Sunshine Cookies

Because it's Wednesday, because it's raining, because the day got off to a rough start for just  about everyone I've talked to.  I made these cookies.  They are sugar cookies with butter-cream icing that has been dyed yellow.  They are delicious with a big ol' glass of milk.  They have made my day better. I got this sugar cookie recipe from my sister in law Olie.  I think it's a pretty wide spread recipe but it is by far my favorite.  It makes lots and it's really simple.

Like most sugar cookie recipes you start by creaming together the butter and sugar.  Then you beat in the eggs and vanilla, stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Then you want to cover it and stick it in the fridge.  I thought an hour would be long enough but the dough was still a little too soft to manage.  So I put it in overnight.

On a side note: I love vanilla extract.  That is all.

Once it's ready, roll out the dough on a floured surface and then bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Then they come out all golden and perfect looking.

Once they've cooled you can top them with whatever kind of icing you dig.  What is not shown here is that I spent many an hour last night attempting to make my own butter cream icing, sans powdered sugar.  It didn't work out.  I moved on.  We got a divorce.

So this is actually Pillsbury butter cream icing, and it is fantastic.

I made lots.  Because everyone needs a little lift today.  Happy Wednesday!

Dish-o-the-Week: Homemade Mac N' Cheese

I know, your mouth is watering already right?  Who doesn't love Mac N' Cheese?  Crazy people that's who!  I'm pretty serious about my mac n' cheese if you can't tell.  Actually, Speed Racer has had to cut me off from Easy Mac...I wish I was joking.  I had a little bit of an Easy Mac problem there for awhile. My sister in law Olie saw this recipe in the Pioneer Woman cookbook and highly suggested I make it.  I think she was implying that I make it when she was around so she could partake in it, but alas, she lives too far away.  Sorry Olie!  But I'll make more mac n' cheese next time I see you, I'm just making sure I get the recipe perfect first.

So here's what you need.  Pretty basic really.

First you want to cook and drain your macaroni noodles.  You want them a little hard since you'll be baking them in the oven later.

Now we're going to start making the delicious cheesy sauce.  On low heat, we're gonna mix the butter and flour.

Then I added the milk and spices.

You want to keep stirring the sauce until it gets like milkshake thick, then switch it to low heat.  Next I whisked the egg and then tempered it with some of the sauce to keep it from cooking when I poured it into the sauce.

Then more spices. And cheese.

Delicious!  Mix it all together, until it's gooey and wonderful.  Then put into a baking dish and top with.....more cheese!  Because honestly, most things cannot have enough cheese.

And then...enjoy.  It really is a great comfort food, and it's fat free!  Just kidding.  I wish it was, but you can always pretend.

Dish-o-the-Week: Cowboy Calzone's

That's right the dish-o-the-week is indeed another PW recipe.  The calzone's were absolutely scrumptious, and filling.  We'll be eating on them for awhile, but I did have some issues with making them.  Mostly the issues arose from my own inexperience, but some of them were due to unclear directions in the recipe.  I know what you're thinking, I just said I had issues with the Pioneer Woman.  It's just a minor detail, don't worry ladies and gents, my love for the P-Dub is still true, although as Speed Racer said, "The honeymoon may be over..." So the first part of making a calzone is making the dough for the yummy yummy outside.  Usually this is made of pizza dough, and the same is true for the Pioneer Woman recipe.  She uses a pizza dough recipe from her book.  So first things first:

Get your yeast ready!  I had surprisingly, never made a dough with yeast before.  So this was a new experience.

Next up, some flour and salt, with a little olive oil...

So then you mix it all together.  This is where I started to run into some problems.  Problem numero uno: I do not have a stand mixer so this all had to be done by hand.  Nothing wrong with that, sometimes it's fun doing it the old fashion way.  Problem numero dos: in the recipe it says "You can also mix by hand until the dough comes together."  I've never made pizza dough before, so I feel like most of this is my lack of knowledge.  But what is together enough?  Just till it's gooey? More than gooey? Do I need more flour?  I should have went with my gut and added more flour but I didn't.  So, as I read another recipe later, after this was all said and done, I saw an entry that said you should knead the dough for 10-15 minutes.  So..yeah.

