Category — food

Looks good, doesn't it!

This was our dinner tonight… mini Chicago style double crust pizza. Oh yeah.

I can’t take all of the credit for it though, in fact, I can’t take any! I was stumbling through recipe blogs today and came across this post over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories (cool, huh?) talking about individual pizzas, and they sent me over to though small, its tasty for the dough recipe – useful, as my normal pizza dough recipe (from CPK, in case you are wondering) needs to rest overnight in the fridge… and I wanted it TONIGHT!

So, I quickly pulled out the ingredients and… well, we had to go to the store. I was out of:
flour
oil
cheese

yep, pizza ingredient #’s 1 & 2 are in that list. I know.. me out of flour?!?!?! Well, actually, I was out of unbleached white flour – we have LOTS of whole wheat flour left, but I didn’t think the girls would quite go for that today… not after the whole wheat tortillas M refused to eat last night. After all, they wanted that papa’s bake at home place when I said pizza. And I thought I had trained them better by now! I think they are beginning to see the light though…

Mmmmm good!

You see, we made individual pizzas – they got to top their own pizzas however they wanted (as did I!) They had cheese & pepperoni, Mr. Fabulous & I had bacon, spinach & salami. It was delicious all around!

As it was HOT today, I baked them in the toaster oven… works like a charm!

Thank you Evil Mad Scientist Labs!  My stomach owes you a debt of gratitude!

This is what we had for breakfast today… the girls chose the shape, and I actually made ROLLED biscuits!  That’s a treat that they usually only get from Daddy.

Just basic bisquick biscuits (I know, you expect everything from me to be from scratch!) with a little cinnamon added in for flavor.  Oh yeah, and smeared with butter & folded like my Daddy used to do… except he melted the butter first.  It brought back memories of helping Dad make them in the mornings, so I had to toss in a scrap cake in his memory.

Yeah, dinner will most likely be SALAD to make up for the butter we ingested this morning!

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Or perhaps dinner needs to be salad to make up for this…

This is a recipe for Blueberry Pound Cake that I found over at Plum Pudding (see, I give credit when it is due!)  And yes, it is as good as it looks… better even!  We ate it plain – no cream or anything to distract.

I did make one teensy little change to the recipe though (you were expecting less?)  When we picked the blueberries the other day A tossed in some red currants… so I left them.  It brought it up to around 3 cups of berries, and the currants added a nice bit of tang.

That’s my Friday update just for you… got your mouth watering just in time for the weekend, didn’t I…

curious? This is a post on eating your lawn… well, actually it’s about replacing your lawn with home-grown produce!

I recently popped over to Chow.com and read a post on people turning their suburban front yards into mini farms – and with great success!

So, I thought I’d do a little bit of research…

Some of the tips that I found were great reminders of our tendency to be over-achievers… what can we say, we are only human!

1 – start small!
Just because you have decided to take the plunge into mini-farming, doesn’t mean that you need to tear out the entire lawn in the first week! Take your time and learn as you go. Start with a raised bed – build the bed, fill it with good soil, and start out planting your favorite fruit or veggies in it. Don’t get too carried away the first season either! You need to grow just as your garden does!

Another thought in this front – make sure that you remove the grass UNDER the raised bed before filling it with dirt! My first attempt at this was a failure due to my being too lazy to till or dig up the grass. All I grew were grass and weeds that first year – the carrots & onions I planted just didn’t have anywhere to go because the grass under them was waaaaay too lush and thick.

On a personal side note… if you are planning to eat the things growing in your yard, I recommend NOT using herbicides and pesticides on them. If it is designed to kill organisms, do you really want to chance it? Keep in mind that YOU ARE AN ORGANISM TOO!

I received the most delicious box in the mail last week. Oh yes, delicious! It was from Maureen over at Simply Heaven Lollipop Shoppe, and it was filled to the brim with delectable treats!

First I have to talk about the packaging – no, it’s worth it! We opened the box to find a beautiful tissue-paper wrapped bundle of confections. Each individual lollipop was wrapped in plastic and tied with a pink ribbon. It just looked beautiful!

