Mexican Monday: the whole Tamale

At our, house, we enjoy quick, cheap & easy- why? Because I am tired!   

During the warmer months, I volunteer in the evenings helping children with special challenges ride horses. And, I love it a lot! The downside being I am gone most dinner times. Husband's cooking ability involves his pointer finger,a phone, & paying a delivery person- which while quick (sometimes) & easy, it is rarely cheap and rather impractical for multiple nights in a row.

I was/am on a quest to find yum foods that everyone will eat joyously, and will be able to sit for a while, or be re-heated.

While, I enjoyed this, Husband complained of it being squishy- but tamales usually are, & this is just a giant tamale. The kids apparently enjoyed in, drowned under the customary pool of ketchup.

Served with a little tossed salad, it makes a yummy/easy meal. 

Ingredients 

1 lb ground meat

1lb  frozen corn 

2 cups salsa, picante sauce or rotel equivalent

1/2 large block of Velveeta   

1 or 2 cups cornmeal

4 or 8 cups of water

ground cumin, to taste 

salt, for water

Using a microwave- brown your meat in a GLASS bowl or baking dish. Add corn, & salsa. cook until just warmed through. Add diced Velveeta, & microwave just like when making a dip, stirring as you go. Season as needed.

To make the polenta, or boiled cornmeal for the tamale shell part:

1. Be verrrrryyyy careful. some of my worst cooking burns have been from bubbling cornmeal exploding towards me.

If you are making a 'feed the Army' batch, you will use the larger measurements.

I used an 11x15 casserole dish.

2. Boil your water (well salted), whisk in cornmeal, reduce heat & continue to whisk until thickened. Being mindful of the popping bubbles. 

Put it together:

Add half of polenta to a well greased casserole.

top with meat dip

dump on the rest of the polenta 

into a cold oven if using a glass pan, or preheated for metal 

375, until done (polenta will be set on top, & firm to touch)

Let cool 20 minutes before serving, or just burn your mouth.

Salted Caramel & Maple Cinnamon Rolls: It's what's for breakfast!

Because I felt like there should be a picture

They look kind of wonky, but I am not a baker, so I am miraculously surprised (and so are the kids) that they taste as good as they do, and no one was harmed in the making of them! Which is something coming from someone who regularly burns boiling water, catches something on fire at least once a week, and has landed in the ER for burns sustained whilst cooking.

If only there was smell-o-vision! Seriously! I am a-m-azed. Seriously.

Be warned though, I am not a DIY steps writer, and these will probably never, ever turn out so yum ever again- beginners luck.

1. Start off with your favorite bread dough recipe, if you don't have one, find one!

substitute about a 1/4 of the white sugar with dark brown sugar. Back into an oiled bowl, and rise, covered in a warm place until doubled. Punch down.

2. this was a large batch, so I worked with 1/2 the dough at a time, eyeball it.

On a well flowered counter roll, or squash out to a large thin-ish rectangle.

Spread liberally with softened, SALTED butter (about 1/2 stick?)

3. Mix in bowl 2/3 c white sugar, 1/3 c brown sugar, and a few liberal shakes of ground cinnamon.

Sprinkle over buttered dough.

4. Starting on the long side, roll up tightly. and slice into hunks, about 3-4 fingers wide.

5. Into a baking dish you think is large enough to hold all the yummy goodness, melt the other half off the stick of butter. Rolling around to coat sides & bottom. Plunk the hunks, and arrange attractively, stand back to admire it and forget to take a picture.......

6. Preheat your oven NOW, to 375. While the oven is heating, the rolls will have a short 2nd rise.

7. bake until done. Sorry, this makes my Husband crazy when I say it, just watch and wait for it to smell good. maybe about 15-20 minutes?

(and repeat with the remainder of your dough, & a new stick of butter)

8. Just as rolls come out of the oven, give them a liberal dousing (or to taste) of Maple Syrup. Let rolls cool in the pan....or you can burn your fingers and your mouth.

