Lessons from the Road - No bean Soup before the Airplane

So, for the next 3 weeks I am on the road for work.  I am traveling through Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas.  I kept saying I was going to be gone for about 14 days, then, just before I left, my husband made me count the days on the calendar and it turns out I'll be gone 19 days.  Suddenly the trip seemed soooooo long.  I liked the 14 day thought better.

Well I have learned a few good lessons from traveling like; when using the hotel shampoo wear your glasses, if it's broke, leave it at home, and No sad books on the airplane (although sometimes that is hard 'cuz sometimes you just don't know).  Well this trip I learned something....um, from a friend, yea a friend of mine told me this...

No bean soup before a 4 hour flight.  Just. Don't. Do. It.

I don't think I need to say anything more.

1 year ago:    Getting Wood Delivered
2 years ago:  Cranberry Liqueur and Crying at the Dentists Office
3 years ago:  Cowboy Cookies

October 27, 2015   Sunrise 9:22am   Sunset 5:47 pm   Temp H 36/ L 28°F

Computer Crash and Three Layer Bars

My computer crashed.

Yes, you read that right, last year around this time this same computer crashed the day before I was leaving for Montana, and this year it was two days before I left for PA.  I stomped down to IT so they could fix it, left a note to my office mate to order me a new computer, and wondered what I was doing for this to happen to me AGAIN!  Why is it always MY computers?  Luckily, I really didn't need my computer for the trip I was leaving on, so I took my iPad and was just fine.  But, what the hell? (I'm really trying to clean up my language, so if you are offended by WTH, I'm sorry at least I didn't say WTF, which is what I usually say and only try to whisper it now.)

When I got back from PA, I went to IT to see if the computer was saved.  The helpful computer master grabbed the computer and said it all was in working order.  "Let's try it out," she instructs.  I turn it on, it makes it's nice little start up noise, I am feeling hopeful.  Then it takes a little too long to boot up and the spinning wheel of death...

"That doesn't look good." She mumbles...

So, still no computer at work.

Because I was feeling a little frustrated I decided I needed a little treat.  I've seen this combination on Pinterest for a couple of years now, and always thought "how ridiculous" well, my computer crashing again is ridiculous so I made these cookies.

I'm leaving for work again this week, and I really need my computer.  I hope the new one gets here fast or the old one can be salvaged for one more trip.

Three Layer Bars
Yes, you could do the same thing with homemade cookie dough and homemade brownies (you could even make your own Oreos) but this is all about instant gratification and frustration relief!

1 tube chocolate chip cookie dough
1 pkg. Oreo cookies
1 box brownie mix

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line a 9 X 9" pan with foil, lightly spray bottom of pan with cooking spray.  Press cookie dough in bottom of pan.

Place Oreos on cookie dough, pressing slightly into dough.

Make brownie mix according to box directions and pour over the top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.  Cool completely.  Remove cookies from pan and peel away the foil.  Cut into small squares and enjoy.

(Now aren't you glad I gave you those instructions because ANYONE can figure out how to make these, but if you are as frustrated as I am, you might not be thinking clearly...and the two adult beverages you drank before you made these might just impair your judgement.)

1 year ago:    The Missed Vacation and Dried Cherry Muffins
2 years ago:   Winter Fires and the S'moretini
3 years ago:   Death of a Sewing Machine and Vanilla Chocolate Martini

October 22, 2015   Sunrise 9:05 am  Sunset 6:04 pm  Temp. H 34/ L 23°F

Festive Fudge Filled Bars and Visiting with an Old Friend

I was in Pennsylvania last week for work.  I also got to have dinner with an old friend, Nancy. We worked together one school year and became fast friends.  We were partners in crime, and boy did we stir things up.  As some point during that school year someone filled a pickup truck cab full of popped popcorn, someone saran wrapped a car, someone covered a pickup hood with dish soap so it bubbled all the way home in the rain, and someone kidnapped the wire man statue from the principal's office and took pictures of him all over town.

