New Podcatcher

Last time I went to work, I left my mp3 player in my desk. It is too far to justify going back just to get my mp3 player when I have a new perfectly good smartphone that can download and play podcasts on its own. I finally had the impetus I needed to look into android podcatchers.

I settled on BeyondPod. It’s not free, but I just didn’t think I was going to end up being satisfied with any of the free options for the long haul and I didn’t want to shop any more. It impressed me in the trial period and I’m fully satisfied with its functionality. I do miss having a physical button for skipping to the next track, but that is the only downside to using my phone to listen to podcasts.

On the up side, there is a button for skipping 30-seconds and one for going back 5 seconds. When I skip to the next track, I have it set to delete the listened-to track automatically, so I never have to clean up after myself or get confused about which ones I’ve listened to already. The volume rocker does work even when the screen is off, so I don’t have to miss that feature of my old mp3 player.

Emergency Chocolate

1/4 cup chips (I prefer mixed butterscotch and dark chocolate chips)
1 Tablespoon smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup oatmeal (I prefer rolled oats)

Microwave chips and peanut butter on high for a minute. Mix.
Add oatmeal. Stir.

Enjoy. With milk.

Notes: Makes 1/2 cup- just the right size for a XS Round Bowl from Glad.This recipe actually makes just a little more than I want in one sitting, so I measure small. 2/5 of the calories come from the oatmeal, 2/5 from the chips, 1/5 from the peanut butter. The rolled oats take a bit of chewing, which allows you to savor the chocolate peanut butter that much longer and makes your brain think you’ve eaten a lot.

This isn’t something I would serve to someone, but when there’s no junk food in the house, it can be just what The Doctor ordered. Pictured is 1/2 a recipe.

Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa...& Veggie Salad

You can google cuppa cuppa cuppa cake to find out about it's genesis, but it sounded interesting enough to me to give it a go. Super simple. A cuppa flour plus a cuppa fruit cocktail with it's juice plus a cup of sugar; mix and bake. The blogger I got this idea from said it was awfully sweet so I used the whole can of fruit and went heavy on the flour and light on the sugar. I also used half flour and half oatmeal with making soda and baking powder because I didn't have self rising flour.
So it's not pure cuppa cake but it is super good. The upper crust tastes surprisingly like graham cracker. I had no ice cream to compliment it, but milk did a good job.
On a somewhat unrelated note, I also madea veggie salad. One bag of brussel sprouts, one bag of corn, and what was left of a bag of peas with garlic salt, mrs. dash, and a hint of salad dressing. Yum!

Carmela’s Laugh

Tamara and Carmela have so much fun. We love watching our baby grow.

Frosting the Yellow Cake Muffins

Today, Tamara made yellow cake muffins. We didn’t have any frosting around, so I made some. Below is the correct way of making frosting like mine. You can know that it’s the correct way because it’s the way that I did it. Quod erat demonstrandum.

First, you put the amount of butter equal to about how much frosting you want in a bowl. Use the butter that has been sitting on the counter for a few hours because that will be nice and soft. If the butter on the counter is all the butter you have in the house, then you might just use all of it. This is the limiting factor for how much frosting you can make. Use real butter, not unsalted or margarine- especially if that’s all you have.

If your wife got out vanilla for you to put in the frosting, you should put some in. Since vanilla, in my experience, sometimes overpowers things, you should probably pour it into a measuring spoon first so that you can pour some back in the bottle until you have the right amount. Dump it right on the butter.

Powdered sugar and cocoa powder can both be scooped in with a spoon. Keep adding more until it tastes right. If it becomes too thick or dry, you can put in a very tiny bit of milk. A little goes a long way, so be careful.

The best place to frost a muffin is in the middle. These muffins aren’t as sturdy as English muffins, so try not to destroy it with your table knife- either while cutting it open or while frosting it.

What the Devilled Eggs?

Making devilled eggs was much faster with leftover Easter eggs than it was starting with raw eggs. I made devilled eggs a couple weeks ago for a munch-n-mingle after church. I devilled a dozen eggs and only got to eat half of one. I’ve been wanting to make some more ever since.

I tried something new today. It didn’t turn out as well as the eggs I devilled for church, but it’s pretty good. The sliced olives looked like they were going to be fancy, but they were a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping to chop up some sun-dried tomatoes into my eggs, but I guess we’re out. It’s not something we use often enough to keep it stocked.

Tamara made egg salad last night. I hadn’t really realized how similar that was to devilled eggs: mostly just a little more chopping and a little less paprika.

Normally I dump the mixed yolks into a Ziploc freezer bag and squeeze the yolks back into the eggs like frosting, but today I used a cookie scoop. The frosting-like method works better (if you beat the yolks completely smooth and use a large nozze), but the cookie scoop was more convenient.I just had to pat the yolks down with the back of the scoop afterward to make them look halfway decent.

Homemade Pop Tart Adventure FTW!!

 

I was reading Lifehacker.com the other day and there was a post about how much better homemade pop tarts are than the store bought variety. Of course I wanted to make some right away but I don’t have time for that just any day during the semester. I’ve been intending to make them any day ever since. The article I read, which ultimately had come from the New York Times or something, had recommended making frangipane to fill the pop tarts. That sounded really good, but it turns out that I don’t just keep almond paste or any such thing around the house normally, so that wasn’t an option.

Fortunately, I remembered my love of dates. Grampa Slim had given me a nice big box of dates and I don’t use them nearly so often as I would like. I thought date pop tarts would be just the thing. I used 16 dates, no recipe, a cup of water and a cup of sugar with some heat and a bean mashing tool. The next thing I knew, I had a smooth, yet chunky date filling ready to go. I won’t tell you how good it was because I’m trying to be modest. (Maybe I’m failing to be modest, but just think how bad I could be without even trying!)

I made the pastry according to the recipe I found, mostly. I didn’t refrigerate the dough or take any suggested precautions to make sure it turned out well. I thought it turned out pretty well anyway. They don’t look professional by any means, but these were made for eating, not selling. I documented the process with my camera phone. I plan to put up the recipe on the recipe blog soon and insert the link here.

Update: Recipe posted.
Robertson Family Chefs
Turner Family Recipes 

A Sad Limerick

I love limericks because they are the most natural form of poetry to me. When I think of poetry, the cadence of a limerick is what comes to mind. I also like how limericks are almost always funny, even without any effort at humor. In fact, it’s hard to write a sad limerick. I feel like I succeeded in writing a sad limerick today, but if you still think it’s funny, then that just proves how wonderful limericks are. They can lighten up the heaviest subjects.

The smart kid in class hated school
and homework much more as a rule
but he wanted the money
to support his sweet honey
so he trudged on through years full of drool.

This is not strictly autobiographical and should not be taken as such.

Picture source: capl@washjeff.edu