at the end of the post.)

Supper tonight was delicious, but, once again, not photo-worthy. Ryan had to work, so I took the easy route: I heated up some of the frozen leftovers in the freezer. We had Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole and Corn Choup (ala, Rachel Ray). The casserole is super easy. The Choup involves a bit more effort, but is more than worth it.

In the oven now is my attempt at Sourdough Bread. Can I first say that I really can make a good loaf of bread. I'm quite proud of my bread baking abilities. But I'm pretty sure this is not going to be my best effort...

I strongly suspect that it would have turned out better had I not messed around so much with it. Normally people make bread, well, normally. Make the dough, let it rise, shape the bread, let it rise, bake it. Oh, but I'm not normal, oh no....

I started it last night after supper. I planned to finish it last night. Unfortunately, I hadn't realized that sourdough takes longer to rise than traditional yeast breads. So while I got a beautiful rise out of it, it was nearly 11:00 p.m. by time it was doubled. I was not going to wait up another 3 hours to let it rise again and then bake it.

For the first rise, I put it in the oven on warm. For the second rise, since I didn't need it to rise as fast, I shaped the loaves and left them on the counter over night, with plans to bake them this morning. Unfortunately, because I had covered them, when the dough raised, it raised out of the pan, rather than up. Not so attractive. I smooshed them down and put them in the fridge.

At lunch, for reasons I still don't quite understand, I thought that I had enough time to get them to rise in the oven AND bake them. Not hardly. They did rise beautifully, but not quite as much as I wanted. And I had to go back to work. I put them back in the fridge, expecting them to continue to rise, just more slowly. Um, not quite. They fell, pitifully. I quickly smooshed them down again, reshaped the loaves, and set them on the counter again, hoping they'd rise some by time I got home from work.

And they did. A little. So at 7:00, after supper, the oven went back on warm and back in the oven they went to rise. Sadly, they didn't rise so energetically this time. After two hours, I have only about half the rise that I got in one hour at lunch. I decided to give up and just bake the damn things. I'm assuming that these are going to be brick-like, and I plan to try again tomorrow, making the bread straight-through, like normal people do. When I get a good loaf and am confident in the recipe, I'll share. For now, though, I don't want to lead anyone astray.

Enough talk about my lame excuse for bread. How about some recipes that I know are good?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Harvest Cream Corn "Choup" courtesy of Rachel Ray. This makes a LOT, but it does freeze really well.

Enchiladas
1 lb. ground beef
1 can refried beans
1 pkg. taco mix
Tortilla shells
Salt, pepper, onions
1 can cream of onion soup
1 pt. sour cream
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Brown meat; season to taste. Add beans and taco mix. Fill shells and roll; place on jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Combine soup, sour cream, and green chiles. Spread over filled shells, sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chicken Bordon Bleu Casserole
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thawed
8 slices Swiss cheese
6 slices ham
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 c. milk
2-3 c. dry seasoned stuffing mix
1/3-1/2 c. melted butter

Rinse and pat dry chicken breasts. Place chicken on bottom of ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Top with Swiss cheese, then ham. Mix soup with milk and pour over layers. Mix melted butter with stuffing and spread over casserole. Bake for 50 minutes at 350.

I know it must get easier....

...because otherwise my mom would charge more to put in zippers for people.


This zipper, the zipper in Darren's coat, is the second one I've ever replaced. (The first was in my coat, a couple weeks back.) Yup, I know it doesn't match, but it was what I had, and given the ice storm we got this weekend, I figured a functional zipper was more important than a matching zipper.



Honestly, it wasn't the sewing in that was a pain, it was figuring out how to take the darn thing out. Each side had 3 seams that needed to be undone. On the left side (in the picture), there's a placket behind the zipper. That had to first be sewn to the zipper before the zipper could be sewn in the coat. On the other side, there's the velcro placket. While that didn't necessarily need to be taken off, it made it a whole lot easier to get the zipper in. So on that size, I had to first sew in the zipper, then sew the velcro placket back on. It was a bit of a pain, but still much cheaper than buying a new coat.



Also this weekend I finished Sock #1 for a sock swap I'm participating in on Ravelry:


(It's from the book Knitting Vintage Socks. But don't ask me which pattern right now.)

