Making a Pine Cone Wreath

My hydrangea's are dry.  I wrote about drying them a few weeks ago.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/09/time-to-dry-your-hydrangea-blossoms.html

When they are dry, I usually remove the old flowers from the vases and replace them with the newly dried flowers.   Then I take the old ones outside to my grapevine wreath.  I just stick them in anywhere in the wreath to get a final use out of them during the fall season.  As fall draws to a close and winter sets in, I take them out of the wreath and put them in the compost pile.  One hydrangea blossom gets a lot of use.

This year as I was decorating for fall, I remembered one of my past projects.  When my daughters were young, we didn't have social media or computers or cell phones.  They didn't watch TV from morning to night.  They played with friends and used their imagination.  We often did projects together.  I remember a project we did in the fall with my friend Judy.  It was a fun activity.  We made pine cone wreaths.  To start with we would go on adventures to find the pine cones.  We liked looking for all different kinds and shapes of cones.  We would separate them into the different types.  It was an inexpensive activity.  The only thing we had to purchase was the wire ring and some wire on a spool.  I imagine I have a picture of one of those wreaths somewhere, but I have no idea where.  I decided to recreate one of those wreaths this year.  I didn't have my partners out in the woods collecting cones, but I had fun searching by myself.  I discovered I had every kind of cone I needed right on our own property.  I guess I knew I would make another wreath some day because I kept one wire ring.  I moved it to Princeton, and it has been sitting in the garage waiting for me for twelve years.

After sorting the pine cones into long, round, small, large and the ones that need to be thrown away, I started shoving them into the wire ring.  First all around the outside and then the inside.

When that is accomplished it is time to fill in the spaces.  I usually wire a cluster of two or three cones together and start anywhere on the wreath.  I put the wire through, pull it tight and secure it in the back.  I sometimes wrap the wire around some of the cones that are only held in by tension.  I shake the whole thing when I'm finished to make sure nothing falls out.  If it does, I just put it back and secure it better.

  I work my way around, filling in as I go.

Pine cones make pretty rosettes if they are cut apart.

It's starting to take shape. 

The last step in the process is to glue small cones, acorns, walnuts or chestnuts in all the gaps.  I use a glue gun.  It's fun to walk around the yard to find things.  I was very disappointed this year because it is an off year for the oak trees.  I couldn't find any acorns this year.  Some years we have so many that we can hear them bouncing off the roof.  I had to use what I had.   We brought back some gum tree pods from South Carolina.  I am going to glue some of those on this wreath.  When everything is in place, flatten all the wires in the back and tuck them in.  Attach another piece of wire to form a hanger.  Sometimes I spray the final wreath with clear varnish.  If it is going to hang outside, that is a good idea.  Otherwise, the rustic look works well too.  Now I have to find a place to hang this one.

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Different Technique For Browning Ground Beef

I'm not posting a recipe today.  Instead I want to talk about a technique I use for browning hamburger.  Years ago, whenever I would buy hamburger on sale, I would freeze it in one pound packages.  Then I would have to thaw the meat on the counter or thaw in the microwave which resulted in cooked meat on the outside with a frozen center.  If I wanted to make a recipe with browned hamburger in a hurry, this didn't work very well.  Soon I discovered that if you fry out the whole package of beef and freeze it, a meal can be made in minutes.  So many recipes use browned hamburger.  Frying in a frying pan works fine, but you have to stand by the stove and tend to it until it is ready.  If the heat is too high, the grease splatters and makes the stove a mess.  My daughter told me that she uses another technique.  I have been doing it every since.

The first thing you do is get out your slow cooker.   Put the raw ground beef into the cold cooker.   I also add a chopped onion.   I usually do three to ten pounds of meat at a time.  Turn the slow cooker on high and chop up the meat a little.  Put the cover on and go about your business.  No need to add any water.  Then about every hour give it a little chop and stir.  After about three or four hours, depending on the amount of meat, the meat is crumbly and perfect for any recipe.  I drain the meat in a colander to get out the excess water and fat.

