two birds with one popover....

Thank you for all the nice comments yesterday. I am so glad that you like my dribble... :- )

If I could I would make enough popovers to send you all one in the mail. Of course that can't happen, so I will show you a photo of mine and give you the recipe.




Quick Popovers -

Ingredients:
• 2 Tbs. butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Extra butter, jam, or maple syrup for toppings

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Step 1: Brush the inside of 12 muffin cups with melted butter.
Step 2: Break eggs into a large mixing bowl. Add milk and beat well. Add flour and salt; whisk in until well blended. Pour batter into each muffin cup; cups should be about half to two-thirds full.
Step 3: Bake 30 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and prick with a fork to let steam escape. Spread with butter or jam or dip in a little bit of maple syrup. You can also fill with pudding and dust with powered sugar or drizzle with chocolate. Fill with scrambled eggs and chopped bacon for a quick breakfast treat.

These are so easy that kids can make them... today at my house they did!!
I watch two kids after school for about an hour. I had the oven preheated and all the ingredients ready to go. One of them prepped the muffin pan and the other mixed the batter. Then they each poured 6 muffins. They each ate one and I sent four home with them for dessert.

The best part? They had to be very quiet with no running or jumping or screaming...nice. I'd say that was killing two birds with one popover.....

Nancy

PS I found this recipe yesterday on a blog I read. Unfortunately I didn't note the name of the blog and I can't find it. If you know where the recipe was please email me so I can give proper credit.

The last Christmas post....and cookie recipe

ding ding.....update - Here are your pictures, Pat. I couldn't bear to cover Santa's face..lol

This will be my last post until after Christmas....I am overwhelmed right now. There are lists to be made, food to be shopped for, presents to be wrapped and maybe some more shopping.

Of course that means that I totally spent today baking cookies. I was looking for a traditional macaroon cookie recipe and stopped when I read this one. It is NOT the traditional macaroon recipe. This one is AWESOME!! I love coconut and I love oatmeal cookies. I love a crisp cookie and this one fits all three criteria....

They are called Button Macaroons ... I am guess they are called this because you only use 1/2 tsp dough per cookie and they turn out about the size of a button...who knew??

1 egg separated
1/3 c sugar, remove 3 tbl for egg whites
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 c quick oats
1/2 c coconut
1 tbl butter, melted

Beat egg white until foamy white and double in volume in a small bowl with electric mixer at high speed; beat in 3 tbl of the sugar, 1 tbl at a time until firm peaks form. Set aside

Beat egg yolk well in a medium size bowl, beat in remainder of the sugar until fluffy-light. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Fold in beaten egg white.

Drop by half teaspoonfuls 1 inch apart on well greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes. Cookies will spread. I got better luck spraying the cookie sheet with Pam than when I used a silpat sheet.

Cool on wire racks, store in airtight container. Yield 3 dozen (although I only got 2 dozen plus 4 cookies....)

I had good luck doubling this recipe and got a about 4 dozen cookies. Of course I counted them after sampling them. So maybe it did make 6 dozen and I ate 2 dozen? No, couldn't be!!

I wish you all a Happy Holiday Season...

See ya next year...

Nancy

another quick Christmas gift idea....

DING DING DING UPDATE!!! For a sugar-free, fat-free version try this link.... I have not tried it, so if you do and it is good, let me know.....(my sis is "the cook" of the family and searched this out for me..THANKS SIS!!)


I think there are some people on my list that would love some Hot Chocolate for those cold wintery nights.... I found this recipe on line and wish I could remember where so I could give kudo's. It is the best hot chocolate mix I have ever tasted. Great to put under the tree for last minute "uh oh, they brought us a gift and we didn't know it" times...

For this you will need the following -

4 cups nonfat dry milk powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup non-dairy coffee creamer

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 (4 oz) pkg instant chocolate fudge pudding (I couldn't find the fudge kind, so I used plain chocolate pudding)

Mix all together in a large bowl. I used a rubbermaid container with a lid and shook it all up.

