O' Fun For... tree huggers and preschoolers

...and anyone else so inclined to enjoy some granola goodness. But not you, Duke, so you can stop with the pathetic puppy face.



This last year or so I have been building my kitchen braveness. I have discovered that there really are a bunch of easy things to make that require pretty minimal time and effort. I know, who knew? Bread (thank you oh mighty KitchenAid), croutons, soup, pasta, and now... granola bars. It was quite a shock to learn that these things don't grow straight into their packaging on a special Wal-Mart farm somewhere.



I had tried granola bars before, but the recipe was a bit involved for me and didn't turn out like I wanted. I decided to try again (mainly as a way to distract the kids from destroying one another on this endless snow-bound day). I found what is perhaps the easiest recipe in the world on allrecipes.com, and before I knew it we were basking in oaty goodness.

**The link is having issues, so here is the recipe in a nutshell, or go to "easy granola bars: at allrecipes.com :

3 c. quick cook oats
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 T. melted butter
4 c. mix ins o' some kind

Mix it all up, press into cookie sheet or 9 x 13 pan, bake 20-25 min, depending on how crunchy you want them, at 350. Cut a few min. after it comes out of the oven- before it cools.

Here are my sidenotes to the recipe:

*I have no idea if my oats were quick or regular, as they are in a huge #10 can marked "oats" and that's all. I think they were regular? Whichever kind was on a huge sale about 3 years ago at Albertsons. That cleared things up, huh.

*After the oats, sw. cond. milk and butter were mixed I put half into another bowl so we could get two different kinds of mix-ins. Half was butterscotch chips/dark chocolate chips, and the other half was golden raisins, tiny chopped pecans, and a little bit more oats.

*Just go ahead and figure the amount of oats, cond. milk, and butter called for plus 4 c. of mix-ins.

*I used a cookie sheet lined with parchment, and then sprayed that with Pam just for the heck of it. After they came out I cut them with a pizza cutter (again sprayed with Pam, because needless grease is just fun) and then lifted the whole parchment sheet onto the counter to finish cooling.

*Once cooled I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap and then put them all in a big ziploc. I got 20 from my batch, but I cut them pretty huge and will cut them smaller next time to make 30. You can make a ton and freeze a bunch if you are feeling ambitious.

And that's it! Not too tricky! Now go on and make some granola bars. Go on now, you know you want to.

O' Fun For... uncooked batter eaters

The intense food cravings are back, and with it all the baking and cooking. Today I made ribs for dinner, complete with my own bbq sauce, an apple pie, and at about 10:00 tonight I decided I needed warm fudgy brownies right away or I might lose it. I am not usually this handy in the kitchen, but the intense food cravings lead me to the kitchen more often than I am used to. I hope my family makes the most of it before the baby comes and we eat off the Wendy's 99 cent menu for a few months...

Here is the recipe I used, minus walnuts. My regular pans seem to have all disappeared, so I used a 9" cake pan. This lead to a bunch of 5 minute checks to see if the brownies were done. You can only do so many of those before you decide the uncooked batter in the middle can be kind of like a sauce, so that makes it okay to take them out right away. I dug right in and dished up a gooey heap, and am burning my tongue on chocolatey, battery goodness at this very moment.

Here is a picture of my fix:



Ahhh. It's all better now. Or it will be after I get a glass of milk, and a few more plates of brownie goo.

*Five awesome points to the first one to name what show the blog title came from and who said it to who. Or whom? I don't know.

O' Fun For... people with very vivid imaginations

...because I didn't take any pictures of what we made to go with this post.
Sorry.
We were just lucky to get everything completed and come out alive, let alone take any pictures of the finished products. I can, however, offer links or recipes.

All week I have been printing these gift tags (from Amy Karol last year on the angrychicken blog) out on cardstock, hole-punching them, grommeting them, enveloping them, and finally delivering them for neighbor gifts this year. So much for my simple idea! Somehow I thought the lack of baking and not having to purchase a bunch of supplies I didn't have would speed this one along. Oh-well, it's done now, and my grommet-er is thanking me for the break. Plus, the gift tags are so freaking awesome, I had to share them.

Monday night we went to Grampa T's (my Grampa, the kids' Great Grampa) to make graham cracker houses. I withheld and did not make my own this year. That may be the first time in my life I have passed up that opportunity. I tend to get a bit... ummmm.. involved.. in making my house, and perhaps neglect my kids' frosting-placing needs as I decorate my own house. This year I decided to be strictly a frosting-squeezer for my kids. Sigh. It was still fun, though. This year's trends were adding peppermint wheels to the houses to make them mobile homes and using spare crackers to create garages. You have to enjoy the house building, because the eating part never happens. The origins of Grampa's candy are unknown, but we recognized most of it from several years past. Nothing like vintage candy for some teeth-breaking fun!