The Wire Man kidnapping happened by accident.  The principal had this wire man, that balanced on a stand, on his desk.  One day when I was in his office he had to move the man out of the way, otherwise I probably would never had noticed him the the very messy busy office.  Later that day he was gone, and I was still working.  I was working on a picture history of the school, or something like that, and was trying to figure out the old camera they gave me...a polaroid (It was about 15 years ago), so I grabbed the wireman as a model as I tried to work this old camera...and he spoke to me! Not the "I hear voices and have really gone off the edge" kind of speaking, but the inspired "he spoke to me" kind of speaking.  I took a picture of him with the camera outside the principal's door and wrote a note on the picture...something like "I'm tired of living in this messy office.  I'm going on a trip.  Be back soon."  Taped the picture to the office door and took the wireman - straight to Nancy.  We spent the next 6 weeks or so taking pictures of the wireman in different locations...the airport (for his trip you know), the local bar, in a bubble bath, on the bumper of the principal's car, at the museum...and mailing the pictures to the school to the principal.  And finally, we returned him with a couple little gifts from several of the places he visited.  I don't know if the principal ever really knew who did it..but he did suspect Nancy!

Oh, it was all in good fun and it did help break up the tension of dealing with middle school children and bus misconducts.  All in all, looking back, that was a fun year (although my husband does call it the year from hell).

So catching up with Nancy was a little perk of my job.  We visited, had dinner, caught up with the last 12 years since we have seen each other, remembered our 'adventures' and laughed.  It was a wonderful afternoon and evening.

Nancy knows how much I love cookbooks and she gifted me these two books from the area.   One is full of cookie recipes and the other is full of favorites from different cooks in the area.  What a fun treasure.

Festive Fudge Filled Bars
from Dutch Pantry Cookie Collection, submitted by Jill Wood

2 cups oatmeal
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, melted
2 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
1.5 cups M&M's
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 375°.  Combine oats, flour, chopped nuts, brown sugar, baking soda and salt.  Stir in melted butter until it's crumbly.  Reserve 1.5 cups of the flour/oat mixture; press the remainder into a greased and floured 9 X 13" pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Melt shortening in a saucepan.  Stir in 1 cup M&M's, pressing until broken and melted.  Remove from heat and stir in condensed milk.  Spread over the baked layer to within 1/2" of the edge.  Add 1/2 cup M&M's to flour mixture and sprinkle on top, pressing lightly.  Bake about 20 minutes until golden brown.  Cool and cut into bars.

1 year ago:    Garlic Chili Chicken and my Saturday afternoon date
2 years ago:   Warm Brussels Sprout Slaw and and the Baby Boy Moving Home
3 years ago:   Posole because Winter is Coming

October 20, 2015   Sunrise 8:59 am  Sunset 6:11 pm  Temp. H 38/ L 27°F

Fruit Cake Martini and Early Christmas Shopping

This little hip issue I have will not go away.  We have done all we can do and have two options left: 1) live with pain or 2) get a new hip.  I really think we should have a third option: 3) get an awesome robot body.  I would choose one that worked like Data (on Star Trek the Next Generation (and if you don't know who Data is, I just don't want to know you)) and looked like 7 of 9 (again STNG).

So I chose option #2 since #3 isn't available at this time and #1 is about to kill me (and you need to feel very sorry for my husband).  Option #2 will take place in November, after I finish my fall travel for work.  I just have Pennsylvania, Oregon, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas left.  But after that, I'll have #2 and then be out of commission for about 6 weeks, which means I need to get my Christmas shopping done now!

So, I am trying to get Christmas done, get boxes in the mail, and feel oh so merry...

To help get me in the mood, I turn the Christmas CDs on, make myself this drink, and sing along as I wrap presents.  I am still going to ask Santa for that robot body, maybe I'll get lucky.

Fruit Cake Martini

2 oz. cake flavored vodka
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. pineapple juice
sparkling cranberry juice
maraschino cherry for garnish

In shaker full of ice, add vodka, orange juice and pineapple juice.  Shake until very cold.  Strain into cocktail glass, top with sparkling cranberry juice, garnish with maraschino cherry.

