TWITCH

I have a friend whose blog is called "Things That Make Me Twitch". I'm stealing her tag line today. I was standing in line at Target last night and 3 year old Susie didn't want to sit in the cart. She was backwards in the seat area, leaning over the bar. I kept holding my hands out because I thought she was going to fall.

Susie's Mom was watching her from the front of the cart and would say in that sing song voice my children have never heard when they are being naughty, "Susie, that's not acceptable". "Susie, sit on your bottom". "Susie, Mommy would like you to sit on your bottom".

Susie ignored her Mother and continued to do back bends over the bar of the cart. Mommy continues to beg the child, did I mention she was 3, to sit on her bottom. I had to use every ounce of restraint to not pick the child up, turn her around and TELL her to sit on her "bottom" the correct way!

Why does this make me twitch? Because I am SO tired of parents who don't want to be the bad guy, they don't want to make their child upset, they don't want to give their child boundaries or teach them acceptable behavior. Would she have let Susie run into the street? I venture to guess the answer would be no. But I wonder if she realizes if Susie were to drop head first onto the concrete floor of Target, the chance of a head injury would be LARGE!

But my clincher and why I had to post my "twitch". After they paid, Mommy was pulling the cart away so I could step up to pay and Susie wanted to play with the credit card pad and pen. She is now STANDING in the sitting part of the cart. And, what does the Mother say?? "Susie, you can't play with that right now because that lady (me) will get mad because it's her turn". Ummm, what?!? How about, "Susie, sit down and don't touch that, it's NOT a toy". And, yeah Susie, this "lady" is mad but not at you. I'm mad at your Mother for not giving you rules or expectations. Susie should be a blast to be around in about 10 years, I wish them luck.

Lemon Bars

If you live in Minnesota, you are feeling my pain. Holidays are over, the weather is BRUTAL, the month is LONG, spring isn't for a few months and my flip flops..yeah I'm not seeing those anytime soon.

So, I decided to bring a little summer INSIDE and make Lemon Bars. I love Lemon Bars. It was a bonus that I had some raspberries and blueberries in the freezer but if you don't they are just as good without. I'm also trying to be good about my diet so I only made 1/2 the recipe and shared them with Alanna (they are her favorite too and I shouldn't sabotage only my diet) because I will eat the entire pan if given the chance. The recipe that I'm posting is for a 13x9 pan.

Crust
1 1/2 C Flour
1/2 C Powdered Sugar
3/4 C Cold Butter

Mix together and press into 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

4 Eggs
1 1/2 C Sugar
3 T Flour
1 t Baking Powder
1/2 C Lemon Juice
Berries ~ Optional

Whisk together and pour on top of crust. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Chop up your cold butter, it's easier to work with if you chop it up into pieces. You could use a pastry mixer but you know my style, less gadgets the better. So, mix your flour and powder sugar together and use two forks to mash the butter and flour mixture together.
You're going to mix the flour and powdered sugar in until it's crumbly and there are no chunks of butter. Pat this down and put in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remember we're pretending this is a 13x9 pan;)
This is your crust out of the oven, I could have probably baked this for another minute or two but I was in a hurry
Pour the filling on top, place your berries on top if you choose and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden around the edges and set in the middle.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and have a little taste of summer!

Roasted Vegi and Wild Rice Soup

Alanna and I went out to lunch and decided to share a sandwich so we could get a bowl of the soup of the day, Chicken Wild Rice. I don't know what comes to your mind but to ours...creamy, yummy comfort soup.

We got something very similar to this recipe instead. A spicy, sassy wild rice soup. We were both completely disappointed at the time, but afterward I found myself craving it. I tried my best to recreate since I had some left over wild rice, Alanna claims I was successful so I hope you enjoy.

I am going to put everything you need, so you'll have your grocery list and then how it all played out.

6 C Chicken Broth ~ I actually had homemade turkey broth I used
1 can Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic
1/2 C Carrots minced
2 stalks Celery minced
1/2 t Cayenne
few cranks of the pepper mill
1 T Tastefully Simple Garlic Pepper ~ if you don't have this, just use Garlic Powder
1 - 1 1/2 C chopped cooked Turkey or Chicken
1/2 Red Pepper chopped
1/2 Green Pepper chopped
3 cloves Garlic minced
1/2 medium Onion chopped
1/2 Zucchini chopped ~ or use whole and skip yellow squash
1/2 Yellow Squash chopped
1/4 lb of fresh Green Beans snapped into bite size pieces
Handful of Asparagus, snap off the tops and use those only. Use the stalks for a stir fry
1-2 t Olive Oil
1/2 to 1 t Red Pepper Flakes
2 - 2 1/2 C cooked Wild Rice or Brown Rice would work too.
Couple handfuls of fresh spinach chopped

And, this is how you'll use it all

6 C Chicken Broth ~ I actually had homemade turkey broth I used
1 can Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic
1/2 C Carrots minced
2 stalks Celery minced
1/2 t Cayenne
few cranks of the pepper mill
1 T Tastefully Simple Garlic Pepper ~ if you don't have this, just use Garlic Powder
1 - 1 1/2 C chopped cooked Turkey or Chicken

Get this all on the stove and simmer at a medium heat for about 30 minutes.

