Breakfast Lasagna – My Style

I think I have come to the conclusion that I could be Betty Crackpot when it comes to cooking. (Did you get the reference above?) Anyway, saw a recipe for Breakfast Lasagna and wanted to make it. Really it was the bacon in the photo that got me :-). So I went to the store with the recipe. Okay, I forgot the recipe I was going to bring, so found it on my phone when I remembered that I forgot it. Anyway, not important…..let’s move on…..

So looked at the ingredients:

Maple Bacon Sauce

1 lb of bacon (had that)

¼ c of flour (had that)

1 c maple syrup (had that)

½ c heavy cream (needed that) *

* Yeah, that turned into just using milk that I already had

Sausage Gravy (did not make this so needed none)

Pancakes (I used a mix so just needed to add water)

Scrambled Eggs **

** I only used the eggs of that recipe, didn’t even use salt.

Then I decided that I wanted to add hash browns to the recipe, so I picked up a 20 oz  package of shredded potatoes.

For the cheese the recipe called for, instead of 1 lb of shredded, I got an 8 oz pkg of Co-Jack slices. I also didn’t put it in the eggs like the recipe said. Such a hellion!

So I decided to figure out what to do first – seemed best to follow some of the recipe (LOL). So I put the bacon in first at 400⁰, and let it cook for 20 min. I just put it straight on the cookie sheet.

While that cooked, I turned to the pancakes. As stated earlier, I used the “just add water” kind and made the 12-14 pancakes recipe. I figured that it should make 9 or so “noodles”. Pulled out the griddle and proceeded to figure out how to shape them.

I found that I needed to turn them with two spatulas to make sure they didn’t break.

                        

When that finished, I kept the griddle going and made the hash browns.

                      

I halved the potatoes and cooked them in two batches. I figured there would be two or three layers, so it would be best to break them up.

After the hash browns, I made the eggs. Instead of cooking 12 at once, I made 6 and then 6.

                       

Once those were done I switched out the bacon with more bacon, and poured the bacon grease in a mug. Then when all of the bacon was done cooking, I poured all the grease in a saucepan.

I stirred in the flour, then added the syrup and finally the milk. It thickened up like when making a box of cooked pudding.

                           

Now time to assemble.

                           

I put the four “noodles” in the bottom and realized I had more room then I thought, and the bottom layer was not going to be “touching” like the recipe said. Added the syrup mix next and then the eggs.

Now, this is where I was going to put the first layer of cheese, but I forgot and put the hash browns on next. D’OH!

                         

I will remember for next layer.

I also realized that there would be only two layers like the recipe stated. I thought my “noodles” would have been longer, but they fit perfectly the way I placed them. So I put the cheese on the hash brown, and proceeded to put another layer of “noodles”, syrup, eggs, and then I did it AGAIN! I put the hash browns on the eggs instead of the cheese. Placed the cheese, in the wrong place AGAIN, and then put the bacon across the top.

I noticed that my before and after cooking photos looked pretty much the same. I cooked it in the 400⁰ oven for 15 minutes.

Then I actually let it sit for a bit, while I made myself do something else, so that it could actually sit for a bit.

After waiting, I cut a piece.

                              

The verdict is that it was delicious! I liked how after it cooked you could see the different layers, and the hash browns were still crunchy and the bacon was cooked to perfection.

Definitely making this again….probably after many, many hours of exercise!

The Little Bits They Leave Behind

People come and go from your life every day. You run out and see your friends for lunch, strike up a conversation with a stranger in the grocery store, or meet new friends online. What makes the difference between people is that some, when you stop talking, leave a little bit of themselves behind. Whether it is on your heart or your mind, they are still there. You are reminded of them when you visit a particular place, a smell takes you back, or someone says something exactly the way they used to say it. You catch your breath, feel the sadness of their absence, and the memories begin to flood.

To others, you might seem distant or look lost, but your mind plays vivid memories of them. You run through past conversations, relive happy moments and just remember why you are glad and a better person for having known them. They have touched you, changed you. So you sit and just remember for awhile, and then the time comes when you must come back to the now. Get back to your life, and the reality that they are no longer in it. You can play the what-if game if you want, but just as you know there is a reason they were in it, there is also a reason they no longer are.

