Pillsbury Bake-Off

Just read an article about this year's bake-off. The author said:

As more diet-foods come out, don't more go-for-the-flavor higher-calorie foods come out, too? I know after a spell of dieting, I appreciate the taste of a good old-fashioned high-fat food even more. It's a vicious circle.

At the last bake-off, the winning recipe was Oats n Honey Granola Pie -- "oats and honey" don't sound exciting to me although the photo made it look delicious and it contains a little chocolate (a plus in my book). I know this bake-off is a way to publicize and sell Pillsbury products - the pie contains plenty of brand-name stuff.

My favorite-sounding recipe from the main winners was Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Mini Pizzas. Those look good! I will have to make them.

(P.S. Thanks to Sonia over at MedicMom for letting me swipe and use the G-Mail logo at the bottom of this page.)

  - PermaLink

Why Ice Cream Freezes Hard

My scientist and internationally-known rheology-expert husband explained ice cream hardness to me. He says the amount of air in ice cream affects the hardness as well as the temperature, etc. The more air, the less hard ice cream appears to be.

Have you ever noticed how two different brands of ice cream, supposedly in the same-sized cartons, can weigh different? It might be the amount of air in them. I can see where putting in a lot of air creates less ice cream in the same carton - a sneaky way to make money that also keeps the ice cream soft and easily scooped.

All I know for sure is that I set my freezer temperature depending on how hard the ice cream is. I don't want it to get too hard. Other things are very good when they get hard, but not ice cream. (Ice cream is a basic necessity around here.)

  - PermaLink

Nothing But Cool

If you like Link Harvest and don't have enough to do, here's another site with interesting links and very short commentary - another good place to waste a day quickly, I found out.

Nothing But Cool

  - PermaLink

Spiderman 2

Great movie! Before going, I read a few comments online from mostly younger folks. They thought it was boring in the middle, but good overall. Several professional critics were giving it the top 4 stars. Added together, I figured it meant that Spiderman 2 must have slow, detailed character development (Critics just love slow character development).

We saw it yesterday and it did have some thoughtful character-developing moments, but they were good. I was fascinated and never bored.

I loved the runaway train scene! What a nice little twist in the story -- one I would not have expected from the people on the train. Other scenes were funny, poignant and sad. This movie had it all.

My husband caught the cameo of Stan Lee although I blinked and missed it. Comic book fans will recognize the name of Peter's college professor. Everything else was great! Many good characters included Mr. Jamison, Doc Ock, Peter's friends, and Aunt Mae. I had no complaints at all. I hope it wins awards. It's already broken box office records.

  - PermaLink

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

For July 4th, I made two kinds of vanilla ice cream since vanilla appeals to the most folks in our family. Afterwards, I made chocolate for myself. Ah! It was heaven. This recipe was PERFECT! I will make it again. I want to try using different brands of chocolate although perfectly good Baker's Semisweet was the one I used in the recipe below. This recipe was not too custardy or too heavy or too anything. It was simple chocolate perfection.

A.L. told me that it seems like homemade ice cream needs to be eaten right away. For some reason, it gets extra hard in the freezer, she said. This is true. My brother made a delicious lower-calorie blueberry ice cream. It froze hard as a rock. Even my higher-fat recipes freeze a little harder than regular, store-brands do. Of course, the homemade stuff does not have half the chemicals.

  - PermaLink

Ice Cream & the 4th of July

I was surprised to find the homemade vanilla pudding recipe more popular that the one I posted below. I guess the old-fashioned custard flavor is not appealing to folks who don't have childhood memories tied up in it. (I am trying out homemade chocolate today - the kind with cooked eggs.)

My brother grilled at his house again this year. We had a ton of food, good conversation and fun. Later that night, our neighbors kept us up with loud fireworks, but, what the heck -- it was a holiday. We are going to see Spiderman 2 today. I hope it ends happy. I am so sleepy from the lack of sleep last night, though.

I'll grab some M&Ms for the movie. Consumer Reports said that this candy is loaded with caffeine -- more than you'd think. They equated it to drinking a cup of coffee (half a cup of M&Ms, if I remember right).

