BUTTON, BUTTON, PAIRS OF BUTTONS...

I recently participated in a Button Swap on Swap-Bot. I figure no matter how many buttons you have, someone else will have different ones, so sending off some of my duplicates and waiting for new buttons to come back to me sounded like fun.

When the time came, I gathered up the requisite number of buttons, plus a bunch, sent them off, and honestly, just kind of forgot about the swap. (One of the advantages of having a short attention span is that so many lovely little surprises arrive in my mailbox, lol!)

Today, a packet of buttons arrived. I suspect I will never use them. Because, tell me, isn't this absolutely the most fun "button card" you ever saw? I just love it! How could I bear to remove the buttons?

In other news, I really needed to bake something today. Some version of Dump Cake seemed to be in order, but...but...something new. Lemon Peach Crisp has made its debut, and it is YUMMY.

LEMON PEACH CRISP

2 Large cans peaches (about a quart each), drained
1 Peeled apple, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Almond flavoring
About 10-12 teaspoons strawberry jam
1 Lemon cake mix
1 cube butter or margarine

Mix the fruit and almond flavoring together, right in the 9"X13" cake pan you'll be baking the crisp in. Drop a dollop of strawberry jam in the center of each planned serving. (I figured the pan would divide into about 12 good-sized servings.)

Now pour the dry cake mix over the top of the fruit mixture and jam, and spread it out evenly. Slice the butter thinly into pats and lay them out over the top of the cake mix.

Bake at 350 degrees F, until the top looks lightly browned and crispy. To be honest, I forgot to look at the clock, but it was about an hour, maybe longer.

It really was good! Now, a note or two: I'm not sure the strawberry jam made a difference, so you could probably skip that. Or mix the jam in with the fruit. Either way. I didn't want to go overboard with the almond flavoring, as it can easily be overpowering, but I think the amount could be doubled to a full teaspoon, for even better flavor.

Happy St Patrick's everyone!

HMM, BROWNIES + A TIP

Brownies first, right? These are my "Brownies for Grown-ups", but today I thought I'd top them off with something, and it turned out so yummy I decided to share what I'd done. Since it was spur-of-the-moment cooking, you get a photo of the finished product only, and approximate quantities on the ingredients, but here's what you do:

Bake your brownies as usual. Now get a small bowl and put about half a large package of butterscotch chips in it, with about a teaspoon and a half water. Put it in the microwave and nuke it until it melts. My microwave took about 45 seconds. When you take the bowl out, the chips will be melted, but the oil in them will have separated itself out. No worries. Add one or two teaspoons of chocolate syrup, and stir until the mixture is creamy.

Drizzle the melted mixture over the brownies, and top with chopped nuts. It is Gooooood!

Now the tip.

This is summer. You know, that season with the clothes that won't stay on hangers. Here's a simple way to make a non-slip hanger so your tank tops and scoop-necked tees won't slide right off every time you look at them.

Take two of those big rubber bands they wrap around produce at the grocery store. Wrap them once or twice around each end of your coat hanger.


Hang up your shirt or dress. The rubber bands will keep it in place.


Oh! Almost forgot! 52 Flea has an awesome give-away/give-back going to celebrate her 500th post, but you have to sign up before August 1st, so get yourself over there on the double-quick!

YUMMY UGLY NO-BAKE COOKIES RECIPE

Yesterday, I just HAD to have cookies. Not just any old cookies, either. I needed the ones Mama used to whip up when we were kids, cokies that went from cupboard to kid in a flash, and no oven involved, just lots of Yummy. Honestly, it was enough to drive me out of my cozy home into the drizzly cold of a February afternoon, just to buy oatmeal.

It was totally worth it, too, which is why I'm sharing the recipe with you!
Yummy Ugly No-Bake Cookies

1 cube butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons coca powder
1/2 canned milk (not the sweetened kind0
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup (or more, if you want) peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt the butter over low heat. Add the sugar, cocoa, and canned milk. Bring to a boil and let boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and quickly stir in oats, peanut butter, and vanilla.