This recipe will fill 2 quart canning jars. Add a ribbon, bow and instructions.... You could also package it in reusable plastic containers with a nice mug on the side.

To make add 1/4 cup mix to 8 oz hot water. The Rock Star loved it, but wants to try it with hot milk next time...

Wah Lah....another quick gift ready to deliver. Yes, there are only 3 jars here. We have the other jar almost empty. We are drinking a lot of hot chocolate in this cold weather.

Happy Holidays,
Nancy

Lucy!! I'm HOME.....with dinner

So here is the easiest way to get your husband (or partner, or BFF roommate or whoever) to bring home dinner without them knowing you didn't really want to cook.
I must say this has ALWAYS worked. It has never failed me. I don't consider it devious either. Here is the story, you decide.

My DH is fairly picky. We have been married for 36 years (37 in Dec). In the beginning of our marriage he would eat pretty much anything I could/would cook. There wasn't a whole lot I could master. I had a stay-at-home Dad for the last years of HS and first year of work. He did all the planning and cooking of breakfast and dinner for the family. My Mom worked. Pretty different for the late
60's and early 70's. And they weren't hippies...lol far from it.

Anyway off track there. In the beginning, as I was saying, DH would eat pretty much anything. In fact it wasn't until we had been married for 2 years that he told me he didn't really care for chicken pot pie, homemade or otherwise. BUT, he has always been a meat and potatoes guy, and he really could care less about the potatoes.

There are a certain number of meals he will relish. Steak with white bread, Pork Chops with Onions, HIS homemade spaghetti and meatballs, bbq pork steaks, well you get the drift. He doesn't eat any veggies although will eat salad.

About 10 years ago in a stroke of genius, I bought some Ekrich Smoked Sausage. A couple of days later, I got it out of the freezer and set it on the counter to thaw for dinner (please don't email me that you should thaw dinner in the fridge, I have been thawing meat on the counter for years and we haven't died yet). As DH was leaving for work, he noticed the meat on the counter and didn't say a thing. Halfway through the day, he called to tell me that he knew I was (insert tired, beat, hungry for Chinese, in a hurry) and he would bring dinner home. OK...who am I to argue. Back in the freezer went the smoked sausage. (please, I know. But it hadn't thawed yet and if this bothers you, you are in for trouble if you keep reading). So, a couple of weeks later, I again pulled out the smoked sausage to thaw and again DH noticed it as he was leaving for work and yes, once more he called mid-morning to say he would bring dinner as I was (insert tired, beat, hungry for Chinese, in a hurry) and he would bring dinner here. Once again (NO EMAILS) I put the sausage back in the freezer. This happened a couple of more times before I finally realized he DOESN'T REALLY LIKE SMOKED SAUSAGE!! Hm... I will try one more time?? Yep....it happened every time I got that dang smoked sausage out. Have I stumbled upon something here?? YOU BET!! Any time I didn't want to cook dinner, I pulled out that package of frozen sausage and set it out on that counter right where he couldn't miss it. Sometimes I even told him what was for dinner, just in case he missed it on the counter.

I kept that same package of Smoked Sausage until 2 years ago when we moved here and I finally pitched it still frozen.

Please know that I never bought any more smoked sausage, just the one package. It was marked. If it would have come down to actually looking like I would have had to cook it, I would have switched it with another meal. Like eggs and bacon or something. I never would have served 10 year old meat. Really!!

So now you know the story. No sex, no whining, and no promises. And it works.

On a sewing note, I got 8 mystery blocks done, which is step 1. Tomorrow I have to make 4 blocks for step 2 and then I will probably go ahead and do step 3 whatever that is. This is a scrappy mystery quilt and I decided to use all of my primitive colors, like dark red, golden yellow, dark green, tans with some blues mixed in. It will take a year to finish and as one of the three that picked the pattern I have seen the end and know how it will look.
And I just noticed we are completely out of dog food. I wonder if there is someone that might want to go to the IGA for me tomorrow....