Here is my un-kneaded dough, tossed in olive oil.

After that I put a moist towel over it, and put it in a warm place where it would not be disturbed, ie my ginormous microwave.

Two hours later, after my dough had risen, it had risen indeed! I began on the filling.

Added some tomatoes and chilies...

And they're done!  Not.  Yeah so this is my next picture.  Why? Because chaos ensued in my kitchen, and my hands were covered in flour and dough.  So basically what happened, was that I started mixing the cheese and egg together, then added the meat.  But it also looked completely different from the pictures in the cookbook.  I still haven't figured that one out.  Perhaps I didn't let my meat cool long enough, or maybe I should have drained the tomatoes first.  I also ended up with ALOT of filling.  But the primary issue was that since I had not thoroughly kneaded my dough, it was sticky and super hard to handle.  So my first calzone turned out looking like this:

Kinda came apart...just a bit.  But the rest were more or less okay.  And they were good but they needed something a little extra to me.  That I still can't put my finger on.  I think this is just one of those things that will get better the more I make it, and tweak it a little.

I served it with delicious mashed potatoes.  Of my own recipe!  I mean, you really can't get enough starches.

Mmmm creamy.

And the end, the ugly truth is that my kitchen looked like this....

Did I mention that we don't have one of those new fangled dish washing machines?  Just me and my handy scrub brush.  So in conclusion folks, it's all part of the cooking learning curve.  I will make better dough next time, figure out why I had a plethora of filling, and eat a delicious calzone for lunch.  No worries fans, me and P-dubs are still BFFs.  If only in my mind.

Compassion

Yesterday, I was frantically mowing before it started raining again, and came across this little guy.  He was hiding in one of our bird houses which I thought was both clever and asking for it.  What if a bird flew by and thought, "Oh awesome, food AND a house!"  I mean that's what I would probably think if I was a bird...I'm very food driven if you haven't noticed.  But this little guy did get me thinking...which is always a dangerous thing. This little guy (or lady, I guess it could have been a lady frog) was so smiley, it actually made me giggle.  He just looked so content and happy.  I thought I would share his smile with everyone.  What he got me thinking about was that I feel like we all need to smile a little more, to enjoy the little things a little more, and to share that a little more.

With so much going on lately, the ever changing economy, things being tight, trying to work on my photography as well as find another job, I've been in a very "What about me? What am I going to do about me?" mood.  I feel a lot like Smee in the movie Hook, "Smee, Smee. What About Smee? Smee! Smee! Smee. Smee. What about Smee? Smee's me. What about me?"  Lately, I have been reading some inspirational writings by Sue Monk Kidd.  It's a book of compiled short stories that she shares, they're great to read when you just have a short moment.  In the past two chapters she's been sharing stories about open availability and compassion.  By open availability she means, making yourself just open to someone you wouldn't normally be open to.  Listening to someone who is upset, even if they're not your friend, not yelling at someone who is angry at you but listening to their story, or offering just a hand of comfort to someone who needs it.  All these things are also linked with compassion.  But in her short stories Sue Monk Kidd talks about how although she has the ability to give compassion, she often doesn't take the opportunity when it reveals itself.

In the story I read last night she describes how she came out of a shopping center on a bitterly cold day, and saw a homeless man sitting on a bench out front.  He had taken pieces of cardboard and put them down the back of his collar to try and keep out the cold wind.  As she describes how she merely stared and felt pity for the man, a little girl with a red wool scarf walked by, turned around and wrapped the scarf around the mans neck.

