Brownies!

With  Mom's help today, I combined some recipes and made Marbled Cream Cheese Brownies.  It was my first time ever making homemade brownies(*see note), and I couldn't believe how easy they are to make.  I'm embarrassed that I ever used a mix!

Another first was that, to keep from heating up the kitchen, I baked them in my toaster oven.  A blogger I follow  had made brownies in her toaster oven once, and I was rather startled.  I thought it was just an appliance for melting cheese on nachos and toasting bread!

(Imagine my surprise when Mom informed me that she has been making her biscuits and cornbread in her toaster oven for quite some time.  Where have I been?!?!)

They turned out perfect in the toaster oven, the kitchen didn't get too hot (except for when Mom insisted on washing the dishes and heating up the kitchen anyway) and my recipe chimera turned out fantastic!

Chimera Brownies

Here is our version of the recipe; I used gluten free flour and added a dash of xantham gum (which I have been reliably informed equals 1/8 teaspoon).

Marbled Cream Cheese Brownies

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Mix butter, sugar, vanilla; add eggs.  Mix well with whisk.  Mix dry ingredients; add to wet ingredients.  Put half to three-quarters of the brownie mix in the bottom of a  9 inch greased pan.

1/2 block softened cream cheese (save some just in case)

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together with electric mixer until well blended (add more cream cheese if needed to thicken--I needed a bit more to balance off my large egg); pour on top of brownie mixture.  Marble in remaining brownie mixture.

Bake in non-preheated oven on 350 for 20-25 minutes.
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*note:
Mom says she remembers me making brownies in my teens, particularly Texas Brownies, the ones that use strong coffee.  I remember baking many things from scratch: bread, cakes, petit fours, pies, cookies; just not brownies.  Mom's memory is to be trusted on this, and I've no doubt that I did make brownies.  In an embarrassing confession, I'll admit that as a result of my current medical difficulty, I experience hulking great chunks of lost memories (past and semi-present).  This happens to be one of them.  So, while I have obviously made brownies from scratch in the past, I have not made brownies from scratch and this was my very first time.  Hopefully that makes sense.

Cookies and Tapes

I can mark off two things from this week's to-do list, and it's only Tuesday!

Yesterday, I tested and reviewed Pamela's Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix for the Amazon Vine Program.

I followed the directions explicitly and made the bar cookies. They were much more like shortbread in both taste and texture.  I was wowed by the biscuit mix by Pamela's that I tested, but these I could take or leave.  I scored the mix a 3 out of 5. If I am going buy a packaged mix for a sweet treat, I'll stick to Namaste brand brownie mix.  Those are quite yummy.

They make a great photo, though!

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Today, I swept the cobweb colony out of the corners of the living room, cleaned the ceiling fan and decorated it with Washi tape.  It looks as awesome as the bedroom!

 I used these three.  The bottom two are from Target; I prefer to use my Target Washi on big household projects because I know I can replace it easily.

The top one is Martha Stewart's Paper Tape.  Let me tell you a little about Martha Stewart's Paper Tape.

It is terrible.

First off, this is not Washi tape.  It doesn't say it is, and that is the one thing in it's favor.  But, naturally one assumes it is as many Washi tapes are referred to as "paper tape".

Well, this one is not.

Washi tape, for the uninitiated, is like masking tape.  It is pliable, it is transparent, it can be pulled up and restuck numerous times, and it can be written on. Masking tape is my go-to item and I use it all over the house, from cross-stitching to labeling boxes to holding cords up in the kitchen.  Love the stuff.

Washi tape is masking tape wearing a frilly dress.  It has all of masking tape's excellent qualities, plus exquisite beauty.  You can use it for pretty crafts as well as practical things.

Martha Stewart's Paper Tape is not any of those things mentioned.  Well, it's pretty, but that's it.

It has the texture of wax paper and so is too slick to be written on.

It has been my experience that Washi tapes sticks to everything perfectly, even after several reuses, except sawdusty wood (and a little wood glue fixed that).  This paper tape doesn't stick well the first time; you can forget a second time.  

Worst of all, this paper tape doesn't want to smooth out well.  It could just be my rolls, but it is pushed out on the roll at the top and bottom--yes, on the roll, before I even got it OFF the roll--and when I go to use it the top and bottom tend to curl up.

It has been a dismal disappointment.  Avoid it, but rush out to Target and buy as much of their tape as you can get your hands on and enjoy taping your entire house--like me!

Thrift Store Coup and More

Our county has it's own Rescue Mission (in addition to the local chapter of the Salvation Army), and to support itself, the Rescue Mission has a thrift store.  I say "A" thrift store, but the community support is such that it has grown into eight locations, plus one in the neighboring county!  I can't imagine how many people they employee in the stores, the warehouses and as drivers (yes, they will come and PICK UP your donations for the thrift store), but they are certainly a blessing to this county.

