Merry Christmas!

For your viewing pleasure, a little musical Christmas card :-)

Yummy Greek Chicken!

Sometimes recipes sound good on paper, but when you actually make it, it gets an "eh" at best. Sometimes they look boring on paper, but turn out awesome! (That's a pleasant surprise :-))
But then sometimes, the stars align and it looks just as good as it tastes. Try this one out :-)

Chicken, Lemon, and Dill with Orzo

4 c. chicken broth
3/4 c. water
1 T. butter
1 1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 lb chicken, diced
1 lb. orzo
2 c. crumbled feta or goat cheese (4 oz.)
1/4 c. coarsely chopped fresh dill
2 t. lemon zest
1 T. lemon juice
1 c. grated Parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan, bring broth, water, butter, salt, pepper. In a 9x13 pan, combine chicken, orzo, feta, dill, lemon zest and juice. Pour broth mixture over orzo and stir once to incorporate. bake until orzo is tender and cooking liquid is creamy, 35-40 minutes. Sprinkle Parmesan on top and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

from Everyday Food Magazine

Hot drinks, anyone?

After Rezzie ate what remained of my hot chocolate mix and spiced tea mix (I have a bright orange carpet stain to prove it), and the nighttime temps finally dropped into the 40's, I had to make more. Since I firmly believe my hot chocolate recipe is the best ever, (from my home away from home, Swan Lake Christian Camp) I'm sharing it here:
SLCC Hot Chocolate Mix
This makes a TON, as is appropriate for a camp. I usually half it. Below is the original recipe.

2 lb. Nestle's Quick
2 lb. powdered sugar
2 c. non-dairy creamer
8 c. powdered milk
2 pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix

Use about 1/4 cup per mug of hot water.

Spiced Tea Mix
I've heard this recipe go by everything from the above to Russian Tea, to Friendship Tea, and I'm sure there are more names...

1 pkg sweetened lemonade mix (3 oz) or enough mix to make one quart of lemonade
1 c. Tang
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. instant tea
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. cloves

Use about 1 T. of mix to a mug of hot water.

A few of my favorite things...

For no particular reason, I felt the need to share some of my favorite things. :-)

1. On the rare occasion that I have time to read, some of my favorite books are ones that present normal ideas in a different light. One example is from Outliers, in which the author explains why professional hockey players in Canada all tend to have January/February birthdays. The reason that author Malcolm Gladwell noticed was because children's hockey leagues' age cutoffs are in December. Hence, the oldest, most developed children are the ones with Jan/Feb birthdays. Each chapter follows a different phenomenon. All of Gladwell's books follow similar topics. Freakonomics is another book in the same vein.

2. I am a faithful coupon clipper, (though I'm not quite as much of a genius as some) and I LOVE getting a good deal. I've discovered that you have to know how to work the system in the right places in order to get the best deal. My best recent example of this was last week when I got a pint of Starbucks ice cream (usually $4.49) and I had three coupons for it that took off $4 of the price. Luckily, I had a great checker at Safeway who ignored the fact that all the coupons were expired AND let me use multiple coupons for one thing :-) Can't beat $0.49 ice cream :-)

3. Since I've been on fall break, I've worked out every day, trying to get outside as much as possible. To keep my head busy while I'm working out, I've been catching up on my favorite podcast, Stuff You Should Know. A smattering of interesting facts of learned from it recently: employer-based health care started as a method of pre-paying for pregnancy/birth care for female teachers in the 20s; sarcopenia (or some of the physical effects of aging-stooping, drooping, some pain, etc.) can be reversed and prevented with physical exercise; and that the original Muppet Show characters can be directly correlated to characters on 30 Rock. :-)

4. Also, on fall break, I've baked bread a LOT. My goal has been to bake every day :-) So far, I've made zwiebach, pizza crust, bagels, and hopefully pumpkin chocolate chip bread from Simply in Season before the week is out :-) It does my heart good to see dough rising (I'm never sure it actually will) and then the smell of baking bread is unbeatable!

5. Finally, the most relaxing part of fall break has been catching up on my favorite TV shows (I LOVE the DVR) including The Office ("R is a very threatening letter. That's why it's called murrrderr and not muckduck."), Ugly Betty (Tu mama scared the living jesús out of me!), It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ("What do you want Frank, you fascist meat hog?"), Parks and Recreation ("Viva Mayor John Gunderson!") and Glee ("Not everyone has the walnuts to take a pro-littering stance, but I will not rest until every square inch of our state is covered in trash. That's why I pay taxes. It keeps garbage men earning a living, so they can buy tacos for their family.") Laughter is the best medicine, right? :-)

And, an added bonus favorite thing, one of my favorite blogs to read is 1000awesomethings.com, which is dead on, and so funny!!

What are some of your favorites?

You Right to Jail!

After a discussion at supper group tonight about the ridiculous situation the economy in, and how much responsibility the banks hold, we decided that the only thing that would make us feel better is if they went to jail. Which reminded me of this clip from last week's Parks and Recreation, which is a great show, by the way. (Especially if you like The Office.)

