baking update

The Tornado Zucchini Bread worked!

The improvised Applesauce Bread worked!

The PITA Lemon Drop cookies are a thing of beauty!

Good day in the kitchen (despite my being a flippin' idiot!). :o)

i'm such a flippin' idiot!

I can't believe the depths of my idiocy!

This recipe is as straight-forward as they come.....easy-peasy...and i always, always mess it up!!

It's called Zucchini Oat Tornado Bread.

And last time i forgot the oats. They're in the title for goodness' sake!

Another time, we didn't have enough sugar so i used brown sugar to make up the difference ( tasted yummy!).

I made it this morning, checked twice to make sure that i had all the ingredients. Measured everything and put it on the counter. Checked the list before i popped it in the oven. Then turned around and saw the applesauce/butter mixture on the counter next to the grater.

AAAAAAAAAAAck!!

Now we have applesauce bread and zucchini tornado bread baking in the oven. The house smells great...but i'm not sure that either bread will "work".

I'm such a flippin' idiot!

ZUCCHINI OATMEAL BREAD
(with tornado option at end)

1 1/2C sugar
2t cinnamon
2 1/2C flour (i use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 unbleached white)
1 1/2C oats
1t baking powder
3/4t salt
1/2t baking soda
3 eggs
1 1/2 T butter + applesauce to make 1 1/4 C total
1t vanilla extract
2 1/2C shredded zucchini
raisins/craisins/dates/chocolate chips

mix all, pour into Pammed 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350 for 80 minutes
store/cool for 2hrs before cutting (optimal) to keep moist

tornado version: place 2/3 of batter in loaf pan, to remaining batter, add 2T cocoa, stir well and dollop on plain batter in pan, swirl with knife ( don't mix completely!) and bake as directed

I'll let you know how it is without applesauce. When i made it without the oats, i brought it to work and everyone loved it. It's a pretty forgiving recipe but i'd never really intended to test that forgiving tolerance!!

the things you do for love 2.0

Ok, so i married a great guy who does great things for me. And he rarely asks me to do anything exceptional for him. So when he has something that he really loves and i can provide it, why wouldn't i want to do it.

It's a cookie. It makes the house smell great but it's rather involved. Not as bad as decorated sugar cookies (the rolling! the cutting! the decorating!) but more than brownie/oatmeal bar cookies. Anyway, we're making them today for his Christmas present then opening all the windows and turning on the fans so that he won't smell them when he gets home tonight. (We can do the open window thing on the first day of Winter, 21 December, here in NM because it's going to be a high of 50 today. Gotta love ABQ!!).

LITTLE DROPS OF LEMON HEAVEN COOKIES

1/3 C confectioner's sugar
1 2/3 C flour
2 stix butter (can use margarine, not as good)
1t vanilla

mix well, chill to firm (about 1hr +/-)
roll into little bitty balls (think between the size of acorns and buckeyes)
place on ungreased cookie sheet, dent each ball with tip of finger and bake 350 for 7 minutes to just beginning to tan
take off cookie sheet and let cool completely

filling:
3t (1T) lemon zest
3T lemon juice
1 egg
2/3 C sugar
1t cornstarch
1/4t salt
1T butter

mix all with whisk in pot, cook over low flame, stirring constantly, until thickened
let cool a little bit (don't want to burn your fingers!)
put in dents of cookies

dust all with powdered sugar, as desired

That's it! Good luck. It also works with limes (zest and juice) but Joe prefers lemon. I tried it with purchased lemon curd (filling) but, of course, not as good as the freshly made, homemade version.

The things you do for love.

working for naught?

Why can't i say no to the work crowd? I can say it to my kids (no, you cannot have a mohawk hairdo). I can say it to my self (no, you don't need more fabric). I can even say it to phone solicitors (no, i don't intend to ever, ever give $$ to University of Cincinnati).

Why can't i say it to the gals at work?

They call and tell me how "short" we will be... and i cave. And that's why i'm working every day this week (except tomorrow... so far), including Saturday from 07am to 7:30pm (1930).

Oh well, maybe i'll be able to pay off all of Christmas myself this year. :o)

Off to see the kids (that i've been neglecting all week by working) and try to catch up on their lives. Almost Christmas break!! Woohoo!!

