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Counting our blessings - a Catalogue of Cool!
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C.S. Splitter wrote: "Well, Journal Jabber made us laugh last night. The author, Mike Phillips, was a GREAT sport and added to the show.Splitter"
I thought he was rather rude.....LOL. Just kidding!!! He had to protect himself against us "mean" interviewers. LOL
Karin wrote: "J.A., you *must* try a little mustard with those pretzels. Yum!"Mmmmm, I love mustard with pretzels....
JA- I like recipes and to cook too!! I like to bake as well....
Mod
JAC"
I was thinking Lamaze breathing. Man, I was WAY off.
Amy wrote: "C.S. Splitter wrote: "Well, Journal Jabber made us laugh last night. The author, Mike Phillips, was a GREAT sport and added to the show.Splitter"
This should be said again...We made you laugh....."
I always look forward to laughing on Tuesday nights!
J.A. wrote: "Karin, I dunno, that dip I could eat with a spoon, so on pretzels it wouldn't be a problem... And yes, it does. One of the great things about London is just how many mixed-race couples there are an..."JA, are you here? Is it Friday? :-)
er....I wasn't there then, you must have imagined that. But it is Friday now so I am here now and this is strictly non-imaginary!!heheheh
Thanks Cassie! It's not going to badly actually - on a re-read, turns out that it's less unfinished than I thought. Printed it off and going through doing the initial edit, though will have to find some sort of conclusion for it to come to somehow, and haven't got far enough to remember where I was going with it!!
Thinking having the hardcopy out by Christmas still may not happen though...
;oS
Cambria, give us one of your best recipes! I love getting new recipes!
JAC
JA - I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything works out for the release!I bought some fresh peaches last week, and we have inhaled two homemade cobblers. I don't really like to cook, but I seem to do quite well cooking/baking the things that are bad for us...LOL... But, it is SO good! ;-)
Cobblers; how do you make them then? Sounds good anyhow (once I have stopped laughing at the rhyming slang).Tell you what I tried this weekend: lotus root. How funky is this?
(Scroll down to where they've peeled and sliced it):
http://www.justhungry.com/how-cook-lo...
Anyway, it was reeally interesting. Boil for 4mins and either: 1)roast with paprika as chips - delish. 2) fry with garlic, ginger and periperi then add to a stirfry - delish (and keeps crunchy forever as far as I can see) and it freezes really well.
I bought quite a big one and gave half of it to my mate who made the salad and ham version on that page and she said it was fab in that too.
Getting some more this weekend when the niece comes over as she likes a stirfry and this is weird enough to intrigue!
Can recommend....
JAC
being alive, is a huge blessing i think,havi'n amasing friends, real life ,goodreads and fb frends
hav'n loooney parents, there fun, alot of times
Yep - surrounding yourself with good people is definitely important. And pointing out how much you appreciate them often!Challenge, people!
If you read this, your task is to go find someone who does loads of the mundane boring stuff for you that is so everyday we take it for granted - your Mum, Dad, partner, best friend, teacher, whoever - and say something appreciative to them.
Always nice to send a little wave of cheerfulness rippling out there...
JAC
Fruit Cobbler:1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon butter
2 cups fruit (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples, etc. Whatever you prefer or mixed...) frozen or fresh
1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Melt the stick of butter in an ovenproof casserole dish (8X8) in the oven while mixing the ingredients.
Place 1 Tablespoon butter on top of fruit in a small bowl.
Pour 1/2 cup sugar over fruit. Stir.
Heat in microwave for 1 minute until sugar begins to melt.
In a large bowl, mix the flour and 1 cup sugar until blended.
Pour in the milk and mix until blended.
After the butter is melted, take the casserole out of the oven and pour the batter on top of the melted butter. (Do not stir)
Pour the fruit on top of the batter. (Do not stir!!!)
Sprinkle a Tablespoon of sugar over the cobbler.
Place in the oven.
Cook for 55 minutes or until golden.
I have only used peaches with this recipe so far.
I am liberal with my butter. :-)
I decided I liked MORE fruit, so I added another peach in the last one.
I cooked the first one for 55 minutes as directed and it was extremely brown on top, and the edges got a little hard. The last one, I baked 45 minutes and it was just about perfect. I would probably set a timer for about 40 minutes and then watch it until it is how you like.
Recipe is from Southern Plate by Christy Jordan...she is a local (North Alabama) mom who is really making it big now! Her recipes are things I grew up on, and they are all so easy and delicious!!! :-)
Cassie! We are going to call you Paula Dean!Yawl...
Peach cobbler....you have NO idea how much I love good peach cobbler and no one around me makes it. My wife's mom keeps threatening to make it, but it never happens.
