It Came From Outer Space!

Jiggly, gelatinous, jaunty?  Hard to know exactly how to describe it... we were visited this week by...

THE BLOB.

It came from outer space, I swear!  Or, well, it might have come out of a saucepan that somehow found itself on the stove top in my kitchen.  The really odd thing is, this is how I was hoping it would turn out!  Yes, hard to believe that a big white gelatinous glob was actually a desirable result, but there it is.  

This was actually the first step in a frosting recipe I made this week.  Called simply "Rich Vanilla Frosting," it began by combining milk and flour in a sealed container and shaking them together.  Then I was to cook it until thickened, and chill at least 2 hours in a "small bowl."  Finally it was added to a butter, sugar, and vanilla mixture, one-fourth at a time.  

The resulting frosting was actually fairly good, tasting much more like a whipped frosting than a standard butter-cream.  I really only had a couple problems with it.   First of all, the blob didn't completely dissolve in the butter/sugar, and small pieces could be seen in the end product.  Didn't seem to affect the taste, much, so that was good!   The other issue was another problem with texture, and this was that the sugar (plain granulated) also didn't really dissolve in the butter, leaving a grainy texture to the overall recipe.  If I make this again, I will probably try a finer grain sugar, and maybe beat it longer after adding the "blobby" part.  

This frosting recipe was part of a "Buster Brown Cake" recipe I found online.  I had never heard of a Buster Brown cake, and since I was needing to make something to take to a scrapbooking night I thought I'd try a new recipe! The flavor was very good, but the texture was a little crumbly and sticky, resulting in a collapsed, crumbly mess when I took it out of the pan.  

Luckily, I had also portioned some of the batter into cupcake papers, and did manage to salvage a few for the party.  They didn't quite form normal, pretty cupcakes, either, and the frosting, while tasting good, didn't spread very smoothly.  The recipe I used showed the cupcakes with nice piped frosting, and it probably would have worked better that way, but I ran out of time.  Maybe next time. 

If you're interested in trying this unique recipe yourself, I found it at this website.

  

Branching Out

So I've decided to both widen and narrow my horizons.  This blog is feeling a little disjointed, so I am planning to open a new blog dedicated to our travels.  It is titled "A Weekend Wanderlust" and can be found here.

This will widen the number of my blogs, but narrow this one back to mostly baking and the fur-babies.

Speaking of which...

 So the other night we decided to make a campfire in our fire-pit in the back yard.  We brought hot dogs, buns, giant marshmallows, and all the makings for s'mores.  Ember was thrilled to be outside with us for once,  rather than outside by herself.  She got to eat a hot dog, and was even sitting right up next to the fire pit.  (She used to cower in the corner of the yard when we had a fire!)


I thought the fire was particularly lovely, and tried to snap some photos of it... hard to do in the dark and with the movement of the flames, but I got a couple pics.


As I mentioned above, Ember doesn't like being outside alone.  In the mornings, she knows my routine well enough to know when I'm getting ready to leave for work.  She will then put herself to "bed" (in the bathroom), preferring to be locked up all day rather than stay out in the nice big back yard.

Last night we were watching Ghostbusters, and heard an eerie sound coming from outside.  Really, I mean the hairs on my arms stood straight up, it was that chilling! Well, it was the dog. Silly pup thinks that when she hears a siren in the distance it's some other lonely dog crying out it's sorrow, and she feels the need to communicate back with it!  She only does this when she thinks she's alone, and it's funny but creepy, too.  Wish I could get it recorded- it would make a great Halloween sound effect!

Meow

Greetings, humans.  I have taken over this blog to bring to your attention a grievous wrong that is being perpetrated upon myself. Because of this wrong, I am intending to go on hunger strike... a strike from hunger!  

Yes, hard though it is to believe, my human thinks that I have gotten (can you believe this??) fat.  She is starving me... STARVING ME I say! Not only is she measuring out my kibble in teeny portions, but she then puts it in this abomination: 

I am then expected to knock it back and forth to get even a single bite of my necessary sustenance.  I tell her every morning to feed me already, but does she listen?  No.  She waits until she's on her way out the door.  She doesn't even succeed in keeping that creature from eating my food!  Oh, the outrage.

