Vanilla Icing

An Original

We have lots of love for Peace, Love & Little Donuts in Pittsburgh's Strip District and I hope to one day soon do write more thoroughly of them.  But in the meantime, check out the original donut created for Maia and newly dubbed 'The Maia.'   A donut dipped in vanilla icing, coated with rainbow sprinkles, a pile of cherries at the center and stuck all over with pretzels.

  

But I'm pretty sure that unless you have the same donut creator we had that day waiting on you, they won't have any idea what 'The Maia' is.  I'm just no very confident this very little-girly combination of flavors will take off......unless the shop becomes popular among the 8 year old crowd.

Just A Few

...I only have a few pictures of our trip to Buffalo, New York to share....for two reasons.

One....almost ALL of my pictures feature my kids AND my friend, Katie's kids.  I never did get around to asking her if she was okay with pictures (facial) of the kids on my blog and it's easier to avoid identifying pictures altogether.   I can never figure out HOW one asks that question--Is it okay if you don't say who it is?  Is it okay if it's not the face?   Is it okay if you just pretend it's a random extra child on the beach?

I'll pretend it's okay if it's not the face.  And if that's not okay...well then this blond baby is just some random extra kid on the beach who decided to help Tristyn dig a hole in the sand.

 

Maia digging in the sand at Beaver Island State Park on the Niagra River.

 

I almost forgot!   Two---My camera is broke. =(

Punchbowl Dessert

Summertime often brings weather so hot and miserable that it can be pure torture to turn on the oven. But dessert is still wanted and ice cream does get tiresome....

Make a Punchbowl Dessert!  It's cool & refreshing....just right for those hot summer evenings.

If you are a purist like me (really I mean--no central air conditioning so a few more degrees added to the misery by the oven doesn't really matter at this point) you can bake your own angel food cake and make homemade pudding.  Otherwise, stick to a store-bought angel food cake and instant pudding.  I really advise using Cool Whip or some other brand of non-dairy whipped topping because it is much more stable in this dessert than fresh whipped cream.  If you have a LOT of guests and plan on consuming ALL of this dessert (and it makes A LOT) in one go then by all means use the more delicious whipped cream.  But I warn you...if you try to refrigerate the leftovers you will not be happy with what the fresh whipped cream does in just a few short hours.

This is a good recipe to bring to potluck picnics as it makes a large amount and easily serves a dozen or more people of mixed ages.

Punchbowl Dessert

          by Michelle (and I'm sure countless others have nearly the same recipe)

1/2 angel food cake, torn into chunks

4 cups of prepared pudding (homemade or instant)

2 containers of Cool Whip (16 ounces)

3 bananas, sliced

1 lb of strawberries, sliced

1 pint of blueberries

2 cups of fresh pineapple, in small chunks OR 1 large can of pineapple drained

In a large punchbowl, spread a layer of Cool Whip.  Then layer in this order: cake, fruits, pudding, Cool Whip.  Depending on the size of your punchbowl (or regular bowl) you may have 2 layers or more.  Make sure to end with a pudding then Cool Whip layer.  If desired, decorate the top with reserved fruits.  Avoid banana slices on top--they discolor.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.  Return unused portion to the refrigerator.  This dessert will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge--if it lasts that long!

Feel free to use different combinations of fruits in this dessert.  Personally I like to omit the pineapple but some in my family looooooove the pineapple so I leave it in.  Any fruit that tastes good with whipped cream is going to taste good in this recipe!

Dog Tired

Rick & I had the weekend to ourselves and boy did we ever keep busy!!  

Friday morning my brother and I went to the Strip District and had brunch at Pamela's Restaurant.  I'll discuss that place another time.  We also had coffee at Leaf and Bean which is a cool funky little place. That evening Rick and I had dinner at Palazzo Ristorante in downtown Pittsburgh.  I haven't many positive things to say about this restaurant but the company was perfect and the service was good, so I will leave it at that.   After dinner we had drinks at Olive or Twist just a few doors down.  This bar seems to cater to the theatre crowd and as it was before any of the shows let out it wasn't crowded at all.  Which was nice because it gave us time to talk and we also met Yves Jean who bartends when his band isn't touring.  His music is an eclectic blend of of a few genres but with a heavy world flavor.  Hopefully he'll play soon in Pittsburgh!  At 10 pm, another bar was offering a free salsa dance lesson for 30 minutes before the regular salsa dancing started.  Let's just say Rick and I have some work to do. ;)

