Peanut Brittle

My book club, Tequila Tuesday, read the book Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons when we first started over five years ago. The one character in the book whom I most identified with brought peanut brittle to the club every month. I continue this tradition with my own club as I think they like the brittle more than me:)

Here is the recipe I use and it is all made in the microwave:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup peanuts or other nuts just not dry roasted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon baking soda

In a 2 quart microwaveable cooking dish, mix the sugar and corn syrup. Microwave for 3 minutes. Remove, stir in peanuts and microwave 3.5 minutes until light brown. Remove and stir in vanilla and butter and microwave for a minute. Remove and stir in baking soda until foamy and pour onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Cool and break into pieces which can be stored up to one month in a sealed container.

Note: This recipe can not be doubled. I tried and it was ugly. If you need it to set quickly, put it in the refrigerator to cool. It makes it honeycombed inside which my friends like. Also, the humidity plays with the texture so stick it in the fridge for sure when it is humid. To make clean up easier, use hot water immediately into the dish when done.

To be or not to be?

I am not a fan of meat. I never have and never will be. A juicy steak is not my idea of a good meal. Most of the time I just eat the veggies. Now this begs why not become a vegetarian? Simple:

1. I love McDonald's. When I am sick, a hamburger, french fries and coke cure my aliments. I can not explain it but it works.
2. Pot roast and sauerbraten! Enough said.
3. Aunt Hilda's sweet and sour meatballs.
4. When Erin makes filet mignon, you have to eat that as it is delicious.
5. Nothing beats a dirty water dog or hamburger at a summer barbeque.

So while I will not go out of the way to eat it, I can not let it go either.

The Christmas Cookie Club

My book club celebrates the holiday season with a gift between friends. In years past, we have done an ornament swap, and this year we picked gifts for someone else in the club.

Linda, an excellent baker and chef, gave me Martha Stewart's Cookies. First, it tied to the book we read, The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman. This is about friends who swap cookies every holiday season. I love that idea! Second, Linda knows how much I love to bake and she and her daughter enjoy this book so they gave me a copy.

I decided that I would make each book club hostess cookies they chose from the book for their meeting. Yes I would still bring the peanut brittle I assured them!

The first one up was Rosie with the Blueberry Bonanza Bars. The granola is added on top of the cookie base and is cooked this way. You do not cook the granola twice.

1/2 cup silvered almonds, toasted
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 cus blueberry jam

1. Line a 9x13 baking pan with foil, allowing a 2 inch over-hang and coat with cooking spray.
2. Process the almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add flour, confectioners sugar, baking powder and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter; process until mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Lightly beat egg, egg yolk and vanilla in a small bowl. With the processor running, add egg mixture; process until clumps form. Pat dough into bottom of dish; refrigerate until firm and cold about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350F. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake until edges are golden about 25 minutes. Let cool 25 minutes.
5. Spread jam over crust; top with granola. Bake until jam is bubbling and granola topping is browned about 30 minutes. Let cool on wire rack. Lift out and cut into 2 inch squares. Can be stored at room temperature up to a day or frozen up to a week.

Almond-coconut Granola
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
3 cups old-fashioned oats
2/3 cub slivered almonds
1/2 sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Melt butter with honey in a small saucepan over low heat. Add brown sugar; stir until dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in water. Stir together oats, almonds and coconut in large bowl. Pour butter over the mixture until combined. Evenly spread out the mixture on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring frequently until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool on a sheet on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for two weeks.

Note: I did not have a food processor big enough to do the job. I processed the almonds but than threw them into my KitchenAid Standing Mixer. I used it to finish the dough.

Sweet Sixteen

I love March Madness! Attending the Final Four is on my bucket list because I love the craziness that insues as college teams vie for the National Championship! I am a big college basketball fan though I do not follow it as closely as I used to when I had no children.

Still it is the one thing Jim and I bet on every year. Every year, we complete our brackets and bet on what the prize is. I have only one once and I got a cool watch. Jim has won many prizes including many of his golf clubs.

This year however I have not followed my bracket. Why? Cause it got crushed. Temple lost and then the other big teams fell. I am not sure I have a team left.