It's not really that color at all, though it does show up as a pretty color. It's more greenish than that. (Not that it matters a whole lot.) I am a little concerned, though, about the sizing. My secret pal said that her foot, a size 11, is 10.25" long. Thus, when the pattern said to knit until it was 2.25" shorter than the desired length, I knit it 8", then started the toe. Unfortunately, I ended up with a sock that fits my size 8/9 foot. Sigh. So I emailed her (from my secret email address) and asked her to measure one of her socks from heel to toe and let me know how long it is. I fear I'm going to end up having to frog the toe.

Lunch today (for those of you who care), was Egg Noodles with Alfredo Sauce (from Tammy, so ya know it's good! oh, and it freezes well) and roasted squash. It was yummy (of course).

I'm thinking I'm going to participate in the Biblical Womanhood Making Your Home a Haven Challenge (two separate links, by the way). I do still live with my parents (that's to change, soon, hopefully!), but I still think I can benefit from the challenge. I'll be a bit behind, since it was supposed to start this morning (and it's now nearly 3:30), but I should be able to get caught up on most of it tonight. One of today's challenges is to create a morning routine of five items and post it. I'll try to get that done in a bit.

Oh, and we got our first snowfall here this weekend! (Sadly, it came with a great deal of ice, as well, but I'll take it where I can get it!)

Lots of cooking....

...not so many pictures. As in, no pictures. I'm not quite certain where my camera is. So if you're Catholic, say a prayer to St. Anthony for me. Everyone else, just say a prayer ;)

One of my favorite foods--okay, my absolute favorite food-- is this:

Not the most healthy meal under the best of circumstances, and certainly not when you're pregnant and have a tendency towards high blood pressure and swelling. When my ankles started to swell Thanksgiving night, it ocurred to me that maybe now was the time to cut back on my sodium intake. Which, sadly for me, means cutting out my beloved mac 'n' cheese.

The obvious solution, for a normal person, would just be to make mac 'n' cheese. Unfortunately, I'm spoiled, and I've never liked homemade macaroni and cheese. It's always tasted grainy and gross to me. Yesterday, though, I was flipping thru my copy of America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, and found a recipe for "Creamy Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese." What the heck, I thought. I don't have much to do today, I'll give it a whirl.

I was pleasantly surprised. I'll be honest--it's not the same as the delighfully creamy Kraft version. But, for a girl who's a confessed addict of the "real" thing, it was a pretty decent substitute. It's very smooth; not at all grainy. When I reheated the left overs today, I did put in a bit of milk, and it was just as good today. Not only did I enjoy it, but Darren seems to be in love with the stuff. I felt more than a little guilty when I gave him bites of the processed Kraft version, but felt no quilt about giving him the homemade stuff. I mean, it's noodles, milk, and cheese. Certainly not a balanced diet, but in conjunction with other foods, it seems pretty healthy to me. (Recipe will follow at the end of this post.)

Last night, for supper, we had Farmhouse Chicken. This is so easy, and so delicious. I think next time I make it, I'm going to just make my own stuffing, rather than using StoveTop.

Today, on a bit of a whim, I made Burnt Sugar Cake. The first time I made it, about a year and a half ago, I had never heard of it. A friend/old man/bar patron told me I should make him one (his mom always used to make it). Always one for a challege, I went looking for a recipe. At the time, I could only find one recipe on the internet, and I had to look hard for it (it was some archived page). Of course, a couple of months later, I found several recipes in various cookbooks I owned (including my beloved Betty Crocker cookbook, listed under "Caramel Cake also called Burnt Sugar Cake").

I'll always be grateful to that man, though, because it's now one of my favorite cakes. The recipes for it vary greatly, but what follows is my favorite. I'll admit, 7-Minute Frosting is a bit of a pain to make, but it's definately my favorite frosting, so I endure the hassle.