  - PermaLink

Happy Independence Day!

The ice cream turned out just like I expected -- a nice old-fashioned custard-type vanilla flavor. It reminded me of when I was younger. My husband, not having had this before, was not so fond of either flavors I made. It will be interesting when I bring these to the dinner today and see what everyone thinks.

Our neighbors were shooting off fireworks last night. We've heard firecrackers every night for days, now. While even sparklers are illegal in our county, many folks do them anyway. I get a little disgusted with "for-your-own-good" laws, sometimes. I think adults (and children with adult supervision) ought to be allowed to handle sparklers, at least. I have happy childhood memories doing sparklers. Now we have to cross the county line to do them.

Whatever you do, wherever you are, I hope you have a good day today. Our family is getting together today after church for a nice dinner and long chat.

I know I don't even begin to understand them, but I am grateful for the sacrifices made to keep our country safe. Happy Independence Day!

  - PermaLink

Homemade Ice Cream Recipe

Here's some advice: avoid Wal-Mart and the grocery store 48 hours or less before a holiday. Whew! The lines were lo-o-o-o-o-ng. I almost wished I had brought a book and chair or gotten in a line with a big magazine rack because it took forever to get through. Some folks used the time to chat on their cell phones.

I do that once in a while. When I have to wait for a family member to run into a store and I am in the car or if I am in a long line, I call my little sister in Georgia. She lives in a teeny tiny town and I am so glad she can chat almost anytime.

Speaking of shopping, I noticed that ice cream freezers were disappearing fast. Sams had some nice, big hand-crank and electric motor ones. Both Sams here in town were sold out of them with a day or two. I guess the 4th of July is a "homemade ice cream" kind of holiday. It's this way in my family and I am in charge of it this July 4th.

I've been experimenting with different recipes. I was disappointed in the most popular homemade vanilla recipe at AllRecipes.com, even though it got incredibly more rave reviews than all of the other similar recipes (anyone can review the recipes just like Amazon.com lets anyone review a book). I made that one. It has a great texture and freezes well, but the taste was artificial because of the pudding mix, I think. Oh well, put chocolate on it and you almost can't tell.

Here's the recipe I am currently working on. It came with the ice cream maker and sounds just like what I was looking for. I'll post tomorrow on how it turned out.

  - PermaLink

The Blog at the End of the Internet

I was looking through an old list of unusual blog names. Sadly, some of the blogs are gone or haven't been updated in a year but The Blog at the End of the Internet is still going strong although the name was changed slightly. Wouldn't that make a cute domain name -- "TheEndoftheInternet.com?" I checked and the name was taken and, even more sadly, it was not in use anywhere.

  - PermaLink

Walking 8 - 9 Miles

My physical fitness sister is in town (I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers, of which one sister and one brother are physical fitness buffs). She is good for my body and great for conversation. I walked about 8 or 9 miles today. She likes the walking trail on the greenway near my house. My feet ache, but I still feel good. The long bath afterwards felt good, too.

Because of the early rain, the air was unusually clear and a little cool. Summer days are pretty hazy. Getting a clear view of the mountains is rare this time of year.

  - PermaLink

Sewage Renovations - Finished!

The sewage renovators told us that they were finished today. Yay! While I am glad needed repairs are being made, its nice to have our peaceful, quiet walking trail back. It had gotten stinky and noisy plus finding a Mack truck coming up behind you when you thought you were alone with nature in the middle of nowhere was, well, a little shocking.

What the workers did might have been a new procedure. Used to be, when pipes got old (these were installed in 1964, they told us), they were dug up and new ones placed in. The guy told us that the entire project would have taken a year and a half and been a LOT more disruptive.

Instead, they diverted the sewage flow and inserted a liner. The entire project only took a few months. The company that does this travels around the United States. I wonder if it cost more to do it this quick and cleaner way? Oh well, it was state funded and worth the tax money to those of us who enjoy the greenway, at least.

  - PermaLink

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