You accept this as the way things are sometimes and go back to concentrating on today. That is until the place, smell or saying takes you back again.

Apple Crisp

What can you do with apples?

This was the question that I was asked when someone I knew had apples that weren’t getting eaten fast enough. The apples were getting to the point of getting soft and were becoming unappealing to eat by themselves. I said why not fruit crisp? Always delicious. Then there was the issue of looking at recipes online and trying to find a recipe that had the limited ingredients that were already available.

So I looked and found a nice, simple and delicious recipe. Now, there were changes to the one I made. For example, the recipe calls for 3 Granny Smith apples, cut into ½ in. dice. My recipe consisted of “all of the apples that are not going to get eaten, cut up, so they fit in the pan”. Additionally, the recipe called for cinnamon and nutmeg. My recipe omitted them because there wasn’t any. Yes, I could have gone out and bought some, but this would have most likely been the only recipe they would have been used in. Minus those few minor changes, the recipe stayed the same.

So it became:

All the apples no one was going to eat, cut up, so they fit in the pan

¾ c brown sugar

½ c old-fashioned oats

½ cup all-purpose flour

1/3 c butter softened

(original recipe: 3 Granny Smith apples, cut into ½-in dice, ¾ t cinnamon, ¾ t nutmeg)

I preheated the oven to 350⁰ and spread the apples in the pan I was using (recipe calls for 9-in square pan). I combined the flour and brown sugar, (you would put in spices here as well), stirred in the oats and cut up the butter and worked the mixture into a crumbly texture. This topping was spread over the apples, and it was placed in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.

After that time, I took the pan out of the oven and let it cool on the stove before placing the apples in a Tupperware container. Now they can have apple crisp for days!

They Come When You Are Not Looking

Your life runs. You get up, make the coffee, begin your day and get on with this thing called life. Sometimes you get out of your comfort zone and do something different. Other days you begin to forget what day it is. The days sometimes just run together. It is on the days out of your comfort zone that it happens.

You might notice someone new; strike up a conversation and then everything changes. You begin to notice there is life outside of your little cocoon. It is happening “out there”. You start to wonder what you have been missing out on. These people that you run across that are doing the things you said you wanted to do. Maybe you used the excuse that you didn’t have the time or the energy. Yet, you found someone doing it. Then you begin to wonder if they can….why can’t you?

You begin to study them, trying to determine how they found the time and the energy. Then you realize the harsh reality of it all. It is not that they ‘found’ the time, but they ‘made’ the time. Maybe got up a little earlier, gave up something else they wanted to do or just adjusted their schedule to fit it in. Then after they started, then it became a habit, and now they just do it. It has become a part of them. And here you still are just watching.

It became a part of them, but you haven’t yet seen it as a part of you. It is there and always was…..you just forgot….lost in your day…..safe in your cocoon. They come when you are not looking. Your past hopes, dreams and thoughts. What you wanted for yourself that you forgot along the way. You see them in the people around you when you take a moment to truly see the people around you. They are there to remind you of you— the idea of what you wanted for yourself and what can still happen. All you need to do is remember. Realize this is what you wanted for yourself and then make the plans to get it.

Every day is a new day, a chance to become the person you want to become. Take this day and run with it. Break free from the cocoon you have been living in and take charge of your future. Make it a great day to be you!

My Deodorant Experiment

 

This was something that I wondered if it would work or not but figured it might at least be manageable. I had some stick deodorant that was reaching the end. Instead of just throwing out the container, I thought I would try an experiment. I had cream deodorant that was sitting around, and I wasn’t interested in sticking my fingers in it and putting it on. I figured why not take the cream deodorant and put it in the empty stick deodorant container. So I turned the dial and lowered the plastic part that pushes deodorant out. I didn’t lower it all the way, just enough to scoop some of the cream deodorant in there. So I alternated between scooping deodorant in the stick container and lowering the plastic bottom until all the cream deodorant was in the stick.

Now here is where my smarts, brain, research abilities, and general common sense fail me. I put the deodorant in the refrigerator for awhile thinking somehow it might stiffen up. Sometimes I wonder about myself. So, that didn’t happen. I did get the bonus of having my sanity questioned when asked if I knew I put deodorant in the fridge.

