Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Life Right Now
Claire was busily sorting out the birth order among myself and my siblings. "Okay, Mom, you're the oldest. And Emily is the...medium-est. And Allison is...a little medium. Who's next? Oh, Andy. He's...um...medium-smallish. And Erik's smallish-medium. And Alair's the smallest."
Claire, Natalie, Alair, and Evelyn received a stern talking-to (which is to say, shrieking-at) about the dangers of crossing the road at Mom & Dad's house. Since the weather's nice, they were all playing outside before supper last night. And naturally, where's the ball going to go? ACROSS THE ROAD. So the two little ones start trucking their merry selves to retrieve it. The two big ones come running to the house to get a grownup. I informed them all (loudly) about how to handle this situation in the future. DON'T CROSS THE ROAD WITHOUT A GROWNUP.
I did something (unknown what) to my foot on Sunday and now I'm wearing running shoes for the best support, even to work with my nice khakis. I'm limping and just wishing I could go a couple days without some sort of injury incapacitating me. In the last month I've boiled my hand, yanked a muscle in my back while bowling, and now this.
Maybe I'm just getting old.
Monday, March 12, 2012
A Crime in My Kitchen
I am so glad I halved the following recipe. So is my budget, so I won't be stuck buying all new pants after eating them all.
Peanut Butter Balls
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
3 cups Rice Krispies
2-4 cups chocolate chips
Melt peanut butter and butter in a saucepan. In a large bowl, mix Rice Krispies and powdered sugar well. Pour peanut butter mixture over and stir thoroughly. Roll into 1-inch balls and refrigerate until firm. Melt chocolate. Dip the peanut butter balls in the chocolate and refrigerate until set.
Half the recipe, using a tablespoon cookie scoop to make the balls, resulted in 20. I also used a whole package of chocolate chips.
Yum.
That is all.
Peanut Butter Balls
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
3 cups Rice Krispies
2-4 cups chocolate chips
Melt peanut butter and butter in a saucepan. In a large bowl, mix Rice Krispies and powdered sugar well. Pour peanut butter mixture over and stir thoroughly. Roll into 1-inch balls and refrigerate until firm. Melt chocolate. Dip the peanut butter balls in the chocolate and refrigerate until set.
Half the recipe, using a tablespoon cookie scoop to make the balls, resulted in 20. I also used a whole package of chocolate chips.
Yum.
That is all.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Mugged
Have you ever had an egg mug? This morning I made one for the first time, and wow, what an easy and fast breakfast!
Spray a microwave-safe coffee mug with cooking spray. Crack 2 eggs and a little milk into the mug and beat well with a fork. You'll want to make sure the yolks are broken up.
Microwave on HIGH for 45 seconds, stir, and then microwave another 30-45 seconds until the eggs are set.
Enjoy!
You can obviously change this up to suit your tastes, adding salt and pepper, or other seasonings. I cut up a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese (thanks Hungry Girl for this suggestion) and added it before microwaving. You can sprinkle some bacon or sausage or other cheese in it. Just be careful of the proportions, since you've got a rather small container to work with.
I've also read suggestions that say to cook the egg mixture on a saucer, then you've got a perfect, flat egg to make a breakfast sandwich with.
I liked this because of how fast and simple it was. It only took about as long as making a bowl of instant oatmeal, which is the breakfast du jour most days in our house. We like to eat a hot breakfast most often, since I think it stays with you longer and is more satisfying.
Spray a microwave-safe coffee mug with cooking spray. Crack 2 eggs and a little milk into the mug and beat well with a fork. You'll want to make sure the yolks are broken up.
Microwave on HIGH for 45 seconds, stir, and then microwave another 30-45 seconds until the eggs are set.
Enjoy!
You can obviously change this up to suit your tastes, adding salt and pepper, or other seasonings. I cut up a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese (thanks Hungry Girl for this suggestion) and added it before microwaving. You can sprinkle some bacon or sausage or other cheese in it. Just be careful of the proportions, since you've got a rather small container to work with.
I've also read suggestions that say to cook the egg mixture on a saucer, then you've got a perfect, flat egg to make a breakfast sandwich with.
I liked this because of how fast and simple it was. It only took about as long as making a bowl of instant oatmeal, which is the breakfast du jour most days in our house. We like to eat a hot breakfast most often, since I think it stays with you longer and is more satisfying.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Smithsonian Corn Muffins
This is my favorite recipe for corn muffins. It really does come from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. This makes a large amount (36 muffins) but is easy to cut in half. Also, the dry ingredients are measured by weight. This recipe was the reason for me buying a kitchen scale.
