I Can't Get It Together!

 

     I seem to be spinning my wheels lately and obviously blogging has been put at the bottom of my "to do" list. I have been busy doing some fun and happy things and also found myself running a fever for 6 days, visiting the doctor and finally getting over whatever it was with the help of a strong antibiotic. I think I started with a bit of flu (a week after the shot) and it turned into a sinus infection. I just was so busy that I kept popping Advil and pretending I wasn't sick. That doesn't work very well.

 

     In the past couple weeks I have been blessed to have celebrated my birthday 3 different times having lunch with friends. I had my oldest friend come spend the night and do some shopping, and we had friends we haven't spent time with in more than 10 years come through town and stop for a good visit. We squeezed in a day in St. Louis, a birthday lunch with my sister (celebrating our birthdays on my Mom's birthday), a couple of doctor's appointments and of course all of the normal, daily things that need to be done. During the "sick days", I did what was on the calendar and fell into bed the minute I walked in the door. So...my blog friends and my readers paid the price for my crazy life. I guess we all have times when we just can't do everything!

 

     So, I am a little torn on this early push for Christmas. I am seeing more and more stores that are now going to be open on Thanksgiving and it seems so wrong in some ways to completely ignore a holiday that so many people love. I really feel sorry for those that are being forced to work on a day that they should get to spend with family. On the other hand, usually by Thanksgiving evening, getting out and going shopping might be fun (for me it beats football)! We no longer do much on Thanksgiving, so it doesn't matter much to us, but it does to others. I'm thankful every day for my blessings, but I do remember how important it was when the whole family could be together.

 

     Because of the way my family now does Christmas, I have to be done, wrapped and ready early in December, so I feel the holiday push much sooner than most these days. I am actually almost done with my shopping! The house is still decorated for fall, but the gifts, boxes and wrapping paper are ready when I find the time to put them all together. As for decorating the house...I'm not in the mood to do the work and every year I wonder why we do it when we don't have Christmas at my house, but I always find the inspiration. I'm counting on it happening again this year! 

 

     I have good intentions of getting around to visit blogs the next few days. I can't wait to catch up and hopefully find that holiday decorating inspiration that I always find when I see what others are doing!

 

Molasses Cookies (Soft)

     I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I can't. These are actually called Sugared Molasses Crinkles and I found the recipe in Where Women Cook, Celebrate! The recipe was submitted by Ashley English, who is an author and a weekly blogger for Design*Sponge. I was looking for a non-chocolate, fall cookie for dinner guests and I loved the rich, brown color of these cookies.

Ingredients: (I doubled her recipe)

5 cups all-purpose flour
1 T. baking soda
2 tsp. salt (I used a little less)
1 T. cinnamon
1 T. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground black pepper
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar (divided)
2 sticks butter at room temperature
4 eggs
2/3 cups molasses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

 

     I don't always sift my dry ingredients, but because of all the spices...I did so for this recipe. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper in a bowl and set aside.

 

With a mixer, beat the brown sugar and 1/2 cup

of the white sugar and the butter until combined.

 

Add the eggs one at a time, stopping to scrape

the bowl after each egg.

 

 

Add the molasses

and completely incorporate.

 

On low speed, gradually add the flour

mixture until completely blended.

 

Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill one hour.

 

     Roll cookies into balls and roll in remaining 1 cup of sugar to cover. Place on cookie sheets (you can use parchment paper if you want to) and bake until centers are firm, 12-15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheets and transfer to wire racks.

 

These made the house smell so

good and are a perfect fall or Christmas cookie.

 

     I have no idea what happened to this week. My birthday was Tuesday and between girlfriend visits and appointments, it has been days since I picked up more than my iPad to check my emails. I hope you all have a safe, dry Halloween. We have been raining all day, but it has finally stopped. I hope it holds off for the little ones.

Put Away The "Store Bought" BBQ Sauce, Pulled Pork

 

     We love a good pulled pork sandwich. I doubt that I ever make mine the same way twice. It is really hard to "mess up" pulled pork as long as you start with a good quality pork roast and let it cook until it is falling apart tender. I always try to make extra because this is something that freezes well.

 

     The last time I made pulled pork, I changed it up a little bit. I couldn't find a large boneless pork roast, so I bought three small ones.

 

Rub Ingredients:

4 T. paprika

3 T. sugar

2 tsp. onion powder

salt and pepper (about 1 tsp. of each)

 

Mix together and reserve 1 T. of the mixture. Pat the remaining rub onto the meat. You can do this step several hours ahead of time, but I never think that far in advance. I rubbed it into about 6 pounds of lean pork roast. I got out my grandmother's roaster and put a little oil in the bottom and slightly browned both sides of the meat on top of the stove to add flavor and get the rub to "stick". Add enough water to the pan to have it about 1-2 inches deep and put the roaster covered into the oven at 300 degrees for several hours. You want to slow cook this until it is falling apart tender.