So I then decided just to put it in the bathroom cabinet and let it settle for a while. As I said, sometimes I wonder about myself. I get up the nerve to try it and realize that, for the most part it works the same, you just turn the dial and the deodorant magically rises and then you can swipe it across your armpit and WOW! That was a serious amount of deodorant that went on my underarm. So I turn the dial down for the other underarm and WOW again….still a lot. So turn it all the way down and only let a very small portion towards the top. I end up getting to the point of just touching the stick to my armpit and not really wiping at all. I then start flapping my arms like a chicken to get it to spread around. Do I have a YouTube video of this? No. Will there be one? No.

What have I learned? Well, that probably wasn’t the best idea. I could search the internet and see if there is something to add to the cream deodorant to actually stiffen it up some, or I could just say…”Well, that was an experience I am not sure I am interested in having again.”

Two Ingredient Cake

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So I found a recipe for cake using two ingredients, and I thought I would try to make it. Now all of the things I try to make might start out as one thing, but some somehow become another….sometimes they become unrecognizable. So, when I try new things I make sure that before I share with anyone else, I try it first. If it passes my approval, I will try it on someone else. If it is food and the reaction is, “I would rather eat dirt”, then it goes no farther.

So the cake, it is swirling around the Internet and once I tell you the two ingredients it will most likely be familiar to some. The ingredients are a box of cake mix (18.25 oz) and a 15 oz can of pumpkin. That is it. The pumpkin takes the place of the oil, egg, and water that normally gets added to the box mix. Now, I was going to give this to someone who was not a big fan of pumpkin, so I used chocolate cake to mask the pumpkin flavor. I have seen others use spice cake, yellow cake, or some other flavor and then play up the pumpkin by adding spices normally seen in pumpkin pie. I might try that in the future, but I needed to see how it would turn out first.

So I followed the recipe that I saw, put the cake mix and pumpkin together and then poured into a greased and floured pan. I cooked it at 350⁰ for 30 min, and it did not need extra time. I let it cool in the pan and then cut it. I have seen others who have felt the need to add water or other ingredients to the cake mixture, because they did not feel it was the consistency that they were looking for. I felt that it was okay with just the two ingredients. Side note: I also have the tendency to add one too many things to recipes and ruin them, so I wanted to give this a shot the regular way before I “helped” it into the garbage.

The cake consistency was moist and somewhat sticky, but not bad. It was good straight from the pan, and also good a day and two later. I believe this will become my new way to make cake. I see no reason to return to the other waybecause this came out great in my mind, and it was a hit all the way around. I will probably (cross your fingers) experiment slightly with different flavors and see if I can bring out the pumpkin flavor. At least see how much pumpkin flavor comes through if I use a white or yellow cake mix. For now, I was satisfied that it was delicious and moist.

Ingredients: One box cake mix (18.25 oz)

15 oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350⁰
2. Mix together cake mix and canned pumpkin
3. Pour into greased (I also floured) 9 x 13 pan
4. Bake 25 to 30 min. Cake is done when knife inserted comes out clean

You can also turn these into muffins/cupcakes if you like as well.

(I will make it again and take a pic)

What Keeps Me Up At Night

So, while everyone else drifts off to slumber land, I lay awake. Mind going, I was going to say 100 mph, but that is an exaggeration…..but still my mind does pretty much go 24/7/365. I thought I would scare you and let you know some of the things that I think about late at night…..

Pre-Cut Butter

Why isn’t this made? Or is it, and I just haven’t found it yet? You buy the butter (in the stick) but it is pre-cut for you. Now there is something called a butter cutter, but I am talking about it coming in stick form already measured out in tablespoons. Not necessarily individually wrapped (because I know you can go to a restaurant supply store and find that), but cut right in the stick. I think this would sell. Maybe a little piece of paper between pats in case it is warm. Figuring if the butter heats up in the car on the way home from grocery store it would just pretty much melt back together.

