Halloween Project

I've been crafting up a storm over here. If you are really quiet, and promise not to tell Laura (because she told me I couldn't buy the wood for this from Pick Your Plum- she said I could make it myself for cheaper- and she was right, but I'm too lazy to do it from scratch), I'll show you what I've been doing.
Here's the base block.

Then you add the upper blocks to sit on top...

to count how many days away from Halloween you are.

Just spin the upper blocks around to make it say the right number. There's different paper on every side.

Here's a Mod Podge tip. Apply a liberal amount of Mod Podge to your painted surface, then position your paper where you want it. Then STOP. Move on to a different side and repeat the application and positioning of the paper on that side. Wait for several hours to pass before putting Mod Podge over the top of any of the paper! That's where you get your bubbling and buckling- applying the Mod Podge top coat too soon. And if you plan to make something like this for your house, know that you can't stack a Mod Podged block on to another Mod Podged block for several days, unless you want them to permanently stick together. Luckily, I did not have to learn that for myself. Now you know- and knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joe.

Never Again- Again

In July I told you I would never again make Snickerdoodles without adding cinnamon chips. Now I'm telling you again, I will never again make pizza...in the oven! The grill is the place for cooking pizza! If you peruse any cooking blogs at all, they've been telling you all summer to cook your pizza on the grill. THEY WERE RIGHT!

Here's my dinner...

here's Karen's dinner. See any difference? We are a two root beer brand family.

And here's Karen's dinner a little later.

I used Our Best Bites (of course) recipes for their pizza dough and sauce. Here's my tips for total success. First read everything Sara wrote so you know what to expect. Get your barbecue quite hot. Spray or oil the grates, and brush one side of the dough with olive oil. Immediately after putting the dough on the grill (oiled-side down), turn your heat down as low as you can or use indirect heat. That side of the pizza cooks rather quickly, so keep an eye on it (which is kind of hard to do because you need to close the lid on the barbecue to let it cook). Just peek at it after about 2 minutes. When you see nice little brown lines on the underside of the dough, flip it over, but put it on the upper rack if you have one. Then add your sauce, cheese and toppings of choice and close the lid again. As soon as your cheese is melted, the rest of the pizza should be cooked and you are ready to experience the best pizza you've ever made. You have made pizza at home, right? Pizza is all about the crust, and this is the best crust ev-er.

Women's Conference

(If you're reading this from a feed, click over to see the new look around these parts.)

Karen and I enjoyed Women's Conference last Saturday. We asked a random guy with a fancy huge camera to take our picture with my phone camera (my purse camera battery was dead). He did, but it was a terribly blurry picture (not my phone's fault). He then offered to take our picture with his fancy huge camera and would email it to me, which he did, which is what you see here. Lesson learned? Start wearing makeup to all events which happen outside of my home. Like the grocery store. And Women's Conference.
I can't wait for General Conference this weekend! It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Teriyaki Glaze or Sauce

Have you ever started to make something only to find that you don't have a certain ingredient? Usually I will put everything out on the counter before I get too involved in the project, but the other day I was certain I had teriyaki sauce in the refrigerator only to find that there was a partial bottle of marinade but it had an expiration date of 2009. After looking up a couple of recipes, I tweaked stuff around to come up with this, and it's really good. I then used it to brush onto these kabobs.

 That bun is leftover from the other night. I like to spread some butter on it, sprinkle it ever so lightly with a little kosher salt and toss it in a frying pan until the butter makes the bun a little crispy.

 Bud didn't recognize the pineapple. He asked if it was a potato pattie. Silly boy.

And here's a little banana pie for dessert.

Teriyaki Glaze (or sauce, depending on how thick you want it)
1/2 cup soy sauce (I used the lower sodium version)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp garlic powder
Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Let it boil for a couple of minutes (it will foam up quite a bit before it settles back down). If you want it more of a sauce, use it as-is from this point. If you want it thicker for a glaze, add 1 T. Ultra Gel and stir until incorporated, or I imagine a little dissolved cornstarch would work just as well if you don't have Ultra Gel (but you should have Ultra Gel because that stuff is amazing!).