But no, never fear, I will get my revenge.  And someday I will once again control the tops of the counters, the back of the couch, and my cushy chair in front of the TV.                      
                                                   
Then my time will come and I will feast on fish and as much kibble as I want.

As well, I will have free reign of the house, inside and out, and will no longer be forced to sit idly by as everyone else goes to play in the back yard, leaving me stuck on the deck, or worse, inside.  

Yes, hear me, Humans... my time will come!! Mwahahaha- meow!

I Went to the Animal Fair...

The birds and the beasts were there!!  Remember that old song??  Well, I didn't go to the animal fair, but this past weekend we did go to the State Fair!  Though it threatened rain, we braved the trip to Hutchinson and enjoyed the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the annual fair!

It was an extended-family excursion, so our first stop was all the animal pens so the little ones could see the animals and, in come cases, even pet the animals! We started with the horses, continued into the goats, and then to the "birthing exhibit" where pregnant and newborn animals were housed.















There were two pregnant cows, but neither were actually in labor at the moment, which was probably for the best!  Baby lambs (spray painted blue for some reason), calves, and pigs rounded out our visit, along with an incubator with newly-hatched chicks.

As we finished with the baby animals it was suggested we continue the livestock theme, continuing on to the small animal building.  There we encountered fluffy bunnies, noisy roosters, and other prize-winning poultry.

The kiddos were getting restless by this point, so they rode the spinning strawberries, then we all grabbed a bite to eat.  Now, when it comes to the State Fair, you can not go and not eat at least one fried food.  It's the law!  There are so many options, sometimes I wish I could go to the fair 2 or 3 days to try all the different foods without making myself sick, but this time I did try to limit my intake.  I got the obligatory Pronto Pup, which was quite satisfying, and decided to wait to eat anything else, though others in our group got foods such as sausage on a stick, fried vegetables, and hot fresh corn on the cob (yes, a much healthier choice, but I was not wearing my dietitian hat that day!) 

Next on the agenda was all the artwork.  They had signs up asking us not to take pictures of the original art, but there were some very good pieces.  On one end of the hall had a display by the "block stackers" that was in memorial of September 11th... a very nice display and I did have to grab a picture of that. They stacked wooden blocks in recreations of the two towers (and the third and fourth buildings that fell later that day) and the Pentagon.  This year being the 10th anniversary has really made us stop and think and remember those who were lost on that terrible day. 

Well, back to a lighter note... outside we got to see all the tractors and antique engines: 

Then we went into the Kansas and Meadowlark buildings where vendors were set up with educational displays, political displays, and displays trying to sell you useless trinkets!  We did fall victim to one seller, and bought a gel-filled bag that would crystallize and heat up instantaneously when you click a metal disc embedded in the gel.  It then stays warm for up to an hour!  So we bought one, of course. I also saw a display from a kitchen remodeling company and liked their kitchen so much I took a picture to remind the hubby of my dream of a gourmet kitchen! 

 We also saw displays of Kansas agriculture, including wheat, giant vegetables, and decorative gourds... have I mentioned I love fall??

I liked the wheat "fountain", the prize pumpkin, and all the funny looking gourds.  They also had scarecrows decorated as everything from characters from the Wizard of Oz to Rapunzel from Disney's Tangled!  I was tempted to buy the giant cinnamon rolls sold in the bakery there, but restrained myself.

  

So, after enjoying the displays the larger group split up.  Hubby and I went to view the trailers and RVs as  we've been thinking of buying one.  The rest of the group went off to the fairway to put the kiddos on rides.  We did find the RVs; also passed a military display and got to see a few nice big tanks. 

Then we headed out to catch up with everyone on the fairway, stopping on the way for some more goodies... this time indulging in fried cookie dough and fried kool-aid.  Yeah... not our wisest pick, I'm afraid.  The cookie dough wasn't too bad, but I'm not fond of the batter they used, and ended up eating the dough out of the center.  The koolaid, on the other hand, was basically koolaid powder mixed into dough and fried... not even cooked all the way through.  It resulted in a gooey mess that was very tart, as they didn't add any sugar to the koolaid mix.  Blah.  If I was making it, I would have added sugar, made a thicker sweet dough, maybe corn-based like a hush-puppy.  And cooked it all the way through. 

