The Scotdogs'

Pizza with a twist!

2012-02-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

I ran across this recipe and knew I had to try it!
Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I had a lot of leftover ingredients that needed to be used including cauliflower. I thought I could outsmart my family - surprisingly it doesn't taste that much life cauliflower. A friend on facebook gave me the tip of making it really thin - so we have a thin crust pizza :) I patted it down really flat.

Then baked it at a high temp.

That actually looks like a pizza crust doesn't it? Next, I added a semi-homemade pizza sauce. I started with a jar of spaghetti sauce that was leftover in the fridge. Added some tomato paste, spices, garlic and cooked it until it was thick. Then I sliced a tomato that was hanging around all by its lonesome.

Next, I caramelized part of a red onion, stalk of celery and about half of a green bell pepper. Added more to my side of the pizza. Hubby isn't too keen on bell pepper.

His side got part of a leftover hamburger patty from last night. While mine got some delish herbed goat cheese.

Top his with more mozz than my side.

Out of the oven. . . . I didn't broil mine like the recipe calls for, just put it back in the 450 oven. (I'm really bad at broiling).

My plate . . .

The fella's plate . . .

This was a huge hit and I'll be making it a lot!

Allrecipes Book Club!

2012-01-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

Come and join the club! Participate when you can, as often as you can! You can participate on several levels.

First, a list of books will be posted. Each book will have something to do with food but it won't be a cookbook. You could read the book to get new recipes. You might be inspired to create your own new recipes based on the theme of the book.

Second, you could comment on the book. You might read the book, knowing that you have enjoyed the author's other books. We might explore things like character development, plot progression or other literary features.

Anyone can get the book, and share their opinions.

Every two weeks, we will make comments about a particular book. If you have read the book, fine! If you haven’t, you might be inspired to after reading the comments that are posted. If a recipe interests you enough to try it out, we would like you to share that experience. We will link your photo to the book comments!

On the specific date of the “discussion,” we will post a comment post. Feel free to express your opinions of the book to be discussed. If you are not able to read a book in a two week time frame, the next one will also be posted. Join when you can, leave your comments, and let's see if this inspires you to serve up a new recipe!

Hopefully, you will find these books at your local library. Others you may have to purchase or borrow to be on the same page we are! Feel free to suggest books that might be of interest to other AR buzzers.

This book club may change and evolve due to the participation of those who are interested. Please let us know what direction you envision this going!

The first book is Crunch Time, by Diane Mott Davidson. This may be short notice, but can you read it by the end of January? On Saturday, January 28, we will have our first on-line book club meeting. Come and go, post as you can during the day. If you feel that we should set a time during that particular day, let me know!

Book #2 is Scones and Bones by Laura Childs. This will be discussed on February 11.

Book #3 is Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke. This will be discussed on February 25.

The start of my 2012 mantle

2012-01-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Scotdogs'

2011-12-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

My baby sis & her new husband brought back coffee from their Costa Rican honeymoon. Yum! I probably drive her crazy calling her my baby sis, but I was 20 when she was born. She was 3 in my wedding, so she'll always be my baby sis :)

My BIL makes the world's best hot sauce - he brings us an open one to eat immediately and a sealed one for later. We go through it quickly, so good!

My youngest son loves to make cookies - my MIL bought him this cookie sized cast iron skillet - so cute! Mom (me) just might steal it :) Is that not adorable??

We only buy Baileys during the Holidays, oh my . . . such a treat in my coffee!

I snuck myself a couple of gifts. The first is an apron. I've always associated aprons with old ladies - and I must be turning into one, lol! Since I've started entertaining more, it seemed like a wise purchase. Found this really cute one!

And, salad tongs. I never have anything to serve the salad with.

They have a small dowel that hooks them on the back of the bowl. So cool!

My MIL let me borrow her Lennox serving pieces. So beautiful! She has them listed on Craigslist, I'm going to ask for the *much loved DIL discount*.

Although . . . I am hard on things, and a tad bit worried about dropping them.

Salt and pepper pine cones that I bought. I don't use salt & pepper shakers at the table and wasn't positive of the correct way to fill them. I asked on the Recipe Buzz if you put salt in the one with more holes (that's the way I thought was correct). I was surprised that we were just about split down the middle with half of us using more holes for salt & half using the one with more holes for pepper.

This gift almost brought tears to my eyes, and I'm not a crier. My husband's Great Aunt Bea is in a rehab center/nursing home right now. She's the most amazing cook; we usually always go to her house every Thanksgiving & Christmas. Sadly, she's getting too old to cook. My MIL brought me her cast iron skillets. I have no idea how old they are, but I will totally treasure them!

They are seasoned so perfectly. They almost feel like glass. I wouldn't be surprised if she's had these since she got married. She's 89 now. The most remarkable lady!

2012 blessings to you and your loved ones!

Halloween 2011 - Indoor

2011-10-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

Plus a bit of nature - Happy Halloween!

Car Show at Dickey's BBQ Grand Opening

2011-10-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

Come home to Mama, all of you :)

The Wonders of the World Wide Web

2011-07-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

I have no idea how I ended up at the 2 items I'm about to blog about. I will preface this post by saying I can't stand to shop, not even online. But, somehow I ended up on these 2 different sites and loved what I saw. These people don't know me, have no idea I'm blogging about them, I'm not receiving anything for this . . . sadly - I just fell in love with what they were selling, and wanted to tell you about it.

Before we got this little gal, I would have told you I wasn't that big of an animal lover. We've had dogs before and I liked them, but I didn't fall in love with them. I had 3 boys to take care of and sometimes the dogs just seemed like 1 more chore. With Anna Belle, I've fallen into that "not one of THOSE weirdo dog lovers" categories. Never in my wildest dreams would I have pictured myself spending money on a painted wooden block of the family pet. But, alas I have proof. Somehow out on the net, I stumbled upon this site and had to have one.

Now, I'll be truthful and admit I didn't read the fine print; it's smaller than I thought. Even though, they give very clear measurements on their page (I'm a horrid skimmer when I read). But, the size gives it that much more character :) So cute, painted so lovely, wonderful shadows & a beautiful pale pink background. I just sent them a jpg photo of Anna Belle, they asked a few questions, and bang, beautiful work of art!

So happy with it!! They were wonderful to work with. I'm going to order one for my SIL. Her two poodles have been together almost since birth, are getting really old and I know she will absolutely cherish it. What a wonderful Christmas present that will make.

My second purchase . . . beautiful wooden utensils . . .

How beautiful are these? These are built to last a lifetime. They come with really good instructions on how to care for them. They are handmade and thicker than normal wooden spoons. Feels really good in my hand.

I really love this one; perfect for scraping the peanut butter or refried beans out of their container.

I bought these here. Great guy! I love handmade things. I didn't buy them all at once, saved up for the next round. Now I really want this dough oar mixer, how cool is that?

That's probably my quota of shopping til Christmas, but what great buys!

My Spice Sage

2011-05-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

My favorite place to buy spices . . .

Bay Leaves, Whole Ginger, Coriander Powder, Whole Nutmeg, Annatto Powder and the freebies - Madagascar Vanilla Beans and Black Lava Sea Salt. They always let you pick one freebie, and they always have a monthly freebie that they send. This month it was the Vanilla Beans. I make homemade Vanilla Extract with them. They also offer free shipping with a $40 order, but I never order that much at one time.

For me, an unbelievably good deal! $13, $4 shipping for a grand total of $17. Fast shipping with tracking.

I love to make my own spice mixes up - here are a couple of new ones I am going to try . . .

http://allrecipes.com/PersonalRecipe/62420355/Latin-Inspired-Spice-Mix/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/PersonalRecipe/62477043/Sazon---dry-seasoning/Detail.aspx

If you get a chance, check out MySpiceSage, awesome site!

Whole Grain Waffle Mix

2011-05-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

I love to make waffles or pancakes on the weekend. I decided that since I make them so often, it would be great to have a mix on hand. I tweeked a Taste of Home recipe that I found. I loved that it toasted the grains. Here is my version:

Whole Grain Waffle Mix
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white unbleached (or all purpose)
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/2 cup toasted ground flax
1 cup toasted oat bran
1 cup buttermilk blend powder
3 T. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
1 t. sea salt

In a large bowl, whisk the above ingredients together. I like to make sure the baking powder/soda are very well incoorporated.

To toast the grains, I placed them on a cookie sheet in a preheated 350 oven. I toasted for 4 minutes, then whisked them around and toasted another 3-4. Watch closely, they will burn. Smells heavenly! This is easy to use whatever you have on hand. For the oat bran, you could blend up some old fashioned or quick cooking oats. If you don't have the flax, use more of the oat bran or wheat germ, or vice versa. You could also leave out the white flour & go all whole wheat. You might need more water in the finished product. I felt the waffles that we made toward the end (after the batter rested for a bit) were better. Here are the toasted grains.

I love this stuff. I use it in my homemade ranch mix.

Sorry for the poor pics, it's raining and dark so that ='s poorly lit pics. And, please excuse the grody thumb!

To make the mix, I used 2 cups of the dry mix, with 1 cup water, 2 eggs and 2 T canola. The original recipe called for 2 T. honey, but my honey can't have it, so I left it out. I should have replaced it with sugar free syrup or melted butter. My finished waflle was just a tad bit dry. I'll play around with adding moisture with cottage cheese or greek yogurt, maybe even some applesauce.

We were eating them faster than I could stage a pic. Hubby likes his with walnuts in the batter. I like mine plain. These would have been so delish wih blueberries mixed in, or a homemade applesauce on top. Maybe even lemon curd, yum!

So while the end result wasn't perfection, it was good, fairly healthy & filling. I like the fact that I have the mix in the freezer. Next weekend, I'll work on perfecting it!

Spring in North Texas

2011-04-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung & I love the contrast in colors - bradford pear, japanese maple & petunia.

Dove on the roof - love when they *coo* to each other

Ruby Red Throat Hummingbirds arrived Mid March

Yes, I'm the most spoilt dog in the world . . . .

How you doin'?

The Anole family is alive & well. I have always wondered where they winter. Late last summer I watched them go in and out of our door sill; must be where the nest is.

I'm not a Diva, Really!

2011-03-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

These posts are hard when you are a hard working diva.

Can you see me calling my mate?

Passed down from my grandmother - to my mom - to me - sigh . . I had the best grandparents!

Poor hubby - we have a sprinkler leak -

"oh please let me help,"

"really, I only need to sunbathe, and read my book (while you dig a big hole) for a few minutes". Really . . .

I'm right there with you babe! Promise . . .

"What?" "No really, I'm still here . .. . .

Ouch, that looks painful.

"It's hard work taking the pictures!!"

Truly it is!

Organization Overload

2011-03-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

I can admit it, I love to organize. I drive my family crazy . . . . "what have you done with the spices mom?" "Where did the coffee cups go hon?"

Somebody stop me! I'm always moving things around and decluttering.

Lately, my kitchen pantry has been bugging me. Technically, I don't think it's a walk-in pantry, but it is so much bigger than my last one, you won't hear any griping from me! I love to cook and with cooking comes A LOT of pantry needs.

One of the things I love about my pantry is the automatic light that was built in. We have these in all closets too, they rock! Whenever you open the door, the light goes on, close it and it goes off. These are a *must have* now in my book. Thanks to whomever built my house for including them!

Since my kitchen ceilings are 9', a lot of the space at the top of the pantry is storage for bulk items, or kitchen gadgets that aren't used all that often, ie. pressure cooker and dehydrator.

March is my Birthday month, so I bought these new flour containers. They were each $5, but they fit the space so much better. The smaller ones were $2. The middle corners still perplex me! I'm not a big fan of lazy susans, but the corners are really wasted space.

This is it for now, but I'll get the itch to re-organize in a few months, much to my families chagrin! Be listening for the deep sighs. . . . .

Painting With Friends!

2011-02-24T20:24:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun tonight! Can you guess what I was doing?

I met up with another AR'er - Kathy

My friends Jana & Jennifer were also there.

This is THE most fun thing to do with a bunch of friends! We drank wine, learned to paint & laughed! If you see Painting With a Twist in your neck of the woods, please stop by! You will be glad that you did.

Testing

2011-02-14T08:51:00.000-08:00

Homemade Chili Powder Blend

2011-02-05T12:01:00.000-08:00

I've had this bag of dried chilies sitting around since 7/09 (I just noticed the date in the pic). I haven't really known what to do with them. I've been wanting to make my own Chili Powder for a while now & it finally dawned on me (as I was researching how) that I've had the resources all along!

Mine are Hot so I left out Cayenne is this recipe. If you don't, have hot you'll need to add Cayenne to taste. Next, I toasted them in a 300 degree oven for 5 minutes. Mine were already very dry so it didn't take long. If yours aren't very dry & brittle you might have to toast them longer. Do watch that you don't burn though, I read this will make them bitter.

I then pulled the top off & shook out the seeds. They should be very brittle & dry.

I then tried to grind them in my mortar & pestle.

Wasn't working. I want this to be a very fine powder. I had to go find the coffee grinder.

That worked, but I wish I had toasted more chilies. Those 4 only made about a tablespoon of powder. To that I added about the same amount of California Paprika. I just happened to have it, use whatever good quality Paprika you have.

Next granulated Garlic. Love, love this stuff! But, I'm a garlic freak. You might just want to use your fine powder. I used about 1/2 T. Use less if you aren't big on garlic.

Cumin - another spice I love. I added 1/2 tablespoon. Again, if you don't love cumin, add less.

I also added 1 teaspoon of Coriander - I like it, but if you don't have any this would still be good without it. And, 1 teaspoon of Oregano.

Just a pinch or two of fine ground sea salt. Add more if you aren't on a low sodium diet like we are.

The finished product. It doesn't look like much, but this is a deep pestle. It's about 3 heaping Tablespoons of Chili Powder. Yum. I'm about to sprinkle some on popcorn just to see how it tastes.

Wow, delish! It has a bite, but not an overpowering one. These chilies also have a bit of a smoky flavor. Really good! Well, I'm off to enjoy it, hope you like my new seasoning mix!

February - Dallas Area Winter Wonderland!

2011-02-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

5 inches plus - it snowed a bit after this pic.

Scott feeding the birds. Our male Cardinal rules the backyard.

If you will notice, the big bird next to the Cardinal on the ground is a Dove.

My Frog Birdbath - LURVE it, each frog is playing a different instrument.

I've been making my own Pumpkin Fru-Fru Creamer for my coffee - yum! A can of pumpkin, can of fat free Eagle Brand, a lg. can of fat free Evaporated milk, my homemade pumpkin pie spice - yum! Next time, I'll make homemade pumpkin puree.

I guess it's time to finally roast my Halloween Pumpkin!

Having fun today! Wish you could join us . . .

Homemade Seasoning Mixes

2011-01-31T09:18:00.000-08:00

Creating homemade seasoning mixes brings me such joy. I love to get all of my spices out on the island; then my favorite measuring spoons. The most fun is getting my hands in there to crush and mix. The smell is just fantastic! I've been guilty of storing herbs and spices for years, but not anymore. I have really found that the freshest spices make a big difference in the flavor. Since my husband was diagnosed with very high blood pressure, we've had to go to low sodium. When you can't have salt in a recipe, you really have to pump up the other flavors. That is what got me interested in making up my own mixes.

I learned about this site from the Recipe Buzz on Allrecipes, it's now my favorite place to order spices from. Great value, $4 shipping and I've been very pleased with the quality.

Here is my latest round of mix making . . .

I was totally out of my Italian Seasoning. I perused several different recipes before coming up with my version here. The great thing about making your own, is adding or subtracting spices depending on your tastes. Most recipes call for a lot of Rosemary; I find Rosemary too strong, so I used less of it. If you happen to like it, you can easily add more.

Here is my spice rack full of homemade mixes . . .

I found this vintage Dansk spice rack on ebay for a steal. Love, love it! Everything is in easy reach. The whole family knows where mom's special seasonings are.

Here are the recipes, only a couple are actually mine.

1. My Dry Buttermilk Ranch Mix - I've seen several reviewers comment on the amount of onion in this recipe. I haven't made it in quite awhile (kept forgetting to pick up the Buttermilk Powder) and I have to agree that I went a bit overboard with the onion ingredients. This time I left out the minced onions and just used some onion powder. I do love chives so I left those in, but this is another very forgiving recipe that is easy to play around with. When I mix up some Ranch dressing, I'll add the minced onions back in, to taste.

2. Sarah Jo's Taco Seasoning - This is probably my most used seasoning mix. We eat a lot of Tex Mex and this stuff seems to disappear on me. I make it up all the time! It's fantastic.

3. This is actually a chicken recipe, but the spice mix intrigued me so I made some up. Loved it! I did use a bit less sage, since I am using it more as an all-purpose blend. It's fantastic! Another Sarah - thank you for the recipe!

4. This is a brand new one that I didn't even know was published. I think I've made most of the seasoning blends on AR and was surprised when I saw this one. Delish! It makes it so easy to thaw out a piece of fish, throw on the seasoning and bake. Yum, easy-peasy, healthy and flavorful. Thanks Diane, I think I know what I'm having for lunch again today :)

5. My Pumpkin Pie Spice. Another easy one to play around with. I love Cardamom, but not everyone has it in their spice cabinet. This recipe is still good even without it. I use this in every recipe that calls for cinnamon.

6. A cajun/creole low sodium all purpose, yum I usually punch up the heat. I really enjoy trying out different kinds of chili or red pepper blends.

7. A regular low sodium all purpose.

I've also made my own chili powder blends and steak rubs. We live in Texas and grill out just about every weekend (even in winter) so all of my spice blends get a good work-out. They are all very adaptable for sprinkling on grilled meat and veggies - well except the Pumpkin Pie Spice!

Another favorite is Pam's Seasoned Bread Crumbs - I haven't bought breadcrumbs in quite a while, it's so easy to make them homemade. We always seem to have a bit of whole wheat bread laying around.

Well, the laundry pile and dirty house are calling. This gives me an easy way to find all of my favorites. Thanks for stopping by!

Dad and his boys

2011-01-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

Watching tv together.

When I saw what they were watching, I had to tease the hubby. . . .

"You've turned into your dad."

"No I haven't, he likes Gunsmoke, I like the Rifleman."

He's always cracking me up :)

It's the little things

2011-01-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

The itty bitty things . . . . .

Like the way my new camera can catch the snowflakes!

And . . . . it only took me 2 years to figure out this is a perfect place for my herbs to wait out winter. Well, all except my garlic chives, they aren't looking so good.

A roaring fire, nuff said!

Needs no words, but I love the reflection in the water going down the alley!

And, another cutie! I have 3, but they are very hard to get pictures of!

New Year, New DIY'ing!

2011-01-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

I love to sit and read Do It Yourself blogs. But, when my house needs a BIG bit of DIY, it seems very hypocritical of me to enjoy reading about everyone else's projects. It's time to tackle some of mine. I saw this post and it made me realize that I have just about this same entryway and can do this.

I thought at first her entryway was way bigger than mine, but when I looked closely, she has double doors while I have a single door & windows on each side. Pretty close to the same size/layout.

Time to find a Thrift Store light up there, lol!

My whole house is builder off white & so desperately needs pops of color. For some reason, I'm very conservative when it comes to color. It scares me. I'm also extremely cheap. I had some leftover paint from my bedroom and decided to try it. It's free after all!

Not really the pop I was going for! I still might go with a warm terra cotta which is in the rug. Any nicely painted, clean surface feels better though. I was even thinking about using the Chocolate Brown that is in the curtains to the left. That is the 4th bedroom, but the previous owner made an opening and used it as a sitting room. Our oldest was 20 when we moved here, so we just went with a curtain covering. We knew he had plans to move.

It has become my husband's music/recording room.

Now, I'm thinking I need to paint this other door.

I also have plans for a bit of artwork. And, I want to finally hang the black boxes that you see below. They make quite a statement with something cool on top of them. I've had them for a long time & haven't hung them yet. I think they would look cool on the wall to the left.

I did make a trip to Home Depot for painters tape. And, of course - what's a trip to Home Depot w/o an impulse purchase? The plant above was $6. I'll be on the lookout for a cool pot to put it in. Also, I finally got one of these . . . . .

My BIL has one & I was so jealous! I've been meaning to pick one up and today they were on sale. I love anything to do with organization. The bucket jockey was $6.98 and the bucket $2.54. Now if I could just figure out how to get the handle on the correct side. Sigh . . . . . I sometimes wish I was more mechanical.

I also saw this today & can't wait to get started stocking up on all the tools that I need. Of course, my husband has a garage full, I just might have to swipe a few.

Well, wish me luck on my journey into DIY'ing!!

Finished entry in normal light

The Hokey Christmas

2010-12-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

I always think I am a good decorator until I take pics. Then my decorating style looks so hokey. Oh well, the boys, hubster & I like it.

We actually have 2 trees this year. The joke around the house is we must be rich if we can afford two trees. The truth is, someone was looking for a new home for this huge one. I of course offered to come get it out of their garage. It's so big, Scott had to pull the bottom branches up & tie them. We can still see our train!

Have a blessed Christmas, y'all!

Hard Day

2010-10-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

In the words of Napoleon Dynamite, "worst day of my life, what do you think?"

And, while it wasn't really the worst day of my life, I have to admit it was upsetting.

I had huge plans to renovate my back porch. Sanded, primed, painted . . . got to the very end and then this happened . . . . my beautiful glass top on my beautiful metal table slipped from my fingers & exploded into a million pieces.

So now, I have the most beautifully painted metal table with no top. And, a patio with just a bunch of chairs . . . .

Beyond bummed!

It was going to be beautiful!

But, I'm still blessed beyond measure. Plants that have been with me for many years.

The most spoilt dog ever in the history of dogs :)

The most handsome 17 year old in the world, helping me power wash the patio.

So back to the drawing board . . . . do I pay for another glass top? Ugh, too bummed right now to think about it!

Unhealthy Love!

2010-10-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

I have a really weird love for metal furniture. I've picked up pieces of it at garage sales & thrift stores. I was also gifted a small table that my BIL/SIL were getting rid of. When we moved into our house in 08' the previous owner was downsizing and moving into assisted living. She had several things for sale and one was her outdoor furniture. I fell in love even before she mentioned selling it. I didn't even ask how much, I just said "I'll take it". Hubbie gave me a dirty look. He doesn't share my obsession. Since then, he teasingly threatens me with calling the metal scrap man to come take it away.

I decided this weekend that all of it needed to be painted. I've been meaning to do it since we moved here. It is starting to rust. Why did I pick this time of year? My ragweed allergies are killing me, but I'm stubborn.

Here is a picture of it right after we made the patio bigger. It's a table with 6 chairs.

I bought it for $100. Sanded, primed and painted the chairs bronze. I'm thinking about painting the table an off white, I'm not sure I'm totally loving the bronze color, but I think I'll like the chairs dark & the table a creamy off white.

Can't believe I let it rust this bad.

Here are the finished chairs . . . .

This was a lot of work. I had a couple of other chairs that I love and went ahead and painted. I love this one. It's actually really comfy.

This is the glass top table that my BIL/SIL wanted to get rid of. It's also now bronze.

Here is the table after being painted . . .

I'll be back with the after pics. I'd like to *stage* my patio and show it off. This is too much furniture for my small patio so some of it will be arranged down by the fence. We are also building a new place for the big smoker so that will open the space up more. Now, if I could only get him to build me a pergola!

Here is a friend that I found when I moved a heavy flower pot. Scared me to death!

And, I also found a stray basil plant. I guess after pruning my big basil plant I didn't get all the refuse.

I've threatened my husband that he better not get it with the weedeater!

After all this I pooped out & didn't go get more primer for the big table. And, it started raining this am so that gives me another excuse :) It will be finished soon though! It's already sanded and ready for paint.

On another note my CocksComb are still huge & beautiful!

And, here is my next project . . .

It's a really old metal trash can that my husband has had forever. It's rusted and ugly, but has great character. I'm going to paint it an off-white and use it in my kitchen pantry. I can't stand having the trash in my pantry, but until I can talk my husband into building a counter trashcan, this will work!

This is long & for anyone that has stuck around - thanks for indulging me!

Grillin' in the rain, just grillin' in the rain

2010-09-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh Fajitas!! You can't tell it, but it's sprinkling pretty good in the background. I'm under the eave with my new Girly Grill. We found it on Craigslist for $30. So nice not to have to use the Chimney starter!

Although, I do love that smell!

Back to my fajitas . . . . I start out searing the chicken & fajita steak meat - I usually call it skirt, but it's called so many different things I'm not sure what it actually is.

Scott came out & asked me if I had tenderized the skirt steak. Of course, I just looked at him blankly . . . . so after searing on both sides with the chicken, we decided to slice it up very thinly & make our pan fajitas. The chicken was done, the steak just needed more cooking time.

Chopped onion, jalapeno, tiny bell pepper & habanero from our herb garden (well minus the onion, that was store bought) get seared in a cast iron skillet.

Woozers & yum!! One neat thing that Scott always does (to all of our grills or smokers) is add a really nice thermometer. I'd be lost without it . . . . He used to work at Brinkmann and has several of these babies stashed away . . . Drill a hole & wallahhh

Sorry for the blurry finished product, he was hungry and in no mood to *take pictures* of the grub! He just doesn't get the blogging food fascination that I have. Man, was this good! Serve with my homemade Roasted Salsa, Brown Rice & Refried Black Beans on corn tortillas - oh my!

On a side note, I think I have the biggest Celosia around - these suckers are 2 feet tall.

Thanks for looking!

Summer 2010

2010-08-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Early August pics . . . .

So hard to keep flowers going through August!

I'm a bit partial to this beauty, blooms for 2 seasons! Beautiful!

Late August . . . . .

Taken today 8-27, I'm a bit partial to this beauty also! Anna Belle turned 2 on August 16th. Still spoiled rotten!

Yeah, we know you da bomb!

I can't remember what these are called, but they have taken over! I have a mum underneath them. I'm not good at organizing my plants.

Hummers are extremely active right now - getting ready for their next big adventure! One of my favorite things to do is sit outside & watch the hummingbird activity/fights.

Basil (far back by the grill) very sad looking, but my garlic chives (saved it over the winter) are the hardiest little thing ever. Tomatoes this year were a huge failure, sadly!

These purple plants (petunias?) were actually dead in the middle of the summer. I cut them all the way back & they surprisingly made a full recovery!

Up & down this year, very little rain & 100 degree days. I'm trying to do a bit of salvage work, a few successes & several losses. Always a journey!! Thanks for joining me.

Anna Belle

2010-06-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

I can't really claim that I'm a huge animal lover. I rarely had them growing up because of my mom's asthma. We did have a few Chihuahuas that my mom claimed would get rid of her illness. I always had a really hard time believing that. For one thing, it felt creepy to me (as a child) to have an illness and try to give it to the dog. As an adult and a mom with young kids, married to an animal lover, I've had to have an open heart/mind to animals living with me.

Our latest has totally captured my heart, probably because my boys are older (21, 17, and 15). The earlier years I was busy with 3 young boys, I always felt like the animals were just another chore. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the animals and I was always the one to feed them/pay attention, therefore very loved by them all. But, this one has captured my heart.

Anna Belle has the most beautiful spirit. She is a total people pleaser. She doesn’t want to do anything to upset you. She was easy to potty train, easy to teach tricks. She’s happy with just a bit of play-time. I like to call her my Diva, but in reality she is just a really easy-going sweet, well loved dog. She fits perfectly into this laid back family! The boys are absolutely crazy about her. She is so spoiled, but it’s well deserved!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that stubborn, barking, wood chewing dogs don’t deserve to be treated as Divas; every animal deserves our love, and attention. I had a weird thought today when my middle son was lying on the couch with Anna Belle on his tummy. He adores her & she is in love with him. I thought to myself “oh boy, I hope I don’t have to arm wrestle him for Anna Belle when he moves out, he just might win!” :)

Love that Boston tongue that's always half hanging out! And, this is her favorite spot, she stands here and watches the birds who are eating out of the bird feeder.

Chef Luigi in Big D!!!

2010-06-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

Itsa darn stinkin hot here! Anna Belle is a cutie, though she ran scairt :) I'ma notta scary, promise!

Now Ima ready to rolla!!

Mrsa. Scotdog & a few of her friends, no .. . . really, thatsa what she tol me!

Ok, ok a I kidda . . . . The real Mrs. Scotdoga made me pose ina front of her prized Rosea of Sharon or somea such silly planta. Bringa on the other gals! Nope, no gal's for me, I'm gonna go sitta and starea at this pic for a while, I'lla let Mrs. Scotdog tella you about our exhausting day!

Picture it . . . HOT, and dusty, a regular day in and around Big D this time of year. Fun though! We visited Ham Orchard in Terrell, Texas. Miles and miles of peach & blackberry orchards. The freshest veggies and fruit, not to mention homemade fudge and peach or strawberry ice cream. Oh man, delish!!

I have to admit Chef Luigi was a perfect gentleman while picking Blackberries. He only griped about the heat a couple of times. Fun times! We passed 2 lakes and took pictures, but I'll hold those for the next blog. Thanks for visiting this awesome orchard with us. A beautiful, blue sky Texas day of fun was had by all including Mr. Scotdog!

A sneak peak!

Perfecting my Roasted Salsa & Random pictures

2010-05-16T13:12:00.000-07:00

Roast at 425 romas, tomatillos, onion, poblano, anaheim & jalapenos.

Foil wrap has many cloves of garlic, a few sprinkles of kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper. I added 2 carrots & 1 stalk of celery just because they needed to be used and I love to sneak in healthy stuff on my unsuspecting family!

The hardest part is knowing when the skin is roasted. I start watching at about 15 minutes. Flip, then watch for the skin to turn dark. The messiest part is actually skinning everything. I'm not a fanatic about getting rid of skin or seeds. A few won't hurt.

Throw it all in the blender. I thought it had a bit too much water, so I poured a little bit out. This concoction needs to rest to fully bring out the flavors. It's much better the next day after resting in the fridge. I added about a T of cumin, juice of 1 lime & a few squirts of balsamic (just cause I love it).

A few random pics. Our male & female Anole are back and fiesty as ever!

Darling, you need to come home now!

Can you see her in the background on the window screen? Yeah, who's your daddy??

Random things growing.

I don't know if anyone remembers the biggest snow storm to hit Texas?? It cratered my brand new gazebo. I was bummed, but I'm not ready to buy an expensive replacement. Aldis is new to my town & had this big umbrella on sale for $50. I had a $10 off coupon so it ended up costing me $40. I figured it's a good enough replacement for now. One of these days, after I win the lottery, that I don't play :) I'll build a pergola.

Notice anyone?? Diva has her chair & I have mine.

Petunias, I'm hoping for lots of butterfly & hummers.

This was earlier this spring, but the Bradford Pears were beautiful this year!

I'm sure I've worn you out by now, thanks for looking!

A mom with teen boys tries to save on meat!

2010-04-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Buying food is never ending in my house. I like to eat, the hubster likes to eat, and we have teen boys! One will be 17 on Friday & a newly turned 15 yr old. Our oldest son (21) finally took the plunge and moved to Portland, Oregon. Sad for mom, but he's having a blast.

So, I'm always on the look-out for deals on groceries, especially meat.

I'm a sucker for the clearance bins. I stopped by Tom Thumb this morning to see if they had any deals. Got a 2 pound pack of 93% Lean Ground Beef for half off (pictured above).

And 2 huge 4.5 pound packs of 85% ground beef. I usually like the leaner meat, but this was a good deal.

Both ended up being around $7.5. So all together I got 10.88 pounds of ground beef.

Ranchers Reserve Beef Top Sirloin steak (cut in strips) was $6.99/lb, on sale for $2.99/lb. The pack is marked $23.07. Now who would really pay that much? The total weight is 3.3 pounds. I paid $9.87 & got 2 really nice packs to use for either stew or stir fry.

Chicken was on sale for $1.88 a pound. Now, I've gotten better deals but the freezer is totally empty & I really like the quality of Tom Thumbs' chicken. These breasts are huge. The 2 packs are just a bit shy of 8 pounds. I paid $14.50 for the 2.

Pull out the handy dandy FoodSaver. I highly recommend these. Especially if like me, you feed a big family.

Freezer is pretty well stocked again for $43.00. Not bad for almost 22 pounds of meat. If I could get the meat lovers in my life to eat less meat, it would save me a ton. But, until then . . . they will be happy for at least a little while! And, I really like the quality of the meat you get at Tom Thumb. It's WAY better than Walmart. I don't grocery shop at Tom Thumb because I feel they are high, but they have great meat (if you can get it on sale or clearance).

Gardening on a tight budget

2010-04-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone remembers my Amarylis. I bought it after Christmas on clearance for $2. It was such a joy to watch grow & bloom. It bloomed twice with huge, beautiful blooms both times. It's now planted in the yard & I'm hoping it continues to blossom and bring me joy.

My next huge deal was on clearance last year at Home Depot. They were selling Azaleas for next to nothing. I can't remember what I paid, but it wasn't more than a couple of bucks. I wasn't sure where to plant it or how to care for it, but I figured it was worth a try . . . .

I think I did good, it's SO beautiful! Wish I had bought more of these too. You just never know what's going to perform well.

Here are a Pink Azaleas that were here when we moved in. . .

These were scrawny & pretty low producing when we moved in (early June 08). I think a combo of TLC, more mulch & and a pretty rainy winter helped tremendously. Now if I could just figure out how to shape & prune them. Also, the shrubs in front of them need to be shaped & reduced. They block the view :)

Iris' so big they are falling over.

And, last but not least I have 3 climbing roses that are at their peak . . .

Thanks for looking. I have a small yard, but lots of fun things always blooming or growing.

Smoothie Goodness

2010-03-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

I love to make a healthy smoothie every morning. What I don't love is the disorganized way I had fruit frozen in the freezer. I decided to pull out the foodsaver & freeze individual portions of one serving. I'm in a produce co-op, and have been getting big amounts of every kind of fruit. I also buy fruit on sale & flash freeze it.

I have apples, kiwi (with skin), cantaloupe, blueberries, pineapple, blackberries, grapes, banana, and strawberries

Now I have a mix of ground flax, soy protein powder, cinnamon and just a bit of Splenda

Each individual portion gets a bit

Pull out the FoodSaver & get to work! I now have 20 packages ready to go every morning.

In the morning I assembled my cast . . .

Ooops, forgot the homemade vanilla

Now get to getting . . .

Heaping T of cottage cheese

Same with plain yogurt

Skim Milk

Homemade Vanilla

Equals the perfect smoothie.

A couple of things I learned, the fruit comes out a solid brick, next time I will pull it out a bit early to let it thaw some. I had to break mine apart, so the blender could get going. It also helps if you have a good blender. I keep adding milk until it is the consistency I like (it also helps the blender along). This was probably more like 1 & 1/2 servings. I did drink it all, but probably don't need that many calories. I might freeze the leftovers in butter dishes, to eat like ice cream later in the day.

Stew Meat

2010-03-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, if I had to pick the most boring blog ever, it would be homemade stew meat!

But, it's one of my pet peeves. Stew Meat in the store is just . . . gross. . . . grissley, fatty, grossness

I've used just about every marked down beef to make my stew meat. I scored this time with marked down Round Roast. My usual is marked down Sirloin. This is a 3.7 pound Eye Round Roast.

Kind of scared at what the blue ink was on the left, but I cut the hunk in two.

Then cut each into managable slices

Getting rid of most of the fat. . .

Until you have the most beautiful, lean stew meat

Got 2 packs of at least 1 1/2 pounds of very lean stew meat, that I know has no grissle, fat or weird stuff!

THE Pantry!

2010-03-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

We bought our house in May of 08. I have to be honest & say one of my favorite things in this house is my kitchen pantry!

Exploding Pyrex

2010-02-25T16:29:00.000-08:00

I've seen it mentioned before, but it's never happened to me. Well, it did tonight. I was cooking a pork tenderloin at 400 for 25 minutes. Took it out of the oven & my 11X17 glass Pyrex pan literally exploded.

Luckily it didn't have a lot of juice, what juice it did have ran down the cabinet.

I'm sure I'll be picking glass for weeks. It literally shot several feet in all directions.

I'm really kind of bummed about it because I love my pyrex. I'll be a bit hesitant to use it again.

Diva-licious!

2010-02-24T16:25:00.000-08:00

Can you have a dog more diva-licous than mine?

I seriously doubt it. Her favorite human, Jordan, fell asleep after school. She's not having it, she has her favorite toy ready for when he wakes. She's laying on top of him. Yes, my 9th grader is under there somewhere.

When will he wake up Mom?

No more pics mom, just make him wake up. Toy & I are ready to play.

Finally we woke him up, but he was kind of a grumpy grump! Oh well, by that time dad was
home to play!

Best $2 I've ever spent!

2010-02-17T13:04:00.000-08:00

In the history of $2 investments, I'll have to say this is one of my finest.

I found a Paperwhite Amaryllis on clearance after Christmas at Target for $2. They had oodles of them left. I would have bought more if I knew it would be so pretty. It's on it's second blooming. The first bloom had 3 huge flowers. This second one has 4 beautiful, huge flowers. I hope it's not the last one.

Probably the best $2 I've ever spent!

Once in a lifetime record breaking snow! February 11, 2010

2010-02-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

8 inches!

Front of my house - 2 of my boys cars

Backyard

So bummed about my shade. We should have taken it down for the winter.

I went for a walk & took pics. The trees and roof lines created the coolest forms

Check out those roof lines!

Blue Sky

Sun shining the other direction

I can't believe all this snow! It's a once in a life time phenom!

Record Snow Fall Slideshow

2010-02-12T07:16:00.000-08:00

Record Snow Fall

Homemade Low Sodium Cajun/Creole Seasoning

2010-02-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

I love to make my own seasoning blends. My husband has high blood pressure so we try and eat very low salt. I use this as an all purpose blend on everything. Let me introduce the cast of characters:

I'll post the recipe later. What I like about this blend is it's virtually fool proof. You can leave out ingredients or add others depending on what you love. These have become my favorites.

Found this magnetic spice holder at Frys on clearance after Christmas. It was a pain to hang!

My SIL got me these several Christmas' ago. So cute!

Trying to add a bit more light to my subject.

Recipe (again, add more or less according to your families taste buds)

1 T granulated garlic

2 t onion powder

2 t paprika

2 t black pepper

1 t white pepper

1 t cayenne

1/2 t thyme

1/2 t basil

1/2 t celery salt

1/2 t italian oregano (was from my garden & dried in the microwave)

couple of turns of my sea salt grinder

Hope you enjoy!

Camellia Bush

2010-02-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

A lot of the country is under a winter advisory, my Camellia Bush didn't get the memo. I just took these pictures today 2-6-10. It's already blooming profusely.

Love this bush!! So nice to have something blooming in the dead of winter.

Master Bedroom

2010-02-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

Well, we finished the bathroom, now I'd like to paint our bedroom. The bathroom is a Lush Brown so I need a color that's going to *sweep* you into the bathroom and not clash.

Here we are walking into our bedroom from the living room . . . again, off white walls, lol!

In our bedroom it's mismatched furniture, and off white walls (weird glare is from the mirror). That's my husband's dresser, which was my grandparents. It's ugly, but has too much sentimental value to replace.

I'd like to pick out a color in this rug to tie in the master bath.

Mismatched reading & tv nook. I'll work on furniture when I win the lottery :) Luckily, paint is cheap.

I don't really like the blue at all. I do like the vintage 70's dresser, but again all furniture is a mish-mash of rummage sale finds.

So, since I can't afford new furniture, I'd like to start with a wall color that will work with this rug & my new bathroom color.

Bathroom Remodel on a tiny budget

2010-01-25T08:03:00.000-08:00

We have an early 90's house and the master bath needed a facelift. Here is a before pic . .

Everything is gold, faucets, light fixture, towel racks etc. On top of the ugliest wallpaper imaginable. Every wall is covered in this blue/mauve/green flowers.

Scott works for a plumbing distributor so we lucked out on getting all the hardware & faucets at 75% off. We ended up choosing oil rubbed bronze.

We did have to get the light fixtures at Loew's for retail.

Here is the light before (with the gold faucets) . .

It was a huge ordeal getting the wallpaper off. It didn't want to leave its home. We had to texture the wall. Scott made a homemade contraption for the texture . . .

What a job getting this gunk on the walls! I was horrible at it, so he became the texture guy & I painted the whole bathroom. I had a friend (thanks Deb) suggest the color. It's a Metallic Lush Brown. I thought I would only use it on a couple of walls, but she told me it would look better to paint the whole thing. Scott wasn't happy with this idea, so I bought a small sample of Sage Green just to see if we liked it. When we put it up next to the brown it looked horrible. I just decided to take her advice & go with the brown. After all, everyone always says it's just paint & you can change it.

Here is the Sage Green . . .

I ended up having just enough to paint a small wall in the kitchen. Really made this picture above pop . .

Of course we ended up totally loving the brown in the bathroom! It's so rich & lush. Doesn't look dark at all, or make the room look smaller. We have a ton of natural light, plus a sky light so even at night, it's beautiful. At different times during the day, the sun shines on it & it really sparkles.

The jacuzzi faucet gave Scott a plumbing nightmare. He worked all day on it. Had to make runs to Home Depot & Loews. Finally got it all to work & not leak. When we originally pulled the front panel off, the biggest ant pile you have ever seen fell out. The whole thing was a solid antpile, luckily not active. Now we know why we always had ants on this side of the house. So, disregard the blue tape. They had so much caulk holding this panel on, that he's going to have to build some type of trim or shim it up somehow. I couldn't wait any longer to take pics & blog about it. Here we are walking into the bathroom from our bedroom. . . .

Random shots inside

Got the amarylis on clearance at Target after Christmas for $2. It's stunning! I haven't picked the final color scheme yet. I ran around the house pulling stuff from other rooms to decorate with. I'm on a tight budget & other than buying the rugs (on sale at Home Goods) and 1 vase, the rest I had around.

I love how this picture above pops against the brown. This next painting is one of my favorites. I've had it for a long time (found it at Goodwill) and have never had a good place to put it. I'm thinking about trying to get it framed to make it stand out more.

The bidet that we've never even used. Scott wanted to take it out, but friends have told me it's actually a good thing to have for resale value.

It's been quite a project! I have a bit of paint touch up left to do & texture to remove from a couple of places, but other than that, it's beautiful. I'm really, really happy with the end results. Even happier that I really didn't spend that much money! The Brown paint was more expensive than I would usually pick, but they were having a $5 off mail in rebate. And, this Ralph Lauren paint totally covered with only 1 coat. So for about $38 I painted the whole thing & still have 1/4 of the gallon left. Might just find another wall somewhere to paint! Next project will be my master bedroom!

Produce Co-op

2010-01-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

I joined a produce co-op today. I'm SO excited. The ladies that run it, have been doing it several years. A spot opened & I jumped on it. The best part is they do all the work. I pay them $20 and pick it up from her house every other Thursday. Luckily she only lives 3 miles from me. They have developed a wonderful relationship with the farmers/vendors. Here is what I got . . .

8 apples

10 tangerines

6 bananas

Small container of blueberries - Chile

1 lb of strawberries - California

8 oz mushrooms

green beans

baby carrots

new potatoes

2 heads of garlic

2 mangos

4 zucchini

2 cucumbers

and, last but not least a fresh pineapple!

I was so happy to see a fresh pineapple. Last week on the recipe exchange Eake was talking about her recipe that uses blood oranges & pineapple. I so wanted to try it, but don't like the normal price of pineapples in the supermarket. Now I get to make it!! Although, I don't think I ever see blood oranges down here, hopefully these really sweet tangerines will work. Here is her recipe, if you are interested.

Blood-Orange-and-Pineapple-Muffins

I can't wait to try these muffins!!

Master Bath Remodel

2009-12-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

Our house was built in 92. Great master bath, but really starting to look dated. Hubbie works for a plumbing contractor so we are getting these faucets. . .

Also the matching towel rack & ring. Luckily at 75% off. I have to figure out the lighting and if we want to take the huge mirror down & replace with 2 mirrors. Also the wall paint color. Oh boy, so many decisions!

Karla's Birthday - Need I say more??

2009-12-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

Denise got an unbelievable deal on a huge suite at the Anatole. 14th floor, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths & a big sitting area. It was so cool! Here is a pic of our view. This was only 1 side we had a view from all 3 bedrooms on each side.

Most of my night pictures didn't come out, but here are a few . . .

Machelle - trying to see her phone, LOL! Yes, she needs her reading glasses!

No, Denise isn't tipsy, dumb camera takes forever to finally take a picture. She was blinking.

Lea Ann's handsome son Derrick brought her. His truck is in the shop. She had an emergency at school & had to come later.

Yes, here is the Birthday girl greeting Lea Ann (or hogging the pic)!

Birthday girl being a ham!

LOL! Gotcha . . . Birthday girl caught with her pants down! Yes, I know . . . I'm mean!

Me . . .

Machelle . . .

Another bedroom with everyone packing up.

Another bedroom.

This place was awesome! We had a great night. Thanks for the fun & laughs girls! Can't wait to do it again, but this one will be hard to top!

I'll just close by saying "look out Dallas, beautiful ladies coming through"!

Happy Birthday Karla!!

Poinsettia Madness

2009-11-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, the most awesome hubster helped me bring *the poinsettia* in!

Turkey Day at Mom's House

2009-11-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

Crazy Cats!

Side of the house with porch

Rooster that thinks it's a guinea

Hubbie getting into his story!

Open floorplan with lil sis Lindsey leaning on the column. Boyfriend Mike by the fridge, Step-dad David in the Green/Blue Striped Jersey.

25 acres of trees & beauty!

Other side of the open floor plan. Josh sitting with Jordan (in the Santa Hat).

This is actually what we use as the front door.

David's newest project . . . some kind of sheep??

Tiny Rooster that thinks it's a Guinea.

Mom & David's house is always fun, full of laughter & love. They bought the property when it was 25 acres of solid Mesquite trees. My step-dad is one of the hardest workers I've ever had the privilege of knowing. He built mom a beautiful house, barns, orchards, garden, smokehouse, pond etc. Of course with her help! They gave me a beautiful half sister, Lindsey (although to me, she's just my sis). I was 20 when she was born. She is such a beauty inside & out!

It’s a soothing place, with lots of fresh air, crazy cats, sheep, cows and cow pies! Full of my favorite people. Thanks for another awesome Holiday Mom & David!
We love you!

Wonderful morning of drying garden herbs

2009-11-23T08:36:00.000-08:00

This was a great way to spend a couple of hours! The dehydrator is full of herbs . . .

Oregano straight from my herb garden:

Tedious part of de-stemming the oregano

Into the dehydrator, luckily I had one liner for a tray or it would have fallen through.

Since I had so much oregano & only 1 liner I decided to try the microwave version. Here is the before . . .

And the after . . . .

It really worked well & was super easy! It really shrinks in size. Here it is crushed . .

I did manage to get a snack size baggie full.

Next comes the **Rosemary** thanks 5thsister for pointing that out! I had 2 different kinds.

Second kind

And, yes I will get them mixed up. One is called Asp, and one Romero.

Finally we have Lavander, I'd love to learn to make homemade soap with it. I'm just hang drying these.

This was a great, productive 2 hours this am. Hope you enjoyed! Next I will freeze my basil. I've read it's better that way. I also want to try my hand at making a fragrant oil with some. More on that later, make it a good one!

Just a few late fall pics!

2009-11-22T16:31:00.000-08:00

Cherry Tomatoes are finally producing! The plant looks horrid, so I was surprised to see some red ones & some green ones.

I'll spend tomorrow drying herbs that are still going crazy.

Banana Peppers are still flourishing

Cocks Comb is always cool!

And the beautiful poinsettia!

It's still going strong & turning more red.

Aunt Bea's Cranberry Mold

2009-11-21T19:05:00.000-08:00

This is a must have at Thanksgiving. Aunt Bea has gotten too old (88) to make it. I was very happy to take over this tradition. I asked her recently if it was an original recipe. (She is the most amazing cook!) She said "no, my dear friend gave it to me." She was happy that I was sharing it with others.

Here is the recipe on Group Recipes

A couple of points that I didn't explain very well when I uploaded it to GR - Cut the orange & apple in chunks, getting rid of the seeds & *knobs* on the end. You do want the pith & peel though. The food processor makes this really easy. Aunt Bea did it in a meat grinder. I do the cranberries first, put them in a bowl, follow with the apple, then the orange.

Next is the jello step, pretty straight forward, didn't get a good pic though.

Final product, delish! Goes really well with Turkey.

Thanks Aunt Bea for being willing to share your cooking knowledge & recipes with me.

Frustrations of cooking for a diabetic - Baking with Splenda

2009-11-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

My hubster has been a diabetic for about a year & a half now. I've done very well (IMO) in changing our whole families eating lifestyle. Hubster has done extremely well in learning to live with it. I keep trying to change regular recipes into a more diabetic friendly version. I've had some success & other total flops. Here is a success . . . . I took this recipe off of Allrecipes . . . Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies and made a few changes. . . .

First, let me tell you the biggest change, I make my own Brown Sugar Splenda Blend. I mix 1 part Dark Brown Sugar to 3-4 parts Splenda. I use this in place of all sugars in muffins, and cookies. I like to think of myself as frugal, hubbie will tell you I'm cheap. Splenda Brown Sugar blend is expensive & still pretty sugar heavy so I decided to research and find an alternative. I saw the tip from Suzey on the Recipe Exchange on how she made her own & I decided to try it.

Here is the recipe typed out, I did halve it. I don't like to make huge batches when I'm experimenting . . . . again frugal I tell you!

2 cups all-purpose flour - I used 1 cup unbleached flour & 1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry
1 cup sugar - used my homemade brown sugar blend
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon - used my homemade pumpkin pie spice (a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, allspice & cardamom)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt - used a few sprinkles of sea salt (hubsters not supposed to have salt either, sigh)
1/2 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin - pumpkin is really good for you!
1/2 cup vegetable oil - mix of 1/4 cup olive oil & 1/4 cup canola
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk - used my Coffee Mate Gingerbread, yum! Ouch also has sugar, luckily it's only a T.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips - a bit of sugar, but hey it's chocolate!
1/2 cup chopped walnuts - also good for you!

Cookie & Muffin batters made with fake sugar just have a weird shape to them. The first batch I put them on the cookie sheet as they flopped off the spoon & that's exactly how they came out of the oven. They don't spread at all. They are done, just in a weird dome shape.

One the next batch I used a fork to flatten. Created a better looking cookie.

They are actually pretty tasty. I'd rather have the bad for you recipe, but I'm always looking for ways to find something the hubster can eat. I do realize this still has white flour (carbs), sugar from the dark brown sugar & semi-sweet choco chips, so it's not a perfect snack for him by any means. But, it's good and sometimes you just need a bit of sugar! He'll just have to hit the treadmill :)

My Baby turns 21!

2009-11-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

Such an awesome human being!

We had a dorky family party, but that's what he said he wanted!

And, after his friends took him out, he did arrive home in one piece "thank you Lord"!

When mom goes away . . .

2009-11-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

Wonderful retreat! The best weather you could ask for! Fabulous friendship, fellowship & fun.

Why is it when mom goes away things fall apart? I can feel the love in the dog poop on my bedroom carpet & her tinkle in Jordan’s bed. Do the other inhabitants of this house not know that I put her in the laundry room when I leave? Did I forget that important part of my instructions before leaving?

Not to mention getting an important text while at the retreat . . . . . “mom, where is my spare car key”, “why on my keychain honey, in my purse” . . . “I’ve locked my keys in my car up here at the rec center. . . . please bring it to me” . . . “Son, did I fail to mention that my purse & I are pretty close to the Oklahoma border? I’m pretty sure I told everyone that last night”! “Did I also forget to mention I came up here in the church van, with 8 other people?” . . . .

So weird, the one time he locks his keys in his car, I’m far from home. And, the dogs been potty trained for many months now.

Wow, I feel SO needed & loved!

Steel Cut Oats

2009-11-04T14:51:00.000-08:00

My husband was diagnosed with diabetes & high blood pressure about a year ago. It was a big wake up call for both of us. He needed to change his eating habits, and I needed to figure out more nutritious things to cook. Before the diagnosis his breakfast consisted of a single Nutragrain Granola Bar & coffee. I bought them in bulk at Sams. He didn't really like cereal, oatmeal or many fruits so a granola bar was easy! Well, he can no longer eat his Granola bars (or he probably shouldn't).

At about the same time, my boss brought up the subject of her favorite breakfast . . . . a bowl of Steel Cut Oatmeal. I had never heard of it. She told me she loved it & it was super healthy. I set out on a search for some. I happened to be on the exchange one day & Happywife05 mentioned Sprouts and how much she loved it. I had never heard of that either, but jumped on their website and found one a couple of towns over. Needless to say, it's a bi-monthly stop for me. The bulk bins are filled with reasonably priced WW flours, nuts (I buy no-salt), beans, rice, WWgrains, etc. I buy a large baggie full of the Steel Cuts Oats. At 79c a pound it's very reasonable. I also make my husband a no-salt nut mix that he snacks on during the day.

I'm going to post a few pictures of what the overnight stove top method of Steel Cuts looks like then the recipe.

This is the pan after soaking up all the water. Overnight is the way I usually do it, but I've been known to start them in the morning before work & throw them in the fridge when I get home.

My container that stays full of Steel Cuts!

It sometimes has a very slight tint of green. I just mix it back in and hubbie doesn't notice, lol!

The Recipe - I found it on Google one day so I don't know who to give the credit.

Stovetop Overnight Steel Cut Oatmeal

4 cups boiling water

Add 1 cup Steel Cuts

Place on cold burner & let sit til the morning

In the morning I nuke a bowl for 1:40. Husband likes unsweetened dried cranberries and walnuts mixed in. When I eat them I add a bit of skim milk, splenda and just a tad bit of butter.

His cholesterol has dropped and he starts the day with a filled tummy! It sticks to your ribs too. This pan will feed hubby 3 good sized bowls. I've even started doubling the recipe so we can eat on it all week.

Just one of my favorite vintage Dansk pans . . .

LOVE my vintage cookware! The trivet lets you stack pans easily in the fridge.

Beautiful Weather for Halloween 09

2009-11-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

A few day/night pics on Halloween

Scary - Can't really see him at night with the strobe light going, but he's cool! Made with an old curtain I took down.

The head on the shovel was cool!

Can you see the guy made with a curtain way up in the entry?

Hard to get the night ambience. Kids were kind of afraid to come all the way under the front door. We had a strobe light going & scary music coming out of the window. Several of the older kids said "cool design"! Tried to mix up the scary & fun.

Hard to get night pictures, but this family was SO cute. Check out the 2 robots. And, this little boy had no fear, he was so cute!!

Flowers Halloween 09

2009-11-01T07:05:00.000-08:00

Fall Flowers - I'm so happy my Poinsettia (that I planted from last year) is doing fab!! It's starting to turn red!

Azaleas in the front beds below

Some of my herbs are still growing like crazy! Rosemary, Oregano & Thyme.

My Garlic Chives up there need a haircut!

Airplane plants are looking good:

I really dread bringing all this in for the winter!

This poor mum got in the way of Anna Belle's racetrack. . . .

Black & Blue Salvia

The Beginning of Halloween 09

2009-10-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

The hubster & I think we designed something really cool. Maybe you've already thought of it, but . . . . we just now caught on.

We spent $10 on cheap Halloween candy buckets at .94 cents each. Xacto knife'd the bottom & put them on top of our low voltage lights. Totally cool, if I do say so myself!! Also have a few pumpkins peeking out from inside the house.

Chocolate Cookie Bake-Off

2009-10-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

What is the best Chocolate Chip Cookie? The Scotdog household would like to know.

First off the details:
All fresh ingredients
All washed & dried cooking utensils in between recipes
Cooled cookie sheet, used the same one for each recipe
Fresh Parchment paper only
Pictures taken at same time

Let me introduce you to the contenders:

Recipe No. 1

Recipe No. 2

Recipe No. 3

Now I will post pictures. All pictures taken at the same time of day, in the same place, plate, same camera etc. It's a raw image off the camera, I only adjusted the size, I didn't mess with contrasting, filters, color, etc.

No. 1

No. 2

No. 3

Results from appearance only: I could only get 1 helper to play with me, lol! He picked #2 and I picked #1 most visually appealing. Just went and made hubster participate, he also chose #1.

Batter taste test - I was the only one tasting the batter & I have to say that #2 was the best. Creamy & eggy, yum!

Final test: The cooled cookie. Which is best? Wow, this is just about impossible. All 3 are really good. Keep in mind, this is just one families results.

No, 1 - Crunchier, but filled with choco chips

No. 2 - Chewier, saltier (are those words, lol) eggiest

No. 3 - Cakiest, only ones with baking powder, least amount of chips

Maybe it brings back childhood memories & they weren't the most visually appealing to me, but the Original Nestle recipe takes #1 for me.

No. 2 comes in second & No. 3 is third. Although they are all good!!! I've learned that I like mine chewy and less cake like. Youngest son didn't like No. 3 at all. I'm still trying to get more participants, might have to go canvass the neighborhood!!

Bread Machine Recipes

2009-10-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to go through my recipes & find the bread machine recipes that I really liked.

Whole Wheat High Fiber

Flax and Sunflower Seed

Easy Whole Wheat

Brown Rice Bread

Bread Machine Challah I

Jalapeno Bread II

Cornmeal Molasses Bread

Cracked Wheat Buttermilk

Honey of an Oatmeal Bread

Flavorful Herb Bread

Oatmeal Bread II

Chili Bread

Pumpkin Yeast Bread Used Sweet Potatoes instead of Pumpkin

Whole Wheat I use less sugar

Wildlife

2009-10-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

Can you spot the Anole? They are good for eating ants.

Anna Belle is just a happy puppy. Pictures of a gorgeous Texas day!! I know it's cold for others for it's beautiful here!

Too much surfing, not enough cooking!

2009-10-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Don't hang on the Allrecipes Recipe Exchange while cooking. It's just not a good idea.

This is my favorite vintage 1970's Townhouse Westbend very nice Stainless pot, did I mention favorite? I make everything in it. I left my Chili while chatting on the Exchange - really bad idea!

Found it at a Thrift Store for $3. Did I mention it rocks? They just don't make Stainless Steel pots like this anymore. It better come clean, wish me luck!

Update! Came clean! SWChef made a comment about cleaning it with BarKeepers Friend, that reminded me that I have a lot of cleaners left by the previous owner of our house. She was moving into assisted living & couldn't take them all with her. I went and pulled out this . . .

Seriously, it looks better than when I brought it home! I'm not even sure I know where to get this stuff, but you can bet I'll be on the hunt for it!

I thought my new camera was going to rock!

2009-10-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

Still blurry pics, sigh . . . did catch a big storm that rolled in!

I've decided it's just me. Still blurry, blurry, blurry pics, ugh!! One of these days I WILL learn the settings! Poor Psycho pup! It's not you Anna Belle, it's mom!

Warning - Don't plant Peppermint in your garden area

2009-09-30T15:26:00.001-07:00

Especially a small garden area. We moved from a small house with a big yard, to a bigger house with a small yard. Scott has come up with really creative ideas for us to still have a garden. But, who decided to plant mint? I think I'll blame it on hubbie . . . although, I don't like to lie, lol!

This was a bed full of Iris'. We dug up the front bulbs, added a railroad tie divider. Poor Iris' didn't know what to think & I only had one bloom this year. The peppermint took over my basil & a surprise plant that actually did really well underneath!

The hidden Greek Oregano, weirdly it's doing really well.

Cleaned up a bit, with help from Anna Belle of course.

Spice Drawer

2009-09-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

Not a terribly exciting post, but I keep trying to organize my spices. I had them in the pantry, then decided to take over a drawer. I still can't decide if I like them in the drawer. Anybody have a good suggestion? I've tried the magnetic tins, didn't really like those either. Think I can talk hubbie into a homemade custom one??

Star Cactus

2009-08-26T21:31:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite plants, the Star Cactus. Attracts some very unappealing green flys though.

A Great Privilege

2009-08-10T09:50:00.001-07:00

Rev. Buist Wilson

I have the wonderful privilege of knowing a GREAT man, Rev. Buist Wilson. He's an Associate Pastor at our church. He's 82 & one of the top Seniors Tennis Players. He loves the Lord, his family & his church. He has a garden ministry (we fight over his produce) and he has supplied me with most of my backyard greenery. He's constantly seeding, growing & nurturing. We adore and love him. Here's just a few of my plants that I've gotten from him:

I call it Bric-A-Brac - wrong name, but for some reason it's stuck in my head. These 2 are several years old & frame my bedroom windows.

Cocks Comb, they are just starting to bloom. They are getting bigger than I thought & are too close together. I might have to re-plant sometime.

Aloe Vera - he has a huge one that has a huge bloom on it. I'm not sure what I do wrong, but I haven't had the greatest luck with Aloe's.

Airplane Plant

He calls this Moses in a Basket. I should have weeded before taking pics, this is an area in the back that I don't get to very often.

And, my favorite - Star Cactus - It's fixing to bloom again. This is about 3 years old. I have several, but this is the only one that blooms.

I'm blessed to have him & his resources. His garden ministry makes quite a bit of money for youth scholarships. Thank you Buist!! My backyard is made more beautiful through your love of plants & gardening.

2009-08-09T20:44:00.001-07:00

Just cause I can & he's cute!
Anna Belle

She's usually the queen of the jungle! Till Custer shows up!

Notice Anna Belle in my lap scared!

Daisy -she's easy go lucky & used to Custer protecting her.

Custer . . .

The animal kingdom at work. . . . We are keeping Julie & Ethan's poodle's Custer & Daisy. We've known these dogs all their lives. I think they are about 10-11 yrs old. We now have Anna Belle, a Boston terrier; she will be 1 this month. It's been interesting to see Custer, who weighs next to nothing, be the total dominate male. He is a super good boy & totally minds when we tell him no, but Anna Belle is scared of him. He stares deeply into her eyes & she’s not allowed to make eye contact. He shows his teeth & growls.

Can you identify this plant?

2009-08-01T19:21:00.001-07:00

This is a really cool plant/flower in a neighbors yard. These big white trumpet flowers started out as weird small fuzz balls. Anyone know what it is?

I almost stepped on this poor guy walking over to take pics (barefoot of course, how long has it been since you walked barefoot after a big rain?)

Metamorphosis

2009-07-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

I'm so thankful to the Recipe Exchange for teaching me a worm on my Parsley plant is a really good thing!

The Cocoon

What an unbelievably beautiful butterfly!!

Leftovers

2009-07-25T19:00:00.001-07:00

Scotdog Healthy Fish Tacos!

Not again mom, please no leftovers! I hear this all the time!! I can no longer afford to listen to the voices, lol! Leftovers are now a part of our life. Groceries are way too expensive to make a new dish every night.

I've learned to make dinners taste better the second time around. I just made oven baked cod, made a delish mix with leftover brown rice, black beans & scraped off a few grilled corn kernels. Yum! Super fantastic fish tacos healthy style! Don't forget a really good avacado, makes any dish taste better!

The Brown Rice was from last night

Rain during a Texas Summer is a rarity!

2009-07-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

But it doesn't stop the grill!

Peace!!

Sheesh, that's some Hot Salsa!!

2009-07-18T12:15:00.001-07:00

How hot can you take your homemade Salsa?

Scott's good friend Ruben shared with us his Salsa recipe. Hope he's ok with me sharing! He actually puts 5 Habenero's in his, I put 2 & it's too hot for me. I'm not a wimp, but feel like one!! Hubbie said after he eats a bit of it, I can add more Romas!! Boy, somehow I feel like a failure!

It's super, duper flavorful!!

And, I know we live in Texas, buy hubster always seems to be lacking a shirt . . . Not that I'm griping mind you!

Shall I share the recipe? This is the original that was emailed to hubbie:

Put in blender...2 cloves of garlic

1 or 2 cans of tomato sauce or rotel or a bunch of tomatoes or a combination (obviously the more tomatoes instead of canned tomato sauce the fresher taste) just put enough in at first to be able to easily blend, don't get carried away and fill the blender with tomatoes so much that you can't fit in the following...

6-8 Chopped Habaneros or Scotch Bonnet Peppers - or more if you want to turn up the heat

3-4 Chopped Jalapenõs - try to find the darker striped ones - don't want to ruin the Habanero taste with too many japs though - fyi - for a little more heat, Seranos taste kinda like japs but are hotter blend

1 Green Pepper

Small Handful of Dried Pequin or Dried Crushed red peppers or dried Japanese peppers (hint: you can get rid of all those Pizza Hut crushed red pepper packages this way) careful not to over do it because it could make it taste like dirt weed if you get crazy with itblend

1 onion (can use 1/2 if too strong)handfull of cilantro - chop it up a little if you don't wanna kill your blender

blendspices: basilsalt and pepper to taste

What I actually did:

5 good l0oking Romas cut in half

1/2 a yellow bell pepper

1/2 a sweet onion

2 Habeneros - sheesh, next time I'll use 1 -they are small, but deadly

Garlic - I'm a garlic nut

1/2 a lime

A few red pepper shakes

Garden fresh Basil - yum

Cilantro is dead so I had to buy store bought

Sea Salt & Pepper to taste

Yum!! Thanks Ruben!!

And, if you haven't tried Target's Blue Corn Chips with Flax you need too! They are awesome!!

Backyard Fun!

2009-07-12T18:59:00.001-07:00

Welcome to our Backyard - or at least part of it!

Welcome to my small backyard. My Topsy Turvy is starting to take off! It still gets too much shade, I think!

Even with all the bag worms, hopefully my Japanese Maple will survive

My Smokin' Hot Rose of Sharon! It's huge!

Anyone else have any luck keeping their Christmas Chrysanthemums alive? Mine is going crazy!

Who's Joining Us for Dinner?

2009-07-12T14:25:00.001-07:00

I know, Spoiled Rotten! Both of you!

Hungry yet?

Anybody hungry?

Stuffed Jalapenos, Shrimp & Chicken Bacon Wrapped Kabobs & Fresh Corn! Anyone interested yet? Nobody, well darn . . . more for me!!

Being attacked by Hummingbirds

2009-07-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

They must be gearing up for flight, they are attacking me!!

And, I had to sit really still (which is really hard) to get these pics!

Hummingbirds aren't all that common where I am, so these are really fun pics!!

Good for you Muffins!

2009-07-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

I took a recipe from Allrecipes and added my own flair. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Low-Fat-Blueberry-Bran-Muffins/Detail.aspx?prop31=1 We no longer have White Flour in the house so I always use Whole Wheat Pastry Flour in muffins. I also realized that I didn't have any applesauce so for the same measurement, I used a little bit of EVOO, a healthy dollop of yogurt & sour cream. I love sour cream in my muffins.

I also love the crunch of chopped apples & Texas Pecans.

Hubbie can't have sugar so I used a bit of packed brown sugar & then Splenda. Since Splenda is less dense than Sugar I threw in 1/4 ground flax. Also don't forget the cinnamon, it's geat for you! I used more of my homemade vanilla than the recipe called for. So I changed it up quite a bit, but they are fab!!

2009-07-11T05:47:00.001-07:00

Small Town 4th of July!

2009-07-11T05:38:00.000-07:00

We visited Brad & Mary Kay and the kids. We had such a blast!! Their town knows how to have an old-fashioned family fun time!! Parades with candy, boat parades on the beautiful lake, food, watermelon, swimming, golf and more!

How many can we cram on one golf cart? Visit my slideshow on photobucket for more pics.