Drop by teaspoons on waxed paper or aluminum foil. Allow to cool.

The hardest thing about this recipe is letting the cookies cool enough to set up!

I'd bought regular oats, so I didn't take the pan off the heat right away, but let it cook on medium for a bit. Worked fine. Now I'm wondering if you could use cooled leftover oatmeal, instead of raw. It would make a softer cookie, but it seems as though it would work.

YUM! Baked Chicken Ranchero

Played with my food this afternoon, and came up with a new recipe that was really yummy, so I'm going to share it. Here's the finished dish:


Not very instructive, since you can't tell what's under all that sauce and cheese, but doesn't it look absolutely good enough to eat?

Here's what you'll need:

• Four nice pieces of skinless chicken (I used thighs; boneless breasts would be nice, too.)
• Four whole chili peppers, split lengthwise
• One 4-oz can sliced mushrooms
• One 24-oz jar of really good spaghetti sauce (more on that later)
• About 1 1/2cup uncooked rice
• Enough grated cheese to look nice when it's melted over the top

Start by spreading the rice in a 9"x13" baking dish. Lay the four pieces of chicken atop the rice, and spread a split chili over the top of each one. Drain the can of mushrooms and sprinkle evenly over that. Pour the spaghetti sauce over all.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, until the rice is done and the chicken juices run clear. (I'm vague here because mine had been baking for about half an hour when the DH called to say he'd be home in about an hour. That was later than I'd anticipated, so I lowered the oven to 200 degrees and let it cook until DH was home and everything else was ready.)

Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top and return to the oven just long enough to melt.

We had tossed salad, apple slices, and a glass of sangria with this. SO good.

Now, about that spaghetti sauce. I wouldn't normally name names, but this was a new (to me) brand that I picked up the other day at The Grocery Outlet. It was amazing--all natural, and full of sliced mushrooms, thick tomato sauce, red and green bell peppers, garlic, fresh basil, and even white wine. The brand was Rao's Homemade Southern Italian Pepper and Mushroom Sauce. If you can find it, it's definitely worth picking up!

Other news: Still working on that organization thing, and actually beginning to think I'll succeed.

I've spent the last two mornings working with paper, doing the 4th quarter report, totalling up my business sales for 2009, and revamping my filing system. In the process of that, I went through every paper in the files, and got rid of anything that wasn't something I needed or wanted. There was one moment that was kind of funny, too. The last file folder I labeled said "Financial/Quarterly Reports", and when I'd finished writing that, I picked up the file and looked at it, and dang, if I didn't all of a sudden feel official!

Then I started working on the calendar, filling in the dates of shows I know I'll be doing, and beginning to schedule the steps that would lead up to each one.

You know what's nice? I'm starting to feel like things are under control, and my stress levels have gone WAY down. And it feels so good to see my craft room looking tidy(er), that I actually am enjoying going down just to see what else I can do!

DUMP CAKE: UGLY NAME, BUT YUMMY!

Got a sudden craving for Dump Cake yesterday, something I hadn't fixed or had for a couple of years probably, for reasons unknown even to me. It used to be a favorite, because it's so easy to make, and so dangerously delicious.

Anyway, I had the ingredients in the cupboard (which my cabinet-maker husband says we don't have, because a cupboard is literally a board shelf to hold cups, and we have cabinets, but I digress), so I set to work, also deciding to share the fun.

Here's what you'll need:

• Box of chocolate cake mix
• 20 oz can of cherry pie filling
• 1 large apple
• Lemon curd (optional)
• 1 cube butter, cut into thin pats
  
• Chopped nuts

What you don't see on that list are measurements, because you don't need them. That's one thing that makes this recipe so great.

So, begin by peeling and chopping the apple. Dump the chunks in an 11"x7" cake pan, or whatever you have. Now open the can of cherry pie filling and dump that into the cake pan. Microwave a couple of dollops of lemon curd for about 20 seconds, just enough to liquefy it. Pour it over the apple and pie filling and stir everything together.


