Peach Cobbler

This looks like a good Peach Cobbler recipe and I'm going to try it tomorrow.

PEACH COBBLER

Printed from COOKS.COM

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1/4 cup melted butter  (24 pts)
1/2 cup flour    (4.5)
1 teaspoon baking powder   (0)
1/2 cup sugar or splenda (0)
pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk  (1 skim)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
2 cups canned or fresh fruits, with juice  (1.5)

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Pour melted butter into a 9 inch square baking dish.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir in milk and almond extract, if using; mix only until combined.
Pour the batter over the melted butter in the baking dish.
Ladle fruit with juice over the top of the batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 25-35 minutes, or until batter rises to the top.
Serve as is, while still warm, or top with vanilla ice cream.
Submitted by: CM

I did make it and it was good.  3.5 pts for 1/9

More Pumpkins

I bought some pie pumpkins but before I used them for pies I had to paint them.

I painted the stems black on the black & white ones.  I got that idea from Myles because that's what he did with his and I have to admit it looks good.

I had black and white paint left over from doing the knobs on our kitchen cabinets so that's what I used.
I used this one as a centerpiece on the dining room table.

Squash Soup

This soup is a favorite of ours.
Today was a cold day, the high only in the 50s so it was a good day to make soup.
We were going to go to dinner at Pier 45 with Bonnie and Bob tomorrow but since the weather isn't going to be any better, they're going to come over here.
We'll have soup and salad.

Squash Soup
1 large butternut squash, about 4 lbs is good
1¾ cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves, chopped
6-8 cups vegetable broth
2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen kernel corn or 1 can
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut squash into cubes and combine with onions, celery, and garlic in stockpot with 3 cups vegetable broth.
2. Cover and cook on MEDIUM until squash is tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Puree, using stick blender, until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and cumin, remaining stock and simmer 10 minutes.
4. Add black beans, corn, red bell pepper, and cilantro. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.

Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls and top with dollop of yougurt if desired.

NOTE: 
 You can use 3 cups of water in step 1 and reduce the amount of vegetable broth to 4 cups.  The squash, onions, celery and garlic produce a natural vegetable broth.

Exact measuring isn't necessary since it will taste good whatever the proportions.

Pumpkin Painting

Laura, Greta and I painted pumpkins Saturday night and then on Sunday Myles and Tucker painted theirs.

Pictures from my visit with the Boys

I dropped Myles off at school and

Tucker, Hunter holding Oreo, and Myles

Tucker assisted with the Greeenwich HS

Girls Volleyball Team car wash

We went to Silverman's Farm

 

and we went on a Hayride

Greta made a really good salad with green

onions, goat cheese and grape tomatoes

Playdate with Greta

This afternoon I had a playdate with Greta.
I went with her to the orthodontist where she had a new mold made.
And then Greta got her hair highlighted and cut. Before

After


-- Posted from my iPhone

Playdate with Tucker

This morning Tucker and I had a playdate.
We went to Target, since I went with Myles and Hunter yesterday he wanted to go too.
Unlike them, he's at the age where he didn't want to buy anything.
We saw some scary Halloween things.

We walked around the store and rode the escalator about 10 times.





We washed our hands and soaped them up a lot too.




On our way home we stopped at CVS because I needed to get Red Yeast Rice which I couldn't find at Target and that's where his first request came - he wanted gum.  Of course he got it.

-- Posted from my iPhone

High Line

I met Nadine in the city today and we were going to take Aunt Harrie to the High Line.  Since we were walking from 34th street to 12th and the High Line, which opened to the public on June 9, 2009 currently runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 20th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues we decided we would walk it from 20th down to our Aunt's.  This way we would know where to find the elevator and when we took her and she felt too tired to go on and she would suggest that we go on our own, we wouldn't have to.  But we promised each other we wouldn't let her know we already did this for fear that she wouldn't want us to do it again just for her.

Before leaving 34th St we went into Macy's and saw this really old escalator.

