Cook in the Kitchen #2

Sorry I'm tardy with (what should have been last week's) post. I won't make any excuses. Anyway, here it is! I made muffins Saturday :-)

 All I remember about the recipe is that you put eggs and liquid stuff in one bowl . . .

. . . and flour and dry stuff in another bowl. (I've slept since I read the recipe, it's long gone :-) If anyone wants recipes from these things, comment and let me know.)

Then you mix 'em!

I made this an apple raisin nut cinnamon variation on the original whole wheat muffin recipe. :-)

I mixed the apple chunks, raisins, and nuts in, then put the batter in muffin pans and baked them for about 10 minutes . . . 

And BINGO! They turned out very well IMO; each one is like a little apple pie! These are definitely going to be made again :-)

~Mac

Blogger Issues . . .

I seem to be experiencing technical difficulties with Blogger, specifically in leaving comments. Apologies to all you people that I've tried to leave comments for on your blogs and this blog! Some of you have been getting my comment notifications but the comments never get to the blog itself :-P I'm trying to figure out what the issue is. If you know what the problem is or are having the same problem, let me know!

EDIT: switching to Firefox for commenting seems to work. I guess it's my Chrome settings, but I don't have time to tinker with them. I guess I'll be using Firefox then!

~Mac

Cook in the Kitchen #1

Well, I tried to start a weekly series so I would be updating my blog at least once a week, but that (Happenings Grab Bag) failed rather miserably :-P Partly because my happenings come in bunches I guess. I still want to be blogging at least once a week, but I couldn't think of anything that I did weekly that would be blog-worthy. That is, until this morning, when I realized that I bake breakfast once a week, and I usually try something new every week. So I thought I'd give my culinary endeavors a chance at being my weekly series. Presenting Cook in the Kitchen! :-)

This week, I tried something I had never done before - making granola. It's actually pretty easy to make, even in large batches (which is a big advantage in my book!).

WI tripled the recipe so I had three sticks of butter and 1 1/2 cups of honey. Yum! :-)

Melting the butter and honey together.

Sticky goodness! I brought it to a boil to caramelize it a bit so that the granola would clump better and added some vanilla for extra flavor.

I poured that mixture over about 12 cups of oats and a few cups of pecan chips while my lovely assistant (Mom :-) ) stirred it in.

I spread the mixture out on several trays to bake. . . 

. . . and after about 8 minutes at 400 degrees, they were done! Some of the tops were a little browner than they probably should have been, but overall it was a successful experiment. It clumped better than I thought it would, so that's good.

Looking forward to breakfast on Monday!

~ Mac

Homecoming!

No, it wasn't my homecoming. I went to visit my brother at college during their homecoming weekend. The main purpose of the visit was to go see Jon Foreman in concert! We got seats in the middle of the venue about four rows back :-)

Brooke Waggoner opened and she was pretty cool. I hadn't heard much of her stuff before, but it's kind of similar in style and lyrics to A Fine Frenzy/Alison Sudol. So mostly light, kind of artsy music. :-) She is also a very good piano player!

And here's Jon Foreman! Along with Keith Tutt (one of the best names EVER!) on cello, and Anne Marie Calhoun on violin/fiddle ("depending on your political views" according to Jon)

This shot was at the end where he played "Your Love is Strong" (inspired by the Lord's Prayer) as an encore and we all stood and sang out! :-)

Here's a video someone took of "Only Hope" during the concert:

~Mac

My Bed Upgrades

I've been having quite a bit of trouble getting a good night's sleep for a few months now and I've been waking up with a sore back and joints, so I got some shnazzy add-ons for my mattress to see if they'll help. I got a Memory Foam mattress topper and a Denali Down Under lamb's wool spread!

Here's my trusty mattress. It's still pretty firm but I'm not sure it's going to cut it by itself anymore.

Here's the Memory Foam topper. It's two inches of open cell foam.

As you can see, it has a nice give to it. But it doesn't stay compressed after you move; it springs right back. I'm hoping it'll give me some more back support and help relieve pressure points.

Here's the lamb's wool sheet thing. It's supposed to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer, which will help me with my temperature control problems.

Mmmm, soft and thick. :-)

Ready to sleep! I've used it for about two nights now and I haven't seen much of a difference yet. I think it's helping my back though. We shall see how I'm doing at the end of the week. Now I'm off to use my souped-up bed! Toodles.

~Mac

Cup O' Joe

We had a cold breakfast this morning - bad planning for such a cold morning! I was wearing two sweatshirts and I was still cold, so decided I would make myself a hot drink to warm me up. For whatever reason, Mom suggested coffee.

Those of you who know me know that I don't drink coffee - I've just never started. Partly because I don't want to become addicted and partly just because I didn't have time to make it or just didn't think about it. But when Mom suggested it today, I thought I'd give it a try. At the very least, it's hot right?

Before all of you coffee drinkers start to get nervous, I didn't hate it! ;-) It wasn't mindblowingly good either (partly because it was just cheap decaf coffee; don't judge me java connoisseurs, it was all we had on hand). But it was hot! And it did its job of warming my insides :-) I had fun experimenting with different stuff; I started black, then added a bit of sugar about halfway down, then added more sugar and some milk with a quarter cup left. I think I liked it straight best, but the jury's still out on that. Maybe I'll try some hot tea tomorrow!

Back to school; l8r.

~Mac