A storm is coming...

Fast & quick...I will be sitting tight for a minute.

Creative Cooking...Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

My kids on my second job are so happy to know I am back baking, but they just can’t understand why I haven’t brought any goodies to them to “test”. Maybe because they have been the baine of my existence the last couple of weeks or the fact the recipes are quite healthy and may not agree with their palate? Maybe I just want to keep the goodies to myself. LOL!


Anyway, this recipe is from Skinnytaste and it is called the Best Low-fat Chocolate Cookies.  I was prepared to dismissed the claims when I saw the ingredients list because, here she goes again with this whole wheat pastry flour, that is no where to be found in my neck of the woods. So we had to make few adaptations.

Best Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies adapted from Skinnytaste


Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 egg white

2 tbsp apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie pan with parchment paper, she recommends the silpats, but I am not investing in them right now.

In one bowl combine your dry ingredients of flour, salt and baking soda. In my mixing bowl mix your sugars, butter, egg white, applesauce and vanilla until light and fluffy. Yes, I used my mixer, easier. Plus, y’all know I am a lazy baker. Once the mixture is light and fluffy add your dry ingredients slowly and I did have to add a little water to get the consistency I was looking for. When well incorporated, fold in your chocolate chips.

Place on your cookie sheet I used my cookie scoop and baked until brown. Cool on wire rack.

Verdict: I will say these are tasty cookies. The first batch of cookies tasted pretty darn good, but I realized immediately I prefer my cookies to be less chewy and more crunchy so the next batched cooked a bit longer and I loved them then. You have to make a judgment call on what you like, but I can say these are a really good substitute for those more fattening chocolate chip cookies, that I am known for. So let me know if you try and your review.

First harvest

Test.

Test

Test

Test

Memorial Weekend Randoms...

My overgrown garden.

You got big plans for the long Memorial Day weekend? Me, not so much. Working on the 2nd job and relaxing. No barbecuing or anything of that nature. Chilling. I like the sound of that, because it's hard sometimes to relax when you are running around all the time.

You do not have to train a pit bull to be aggressive. My cousin left his 2 pit bulls, one a boy and one a girl, to watch “temporarily” because they were too much to handle in his small apartment in Houston. They are considered still puppies, but the male, Diggy is as big as an adult. Anyway, my cousins already have 2 dogs, a miniature schnauzer and a German shepherd. Anyway, the pit bulls have been causing all kinds of havoc since they have been here. On Monday, all that came to a head when Diggy attacked the German shepherd around her throat and tried to kill her. These dogs haven’t been trained to fight or anything, but Diggy almost killed that German shepherd. Both pit bulls had to go to the pound. The German shepherd was a gift from my cousin to her husband because he had always wanted a German shepherd and if that pit bull had killed that dog, OMG! Those damn pit bulls had dug holes big enough to bury a human and had gotten out of the fence, gotten stuck together (yeah and they are still considered puppies doing adult things) and let’s not talk about the outdoor furniture the dogs destroyed. Hate it, but you do not have to train pit bulls for them to be aggressive.

Why when I put the problem employees on my shift they get the act right and perform accordingly? I understand, but I don’t. You need to be scared of all the managers, not just me and the owner.

I wish they would fix the treadmill at work. I am so sick of doing the elliptical and bike. BORING! I need to get my jog on.

My emotions have been like a roller coaster ride these last two weeks. Happy, sad, crying, happy, excited , mean as hell...these damn hormones.

Had my mammogram on Wednesday and I decided when I made the appointment to go to the radiology place near my job. My appointment was at 3:00 pm. I was walking out the door at 3:18 pm. No pain. No worries and easy as pie.

I finally got some new eyeglasses. I have been wearing my contacts, but it was time to get some new glasses. My last pair I had the lenses changed about 5 years ago and the price is what I paid for 2 new pair of glasses. One pair is prescription sunglasses. Affordable Eyewear. 3 locations in Montgomery. And no he didn’t pay me to do any advertising. If you are in Montgomery and need an affordable pair of glasses Hobson Cox is the one to see. Now be prepared to be there for a while and get some history and some political learning, you will not be disappointed.

                                                My Rx glasses in Purple Violet according to Hunny Bunny!

