Monday, December 10, 2007

Dessert, dessert and more dessert

Today is my birthday!! And what better birthday present could a sugar-aholic girl like me ask for than lots and lots of dessert.

Tom threw me two wonderful, sugar-filled parties. All the desserts were hand selected and made from scratch by none other than Thomas himself. And boy were they delicious!

The first party included 5 mini desserts: Mini Monster Cookies, FBPs, Kentucky Butter Cake, Great Harvest Brownies, and Two-Layer Key Lime Pie.

The second, more intimate party was topped off with this divine Quadruple-Berry Trifle.

Thanks T for a wonderful, sugary birthday.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Cinnamon Rolls


I discovered a great recipe for divine cinnamon rolls at pioneer woman cooks. I followed the recipe exactly, except I omitted the coffee in the frosting and added vanilla and a little more butter in its place. And I halved the recipe. It still made two cake pans worth of rolls. I wonder if you could make the whole batch and freeze some of the dough?


Anyway, give them a try and let me know what you think.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Rodeo Queen (and King)

We recently went to a high school rodeo where my nephew and niece rocked the arena.

Brady and TJ took third here. The weekend before they took 1st place at two rodeos. They are both ranked number one in the state.
Brady roped his calf very quickly. He just needs to throw the calf down with a little more strength.
Cheyenne roped the steers horns very quickly and looked great doing it.
Grace and Tashina had fun watching.
.Isn't she beautiful.

Prefontaine Lives!

the
A few weeks ago we participated in the annual Butch Cassidy 1oK and the legend Steve Prefonatine decided to run it as well, oh wait that was actually Thomas. Dad, Suzanne (as a race bandit), Thomas and I all ran it. It was a beautiful fall day and we all had lots of fun.
Dad defended his title as 1st place finisher in his age group for two years in a row(1:03:01.4). Tom took third in his age group (40:50.0), and it's a very difficult age group. Suzanne PR'ed and I just had fun finishing two months after giving birth(55:27.7).

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Happy Halloween!!


We had a fun Halloween at the school carnival and trunk-o-treating!


Eliza was scared of the man on stilts.

Porter liked to honk his own nose.


Our little pumpkin.

Eliza was a "nice" witch. And scared of most of the costumed people at the carnival.

Now we get to enjoy the effects of all the candy they got.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Favorite Fall Pie

About two years ago I discovered a great apple-cranberry pie recipe in Bon Appetit. Since then, it has become a fall must-have at my house. I changed the original recipe a bit so below is my take on Apple-Cranberry Crumb Pie from Novemeber 2005 Bon Appetit. (And its a good thing I am getting this recipe written somewhere else. My magazine pages are all stuck together and I may not be able to access them again.)

Honey Crust
1 3/4 all-purpose flour (last time I used half whole wheat. Yum!)
2 T sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 c (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 c honey
2 large egg yolks
1 T ice water
Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk honey, yolks and ice water in bowl. Add honey mixture to flour mixture; using on/off turns, process until clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 1 hour. You can make this without a processor as well. Just cut in the butter with knife or pastry cutter. After adding liquid, mix just until clumps form.

Streusel
1/2 c flour (i used whole wheat)
1/2 c packed brown sugar
6 T chilled butter, cubed
1 t cinnamon
3/4 c old-fashioned oats

Combine flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon in bowl. Using fork or pastry cutter, mash until moist clumps form. Mix in oats.

Filling
3/4 c sugar
3 T cornstarch
2 t cinnamon
3 1/2 pounds golden delicious apples, peeled, quartered, and thinly sliced
1 - 1 1/2 cups cranberries, coarsely chop some of them and leave some whole.
2-3 T orange juice concentrate

Mix sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apples, cranberries and juice. Let stand until juices form, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Roll dough out on floured surface to a 13-14 inch round (the dough is very sticky from the honey. Mine always sticks, but i just kind of press it into the pie plate as best I can).Transfer to 10 inch pie plate and crimp edges. Transfer filling to crust.Top with streusel and press lightly to adhere.

Bake at 350 until streusel is crisp and browned and filling is bubbly, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Serve pie at room temperature.


Let me know what you think or if you have any great Fall recipes.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Laundry Soap


So I just discovered a new laundry detergent that I love. It all came about because my washing machine was broken again. The repair guy came out and told me I really need to be using a "HE" detergent. I have resisted because I am a cheapskate. But I decided I would give in and try it.

I was at Costco and the Kirkland "HE" was too expensive and you had to use twice as much for "HE"machines. I just couldn't bring myself to buy it. So there I was standing at Costco having a huge internal battle, when a sweet old taste-tester lady quietly drew my attention to her table, tucked away in the back corner of Costco. "Try this detergent," she practically whispered. I looked it over, and saw that it was "environmentally friendly," "HE" comaptible, and cheaper than the Kirkland "HE" detergent. I was sold.

I brought it home and immediately put it to the test. I use only a tiny bit of detergent. There are 5 lines on the cap. The second line is for regular loads. I have been using between the 2nd and 3rd lines for my huge loads (proabably around 1/8 to 1/4 cup). It seems to be getting my clothes clean. I am doing my part to save the environment. And it smells phenomenal (it is scented with natural lavender oil). I have never had wonderful smelling laundry detergent before (remember I am a cheapskate) but when I open up the washer when the load is done, the smell just greets me. And it continues to converse with me while I am folding and putting the clothes away as well. And even when I wear the clothes a week later.

Wintree is only available at Costco. It costs $10.25 for 125 loads (filled to the second line).