Jen's party and death-by-truffle

Joe and i went to a birthday party on Saturday night. What fun. We haven't been to a proper birthday party in....well......forever. I think that the last birthday party that i attended was my Dad's 50th...and he's now 65 (66 next month!).

The problem with birthday parties is gifts. What does one bring an adult for a birthday? For Joe's Dad's party (Over the Hill at 50), it was easy. A plethora of gag gifts are available to roast any suddenly elderly individual. Prune juice, walking canes, black anything, etc... But this wasn't the case with Jen. She was turning (gasp!) thirty (30!).

We debated and thought-- what do all chicks love? Chocolate. What's better than chocolate? More chocolate. Thus, the gift dilemma was deliciously solved by Polly Primm MD and her lovely, wonderful, addictively easy and indulgent truffles.

We made 31 (one for each year of her age and one to share)for Jen and seven each for two of Alessandra's friends for Christmas presents. That only left two (one each) for the kids. I have a feeling we'll be making these again over Christmas break!

TURNING THIRTY TERRIBLY TERRIFIC TRUFFLES

1PKG (20 oz?) Oreos (plain kind)
8oz cream cheese, softened
~2t whole cream (i used Coffee Mate Hazelnut creamer)

put all in food processor and whir until a black mush

do one of the following:

1. pour powdered sugar or cocoa powder(with or without espresso powder mixed in) into a bowl

roll mush into small balls (think acorns) then in powder

place on tray and freeze

2. alternately, roll in balls and freeze...then dip in melted chocolate and rechill to solid (too indulgent for me and i already had confex sugar and cocoa)

easy, easy and ever-so-elegant

next time-- mint oreos :o)[be careful, the packages of flavored Oreos are smaller so more than one package will be needed to have enough cookies]

i'm poisoning my kids..

I used to think that i was a good cook. Hey, i'm a relatively "selective" eater and i like what i make! Then i had kids......and apparently lost all culinary skills.

The recipes that i make are looked at with contempt and disgust. I'm asked "how much do i have to eat?". Second only to "i don't have to eat that, do i?" or "what did you make for yourself and what are we eating", this is my least favorite questions.

Not only that, but my dish is then used as a threat. "Finish what you have or i can always give you more..." (no, no, not that.....death and dismemberment before more of mom's food!!).

Someday, they'll call me for the recipe for this or that meal that they remember from their childhoods. Just my luck, it will be from the night that we had falafel (from a boxed kit) or Papa John's pizza...

They do, however, go crazy for Joe's tomato/pasta sauce and anything pancake (corn, chocolate chip, oatmeal, gingerbread, devil's food, plain with strawberries and cream on top...).

not fair!!

As a parent, one hears over and over how this or that is "not fair!" to one kid or another. Other kids get to stay out later, have mobile phones earlier, unlimited access to internet, phones/televisions in their rooms, etc..... The other sibling is given priviledges that should be universal, regardless of the circumstances of the differences and the complaining party wants to be sure to alert all that this is "not fair".

I anticipated this before i had kids and haven't been disappointed.

But i didn't expect the "not fair" refrain to apply to our lives as a family as a whole.

Our lives are "not fair" when compared to those of others.

We live in a house that we love, have healthy and happy kids that get along (ok, most of the time), have well-enough paying jobs (no debt, no fear of job loss) and are still crazy-silly in love after twenty years. What gives.

We're not that "good" of people, certainly there are those "better" who deserve some of the bounty that seems to be oozing from our lives. Do we work on keeping those aforementioned blessings? Yes, every day. Do we deserve a better life, easier time than others in our circle of acquaintenances who have experienced health struggles, separation/divorce, job uncertainty/loss and/or major mood swings? No, not really.

So........we just wait and wonder.

Is the proverbial other shoe about to drop? Is this the eye of the storm and things will get out-of-control any day now? Or are we just to stop questioning our good fortune and enjoy it without reservations?

Or is it just an indication that we could do more to help others? What do you think?

cool or cold?

I must admit that i was never "cool" but i didn't realize it completely until i saw it in my kids. You see, my kids are cool.

Well, make that cold.

