Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Shutterbug
I have decided that I need to start taking more photos again. But, since my normal theme is "garden" so I can post the photos on my other blog; and since it's currently winter, it sometimes means that I don't get any action shots or anything of that nature.
Since I feel that I need some indication of WHAT exactly to take a photo of, I'm going to be using the photo contest in my Texas Co-Op Power magazine (yes, our power company sends us a magazine every month) as a guide.
So, upcoming photos will be as follows:
-Catch of the Day
-Unlikely Duos
-Murals
-Those were the days
-Milestones
-State Parks
-Birds
-At the Fair
-EEK!
-Fall Leaves
-Curious Cats
-Man's Best Friend
-Heroes
If you have any suggestions, just let me know!
Since I feel that I need some indication of WHAT exactly to take a photo of, I'm going to be using the photo contest in my Texas Co-Op Power magazine (yes, our power company sends us a magazine every month) as a guide.
So, upcoming photos will be as follows:
-Catch of the Day
-Unlikely Duos
-Murals
-Those were the days
-Milestones
-State Parks
-Birds
-At the Fair
-EEK!
-Fall Leaves
-Curious Cats
-Man's Best Friend
-Heroes
If you have any suggestions, just let me know!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Eclectic
So...Remember how I told you Shawn had been spending a bunch of time at a Cross Fit Training website? Yeah. Cross Fit is kinda like a cult. A cult of working out. And lifting a bunch of weight. And doing it a lot of times in a row (or in a circuit). And based on how frequently dogs are featured on their websites and/or videos, apparently they also all own pit bulls (awww...doggies!)
He hasn't actually started doing all of the workouts or anything. But he has been inspired by the Cross Fit Culture. He has bought Olympic Gymnastic Rings. Let me say that again. Olympic. Gymnastic. Rings. (where the hell are we putting these you may ask - why in the garage. We'll have to reinforce the roof framing in order to do this, but that's small peanuts because we REALLY need the rings...). He also would like a set of Olympic Bumper weights (those are the weights where the guys lift the barbell above their heads and then they drop the weight (usually on the range of 1000 pounds) to the ground...thus bumper weights). He hasn't been as into getting the pull-up bar, climbing rope or kettlebells.
If we're not careful we'll probably end up with a rowing skull and olympic sized pool in our back yard.
In other exercise news, we are also the owners of a giant red balance ball. AND I can officially jog a mile. Sure it's like an 11 minute mile. But it's a MILE!
He hasn't actually started doing all of the workouts or anything. But he has been inspired by the Cross Fit Culture. He has bought Olympic Gymnastic Rings. Let me say that again. Olympic. Gymnastic. Rings. (where the hell are we putting these you may ask - why in the garage. We'll have to reinforce the roof framing in order to do this, but that's small peanuts because we REALLY need the rings...). He also would like a set of Olympic Bumper weights (those are the weights where the guys lift the barbell above their heads and then they drop the weight (usually on the range of 1000 pounds) to the ground...thus bumper weights). He hasn't been as into getting the pull-up bar, climbing rope or kettlebells.
If we're not careful we'll probably end up with a rowing skull and olympic sized pool in our back yard.
In other exercise news, we are also the owners of a giant red balance ball. AND I can officially jog a mile. Sure it's like an 11 minute mile. But it's a MILE!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Cast Ironman
Shawn made dinner tonight. Entirely in the cast iron skillet.
Here I present to you breakfast potatoes with bacon and fried eggs:
Here I present to you breakfast potatoes with bacon and fried eggs:
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
New equipment
Sorry for the food-centric posts recently, it's almost like I'm going through food blog withdrawls. But that's not really the case, it's just that there's not a whole lot else going on.
Last weekend, Shawn decided that he needed this:
This is a Lodge pre-seasoned 10" skillet (picture is from the Lodge website which you can find here: Lodge Cast Iron Cookware). I originally was going to post a picture of our actual skillet, but then I realized that I would have to clean the stove top first, and if I'm going to do that, I might as well clean the counters, and once that's done, it's not that great of a leap to clean the kitchen table. And I'm too lazy to do all of that, thus the canned picture.
We've used it twice so far. The first night, Shawn made breakfast potatoes. Which all stuck to the bottom of the pan in spite of the fact that the skillet is 'pre seasoned' and all the added oil that Shawn added to try to prevent the sticking. The second time we used it (last night), Shawn made goulash which did much better. Eventually, supposedly, this will be just as good if not better than our non-stick pans. I think Shawn opted to move to the cast iron because the 'everyday' pan my aunt got me as a college graduation present is starting to lose it's hard anodized aluminum coating...which likely means no more non-stick for us.