So, the sky was clouding up again and storms were brewing, so we made our way through the crowds and on to home.  Overall it was a pretty good day, and I highly recommend State Fairs to anyone who hasn't attended one.  (Well, even if you have attended one, you should go again!!) 

  

Randomness

So today I'm feeling random.  I am discovering having a blog is a lot more work than I thought it would be! You have to have something interesting to say, which I'm sure I usually don't! :)  And you have to remember to take pictures of absolutely everything.   But in spite of all this, I'm going to keep chugging away at it!

Ok, so today is just a collection of shorter blurbs I haven't really had time or inclination to blog about on longer posts.  First of all, I'd like to say...

I did it!!  Finally, I succeeded in making a red velvet cake that didn't collapse, was nicely red, and actually tasted good! (ok, I thought it tasted a little bit too much like red food coloring, but none of my taste testers thought it tasted funny). I used Paula Deen's red velvet cupcake recipe, which included oil (yes I know I swore I wouldn't make another recipe with oil in it, but I figured Paula must know what she was doing) and only a teaspoon of cocoa rather than the 1-2 tablespoons other recipes had called for.  Here's the link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/red-velvet-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/index.html

And here's some pics...

Really pretty, if I do say so myself, when the cream cheese frosting was added and the cake layered.   I couldn't get over the feeling that there was too much red coloring flavor and not much cocoa.  So I made the recipe again, into cupcakes this time, with half the coloring and twice the cocoa.  It was still pretty red and tasted much better! 

And while on the subject of baking, I tried these "healthy brownies" the other day... and while yes the recipe does say "healthy" in the name it's really surprisingly good!  Here's the recipe: http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/healthy-makeover-brownies-recipe

And the pic:

Now the recipe calls for coffee (which I don't drink) and a lot more sugar than I would like to add to "healthy" recipes.  So I left out the coffee and cut the sugar in half, using Splenda in place of the extra sugar.  The recipe claims the calories per brownie are 95, but my version cut it down to a slender 70 calories each! 

Now I need to throw in a few notes about Splenda.  In the future, if I'm not eating these brownies all on the day they're made, I will probably use all the sugar after all.  I love Splenda in moist foods (oatmeal, hot chocolate, apple crisp or pies, etc) but when making you really need some of the chemical processes from normal sugar.  Sugar contributes to browning and moisture content, and so, lacking the full amount of sugar, these brownies dried out pretty quickly.  They also had a more cake-like texture rather than the chewy texture I  really like.  The granulated splenda is like 80% air, so it fizzes and bubbles when added to liquids, and contributes a little bit of leavening in baked goods.  Cookies and brownies will end up much more like a cake or muffin texture because of this fact.  So even when trying to cut back, it's better to go no more than 1/2 and 1/2, or less, when substituting splenda so that you maintain some of the original texture.  And no matter what they say about measuring cup-for-cup, I find that I usually want to add more Splenda than I would sugar.  

But they had a very good flavor.  

So... next random subject: Puppy Dog!  Yes, I am like a proud mommy with my little "fur-baby" so that it seems like everything she does is so smart, so cute, and picture and blog- worthy.  So first off, the other day we went shopping and picked up a new puppy...

Just kidding.  Ember didn't like being in the bag very much, but it made a cute picture.  (Don't worry, no puppies were harmed in the making of this photo)

Ember really is funny, though.  The other day I was trying to make fondant for the "Great Cake Challenge" (I really need a more creative name for that, if anyone has any suggestions!) and Ember thought she'd "help"... basically by licking up any powdered sugar that fell on the floor.  In the process she ended up covered with the sugar herself!  Silly puppy!!


Random topic #4: Weather.  So the other night we had storms roll through.  Actually, they never did make it to our house but there were tornado warnings south of us and the sky was looking very threatening... and a very strange orangey color!
  

