Home Made ButterMilk Waffles, Survivial Bracelet, Wood Box

Scott made a place for me to keep firewood in the house for Christmas. It took a little bit longer than Xmas to get it to the house. He still wants to sand blast it, fix the weld joints, and make it Plum Brown to match the bed he made for me. It holds quite a bit of wood. More than I thought by looking at it. It easily holds enough for a few days. I snapped a photo of it in place in the kitchen next to the wood stove. He has plans eventually for a whole set of tables for the living room. Coffee table, end tables, plant stands, all in the same reed and cat tail pattern. I've very excited. I'm also very lucky to have a husband who is crafty and can build stuffs for me.

 

I have a better picture this morning of Scott's Survival Bracelet.  

 

I made Waffles this morning. I love this recipe.  It's easy to put together. Everything is already in my pantry or my fridge except the buttermilk. I have to remember to pick that up every time I make these. This time I bought enough for two batches, and froze the second batches worth in ice cube trays in my freezer. I'm pretty sure I found the recipe on Alton Brown's site, but I have changed it a little. The waffles are yummy when done. Crispy on the outside, chewy and soft inside. Just the right amount of salty. In fact I eat these plain for breakfast in the morning at work. Just heat in the micro, no butter, no syrup.

Butter Milk Waffles

• 2 cups flour (I used bread flour, that's what was in my pantry)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
•  1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 whole eggs beaten
• 2 oz melted butter
• 10 oz butter milk at room temp

Wisk together the dry ingredients. Add in the wet ingredients. Wisk together well till almost smooth. This will be a very thick batter. Almost like cake batter.  Let sit for 5 mins while the Waffle iron heats up. Follow direction for you waffle maker. My batter and waffles came out very yellow because I'm using eggs fresh from my chickens. The yolks are a very rich orange color and oh so yummy.

I picked my waffler up at a thrift store for $2.50. It is forever old. I looked it up online, but couldn't find when it was made. All I care is that it still works, and makes the perfect size to stuff into a small sandwich ziplock baggie. They break into four pieces.

Rainbows, Home Made Hot Pockets, Para Cord Bracelet, New Chihuahuas

We had a little rain and wind the other day. I snapped this pic off the side porch of the house. Pretty huh? 

I've tried once before to make hot pockets when the kids were still living here. They were...OK. I used pie crust, mozzarella, pizza sauce, and pepperonis. It didn't seem to make near as much food as the work I put into it. I couldn't get the edges to seal well. The pie crust puffed up too much. I just wasn't very happy with the results even if the kids did gobble them down faster than I could pull them out of the oven.

Somewhere while surfing the web I ran across the idea of using pizza crust. I don't remember where I saw it. I wasn't even sure I remembered it right. I went on ahead and bought 4 packages of WallyWorld's pizza crust mix though. I love cheese steak pizzas. I'm also very cheap. I didn't want to spring for a single package of thin sliced steakums when I was already buying hamburger in bulk. So I've been making these pizzas with ground hamburger.

Cheese steak hot pockets

2 packages of ready to mix pizza dough

1/2 pounds ground hamburger

1 jar alfredo sauce

1/2 green pepper diced

grated mozzarella (honestly I forgot how much of this I started with when I started grating, and I ate some while I was working)

   optional- sauteed onions and mushrooms. These are really yummy, but wreak havoc on my tummy, so I skipped them this time.

This made enough for 6 pockets, and enough dough left over for a small personal pizza.

• Brown hamburger and peppers. Salt and pepper to taste. While the hamburger is cooking, preheat the oven and start the pizza dough in two batches. It will have to set for 5 mins and rest. 
• Roll out one batch of the pizza dough in a big rectangle.
• I made notched in the dough to divide it into 6 hot pockets  
• Add 1 tbs spoon of alfredo sauce in each square and spread, leaving room around the edge to seal the pocket.
• Pile the hamburger, peppers, and cheese on the alfredo sauce

• Roll out the other batch of dough to cover
• Cut into six pockets
• Seal each edge of each pocket by pressing gently with your fingers, then gently with a fork

I think I baked these on 385 for about 20 mins or until golden brown. I watched my oven because I knew the pizza was going to be done before the pockets.

I've been fiddling a little bit with Para Cord Bracelets. I made one for Scott a bit ago, and one for Mike. I don't know what the kind of know was, and I'm too lazy right now to go look it up. I just scrolled through some videos on YouTube until I found something I liked. Scott asked me if it was possible to make one for him a little flatter and a little wider. So again, off to YouTube I went. This is what I came up with this time. Sorry, crappy phone cam doesn't catch the color right, but I liked it. So did Scott.

I haven't taken any good pics of them. I'm such a slacker Mommy. I took two chihuahuas home from work. They were a customer's of mines. He just didn't want to deal with two needy little dogs anymore. Too much work for him. Their names are Molly and Wiley. Molly is the red female, and Wiley is the tan male. Scotty calls them the Sorrel and the Palomino. They are 2 years old this past Feb. Both spayed and neutered. Molly is neurotic, but we're working on. Wiley is a snuggle bunny.