 Rx Sunglasses

The Guy's son graduates next week. Yeah. Congratulations!

My garden. Is coming along. It is doing quite well if I do say so myself. Check it the pictures out.

Portacula (Moss Rose)                                            Marigolds

Cosmos

 Cone flower (first bud)    Sunflowers one survived the other died.  A moment please...Okay.  We are good.

What is wrong with this cucumber?

 This is more like it!

 Grape tomatoes, which never seem to want to turn red.  Patience.

My only harvest so far.  Delicious!

Let's see not much else going on here. Just living and enjoying life.

5/19/12

Didn't want to leave you without the mandatory vanity pictures!

Creative Cooking...Pineapple Sheet Cake

Pineapple Sheet Cake

Well, the baking has started back up.  This time I wanted something sweet to try and something easy as pie or cake to fix.  When I saw this on one of my favorite places in the world, Pinterest.  I knew I had to try it, but I read the comments.  Seriously, all that looks like glitter is not gold.  I have seen recipes where the folks comments made me change my mind about making them.  Luckily, this wasn't one of them.  The majority of the comments were positive and folks were talking about how their cake was still warm and ready for a tasting.  I got excited.

So on a Saturday night, while I finished retightening the density which is the back of my hair, I baked a sheet cake.  With two little cakes along side it.  The little cake pans I found at the Dollar Tree and I was like I can bake in these and make jello in these.  Hell, I got too excited.  I love the Dollar Tree.  What?   Okay, back to the recipe, I got it from Bigredkitchen.com.  And if you are looking for something quick, easy and not expensive to make, this recipe is for you.

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
2 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of salt
2 eggs
1- 20 oz can of crushed pineapples
1 tsp of vanilla

Icing:

1 - 8 oz of cream cheese
4 tbs of butter
3 cups of confectioner's sugar
1 tsp of vanilla

For the cake mix all the ingredients together.  I used my mixer on the lowest setting before just stirring.  You do not have drain the pineapples or anything.  It is that simple.  Once smoothly combined, pour into your greased baking dishes and cook on a preheated oven of 350 degrees for 25-20 minutes or until toothpick clean. 

All the ingredients mixed together.

This is a simple cream cheese icing where you cream the cream cheese and butter together until creamy.  Add your vanilla and then slowly add your sugar until light and smooth.  Very simple and very tasty.

Simple and quite tasty cream cheese icing.

You can add nuts, but I choose not too.  And I didn't stray from the recipe because I wanted to see how it would turn out.  Next time I will experiment a bit.

My cute little Dollar Tree cake molds!

Done sheet cake...

Verdict:  Easy as Cake!  I will definitely try this again.  Pot lucks here this cake comes.  Very simple, but very tasty and quite rich.  Nice chunks of pineapple and a moist cake.  Yummy!  Do not overcook, because those who did found the cake rubbery. 

Tasty!

Creative Cooking...Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

The 1st weekend in May marked my gentle return to baking. Nothing big, nothing huge and nothing I had to take to my kids on my 2nd job. I have a feeling they would have turned their noses up at the thought of me giving them something healthy to eat.


I got the recipe from Gina of Skinnytaste. I have made quite a few of her recipes on this here blog. So I have been eating mainly an egg and 2 slices of turkey bacon for breakfast every morning. However, I notice a change in my energy level during my 11:30 am workouts. This signaled I needed to add a few carbs to the menu for breakfast so I went on my quests for blueberry muffins, preferable whole wheat muffins. Dear old Google gave me a list and Skinnytaste was on it so I knew I was going to be okay, plus I love the recipes on her site.

The next dilemma was she specifically noted a particular whole wheat pastry flour. Now ya’ll know… in my best southern drawl, I couldn’t find the flour, but she did offer an alternative. A mixture of half all purpose and half whole wheat seemed to be a good compromise. The next issue was I stood on the flour aisle for about 15 minutes debating, while talking to my sister, the need for whole wheat flour and the smallest amount to purchase was of course 5 pounds. What the hell was I going to do with all that damn flour? I am not going to be making everything whole wheat. So I vacillated and then bit the bullet and purchased it. I mean the flour was double the price of good old fashion all purpose flour. My sister will be skeptical of eating anything I bake because she knows I am going to figure out a way to use up all that flour.

