Knock You Naked Brownies

The other day was my coworker's 30th birthday and I decided that she needed a sweet treat, so I was looking at the Pioneer Woman's website and found "Knock You Naked Brownies".  The only was to describe them is "SINFUL".  I looked up the recipe, made a quick shopping list and stopped at the store on the way home from work, the recipe calls for a box of German Chocolate cake mix, do you think that my grocery store had it?  They had every flavor of chocolate cake EXCEPT the one I wanted, I keep telling Tom that I am not shopping there anymore because every time I look for something, they never have it or they used to have it, now they don't carry it any more.  The other grocery store that is close to my house is yucky and I try not to shop there, unless it's an emergency and in this case it was and they had the cake mix I was looking for.

Here are the ingredients:

It is really pretty simple, take the cake mix and add evaporated milk, melted butter and chopped pecans, mix is together.  It is a pretty thick batter, then divide it in half:

Place half the mixture in a well greased 8x8 baking pan and bake for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime melt the caramels with some evaporated milk in the top of a double boiler:

Then, pour that yummy, caramel goo on top of the baked brownie, top with some chocolate chips and put the other half of the brownie dough on top:

Bake this for about a 1/2 hour, let it cool completely.  I put it in the refridgerator overnight, dusted it with powdered sugar and this is what you get:

I left one of the brownies at home for Tom to try, he said he couldn't eat it that morning because he was afraid his clothes might fall off. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

A couple of weeks ago we were having some really nice weather, I think it was close to 80 degree's so Tom and I decided to have a little backyard BBQ and there is nothing we like better than sitting out on the patio enjoying good food and good friends.  We kept the menu pretty simple, some chicken wings for an appetizer, macaroni salad, bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers and Tom put together some kabobs and for dessert I made red velvet cupcakes from my grandma's cookbook with cream cheese frosting.  Our friend Lee Bradford brought his two daughters over and they were more than happy to sample the frosting and the cupcakes (all before dinner).

Here the ingredients for the cupcakes:

Seems like some of the recipe's in grandma's cookbook always contain something that isn't expected and Nesquik was not what what I expected, but it gave the cupcakes a nice chocolate flavor.
So, all the ingredients got all mixed up together:

and then filled up the cupcake holders:

These little goodies went into the oven and I whipped up some cream cheese frosting.  After the cupcakes cooled, I put a little dollup of frosting on top and the rest is history!  I think Lee's daughter's ate about three each.





Here is a little sample of what Tom cooked up on his smoker:

These are whole jalapeno's, stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon

These are the chicken wings, with some sort of secret sauce he tossed together with everything that was in the refridgerator.

and these are the kabobs, they were DELICIOUS!

I think Tom is turning out to be a great photographer, especially a great food photographer!  One of Lee's daughters thought we were silly for taking pictures of our food.  Sometimes Tom and I will go back and look at the pictures and remember how good everything tasted.

Comfort Food

My husband thinks we are the only couple who wake up in the morning and start talking about what's for dinner.  I am going to say it WE LOVE FOOD and we like to cook for our friends.  So last Sunday we woke up and decided we were going to make some good, stick to your ribs comfort food and of course fried chicken was what we wanted.  It has been a long time since I fried chicken and I am pretty sure my grandma made it, there wasn't a recipe in her book, so we improvised (and the internet helps ALOT!).  I made sure that my sister and I did our workout that day so I wouldn't feel guilty about eating a big meal.  The other cast of characters on the menu were loaded mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, fruit salad and biscuits (not homemade, I have not perfected the biscuit yet, we, the biscuit and I have a love/hate relationship, I just can't figure it out) and for dessert, Devil Dog's (this is something from the Pioneer Woman's website, but my grandma has the same recipe's in her book).

So here we go into the land of comfort food....

I decided I needed to get my cake going first, so I whipped up my grandma's chocolate sheet cake, but did not make the icing that usually goes on the cake, because I am going to cut the cake into circles and put frosting on top.  I am going to say it many times in my life, but this is the BEST cake in the whole world, I always requested it for my birthday's growing up.

This is me whipping it up and still in my work out clothes, but dontcha love the apron (what goes thru my mind right now is "I'm sexy and I know it").  Anyways, back to the cake, got it in the oven:

So, now the cake is baking, we get the chicken out and soak it in buttermilk and some Sriracha chili sauce, we wanted to add a little kick to our chicken:

Now, I need to get my fruit salad put together and in the fridge so it will be nice and cold, I used fresh pineapple, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries:









Doesn't that look good!

