Eggplant Parmesan

I had a Persian friend years ago that was a wonderful cook. He would regularly cook for all of his friends and we all loved it! One dish he made was so good I still remember it today and he used eggplant. Unfortunately, I had had a strange reaction to the eggplant so I wasn't able to partake in this delicious dish whenever he would make it.
It's been many years since then and I've stayed away from this beautiful fruit but have always been curious. Since there's a plethora of eggplant in the grocery stores and they're such beautiful little things, I wanted to try cooking with them and appease my curiosity once and for all. I certainly wasn't planning on eating much of it but since I've been trying to make more meatless main dishes I thought I would give these little beauty's a try. I had hoped it would be a success with my little family and it was! They liked it!

I found the recipe here....Eggplant Parmesan

It's very easy but a bit time consuming since you have to pre-bake the eggplant. I did use Panko bread crumbs along with the Italian as I like the texture and crunch. It was a good dish (the bite I had ;0)) and I'll make it again since the family liked it as well but on a smaller scale since I had the same reaction as years ago. But it's fun to cook with so what the heck!
Do you like eggplant? What dishes have you tried?
Until next time....

Coconut Cream Pie......

 

I made the most scrumptious Coconut Cream Pie yesterday. Creamy, full of coconut flavor and just delightful.
I've been trying to find the best Coconut Cream Pie that tasted really good but wasn't break the bank expensive. The first Pie I tried used flour...eh..didn't like that. Next I tried the cornstarch recipes. Much better. I played around with the recipes I found and came up with this one that is so good. I adapted this recipe from this one..Coconut Cream Pie. I wanted more coconut flavor and a different crust.

For the crust I used a graham cracker crust.
1 single package of Graham Crackers
6 Tablespoons of butter or margarine melted
1/4 cup sugar
Heat oven to 375 degrees. If you have food processor, put in the package of graham crackers and sugar, pulse till it's crumbs. Add butter mix it up..not to much, just so the crust sticks together and the butter is incorporated. I used a 10 inch pie plate and patted the crust around the sides and bottom. Place in heated oven for about 7-10 minutes until light golden brown and set. ( I put mine in a bit longer as I like it to have a nice golden brown color. Just watch it real close) Once done, take out of the oven and cool.

For the Coconut Cream Pie...
In a sauce pan whisk together

2 cups fat free half and half
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup corn starch...( I mixed the corn starch with the milk before I added it to everything else to get rid of lumps)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 and 1/2 teaspoons coconut flavoring

2 Tablespoons of butter (melted)
1 cup Coconut

Cook these ingredients, all except the butter and coconut) over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken up and looks a lot like pudding. Take off the heat and add the butter. Mix up the butter first as it seems to separate. After you've mixed the butter..fold in the coconut. It's best to add the coconut after the mixture thickens as it seems to keep the creamy consistency a lot better.
Pour into graham cracker crust plate and put in the fridge for a few hours until it sets. THEN..
Beat with an electric beater
1 cup whipping cream and
1 Tablespoon sugar
to make whip cream
Once your pie is cool..spread it all around baby! I also toasted some coconut in the oven after I took the graham cracker crust out. Watch it close, they brown fast.

And enjoy!! To be honest, I'm not a huge coconut fan and have never had Coconut Cream pie before. This first time I tried it is the first time I made it. My first try at it was a disaster and I thought.."people like this stuff?" BUT...I tried again and I'm a coconut believer now. It's that good.

Name change..

I've decided to change the name of my blog so it's a little more relative to what I like to do, which is make stuff. I was really disenchanted with my blog name and didn't like it so I stayed away from my blog. I tried starting a new one to reflect me but I thought this one does reflect me, I just need to change the name and make it so! I'm planning on spending a lot more time this year blogging the things I've created and stuff about life. Getting to know my computer and how things work, to make things better is all real exciting stuff to me and I think this new year will be a good one. I'm looking forward to it!

I wish all a Happy New Year!

Feeding the Birds

Yikes! Been a tiny bit since I've stopped in and said "Hello!" to ye ol blog. "Hello!"

Since the weather has gotten colder and the leaves have fallen, I like to start feeding the wild birds. I make a suet cake that's really inexpensive and gives the birds some high calorie/fat that they need to keep warm in the coming winter months. I'd like to share it with you in case you'd like to try it. Be warned though. They attract a lot of birds and they can go through it pretty quick. Especially when a flock of Starlings come around, as they can mow it down in 2.3 seconds. (I don't like those bird, they're bullies and I shew them away when I see them.) But even without the starlings you can go through them pretty quick. The suet cakes I make are super easy and made with ingredients you probably have in your pantry. So it's fun especially if you have little kiddies that like wildlife.
I actually don't use suet which is rendered beef fat you can get at the butcher. I use either lard or vegetable shortening. Here's the ingredients I used this time.