So Sunday morning as my Crockpot was finishing up my lasted dinner, I mixed up the ingredients for these blueberry muffins. I will say it didn’t take much time, but sifting the two flours was really the only time consuming part of this recipe.

Ingredients: As adapted from Skinnytaste

1 cup of unsweetened applesauce – I love applesauce!

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1 cup of all purpose flour

½ cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of brown sugar – You know I had to change up something in the recipe. I can’t help it.

1 tsp of baking soda

½ tsp of salt

1 ½ cup of blueberries or 6.5 oz

1 large beaten egg

1 tsp of vanilla extract

2 tbsp of melted butter

You are going to have to sift your flours prior to baking. I have a crazy sifter, I wish I had the kind you turn the handle on. The one I have you squeeze the handle and just takes too danggone long.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees

Mix your flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Mix well.

In another bowl mix your egg, butter, vanilla and applesauce. Then add to your flour mixture and stir until just blended. Then gently fold in your blueberries. I used 6 oz of fresh blueberries and half an ounce of thawed blueberries.

Pour in your lined muffin tin and this will make a dozen muffins. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick clean. Cool for 10 minutes.

Look at the blueberries bursting from this muffin...

Verdict: I will definitely be making these again, especially since I have all that whole wheat flour! They were moist, not too sweet and bursting with blueberries. I hate to get a dry blueberry muffin that only has a few blueberries in it or the blueberries are some dried version of a berry. I thought the wheat flour may make the muffins kinda grainy, like wheat flour can do, but the half and half made this not happen. And because of the applesauce as well, you know you are getting a great dose of fiber. Try it and I know you will like it.

Every single bite, you get a nice fresh bursting with juice and flavor blueberry!

Randoms…Too Many posts this week …Happy Mother’s Day!

I must have had a lot to say this week because I have posted multiple times. I even posted on my anonymous blog. Geez, I need to get out more.

5/2/12

My garden. Is out of control. I screwed up. I did. My raised garden wasn’t big enough for all I have planted and hell I planted stuff too close together. Hey, it is a learning experience.

See my lettuce and spinach.  And yes, the cucumber plant is giving my lettuce too much shade.  Ugh!

Speaking of the garden. I had my first salad with my lettuce and spinach. The leaves were so tender and flavorful. The Guy asked for more salad. Who does that? Um, I couldn’t accommodate because I only made enough salad for each person. I will know next time.

In more gardening news. I have blooms! Yes!!!!

Marigolds

 I have another worker issue at my second job. To remedy it the situation, I have scheduled her during my shifts. Let’s see how that works. My sister calls this the tolling time, the beginning of the end. SMH!


I have been working on my Abs this week during my workouts. Have any of you done any planking? That mess hurts. That is all.


I am in my office freezing. Seriously, I can go outside and it is 99 degrees and I will be fine for at least an hour due to the temps they keep these offices.


Our copier in our office has folks using such foul language, really foul language and they are really loud with their disgust.

I have also been nesting or cleaning out 20 or 30 odd years of stuff.  See...

 I do not like talking on the phone. Usually 5 minutes in unless you are my sister, is
doing too much. Some folks are not mindful of your time and think you can talk to them all willy nilly. My best friend in Colorado called my cell phone after midnight last night. No I didn’t answer the phone. I looked at the phone and shook my head and turned right back over and went back to sleep. I sometimes don’t think she understands talking to her requires you allot time in your schedule to do nothing for a minimum of 2 hours as she talks. Calling when I am at work means I am not calling you back while I am at work. Calling when I get off work means I will have no down time when I get home, so no return call. Calling me in the middle of the night is CRAZY! Unless someone is dying, please do not call me after midnight. I am not talking to anyone at that time. Yes she has left several messages to call her back, but she doesn’t want anything. And if something was wrong with me, someone would let her know. Every since my Aunt died she seems to think I need attention. I don’t. And I don’t have two hours to be on the phone right now.