I think it's fair to say that we've all tightened our purse strings as of late.  But that's fine, I'm not saying that we have to give money to be compassionate.  There is plenty more we all have that we can give: time, food, hard work, a smile, and just being willing to be open to see what the other person needs.  We must also keep in mind that it's not just homeless people that need compassion and open availability, it can be a coworker, a friend, a child, a stranger crying on a bus, a loved one, a neighbor, or just someone you run into.  I think we have all had an experience where an opportunity for compassion has come up and we have let it pass by, whether it was because of fear, awkwardness, not being sure how to help, or it just being out of our comfort zone.  I am ashamed to admit that last summer when I was eating lunch outside with a friend from work, we were approached by a homeless man, and she gave him a dollar, and I told her that probably wasn't wise considering I'd seen him in the area several times and he was probably just "working" the area.  But now, I'm ashamed of myself.  A couple dollars couldn't hurt, and we were in a very popular area, if I was homeless I would go to popular areas as well, to try and get some help.

So what I guess I'm saying, is that this little guy inspired me to be happy and grateful that I have a warm (or cool in the summer) dry place to stay.  And challenged me not only to be happy with what I have in hard times but to share happiness and compassion with others, and to try and make myself available to those around me.  It's always something to strive for, and I am going to challenge myself this week (as a start) to be more compassionate.  I challenge you to try to do the same.  And until then, smile and count your blessings, I'm sure that's what this little guy is doing.

Dish-o-the-week: Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

Today we're trying out a Broccoli and Cheese Casserole, slow-cooker recipe for the dish-o-the-week.  Who doesn't love cheese, and broccoli, and garlic, and salt, and heart attacks?  I mean come on it's delicious together.  If you're eating well, or trying to avoid the goodness that is cheese, then be warned, stay away from this post.College students, Grad students, busy people everywhere....meet your new best friend...the crock pot!  Was that not epic enough?  Let's try it again....THE CROCK POT!!!  Better?  I kinda feel like I should be saying, "RELEASE THE KRAKEN'!!"  Anyone? Anyone? The crock pot (or you could call it the Kraken if you like) is a delightful invention.  Speed Racer's Aunt and Uncle gave him this particular one back in his bachelor days, so he could have dinner ready when he got back from work.  You really can go as blinged out as you want with a slow cooker these days.  They have digital displays, timers, inserts, stainless steel, and lots and lots of gizmos.  If you do not want to spend money right now do not look at William Sonoma's website, fo real.  I just did for some "research" and I am sorry.  Now that I have told you how much I love my crock pot, we can move on.  But really I love my, I mean "OUR", crock pot.

So first things first, you want to boil yourself some rice.

Next up, chopping up some celery.  You really don't need specific measurements for this recipe.  It's pretty basic and in the end you are just mixing everything together, so pretty much just put in how much you want of each, and what will fit in your crock pot.

And of course you will want to thaw some broccoli or cook some fresh broccoli.  I went totally lazy on this recipe, so most of my stuff is store bought.  Sorry fans.  I also added cream of chicken soup, salt, pepper, garlic, mushrooms, and cheese sauce.  Like I said, not the healthiest recipe in the world, but hopefully it will be yummy.

One of my friends who also uses her crock pot a lot would have actually made chicken broth from a chicken, instead of the can.  But I bought the can, I even bought the discount can.  What can I say?

Then you mix it alllllllll together.

And Ta-da!  I can't tell  you how it tastes yet, because we haven't eaten it yet.  It was prepped this morning.  So jury is still out on that, I could be giving you a recipe that tastes absolutely horrible.  But I will let you know.  I put mine together pretty early, so right now it's in the fridge.  You want to cut it on low and cook for about an hour and a half (until it's warm all the way through) before you serve.  Enjoy!

Busy Weekend

Speed Racer and I had a very busy weekend.  Although there was some down time (like when I took a nap because, let's just face it, there was no way I could stay awake anymore) in between everything going on.  Mostly we worked on our house and yard.  What most people don't realize is that with both of us being primarily freelance, our weekends often get taken up with work, so when we have a free weekend, we have to catch up on maintenance and improvements on the house. 