In other gadgetry, Shawn purchased a new computer mouse for me since my current mouse is iffy at best, but it hasn't arrived yet. And let me tell you, it's WEIRD using only the keyboard to do everything. Shawn also purchased a microplane for me as well - he decided that rather than having me spend $4 for orange zest that it made more sense to spend $15 for a piece of equipment I'll use maybe 4 times in my life. But whatever.
Also, I need to find a seller for delicious wild game. Specifically venison. Delicious, delicious venison...drool.
Last weekend, Shawn decided that he needed this:
This is a Lodge pre-seasoned 10" skillet (picture is from the Lodge website which you can find here: Lodge Cast Iron Cookware). I originally was going to post a picture of our actual skillet, but then I realized that I would have to clean the stove top first, and if I'm going to do that, I might as well clean the counters, and once that's done, it's not that great of a leap to clean the kitchen table. And I'm too lazy to do all of that, thus the canned picture.
We've used it twice so far. The first night, Shawn made breakfast potatoes. Which all stuck to the bottom of the pan in spite of the fact that the skillet is 'pre seasoned' and all the added oil that Shawn added to try to prevent the sticking. The second time we used it (last night), Shawn made goulash which did much better. Eventually, supposedly, this will be just as good if not better than our non-stick pans. I think Shawn opted to move to the cast iron because the 'everyday' pan my aunt got me as a college graduation present is starting to lose it's hard anodized aluminum coating...which likely means no more non-stick for us.
In other gadgetry, Shawn purchased a new computer mouse for me since my current mouse is iffy at best, but it hasn't arrived yet. And let me tell you, it's WEIRD using only the keyboard to do everything. Shawn also purchased a microplane for me as well - he decided that rather than having me spend $4 for orange zest that it made more sense to spend $15 for a piece of equipment I'll use maybe 4 times in my life. But whatever.
Also, I need to find a seller for delicious wild game. Specifically venison. Delicious, delicious venison...drool.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
The Tradition: Cinnamon Rolls
Growing up, my mom made cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning. We'd eat cinnamon rolls with an orange on appropriately festive paper plates and then we'd go look at all the goodies that Santa left us in our stockings. (Ah yes, I remember the year that Dad got a bag of coal. That was a fun year.) Mom originally started out making cinnamon rolls by scratch using a recipe from my great-aunt (dad's side). By the time we were older (in middle school), she found Rhode's Cinnamon Rolls in the freezer section of the grocery store and after we all agreed that they were just as good as the home made ones, she never went back.
For the past 5 years, I've dutifully made cinnamon rolls for Christmas day (and yes, I've made home made ones, pillsbury ones, and rhodes ones at various times - and mostly depending on when I went to the grocery store, if I had any yeast, and how quickly I wanted to make the rolls).
This year, for December Food Month (which is what I've affectionately named the tradition at work where someone brings in some food item to share for one day during December - the goal is to have at least one person signed up for every work day during December. Thus obviously turning us all into gluttons; who, on the first work day of the new year, walk down to the break room in a zombie-like fashion hoping and praying that someone was nice and brought in left over Christmas candy), one of the co-workers brought in home made cinnamon rolls. HOME MADE CINNAMON ROLLS, PEOPLE!! She used Ree Drummond's recipe which can be obtained through her website: The Pioneer Woman. The cinnamon rolls were Delicious and I single-handedly ate half a pan (so like 5 or something). I do not feel bad about this because she brought in 6 pans, and I waited until after lunch to have the 3rd, and until the day after to eat the other two. I was just being helpful and trying to make sure that we did not end up with an ant problem. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that cinnamon rolls are quite possibly my second favorite food in the world.
When I figured out that the recipe was easily available, I decided that I would make them instead of any of my other methods. Below is a pictorial process of the making of the cinnamon rolls.
Step 1: obtain all of the ingredients below. Including the foil throw away pans--the full recipe makes 6 of the square pans, 7 or so of the rounds.
Step 4: mix half the flour with the milk, yeast and sugar.
Step 5: Let rise.
Step 6: While dough is rising, make yourself useful and butter down those cinnamon roll pans.
Step 9: Turn out dough on well floured surface and form into a rough rectangular shape.
Step 10: Roll out into large rectangle. I rolled it too thin though, so you definitely want to go a little thicker than I did...maybe about 1/4" to 1/2" thick.
Step 13: Sprinkle well with cinnamon. Very well.
