Favorite Christmas Recipes

When I was growing up my mom made homeade desserts, candy and cookies a lot. Sure we had the occasional package of Oreos but most of the time it was awesome recipes that she got from my grandmothers or found. At Christmas though, she would really step it up. Here are a few of my favorite candy recipes that she made almost exclusively during the holidays.

Peanut Clusters

1 6-ounce package Chocolate Chips
2 6-ounce package Butterscotch Morsels
12 ounce Salted Peanuts

Heat chocolate chips and butterscotch morsels on medium 6 or 7 minutes. Stir after 3 ½ minutes. Add peanuts and drop on wax paper.


Peanut Patty
3 cups Sugar
1 cup Water
1 cup Light Corn Syrup
2 cups Peanuts, raw
1/4 teaspoon Red Food Coloring
1/2 Butter pinch Salt

Bring sugar, water, and syrup to boil. Add peanuts and color. Cook until hard ball stage. Remove from heat. Add butter and salt. Beat until mixture is too thick to beat, pour onto greased cookie sheet. Break into pieces when cool.



Grandmother Batte's Chocolate Fudge

Note: this is the best tasting fudge I've ever had but it's also the hardest fudge recipe to get correct. I cannot give any guarantees that it's going to harden up properly. However we have been known to eat it with a spoon if necessary. Oh and don't attempt this one on a humid day or it's guaranteed to not harden.

3 cups Sugar
1 cup Milk
1/3 cup Cream
5 tablespoon Cocoa
3 tablespoon Light Corn Syrup
1 tablespoon Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Pecans

Combine sugar and cocoa. Stir milk and cocoa mixture in saucepan. Add Karo syrup. Stir until dissolved. Cook on low flame until soft ball stage. DO NOT STIR WHILE BOILING. Remove from heat and add butter. Cool until saucepan can be held on hand. Add vanilla and beat until creamy. Add pecans. Pour in buttered pan.

Crawfish Étouffée

So I'm a Texas girl through and through. I didn't even grow up in Houston where Cajun and Creole cuisine is common. So when the Louisiana born and raised hubby started requesting that I cook things like gumbo and étouffée, I panicked a bit. What do I know about making a roux? So I decided to start doing some research.

I found The Cooking Bride blog which recently featured a gumbo recipe that looks pretty yummy not to mention many other recipes that looked good as well. However what I was really in the mood for étouffée. So I kept searching and ran across squirrel bread. She blogged about a foodandwine.com recipe for Shrimp Étouffée. She suggested some modifications to make the recipe more authentic. I made it into a crawfish étouffée since I have an abundance of crawfish in the freezer.

I'm not sure I want to turn this blog into a cooking blog because I want to be able to talk about whatever moves me. However, I think I want to start sharing the recipes that work out well for me. This étouffée recipe got two thumbs up from the hubby! If I get more motivated, I will try to photograph my creations in the future. Today you will have to live with just the recipe and my word. :)

Follow the link for the original recipe: Shrimp Étouffée. Below is my version:


Crawfish Étouffée

Yields: 4 Servings

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homeade stock
2 tablespoon Tomato paste
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1/2 tablespoon Garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 pounds Crawfish
2-3 scallions including green tops, chopped
Rice, boiled or steamed

Instructions
In a large frying pan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over moderate heat until almost smoking. Add the flour and whisk until it's the color of peanut butter, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the broth and continue whisking until the sauce starts to thicken, about 2 minutes. Whisk in tomato paste.

Stir in the bell pepper, celery, onions, garlic, bay leaf, salt, cayenne, black pepper, and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook over low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add the shrimp and scallions and simmer until the shrimp are just done, about 3 minutes. Serve the étouffée over the rice.

Confirming that everything is in fact better with bacon

Bacon flavored chocolate. YUM!

Fun With Hackers

Today a friend's facebook account was hacked. I found out because my "friend" sent me a message through the facebook chat.

I was a little surprised to hear from her since we had pretty much lost touch after she moved back to Oklahoma except through facebook. However I'm always happy when I do get a chance to talk to her so I entered a conversation with my "friend." Here is the conversation with my friend Teri:


Teri
hey Carol!!!
you there?
12:41pm

Carol
howdy!
12:42pm

Teri
I'm in a kind of mess at the moment!!
12:42pm

Carol
whats up?
12:43pm

Teri
I'm stuck in London right now!
12:44pm

Carol
there could be worse places to be stuck I suppose... what are you doing in london?
12:47pm

Teri
I had a visit to resort on vacation in london and get mugged at a gunpoint
12:49pm

Teri
you there plz come online
12:49pm

I'm getting skeptical but I want to make sure it's not actually my friend. If it's my friend, she will ask me to call someone for her so I'm going to play along to see where this is going.

