Pumpkin Prep. 101

Jordan brought this amazing squash home a few days ago. She paid 3 dollars for it. It weighed in at 20 pounds. I cleaned the seeds out. Chopped it in wedges, roasted it for about 45 minutes. Let it cool down in the oven until it was cool enough to handle without potholders. Quickly removed the lovely dark red shell, and chopped the flesh into chunks. I put it though my food grinder on coarse grind and in just about 15 minutes I had 12 cups of pumpkin puree. I go through dozens of batches of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies in a given year. This batch should last me about 6 months. When I make the next batch I will post about it.
Here is one of the reasons I like to Preserve food.

We have responsibility to do our part in living within our means, and using what God has given us to our best ability. And it is so fun!

Don't You Love a Diner?

My father knows where every single roadside diner is between Salt Lake City and Santa Fe, and Denver and Las Vegas, and probably every other route north bound as well. He can tell you who makes the best biscuits and gravy, pancakes, soup or burger. One of the best meals I ever ate was at a roadside diner somewhere in New Mexico. Fried Eggs and Enchiladas. Any good Mexican-American knows enchiladas are best the next day with fried eggs. Only the menu didn't even say the eggs were coming with enchiladas. It was like this magical, blessed manna from heaven, when my plate was served.

New Mexico/Colorado Mexican food is way different than the California style Mexican food we get at restaraunts here in Utah. I grew up in Denver, so you can guess which style I am partial too. I always have several ziploc bags of roasted Hatch chile's in my freezer, and some sort of tamale, homemade of course. But, that is a subject for another post.

I pulled this book off my library shelves, yesterday and was mightily inspired by some excellent All-American Diner food. I was tempted to make the Onion Rings, the Ruben Sandwich, and of course the Famous Cheesecake. But, when I woke up ravenous after a long evening of election news, I knew I needed food, and I needed it right now!

Western Omelet
4 eggs beaten
1/4 onion, green pepper combined
cubed ham
1/4 cup grated cheese (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil, or bacon fat if you must.

Preheat the oil or fat in a skillet for one minute. The secret is a hot skillet, then add the cold oil.
Swirl the oil around, put the onion and green pepper and ham in, and saute for a few hot seconds.
Add the eggs, and after about 30 seconds, start lifting the sides of the cooked egg and let the uncooked egg make contact with the skillet and let them cook. Repeat around the other edges. Add cheese if desired. Roll the omelet onto a plate.Take a potato and run it through the slicer sides of a box grater. Rinse the slices to remove the excess potato starch and pat dry. In a hot skillet with preheated oil, spread out the potato slices and let them cook about 3 minutes on each side. To get the authentic diner flavor you MUST sprinkle with onion salt. Serve with Tabasco or hot pickled peppers.

I go through about 8 jars of these a year. Me, solo, no one else, and can eat about 5 peppers with any given meal.
I used to pack these to Malaysia, I cannot live without them.

Ummm. Comfort food = diner food.
Especially if served on a vintage plate.

America the Colorful

Okay, this is an old picture, but I am so proud that the four of us had the fabulous opportunity to vote today. We all love our country. We all are strongly opinionated too. I ask, "What American isn't?" Citizens of this country should always have strong opinions, we should always question our leaders and never take our freedom of speech for granted, ever. While in Malaysia, it was common knowledge that Americans were loud, outspoken, and one lady even said we were "vulgar" (using old vernacular). Yup, we resemble that remark, thank you very much.

We are also colorful.. here are some colorful pictures of my extended family...and every single one of them is opinionated!

Rena my sis-n-law

Her daughter, my niece, Maria

Her son, my nephew, Armando Jr. and his girlfriend

My cousin Edie, like a sister

Her daughter Jody her family.
3 Generation's of men in my life

Some girls in my life.

The Summerall's , Proud Denver Democrat's all, my Great Aunt Stella is on the front row.

Daphne and ...dang, I forgot Rena's dog's name.