Next, pour the dry cake mix over the fruit mixture, spreading it out evenly. Lay the pats of butter, evenly spaced, all over the cake mixture, and then sprinkle as many chopped nuts over everything as you want, or you can leave them off entirely.


It won't resemble a "normal" cake that's ready to go into the oven, but that's okay. Put it in an over preheated to 350F (176.6C), and bake for 1 hour, or until it looks done.


Dish it up and eat it--it's even better with ice cream on top!

This recipe is endlessly adjustable--use more pie filling, or something other than cherry, or a can of pineapple instead of the chopped apple. Canned peaches are good with yellow cake. Use a different flavor cake mix--lemon or yellow are just two suggestions.

Enjoy!

PICTURE A DAY--SIZZZLE

Today's photo is...

dinner!


It was really good, too. I started the chicken cooking, then sprinkled it with the better part of an envelope of dry onion soup mix. After a while the chicken began to look kind of lonely in that big skillet, so I added a couple of handfuls of carrots, and then, the cabbage.

When everything was tender but not mushy, I dished it up, along with fresh orange segments and chunks of banana--yum!

ALTERED CUISINE--BROWNIES FOR GROWN-UPS

This is almost a recipe, but just almost. It starts with (shhhh!) a mix. I prefer to think of it as "altered cuisine". After all, altered couture is really big right now; why not wrap a whole 'nother group in a big bear hug of inclusiveness? Altered! It's not just for dresses any more!


So. Take your favorite brownie mix.

The one I use calls for the addition of eggs, vegetable oil, and water. That's the first point of alteration.

Substitute good, strong, brewed coffee for the water. Even better, if you have a coffee liqueur on hand, such as Kahlua, use that.

Now grind some coffee beans extra fine, and add one teaspoon of that ground coffee to the brownie mix. I guarantee you won't get a gritty brownie, just one with an extra mocha punch.

Once you've mixed the brownies and put them in the baking dish, sprinkle the top with chopped nuts. I used pecans; whatever you have on hand will work just fine.

Bake as directed.

Did you use the coffee liqueur in place of the water? Mama, not the kids, gets to lick the bowl!

P.S. These brownies taste great with a glass of red wine. Enjoy!

RECIPE: CHICKEN ALFREDO

I started fixing dinner this evening, and thought,This is going to be really good! I ought to share it!, so I got out the camera and took two, count 'em, two pictures, which will have to do.

Ingredients:

• Six pieces chicken (I used drumsticks and thighs)
• Six red potatoes, cut in quarters
• Several handfuls of baby carrots, or larger carrots cut in 2" lengths
• One large onion, cut into chunks
• One clove elephant garlic, sliced, or four cloves regular garlic
• One jar Alfredo sauce (I used Classico's)
• Herbal rub, to taste

Put all the ingredients in a 13"x9" baking dish, pouring the sauce over all and sprinkling the herbs on last. Bake at 350F for 45-69 minutes, until the veggies are done and the chicken is tender.


Serves four-six


It was tasty. I added cantaloupe and blueberries, but didn't bother with a salad, as we'd have plate-sized salads for lunch.

FIGHT HEAT WITH A CREEPY SALAD

It's still hot, though not quite a fiery as yesterday, which topped out at 106.3 degrees F (41.28 C). I'm trying to get work done, but trying to stay cool at the same time.

Ceili keeping cool under the bed

Somehow, hot weather seems to call for Jell-o, so I went looking for a package, and also some fruit to stir into it.

I came up with a small package of apricot Jell-o (yes, it was even that brand). Now then, fruit. Grapes? That didn't sound too good. Ate the last pear and banana yesterday. One slightly shriveled Red Delicious apple in the 'fridge, a donation to my lunch at an art show, of a variety I find inedible. (Which makes me ask: What has been done to the family of Delicious apples? They were really good when I was a kid, and we had them in our orchard.)

