A Happy Summer Weekend

Early on Saturday morning the boys and I packed up the car and headed south to my folks' farm for the weekend.  We had been planning our little get away for a couple weeks, and we had high hopes for lots of fun in the country!

From the moment we got in the car, everything went right.  The weather was beautiful.  The air was cool and traffic was light.  We live in a part of the Midwest that is not flat or boring.  Over the course of the two hour drive we saw rolling hills, foggy valleys, flourishing corn fields and cows grazing in their pastures.  We drove by sleepy little towns and cozy farm houses.  Everywhere we looked, the beauty of this area was evident. 

The boys wanted the windows down while we drove, and so we sped down the highway with the wind blowing the wonder of summer through our car.  Tom told stories and Huck sang "Jingle Bells" for most of the trip and I couldn't stop smiling.  It was a perfect drive in pretty much every way.

Part of the weekend plans included some canning that my Dad and I wanted to do - so we quickly did inventory and got started on the first item of the day: Bread and Butter Pickles.  These are one of my absolute favorites and I was excited to make some of my own.  While Dad and I sliced and diced cucumbers and onions - the boys and my Mom were playing outside in a tent that had been set up for the occasion.  When we had finished our first step with the pickles, we set those aside to soak while we started in on the salsa prep.  We were done with the salsa by lunchtime, broke for our midday meal and then finished up the pickles.  The boys (and probably Grandma too) were happy for us to escape the kitchen. 

Me, Dad and Huck & the results of our labor!

The boys wanted to get dirty, so we went to the garden.  Several hills of potatoes were ready to dig.  Dad used his pitch fork to loosen up the hills and the boys scrambled for potatoes before carefully placing them in the same old red wagon I played in thirty five years ago.  Dirty, but happy - we put the boys in a big wash tub to clean off.  Once clean and changed into new clothes, we all went for a walk around the property.  We watched birds and enjoyed the views of hayfields and forest that surround my parents little house.

 

Dad started a camp fire and we gathered around with hotdogs and fruit, chips and marshmallows.  When it comes to campfire cooking - simple sometimes wins the day.  That was certainly the case for us.  Tom was especially hungry and gobbled up three hotdogs.  Huck kept getting distracted by the tent, but even he was getting plenty to eat.  The fire kept the bugs at bay, and after we ate we went to the best vantage point to watch the sun set.  It was beautiful.

 

 

The boys were tuckered out and getting a little grouchy so we called it a day.  Tom wanted to sleep in the tent but I knew that it wouldn't go over well with Huck so instead we slept in Mom and Dad's spare room.  We were all so tired that we slept fitfully and woke feeling very refreshed.

Day two was to be short, so we started early.  The boys filled up on pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse accompanied by glasses of cold milk.  I loaded up the car while Huck rang the dinner bell and Tom pretended to 'drive' Grandpa's John Deere tractor.  Both boys got a kick out of sitting in the back of the farm truck (also parked) and playing with the water pump.  They chased the farm cat around and ate a snack before it was time for us to say good bye.

Huck and Grandpa checking out the water pump.

Our car full of pickles and salsa and our heads full of wonderful memories - we headed out.  The trip home was just as beautiful as the previous day's had been, but it was much quieter.  Huck was asleep five minutes into the trip and Tom followed him into dreamland not much later.  It was quieter, but it was still nice.  The weather was lovely once again and the beauty still surrounded us as we sped toward our home.

We packed a lot of activity into this weekend, and it was really perfect.  The only thing that might have made it better was if Hubby could have went along.  Maybe next time he'll be able to.  What I know for sure is that there WILL be a next time.  This was too much fun not to repeat. 

My Mom and I had a lot of quality time and good conversation!!

My Baby Ate Peanut Butter

Our peanut butter loving Baby Boy

It was one of those mornings when nothing is really going right, and I can tell that we'll probably be running late.

Little Guy had asked for an apple and some peanut butter/cracker "sandwitches" for breakfast.  I know this may not sound like the best breakfast ever, but considering how very picky our three year old is... this is about as good as it gets.  He finished maybe half of the food on his plate before wandering away to play with his trains.