This batch yielded about 3+ dozen rolls, & started with about 8-9 cups flour.

Because every little boy wants a sweatshirt on the hottest day of the year: DIY awesome Dinosaur/Dragon Hoodie

 This was one of the very first things I found on Pinterest------> Dinosaur Hoodie , and I have been saving it for a very long time, knowing that if I held out long enough there would be someone that I could craft it for!

 Victory!!!!

My Oldest Sisters, youngest so far, turned #3 last weekend, and despite it being the very hottest day of the year so far, and it being a 'Frozen' themed, out of doors, shin-dig, he got, from us a sweatshirt, in the hopes that it would be cold again someday........... I can honestly say that we all found out what happens to a snowman in summer, & nobody liked warm hugs!

Birthday boy & cutie-patootie friend

Yes, I could have waited for a festive winter holiday, or maybe Hall-o-ween, or just whenever, but right now he is big into dinosaurs, and this project falls well into our Dave Ramsey Spend-No-Money budget program

CHEAP & EASY 

The trick was finding our little hoodie in the middle of summer, when, really, who wants a sweatshirt? They were practically giving them away at our local children's resale boutique. Buying things so out of season makes them an absolute steal! 

Materials Needed:

Hooded Sweatshirt in the appropriate size 

1/4- 1/8 yard heavy fleece material in coordinating color/s

Thread, straight pins, scissors, chalk or marking pencil, & other notions as needed

sewing machine, optional 

And, most importantly, the will to stick with it!

1. Firstly, lay our your sweatshirt and decide if you want your spiky scales on just the hood, or all the way down.

2. Lay out your fabric and eyeball a good scale size. The original called for making diamonds to fold in half for the scales, but that seemed far too challenging, so I went with squares- because if we remember way back to pre school, 2 triangles= 1 square. Cut squares....and just keep cutting them even if your project will only need about 6, this will leave you with a few back-ups just in case.

3. Pin squares to the shirt, right sides together (ugly side up), so when you fold your scales, the pretty side is out!

Use your chalk to mark the mid-line down the back for something to line the points up with.

Try to over-lap the points as you go, to make the sewing easier.

                                (Honestly, at this point I was like 10 minutes in, and everything was going super)

3. Sew Down the mid-line of your squares 

                 (this great! This will be a super, 20 minute project. RIGHT ON!)

4. Now, fold up your squares, making the triangle-ly shaped, sticky-outy, scales, and pin. Some might not be exactly even, but you can always trim them later.

5. Prepare to say really bad words, repeatedly! I am not a sewer, I enjoy it, but my working knowledge of sewing things on my sewing machine is limited. I don't think I have changed the stitch length stuff since I got the machine so many, many years ago!
Because you will be sewing a double layer of thicker material, you may need to learn how to adjust your machine to accommodate the thickness, etc...... otherwise you will have a knotted mess of thread. 

ps- a seam ripper is a handy thing to have handy.

6. Fold up your scales and beginning at the top, sew. as you need to turn at the points, leave your needle down, lift your presser foot, & turn your material (Thank you, Sewing with Nancy!!!), drop your presser foot and carry on. It's your choice if you keep going between scales or do them individually.

7. Hallelujah! 3 hours later you end up with something like this:

the fine print 

I do not claim to have come up with this idea in any way, shape, or form.

I do not claim to be a sewer person, and if this didn't make complete sense, to bad, refer to the original post, or use your imagination.

This really shouldn't cost more than about $5, if it does you either did it wrong or you paid someone else to make it (cheater!).

In lieu of sewing, you could probably get away with using tacky fabric glue..........

I do promise, that the recipient of this project will most likely be pretty excited, unless they are old, don't like dinosaurs/dragons, or they are generally a grump & no fun.