As I have been in the (painfully slow) process of decluttering our home over the past two years, we have donated untold amounts of clothing, toys, housewares and the like.  It makes me feel good to know that my extra stuff might be of benefit to someone in someway.

I also like to browse there.  It's dangerous, and I've never let it become a habit, but Tuesday morning I needed a pick me up after going out for lab work (never a pleasant duty) in the pouring rain.

Boy am I glad I did!

Ta da!

I found four pieces of Corningware!  We have other pieces of Corningware like the wildflower dishes in the blue flower and "spice of life" patterns and they are the most used dishes in our home.  I've never owned any of the Vision cookware, and nearly squeed when I saw it on the shelf.  I remember seeing the ads as a kid and thinking how cool it was. . .and now I own two pieces!

 The larger one is the bottom part of a double boiler and the smaller one fits nicely enough in the big one that the two could be used as a double boiler, should I ever need one.

I used the large one as a mixing bowl last night and it was fantastic!

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St. John enjoyed the last paper lantern so much we bought him some more to play with.  Tuesday night's play session was inside the laundry basket, which made it twice as much fun!

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Spent literally all night cross-stitching.  Am just heading to bed now, but my frames are done just in time!  The first set of patterns for the Summer Sampler will be released tomorrow and now I am ready!

It's not the best lighting, so it's hard to appreciate the colors.  I chose a beige Aida, and the frames resemble lemon and orange sherbet.  The beige really brings out the frame colors.  I can't wait to see what the first set of patterns will be!

Looking Back on a Good Week

It's been another good week. I'm starting to feel like I can accomplish things in the house!

Monday:
I did the grocery shopping and took the books and cds to the used bookstore.  Remember how I speculated that I'd come home with as many as I took to sell?  Well. . . . I didn't bring back quite that many.

I'm really excited with my finds.  I've been on a cozy mystery kick, and some of them are hard to find at the library.  Most of these authors are new to me, but if I don't like them I can always trade them in for more.  Golly, I love books!

I also started pulling our books out of the various bookshelves and sorting them in the living room floor.  I'm sorting by alphabetical, nonfiction and devotional/Bible study.  My husband is going to build us some sturdier, taller shelves (maybe this weekend) and I plan to put the fiction in alphabetical order (like mine always were until I married and didn't take the time to merge our two groups) and the nonfiction in Dewey decimal order.  I get tired of not being able to find the book I'm looking for amongst all the other books.  I'm super excited to do this, being a book nerd and all.  I'm also sorting out the short stories to put in a separate section if they are by multiple authors.  I'm going to break with the Dewey and put plays and poetry in with fiction, though, because to my mind they are fiction and should not be in the nonfiction.  I've always struggled with that!  The devotional books will stay in my bedroom bookshelves, but I'll be sure that I have them all in there, as sometimes they get scattered.  I'll probably put my husband's Civil War books in his bedroom bookshelf, if there is room.  That is his special area of interest, and I want to be sure they are readily available to him to browse and admire.

Tuesday:
Can I admit that I don't remember anything at all about Tuesday?!  I think that must be when I caught up on all the dishes left over from the weekend (we don't have an automatic dishwasher).  Yes, I think that was it, and I made chili too.  I really like to put grated cheese on tortilla chips, melt it in the toaster oven, and then spread my homemade chili over top.  Super yummy.  And super messy!  I can't believe how easy chili is to make.  I created my own recipe:
saute garlic and onions in olive oil
add 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
and 2 cans of beans (I prefer black beans, but sometimes I put in a can of Great Northerns with the black)\
and 1 1/2 tablespoons of cumin
and 1 1/2 teaspoons of chili powder
plus salt and pepper to taste
Simmer until the flavors blend and voilà.  

Oh, yes, I just remembered!  On Tuesday, I made a new covering for our front door. St. John broke the blinds some time ago, and I had covered the panes with scrapbook paper for privacy.  It looked terrible, but it was all I could do at the time.  