12 ounces yellow cornmeal
12 ounces flour
10 ounces white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
24 ounces (3 cups) buttermilk
6 eggs
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
1 cup corn, optional
Whisk dry ingredients together.
Combine liquid ingredients.
Add liquid mixture to dry and stir until combined; the mixture should be a bit lumpy.
Spoon into greased muffin cups.
Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes.
To make a 9x13 pan of cornbread, cut recipe in half and bake for 25 minutes.
12 ounces yellow cornmeal
12 ounces flour
10 ounces white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
24 ounces (3 cups) buttermilk
6 eggs
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
1 cup corn, optional
Whisk dry ingredients together.
Combine liquid ingredients.
Add liquid mixture to dry and stir until combined; the mixture should be a bit lumpy.
Spoon into greased muffin cups.
Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes.
To make a 9x13 pan of cornbread, cut recipe in half and bake for 25 minutes.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
More Goodreads
Well, I have succumbed to not one, but two book crazes. I recently finished reading the Twilight saga, and surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. Yes, it's written for the YA crowd, but this was still good to me. I wasn't so much interested in the supernatural aspects, which is to say, the vampires and werewolves/shape shifters, but the story itself.
See I tend to enjoy stories about journeys, whether physical ones like in The Lord of the Rings or The Dark Tower, or internal ones like, for example, Twilight. Bella starts out as a misfit new girl in school and then falls in love. Her journey, choosing between Edward and Jacob, becoming a mother, and really deciding what's the most important in her life, was fascinating to me.
I'm Team Edward, by the way :)
The other book craze that caught me is The Hunger Games. It's not so much that there's a movie coming out soon, but I've seen several friends on Facebook recommend it, and several members of an online book club I belong to also liked this trilogy. Well, I'm now in the middle of the third installment, and it's such an exciting story.
Katniss lives in a far-distant future North America, where the government rules with an iron fist from the Capitol. There are 12 outlying districts. To prevent another uprising like the one that happened years ago, resulting in the obliteration of a 13th district, the Capitol forces each of the districts to send a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 each year to the Hunger Games, a nationally televised event where the 24 teenagers are locked in an arena, which changes each year, and forced to kill each other, until only one remains. Katniss' younger sister is chosen, so to save her, Katniss volunteers to compete in her place.
It's a violent story, but also compelling. You know Katniss will survive, but how? How will she go on afterwards? Katniss eventually becomes the symbol of national rebellion, reluctantly. I liked the second book, Catching Fire, just as much as the first book. So far, Mockingjay is interesting. I haven't gotten to much action yet, but it's obvious it's coming.
I'm hoping to finish Mockingjay tonight.
I would recommend both of these series to my friends and family who enjoy reading. Even though they're written for a younger audience, I know many people my age and older who have read them all.
See I tend to enjoy stories about journeys, whether physical ones like in The Lord of the Rings or The Dark Tower, or internal ones like, for example, Twilight. Bella starts out as a misfit new girl in school and then falls in love. Her journey, choosing between Edward and Jacob, becoming a mother, and really deciding what's the most important in her life, was fascinating to me.
I'm Team Edward, by the way :)
The other book craze that caught me is The Hunger Games. It's not so much that there's a movie coming out soon, but I've seen several friends on Facebook recommend it, and several members of an online book club I belong to also liked this trilogy. Well, I'm now in the middle of the third installment, and it's such an exciting story.
Katniss lives in a far-distant future North America, where the government rules with an iron fist from the Capitol. There are 12 outlying districts. To prevent another uprising like the one that happened years ago, resulting in the obliteration of a 13th district, the Capitol forces each of the districts to send a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18 each year to the Hunger Games, a nationally televised event where the 24 teenagers are locked in an arena, which changes each year, and forced to kill each other, until only one remains. Katniss' younger sister is chosen, so to save her, Katniss volunteers to compete in her place.
It's a violent story, but also compelling. You know Katniss will survive, but how? How will she go on afterwards? Katniss eventually becomes the symbol of national rebellion, reluctantly. I liked the second book, Catching Fire, just as much as the first book. So far, Mockingjay is interesting. I haven't gotten to much action yet, but it's obvious it's coming.
I'm hoping to finish Mockingjay tonight.
I would recommend both of these series to my friends and family who enjoy reading. Even though they're written for a younger audience, I know many people my age and older who have read them all.
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