Happy New Year, I'm drawing a blank.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Nothing. I got nothing...maybeeeeeee...nope. Nada. Kicking off 2011 w/ a bang, I tell ya! Maybe there's just a log jam of rants. Watched Ax Men last night and learned that logs get jammed and clog up the process. Thinkin' I have a log jammed. I get little trickles of thought and inspiration, but the big gushers seem to be few and far between. Probably because I've just got too much jammed up in there. I know I've got a log marked 'Christmas Tree' because although I took all the decor down 4 or 5 days ago, this tree is still sitting here. Staring at me. With it's lights on. I mean, it's right here next to me. Staring. Cuz to have a tree sitting, staring, WITHOUT lights on is just sad. This is a tad less sad. But it's like he's saying, "Get off your lazy butt and take me DOWN already!! This is getting embarrassing!!". I know this is what he's saying. Stop looking at me! Stupid tree! I'll turn those lights out. Don't think I won't!

The reason this tree has not come down yet is because of log #2, which is cooking. Since we had zero plans for the New Year and since my mom is laid up with a broken leg, I decided to be festive and cook some fun stuff. So that involved menu planning, shopping, cooking, cleaning and delivering. Mix into that logs #3 and #4 which are Kaitlyn and Adam. Had to take care of them in betwixt and between. Ok, then there's the laundry log...the "Gymboree mismarked several pairs of their leggings as size 6 when they are really only a 4 or 5 so I have to go through, measure and return them" log, the "it's Sunday and hubby has the kids so I better get out while the gettin's good" log, the "Kaitlyn is in school and baby is napping so you better keep your New Year's resolution and blog more even though you haven't had a shower yet" log. Let's see, what else...oh, the "I have a new Kindle that I love and have no time to read like I want to because I have all of these logs" log, the "Kaitlyn wet the bed last night so we have emergency laundry that has to cut ahead of all the other laundry" log and in the meantime I realized that there's a new log today marked, "My new everyday sweater that I love is DRY CLEAN ONLY which does NOT make it an everyday sweater anymore!". I am a mother, dammat!!! We do not DO 'dry clean only'! Can I get an amen!?!

See, told ya there was a rant in there somewhere. This is a testament to the fact that I can go on and on with nothing...about nothing...to infinity and beyond. Maybe in the process of this nothingness I have unjammed a log or two. Blog is done, now off to change laundry and shower! But first I have to go slap this tree.

Pioneer Woman let me down...

It was a MADDENING day in the Brown house yesterday!!!  SO maddening that I couldn't even post about it until I calmed down.  I wasted THREE sticks of butter!!  AND my house was full of smoke!  So bad that when I got home from the store I could smell smoke from the driveway.  Then we had to leave and close up the house.  That was nice to come home to.  Cleaning a disaster of a kitchen and smelling smoke everywhere!  Burned cinnamon, pecans and sugar is a lovely stench.  But I digress...

Remember the cinnamon coffee cake recipe I posted a few days ago?  The one from my fave lady, Pioneer Woman?  Welllllll, after waiting all week to make this lovely for Father's Day brunch, I spend my Sunday morning beating egg whites, anticipating the deliciousness.  The recipe says to put the cake in a 9x13 or in an 8x11 if you want thicker slices of cake.  So that makes me think that the 9x13 is going to have skinny little pieces.  Why did she have to say that?!!  I was going to do the 9x13 until she said that!  I don't want pitiful slices! Cut to the chase...lava overflow in my oven.  Cake burning on bottom of oven. LOTS of cake burning!  Smoke everywhere and I had to dump the cake.  No saving it.  It was still raw in the middle but there was so much smoke I couldn't keep cooking it.  UUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!  I was soooo mad.

But wait, it gets worse...off to Donut Shop for some fresh cinnamon rolls.  I fill a box, go to pay.  I'm $2 short and the dude doesn't take debit or credit cards.  I just stood there staring at him and then said sorry and left.  Off to Albertson's.  Cuz you know they are known for their cinnamon rolls.  (insert sarcasm and eye-rolling here).  I was so pissed!

