Easter Cake Pops

Sugar pearls for the body and tiny hearts for the noses. The ears are brown rainbow chip sprinkles and the eyes are melted candy coating dotted on with a toothpick.

These pops that Bakerella makes on a stick really fascinate me although I'd never be able to do it. Very cute.

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Super Duper Sunday! with Apples!

Super Bowl Sunday is finally here. Has it ever been played in February before? As an avid sports fan, I'll be watching although I don't have a favorite team picked out.

After one solid month I'm still going strong so I'll fess up now to my New Year's resolution to eat healthy. As in eating EVERYTHING healthy. So far, so good AND so far, my favorite pair of jeans are loose on me so that's a beautiful bonus of eating healthy and will help to keep my blood pressure in check.

I'm really embracing raw foods and the antioxidant foods and drinks especially pomegranates and blueberries. The acai berry juice I've had is foul tasting but almost worth it for the benefits. And I'm using whole grains only and more vegetables. The object is low fat, low sugar. Avoiding high fructose corn syrup.

I'm finally over that hump of getting sweets out of my system to where fruit tastes almost decadent. Fuji apples are my friend and I eat at least one every day. Someone told me to try them and I'll never eat a red or yellow apples again as long as I can get a fat, juicy, Fuji apple. They're the ones with both the red and yellow skin. So sweet with just the right amount of tartness.

Alright, poopsies. That's all I'll bore you with for now. Is there anything sadder than someone talking about their diet?

Time Out For Brunch

Last night's dinner was so good I'm having it again today for brunch.

Ingle's had some really good fruit and nut chicken salad in the deli yesterday. I've made chicken salad with nuts and fruit before, but this was dried fruit with almonds and pecans. Very tasty.

I added some brie, some crackers, and had dinner... and brunch.

Morning Banana Diet

The Morning Banana Diet regime is simple: A banana (or as many as you want) and room temperature water for breakfast; eat anything you like for lunch and dinner (by 8 p.m.).

A three o'clock snack is okay, but no desserts after meals, and you have to go to bed before midnight.

Sumiko Watanabe, a pharmacist in Osaka designed this stress-free diet to help increase the metabolism of her husband Hitoshi Watanabe, who had been rather overweight. In due course, Mr. Watanabe lost 37 pounds and introduced the diet on mixi, one of Japan's largest social networking services.

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I may try this out and it sounds simple enough. I sure could stand to lose a pound or twenty.

Little Dangerous Chocolate Cake

MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour(that's plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well . Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!
Instructions:

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa:

Spoon in 1 egg

Pour in milk and oil, and mix well

Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (1000watt)

Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug

Tip contents out of mug onto saucer and enjoy!


*I got this via email and it looked quick, easy and delish!* Gonna try it out later today. I've never cooked anything in a coffee cup.

Chicken Caesar Salad

I just fixed one of my favorite dinners and placed it into the refrigerator to serve later. I used to make this from scratch, but now I usually take a shortcut. This can feed 4 or because of the packaged ingredients can easily serve one.

Chicken Caesar Salad

1. One bag of baby romaine lettuce, or prepackaged Caesar salad, or mixed greens
2. Bottle of Caesar's salad dressing
3. Precooked chicken, grilled breast meat-- located in the meat case, beside the usual chicken parts

Chicken heats up in 45 seconds, add it to a large bowl of your greens and pour the salad dressing over it. Top with croûtons and dig in.

Variations: Add croûtons, sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top, serve with crackers and cheese. Serve as introductory course or as a main meal. Or even brown bag it to work.

COUNTRY COOKING 101

One of my favorite dishes is beans and cornbread. My mother is an outstanding cook, but she never did fix it for us growing up, but I could always get it at my grandmother's house. She'd always make it for me on my birthday. I'd come over for lunch from work and I believe she enjoyed fixing it for me as much as I enjoyed eating it.

Her cornbread is very crunchy on the bottom, which comes from pouring your batter directly into a piping hot iron skillet. It rises nicely until the top stretches and bursts open, leaving just the right amount of golden, cracked open cornbread. Then it's cut into slices and a pat of butter goes into the middle of each piece while the bread's still hot. (450� preheated oven for 20 minutes--ovens may vary)

The beans are dried beans in a plastic bag. Pinto beans, Mixed beans or October beans work fine. You soak them overnight and pour off the water in the morning and add new. Add to the pot a piece of fatback, or strickalean. This is what bacon is before it's sliced up. Cook on low in a Dutch oven for 4 or 5 hours or until beans are tender. Salt to taste.

Skyler doesn't care much for it, but hubby and I still love it. And wonder of wonders, so does my dog, Buddy.

You cannot imagine how funky one grown man, one teenager and one shedding chow can make a house.

Upon returning from Nashville, my sister, Robin, who's on her way to Atlanta today, walked in with me and I was mortified. Mortified after just taking the first step inside of my house.

When I met my husband about 20 years ago, he lived in a old rundown cabin in the woods, roughing it. Cooking over the fireplace, getting water from the spring. It was a personal challenge and he loved living that way, after having lived in LA, New York and Atlanta all his life.

He used to be a pretty tidy guy, but now he cleans house the way you would an old rustic cabin. Mop or vaccum? He never had to mop when he had sawdust on the floor, so why should he worry with linoleum? Ditto, the carpet.

He can't be bothered to put away groceries. Well hell, he made it to the kitchen with them, why should I be bitching? When he's forced to wash dishes because they're ALL dirty and scattered throughout the house, all he needs is a little dab of water. Just enough to knock the crust off. Ditto, the laundry.