To catch up on all the updates, improvements, and messes we've made (and haven't posted about since November, eek!) click here.

I was also in a baking mood...and when I get in a baking mood there is no stopping me.  On Thursday night I baked a cherry pie, on Friday I made homemade spaghetti sauce (a recipe I'm going to share with you, hooray for you!), and then Saturday morning I baked two blueberry pies (with made from scratch crust of course) before we started the days work.

Now some of you may think "Wow, that's great that you baked all that stuff, you must be really motivated!" But for those of you who know me, baking is always therapy in some way...a way to stay busy.  Right now I find myself in an interesting employment situation, I am part time employed by another photographer, Rebecca Claire Photography.  I am also trying do some of my own photography on the side, and due to the summer turning out differently than planned and the financial status of just about everything right now, I am also looking for a part time job for some extra cash in my pocket.  Although I would not say I have a lot of down time, between photo shoots, editing, marketing, and filling out applications.  I have had some at home time however,  to realize how big a job budgeting, looking for deals, and cooking from scratch can be.  I am both busy all the time and not employed all the time.  It's a weird situation to be in, and can be discouraging sometimes.  So I guess what I'm trying to say is, my hat's off to you home makers out there!  It's a full time job and I don't even have little munchkins to distract me.  And it's an important job, and a harder job than you think.

On a lighter note:  Here is my recipe for home made spaghetti sauce!  I like to take snippets from other recipes until I can combine something that I like.  This is what I came up with.

What you'll need: 6 med tomatoes peeled and chopped, 2 green onions minced, 1/2 white onion, minced, 3 Tbsp minced parsley (I used dried), 2 tsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp. sugar,  or 1/2 tbsp. dried basil, 1/8 tsp. pepper, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1 tsp. oregano, 1 bay leaf, 1 (4 oz.) mushrooms, 1/4c. flour and of course Spaghetti!

First you will want to peel and chop the tomatoes.  If you haven't done this before, it's a lot easier than it sounds.  Prepare a bowl with ice water and ice cubes in it.  Then boil another pot of water.  While your water is starting to boil core your tomatoes and on the underside score them with an "X".  This just provides an easy place to start to peel the skin.  Once your water is boiling, add your tomatoes.  Leave them in the boiling water for about 20 secs, then move them into the ice water for another 20 secs, repeat one more time with each.  After they have cooled in the ice water you should see the skin start to crinkle, at that point it's very easy to just peel off.

Chop your garlic, green onions, white onion, and tomatoes.  I sauteed the onions and garlic first in some olive oil in a medium sized sauce pan.  Then I turned the heat off, added the tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients except for the flour, mushrooms, and spaghetti.

I let this sit, unheated for about 2 hours to let the flavors mix.  Then about an hour and a half before I wanted to serve, I cut it on high until it began to bubble, then turned it down to low to simmer uncovered for the rest of the time.

I had some trouble with mine thickening up, so I sprinkled in some flour.  You may want to sprinkle some, mix, wait a little while and then add some more until you get yours to your desired thickness.  This is definitely a personal thing.  Some people like theirs runny, some people like their sauce thick.  About a half hour before dinner time, I added the mushrooms and of course got started on the spaghetti noodles.

Then, presto!  You've got yourself some spaghetti with fresh spaghetti sauce.  This made just enough for Speed Racer and I so you may want to double the recipe if you've got a bigger family.  It turned out pretty fabulous if I do say so myself, but the real cause for that was the fantastic tomatoes that our neighbors provided us with.  They were soooo tangy!  So make sure you choose your tomatoes wisely, my friends.

Now I'm off for another week of photos, editing, applications, house work, house maintenance, cooking, and who knows what else.  Happy Monday.

Dish-o-the-week: Butternut Squash Baked with Tomatoes and Cheese

Last week Speed Racer had a hankerin' for a dish his Step-Mom use to make, Butternut Squash Baked with Tomatoes and Cheese.  She delightfully shared the recipe with me and it is this weeks, dish-o-the-week! 

