Happy Birthday to You

Tomorrow is V's birthday. But, since we both have to work tomorrow V decided he would like to celebrate it today. Basically it means he gets spoiled and I make him a cake. Some years I go all out and make a fancy cake. I never really make cakes since there are only two of us and a multi-level cake is just too much for us to eat. This year I'm pretty burnt out so I decided to go with a more simple chocolate cake. Luckily, simple doesn't mean boring.

I made Martha's Easy Chocolate Cake. It was definitely easy. It calls for an 8 inch pan, I only have a 9 inch one so I used that instead of buying a new one. It turned out fine, it's just not as thick this way. Which honestly isn't necessarily a bad thing because this is a super rich cake. I also doubled the chocolate glaze recipe to make sure there was plenty. I'm not sure the original amount would have been enough.

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan; line bottom with parchment paper. Butter paper, dust with cocoa powder, tapping out excess; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, wisk together cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture alternating with sour cream, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
3. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Allow to cool before attempting to take out of the pan. I transferred it directly to the cake stand. Martha says to put it on a cookie sheet first.

Chocolate Glaze (this is the recipe, doubled)

8 ounces coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate ( ended up using a tiny bit more because I wanted it more like a ganache than a glaze)

1 cup heavy cream

In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Let cool until thick yet pourable, 2 to 3 minutes.

This cake was very rich and yummy. I added sprinkles to the top to make it festive. And I love sprinkles. We watched Tootsie while eating cake and now we are watching The Expendables. We have a very diverse television. Enjoy!

Halloween

Every year my office has a halloween party during office hours. It's a pretty nice way to spend a Friday afternoon. There's always a competition for creepiest appetizer and dessert. Last year I spent about 3 days making oreo truffles and dipping them in chocolate and decorating them so they looked like ghosts and witches hats. And I lost. Which is fine because they were more cute than creepy anyway.

But this year I decided I would only spend an hour working on the treats total. So, I saw these cute little guys online somewhere and thought they would be fun. So, make some brownies. While they are cooling take Milano cookies and dark icing with a very small icing tip. Write RIP on the cookies. Then bash some oreos so they are crumbly. I think they are pretty cute. The only problem is, the brownies mix I used (Ghirardelli) is tasty but pretty soft so they are having trouble staying together and holding up the cookies. I should have overcooked them a little I think. I mushed them all together and hopefully they make it to the party tomorrow!

Dinner dinner dinner time

This week I didn't do much cooking. I've started taking pilates classes twice a week which is a lot of fun. However, this weekend I'm going home so I won't be able to take my regular Saturday class so I doubled up during the week. Getting at home at 7 makes it a little hard to cook very much. On Monday V made yummy baked potatoes green beans... and steak for the meat eater of the family. Last night I had leftovers and tonight we had whatever we found in the fridge.

Luckily, the one time I did cook this week it was yummy! I found a blog about a year ago, budgetbytes, that has been kind of hit or miss. It's about budget recipes which is good since I've been trying to stick to a strict weekly grocery budget. I don't make a lot of recipes from the site but every now and then I'll find something yummy. I forgot to take pictures when I was cooking (I get hungry and forget) but I would definitely recommend this for an easy weeknight meal.

Spinach Artichoke Pasta

4 cloves garlic

olive oil

1/2 cup sour cream

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup white wine (I used more.. maybe like half a cup)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup grated parmesan

14 oz canned artichokes

10 oz chopped frozen spinach (defrosted)

Red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper

1 lb farfaille pasta

Saute garlic in olive oil. Then add in wine and reduce (this is why I added extra, so it could reduce and be more flavorful). Add in sour cream and cream cheese until combined. Add milk and parmesan. Allow cheese to melt together. Then stir in spinach and chopped artichokes. Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Stir in cooked pasta. I also ended up adding starchy water to the sauce before I added the pasta to make it more sauce-like than dip-like. V and I both loved this one. Enjoy!

Bake sale

The place where I work is funded by the United Way. I think UW is a great organization and they help pay my mortgage but, somethings about them annoy me. One thing is, when a business receives funding from the UW, they are required to have an inner-office fund raiser. I'm not opposed to fund raisers and I like to make donations to organizations I believe in. However, it does bother me that I am repeatedly ask to essentially take a pay cut from the people giving me my pay. It just doesn't seem right. It's no surprise that people in public interest areas are poorly paid, so why add insult to injury.

But, I always feel guilty not doing anything. So, each year I make something for the fund raising bake sale. That way I feel like I'm doing some good, I get to bake, and I don't feel as bad about not donating money. This year I decided to make mini-pumpkin tarts. They were surprisingly easy. Basically, take puff pastry and cut it out in the shape of a pumpkin. Brush with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Then spoon over any pumpkin pie filling you like and bake a 350 for 25-30 minutes. I don't really like any pumpkin pie except the one made by my brother but Victor said it's tasty. So I'll bring them in tomorrow and see how they sell.