This is one of those quirky habits you find so damn charming about a spouse before you get married and it later becomes downright irritating. I loved that he could live off the land and grow his food, make furniture and on and on.

I've lived in two different communes so I appreciate a good self reliant man or woman, but you can still learn some housekeeping skills along the way.

I should face facts after 20 years with his endearing quirkiness. My husband is and will probably always be a messy guy.

Friday blogging screams out for funnies or something silly. So, some email jokes I've received lately for you...

WOMAN'S PERFECT BREAKFAST

She's sitting at the table with her gourmet coffee.
Her son is on the cover of the Wheaties box.
Her daughter is on the cover of Business Week.
Her boyfriend is on the cover of Playgirl.
And her husband is on the back of the milk carton.



CIGARETTES AND TAMPONS

A man walks into a pharmacy and wanders up and down the aisles. The sales girl notices him and asks him if she can help him. He answers that he is looking for a box of tampons for his wife. She directs him down the correct aisle. A few minutes later, he deposits a huge bag of cotton balls and a ball of string on the counter.

She says, confused, "Sir, I thought you were looking for some tampons for your wife?"

He answers, "You see, it's like this, yesterday, I sent my wife to the store to get me a carton of cigarettes, and she came back with a tin of tobacco and some rolling papers; cause it's sooo-ooo--oo-ooo much cheaper. So, I figure if I have to roll my own ........... so does she.



WIFE VS. HUSBAND

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position. As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically,

"Relatives of yours?"

"Yep," the wife replied, "in-laws."




WHO DOES WHAT

A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning. The wife said, "You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don't have to wait as long to get our coffee."

The husband said, " You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee."

Wife replies, "No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee."

Husband replies, "I can't believe that, show me."

So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says.........."HEBREWS"





THE SILENT TREATMENT

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper,

"Please wake me at 5:00 AM."

He left it where he knew she would find it. The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't wakened him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said,

"It is 5:00AM. Wake up."

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I heard on the radio that the top things that 'say' "Christmas" to the surveyed group are the combination of Lit Candles, Smell of Cinnamon, and Christmas Carols. I wonder why cinnamon and not vanilla or pine needles or any number of things, really. There were about 10 combinations of things.

I've got most of my cookie makings here and I'll begin cooking something later today or this evening. Skyler and I always make cut-out sugar cookies at Christmas time. In Christmas tree, star, Santa, bell, candy cane, and other fun shapes. And hubby likes me to make chocolate chip cookies at Christmas. Don't really know why those kind, but I oblige. He got some heath bar chips to try this time. I always use real butter and real vanilla and add pecan chips to them so they're the best they can be. I may package some up for neighbors. We'll see how it goes. Getting hungry already now for something chocolate-y.

Here's that White Chili recipe, Maggie, and for anyone else who'd like to enjoy it.

WHITE CHILI RECIPE
1 lb navy beans (white beans) I cheat and put in 3 or 4 cans of canned Navy beans
2 cans chicken broth
1 C water
choped onion, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
salt, to taste
2 C chopped COOKED chicken breast
1 - 4oz can of green chilies
1 t ground cumin
3/4 t dried oregano
1/4 t ground red pepper
1/8 t ground cloves - (I put in 4 whole cloves, but be sure to take out before serving)
3/4 C shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Sort and wash beans. Cook according to pkg directions and return to Dutch oven. Or if using canned beans, open cans and empty into dutch oven, or big pot. Add broth and water, onion, garlic, salt. Simmer for half hour, stirring occasionally.

Then add cooked, chopped chicken, chilies, cumin, oregano, red pepper and cloves to beans mixture. Cover and cook another half hour. Spoon into bowls and top with cheese.

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SOUR CREAM CORNBREAD (goes great with any soup, stew, chili)
1 - 8 1/2 oz can cream corn (small)
1 C sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 C cooking oil
1 C cornmeal, self-rising

Mix well together all ingredients and pour into hot, oiled 10" skillet. Bake in preheated 400� oven for 30 min. (Better check after 15 or 20 minutes--your oven may vary some. I put the skillet in the oven first and then start preparing the cornbread.)
If this isn't the best cornbread you ever tasted, then you just don't like good stuff. Please tell me if you try any of these out. Love to hear some feedback.

I am seriously considering doing a meme site with the theme of "What's For Dinner?" If I thought there would be enough interest for it to be worth my time. I'm sure we could find a neat template to use. You would post what you're fixing or had the day before, etc. Of course, we'd have comments. Many of my friends and family are always saying they're in a rut and need ideas for dinner. Picnic stuff, outdoor grilling, low fat meals, soul food, southern cooking, holiday cooking, meals from our Canadian friends and others, etc. I think it has possibilities. But I need to find someone else who can get excited about it that would help me put it together. The fact that there's already Red Kitchen out there is holding me back. It's cooking and recipes for mostly blogging folks.

Tips your mother never told you. Some drag queen friends in college taught me some beauty tips to use in a pinch that I've recently passed onto my daughter.
1) If you're away from your makeup and need to touch up your eyebrows, just use a regular #2 lead pencil.
2) If you lose the back of your pierced earring, you can use the eraser of a pencil to hold the earring in place just fine.
3) If your pantyhose gets a run in one leg only, save that pair and cut off the leg part only. When you get two pairs with one bad leg, you can wear them both pair and have one good set of pantyhose.