For Today...

~FOR TODAY~

Outside My Window...

It's sunny and VERY Hot

I am thinking...
Where the H... does time go?

I am thankful for...

I would be thankful for a little rain, but I'm happy about the sunshine.


the learning rooms...

Always sand in the direction of the wood, my helper didn't so today It will be a challenge to correct that

From the kitchen...
supper will have to be sitting around waiting, don't know when anyone is coming home. 

I am wearing...

 painting clothes

I am creating...

no creating this week, too much cleaning

I am going...

to do my best to finish in my son's room, while my door is drying 

I am reading...
Bedtime Story, Robert J. Wiersema
still reading this one, it's VERY good but long.

On my mind...

my mom, she's not feeling well

Around the house...
everyone is off to work, I think they may not want to help me around here, work is so much easier.

One of my favorite things...

cake

I made an interesting cake this past weekend, it's one of those embelished cake mix things.

3cups chopped rhubarb                                            1 small strawberry jello
3/4 cup white sugar ( I think next time I will try to reduce this amount)        
1 1/2 cups water                                              1 white cake mix
one bag miniture marshmallows.

Bring rhubarb, sugar and water to a boil.  Add jello and set aside.  Grease a 9 x 12 inch cake pan and cover the bottom with marshmallows.  Prepare cake mix according to package directions.  Cover marshmallows with cake batter.  Pour rhubarb mixture over the top. (it will look really runny, and you'll think the pan is going to overflow)  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (keep checking, my was ready sooner) or until cake is lightly browned. Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

This is a fun cake to watch develop.  You'll think the rhubarb will be on top and the marshmallows will burn but it doesn't. When you cut it flip it over and serve with a scoop of ice cream.  I served it to some weight watchers with  lemon sherbet, (imagine eating all those calories and then worrying about the ice cream.)

Didn't take a picture of this one, it was gone too quickly.

next cake adventure... The Pioneer Woman's Pig Cake.

What to do with those few left over tomatoes from your garden.

If you're like me you don't want to let go of summer, if only because of the taste of the tomatoes. Well I have a few ripening all at once on the window sill and what should I do with them when they are all ready at one time. Well I like to serve them as a warm vegetable. I know, I know they are not a vegetable they are a fruit.(Or so Mr. Science in my house keeps telling me, I wish he could tell everyone else.) Any way I cut them into rather thick slices of about 1 inch, spread them out on a good nonstick type jellyroll pan drizzle them with honey, pushing the honey into the hollows. Proscess 2 slices of not too fresh bread into breadcrumbs (not too fine) combined with 1 tbsp. of tarragon (dried) 1 1/2 tsps. salt and 1 1/2 tsp. pepper spread evenly over the tomatoes dot with butter and bake in the oven at 350 for about 30 min. or until the tomato skin wrinkles. Broil 5 inches from heat 5 minutes until tops are golden. Serve warm. *I have skipped the tarragon when I didn't have any. The measurement covers about 8 med. size tomatoes. for easy clean up you could line the pan with tinfoil. Mmm good.

Mmm... good

I'm up early on Sunday morning and thinking of what to cook, when I look in the fridge I see I still have some cranberries left over from Thanksgiving. Here is a recipe I like to use up my cranberries with.

Cranberry-orange chicken

1 tbsp. butter (oil)*
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 tsp. cornstarch
½ cup water
1 tbsp. orange juice concentrate*
½ tsp curry powder
¼ tsp. each salt and ground blk. Pepper
½ c. cranberry sauce

Melt butter (* I prefer to use a little oil) in large, non stick frying pan over medium –high heat. Add chicken. Cook until lightly golden, 3 min. per side. In a bowl, stir cornstarch with water. Stir in orange juice concentrate, curry powder, salt and pepper. Remove chicken to plate. Pour orange mixture into pan.*I like to add a little Cointreau , here Stir in cranberry sauce until melted and mixture is bubbly. Reduce heat to medium-low. Return chicken to pan. Cover and simmer, turning occasionally, until chicken is springy when pressed, 8- 14 min. If sauce is too thin, remove chicken, then boil, stirring often until as thick as you like. Great with rice, green beans and extra cranberry sauce on the side. Serves 4.

Enjoy!
 

Puckerrrr up!