Trash TV

I adore trash tv. The hour between when I get home and when V gets home is my private time to watch whatever trash tv I want. Pretty much the only shows I actively dislike are the Kardashians, The Hills, The City.... I'm sure there are more... hehe

On of my favorite shows is the Real Housewives of New Jersey. I can't stand any of the other Real Houswife series but this one I'm always excited to watch. V actually really likes this one also so it's fun to watch it together and gossip about the people on the show. There's one lady on the show, Theresa, is a trip. She's first generation Italian and is supposedly a great cook. And she came out with her own cookbook. And I bought... accidentally on purpose.

I didn't want to buy it. I tried really hard to avoid buying it. But, I follow her on twitter and people kept telling her how much they love her recipes and how they've lost weight cooking from her book and how everyone they cook for loves the recipes also. So, after weeks of hearing this, and finding the book on sale with free shipping, I decided to go ahead and buy the book. The little stories in the book don't do much for me. If I could cut the book apart and just keep the recipes, I would like it a lot better. She does have some good tips about how to make a massive batch of tomato sauce base, then can it and use it as the base for a multitude of other recipes. I think I might try that. She also recommends buying dried pasta with duram wheat because it's the traditional kind of wheat used in Italy and isn't broken down and bleached like most pasta flours. So it's almost like a whole wheat.

Anyway, last night was the first night I made anything from her cookbook. I made baked chicken with lemon basil sauce and rosemary roasted potatoes.

The potatoes are really my recipe. I've been growing rosemary and basil in little pots outside. I cut new potatoes into little bits and tossed it with chopped rosemary and a little bit of olive oil. Then I roasted at 400 for 15 minutes then 430 for 30 minutes (I just made up that timing last night, but it worked really well.)

The lemon basil sauce was so yummy and tasty. Basically, you put a small garlic clove, a big handful of basil, juice from one lemon, two glugs of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor. Then if it needs to be thinned out add a tiny bit of water. I added too much water last night but I just drained it a little and it was fine. I would definitely recommend this sauce for fish, chicken, steak. It might be good on veggies too. Enjoy!

Funny

When we bought the house there were very few plants in the yard. There were some super ugly overgrown evergreen bushes in the front that we have cut down. In their place we have planted Hydrangeas, Azaleas, Columbines, and butterfly bushes. However, they are all pretty small right now so we are in the waiting stage. But even the bitty bushes look better than the evergreens.

In the back we planted a row of evergreen trees that will grow and make a barrier so the neighbors can't see in the hot tub area. He also planted some pretty lilacs (called lavender chiffon haha) and he filled one of the planters with a mish/mash of really pretty fun flowers. In the other he decided he wanted some height so he planted tall grasses with green ground cover around the bottom. We really love the look and interest it added. The kitties, however, love it to hide in. Some of our other planters have lilacs and another tall flower in the spring. Now with the grasses they have hiding spots in the summer and fall too! We almost didn't see LC back there...

Can't find me...

See the evergreens in the background? They are growing pretty well!

Blue Cheese Crostini

They crostini I made for my friend's party were quite tasty. Another friend gave me a similar recipe but it said to broil them at the last minute and serve immediately. The problem with that was since it was a cocktail party type party it's hard to serve food immediately so I wanted a recipe that was meant to be served at room temperature. I found this recipe with pears grilled on a little grill pan. That way the pears aren't raw but nothing has to be hot either. V made fun of be for being fancy. What can I say?

These are really easy. Get a baguette, slice into pieces on an angle, broil each side until lightly toasted. Get some good pears (I used Bosch, the recipe called for Asian pears.) Slice them (not too thin if you are going to grill them because they will get too mushy and break apart when removing them from the pan.) Grill both sides until they get pretty grill marks but aren't over cooked. Get some good creamy blue cheese (not the pre-crumbled, get the kind still in a wedge I used Stilton) let it get a little warm. Mix/mush it together with milk (I used a mix of 2% and buttermilk to keep the tang) until it forms a really thick paste. This makes it easier to spread onto the bread and makes it stay on the bread. Put the blue cheese on the bread then a slice of pear. Serve at room temperature.

These are a nice mixture of tangy blue cheese and sweet slightly caramelized pears. Enjoy!

Cookies

Last weekend I co-hostessed a party for a friend. I made my great-grandma's sugar cookies with buttercream icing, devil dog cupcakes with marshmallow frosting, and blue cheese crostini. I wasn't sure how many people to expect so I made a ton of food. And I mean a TON. We had so many left over cookies that I mailed half of them to my baby brother in college. He's a great baker but these sugar cookies are so tasty frozen that you can never have too many around.

The cupcakes are V's fav. Devil Dogs are a New England cake like Hostess things. I'd never heard of them until he started talking about them and was sad when we couldn't find them here. So my brother found this recipe from Epicurious which replicates them. He approves.