My gandma made the BEST peach cobbler and the thing I remember the most about it was that she used home made biscuits somehow.
Day two for cobbler is even BETTER! Good memories, thanks for reminding me.
Tonight for dinner, we went southern also. Fried chicken, macaroni salad, western cut fires, corn on the cob, fresh 'maters, and....and....my stomach hurts.
Splitter
Cassie wrote: "Fruit Cobbler:1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon butter
2 cups fruit (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples, etc. Whatever you prefer or mixed...) frozen or fresh
1 1/2 cups p..."
Try this one, y'all:
Banana and Coconut Cake.
(Please note, all measurements are metric)
Ingredients:
115g butter (softened)
115 brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
115g SR flour, sifted
1/4 - 1/2 cup SHREDDED coconut
4 ripe Cavendish bananas, mashed
Pre-heat oven to 180 C
Cream butter and sugar
Add egg and vanilla
Mix in banana
Stir in flour
stir in coconut
Bake in lined tray, 30 - 35 minutes
NOTE: can also be made as muffins -- bake 19 min; or
if using smaller patty papers, bake 17 min.
I gained two pounds reading this thread and need to wipe the drool from my chin.Splitter
I did say I do quite well making the things that are so very bad for me...and I love butter and bacon...I would absolutely make you a cobbler if we lived closer ;-). But, you know, you CAN make one yourself! I bet I can even dig up a recipe for one that uses biscuits...
Phil, that sounds delicious, if I can convert the measurements...lol...
I edited my recipe to specify the dish I use is 8X8, so it is a small cobbler. For a full 9X13, I'm sure it'd be safe to double the recipe and get out your fat jeans...
Cassie wrote: "I did say I do quite well making the things that are so very bad for me...and I love butter and bacon...I would absolutely make you a cobbler if we lived closer ;-). But, you know, you CAN make ..."
I'm not allowed to cook anymore .
I AM allowed to make Better Crocker cakes, but I am not allowed to put on the icing. Artistic differences.
We do know several local firemen by their first names now though.
The really hard part about the peach cobbler recipe around here would be finding GOOD peaches. You know the ones. The last peach I had from a produce stand had the right color but the texture of an apple. Blech!
I swear, I haven't had a good peach in years.
Splitter
C.S. Splitter wrote: "Cassie wrote: "I did say I do quite well making the things that are so very bad for me...and I love butter and bacon...I would absolutely make you a cobbler if we lived closer ;-). But, you know..."
I agree, Splitter. They just don't make 'em like they used to. Seriously, the newer types seemed to be bred to last on the shelf, not for flavour. And since they started crossing them with nectarines, they've ruined both.
Ooooh nice recipes!So are those peacharines or nects, Phil??
We get terrible peaches here too for the most part. If it was warm enough I'd be tempted to get a tree.
Okay, want another recipe? This one is a bit more random but SOOOOO good on a cold winter's day. Also good eaten cold out of the fridge the next day. And it sounds mental as it's a recipe of my own devising but I promise you it's good!
Hang on...
Chili-Apple PudI tend to make this in large amounts so feel free to play with the quantities!
Ingredients:
4 large sour cooking apples (if you can't get them, use 8 sour eating apples)
4 dried figs
chopped nuts
small tin of coconut cream (or large one of coconut milk)
1/2 lemon, or whole small lime (if apples are not particularly sour)
cinammon (either 2 sticks or 2tspns if powdered)
chopped nuts
2 little dried peri-peri chilies.
1)Peel core and chop the apples. Put them in a pan with about an inch of water and leave to simmer gently (no sugar necessary).
2)Crumble in the chilies, add the cinnamon . If you're using eating apples, it's going to be a bit bland so grate in the zest of your half lemon and the juice and any scraps of flesh left. Watch out for the pips! You can also use a lime but that's a fairly different flavour.
3)Chop the dried figs as finely as you can and add them to the pan along with the chopped nuts and the coconut cream or milk. Simmer until it's a smooth paste - maybe a half hour, depending on your stove.
4)Eat.
It doesn't need cream and shouldn't need sugar, because of the coconut. I tend to make it in large amounts because it's great when hot and freshly made - but SOOO good the next day when it's cold and fresh out of the fridge.
There is chili in it but the coconut milk calms it down so it's not uber-spicy - you taste the apple, the lemon, the fig, the creaminess of the coconut and then after you swallow you just get that after-chili glow...It's also quite a good texture as the fig seeds are teeny and brittle-crunchy and the nuts are crunchy in a different way, all in the context of the smoothness of the apple.
This is my comfort-pudding of choice. Must admit I am putting some thought into making a sweet lasagne with layers of custard and this stuff but without the coconut, just to see what that's like....could be quite fun, imho!