When the meat is cooled and drained, I divide it into one or two cup containers and put the containers in the freezer.  Then if you get home late and need a quick meal, the meat is all ready.  It thaws very quickly.  I wrote about making meatballs and meatloaf ahead of time in a previous blog, but this method of browning the meat works very well.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/07/freezing-browned-ground-beef-or.html

A Lovely Walk On The Trail

 Today was an awesome day in Wisconsin.  I usually don't like Sunday, but today had all the elements of a perfect day.  The weather was sunny and warm with a cool touch of fall in the air.  Those of us in Wisconsin love our Green Bay Packers, and they won their football game in the last few seconds.  We took a walk on a bike trail that used to be an old railroad bed.  It was so pretty.  Every now and then a runner or bicycle rider would pass by.  We even discovered that we were in an area of the trail where there were some geocaches that we hadn't found yet. 

The colors are past peak in this area but still pretty.

 

 

The leaves have frozen off but the wild grapes remain on the stems.

I think these are chokecherries.  If they are, I'm surprised they are still there.

A couple catepillars including a wooly catepillar.

 

The only downside to the day was that we walked too far in one direction not thinking about the fact we had to walk back the same distance.  We hadn't brought water and we were hungry, but we remedied that situation as soon as we arrived home.  Now on to my next project.  I will blog about that in the next few days.  

The Pesky Green Cricket

Ok, now I understand.  Almost three weeks ago I wrote about my daughter having crickets in her basement.  She attracted them with dog food and duct tape.  I mentioned in the blog that crickets didn't bother me, but they were annoying to her.

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/09/crickets-in-basement.html

I have changed my mind.  A few nights ago when I went to bed, I heard chirp, chirp, chirp.  I got up and tracked the sound to the kitchen.  As I got closer to the area around our stove, the sound stopped.  I waited, and it started again.  This time it sounded like it was coming from the outlet next to the stove.  I thought there was something wrong with the outlet, so I pulled the plug and went back to bed.  The chirping started again, and I got up again.  I couldn't find the cause.  I can't even tell you how many times I got up that night.  Each time when I turned on the light, the sound stopped.  About 5:00 am the sound stopped.  I was exhausted the next day, but pretty much forgot about it.  The next night the same thing happened.  This time my husband heard it.  He thought it was on the other side of the kitchen.  He came to the conclusion it was a cricket in our house.  After a thorough search we weren't going to stay up any longer so I turned the sound machine up higher and shut the bedroom door.  The next night it was the same thing except the sound came from the cold air return in our hallway.  I tried the duct tape trick, but because we don't have a dog or dog food I put a couple pretzels on it.  I took off the cold air return vent cover and placed the trap in the duct.  The next day there was nothing on the tape.  By now I am ready to do anything to get rid of that pesky insect.  It was the fourth night.  I had lost my patience.  The chirping started after the house was settled down for the night, and it was quiet.  I bounded out of bed.  My husband was sound asleep.  I went downstairs and grabbed whatever aerosol insect spray I could find.  Then I waited.  This time the sound was coming from near the ceiling where the wall met the log trim.  I started spraying like a crazy woman.  The spray was running down the wall and out popped a cricket.  Not just any cricket, a GREEN cricket.  I didn't even know there were green crickets.  It looked a little like a grasshopper.  I saw it sail out of the wall, land on the floor and that's the last I saw of it.  It either shriveled up like the witch from the Wizard of Oz or it hopped away.  I never heard it again, but the next morning I found this on a watering jug I had on the porch.  Maybe it's the bothersome cricket or his friend waiting outside our front door for his return.  I think it's going to be a long wait.  I did hear one out in the yard today, but so far we are sleeping peacefully again.

Hand Sanitizer

Hand sanitizers are everywhere.  Where ever you go there are sanitizing wipes or a big bottle of gel available.  The thought process is that if we kill the germs both good and bad, we will stop the spread of colds, flu and disease.  As with all good things, there is a down side.  I have been seeing in the news that some of the chemicals in sanitizers are harmful.  I suppose to get shelf life, they need to add chemicals that aren't good.