The sugar cookies are trippy to bake. The recipe calls for a small teaspoon of one thing and a large teaspoon of another. I didn't know teaspoons came in small, medium, and large but apparently they do. Hehe. It also tells you to basically put in flour until the dough comes together (I use a stand mixer so Imix until it starts to form a ball around the paddle.) Then you use more flour on when rolling them out. They are very tempermental but worth it. Last winter my brother and I had a snow day and we spent the day baking them and watching Glee. That was a great day.

Lots and lots of baked goods.

hello

I haven't been posting much lately. But I'm still around. Obviously I didn't want to post on vacation. Then all last week I had to bring work home so I didn't feel like posting anything... or doing much cooking either. This week so far I haven't had to bring work home, but work has been draining so I just kind of veg with the tv, ipad, iphone, and computer to keep me company. Hehe.

Nothing new has been happening with the kitties. They've been coming inside every now and then. They really like to explore in the back of the house. Last night LC saw her reflection in the window and started trying to pick a fight with herself. Haha, oh LC. I think they have issues though, they always like to scope out the best hiding spots when exploring. Happily they haven't actually hidden from us. Though one time we did lose track of Inky and it took a few minutes to ensure she wasn't still inside when we shut the door. And there was an opossum in their igloo the other night. It was traumatizing. Happily once we started brining in the food early it hasn't been around since.

That's all for now.

More Disney

Disney fun

Summer Pasta

Every Saturday I make the weekly grocery list. I try to only go to the grocery store once a week, on Sunday mornings. I find that is the perfect time of the week to go to the grocery store (especially in my conservative neighborhood) because many people go to church that time of day. I've cut our grocery bills by quite a bit by limiting the number of times we go to the store. If I go to the store more often, I see more things I think we need and end up buying wasteful food that isn't necessary. Even if it might be yummy.

Whenever I make my weekly list I ask V if he has any requests. Usually he doesn't, or it's something silly that I ignore. But this week he requested fish. I don't like fish, it smells bad and has a weird consistency. But, V is normally willing to eat whatever I make so I figured I should make something he specifically requested. I looked online and found a recipe for slow-roasted salmon. You roast the salmon in the oven for 20 minutes with salt and pepper and a sprig of dill sitting on top to infuse the fish. However, that's not how he cooked it.

It's now Thursday and he just ate the darn salmon. Thankfully it didn't seem to get bad and I frozen the chicken I had purchased to make skewers this week. He just wanted grilled salmon. Fine with me. No mess and less heat in the house.

While I was wandering through the grocery store I found that it actually carries heirloom tomatoes. Not a bunch and they are hard to find but they are there! So I picked up some angel hair pasta and figured I'd make a light summer pasta to go beside the fish. I put 3 glugs of extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and heated it with one finely minced clove of garlic. Basically I wanted the garlic to cook because I was afraid the raw garlic would be overpowering. Then I took the skilled off the heat and tossed in the large-diced tomatoes with salt and pepper. I let that sit about 10 minutes. The salt and heat brought out some tomato juices. Then I tossed it with the pasta. It was pretty tasty but I felt like it was lacking something. It didn't quite satisfy me. Maybe the raw garlic would have been better? Or basil? I can't figure it out. But it was still pretty decent.

Summer Time

No post this weekend. Just chilling by the pool.

Beautiful Combinations

V and I have black thumbs. Well, maybe not black but definitely not green. Maybe brown, we do well with dirt. We are trying to slowly plant lots of pretty bushes around the house to brighten things up. He planted some lilacs in the backyard that are very pretty and I planted some hydrangeas and azaleas. None of them are flowering very much. I'm hoping they just need a year or two to get settled in to the ground before they start to flower. But this weekend V described my flower bed as looking like something from The Nightmare Before Christmas. That was not very nice.

Our neighbor, on the other hand, is a great gardener. They had about 50 tulips this spring lighting up the yard. She's thinking of planting some watermelons, and in her backyard they have a huge garden. I know she grows tomatoes and zucchini but I don't know what all else. This weekend she was working in her garden while V was outside working on the deck (the new stain looks nice but it shows dirt like crazy). She was nice enough to give him some of her tomatoes. I've been going to the farmer's market on Saturdays but the last few weekends I've been busy and couldn't make it. I used to think I didn't like tomatoes. It turn out I don't like the flavorless store bought ones. The farmer's market and our neighbor's tomatoes are all so yummy and flavorful.

I decided to have tomatoes for dinner tonight. I bought two mini baguettes, a ball of mozzarella, and a pork chop (for V) and we had 4 garden-fresh tomatoes. For V I put butt rub all over the pork chop about an hour before I wanted to cook it. Then I stuck it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. We could have grilled it but it seems like a waste of propane to heat up the entire grill for one little chop.