This past Tuesday was the first day I've managed to workout since my recent health issues.  I was taking it slow but then on Saturday I decided to tag along with Rick to the park for a run.  Despite my unintentional two week break I managed just fine.  Later that afternoon, I had coffee with a friend and we did some shopping.  I got the supplies for strawberry jam making.   After Friday's semi-failure of a dinner, Rick and I kept it simple and stuck with pizza on the Southside and then headed over to the North Shore.  Both of us really enjoy watching surfing and at the Omnimax Theatre at the Science Center they were playing Ultimate Wave Tahiti featuring Kelly Slater.  It was perfect for the Omnimax with lots of aerial views that made you feel like you were in a helicopter flying around the island.  The film was a good blend of informative documentary, personal accounts, science and culture and of course a liberal sprinkling of travel lust.  Rick and I discussed the film over Rita's Frozen Custard in Squirrel Hill.  

Sunday saw us taking the dogs to the park for another run.  This time we ran longer and faster.  So much for easing back into a workout routine, huh?  For the record, I was and still am very sore!  The rest of the day I dedicated to strawberries.  Twelve pints of strawberry jam, three quarts of fresh churned strawberry ice cream and a deep dish strawberry pie.  I also made some bread--both yeast raised and Chuck raised.  It was very satisfying to spend all afternoon in the kitchen without any distractions.  Rick and I had dinner on the back deck including some of that fresh bread & jam.  Then the kids came home and they and I tackled the most miserable of chores: cleaning the basement.  But we did it for Rick (Happy Father's Day!) because he has been dreading doing it and has wanted it done for some time now as he couldn't use his weight bench properly.  After the three of us de-toxed --hahaha I mean showered-- and Tristyn and Maia went to sleep, Rick and I watched True Blood.  

And after all of that....I was dog-tired and went to sleep!!

Where I've Been....

I've been absent from this place for a couple of weeks now but I intend to fix that now.  The last couple weeks have been a roller coaster ride for me.  Physically, I've not been doing too well and even ended up in the emergency room last week for reasons I'll not go into here.  But I received treatment and medicine and I'm on my way to recovering -- albeit a bit slower than I would like.  Another few days and I should be all better. Having great friends and family nearby to help has been a tremendous help that Rick and I have deeply appreciated all that they have done.  Thank you so much!

Time keeps marching...and things have still been happening around here despite of everything.  Things like...

....our first strawberry of the season!  Maia brought a three leaf strawberry plant home from school last year in a dixi-cup and we planted it in the front garden.  It has grown and grown and grown and now there is one big 'mother plant' surrounded by seven or eight 'baby' plants.  After the first berrying, the mama plant and her children are sending out runners to increase their ranks.  This makes us very happy.

Maia really enjoyed having several days of picking strawberries off her plants and eating them.  On the third day she began sharing.  After tasting the sweetness of the one she gave me I'm amazed at her generosity; I'd have wanted to keep them all for myself!

We have been receiving our CSA share for three weeks now.  We switched farms this year and went with Kretschmann's Organic Farm.  Our CSA the past two years was really quite lovely but it was important to me to belong to an organic farm and so this year I carefully watched for the sign-up time and didn't miss it this year.  Kretchmann's also has connected us with a local chicken grower who raises organic, free-range chickens.  We will be receiving two a month for the next five months.  Also, they have promised to put us into contact with a beef supplier in the fall who raises organic grass fed cows. We don't eat a lot of meat--perhaps two times a week--but I have an enormous freezer in my basement and I will be putting all of the overflow into it for the winter months.  

Our first box contained many fresh greens but I was most excited to see long branches of rosemary.  I've been wanting fresh rosemary ever since my rosemary didn't make it through the big snow.  I made a garlic and rosemary marinade and then used the shorn rosemary branches as a skewer on the grill. Mmmm!  The rosemary and garlic penetrated the chicken inside and out and was just perfect with arancini and fruit.

