2/21 Photograph Indistinct

Blah Kind of Day to Make Soup

2/21 Photograph Indistinct

Out of Focus / Edited / Hazy

Today's email prompt included a video about using an iPhone

 app called Big Lens to bug the background and create bokeh. Fighting off a sinus headache so I made a big pot of cabbage soup. All those colorful vegetables created a subject for today's photo. I tried the app on another photo that had a finer edge and it was difficult working with the edging using my finger, but it was fun with the larger cabbage. 

We got more snow today, just as predicted and without any melting, we have huge snow banks in the yard. If we had this epic snow when the boys were younger, there would be snow tunnels and forts through out the yard. #2 and my husband went off skiing this evening to enjoy the fresh powder. After they left, I got out my knitting and restarted another cowl while making sure that I had the stitches lined up correctly. No twists occurred and I happily knitted by the fire as I started watching Downton Abbey. I watched almost the entire first season and am hooked.

For the Flickr photo, I used the iPad as a soft box for extra light with the fork reflection. Then I tried a flower which really made it bright. With all the white of winter, the vegetable colors and flowers add brightness to the blog today.

Clean roof = Happy homeowner

Snowbanks higher than the porch

Flickr 52/365 Fork Reflection

From Above

From the Top of my Driveway

2/5 Photography from the Top

The Apex / From Above / Looking In

I was not in the creative mode today with the prompt.  It all started when I tried to get a picture of snowflake with my macro lens filters which decided to cloud up and that just aggravated me. Decided to make it a larger picture and went to the garage where I got on my knees to get the arbor across the street in the photograph. I did try to get other pictures from above, including pictures of various cats again, along with the spider toy that one of them "killed" and brought up stairs to present to us. But still, I don't want to be going the cat lady route everyday. Although, there seems to be a lot of cat pictures showing up on the blog.

I even took some pictures of the Banana Chocolate bread, but didn't think they really fit the from above category. Although, the pictures do make the bread look delicious, which it was. Such a simple recipe, another one from Skinnytaste.com. I increased the recipe a bit since I used 5 bananas instead of 3 along with two full containers of unsweetened applesauce.

The other cooking today was another calzone or as it's really called, a stromboli with cold cuts. It's a recipe from a bread machine book that I have which includes using 3 tablespoons of oil and I use a Tuscany flavored oil that makes it very tasty.

After watching my Photoshop Elements lessons for this week on the computer, I went out to snow blow the driveway. We got a good 8 inches of nice, dry snow which was easy to snow blow. Tomorrow morning, I will be out snowshoeing in the woods.

Have to enjoy the winter, one way or another!

Adventures in Cooking - Chapter 2 Peach Cobbler

This post is for my son living in the Peach State.  I have included step by step pictures of my latest adventure and there's no frying involved. The Peach Cobbler recipe is from Allrecipes.com and I am not sure if I can legally post the recipe since it's not mine. The link for the recipe is here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Southern-Peach-Cobbler-2/Detail.aspx.
To begin, I, of course was not happy with the four servings, but dear, sweet son, I think you can use the square pan that your loving mother gave you to make this recipe (4 servings). I wanted to make it in a 13 x 9 dish and had to google the dish to figure out how many quarts, way too much math for me, but luckily, other sites such as this Baking site had the answers for me. And then once I figured out that I wanted to make a larger cobbler, than the 8 smallish peaches from the CSA were going to need some helps, off to the farmer's market, my husband went to get 4 more larger peaches. I then doubled the rest of the ingredients. (All thoughts of calorie counting and lowering my cholesterol went out the window- Amount Per Serving  Calories: 512 | Total Fat: 17.6g | Cholesterol: 46mg)

How to peel peaches? Didn't sound too easy, but review for the recipe said to boil them first and then the skin would slide off. Worked great for the small, ripe peaches, not as well with the harder peaches.




See how easy the skin just peels off by hand? The not so ripe peaches required longer boiling and a knife.

I had fresh lemon juice in the bowl already to mix the peaches with to slow the browning.  Once they are cut, there's a ton of sugar, both brown and white that you mix the peaches with along with a little cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg.



Then you just spread the fruit mixture in the baking dish and place it in the preheated oven to cook for 10 minutes. 

The darker color peaches are the riper peaches.