By the way, this is the recipe for the cookies I made for dessert, a great fall cookie :-)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Can't stop!

So, I'm basically in love with this recipe I found for poppy seed dressing (and yes, that's the extent of the excitement in my life). Because of it, I haven't stopped eating spinach/strawberry salad for like a week! (Also, I've served it to basically everyone who has walked through my door, which is a lot, as of late.)

I think it's a good recipe in general, but it's awesome with some champagne melon vinegar I got on clearance at SuperTarget a LONG time ago. :-) As usual, the recipe came from Allrecipes.

Poppy Seed Dressing

1/2 c. mayo or Miracle Whip (I've been using mayo)

1/4 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

2 T. vinegar

1 T. poppy seeds

Whisk all ingredients together and chill. Makes approximately 1 c. of dressing.

The only thing I've been changing is the amount of milk, because it keeps ending up really thin for me. However, as I type this, it occurs to me that maybe I could add some kind of thickener (cornstarch, flour, etc.) Have to try that...

Funky Photos

Ok, I'm just a touch obsessed with this website, www.funkyphotos.com See below :-)

Fall in AZ

Reasons I know fall is approaching in Arizona:

(And yes, there are places in Arizona that can look like this, though I took this picture in Boston last year.)

1. Ben has vegetable seedings planted in cups, ready to go into the ground.

2. Steve is searching my cupboards for tea.

3. Just went to church retreat :-)

4. Nighttime lows are under 80 degrees!!!!!!

5. Mornings and evenings are incredible.

6. My students are no longer angels.

7. Monsoon season is gone (and the humidity), which means my skin is instantaneously dry.

8. It gets dark at 6:30.

9. We vote on the church budget. Again.

10. Darla and I start considering making pumpkin homemade ice cream.

11. The Office is on again!!

12. We can sit outside at restaurants again (withOUT misters!)

13. The Diamondbacks are not in the playoffs. Again.

14. Mexican Independence Day gets celebrated in AZ (Sept 15)

15. Ben's birthday (Sept 25)

16. We start dreaming about wearing sweaters.

17. I start pondering what to get people for Christmas.

18. My kids start obsessing about the state fair.

19. We start obsessing about seeing the Figure 8 Races at the fair :-)

20. Ben and I start taking tandem rides :-)

Pie in my face!

I don't know why, but I had a craving for some old-school Coconut Cream Pie. This is even more odd, given my distaste for making pie crust. But, I figured the pie was calling my name, and who was I to deny a pie it's one true calling (to be in my stomach)? Hence, on my (awesome!) day off today, I made this recipe from allrecipes.com. By some stroke of luck, it turned out great (and now I want another piece of "pie in my face") so now I'm sharing the recipe with you. See what you think! [This is with the changes I made, below.]

By the way, best new trick I learned in the kitchen recently: Using a fine-mesh shaker container (which I had previously VERY occasionally been using for powdered sugar) for flour instead. Then you can use it to flour the counter or whatever without dumping a whole cup of it onto the counter and it being all clumpy, etc. And it's pretty :-) Don't know where I read this, but I've used it several times this week, including with the pie crust! :-)

Old-Fashioned Coconut Cream Pie

1 14 oz can. Coconut milk

Enough milk, half & half, or cream to make a total of 3 cups (along with coconut milk)

3 egg yolks

3/4 cup white sugar

1/3 c. cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked

1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

Combine coconut milk, other milk, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in microwaveable container. Microwave for 5-7 minutes, stirring every minute, until mixture is thickened to a pudding consistency. Then fold in 1 1/4 c. toasted coconut and vanilla. Pour coconut mixture into baked pie shell and refrigerate for 2-4 hours. Spread thawed whipped topping on top and sprinkle with remaining toasted coconut.

NOTE: To toast coconut, spread on ungreased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until browned.

By the way, I was telling Darla about this pie, and she said, oh, was it the one from More With Less? I went back and looked, and realized I had made that one previously and loved it. It is made with more eggs, no crust (it "bakes it's own crust), and is baked instead of chilled. I'd forgotten how good it is, so I might have to make that one sometime soon too! :-)

Couldn't Do That Again If You Tried!

I can not get over this picture. (The cat in the piano tops it on the surprise-meter, but this is just about as funny!) I really have nothing to say about it, except that I am sharing it with you all for the joy of it :-)

For reference: this came to me by way of my iGoogle page, in which I have a Photo of the Day feed from National Geographic. Most of the pictures are pretty or interesting, but this one just cracked me up. I use them from time to time with my students. I haven't figured out how I'll use this one yet, but I'll spring this on them when they least expect it :-)

Wasn't planning on it...

So a few weeks ago, I got 2 beautiful bunches of basil and made pesto (see photos). This week, I was planning on making the pesto pizza from the Simply in Season (among other things). Then, as I tend to do, I invited 4 friends over for supper to share the pizza with us (for a total of 6). However, I did not think of what I was planning on making. After looking over the options for which I had purchased groceries, I realized that all of my options (main dish, sides, etc) were for 4 people. So, I just decided to make them all. I made my favorite cucumber salad from the More With Less cookbook and an awesome kiwi-strawberry salad (kiwi, strawberries, a few tablespoons of citrus juice, a dash of honey and a bit of cinnamon) which I made that afternoon and were fine.