Carol
holy cow!
that's awful!
12:49pm

Teri
all cash, creditcards and my cell phone was stolen off me
i'm freaked out..\

I'm starting to anticipate that there is going to be a request for money and start googling "facebook scams." Still playing along though.

Carol
wow... I was so scared that would happen to us when we were over there. Can the embassy help?
12:52pm

Teri
yes
still thank God i still have my passport..
12:52pm

Carol
that's good... I was about to ask
where are you right now?
12:54pm

Teri
in a public liabrary
my return flight leaves few hrs from now but am having problems sorting some bills..
12:57pm

Now I know it's not my friend. Again if I was the only person she was able to contact, I could see her asking me to get in touch with her family. Now I'm just waiting for the request for money.

Teri
Carol i want you to send me few $$
1:01pm

And there it is. I want to warn my friend of her account being hacked so I run off looking for her old phone number hoping that she hadn't changed it. She had unfortunately. So I emailed her and tried to contact her on her yahoo IM to see if she is online.

Teri
?
you still there?
you still there?
1:02pm

After some discussion with the college student about how she had just heard about this scam, we decide to have a little fun with the hacker. I come back but the hacker had gone offline. I was disappointed!

Teri
?
Teri
what happened?
??
1:21pm

Hooray! The hacker comes back online but I'm not positive if it's really my friend or the hacker. If it were actually my friend she would reference the email I had sent her about the facebook hack.

Carol
what happened with what?
1:23pm

Teri
you were not talking..
1:25pm

Whew! It's the hacker! Opportunity for a little good clean fun.

Carol
Oh sorry! I was checking and I really haven't got any available cash right now! But I did call my friend, Brittany. You remember her?? She just moved to London!
1:26pm

FYI, my friend and I never had a mutual friend named Brittany.

Teri
how much can you spare me as we speak..
1:27pm

Hacker is obviously trying to get away from the discussion about our mutual friend.

Carol
I've got nothing but Brittany said she would help! Give her a call 02072431619
1:27pm

The number is a tattoo parlor in London. My apologies to Portobello Tattoos and Piercings if the hacker actually called. I'm guessing they didn't.

Teri
ok
1:28pm

Carol
Let me know how it goes!

I was hoping for some continued conversation but alas, it was not to be.

A bit later my friend really did come online to give me and I assume a few other people the following message: "Holy crap, someone hacked into my FB account. I'm not in London and I'm not being held for ransom." A bit scary for her to be hacked but it did provide me with a little bit of Friday afternoon entertainment.

The Mister of All Weebles!

Alternate title: Things that cheer me up - Part II

A little background... This is a video that my sister-in-law took of my niece. She is performing the dramatic spindle scene from Sleeping Beauty. I particularly like her evil laugh at the end!

In case you are not up on your Disney classics, here are the subtitles:

[Ominous music]
"Touch the spindle, touch it I say!"
"You simple fools. Thinking you could defeat me, ME, the mistress of all evil."
"Well here's your precious princess!"
[Evil laugh...]




In case you would like to do a comparison you can find a clip of the scene here:

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi4000710681/

I may be a little biased but I like my niece's version better.

Boooo Boooo Liar Boooo

Alternate title: Things that cheer me up!

I told you not to chew on your bandages!

What a difference a day makes

The bayou yesterday as I was driving home (the result of about 12 hours of torrential rains)

The bayou today as I was driving home

Recovery update week 4

The news is a mix of good and bad. And really it's only one major bad thing... I can't seem to shake the fluid build up in my upper abdomen. They keep draining it and the fluid keeps coming back. Tomorrow is another doctor's appointment and I'm sure he will drain it again.

Now for the good... I have lost a total of 8 pounds and have a flat stomach despite all of the swelling. I can finally walk like a normal human being most of the time rather than walking like the hunchback of Notre Dame. On a side note, maybe I should have had the surgery before I went to visit Notre Dame last month! ;) I can lie in bed without having my head propped up and pillows under my knees. I can also lay on my side and I can just about sleep on my stomach again.

A nice side effect of the surgery is that I cannot eat quite as much without it being painful anyway. So I expect to be able to lose more weight just from the lack of being able to overeat like I used to. It has not been an easy recovery by any stretch of the imagination but I am starting to feel better. This week is the first time I can honestly say that.