For months I have been trying to make my own.  I added glycerin to rubbing alcohol.  That turned out sticky and watery.  I tried adding aloe gel to the glycerin and alcohol mixture and still got a watery mess.  The alcohol is so drying and was very strong smelling.  I put it aside and gave up.  Then this week I met a very nice young woman.  She was sitting at one of the health booths at the Woman's Night Out event I attended last week.  She was demonstrating essential oils.  I have used essential oils in many of the things I make but never realized how wonderful they are.  I decided to buy a starter kit and diffuser.  I invited this person to my house to present her products.  We ended up talking for two hours.  I learned a lot and can't wait to learn more.  I learned there are fragrance oils and pure oils.   I also gained a friend and new reader to my blog.  Hi, Michele.  During our conversation, I learned that Michele makes many of the products I make plus so many others.  She also has classes on how to make products that use essential oils.  I will be learning how to make cough drops, medicated Vick's type rub and a variety of other things.  She shared her recipe for, yes you guessed it, Sanitizing Gel.  I made it today and it is perfect.   The only problem I have is finding Aloe Vera gel without too many additives or colors.  I purchased some 100% Aloe Vera clear gel.  It still has some things in the ingredients list that I'm not sure about.  One of those ingredients inhibits the growth of mold which would be important.

Hand Sanitizer

5 Tablespoons Aloe Vera Gel
4 Tablespoons water ( I use distilled water)
1/4 teaspoon Vitamin E oil
8-10 drops of Pure Essential Oil

Mix together, in a bowl, the Aloe Vera gel and the vitamin E oil.  Add the essential oil and water.  Then mix completely.  You can add more or less water depending on how thick you want it.  Put into a small squeeze bottle.  Empty bottles can be purchased.  The oils are diluted enough so they won't break down the plastic

I debated about what essential oil to use.  I almost used a stress reliever oil to use when I feel anxious.  Then I thought peppermint would be good in the car when someone gets car sick.  The smell of peppermint helps upset stomachs.  I finally settled on Thieves Oil.  After all Hand Sanitizer should be used for sanitizing.  Thieves is a combination of spices like cloves, cinnamon, some rosemary and others.  It is thought that the combination for thieves oil came from the time of the bubonic plague.  Everyone was afraid of catching the plague so they stayed away from those who had it or the bodies of those who died from it. However there were some thieves who were brave enough or desperate enough to loot the homes and bodies of the plague victims.  The thieves were spice traders and would douse themselves with these spices.  Apparently they never got the plague.  When they were caught they gave up the recipe for a lesser punishment.  If it works on the plague, it may work on cold and flu.   This is not insurance against major disease,  but it could help kill germs.  On top of that, it smells good and softens the hands.

Pressure Cooker Tomato Sauce and Applesauce

It is Tuesday, and it is my usual day to blog a recipe.  I have been kind of lazy, and I don't have anything new.  I made the same old food this week.  Actually, I even bought a pumpkin pound cake at Walmart.  It was $4.19, and they charged me $91.40.  That's what I get for shopping there.  Of course, I had to stand in line for a while at customer service to get my money back.

Would anyone notice if I didn't have a recipe this week?  Probably not, but I feel I should come up with something.  A week or so ago, my daughter brought me a box of Roma tomatoes and a box of apples.  Yesterday, I still hadn't dealt with them.  I really didn't want to can them so I took the easy way out.  I washed the tomatoes and cut them up in chunks.  I put them into the pressure cooker with a little salt, one green pepper (cut up and seeded) and one small onion.  I pressured them for 30 minutes.  As many of you know, I love my electric pressure cooker.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/01/my-favorite-small-appliance.html 
30 minutes in a pressure cooker is quite a while.  As a result the tomatoes were cooked thoroughly.  Then I put them into the VitaMix blender and pulsed until well blended.  The result was fantastic.  I avoided taking the skin off, and I didn't have to remove the seeds.  All the nutrition remains in the juice.  This sauce would be good for a lot of recipes.  I froze most of it, but left out a quart just to drink.

It's thick and tasty with no separation overnight in the frig.

It worked so well with the tomatoes, I did the same thing with the apples.  I took out the core but left the peels on.  I generally make chunky applesauce that is white, but this was so easy.  The Vitamix blended the cooked apples into a pink creamy sauce.  I added sugar and we had it warm for supper.  I still like the chunky version better, but this is good too.

