S'more's In The Microwave

Oh boy, what a day I have had.  It is recipe Tuesday and the best I can do is a s'more made in the microwave.

It all started yesterday.  In August before school starts, our daughter Sarah comes out to our house with the kids.  They try to camp out in a tent, but usually are all in the house before it gets too dark. We have a camp fire and make s'mores.  This year they wanted to sleep in the camper we now have.  This is how it went.

1.  Sarah and her two boys plus our other daughter Heather's oldest son arrived in the afternoon.
2.  They got set up in the camper.
3.  Dylan got all stuffy in the camper and came in the house.
4.  Sarah took Sam to football practice and Dylan went home because he didn't feel well.
5.  We noticed the refrigerator was a little warm with some condensation, but I thought one of the kids had left the door open.
6.  While Sarah was gone, we went out for supper because with all the activity I hadn't made anything.  Jack had stayed back with us, so he came along.
7.   Jack was very concerned that my dad didn't use a cane.  He said old people need to use canes.  When we got home, he told great grandpa that since he didn't have a cane, he would help him into the house. When we got into the house, Jack asked me if great grandpa needed help to his room.  I told him he would be fine now.

8.  Sarah and the boys returned.  Dylan felt better so he came back.  It was pouring down rain by this time, so we couldn't have a camp fire or s'mores.
9.   Sarah and the three boys went to bed in the camper.
10.  Within fifteen minutes, Sam had to come in to use the bathroom.
11.  Around 10:00 Dylan came in.  He couldn't sleep and we made a bed on our couch.
12.  At 10:15 Dylan wanted me to stop the tick tock of the clock. He likes it dark and quiet.   I told him great grandpa needed that clock so he would know the time if he woke up in the night.
13.  By midnight, everyone was finally settled and sleeping.
14.  Morning came and I made bacon and pancakes.
15.  We realized that something was wrong with the refrigerator.  It was getting warmer and warmer.
16.  Sarah had declared this week free of electronics.  The kids had a little withdrawal, but got a little fix by watching papa this morning.  He didn't give up his electronics, so the boys all watched.

17.  After breakfast Sarah went for a five mile run and the boys played outside.
18.  We pulled the refrigerator out and vacuumed behind it.  Then we pulled the grate off the front and vacuumed off the coils.  Then we waited and waited.  It still wasn't cooling.
19.  The kids wanted to go to a park and do some geocaching. Before they left, they still hadn't gotten to make s'mores.  So they took a graham cracker, put a piece of chocolate on it, put a marshmallow on top and microwaved it for 20 seconds, then put another cracker on top.  So that's my recipe for today. 
20.  My husband ended up going to the park with Sarah and the kids and I stayed home.  I unloaded everything from the refrigerator and took it downstairs to our old refrigerator.  Thank goodness we kept our old refrigerator. 
21.  We called repairman and left a message.  This refrigerator is only 3 1/2 years old.  It better not be a big expensive problem.
22.  Tomorrow is another day.  You know what they say.  Stuff happens.

If you want a real recipe, here is one I posted before, but it's really good.  I was reminded of it because I just found some Junket pudding for 75 cents at our local country store. 

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/07/danish-junket-dessert.html

Invasion Of The Wild Morning Glory

I wrote earlier about our daughter buying a house in the country.  The home had been empty for quite some time so the area was quite over grown.  Many of us worked trying to pull the weeds and leave behind what we could identify as the good plants.  The previous owners had taken special care in planting a lot of wonderful things.  As the summer progressed, plants started blooming.  There is a wire fence around a brick patio.  A foliage was filling in to cover the fence.  At first this plant looked like a beautiful climbing vine.  We decided to let it grow to see what it was.

We visited the country house yesterday.  As I looked around, I saw wild Morning Glories were taking over.  The climbing vine turned out to be climbing wild Morning Glories.  They were everywhere.  They were on the fence, on the ground, in the vegetable garden and climbing across the grass.

They are even growing between the bricks of the patio.

This plant reminds me of the Trumpet Vine I wrote about last year.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/07/the-invasive-trumpet-vine.html  The Trumpet Vines are so pretty but looks are deceiving.  They are actually invasive plants and great care has to be taken as to where they should be planted.  Like the Trumpet Vine, the Morning Glory can be invasive.  This Morning Glory would look so nice confined to an old silo or shed.