I also decided to make a chocolate layer cake, since it was one friend's birthday. I made the 2 chocolate layers according to the directions and waited the appropriate amount of time and then inverted the pans to take out the cakes. Unfortunately, I discovered why most cooking experts recommend putting parchment paper on the bottom of the pan in this case. Approximately 1/3 of the cake remained in the pan. Dangit. But, I was committed and doctored it back together as best as I could. Next, according to the recipe, the plan was to have 2 chocolate layers with a layer of cream cheese, whipped cream and Oreo chunks in the middle. Since I hadn't planned well (big surprise), I didn't have cream cheese or whipped cream, so I decided to go with white frosting which I did have. I pulled out the Oreo crumbs which I had from something else and mixed them in. What did I now have? Grey frosting. Dangit.

But, I had what I had, so I spread it on the cake, and then decided that was pretty ugly, so I spread some of the extra white frosting around the edges to make it look pretty. (On a side note, through this entire process, I was thinking about how much I hate caring about how food looks and that this is why I never bother!!) So, I get the frosting done in the middle and put on the top section (which is barely holding together). I spread my chocolate frosting just across the top, as the directions indicate. But, since 1/3 of the original top layer was falling apart, it looked really weird on one side. So, I just decided it'd be better to frost the whole thing, which I did. By the way, at the beginning of this whole episode I had put the cake on a piece of waxpaper on a plate and was planning to move it to the cakeplate off the waxpaper when all was said and done. (Again, should have known better than to care about appearance!!) As I go to move the cake to the cakeplate, I put it on the cake plate, and then pull out the wax paper. At this point, approximately 1/3 of the bottom layer pulls out right along with the wax paper!!!

Dangit again. But, it was as done as it was going to get, so I turned the now sloping side to the back, put the lid on and stuck it in the corner, hoping to forget about it until supper.

When I had finished the cake, I had turned the oven up from 350 to 400. After the whole cake episode, I got ready to put the chicken tenders for my salad into the oven. However, at that point, I discovered that my oven was now at 300 degrees, not 400. I thought it was because I bumped the dial, so I waited another 20 minutes, and still the oven was cooler. It appeared that my oven was broken. (Still does, for that matter.) So, I microwaved the chicken, much to my chagrin.

Meanwhile, my pizza dough was rising, but I now had no way to bake it! So, the best I could do was to grill it. Not that this is bad. Grilled pizza is awesome, but it has a tendency to become a disaster when I do it. Either way, I had no choice. So I make my pizza dough into five 8-inch rounds and oil top and bottom and throw them on the grill. After grilling one side, I pulled them off, spread pesto on the grilled side and put tomato slices and mozzarella on top. Then I put them back onto the grill for a few minutes (baked side up). (Meanwhile, I'm trying to beat the dogs off with a stick. They LOVE it when I grill because they inevitably get a LOT of food from my sloppiness). It turned out fine, but it was a crazy afternoon :-)

Un. Believable.

This is easily the most unbelievable thing I have seen in the last 2 months. I would say longer, but I work with children on a regular basis :-) . This morning at church, I was uncovering what I like to refer to as "my piano" (our fancy-pants grand piano) in the sanctuary. I pulled off the cover and threw it behind the stage (a 10 sq ft area). Upon returning to the piano, I noticed little white hairs all over it. Having seen the same thing covering my house after just bathing our white dog, my first thought was, "How in the world did dog hair get on the piano? I know my dog has not been anywhere near it..." I said this out loud and began blowing the hair off the piano.

As I was commenting on the hair, I raised the piano lid onto the small post, about 6-8 inches up. At this point, one of the worship team members says, (and you must imagine this with the most uninspired tone of voice you can imagine,) "There's a cat in the piano." This did not compute, so I said "What?" He says, in the same tone of voice, "There's a cat in the piano." So, as I'm standing at the back side of the piano (the hinged side) I start looking for the stuffed cat that is giving off this annoying white fur. Just as I'm about to start doing so, I hear a small volley of dull thuds inside the piano, and at that second, a (LIVE) cat streaks out of the front of the piano, and disappears either behind the stage or into the sanctuary. At least 5-7 people saw this happen, but no one could find it afterwards.

Then we started to compare notes to figure out when the piano was last used, and near as we could tell, it had to have been last Sunday, when I played postlude, closed the piano and put the cover on it. Now, I'm fairly certain there are no large holes on the bottom of a grand piano that a cat could get into, but if this is the case, it has to follow that the cat had been in there for a week, which doesn't make any sense, but what else could have happened? Thankfully, the cat didn't die in there, which would have been disastrous for a piano that is $7,000 nicer than mine! I just can not get over this story. Un. Believable. This will probably top my story list at least until I get back to school :-)

I love it when that happens!