1 year ago:     Citrus Cranberry Fizz and TGIF
2 years ago:   Roasted Chicken with Mushrooms and Peas and the Halloween Surprise
3 years ago:   Baked Nutella Doughnuts and less than 10 hours of Daylight

October 15, 2015   Sunrise 8:43 am  Sunset 6:29 pm   Temp. H 39/ L 30°F

Sudafed and Green Pea Soup

Everyone at work is sick.  This is a busy travel time for me so I am walking around with a Clorox wipe, disinfecting the door handles, my desktop, pens that I use and the coffee machine.  (You're welcome)  I wish they made Clorox wipe gloves and I would make everyone at work wear them so I don't get sick.  I'm thoughtful like that.

Despite my best efforts, Friday afternoon my ears plugged up.  I'm sure they are full of fluid and I was flying out next Sunday to Philadelphia.  I knew I had a long day ahead of me and I didn't want to be uncomfortable from pressure in my ears while I was flying.  So, at dinner, I took Sudafed.  I don't know about you, but Sudafed wires me up and I was awake all night!  I tossed, I turned, I could not sleep.  What was I thinking taking it so late at night?  Thank goodness the next day was Saturday, and I could take it easy.  I did get a good nap in Saturday afternoon.

That did remind me that I will be on the road for the next 5 weeks and airplanes are germy.  I wanted to stock up on cold remedies before there was a shortage like the year I thought Dave was trying to poison me and I wanted to have a stash in my travel purse.  At least I learned something from it.

It also reminded me that we need to eat better and boost our immunities.  I made this green pea soup for dinner and felt very healthy.  I will say that sometimes the idea of what dinner will taste like and the reality of it is a little different.  When I was making this soup Dave said, "That stuff is how the Ninja Turtles were made."  Nice...

I don't know what I expected, I know my husband doesn't like peas, so why I thought he would like this soup is beyond me.  It must have been the lack of sleep the night before. He took two bites and left the rest in his bowl.  Oh well, he can be sick while I'm gone, I'll be healthy!

Green Pea Soup
adapted from Ellie Krieger The Food We Crave

olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 12 oz. package of frozen green peas
3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp. dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan.  Add onions and sauté until soft and translucent.  Add chicken stock and thyme, heat to boiling.  Reduce and add peas, heat through, add salt and pepper to taste. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth or blend in a blender is 3 batches.
  Serves 4

1 year ago:    Banana Muffins and Blue Cougar Pills
2 years ago:   Autumn Fruit Tart and the Attitude Adjustment
3 years ago:   Gingered Pear and Brandy Cocktail and the Horseshoe Champion

October 12, 2015   Sunrise 8:34 am  Sunset 6:39 pm   Temp. H 34/ L 23°F

Pasta with Spinach, White Beans and Chicken Meatballs and the Ruined Pedicure

Fairbanks got a huge dump of snow.  The first snow of the season is always very wet and heavy.  It was a little early this year and the trees hadn't even dropped their leaves.  Lots of houses were without electricity, some for up to 5 days.

We were very lucky.  We only lost power for about 7 hours and had the wood stove going the whole time so the house didn't get cold and we could cook on the wood stove.  We did have one limb of our tree break, Dave had to go out and trim it off, buck it up and haul it away.  You can see how deep the snow is in the front by how far down his legs are covered.

He made short work of the broken tree limb and then spent a lot of time moving snow around, off the driveway, the pavers in the back, the back deck, a path for my little dogs to get to the dog yard...

So while Dave was doing all this work, the Chick and I went to get a pedicure for her birthday.  We spend a nice afternoon getting a pedi and then shopping for new boots for her.  I thought we waited long enough after the pedicure to put our shoes back on, but apparently not!  I look like I have hairy toenails.  It is stuck!  I am so disappointed since I paid all that money for a pedicure and now I have to take the polish off.  Getting my leg into a position to take nail polish off is not very comfortable with my hip, but I don't dare ask Dave to do it since he worked outside in the snow and cold the whole time the Chick and I were pampering ourselves.

