Tuesday, September 15, 2009

mmmmm pie......

Cakes and Pies, Cakes and Pies, (sorry having a Deuce Bigelo flashback)

Ok, tonights experiment in cooking was good and bad. I made 2 pies tonight, well sorta.

Pie #1 was the sorta pie....egg pie....aka Quiche.

That was the good one, that one came out yummy. It's not really a recipe that I have, it's one that I made up years ago, and just change it around to suit the ingredients that I have in the house.

Tonights Quiche: Spinach/Bacon.

Here's the recipe if you want it.

1 frozen pie crust
6-8 eggs (depending on the size, I had somewhat small "large" eggs and I used 7)
4 ounces of shredded cheddar (or preference)
1 cup of frozen spinach
1/2 onion chopped
3 slices of bacon, chopped up
1/2 cup of milk (you can eyeball it...I did)
Salt and Pepper to taste (optional)

1. Mix eggs and Milk in bowl, add to pie crust
2. Cut up bacon add to crust
3. Add Cheese, Veggies, Salt and Pepper
4. Bake about 35 minutes at 400°F
5. Cool for 10 minutes, slice and serve.




Now for Pie #2, the not so pretty pie.

I made peach pie tonight for dessert, this I can't claim to the taste, but it really doesn't look very good.

I followed this recipe, but I change it a little bit I didn't use as many peaches as it said, because it looked like way 2 much. I cut it down from 5 cups to 3 cups.

Ingredients
pastry for a double-crust 9-inch pie (I used a frozen crust)
5 cups fresh peaches, sliced
1 cup sugar
1/3-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Stir together flour, 1 cup sugar, and cinnamon and set aside.
3. Wash, peel, and slice fresh peaches.
4. Mix together peaches with the combined dry ingredients.
5. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter.
6. Cover with top crust, cut slits in it, seal the edges.
7. Sprinkle top with 2 tablespoons of sugar.
8. Cover the edges with foil to prevent over browning; remove foil for the last 15 minutes of baking.
9. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through the slits in the crust.
10. Pie may be frozen for future use.



Saturday, September 12, 2009

Peach Upside-Down Cake.

This was a 1st attempt at a new recipe and something to do with the 10lbs of peaches that I picked.

Here's the recipe, I used a pineapple recipe and replaced it with 3 cut peaches, 4 would have been a bit to much.

Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4-1/2 cup butter
1 can sliced pineapple, , drained
1 jar maraschino cherry (optional)
halved walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Follow instructions on cake box for making an oblong single layer cake.
2. Prepare cake batter and set aside.
3. Cut up butter in small pieces and place all over the bottom of the oblong pan specified on cake box.
4. Sprinkle brown sugar generously over the butter.
5. Place pan on the stove (or in the oven) and heat slowly until butter and sugar melt to a liquid then remove from heat.
6. Evenly space the pineapple slices around the bottom of pan in the heated sugar and butter.
7. Place the cherries and nuts between the pineapple slices (Tho the cherries and nuts look nice and taste great, they are optional).
8. Pour cake batter on top of the pineapple/cherry/nut mixture.
9. Place in oven and bake as directed on cake box.
10. As soon as cake is done place a plate over the cake and turn upside down and carefully remove pan.
11. If you wait too long the sugar will harden and be difficult to remove.
12. Note: Peaches may be used in place of pineapple






Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Law and Order.

So today was the 1st day of school.

I believe I survived, I don't know how well, but I did survive. It's going to be lots of work but I know I will make it though.

A quiz a day for the next month may be scary, but again, I'll manage....I hope :)

Monday, September 7, 2009

Felted Bag Directions.

Here is my pattern for the "Vikki Bag"



Here's what you will need.
2 Skeins Patons Classic Merino
Main Color = MC
Accent Color = AC
1 US 11 Circ Needle

Directions

CO 20 stitches Knit in Garter Stitch for 12 inches, Bind Off
Pick up and knit 100 stitches around 10 on each end 40 on each side. Knit for 12 inches (MC)

Knit 2 rows (AC)
Knit 2 rows (MC)
Knit 2 rows (AC)
Knit 2 rows (MC)

Bind off.

Make 2 Handles

Use (AC) CO 5 stitches knit ST for 10 rows, then change to I-Cord knit for 16 inches then finish in 10 rows of garter stitch.


Attach Handles to bag.

Felt bag. (Use any method you like.)

I wash bag in hot water, but I think the bag never gets small enough. So I put bag in dryer for about 30 minutes, checking every 10 minutes.

Before




After

My Designer Original Purse.

Ok, so I was the designer, but it's still an original, not another one in the world exists.

I knew I wanted to knit a bag, at 1st I thought of a big tote, so I started knitting, but I knew once it was felted I would only be purse size.

It's perfect for fall, a great felted wool bag in a beautful fall maroon color, with a great hot pink accent.




Saturday, September 5, 2009

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!!

Well fantasy football anyway.

My team drafted last night, I don't know how happy I am with the results, but here it is.


STARTERS
QB Phillip Rivers
(SD - QB)
WR Andre Johnson
(Hou - WR)
WR Greg Jennings
(GB - WR)
WR Dwayne Bowe
(KC - WR)
RB Michael Turner
(Atl - RB)
RB Steven Jackson
(StL - RB)
TE Tony Gonzalez
(Atl - TE)

BENCH
BN Ryan Grant
(GB - RB)
BN Donovan McNabb
(Phi - QB)
BN Anthony Gonzalez
(Ind - WR)
BN Jerricho Cotchery
(NYJ - WR)
BN Jeremy Shockey
(NO - TE)

ST
K Kris Brown
(Hou - K)

DEFENSE
DEF Philadelphia
(Phi - DEF)
BN Chicago
(Chi - DEF)

Ribbit....Ribbit...err I mean Rippit...Rippit

This isn't going to end well, hell, it's not even starting well :(

I frogged yet again.

Before.



After.



Ok time to try again.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Fall in Connecticut

Fall time in Connecticut means a few things, pretty foliage, apple cider, cool weather.

We spent a beautiful day out and about in our little state.

We drove up the coast with a first stop out in the afternoon we went peach picking at Bishops Orchards and off to the farm market.




After the stop at the farm market we got some apple cider (and yes some apple cider donuts yummy) we headed off to sit by the water with drinks in hand and walk on the beach and through the boat basin.

It's probably the last real day out we're going to have for a little while since I'm starting school on Tuesday.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Todays lunch experiment.

Ok so this one was a little out there, but I tried it anyway. I was digging through the freezer looking for something to cook for lunch. I know Doug has a few things he really likes, but then again, a few things he really HATES!

So digging around I find some chicken, sausage and shrimp....hmmmm what to do with these strange ingredients.

But jambalaya comes to mind, but that really wasn't completely working for me, so a little more thought, I come up with Jambayla Risotto.

I took my recipe for Sausage and broccoli rabe risotto and just tweaked it a bit.

I got rid of the BR and added 1 cut up chicken thigh and about 1/2 lb of shrimp.

I have to say it really came out good, a very different from a basic risotto.