I know what you are thinking… lollipops? Aren’t those for kids? Well, yes. But what is to keep adults from enjoying them too? Is it the stick that hangs out of your mouth? Have no fear! She also offers Lolli Drops for those who are still a kid at heart!

The Lolli Drops come in a small tin that will stash away in your purse and can be slipped into your mouth for a sweet treat anytime – without the telltale lollipop stick hanging out!

We received a tin of peppermint drops (which my 6 year old loved – and tried to steal!) and an assortment of lollipops including peach, key lime, strawberry, banana, cheesecake and lavender. I can personally attest that they are all yummy!

However, the lollipops aren’t even the tip of the iceberg! The first thing I opened when the box arrived (after the box, of course) was the pretty pink box of Kona Mocha Roca. I smelled it as soon as the shipping box was opened, and it smells divine!

I have to give a little personal background… I grew up in a town that held the headquarters for Enstrom’s World Famous Almond Toffee (given widely at Christmas – you always get at least 1 box!) and my in-law’s live down near the headquarters for Almond Roca candies, so when I tell you that this roca was some of the best toffee I have ever had, you can understand where I am coming from.

The Kona Mocha Roca is creamy and smooth with a layer of rich, dark chocolate on the top. WOW! Personally, I loved the fact that it was NOT covered in a layer of chopped nuts – they would have distracted from the creamy smoothness of the toffee. If you like toffee, you MUST visit Maureen!

I have saved the best for last though. Tucked in the bottom of the box was a package of biscotti. This is not your typical skinny, almond filled stuff either, oh no! This was Maureen’s Chocolate Lover’s Biscotti enrobed in dark chocolate! Seriously, these cookies from heaven are over 6 inches long and 1.5 inches wide! They are HUGE! I split the first one with my hubby, and we both felt that we were getting a good share.

These chocolate biscotti cookies are covered in chocolate – not a half dunk in chocolate either! This biscotti is covered in chocolate.

Maureen offers you a choice of dark or milk chocolate (as most people either like one or the other) and I will tell you that if you or someone you know loves chocolate, the Chocolate Lover’s Biscotti was created for them!

If you are looking for a tasty treat to give as a gift, or you are looking for a treat to use as a incentive for your kids, you need to click over to Simply Heaven Lollipop Shoppe! You will want to get a little something for yourself too – trust me! Otherwise the gift you are purchasing just might not make it out of your house!

well, I couldn’t title it Happy New Year – that’s too much like everyone else!

2008 is officially here – everywhere now.  2007 has past, taking with it it’s own set of high’s & low’s – here’s hoping ’08 will be filled with a few more high’s!

The start of a new year is a harbinger of a chance to start over – a fresh slate, if you will.  People look at the past & decide what they need to change to bring about a better future – and once in a while they actually stick!

What are my resolutions?

1 – get over this cold - grrrrr it arrived at 2:00 am – the time that some form of disease seems to descend upon our house each Jan 1.  This is one that I can keep! ha ha

2 – clean  house  - take down all of the Christmas decor, fold the mountain of clean laundry, find a sparkling, clean sink somewhere in the kitchen, and de-clutter the house.  This will make the Mr. MUCH happier.  Well, once he gets over HIS cold it will…

3 – Keep the clutter at bay - tough -I’m a pack rat, and admittedly, I’m just lazy.  Add 2 young girls into the mix, and you have a recipe for disaster – hurricanes & tornadoes look to have blown through with regularity, and they start with A & M

4 – find a place to donate all of this excess STUFF - when we moved, goodwill knew me by car.  We donated soooooooooo much junk (complete set of James Bond anyone?) BUT – most unfortunately – we still have half of a garage full of boxes.  ugh.  I haven’t found goodwill up here 30 minutes from anywhere, however I think there is a kids clothing place.  That will help!

5 – become active in PaperBackSwap again - this requires going through the extensive library – again – and finding new homes for many dear friends – and a few mere acquaintances.  Haven’t heard about it yet?  Well… check it out below!