I made a sort of fake stained glass to cover our door.  It looks silly, but it also looks happy, so I don't mind.  I put a sheet of wax paper across each pane.  Then I took another sheet of wax paper and taped on shapes from scrapbook paper and put it across the pane (so that the shapes were sandwiched between the wax paper sheets).  You can see the tape from the inside, and if I were to make it better and fancier, I'd buy contact paper to sandwich them in between so there wouldn't be any tape.  But, it provides color and privacy, so I don't care that it looks childish.  My husband gave me a huge compliment, saying it looked hippie-ish, so that means he doesn't mind it too badly either. :)

Wednesday:
Wednesday was a good and busy day.  Noon Communion, followed by lunch with Mom at Chick-fil-a (one of the only two fast places a person with Celiac can have fries).  Then she and I went to Joann craft store and I scored an amazing deal!   I got an $80 OttLite full sprectrum desk lamp for $19.99! It was marked down to $39; when it rang up even cheaper, I went back and got another! I am SOOOO excited!  After that, we parted ways and I went to Sam's and Big Lots.  On my way home, I texted my husband that I would pick up his perscription at Walgreens, but he didn't hear the text and headed that way too.  I pulled in behind him in the drive-through! Imagine my surprise when he got out of the work truck (which I never recognize) and came up to my window!  Surprise meetings with him always make my day!

Wednesday night I did some more furniture shifting.  When we moved my desk, I found a cache of lost kitty toys.

Every one of those was under that desk!  I thought the stove and refrigerator was the only kitty toy black hole!

Thursday:
Goodness, that was just yesterday!
I found a wonderful spring cleaning list, broken down into easy daily tasks and started doing it.  Yesterday was the stove and microwave.  I couldn't believe how nice the oven door looked when I was done!

I found the list here at Organize and Decorate Everything.  I get overwhelmed very quickly with large tasks, which has been the problem getting the house organized.  Having it broken down so nicely is great!  

I also made my homemade macaroni and cheese (a staple in my house).  I like to add broccoli to it and lately  I've been adding green peas also.  Quite yummy.

I made butter mints last night, too, but again that recipe didn't turn out quite right.  I'll have to try a different one.  This one, with sweetened condensed milk, just doesn't work well for me.

Today:
Today I cleaned out the fridge, and since I don't have a dishwasher, I started on tomorrow's spring cleaning chore and cleaned some of the cabinet doors.  


Here is my current work in progress, though I've not done much this week.

The Frosted Pumpkin did a Fruit of the Month sampler a few years ago.  I bought it, but had not completed it.  I've decided to do each fruit separately  so they can be displayed during the month.  Plus, I can put them on varying pastel colors, depending on what looks best with that fruit.  This is the May lemon, being worked on pink Aida.

Goodbye TV! Hello Strawberry Cobbler!

Had an amazingly productive afternoon/evening.  I packed up our television, video/DVD players and all the remotes and my husband removed them to the basement.  Then I packed up all the VHS movies we still have left (some I just couldn't part with, as they are no longer available, like my trio of Jane Austen social history films), alphabetized them, put them in boxes and made a list for the top of the box as to what movies were inside the box.

How much better the living room looks with all that gone!

Neither my husband or I were television watchers when we were married, and neither of us had cable.  I hadn't had cable since I moved out on my own; I only watched public television.  He had discarded his when he began playing computer games more than watching  shows.  As a result, we've never been a television family.  We've never had cable, or even had it hooked up to an antenna.  When I would hear about something good produced by public television, I'd make a note and check for it at the library.

We used to watch a DVD or video on the weekends, in the early years of our marriage, but we dropped that rather soon.  We'd rather play a game together or read together.

We do have Amazon Prime (have had it since it's earliest inception) and that has expanded to include streaming shows.  All the public television shows/movies I would be interested in are there, and I have caught up on the new Doctor Who (I am proud to state I have been a fan since the 80's, and frankly still prefer the crappy sets of my youth) and some of the newer Austen adaptations (most of which have been terrible) while cross stitching.

So, it finally occurred to me, as I wrestled with moving the living room furniture once again, that we just didn't need the television and accouterments   I can't remember the last time either of us used it.  Wait, yes I can; I had a sleepless night last spring and watched Far From the Madd'ing Crowd from start to finish.  Again, I'll say how much nicer the living room looks without it!

Since I was in the spring cleaning mode, I also culled our computer games and our music CDs.  They are boxed and labeled like the videos, the CD player will be joining the television in the basement, while a select few (mostly Baroque and jazz) are now stored next to my computer.  I have a milk crate full to go to the used book/music store this week, which means I'll probably come home with another shelf full of books from the credit.

I have culled my books so often over the last three years, that only a skeleton crew remain.  Which means that we still have about 8 full bookcases, one of which is the entire hall wall.  We were literally stepping over piles of books when I started culling.  I hate to get rid of books, but I'm trying to make our home more organized, and to make some space, I'm having to do so.  Of course, the fact that I just keep on bringing in more doesn't help a lot. . .

Now, after I did all that, I made two strawberry cobblers with some berries that weren't good for eating.  They turned out great, and we had huge helpings.  I'm getting braver in the kitchen! :)