That's it, that is all I can come up with this week.  Maybe next week I will be more creative, but at least I didn't waste this beautiful free produce.

Gigantic White Puffballs

They say you are never too old to learn.  That happened to me today.  Because I'm not very worldly, it happens to me more than many people my age.  Today I discovered some Gigantic Puffball Mushrooms.  Actually my son-in-law pointed them out to me.  We were visiting my daughter and son-in-law's new house.  In front, near the driveway were these big white balls.  I thought they were white pumpkins that had been tossed in the yard.  I was told they were puffball mushrooms, and they were actually edible.  I had fallen for that big huge mushroom/fungus thing once before.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/10/its-hard-for-me-to-identify-mushrooms.html  As it turned out that one was insulating foam.  I walked over to the area and these are big white mushroom balls.  Kind of pretty.

I did a little research, and they are only edible for a short period of time.  If you find one, you should slice it open lengthwise.  The inside should be firm and white.  There shouldn't be any gills like you see in some mushrooms.  I didn't cut these open because I don't plan on eating them.  I'm not that brave to ever take that chance.  Very soon they will turn brown and give off trillions of spores. Folklore says that the spores were used for medicinal purposes, but again I'm not going to try that either.   I will look forward to seeing if these reappear next year.

Sometimes puffballs grow in what is called a "fairy ring".  This is a little one.

I learned about the Indian Pipe's earlier this Summer, in case you missed it.  Nature is amazing.
http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/07/i-discovered-indian-pipe-plant.html

My Latest Thrift Store Find - An Electric KrumKake Iron

Most of my growing up and adult years were spent in Stoughton, Wisconsin.  I lived there from 1957 until 2002 except for a short time during the late 1960's when we lived in Madison, Wisconsin.  Stoughton was then and probably still is a very Norwegian community.  Norwegian heritage is very important to a lot of the families who live there or are from Stoughton.  I'm not Norwegian, but living in Stoughton gave me the opportunity to eat specialty Norwegian foods.  Some I liked and some I think you have to be exposed to from birth.  The lutefisk was not my favorite.  Lutefisk is dried cod that has been soaked in a lye solution for several days to rehydrate it.   Then it is rinsed with cold water to remove the lye, and boiled.  It is served with butter.  It tasted like fish jelly.  Lefse was another food that I never made nor cared for.  Lefse is a soft flatbread.   It is made out of flour,  milk or cream (or sometimes lard) with potatoes added and cooked on a special lefse griddle. It looks like a big tortilla.  I always said you could put butter and sugar on a toasted paper towel, and it would be about the same as lefse.  The one thing I loved was Krumkake.  Krumkake is a waffle cookie made on a special decorative two-sided iron griddle similar to a waffle iron.  When warm they are rolled into a cone or cylinder.  You can fill the cone with whipped cream or eat them plain with powdered sugar sprinkled on.  I learned to make them on a krumkake iron that fit over the stove burner.  The trick was getting the temperature just right so they browned but didn't burn.  I usually ruined the first few until I got it right.  Imagine the thrill I had a couple weeks ago.  We hadn't gone to a thrift store for a very long time, so we took a couple hours and went to a couple stores.  I found a brand new, still in the plastic, electric Krumkake iron.

 
I haven't used it yet, but I hope it works well.  It takes the guessing out of the process by putting the batter on the iron, shutting the lid and pushing a button.

 
When it is ready, the ready light comes on.  They sell for $50 on Amazon and I got it for $7.  I will post the recipe and finished product in the future (if they turn out).  I'm looking forward to trying.

Update:
http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/12/my-krumkake-will-not-go-to-waste.html

Let's Turn The World From Pink To Multi-Color

I am going to deviate from my usual blog today.  The whole world has turned pink today.  For this next month it will be that Breast Cancer is the only cancer that matters.  While I agree that it is sad and unfortunate that anyone gets breast cancer, it isn't the only one.  There are many different types and each is just as devastating to the person who has it.  The Susan G Komen foundation has become a huge business with many paid fundraisers, and they have done a tremendous job of bringing awareness.  It's just too bad that breast cancer is singled out as the most important.  September is gynecologic cancer month, but I bet most people don't know that, or that November is lung cancer awareness month.  It is kind of like the ice bucket challenge.  It made all of us more aware of ALS.  It is great that people opened their hearts and pocket books for this cause, but there are tons of great causes and just because the squeeky wheel gets the attention, it doesn't mean it is more important.

