Simple But They're Done

I am continuing to do the Christmas Card Challenge this year. It worked out great having all my cards made by November last year. This year I know it's great to have them done, but I'm so lackadaisical about it. The above cards were made using a 12X12 cut out of Christmas trees. I worked at cutting it a part so a piece of it would look nice on each card. They actually look quite nice. It was a bit more difficult that I thought being as I didn't want to cut any of the trees. I could have layed it down on a cutter and just cut out probably 6 nice rectangles. As I said I didn't want to hack it up. So, I carefully snipped it to get 10 pieces to overlay on a piece of burgandy patterned paper. I was pleased with the outcome. Now on to April's cards.

My Refrigerator's Strange Request

This is the light up panel on my refrigerator. It's not the fanciest refrigerator on the planet, but it does everything I'd want a frig to do and more. It is a freezer on the bottom type. So, on top I can open up both doors and have the whole frig for storage. It is great as I don't have room for a regular frig with one big door. Trying to squeeze food into a side by side for years was such a pain.

Now my new frig might be becoming a pain. I'm not sure. One day a strange symbol showed up on the screen. Each symbol has a meaning as to the inner workings of the frig, so we can keep it working and maintained properly. The new symbol stumped me. It looked like a canning jar with berry seeds in it. I looked all through the owner's manual. No symbol. I looked online no symbol explanation. I thought it just couldn't be true what it was asking of me.
Was my refrigerator asking me to make blackberry jam? How odd I thought seeing as blackberries weren't even in season. Could it wait until August before demanding blackberry jam. The Marionberry jelly inside wasn't good enough? Would it accept store bought blackberry jam? Would it go on strike until I found some blackberries shipped up from Chile where they grow this time of year. How dare it demand I enlarge my carbon footprint just because it has a hankering for blackberry jam!

I finally decided to calm down and look for a logical answer. Could it be the symbol for replacing the drinking water filter? Could those be water drops rather than blackberry seeds? Could the makers of refrigerators make symbols that make more sense? This symbol looks nothing like the water filter. Although I'm not sure what symbol would make more sense. I think I'll put my children on it. I bet they could come up with something better than Kenmore.

My posts have been scarce

I've got a few things to post, but due to my computer in great need of repair posting a blog has been like wrestling an anaconda. OK maybe that wouldn't be survivable... a baby anaconda. Highly annoying and you break a sweat. Putting pictures with a post on my computer has been like trying to change lanes in rush hour traffic in San Francisco! Nearly impossible.

My computer has been in great need of a reformat and reinstallation of software since October of 2007. I promptly back up all my items and got ready. Getting DH ready that is another question. I keep hearing.... "my emails!!! I'll lose all my emails!!!" I've even told him he could lose them any day if we don't get the computer fixed due to a crash.

We've shared a computer for 19 years and it hasn't really been a problem, but I'm thinking it might be time to get our own computers. OK me get my own computer. We have completely different views on broken stuff. I was raised when something breaks fix it. He was raised to limp along and make due. Even break out some duct tape if needed. I was raised to avoid duct tape at all costs unless I'm working on a duct.

So, with an examination of our funds we'll see what happens. Computer fix or my own computer.

Mama Maroni That's A Tasty Meatball!

Bobby Flay had another Throwdown that interested me. It was about meatballs. While I've had a pretty good recipe for a number of years from a friend of mine that loves to cook. I've always wished the meatballs were a bit more tender. The commercial for the meatball throwdown talked about tender meatballs. I had to watch.

My experience from past Throwdowns was the winning recipe if not Bobby's would not be on the Food Network website. I could understand that. It's their livelihood. Therefore, I record the show, so I can take copious notes. In an effort to get the winning recipe as close as I can. Just for giggles I decided to see if the winning recipe Grandma Maroni's Meatballs was on the Food Network site. To my great surprise it was.

Grandma Maroni's Meatballs

Ingredients
1 pound ground chuck
4 ounces dried bread crumbs
4 large eggs
4 ounces whole milk
6 ounces grated Romano
3 ounces grated Spanish onion
2 ounces finely diced fresh garlic
2 ounces finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 ounces finely chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly in large bowl. If mixture seems a little loose add more bread crumbs.

Roll meatballs loosely about the size of a golf ball and place on baking sheet. Place into preheated oven for approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Serves 8-10 Enjoy!

It is slightly different than the notes I took from the show. Some ingredients Mike Maroni told the viewer some I guessed on. Here is the recipe I made.

Lynne's Throwdown Meatballs

1 pound ground chuck

4 large eggs

4 ounces Pecorino Romano

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

4 T finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

3 cloves minced garlic

1/2 cup grated onion

Mix by hand. Make meatballs 1 1/2 ounces about the size of an egg. Bake in a hot oven (425 degrees F).

All ingredients ready for mixing.

How it looked after hand mixing. A great challenge for me as I hate to get my hands sticky and gooey, but combining in a mixer makes the meatballs tough. I've tried it. Worth getting your hands dirty for a good meatball!