My recommendation for anyone considering a tummy tuck... be prepared for a tough road, and if you live in Houston make sure you try to have the surgery well before summer because these compression garments are HOT (and not in a good way)!

Oh how I hate Mini of the Woodlands!

I have commented previously on my dislike for the Mini service department. Now I have a beef with their salespeople. When I bought the car I had no intention of getting any of their special or extended warranties.

Somehow we were talked into one that covered the tires and rims. The nearly exact quote from the salesman was that you could slash your own tires and they would replace them no questions asked. Sounds pretty darn good! I'm really not so gullible as to believe that I could really slash my own tires and have them cover that. What I did take that to mean was that if I accidentally clipped a curb that they would replace the tire. This was important since I seem to have a knack for destroying the passenger rear tire often.

Lo and behold! I managed to clip the passenger side rear tire only about 6 months into owning the car. My husband had been on my case to take the car by to have that tire replaced and to get the 13000 mile oil change (my first because they said it could make it that long!) I had been putting this off mainly because I kept forgetting so the hubby kindly took the car to have all of the work done.

This visit did not go well at all. I should back up a little and tell you that the hubby does not trust letting a car go 13000 miles without an oil change so he has changed it a few times over the last year. So when he asked to get the tire and rim replaced and the oil changed, they refused to do both.

The tire and rim, they said, had been damaged by a curb. REALLY Mini of the Woodland? REALLY? I could have told you that but you MIGHT want to talk to your salespeople who are telling people that this $800 warranty will cover that and tire slashings!

Then they refused to do the oil change even though I have gone over 13000 miles over the last year. Why? Because the car says it's not time yet! THE CAR TOLD THEM! Apparently my husband changing my oil in between has negated them changing the oil so I have to wait even longer to get a real oil change (not that they hubby can't do it... just that he hasn't been able to find one of the filters in the car so that he can change it.)

Now my husband really hates all things MINI. He has threatened to sell my car if I don't. Thankfully the car is solely in my name and I don't believe he can get rid of it without my consent.

Oh did I mentioned that I have sent several emails to MINI USA about our dealership and not once have gotten a response? Can these car companies really afford to ignore customer complaints? I for one will never buy another MINI! So on the year anniversary of buying my MINI, I'm looking at new cars. We shall see how that turns out! I will keep you posted!

Recovery update

Let's see... I've now developed complications. I have seroma on my up abdomen which is essentially a build up of fluid. I showed the nurse this when I went to get my second drain removed and she recommended binding that area tight and not using my abs.

The first suggestion is somewhat easy as long as my husband is not traveling. I'm bound up tight with an ace bandage so much that it's hard to take a deep breath. Her second suggestion has been a little more challenging! Have you ever tried to not use your abs? I have found that I use them quite a lot for normal daily life. So that one is not going so well.

If these two things don't help, there is another option on Tuesday when I go in to see the doctor. I will let you guess what that is since the thought of it disturbs me so very much! So far it's looking like the other option is likely.

Oh my! What have I done?

I have had several surgeries in my life. The first that I recall was emergency surgery for appendicitis when I was in the third grade. It left me with a 3 inch long scar that wasn't too awful looking for most of my life. After I gained some weight, the scar area did not which left a very odd dip on my abdomen

The second major surgery I had was in my junior year in college. This one wasn't emergency surgery but it wasn't waiting on finals to be over the next week either. I had finally gone for my first OB/Gyn and the doctor took one look at my abdomen and told me that I was pregnant. I insisted that I was not (I was correct) but they did an ultrasound anyway thinking that I was lying.

What they found instead of a baby was a cyst the size of a small melon. Of course it had to be removed so they scheduled surgery for a few days later. Normally a surgery like this would leave a scar that is low and not seen by most people. Unfortunately the size forced them to cut me open down the middle and this surgeon really didn't do the scar well, so it's always bothered me.

I have been wanting to do something about those scars since my late 20's. The first plastic surgeon I spoke to encouraged me to wait until after I had all the children that I wanted. There was also the lack of available funds back then. As it turns out I won't be having any children and surprisingly my company had a fabulous year and provided me with the necessary funds.

So about a couple of months ago I decided to go for it. I talked to two surgeons and chose the one I liked better and went in for a more extensive talk with my chosen surgeon, Dr. Basu. He and his staff informed me that a scar revision surgery would likely be covered by my insurance which surprised me.

I'll admit that I went into that meeting knowing that I would get something other than the scar revision. The other area that I wanted to fix was my upper thighs. Particularly my inner thighs were out of proportion with the rest of me. Even when I was super thin I had a problem there. So I was planning on getting that fixed as well.

