Weekend with Jilly McBean! Part 4

...and so Sunday afternoon--right after church, breakfast and all that business, Jill and I sat down to watch a movie.  I grabbed a handful of the accidental caramels I'd  wrapped up Saturday--planning on enjoying a few pieces before the vultures the boys snagged 'em all.  The first one I bit into, I felt pain.  Intense pain.  I managed to loosen the caramel from my teeth and spit it out.  Jill saw this and asked, "Oh mom... you have Chicklets!"  She didn't mind the half bit caramel that had been inside my mouth sitting in my hand.  It was all about the gum and she wanted a piece.  Sadly, that wasn't gum... that was what was left of a crappy crown I'd gotten a couple of years ago. 

When I told her what it was... she suggested that I put it under my pillow so I can it in for a dollar.  I smiled at the suggestion while thinking, "Well, it's a dollar that will go towards a $1000 dental bill, $999 left to go!"  

It was my grand luck that the nearest dentist had a cancellation on big procedure so I was promptly fit in first thing Monday morning.  Unfortunately, there had to be some repair work done which required numbing and nitrous.  Although  I've had extensive dental work done, I've turn into a nervous pile o' goo at the thought of fingers inside my mouth.... and pain.  I could have waited for sedation to be available... in pain, or suck it up and get 'er done.  I sucked it up. 

I left the dentist office feeling... happy.  Not a care in the world--at least, I found a happy place.  It was a perfect opportunity for staffing to call asking if I'd care to work that night.  I was all, "Sure, I'm available!"  It's been my history to feel like crap after going to the dentist... and true to form, I felt like crap--but I still had to work. 

Weekend with Jilly McBean! Part 2

Sometimes, burnt sugar smells really yummy--like in a brulee or even a meringue.  Burnt sugar on a heating element on your stove doesn't--especially after it catches fire... and I let it happen.  My choices were--buy a new element for my stove or just burn the crap off the element and save the money.  Clearing everything out of the way... by this, I mean clearing my stove, counters and everything in and around the stove, I purposefully turned on the burner to high heat.  In one hand, I had baking soda... in the other, an extinguisher.  It didn't take long before *poof* a huge lick of flame shot up from the stove about 10 inches.  Being the queen of the over-react, I did the oh-shit dance.  I wasn't expecting that.  After ignition though, the fire remained only about 2-3 inches above the burner.  Even though I did a thorough preemptive explanation of what I was doing, Jill saw this, picked up my home phone and tried to call 911.  Might have made the call had the phone been charged.  It freaked her out a bit.  After a couple of minutes, the source of fuel burnt away--leaving only the charcoal remnants--a much easier mess to clean.  Alas, my entire house has been smelling like burnt sugar... and not in a good way. 

Once everything was cleaned up and things put back into order, Jill and I sat down to work on putting some gingerbread sleighs together.  I'd purchased a kit containing 4 sleighs while grocery shopping awhile back and saved it for when Jill and myself were home alone.  (picture + link on left  Note:  not trying to get anyone to buy anything--this item is not available at Amazon.  It's just to show which kit I was using.)

It was super easy and a lot of fun--but if you should choose to do such a craft with this kit, plan on having some brightly colored candy on hand and plan on needing more royal icing to finish the project up.

Use A LOT of icing to hold the sleigh together.  Once the sleighs are put together, allow the icing to cure for 24 hours for maximum hold.

Weekend with Jilly McBean! Part 3

.... and so, by Saturday afternoon--Jill and I set out to make cookies...

We made gingerbread Men from a tube of Pillsbury Gingerbread dough--I cheated and didn't make the dough this time.  It was a lot cheaper to just buy a tube o' dough.  The entire tube cost less than the butter it would take to make a batch. 

We also made Peanut Butter Blossoms (pictured on right).  It took me several attempts to make this recipe because the boys would not leave the chocolate kisses alone!  Meh.  I couldn't either--so I couldn't get mad even if I wanted to. 

Recipe is on the jar of Jif Peanut Butter.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

• 1/2 cup Crisco® Butter Shortening  (I used butter)
• 1/2 cup Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter  (I used generic)
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour (I used some other brand) 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Sugar
• 48 foil-wrapped milk chocolate pieces, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS:

1. HEAT oven to 375°F.
2. CREAM together shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Beat well.
3. STIR together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Beat on low speed until stiff dough forms.
4. SHAPE into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
5. BAKE 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
6. TOP each cookie immediately with an unwrapped chocolate piece, pressing down firmly so that cookie cracks around edge. Remove from cookie sheets to cool.

Personally, I like more cookie than chocolate...  so, I made 'em like that. 

Jill added the pre-measured ingredients to the bowl of the mixer.  It was perfect time to get her acquainted with the concept of fractions.  I'm pretty sure she'll need this later.  For now, she's five.  I'm tickled that she can count to 100 and add single digits together.  