V's side was sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper. He didn't want much mozzarella so he just got two slices and a little bread. I made myself a tomato and mozzarella sandwich with balsamic vinegar. Yum balsamic. I saved the other mini baguette and I'm going to make a small panzanella in a few days with the last tomato, mozzarella and I think I have a cucumber in the fridge. I would highly recommend any of these as a yummy summer meal. Enjoy!

P.S. - I realize the photo is sideways. I don't know how to fix it on the blog.

Cooking Considerations

Today I was driving home from a hearing listening to NPR. One the show they were interviewing different writers about their writing process and such. One question was why they write. One lady said she felt like she had to write because if she didn't then it would bunch up and she would eventually explode. That kind of how I feel about cooking.

This weekend was the first time since June that I've been able to just relax on Friday night and bake because I want to bake. Not because I feel like I should or just simply don't have time to bake. It was very relaxing. I made a pan of cookies and then V and I went on a walk. Then Saturday afternoon I finished the batch. Nothing like warm cookies straight out of the oven. Yummy.

This weekend we went on two long walks to break in my new walking shoes to get ready for Disney. Saturday we just went along a walking trail for two hours. Sunday we decided to go to the zoo to switch things up. That was about 3 hours. The zoo was much more enjoyable. I get too bored just walking for walking's sake to do it for a long time. The zoo was nice because there were actually things to look at and enjoy while walking. My shoes (Merrell) are super comfy but all that walking gave me a few blisters anyway. But they do a good job of helping me last a good bit longer before my back starts to really hurt which is nice. I think they will do well at Disney.

Here's the recipe for the cookies I made. The Saturday batch was still cold when I put them in the oven and I don't think the consistency is quite as good. It made them cook funny I think. So if you can bring them to room temperature before baking, it's worth it. I splurged and used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. Their semi sweet is pretty bitter and V likes milk chocolate whenever possible. So I indulge him every now and then.

Buttermilk Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup buttermilk

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
Melt the butter.
In a large bowl, combine the melted butter with cocoa powder and whisk (I did this with my stand mixer and handy dandy scraping paddle). Whisk in sugar, vanilla extract and buttermilk. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop dough in 1-inch balls into prepared baking sheet, leaving about two inches between cookies to allow for spread.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are set around the edges. (I did ten because I like slightly undercooked cookies. When with chilled dough I should have done 11-12)

Enjoy!

Healthy Bites

V and I are going to Florida sometime in the next few months (not saying when so you freaky peeps don't come swimming in my pool while we are gone.) It's hot in Florida. We are more air conditioning people than heat people. If I liked to ski I would say we are snow people... but I don't. However, I do like sitting in comfy chairs drinking hot chocolate so V could ski and I could sit and cheer him on... but that's for another vacation.

Anyway, so, V and I are trying to spend more time outside (not in the pool... doesn't count) so the Florida heat doesn't make us melt like the Wicked Witch of the West. I'm not a morning person so that means we go on our walks in the evening. This is great and all, but it makes it really difficult to make dinner. We usually don't get back from our walks until 7:30-ish and by the time I shower and start on dinner it's at least 8. My baby sister constantly reminds me how important it is to stop eating at least two hours before bed time so this is messing up my schedule. So, now we are trying to find easy meals that don't take much time. This means lots of grilling for the most part. Which is yummy, but our grill is massive so it's kind of a waste of propane... but I'm not sure how it compares to the cost of heating up an oven and having it on for an hour. Probably evens out.

The other night I made a really tasty and health veggie dish to be my main and V's side to go with his grilled meat. It's from Amateur Gourmet and, as all of his recipes, it was amazing. I highly recommend it.

Zucchini and Almonds

However much zucchini you want - I did one big and two little

However many slivered almonds you want - I had a little 1/2 cup bag

Salt

Pepper

Julienne the zucchini. AG used his mandolin but I just did mine by hand. Have them fairly small so they cook quickly. Toast the almonds in a skillet (I used a non-stick skillet). After you can start to smell them toasting, add in the zucchini. Cook until warmed through (I think about 15 minutes. The almonds continue to toast during this time.) Add salt and pepper and serve. Enjoy!

Still here

July has been a whirlwind. V and I had guests for the first two weekends and then I've been home two of the last ten days. It's wonderful to have guests and see friends and family but four weekends in a row gets a little stressful. Especially since work has been really busy this month. So, sometimes when I'm stressed I like to look at my wedding pictures on my computer. Not for a long time but just skimming through them helps me zone out and get better situated. So, that's why I put a wedding pick up there.

The biggest problem with being so busy on the weekends is that it's much harder to cook. I end up using the beginning of the week to catch up on things I should have done the last weekend and then end of the week to do things I should do on the coming weekend. So, unfortunately, cooking and grocery store runs tend to be the easiest thing to put aside. V has been really great about going to the store when I'm gone on grocery day (Sunday) but it's hard to make a good grocery list when I don't know what I'm going to make for the least.