"Aunt Mae's Burnt Sugar Cake with Burnt Sugar Frosting"
From The Pioneer Lady's Country Christmas, by Jane Watson Hopping

3 tbsp. burnt sugar syrup (recipe follows)
3 c. cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
.5 tsp salt
.75 c. butter or margarine, softened
1.75 c. sugar
1.33 c. milk
1 scant tbsp. vanilla
4 egg whites, beaten into stiff peaks
Burnt Sugar Frosting (recipe follows)

Burnt Sugar Syrup
.5 c. sugar
.33 c. boiling water

Place sugar in a heavy-bottomed (I used cast iron) frying pan; cook over medium heat until sugar becomes a bubbly rich golden brown syrup. Remove from heat. Very carefully add .33 cup boiling water to the sugar (the water will make the syrup boil up). Set aside until needed.

Cake
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 x 13 cake pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt three times, ending with it in a medium-size bowl. Cream the butter; gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy. In a small bowl, combine the milk, Burnt Sugar syrup, and vanilla. Stir into the butter-sugar mixture sifted flour alternately with flavored milk. Lightly fold the egg whites into the batter, being careful not to decrease the batter's volume. Gently spoon into pan. Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 25-30 minutes. Once cool, frost.

Frosting
3 tbsp. Burnt Sugar Syrup
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. cream of tartar
a few grains of salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla

In the top of a double boiler, combine the syrup, sugar, cream of tartar, salt, and egg whites. Place over boiling water and beat with a rotary beater for five minutes. Add the vanilla and continue beating two minutes more. Remove from heat and use immediately.



Creamy Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese
From America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

2 c. macaroni
salt
2 lg. eggs
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 tsp. dry mustard, dissolved in 1 tbsp. water
.25 tsp. Tabasco
Pepper
4 tbsp butter
3 c. shredded cheese (I used half cheddar, half colby-jack)

Boil pasta until tender. Meanwhile, mix together eggs, half of the evaporated milk, mustard mixture, Tabasco, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Drain pasta and return to pan. Set over low heat and stir in butter until melted. Stir in egg mixture and half of the cheese. Continue to cook on low, gradually stirring in remaining milk and cheese until hot and creamy (about 5 minutes).

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Yup, I prepared for this, too. How I've longed to participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesday, but never felt I had anything to contribute. Until I was making pumpkin pie last week....

When I make pumpkin pie, I use the blender. I don't know about the rest of you, but I used to deplore cleaning the blender. Trying to get down under the blades--uck. Then one day, it dawned on me: let the blender clean itself!

(Sorry the picture is fuzzy. I'd just brought the camera in from the car.)

Fill the blender with water and a smidgeon of dish soap. Pop the lid back on, turn the blender on for a few seconds, and let it do its thing. Dump out the soapy water and rinse. Voila! A clean blender, with no fuss.

Now if only I had a "no fuss" solution for that flour covered table...

Black Friday

Really, Friday wasn't too black here, but I lacked a better title :) Though we did go shopping, it was just the usual bi-weekly grocery shopping. No 4 a.m. sales for us ;) And luckily the stores were not overly crowded, so it was basically a pleasant experience.

I was fortunate enough to find one thing that I've been looking for for some time:

A new diaper bucket! The one I was using, while functional, was on its last legs. There was a crack in a portion of the lid and it annoyed me every time I opened it. Thru sheer luck (or divine intervention) I found this beauty in Walmart. It was one of only two (and one was missing a lid), so I was clearly meant to have it ;)

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I did most of my baking Wednesday, and of course, took pictures. I made up four pies Wednesday (only three are pictures, because I had to wait for Mom to bring home the pecans):

(Clockwise from top: peach, apple, and pumpkin.)

I wish I could say I had a recipe for the peach and the apple, but I basically just dump stuff together when I make those. I do cheat a bit when I make them, though, in that I cook the filling first:

(Sorry for the blurry-ness...my camera had just come in from the car.)

On the stove top, I cook and thicken the fruit. This way, I know that the fruit is done (and I only have to worry about the crust when I bake it), and I get it to the proper consistency. Otherwise, I have a problem with runny pies. I do feel like it's cheating (I mean, surely my fore-mothers didn't do it this way!), but it works for me, and no one has ever complained about my pies, so I continue.

Also, my apple pie is what I call a "Lazy Apple Pie" but what others call a "Dutch Apple Pie."