I followed him to the train table and we had a lively discussion about how much he should be eating (I said "more".  He said "no more").  When I finally convinced him to go back to his breakfast, we both stopped short.  The baby was standing there, leaning shakily against the little picnic table where Little Guy always has his breakfast.  Baby eyes were sparkling.  One chubby hand was firmly attached to the table's edge.  The other was cramming the last of a peanut butter cracker into already bulging cheeks.  He was grinnning around that mouthful of cracker, like the proverbial kid with a hand in the cookie jar.

If you've read ANY baby book, you know that babies are not supposed to eat peanut butter.  My Baby has not yet learned to read, so he didn't know this.  Actually I'm pretty sure he would have skipped that chapter if he could read.  Though he only had that one taste, he was clearly a fan of the brown goopy stuff right off the bat.

I ran right to him the moment I realized what he was eating, but it was too late.  I settled for watching him closely for the next couple of hours.  I saw no allergic reactions of any kind, so it ended up allright in the end. 

He won't be getting any more samples of peanut butter until he's old enough (at least not on purpose).  No matter.  I'll never forget the look of sheer joy on my baby's chubby face as he tasted something forbidden for the very first time.

Cupcakes!!

Recently I entered to win a give-away over at notquitedonnareed, and (woo hoo) I won!!

What did I win?  I'm so glad you asked.  My prize was a fabulous birthday cupcake kit and awesome new cupcake pan.  I got it all in the mail this morning.  As soon as Little Guy saw what came out of the package, he said "We must make cupcakes, because they make me happy!"

He gets that from his Mama.  Cupcakes have always made me happy too!

We decided (even though we didn't have a birthday to bake for) that we'd get started right after lunch.  We had a really fun time mixing, baking and (of course) sampling these yummy treats!!

Little Guy checking out the cute little cupcake paper cups.

And he did almost all of the pouring of ingredients
and mixing (and did a great job!)

cups ready for the batter!!

After 25 minutes we had 12 yummy cupcakes!
The kit came with frosting and sprinkles. 
Little Guy approves! (so do I!)

The box said that the kit made 12 cupcakes (which it did)
but we had enough batter left over to also make one little bonus
cake using a tiny cake pan that Little Guy's Nana got him for Christmas.
How cute!!

We put the remaining cupcakes in a carrier, loaded the boys in their
trusty red wagon and delivered cupcakes to some of our neighbor ladies
(including the sweet lady from my last post)
Everyone loved their surprise delivery, and the boys and I had a great time too!

I'd like to send out a big thank you to notquitedonnareed for hosting such a fun give-away (if you haven't been to her blog yet, you should go there right now!) and for the fantastic prize package.  We had a blast making these cupcakes.  The only part of the prize that we didn't use was the pack of birthday candles.  We've saved them though, and will certianly put them to use soon! 

Mis-Adventures in Grocery Shopping

We shop for groceries twice a month.  Yes, there is the occasional quick trip for milk or baby food that happens on an off day, but our big cart-filling grocery run comes around every two weeks.

I adore grocery shopping.  Hubby likes it too.  He typically does the bulk of the shopping but at the end of January I said I’d like to do it.  He agreed.  I went.  I came home with many reusable bags filled with all the stuff that we typically buy.

Last night (armed with the knowledge of what had filled those bags only one week ago), I initiated the following conversation:

Me: “What would you like for dinner?”

Little Guy: “chicken nuggets.”

Me: “You just had chicken nuggets, how about a hot dog?”

Little Guy: “Okay.”

Hubby (from the other room): “We don’t have any hot dogs.”

Me: “Yes we do.  I bought them last week.  Buns too.”

Hubby: “Yes, we have buns.  No hot dogs though.”

I began to search the refrigerator, but sure enough no hot dogs were to be found.  I was racking my brain, trying to remember if I’d changed my mind at the store, and put them back?  Surely not.

Meanwhile, Hubby had retrieved the receipt.  Yes, I had purchased hotdogs.  Eureka! I was elated (for a moment) because this proved I hadn’t been imagining things.  I truly had purchased hot dogs, but where were they?  I continued to dig through the contents of our refrigerator and freezer while he began to scan the rest of the receipt.  “What’s this?” he asked, pointing to another item he didn't think we had.  “Ham steaks” I replied.  “And this?”, he indicated another entry.  Slowly I closed the open doors.  “Pork chops.” I said as realization dawned.

“Maybe I left them in the car?” 