We tried to clean up and control the Trumpet Vines climbing all over everything.  I thought we were successful.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/04/cleaning-up-trumpet-vines.html

We were not.  They are back and taking over the perennial garden.  I think it will take several years to control them, if we ever do.  I'm afraid that will be the case with these Morning Glories.  I thought it would be nice to include them in my flower garden, but I better leave them alone.  Even though they are really pretty and colorful, I don't want to open that can of worms at my house.  The Trumpet Vines are also pretty and colorful, but they are more than I can handle.

Another Scrubbie From The Countess

Ok I admit it, my mind never stops.  Ask my husband.  Sometimes he just wants to sit and not think about anything.  I chatter a lot and bless his heart, he just sits there.  For a long time I thought he was listening, but he usually isn't, until I say "are you listening?" I'm pretty sure that is why he stays up late so he can have the peace and quiet I have in the morning.

I have made so many sweaters and afghans that the thrill is gone. These days my projects are smaller.  They are little things I can do quickly like hats, mittens and scarves.  I also have a pair of socks on the needles at all times.  This project started out as a simple dish rag.  I had some cotton yarn in my stash, so one day I started to crochet some round dish rags.

They turned out pretty nice.  I haven't been using them for dish rags though.  I use them under plants and lamps.  They seemed too nice to put in dish water.  I got to thinking about the scrubbies I make for the hospital gift shop.  I wondered if I could incorporate the cotton and the netting together.  It would have the absorbency of the cotton and the slight abrasion of the netting.  I used the same pattern.

I found out by making this one that the concept is good, but it is way too big.  The wet cotton is heavy and the scrubbie part is hard to handle.  I decided to try a smaller version.  They seem to work out great.  It is only five inches across and fits perfectly in my hand.  The outside two rows are netting material.  If you don't want to use netting around the outside, using all cotton works fine.  I really like the smaller size.

Dish Rag/Scrubber

About 10 yards of Cotton Worsted Weight Yarn (I used Peaches and Cream)
About 10 yards of 1 1/2 inch nylon netting
Size "I" crochet hook

Chain (ch) 4 and join with a slip stitch (sl st) to first chain to form a ring.
1st Round:  Ch 2, then 10 half double crochets (hdc) into the ring.  Join with a slip stitch in first hdc.
2nd Round:  Ch 2, then 2 hdc in each hdc around.  Join with sl st in first hdc. - 20 hdc
3rd Round:   Ch 2, then 2 hdc in each hdc around.  Join with sl st in first hdc. - 40 hdc

Drop the cotton yarn and begin with strip of netting.  How to cut the netting from flat goods
 http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/10/nylon-net-scrubbies.html
or from a spool.
 http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/05/revised-nylon-netting-scrubbie.html

4th Round:  Ch 2, hdc, ch 1, 2 hdc in same space as sl st.  (Skip 3 stitches and 2 hdc, ch 1, 2 hdc next stitch).  Continue around in this manner.  Join with sl st in beginning ch 2.  There are 10 shells around.

5th Round:  Ch 2, hdc, ch 1, 2 hdc in same space as slip st.  (Single crochet (sc) in space between shells.  2 hdc, ch 1, 2 hdc in next shell).  Continue around in this manner.  Join with sl st in beginning ch 2.  Finish off by pulling through loop.  Weave ends.

Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

 
A couple weeks ago my family was coming over.  I thought I'd make a desert just in case they wanted a treat.  I had been to the store and picked up a gluten free cake mix.  Or so I thought.  The gluten free items were on the top shelf.  I took a yellow cake mix and then saw a chocolate next to it.  I put the yellow cake back and bought the chocolate cake mix.  Gluten free cake mixes are more expensive, but I thought it would be good to have one in the pantry.  Well, when it was time to make it, lo and behold it was NOT gluten free.  Good thing I saw it before I actually opened the box.  The stinkers in the store put this special cake mix right next to the gluten free items.  They did it because who is going to buy a $5.00 cake mix unless it is a specialty item.   I haven't made it yet.  It better be fantastic.

They tricked me with this cake mix.

So there I was with no cake mix and very little time to make a snack.  I went to the computer and did a search.  I found a recipe for a gluten free cake.  I had all the ingredients on hand, and I made it.  It was very good.  Everyone liked it including those who can eat gluten.  I sent the remainder home with my daughter.  She was looking forward to having a piece the next day when she returned home from work.  When she got home, she took the cover off the container.  It was empty.  She was so disappointed.  Someone in the house also liked it and had finished it off.

Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups gluten free flour blend
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk
2 T. instant coffee
1 cup chocolate chips

Sift together the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add the oil, vinegar, vanilla and blend.  Scrape the bowl and add the milk.  If you want it really chocolatey add some chocolate extract.  I didn't have any of that ingredient.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  You can use a little more than a cup if you love chocolate like I do.

