2014/137: Spread The Love
Mmmmm, Marmite! I tried it on a “you should try it” not-quite-dare and was told it’s either a love-it or hate-it thing. I have to admit it tasted a bit strange at first. Very strange! I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either.  But at about $6 for a tiny little jar of this stuff, I figured it’s worth another try. And the more I ate of it, the more I liked it. Now I don’t want to live without it! 😉
On Mother’s Day we drove all the way to Grapevine, TX to do a little shopping at the British Emporium and I found a giant 500g jar of it! That should last me a week or two 😉
What about you? Have you tried Marmite? Do you love it? Hate it?
Lucky for me, hubby is not a big fan of it and the kids flat out refuse to try it. Oh well, more for me (all for me!!)
2014/052: Karma’s Photo Hunt
Did you enter Karen’s A Blogger Contrived Photo Hunt ? If not, there’s still time, as the due date isn’t until February 25th.
For this photo hunt we were supposed to choose a word, and then look for objects around the house that start with each letter of our chosen word. It sounded easy, but then I had a hard time finding objects to represent the letters.
I chose my name as my word: Michaela (for those of you who didn’t / don’t know 😉 ) and I decided to take two photos for each letter…
M is for Music (OK, not technically an object) and this is my favorite way to listen to it
M is also for Markers (Sara thought of those, because I couldn’t think of anything else LOL)
I is for iMessages…. again, not technically an object, but they’re the only good thing to wake up to when you’re up at Stoopid o’clock. Reading those is the first thing I do after dragging myself out of bed, and having TEN of them waiting for me that morning was a nice surprise (even if they are all from the same person)
I is also for Ivy…. one of the more recent plants I bought. We shall see how long it will survive. I tend to forget to water them. Oops!
C is for Coffee…. the other nice thing when you’re up at Stoopid o’clock!
C is also for Candle. Love them!! This one was on my desk (will be again soon, but it has been temporarily replaced with a different candle) and I light it in the morning when it’s still dark out (you know…at Stoopid o’clock 😉 ) so I don’t have to turn on the light
H is for Hearts…. because I know you all would have been disappointed if I didn’t post any hearts! These are my heart-shaped rocks that I found over the years.
H is also for Herbs, and I’m glad they’re not spelled Erbs, or I might still be looking for another object that starts with H 😛
A is for Apple…. sadly I’m allergic to raw apples, they make my throat itch terribly!
A is for Apple (I know I said that already LOL)
E is for Ear buds…. sometimes those are needed to listen to music.
E is also for Eggs…. which I don’t like at all unless they’re deviled eggs.
L is for Lace
L is also for Letters. I still love it when I get a letter in the mail, how about you? All these are from Germany.
A is for Art…. and I have two talented artists as daughters. 17-year-old Melissa, and 10-year-old Sara. I’m sure you can tell who drew what 🙂
A is unfortunately also for Antihistamine, because Allergy season is right around the corner.
It’s What’s For Dinner
I thought I’d play along with Karen’s A Week Of Dinner blog-along, although I won’t have pictures of a whole week’s worth of dinners to share, because 1) I hate cooking!! Yup! I wish dinner would just make itself. 2) Most dinners I make just aren’t all that photogenic, and 3) When dinner is ready, I’d rather sit down to eat, than take pictures and have it go cold…cos you know, I never stop at just one picture and have to get different angles and such, to make sure I hopefully end up with something I like 😉
First dinner is Southern Pork BBQ On Buns, made in the crock pot (aka slow cooker). Found the recipe in a magazine years ago, and will include it below..
Southern Pork BBQ on Buns
3 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder roast, cut into 2 1/2-inch chunks, trimmed of visible fat
2/3 cup + 2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup grated onion
2 tsp minced garlic
4 tsp hot-pepper sauce
1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1 cup of your favorite bottled barbecue sauce (we use K.C. Masterpiece Original)
8 Hamburger buns
In gallon-size zip top bag, combine pork, 2/3 cup vinegar, onion, garlic, 2 tsp hot-pepper sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, salt and pepper.
Seal bag. Refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours; turn bag a few times.
Transfer pork and marinade to a slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low for 7-8 hours, until meat is fork tender.
Drain in colander over bowl, reserve 1/2 cup skimmed cooking liquid.
In a large bowl, using two forks, shred pork. Add reserved cooking liquid, barbecue sauce, and remaining vinegar and hot-pepper sauce until moistened.
Serve on hamburger buns with coleslaw on the side. Enjoy!
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Next for dinner was Nordic Potato Soup With Ham, also made in the slow cooker. This recipe was in the cook book that came with our slow cooker, and I’ll include it below as well. I served it with fresh baked Italian Herb bead.