Today, as I was making supper in a hurry, the thought occurred to me, "Why did I make something called "Lemon Pasta and Chicken" when I know I don't like lemon in things like this?? But, it was too late, the groceries were purchased, the pasta was in the pot, and the chicken was in the oven. My general policy is to NOT make food I don't like (which is why Ben doesn't get food with mushrooms, shrimp, etc, unless he makes them himself). However, this time, one key ingredient allowed me to overlook the offending lemon. The full title of the recipe is "Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken." Key word? Cream. :-) As I was making the dish and tasting it along the way, as is my practice :-), I kept being underwhelmed with it. But, the key ingredient was the last thing added, and it made all the difference in the world. Give it a shot, I highly recommend this one :-)

Lemon Cream Pasta with Chicken


3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 lemon, quartered
2 t. garlic powder, divided
1 t. black pepper, divided
4 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. fresh lemon juice
8 oz. uncooked, whole wheat rotelle pasta
1 c. heavy cream
1 T. fresh dill, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chicken in a lightly greased baking dish. Squeeze lemon over both sides of the chicken breasts and season both sides using 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Bake for 40 minutes, or until juices run clear and chicken is no longer pink inside.
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, season the chicken broth with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil and add lemon juice and pasta. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes.
3. Cut cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and stir into cooked pasta, along with the cream and dill. Cook, stirring, over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir thoroughly before serving.

NOTE: This is the recipe, as I made it today. There are a few minor changes I made, compared to the original. See the link above for the original.

Added bonus: I had been making my favorite cucumber salad to go with this dish and had a big bunch of dill out that Grandma sent home with me. On a whim, I figured that a little dill couldn't hurt this pasta dish either (it wasn't written in the original recipe), and it was wonderful! Yay for Grandma's dill!

Still a "Golden" Girl

Marilyn and I went and saw "The Proposal" last weekend, and if you like chick flicks, it was great. Loved it. Added bonus, it had an American Eskimo puppy in it!!!! SOOO cute. (Still not cute as Nimbus was when he was a baby before we got him though :-))

Another bonus: shot in Alaska with incredible scenery. Final bonus: Betty White was in it. Yes, Betty White of Golden Girl fame. I remember watching the Golden Girls with my grandparents :-) Good times. Well, in this movie she plays a firecracker grandma who is trying to get her grandson married. In one scene, she plays a tailor adjusting her old wedding dress for the "less chesty" Sandra Bullock.



Then, I saw her on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and it was hilarious. The best part was seeing her partake in a game of beer pong with Jimmy (throwing pingpong balls trying to get them into each other's cup of beer). It was great. He explains the game to her, and she goes, "Wonderful!"

Poorly designed!

The above phrase has always been a part of my life. I realize this may not be true for the average human being, but when you grow up with engineers in the house, that is the effect. Shampoo bottle cracks: "poorly designed!" Field implement piece breaks off in your hand: "poorly designed!" Bi-fold doors never work right: "poorly designed!" Vegetable you don't like: "poorly designed!" The inevitable phrase following that: "I could've designed a better one!" Needless to say, the concept of design has always been present for me.

For this reason, I notice when things aren't quite designed "right" (I know, an opinion), or when they have a fantastic design that won't let you quit looking at it. I have had several experiences recently that reminded me of design. The main thing is that I'm currently reading a book called, "A Whole New Mind," by Daniel Pink, explaining why right-brain (conceptual, big picture, creativity) thinking is the wave of the future. One of the things he claims is coming to the forefront in culture is design, because we are at a point in history in which (in the US) all available items perform tasks fairly well, the main distinction now is the design.

One place I noticed a lack of thought in design is when flying on a small regional jet last week. By a fluke that enraged my husband, we didn't get the seats we chose online, but the the VERY back seats in the very small plane. In case you didn't know, it is HOT and LOUD back there. Fine, that may not be fixable. However, the major design flaw was that those seats were IMMEDIATELY next to the restrooms. So, for the entire (90 minute) flight, people streamed to the restroom, non-stop. (It's 90 minutes, hold it, people!!) It was amazing. One woman went in with 2 kids! Either way, the design flaw was that if someone didn't close the door after them, I reached over (I wasn't stretching either) and closed it. At one point, I was holding it closed because it wouldn't stay shut. Ridiculous. I shouldn't have to do that. (We thought about posting a picture of this situation on FailBlog but didn't.)

Sometimes though, a design is so good, that it stretches the mind. I experienced this in college, when some of the classrooms had prints by M.C. Escher. (See above.) I stared, and stared at these pictures that seemed to interconnect forever. They did not seem like stable images, as I kept following the lines trying to figure out how they seemed to play visual tricks on me (hopefully not to the detriment of my education). Above is one simple example of one of his images. Below is a lego version (doesn't it twist your mind inside out?) and a joke about his work from one of my favorite webcomics, xkcd. By the way, Escher's type of design uses something called "tessellations." The next one is a machine/art piece I saw at a museum in Boston with Fjaere. I looked at thing forever trying to figure out how it worked :-) It's all in the design. The last one is a building on the campus of MIT. It figures. :-) Even machines and buildings can be beautiful and fascinating :-)

Yay for Summer!!