I have a cookie dough scoop that measures out perfect 1 inch balls of dough.  It's a high-end, professional scoop--like the ones former sous chefs use.  (At least one certain sous chef.)  I've had mine for 18 years and it's still looking and working as if it were new. So, I'm sensitive about who uses it and how.  Therefore, between Jill and myself, I took on the task of scooping the cookies.  Jill rolled them smooth and then covered the dough balls with sugar. 

Once baked, I let the cookies cool for a minute or two.  Jill was then able to press cookie kisses into each cookie without threat of burns.  (Note:  I have thin cookie sheets and I use parchment paper so I am able to slide hot cookies off the sheet and onto the counter for quicker cooling without messing 'em up.)  Allowing some cooling keeps the kisses from melting and becoming overly soft. 

Jill and myself--we had ourselves a ball. 

The kid, being put out about not being able to participate in our cookie making, proclaimed the cookies as being, "Your typical peanut butter cookie with a chocolate kiss on top.  Nothing special."  But when he wanted a cookie, I asked him why.  It was then he broke down and admitted they were delicious.  Evidently, he ate one. 

Weekend with Jilly McBean!

This past weekend, Drew and Jeff left for Seattle to attend a memorial for Dave Niehaus--the late announcer for the Mariners.  It ended up being an all-girl weekend for Jill and myself--and we had a blast! 

It all started out with a shopping trip Friday.  Jill and myself went into Walmart to get some much needed supplies not available at Winco.  Happy as a clam, Jill sang Christmas songs throughout the store.  Unfortunately, she forgot the words to many of the songs she was singing so it ultimately came out something very repetitive like, "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells..."  It begged me to sing along to finish the song.  "Jingle all the way" already.  Get on with the "Oh, what fun..." so we can get to the "one horse open sleigh".  I successfully resisted the urge to butt into her singing. 

So while Jill was more interested in showing me the latest toys, I tried unsuccessfully to redirect her attention elsewhere.  I'm all, "Oh, look.... Desperado is on DVD".  I was desperate to leave the toy aisle after a half an  hour and that was the best I could do.  I must have lost a few brain cells looking at ridiculously expensive toys.  Finally, I hit pay-dirt and asked Jill was hungry.  According to her, she hadn't eaten since her 4rth birthday and was starving to death.  That was my opening and I jumped in.  Suggesting that we look at food so we could find something edible that she "loves", she jumped at the opportunity to actually buy groceries. 

As we walked out of the store, we were stopped by the big guy.  Santa.  "Was that YOU I heard singing in the store?  Were you singing to me?"  Freaked out, Jill peed a little.  "Uh, no.... I was singing to Baby Jesus."  Then she embraced my leg in a death grip and buried her head into my coat, refusing to say another word. 

Jill and myself decided that Papa Murphy's was in order.  Jill loves olives and mushrooms and the boys weren't around--so we could actually enjoy a pizza with olives and mushrooms on it without hearing any whining about it.  It's kind of nice to be able to step away from the ubiquitous Hawaiian Pizza or plain pepperoni and live on the edge a little.  It was all about the Cowboy--the best combo EVER.  Bonus to have ICE COLD Pepsi and a couple of movies--Shrek, The Final Chapter and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. 

Saturday morning, I got a wild hair and decided that we needed to make some pancakes with homemade buttermilk syrup. Recipe found here. 

Yum.... I couldn't wait. 

Warning.... use a bigger pot than what I used.  The syrup will go nuts on you. 

This is how my burner looked before making the syrup.  After extinguishing the sugar fire, the burner did not look like this.





Near the time the syrup was supposed to be taken off the heat, Jill started screaming as if organ pirates were after her to steal her liver.  She saw a spider.  No, the spider didn't touch her, she just looked at it and it moved.  She really freaked out when I scooped the spider up in my hand and let it go outside.  Just so you know, I freaked out when she wasn't looking.  I really wanted to get into the shower and remove all the spider ick off of me. 

So, while that was going on... the syrup was cooking.  More like, overcooking if I want to be precise. 

Instead of Buttermilk Syrup, I made Buttermilk Caramel.  If this should happen to you....  Quickly line a 8 x 8 baking pan with foil and butter the hell out of it.  Slather it.  After adding vanilla, pour molten syrup into pan.  While still lukewarm, score the caramel with a knife for easier cutting later.  Allow to cool completely and cut into 1 inch square pieces.  Makes 64 pieces.  Wrap individual pieces of candy in wax paper cut to fit. 

Goes to show that my mistakes can be incredibly tasty.  It was a happy little accident.  Buttermilk makes darn good caramels. 

Unfortunately, Jill got Mrs. Butterworth for her pancakes. 

Watch me wiggle, see me jiggle

Over this past weekend, I took some time to weed out and reorganize the drawers and cupboards in my kitchen.  I scrubbed out all the drawers and cupboards with bleach solution.  All the dishes were washed and put away.  I even went as far as to scrub the floor Cinderella style--on my hands and knees with a scrub brush.  The cabinet faces and walls were washed down.  The Kitch is clean. 