Pour into a greased bundt pan.  Bake for 50-55 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool for at least 10 minutes before eating.

The Cabin Gets New Windows

Every summer we seem to find something else that needs to be done to our house.  After the brutally cold winter we had, we realized our windows needed replacing.  There was a lot of heat loss through our old windows.  Fortunately we found someone who does replacement windows and he lives in our neighborhood.  He is the same person who has the Bobcat and brought in the gravel for our car port canopy project.  He seemed like a very good worker.

I was a little nervous because we have had some doozies come to work for us.  Once we hired a guy to stain some interior walls.  The odor of the varnish was so strong we left while they were working.  When we returned home the guy had taken the curtain rods off the windows, put them on our bed, and stood on the bed instead of using a ladder.  He must have stood on the curtain rods because they were bent.  He burnt a couple holes in the carpet.  Can you imagine smoking and using flammable varnish?  We are lucky the house didn't go up in flames.  He also varnished around the step railings getting varnish on the carpeting.  We were not happy.  He did take some money off the final bill.  He said he didn't put the burn holes in the carpet, and he blamed his helper for all the problems.  The guy died shortly after he worked for us.  No we didn't have anything to do with that.  I think his guilt and life style did that.

I got off topic here, back to the windows.  This has been a good experience.  We had eight windows replaced.  The guy we hired is efficient and very tidy.  He brought in his supplies and went right to work with his son.

The poor guy got interrupted several times with rain storms.  They would start out with a bright sunny day and then the black clouds would roll in and it would rain.  Fortunately he lives close by and could come back to continue working.

The windows are in and the outside is wrapped in aluminum.  They are completely maintenance free.  It will be interesting to see the difference next winter.  Hopefully the winter will be warmer than last year, but if it isn't, we are prepared.

Piper Makes A Friend

This is Piper our grand dog.  She is a cockapoo and is almost a year old.

 
We are taking care of our grand dog this week.  We haven't had a dog for three years.  The first couple days were challenging.  She ate great grandpa's Metamucil cookies and a cereal bar that I had laid out for morning.  She took a couple cough drops from the bedside table to play with and toss around.  The waste baskets and kleenex boxes were a special treat.  She really is a darling little dog, but she loses her hearing when she sees a squirrel or a rabbit.  For her own safety we put her on a long tie out.  This way she can roam around, but not get hurt.  The last thing we want is for something to happen to her on our watch.  The other day I heard her barking.  She very seldom barks, so I went to investigate.  Look what she found!

This is a Bull Snake or Pine Snake.

I realize by posting these photos, we will probably never get another visitor to our home.  The truth is, I am very happy having this snake live near the foundation of our house.  It takes care of the mice that come into the area.  I think this snake just had a good meal.  He is looking pretty fat and content.  This snake is not poisonous and is more afraid of us.  Except for his head, he is rather dull in color.  I'm thinking he may be ready to shed his skin.  In fact, we found a snake skin in the yard this morning.  It was all ripped up.  Probably the work of our little doggie guest.  It is good the snake wasn't still in it.

Monarch Butterfly

My flower garden is a mess.  It is full of unruly perennials.  Most of them are left to come up wherever they want.  I don't manicure this garden at all.  It's main purpose is to support the butterflies and bees.  Both Monarch butterflies and bee populations are on the decline.  It is working.  Although I am just a little helper, I hope it will help in a small way.  I just saw a Monarch caterpillar chewing on the wild butterfly bush.  It is a really pretty caterpillar.

These beautiful creatures go through 4 stages during their life cycle.  The butterfly lays many eggs usually on the milkweed plant, the egg hatches into a caterpillar, the caterpillar spins a cocoon which turns into a butterfly.   This process is quick.  The metamorphosis from egg to adult only takes 30 days.  The butterflies live just a few weeks.  The very last generation in the fall has the job of migrating thousands of miles.  This generation lives longer.  They live long enough to spend the winter in the warm climates and migrate back to start the reproduction process all over again.

There is another black and orange butterfly called the Viceroy butterfly.  It is smaller but looks very much like the Monarch.  It is easy to confuse the two. 

I have seen a few other interesting butterflies this summer.  Here are a few photos.  

Red spotted purple admiral.  This one is a little damaged but still pretty.

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly

We get a lot of these.  The Great Spangled Fritillary

Messy flower garden full of milkweed and bee balm.