I've been taking a lot of deep cleansing breaths lately to fully enjoy my upcoming summer waiting in front of me. One food that signifies summer for me (and that I make repeatedly because it is SOOO good) is Chocolate Zucchini Cake. No, you cannot taste the zucchini. :-) The teachers at school loved it and I think you will too!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

1/2 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. oil
1 3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. cocoa
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
2 c. grated zucchini
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. chocolate chips
1/4 c. chopped nuts


Cream butter, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, and cocoa. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Fold in grated zucchini. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Mix brown sugar, chocolate chips and nuts and sprinkle on top of batter. Bake at 325 for 40-50 minutes until cake tests done in the center.

Fantastic served warm :-)

Memories

Just finished reading Obama's book, FINALLY. I've been reading this for a minimum of 6 months and pick it up for about a chapter and then put it down for several months, so continuity has definitely been lacking. That said, it's a very clear statement of his policy and why he believes that. His chapter on race is definitely interesting, but the last chapter of the book is about family and how legislation about families (and family planning) should occur. In the process, he tells several stories about his and Michelle's family.

The one that struck me was him explaining his younger daughter's 5th birthday party, which he got to help plan. (He didn't usually get to do this because he was busy with political work.) Either way, the party involved taking kids to a gymnastics center and tumble around for a while. At the end, they took the birthday girl and put her in the center of a big multi-colored "parachute." They lofted her into the air several times and he described the sense of pure joy on her face and his hope for her happiness as follows:

"I wonder if Sasha will remember that moment when she is grown. Probably not; I can retrieve only the barest fragments of memories from when I was five. But I suspect that the happiness she felt on that parachute registers permanently in her; that such moments accumulate and embed themselves in a child's character, becoming a part of their soul."

As I pondered that eloquent statement, it occurred to me that I also have very few memories of being that age, but that I definitely identify with the notion of having many happy memories that seem to imprint themselves in who I am. I don't necessarily have very specific moments that are little pinpoints of happiness, but general imprints from many happy experiences over time: going to summer camp, sailing on Lake Superior, going to Grandma's house and eating Cheetos, finding "lost" quarters at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and spending beautiful summer nights with friends playing games. What moments have accumulated and embedded themselves in your character? Which experiences have become a part of your soul?

As a friend and I were discussing these types of memories, we decided that the joyful feelings we retain from childhood are their own gift. A happy childhood itself embeds itself in our character and impacts the rest of our lives. And for this, I'm abundantly grateful to my parents and grandparents. Thank you for everything.

More Ice Cream, Please!

For Memorial Day, Steve and I decided it was time for more homemade ice cream, so he/Darla made Butter Pecan, which was spot on in flavor and I made Mint Oreo. Good news. The mint Oreo is awesome!! I followed the same recipe as I did for the first foray into ice cream making, but with the following changes:

-Instead of 1 1/2 T. vanilla, I put in 2 t. vanilla and 2 t. mint extract.
-I left out the almond extract.
-After the ice cream freezer stopped, I mixed in (by hand) 2 rows of crushed Oreos.

So good!!

For good measure, I also busted out one of my favorite summer recipes:
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
1/2 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. oil
1 3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. cocoa
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
2 c. grated zucchini
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. chocolate chips
1/4 c. chopped nuts

Cream butter, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, and cocoa. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and soda. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Fold in grated zucchini. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Mix brown sugar, chocolate chips and nuts and sprinkle on top of batter. Bake at 325 for 40-50 minutes until cake tests done in the center.

Asparagus Again

Who knew? Did you know that asparagus is part of the fern family? Did you know it keeps growing after it's cut? Did you know it can grow 6-10 inches a day??? I stumbled across this information on the Delicious Days blog. (If I would have thought of that, I definitely would have used that as my blog title. Love alliteration!) Their article on asparagus (and where is the appropriate place to trim it) has lots of fascinating info, such as below:

"Most of the loss of sweetness and toughening happens in the first day after harvest. Farmers can minimize it by chilling new-cut asparagus right away. But a delay of just four hours between harvest and chilling causes the spears to toughen significantly. So does allowing the chilled spears to warm up to 60 degrees or more in a grocery display or at the farmers’ market."

Enjoy!

*Ok, I just re-read my posting, and I realize that this is a pretty dorky thing to find fascinating, but I know some of you out there are just dorky enough to appreciate it :-)

Peaches for Me!!

When my alarm went off at 6:30 on a Saturday morning, I slapped it off and jumped out of bed. Isn't it funny how some early mornings getting out of bed is like removing yourself from a slab of concrete that was poured on you over night, and other mornings, you feel the sun streaming in, take a deep breath, and revel in the night of sleep you just enjoyed? Today was neither of those, but definitely closer to the second. Why was today different? It was peach-picking day!! The hap-hap-happiest season of all!