So I made pasta for him for dinner.  He loves pasta and I don't so I don't fix it often enough as far as he is concerned.  This was a warm, filling dish he enjoyed and it put him in a pretty good mood after all the snow shoveling...I might ask him to take the fuzzy polish off AND repaint the nails.  How do you think that will go for me?

Pasta, Spinach, White Beans and Chicken Meatballs

adapted from Ellie Krieger The Food You Crave

16 oz. Penne Pasta, save 1/2 cup pasta water after the pasta is cooked

olive oil

medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. chicken meatballs, homemade or store bought

8 cups fresh spinach

1 15-oz can cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat in a large, deep sauté pan.  Add the onion and cook, stirring a few times, until softened, 3-5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook an additional minute.  Stir in the meatballs and cook until heated through and browned, about 4 minutes.  Add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 3-4 minutes.  Add the beans, 1 cup of chicken broth, and the red pepper flakes and simmer until the mixture is heated through and liquid is slightly reduced.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of water, and add it to the chicken-bean mixture, add pasta water and remaining chicken broth, toss well.  Season with salt and pepper.  Top with Parmesan and serve

Serves 4-6

1 year ago:   White Cake with Strawberry Filling and Celebrating

2 years ago:  3-2-1 Bread and Retiring from the School District

3 years ago:  Roasted Chicken with Apples and Garlic

October 8, 2015  Sunrise 8:22 am  Sunset 6:54 pm  Temp H 39/ L 30°F

Carrot Soup

I don't know what is going on with these ducks, but they have been in the yards on our street for the last week or so.  I think they must be eating the choke cherries or something that are falling off the trees.

It is really not a problem, except that they keep pooping on the cars in the driveway!  I don't know if it is when they fly over or what, but scraping snow and ice off your windshield is one thing, frozen (or worse yet - soft) duck poop is another thing.

I really think they need to fly back to the river and stay there, I stepped in duck poop this morning and I'm not very happy about it.  I did post this picture on Facebook and complained about the ducks, one of my Facebook friends said, "Forget about the ducks, what about all that snow!"  Ha, I guess it is all in your perspective.

I have a big bag of carrots from the carrot guy at the farmer's market.  I got a 10 pound bag and I love them.  This soup was part of our soup and sandwich night, it tasted like there wasn't any snow on the ground and the ducks were in the river, where they belong, not smearing my windshield with "stuff".

Oh happy Monday!

Carrot-Cashew Soup
adapted from Ellie Kreiger's The Food You Crave

4 cups chicken stock
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1-inch piece of ginger
1.5 pounds carrots
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 cup unsalted roasted cashews
2 tsp. honey
salt and pepper to taste

Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan.  While the broth is heating, chop the onion and mince the garlic and ginger.  Slice all but one-quarter of one of the carrots into 1/4-inch thick coins.

Heat the oil in another medium pot over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3-5 minutes.  Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute more.  Stir in the allspice and cook for 30 seconds.

Stir the carrot coins into the pot with the onions, then add the boiling chicken broth, cover and return to a boil over hight heat.  Lower the heat to medium, uncover, and simmer until the carrots are tender, 8-9 minutes.  Meanwhile, grate the remaining carrot quarter and chop 2 Tbsp. of the cashews to use for garnish.

Remove the pot from the heat, stir in the whole cashews, honey, salt, and pepper, and then puree the soup in 3 batches in a blender, or with an immersion blender, until smooth.

Serve garnished with the grated carrot and chopped cashews.

Makes 4 servings.

1 year ago:    Dark Chocolate Cake with Whipped Ganache and Raspberries
2 years ago:  Cranberry Shortbread Bars
3 years ago:  Chocolate Chip Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and the First Snow

October 5, 2015   Sunrise 8:12 am  Sunset 7:05 pm   Temp. H 39/ L 28°F

Corn and Summer Vegetable Soup and the First Snow

I know most of you are still very warm.  We, on the other hand, are having a major snowfall.  Awesome!
As a matter of fact, while I was in Montana last week, it would get in the high 80s and even hit 90°, but Fairbanks was getting 6 inches of snow!