So last night I get onto PW's website to let her know that her instructions SUCK, only to see that she has changed the recipe.  It now says, "bake in a 9x13 or LARGER".  Yes, just like that, with the big bold letters.  Obviously I wasn't the only one w/ problems and she did apologize.  She's still in a timeout for another day or so, & then I'll get over it.  (not really, I'll probably hang onto this for a while, but I do love her recipes.)

Thank goodness we were having Father's Day at Mom's house and not mine!  We came home to a stinky house and a dirty kitchen.  I can't even tell you about my oven.  OVENSSSSSSSSSSSS!  Because while scraping the ooze and charcoal out of the top one, some slipped down under the door onto the bottom oven.  When I opened the bottom oven door to get the ooze, it dripped into THAT oven!  OMG!!!  Ok, I'm breathing...I'm breathing...And as every mother knows, I'm dealing w/ all this while trying to feed everyone dinner, kids want to play in the baby pool, everyone needs a bath, etc.  NOT FUN!!

You are going to love me!

Well, it's technically not my recipe so you will probably love the Pioneer Woman.  But you can at least kiss the messenger! :)

Rib-Eye Steak With Whiskey Cream Sauce
makes 2 servings

5 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons diced onion
1/4 cup whiskey
1/4 cup beef stock or broth
dash of salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup light cream (I used whole milk because I didn't have cream.  It was still delish, just thin.)
2 rib-eye steaks

Begin by melting 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat in a small skillet.  Add the onion and cook until brown, about 4 minutes.  When the onion is brown, turn off the burner temporarily so you won't ignite your kitchen or yourself.  Pour in the whiskey.  As soon as the whiskey evaporates, turn the burner on medium and pour in the beef stock or broth.  Add salt and pepper.  Now whisk in another tablespoon of butter.  Allow the mixture to bubble for 30 seconds, then reduce the heat to low.  Over low heat, pour in the cream.  Whisk, adding more cream if the mixture looks too brothy.  Allow to simmer on very low heat while you prepare the steaks.  Stir occasionally.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Generously salt and pepper the steaks on both sides, then add them to the hot skillet.  For medium rare, cook for 2 minutes on each side for a thin steak, or 3 to 4 minutes on each side for a thick steak.  Place the steak on a plate and keep warm.  Spoon the sauce over the steak...and don't skimp!

Here's her website...http://thepioneerwoman.com/

and her cookbook is on my 'favorites' list, #2, to the right of this post.  Her recipes are great because she has pictures of each stage of cooking.  Not that you need it, but lets be honest...we all miss books w/ pictures. :)

The shame of it all!!!

I'm so ashamed that I have neglected my blog.  I have an excuse...iPad be thy name.  And I'm not surfing the internet or Facebooking!  It's those freakin' games!!  lol  Words with Friends and Angry Birds seem to occupy a lot of my down time.  Well, not exactly down time per se, but time that I am DOWN on the floor w/ the kids.  A mama can only play so much.  So the young'uns seem to be content w/ me just being on the floor w/ them even if I have my new 'tick-a-pooter' with me.  (I hope Kaitlyn says it this way forever.  It's worth the teasing, don't cha think? :)  )


So first things first!  GRANOLA BARS!!!  Sweet Heavenly Mother!  I got tired of giving Kaitlyn those Quaker Chewy Granola bars that are really just candy bars.  The kid would live off of them if I let her!  But I won't.  So here's a super easy recipe that I made today and I don't know how many calories they have, but let me just say that I ate 3 small squares ( just couldn't STOP myself!) and I wasn't hungry for 5 hours.  Ruh roh.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Playgroup-Granola-Bars/Detail.aspx

I found that 25 minutes is long enough to cook them in my oven.  Be careful not to scorch the bottoms!  I think just about the time you really start smelling them, they are pretty much done.  And don't worry if they seem very crumbly when they are warm.  They firm up when they cool.  Almost too firm, but I find a good crunch relieves some good stress. :)

I took some pics of the finished product...

  Ok, I cannot tell a lie.  This pic isn't the whole story...

Ok, THERE!  You happy?...what?  Yes it's a 13x9, what's your point?!

FINE!!  But we had company!!  And you have no idea how much toddlers can eat!!  And ADAM!  Yeah, that's right...Adam had some too!  So there!


Now the only ingredient slightly funky in this recipe is the wheat germ.  Looks like this...

