Yesterday I was scrambling eggs and decided bacon bits really sounded good. I grabbed my bag of bacon I cooked earlier from the freezer and crumbled two strips. They crumbled easily as they were frozen and thawed as the eggs cooked. I didn’t have any guilt eating it since I cooked it in the microwave and most of the fat dripped off. (See 1-18-13 post.)
My friend is diabetic and I wanted to make him a birthday cake.
Diabetic birthday cake.
I drizzled icing over it, as I did not want to have a thick layer of frosting on it.
His wife is always trying to get us to eat more vegetables. Here is the cake I made for her birthday.
Veggie Lovers cake.
I frosted it with mashed potatoes and garnished it with a tomato cut into a rose.
Here is a photo of the “cakes” before I frosted them.
I flipped the three-wick candle over and frosted it. I drizzled icing on the roll of toilet paper.
Happy April Fool’s Day!
I have had “Easter Cakes” for the last two years. I did not spend all day Saturday baking, frosting and decorating a cake. Usually, I bake the cake and freeze it early in the week. I like to freeze it because it makes for a moister cake.
I defrost it the night before I want to decorate it. My friend, whose mother makes professional decorated cakes, told me to defrost it on the counter because if you defrost it in the refrigerator, you will get condensation.
My 2012 Easter Cake
This year will be the best ever – my niece and sister are bringing the desserts!
My 2011 Easter Cakes
I love the taste of homemade rolls. In fact, I have one recipe that I named after my daughter-in-law because I made them for the first time for her birthday dinner. The outside was warm and brown and the inside was light, airy, and almost doughy.
I have never been able to repeat that success because I tried to bake the rolls on 350 degrees with the other foods in the oven. I think they have to be baked at 400 degrees.
This year for her birthday dinner I found how to make “Brown-and-Serve” rolls. Use your favorite recipe for rolls and bake them at 275 degrees for 20 minutes (do not allow to brown). Remove from pans; cool to room temperature. Wrap in aluminum foil. Store in refrigerator no longer than 8 days or freeze no longer than 2 months. At serving time, heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
I saw the cutest rolls on Facebook the other day. After the rolls had risen, they snipped 2 “ears” and poked 2 “eyes” into the front of them. When they baked them they looked like rabbits.
Homemade “Brown-And-Serve” Rolls.
This week we said goodbye to a friend who excelled in a lost art…making new clothes out of old clothes. Kerry made costumes for the local theater. What impressed me the most about her designs is how she would take a piece of clothing, cut it up and make a new costume out of it!
Years ago it was common to cut a new shirt out for a child from a larger shirt that was frayed at the seams. I remember one episode of “The Walton’s” when Olivia cut the skirt off of Erin’s dress and made a shirt for Jim Bob out of the top.
I’ll never forget watching Kerry going through some old “Show Choir” costumes from the local high school when we were practicing for “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat.” She explained that the skirts from the dresses would become vests for the 12 brothers. Below is a photo of my husband, who played Simeon, in one of the vests. (That’s me next to him. I played “The Baker” in one scene and was in the chorus for the rest of the play.)
My husband and I before opening night of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat.”
I did make over one costume for a play, but it was nothing like the designs that Kerry created. It was my first foray into local theater and they were doing the play, “Music Man.” They split up the chorus into family groups, but they ran out of men! During the “Shipoopi” Dance, I was paired with the young actor who was also my “son” in my family group. Since, I was dancing with my son and there was not a man in my family group, I asked the director if I could dress as a widow!
I went through the costumes looking for a black dress of lightweight material as the production was planned for late June. I found a jumpsuit with a crew neck in a polyester material that had rows of tiny holes in it. You could not see the holes, but it sure helped keep me cool under the hot lights.
I remember ripping the legs apart, and using my senior prom dress as a pattern, I pinned up a “new” dress. My grandmother had given me a collar that she crocheted and I wore it over the pantsuit/dress.
Me and my husband after the play, “Music Man.”
Kerry inspired me another way. While she was undergoing treatment at the “Cancer Treatment Center of America” she made a quilt! I pulled out the quilting square I had neglected and started sewing again.
Snow is falling today, and if it were Christmas, it would be beautiful. But it is March and we are tired of winter. I have a project to help you with your cabin fever.
Dream.
Dream about the house you would buy or build if money were no object. What rooms would be in that house? Make a list of the rooms you would want. I have shared that my home does not have a formal dining room. That is the first room on my list.
Now, look around your home and see if you can carve that space out of a portion of one of your rooms. I have shared several times about making a formal dining room out of half of TV room in the basement. During the holidays it takes over the entire room.
Move things around and set up you new “space”. You will probably need to give away or throw away some items to make room. Try to bring everything you will need in that space and store it nearby. I store my extra dishes, flatware, chargers, chafing dishes and roasters in boxes underneath the stairs. My tablecloths, runners and napkins are stored in boxes underneath the table itself.
I will show you how I carved out a space for my dream rooms in my home over the next few posts.
My table set for a birthday dinner.
This tip is complements of Mr. Frugalfish. He is pretty handy in the kitchen and when French fries are on the menu, I usually try to get him to fry them. He decided to make “Country Fries” one night and got out the apple corer to cut the potatoes. It worked rather well!
Apple corer cuts country fries.
My cousin posted a link to a blog with 2 ingredient recipes on Facebook. I was surprised at how many things you can make with just 2 ingredients. But this roast was not on the list!
It takes one roast and one bottle of cola. You pour the cola over the roast and bake it at 350 degrees for a couple of hours until the internal temperature is 155 – 170 degrees. The cola tenderizes the roast.
We cooked it without searing the edges and sliced it up for lunchmeat.
Two ingredient roast.
I love to sew; but most people do not! Especially large bulky items like drapes.
The drapes in my kitchen were a bit too short. I had already let the hem out as far as possible and they still were not long enough.
I got out some plain shower curtain hooks and put them on the curtain rod. I hooked the curtain hooks in the shower hooks and it added the extra inches I wanted. I have a valance hanging over the drapes that keeps the shower hooks from view.
My drape hooks are hooked into shower hooks.