(Pie pre-baking.)

It began out of necessity one day, when I didn't have enough dough to make a top crust, and I didn't have time to make up more. Mom told me to do a crumble topping: 1 stick of butter, 1 c. of flour, and 1 c. brown sugar, all blended together (I use a pastry blender). I (and the others) liked it so much that I continue to do it this way. Only one someone specifically requests a double crust do I do one. And while my brother felt that this particular apple pie was "not my best effort," Mom overheard one of my uncles saying, "Whoever built this pie did a good job!")

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Baking

While flowers in November are apparently normal for some people, it's definately not normal here. I nearly missed this little geranium blooming today. Though it's frozen hard nearly every where in the area, we've not had a hard freeze at our house. Some of our plants look sad, but most of them are hanging on, like this little trooper. I couldn't not document the occassion with a picture.

This year will be the first holiday season since my grandma died (in March). Fortunately, my family is still getting together. It was no small task to find someone with enough space to take us all on (with aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins, we're talking in the neighborhood of 70+ people), but my aunt Ceil will be hosting Thanksgiving, and my uncle Myron will be hosting Christmas. I will confess, though, that I've slipped several times and talked about "going to Grandma's" for Thanksgiving....old habits die hard.

For about as long as I can remember, I've been making the dinner rolls for the meal. The last couple of years, I've also brought a couple of pies (apple, at my brother's request; pecan, for myself). Can you guess what this means I'm spending Wednesday morning doing? I'll be making a total of four pies: one peach and one pumpkin for our neighbor, and one pecan and one apple for my aunt's. I'm also going to try my grandma's recipe for "Overnight Buns" this years, so I'll be getting that started Wednesday as well. The recipe for the buns follows (it's a pretty large one!). Of course, I'll let you know how they turn out, and hopefully have a picture or two.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Overnight Buns

1 pkg. yeast
1 c. lukewarm water
1 tbsp sugar
1 c. shortening
1.5 c. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
4 eggs beaten
4 c. lukewarm water
Flour

Combine first three ingredients and set aside. Mix the 1.5 cups sugar, shortening, salt, water, and eggs, thoroughly; electric mixer may be used. Start adding flour, then yeast mixture. Keep adding flour until dough reaches desired consistency for easy handling. Set this in the evening at suppertime. Knead every hour (3 or 4 times) until time to retire. Shape into buns about the size of walnuts or a little larger and place on a cookie sheet. Let rise until morning. Bake in 350-375 oven for 15 min. Makes 72 buns, plus 24 sweet rolls.

Make sure to scroll down!

I made several posts today (well, three, total). I finished both a pair of socks and a romper this weekend, and posted them each in their own post. Scroll down to check 'em out.

Now for the "regular" post :)

First, I want to make sure to thank Mrs. Wilt of The Sparrow's Nest for my new look. She's been working with me for a couple of weeks now to make sure it was exactly what I wanted, and I'm thrilled with the new look.

Since my last post was on pumpkin it seems only appropriate to continue on a theme:

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Bars

(I swear it's pumpkin!)

One tray is to take to a friend's house tomorrow, one is to take to work with me tomorrow. (No, not for coworkers, but for the card players who come in every Tuesday night. To hear them talk, you'd think they eat once a week.)

I haven't made these in a while, and I'd forgotten how wonderful they are. The last time I made them, I made them in August or some other extremely hot month--not a good idea. The bars got moldy quite quickly. They are extremely moist (as the name implies), so if you don't plan on eating them quickly or if you plan to make them during a hot month, make sure you store them in the fridge.

This is a semi-cheater recipe: the crust calls for a box of cake mix. As you know (well, maybe you didn't, but now you do), I don't normally "do" cheater recipes. If it calls for a "box" of this or a "can" of this, I'm not very likely to try it. I do have a couple "cheater" recipes in my repertoire, though, that are just too good to be snobby about. This is defiantely one of them!