Also, we made sugar cookies o' yumminess to decorate last night. Man! That is quite the project with kids! I made the dough in the morning and put it in the fridge. That was the easy part. Then, after dinner, I took a deep breath, washed everyone's hands, and dove on in to the cookie-making adventure. James was very nice and joined the chaos in the kitchen as well. About an hour or more later every surface in the kitchen, as well as every part of us, was covered in flour, dough, cookies, sprinkles, and frosting, but we had enough done to deliver to teachers and home teach-ees, so I sent James off with the kids and the cookies and tackled the mess while they were gone.

Ahhhhhhhh. I remember now why we only do that once a year.

Here is the recipe for the best sugar cookies ever. They are like the pink cookies we would eat instead of lunch in high school. Mmmmm...strange eating disorders.....

Pink Cookies o’ Yumminess

1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. sour cream
5 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
4 t. baking powder
2 t. vanilla

Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and sour cream together in a huge bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Chill overnight. The dough should be sticky. Roll out ¼” to ½” thick. Bake for 12-14 min. at 350. (If I preheat my stoneware pan, it takes 12 min.) You know they are done when the top feels like a wet sponge when you push on it lightly. (They don’t taste like a sponge, don’t worry.) If they are getting browned, they have cooked too long.

I do have one picture for today. Santa stopped by our house while we were mid-cookie-ing! It was about the most festive moment possible: snowy night, baking Christmas cookies, Muppet Christmas Carol soundtrack a-playing, and Santa dropping by for a visit. It would have made the Grinch scream out in horror. Here is a picture of the flour-y kids sitting on Santa's lap:



I am now almost done with Christmas projects. Woo-hoo! I only have to make pajama pants, and something for James that I will not mention on the off chance that he reads this and I spoil the present. Oh- and also some shirt-stenciling for my brother and James' brother. I can't seem to get away without making anything at all, but I did much better this year than I did last year. I am actually getting sleep this year.

O' Fun For... nerds who like funny old stuff and cooking

This is not about something I have made, but something I discovered on another blog I frequent. It is a site full of old cookbooks, scanned and made into pdf files, collected and posted by the Michigan State University Library and the MSU Museum. It is so much fun! I know I more or less stole this post from angry chicken, but I give her all the credit for this discovery, and thought I'd pass along the fun. I'll probably be at this for hours, and when I make something from one of the recipes I'll post it. Enjoy!

O' Fun For... pregnancy cravings extravaganza!!!

The baby has been sending me mixed messages all day. "Bread, mom, you really want bread..." "No, no, wait-- spaghetti sauce! I mean it this time, that's really what I want..." "Okay. I know for sure this time, it's peanut-buttery oatmealy m&m cookies. Do it!!! I'm warning you, I can make you feel pretty crappy if you ignore my every wish here!"

Sigh.

So, I followed the whims of the bossy fetus/terrorist. My lovely red Kitchen-Aid mixer is crying out for relief. The last batch of cookies is in the oven, the bread is securely Ziploc-ed away up on top of the cupboards from my bread-loving dog, and the sauce is bagged and ready to become tonight's pizza. You're startin' to wear me out kid. At least I have a few dozen cookies to comfort me during my post-baking energy slump...


Here's the link to the easy and fabulous bread from Allrecipes.com.

Here is where my particular loaves hide from my dog...



Here is the recipe for my red sauce (I made the recipe all by myself, which is why it contains several "ish" es...)

Mamma Dana’s Red Sauce

7-ish tomatoes, peeled
1 small can tomato paste
1 packet onion soup mix
LOTS of garlic powder, or some minced fresh garlic, or both
Big pour Balsamic vinegar (maybe 2 T.-ish or more?)
Med. Pour olive oil (1-2 T. ???)
A few sprigs fresh lemon-scented thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown and white sugar, a few spoonfuls each (okay, I add lots of sugar, but just do it to taste.)
Cornstarch, about 2-3 t. (?) just shake it in until it’s as thick as you want

Blend the tomatoes in the blender, and pour into a pot. Add the rest while heating over about med to med-high heat. The garlic, sugars, vinegar, & oil are always just done to taste, so if it tastes too bitter, add more sugar, and taste and mix until you like it. I take the sprigs of thyme out before serving or storing. This sauce stores just fine in the freezer.


Here is the link to the cookies, also from Allrecipes.com


The fetus better be craving store-bought from now on...