That's right you heard me!  My first non-Pioneer Woman dish-o-the-week!  Ha!  I'm not an addict.  I'm not sure what cookbook this recipe is from, but pretty much the name explains the recipe.  You chop up butternut squash, saute it, saute some onions, add pepper and salt, put it in a casserole and add tomatoes and cheese.  Then pop it in the oven and wait for the delicious to seep in.

So first thing's first.  You peel and cut up the butternut squash.  Admittedly I've never cooked anything with butternut squash before, so this was a new experience.  A frustrating new experience.  I don't know if it was my peeler or me, but peeling with a potato peeler did not work.  So, after some help from Speed Racer when my frustrated sighs brought him into the kitchen, I switched to a knife.  Then you have to clean out the seeds...which is kinda like cleaning out a pumpkin.

It's pretty amazing I didn't cut off my finger.  I was frustrated, it was not working, and I started on this too late so I was really really hungry.  Not a good combo.

Speed Racer was enjoying taking frustrated pictures of me.  He only enjoyed the picture taking though, not the frustration...or did he?

Finally, I got all the squash chopped up and in the pan.  It smelled delicious with all that oil and butter.  If I were to do this again, I would go for smaller chunks though.  But that's just me.

Next I chopped up some green onions which was far easier than the squash.

Yum, I love me some onions.

Next we layered these over the squash in the casserole dish.  Then sauteed up some tomatoes that our lovely neighbors shared with us.  They were divine.  Just the right mix of tangy and sweetness.  And I put these over the onions, and then grated the cheese.

Delicious delicious cheese.  It turned out pretty well, I should have sauteed the squash a bit longer but live and learn.  Speaking of learning, Speed Racer's Step-Mom had doubled the recipe and added little numbers on each side, but I wasn't sure how many people that was for.  So thinking that it was just the two of us, I stuck with the recipe thinking it would be enough.  And it was, I guess.   I don't know about you, but I like my leftovers.  Usually the dish-o-the-week is precisely that.  It feeds us for the entire week.  Oh well, we just might have to cook up something extra this week.  There may also be some baking in my future, so stay tuned.

Anniversary Party

Last Tuesday before I got the Plague, I was invited to take pictures of my Aunt and Uncle's Anniversary Party.  It was a great time and we had several opportunities to take some much needed family pictures. 

It was one of those classic summer parties, there was seafood, laughter, kids, kisses, hugs, big kids eating baby food (do not try that at home), lightening bugs, prayers, Eskimo kisses, and lots of Red Light Green Light.  But most importantly we were able to celebrate what a wonderful couple my Aunt and Uncle are, and the great example they have set for all of us.

Thank you both for letting me take photos of you (thanks to your sneaky daughter) and more importantly thank you for being a wonderful Aunt and Uncle to me.  Aunt Carol thank you for encouraging my love of art and photography, for being willing to make mud pies with me at the cabin, for nursing me when I inevitably would fall down your basement stairs, and for being my name's sake.  Uncle Walt, thank you for teaching me how to fish and your patience when I caught fish and you didn't, thank you for teaching me your love of nature and letting me quietly enjoy it with you, and thank you for always sharing your stories with me and being willing to listen to mine in return.  I love you both and I hope you enjoy the photos!

Food Poisoning: Not for the light of heart

It was 7:00 AM.  Why was I awake?  I looked around the guest bedroom at my brother's house for some sort of explanation.  I love sleep, I don't usually wake up on my own unless there is a reason.  But everything appeared as normal as can be.  I started to roll over and go back to sleep when it came again, a pain in my gut so violent it could have been a contraction.  I instantly went into the fetal position and tried not to cry out.  Eventually I eased out of bed and went downstairs to where my brother Warnie was reading, he looked up quizzically as I entered.

"I think I might be sick," I whined.

"Oh no.  Well let's get you something easy on your stomach to eat.  Maybe eating a little something will help," he said.