After walking the garden pathway we reached Aunt Harrie's and were just hanging out and catching up on all the events of the past few month.  When it got to the time that we would be leaving Aunt Harrie said:  "I have to confess, I did a dry run of the High Line with my friend Mordecai last week just so I would know where to access the elevator and what it was all about."  It turned out not only did she walk from the elevator at 16th street down to Gansevoort but also back again to 16th for the elevator.  I can't remember if she said she also did 16-20th and back again too but she walked twice as far as we did.  Well, after hearing that, I told her about our dry run and we decided to go next Spring instead.  That way we can see the new growth.  So we went to lunch instead at a nice restaurant across the street where we were able to sit outside and stay for hours.

On the way back to the subway we passed the apartment where my great Aunt Mill lived at 24 Jane St.

I made it to Grand Central just in time to catch the 5:30 train back to Old Greenwich.
It was a wonderful day.

Evening at Sonnenberg

We went with Britta and Steve to a special dinner at Sonnenberg Gardens.

-- Posted from my iPhone

Lydia's Finnish Coffee Bread

I made finnish coffee bread a couple of times from a recipe I found on the Web using a bread machine for the mixing and rising part.

Then, Larry's daughter Margie made him some for his birthday and we asked her for the recipe that she used which is the official recipe that she got from her mother, and she got it from Lydia (Larry's mother)

I'm including the original recipe ingredients and instructions followed by my changes and bread machine instructions.

Bake 350° for 30 minutes

Scald 1¼cups milk
Add ½cup sugar
½cup butter

Cool down and add 1 pkg dry yeast

Add 2 eggs beaten
10 peeled and crushed cardamom seeds or 1 teaspoon powder
Add 3 cups flour to start 5½ total
1 teaspoon salt
Knead until smooth and elastic, let rise and knead again and make braids. After baking brush with a beaten egg, sprinkle with sugar and return to oven for 1 minute.

Bread machine version
Ingredient changes
No need to scald milk, just warm it in the microwave.
Scalding used to be necessary to kill bacteria and enzymes but since milk is pasteurized it isn't necessary. It's also said that it makes bread more tender but comes out fine without scalding.

Although it went against my initial reaction, I did use the ½ cup of butter but I did reduce the salt to ½ tsp of salt.

1. Put all ingredients in the bread machine in the order specified for the machine, on the dough setting.
2. When the dough cycle completes, remove, divide in half and then split each part into 3 equal pieces.
3. Roll into long strands (18") and braid strands into 2 loaves.
4. Put loaves on greased cookie sheet.
5. Let rise until doubled in size (30 min).
6. Bake at 350° 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and brush with a beaten egg, sprinkle with sugar and return to oven for 5 minutes.
8. Cool on racks.
   

Note: Using ground cardamom is much easier.

Things to do in Myrtle Beach

Just saw these on the Travel Channel so we'll have to try it out when we go to Myrtle Beach
Fat Harold's Beach Club
212 Main Street
North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
843.249.5779

Hawaiian Rumble
33rd Avenue South Hwy. 17
North Myrtle Beach, SC 29582
(843) 272-7812

I got an iPhone

This is my first posting from my
iPhone. I need to learn to text a lot faster and more accurately.

-- Posted from my iPhone

Create ringtones for iPhone

I just got a new iPhone today and wanted to add my own ringtones. Found this helpful hint online.

On a Mac the gist of it is:
1) Import the song you want into itunes
2) Ctrl click "Get Info"
3) Select Options
4) Set start and Stop time so no longer than 30 seconds
5) Select Ctrl Select Create AAC version
5) Ctrl click on newly created song in iTunes and select Show in Finder
6) Change extension from m4a to m4r
7) Delete original songs from itunes
8) Double click on m4r to bring into iTunes
9) It will go into ringtones - sync to phone

Birthday Dinner

We went out to dinner for my birthday tonight at Crescent Beach right on Lake Ontario in Greece. It had been ages since either of us had been there, and never together. We had a wonderful dinner. We started with a bottle of Shiraz and a calamari appetizer that was superb! Fried to perfection, tender and juicy.