These two pictures are from my window last spring...

You can see the mountains in the back.

This is the view out my window today.

It is just awesome!

So, I understand you may not be eating a lot of soup right now but we have soup every Monday with a sandwich and watch football on t.v.  (Thank you Green Bay for that awesome win against Kansas City, I just won a bet with my brother!)

This soup is quick and a good use for your summer veggies.  Maybe you will have some cool evening with a little rain.  I doubt you'll get the amount of snow we are getting right now.

Corn and Summer Vegetable Soup

4 cups of corn, fresh or frozen work best
4 cups chicken stock
1 large onion, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
salt and pepper to taste
4 pieces of bacon

*You can add other veggies to beef it up, or add cooked shredded chicken and top with bacon and cheese.

Measure two cups of corn and two cups of chicken stock, place in a blender and process until very smooth, set aside. Using your soup pot, cook bacon until crisp.  Remove from pan and place on paper towel to drain.  Chop into small pieces.
 Remove all but about 2 tbsp. of bacon fat from pan, add onion and zucchini and sauté until soft.  Add corn puree, tomatoes, chicken stock, and salt and pepper to taste.  Heat but do not bring to a boil.
Serves 6

1 year ago:    Pizza Stromboli for the Blond Boy's Visit
2 years ago:   Rhubarb Meringue Bars and the Guard Goose
3 years ago:   Pecan Crispies and Saying Goodbye to the Back Yard Neighbors

September 30, 2015  Sunrise 7:57 am  Sunset 7:53 pm  Temp. H 34/ L 25°F

Work Travel and the Perfect Dirty Martini

Cocktail hour on mom's front deck.  5:10 and 80 degrees!

I was in Montana for a week of work. I have the best job.  I go to a different college or university every day, do my presentation about teaching and living in Alaska, this amazing state of mine, and I get to stay with my mom.  She rides with me and we visit on the way to each school, I give my presentation and we head home.  We have favorite places we stop to eat (and wow, can we eat!) but in the evening we are home and have cocktail hour.

When I am home I have the drink of the week, that means ONE adult beverage a week, usually on a Friday or Saturday evening.  But at mom's we have cocktail hour every night (o.k. it was only 4 of the 7 nights I was there) and we would have a Dirty Martini.  My mom's husband Dick makes the best dirty martini around.  I have tried to copy it before, but this trip he told me the secret, and I will share that secret with you (if you already knew it, don't burst my bubble, I'm riding pretty high here right now).

Olives in vermouth...yes you heard it, you buy them in the grocery store, right on the shelf with all the other olives.  Why hadn't I noticed them before?  Crap, they have probably been next to the regular graham crackers when all I could find were the honey kind!

So I sent a picture of the elusive olives to my husband and posted on Facebook that he needed to learn how to make these perfect martinis...I came home to this:

I sure got lucky with this guy.

The Perfect Dirty Martini
Dick's way
2 oz. cold vodka
3 ice cubes
3 olives on a swizzle stick, use the kind brined in vermouth like the picture above
2-3 tablespoons of olive juice, depending on taste (I like 3)
stir
Enjoy.  Makes 1 drink

1 year ago:    Colonial Bread
2 years ago:  Stuffed Pork Loin and the "Good Try"
3 years ago:  Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

September 28, 2015  Sunrise 7:51 am  Sunset 7:30 pm  Temp.  H 45/ L 32°F

Hip Shot

So the hip isn't getting any better,(yes, I had to go back to see the Dr. in his big screen room) and the next step is an injection into the hip joint.  It is supposed to help with the pain.  It is done under an Xray and takes about 20 minutes. I did ask for a valium.