I became a cheap-wad.  Sort of.  Tristyn's birthday was coming up and one of the things that he had been wanting for a long time (besides Legos) was an Ugly Doll.  I couldn't remember seeing them in stores and I didn't want to pay the full price plus shipping for something that is really a simple design. At the local fabric shop I found some remnant fabric and a big bag of stuffing for less than six dollars. Considering I only used about a third of the stuffing and 75% of the fabric that's pretty darn good! Then, I pulled up the website and selected an ugly doll that looked relatively easy.  On a piece of folded newspaper I drew a rough pattern freehanded and cut it out.  From there it was just a matter of cutting out two pieces of the fabric, sewing them wrong sides together, turning them right side out, stuffing and finishing up the face.  It's not perfect--and it's not exactly the same as the real thing--but it IS an ugly doll...and ugly it is.

I've been finding a lot of inspiration from Sara at Happy Janssens.  Sara has a few blogs she writes including one called Happy Foody which I'm enjoying a lot.  Probably if she checks her stats she's wondering who the creepy person who has been reading her blog a LOT the last few days is but I promise I'm not creepy!  I just find her words and pictures so inspiring and I've been in need of inspiration lately--so thank you Sara!

This stack of oatcakes is from a recipe on Happy Foody.  It's a good alternative to traditional pancakes and it tastes like yummy oatmeal.  I added cinnamon and vanilla which I think makes it tastes even more like oatmeal.

Oatcakes

      adapted from Happy Foody

4 cups traditional (not quick) oatmeal — ground to a flour-like consistency in food processor
4 cups almond/soy/rice milk
4 T melted organic butter
4 large farm fresh eggs
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

-Soak oats for 12-24 hours in the milk (store in fridge overnight).
-Mix everything else into that.
-Make pancakes and be happy.

I'm still on the search for the perfect cupcake.  This one is getting closer...but not quite there.  The texture was good, the flavor was above average but not what I think would be ideal.  I topped them with vanilla buttercream and a sprinkling of coconut.  I think for now, this chocolate cupcake recipe will have to do because I've exhausted dozens of recipes in the chocolate cupcake quest.

And finally, I'm jumping on the Green Smoothie boat.  I've been wanting to for some time now--more thanks to Happy Foody--but I've had a hard start of it.  I bought extra fruit in anticipation of last week's CSA box and it's piles and piles of fresh greens but that was the day I ended up at the hospital.  By the time I was feeling better to eat anything all the fruit had been gobbled up and the greens were starting to look funny!

Yesterday was CSA day and again I went out and purchased extra fruit (by which I mean in addition to our normal eating fruit) and picked up my CSA box.  I spent last night reading up more on green smoothies and talking at Rick about them.  He decided he would try one as well but maybe part of that was to get me to stop talking about them?  Anyways, we both had our first green smoothies this morning.  I made them with kale, strawberries, bananas and a few small clementines plus water.  We each drank a 16 ounce serving and you know what?  It was pretty good!  I did feel there was a slight bitter aftertaste but Rick didn't notice it.  I think I have an extra sensitivity to bitter things and can taste bitterness when others cannot.   It took me 43 minutes to drink it all but I did feel empowered to have drank it all down AND to have enjoyed it.  I haven't noticed any immediate benefits but I've promised myself that I will give this at least one solid week before I decide to continue or stop.

Shadyside Art Festival

                      Closed for the night..........

Green Blueberries

I will have blueberries.  Even if I only manage a dozen of them.

 

A few years ago, Rick and I bought two small blueberry bushes and planted them in the front garden. One promptly died.  The other one limped through the season.  The next spring, we bought a second blueberry bush and planted it near the old one.  The new one promptly died.  The old one limped through the season.  Clearly, this blueberry bush felt that there was only room for ONE of them in this garden.  Last year, I left it alone.  It limped through the season.

This year, I stared and stared at the blueberry bush and I'm sure I heard it telepathically tell me to MOVE it.  I'm sure of it!  And so I moved it.  About four feet to the left where it *told* me it wanted to be.   From its scraggly limbs, it promptly put forth a pitiful spattering of flowers in appreciation and gratitude and now, several weeks later, I have about a dozen green blueberries.

I look forward to seeing if an entire year in the new location encourages the blueberry bush to be more prolific next year.