He went out to check my car, and quickly returned with the missing bag.  A bag full of MEAT purchased over a week ago.  Of all the bags I brought home, of COURSE it was this one that never made it into the house.  Bags of pasta and canned goods – check.  Dry breakfast cereal and granola bars – check.  Pudding cups and peanut butter – check.  Bread and crackers…well, you get the idea.  I only had three bags of items that wouldn’t have survived outside, and I had left one of them behind in the car.

Normally I would have noticed sooner, but that particular day was a fussy one for Baby Boy and when I was maybe half done with putting away the groceries, I stopped to relieve Hubby of baby duty.  He then, took over for me in the kitchen.   Had I been the one to put everything away, I surely would have noticed and headed out to the car that very afternoon.

Hindsight and all that.  **sigh**

I looked it up, in case you are wondering…the “danger zone” for meat is any temp between 40 – 140 degrees.  If it sits out for a mere twenty minutes in those temps, bacteria begins to multiply. 

If we were having a normal winter, we might have gotten away with the meat being outside (okay, maybe not for a week).  But instead of the sub-zero temperatures we usually have in January/February, we’ve enjoyed three different days of 40 or above (two days reached 60 degrees) in the last week.  That “danger zone” was definitely in play. 

Yuck.

Though the frugal gal inside me was screaming, "NOOOO!" ...into the trash it all went.  I’m just thanking my lucky stars there weren’t any big meat sales.  I’d only picked up a few items since nothing was all that great of a bargain on that particular day.  Another thing to be thankful for (look at me living on the bright side!) is that this didn't happen in summer!  Can you imagine the stench that would come with meat left in a HOT car?  I shudder at the thought.  Yuck again.

So after we’d figured it all out and $15 of our hard earned money was sitting in the trash can…we ate some hamburger steaks with veggies and cornbread.  Little Guy ended up having a good dinner (in truth much healthier than the first one I’d suggested), and we enjoyed our dinner too.  Hubby didn’t say anything at all about my screw-up (he’s awesome like that), but I have a feeling he’ll do the grocery shopping again for a while. 

And that’s okay with me.

Note: Yes, we eat hot dogs (on occasion), and yes I know what they are made of.  :)

Noodles!!!

not my noodles....image from Bing search

Recently I made noodles for the first time.  The recipe I used had been in my possession for probably ten years.  A dear lady who I worked with back in the 1990s had given it to me after sharing a batch at a pot-luck luncheon.  I adored them, and begged her for the recipe.  I had every intention of making them much sooner than now…but for whatever reason hadn’t bothered to do it.  When I came across the recipe in my little metal box last week, I was sadly reminded that the lady who gave it to me so long ago, had passed away a couple years back.  I decided it was high time I gave her noodle recipe a try.

The recipe is pretty straight-forward and was easy to whip up.  For some reason though, I made the process more complicated than it needed to be by rolling the dough out on wax paper.  I guess I thought that the paper would help the noodle dough not to stick.  It did help with that (a bit), but when I cut the noodles – I also cut the paper (into noodle sized strips of course).  Pulling the noodles off of the wax paper strips was not fun.  Also, it turned what had been pretty uniform noodles into big messy pile of misshapen lumps. 

I had very little faith that the blobby dough before me would ever pass for noodles.  A less optimistic (and/or less frugal) gal might have tossed them out and given up, but not me.  I laid them out as best I could and let them dry.

Earlier in the day I had cooked up a fryer chicken, de-boned it and put it in the crock pot with broth, carrots, onions and celery.  By now the house smelled a little like heaven.  I wasn’t sure how the noodles would do when added to the soup, so instead of dumping them in the crock-pot, I put them in some boiling water on the stove top.

And then, a miracle happened.  The mangled strips of dough began to look like… noodles!  Hurrah!  I did a little happy dance as they started to bob and float in the boiling water.  Once I was sure that they were not going to dissolve or turn to mush, I drained and moved them into the crock-pot.  About forty-five minutes later, I dished up plates of yummy mashed potatoes topped with homemade chicken and noodles. 

Yes, the carb count on such a meal is crazy high… I.DO.NOT.CARE.  Never has there been a better comfort food than this. 