Edited to add: I had to run to town to get the cream cheese for these this morning. I had planned to buy the generic cheese, of course. Much to my glee, the Philadelphia brand was on sale, 4 @ $5. Of course, I whipped out my calculator to make sure it was really a deal. Sure enough, four packages of the generic would have been $5.80. I feel incredibly dorky to be so excited about an $0.80 savings, but I know some of you will understand!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Bars

Crust:
1 package yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, melted

Filling:
1 (8 oz.) packaged cream cheese, softened
1 cup pumpkin (or, one 15 oz. can)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter, melted
16 oz. powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp allspice
dash salt

To make crust, combine ingredients; mix well. Pat into greased cake pan.

To make filling, beat cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, and butter; beat together. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well.

Spread over crust; bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Do not over bake--center should still be a little gooey.

Pumpkin Pie

So it's not exactly an inspired title. With rare exceptions, I'm not witty when it comes to that sort of thing.

After reading a thread on Ravelry about pumpkin pie, it occured to me that perhaps there's a dearth of good pumpkin pie recipes. Several people said that they didn't like pumpkin pie made with fresh pumpkin ("it's runny; buy the canned stuff"). I have never been so horrified in my life. I recoil at the very notion of using canned pumpkin. Just last month, I was telling my mom I just didn't understand why anyone would used canned pumpkin. You can buy and entire pumpkin for $3 and get a dozen pies from it. Why would you buy a can? She did point out that most people don't bake quite as often as we do. Okay. So I can accept that the average person makes pumpkin pie once a year, not several times a month, and for that, it's more convienent to buy a can of pumpkin. But to actually prefer canned pumpkin over fresh? That's blasphemy!

So while I'm not sure how many people will read this, I feel obligated to share my grandma's, Guaranteed-to-Turn-Out Pumpkin Pie Recipe. (And since my grandma got it from her mother-in-law, I can practically guarentee that it was not created for canned pumpkin and will thus turn out just fine with fresh pumpkin.)

In the event that you have never prepared a fresh pumpkin, allow me to explain the "difficult" process (ha!).
1.) Obtain a pumpkin.
2.) Cut the pumpkin in half.
3.) Scoop out the seeds.
4.) Put halves on a cookie sheet and place in an oven heated to 350.
5.) Cook until done--fork tender, like squash.
6.) Take out of the oven; allow to cool.
7.) When cool, place in ziplock bags in one-cup "servings."
8.) Freeze until ready to use.

Should you find it water, just squeeze out the water before placing in the bags.

Tammy, over at Tammy's Recipes, has a great post on canning pumpkin. While it's no longer officially sactioned by the FDA (and as such, you proceed at your own risk, yada yada yada), it's another option if you don't have much freezer space. And Tammy's post is a fabulous tutorial in how to do it. (I believe she boils her pumpkin, though. We've always baked it.)

And without further ado, the much awaited recipe:

Grandma Schmidt's Pumpkin Pie
1 c pumpkin
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp clove
1/8 tsp allspice
1 c milk
Dash salt
1 large tbsp cornstarch ("large" as in heaping; as much you can get to stay on the spoon)

Dump all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into pie crust (you did copy down the recipe from yesterday, right?), bake at 350 until center is firm (um, 30-45 minutes, maybe? I guess I've never timed it).


Which leads me to one more question for ya'll: do any of you test your pumpkin pie with a knife? I see all sorts of people cutting into the center to see if it's done. (The worst, though, was when I saw a pie in a magazine with a tell-tale knife mark in it.) I just don't get it. Tap the top of the center of the pie. If it's firm, it's done.

Kinda like this post :)

22.5 Cups

That's how much flour it takes to make 15 pie crusts. Can you guess what I did this morning?

While I do usually make several batches of pie crust all at once (I mean, if you're making one anyway, what's five?), I've never made a batch quite this large. The coming weeks, however, look to be Pie Baking weeks, so I'm getting ready. Next week, Mom needs to make two pies for the church, two for our neighbor, one for my cousin, and one for home. And, of course, next week is Thanksgiving, so I'll be making an apple and a pecan pie to take to my aunt's.

While every pie baker swears to have the secret to the perfect, flaky crust, I swear my secret is the only right one *wink* The key is to use half butter (I use butter flavored Crisco) and half lard. And let me assure you, there is a scientific basis to this! The key to a flaky crust is not using too much water. Lard has less water natually present than does butter. Thus, you the baker control how much water you use; you are not bound by the amount already present in the butter. (I did read this in a cookbook. It was worded better than this. Of course, I dont remember which cookbook it was in.)