See, it's not "cool" to wear a coat (too bulky! no one else does! it's not that cold!). It's "cool" to wear a hoodie (Alessandra) or just a short-sleeved t-shirt (Christian). Even when skiing, the coat is fought then grudgingly worn (not the inner layer, just the shell).

Joe tells me that it's the price of being "cool" and that it was the same when he was a cool high schooler. I guess that i was always the nerdy (warm!) outsider who wore a coat and mittens.

And i never missed the bus either. Having had to drive one or both kids to school every day this week because of missed bus or running late, that point is being driven home too.

Am i just a cranky mom? Or have the kids gotten too quirky? Or have i made them quirky by enabling them to get away with hoodies/short sleeves ("i'm just running in the door of the school...i don't need a coat")?

I wish that i was cool and that all it took was to leave my coat in the car. Alas, i'm so far from cool as to not even recognize it. I'm just vicariously cool through my association with them.

Now that is like the high school that i remember. I was "cool by association" then with Beth and Traci Kinke, as i was the one that drove then too.......... (and they never wore coats....clashed with their parachute/harem pants and BIG hair...)

snow day!

Crash! Bang! Boom!

We live in the desert. Being awoken by thunder and lightening isn't a regular event by any means but in December?

As opposed to what many of our relatives may think, it does get chilly here. So...we were awoken today by hail and thunder snow.

By the time that we'd finished breakfast (now as late as 0545), the APS folks had declared a 2hr delay for the district. Alessandra stumbled down a bit later, only to find that one of her few times to come down on time was for nothing and she had 120 extra minutes to sleep, lounge, read, play with her new mobile, whatever.

Christian stayed in bed until Alessandra and i made him get up at 0845. He at least took advantage of the snow day to lounge.

A two hour delay is the worst. It just teases the kids (and moms!) with time off. The delay means that they don't have to run to the bus stop but don't really have the morning off to play in the snow. Too long to just read a bit, too short to start doing something without being called away mid-activity.

If they'd been off school, i would have been able to go to work. They'd have stayed home and played outside, surfed the 'net, read books, played piano. If they'd had school as usual, i could also have gone to work and been home soon after their return. With the two hour delay, my hands were tied. I had to stay home to make sure that they were able to catch the bus (would it be running late or early? would it take longer to get to the bus?). By the time that the middle school bus had left, there was only four hours before the high school bus would be arriving to bring kids back. No time to really do anything of any substance.

Oh well. The kids loved having a "short day" and having me home when they got home. The snow had all melted by then. Maybe next time we'll take the time to make more snow angels and worry less about being "productive". The things that i might have gotten done with more time today (housework, etc) will still be there and i'll just have to re-do those things that i did get done anyway as dirt and grime always seem to reaccumulate (job security!).

Off to bed. Hoping not to be awoken at 0400 again by the thunder snow!

the things you'll do for love.......

I'd heard the lyrics of the song and thought that they only applied to the romantic love. You know-- the hearts-and-flowers, all rainbows and soft-fade fairy tale time of the beginning of a relationship. Then i had kids.

I've always thought of myself as being fairly consistent in beliefs, presentation and action. I try to, as they say, "walk the talk". But lately, i don't recognize myself in some of my behaviours.

I blame it all on my kids.

How did the "groovy-free-love-peacenik" that i think myself to be end up at the Archery Shoppe buying a "Mission Menace" bow? (http://missionarchery.com/Menace-bow.asp)

How did i end up yesterday at the T-Mobile store purchasing a fancy-schmancy mobile phone with keyboard...... for my teenage daughter? Aren't there enough texting teens? Aren't we supposed to be the luddite family (no television service, no cable, make our kids read "good books"--To Kill a Mockingbird most recently, limited internet access)? The ones that resist the rampant consumer culture (ie. deprive our kids of the latest and greatest gadgets)? And now Alessandra has the mobile that i'd coveted for the past six months. I won't buy it for myself (having thought about it for six months) but it took all of thirty minutes to get the mobile and the service and the instructional run-down. I've waited longer in line at a bakery!

Off to make bacon-wrapped sausages for my waiting family. Aack!

Where did that vegetarian, crunchy-granola peacenik go?

If you find her, text Alex to come get her.......