The noodles still looked odd – only some having a regular noodle shape - but they tasted wonderful!  Worth every moment of effort put into making them, I think they were maybe the tastiest chicken and noodles I’ve ever eaten!  Maybe they really were the best ever, or maybe I only thought that because I was enjoying the “fruits of my own labor”…. I’m not sure.

What I am sure of, is that I’ll be trying that recipe again.  I didn’t remember to take pictures, but pictures wouldn’t have done them justice anyway (trust me on this).  I am including the recipe below.  It’s super easy and I think it’s fairly standard as noodle recipes go….but here it is:

Luetta’s Homemade Noodles

4 eggs

3 T cold water

1 tsp salt

3 T soft butter

2 c. Flour

Beat eggs.  Beat in water and salt.  Stir in flour and butter.  Roll out then as desired and cut with sharp knife.  Let dry at least 30 minutes before cooking.

Cookies that ROAR!

For Christmas my Mother-in-law bought me a big box of cookie cutters  (100 to be exact).  Every shape and size imaginable was included. 

When we got them home, Little Guy immediately wanted to make trains, dinosaurs and footballs (this kid is ALL boy!).  It just so happened that a co-worker was having a birthday, and our team had decided to bring treats to the office to celebrate.  The guy with the birthday is probably well past the stage where he’s easily impressed by frosted sugar cookies, but that’s what I took.  

Dinosaur cookies!  They aren’t decorated excessively.  I go all out for Christmas cookies, but just didn’t have the time to go crazy with these.  I frosted with tinted green frosting and topped with candy sprinkles and an M&M eyes. 

Perfect?  No, but my Little Guy sure liked them, and I think my co-worker seemed to think that they were okay too. 

One cookie cutter down, 99 to go.  It will be a fun (and sweet) year indeed.

Early Birthday Festivities

  

This was the poster that we hung
on the front door to greet out guests.

Little Guy will be turning three in late July. However, since we are expecting his younger brother to arrive in July as well…we decided to have LG’s 3rd birthday party in June.

Saturday was our big day.

We let him pick out the theme, which was trains. I made the invitations (though didn’t take a picture – oops). They turned out pretty cute, I think. I used scrapbook paper to assemble a train on the front, and put a vintage looking picture of Little Guy inside (wearing his engineer outfit of course). We decorated with balloons and bunting and a train poster for the front door.

We kept our guest list small, only inviting Grandparents, uncles and aunts. Little Guy chose the menu “Pizza and breadsticks”. We added salad to the offerings, but in hindsight LG had the right idea. The pizza was quickly devoured, but we’ll be eating salad all week.

I baked the cakes (two 9x13” pans, sat side by side) and then carved the 3 out. The cake itself was brilliant blue – per LG’s request. I froze the carved cake before decorating, which I will always recommend if you are frosting a carved cake. Those ‘crumby’ edges can be pretty frustrating. I topped the cake with Thomas the Train and his two coaches. I love using toys as cake toppers, since they double as décor and playtime fun. We ate our blue cake with a side of chocolate ice cream (another birthday boy request).



the 3 cake



He wanted to blow out candles this year, but I had
to hold his hands while he did that... he wanted to
grab the train off the cake before we got the pictures!



The party was a great success! LG had a wonderful time surrounded by those who love him most, and he was quite the entertainer. He gave everyone a tour of the house, showing off the baby’s room, and his own.

In addition to the outpouring of love and affection showered upon him by family; he received an array of wonderful presents and cards. There were (among other things), some toys, fun puzzles, little dishes (that he can really use in the kitchen), an art easel and accessories, and a Thomas the Train pillow! What a lucky little boy we have, and what a wonderful early birthday party.

When the last guests had left, he turned to me and said, “Aw Mom, I miss my family”. How cute is that??


Birthday Boy with his cake...  If you look closely, his
little brother is kind of in the picture as well.



Jelly Beans as Currency

This is probably not my proudest moment, but I have a confession to make: I’ve been bribing my toddler with Jelly Beans.

Now, before you send me a note explaining how horrible sugar is, and how his dentist would never approve… hear me out. Because Hubby and I have different work schedules (his work day starts and ends way before mine), we split up the daycare duty. I take Little Guy to daycare on my way to the office, and Hubby picks him up on his way home.