Next up, the loaded mashed potatoes.  I boiled red potatoes, smashed them with cream cheese and sour cream and added, wait for it.....

Yes, that is BACON and CHEESE, we also added some green onion to the mix, I have to say that the potatoes tasted as good as they look.

My husband, Tom, was in charge of frying the chicken (which he did outside in the back yard, we built an outdoor kitchen a few years ago and it sure is nice when you have to fry things that make the house smell).  I can't really tell you what was in the coating for the chicken (mainly because I don't remember the things we thru in there), there was flour, salt and pepper and a few other spices.

So while Tom is frying chicken, I got busy on my dessert, Devil Dog's.  I saw this on Pioneer Woman's website and thought they looked yummy and pretty simple.  My cake was nice and cool, so I cut out the circles.  I am making the frosting for the cake, you have to beat the frosting for about 10 mintues, I love my KitchenAid mixer.  The frosting is a crazy concoction of flour, milk, butter, granulated sugar and vanilla.  Now, time to put these Dog's together:

I used my little decorating tool and piped on the frosting and topped them with a cherry, don't they look yummy!

Dinner is ready! 

This was a fun meal to put together, Tom and I work pretty good together in the kitchen, I just wish he did dishes...



Yes, people, my husband does the dishes, isn't he dreamy!



It's Pickle Time!

Our garden is overflowing with the tomatoes, jalapeno's, anaheim chilies, cucumbers, basil, mint, rosemary and thyme, what to do with all these yummy treats?  One option is to make pickles with the pickling cucumbers that I planted.  The regular cucumbers get eaten as soon as they are ripe, I admit I am addicted to cucumbers, as soon as they are ripe, I pick them, slice them up and eat them, delicious.  Well, I was looking around for a pickle recipe and found one in my grandma's Armstrong Ladies Aid Cookbook and it just so happens that it was her sister's recipe, my Aunt Edna.  These are dill pickles, pretty simple, but I added some pepper corns and fresh garlic just to spice it up a bit.  They have to sit for a couple of weeks before I can try them, but they look pretty good to me.

First, you have to pick the cucumbers and wash them:

Then, you need to cut the ends off and cut up the cucumbers (I did spears and slices):

When they are all cut up it's time to pack them into the sterilized jars with the fresh dill, garlic and pepper corns:

Now, it's time to mix the vinegar, water and pickling salt together and fill each of the jars:

Once the jars are filled, lids are put on and the bands are tightened, process them in boiling water for about 10 minutes to seal the lids and voila! Fresh pickles!

Every year I feel the need to purge my life of any excess junk that is hanging around and every year my sister, my mom and cousin Carol come over and we have a huge yard sale (this year a realtor came by and wanted to know if I was moving, I guess we have a lot of junk).  Tom made breakfast burrito's, we should have sold them, they tasted so good and Carol always makes taco dip (Carol makes THE BEST taco dip), I think we are going on about 6 or 7 years that we have been doing this, it's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work.  We always ask the same question, where did we have all this stuff?  When all is said and done, we load up all the goodies that haven't sold and take them to the Goodwill truck.

Tom wanted to try on one of cousin Carol's necklaces that was for sale (that is my garden over Tom's shoulder, crazy huh?).

That is my grandma on the right and her sister, Edna on the left

Hello Summer!

Sarah graduated from the 8th grade, where the heck does the time go?  She is such a pretty young lady now, it's kind of scary that she will be graduating from high school in 4 years! I will say it again, I feel so lucky that I get to be a part of her life (and lucky for her, I remember EVERYTHING I did in high school!).  I love that kid!

Sarah's softball team had their second tournament this weekend.  Saturday, they won 2 and lost 1, it was a long day. Sarah hit two home run's and played 2nd base (instead of her usual catcher) and was just an animal out on the field!  Her dad and I couldn't have been more proud of her.  On Sundays your team plays until they lose and then your done.  Our team was down,  I think 11-0 after two inings, it wasn't looking pretty, then the girls started to rally and they came back with 8 runs!  We did end up losing, 12-8, but those girls sure gave on heck of a fight!  Sarah hit two doubles and had an awesome base hit down the the 3rd base line.  I just love watching those kids play!

Tom has been working all weekend and making time to be at the games, I know he is just beat up from the street up!  As we were leaving the softball game this morning he told me to make some dinner and I decided it would be a good time to get back to my grandma's recipes.  Tonight it is going to be a Chicken and Rice casserole.  Looks pretty easy, however I am going to try and make it a little healthier by substituting lower fat/salt soups for the original full fat ones and mixing my white rice with brown rice.