So that's my recipe for the day, anyhow!
JAC
J.A. wrote: "Ooooh nice recipes!So are those peacharines or nects, Phil??
We get terrible peaches here too for the most part. If it was warm enough I'd be tempted to get a tree.
Okay, want another recipe..."
Nothing so radical -- just peach-nectarines, or "white peaches" --they're also growing "yellow nectarines".
Is there no end to man's ability to ruin perfectly good fruit?
About the only thing they can't do much about are bananas, which are cloned because they don't throw seeds, and navel oranges, ditto. But doubtless somewhere, someone is trying...
A recipe eh? I have lots of recipes... It is getting to be Fall, my favorite time of the year and I LOVE pumpkin so how about this recipe:Pumpkin Bread Recipe
1 cup Pure Pumpkin
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (I use half white flour - half whole wheat)
2 tsp ground cinnamon (sometimes I add more)
1/2 to 1 tsp ground ginger (to taste)
I sprinkle in some nutmeg too nut I don't measure it. lol
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (Optiional, you can always just add more cinnamon)
(I like to add in ground flax seed but the reciped doesn't call for it so its optional- i don't measure it either. maybe like 1/3 Cup)
The recipe doesn't call for baking powder but when making the bread with pumpkin I add in 1/2 tbsp. of it because Pumpkin is dense and can be heavy.
I also use a splash of vanilla almond milk (you could use any milk) to make it a little less thick. Although, the batter will still be thick and thats okay.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the pumpkin in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour and spices, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.
Yield: Makes one loaf.
You can also subsitute 3 or 4 mased bananas in place of the pumpkin for banana bread.
Asses, punkin' bread!That apple chili thing sounds amazing too! We do get good apples from PA here.
I think you are exactly right, Phil. They are ruining our fruit! And I am a fruit snob.
Splitter
I actually went and made my pumpkin bread recipe ;) its in the overn right now. I forgot about a few additions I make to the recipe so I will edit my post above. I tend to do that when I cook/bake. I tend to just sprinkle and toss things in the bowl. LOL.
What can I say, I like to do what I want. hehehehe.
C.S. Splitter wrote: "Cassie wrote: "I did say I do quite well making the things that are so very bad for me...and I love butter and bacon...I would absolutely make you a cobbler if we lived closer ;-). But, you know..."
Eww... I have been fortunate enough to find three good batches of peaches recently...
Pumpkin bread...mmmm... Can you send me some?"I" actually cooked a full lunch today (we do a big lunch b/c my hubby works evenings)... You can see the deliciousness here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...
Pan fried chicken planks breaded with Ritz crackers, mashed potatoes, sweet & buttery corn... The only thing I don't have today is a cobbler! LOL
OK, so we're all meeting at Cassie's house. Ya'll bring the deserts, I'll do the eating.Splitter
:-) I can whip up a cobbler by the time y'all get here... LOL
My sister's over so I'm making Lemon & Lamb. Bit like Kleftiko when you get halfway through and realise you don't have the correct spices!!Quick version:
Shoulder of lamb
2 lemons, zest and flesh
Bulb of garlic, separated but not peeled
Fresh thyme
2 small mild chili peppers
2 med onions
olive oil, salt and pepper
(Optional: diced potatoes - Desiree or some waxy ones that keep their shape)
Set the oven to 190*C.
Chop chilis, strip thyme leaves from stalks, chop onions into strips, and chuck in biggest heaviest pan that has a well-fitting lid. Add 2tbspns olive oil, and the zest and juice / flesh of 2 lemons, and all the rest of smaller ingredients. Swoosh them all around and then put in the shoulder of lamb and make sure it's covered in it all. (If you're adding potatoes, put them under the lamb)
Seal the pan with 2 layers of foil then put the lid on and chuck in the oven for 3 hours. After an hour, check there is enough juices, swoosh the lamb in them again and rearrange the onions over the top so it doesn't get dry. (Can also add white wine if you like).When the second hour is up, squidge the garlic over the lamb so it all blurges out of its paper and put the foil back on and the whole thing back in the oven again.
When the 3h are up, the lamb should be really lemony and falling off the bone, so you can shred it into pieces with a fork and put it on the plate with a bit of the gravy.
What I like about this is that lamb can be a bit greasy sometimes but the lemon cuts right through that and gives it a bit of "zing"!!
And now the cooking time is about up so I'd best go put together the rest of it. There's a few of us so rather than trying to fit all the spuds in the pan, I'm doing half and half spud and celeriac mash - if you mash 'em together and add salt and pepper it makes it taste like you've added loads of cream and butter to it when actually what you've added is some veg. Baffling but no complaints from me, obv!!