Now, it was well worth the loss of an entire afternoon, the consumption of multiple cans of Diet Coke and a grumpy mood.  I had to go through a lot of stuff to realize what I need and what I don't.  At least I know what's in my cupboard no which is a far cry from where I was a week prior.  I actually bought a bag of flour,  sugar and cinnamon--not realizing that I already had more than enough.  I really needed salt in the worst possible way.   

I don't know how it happened, but over time I've acquired a lot of Jello products.  Just like my mom, I have an entire drawer dedicated to all things Jello.  Nothing else is to go in their--just Jello products.  It's not a hard and fast rule with me--I simply don't have room for anything else in that drawer but boxes and boxes of gelatin and pudding.

I was peering over my designated drawer--thinking back to a previous job I held.  One of the perks of the job was that the facility fed their employees.  Whatever the patients ate, the employees did too--if the employee wanted free food.  This facility had the propensity of serving Jello with UFOs.  (Unidentifiable Floating Objects)  The general idea was if you couldn't identify the floaters, it's probably best left a mystery.  Of those things that could be identified, it probably would have been best left a mystery.  Either way, some of their jello concoctions was pretty good if a person didn't know what was in it.  It's all a mental thing.  Coleslaw just isn't supposed to be suspended in lime jello and neither are frozen peas.  Beets and raspberry jello just seems wrong on so many levels. 

My mom had her "go-to" jello recipes as well.  These were quick to assemble and easy enough for a kid to assemble.  

Pistachio Pudding Salad

1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained with juice reserved. 
1, 3 ounce package instant pistachio pudding mix
1, 8 ounce container nondairy whipped topping, thawed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 large bananas, sliced
2 cups marshmallows
1, 15 ounce can fruit cocktail, drained
1, 11 ounce can mandarin oranges, drained

To reserved pineapple juice, add lemon juice.  Add banana to juices and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes.  This prevents banana discoloration.  This step can be omitted and the lemon juice left out of the recipe if bananas are omitted or added just prior to serving.  Mix pudding mix and non-dairy whipped topping until blended.  Add fruit + juice and marshmallows, stir until creamy.  Chill.

Jello fruit salad

1 8 ounce container non-dairy whipped topping
1, 3 ounce container gelatin-any flavor desired
1 small container cottage cheese
1, 15 ounce can fruit cocktail, drained

Blend non dairy whipped topping, jello and cottage cheese together until smooth, add fruit and chill. 

Griswald Effect

At Winco:

I did not notice at first, not until I pulled the bag away that there were cuts in the plastic bag I was filling up with steel cut oats from the bulk section.  Oats spilled out everywhere... including the inside of my shoe.  I put my hand strategically over the hole and successfully stifled the flow of oats--but not before my shoe was full of oats and half the bag was on the floor. 

An 18-count carton of eggs slipped out of my hands and onto the floor, breaking all 18 eggs. Oh, the carnage... and the mess. 

I didn't notice that the jug that held the gallon of milk had a hole in it until I noticed a mop-wielding box boy following me.  

That one kid who runs around without supervision while mom is engrossed in a phone call, ran like a streak through the store--with her cart.  When we collided, my 20 ounce latte went flying--and a good portion spilled into my shoe--intermingling with the oatmeal that I didn't shake out.  I had breakfast brewing in my sock.  On the brighter side, the effects of oatmeal and milk made for a rather unusual pedicure... my foot is so soft now. 

As if rehearsed, the mopping box boy and I both muttered the same explicit word simultaneously. 

I dropped a bagel.  Like an old tire, it rolled out into the "cart traffic" and fell into a rotating stop.  Some guy inadvertently ran it over and got it wedged inside the wheel.  None-the-wiser, the guy quipped, "I always get the carts with the one wheel that doesn't work."  I'm pretty certain that the wheel would have worked much better without the bagel.  I didn't say a word figuring, it'll work it's way out. 

All this for $30 worth of groceries I needed for some holiday baking.  

So... I go to pay for my groceries, but the bank put a fraud-hold on my debit card so it wasn't working.  Boom.  Despair.  Agony.  In my mind, I over-reacted.  The cashier didn't miss a beat and brought me to my senses before I could melt into some form of dramatic flourish.  "We can take a check..."  One thing I discovered though... it's pretty easy for me to write a check IF and only IF I'd carry my checkbook.  I'd managed to leave my checkbook on my kitchen counter when I cleaned out my purse before going to the store.  Utter brilliance. 

I totally "get" why I'm called Griswald.   

In Memory's Kitchen

In Memory's Kitchen:  A Legacy from the Women of Terezin 
By Cara De Silva

Imagine a group of women in the worst of conditions--dehumanized and tortured beyond reason with death looming so very close.  They didn't dwell on the present, but took comfort in the past and looked towards the future by means of sharing pieces of their lives with one another.  Most of the women who contributed to this book never survived the concentration camps, but through this book--their legacy lives on. 

While the main focus of this book is cooking--paradoxical to the fact that the internees were starving, the theme is survival by reflecting the ability these women had to transcend their surroundings.  Though there are recipes written in broken English/Czech--this book should not be considered a cookbook. 

In Memory's Kitchen : A Legacy from the Women of Terezin