Category Archives: Kitchen-Cooking & Misc

Under the Influence (Cheese-ball)

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IMG_8886I got a little brainwashed during the days leading up to the super bowl. Normally, I don’t pay commercials any attention. However, after several decades of being exposed to them, one can’t help but experience some influence… and that’s why for the first time ever, I felt the need to make a cheese-ball.

I went in search of a cheese-ball recipe and it was over whelming. I got the general gist of what makes a cheese ball. Cream cheese was a reigning requirement, the majority of recipes called for 2 packs. I don’t usually have cream cheese on hand, but amazingly enough I had one pack left over from the holidays.

Many recipes called for chopping up things like onions, garlic, nuts and peppers to add to it. That’s okay, but I was in no mood to deal with that much work.

Mix everything together. Form into a ball. Refrigerate til firm.

Mix everything together.
Form into a ball.
Refrigerate til firm.
Roll cheese-ball in crushed crackers or crushed nuts.
Serve with crackers

So, I created my own recipe. It’s plain and a bit blandish, but served on Italian Herb Flatbread (crackers), it tastes quite good.IMG_8892

I’ll probably, make my cheese-ball a part of our traditional holiday recipes.
Fortunately, I can add anything I want in it and change it up special for whatever holiday or occasion I make it for.IMG_8904

Happy cooking!
chefspflwrsln

Boiled Custard Bread

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IMG_8003During this past holiday, I decided to try drinking some boiled custard. I hadn’t had any since I was a child and I forgot what it taste like. The custard was quite nice and had the taste of melted ice cream.

picgifs-cooking-166988I thought about the boiled custard. Since it tasted like melted ice cream, I figured it might be good to cook something with. The only melted ice cream recipe I recalled was for bread.
I looked up ice cream bread recipes and then adjusted the ingredients to fit my needs. I used just 2 ingredients: boiled custard and self rising flour.

The bread turned out beautifully. The texture of this bread is firm and it has a light cakey taste to it. I’m tickled how just 2 ingredients made such a nice loaf of bread.

My hubby says the bread doesn’t have much taste, but it does have a nice texture. He thought it might be good with sugar added to the mix.
I think he’s right, it’d make a dandy strawberry shortcake. but I haven’t tried making it with sugar yet.

Here’s my recipe if you want to try it.

Boiled Custard Bread
1 1/2 cup Boiled custard
2 cups self rising flour
Mix together.
Pour into prepared 8″ loaf pan. (I use olive oil baking spray to prepare the pan)
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 45 minutes or until done.
~*~

~*~
Let me know if you try my recipe and any changes you make to it.
Have you made anything using boiled custard?
Do you make your own boiled custard?

Wishing you all a sweet rest of the week!
chef
spgrnbgln

Friday Five – Triops, Screech, Sheli & stuff

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There be dinosaurs here. Yep, my Grandson and I are growing dinosaurs, well, sort of. We’re growing Triops (tadpole shrimp) fairy shrimp from a Smithsonian kit. The Triops are considered to be living fossils since their fossil records date back from 200 million years or more.
When these critters hatched they were so tiny they were almost microscopic and could only be seen with a magnifying glass. Three days later they were a smidge bigger and I made a video of them. They’re the tiny smudges swimming around. I put a ruler behind the tank so you can kind of see how tiny they are.
There seems to be some issues with my  Not-Triops video loading. If it doesn’t load you may want to check back later. I figure YouTube is swamped with surfers and that causing some of the issues.

~edited in 12-27-2014~

I made some changes to the title and description of my video because my commenters on Youtube identified the shrimp as fairy shrimp and not triops.
~I originally thought these were Triops, tadpole shrimp because I used a Smithsonian Sea Monster Kit (that says Triops is what’s supposed to hatch.)
Last week, Within the first 24 hours of putting the egg-moss in the water, there were oodles of teeny-tiny almost microscopic critters that hatched out.
I’m guessing there were triops in the hatching, but the fairy shrimp were the stronger and they survived.
I’m going to try again to hatch some Triops using another Smithsonian Sea Monster Kit… maybe with luck a few Triops will hatch and survive.
🙂
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IMG_7667Even though the weather has turned super cold, Screech is still here most of the time. We were surprised when he showed back up last fall. We’re happy he’s still hanging around.
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IMG_8169Sheli has enjoyed napping ‘neath the Christmas tree these past couple weeks. Surprisingly he hasn’t tried to chew up any of the holiday decor. He’s such a cutie-pie I couldn’t resist taking a photo…
soft puppy, warm puppy, little ball of fur 2
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IMG_8464After all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I figure most of us have earned a few moments to relax and unwind from the stress… and what better way to relax then with a treat that requires no cooking or baking… just mix 4 ingredients together and then enjoy or put in the fridge to enjoy later. Either way it’s a tasty treat.
Can of crushed pineapple, can of cherry pie filling, box of jello cheese cake pudding mix & whip cream. You could use other pie fillings in this instead of cherry. I think blueberry would be fun and I think apple pie filling might be yummy too.
Here’s a link to the recipe with the amounts needed of each ingredient and tutorial from the Country Cook. Cherry Pie Fluff
chef
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IMG_7845The other day, as I was taking groceries out of the trunk of our car, I saw a sticker on the side of the trunk. It’s a curious thing to me and I wonder what it means. I’ve asked several people and so far no one knows.
I think the no-gas part means not to put gas in the trunk, but the other part of the sticker is a bit odd. What does the exclamation point on a book mean?
I thought I’d share it here and see if any of my Blogging Buddies or Readers know and will help solve my mystery.
0rangespacer2This wraps it up for me for this week.
I hope you all had a joyous holiday and are getting ready for a wonderful new year.