Every year, a friend and I go to a U-Pick peach orchard about an hour away. Who knew that peaches trees grow extremely well in Arizona? Evidently, the owners of Schnepf Farms. So, we got up early, made the trek out to the farm, and meandered into a large grove of peaches, that exuded the smell of ripe peaches before you even neared a tree. It was heavenly. We returned with nearly 30 lb. of peaches each. Needless to say, it will be the week of the peach at my house. So, if you have any favorite peach recipes, let me know. I love to use them for jams, smoothies, in lettuce or spinach salads with poppy seed dressing, or grilled on shish-ka-bobs. I might try peach butter this year, but we'll see. However, my first order of business whenever I have fresh peaches is to make mom's peach pie, which is to die for, in my book :-) Key ingredient (as it is in so many of our family dishes): cinnamon.

Mom's Peach Pie

2 pie crusts
5 c. peeled, sliced peaches (approx. 9 med. peaches)
1 t. lemon juice
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. flour
1/4 t. cinnamon

2 T. butter

Preheat oven to 425. Put first pie crust in 9-10 inch pie plate. Mix lemon juice and peaches in a bowl. In second bowl, mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Add peach mixture to sugar mixture. [If peaches are very juicy, sprinkle bottom of pie crust with instant tapioca or other thickener.] Put peach/sugar mixture into pie crust. Dot with butter. Place second pie crust over peaches and seal edges. Cut "steam vents" in top pie crust. Put pie plate on cookie sheet or something else to catch any potential drips in the oven. Bake pie for 15 minutes at 425, then turn heat down to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before eating.

Awesome Asparagus

I recently (in the last 2 years or so) discovered that I LOVE asparagus. And now that I live thousands of miles away from home and have to wait till asparagus goes on sale, I find out that it grows WILD on the farm at home. Dang it. I did recently find out that it can grow very well in AZ, so we'll have to get busy on that. Anyway, I have two favorite ways to make asparagus. Actually, I usually just cook the asparagus in a little bit of oil, salt and pepper. More specifically, I have 2 favorite sauces I like to make with asparagus. (Both come from my favorite recipe website, allrecipes.com.) One is a traditional hollandaise sauce and the other is a super easy balsamic vinegar dressing. It goes a little something like this: 

Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

2 T. butter

1 T. soy sauce

1 t. balsamic vinegar

Brown butter in a small saucepan. (Melt butter in a pan over medium-high heat about 5 minutes, or until you start to see brown bits stick to the bottom of the pan. Don't burn it though.) Remove from heat and add soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. After mixing, drizzle over cooked asparagus and serve. 

Note: the picture above came from one of my favorite cookbooks, Simply in Season. If you're interested in simple, produce-based cooking, this is the place. 

Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick, Rick!

Although Saturday Night Live is sometimes hit or miss in it's funniness, this is one sketch that I've always enjoyed: Amy Poehler's "Kaitlin" character. Kaitlin is a hyper 12 year old. Go figure, like I have any experience with that age, right? See what you think:

Pleasant surprises!

I was in a GREAT mood this afternoon because I FINALLY finished all my work for my current 2 master's classes. As of now, I'm officially done with taking two classes while teaching. I now have 2 classes left in the summer, 1 in fall and 1 in spring. The end is in sight! Either way. I was in a good mood and Darla and I had just enjoyed our traditional Sunday afternoon hike. When we left, Ben, his brother Joe and Darla's husband Steve were all working on Joe's car. When we returned, they were still working on the car.

Steve's first question to us was, "Do you have a recipe for homemade ice cream that doesn't use eggs?" This led to a long discussion about what the purpose of the eggs is and if it determines how fast it freezes. In the end, all Steve was trying to say was, how fast can I make homemade ice cream because I want some NOW. We finally picked a recipe (see below) and Steve set out to buy a double recipe worth of ingredients... He was really excited about ice cream. As he left, he said, "Now what are we going to have for supper?" This was hilarious to me because when my family has homemade ice cream, it IS supper.

After a frantic trip to the grocery store by Steve (again, he wanted ice cream NOW) and a More With Less goulash type supper made by me, I mixed everything up and set it up to run. Surprisingly, (it's been a long time since I made homemade ice cream), it only took 15 minutes to freeze!! Yay!

As we opened the container for the first taste, we all decided that perhaps this will be the summer where we become connoisseurs of ice cream, and make lots of different homemade ice cream flavors. (As opposed to last summer, where we became connoisseurs of different kinds of brats.) It should be a wonderful summer :-)

Mom's Homemade Ice Cream

6 eggs
2 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 3/4 c. cream (can use up to 2 c. half and half)
1 1/2 T. vanilla
5-6 drops almond extract
1/2 gallon milk (or enough to fill freezer)

Beat eggs. Add all remaining ingredients and mix. Add enough milk to fill freezer properly and freeze according to freezer directions. Yield: 5 quarts ice cream.

Yay for cheap!