Here comes the Bride (in a very sparkly dress) Part 2, or what is the difference between boys and girls

We didn't find out that HRH the royal Princess was a girl until very near the end of her pregnancy.  Matter of fact, we had, up to that point, been told that she was a boy, oops!
That afternoon, I made the mistake of visiting the baby section at Wal*Mart to peek at baby girl stuff. We didn't have anything pink. We had blue, or brown, or green, or Thomas Tank engine, or cute little puppies- because those were the ONLY choices. Surrounded by all the frills and sparkles, butterflies, dragonflies, flowers, or no flowers, every pastel shade imaginable, all the choices, I did what any very pregnant & now very overwhelmed Mommy would do..... I sat down in the middle of  the baby clothes and just c-r-i-e-d.
     Some poor soul tried to inquire if I was alright or needed assistance (see very pregnant above), did I need an ambulance? Yes, I said, I did need assistance.  My baby was going to be naked for life, because how was I ever to pick something for her to wear? I left with a 3 pack of tiny white socks and a minuscule pink hair bow.

    Luckily for me, the Princess came out with a royal opinion, and just after her first birthday, blessedly, started picking out her own clothes. And, the trend has continued!

The Dress arrived today! After much deliberation, and much disagreement between Mother & Daughter, we were lucky to find this one- and oh, what a dress it is!

Perhaps a nice Frozen Tutu? Sorry, evening wedding, maybe some other time.......

                                       (or, never........)

Or, a winter fairy ballgown? Maybe, a jeweled tiara? No, it's a summer wedding..........

Then we sort of settled for this......for the Princess, though, while lovely, it's rather drab and burlap sack-ish

And, then we found it, and honestly, both got a little teary.
Heaven help us when she gets married! 

A summer wedding suitable, Queen Elsa/frozen , party dress
decidedly un-sackish!

Part 3, coming soon, will be solely dedicated to trying to match a hair bow

Batman & Popeye Avenger will be wearing black dockers shorts & polo shirts.


Read part 1 Here

Here comes the Bride, part 1

Calm down, it's not me! And, yes, part 1, because there will be at the very least part 2.

This wedding, like most weddings, seems to have taken over our (my) family.
The Bride & I went to preschool together, and became fast friends, our older sisters, being the same age became fast friends, & our mothers, being in the same boat so to speak, became fast friends. It was kismet for sure!
Our families have remained close all this time, and the only thing that would make us more related is actually being related. And, we are so darn excited for the wedding shenanigans to happen!!!!!!!
This will be the first wedding the kids will go to & actually remember.
This will be their first trip to the wedding state.
Their first out of state road trip!!!
OMG, so totally exciting.

Of course, any little wedding go-er must dress the part- Mimi to the rescue!
She took us to the Sears store in my childhood mall, in my childhood town (that keeps changing).
It. Was. Strange.
This mall is a ghost town if ever there was one, & if not for the Sears, the building would have been torn down long ago. All the stores in the mall are closed. All the stores that I would have frequented 20 years ago. But, in a weird way it was fun to watch them frolic around the playground of my youth, where it was once so busy, that on the weekends that Sister & I were deposited to get out of the house, we clung to each other with the fear of being separated.

This is the stage where we were made to visit Santa's wonderland for the first 18, yes 18, years of my life.

Now, there is a sign asking people to 'please stay off the stage', but that would mean there needed people to be there in the first place.

I can still smell the coffee beans here. Pretty sure they diluted our cappuccino with hot chocolate, but I always felt so sophisticated while I walked the mall with that green, Styrofoam cup and a biscotti, trying to not chip a tooth....

Awww, the good 'ole days

All our fancy party clothes are being sequestered in my closet, with visiting privileges.  

And, all party shoes will be taken out, once daily, for breaking in. I fear, though, that Popeye's shoes will be plain old broken by the time we make it to the wedding. He says that they make him feel like dancing a jig- and from the noise in the kitchen, I would have to agree. 