The surprise came when the doctor asked if I had ever considered a tummy tuck. He explained to me that the best way to get rid of the noticeable scars that I have was to do a procedure with the skin similar to a tummy tuck. He explained that if he were to do that, he could remove some of the excess fat and tighten the ab muscles. So I did it... Monday.

I was released from the hospital yesterday evening and today I sit here wondering what the heck I have done to myself. The pain isn't as bad as what I expected thankfully however I cannot walk upright yet which causes my back to hurt. I also can't sleep flat yet which makes sleeping difficult in a regular flat bed.

I'm sure I will be thrilled with the results a few weeks from now but at the moment I still wonder what I've done to myself.

Really London??

So this is by far NOT the highlight of our European vacation and I plan to post about the whole trip. However we saw this in the airport leaving London or maybe I should say that a coworker of the hubby saw it and had to buy it for him. I think that my squirrel assassin husband may have a lucrative future in the London crisp business...

Update: I was curious about the "Vote for me!" phrase on the crisps package so I went to check that out. Besides the yummy Cajun Squirrel flavor, you can also vote on Onion Bhaji, Fish and Chips, Builder's Breakfast, Chili & Chocolate, and Crispy Duck & Hoisin. I voted for the squirrel crisps because is somehow seemed right!

Missing in Action

I know I've been missing in action lately. There are lots of reasons for this. Some of it has been the new job that keeps me much busier and prevents blogging during the work day. Another part was the holidays which are just generally busy anyway. Then there is a little bit of having a lot to say about stuff I didn't feel like sharing with the world. It's sorta been nice to have the break.

Part of me wants to get back to sharing with everyone again but this will not be the time. All I see in front of me is at least another 2 weeks of not having time. Or maybe not... In two days I leave with the teenager and the oldest daughter to meet my hubby in Amsterdam. He is already there for business. Then he needs to be in France briefly and then London to round out the trip.

We are taking the teenager out of school for 2 days for this trip. It is a combination of her 16th birthday gift with lots of educational experience in Europe. It's not the trip I would have taken because Paris and London are lower on my list of places to go but this is where he needs to be and where she wants to go.

So we are letting her guide a lot of this trip and she is choosing to do lots of educational types of excursions... Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, concentration camps near Amsterdam, Eiffel Tower, Bastille, Notre Dame, The Louvre, of course shopping in Paris, and no real specific plans yet for London.

My true pleasure in all of this will be twofold. One that I will get to eat at some fantastic restaurants in Europe and that the teenager will have to step out of her comfort zone with food as well. She is a truly picky eater which I believe is my payback for any hell I gave my mom growing up. I have always eaten foods that most kids wouldn't and I think this is my payback to get a child who is my opposite in that respect.

Anyway, I may blog some while I'm there but that remains to be seen. Then I have a week back before there is a short leave from work that I won't go into here. I will likely be back at the blogging thing at that point.

Happy Birthday!

We are in the midst of a very special moment in history. I bet you didn't realize it was happening this week! Yes, the teenager has turned 16! The big expesive Sweet 16 party is happening tomorrow.

We will be starting at Flemings (nice steak place) with 10 of the teenager's closest girlfriends. If she had had her way, she would have invited 50 to that. Unfortunately for her we don't have $3000 laying around to waste on one meal. She decided that the girls were the only ones worth taking to a nice restaurant.

Afterwards we will be coming back to our house and will be joined by bunches of teenage boys. First on the list of things to do is the hot tub... I'm sure they will proceed to stuff 20 people in their (they proved last year that it could be done).

Then they are going to come back in at some point. If it's not too late they will proceed to watch a movie until 1am when we will be kicking out all of the boys. Some time around the start of the movie, I will be needing to send myself into a drunken stupor to deal with all of the noise! Fortunately I have already stocked up.

The next day I will be kicking out all of the girls no later then noon and working on that nasty hangover I will be sporting. Wish me luck! :D

Tagged again!

I'm pretty sure that my friend who created this was drunk at the time - not the same person (Trix) who tagged me though...

1. How do you describe your job to others? I work on computers

2. How often do you re-wear your socks before washing? I only wear socks when I'm cycling or running for the most part. I don't think re-wearing those is a good idea!

3. What is the worse sound possible you're hearing right now? The sound of fat cells being generated after a full week of eating badly!