Nordic Potato Soup with Ham
3 medium-size thin-skinned potatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs total), peeled and diced
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 smoked ham hock (about 1 lb)
1 Tbsp dry dill weed
2 tsp grated lemon peel*
1/4 tsp ground white pepper*
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup whipping cream
Dill sprigs (optional)
In a 3-quart or larger electric slow cooker, combine potatoes, onion, ham hock, dill weed, lemon peel, white pepper and broth. Cover and cook on low until ham hock and potatoes are very tender when pierced (about 7 1/2 – 8 hours)
Lift out ham hock and let stand until cool enough to handle (we cut up the ham before hand and can skip this step)
Meanwhile, remove about 1 cup of the potatoes with a little of the broth, whirl in a blender or food processor until pureed. Return puree to slow cooker (or: use a fork to mash some of the potatoes against the side of the slow cooker to puree them)
In a small bowl, mix corn starch and cream; blend into potato mixture.
Increase cooker heat to high. Remove and discard fat and bone from ham, tear meat into bite-size pieces and stir into soup. Cover and cook, stirring 2-3 times, for 20 more minutes. Garnish with dill sprigs if desired. Enjoy! (Makes 4-6 servings)
2012/116: White Chocolate M&M’s
Not sure if these were just a limited edition for Easter, or if they’re still available… didn’t think they were all that good, personally, but then I much prefer milk chocolate to white chocolate anyway. But, if there’s no other chocolate in the house, I’ll certainly eat them! 😉
2012/024
What’s better than whipped cream?
Chocolate whipped cream, of course! (Even if it doesn’t photograph as well 😉 )
2012/005: S’mores Indoors
Guy Fieri can cook for me anytime… especially dessert!
On one of our shopping trips to Sam’s Club, they were sampling S’mores Indoors, and we liked it so much, we picked up a 2-pack box. It’s like a S’mores pizza with a kick (aka chili powder and cayenne pepper). So good!
From freezer…
…to oven
Found the recipe on the food network website as well.
2011/345: Candy Cane Hershey Kisses
The kids talked me into trying these, although most of them got to travel overseas to my best friend.
We did keep a few to try, and they were really good, with little bits of candy canes.
2011/238: White Currants
When I was about Sara’s age, my parents used to lease a garden not far from where we lived, and we would spend Saturday or Sunday afternoons there. Sometimes family would join us, and sometimes my sister or I could invite a friend. We used to have apple, pear, and cherry trees, strawberries, carrots, peas, beans, tomatoes, and all kinds of other fruits and vegetables, including red, black and white currants.
Currants have always been one of my favorite fruit, and I’m not picky about the color. Unfortunately they are almost impossible to find here in the US. I have only been able to find them twice, both times at Central Market. And not cheap! A year or two ago, they had red currants, and this time they had both white and black… and I decided to get the white ones. Delicious! I even shared with the rest of the family 😉
2011/194: Air Delight Hershey Kisses
They are so light and airy, they float right out of the wrapper! 😉
These taste just like the regular milk chocolate Hershey Kisses, but with a lighter texture (less chocolate for the same price?)
By the way, there was no “photoshopping” involved, other than the basic picture editing stuff, like sharpen, brighten, contrast adjustment, etc.
Anyone who can figure out how I did this, wins the Smartypants Award (aka bragging rights). If no one figures it out, I may or may not give away my secret.
2011/176: Rum Balls
These are GOOD!! (Much better than those Hershey Kisses I posted yesterday!) Made with real rum, not just rum flavoring like they would use here in the US for rum balls that you could buy at a grocery store.
They were one of my birthday presents from my best friend…. and didn’t last long 😉 I’m so lucky that my birthday isn’t in the summer, when anything chocolate sent through the mail would be a melted mess!
2011/175: Cookies ‘n’ Creme Hershey Kisses
Eh.. not a favorite. I gave most of them to the kids, who seemed to like them a lot better than I did (especially Sara!)
Photo idea stolen from inspired by Becky
2011/113: Bonus – She Was Right
They really are evil!
The purple ones somehow managed to get away, but I was able to eat successfully destroy the rest of them!
2011/026: Dinner
No worries, even though there was lots of food posted here lately, this is not turning into a food blog 😉
My third, and final, contribution to Scott’s food photography assignment.
First up is Monday’s dinner. Nordic Potato Soup with ham.
Next, Tuesday’s dinner. Spaghetti Bolognese (my mom’s recipe)Â and Garlic Bread.
2011/025: Bonus – Better Late Than Never
Mexican Wedding Cookies.
When I was baking Christmas cookies, Melissa asked if I could make Mexican Wedding Cookies, too, because they are one of her favorites. Unfortunately she didn’t say anything until after I had already planned what I would bake, and I promised to make them some other time.
Yesterday I decided to surprise her, and finally baked them. Who says you can only have Christmas cookies around Christmas, right? My grandmother used to bake sooo many cookies every Christmas, they would last until Easter!
2011/023: Snack Time
I’m not a big popcorn fan, but the flavored kind (like loaded potato, anything cheesy, or sour cream & chives) is pretty good.
This is also my contribution to Scott’s latest assignment: Food Photography. Follow the link to check out the details.