I got my shot yesterday... another lovely experience.  First off, it was a man who gave me the shot.  You take all your clothes off and put on a robe.  Then you lie flat on your back under the Xray machine and he walks in and has you pull up the robe to your belly, so your fat, flat thighs are at their finest and your hoo-ha is there for everyone to see!  Then they turn the Xray machine on and use a paperclip to figure out where to insert the 8 inch needle they need to get through the layers of fat and into the hip joint. This takes about 45 minutes while you are freezing and half naked on the cold Xray table.

If that isn't bad enough, I had to ask..."What is that white circle on the Xray?"  Turns out it was a BIG bubble of air (also known as a fart in waiting), right at "the exit point" according to the Dr.  His exact words were, "That is a bubble of air sitting on the anus."  Awesome!  So I worried the whole procedure about farting in his face because he was so close to my nekked business!

He injected some numbing stuff (kind of like the stuff to numb you for dental work) and then pushed the giant needle down further and injected a little more.  Finally got into the joint and said, "You may feel a little pressure and burning."

A LITTLE?  I let him know (by yelling, I think) that it hurt.  He stopped, gave me a couple of moments to stop the hysterical crying, and injected more serum into the joint.  I again let him know in no uncertain terms it was very uncomfortable and I WAS DONE.  "Only 10 more seconds," he lied.  Two more pushes on the syringe with a hoot and a holler from me after each and we were finally finished.

The nurse covered up all my parts and handed me a tissue, then the Dr. asked how I was doing and says...

"Do I know you from somewhere?  You look so familiar to me."

Really...you just spent 15 intimate minutes with my hoo-ha and NOW you ask if I know you from somewhere?  I could have died.

We went through the typical where I work, if he has kids, blah, blah, blah but didn't find a connection.  He left, I got the betadine stuff cleaned off me and helped me up so I could go get dressed.

I hobbled to the car with my husband and proceeded to fart all the way home...

Feel very sorry for my husband.

Peach Comfort

1 cup frozen peaches
2 oz. Southern Comfort or Crown Royal
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. or to taste honey or agave

If using honey, mix with about a tablespoon hot water, then stir into whisky.  Add all ingredients to blender and process until smooth.  Pour into glass and enjoy.

Makes one drink and does not cause any extra bubbles of air to sit on your anus.

1 year ago:    Oreo Truffles and watching what you say in public.
2 years ago:  Raspberry Lemon Drop and Dave at Moose Camp
3 years ago:  Bean Soup and the First Real Frost

September 10, 2015   Sunrise 7:19 am  Sunset 8:10 pm  Temp. H 50/ L 37°F

Shotgun Wedding Soup and waiting on the Mouse

One of our trips in Bessie, we had a little mouse scampering back and forth across this little path next to us.  I named him Marvin and while Dave fixed dinner, I sat and tried to get his picture.  It was raining and dreary, so the shutter speed was a little too slow for this quick guy.  

Most of my pictures looked like this:

But I was persistent.  Finally, after about 45 minutes, Dave tried baiting him with a rose hip.  Hoping he would stop long enough to sniff  or eat it and I could catch a picture.  Marvin didn't even stop at one of them.  I did manage to catch part of Marvin...see his tail end in the left hand side?

Oh, the things I do for entertainment.  

Now that it is fall, cooler during the days and freezing some nights, we have soup and sandwich night on Monday.  We watch Monday night football during dinner, the only night we have the t.v. on during dinner. Thursday night football just has to wait until after dinner...that is what a DVR is for.   I made this quick soup I adapted from Ellie Krieger's cookbook Weeknight Wonders.  Use a good chicken stock, I used some homemade from my freezer.  It was perfect with our grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and a side salad.

Shotgun Wedding Soup
adapted from Ellie Krieger

1/2 med. onion
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. moose sausage (her recipe calls for 1/2 lb. ground chicken)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
8 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp. fresh Italian parsley
1/2 oz. Parmesan cheese, grated
2 large eggs
3 cups lightly packed baby spinach

Dice the onion and mince the garlic.  heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and sausage and cook, breaking up the meat as you stir, until is is no longer pink.  Stir in the garlic, salt, and pepper and cook for 1 minute more.