Step 15: Cut in 3/4" to 1" rounds and place in buttered pans.
Step 16: Find an appropriately festive towel, cover the rolls and let rise. I only did a half batch and managed to get 4 full pans out of the deal (as I said, I rolled the rolls too thin, and then I also cut them a bit on the skinny side)
Step 18: While the rolls are baking, break out your coffee maker and make the glaze. This is the third time it has been pulled out of the cupboard. Hot diggidy! The other times it has been pulled out are for French Onion Soup Night and during March when the Inlaws came to visit. We do not drink coffee, and Shawn told me I was a dum-dum for making frosting with coffee in it--I couldn't taste the coffee at all in Andrea's rolls, but apparently using a Dark French Roast with the setting on the coffee pot set to "Strong" is not the best option for those of us who do not like coffee flavored things.
Step 20: Glaze your finished cinnamon rolls making sure to get as much into the nooks and crannies as possible. Step 21 is to enjoy them, but step 22 is to listen to your husband complain about how the rolls taste like coffee.
For the past 5 years, I've dutifully made cinnamon rolls for Christmas day (and yes, I've made home made ones, pillsbury ones, and rhodes ones at various times - and mostly depending on when I went to the grocery store, if I had any yeast, and how quickly I wanted to make the rolls).
This year, for December Food Month (which is what I've affectionately named the tradition at work where someone brings in some food item to share for one day during December - the goal is to have at least one person signed up for every work day during December. Thus obviously turning us all into gluttons; who, on the first work day of the new year, walk down to the break room in a zombie-like fashion hoping and praying that someone was nice and brought in left over Christmas candy), one of the co-workers brought in home made cinnamon rolls. HOME MADE CINNAMON ROLLS, PEOPLE!! She used Ree Drummond's recipe which can be obtained through her website: The Pioneer Woman. The cinnamon rolls were Delicious and I single-handedly ate half a pan (so like 5 or something). I do not feel bad about this because she brought in 6 pans, and I waited until after lunch to have the 3rd, and until the day after to eat the other two. I was just being helpful and trying to make sure that we did not end up with an ant problem. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that cinnamon rolls are quite possibly my second favorite food in the world.
When I figured out that the recipe was easily available, I decided that I would make them instead of any of my other methods. Below is a pictorial process of the making of the cinnamon rolls.
Step 1: obtain all of the ingredients below. Including the foil throw away pans--the full recipe makes 6 of the square pans, 7 or so of the rounds.
Step 4: mix half the flour with the milk, yeast and sugar.
Step 5: Let rise.
Step 6: While dough is rising, make yourself useful and butter down those cinnamon roll pans.
Step 9: Turn out dough on well floured surface and form into a rough rectangular shape.
Step 10: Roll out into large rectangle. I rolled it too thin though, so you definitely want to go a little thicker than I did...maybe about 1/4" to 1/2" thick.
Step 13: Sprinkle well with cinnamon. Very well.
Step 15: Cut in 3/4" to 1" rounds and place in buttered pans.
Step 16: Find an appropriately festive towel, cover the rolls and let rise. I only did a half batch and managed to get 4 full pans out of the deal (as I said, I rolled the rolls too thin, and then I also cut them a bit on the skinny side)
Step 18: While the rolls are baking, break out your coffee maker and make the glaze. This is the third time it has been pulled out of the cupboard. Hot diggidy! The other times it has been pulled out are for French Onion Soup Night and during March when the Inlaws came to visit. We do not drink coffee, and Shawn told me I was a dum-dum for making frosting with coffee in it--I couldn't taste the coffee at all in Andrea's rolls, but apparently using a Dark French Roast with the setting on the coffee pot set to "Strong" is not the best option for those of us who do not like coffee flavored things.
Step 20: Glaze your finished cinnamon rolls making sure to get as much into the nooks and crannies as possible. Step 21 is to enjoy them, but step 22 is to listen to your husband complain about how the rolls taste like coffee.
Monday, January 03, 2011
I swear
I swear I'm going to get around to posting an ACTUAL post about the cinnamon rolls. With pictures even! But life's been busy. You'd have figured that I could easily have written said post during the entire week I took off of work to do nothing but sit around on my ass at home. But you'd be wrong. I had very important things to do--like watch all of my DVDs that my sister sent me. And it's not like they're easy peasy DVDs, they're all TV shows DVDs. That means like 12-24 hours of viewing pleasure from EACH GIFT. So, there you have it. You can blame Dani for the fact that I haven't blogged about anything for the last week.
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