In the past, this system worked perfectly. Recently a couple things have changed:

1. First off, Little Guy has developed a love for running from me. As soon as the front door opens, he is off like a shot. If he went straight to the car and waited, this would be fine…but mostly he just runs (he thinks this is soooo funny). He might run into the neighbor’s yard or off to chase birds or hide behind the shrubbery. Some days I couldn’t even get the front door locked before he would start sprinting down the sidewalk. (And if you think a two year old can’t run fast, you clearly haven’t chased one.)

2. Secondly, I’m now in the third trimester of my second pregnancy, and let’s be honest… running is not something I’m great at right now. I always catch him (eventually), but the idea of getting to work already sweaty and tired isn’t how I want to start my day.

One morning last week (as we both stood just inside the front door), I looked down and saw in his expression that he was primed for a hasty escape. I sighed, resigned to another chase, when suddenly I had an idea. I said, “If you wait on the porch while Mommy locks the door, you can have one jelly bean.” I then fished one out of the candy jar and showed him the tiny candy as proof of my promise.

His eyes grew wide, and he said, “Okay Mommy”.

He went outside and patiently waited on the porch while I locked the door (Eureka!). I then took one tiny hand in mine and put the jelly bean in his other hand. He grinned and gobbled it up. We began walking toward the car, and almost immediately he was straining to get away. I held on tight and when we reached our destination, I got his attention again, and said, “If you climb into your car seat and sit there while I buckle you in, I will give you another jelly bean.

Once again, he became quite serious, and said, “Okay Mommy”. Usually he tries to vault into the front seat, or plant himself in the regular seat trying to fasten the adult seatbelt. But, upon hearing another jelly bean was coming his way, he proceeded to climb right into his car seat and ate his second jelly bean while I buckled him in. (Eureka again!)

There was no running. There were no frantic cries of “Get back here this instant!” There were no laughing neighbors pointing at me chasing him. No stress. No panicked rise in my heart rate. No sweaty sprints across the yard.

It was peaceful. It was serene. It was wonderful. It was all thanks to a couple tiny jelly beans.

Oreo-filled Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, I first heard of this recipe when two Facebook friends posted links to similar recipes in the same day. Then a few days later, Mindy blogged about giving them a try, and THEN my little brother called to say he’d baked some and thought they were a hit.

I’m not a big trend follower, but when the trend involves combining multiple yummy cookie types, I’m a sucker for peer pressure. Last week my office was having a food day, and I decided to take a batch of these sweet treats.

This is the recipe I tried. The one thing I did differently was use mini oreos instead of full size ones, as I’d seen some others try. I was very pleased. These are indeed yummy cookies.

Hubby had a food day this week, and he tried the recipe also. He went with the full size double-stuff cookies from the original recipe, and I must say the original is way better. Of course, eating one cookie feels like main-lining sugar, but the sheer joy associated with biting into one of these sweet explosions makes all the calories and eventual sugar letdown worth it.

If you haven’t tried making this yet…and you love cookies…. Try it today. I promise you won’t be sorry (no matter what size Oreos you use).

Minnesota Mini-Vacation - Day Two

We started the second day of our “Operation Min-Vacation” by going to Mickey’s Diner for our morning meal. Built to resemble a classic Art Deco diner car, Mickey’s has been serving classic diner fare in St. Paul since before WWII. It’s small, but adorable, and has even been featured in a few movies. During our short visit, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast of pancakes, eggs and sausage, surrounded by regulars and fellow tourists alike. The food was good. The service was about what you’d expect from a tiny, bustling restaurant.

Mickey's Diner - image from their website.



Little Guy, enjoying his toast at Mickey's



From there, we traveled to another part of St. Paul to tour the Minnesota Transportation Museum. Before we even entered the doors, we knew this was going to be a big hit with our little fellow. Retired train cars and cabooses were displayed by the parking lot, as was a refurbished Greyhound bus from an earlier generation. The building which houses the museum is also still an operating roundhouse, which we thought was very interesting.  We went in, toured many train engines and cars on display and watched a little railroad movie. Then Little Guy found a model engine which he could play in, and he decided he never wanted to leave! It had been donated by a nearby children’s museum, and was clearly a paradise for train loving children. We hadn’t been there long, when we were told that the turn table and round house were in operation and we could go out on the observation deck to watch the workers move the huge trains around. Eventually we also got to ride a train for a short bit. Our seats were in the cupola part of an SOO caboose. All three of us had fun on that little ride. We rounded out our visit with a trip to the gift shop, and some play time at the Thomas the Train tables near the entrance.