3/4 cup vegetable shortening or lard
rounded 3/4 cup of chunky peanut butter
1 1/2 cup ground corn meal (no additives just ground corn)
1 1/2 cup quick cook oatmeal
1 cup (about) of sunflower seeds.
a handful of raisins if you want.
containers to put the suet in to solidify
string if your not using cages specifically made for suet
(I purchase most of these ingredients in the bulk department at the grocery store. It keeps the cost way down. I also purchase the cheaper peanut butter. The birdies don't care. ;0) )

Melt the peanut butter and shortening in a sauce pan until it's completely melted. Takes about a minute or so. Turn off the heat and add the rest of the goodies.

After all the ingredients are mixed up I put them in containers lined with foil and pop them in the freezer.

The containers I use will make a cake that will fit the little cages that I purchased for this purpose. If your not wanting to put them in the cages make sure and put yarn in them before you freeze so you can hang them. I've used muffin tins as well! The freezer works the best as they can tend to crumble and they don't have to be completely frozen but good and solid. Make sure and use foil. It really helps keep them together when you pop them out of the container.

As I walked into the house after placing the cakes in the feeders I had about 15 Juncos and Chickadees waiting for their treat.

Ocean Camping..

Yes indeed. I went camping. I'm not the best camper in the world. I mean, I have a great time when I'm there but sleeping in the damp and the cold is not what I like to do. I had a great time though because I LOVE the ocean and the company we had was great. Unfortunately, the only full day we had there was overcast and a bit chilly while the days before and the day we left were warm and beautiful. That's the chance you take when you live in the Northwest. You never know, REALLY, what your going to get. Especially, at the ocean.

We went with a real good friend from our church and his kids. He's a single Dad with six kidlets. He's one of the best Dads I know and his kids are so much fun to be with. We all had a great time, even if the weather was a little uncooperative.


Here's my hubs with the pups.Tucker, the cocker spaniel NEVER relaxed. He was a nervous wreck the whole trip. Which makes Momma a nervous wreck. Chelsea was in her element. She loved it.

My sweet Honey Bunches of Oats. He's so sweet, I love my little man.

Here they are trying to figure out how to hydroplane the little boogie board

Trying to dig to the other side of the world.

Pretty trees.

The trail leading to the ocean from our camp site.

Even though it rained and the clouds refused to budge we had a wonderful time with our friends. We're grabbing those sites again for next year!

Tucker, my sweet little furry boy

I've had dogs all my life. Big one's, little ones and those in between. They've all been great dogs and wonderful companions. I have to tell you about one that has my heart. Tucker. I love my Chelsea-chilibeans (golden retriever). She's a wonderful dog and is sick smart! She loves me and I love her. But boy oh boy! this guy has just got my heart. I don't love my pets differently. That would be like trying to say which kid you like better! You can't! Tucker just has me wrapped though. Every time I look at him I want to squeeze him. He makes my heart melt.
Tucker does something that cracks me up and I can't figure out why he does it. When he's not sleeping on his throne (the couch) he's usually sitting in front of me, or close to me, staring at me. He just sits there and looks at me. He sits about two to three feet away and just sits and stares. Sometimes he gets up on the couch since we have a pet friendly home;0) and sits next to me and, yup, stares at me. It's so cute! I do want to add that Tucker is a Cocker Spaniel with thyroid issues. He doesn't have a real high energy level and his long walks every day usually poop him out. I play with him all the time, this is just something he does in addition to his cuteness.

This day he brought something along.

Looks like a big ol cigar in his mouth! He stayed like this for a long time. Isn't he the cutest!!

Fairy Poppet and Friends

My partner received the poppet I made, so I thought I'd post some pictures of what I created.

I worked really hard on her and I'm pretty proud. It was hard to send her away! I changed a few things on her. I didn't add the tail, I can never get those things turned. I added toes and fingers and pointy ears. I wish I had a better picture of the wings.

I sent her a few friends too. Here's the traditional poppet half the size.

And the newest Cupcake doll!

The Poppet and the Cupcake patterns can be found here. Good Cookie Creations
Take a look here too! Craftster