Way Better Than Fries

In case you wanted to make that burger we had last week, here's the recipe for it and for the onion straws.
Burgers:
1 cup dry bread crumbs (I used Italian style)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 lb. ground beef
In a large bowl, combine everything except the meat until it is well mixed. Add the meat and mix well, but mix gently. Shape into six patties (they are big- mine weighed 8 oz. pre-cooked). Grill over medium heat about five minutes per side.

Onion straws:
1 whole onion, sliced very thinly
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 T salt
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 quart canola oil (for frying)
Place the sliced onion into a ziploc baggie (quart-sized works best). Pour buttermilk into baggie and seal. Let that soak for an hour. Combine dry ingredients together.
Heat oil to 375°F. I used a candy thermometer to keep an eye on my temperature because it will decrease as you begin frying.
Pour the buttermilk off the onions. Take about 1/3 of the onions and dredge into the flour mixture, shaking off the extra flour after you dip the onions. Drop the onions into the hot oil (do NOT burn yourself!). Stir the onions around for about a minute, removing them to a paper towel to drain when they are golden brown. Repeat until all onions have been cooked. Stack these little lovelies high onto your burger because they are the best thing you will ever taste on a burger.

A Little Extra Effort

Last night I tried a new hamburger recipe. After all, it was the first day of Autumn, so what better way to celebrate than with a burgers off the barbecue? I used a Taste Of Home recipe by Marsha Urso (of Pittsburgh, PA, in case you want to stop by her place and give a holler). The recipe uses 1/2 cup of Italian salad dressing among other things. I no longer buy Italian salad dressing because my BFF's have a great one in their book (sorry, it's not on their blog).

Italian Dressing (from Our Best Bites)
1/4 cup white, rice or white wine vinegar (I usually use rice)
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (I use crushed red pepper)
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 cloves garlic (I seldom have cloves around so I use 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1 cup canola oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese (fresh or canned)
3/4 tsp Italian seasoning (or to taste)
In a blender, combine all ingredients except the oil, cheese and Italian seasoning. While the blender is on, pour the oil in slowly. I have a nifty gadget on my blender that allows me to add the oil into a little funnel that is built into the lid which does the slow addition for me. After several seconds the oil will be emulsified nicely. Add the cheese and Italian seasoning and give it a very brief whirl. Store in the refrigerator (at least four hours before using it for the best flavor) for a couple of weeks, if you can keep from using it all by then.

To make dinner a little more special, I made the buns. Then I practiced my spider web design so I'd be ready for some cookies I'll be making in a couple of weeks. No, the cookies will not have ketchup and mustard on them.

I made these onion straws which were my personal favorite part of the meal.

And the rest of the meal speaks for itself. Do you hear it? It's calling your name!

Oh, yes!

I'll get the hamburger recipe and onion straws on here in a few days.

Cat Candy Carrier

Yesterday I managed to do a little crafting. The other day I had seen these really cute bags on How Does She. Since the only substantial piece of felt I had in my small stash was black, my only option was to make the cat. I made a mistake, thereby having even less of a stash, hence the orange sides on the bag instead of it being all black. The face is a little skiwhompas, and it looks a little weird, but really, when it comes down to it, what counts is what's on the inside, right? At least that's what they're always preaching at church.
 

I'm thinking I'll go pick up a little more felt (although I tried yesterday, but Walmart didn't have any) and make the other two bags.
 

Then maybe I'll ring your doorbell on October 31 and ask you to feed the kitty.

Such Cuteness

I'm trying to get used to Blogger's new format. Learning something new is a good thing, right? I don't know- something about old dogs and new tricks comes to mind.
One morning, Caleb wanted a hot dog for breakfast. Okay, that seemed kind of silly to me, so I decided to make it silly for him too. Here's what he got- Mr. Silly Face Hot Dog.

Another day, he found Grandpa's magnifiers from the office. Let's try them on!

Look how big it makes his eyes!

Love this boy- he's so cute.

I miss you, Caleb! 