I wrote about my cancer journey in a previous blog, so I won't go into that again.  I just want more attention and funding made for all cancers and diseases.  Let's turn the world MULTI-COLORED to represent awareness for all cancers.  Some say a lavender ribbon brings awareness to All Cancers.   Better yet lets make a ribbon that includes all the colors. 
http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/04/cancer-has-many-colors.html

Crockpot Lasagna

It's Tuesday recipe day already.  Today's recipe came from a Facebook post that my cousin Kim posted.  I didn't know what to make for supper tonight, and then I remembered this recipe.  I had all the ingredients on hand. The lasagna noodles are not pre-cooked, and the finished noodles seemed slightly starchy but not bad.    I will definitely make this again because it's so easy.  It doesn't cut in perfect squares because of the shape of my crockpot, but it holds together nicely without any eggs in the recipe.

Crockpot Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 pound Ground Beef
Lasagna noodles
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Brown the ground beef and drain.
Spoon 1 Cup spaghetti sauce in bottom of 4 quart crock pot.
Mix remaining sauce with beef.
Place 2 uncooked lasagna noodles on sauce in crock pot.
Spread 1/3 meat mixture on top of noodles.
Spread 3/4 Cup cottage cheese over meat.
Sprinkle 1/2 Cup mozzarella cheese over cottage cheese.
Add another layer of uncooked noodles, 1/3 meat mixture, the remaining cottage cheese and 1/2 Cup mozzarella cheese.
Place another layer of uncooked noodles, meat mixture, and mozzarella cheese.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top.
Cook on low for 4 hours.

Beautiful Paper Wasp Nests

Every year we find a paper wasp nest somewhere on our property.  Not the wasps I wrote about in August.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/08/wasps-in-house.html

These paper wasps like to build a nest under something.  Sometimes they are called umbrella wasps.  One of the first years we were here, they built a nest under a metal squirrel guard  It was a beautiful sight to watch it develop, as long as we kept our distance.

This is in the middle of the summer.

A few weeks later they had covered the whole top and were working down the pole.

Sometime they try to build under the deck or the house overhang.  We take them down before they get too big.  We don't want something like this forming any place close to where we sit outside.

Then a couple years ago in the fall, we needed to cut firewood and trim branches.  Our son in law spotted a large paper wasp nest up in a pine tree.  We had frost by that time so it was safe to take down the nest.  Paper wasp males and unmated females die when weather gets cold.  The queen hibernates somewhere until spring and then starts a new nest.  It is so interesting to see how they secure the nest around the tree branches.

Thinking about these past nests brings me to today.  I was walking out to the edge of our property where we have our compost pile.  My grandson told me there was a bee nest out there, but I really didn't pay much attention.  I just told him to stay away.  I should have listened to my own advice.  I had to check it out.  It was so amazing and perfect.  We had removed the birdfeeder from this spot but left the squirrel guard.  It was a great spot for the paper wasps to build a nest.

I was admiring how this nest was constructed and how beautiful it was.  I guess I got too close.  These wasps aren't aggressive unless they are bothered.  They defend each other and their nest with a vengeance.  Boom!  They got me on my camera trigger finger.  I dropped the camera but got a shot.  It's out of focus but you can see how many wasps came out of the hole in seconds.

I'm just lucky I didn't get stung more.  I will be leaving them alone, that's for sure.

Chicken Scratch Vintage Antiques

I like to write about local points of interest.  We don't have a lot of commercial type big box stores out here in the less populated areas of south central Wisconsin.  What we do have is wonderful little stores and shops carrying very unique items.  I wrote about Saving Grace in Berlin, Wisconsin about a year ago http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/08/saving-grace-salvage-co.html 

Last Saturday my daughter and I discovered another similar place on a smaller scale.  It is called Chicken Scratch.  It is named this because it has beautiful unusual looking chickens running around.  It is a newly opened business and is only open every other weekend.  It sells items that are old and vintage.  Some of the merchandise are items that all of us have thrown out.   People were flocking to this sale and walking out with all kinds of old unique items. 