Noticed this while taking the pic.  Good thing cuz that sucker was on his way back to the pantry!  Refrigerate, people!


And if you are saying to yourself, "Oh, I have wheat germ!", then I am sorry to inform you that we need to redefine the nature of our relationship.  And I will need a letter describing the exact reason for having said germ.  And the recipe.  I will need the recipe in which you used this.  Minimum 3 paragraphs.  Thank you.


Ok, so on to one more recipe.  Since I'm here, ya know.  I've been on a kick lately & I eat Georgia Cracker Salad almost every day for lunch.  Forgive my pics because I was just taking them on the fly since I had my camera sitting there.  Super easy!


Chop up tomatoes and cucumbers.  I used about 1/3-1/2 of a hot house cucumber and 1/2 of a tomato.  Only because I was too lazy to go get another tomato.  I usually like 1 whole tomato, but I digress...

I know you know what cucumbers and tomatoes look like, but in my fantasy I am channeling the Pioneer Woman.  If you don't know her...see me.

Now add yourself a little dollop of the mayo!  Just eyeball it (channeling Rachael Ray!) but about half of a kitchen soup spoon.  Just enough to get things moist.

Ok, so maybe today I was a little liberal w/ it.  Shut up.

If you are feeling a little saucy, add yourself some chili paste. :)  This is also a good way to keep peeps out of your salad!  Although Kaitlyn could eat this whole bowl by herself and it is a good way to get her veggies, so I often forego the spice.

Now add in some of these puppies!!  I use about 6 Saltine crackers.  Note:  When you are serving this to a crowd, put the crackers in and IMMEDIATELY serve!  Those suckers only stay crunchy for about 5 minutes.

These are crackers.  ;)

Add just a pinch of salt.  Pinch I say!  But with the pepper...now bear with me...hear me now, believe me later...I use 18 grinds.  ~cringing~  I know!!  Sounds like a lot!  But I tell you, add it a few grinds at a time and you'll see what I mean.  When you hit 18, its like magic happens!!  I'm not a huge pepper person either.  But it just takes it to the next level!!  Hopefully your grinder gives you a fine grind.  Otherwise, you're on your own. 

See what I'm saying?!  LOTS of pepper.  Ok, now I know this doesn't look too appetizing.  And to be honest, I'm not sure if the crackers are in there yet...oh wait...I see some!  Ok, crackers are in!  More crackers are better but I'm trying to cut back, ya know.  Carbs and all that.  :)

Here's what greets me every Saturday...

I know it doesn't look like much, but this is my organic box of produce I pick up every Saturday!!  I can't tell you (what a dork I am) how excited I get when I get home & open it up to see what lovelies await!!

Farmer Vern always includes a little note to talk about what's up on the farm, as well as 2 recipes for items that may not be too familiar.  Today I got garlic something-or-others.  Look kinda like green onions. I guess you use them the same way, too.  Chop them up, add to stir fry or dips, salads, garnish.  Feelin' kinda dippy w/ it being the holiday weekend and all.  OH!  That's right, they are garlic SCAPES!!

All these items were in the ground or on the tree on Thursday, and we get them on Saturday.  Ffffrrrrrrrreshhhhhhhhh!! :)  So much nicer looking that grocery store organics, and cheaper, too!  One thing I've learned...if you get lettuce in Saturday's box, you're having lettuce for dinner!  That stuff doesn't keep long at all!!  And towards the end of the week the extras end up in soup, usually.  Ok, but look at all this!!  All for $19 and ORGANIC! (don't know if I've mentioned that it is organic. ;)  )

And they even tell you what farm your stuff comes from!! :)

Have I lost you yet?  Cuz I feel like I've lost you.  Almost done, I swear!
Now I collapse my little box and put it in the back of the car, waiting for next week!! :)

So there it is in all it's glory!




And in an effort to further reduce my family's consumption of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), I'm going to attempt this...

I'll let you know how it goes.  I think the deal is you make enough dough for 4 loaves at a time and freeze the other 3.  The bread looks really good and so we'll see.  I may have to sit down w/ Adam and explain the importance of homemade bread and the deadly effects of HFCS so he will let go of my leg long enough for me to do this.  Wish me luck.