Resist, however, the temptation to use only lard in an effort to further control the water content. Yes, your pie crust will be flakier, but it will taste suspiciously like bacon. (Ask me how I know.) Using half lard and half butter gives you the perfect balance of flakiness and taste.

I did not come upon this revelation the easy way, however. The recipe for pie crust in the 1936 Watkins cookbook specifically calls for half butter, half lard. Of course, I figured it was a fluke. It wasn't until I read the scientific basis for it that I believed it. (Yup, I usually make things more difficult than they need to be.)

I include the Watkins recipe, with the measurements for 15 crusts (should you be so inclined) in parenthesis.

1936 Watkins Pie Crust
Note: One recipe makes enough for a single crust, with a bit left over.

1.5 c flour (22.5 c)
1/2 tsp salt (7.5 tsp)
1/4 c lard (3.75 c)
1/4 c butter (3.75 c)
1/3 c (or less) water (4.5 c)

Sift together dry ingredients (I usually just wisk them together with a fork). Cut in lard and butter. Add enough water until crust just holds together.

Menu Monday

No "real" pictures, but I figure cute kid pictures are a good substitute. It never ceases to amaze me how much the weather can change from one day to the next. Yesterday, when I took this picture, we went to the park in our shirt-sleeves. It was a balmy 70 degrees. Beautiful!

Today:


(I just learned how to do a "screen cap;" it's my new trick. Bear
with me.) If you can't read that, it's 43 and feels like 34. Amazing what 24 hours will do!

I know I was going to do "Food Friday," but since I had a lame post on Friday, I thought "Menu Monday" would work for this week. Mondays are typically burger night at our house. While we usually have fries with burgers, since Ryan is coming over tonight, we're having more exotic fare: Cheese Corn. Doesn't sound very glamorous does it? And, considering that the original recipe comes from the 1936 Watkins Cookbook, that's not surprising. But, for me, it's comfort food at its best.

The reason this dish even came up in discussion was because of an article I read in "Time." Someone interviewed famous chefs and asked what they would have for their last meal. Overwhelmingly, the answer was simple, homemade, comfort foods. My last meal would be fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, cheese corn, and "real" milk (milk straight from the cow, of course!).

Cheese Corn
1 can corn
1.5 tbsp butter
4 eggs
1 c cracker crumbs
.5 c grated cheese (I use cheddar)
.75 tsp salt
.5 tsp paprika
pepper

Beat eggs; add melted butter. Add mixture to corn, then add seasonings. Add milk; mix well. Add cheese. Pour half into a buttered baking dish. Top with 1/2 of the cracker crumbs. Pour in remaining half of corn mixture and top with remaining cracker crumbs. Bake at 350 until firm, about 30-45 min.

Now that you have the official recipe, I can tell you what I actually do :) First of all, the corn: I don't use a can of corn, I use the corn we have frozen in our freezer. One small Ziplock freezer bag is the perfect amount. I don't actually measure the rest of the ingredients. I've made it often enough I can tell what "looks" right. And I certainly don't layer it in the dish! I just dump it all in a dish (you DO want to grease it, though, if not with butter, then with Pam), give it a good stir, and pop it in the oven. So don't stress over making this recipe!

A first for me....

Yup, that's right. I've never made cupcakes before. The only reason I made them today was for a friend's birthday. As I happen to call this friend Cupcake, it seemed only appropriate that he get cupcakes for his birthday treat.

Here's what I liked about baking cupcakes:

Less clean-up! I only needed to wipe out the cupcake pans.

Here's what I did not like about baking cupcakes:

The frosting. I will not be receiving any awards any time soon for cupcake decorating.