Anyway, I stood at the cabinet, shuffling cans, searching...cranberry sauce? Okay. Sure. That could work. Maybe.

I took pictures, so here's what you do:

Fix the Jell-o as per box instructions, and put it in the refrigerator to partially set up. While you're at it, put the can of jellied cranberry sauce in the 'fridge, too. An hour and a half or so later, take them out again.

Open the cranberry sauce, and cut four slices. Put a slice in each of four small bowls.


Divide the apricot gelatin (there, used a different word!) amongst the four bowls with the slices in the bottom.

Cut two more slices of cranberry sauce, and cut them into sixths.


Stand three wedges in the Jell-o in a line at the rim of each bowl, and your dessert/salad is done. Unless you have whipped cream or topping, which would be yummy on top.


The color combo is a little dark, a little creepy, but hey, marigolds come in that color combination, so it can't be all that bad. I'm SO looking forward to dinner tonight. Which reminds me to say: Put the bowls back into the refrigerator until you're ready to eat them.

Bonus Picture: Sandie and Coco surveying a flower bed full of Mega Blossoms at the Cracked Pots show.

*Click on any image to see it full-sized.*

ICE CREAM, NO MACHINE!

Meggie and I went to Mom's yesterday. High on our priority list was an activity sure to please: Making ice cream.

It was all Mama and I could do to get Meggie and her cousin Ariel to eat lunch, much less wait until afterwards for the ice cream making. At long last, though, we gathered the implements and ingredients of desire, and headed for the deck.

I found this recipe in a magazine last week, and couldn't wait to try it. Ice cream in ten minutes, without a machine? Really? The DH and I gave it a shot while RV camping in the Hood River Valley. He declared it both fun and delicious. I declared it something wonderful to share.

You will need:

Ready!

• 1 cup milk OR cream OR a mixture of the two
• 1 teas vanilla
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 cups ice
• 1/4 cup rock salt
• 1 quart-size resealable plastic baggie
• 1 gallon-size resealable plastic baggie
  

Good to have, but not on the ingredients list:


1 Great-grandma who will stand in the sun, making shade for you!


Step one: Pour the milk into the quart size bag. Putting the bag into a stiff container saves spills.


In goes the milk


Step two: Add the vanilla.


Ari adds vanilla


Step three: Add the sugar.


In goes the sugar!


Step four: Set the smaller bags aside, and switch to the gallon size. Put four cups ice in the big bag.


Is this why we have our gloves and mittens?


Step five: Add the rock salt to the ice.


It helps to take turns holding the bags open.


Step six: Put the sealed quart size bag inside the gallon bag, and seal.


One inside the other, both sealed.


Step seven: Shake like crazy!


<

Step eight: Assemble your eating crew, and divide the spoils!


And a good time was had by all!


As you may have gathered from the pictures, we made the recipe twice at the same time, with bags and ingredients for both Meg and Ariel. The two bags provided ice cream for four children and two adults, although they were small. When Bob and I did ours, we fixed a bag for each of us, and ate it all. On the other hand, we skipped dinner and went straight for the ice cream!

Now I want to do it again, with flavors. Peanut butter? That would be good. Chocolate goes without saying. Oh! How about peach-almond? Okay. My diet is in serious danger here.

RECIPE: WORLD'S BEST TUNA SALAD

True confession: I don't cook for me. If the husband isn't home, it's a peanut butter sandwich, or a bowl of cold cereal, nine times out of ten.

So if I do pull out a recipe and actually cook, you know whatever I'm fixing has got to be really, really good. What you'll find below all this verbiage is the recipe for the world's tastiest tuna salad. Put away all thoughts of any tuna salad you've ever had. This isn't one of those. My cousin Pat brought it to the Cousins' Night Out, and it was so scrumptious I got the recipe. Today was the third time I've fixed it just for me, because the DH doesn't like tuna. (Except for my brother's home-canned. I think the husband would eat that straight out of the jar.)