So, I have left out a few, because my family is Ginormous, but God Bless Us ..Every One, and God Bless America.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Glad Family Official Cookie

When we were in married student housing my next door neighbor Debbie, gave me this recipe. I have made it at least once a month for the past 20 years. That is 240 times. I don't usually get this obsessed over cookies, but when you have a winner, you HAVE a winner.
You literally dump every single ingredient into the Kitchen Aid Mixer. There is no creaming and there are no eggs. You would think I would have this recipe memorized, but I don't. I need my recipe card every time. Whenever the kids needed a recipe for a school cookbook, this is the one that was used.

It is a forgiving cookie too. Sometimes I don't have enough pumpkin, I add less, or sometimes I will add the whole great big huge can. If I do add extra pumpkin, or applesauce that is sitting in the fridge, I will add an extra cup of flour.
The longer this cookie sits, the more moist it will become. So, if I know I will be sending them to school I stack them between wax paper.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups AP flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 12 ounce bag Chocolate Chips (2 generous cups)
Mix until all ingredients are combined and moistened. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake 14-15 minutes in a 375 degree oven. This makes a huge batch. About 7 dozen depending on the size you make.

Obama 2008 For the Backpacker In Us All

Typical Backpacker in Thailand

It is pretty common knowledge by those who backpack that you can do an around the world journey for extremely cheap prices. You can get an around the world plane ticket for under 1500. USD. There are numerous constraints..ie: you must always travel forward, tickets are good for a certain time of year, for a certain number of stops, etc.. I know people who can backpack for months in India or South East Asia for a few dollars a day. Sometimes, less than 10.00 a day. Train travel and bus travel in these countries is very, very cheap. Youth Hostels are in every single Asian city I have ever been to. Food is very cheap in Asia too. Why do you think most backpackers look grungy but happy? Clue: Hostel, bus travel, cheap street food.

an aside

***Here is Christina and some new backpacker friends at Dharma Healing Center in Koh Samui. A very cheap detox experience. Places like this in the U.S.A would cost thousands a week. We fasted for 7 days and learned to do juicing on this day. For a fraction of the cost. This is an open kitchen at our friend Hillary's house.***

Also, millions of college age kids take 6 months to a year off, to backpack. My own daughter will be going to South America in February to travel. She is saving money now by living at home. Many of the kids we have met "out there" have been Israeli kids who typically take one year between college and work to travel abroad. These kids have no responsibilities or dependants and this really is a chance of a lifetime.

Now, I will get to the real meat of this post, the real reason I have chosen to discuss backpacker style travel. Are you ready? Brace yourselves... Here it comes...

To the wife of a cousin who questioned the validity of a college age Barak Obama "getting" his money for his backpack trip to Indonesia, India, Pakistan etc, and claimed that she or her children would never have been able to afford it while they were in college, I say .."WAKE UP!!" Have you been out in the world??? It really is full of people traveling on really, really tight budgets! What are you so afraid of Elaine? Just because someone had Pakistani roommates, or has been to India, does not make them the enemy within (her words, not mine). She went on to discuss reasons that are so far out in right field, they are not even worth my blog space by mentioning them here. She did mention however, she was really fearful of Obama though. I for one am fearful of people like her, people who are so afraid of the real world, that they question any motive a person has for stepping out of the box. Even if it is to educate oneself and meet other Children of God from other lands, or even to visit one's mother.

Oh my goodness, I had an Indonesian Maid for 3 years...(gasp!) Maybe you better not count my vote.

Halloween Report

Only a fuddy duddy hates Halloween. Here is my 21 year old brunette daughter Jordan and her best friend Leslie, before heading off to a party to bewitch some poor shmucks.

My 20 year old Malaina should have been born Hungarian!!

Christina wanted to be somewhat morbid/cute. Success!

Look again! These 4 are not who you think they are. They don't make nearly as much money as the real Kiss band. They are 4 guys from the office.