My Guys in the Model Train.  Choo Choo!!

LG at the entrace to the museum



This caboose looks like the one we rode in (our seats were in the red part at the top).  My camera batteries died, so I don't have actual pictures of the train ride.  oops

We grabbed lunch at a little family restaurant, and then went to a few baseball card shops (for Hubby) and the Golden Fig (for me). The Golden Fig is a lovely little shop which features primarily Minnesota wares. Everything from jellies and jams, to cheese and sausage. They have spices, candy, microbrews and various baking mixes (just to name a few of their items). I adore stores like this, and during this visit, I bought some little chocolate caramels and a jar of butcher’s rub spice mix.

We were a bit burnt out on restaurants at this point, so we treated ourselves to a hotel picnic. We had brought snack items with us: peanut butter crackers, granola bars, fruit and juice. We made little hodge-podge meals and enjoyed each other’s company right there in our room. It was a nice break that also saved us a little money, so win-win.

Our second day behind us, we settled down for a good night’s sleep.

Minnesota Mini Vacation - Day One

Who doesn’t like to get away for a bit? We took a day off recently so that we could have a three day weekend to get out of town for a breather. Since we wanted to take Little Guy along with us, we chose the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul MN) as our mini vacation destination (close but not so close that it didn’t feel like getting away).

We left home early on Day One, arriving at our first stop The Mall of America, just in time for lunch at Johnny Rockets. We ate our burgers and fries while overlooking the amusement park in the center of the mall. To say that Little Guy was intrigued, would be the understatement of the year. We promised him we’d check out all the rides after we’d wandered through the mall.

We are such frugal shoppers, that we rarely even enter the big stores and tiny niche shops that fill such a place. However, we are big fans of people watching and window shopping, and we did a lot of both. We started on the third floor and after circling it, went to the second and then the first. Once we’d wandered through each of the floors we headed for the amusement park area.

Little Guy is still pretty short, and was not going to be able to ride many of the rides (much to his disappointment). Instead of spending $20 or $30 on a “ticket package” that might result in three rides, we opted for a trip to the Nickelodeon store (the park is sponsored by Nickelodeon), where Little Guy picked out a stuffed moose named Tyrone. Tyrone is one of the stars of Little Guy’s favorite non-train cartoon, The Backyardigans. For the rest of the trip, LG and Tyrone were inseparable.

Just after he got Tyrone!  So excited!!

Relaxing in the hotel room...

We left the mall (lunch and Tyrone our only purchases), found our hotel and checked in. Then we went in search of dinner. Hubby wanted to try a German Restaurant (Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit) which he had seen featured on an episode of the Travel Network's Man vs. Food. We got there just as the doors were opening for the dinner hour. We were greeted warmly and taken to a roomy booth. It was one of many which skirted a large (but cozy) room filled with long family style tables. Our waitress was friendly and helpful.  She brought us fresh bread and butter while we perused the menus. I ordered a Parmesan pork schnitzel, which came with potato dumplings and a lovely house salad. Hubby went for the challenge* meal that included a meter of bratwurst coiled over a heaping bed of sour kraut - with a side of potato croquettes. Little Guy had (of course) a cheeseburger.

The food was excellent! Every part of our meal was simply mouth watering. And if that weren’t enough, there was live music. A smiling man in lederhosen walked around the dining area chatting with guests and taking special requests to play on his accordion (ever hear Black Sabbath’s Iron Man on the accordion? It’s surprisingly good!). Little Guy was amazed. He thought the accordion music was wonderful (as did we). The musician was a natural performer.  He played a variety of requests and traditional German tunes, laughing genially with all of the people he met. When he got to our table, Little Guy asked for “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, which the guy said was a family favorite, singing and playing with gusto. He then went on to perform “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and the Alphabet song for LG, followed by “Can’t Help Falling in Love” for Hubby and I. It was a perfect way to end the first day of our little adventure! We left with big smiles on our faces, and tummies full of yummy food.

*Hubby’s eyes were bigger than his belly on this particular night, and he did not finish his meter of bratwurst – though he made a very heavy dent in it. Though he left without getting the certificate that the completed challenge promised, he still had a great time and a yummy meal to boot.