 So it was fun to look at the cool clouds and orange sky.  It's a better color than green, unless, of course, you're planning on a tornado-chasing excursion.


Not that I would ever do such a thing....

Maybe we shouldn't mention this discussion to my dad- might bring up bad memories...

Hmmm.

ANYway, back to the subject at hand.

Another fun weather phenomenon... this morning on my way to work there were two rainbow fragments hanging in the sky! I could only get one to show up on the camera... but there were two, I swear it!!


So there are my random thoughts for today.  Hopefully later this week I'll put together a more organized post!

Morning Romp

So Ember, as I've mentioned, likes to play with her ball.  That's pretty much all she wants to do... though she sometimes is willing to substitute a rope or stuffed toy for the ball.  She has us pretty well trained, and we usually give in and kick or throw the ball on command.

The other morning as I was getting ready for work, Ember decided I was apparently too busy to entertain her, so she actually entertained herself (a very rare occurrence).  So as I was making breakfast, I hear her barking out in the yard.  Since the weather has cooled down, I leave the back door open so she can come in and out at will while I get ready.  I peeked out to see what she was barking at and had to grab the camera...

Ember had grabbed her ball and was running around the yard shaking it, throwing it, growling at it, and generally having a blast!  You can see the point where she notices me, but she keeps playing by herself instead of bringing the ball to me to throw, again, another unusual behavior for her.  But it was fun to watch! 

Another toy Ember has out in the yard is this biiiig ball that is almost as big as she is, and we'll usually kick it to get it started, then watch her chase it around the yard, barking like a maniac.  Sometimes we'll kick it into the air and she'll chest bump it mid-flight. Superdog!!

 I haven't caught that on video, but the other night she did chase it around the yard for a while... before deciding it was time to return to her red ball so that I could participate too.  How thoughtful of her! She also likes to catch the ball mid-air... someday I swear we'll turn her into a champion Frisbee dog or something!!

Yes, Ember works hard at playing hard.  She has springs for legs, the body of a gazelle, and enough energy to power our entire household, and probably a few of the neighbors' as well! (If we could just harness that power for the good of mankind....) She's a lovable fluffball who just wants to share the joy of "fetch" with all her loved ones.  Silly pupzillicus.  

Fall is Fun

Ok, so I know it's not officially "fall" yet.  I even know that, while we have finally had a break from 100+ temperatures all summer, the cooler weather still isn't quite cool enough to be called an "autumn chill".  But I love fall.  It's probably my most favoritest season of the year... Christmastime notwithstanding because it's not a "season" (no matter how many greeting cards proclaim otherwise), it is a month, a time, yes the "most wonderful time" of the year, but not really a season!




So Fall is my favorite season for many reasons which I will probably enumerate later. But for now, I want to talk about how fall has come to our house.  This past weekend, celebrating the end of summer (and therefore the start of fall, right??) we took down all our normal decor and redid the house as a fall wonderland.

We added new decorations to our knick-knack shelves; even Cassie got into the sprirt!

I put together a pretty nice (if I do say so myself) centerpiece for the living room coffee table.  We also added a centerpiece and nice decorative leaves over the dining room table.

We completed the effect with scarecrows... scarecrows everywhere! Yes, fall is scarecrows.  So I have scarecrows on the walls, scarecrows on the cabinets, scarecrows on quilts... scarecrows are cool.  Scarecrows and pumpkins- best parts of fall.   

Speaking of the best parts of fall, here are my top 10 best things about fall:

10. Cooler weather- but still nice enough to be outside, a lot!
9. Football
8. Pumpkins!  Need I say more?
7. Scarecrows- come on, they're so cute!
6. Autumn leaves- the colors, the smell, it's delicious!
5. Halloween
4. Thanksgiving
3. The State Fair
2. Anticipating the approaching Christmas Season (yes, I know I said it wasn't a season, so sue me!)

And the number one bestest thing about fall is...

1.The Food!! Pumpkin pies, apple cider, spiced breads and cakes and turkey and soups and ....  get the point?

Yes, fall is wonderful.  So I greet fall with open arms... even if I am a tad bit early.