Have a good (rest of your) weekend peeps!
JAC
Isn't it funny how our "glass half full" thread turned completely FOOD! LOL
Well yes... but in that case the glass is completely full!!JAC
Y'know, given the happenings of the past week it strikes me as a bit rude not to have put any of it down on here...so let's see.Firstly, my book went free on Thursday and in the time in between that Thursday and this when I stupidly grassed myself up, it shifted over three and a half THOUSAND copies. Nice!
Secondly, even if only one in a hundred gets read, that's still a pretty bonus for one week!
Third, having put it onto various bestseller lists on the UK, it went back to full price leaving itself at #1 on the Movers and Shakers list for a full day and a half, and is still lurking in the top 20 there, as well as the top ten in Fantasy...
Fourth, having gone back to the full 86p, it's still in the algorhythms at the moment so if I get the short story up there sharpish, there's just a chance that that might take off too....Certainly it hasn't plummeted into obscurity the way I expected, and I am so, SO pleased with that!
Anyhow. Short story is a work in progress and hopefully shoulld be up by next week if not before; and then it's back to the editing. Have a day off this weekend though, so it's not impossible that I might get good things done! Hope so as apart from anything else, I promised my sister in law the paperback would be ready in time for her go at the bookclub in December....ooooerrrr! No pressure there at all then!!
And lastly, I might add, that while the book's been on the up, you guys and the guys on Twitter and the other groups, have been so fab at passing the word on, and I am SO grateful for that!
Whether this is a flash in the pan or a big opportunity I don'y yet know, but any way you look at it, my chances are much better than they were last Wednesday....
Mental! Cool, but mental!
JAC
I'm calling cool on Callie Thorne. Watching Necessary roughness now. Also on Rescue Me as Sheila.Wife says that if she ever shows up at my door, I can leave for 24 hours, no questions asked. Ok, cool wife too even though....not gonna happen.
:)
Splitter
Your wife is pretty cool, Splitter. So who's her free pass booked for, or did you not ask that one?Here's a continuation of cool / random / cool bookstuff; ODS has been in or around the Top Ten Kindle Bestsellers in Fantasy for a full week now, and since the 1st of the month has sold over 400 copies! Also Parallels has sold about 10 so far, which beats what I was expecting (even if one was the test one I bought and another was to my Mum!)
Also, I just found another short that could turn into something rather good I think... All I need is a 48-hr day, now!
And I've finished my corrections, though I discovered I need to write a bridging bit before the book (because it was supposed to come third not second in the series) and to actually bring it to a conclusion which I forgot I hadn't done! So a bit more work than anticipated (bummer!)
All good though...
JAC
Well, JAC, that was a pretty cool thing to have happen. Very cool!My wife's kitchen passes include Jason Statham, Shimar Moore (Criminal Minds), and that Bruce Campbell guy from Burn Notice (strangely, the guy as picture as Tom Crayder...)
Her tastes are eclectic, which worked out well for me!
Splitter
Ha! I bet she enjoyed reading your book then! Actually it's on my Kindle at the moment but waiting with all the rest for some mythical moment when I get my reading time back... ah well, at some point!JAC
Well, when you get the chance, I hope you enjoy it. My wife hasn't read my first book lol. She knows the basics about it, but hasn't read it. The interview I did the other night was the most she has heard me talk about it.
She open a book and falls asleep in five minutes. I've seen her start a hundred books and can't remember her finishing one. I'm totally fine with her never reading it TBH. Her mom snuck a read though lol.
Everyone thinks Tom's wife must be modeled after her. The truth is, I took a lot of Lorena from her (the main female character).
That's why I really don't like people close to me reading what I write. They try to draw parallels and usually get it wrong lol
Splitter
You can leave for 24 hours eh?? So does she have someone that if he shows up at her door she can leave too???LOL
I did think Toms wife was modeled after your wife, guess i got that wrong too. ;)
lol, You'll see her list on message 88 of this thread, Cambria.I would only have been concerned if she had chosen someone like "the UPS guy" :)
Splitter
Oh, hey folks - the first full-length novel that I edited *prior* to its initial publication has just recently come out. Check it out:Jezebel's Ladder
It's on Smashwords, Amazon and B&N.com and (if I do say so myself) it is very good. For other books that I have edited, check my bookshelves for the "i-edited" shelf; all except for Lenore's are currently available in their updated editions, and Lenore says she'll have hers updated soonish.
That's good news Katy!My good news spot: My 16 year old son got his driver's license and his first job.
My husband's hernia op went very well...even though we had to cancel our trip to Niagra Falls.
The kids are all back in school!
JAC