The passy is passing on....

Well, it looks like the"deet-deet" a.k.a. Zekers' pacifier is becoming a memory. Oh, its still pretty vivid and he asks about it every night, but I do believe we have already been through the hard part. Last Sunday, we traveled to my Mom's house to spend the holidays with her. She asked if she could get anything at the grocery store and I asked if she wouldn't mind picking up another pack of Zekey's passies. We were down to the last one and I just really didn't want to have to deal with the onslaught that would follow if we lost that one. Well, Mom couldn't find them at the Walmart she stopped at and I just said not to worry about it, we could get some if the need arose. The standing rule for Zekes has been that he doesn't take it outside. Well, he took it outside at Mom's house. Mom has three dogs in her backyard and one of them chews everything up. When he came in, I didn't notice that he didn't have it for a while and then it got dark. We looked all over the house and I tried to look a bit on the back porch, but we couldn't find the silly thing. When he went to bed, he asked, "Where deet-deet go, Momma?!" (He arches one of his eyebrows and has a very serious look on his face and ends the question by putting the heaviest stress on the end of Momma...;) Anyway, I said that he had taken it outside where he wasn't supposed to and that the puppies probably chewed it up. That was my guess at the time. He asked three times before he seemed convinced that the puppies probably got his deet-deet and he wasn't going to get it that night. He woke up around six that next morning wanting it, but then went back to sleep pretty quickly. (Braden slept through it:) We went the next day without the deet-deet for nap time and though he did fuss a bit, it didn't last long and he slept really well. It has now been a week and we have come back from having a really nice time with family over Thanksgiving and Zekes has taken yet another step in the growing up process. I'm a little sad, but so excited that he is weaned and we didn't have to attempt it in the motor home! Praise the Lord! Thank you so much, Sweet Lord for that!!!

I have some pics from Thanksgiving and I'll post them sometime this week, hopefully.

Its all Reina's fault!

Well, the other day, I got some mini nilla wafers and put peanut butter between two of them. I posted the fact that I had done so on facebook. Then, Reina had to go and say, and I quote, "now dip those bad boys in chocolate. mmmmmmm". Which then, according to Jennifer, started something. Indeed it did! So, seeing as how I had a few mini nilla wafers left and just happened to see some chocolate bark in my freezer calling out to me, I thought I would try it out and all. Here's my "process":

All these ingredients are really wanting to mingle...can't you tell? They are a little antsy. Better get started. Don't want to keep them waiting too long!

Okay, chocolate, just a bit in the microwave and you'll be all ready.

See, the peanut butter and mini nilla wafers are already getting along. It's okay, chocolate is on its way.

Don't be scared, little wafer sandwich! You are just going to take a little bath... Chocolate is really friendly. Trust me, you'll love it!

See, what did I tell you! Its like a cookie spa treatment.

That took a lot of energy, so now we have to let them rest and get to know each other.

We have to let your masks dry. I think a few minutes in the fridge will set you up nicely.

Oh no! That leftover chocolate looks lonely! Its okay, I have something that would like to meet you....

See, the crackers really liked what happened to the nilla wafers, so they wanted in on it, too.

Aw! Look at the big happy family. So sweet!

What do you mean you didn't know that he was gonna be involved?

Just know you were made for a specific purpose! Now, don't be scared, there are cheetos where you are going. I think you'll really get along with them.:)

You, too....you and the cheetos and your half-siblings will all get along just fine.

You might not fare so well....there's pasta down there!

Vote for Suzanne!!!

You know all those yummy recipes and funny stories I put on here from Chicken's in the Road? Well, she needs our help. She is in a contest to be a writer for Sam-e and she has asked all her readers to continually vote for her every day. Here is the link to the post where she explains and the link to vote is at the end of that post. I hope she gets it! I know I always come away from reading her blog with a big smile and usually a new recipe or two! So, please take a couple of minutes of your morning blog time and click the button to vote for her.:)

A fondant foray and a birthday visit

So, I made my multi-layered birthday cake. Here is the picture progression of that tragedy:

Red velvet cake and chocolate zucchini cake and crusting dark chocolate frosting

Layers that didn't want to lay down

Leftover tops with potential

The calm prettiness before the fondant storm

I really should have left well enough alone at this point, but alas its ever an experiment with me!

What you do with the leftovers...

I pressed the remnants into the bottom of a loaf pan and cut it in half and then frosted it. We don't want to be wasteful, now do we?

Where's that white elephant missing a foot?

I really don't think I'm going to be using fondant. Its a lot of hard work. Just rolling it out was craziness, not to mention the laying on and attempting to smooth it out like the directions say...
Ailey Grace taking a snooze.

The sweetness

Padrino a.k.a Juan and his goddaughter

Love this pic!

Somewhere between Killeen and San Antonio, the fondant drooped some more and I stretched it a bit more and cut off the ends. This of course left lovely chocolate fingerprints all over the place!

Braden was enjoying a spoonful of the leftover blue and yellow icing

Had a lot of fun going over the top with the decorations. Lots of candy sprinkles were eaten in the making of this cake;p

The first piece cut....that also made me not like the fondant so much. Its kinda a pain and it is just very bland.

This is Nina a.k.a. Donna, my fellow birthday girl.

Had a good time working in this kitchen. Living vicariously, people!

Look away! Scariness! or we could go with...."Everybody was kung fu fightin'!" Check out the 'stache:)

I love my family!!!

As we were leaving, we decided to have an impromtu photo shoot.

Zekes was trying so hard to copy Braden. So cute!