He is such a good brother.  After bringing me a plain bagel, peppermint tea and some pepto he sat and ate with me while we watched some Daily Show.   The stomach cramps finally started to ease and we started talking again.  Today was the day I was suppose to be leaving to head back to Knoxville.

"Thanks for the food, I really do feel better," I said smiling.  Food always makes me feel better.

"No problem, I'm glad you're feeling better."

I smiled and walked towards the kitchen to put my plate up.  Suddenly, I put my plate down and dashed to the hall bathroom.  I puked my guts out.

When I came back Warnie looked concerned, "I thought you said you felt better!"

"I did feel better!" I said, equally frustrated.

A look of horror crossed his face, and I could see something dawning there that he was not excited about.  "Maybe your pregnant..." he said.

"I'm not pregnant." I said, matter-o-factly.  There was no way.

"We could get you a pregnancy test if you wanted..." You could tell he was saying this to ease my mind, he didn't really want to.  No big brother wants to get their little sister a pregnancy test, no matter how old they are, or if they're married.  Really I think it's probably still pretty weird for older brothers when their little sisters get pregnant period.  But he loves me, so he was willing to do that for me.

"That's ok, seriously, I think I'm just sick."

As the morning progressed, there was lots more puking.  I couldn't keep water down.  I got a fever.  I got a splitting headache.  And all hopes of moving, eating, or working subsided.  I gave in to my caretakers and just laid on the couch and watched "The Blind Side," which I loved.  I have an incredible soft spot for feel good football movies, they make me cry.

Between listening to wonderful quotes from Sandra Bullock's character like, "If you so much as set foot downtown, you will be sorry. I'm in a prayer group with the D.A., I'm a member of the NRA and I'm always packing," and racing to the bathroom to pray to the porcelain gods, I decided it was undeniable.  I had food poisoning.

If I have ever known you and known you had food poisoning, and took it lightly...I am sorry.  Next time, I will come hold your hand and hold your hair.  It's that bad.  Luckily mine only lasted for 24 hours.  Once I had purged my system I was a lot better.  Wednesday night my 102 fever finally broke and the next morning I braved the 8 hour drive home.  Luckily, I split it up over 2 days and stopped at my parents house half way there, still exhausted and weak.

I'm just now getting back to normal.  The thought of some foods still make me queasy, and I'm still tired.   But that is why, dear readers, I did not post all last week.  I hope you'll forgive me, but I had the plague.

Dish-o-the-week: PW's Chili!

That's right, I gave in...again.  I made a Pioneer Woman recipe for the dish-o-the week.  I have a problem, I'll admit it.  I'm going to Pioneer Woman cooking rehab soon, not to worry.  But in the mean time, you can check out this awesome looking chili.  I had never made chili before.  And I'll go ahead and put this out there since I say something to that affect on every cooking post...until now...whew, deep breath...I haven't really cooked.  Don't judge me.  I'm a newly wed and I'm learning, but I truly am enjoying learning too.  Anywho, bring on the chili pics!

Key fixin's.

Ms. Brisco and Speed Racer were getting impatient.  The smell was driving them wild!  So they just sat there...lingering over the chili.

The great thing about this recipe is that is leaves room to add or not add what you feel like.  She gives a list of "optional" ingredients.  I am not a huge bean fan, I will eat them in chili but that is about it.  Speed Racer thinks I must have had some sort of head trauma as a child for something to be so wrong with me that I would not like beans.  So I added pinto beans, kidney beans, diced tomatoes with chili's, one jalapeno, one finger hot pepper, onion, garlic, chili powder, paprika, oregano, and salt.  But you can mix and match as you like.

Oh he's getting really impatient now, he's got that crazed look in his eye.  You can tell he's about to steal a nibble.  Not to worry though, we ate shortly after that.  There are no pictures because we were both too busy gobbling it down.

Now who is going to do the dishes I wonder?  Lucky for me, in our house it's whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes.

Later that night...

I had to add this in the post because it's too adorable for words.