Baking HITS and MISSES

Last week I was in the mood to bake. This isn’t anything new. I love baking. Pies, cakes, cookies, whatever – I love it all (the eating too, of course). Usually, I am pretty good at it too.

I decided on that particular day last week that I was in the mood for pie, but wasn’t particularly in the mood to make a double crust affair. I found a recipe titled “Impossible Coconut Pie” in one of my old cookbooks. It was super easy to make. All the ingredients were mixed in one big bowl, then poured into a cake pan to bake. During the baking process, the pie was supposed to separate into three distinct layers (crust, filling, and coconut topping).

It was not what I’d call a success.

Hubby, who will rarely turn away dessert had the following to say, “If that pie were on Facebook, I would deny its friend request.”

My Dad always says, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” That is what I’ve now written in the margin of the cookbook where that “Impossible” pie recipe is located. I won’t be trying that one again.

Over the weekend a Facebook friend (and amazing baker, and fellow blogger), posted a blurb about a cake she’d made. It sounded fabulous, so I asked for the recipe. I did something wrong…who knows what? The ending result tasted amazing (really and truly amazing), but it wouldn’t hold up like it should, and sort of collapsed all over my cake carrier and onto the table around it. I take full responsibility for the problem. I’ve been known to make wacko mistakes in the kitchen (and in life) when I’m pregnant. Baby brain drain, and all that. The picture below was supposed to be a triple layer 8 inch cake.

This time Hubby had only good things to say about my latest baking adventure, in spite of the cake’s oddball appearance. I scooped up weird looking hunks of cake onto our plates, and we both ate them happily. It was truly yummy, and I’ll definitely be trying that recipe again. It deserves to be attempted as many times as it takes to get it right.

The coconut pie?  Not so much.

Craving a Tenderloin

If you have ever lived in the Midwestern United States, you will probably know exactly what I’m referring to in the title of this blog post without reading further. The Pork Tenderloin Sandwich (just referred to as “Tenderloin” by those in the know) is a mouth watering bit of culinary heaven that you won’t find just anywhere.

Okay, maybe “culinary” is the wrong word. You are most likely to find the best tenderloins in locally owned “Mom and Pop” type dairy bars, cafes or delis in America’s heartland. Chain restaurants rarely (if ever) get it right, so if you are looking for your first tenderloin, you will definitely want to search out a place that really knows how to make them. Go into any small town in the Midwest, ask where you can get a good Tenderloin, and the answer you receive will be where you want to go. Locals will definitely have the insight needed for the search. If you wander far beyond the borders of Iowa, Indiana and maybe Missouri…your order of a Tenderloin will probably be met with a blank stare. For some reason, the trend hasn’t spread.

So what is a tenderloin? Well, let me tell you…. A Pork Tenderloin sandwich is usually prepared from a thinly sliced piece of pork tenderloin, hammered thin with a mallet. The meat is then dipped in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs before being deep fat fried in oil. Some places may offer a grilled version, but it’s not nearly as tasty as the fried original. After cooking, the prepared Tenderloin is then served on a generous bun (almost always with a large portion of the meat hanging over the edges). You can usually tell if the tenderloin will be worth its weight in gold, by asking what the restaurant considers appropriate toppings. Most die hard tenderloin lovers will insist on one or all of the following: ketchup, mustard, pickles and onions. That is all. The yummy sandwich usually comes with a side of French fries or onion rings, but should never by violated with the addition of mayo or lettuce.

Honestly, you can’t beat a well prepared tenderloin. It’s topped my list of favorite foods for years. Throughout my current pregnancy it’s the one thing I think I’ve craved more than anything else (even chocolate ice cream), and I just can’t seem to get enough.

My birthday was last week, and hubby offered to take me anywhere for a birthday meal. My choice? A posh French restaurant? No. A swanky tapas bar? No. A local butcher/deli which boasts the city’s best tenderloin (and rightly so)? You betcha! They even sell a tiny version (aptly named the “little piggy”) for children. Little Guy ate his right up. It may have been the very best part of my birthday celebration.

Sadly (or maybe luckily) our favorite tenderloins are reached only after a bit of a drive. If that weren’t the case, I’d probably be stopping to get one every day. If you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods, I’ll direct you to all of our favorite spots for this fantastic Midwestern treat!