1/2 Zucchini chopped
1/2 Yellow Squash chopped
1/2 Red Pepper chopped
1/2 Green Pepper chopped
3 cloves Garlic minced
1/2 medium Onion chopped
1/4 lb of fresh Green Beans snapped into bite size pieces
Handful of Asparagus, snap off the tops and use those only. Use the stalks for a stir fry

Toss with a slight drizzle of Olive Oil, maybe a couple teaspoons. Throw into cake pan, sprinkle with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes and roast for 10-12 minutes at 450. Dump into soup pot.

Add 2-2 1/2 C cooked Wild Rice or Brown Rice would work too.

Cook for another 10 minutes just to blend the flavors. Add a couple handfuls of chopped fresh spinach, give it a stir and serve.
Makes 6 bowls.

Banana Walnut Bundt Coffee Cake

I had some bananas that were forgotten on the counter AND I found some walnuts that I bought for Christmas and didn't use. What goes better than bananas and walnuts??

I wanted to try something a little different. I started to go healthy but then decided, what the heck, let's just do this;)

1/2 C Walnuts, Chopped ~ optional
½ C Brown Sugar
¼ C Sugar
3 t Cinnamon
2 T Soft Butter
Mix this together for your dry topping

2 C Flour
½ t Salt
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Baking Soda
1 C Sugar
4 Egg Whites or 2 whole Eggs
2 t Vanilla
4 Mashed RIPE Bananas
1 C Light Sour Cream or Yogurt ~ I've used both
1/4 C Soft Butter

Mix the wet ingredients, add the dry to make your batter. It's kind of sticky, not like a cake mix, more like a wet bread dough.

Drizzle
1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1 T Milk
1 t Vanilla
¼ C Chopped Walnuts~optional but I put them in IF I used them inside so everyone knows nuts are involved. Mix together and drizzle over the top of the cake.

Preparation Instructions
Spoon half the batter into a well greased bundt pan. Top with 2/3 of the dry filling. To make the cake “prettier”, try to keep the filling from touching the edges of the pan. Spoon rest of the batter into pan and top with remaining dry filling. Bake at 350 for about 35-45 minutes, test with skewer to make sure skewer comes out clean of batter. Top will be a golden brown. Cool for about 10 minutes and flip onto favorite cake plate.

Drizzle your glaze over cake and serve.

If you want to make this even easier and don’t want to mess around with a bundt pan, you can pour into 13×9, top with dry filling and bake for about 20-25 minutes, top with glaze. Here is your batter. See what I mean about being sticky. This is what a bundt pan looks like. Remember though you can use a 13x9 cake pan and get the same results so if you don't have one, don't let that stop you.

Spoon 2/3 the batter into the pan and sprinkle with 2/3 of your dry ingredients. Try to keep it from the edge, makes for a prettier cake. And, they aren't really "dry" they are more moist, kind of like wet sand...I know that doesn't sound appetizing but I'm trying to give you a visual;)
Spread the rest of the batter on top.
Top with rest of the dry filling. Bake for 35-45 minutes until tester comes out clean.
You can stop here

OR you can make it that much better with a drizzle
If you're like me, this won't be your only piece

Daffodil Days

I am a firm believer in giving back. Volunteering can take a small portion of time but make a huge impact. What I don't think people realize is how easy some things are, so let me explain an easy one that I do.

Daffodil Days for the American Cancer Society. The thing that I think is absolutely the coolest about Daffodil Days...$9 of the $10 you donated goes directly to American Cancer Society's education, patient programs and research.


3 weeks before order is due...I send out a mass email where I work, asking who would like to purchase Daffodils and explaining a bit about what Daffodil Days is.

DAFFY GRAM
Don’t miss your chance to make someone smile with a bunch of daffodils. Drop a note and check in my box by Feb XX at noon to order your bunch. $10 for a bunch of 10 or $15 for a bunch and a vase. Delivery is March XX. Checks payable to American Cancer Society. Thanks.

2 weeks before, pretty similar email goes out.

1 week before, same thing but with DON'T MISS YOUR CHANCE TO ORDER

1 day before final reminder.

Staff drops off checks in my in box.

I place the order and a month later the daffodils are delivered and I deliver them to the people who ordered. Have you ever delivered flowers? Even when people ordered the flowers for themselves, they smile when you walk in the room to deliver. What a great day for me!

From beginning to end it takes me about an hour and in the process...I gave back to my community, I raised money for cancer, I volunteered.

If you're interested in an opportunity like this, check out www.cancer.org/daffodils

ASIAN PORK WRAPS

I was going through my crock pot recipes and I came across and oldie but a goodie. I don't have any photos, but I think this is pretty straight forward and tis the season for crock pot recipes with hockey season being in full swing.

Pork Roast - 4 lbs cut in half
1/3 C Hoisen Sauce
1/4 C Stir Fry Sauce
1/2 t Garlic
1 t sesame oil

Mix all the ingredients except roast in crock pot. Put your roast in the pot and coat with sauce. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Serve wrapped in tortillas with a little coleslaw straight out of the bag. My kids preferred it without the slaw but I liked the crunch.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 brick Cream Cheese~softened, yep low fat
1 stick butter~softened
2 t Vanilla
4 C Powdered Sugar

Mix together, put in a frosting bag with a star tip and decorate OR simply frost the cupcakes with a knife.