The cover of Tim.e magazine is a bit disturbing. I am sorry the little boy looks like he is 5 years old. The magazine did it on purpose to get folks to talking. Since I don’t have children and will not have any children, this is not my concern. Frankly, do what you want it is your child. I can tell you that we once had a book club member who had a toddler still breastfeeding and when she got pregnant members told her she needed to wean him before the next baby was born. Well, she didn’t and when the baby came he didn’t breastfeed for long, the toddler did until she had no choice but to stop. The baby was no longer breastfeeding and the toddler was still grabbing for the breast. As the baby got older, he was more independent than the older sibling and if you didn’t know any better you would think the baby was the oldest. Interesting.


I do not have a problem with President Obama’s stance on gay marriage. I am a Christian as well. And for the most part I am not ignorant and some of the criticism I am seeing from the so called Christians borders on ignorance. When you know someone who is struggling with their sexuality and their fears stem from what has been said in the Church or a parent make the statement I am worried my child will go to hell because they are gay, you will not understand. Judgment is not ours. That is all!  I understand some of the Black churches have come out today against President Obama.


I was told Happy Mother’s day on Thursday. I said thank you. They know I don’t have any children and it is a nice gester.


Why did a crack head ask the guy who does my yard if he wanted some hot weed eaters and such? Um, the guy who does my yard is law enforcement. He wears a gun and arrests folks for a living. No, he didn’t take crackie up on the offer, but seriously?


Reminds me of the folks in the grocery store trying to sell their food stamps for cash. I always tell them they don’t even know if I am law enforcement and they need to be very careful and hell no. I will be spending money I have already paid into the tax system, so I lose twice.


Mandatory hair pictures...

Full curls

My summer go to style curly bun.  Fully makeup.  1st time since surgery.

What my hair looks like when I take the curly bun down.

I haven’t purchased any summer shoes. I know, sad, but the new hot water heater…

But if I could purchase any, these would be the ones. A girl can dream…

If you follow me on Pinterest, you will see more reasonable shoes there. One of those babies will be mine this summer.


My sister posted a nice post of FB about Mother’s day, which made me a little weepy, no tears. But I am not like her mother now, I am her friend. LOL!  I miss my mama and my aunt...

Happy Mother’s Day!

P. S. Blogger is smoking something because it is posting my pictures all out of order so blame blogger, not me.  



Organized washroom.  Nope washer and dryer do not match.  And I don't care as long as they work.

Organized pantry.  Lawd I should have take the before shot.  A hot mess!

Pucci Wedge Sandles for $599.95

My vacation, new shoes and anything new I may want is in this hot water heater.

See the cucumber flowers. 

Even the container plants are out of control.  But when the sunflowers appear, I will be so happy!

Grape tomatoes.  Will they ever turn red?

4/25/12

Internet Retribution...Parenting In a Social Media Age: Old School Style

One of the authors I follow on FB posted a picture of her daughter holding a sign saying in essence, since she didn’t know how to use social media properly she would be taking a hiatus from it until she learned how to use social media responsibly. Her picture went viral and she had comments from one end of the spectrum to the other. In an entry later, she said the majority of it was positive, but she had a small portion that thought she was the worst mother ever and her daughter would have serious problems later in life.


I applauded her actions. I wish more parents had the gumption and the mind to do what she did. Really. In my family I am known as the Internet crawler. I am going to be on your FB page and blog and I will monitor what the hell you are saying, posting and showing on your pages. Drives my niece crazy, but I do. My normal manner is to tell their parents and let them handle it from there. Sometimes I personally tell them to take the mess down.


My sister monitors her children on the computer. Faithfully and she will always do so. (I do not agree with reading her journal, but I am a child whose mother read her journal so I purposely would say hateful things). She has parental controls on the computer and the computer in her home is in the living room so anyone walking in will see what you are doing.  Social media also made my oldest niece bold and brazen, where she tweeted a situation that she failed to think her mother would see and my sister took it to her old school.  Posting personal things, especially things about your mother is really, really not a good idea.
My cousins cannot curse on their pages, the younger ones. The older ones I send direct messages asking are they going through something because I am sure their coworkers and supervisors are viewing their page with wonderment as well. There are no bikini shots for the females, AT ALL. Take that mess down. My niece tried it a few times but as soon as she posted it, she had to take it down. I am good.  I also do not believe and putting all your business on your page.  Even if it is going out to eat, you are basically telling your so called friends you aren't home and they can come rob you.  Extreme, but it could happen.  (An alleged rapist in the area used FB to meet new friends and set up his targets.)