Most of you know that I knit a lot of socks.  I love to block them with wooden sock blockers.  I have a few, but I found another one at Chicken Scratch.  It is for a very large foot (maybe Big Foot), but I love to imagine how many socks were dried on these items.  I usually use the smaller ones for my socks.

Second from the left is my new sock blocker. 

I also bought this pottery plate.

If you are interested in more pictures and information, they have a Facebook page.  You can see some of the unique items they have to decorate your home, porch and yards.  You can also stay updated on dates and times of the many fall and holiday sale events they have planned.

https://www.facebook.com/chickenscratchvintage

In fact, their next sale is Friday Oct 3rd and Sat Oct 4th 10 - 5.  The City of Berlin, Wisconsin is hosting a Pumpkins on the Petunias event downtown so there will be a lot to do.  

Chicken Scratch is located at:

N217 Hwy 49
Berlin, WI
(920) 361- 3887

Scented Pine Cones

 
Fall is officially here.  It's time to think of all the fun decorations we can make.   I love all the fall scents from pumpkin pie to apples and cinnamon.  This is the time of year when there are pine cones all over the ground.  I like to use them for decorations.  I make wreaths, I hang them on the Christmas tree and anything else I can think of.  I usually fill a bowl of scented cones to put on the table.

I recently saw a bag of scented pine cones in a store for $6.99.  You can make your own for pennies.  The first thing you do is gather as many pine cones as you wish.  If you don't have any in your neighborhood, go to a park or walking trail if possible.  There will be more than you will need.  Worse case, you can buy them.  Plain cones cost less than the scented ones.  Shake off the pine straw, and place the cones in a tub of water.  You can use a pail, a tub or even the kitchen sink.  Let them soak for an hour or two.  I forgot and soaked mine overnight.  This process cleans the dirt off and they close up.  Next you set the oven for 200 degrees.  It can be a little higher but not high enough to burn the cones.  Place the wet cones on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil.  The foil is important because as the cones dry some sticky sap is released, and that could mess up your baking sheet. 

 
Stick the cones in the oven.  Bake them until the cones open up again.  It could take an hour or even three hours depending how much drying needs to be done.  Keep an eye on them and when they have completely opened up, take them out of the oven.

Let them cool.  Now put them in a plastic ziplock bag.  At this stage you can use any scent you like.  I sprinkled them with cinnamon and cloves, and then I put several drops of an apple cider fragrance oil in the bag.  Any essential oil would work.  The last thing to do is shake the bag a few times, and seal up the bag.  Wait at least two weeks.  The scents will have permeated the cones by this time.  When the time is right, open up the bag and use the cones for any decoration.  They smell so good.

Banana Bread Bars

This is a recipe making the rounds on Facebook.  It is a good way to use up over ripe bananas.  If I see a bag of over ripe bananas at the grocery store, they are usually marked way down.  I buy them and put them in the freezer.  I use them in smoothies and recipes.  It adds great sweetness without as much additional sugar.  You can either freeze them with the peel on or peel them and freeze in a freezer bag.  They need to thaw for a bit to get the peel off if you choose that method.  Banana bars usually have cream cheese frosting, but this brown butter frosting is delicious.

Banana Bread Bars

1-1/2 c. sugar
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 eggs
1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting:
1/2 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk

Directions:
1.  Heat oven to 375F.  Grease and flour 15x10-inch jelly roll pan.  For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.  Blend inbananas and vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute.  Stir in walnuts.

2.  Spread batter evenly into pan.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

3.  Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling.  Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.

4.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk.  Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting).  Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).

Yield: 2 dozen large bars

P.S.  Did you know that if you peel a banana upside down away from the stem, you won't get the strings?