Real Commercials

I am interested to know if any of you ladies have walked through the park with your mother and mentioned that you didn’t feel quite so fresh. Does anyone do this? Then there are the creamer commercials where no one seems to know how to open the little plastic tub. Now I know that sometimes it is hard, but the way it is portrayed in the commercial is just funny. It seems like they are practically using a buzz saw to open it. I know, but the commercial was memorable wasn’t it….

Parmesan Cheese Shaker

Has anyone noticed that when you use the parmesan cheese shaker that some of the cheese doesn’t make it back into the container? It gets stuck in the top and gets caught under the pre-cut holes. There should be a way to eliminate this issue. Maybe a tiny brush that comes with the can or some type of sweeper mechanism built into the lid. The cheese begins to crust and gets weird and then you need to clean it out to make sure none of “that” cheese touches your food. There should be a way to eliminate “that” cheese.

There is more, but I will save that for a different post. What do you think of late into the night when you can’t sleep? Share in the comments below…..

Why Do We Contradict Ourselves With Children?

It is hard to be a good example for children when we follow the adage – do what I say, not what I do. We tell children not to smoke, yet there we are smoking. We tell children they have to watch what they eat, and we’ve already eaten a sleeve and a half of Oreos. Then there is the whole – don’t talk to strangers – conversation. We tell the children not to talk to people they don’t know and then we tell them that a bunny will run through the house or yard and hide treats for them. Then we add that they will never see the bunny. Or that sitting on the man’s lap with the red suit and white beard is no problem, even though they are too young to know who this is. He will also be going through the house and yard, and they won’t see him either. Let’s not forget the tooth fairy who comes into their room and places their hand under the child’s pillow, take’s their tooth and leaves them money. In the beginning, every single one of these people is a stranger. Children are told that each of these people will interact with them by leaving them treats or money, yet the child will never see them in the house.

I am not saying that there can’t be fun with children, fantasy and tradition. I am just saying that we need to be cognizant of how we speak to them. If you think about it, everyone is a stranger until you get to know them. How do you teach your children that all strangers are not bad, just some. Then go on to explain how the child, with their limited understanding, can distinguish between the two. It is difficult if you put some thought into it.

What would happen if we followed the advice we gave children? What if we made sure our work was done before we relaxed at home? Brushed our teeth morning and night and then regularly flossed as well? Set out our clothes the night before to save time dressing in the morning? Would be become more productive citizens? Would we find that we are getting more done during the day because our beginning was organized? It would be interesting to compile a list of commonly stated sayings that we share with children that we might or might not actually follow closely ourselves.

So why don’t we do that? Let’s start a conversation. Please share your thoughts in the comments section and let’s get a dialogue going.

Objects in the Mirror Are Larger Than They Used To Be

What is it about the size of people? I just don’t understand. So many models are considered too skinny, and I just don’t see it. I mean, yes, I do understand that some people could use an extra meal or three, but it seems like anyone who is thin is considered to have a problem. This makes me wonder if these women do actually have a problem, or if they only look like they do because we have become fatter as a society.

This new “normal” would be reason that thin people look too thin. Compared to everyone else, yeah they are really thin. Then you have to remember what people used to weigh in the past. The median number has gradually increased over the years. There was a study done where self reported weights had increased over a twenty year period. Okay, so if self reported weights are on the rise, but not everyone gains the extra pounds then sure, the people who don’t gain the weight will look thinner. Then there’s the clothes sizing.

They actually have vanity sizing for clothes. This means that the size 8 that you have worn since high school might be a bigger 8 than it was years ago. So, we have people getting fatter and the clothing industry trying to make us feel better by manipulating the sizes so we don’t see what the number really is. If you think about it though, like so many things, the size of the clothes is an arbitrary number. Not every designer has the same idea of what a size 8 should look like. So you can go to the store and pick up a size 6 and a size 12 and they will end up fitting exactly the same. So, what does the number mean? Not much….except in gossip circles and your mind. Do you feel better saying you wear a size 0 or a size 14? Does it mean anything if you wear a size 0 or a size 14? Nope.

You aren’t smarter, funnier, more enjoyable to be around (heavier folks aren’t always jolly and size 0’s are not always starving and bitchy) or any other stereotype that is floating out there in the cosmos. It is truly just a number, and yet it is not. If it truly were just a number then we wouldn’t need the vanity sizing now would we?