I love to use my cookie scoops when I need to measure out a ball of something. Mike Maroni said each meatball should be about 1 1/2 ounce. Being a stickler for good meatballs I weighed each one since there weren't going to be many.

I measured the meatballs out onto my Silpat. I normally bake them on a Silpat, because in the past I use a very lean burger. This recipe using a ground chuck made me change my mind to something with a lip to catch any dripping.

This silicone pan has a lip and I needed it! There was a lot of fat to catch after baking.

I made the meatballs using the above notes/recipe and they were fabulous. The only thing I'd change is they were a bit loose. They didn't fall a part, but they were a bit mushy in the mouth. I would bump up the bread crumbs to 1 cup next time. The recipe made 23 meatballs. The meatballs just melted in your mouth they were so tender and flavorful. I've found that Romano cheese is a must. I've used Parmesan in the past as I usually have it on hand, but the Romano has a stronger flavor that really gives the meatballs a delicious flavor.

The sauce I use is one my cooking friend also gave me. It's very basic and fast. I can make this sauce in the time it takes me to prepare dried pasta. I haven't bought bottle sauce in years.

DeAnn's Tomato Basil Sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 large onion, finely chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

4 tablespoons minced fresh basil, about 1 handful

4 cups canned crushed tomatoes

Saute' onion, garlic and basil in olive oil until onion is soft. Add tomato sauce and simmer about 30 minutes. Sauce freezes nicely.

I brought the sauce to a good simmer for about 30 minutes.

The meatballs were done by now and I dropped them into the sauce.

I was surprised at how close my sauce was to Maroni's Sauce.

Maroni's Sauce

6 ounces good olive oil, not extra-virgin
12 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 large or 2 medium Spanish onions, finely diced
2 (28-ounce) cans imported crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white or black pepper
1 large handful julienned fresh basil leaves

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add oil. Once heated add the finely sliced garlic and onions to the pan. Cook over medium heat until soft and slightly brown. Next add the canned crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper and stir. Allow the sauce to come to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the julienned basil.

The end result with my 2 recipes for sauce and meatballs were perfection! Delightful tender savory meatballs and a light yet flavorful sauce to accompany them... a meal fit for company, but we ate it all ourselves.

Poodle Goes Camping

At least she wanted too. My daughter was packing for her yearly camping trip. She was trying to roll up her sleeping bag and our Rotten Stinkin Poodle wouldn't get off of it. I think all dog owners probably know of this problem. Anything you spread out on the floor... wrapping paper, newspapers... sleeping bags will promptly be layed on or sat on by your dog. I thought it was just a small dog trait. I found differently when my 100 pound boxer/mastiff mix sat his fanny on a newspaper I had spread out on the floor to read. I kept pushing at him to move and he just look over his shoulder at me with this odd mix of looks of "What?" and "Hey I'm just doing my job."
Found this adorable picture on my computer and in honor of one of my favorite blogs to follow The Poodle (and dog) blog I thought I'd add another dog entry to my blog today.

Genius... Pure Genius!

I'm very conservation conscience. I used cloth diapers on both kids, I breast fed both kids, I recycle, I save water, my kids ride their bikes to school, I carry cloth grocery sacks in my car every where I go. BUT when I go into a grocery store my bags remain in the car. I can't seem to remember them to save my life. Usually I'll be at the check out when something jogs my memory that they are in the car. If I have a kid with me I'll send them out to get them if there is time. If I'm by myself... screw the environment I use the stores bags. Paper or plastic...yes please... anything to keep me from getting a little extra exercise in my day.

I stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up some cereal and there in the parking lot was this genius of a sign!! "got bags?" I LOVED it! I grabbed my well traveled bags from the back of my car and let them see the inside of a grocery store. Felt so good. Now to get all the grocery stores to put up this handy sign.

Gourd Happy... or my dad has a green thumb or... whatever Lola wants Lola gets!

What did I mean by the title... I couldn't decide what to call this installment. Here's what happened last spring. My mother (Lola) asked my dad to plant some gourds in his yearly garden. Since my mom is his muse he didn't just plant a gourd plant he planted about 30 feet by 10 feet of his garden in different types of gourds.



My mom has the idea that she's going to decorate gourds. My dad seems to think she won't do anything with them. Quite frankly I didn't really think so either, but I'm not going to squash her dreams with negativity. So, with a craft happy daughter dad should know that they'll get used. If mom doesn't do any by herself she'll for sure get to decorating gourds with me.

We read a book about how to dry them out and gourd growers in this book said they like to just leave them outside to dry. My dad covered them with plastic and for the most part they were drying, but some were rotting. I convinced him to try method number two that was told to me in person by a gourd grower. They said to dry them in wire baskets in garage. So, the kids and I picked 2 wagon barrels full and ran them up to the garage. My dad was helping to clear some room. Then the 2 large dog crates became our only barrier. Suddenly, dad and I had the same idea... since the dog crates weren't being used fill them up with gourds. The crates don't have to be moved and the gourds are encased in an airy environment for further drying.



Here's crossing our fingers that we'll have a lot of gourds to decorate!