Breakfast

Thick cut french toast served with strawberries, bananas, and pecans. Alternatively sandwiched with nutella and served with strawberries and marshmallows, hash, and strawberry yogurt,

Chantilly Frosting

Chantilly Cream Frosting

1 stick Salted butter softened

1 16oz Mascarpone cheese softened

1 8oz Cream cheese softened 

3 cups confectioner's sugar 

1 cup Heavy whipping cream whipped thick 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Cream the butter, mascarpone and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Maybe 4 minutes. Add in the confectioner's sugar and continue to mix. I used my mixer with paddle attachment. In a separate bowl, whip your whipping cream and vanilla extract. Whip until stiff peaks form in the whipping cream. If the whipping cream is too soft, it will make the frosting runny. Next, gently fold the whipping cream into your creamed butter and cheese mixture by hand with a rubber spatula. Mix just enough to incorporate to a smooth consistency for frosting your cake or cupcakes. If not using immediately, refrigerate in a closed container and remove 5 to 10 minutes before frosting your cake of cupcakes. 

Waffle bowls

You can buy waffle bowls at the grocery store these days. I microwaved a hand full of semi sweet chocolate chips in the microwave with a little coconut oil, dipped the waffle bows in the melted chocolate, and then decorated with sprinkles, chopped nuts, and frozen smashed raspberries. I had the raspberry rimmed bowl with vanilla icecream and fresh raspberries. I wanted to add sliced peaches, but they aren't ripe just yet. Other family members had mint icecream with chocoalte chips, and vanilla icecream with lots of sprinkles. We tried gummy bears, but they get hard when they are cold and were not appreciated.

Pecan pancakes

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 tablespoon white sugar 

1 egg 

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Cast Iron Pizza

Yield:  1 12-inch pizza

2 ¼ tsp. active dry yeast

½ tsp. brown sugar

1 ¼ C. warm water 110° F

4 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

¼ C butter

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

cooking spray

½ C. pizza sauce

2 C. shredded cheese

Sprinkle yeast and brown sugar over warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.  Turn mixer to the lowest setting and slowly add 2 cups flour 1/2 cup at a time. Add garlic, salt, and butter. Integrate remaining 2 cups flour and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes.  Coat a large glass bowl with 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil. Shape dough into a ball and place in bowl, turning to coat all sides with oil. Spray a piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray and loosely cover bowl. Cover bowl with a towel and let rise in a warm area until dough has doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Punch down dough and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

If you are using a meat filling, cook it while dough is resting. If you are making pizza sauce, do it now.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 12-inch cast iron skillet with 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil.  Press dough into and up the sides of the prepared skillet. Poke holes in dough with a fork to prevent air bubbles. Spread pizza sauce around the base of the crust. Sprinkle 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese over sauce; layer half the meat filling over cheese. Repeat the layers of cheese and meat. Top with remaining 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese.   Bake in preheated oven on the bottom rack until crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes.  Remove pizza from skillet and let rest for 3 to 5 minutes before slicing.

Peppermint miniatures

Fimo dough replicas of the starlight mints and peppermint nougats.

Cleveland

Haaaa. If you can't read it, it says "Financial Mistake". Ah, Cleveland.

Dice Tray

I made this delightful dice tray at Origins Gaming Convention this year.  The corners have snaps riveted in, so it can lay flat for storage. Two traditional Celtic knots grace the corners and an E is emblazon in the center.

Ya ha ha

Dave and I have been playing the newest Zelda, Breath of the Wild. One of the fun challenges in the game is finding all the Koroks and collecting the korok seeds. They are sneak little hidden tree spirits (similar to Kodama). Dave and I each made our own tree spirits, and have been hiding them around the house for the other to find. As a bonus, there is less clutter hiding about the house as we tidy up trying to look for the spirits.

Bird Seed Cookies

3/4 C. Flour

1/2 C. Water

1 package Knox gelatin

3 TB. Corn syrup

4 C. Bird seed

Heat water, gelatin and corn syrup together over a low heat. No need to boil. Mix flour and seed together in a mixing bow, then slowly add the gelatin mixture. While cooling, put out parchment paper on our counter, and choose your favorite cookie cutters. Spray those cookie cutters with cooking spray. Next, fill the cutters with the gelatin mixture, pressing in the mixture tightly. Use a straw or toothpick to poke a hole through the ornament (for hanging). Then remove from cookie cutters and let dry for several hours. Once dry, you can attach ribbon or string and hang for the birds!

Las Vegas

 

click for album

Happy 10 Year Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to Dave and I on ten wonderful years of marriage. In celebration, in addition to taking a week off of work and sharing a new walk location each day, we have been cooking dinner together. Tonight I made petit filet mignon. I started with two fillets, wrapped the outside in two strips of bacon, and secured the meat with a piece of butcher's twine. I made an compound butter with roasted garlic, fox point seasoning, finest herbs seasoning, and fresh ground black pepper and kosher salt flakes. The butter was allowed to chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes until it was firm. To cook the steaks, I preheated the oven to 400*. I used my small cast iron skillet. Generously season both top and bottom of fillets with salt and pepper. In the skillet over medium high heat, melt 4 Tb of butter and 2 Tb olive oil. When melted, add steaks and sear for two to three minutes per side until a crust is formed. I also cooked the bacon exterior in the same way. At this point I added the roasted garlic and mushrooms. Transfer pan to the oven and bake for 6-10 minutes. Steak will be ready when it is approximately 135 degrees in the center, or when you push lightly on the top center of the steak and it gently and slowly bounces back. Watch carefully especially if your steaks are thinner. Top with compound butter

Springfield Bog Prarie

Turkey Vultures

Hinckley park.

Apostle Islands

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Stormy Trip

Wow, look at the road damage from the rains! Click for full album.

Stormy Skies

I put together this sky jigsaw picture from photos I've taken over the last week. It's been unpredictable to say the least. The weather man says it will get warmer from here on.

Dino Trouble

My dinosaur pal was left behind at the hotel. The least I could do is show him a good time. We ate cookies, got our nails done, went for a dip in the pool, than caused a little chaos in the lobby.

Ginger Harvest

 
I dug up the ginger today. Frost is on the way, and I didn't want the plants to get damaged and start rotting. In theory, you can leave it planted for next year. If trying (and failing) with with strawberries, chives, rosemary, and sage was any indication, it gets too cold to leave it in the ground. Dig up ginger when leaves begin to die back. Trim off leafy bits, wash off ginger chunks, then store (dry) in a Ziplock baggie in the refrigerator. Will keep for 3 months (in theory).

Scrubbies

Material:
'K' hook
1 yard nylon netting

Pattern:
Cut Nylon Netting into 2" wide strips. Knot ends together to make one long continuous strip.

Rnd 1 (right side): Ch 4, sl st in first ch to form ring, ch 3(counts as dc), 11 dc in ring; join with sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch-3. (12 dc)
Rnd 2: Ch 2 (counts as hdc), hdc in same st as joining, 2 hdc in each st around; join with sl st in 2nd ch of beg ch-2. Fasten off.

Other Side: Rep Rnds 1-2 but do not fasten off.
Joining Circles: With wrong sides of each circle facing each other and working through both  thicknesses at the same time, sl st in each st around. Fasten off and weave in ends.