I feel listless when I can't cook or bake for several days at a time. Every now and then it's a nice break not to cook, and I definitely do not cook every day. However, whenever I am unable to cook when I feel like cooking, it's almost unbearable. I feel bored and it makes me snack a lot more because I think I won't have a good meal if I don't make something. (though V cooks most weekends and does a very good job - that's usually what I consider my break from cooking... but I still bake on the weekends.) I'm hoping one weekend soon I will be able to have a big baking spree. Maybe I'll make iced sugar cookies or something similar. Not so much to eat them (though they will be eaten) but because it helps me destress from the week. For now, however, it's back to organizing the bills in the office from the last month.

Holiday! Celebrate!

I haven't been blogging lately. It's been a busy few weeks and it's not going to slow down for a few more. Luckily, most of the business will be very fun as well as being busy. This weekend Hannah and Gary came down from Chicago to play in the pool. We ate lots of yummy food too! The first night we had marinated squash, marinated kebabs, and grilled peaches and apricots with sweet cream ice cream. The grilled apricots were actually really really good. They kept their firmness but were warmed through. After taking them off the grill I sprinkled brown sugar over them and let them sit for a few minutes so the sugar got a little caramelized and a little syrupy so it was good to mix with the ice cream.

On Friday we had Jack Stack BBQ for lunch. Then for dinner we had burgers with sauteed onions and garlic in them. We also added one egg and a few dried breadcrumbs, worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and cayenne. I had hot dogs instead but V said they were really really good. I made tzatziki sauce for snack on throughout the weekend and it was a big hit. It's nice to have around because I used light yogurt and sour cream so it's a healthier alternative to premade dips but its still really satisfying.

Saturday we had steaks, I had an Italian sausage, grilled asparagus, and heirloom tomatoes and basil from the farmer's market. Ooh, so much yummy food!

Sunday I forgot to plan a meal and most of the restaurants were closed. Holiday on a Sunday is a bad combo for eating out. So, we got some D'Bronx pizza which was tasty as always. V got me a chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream for my birthday so it was pretty much a perfect day! It was great having Hannah and Gary over and now it's time to relax before our next guests. The pool is definitely a party pool.

Relaxation

Today, I refused to stain the deck. We decided to take the day off since we've been staining for the last 5 days straight. Thankfully we are so close to being finished! We have everything covered in at least one coat of stain. We just have to do a final coat on a little bit. And second coats are much easier than the first coat. So, I would guess about 3 more hours of work and we will be done! At least until it's time to strip it off and do the whole thing all over again. Next time though, we will only be doing a little bit each summer. This is just too much for one summer.

Tonight I made a vodka sauce I found on Epicurious. It's one of my go-to sauces because it's so easy. I accidentally added whole milk instead of cream though. It was definitely missing the velvety consistency it usually has.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic, peeled
Crushed hot red pepper
1/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil for finishing the sauce, if you like
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the work bowl of a food processor. Using quick on/off pulses, process the tomatoes just until they are finely chopped. (Longer processing will aerate the tomatoes, turning them pink.)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and add them to the hot oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Lower the work bowl with the tomatoes close to the skillet and carefully — they will splatter — slide the tomatoes into the pan. Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.

Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and pour in the cream. Serve over cooked pasta (I use penne for this sauce)

I also made the base for chocolate ice cream. I've got to let it cool so I'll be making it sometime later this week. It smells so good though!

Chocolate Ice Cream

from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 1/4 cups heavy cream

6 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

pinch of salt

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet because it's what I had in the cabinet)

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, whisk the cream, cocoa powder, sugar and salt together. Whisking frequently, heat until the mixture comes to a full, rolling boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Whisk until the chocolate melts completely, then add the milk and vanilla. (If the chocolate doesn't melt completely, you can pour the mixture into a blender and blend for 30 seconds, until smooth. I skipped this step because my chocolate melted without a problem.)

Chill the mixture thoroughly and then churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Nothing New

We haven't done much lately but more staining. I stained Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and V stained Saturday. Unfortunately, on Saturday it rained in the middle of the day before the stain had plenty of time to dry. This wasn't just a little spring storm, it was a torrential downpour! So, quite a bit of the area V stained was stripped so we have to go back over it tomorrow. But I think we might actually finish tomorrow! Or at least close enough that we could do the final bit one night after work.

Our neighbors just had a new baby. We don't really know them well but they seem friendly enough and I wanted to do something to let them know that even if we don't really talk to them it doesn't mean we are creepy people. I got a little basket at Target and little hippo rattle. At the time I didn't know whether they had a boy or a girl so I wanted to get them something gender neutral. It is surprisingly and annoyingly hard to find baby toys that aren't very clearly for either a boy or a girl. I was kind of shocked. I always hear people talk about how hard it is to try and give kids gender neutral toys when they are little but this was crazy. Everything is either pink or blue or says something about boy or girl. And once you get past that, everything is a brand! Either Disney or Dora or Handy Manny or whatever is popular now.