b0614Wishing you all a fabulous weekend.
🙂skyspacer

Potato Soup

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IMG_72250Here lately, the weather has been dreary and cool. The gray drear is somewhat of a downer, but I’m not complaining about the cool temps, they’re a nice break from the hot muggy dog days of Summer. Sadly, the days are much shorter. I miss the longer afternoons/evenings of enjoying the sun. A few of the trees are starting to loose some leaves. There’s definitely a feel of Fall all around us.

I told my husband, this is the type of weather just right for a comforting bowl of potato soup. My husband heartily agreed. Happily, I made a pot of potato soup. I used some of our homegrown potatoes and onions. I made a pone of my southern cornbread. It was a mighty-tasty meal, even if I do say so myself.

With my Fall moodiness, I thought it’d be a good time to share my favorite potato soup recipe with you.
If you give this soup a try, let me know how you like it.

I hope the rest of your week goes super.

chef-2
3-spcbg

Potato Soup

2 or 3 cups potatoes peeled and cut into 3/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
2  or 3 cups chicken broth
1 cup of water – if needed add water to cover the potatoes in liquid
1 cup milk
About 1/2 cup instant potatoes
Salt and pepper or your choice of herbs to taste – optional
1/2 cup chopped onion or garlic – optional
~
Cook the potatoes, onions, salt and pepper in the chicken broth and water.
When potatoes are tender add the instant potatoes & milk.
If too thick add more milk. If it’s too thin add more instant potatoes.
Cook it about 15 minutes more.
~
added thoughts:
*After the soup is done, turn the stove on lowest temperature setting and let the pot of soup simmer for a little while to let the seasoning/potatoes blend better. Check it often in case it needs more milk or to be removed from burner.
*enhancements: Add bacon bits, sour-cream, cheese or cornbread
*I realize this recipe reads pretty bland, but I make my own broth, therefore it’s already seasoned with herbs and gives a good taste to the potato soup without my having to add more seasonings.

Original Recipe by my BFF

picgifs-cooking-166988spgrnbgln

Mostly Corny Post

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IMG_5029We had sort of a corny weekend with gardening. We harvested a lot of produce.
My husband harvested all the potatoes and onions over a 2 day period. He had to stop the first evening because after we harvested the corn and squash, he started digging potatoes as the sun was setting.IMG_5078Some of the potatoes are huge.IMG_5196IMG_5118The onions are drying on a table on the back-porch, and the potatoes are drying on garbage bags in my craft room.
My craft room is fast becoming a food-cellar. lolIMG_5152It may not look like a lot of potatoes, but it’s more than plenty for us. After the potatoes dry a couple weeks or more we’ll put them in mesh bags and stack them somewhere…  and then I’ll have my floor back. lol
But I fear my craft table is going to be full quite awhile before I can use it again. So, for now, I’ll use the dining room table for sewing and stuff.

My BFF knew we harvested some corn, so she sent me a link to a video on how to cook and shuck corn using the microwave. She wanted me to try it and see if it would work.
How to cook and shuck corn with the microwave
I was super surprised that yes indeed it does work just like the video says. It took only 4 minutes and there was no silks on the cooked ear of corn. I like that. Here’s a photo of my using the microwave cooking & shucking method. IMG_5105
My husband harvested all the mature ears of corn. We’re not planning on harvesting the rest of the corn when it matures. We’re going leave it for the deer, racoons and other wildlife.
IMG_5005IMG_5135We used the normal method of shucking to prepare our corn for freezing. We’re happy we had about a bushel of corn. We put up 26 bags of corn-off-the-cob.
we used this method:
How to freeze corn – pickyourown.org

Here’s of photo montage of our corny process that we did.

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Click on this photo to see a bigger photo

I put up 4 bags of corn-on-the-cob for our Grandson when he comes to visit.
I used the same method for freezing except I left the corn-on-the-cob. I wrapped the ears individually in cling wrap, put a few ears in a gallon Ziploc vacuum sealer bag, sealed it and put it in the freezer. By wrapping them individually, they won’t be stuck together and I can take out the amount I need to cook.IMG_5186
And so it goes in our neck of the woods. We’ve been busy busy busy.

I hope you all had a good weekend.
Have a super week!
gardeningcouple
spgrnbgln