Add the broth, cover and bring to a boil over high heat.  Meanwhile, finely chop the parsley. Place the parsley, cheese and eggs in a medium bowl.  Whisk to combine.  Chop the spinach coarsely and set aside.

Once the soup is boiling, uncover and reduce the heat to medium-low.  Stir the broth in a circular motion, then slowly drizzle in the egg mixture, stirring all the time, to form thin strands.  Stir in the spinach and cook until the spinach is just wilted, about 30 seconds.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 4

1 year ago:    Zucchini Fries
2 years ago:  Canning Tomatoes
3 years ago:  New Lights

Sept. 14     Sunrise 7:10 am  Sunset 8:21 pm   Temp H52/ L 39°F

MRI and Moon Pie Mug Cake

I had an MRI for a little hip issue I've been having.  The follow up appointment was something special.  There I sat with my husband and the Dr. and he pulls up the MRI on the BIG screen t.v. in the office.

And there, for all of us to enjoy, is my fat ass.

Now this MRI was for my hip, and so I was laying down on a table squishing my abundant bottom flat to begin with, then you put it up on a big screen t.v. and it was HUGE!  And, it was an MRI so the first 15 layers was just fat, with the little blood vessels running through it so it looked like I had a GIANT HAIRY ASS.  I was so proud.

We finally got to the hip and you could see the little tiny flank steak of a muscle surrounded by 15 inches of fat on my thighs!  And then the Dr. says..."Let's take a look at those little hips."  I wonder how he said that without laughing out loud!

I still don't know the results of the MRI because I was so focused on the damn fat part of the GIANT T.V. picture.

Well, I made it through that appointment and swore I would never see that Dr. again in my whole entire life, or until my hip hurt again, which ever comes first.  But, I did have to console myself after such a humiliating experience.  So I went home and made myself a  Moon Pie mug cake.

Did you ever eat moon pies?  I loved those things as a kid.  The marshmallow center surrounded by the sweet chocolate and crunch of a graham cracker....pure heaven.  I needed to be taken back to a simpler, less embarrassing time, so I made Moon Pie mug cakes, hid under the blanket I draped over the sofa and coffee table and ate both of them.  I tried not to think about how big my butt looks.

Moon Pie mug cake
adapted from Mug Cakes, Leslie Bilderback

1 large egg
3 1/2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 1/2 Tbsp. milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup self-rising flour
pinch of kosher salt
2 graham crackers, broken into small pieces
1/4 cup mini marshmallow, marshmallow fluff, or large marshmallows cut up into small pieces
2 Tbsp. chocolate chips

In a large mug, whisk together the egg and oil with a fork.  Stir in the milk, sugar, vanilla and cocoa.  Add the flour and salt.  Beat the batter until smooth.  Fold in the graham cracker bits, marshmallows and chocolate chips.  Divide the batter between two mugs.  Microwave separately for 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 minutes each until risen and firm.

1 year ago:   Baked Oatmeal
2 years ago:  End of the Garden
3 years ago:  Control Issues and Banana Crunch Muffins

  Sunrise 6:49 am  Sunset  8:47 pm  Temp H 62/ L 41°F

Tazlina Wedding

We spent the weekend with some friends for a wedding.  We drove to Tazlina and parked Bessie at our friend's fish camp where they had about 100 people come for their wedding.

The wedding was on a beautiful day, it went off without a hitch, at least when the maid of honor showed up a couple hours late (gotta love road construction!)  The bride and groom both said "I do" so it was a successful wedding.

Before the ceremony, the groom had to check the fish wheel.  

There were 6 salmon in the holding basket.  They all got cleaned and processed before the wedding.

The view down the river.  You can see other fish wheels working away.

1 year ago:     Chicken and Mushrooms and the Lawn Prank   

2 years ago:   Lemon Bars and Crying in the Grocery Store

3 years ago:   Cheese and Zucchini Tart

August 31, 2015     Sunrise 6:28 am  Sunset 9:13 pm     Temp. H 45/ L 30°F (yes, below freezing)