The recipe came from:

http://www.amazon.com/Moms-Big-Book-Baking-Foolproof/dp/1558321942

I got it this summer up in Minneapolis. I debated--literally--for days before I finally bought it. I just have so many cookbooks, that I really hesitate before buying a new one. The day we left, I made Ryan take me back to Barnes and Noble so I could buy this. I am so glad I did. On the way home I went thru it, and I was thrilled with all the recipes in it. Strangely, today is the first time I've used one of the recipes. Despite my substitution of 2% milk (the recipe called for whole milk), the cupcakes turned out well. I do suspect that they may have been moister (is that a word) I had used whole milk, but I made do with what I had.

What I like most about this cookbook is that there are no "cheater" recipes in it. When I first picked it up, I was ready to roll my eyes. I was fulling expecting 200 recipes that called for a box of cake mix. To my delight, not one of them does. In fact, the book is written by a former pastry chef, so all the reipes are top rate (but not at all difficult). This is a book I'd highly reccommend.

Our wedding recently (as in, today) got moved from Dec. 22, 2007, to May 3rd, 2008. Since I will no longer be pregnant at our wedding, my excitement in looking for wedding dresses has increased. Except for one minor problem: I deplore most modern wedding dresses. I hate strapless dresses, and spaghetti straps aren't much better. I finally Googled "modest wedding dresses." While I was taken to mostly Latter Day Saints related sites, I've been thrilled with the dress selection. Dresses with actual sleeves! What a novel idea. Though there's no way I can afford it, here's my favorite so far:

(From: http://www.totallymodest.com/gp3.html )
Realistically, this dress probably wouldn't look great on me; I'm not big on cap-sleeves. But, it's a beautiful dress, and it's encouraging to find a modest dress that doesn't scream "old lady."

When I started this blog, I foolishly thought I'd have all the time in the world to post--ha! Here's what happend LAST week...

I made Chinese Orange Chicken. Even with a few modifications, it came out delicious. (Even my dad, and Ryan, enjoyed it!) I'll confess, when I first started making the sauce, I had my doubts. This is what I saw in my saucepan:

You've gotta admit: it looks a bit, well, strange at the very least. (The lumps floating in there are cubes of frozen lemon juice.) Fortunately, the appearance improved greatly as everything combined. Here's what I did differently:

1. I don't have rice vinegar; I just used regular old white vinegar.
2. I had no ginger; I just skipped it.
3. I had no green onions, and was too lazy to chop up some ordinary onions, so I just tossed in some dehydrated onions.
4. I had no red pepper flakes. I considered sprinkling in some paprika, but forgot to, so this ingredient was ultimately omitted all together.
5. Also, when it came time to thicken the sauce, I used a lot more cornstartch/water than what it called for. I didn't keep track, but it was at least 3 times more.

I'll admit, I was a little nervous making so many changes the first time I made a recipe. (The vinegar had me especially concerned, since there was so much of it.) I'm pleased to report, though, that it was delicious anyway. (Though I did buy some ginger to use next time around.)

I started the made the sauce and had the chicken marinating early in the morning, so while Darren was taking what turned out to be a 2 hour nap (!), I traced and made another pair of jeans for him. As you can see, I'm much more pleased with these:

(Let me just also mention how hard it is to get a picture of your very active 9 month old.) The main thing that makes these so much better is the denim I used. MUCH softer than the last pair. Of course, there's still room for improvement:

Mistake #1: The first pair I made was XL, and were WAY too big. The L didn't look much smaller, so I went down to a M. Not a good idea. These fit, but not for long. It's a struggle to get 'em over his tush.
Mistake #2: The pattern says to add 2". The first pair I added 4" (I allow for future growth), and it was just too much. I had a really hard time getting the hem to lay flat, with no puckers. So this pair I followed the pattern and added only 2". I really should have added 3".

So....third time's a charm, right?

And in randomness, can I just say how excited I am to have finally been invited to Ravelry? It's essentially an online database for your knitting: patterns, yarn, WIPs, items in queue, etc... but it's also so much more than that (as I'm just finding out). There are groups, forums, and more. My goal is to first get all my WIPs entered, then my needles. A lofty goal would to someday have all my yarn entered, but I have doubts that that will ever happen. If you're knitter, I strongly encourage you to sign up. There is a waiting list, but it's so worth it. My wait really wasn't that long. There were several thousand ahead of me in line, so I really expected it would be months before I got my invite. It was 6 weeks, tops. And well worth it.