EAA Kenny Loggins Concert

Can you recognize this singer?  If you look close you will see it is Kenny Loggins.  It is hard to believe he is now 66 years old.  I thought I was the only one who got older.  We don't think of others including famous people aging.  He still sounds great.

Kenny Loggins on stage.

We don't get out much anymore.  We take care my dad who will be 90 in November.  He doesn't require much personal care, but he can not see well enough to prepare any meals or even answer the phone.  We really can't leave him for any period of time.  Tonight we had a chance to see a Kenny Loggins concert at the Air Venture in Oshkosh.  In order to do this, we got Dad a babysitter or as we call it an elder sitter.  We had our granddaughter, who is almost 14, come to take care of him.  She made him a TV dinner and got him his 9:00 pm snack.  We were able to leave in the middle of the afternoon and not get home until ten.  It was fantastic not to have to worry.

We parked the car and headed into the grounds.  There were a lot of people, but it is a very well organized event so it didn't seem overwhelming.  We found where we were going with the help of our grandson, Dylan.  He has been there many times and knows the area very well.  We found the spot and set up our lawn chairs.

Target must have sold out of adult sized lawn chairs.  We got a kick out of this.

Then we sat and waited.  There was an air show going on.  It is amazing to see the precision of these pilots.

We also saw an Osprey.  The Osprey can take off and land both vertically and with a short takeoff and landing.   It is designed to function as a conventional helicopter and a higher speed aircraft. 

There was a lot going on.  Just watching people was very entertaining.  It is amazing to me that everyone has a head with eyes, nose and mouth, but everyone looks different.  If you think about it, how many combinations could there possibly be.  I can tell you, there are millions and millions.

We had a pretty good view of the stage.

Kenny Loggins and the Blue Sky Riders Band

We were confused at first because Kenny Loggins came out with a band named the Blue Sky Riders.  http://blueskyridersband.com/  Then they started playing and I thought this wasn't the music I was familiar with.   Loggins told the crowd that forming this band gave him an opportunity to creatively change.  The Blue Sky Riders played the first set.  Then later Kenny Loggins played solo with many of the songs we were familiar with.  It was great.  A little loud at times but that's just my age.  The concert was a lot of fun. 

As the concert was coming to a close, they were setting up several hot air balloons.  I imagine they were going to take off together later.  They were beautiful.

Thanks Bret and Heather

and of course Melissa

My Version Of Iced Coffee

Many years ago, when I lived in Stoughton Wisconsin, there was a coffeehouse named Java Junction.  They had a frozen coffee drink called a "Big Train".  I really enjoyed them, but I didn't have one very often.  They were loaded with calories. Years ago I found the powdered mix, but it was expensive.   I tried to make them at home with less calories but always failed.  They were usually tasteless and icy.  I kind of forgot about them until recently.  My daughters told me that they really enjoyed Mcdonald's iced coffee.  Last week we stopped in, and I bought one.  I got the sugar free vanilla.  It had 90 calories and tasted delicious.  It was similar in taste to the Big Train without the frozen ice cream shake texture.  I went home and tried again.  I think I came up with a good iced coffee that was decaffeinated and sugar free.  Many of you may already do this, but I am really enjoying this refreshing drink.

Iced Coffee

2 quarts of cold water
4 oz. of ground coffee (I measured and 4 oz. is about 1 1/2 cups)

I bought good decaf coffee.

Put the ground coffee into a pitcher of cold water.  Stir it up and sit it out at room temperature for eight hours or overnight.  The key to this recipe is to use very strong coffee.  I would always use cold brewed coffee, and the ice would water it down too much.

The 2 quart pitcher I used.

In the morning, I took a sieve and lined it with coffee filters.  I didn't want any coffee grounds sneaking through.  Cheese cloth would work too.  Slowly I poured the coffee through.

Filtering the coffee grounds out.

The finished liquid is a very concentrated strong coffee.  I poured it into 2 one quart jars and stored them in the refrigerator.

Strong coffee concentrate.

I filled the glass with ice.

Fill the glass 3/4 full with the coffee concentrate.

 
At this point, if you like your coffee with cream and sugar.  Just prepare it that way.  I bought some delicious sugar free caramel macchiato coffee creamer.  It only has 15 calories for a tablespoon.  I guess you can sweeten as much as you wish.  I drink my hot coffee black, but I need the iced coffee to be sweet.  I used 2 tablespoons of creamer.   If you like coffee, this is a great treat.  It doesn't have to be iced.  Just add some water to this concentrate and heat it up.  You can have a quick cup of hot coffee.