Cheating

I made some homemade raisin/cinnamon bread in the bread maker. It was a different recipe than I usually use, and I can't say I'm too thrilled...it's too dry. I also made some cheesecake lemon bars, which turned out fab...but I cheated - I used a box mix. Is that bad of me?

Cooking Shrimp Scampi

According to the cookbook, you're suppose to broil it in the oven. I have to say, that sure creates a LOT of smoke! Tasted damn good, though...

Cheesecake

So, there's this cheese cake shop here, and they make FABULOUS cheese cake. I, however, decided to give baking a cheese cake a try. There's this website (allrecipies.com) that I use all the time...it's got TONS of recipes, and they're rated by the members. I searched cheesecake, sorted the recipes by rating and came up with the top rated cheesecake recipe. I made the graham cracker crust in the springform pan, made the filling exactly according to the directions (almost), poured the filling in the pan, looked over on the counter, and saw the 3/4 cup of milk I was suppose to put in the filing sitting there, saying to me, "Ahem....what about me???" AAACCCKKKK! The instructions were very specific in that you were not suppose to scrape the side of the bowl or the mixer blades because the filling is suppose to be perfectly creamy with NO LUMPS. So, I proceeded to pour the filling back into the bowl, and, of course, a big glob of the graham cracker crust plops into the bowl with the filling. There was still quite a bit of the filling left in the pan, but there was no way I was going to be able to try to scrape any more back into the mixing bowl, so I let it go. I then proceed to carefully scrape out the crumbs and added the forgotten milk, mixing carefully so as not to create too many lumps. I baked according to directions, and believe it or not, it came out PERFECT. Even better than the cheesecake shop! I mean, it was the perfect, creamy texture, the flavor was out of this world...I'll try it again, and next time, I'll make sure I add the milk!

Finished

I finished the Civil War quilt. Made a nice lap quilt. I'm going to make an effort to work on the Africa quilt. Today, however, I'm going to make a shortbread crust Avocado Lime cheesecake. I bought several avocado's for our Cinco de Mayo dinner, and I had two left over. I wanted to do something different, so I found a recipe for the avocado cheesecake. It sounded different, so...why not?

How'd they do it?

We have the boys with us this weekend. We had eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast (1/2 dozen eggs, 1 lb of bacon, a loaf of bread), and they're only 5 and 7! How much are they going to eat when they become teenagers? I made homemade chicken soup for dinner with homemade garlic bread sticks (I used the chicken bones from last night's crock pot chicken), and gingerbread to make gingerbread men tonight...what a pain in the butt. I had to go to The Walmart to get eggs, and they had this gingerbread kit...ready made cookies and all you had to do was decorate...I shoulda bought that. But The Younger helped me cook (he loves that), so, chalk it up to a bonding moment. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We've got about 4 inches on the ground and it's still coming down. Yeah!

Cut Out Cookies

My Mother-In-Law makes the BEST cut-out cookies ever. She bemoans the fact that they are a pain in the a$$ to make, but she makes them with love - every holiday! Christmas (of course), Valentine's Day, Easter, St. Patrick's day, birthdays, etc. When I was shopping the other day at Michael's, the Ol' Man found some cut-out cookie shapes for Halloween (along with the coordinated sprinkles!). I bought them for my M-I-L. Hoping, of course, that she'll make some cookies for Halloween and send them to me. I have to admit...I'm addicted to them. When she sends them for the holidays, there are usually several zip-lock bags full, and I usually squirrel away a bag just for me. If I didn't, the boys and the Ol' Man would eat them all! Maybe I should buy her the ingredients too...

Cooking

I'm not much of a cook. Let me explain. I don't particularly enjoy cooking...taking hours and hours cutting, slicing, measuring, etc. and then it only takes 5 minutes to eat it - doesn't seem efficient to me. Anyhoo, I'm actually a pretty good cook, because I follow the recipe, so if it's a good recipe, it'll taste good. I'm not the kind of cook that can "taste test" a recipe and add a pinch of this or a dash of that. I tried that once...and the results were not pretty, so I stick to the recipe. Problem is that I've got a boat load of recipes from my mother-in-law (who's a fabulous cook), and, getting beyond reading her handwriting, she does the pinch/dash method. I usually have to have the Ol' Man interpret the recipe for me and help me the first time, so I can figure it out. I made fish cakes tonight (the recipe was on the back of the bag of fish), and what a pain in the a**. Remind me never to work in a fish cake factory. Getting the bread crumbs to stick - ack! Keep the faith that it tastes good....