Crickets In The Basement

This is going to be a quick little blog.  Last weekend we were at my daughters old farmhouse that they recently bought.  They are still busy getting it ready to move in, but everything takes longer than it should.  They are close to finishing up and have done a ton of work.  She asked me if I had a home remedy for getting rid of crickets.  She said she can hear crickets in the basement, and the sound is annoying.  I had no idea.  We have had country critters, but crickets haven't been an issue.  I kind of like their sound, but probably not in the house.  She decided to search for a remedy and found a good solution.  Just take a strip of duct tape, lay it next to the foundation upside down so the sticky side is up, stick a couple pieces of dog food to the tape and wait.  This was what she found in the morning.  I think it works and doesn't use harsh insect sprays.  Sometimes the easiest method is the best.

Two pieces of dog food and sticky tape does the trick.

Light Alfredo Sauce

I had every intention of blogging about our dinner tonight.  However, life happens and we ended up with leftovers.  I was going to make a skinny version of Chicken Alfredo that I found on http://diethood.com/skinny-chicken-fettuccine-alfredo-sauce/   Instead I made the major component, the sauce.  It is made with kefir instead of heavy cream or cream cheese.  There is no butter either so the calories are cut dramatically.  The calories in most Alfredo sauces are over 500 calories per serving.  This recipe has 170 calories.

The sauce is tasty and very creamy.

In this recipe you can use kefir from the grocery store.  I make my own, so I was able to use that.  I wrote a few days ago about the homemade kefir I make, and I have a lot of it on hand right now.  My grains are very prolific.
http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/09/update-of-my-kefir-miracle.html

Light Chicken Alfredo Sauce

3 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves of minced garlic
3 Tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup plain, nonfat kefir
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet.  Add the garlic and cook briefly.  Garlic burns easily so watch carefully.  Stir in the flour and stir until combined, then whisk in the chicken broth.  Stir until the mixture thickens and then remove from the heat.  Whisk in the kefir and the parmesan cheese.  Season with the salt and pepper.

I also grilled some chicken breast strips, so I will have them ready for tomorrow.  I will cook some noodles, and toss the sauce with the noodles.  Then top with the cooked chicken.  This sauce could be used in alfredo lasagna. chicken alfredo pizza or any recipe calling for alfredo sauce.  It is low calorie and basically lactose free.

Prepared chicken strips.

Fruit Flies In My Kitchen

This post is disgusting but I didn't realize how disgusting until today.  For the past few days, I noticed a few fruit flies in my kitchen.  I couldn't imagine where they had come from, and then I found some over ripe tomatoes I had from my daughter's garden.  I tossed the tomatoes and thought that would be the end of it, but I still saw a couple flying around.  I heard that vinegar attracted them, so I set out a dish of vinegar.  In a few hours, I hadn't attracted any.  I had used white vinegar so I thought perhaps I needed cider vinegar instead.  Apple cider is made from fruit and fruit flies like fruit (and vegetables).  Without realizing it, I grabbed rice vinegar instead.  I sprinkled about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in the vinegar and a few drops of dishwashing soap.  I set the dish on the kitchen counter.  In a few seconds the fruit flies started to appear.  They would perch on the side of the dish and then fall into the pool of vinegar.  Obviously there were more than a couple fruit flies in my kitchen,  and I couldn't imagine where they all came from.

A lot of fruit flies in a short amount of time.

After a while we had some errands to run, so we left for a few hours.  When we returned, I checked the dish and it had many more drowned fruit flies.  I told you it was digusting.

Do we all have fruit flies in our homes, and we don't realize it?  I hope not.  I will use this combination in the future because it obviously works.  I hate to see how many will be collected by morning.  Hopefully there aren't many more.

1/2 cup rice vinegar (apple cider or red wine vinegar)
1/2 t. sugar
a few drops of dishwashing soap

*Note: After I posted this blog,  I got several comments about using a dish with the vinegar solution but covered with plastic wrap.  I decided to do a test.  Over 8 hours ago I set out a dish with vinegar, soap and a little sugar.  I covered it with plastic wrap and secured it with a rubber band.  I poked holes in the plastic wrap.  Next to it I put out an open dish of vinegar, soap and sugar.  I caught several fruit flies in the open dish and not one in the covered dish.  They crawled on the plastic but wouldn't go through. It seems that the open method is more effective.