 

 

In a saucepan, mix together the ingredients for the BBQ sauce.

 

BBQ Sauce Ingredients:

2 cups ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1 1/2 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

2 T. fresh lemon juice

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

reserved 1 T. of rub mixture

2 T. maple syrup (I used real maple syrup)

1 cup of water

 

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce together and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours while the pork is cooking in the oven. Set aside.

 

When your pork is done, remove it from

the oven and using 2 forks, shred it.

 

Pour the BBQ sauce over the shredded pork and

put it back in the oven for another 30 minutes

(not necessary but makes it soak in better).

 

To serve: We love Pretzel Buns, but any crusty bun

will work. I topped ours with a scoop of coleslaw

 for added crunch. Coleslaw recipe.

 

     You could easily prepare the BBQ sauce ahead of time and cook your meat in the crockpot all day. Shred the meat and add the sauce for the last 30 minutes. Some people prefer their pork plain and the sauce served on the side, that works too!

 

 

I am joining Michael @ Rattlebridge Farm

for Foodie Friday

A Blast from the Past-Alabama

 

     Many, many years ago...a much younger "Mom" was strictly interested in Rock and Roll music. Country music, at the time meant Johnny Cash, George Jones and Loretta Lynn...all of which were way too country for "Mom's" 20-something ears to stand.

 

     Along came Randy Owen (above), Teddy Gentry, Mark Herndon and Jeff Cook with the band Alabama to change my mind. Songs Tennessee River, Feels So Right, Mountain Music, The Closer You Get and so many more country pop songs, made me for the first time take notice of the genre. I bought all of their albums, saw their concerts and even had a kiss on the cheek from Randy right before the picture above was taken (yes, that is a leather headband around my forehead, it was the 80's!). I was a fan...not of all country music, but certainly of Alabama. I wasn't the only one. Their list of awards is long and varied. For several years, they were the face of country music.

 

     In 2003-2004, the group went on their Farewell Tour and while they have reunited for special events since, the band that was a part of my music life for many years, had pretty much disappeared off of the radar.

 

     I was excited to see the release of their new album, Alabama & Friends, in August. It includes some of their old songs, sung by their friends as well as two new songs by the group themselves. As I played the music, I remembered why it was that they were my first, favorite country group. The new Alabama songs are fresh and timely, the older songs are wonderfully sung by current artists. I couldn't help but sing and smile my way through the entire thing. I am still a rock and roll girl, but Alabama opened my eyes to contemporary country music back in the 80's and I am still a fan today.  

 

     I wasn't given this album to review,

      nor was I compensated in any way.

 

      

 

Trick or Treat Cookies

 

     I mentioned in my last post that I try to put things I eat through the "worth it" test. Is it worth the fat, calories and extra exercise necessary if I indulge. Well, these cookies are absolutely WORTH IT! They are a little scary looking (after all-they are for Halloween) but they taste so good!

 

Ingredients:

 

3 sticks of unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla (I only use real vanilla)

scant tsp. of salt

1 tsp. baking soda

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey's)

4 cups of chopped Snickers , Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and M & M's (I used peanut)

1 cup broken pretzels

orange food coloring

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

 

Cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar.

Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

Mix salt and baking soda with flour and slowly

mix into butter mixture. Beat until dough forms.

 

Split the dough in half and place in separate bowls.

 

Stir cocoa powder into one half of the dough.

You can see a few "white spots" in mine, it

doesn't hurt anything.

 

Add orange food coloring to the other half of

the dough. This step is not necessary if you

want a black/white cookie. If that is the case, use

 the "white" dough as is without adding any food coloring.

 

Into each bowl of colored dough, fold

in 1 1/2 cups of the mixed candy (not the pretzels).

 

Roll the chocolate dough and the orange

dough into balls. Cut the balls in half and press

a half of each color together to

form a cookie. Place on cookie

sheet and slightly flatten.

 

     Press remaining 1 cup of mixed candy and the broken pretzels into the flattened cookie tops. Bake approx. 12 minutes, until slightly brown around the edges. Allow to cool on cookie sheet a few minutes and remove to wire racks to finish cooling. These cookies break easily when warm. Allow them to cool enough before removing. I left my pretzel pieces fairly large because I wanted "scary looking" cookies for Halloween. You could certainly have a prettier cookie if the pretzel pieces were smaller. The melted snicker bars (yum) may ooze out a bit while baking. With the edge of a knife or spatula, push the melted snicker back to the edge of the cookie while very warm. 

 

I am joining Michael @ Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday.