Friday, December 19, 2014

Garden Woes

So, every year I plant tomatoes.  Small cherry ones to big sandwich size ones.  Every year the cherry tomatoes bloom but… my large tomatoes never start showing up until late September.  Yes, I do the what is my zone and when to plant.  Tried seeds, and tried seedlings but neither help in the success of getting tomatoes during the summer.  Hmm, I mean the NJ farms can do it so why can't I?  

Could it be that my lazy gardening has caught up with me?  I like to plant, water, and take off the dead leaves.  Nope, no fertilizers except the occasional crushed egg shells.  But, really?  My grandpa would get hundreds of tomatoes without any extra fertilization in the eastern PA area.  There must be trick!

Gorgeous plant filled with an abundance of fruit… but, right in the middle of October!

So, my not too shabby carrots, prolific flat leaf parsley, cucumbers & green beans both which aren't pictured.  Not bad?!.  All in the height of summer.
October Bounty



Still getting red at the end of December.  The taste is not bad and very similar to the chain grocery stores.  Oh, how I long for my grandpa's summer garden!


Thursday, December 18, 2014

Favorite Things: My new slow cooker from Hamilton Beach

Dinner made like Mom

My youth was spent at the dinner table eating overcooked… everything.  My mom loved her slow cooker.  She'd say it herself, cooking was definitely not her fortĂ©. We'd often have bbq / sloppy joe ground beef or sweet & sour chicken cooked so much it shredded into oblivion.  Thanks to our grandma the pot roast never made an appearance in the slow cooker.  Thank you Grandma for your monthly meals around your table that were tasty, slow, and filled with wonderful memories!  Now that I'm a mom myself, I understand the value of the slow cooker and Mom.  Unlike my mother, I love to cook when I'm not forced to make daily fast, quick, scheduled, boring dinners.  

I'm hoping the slow cooker has come a long way since the 70's and 80's.  One can only hope spring's eternal.  After a long time of wanting one, a generous Santa Claus sent me a Hamilton Beach Set 'n Forget 6-QT Oval Programmable Slow Cooker. I must have been very good this year with my hostess skills!   If you follow me, all my end results are due to this brand and so far the results have been tasty and promising. 


Love the outcome so far.  Pretty.  But, a bit more labor intensive than I thought.  Need to brown meat & vegetables before adding to slow Hamilton Beach 6 QT slow cooker.






End result is a delicious tasty chuck roast with a  yummy broth.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Um, apparently I am #old. I can't get my #tweet to come up on #google+




from Twitter http://ift.tt/1zNZfMO



December 13, 2014 at 04:18PM

via IFTTT

Ok, I can get a handle on this #socialmedia networking stuff. I mean, geez, I'm not that #old. Am I?




from Twitter http://ift.tt/1zNZfMO



December 13, 2014 at 04:15PM

via IFTTT

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Favorite Find of the Week: Palmolive eco+

So... the store didn't have my favorite dishwasher detergent and I wasn't going to wash dishes all day after a play date.  I begrudgingly bought Palmolive eco+ and I have found I really like it.  It works even with all the eco friendly slogan's on the bottle.  I use to be a big eco friendly cleaning products junky but I found they never worked well for me.  However, this was 8 years ago.  This product has definitely made me rethink about going back to being eco friendly.  My favorite was the Meyer's brand but even they had a terrible glass cleaner that streaked.  I never really felt like my home was clean even though it smelled great and I spent a fortune to 'clean' it.  Although, I realize that this isn't totally eco friendly it's a good start for our household.  Plus, it smells nice and doesn't over power the dishes when they come out of the dishwasher.


Friday, February 21, 2014

Fixing a Noisy Ceiling Fan

Favorite Find of the Week is a home DIY YouTube sight, because I have a noisy ceiling fan I need to fix to get any sleep.  I dug around and found my WD-40 and I'm ready to fix the noise.  Ahh, but I decide to look online first to see how before I go charging up to the fan.  I found this great youtube sight that I now love and it showed me exactly how to fix the noise and told me I was completely wrong on how to go about it.  So, off goes the WD-40 back into the cavernous hole it came from for another day of DIY and out comes my screwdriver.

HowToWith GEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IQlqwo6rL0&list=HL1392991398

Fixing a noisy ceiling fan.

Thanks Geo!  Now onto the terrible water bubble in the ceiling.


Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Kitchen Tip #1: Use Salt & Pepper Shakers for any seasoning.

My family loves a little kick to their food so I add cayenne on a regular basis.  However, the packaging it came in would always dump out too much, so I'd end up using my fingers.  This left me with washing my hands which would add to my rough dry winter skin.  Argh!   Seems silly, but when you want nice young hands and want to get super done quickly, every little thing counts.  I realized if I put the cayenne in an old salt shaker I wouldn't have any problems and the right amount would usually take mere seconds to come out.

After this revelation, I started thinking about what other spices I used on a regular basis to put into salt shakers...

Put spices into salt shakers for a quick boost to your taste buds.

Teddy Bear Picnic Cupcakes

So, I was asked to be a 'Room Mom' for my son's pre-school class.  I asked Cutie-Pie and he loved the idea!

My first endeavor was cupcakes for the Teddy Bear Picnic outside.  I got a little too adventurous and decided to make devil's food marshmallow stuffed cupcakes. Yummy... right?  Well, half the cupcakes had the marshmallow float up to the top of the cupcake and disintegrate during baking.  Argh.  The other half had the marshmallow completely melt in the cupcake and have soft yummy middle but... not exactly what I was hoping for.  Luckily, icing can fix almost anything.

Ingredients:

Pre-heat oven 350 degrees

Pillsbury Box Devil's Food Mix
Room Temperature Eggs (Add 1 extra egg from box instructions)
Sub Milk for Water
Sub melted butter for oil
1/2 cut jumbo marshmallows (Freeze)
1 TBLS Confectioner's sugar
2 Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting cups
Softened Cream Cheese
Softened Butter
Sprinkles
Gummy Bear
*No cupcake liners needed
Spray Oil


Instructions:

  1. Freeze Marshmallows day before baking in a sealed tight bag with 1 tablespoon of confectioners sugar Shake and coat well so marshmallows don't stick together
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
  3. Place racks in middle of oven
  4. Oil cupcake pans
  5. Add all room temperature wet ingredients into your mixer.  Mix until bubbly and 'fluffy'
  6. Add dry ingredients and mix 1 extra minute from instructions
  7. Spoon small amount of cake mix into cupcake pan and add 1/2 marshmallow and then top with rest of cake mix.  Fill each cupcake over 3/4 full
  8. I had just enough mix for 24 cupcakes but I had to scrape to the very end for the last 2
  9. Place cupcakes side by side in oven 
  10. Turn down oven to 325 degrees
  11. Change pan placements half way through baking.
  12. Check with toothpick (remember the marshmallow will cause a gooey filling inside.)
  13. Take out of oven and let cool only until you can touch to take out pan and put on cooling racks.
  14. ***If you are not using in the next 2 days freeze and then decorate on the day of use.***
  15. Start icing
  16. Place 1/2 stick of butter and 1/2 a block of cream cheese in mixer and whip on high
  17. Add 2 bought icing mix and whip until thick and fluffy
  18. Place in Ziploc / Plastic bag and place in refrigerator
  19. Cool icing about 1 hour which allows cupcakes to cool completely
  20. Now is the time to assembly the 'game boxes' for transport if you don't have a proper cupcake container.
  21. Find game box high enough for the icing and decorations. 
  22. Line with aluminum foil.  Tape on places needing to be secured... foil to foil and not on the box.
  23. Assembling Cupcakes
  24. Cut tiny whole at corner of ziploc bag
  25. Take a cupcake and place a little icing on bottom and place on plate.
  26. In a circular motion start from the outside and go around the cupcake swirling to center.  Pile as high as you would like.  You have 2 containers of icing you'll have enough for 24 cupcakes.  So go crazy!
  27. Place in box with foil and sprinkle and place gummy bear on top.  
  28. Continue until all cupcakes are done
  29. Line box with foil and cover completely.
  30. DO NOT REFRIGERATE!  It will dry out cupcakes. 
  31. Use next 2 days.
  32. **Added freezing marshmallows in sugar after pictures.  This will make the marshmallows stay put.










Marshmallow stuffed Devil's Food Cupcake



Marshmallow 'stuffed' Devil's Food Cupcake with disintegrated center.  Boo.  I should have put less cake mix at bottom before marshmallow.
Devil's Food Marshmallow Stuffed Cupcake with the trimmings for Teddy Bear Picnic.
Game box with correct height for cupcakes
Line with foil for 24 cupcakes
Foil and tape to secure


Ready for Pre-School Teddy Bear Picnic