We decided we would share our meals since there were so many good choices. We ordered a salmon and a scallop dish. They were both really good but the salmon was cooked a little too much for my liking. The sides were delicious and we also had a salad to start. Dessert was not even an option, we were so full.

New Kitchen Floor

Our kitchen remodeling has started.
Details on that to come.

The floor is in. Ray and Eddie did a great job installing it.

Birthday Weekend

I guess my birthday weekend started on Friday when Laura treated me to see Julie and Julia which we both enjoyed. Larry opted out.

Saturday Larry, Laura and I drove to Amy's Lake House and as soon as it warmed up we were in our bathing suits and lounging around. At night we had a delicious dinner with Ann, Amy and Patti too who came down for the day. On Sunday, Richard and Joyce joined us for an overnight. The weather was perfect the whole time.

Ann makes Cranberry Pomegranate Cosmos

Ann's Cran-Pom Cosmo

2 parts vodka
1 part cointreau
2 parts cranberry juice
1 part Pomagranate juice
squirt of Rose's lime juice

All the gals on the porch looking so cute

and enjoying their cosmos

Our token male

Richard (he came the next day)
puts the final touches on his Key Lime Pie

This is a typical morning activity

Then there's kayaking

and floating

even Bailey had her friend Hershey come over for a swim

Coffee & Cream Cake

I brought this cake to the

Lake House for Labor Day/Birthday weekend

It tastes especially good if you nuke a slice

a little to warm up and then top with vanilla ice cream

Coffee & Cream Cake

1 pkg devil's food cake mix

4 eggs

3 oz instant chocolate pudding

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup coffee-flavored liqueur or creme de cacao

1 pint sour cream

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Chocolate Glaze

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a bundt pan. In large bowl beat together cake mix and eggs. Add pudding, oil, liqueur and sour cream, mixing well. Fold in chocolate chips and pecans (if using). Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until done. Drizzle with Chocolate Glaze, or dust cake with powdered sugar.

Serves 10-12

Chocolate Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp baking cocoa

4-6 teaspoons coffee-flavored liquer, milk or water

Combine ingredients, using enough liquid so the mixture will drizzle.

from Karen (Delicious Developments cookbook)

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We arrived home around 1:00 from the Lake House and did a little grocery shopping. We were planning on stopping at the Outlet Mall on the way home but the traffic just to get in was backed up on the road so we drove right by.

We had a delicious, light, dinner (so we would have room for chocolate cake) out on the deck and then Laura gave me my birthday presents.

She is trying to increase her percentage of pictures in the house.

Laura and I watched Grey Gardens which I recorded last week. Larry opted for football and then we had dessert - leftover chocolate cake YUM!!!

It was a wonderful weekend with wonderful weather and wonderful people.

Almost forgot to mention that Larry gave me a birthday card the morning of my birthday while we were at the Lake House. That meant he planned ahead. I thought for sure he would have to go to the store to buy one after we got home, reminiscent of our Anniversary. I was very impressed and it means he is a fast learner. I love you Larry (in case you ever read this).

Bad news for skinny thighs - Good news for me

This is great news. Sorry for all you skinny people.

Skinny thighs could spell your doom

Myles Rules

What a beautiful day we had today.
Larry and I played golf using Myles Rules. I used to call it my version of Best Ball but I like to call it Myles Rules now.
You hit the ball until you like your shot and that's the one you use.

We cooked out chicken, corn on the cob and zucchini for dinner. Laura was home in time to join us.
After dinner Laura and I went to see Julie and Julia.

I can't wait until our floor is done. I'm getting tired of having to climb over things in the office and having to duck under plastic to get downstairs.

Creating mp3 files from iTunes m4a files using iTunes

I did this today while creating a bunch of CDs for Charles.
So that I don't have to look up on the web what to do the next time here are the steps.
1) Download music from iTunes
2) Create a CD from the songs
3) Before ejecting the CD select Import CD from lower right corner of itunes to your computer and accept duplicates

If you eject the CD the data for the music is lost
Be sure to have your preferences set to save ripped files as mp3

It's easier to download mp3s from Amazon directly into iTunes