Before getting into the fruit prep,  I should have started off by saying that I had the flour mixture all measured out and in another bowl while I was doing the peach peeling. Once the fruit was in the oven, I then cut in the cold butter with my pastry cutter, but you can use a fork or two butter knives to make the flour mixture look "pebbly".
After adding in the hot water, the flour mixture got goopy and I plopped it on the hot fruit in a couple of areas and then spread it out with a spatula, not really caring if the fruit got mixed a little bit. Not so appetizing now....




Once the dough got spread out, it looked much better, especially with the cinnamon sugar mix sprinkled on top. (you don't need to make as much as the recipe calls for this topping).

After baking, it looked and smelled delicious. To serve, I made some homemade whip cream with heavy cream, but I guess you can use that can or plastic canister whipped product, your taste. It was a hit with my in-laws and my family. We enjoyed the left overs for breakfast.

Which brings me to the definition of what becomes a cooking adventure. For me, a cooking adventure entails me cooking something I haven't cooked before, including a new technique or ingredient. In this case, the simple peach, oh so fuzzy, fresh- peaches! The first adventure included a very sad pie crust, stay tuned for more adventures.
And what makes this recipe simple for second son in Georgia? A. Peaches B. No mixer needed

Adventures in Cooking

Pie crust disaster
Originally uploaded by jennymcb

After having a pie at my son's apartment last June made by a very capable college freshman, I attempted to make my own crust tonight. I guess I needed to read the technique in making pie crust first at How to make Pie Crusts. Besides not having everything cold, I should have mixed the flour and shortening first, before adding the water....I first tried to roll out the dough immediately, when that didn't work, I wrapped it in wax paper and let it hang out in the refrigerator.
My next attempt at rolling did not go as well either and I resorted to rolling it between wax paper to get it rolled out enough.
Whip cream will hide most of it, I just hope the taste isn't too hideous.
Lesson learned? Patience is a virtue and a requirement for making pastry.

Brownie Pan Thoughts

Since when is a regular 13 x 9 glass casserole dish that you use for casseroles not okay to use for brownies? I was in the kitchen section of a store recently where my friend and I just couldn't get over the special brownie pans that are sold when our glass casserole or metal pans have been just fine. Then there are the pans that have the sections already cut out, or as advertised, "The Perfect Brownie pan.( Love this on Amazon: As Seen on Tv)
Or how about the perfect edge pan, for those of us who enjoy the chewy edges? There's a pan for that: Edge Brownie Pan.
Here's a novel idea, keep it simple and use the pans you have. I can't even imagine where I could keep all the assorted specialty pans that are available. Can you imagine our great grandmothers coming back to life and going though the cooking section of a store? I'm now in the mood for brownies, time to get out my reliable 13 x 9 casserole.

What was the last item that made you question the "need" when you go shopping?

Recipe Clean Up - When it's Time to Let Go

It all began with the Kitchen Aid Mixer, today was a day off with the morning spent doing fun stuff like getting my teeth cleaned and then getting home quickly for the chimney sweep to come and "do his thing". While the chimney guys were cleaning the chimney and checking it all out, I went looking for Aunt Eloise's Molasses cookie recipe to make a batch of cookies. This past weekend, I had made molasses cookies with a recipe from a cookbook and in a phone call yesterday, my mother mentioned Aunt Eloise's recipe which I thought I had.

Off to the recipe box, 1/2 cards and then 1/2 folded papers, newspaper articles and cut out recipes. The cards were fine, but I decided to weed out the "never in this world" will I need this recipe. During the cleaning, I put together a 3 ring binder with sheet protectors and saved some of the favorite recipes. I also have a ratty folder with some recipes and went through those also. In the midst of my cleaning, I noticed that family favorites were the most stained cards, Bisquick Quiche, Taco dip, Apple cake and Burger Noodle Bake. With the instant availability of the internet, I wonder if my kids will have a recipe card box...How organized are you with your recipes?

Oh, and that recipe from Aunt Eloise? Never found, but I did find a great Chocolate Cookie recipe and the added peanut butter chips make them delicious! I actually think that my mother emailed me the recipe and it's on my computer. It's time to start printing some of those recipes out. As convenient it is to have the recipes electronically, there's something about that written recipe right in front of me that I don't want to give up.