Well you know that I've been talking about baking a pie. Well today is the day. A million years ago, I joined a cookbook club, you know one of those "buy 5 books for 99cents. Well at 13 or 14 yrs. old that was quite a bargain. One of those books is one that is still on my cookbook shelf. Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Cookbook. Well I've made almost everything in that book. I have my favorites, like éclairs and lemon pie. Lemon Pie it is today. I'm roasting some vegetables to make my polenta dish as well. So the house will smell like a special occasion is about to happen. There might even be some cranberries with Cointreau (if I haven't drank it). Love that drink! After the cookbook club I've joined the Mystery Book Club, and Sasha is now enjoying reading old mysteries in his English class. And then the embroidery book club, and quilting book club, and of late scrappers stuff. I haven't found a painting book club that interests me, I'm still all over the map in my interests in that avenue. Maybe gardening should be next? But for now a SKY HIGH Lemon Meringue Pie sounds good. MMMMMMMMMM!

A Turkey for Thanksgiving

A number of years ago when I read books for the library, I read a book to my young sons about a turkey coming to dinner as a guest. So the phrase, "a turkey for thanksgiving has always stuck" (the title of the book) for you grandmothers out there a good bed time read. I'm out to shop for a turkey. I'd love to make him look as good as my photo, but my boys are grossed out. If anyone does this take a real picture and send it to me so I can include it in my cookbook, you will get honorable mention. I would also love a great stuffing recipe that is not gizzards included and no cranberries, chocolate would be great, but that's highly unlikely. I don't know if anyone watched that British comedy, The Vicar of Brimley, one of the characters there, an elderly lady use to come up with the most unlikely combination for her dinner parties, and on her death bed she asked the vicar what she thought of her creations, I'll be doing the same, and if you lie I will save you a seat by the fire in you know where. Happy Thanksgiving All.

Traditions

Traditionally, Thursdays were my creative outlet. Why should today be any different? When I was newly wed, my husband always started his shift on Thursdays, and then they had these gettogethers, which didn't include wives. Always hated those gettogethers. So, my friend Karen, who did the work schedule, and I worked Thursday evenings. In the morning she and I would take some artsy course, have lunch at her apartment, which I thought was so cool, since only cool people lived in high rise apartments, and head off to work. It was usually a wicked salmon sandwich. Imagine remembering it, I can almost taste it. She made the best salmon sandwich. Then she got married. Life changed. Then we had babies together. Funny, I can't remember when I've seen her last. Well then I joined the painting ladies at Leslie's. Love those babes. Leslie makes a mean egg salad sandwich, and great tea. Leslie and I have expanded our horizons and not restricted ourselves to creative Thursdays, we do it anytime and pretty much anywhere. Well today is is Thursday, and the most creative thing I've done is make a wicked kapusta soup, and parsnip and sweet potatoe, and leek and mushroom. I do have a craving for celeric and pear, it being pear season and all. I can't believe Leslie has not made it. It was a recipe in our LCBO magazine. Well tomorrow is another day, and I'll have to do something creative to make up for my not producing something today.

Please don't shut your pie hole.

Most of you know that I've been compiling a favorite's cookbook and hand binding it. Not sure why? I've had to put my romance novel on hold for a short time, just not feeling very romantic these days. On Wednesday evenings I watch a show called Pushing up Daisies. It is centralized in a Pie Shop. Well that is a good thing. I've been toying with the idea of baking a pie, someday soon. I was telling Sasha, my viewing partner, that I haven't baked a pie since he was born, actually since I went into labour while taking out a peach and apricot pie out of the oven. My goofy husband startled me and I dropped that delicious pie and went to the hospital. I can tell you that all I thought about was having a slice of it when I got home. Alas, there was none left. And since I decided I was no longer eating for two I stopped baking pies. Well, as I come to that part in my cookbook, I think of what pies would I like to include in this chapter. Lemon, peach & apricot are a for sure. My sister Donna makes pumpkin and apple at this time of year, but I'm not a pumpkin kind of cook. So I'll have to do some serious contemplating on this since I limit myself to just 3 favorites. (My book is getting too thick to stitch together).
What are your favorites? Don't count the calories or the cholesterol contribution in these recipes. I feel a song coming on... photo of ghost over pie, a painting I did for my cookbook.