CEO on the left, 2 v.p's and a director of the company. My husband is "Gene Simmons" with the red guitar.
My humble addition to Halloween is this charming sunflower pumpkin. 2008 will be remembered as our warmest Halloween in recent memory. We were in our shirtsleeves until about 9:00

Michael Myers

These movies used to scare the crap out of me. Now we make our kids watch them. It is our way of passing on our nerosis and psychosis, to the next generation. HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Self Portrait

In the words of Oscar Wilde, "The discovery of oneself is the beginning of a life long romance."








I remember watching an ancient Saturday Night Live Skit where Phil Hartman was doing a parody of Telly Savalas and the Player's Club International . Only as Phil Hartman can do it, he said, " Who loves you better than you do, baby?"

Well isn't that where it all begins? All kidding aside, I personally feel I am a better mother, friend, neighbor, wife etc., if I have a good relationship with myself. Patience, love, compassion, understanding, respect all seem to come more easily when I am happy with who I am. There are days and moments when I am incredibly hard on myself, I find it is a constant challenge to cut myself some slack and accept the good Cindy and the not so good Cynthia.
I have posted this picture of myself taken by myself, knowing that it is not the best; the double chin is showing, the gray hair is uncombed, and the makeup is non-existant, but I like the peaceful gleam in my eye and the determined set to my my mouth. This is the photo of a woman who is ready to take on the day, and the next, and the next. You go girl!

Daring Bakers Do Pizza

Challenge 5

Once again, the due date for this challenge crept up on me. I was waiting for Thursday, then I noticed Jen at Use Real Butter mentioned that she was going to post her Daring Bakers challenge in a few hours. It is not like I haven't been on the website reading and getting prepared or anything. I have been thinking about how to proceed, but the darn date came too fast! I am anything but a slacker too. I know how to prioritize, plan, delegate, prepare...I am a bonafide Mormon woman for Pete's sake! So rather than whine about what didn't happen on time, let me relate what did happen, when I had some time. But first let me say....

THIS IS THE BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER EATEN....EVER...ANYWHERE!!!!

Thanks to Rosa at Rosa's Yummy-yums for choosing this challenge and being our fearless leader.
Here is some stunning dough. I really liked the way the dough was prepared. Using instant yeast of which I am a big fan of. Regular items like salt, oil, sugar, and one irregular item like ice cold water. My dough was stiff at first and I did have to add a couple of teaspoons of water to mine, but it came out smooth and soft. You can see it is cut into 6 pieces. It rested in the fridge overnight and was brought out 2 hours before cooking. It was so rested that it only need a couple of tosses. I love the way my face looks in this toss.I provided various items for the my family to build their own pizzas. I have limited each person 4 topping items, including sauces, and cheese, because less is more. These are gourmet delights. I didn't want them defiled by burdening them with too many toppings.They could choose from the following:

• Sun Dried Tomatoes (I grew them and dehydrated them myself)
• Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
• Herbes de Provance (I grew and made myself)
• Parmesean Cheese
• Assorted Italian meats, Calabrese, Salame, Capocollo
• Pesto and Tomato Sauces
• Mushrooms, onions etc.
  

I have a nifty pizza stone and a peel. The created pizza went into a 500 degree oven and only need about 6 minutes to bake.

The crust came out crisp, but not hard. And where I didn't use the Mozzarella, it was caramalized with parmesean and pesto goodness. It remained thin and tender. Ooh it was just incredible. My husband loved it. It was fun for the whole family to make and everyone had what they wanted on it.

I think this has been my favorite Daring Baker's Challenge so far. I had so much fun doing this, and the family adored it.

Take a Bow

Okay a shameless plug for Bippity Boppity Bows and Things ... but look how darling this cap is!!

So, it hasn't been the easiest week for poor Daughter Number One. Accounting is giving her a whole spreadsheet of trouble. The dating scene in Provo, sucketh exceedingly. (What is with all this "let's hang out" crappola?") Sorry guys, but if you want a date with this lovely lady, you have to man up and put the Guitar Hero away, oh, and get off your mission before you try to befriend her on My Space.