I Won't Tell You How Many

A couple of nights ago, we had steak. It was fabulous. Really, really delicious. Tender, perfectly cooked-just how I like it. Karen didn't eat any of it because she just wanted to eat the pasta and the rolls. (Though in her defense, her portion was a brontosaurus size rather than just a regular ol' cow size.) Um, Karen just hijacked my blog and added that herself. Hmm. Watch out for the small print! Annnnyway, as I was saying, before I was so very nicely interrupted, dinner was really good. You all know how to cook steak, so we won't be talking about that.

Let's talk about the pasta and the rolls! I used this recipe for the pasta and this recipe for the rolls.

I had to use this angle for my photo because if you could see the other side of the steak you might gag (it's a little rare- just how I like it).
Kate hit a home run with Karen on the rolls for this one. While she really liked the pasta, she LOVED the rolls. Kate said that her kids were upset that they couldn't just eat the rolls for dinner. Karen said the same thing- she just wanted to eat the rolls. And the best part? They are super-duper-easy-peasy to make. Rhodes dough, butter, Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Click over for the recipe. Click! Click! Click! Tell them I sent you.

Now That I Have More Time

Would you believe that from time to time I make something that is not dessert? For dinner the other night, we had meatloaf and smashed potatoes. Ignore the green beans. Blah.
My sister made the same menu for dinner on that same night. Pretty funny (just goes to show how much we think alike). However, she used ATK's meatloaf and Our Best Bites loaded mashed potatoes.

And then we had this for the "salad."
Or maybe it was dessert- I can't really remember. But I do remember that Karen said she liked it better than the ambrosia salad I always made when she was a kid, and she likes that a lot. This is actually called Cookie Salad, but because I didn't have the cookies it wanted, I left them out. That way I could more reasonably justify it as a salad.
Here's how my version of this one goes- it's a no-brainer.

Fruit Salad Dessert (adapted from Real Mom Kitchen)
1 (3.4 oz) pkg. instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup buttermilk (gives it a little zip!)
12 oz of cool whip
1 (20 oz) can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges, drained
2 bananas, sliced
1/2 cup raspberries (optional)
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, halved and well drained (I didn't have any- I used strawberries)

Mix the dry pudding mix, milk and buttermilk together with a whisk until it is well-blended. Fold in the Cool Whip and then gently fold in the fruit. Chill salad for about an hour before serving. I recommend eating your cookies separately, but if you want to be wild and crazy, the cookie in this salad is a fudge striped cookie (not a fudge stripped cookie, like it says on the blog this was adapted from). Click over to Real Mom Kitchen if you want to know how to include the cookies.

Hand-Over-Fist

Verrrrry Early Saturday morning, we participated in a yard sale. It's the first yard sale I can remember hosting in over 20 years.
You can see how excited she is about being not only awake at this hour but having to be functional at this hour. Very excited.
On the other hand, this boy was a fantastic salesperson. He demonstrated this trampoline for an extremely long time, shouting out as he jumped "Sixty dollars! Sixty dollars!"
Despite his most excellent efforts, the trampoline remained unsold (which was his not so secret hope in the first place).
But come on, I just can't see how anyone could resist this face! I'd have bought that trampoline if I hadn't already owned it!

Between Karen's stuff and mine, we raked in over $500. Not bad for stuff I would have been just as happy to have given to D.I.

Happy Birthday to my Sister

Today is my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday to you! Just let me say that it makes me so happy that you are not only my sister, but my one-street-over neighbor! Never change that!

Stolen From Facebook

Holly posted photos on FB a couple of days ago. She gave me a link to Disney's official shots of some of these same pictures. I was all set to order about $40 worth of pictures (that reads 2 8x10's) which includes shipping. Then Holly let me know she'd taken photos with her camera and posted them unedited on Facebook. I swiped them and corrected a few minor lighting issues.




Don't you agree that these are some of the cutest girls in the world? I love these girls SO MUCH! Looks like they are really having a good time with their Disney annual passes.

Sara, tell me everything you and Rapunzel talked about!