Chicken and Rice:
1 can each:
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Cream of Celery Soup
1 C. rice(uncooked)
1 chicken cut up (I am using boneless, skinless breasts)
1/2 soup can milk
Dry onion or chicken soup mix

Mix rice, soups & milk in pan.  Lay chicken over top and sprinkle dry onion or chicken soup mix.  Cover with foil and bake 2 1/2 hours at 325.  I am also going to add some fresh thyme that I have growing in the garden.

Sorry there aren't any pictures of the casserole, I didn't have a camera today.  But Tom loved it!

We are finally having nice weather!  Northern California had a pretty cool spring and lots of rain!  Last weekend it rained so much the neighbor's olive tree broke a branch and it came down in my backyard!  Thank god it missed the fence! I am looking forward to some warm temps and sunshine, but I will make sure I keep my sunscreen on!  HAPPY SUMMER!

Time to pull up our skirts and get in the lake!(that is my grandma on the right and her Aunt Bert in Michigan)

Mother's Day

Tom and I had just a crazy, busy weekend.  Saturday was supposed to be Sarah's last softball game for her recreational league, but the game was cancelled, which saved us a long round trip road trip, because Sarah was camping.  Instead of staying  home and getting caught up on the laundry, Tom wanted me to go to our friend's daughter's softball game, I am glad I did, it was a beautiful afternoon (laundry will always be there, right?).  Saturday night we went to our friend's house for dinner, that is always nice because usually everyone comes to our house and my house stayed clean!

On Mother's Day, we decided that we would plant flowers flowers at my mother-in-law's house, go shopping, cook and have everyone over at our house for dinner.  Sometimes I am not really sure how we get everything done, but we do, I'm sure glad that my wonderful husband helps out, he's the best.

Our dinner menu consisted of BBQ Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin, BBQ chicken breasts marinated in a Santa Cruz Lime marinade, homemade potato salad, green beans that were cooked al dente, cooled and tossed with sea salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and chili. Dessert was homemade strawberry shortcake, the shortcake biscuits were made from my grandma's recipe.

Slowly, our backyard is getting into shape for the upcoming summer months, we like to spend a lot of time out there.  A few years ago, we decided to build an outside kitchen, so we could do our pickled jalapeno's out there.  We have a group of people that come over, usually on a Saturday, and we pickle jalapeno's, green beans, carrots, asparagus and whatever else we can get our hands on, we call it the "Pickling Shed", I will post more of that later when our vegetables become ripe.  That is how this all got started, one year I had a ton of jalapeno's and didn't really know what to do with them, so I pickled them and it just turned into something we do every year, lots of fun!  I will also post about jam's that I make, my mom has an awesome plum tree and I hate to see the fruit go to waste.  I have a nectarine tree, however the squirrels get most of that fruit, little stinkers and I have an apple tree that they also raid every year.  Usually if someone brings me fruit or vegetables, I will find some way of cooking it, canning it or baking it, I probably should have lived on a farm.

I Love Spring.....

I love spring, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming and I am sneezing.  Even though it is one of my favorite times of the year, I don't look forward to the sneezing and itchy eye's and for some reason the month of May is the WORST!  I hate taking allergy medicine, because then I just want to go to sleep.

I will be cooking some more food, however, I am going to have to re-formulate some of my grandma's recipes, to make them a little more heart friendly, since my hubby had his "incident".  We are eating a lot of chicken, chicken and more chicken, I sort of feel like Bubba from Forrest Gump - we can have chicken salad, chicken soup, chicken chili, chicken enchiladas, etc.

Tom and I did plant the garden last weekend, 2 jalapeno peppers, 2 anaheim peppers, and 11 tomato plants (La Roma, San Marzano, Beefsteak, Yellow Pear, Cherry), 1 cucumber, 1 pickling cucumber, 3 basil plants, 2 thyme, 1 mint, 1 rosemary and some green beans.  Hurry up and grow so we have have some yummy treats!

My husband is a hottie-working the soil

my herbs

Can you believe I took this picture!?!

Tomatoes and Peppers

Tom and I decided to spend last sunday at the beach, we drove to Half Moon Bay and walked around and then took a beautiful drive south on Route 1 to Santa Cruz so we could eat at our favorite restaurant, The Palomar.  We have been going there since 1992, when we were just friends and as always the food was DELICIOUS.

Half Moon Bay, CA - at the Ritz Carlton

Tom and I taking a stroll on the beach in Half Moon Bay

Downtown Santa Cruz - always lots of interesting entertainment