I have to admit, that this is an older photo, and we’re supposed to take new ones (sorry Scott, but time is running out!) but I will try to take some more food photos in the next couple of days and contribute something less… stale 😉 Although the popcorn was fresh when I photographed it!
2010/355: Bonus 2: Nutella Turnovers
Another bonus? Aren’t you lucky?! 😉 Something tells me there are going to be a few bonus posts in the next few days. Guess that’s what happens when you’re late, taking Christmas-themed pictures, or start baking cookies on the Monday before Christmas!
Speaking of baking…. I was making these little Kiss Pies today. I saw the recipe yesterday, and HAD to make a trip to the store to get the ingredients. Would you believe Walmart was OUT of Hershey Kisses??!! Well, not completely out. They had some Kisses with Almonds (Melissa can’t eat nuts because of her braces), Dark Chocolate Kisses (not a big fan of dark chocolate, but I’ll eat it if I have to) and Cookies ‘n’ Cream Kisses (eh). There was one lonely bag of Milk Chocolate Kisses, but that was sliced open, and I wasn’t going to buy that. So I asked Greg to stop on his way home from work and pick some up (he got the Chocolate Meltaway Kisses), and baking these little pies would have to wait until today.
The Kiss Pies were really easy to make, although I did run into a little problem…. some of the pies popped open during baking (especially the ones where I re-rolled the dough) and didn’t look as pretty as the ones on the Picky Palate Blog. Those were perfect for a taste test, though. The kids were in other rooms when I tasted one, and I shouted: “OMG, they’s awful!!! They’re so gross, I’ll have to eat them all by myself!”
I don’t know why the kids didn’t believe me, because they still wanted to try one… and loved them!
We still had Hershey Kisses left over, and I made a quick trip to the store to get more pie crust, and made some more. Of course then I was out of Kisses, but still had pie crust left. What to do.. what to do? Nutella!! We always have some in the house, so I put a little but of that hazelnutty goodness in the center of the pie crust circles, folded them over, sealed them, and baked them just like I did the Kiss Pies. Soooo good!! Not enough Nutella filling, though. I think next time I will add more, and then top it with another pie crust circle.
2010/342: Irish Creme Hershey Kisses
OK, Hershey needs to stop coming out with new flavors of Kisses, because I’m running out of ideas to photograph them!
I had to sacrifice several of them before I had one that was cut perfectly.
The Irish Cream Kisses aren’t my favorites, but they are pretty good. They do lack a certain something (aka real Irish Cream), and if they had been made in Germany… or probably several other European countries… they would contain alcohol. Brandy Beans anyone?
2010/329: Bonus – Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hope everyone had a wonderful day with their loved ones, and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner!
It was just the four of us, and of course the turkey cooking did not go without a mishap or two. The plan was to brine the turkey and deep fry it, and all was well at first. Greg wanted to put the turkey in the brine on Sunday, but I talked him into waiting until Tuesday morning. We have this big orange 5-gallon cooler that we use just for brining turkeys. Greg put the turkey in the cooler, added the brine, and then some ice on top, that he decided to put in Ziploc bags this year, so the brine wouldn’t get watered down too much. Not sure if he checked the ice during the day… the cooler was in the kitchen during the day, and then Greg put it on the back porch late Tuesday afternoon/early evening. After we went to bed, I asked him if he checked the ice, and he said no. Did he get out of bed and check? Nope.
Wednesday morning he brings the cooler back into the house and minutes later tells me that the brine felt cold but the ice was completely melted (Should have listened to me, right?), and he was worried. I suggested checking the temperature of the brine, and it turned out to be around 54 F…. not safe in my opinion… and we ended up throwing the turkey away to be on the safe side, and buying another one.
This one stayed in the refrigerator until it was time to cook it. No brining this one! The plan was still to deep-fry it, but the weather decided not to play along. Wednesday afternoon at 4pm it was 84 F and just twenty-four hours later it was only 42 F, cloudy, drizzly and windy, with temperatures expected to drop below freezing by Friday morning.
Greg made an herb butter and roasted the turkey in the oven. All went well at first, when a couple of hours into roasting, I hear some cursing coming from the kitchen. The oven had been turned off!! It most likely happened when the timer went off, to remind Greg to baste the turkey, and instead of leaving it alone, he pressed the Cancel button, which not only made the timer “END” display disappear (it would have disappeared on its own), but turned the oven off as well! And of course he didn’t realize that until the time went off again!
But, in the end, the turkey turned out delicious! No mishaps to report with the side dishes that I cooked. I made pumpkin bread for dessert, but everyone was too stuffed after dinner, to eat dessert. Guess that can be breakfast tomorrow…
2010/221: Two For One
Took two Benadryl (allergy pills) to eat this one cherry. The Benadryl didn’t really help and I still got an itchy throat, but it was the best cherry in a loong time! Probably because it was the only cherry in a loong time 😉
The Daily Click 