Anyway, in the basket I put brownies and snickerdoodle muffins. I found the recipe on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody's blog. She has lots of classics. These were really tasty. I'm not a big snickerdoodle person but V ate one and said it was tasty. The sugar on the outside got nice and crispy and yummy. I made them in mini-muffin tins instead of full-sized like Peabody did.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp cream of tarter
¾ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 and ¼ cup sour cream
2 and ¼ cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar and 2 TBSP cinnamon mixed together for rolling

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar. Add in the vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time

2.In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground nutmeg cream of tarter.
3.Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately to the wet mixture in the additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour.
4. Scoop out muffin batter one at a time and drop into bowl filled with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll the muffin around in the mixture until it is covered completely in cinnamon sugar. Place muffin into a greased muffin tin. If using mini-muffin tins bake for about 13-14 minutes. Let cool completely. Use a paring knife to loosen from the tin before removing.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

I think we need to find an outdoor air conditioner to go in the kitties' igloo. It's been pretty hot and humid around lately, we essentially didn't have a spring. Over the last few weeks since it has been so steamy the cats haven't really wanted to hang out in the igloo. We put their food in there in case it rains but other than to eat they don't go in there as much as before. Yesterday Inky was keeping me company while I was staining the deck and then poor thing was panting. I didn't even know cats did that! So I have decided we need to figure out a way to make a mini-air conditioner. Like, a dehumidifier combined with a humidifier so it could suck water in and then blow it out in a cool mist. Something along those lines.

It thunderstormed today so we didn't get any staining done. Yesterday we worked on the area by the hot tub again and now thankfully we only have to do the floor over there and then we will be finished with that part! Only two million more planks to stain. Anyway, since it was raining today was more of a lots of little projects sort of day. I we sanded and repainted a door that was messed up, planted our border bushes by the hot tub, and hung up the sail clover cover above the hot tub area. So that part is starting to look really cute. Too bad the hot tub is still broken so we can't appreciate it. But it's still nice to look at from the pool. And it's nice to have another area of the backyard finished.

Now we are watching Dr. Who and enjoying chocolate chip banana bread. Basically, take any banana bread recipe and add a cup of mini-chocolate chips. It's tasty stuff.

Lonely Hearts

Little Caiti still won't let us pet her. I know all of the websites on feral cats said the older the cat is when you try to tame it the longer it will take (or the more impossible it will be). But, we really thought that LC would see how nice we are and would warm up to us. Poor LC did have things worse than Inky (we was the first one caught in the trap, she was caughte multiple times, and then she had to live in our garage for 2 months while waiting for her foot to heal) so it's understandable that she would be a little more hesitant... but we are nice people! We haven't caught her since her paw healed, and we give her food everyday, and we don't kick her or anything like that. But you would think we do hurt her! Anytime I'm outside she runs past me at full speed. She watches me all the time and has only let me touch her once. She lets V touch her every now and then in the morning when she is too sleepy to realize what is going on but that's it. It's so sad though because I really think she wants some loving! Whenever I'm playing with Inky she lays down about a foot away and rolls around while staring at me. Hopefully she warms up soon because I feel so bad for her.

Inky has been super lovey lately. She has learned that if she meows it will get me to come outside and pet her for a long time. She didn't make any noise for the longest time so I'm happy she has become comfortable saying hi but it makes me feel so guilty when I leave her to go back inside. She's also started letting me pet her tummy which is adorable. She rolls over about every 45 seconds to make sure I pet every part of her tummy equally. She's a silly one.

Tonight for dinner we are having spaghetti with homemade sauce and meatballs. I don't really use a recipe for my sauce. I make sure I have two cans of each (this makes enough sauce to freeze at least 2 meals worth): tomato sauce, petite diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes. One can tomato paste. 2-3 onions (diced), 4-6 cloves garlic (diced), 1 bay leaf, dried or fresh parsley, dried or fresh basil, pinch of sugar, tiny bit of dried oregano. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add tomato paste. Add one can each of tomatoes. Let reduce. Add another can of the crushed and diced. Only add the second can of sauce if you need to thin it out. Maybe add another can of died. Let saute for a few hours with a lid. Then let cool and divide into containers.

I can't remember what recipe I used for the meatballs. I made a ton of those (about 40 small) so I've still got some leftover. Once I do make them again I'll post what recipe I use. I will say, it's easy enough to make homemade meatballs and if you made a bunch in advance it's very easy and then you have quite a few pre-made dinners for weeks!

I would buy you a kebab

Inky was very naughty today. V left very early (before I was awake) to get to court. It was a torrential downpour when I woke up this morning so I ran out and put their food in the igloo then left them alone. After awhile it became just a heavy sprinkle so I braved the wet to put some wet food in their igloo. After gorging herself, Inky planted herself in front of the glass doors, watching me putter around getting ready. After awhile I took pity on her and went out to say this morning and pet her. Inky eventually got bored and started walking away. This is where she gets very badly behaved... I think she had a trap set for me.