6 –  Continue with the healthier diet that we have begun.  We eat mostly vegetables with some chicken.  I just need to find a local CSA farm.  The drop for our old one is over 30 miles away – not quite eating local is it!

7 – cut down on the amount of STUFF that we bring in the house.

8 – reduce – reuse – recycle – reduce waste, reuse things as much as possible, and recycle everything that we can.  We already have the smallest trash can that WM NW offers, and we recycle 3 times as much as goes into it.  I also want to get the compost pile REALLY going.

9 – plant the vegetable garden.  we already have raspberries & red currants, but we need to add in the other veggies – carrots, long beans, sunflowers, garlic, potatoes, etc.  I have a ingenious thought on the potatoes – I’ll share more about that later.  It requires some straw…

10 – do what I can to help others realize just how much they consume and throw away.  We are a nation of consumers – wasteful, over-spent,  greedy, and blind to the world around us.  We don’t want to do anything that changes our cushy existence, or makes us stop for even a second to think about the effects of our actions.

We need to wake up and look at the world.  We are destroying it.

We are cutting down trees at an alarming rate, cutting down mountains to get the fuels that are located inside.  We pollute our water sources with toxins and poisons, throw away plastics at an alarming rate – plastics that float around in the waterways and oceans, and are consumed by animals that don’t know better.

We fill the products that we bring into our homes with toxins – and wonder why we are a nation of people that are always sick.  Cancer is rising – and those diagnosed are getting younger & younger.  We inject our children with metals disguised as immunizations and cause more diseases.

Why is it that the USA thinks that we need to alter the food that God created for us?  If farmers would husband the land rather than destroy it with chemicals, they wouldn’t have the problems with too many pests.

How is it that humanity survived for millennia without altering the chemical make-up of food and filling everything with corn, yet we are told that if we don’t do these things humanity can’t survive?  There is a difference in taste between fresh, natural, organic food that the mass-produced junk that fills our grocery store shelves.  And don’t get me started on the HFCS and hydrogenated oils and MSG that food factories fill everything with.  Gee, I wonder why our kids are so obese.  We fill them with sugar & fat & corn and sit them down in front of a TV or video games or computers for hours on end.

Get outside and enjoy nature.  Once you have an experience in nature – away from technology and cities – and truly look at the world around you, how can you NOT want to save it?

We are stewards – we need to take care of the planet that God created and told us to take care of.  At this rate, we will have to start colonizing other planets just to support humanity – or allow a massive war to kill half of the population.  Oh, and wipe out technology so we have to re-learn how to exist at a simpler level.

All of this is done in the name of progress.  Are we really progressing?  Or are we causing a huge problem that we cannot fix?

Just remember, today is the first day of the rest of your life – make the most of it!

I forgot to mention that David’s Cookies has Hanukkah offerings as well – all Kosher!

David’s Cookies Are OU-D Kosher – Use Code KOSHER10A For 10% Off – Rugelach, Message Cookies, Cakes & More. Free Shipping!

Hanukkah starts on Wednesday, so don’t delay! Order your treats today!

David’s Cookies are the latest craze in gift giving. They are showing up in Good Housekeeping magazine, on 3 on your side on CBS, and in school fundraisers.

My daughters’ school recently did a fundraiser that featured David’s Cookies and I have to tell you that they are delicious – and very easy! They come pre-portioned and ready to pop them into the oven and bake. My 5 year old has no problem baking them herself. No more messy mixing and scooping, just drop the frozen cookie dough onto your pan and put it into the oven.

Cookies aren’t the end of what they offer, however. They have cheesecakes – both individual sizes and family sizes, cakes, pies… if it is a sweet treat, they probably offer it and deliver it straight to your door. They offer pre=baked cookies too. Take a look at their Hot Products for a brief sampling of their sweet treats!

Head over to see what they have just in time for your next Christmas get-together!
Shop online for fresh baked gifts!

Use coupon code LSCHEESE10A now through December 2, 2007 for 10% off all cheesecakes.