Also, it helps not to be-little her while she is wearing her Obama 2008 lapel pin, and then try to hit on her at the same time you narrow minded, never-been-kissed, Republican boys.

Her roommate actually used her brand new, NEVER been used KitchenAid mixer and left it filthy while Jordan was up in Rexburg for the weekend. She helped herself to Jordan's C&H Powdered Sugar (not Western Family) to frost some nasty cake, (I KNOW!!) Then she left her brand new William's Sonoma Silicone/wood handled spatula soaking in water all weekend too. Poor Jordan came home late Sunday night and was faced with the trauma of cleaning up that fiasco. Grrrr!!

Then one of the other Admin's at the office is out for months with an illness, and poor Jordan, who is supposed to be a part-time student employee, and one other lame brain woman, who can't find her own *$@# are left to pick up the slack. My precious girl actually left the office crying yesterday, things were so bad. She is failing a class, while working overtime on Saturday's for the Bureau. In the words of that guy who defended Brittany Spears on You Tube..... Leave Jordan Alone!

Jordan is such an upbeat girl. Believe me, I am the one who is making this into one great- big- darn- deal. I will go to bed now, I will not rant any further, but if she won't take this seriously and get angry and lose sleep, by darn I will...what are mother's for?

Hee Haw - Pfft You Were Gone

I recently posted about Lawrence Welk and how we would then have to stay tuned for Hee Haw to come on. I don't disappoint; here it is kids... my favorite part of the show. Give it a watch.

Dave and I are planning on doing this for a talent show someday. I have the costumes.

Palak (Spinach) Paneer Recipe by Manjula

This is the funniest story... Yesterday Malaina and I were driving down Center Street in Provo, going to Sensuous Sandwich. We had a really hard time finding a parking spot on that block so we kept going to the corner to make a U-Turn to find parking on the other side of the street. As we were making the turn, Malaina saw her favorite restaurant India Palace and it's owner walking inside, and screamed,
"Ooh, follow that Sikh"!!!Well Malaina If I had seen this Sikh walking into that restaurant I would have followed him anywhere!!!

That Malaina loves her some Indian food.

This video is delightful. I am going to make this recipe this week. I love the Indian accent. Everything sounds so magical!

Barefoot Bloggers Vegetable Pot Pie

With Dave coming home from the deer hunt yesterday, (gone 6 days, and our state is minus 3 deer and 1 elk), I decided it would be a perfect day to make the Barefoot Contessa's Vegetable Pot Pie.


I will clarify on the deer hunt...he went with 3 other guys. Only one of the deer is ours.







The last challenge was such a stinker at our house, that I just knew from reading the Pot Pie recipe, I would have to do some editing.

• I left out the squash, the pearl onions, the saffron and the Pernod (licorice flavored liqueur). And I cut back on the butter by 1/2 a stick. Sorry Ina. The butter requirement was insane.
  
• To keep this gravy vegetarian for my daughter I also used vegetable broth instead of the chicken broth, with great success! It also turned the gravy a really pretty dark color.
  
• I added my own homegrown frozen sugar snap peas, haricot verts (french green beans), and chicken breast to the large pot pie. I left the small one alone for my daughter.
  
• Did any other BB's find that this recipe made twice as much as you thought it would? Mine would have fed a very generous 6+.
  
• There was tons of extra pastry, so I made it into sugar sprinkled treats.
• I loved the addition of the fennel bulb. I will be purchasing this on a regular basis from now on, I can think of lots of ways to use this. Before, I had only eaten it in salads, and it was just ok. I think the fact that I took the liberty to caramelize the onions and the fennel, added great depth to this gravy.
  
• Oh, and I also found some of those great "albino"asparagus at Sunflower Farmer's Market! Only .99 a pound!
• I will be making variations of this again.