Did I mention we are excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 (please ignore the crumbs)

Of Frogs and Flowers

 Once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a little gray tree frog, named Herman, or Sherman, depending on who you talked to.

 

He liked to spend his days resting on the edge of his bucket.

Or, some days on the side of the citronella lamp.

He was very happy, until the Royal Princess Ogre came and started to poke him.

Now he hops to safety whenever anyone walks by.

The END

Can you tell we are having fun watching our little frog? I am pretty sure he was a stow-away on the flowers he likes to live in. Apparently grey tree frogs are not native in our part of the country, and it is rare to see them out of the trees. They are also similar to chameleons, in that they are able to change their color to match the surroundings, but do it at a much slower rate.

It would seem that of allllll the bulbs I planted 18 months ago, one has finally bloomed! Clearly it wasn't expected, and was a nice surprise!!

And, of course, then the bugs chewed the stem off.......

Now they are in the kitchen- where it is much easier to see them.

An (un)Kosher Sunday......

    Sunday, at our house, means two things   1. Brunch 2. House Cleaning

Now that I am old, there is something so peaceful and easy about Sunday.
There was a time it meant rushing around, trying to get everyone into clean & pressed clothes to sit in a pew for hours of my life that I won't get pack. Power to you, if you do that. It meant starting the week exhausted, and with a mucky house needing cleaned, and clothes needing to be washed and ironed for the next Sunday.

One of the real perks of being Jewish....We start the weekend off with a big party on Friday night! Nothing says, Yippee it's the Sabbath, like a shin dig on Friday night!
Saturday is spent enjoying family and doing things we enjoy- gardening, working in the barn, sewing, reading. It is a day of rest and recuperation from the week, leaving Sunday to get it together....but in a very leisurely manner, starting with a big breakfast (also, equals motivation for the kids to pick up the floor. No small person eats until the floor is done)

While entirely un-kosher, this morning I tried the bacon cinnamon rolls that have been making the rounds on Facebook and Pintrest.  What? Yes, bacon cinnamon rolls.  I suppose someone, somewhere thought about the bacon sprinkles that frequent fancy doughnuts and cupcakes, and decided, why not just roll-up a slice of bacon in a cinnamon roll? Why not?!



Pardon the fuzzy picture, I am not technologically minded, but you get the idea. Delicious, cinnamon-y bacon flowers! Pop these babies on some green pip cleaners and make any girl or boy happy.
I used the cheapy, refrigerator rolls from Wal*Mart, not even the jumbo ones, just the small ones. I cooked the bacon to mostly done before rolling them up, and baked per the directions on the rolls can.  Quick, easy & yummy! While they were good, there was certainly room for improvement.
Next time, I might try a brand name jumbo roll and fancy smoked bacon. Or, suck it up and make my own rolls.
To easily make this kosher, use your favorite bacon substitute! You could really roll up anything- roast beef, ham (not kosher), maybe cream cheese (would that make it a danish?)

We also paused for the boys to model their new Kippot (plural of kippah), or what might be more widely known as a Yarmulke. I found these on Etsy at Kids Kippot. She has a variety of fun and inexpensive kippot for the younger crowd.  Batman picked, not batman, but Legos, and Popeye picked spiderman, and is now anxiously awaiting a scooby doo- because he 'must have variety'.

Why is it so hard to get both children looking the same way, & not making a strange face?
These darling saucers are being held on by Kippah Klipz, neat little clippies that stick with stick-um to the inside of the Kippah and hopefully keep them on the noggins. I see a steep learning curve with these buggers, something reminiscent of trying to get the stick-um + the patches onto the boy scout shirts. But, they are very clever, and reasonably priced with free shipping.

Side note- Husband and I recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of our first date with a romantic evening at a casino buffet, where I ate about 5lbs of the greatest Brussels sprouts ever and something that might have been raspberry pie. Yep, Romance right there folks!