Allure of Dairy

Veganism is an issue tonight. I'm trying desperately to give up cheese but in order to get rid of the cheese in the house without throwing it out, I made a several macaroni and cheeses and froze them for days when I didn't feel like cooking for the family. Tonight, I had a migraine and I told Andy to take out one of the casseroles and bake it up for the kiddos and himself. He fed the kids and headed out to study leaving me alone (after putting the girls to bed) with the delightful combination of cheese and pasta sitting all hot and steamy in front of me. It just tantalized me until I took a spoonful, just to get it off my chest. It snowballed from there. You know how it is. I had to cover it and put it in the fridge but before that, I almost ate the whole dang thing. I will wallow in guilt over that later while looking at my huge thighs in the full length mirror. For now, I'm sitting here, all warm and yummy feeling while watching reruns, listening to Abby sing in her bed, and sipping a soy decaf latte. That makes me feel a little better...

Adventures in Canning

Today we decided to can applesauce. I have not made applesauce as an adult so I was very excited to learn something new. So was Cate as you can see in this picture.

We cut the apples. Abby washing, Cate looking on and Grandma wielding the sharp knife. It was fun. (They get washed, quartered and seeded.)

Then we cooked them down in a big pot... (2 quarts of water to this big canner full of apples. It's a HUGE pot!)

...and while we were waiting, Abby got ahold of the camera and tried to take a picture of Daddy without a shirt on. Hubba Hubba!

Then we squashed up the apples in a squasher strainer thingy that I used. It strains out the skins and stuff. You have to ladle the cooked apples into it and then hand crank it over a bowl and combine all the efforts into another big bowl or pot. I did get a picture of this but I was in it and I was in very inappropriate clothing for a blog. Sorry.

Then after sterilizing the bottles and lids, you have to heat up the applesauce just a bit...

...then ladle it into the cans/bottles...

...and finally put on the lids and boil the can/bottles lightly in a water bath for about 30 minutes until they seal.

At any one time, your kitchen may look like this...

...or like this.

There will be lots of pots used and lots of sticky apple juicyness everywhere. But if your mother-in-law is there to do it with you, it will all be cleaned up before you come out from changing diapers and putting the kids down for a nap.

In the end, the cans will be on the counter cooling and waiting for you to store them for a long winter of yummy goodness.

Pot: Part 2

This morning while we were still in our bathrobes eating cereal, the door bell rang and fortunatley Daddy was still here because I was quite indecent. The pot had arrived. Here are some pictures of us ooing and ahhing over it. I can't wait to deep fry something. I'll be saving some serious Weight Watchers points for that!

Why Leave All the Spoiling to Grandma's?

How is it that we have this idea that Grandma (or Grandpa) has to be the one spoiling the kids? Tonight I started testing recipes for a Peanut Butter Inside-Out cookie that will blow your mind when I get it done. I'm totally posting the recipe when I perfect it. But for now, it's just not quite right. Abby looks up at me with those perfect little blue eyes and says, "Please, Mommy. Have a cookie?" How can you resist that?! Is it bad that three cookies and a glass of whole milk later, we both need to be on the treadmill?

Tomorrow, pasta and a creamy tomato sauce, more peanut butter cookie testing and most likely, some kind of fruit snacks after she sits very still for her haircut... We are going to need some serious walking time after all that. Bring it on...

Double Chocolate Walnut Drop Cookies

These cookies are so yummy fluffy and soft inside. I love them.

You will need:
butter (salted or unsalted depending on your preference)
granulated sugar
brown sugar
vanilla
a large egg
all purpose flour
dark cocoa powder (I like Hershey's Special Dark)
baking powder
walnuts
semi-sweet chocolate chips

Whip one stick of room temperature butter until it is nice and soft (but not warm).

Add 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Whip together until VERY fluffy!

Then add the egg and one tsp vanilla and mix again. All this should be nice and light together, like if you put a fork in it, it would implode...

Sift together 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and a dash of salt.

Fold dry and wet ingredients together until incorporated nicely but not over mixed. Fold in 1/4 cup (or more if you want) chocolate chips and 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pacans if you want a more buttery nut).

Put 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoon splotches of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 9 minutes.

Ok, here is the secret to keeping them nice and soft on the inside - when you take them out of the oven, hold the pan very flat with two hands about a foot and a half off the ground and DROP it! Yes, it will make a big bang and the cookies may jump a little off the pan but it takes the remaining air out of the cookies and keeps the inside from getting all hard.