Happy Sewing,
Nancy

Blueberry cake recipe Update

I finally found the location of the blueberry cake recipe. It is on Megan's blog. This is the moistest (is that a word?), best tasting cake we have had in a long time. It is also very easy. Thanks Megan and Peg who is the owner of the original recipe.

Since, I had to update about the recipe before I forgot about it...I thought I would show you the little "Good Morning" pillow I finished today.



Happy Sewing
Nancy

Two Beefs.......

No, not the red meat kind. But the kind that just ticks me off.

Beef #1... Checkers at the grocery store that call me "hon", "honey", "sweetie" etc. WHY do they do that? I am certainly not their Hon, honey OR sweetie. I don't even know them all that well, although I do all my grocery shopping at only two different places depending on if I am heading east or west. Most of the checkers (or maybe they are supposed to be called something else?) are either my age or younger. I am NOT that old. Yes, I have grandkids, but I color my gray and don't wear polyester and I still have a 15 year old at home. I consider it a sign of stupidity and certainly rude for them to call me cutesy names. I don't respond to them at all.

Beef #2... Again Checkers at the local grocery/discount store. What gives them the right to comment on the food I am purchasing. Every time I buy anchovies the clerks will comment. "YUK" "What are those" "Is that fish?" etc. One clerk actually picked them up with the tips of her fingers like they would leak on her. Now I don't eat anchovies, but hubby does.

I bought a duck to cook for Christmas Day. The conversation went like this -

Clerk - Is this a duck?
Me - Yes
C- like a real duck?
M- Yes
C- Like the kind you see at the park?
M- Probably
C- Are you going to eat it?
M- Yes
C- Oh, that is horrible, how can you do that?
M- I will defrost it first.

Anyone else have this problem? or is it just me? The only time there was comment that I felt was justified was the evening my DH and I purchased only two items.

A flimsy nightgown and a ski mask.....

Happy Sewing
Nancy

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas....

We are snowed in with about 5-6 inches of the pretty white stuff. We never lost electricity so what's a girl to do??

BAKE!!!!!

I made Oatmeal Crispies yesterday so they are ready to slice and bake. I made Fudge for Dummies, and have Spritz cookies in the oven now. (Santa! if you are listening, I could use a new battery operated Spritz cookie maker. Mine died) They smell so good. They are disappearing as fast as they bake, so I can see I will have to make another batch when everyone is back at work and school.

A couple of years ago, I wanted to make up some trays for friends and family. I can bake cookies, but I am not good with fudge. I either burn it, it seizes up or it just doesn't taste right. I went up to the local grocery and picked up a box mix. It was really good, but way too expensive. It would have cost a small fortune to buy enough mixes for all the fudge I wanted to make. So....I cheated. I bought one box and before making it, I measured all the ingredients. This recipe "Fudge for Dummies" is the result.


Fudge for Dummies -

In a microwave safe bowl put
4 tbles butter (not margarine)
1 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
16 oz Chocolate Chips

Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir to combine and add 1/2 tsp vanilla.
Pour into 8x8 Pam sprayed pan. Cool, cut and enjoy!!

I did do some sewing this morning. I monogrammed two sweatshirts for my step-dad for Christmas. DH drew his name in the $10 family Christmas present. I told him he was in charge of his own gift getting. He surprised me by finding something on ebay that was perfect. Last night I asked him if it had been shipped yet. Our Christmas is this Saturday and it needs to be wrapped. After checking the listing, he nicely told me that the shipper is on vacation until Dec 26th. UH OH!! That won't do...
so I guess I will give monogrammed sweatshirts again this year. Good thing he likes them.

Off to the sewing room as soon as the last batch of cookies is out of the oven.

Happy Snow Day!!
Nancy