Carrot Cake, Macaroons, Yummy Potatoes, Steak and Pumpkin Pie

Hi there everyone. Hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather. Guess that will change by this weekend.....the snow is coming. I knew this was too good to be true!!! But the early spring sure did feel good, didn't it???

So I started this post the day before Valentine's.....here are a couple of recipes that caught my eye.

Carrot Cake for 2. I am not very good at making cakes for some reason. But, this cake was pretty good, the taste was there but it came out like the leaning tower of Pizza. Carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. JP ate most of it though....I have to watch my sugar intake.

In this picture you see the back side of the carrot cake and chocolate Macaroons. A simple recipe from the package, I just added the chocolate chips and cocoa.

Chocolate Macaroons. 2 2/3 cup coconut, 1/3 cup sugar, 3 Tablespoon flour, 2 egg whites, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Mix together coconut, sugar, flour and salt. Then mix in egg, and almond extract until blended. Bake on a greased and floured cookie sheet, drop by teaspoonful for 20 minutes at 325 until edges are golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire racks to cool. As I said, in this recipe I added maybe about 1/3 mini chocolate chips and 1 Tablespoon cocoa.

Baked Potatoes - this was delicious!! Oh gosh....I lost this recipe, and not sure where I found it. But I seem to remember the potatoes were peeled and diced. Onions and bacon mixed in, sprinkled with salt and pepper and olive oil. Baked at 350-400 till browned. If I ever run across this recipe, I will be sure to post it again.

Hardcore Carnivore Black Steaks. I leave my steaks on the counter till room temperature. Makes for a more tenderer steak. Fry 3-4 minutes on each side will make for a medium pink steak....yum!!

I made a few Pumpkin Pies. One for us and one for my friend Betty. I cooked down a pumpkin from Halloween, had it sitting in the kitchen. Baked the pumpkin in the oven, scooped out the meat and froze it in freezer bags. Time to make the pie, defrosted the meat, 2 cups on pumpkin, cup of milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix in a blender and pour into a shell and bake 400 degrees for 15 minutes turn down the oven to 350 for 45 - 50 minutes. Easy Peasy Pie.

Well, I shall close this post for today.....hope you enjoyed the recipes. Have a great night and keep looking up~~~better days are here again. Cheers ~ Louise

Glimpses of Thanksgiving, Birthday and Pizza

 Glimpses of Thanksgiving Dinner. Oh it was a wonderful meal!!! I talked about this wonderful meal we had on Thanksgiving, but did not post pictures to this blog. The turkey was so moist, with gravy, mashed potatoes, squash, cranberries, in the forefront you see the asparagus that was baked on the crescent rolls with lots of mozzarella  and pumpkin pie....a very good meal set for a KING!!!

Glimpses of my Birthday cake 6 candles = 66. Don't often make a cake for my birthday, but this year I did. A very moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting........what can I say, delicious!!!



A glimpse of "hash browns potato pizza" Now this was a great pizza!!
1 package of hash browns, oil pan well, even leaving extra oil on pan. Spread hash browns out evenly on pan and sprinkle a little oil on top of hash browns. Because you will want the hash browns to brown on the bottom at 400-450 degrees for 10 minutes.
Spread some pizza sauce or tomato sauce on baked hash browns.
spread, chopped onions, peppers, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms and cheese....whatever your desire.
Bake till the cheese melts (vegetables are done) and you have a crispy bottom.
Not sure how I came upon this recipe but it sure is delicious!!!



Glimpses of my cards the votive, made this collage on a new site I found. www.picmonkey.com  Take a peek at the site, you might enjoy playing with it.

Etsy, oh Etsy why are you causing me so much grief???? Yes, it is true. Since Thursday, I have tried listing some Christmas cards and a pretty votive and cannot seem to list. I go through the motions, jumping through all those hoops, answering the questions, uploading the pictures, and writing the description..........which all takes time, then I go to "list preview" and NOTHING happens. I am really bummed, 9 times I have tried listing and to no avail. Emailed Etsy to let them know the problem. It seems it is not their problem but on my side. This is the 1st time in 5 years that I am having this problem. Have upgraded Internet Explorer and now have to upgrade Google Chrome. They told me I would have to find a new browser..............no............these are the only two I will do, not adding any other browsers like AOL, Foxfire, or whatever they are promoting. I find it hard to understand why other people are NOT complaining............very strange.

Well I guess I shall close this blog for today.......need to see about upgrading Google Chrome and try getting a few cards in my shop. Talk to you later and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise