Canning Day

It's that time of year again. The time in pioneer days when we stock our shelves full of fruits and vegetables to last us through the spring and summer months. That's right my friends it's the Macey's CASE LOT SALE! I've decided Macey's is my Cosco or Sam's Club without the exclusive membership. They do have a perk's card or something for discounts at the Macey's gas pump but The Grizzly Bear is the keeper of the card as he is such a sweetie and keeps our vehicles in gas. But I digress.

So at 9:00 am on a Saturday Grizzly Bear and Chocolate Moose trek to the Macey's Case Lot Sale. Oh it is a cornucopia of bargains! Hunts Pasta Sauce only 88 cents, 38 cent pantry staples (such as kidney and black beans, chilies, and tomatoes), 88 cent orange juice! (Side Note: All Western Family or Shur Savings brands) 3 for $1 yogurt, 69 cent tuna in a can, mayonnaise and oatmeal galore! The annual purchase of a case of Top Ramen. The best part of Macey's Case Lot Sale is you don't have to purchase a whole case to get the sale price per can, unlike the other store I like to shop that rhymes with myths. So we only lugged out 3 full cases. This also works well because we can just buy enough to fill our cupboard space and won't have to get to creative in storing it.

Quote for the week: Don't call me babe unless you have something sweet to say - Grizzly Bear

Styling a Bookself

I will admit right off that I ripped off the title for this post from http://www.designsponge.com/2013/09/styling-a-bookshelf-10-homes-that-get-it-right-5-tips-for-your-own.html. I do like this blog. However reading it daily is not a priority, so actually clicking and reading the entire post is rare. But as it is I love books and reading so I was totally hooked.

As I look at my bookshelves I wonder when I'll be able to have a nice organized space for all of my friends. My downstairs unit does look aesthetically pleasing and it is loaded up with the books I like to share and read often. My upstairs bookshelf is much bigger and thus has much more clutter. Textbooks and binders full of lecture notes live on the bottom two shelves. Yes my husband and I refer to them. Maybe not everyday but often enough. Novels, reference, and a nonfiction assortment fill the next two shelves. Some places are two deep when the books are small enough. Storage has overtaken the top shelf and the top of the whole fixture. The shelves are starting to bow. and the whole unit is held in a rectangular configuration via ducktape. Oh the trials of a bookworm. I don't like to place things in front of the books spines and the artsy stacks are nice until I pull a book off the bottom and the whole pile falls over. I often wonder how often do people read their books that stack them and have stuff in front of the spines so you can't read the title? Probably more than I give them credit for.

Sincerely,  The Chocolate Moose

This morning started off awesome. Waking up early and convincing my husband to do the same is always fun. We finished reading Matthew from the Bible and then I took off for a run. I love my pink running shoes. They are so light and airy and I even have pants and a jacket that coordinate.

I cleaned up my summer gardening projects from the front window ledge. They all started out so well. First they sprouted and grow tall and green. I think I bought some sort of giant marigold variety so they didn't work out very well in my cute little jars. They got to be about 6-7" tall and then died: and I might have over-watered one.

I also re-potted and dead-headed some mums. Hopefully they last through the winter months and will bloom again next fall. I was going to impress you here with some useful information about mums, but I have nothing

My other plants include a chive (which is not going to like winter because it is a sunlight hog) and a juniper tree.

I hope to bonsai the juniper at some point, but decided to let it get established in the pot before I started cutting and bending. Hope that goes well for me.

Any Flavor Cookies

This week I was called to be the Relief Society Secretary at church. Our first presidency meeting is tonight so I thought I would make a treat. Everyone loves yummy treats! These cookies are also super quick and easy. They are my go to when I am in a rush for a dessert or treat.

Any Flavor Cookies

1 pkg white cake mix
1 pkg any flavor instant pudding
1/2 C liquid oil
1/2 C chopped nuts
1/2 C flaked coconut
3 T water
2 eggs

Mix all ingredients together; blend well. Drop from teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 7-10 min (depends on your oven) or until lightly browned around the edges.

This batch was a butter pecan cake mix and vanilla pudding. You can leave in or take out the coconut or nuts and add chocolate chips or whatever you want! Pecans and coconut were used in my butter pecan cookies and I should have included butterscotch chips but I did not think about that till later. Using different flavors of cake mix and pudding is fun too. I once did a cherry chip cake with vanilla pudding that was really good. I also like to do white cake and pistachio pudding. The cookies turn out green which is fun.

Mexican Spinach Frittata

This morning I went to Zumba. Now I've been attending a gentle zumba class that I have liked and today I did not have to work early so I could attend the regular class. The teacher said she was feeling tired today. I do not want to be in a class where she is not tired.

So after I got home I thought I would make something healthy for breakfast. This is what I came up with and was pretty pleased. It is light and I will probably mess around with the spices next time, making it spicier.

Mexican Spinach Frittata

1 small onion chopped
1/2 medium green pepper chopped
1 small tomato chopped
1-2 cups spinach chopped
cilantro chopped
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons canola oil
8 eggs, beaten
shredded cheese
salsa and sour cream, to top

In a large ovenproof skillet, saute the onion, green pepper, lime juice, salt, cumin, and chili powder in oil for two to three minutes. Mix in tomatoes, spinach, and cilantro.
Pour in eggs. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 8-10 minutes or until eggs are nearly set. Uncover: broil 6 in. from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until eggs are set. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand for 1 minute or until cheese is melted. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Sunday Spinach Tortellini

Sunday's are an odd day to fix meals and eat. Well at least I think so. The three hour block schedule makes it hard for me to plan effective dinners. I will attribute this to having to plan ahead and then actually carry out the plans before going to church. Otherwise after church I am so hungry (or I think I am) that it is really hard not to just snack the whole rest of the day. Crock-Pots are great for this, but as I said before, you have to actually put something in them to cook before you want to eat it.

Today was not too bad because I had a plan. I concocted my plan about Wednesday. The plan was I really like spinach tortellini soup, so I will make it on Sunday. Easy enough. Luckily for everyone involved it turned out really good and I am now full and have saved myself from snacking all day (not a good idea if your watching your weight).

Spinach Tortellini Soup

3 cans vegetable or chicken broth
2 cans petite diced tomatoes (I like the italian style)
Garlic powder to season
2-3 cups coarsely chopped spinach
1 package cheese tortellini

Bring the broth and tomatoes to a simmer in a pot. Season with garlic powder.
Add spinach and tortellini. Continue simmering until tortellini is done (about 2-3 minutes).

Gumbo, Muffalatas, And Carmel

It is one of those unfortunate mornings where I woke up and for no good reason couldn't fall back asleep. I'll spare you the time I actually regained consciousness and just say it's far to early for me and my fish to be blogging. I actually have two fish, but they don't get along. Belle lives downstairs in the fishbowl and Bruce lives upstairs on the desk in a small aquarium. Belle is more social and comes over periodically to check out what I'm doing.

Sunday was a wonderful day as Husband and I made our favorite Gumbo. Husband is of the opion that nothing can top our three meat feast (shrimp, sausage, and pheasant). I tend to agree.

First I cook up my Roux to a lovely dark brown. I've read the best roux is very,very dark and is on the verge of burning. Of course burning the roux is not acceptable so it is a rather fine line to walk there. I would just like to take this opportunity to point out to various people that I've not yet burned a roux nor ruined a gumbo. When my roux is the perfect shade of very, very dark brown I add my holy trinity of vegetables: celery, green onion, and green pepper. Garlic is also added at this point. Over a medium/medium high heat I saute my holy trinity for a couple of minutes till slightly tender and proceed to add my liquids. I saved the water in which I cooked the pheasant so that it could have a nice flavor and then just suppliment that with water from the sink. I then move on to adding the sausage (which I had browned earlier) and the pheasant (which Husband had so graciously prepped after being cooked). Bringing it all to a simmer I add Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning, about half a bottle of Louisiana brand Hot Sauce, and about half a dozen shakes of Tabasco Sauce. Personally I don't think the Louisiana Hot Sauce is very hot but it has the taste I like, thus the Tabasco Sauce is where I add the heat. After simmering for about a half hour I add the shrimp for the last ten to fifteen minutes and serve it with a lovely green salad on the side.

It is the perfect blend of flavors and makes my mouth slightly tingly.

Monday night was Muffaleta night. I actually found this recipe at the grocery store on one of those free cards they give out with dinner ideas. It must be known that I had never actually had a muffaleta before I made these and last summer when Jessica and I tried them at a sandwich shop I was pleased to discover mine tasted the same! So I suppose I'm making them right.

1-4.75 oz jar pimento-stuffed olives, drained & chopped
1 large tomato chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T red-wine vinegar
1/2 t Italian Seasoning
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 medium size round Italian bread loaf, cut horizontally in half
Your choice of meats and cheese (salami, provolone, ham, mozzarella ect)

Mix olives, tomato, celery and garlic in a bowl. Whisk vinegar, Italian Seasoning, salt, pepper & oil in another bowl. Add to olive mixture & refrigerate for at least one hour. Pull out some of the bread from the inside of your Italian loaf (both sides). Spoon 1 cup olive mixture over bottom half of bread. Layer meats and cheese. Top with remaining olive mixture.

At this point I like to toast my sandwich laying open in the oven or my toaster oven. I like how the cheese melts and tries to hold everything together.

Now for my carmel adventure. I was really quite impressed that this is a fairly easy recipe. For some reason I thought candy making was an art only done by the most impressively trained homemakers of times past. Well we can now lay that myth to rest as I've made carmel and it doesn't taste half bad. We'll poll the audience at Grandma's tomorrow.

Grandma Alice Carmel

Heat to 245 degrees:
2 cups sugar
1/2 t salt
2 cups light karo syrup

Slowly add and then heat to 235 degrees:
1/2 cup eagle brand milk
1 t vanilla
3 cups whipping cream

Pour into buttered pan and let sit 12 hours.

I found on the second heating the carmel wanted to boil out of the pan so I would recommend using a larger pan than you would think.

Well I think that about wraps up my kitchen adventures for the week. Last night was tuna casserole but I don't think anyone wants to hear about that.