I just got 3 pairs of Crocs for $30!!!! Although the recession sucks in most ways, at least it means you can get some screaming deals on stuff. As I was driving past the mall on the way to work, I saw a big banner on a (recently closed) Circuit City that said "Crocs Warehouse Sale!!!!" So we stopped by after work to check out the action. There was a LOT of action. Tons of people. All Crocs were $10-15 dollars, plus they had tons of other gear, only open this weekend of course. For those prices, I'll definitely wear Crocs. Actually I'd always wanted a pair to see what I thought, but didn't want to pay the "exorbitant" $30 dollars or whatever they usually cost. So, this was the perfect time. 

In addition, (one of my favorite phrases used in Master's papers), there were TONS of parents there getting all kinds of shoes for the kids (I think they were $5 for kids pairs). This has been one of a number of times that I've thought, this would be SUCH a good deal if I had kids. Then, I would just go and buy a pair in the next 8 sizes up and call it good :-) 

Ben got a pair of specialty sailing boots for $25 that he's thrilled with, and a pair of shorts. He's so funny when he buys things: he comes home and spends the next 30 minutes analyzing his purchase, examining every nook and cranny, reading labels, wearing it around the house, etc. Cracks me up. It's like he has to justify the purchase to himself or something :-) In the end (surprise, surprise) he decided it was a worthwhile purchase :-) Hope you all are finding some good deals out there! Let me know if you want me to get you some Crocs :-) 

Ahhh...relaxation!

[I meant to publish this Sunday, but I didn't get to add the recipe till later.]

Man, I love holidays. Especially the ones that involve ham! :-) It started out as a very busy day, but has since relaxed considerably. Today started with Ben and I getting up at 5:30 to get ready to go to the sunrise service at North Mountain park, which was beautiful, as usual. It rained yesterday, and so the desert smelled wonderful :-) After that, I went straight to church for a 7:30 rehearsal, changed, and played at the 8:30 service. Then I had a nice Easter brunch at church, chatted for a while with the many people there for Easter Sunday, and then played at the 11:00 service.

After that, we went home, changed, picked up the dogs and the food, and headed over to Ben's parents' house for a lovely Easter dinner. After enjoying pound cake and strawberries, I sat down on a pool lounge chair and napped with the sun warming my legs, and a gentle breeze keeping me comfy. That was definitely the high point of my day. It was a very lovely day :-)

My assignment for Easter dinner (which I picked) was to bring bread and dessert. I made a kind of bread I hadn't made for a long time, called Golden Cake Bread from my home church's cookbook. It is very soft, and just a little bit sweet. Best of all, it doesn't involve any kneading! :-) See what you think! [Ben informed me after the fact that he thought this was too sweet for eating with dinner, but I disagree.]

Golden Cake Bread

1. pkg. yeast

1/4 c. warm water

1 c. scalded milk

1/2 c. butter or shortening

1/2 c. sugar

2 beaten eggs

2 t. vanilla

1 t. salt

4-4 1/2 c. sifted flour

Soften yeast in warm water. Combine scalded milk, butter and sugar in large bowl. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in eggs, vanilla, salt and yeast. Gradually add flour, beating well after each addition. Cover and let rise till doubled (1 hour). Turn batter dough into 2 well-greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Let rise 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool and wrap in foil. May be frozen. Yield: 2 loaves. 

More with Less Favorites

One of the things I took camping was peanut butter popcorn, which I adore (as do many of my fellow campers). It's super easy and from the More With Less cookbook. It stays just soft enough to eat and not have to pick it out of your teeth.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. corn syrup

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 t. vanilla

Combine sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and fold in peanut butter and vanilla. Pour over 2 quarts of plain popcorn and enjoy :-)

Another favorite summer recipe is the cucumber salad, which I've tweaked just a little bit to suit my tastes :-) I could probably eat this weekly for the entire summer :-) (Maybe I will!)

Cucumber Salad

2 large cucumbers, thinly sliced

2-4 T. fresh dill, minced

2 T. mayo

2 T. plain yogurt

2 T. vinegar

1/4 c. oil

1 t. salt
dash of pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except cucumbers. Pour dressing over cucumbers. Chill and serve.

Everything that could go wrong...

"I feel like its pulling..." And thus began our fateful camping trip. It was only one night, what could go wrong? Ha. Those words should never leave my mouth. We went camping this weekend at Lake Pleasant, about 45 minutes northwest of Phoenix, just for one night.

Things began going downhill before Ben and I even got home from work on Friday. He mentioned that the car was pulling to one side, but I told him it was just the (unusual) 40 mph winds. Our friends had gone up to the lake earlier in the day, and we were going to pick up Ben's sailboat at their house. We got home and packed all our stuff and the dogs. We got to their house, and as Ben hung up the phone to establish which camping spot they were in, he says, "That tire is going flat." So, we call Discount Tire, (a highly frequented spot of mine) and ask how fast they can fix a flat. They say, "We close at 6." It was 5:57. So that was out. So, we went to Ben's parents' and loaded ALL the stuff into Jay's Pathfinder and got on the road.

We finally got to the campsite around 7:30. At this point, it's just about dark, and still blowing 40 mph wind, and we still need to set up a tent we've never seen before. That was an episode. After much ado, (and redo), we finally got the GIANT tent set up. I knew it was a 4 man tent, but this thing could have had a second floor in it! We took our group picture with everyone standing up in the tent. Huge. Laughable. Plenty of space for me, Ben, Joe, and two dogs. Then we went to get our supper and realized there was a fire restriction and had to do hot dogs and s'mores over the camp stove. Definitely a disappointment.