I will still root and cheer for WVU because my friend's godson is on the team. I will still root for Cornell even though they beat Temple because I like the underdog.

I will still watch the Final Four and dream I get to see it in person because it is the greatest sporting event there is!

Oh to be 16!

The Great Cookie Debate

I grew up on cookies, pastries and all delicious sweet things that you can bake at home. It was what we did as a family and I remember laughing with my mom and sisters. It is a tradition I continue with my girls.

However, when we were not baking, my dad had us at the bakery. It was we did with my dad. My dad is known for his daily trips to the store which lasts for hours. Like me, I really think we cannot still at home as we get stir crazy!

The bakeries we would visit would be either Barry's or Piazza's. Both were Italian bakeries. We would always get a little Italian cookie when we visited the kind with jimmies (or sprinkles) on them along with other treats like donuts or a crumb cake. My father still visits Piazza's as Barry's moved about 30 miles from Levittown. The one thing the girls, especially Nicole, look forward to when they visit my parent's in the summer for camp is a daily trip to Piazza's. (To be fair to my dad, John the owner, has given Nicole icing lessons and cake decorating tips so it is educational:))

Now when I moved to Floral Park, my husband took me to Tulip Bakery, a German bakery. Tulip cookies are good but nothing beats the Italian cookies. Maybe it is because German cookies have more butter and I am not a fan of butter. Maybe it is the memories that Italian bakeries or making cookies at home. Or maybe it is the thought of being with my dad that keeps Italian cookies the ultimate winner in my book.

St. Patrick's Day Limericks

Nicole's teacher challenged his class to come up with a limerick for school. The prize is lunch with him.

Here is our submission:

Social Studies has places
Science experiments looks for traces
As English tells rhymes
and Home Ec has chimes
Art draws many faces.

My favorite is this:

There was a mom from Floral Park
She liked to eat peppermint bark
She ate so much
Her pants' buttons could not touch
So she went dancing in the dark.

Happy Saint Patty's Day!

MM+Pizza+Cupcakes=Fun!

One of the best things to come out of my being a member of the Walt Disney World Moms Panel is that I have met some really wonderful friends. One of my friends, Joanne, and her daughter, Nicole, came to visit New York for the week. Joanne is from Canada so trying to show some "Southern" hospitality was very easy for me.

After picking them up at JFK along with my Nicole, we headed into the City. I brought them in via the Van Stuck-oops-the Van Wyck and then the LIE towards the City and over the 59th Street Bridge. I figured this would allow them to see some of the Manhattan skyline as it was coming out of the rain clouds.

We headed over to their hotel on the West Side. After settling into their room, we walked towards Times Square. We ate dinner at John's Pizza which is one of my family's favorite places to eat in the City. The garlic bread with mozzarella is a favorite along with the pizza. We opted for traditional and a half of bruschetta. While both Joanne and I liked the bruschetta, the traditional was the favorite.

Time Square was next. We showed them where Mary Poppins is playing since they are going to the show. The famous New Years Eve ball, the discount ticket place and of course M&M World and Hershey's. We then decided we needed some dessert.

We walked over to the Magnolia Bakery. The new location located next the Radio City Music Hall was packed. We each got a cupcake. Joanne opted for the lemon, Nicole the chocolate with chocolate icing and the Choisezs got the vanilla with vanilla icing. They were yummy and sweet! You forget how sweet things are when they are all natural! My Nicole and I decide we were going to go on a cupcake crawl through Manhattan!

We showed them which way to the American Girl Doll store and NBC Studios and then headed back to the hotel.

While the visit was short, it was fun! Tanya, Anna, Erin and Jonas now need to continue the "Southern" hospitality which I am sure they did.

Pierogies

So it is Lent which means no eating meat on Fridays. While I follow this tradition throughout the year, I have been known to eat meat during non-Lenten Fridays-mainly when Chik-fil-a is an option.

One of my favorite foods to eat anytime of the year but especially during Lent is pierogies. These Polish ravolis are yummy and healthy when you do not fry them in butter! However, pierogies always remind me of my mom. We used to make these on Fridays when I was little. We would have so much fun rolling the dough and pinching them closed. We would only buy them from the Ukraine church down the road when we could not make them.