4. Did you have to eat the last thing you ate? I think I did. That's my story and I'm sticking to it

5. Can you drive a stick-shift, talk on the phone, eat, and cuss at other drivers at the same time? I can do all of that at the same time except for eating. I can also text while driving a stick, talking on the phone and cussing at other drivers!

6. Last person you saw on your caller-ID you didn't want to talk to but you answered anyway? Would it be wrong if that person was my husband? Actually I believe it was the annoying consultant who is the project manager for my project. My husband came in a close second today though!

7. Would you claw your way through broken glass to say hi to the person who sent this to you? The answer is no... no matter who sent it.

8. Do you have trouble remembering how old you are? Always!

9. Do you understand the point of football? Yes! Football rules!

10. Would you ever drink a Tang Martini even if it had Grey Goose in it? I'm with Trix on this one! (Why the fuck would anyone want to waste Grey Goose on Tang?????)

11. Have you ever attempted to dye your hair with Kool-Aid? No

12. Most disgusting favorite food? According to my in-laws it would be sushi. The real answer is probably escargot. I don't think the in-laws know that I like escargot yet.

13. Is there footage somewhere of you "doing it"? No

14. Does size really matter? Most of the time

15. Have you ever accidentally broken something in anger? Yes but not often.

16. Did your mom or dad ever decide to throw away all your toys because you had too many? I think I did that actually every time my mom had a garage sale. I was all about making some cashola!

18. Coconuts or Ugli fruit? I'm going with Coconuts

19. Do you get emails from a certain person who you'd rather not but you don't have the heart to tell them? Occasionally still but not often anymore. I think she has taken the hint!

22. Would you be happy living in a trailer if it was for the right guy? No... The real question is what happened to question 17, 20, and 21??

23. Have you ever cried before, during or after sex? Probably

24. Is your closet messy? Not too bad

25. Have you kept in touch with friends from Elementary? Many have contacted me on Facebook recently. Kinda funny!

26. Did you hook up last night? Not even with the hubby!

27. Are you afraid of wrinkles? Afraid? No! Annoyed? Hell yes!

28. Do you have a plain, cheesy, or spicy attitude? Cheesy

29. Favorite nationality of men? Caucasian

30. What day of the week do you usually get a craving for a hamburger? I'm with Trix on this one too (Whichever one I was drinking the night before)

31.How many states of confusion have you lived in? I stopped counting

32. Blood diamonds or Blood gold? Neither?

33. Do roses really smell like poo poo poo? I don't like roses.

Biggest loser?

I certainly hope so! I'm hoping that the monetary incentive and my general competitive spirit will get me back in the right direction. I'm putting up $50 towards the contest and so far there are 11 of us. If I win, it will be $330 in my pocket. There are prizes for 2nd and 3rd but I didn't bother figuring out how much those would be because I WANNA WIN!

Anyway, the weigh-in was disturbing especially since their scale weighs 5 pounds heavier than mine. But I'm motivated at the moment and day 1 of eating like the healthy girl I used to be went pretty well. I didn't get any exercise in today but I plan on tomorrow morning either running outside or on the treadmill if the weather isn't good.

This is going to mean big sacrifices for the skinny people living in my house. For instance, I will be cooking a lot healthier and the teenager doesn't much like to eat anything unless it's fried or covered in cheese, salt or butter (or a combination). I won't be making any of that for her at least for the next month because I have too much temptation to "taste" what I'm cooking which becomes a double helping of something I shouldn't be eating in the first place.

Then there is the cookies they like to bake... they are required to eat them all. I cannot be trusted alone with a cookie. It's hard enough for me to not eat the frozen cookie dough!

The hardest part for me will be giving up wine. I really enjoy a glass or two of wine with dinner but the reality is that I'm drinking about 300 calories. Then there is the issue of getting the munchies when I drink which usually adds another 300-400 calories to the day. So I'm limiting myself to only drinking wine with dinner on Saturday nights. I may not live through that part! Wish me luck!

Tagged!

I was tagged by MattDaddy so I felt like I would actually follow through this time.

For those bloggers that I’m going to inflict this on, here are the rules: You take your folder in which you keep your digital photos, choose the fourth folder, then the fourth picture. Explain. Tag four people.

This was at Ren Fest in Magnolia, TX. The teenager's best friend paid to have her picture taken with the "executioner." They give them different names for the picture taking. The teenager had hers done too and she was labeled "Potty Mouth Name Caller." That was a very fun day!

Now to tag my unsuspecting friends: Nonsense Words, The B.S. Cafe, Trix in the City, and The Crazy Bloggin Canuck. I look forward to seeing what random pics you guys pull up.