Gingered Tuna Salad

You'll need:

• 1 12 oz can tuna fish in water
• 2 tsp Curry powder
• 1 TB Olive oil
• 1/4 c Minced red onion (1/2 small onion)
• 3 TB Crystallized ginger chunks
• 1/3 to 1/2 c Mayonnaise (1/2 cup will make it more moist, but 1/3 cup will have fewer calories and fat)
• 1 TB Rice vinegar (or 1 tsp white vinegar and 2 tsp water)
• 1 tsp prepared Dijon-style mustard
• 1/4 cup Chopped pecans
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 dash Cayenne pepper, to taste

Drain the tuna and set aside. In a small saucepan over low heat, saute curry powder in olive oil for five minutes, stirring every so often.

While curry powder is cooking, mince the red onion. Chop the crystallized ginger into small pieces, about the size of the minced onion.

In another bowl, whisk to combine mayonnaise, rice vinegar, and Dijon-style mustard.



Add cooked curry powder mixture (make sure to scrape it all), crystallized ginger, onion, chopped pecans, salt and dash of cayenne pepper. Whisk again.

Gently fold mixture into the tuna, until well blended, and the fish is coated with dressing.


To serve, line 4 plates with a cup or so of chopped lettuce, top with tuna salad and ring with rounds of crusty bread, quartered cherry tomatoes, and baby carrots, if desired. (Or use what you have on hand, which is what I did.)
This salad is excellent served chilled or at room temperature.

Without those crusty rounds of bread, this recipe is also extremely low in carbohydrates, for those of us who are watching our carb intake. I don't allow myself to have carbs at all untill dinner time, so this is a wonderful lunch choice for me.

Yield: 3 cups salad; serves 4 or so.

IN WHICH I INVENT A COOKIE, & SHARE OTHERS

I'm still baking! It almost makes me glad of the snow, except that I know if we hadn't have been snowed in these past...how many days is it, now? 4? 5?...days, I'd have simply been more diligent, and gotten my baking done by yesterday, when the first holiday get-together was scheduled. As it stands, I still have two or three kinds of cookie I'd like to bake, on top of the five that are done.

Last night, I invented a new one, and I have to share it. It is s-o-o-o yummy! It's also what I call a "cheater" recipe, one you don't make entirely from scratch, so it's also quite easy.

First, a list of the cookies in this list:


Toffee Coffee Mocha Rounds
Russian Teacakes
Tom Thumbs
Peanut Butter Kisses

We'll start with my new cookie, the Toffee Coffee Mocha Rounds:


Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 Chocolate Fudge cake mix
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee
1 teaspoon very finely ground coffee beans (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 bag Heath toffee candy bits, chopped more finely than packaged

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176.6 degrees C). Mix finely ground coffee beans into cake mix. Cut butter into cake mix until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in egg and coffee until well blended.

Mix Heath bits and chopped walnuts together.

Form cookie dough into 3/4" balls, and roll in the candy/nut mix, pressing gently to embed the candy.* Place on ungreased baking sheets about 2" apart.

Bake 12 minutes. Let cook on baking sheet two minutes, then remove.

*Further note: I played with the easiest way to shape the cookies and found that pouring a layer of the candy/nut mix onto the pastry sheet, and then rolling lumps of the dough into "snakes" worked nicely. It embeds the candy in the dough while you work. Cut the snakes into 1/2"-3/4" lengths, and gently push one cut end into the candy. It will look like a little almond rocca bar. Stand it on end on the baking sheet.

I think we just couldn't have Christmas without Russian Teacakes:


Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sifted confectioners' (powdered) sugar
1 tsp vanilla*
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts

Mix butter, sugar, and vanilla* thoroughly. Add the flour, and sprinkle the salt over the top, to aid even mixing. Blend in. Add nuts. Chill dough.