Now, while I have not made pierogies in a long time, I still eat them. I generally buy a national brand because no matter how good the others, are they are still not my moms!

JessiQuotes

Jessica has decided to start her own blog entitled, JessiQuotes. I am so excited for her to take this challenge on!

I hope she still has time to blog for the family.

Here is the link.

NCIS

We are a big fan of a t.v. show called NCIS. It is on CBS Tuesday nights at 8:00. It is a show about a team of government agents who investigate murders in the Navy. It spawned a spinoff show called NCIS: Los Angeles. The agents are very varied. Leroy Jethro Gibbs is the team leader and is very protective of his team. Tony Dinozio is the "very special agent" and he dates a lot of people. Ziva David is from Israel and she is going to take a citizenship test soon. Timothy McGee graduated from MIT and he writes novels. Ducky is the medical examiner and he talks to his bodies. Palmer is Ducky's assistant and is commonly referred to as the "autopsy gremlin." Abby Sciuto is the forensic scientist and is the "happiest goth you'll ever meet." Anyone who is reading this blog should check out NCIS next Tuesday at 8:00.

Tequila Tuesdays Book Club

For the last five plus years, I have been in a book club with my friends. Most of us knew each other from Wednesday Mothers' Club. We rotate almost monthly through each other homes to talk about a book. While we often talk about the book, sometimes we just talk unless you are the husband or children of the hostess who will say we gaggle lke turkeys.

We have had our share of favorites and duds. I am probably the record holder of duds because of the type of books I choose. I decided I would pick only the classics. So far my picks have been:

The Catcher in the Rye
The Pearl
A Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Breakfast at Tiffany's
As I Lay Dying

I decided to pick the classics because I love going back to a book from my past. The last pick, As I Lay Dying, was my first Faulkner. The snippet review made it sound like National Lampoon's Vacation with a dead body. Well, no one could see how that review was appropriate. I could see that perspective when they are in the water trying to save the coffin instead of themselves. As a matter of fact, they try to save the coffin from a burning barn which is nuts.

However, the one thing I did take away from reading Faulkner is that literature is a work of art. We are all perfectly fine listening to a song a hundred times or admiring a photo, sculpture or painting and enjoy its beauty without being embarrased. However, if we need to read a book or article again, we feel ourselves foolish. Well, Faulkner convinced me that you need to read "art" a few times to get it and that is okay. Jessica clearly realizes this more than anyone else!

So, I will continue to pick a classic. Send suggestions!

Seussical-Thing 2

One of the best things about the Floral Park-Bellerose School is the drama club. This no-cut club is open to fifth and sixth graders. Each production includes a cast of about 120 children.

Jessica was a wiz behind the stage and could recite both the Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan line-by-line though she never said a word.

Nicole was out in front for Annie as a maid last year. It really was a cute show.

This year Nicole was cast as Thing 2. While she only had 1 line to memorize-"Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!"-she was in the show a lot. Now while I volunteered to help on costumes and designed the program, I never really saw the show until opening night. I had an idea how much Nicole was in the play as I placed her character in about every scene of the program.

On opening night, I asked her what she wanted to eat. She said something "hardy" like a deli sandwich. Since it was snowing and there was only an hour until she had to be to school, I offered raviolis. She downed them quickly and then off to hair and make up.

Through the ninety minute show, Thing 1 and Thing 2 wizzed on an off stage. They moved props, the moved the story and they moved the audience. Acting without words in ridiculous costumes is not easy-nurses, hunters, flower pickers, feather attachers, etc. They had a tough job but they were great! I almost wished she had some lines it might have been easier but not funnier.

On closing night, I was prepared with a big meal so she had energy to go! She definitely broke both legs!

While she said I could not post a picture on Facebook, she said nothing about the blog!

Bravo!

I'm Back

This blogging thing is tough. I admire all of my friends who post on a daily basis. But since one of my Disney Moms friends has convinced me to go to BlogHer, I better step up my game.

So, I am going to take some advice from my other blogger friends to have a few posts in the "can" to help when I am busy.

Plus since I am about to stop watching tv as my cable company and my tv station duke it out over money when people have nothing, it might not be to hard to keep up!!