For this week, Punky & Me, with the help of Gypsy, has chosen the theme “shoes”.
I love my shoes, but I’m no addict. There are a few dressy shoes, my fav Old Navy flip flops, and even some puppy slippers hiding out at the bottom of my closet, but most days I wear these.
These are my treading shoes. I would like to tell you I wear them every day, but that would imply that I’m on the treadmill every day and that would be a lie.
These are my most recent purchase. They can also be seen here.
Posted in my place and yours | Tagged boots, shoes | 6 Comments »
This happened last week -
We tend to lose power with ice storms, so when one is on the way, I start to worry about what’s in the freezer that can be saved just in case disaster hits.
I start to thaw anything I think the kids will eat.
This time it was a package of puff pastry.
I used half the package to make mini pain au chocolats and the other half for cinnamon hearts.
I didn’t follow any plan, I just wrapped them up and baked. Had a followed a plan it probably would have said something to the effect of – don’t wrap too much dough underneath of the chocolate like this.
Because after 20 minutes of baking they will puff WAY too much and will look like this.
They will taste great, but just a little too puffy. Next time I think a small side seam on the dough with suffice.
For the cinnamon hearts I took a half sheet (rectangle) of puff pastry, brushed it with an egg wash and sprinkled it with cinnamon & sugar. Then I folded the pastry in on itself to make a long thing strip. I brushed the top with egg wash and sprinkled the sugar on top of that and folded it in on itself again. I cut it into 1/2″ strips, squished them into a little heart shape and set them on a cookie sheet to bake for about 12 minutes.
Posted in baking | Tagged chocolate, cinnamon, desssert, ice, pain au chocolat, puff pastry, winter | Leave a Comment »
I love overly processed, overly orange, overly salty cheese, or as is says on the package - cheese food product.
I think easy cheese on triscuits is delish, toasted cheese sandwiches really are better with velveeta, and cheez whiz the king of the process cheese foods, well, the king.
But, I know better than to eat those sorts of things, so I don’t buy them, well, I do usually have a tiny box of velveeta because they really do make the best toasted cheese sandwiches, but not the others.
Months ago, I ripped a recipe for pimento cheese out of a magazine because it looked like it could be tasty – promptly lost the recipe – decided half way through my grocery shopping that I needed to make it – bought a jar of pimentos and some cheddar cheese and hoped for the best. I didn’t have the right ingredients for any recipe I found on the internet so I created this.
homemade cheese whiz – who knew?
pimento cheese spread
1 eight ounce package cream cheese
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese shredded
1 two ounce jar of pimentos drained
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon fresh crack black pepper
pinch of salt
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Keeps chilled in air tight container for 4 days. Best and easier to spread if allowed to warm a bit before serving.
Posted in cooking | Tagged cheese, cheese spread | 3 Comments »
Pip, creator of my place & yours, has passed the torch to Vic of Punky & Me to lead us onward…
This weeks theme is what are you reading (you can also find out who else it playing along there too).
Here’s what I’m reading -
Posted in my place and yours | 1 Comment »
It’s simple.
Simple because there are few ingredients that require little effort to be mixed, yet they have great flavor and texture. Fancy it up with a bit of lemon curd and all that’s left is to put the kettle on for tea.
scones
2 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons butter cut into tablespoon sized pieces
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In bowl of food processor, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Add butter and pulse to cut in butter. Pour mixture into large bowl and set aside.
In small bowl whisk together the egg and milk. Add milk mixture to butter mixture, blending with fork until evenly moistened. Knead the dough a few times to smooth the mixture. Divide in half and pat into 6″ disks. Lightly score the top of the disks into 6 – 8 wedges (depending on the size you desire).
Bake until golden and firm – about 15 minutes.
When cool, slice completely on the markings to make wedges.
The recipe for lemon curd can be found here.
Posted in baking | Tagged lemon, lemon curd, scone | Leave a Comment »
I’m sitting here waiting for an ice storm to pass over us. My fingers are crossed that we keep our electricity, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m keeping this one short.
I have been making my own for vanilla for a while now. It sounds like a fancy thing to do, but all it is, is a few vanilla beans in a bottle of vodka. I have used different brands over the years, but find that this is my favorite.
When I first arrived in my little town, I chatted with a member of liquor store’s staff about brands I had used in the past and what she might recommend. She had a good laugh over the fact that I was going through all of this to make vanilla and was sure she wouldn’t go through that much vanilla in a lifetime.
I asked why some vodkas smell more like alcohol (I think like hairspray) than others. She explained that tends to be the case with grain vodkas and went on to recommend this potato vodka instead, apparently a customer’s doctor gave him the order “don’t drink vodka, but if you do, drink Glacier”.
I contacted the company to find out what would make this a doctor recommended vodka. The best guess was that potato vodka is gluten-free. Now if you are going through enough vodka that the gluten is the problem, then I’m not sure the gluten really IS the problem, but either way, this is how I make vanilla.
here’s an after and before shot
vanilla
split 3-6 vanilla beans and drop into a bottle of vodka
gently swirl bottle
set in cool place for around 6 months – swirl bottle every 2 weeks or so
Posted in baking | Tagged gluten free, vanilla | 3 Comments »
About a year ago I left my etsy shop to wither. Everything expired and I just let it. Bad me. I decided to give it another go. I renewed everything only to realize the photos were pretty rough. Soooo I took new pics of the previous goods and added some new things so it’s pretty again. It has pretty things like this -
and this-
I’m hoping to get some more micro globes done by the end of the month.
Posted in crafty, sewing, stray posts | 3 Comments »
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