Braden was just having lots of fun posing.:)

Okay, keep your eyes on Zekey...

Success!

Ailey decided she had had enough!

She's outta there!

Trying to crawl to her refuge...she doesn't like grass yet;p

There's the Daddy!

Nina and Padrino's beautiful house.

Happy Birthday, to me!

First of all, Happy Veteran's Day to all you veterans! Next, its my birthday! Sam has the day off so we will prolly go do something fun. Yay!

Homemade yogurt adventure

Well, those of you who see me on facebook are already aware of my homemade yogurt experiment, but I wanted to put it on the blog to document it for posterity. I used this recipe (got it off of Chickens in the Road, of course!;), but instead of using 1/2 c. of dry milk to thicken, I used reconstituted dry milk for half of the milk used and then added another 1/2 cup for thickness. The other milk was a combination of organic skim and 2% milk. I also boiled down some strawberries and mixed that in at the end along with 1/2 a cup of sugar and 1/2 a cup of off-brand Splenda. Here is my picture documentary:

Was a little concerned over this consistency and let it sit over night

This is my favorite topping for strawberry shortcakes, so how can it not be great in yogurt!?

Liquidy stuff was still there in the morning, so I just mixed it up and it blended right together and looked very yogurty:) (one of these days I'll have enough Shelly-words to write my own dictionary;)

See? Pretty yummy.

Gonna have to get another pack of these. They are the perfect size.

See my sugar canister in the background? Found a whole set (flour, sugar, coffee and tea.)for $20 bucks at an estate sale about 4 years ago. I think they are from the fifties as far as I can tell. Cool, huh?

The boys were the official taste testers

Braden gave favorable reviews...

...in between bites

Zekey took to licking the drips from off of the table. He really liked it at first and then said he didn't. Oh, the inconstancy of a 2-year old!

All, in all this made quite a bit of yogurt. Getting it to all fit in our teeny-tiny refrigerator was the fun part...

Busy somethings

So, I though I'd put up some pics of the house we put an offer on. We are getting our inspection done tomorrow and then we'll have a general contractor come out and give us estimates on some things.

This tree is already beloved by the boys

Great back porch/patio

side view of the backyard and part of the shed

Very nice shed

Front of the house

laundry room (really excited about this!;)

The kitchen sans all appliances, except dishwasher. (look at all that counter space!!!)

The entryway into the dining room and kitchen. that is our realtor, Cher...she's awesome!

Sunken living room with old skool, funky chandelier

The super nice, shaded backyard

The smaller of the two reg. bedrooms

The larger of the two reg. bedrooms

This is one of the baths

Here is the master bathroom

This is the master bedroom and where Sam is in the back is the motel style bathroom.

This is the hallway

This is the back of the two-car garage

This is the front of the garage

Here are some misc. pics of Ailey Grace:

Yeah, I had to take pics of the stinkin' cutey shoes I found at Sears Grand on Saturday. This is her second pair of shoes, but the first ones I have bought for her. She was pretty fascinated by them. I was gonna put a bow on her head, too, but I forgot. Go figure;p

Lemon Curd

Oh my gish! I made lemon curd the other day and let me tell you I-AM-IN-LOVE! I've always wanted to try it because I would see it on the shelf in the fancy-schmancy gourmet shops, but I just couldn't justify spending $6+ for something I might not like and knew no one but me would want to try. SO, after seeing this recipe here for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with a Twist, I decided to try my hand at making my own lemon curd. Well, I started my research in the usual way by googling "lemon curd recipe" and opening 10 different browser windows and weeding each one out until I found the one I wanted. At first, I was a little dismayed because, it was going to take more effort than I had anticipated. They all had the eggs being cooked in a double boiler, blah, blah, blah, but then, I found this recipe for it:

Lemon Curd for Scottish Shortbread

by Elinor Klivans

Seeing a jar of lovely yellow lemon curd in the refrigerator will brighten anyone's day. Serve overThick Scottish Shortbread, or use as a spread for toast or English muffins, or a filling for cakes and tartlets.

Yields about 2 cups.

---

butteregg yolkslemons

3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

---

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.

In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 min. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don't let the mixture boil.

Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.

variations

For lime curd, substitute fresh lime juice and zest for lemon.

photo: Rita Maas

From Fine Cooking 26, pp. 52-54

April 1, 1998

Because you just mix everything together before you heat it up, I didn't have to strain it or anything. It was super easy! I also didn't follow the directions exactly and added the lemon zest at the very beginning instead of at the end and it still turned out just fine. Of course I added extra lemon juice and zest and wow is it lemony! Its just the way I like it! Here is my lemon curd:

The lemon poppyseed muffin recipe says to put a dollop of lemon curd halfway between the batter and then cook them, but I really want to have the lemon curd be more of a filling, so I piped it in after the muffins were cooked. Here's what I ended up with (Oh and I totally forgot to put the poppy seeds in before I filled about half of the muffin cups, so I just mixed it into the batter that I had left. Haha! So, some are just lemon muffins...):

This is lemony goodness!

Yeah, I know...I can tell you wanna come over and have a tea party with me....hhhhmmmm...a tea party.....we should have one of those....

Boys on a picnic

So, I made the boys a picnic lunch today. Braden had been asking for it for a while and today is such a beautiful day for a picnic! Thought I would document the occasion through a picture montage:

Been makin' my own baby food!

So far its only sweet potatoes mashed to smitherines, but butternut squash, peas and green beans are on the way to baby food land! I can't believe I ever thought this would be hard...craziness.