Preheat over to 400 degrees F (204 C). Form dough into 1" balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets. (The cookies don't spread, so you can put them quite close together.) Cook 10 to 12 minutes, until set but not brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners' sugar**. Cool. Roll in sugar again.

*Substitute 1 teaspoon vodka for the vanilla, if desired.
** Easier: Put confectioners' sugar and baked cookies in a sealable plastic bag. Zip bag shut and gently tumble cookies to coat with sugar.

Our third cookie is one we've had at Christmas literally for as long as I can remember. Mama might remember when she first baked them; all I know is it was back in my childhood sometime.

Tom Thumbs


Ingredients:

1 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup confectioners' (powdered) sugar
2 Tablespoons water
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
Coconut
Red and green marachino cherries
White frosting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (163 degrees C)
Beat butter and vanilla until creamy.
Gradually add sugar.
Add water and beat until fluffy.
Sift together flour and salt, and add to creamed mixture.
Stir in oats until blended.

Form dough into 1" balls, and press thumb into center of each to make small depression. Place on ungreased baking sheets. (The cookies don't spread.) Bake 20-25 minutes until set, but not brown.

Cool cookies completely. Frost the cookies. It isn't necessary to get frosting into the center depression. Dip the frosted cookie into shredded or flaked coconut, pressing lightly so the coconut sticks to the frosting. Place a marachino cherry half into the center of each cookie.

Variation: Form cookies into balls, but don't make the depression in the center. When they're baked and cooled, frost and sprinkle with those little tiny candy sprinkles. (Sorry--can't think what they're actually called!)

The last cookie is the favorite of several family members, Peanut Butter Kisses


This is another "cheater" recipe of my devising.

Ingredients:

1 envelope Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix
3 Tablespoons peanut butter
1 egg
Chocolate kisses

Mix all together. Form dough into balls, and mash with a glass that has a prettily patterned bottom, or do the traditional crisscrossed fork thing.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees F (176 degrees C) for 8 to 10 minutes. While cookies are still hot, lightly press a chocolate kiss into the center of each.

Don't have peanut butter cookie mix? This is the world's easiest cookie. On top of that, if you can't have flour, you can still eat these cookies, because they don't have any. Honest. I kid you not.

Impossible Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanila

Mix all ingredients, and bake as above.

RUM BALLS RECIPE AND PHOTOS

One of the things I love is cookies, so at Christmas, I make sure there are plenty of them to be had, always baking at least six kinds, and sometimes more. I used to start in October, putting the dough together and freezing it until December, but now all that baking just get squooshed into the week before Christmas.

I was supposed to do the rum balls Monday, so they'd have a week to sit, and be ready for the first family get-together on the 22nd, but I forgot. Well, the flavors won't be quite as blended and melded as they might have been, but having *hic* tried them immediately after putting them together this *hic* afternoon, I can say probably nobody will be complaining.

Here's what you'll need:

2 1/2 cups crushed gingersnaps
1 1/2 cups finely ground pecans
1/2 cup honey
6 Tablespoons rum
Powdered sugar to roll rum balls in

Crush the gingersnaps. I used a rolling pin and plastic bag, my usual method, but after I did the pecans with the Salad Shooter, I was kind of slapping my forehead. Next time, I'll used the Shooter for the gingersnaps, too.


After crushing the gingersnaps, grind the pecans. Use your Salad Shooter. Or whatever works.


Mix all the ingredients together, except for the powdered sugar, until the dough forms a sticky mass.


Pinch off bits of dough and form into balls, and roll balls in the powdered sugar.


Let the rum balls sit for a week. My cook book doesn't say what sort of container to use for that, but I'll probably put them in a plastic container with a paper towel on top.

This was the first time I've tried this recipe, and the cookies are yummy, but the dough seemed much too gooey to me. I ended up crushing another cup's worth of gingersnaps, and adding them and another 1/2 cup of the ground pecans, too. You may or may not have to do that, probably depending on the brand of gingersnaps you use.

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