After spending a night with those crazy dogs, we decided it was too much space. Those dogs spent the entire night wandering around the tent. Tromp, tromp, tromp. Wag, wag, kiss, kiss. Tromp, tromp, tromp. Wag, wag, pant, pant. All night... Then about 4 AM, they decide to start playing ON my feet. Needless to say, it was not the most restful night ever. Way too much space.

Then in the morning, we had a leisurely breakfast overlooking the lake, which was actually very pleasant. After lots of reading and sitting around, the host informed us we had to be out of the campsite by noon. This left us with some choices, given that the boys still wanted to sail and jetski, and some of the girls wanted to get back in time to watch the Final Four at 3 PM. We decided to have a late lunch at Jay and Marilyn's (our grilled cheese and tomato soup) and watch the games there. So, after much ado, (and discussion of how cold the water was-57 degrees), everyone but Ben and Steve decided to pack up and go home.

After getting home around 1, I took the car to Discount and had them fix my tire (30 minutes), went home, showered, and got ready to go watch the games and Jay and Marilyn's. Just as I was about to leave, Darla called and informed me that Steve's jetski never started in the first place and then he locked his keys in his car, and so she was going to take them to him. So she did. 3 hours later, the keys were dropped off, the originals were retrieved, Ben had sailed and gotten totally scraped up on a pully, and the boys were home. To cap everything off, as they rolled into Steve's house to put the boat back, Joe's truck stopped moving. Wouldn't move, clutch didn't push in, etc. So there you have it. A VERY eventful camping trip, but a good time was had anyway, given fantastic scenery and temperatures :-)

Aerogardening

No, it is not gardening in an airplane, though I'm sure if there was a way to do that, Ben would find a way. It is the gift my mother-in-law got me for Christmas, which I did not ask her to do. This is not uncommon, however it is not the end of the world with her. She's super good about saying "I know you didn't ask for this, but I thought you might like it. If you don't, my feelings aren't hurt, we'll take it back." So, this year the unexpected gift was something called an Aerogarden, which is basically a hydroponic garden, or garden using water and special nutrients instead of dirt, as pictured here. 

I "planted" the herb seeds about 10 days ago, and within three days, things were sprouting! You must understand, this is a huge victory for me, given that I've never successfully placed any seeds in the ground that grew to anything. (Ben, of course, does not have this problem.) Anyway, it was very exciting to see this bubbling pot of water give birth to seedlings. I've previously had an herb garden in containers outside my back door, but those were planted from plants, and I inevitably killed them. I don't think I ever had any of them last more than a year. . (I usually tried to blame it on the summer heat or the dogs or something, but I'm pretty sure it had more to do with the caretaker!)I always ended up re-buying them from the friendly Herb Guys at the farmer's market. Either way, now I have basil, thyme, mint, dill, oregano, and chives growing in my kitchen. Very fun :-) Since this is all a very pre-determined type of gardening, I'm pretty sure I can't screw this one up, as long as I follow the directions, (knock on wood)...

Maybe next I'll try gardening in the airplane :-) 

Is Google making us dumber?

This is one of my least favorite questions. It comes up fairly frequently in my master's classes, which discuss educational technology. Every time, I give an emphatic NO, because I personally feel I am quite a bit smarter for having Google, and the internet in general. With Google, every time I get curious about something (or my students get curious about something), I can figure it out. Many times it leads to more questions, which I then find more information on. So, not only can I find answers, I contend that it creates more curiosity!! Before Google, I was much less curious because finding out answers to questions required finding an expert or getting a book, and those were significantly slower methods to finding answers to little things than Google's standard 0.752 seconds, or whatever it is. Hence, in my opinion, Google encourages curiosity. 

That curiosity is driven by lots of things, and Google answers most of my questions. However, sometimes there are questions I didn't even know I wanted to know about. These "preemptive answers come from my favorite podcast, which I highly recommend from HowStuffWorks.com .

Sometimes the topic of each free, 10-20 minute podcast doesn't immediately strike me as interesting, but when I start listening, I'm hooked. Some of my favorites have been: 

• Why orange juice tastes bad after you brush your teeth
• How Delta Force works
• How abandoned cities work
• How OCD works
• Does gum really stay in your stomach for seven years?
• How redheads work

The one I'm dying to listen to next is How Deja Vu works. It is the weirdest thing to me. Anyway, even though some of these address random topics that you think you already understand (or don't care about), they have all kinds of interesting background information that I think is fascinating. They don't just say how stuff works, but also why it works. While I was hiking with the dogs today, I listened to one about how Kevlar bullet-resistant vests work, and how they're developing a new liquid bullet-resistant material. Fascinating :-) So if you're a curious sort like me, go to iTunes, and subscribe to the How Stuff Works podcasts. (No they're not paying me to advertise, but maybe they should!!)