I opened the door partway and stuck my foot in. Then Inky turned around and sprinted back and leapt over my foot into the house! Images flashed through my head of spending the entire day trying to find her and get her back outside. I tried to gently pull her back outside but she wasn't having any of it. Luckily, she just looked around for a few minutes then got bored and walked back out. It was still nerve wracking. So she's in trouble now.

I've been loving the grill so far this year. I usually don't like the flavor of grilled food because the smokey taste is overwhelming. But I think V was gotten much better about putting my portion of the food to the side so it doesn't get as charred. It's nice because we can swim for a bit after work then throw something on the grill and still eat by 7.

Last night V made a yummy dinner for us. A friend from work sent it to me and she got it from Martha's (THE Martha) website. She made a slight addition however... garlic powder. It's a simple thing but it adds a nice flavor.

Pork Kebabs with Pineapple Rice

1 cup long-grain white rice (I used 2 cups 5-minute rice)

1/3 cup honey

8 ounce can pineapple chunks, juices reserved (I think I had a bigger can... maybe 14 ounces)

1 pound pork (I used cutlets, she used tenderloin... I used closer to 1/2 pound) cut in chunks

2 red bell peppers, cut in pieces the same size as the pork

2 scallions (I didn't have these and the rice was still good)

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 lime cut into wedges (I used this, V used soy sauce)

Heat grill to medium

Cook the rice. After cooked add chopped pineapple chunks, scallions, ginger, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

Whisk honey, 2 tablespoons pineapple juice, salt and pepper

Alternately skewer pork and pepper pieces on skewers. Cook until pork is cooked (10-15 minutes). Occasionally brush with the honey sauce. This is where V sprinkled over some garlic powder too. Serve over rice. Squirt with lime juice or soy sauce as desired.

Long Weekend

And I'm back! It's been a pretty crazy week so I took time off from blogging. But I'm back now with two, count 'em two new recipes. We had a nice long weekend swimming and hanging out by the pool. Everyone told us that a pool would be a lot of work when we bought the house but really it's not too bad. V does most of it but we just skim off the top of the water regularly and then we have a little vacuum to get yuck off the bottom and that's really it's maybe 5 - 10 minutes and we are ready to swim! I also painted the beautiful adirondack chairs and now need to pick out a color to paint the table. I'm thinking white would accent the chairs nicely. We both love swimming and just reading in the pool. For some reason there is an overabundance of ants in the pool which is mildly annoying... but not terrible.

Now I am working on finding recipes that don't require me to do much work so I can swim instead of spending all my time cooking. Which means, lots of grilling this summer. One day we had the summer veggie pasta and another we had creamed corn casserole with grilled asparagus (and V had a steak). Plenty of tastiness to go around! Both of these recipes are from Pioneer Woman's website.

Creamed Corn Casserole

This is really good. I added a little too much cream but I just used a slotted spoon to serve it and it turned out fine. It's not a light dish but it was easy to make and very good.

8 ears corn - shucked and silks removed

2/3 cups cream

2 tablespoons butter (the original recipes called for 3 but I thought it was a little greasy)

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. In a big bowl with a big knife remove the corn kernels. Then scrape the back of the knife over the cobs to get out all the yummy corn milk-stuff. Pour in cream. Add butter (I cut it in small pieces so it would better disperse), and salt and pepper.

Pour into a casserole dish. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until warm and bubbly.

Summer Veggie Pasta

This is very good also. The ricotta has a slightly odd consistency but once you get used to it, it adds a nice texture to all sorts of dishes.

• 16 ounces pasta shells
• 1 pound Asparagus - ends removed, cut into bite-sized pieces
• ½ pounds Broccoli, Cut Into bite-sized pieces
• ½ pounds Zucchini Diced
• ½ cups Frozen Peas
• 3 whole Green Onions cut into little pieces
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (though I used letter butter and more oil)
• 20 ounces, weight Ricotta Cheese (20 - 22 Ozs.)
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1-½ cup Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat over to 350.

Melt butter and olive oil in a pan. Put in asparagus and cook 5 minutes (the original recipes said to add garlic first but I like to add it later so it doesn't get bitter). Add broccoli, cook 1 minutes. Add zucchini and good another 2 minutes. Add in garlic and onions and frozen peas. Set aside to cool.

Cook the pasta. Combine ricotta, eggs, salt, and pepper.

In a greased 9x13 baking dish (I used two 8x8 pans and froze half) layer food - pasta, ricotta, parmesan, veggies, pasta ricotta, parmesan, veggies, parmesan. Bake for 25 minutes or until warmed through. Enjoy!

Easy Tomato Sauce

Our flowers are blooming! The hydrangeas are still pretty small but they are getting some flowers and the blanket flowers are getting bigger, but still no flowers. The biggest surprise has been the roses growing by the deck. They were getting really overgrown so this spring I cut them back a lot so that there were basically just 3 twigs sticking out of the ground. We had planned on digging them up but never got around to it. Now they are blooming like crazy! They've got a bunch of vines and bright pink flowers. V bought some trellises and has been winding the vines around the trellises everyday. It's going to be so pretty. We even have a new rose plant growing where I threw some clippings that I forgot to clean up. It's a miracle plant!

The rest of the backyard has been on hold. It keeps raining here so we haven't been able to stain. Happily, this weekend we are supposed to have 4 dry days so I think we will be get some more staining done this weekend. Finally we can put out our new chaise lounges! Unfortunately I also have to mow the lawn Friday night... boooo.

Tonight I tried out a new tomato sauce recipe. I was all around the food blogs last fall so I bookmarked it but never got around to trying it. The great thing about it it that I've had the ingredients for weeks, just waiting for the right night to make it. The sauce was so good! My only complaint is that it was a little thin. It still had good flavor but next time I might leave out some of the tomato juices to help thicken it up. But on the whole it's a keeper.

Tomato sauce with butter and onion

28 ounces whole canned tomatoes (I added another 14 ounces petite diced - I think I would drain this can next time)

5 tablespoons butter

1 onion (cut in half and skin removed)

salt to taste

Put tomatoes, butter, and onion in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil at medium then reduce to low and let simmer for 45 minutes. Mash the tomatoes against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon every now and then. Discard the onion and add salt as needed. Serve on 1 pound of pasta. Enjoy!

Gimme Shelter

Once we decided to keep the kitties, the next step was to figure out where the would sleep. Obviously they will never be indoor cats. I wouldn't get their claws removed and they are too curious to be happy stuck indoors all the time. And I don't clean litter boxes. Ever. There were a few options for kitty homes. They had been sleeping under our back deck and seemed pretty happy about it. But, winter was coming and the deck is not windproof and I don't think there is any source of heat down there (but we suspect the dryer vet might be under the deck, we aren't sure though). The people at the Humane Society with outdoor cats said they just had basically lean-tos that they put straw in for the cats to use in the winter. However, V and I thought that wouldn't be warm enough since Inky was only 8 months old and Little Caiti had recently fractured every bone in her left paw.

V found a petgloo on Amazon that was windproof and pretty water proof. It was insulated and also had a heating pad that we could buy to put inside. That seemed like the best option for softies like us. However, it wasn't cheap. I've learned that nothing about having pets is cheap. We were a little worried when we initially bought it because the kitties didn't want to go in there. To get the used to the igloo we started putting all their food in it (including their favorite wet food) so they gradually got used to going inside. Now they love it! They sleep in it, eat in it, and generally lounge. It's definitely they new home. It's also nice because I can sit and watch them cuddle while they are asleep in it. It's gratifying seeing how much they enjoy it. It has been one of the best purchases we made... so far!

Now, I need to find outdoor shelter for myself. We got some really nice wooden chaise lounges for reading by the pool. I love sitting and hanging out by the pool with a history mystery. Sadly, I can't sit outside very long because I get burned really easily. So... the next thing I'm saving my money for is an awesome cantelever umbrella! That way I can chill by the pool in the shade while the kitties enjoy their petgloo.

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta

It keeps raining here! We haven't gotten any additional staining done. There are still several days worth of work left to do but we can't get it done because it won't stop raining. I thought V could stain this weekend but they just started saying it is going to rain on Saturday AND Sunday. Boo. I'm ready to be done with this mess. Hopefully we can finish it by the end of May so we can relax by the pool for the rest of the summer. If I angle my chair so I can't see the unfinished part of the deck the backyard looks pretty awesome.

For dinner tonight I made another internet recipe and I forgot to save the site. But, I made a few changes to it and it was really tasty. Nice and garlicy. My only complaint is that the sauce didn't stick to the pasta very well. I think next time I would thin it out with more pasta water.

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta

3 cups cubed italian bread

1/3 cup olive oil

6 cloves garlic

3/4-1 pound tube pasta

1 cup ricotta (I used skim)

2 cups cauliflower (I just used about a bag of frozen and then steamed it)

1/3 cup parmesan

fresh basil or parsley

Toast the bread crumbs. Dice the garlic. Cook in the olive oil until it smells like garlic. Chop bread in a food processor to make into crumbs (I also put the garlic olive oil in the processor to get the garlic extra small. ) Mix together oil and crumbs. Set aside.

Cook pasta. Reserve about a cup of the starchy water.

Puree cooked cauliflower and ricotta in a food processor. Stir in herbs, parm, salt, and pepper. Stir into the cooked pasta. Add as much water as is needed to thin out the sauce and help it stick to the pasta. Either mix in the bread crumbs or sprinkle over the top. Enjoy!