Now I have some younger cousins who I would never have allowed to establish a FB page, they are too young to handle the responsibility. A few weeks ago I was doing my nightly crawl and I notice the 12 year old cousin (yes this is too young for FB, but I am not his mama) had posted a picture of Mil.ey Cyr.us, it wasn’t just the picture that was the problem it was the picture of pen.is in her mouth that was the problem. Mind you I am on my phone so I using the fact I am extremely nearsighted in my left eye, I put the phone up to the eye and dang, my mouth dropped opened and I was done. Who the heck was monitoring his behind on the computer and how did he get the picture? I called his grandmamma and she called his mama and his page was taken completely down. It had only been up on the computer for an hour before I spotted it. Yeah, I was angry, but I was concerned because neither the grandparents nor the parents have parental controls on their computer. I talked to his grandmamma about it and asking her to move her computer out of the bedroom and into a more visible room.


Parents are not their kid’s friends. The Guy told me of how he handles cleaning the kitchen in his household. His sons have to clean the kitchen and that includes hand washing the dishes and wiping down the counters and stove, but they must also sweep the floor. You know old school clean up. He unplugged his dishwasher. Yes, because dishwashers make them lazy, my opinion. Anyway, if they do not clean the kitchen properly he will get a dirty dish with water in it and wake them up in bed with a nice thought, wet thought, now you have to go clean the kitchen in the middle of the night, but you also have to change your linen. I love it. His son told him he had folded up his clothes after washing them. Well, The Guy found the clothes just thrown into the laundry basket. He asked his son if he was sure he put the clothes up and told him to go check his room. I wish I could have seen his face, because The Guy took all the clothes piled into the laundry basket and threw them all over his room along with the dirty clothes. Now he had to re-wash everything.  Be still my heart.  Old school style.


My sister has the same problem with my niece about cleaning the kitchen. I told my sister old school style works. My aunt only had to wake me up out of my sleep once. I learned quickly what a clean kitchen meant. If my sister would do that, just once, she would save herself the pressure issues.


I don’t have kids and the kids I helped raise are grown. However, they know how to clean a kitchen, wash clothes and clean a house better than most women. They love their mama, even though they are reminded of the butt whippings they got because each of the whippings taught them a lesson and mainly not to make the same mistakes again. A whipping is not a beating, keep that in mind. In this age, punishing your children has to take on a different method. Not punishing them means when they are working their first jobs with me, I am trying to play catch up on discipline with them and sometimes it helps, but as I am seeing it really is too late. Your kids are not your friends; they will appreciate the discipline when they are older because at least they know you cared.


Again, I applaud the parents who are parenting in this day in age. And in the age of social media, you have an added measure to deal with, but you know what will work best for your kid, but know you have to discipline.  Handle your kids the way you see fit, because if you don’t the system will. I know I see it every day!

Let's See How Long...

before my sister realizes I posted this.  She claims to read my blog, but I wouldn't know it from her comments.  Exactly, she doesn't!

Anyway, my sister, Tiffany, is going to have her first short story published in Zane's Z-Rated - Chocolate Flava III.  I am quite excited for her.  When she told me the title of the story, I couldn't remember whether I had read/edited or what.  But after some thoughtful moments of reflection, I remember the title.  Lawd, she wrote that one a long time ago and she had the audacity to tell me don't tell The Guy the title, blushing.  Really? 

I will have to get this collection when it comes out, because I can't wait for The Guy to read it and hell to refresh my memory on the story. 

I bet you didn't know all of us, meaning my sister, brother and I all write.  Why?  Because our mother was a staunch reader and she imparted the love of reading upon all of us.  Now, my stuff is published in the way of reviews and few commentaries writings on website, but hey you have to start somewhere. 

Anyway, be sure to check out Zane's upcoming anthology, Z-Rated - Chocolate Flava III, when it comes out and be sure to check out Tiffany's story within its pages.