Packing Is Not Fun

This is not fun. But the upside will be worth it. Had to check in and let everyone know things are going well, not great, but pretty good. There is the usual stuff that annoys me no end but seems to straighten out on its own.

Couldn't help myself, had to check in...hehehe...

I think the I'll turn the 'net off tomorrow or Friday and am going to try an aircard so I can post from whereever I am. I truly enjoy my blogs and miss not posting about my adventures.

Will be back!! Promise! :-)

Let The Moving Begin

Starting today, the move begins in earnest.

My new house, soon to be a home, has a neato kitchen AND a dish washer. I'll have plenty to report back as quickly as I can get into homemaker mode.

My allergies stood down for a bit and I almost got to thinking that maybe I could stay put but then the pollen/mold/whatever hit again and I shudder to think that this could go on indefinitely.

So, everyone, please bookmark my site and check back often. I'll be back as soon as I get the 'net going at the house. I appreciate my readers.

Take care, everyone. :-)

Sorry, Allergies Are Keeping Me Down

My allergies are getting to the point that we are having to move to a drier part of the state. Earlier this week, we took a trip and my allergies cleared right up. When we came back to this part of the state, allergies hit me like a ton of bricks.

I've taken every sort of meds and either they put me out like a light, even the non-drowsy kind, or when the meds wear off, I feel hung-over and ill.

Thinking it's the pollen and mold and since I'm from the driest part of the southwestern US, just can't deal with the stuff.

So, for the next week or so, we're in moving mode and I'll check in as I can. I don't know what the internet is like over there. But I'll be back with my adventures in the kitchen. Please bookmark my blog(s) and check back every so often. I feel badly about bailing but this is something that has to be done.

Enjoy cooking! :-)

My Crock Pot Adventure

So, I buy a big thing of stew meat. A nice big onion. Cute little carrots. Big thingy of celery. 10 lb. sack o' taters. (Yep, 10 lbs., 5 lbs was almost twice as expensive. Maybe someone can 'splain that to me someday)

I get them home and put them away. Hubby is flat dying for a stew on Sunday. Sounds yummy to me!

Then I find out, after checking my pantry, that yours truly forgot to buy the stew mix seasoning. No matter, at this point, I can pretty much make a mix for almost anything. I got my handy dandy cookbook down but this is the one thing that, so far, I can't quite grasp what the recipe means. (Happens a lot to me, hence, this blog)

I pop online to check my favorest recipe site and found a fairly easy recipe. But it's still not right. Then I did something totally unheard of for me...I winged it. Combined my cookbook recipe with the online one and came up with something that looked pretty good.

Got down to biz of cutting up the onion and celery. Had the stew meat in my old skillet (the cast iron is too honored for such a menial task) browning up nicely. Then layered the carrots, onion, celery and meat all the way up to the top. Turned the crockpot on and went to the barn to have some horse-face time.

All this time, something is niggling at me. Got home and laid down (my allergy meds kicked into high gear and turned me off) for a while. Pretty soon, my eyes popped open and I told my hubby that I had forgotten the potatoes!!

I ask you, what is a stew without potatoes?? That's like Lewis without Martin, Hall without Oates, Simon without Garfunkel...okay, so that was a bad one but you know what I mean.

Put a pot of cut up pot.s on the stove and got busy making my new recipe for bread (read other posts). Forgot all about the friggin' pot.s. Pretty soon, I looked over and saw froth and all sorts of stuff on the underside of the glass potlid. Great. Turned off the heat and looked inside. Pot.s were really, really soft....

I made mashed potatoes.

Only trouble was...I added a smidge too much milk and they were toooooo soft and swirly. Added a bit of cornstarch and then to help it along a bit more, added some flour. Now it's about the right consistency. Of course, there was the real butter and salt/pepper too.

What can I say, life handed me potatoes and I made...oh, never mind.

Pic of My Loaf of Bread

Sorry, something went wrong. I can't get it to load...please keep checking back while I work on this. It's a pretty good pic, I promise!

Welp, so far, no go...I'll work on it and get it posted somehow. I posted the pic of my skillet but can't remember exactly what I did. Oh, yay...

My Cornbread Experiment

The verdict is in! My hubby loves my cornbread! Woo-hoo!!

I've been buying the freakin' mixes at the store and now that I'm on a kick to save money, what if I made my own cornbread from scratch?? Hmmm??

So, I found a nice little recipe online that looked easy and set to work. I've worked really hard to have a well-stocked pantry and so had all the fixin's right handy. Pulled out the mixing bowls and cracked a few eggs (had to calculate the recipe down from 12 servings to 6), mixed up butter and milk and corn meal and I was in business.

My oven works a charm and when whatever recipe says to go for 27 minutes, that means go for about 23 or so. I've worked it out over the last few years. It's a humdinger oven.

Anyhoo, I mixed it up, poured it on top of some chili with beans, with shredded cheese in between, baked it up, pulled it out of the oven, let cool for a bit and plopped some on a plate for hubs. Also had some cut corn with green beans...hubs likes that too...hehe...

He said the cornbread was way superior to the box stuff. I never thought in all my born days that there could be that big a difference. So, I plopped some on a plate for myself and dug in. Yummy, is all I can say! So light and fluffy! Not coarse at all. Never thought there would be such a difference but it's like between night and day.

It didn't take hardly any time to drag out the ingredients and mix it up as to open the box and mix that up. Much better taste and texture.

I recommend making you cornbread from scratch. It'll be a winner!! Yay!!! :-)

My Baked Bread Met My Dogs

Yep, I have a gnawed on lump of hardened bread, thanks to my mini-doxies.

Last night, after I finished up yet another slice of my good bread, I wrapped it up in foil (didn't have anything else at hand) and unthinkingly, set it on the table. Then I went to bed sometime after that.

This morning I arose, just hankering for a slice of my bread with some real butter. I walked out into the living room, which was still dark. Turned the TV on and booted up the 'puter....

Then, I saw them...little tiny flakes of foil, all mooshed up. What could THAT be from, think I?? Then it hit me, that for-certain feeling, that my bread was somewhere close and probably on the floor. I looked around and sure enough, there was my precious lump of gnawed on goodness...that was hard as a rock. Dried out, it was.

Noticeably gone were my doggies, who are usually right under my feet. I could see them in the bedroom, looking out from beneath the comforter. Two sets of shiny eyes staring back at me. Oh, yeah, they KNEW they had done bad!!

Lovingly, I picked up the brick of bread, yep, it was that hard, and put it on the counter. At least I got a picture of it before it was destroyed. I was so proud of myself yesterday and still feel proud now but a little bitty dagger is in my heart.

Oh well...that recipe was way too hard for me and I found an easier one for newbies. It's an Amish one and I'll try it the next time... Nothing is gonna stop me now!!