Eat It: Baked French Fries

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French fries how I love thee.
If only your fried goodness was good to my heart.
You deliciously evil thing.
It is my goal in life to find healthy french fries.
Okay, it’s only my goal until my attention fades away.

Baked French Fries

I tried this recipe from Annie’s Eats and they were great. The trick is to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes. And this is the first time using kosher salt. My new rule for life is that you must use kosher salt for french fries!

Because the burgers were not done cooking when the fries were done I wrapped them in foil to keep them warm. Please learn from me all you crispy lovers out there! Do not wrap your fries in foil. Your crispiness will become floppiness. And that makes all french fries weep. So what have we learned?

1. soak fries in water for 30 minutes
2. use kosher salt
3. time your cooking better so you will not use foil in desperation for hot fries

I will be trying this recipe again following all my rules closely next time.

One Little Word…Brave

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BRAVE

It’s nine days into the new year and I’ve already decided to change my word. Fearless is just something I will never be no matter how much I would like it or how many years I make it my word. Fear is something I experience everyday. It’s not going away no matter how hard I try to ignore it. So, I’m changing it up a bit. My word for this year is…..

BRAVE

I will try more at working through my fears. I will be brave! I will make my own decisions. I will live with my decisions. I will act on what I believe to be of value and worthy of my time and effort. I will be an advocate for my children. I will try new things. I will not be manipulated by people or an institution. It’s going to be a good year with my brave attitude!
When I was a teenager I would react to fear or anxiety by falling asleep. I miss those days! Now I wake at 3:00 am with my heart and mind racing! I need to be brave just so I can get some sleep, sheesh.

Today my fear is centered around Cameron and Ethan. We signed them up for Snow Blitz. They will be picked up after school by bus and taken to the ski resort for skiing lessons. I’m worried about the bus ride through the snow. I am anxious that Cameron will have a hard time and react with his temper. I fear Ethan will not find friends. I am afraid they will lose their ski passes that I told them to leave in their zipper pockets and to never remove. I fear they will hit a tree.

So many worries. Big Breath.

I have been playing this song for my boys in the morning before school. I love it when
they come home singing it at the top of their lungs!

Spider Halloween Cookies

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Spider_Halloween_Cookies

Tomorrow’s Halloween! Are you ready? We’ve got our costumes ready and my boys are so excited. I can’t even imagine what the Halloween sugar high mixed with the excitement will do to them! So why not feed them sugar cookies just to make life interesting?!

A couple of weeks ago I saw some adorable cookies on Pinterest. I recreated them for a family party. Unfortunately, when I failed to pin the cookie. I tried to find them with no luck. So, if you know who originally know who made these cookies I would love to give credit to the adorable design!

Spider_Halloween_Cookies

Spider_Halloween_Cookies

Roll Cookie Dough

How To Roll Cookie Dough

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Roll Cookie Dough

I made Christmas cookies. I really like to make decorated cookies. Except maybe when I mess up the colors and have to start over again. That may or may have happened. Except it totally did!

Here’s a trick to rolling even cookies. Take a trip to Hobby Lobby, Lowe’s, Home Depot, or anywhere you can buy wooden dowels. Buy one of the 1/4 inch square dowels. It will cost less than a dollar. Cut that thing in half. Now your cookie making will totally change for the better!

Roll Cookie Dough

Lay down wax paper, your wooden dowels, and the rolling pen. See that space between the rolling pins and the wax paper? That’s where the cookie dough will go.

Roll Cookie Dough

Roll out the dough and the rolling pin on top of the dowels will guarantee you have perfect 1/4 cookies. Simple, but brilliant right? It’s not my idea so I can say it’s brilliant!

Roll Cookie Dough

After the shapes are cut out but before you remove the excess cookie dough, put the wax paper with the dough into the freezer for about 2 minutes. I put the wax paper onto a cookie sheet so it’s easy to move between the freezer and the counter. The firm cookies from the freezer are easy to punch out of the excess dough.

Roll Cookie Dough

This is what happens when I bake!

Roll Cookie Dough

Roll Cookie Dough

Be sure to share those Christmas cookies so you don’t end up with Santa’s Belly this year!

Roll Cookie Dough

Roll Cookie Dough

Knitting Socks With Links

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I knitted a pair of socks! Yes, I realize that makes me a knitting nerd. But seriously, these socks are the bomb! They are so warm and cozy and they fit me perfectly!

Knitting Socks With Links

I let Devin pick out the color. And then I panicked! It is the Schoppel Wolle Zauberball Crazy Yarn – 1702 Ombre. Those are some crazy colors going on there! But I ended up loving it in the end. It’s just a fun pair of socks! My puppy also likes this color. He won’t leave my feet alone when I’m wearing them. So help me if he snags my socks with his sharp puppy teeth!

My husband even wants me to knit a pair for him. So, I think that pretty much makes me a knitting wonder!

The patterns is the Right-Twist Cable Rib Socks from the Knitting Socks book.

Knitting Socks With Links

Knitting Socks With Links

 

 

Marie Callendar’s Famous Golden Cornbread

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The first time I tasted cornbread was in my elementary school cafeteria. No one should have their first taste of anything in a school cafeteria! The lump of yellow was dry, crumbly, mealy and terrible. I never tried another bite of cornbread until my friend Kim invited us to dinner and served it. I didn’t want to be rude so I fearfully took a bite. It was simply divine! I couldn’t believe it was cornbread! It was light, moist, and sweet. Top it off with honey butter, and all is right in the world!

Golden Cornbread

This is the recipe Kim shared with me. I made it for a recent family dinner and it was gone before anything else. The kids were eating the cornbread before the chocolate chip cookies!

Golden CornbreadMarie Callendar’s Famous Golden Cornbread

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt in medium bowl. Add milk, shortening, and egg. Mix only until all ingredients are well combined. Pour batter into greased 8×8″ pan. bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Let the cornbread cool slightly before slicing it.

Honey Butter:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup honey

For the Honey Butter, use a mixer on high speed to whip the butter and honey together until smooth and fluffy.

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