I don't know how well these keep overnight. I suspect they are as exceptional in the morning after I make them as they are when I take them out of the oven but when I make them (they only make about 20 cookies), the smell wafts over the campus and there is a rush to my house. There are never any left. I rarely have one cool, let alone old.

Donuts and Other Random Stuff

So I tried the donut recipe posted below. It was lots of fun if you think staying up late to make dough, getting up early to roll and raise said dough, and then frying donuts after an hour of raising is fun. Anyway, they were a bust. I didn't raise them right so they totally did not become the productive members of society I had hoped. Then when I went to fry them, I didn't get the oil hot enough and they became rather hard and calloused on the outside and not exactly soft or fluffy on the inside either. Therefore, my commentary on donuts (and child rearing) is: raise them in a warm environment covered in a soft towel and make sure when you through them into the frying pan that the oil is hot enough to get them fried and back out again quickly. I will be giving it another try tonight and tomorrow morning.

In other news, we all made it to church this morning although it was an effort. There was no potluck today so Martha brought us lunch at our house. AWESOME! Let me tell you, being taken care of by the church members is the best.

I always wanted to be that person that brought the awesome dish to potluck. You know the one, that dish of cheesy type goodness that just made everyone drool and it was always gone by the time you got that far in line. The one that everyone was raving about and made someone in the fellowship hall stand up and say, "Hallelujah! Who made that?" I have those recipes. I can be that person. But I'm also a mother and in order to be that person, I'd have to take my kids to SS naked and I would be a total shambles myself (not that I'm not already that way half the time.) Do you know what it's like here with an infant and a toddler and a husband AND a dog that won't stop barking on a Sabbath morning? It's like WW III!!! Someone is in the shower for two hours and I am always last. After braiding Abby's hair, getting her in a dress, washing out the babies neck folds and making sure everyone is in fresh diapers and has offering in their purses, Andy and I vie for the bathroom. We are dashing out the door as he tightens his tie and I slip on my shoes. There are blankets and bags everywhere and we are almost always about 10 minutes late. I hate being late.

So here's to hoping we get it together enough for Mommy to make one of those yummy, gooey, cheesy dishes once again soon. Until then, Martha, you are the best. Keep it coming.

Cindy Lou's Mom

If you have seen the newest version of the Grinch, you know that Cindy Lou's Mom is in an unofficial competition with EVERYONE for the best lights, especially her perfect neighbor, Martha May.

Here at the school, there are several times during the year when we have these "potluck" like events. We are asked to bring a desert. My "Martha May" has always been this perfect haired goddess who makes the most awesomely wonderful tasting and beautifully table decorating deserts. She rarely has the time to actually participate in these potluck things but we all know who she is and how amazingly talented she is and we all wait with baited breath to see if she will show up with one of her gourmet concoctions.

This Christmas, we had our annual Christmas desert potluck. Now let me emphasize that the competition I'm about to describe all takes place in my own head (and probably the heads of all the women on campus).

I spend hours deciding what desert will be better than anyone else's and how I can dress it up to be PERFECT! This year I decided homemade, from scratch lemon meringue pie and key lime pie would be the key to me "winning" this cooking competition. Remember, I'm in contention with a culinary student, two cafeteria gurus and several mom's who make fondant covered birthday cakes... I'm really in trouble. Every year some disaster befalls my creation: soggy pastry, missing ingredients, time crunch issues or something like that. I'm plagued to never have that perfect desert.

My lemon pie is no exception. Today, I forgot to put in the egg yolks and had to start over, my meringue wouldn't stiffen up, and my filling overflowed the pan. As I clean up the GIANT mess, I think about the upcoming party with fear and loathing. As I wash sugar and egg whites out of my hair, I hope the mostly uneventful key lime pie will be better... It will most likely taste good but I doubt it will be pretty.

There is only one unofficial judge in my mind (as our boss has decided to go on a diet and this makes him totally incapable of judging). This person loves sweets and everyone makes sure he gets a little of their creation. Like Jim Carey being stuffed with fudge as the Holiday Cheermeister, our friend is watched on every side (albeit subtly out of the corner of our eyes) for his reaction to each and every bite.

Well, tonight I will find out how I did. I will be watching and it will be all in good fun. At least my presents for the gift exchange will be pretty! And so will my little Cindy Lou!