Toad in a Hole and Walking With Kylie

Hi there everyone. Burrrrrr.....baby it's cold out there. Just got back from walking Kylie...even she does not want to be out there too long. She has her cute little purple sweater on to keep her warm....but a pair of booties would help too. It's not so bad when people shovel their sidewalks, but when she has to walk on the even colder sidewalks with snow on them. Burrrrrr....she runs...pulling me all the way.....yikes, good thing it is not slippery out, I'd be sliding all the way home. She is so happy to be inside, whew, take off her sweater and leash, she is sooooo happy. Now it's time for snacks and a sip of milk. Now she's resting on the lazy-boy...keeping an eye on me and my next move.

Last week I made "Toad in a Hole" Yeah, I know, sounds like a weird thing to make. But, I like weird sometimes, breaks the monotony of life.

"Toad in a Hole" is a very popular dish in England and Australia. Depending on which place you live....the main ingredient is sausage or chicken or roast beef. Then a flour mixture is poured over the meat and baked.

So I used polish sausage, laying them into a casserole dish that was buttered. The other half of the dish has cooked chicken in it. The directions call for lightly browning sausage, but I did not. You could though.

1 lb. pork sausage, cooked chicken or roast beef or half
    sausage and half cooked chicken
1 1/2 cup sifted flour
1/2 teasp. baking powder
1/2 teasp. salt
1 tbsp. butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
pepper

Fry the sausage until lightly browned and all the fat has rendered. Place the sausages or meat that you are using in a 13x9 or smaller baking dish. To prepare the batter, place milk, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and butter in a blender. blend 1 minute until smooth. Pour batter over sausages and bake, uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. The batter will become puffed, crisp and golden brown. Serves 4

Another recipe said 350 degrees for 1 hour, parsley was also added. I checked out a few "Toad in the Hole" recipes...so maybe find the one that sounds the best to you.

You will also find that "Toad in a Hole" is the same name for a slice of bread with a hole in it and an egg dropped in the hole and fried.....I have often made that egg dish, but always called it "Egg in a Basket". I saw a Youtube.com recipe where a guy made this egg in a hole with a slice of cheese on top. I thought it was kind of weird, but it worked when he flipped it over.....made one for JP for his lunch, it turned out pretty good.

Well, time to close for the night. Have some dishes to do and go make some Christmas cards for Hospice and for my own use this Christmas. You all take care and keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise

Some Vintage Items 4 My Etsy Store

Hi everyone. Hope you are enjoying the wonderful 50-60 degree weather. I think the weather is agreeing with everyone, there seems to be a smile on most of the faces I see during the day...so that is a good sign that Spring is finally here.

I've been a bit busy here. Just got finished with an order of 500 punched out hearts. As soon as the order is picked up on Etsy, off goes the package to the Post Office tomorrow. It sounds like she is a wedding planner or something to that effect....we'll see. I think I was her first Etsy purchase ever....so hopefully she was happy with the service and will return for some more hearts.

I finally finished the application to hopefully get our roof fixed by "Rebuilding Together" They get funds from people and company's to help senior citizens stay in their homes, getting big projects done, like roofs, plumbing, weatherization, heating or whatever needs to be fixed. Someone is coming Tuesday to take a look at the roof and ceiling......gosh, I hope this time it can get fixed. Last time I tried getting help from this group, there were no funds. Another one of those "we'll see" situations.

Isn't this the most sweetest elephant, he's a planter, I found one on Etsy almost like him.....for $22 + postage. I don't know, I think I could get into collecting Elephants. I found an elephant creamer in blue...was going to sell him on Etsy....but I fell in love, he makes me smile every time I look at him......I will take a picture of him in a couple of days and post him so you can smile too.

Here's another view of this sweet elephant. JP brought in some inpatients in the fall....so that is what you are looking at...I am going to root them for planting outside when it gets warmer out.

I picked up this cup and saucer at the thrift store along with the elephants and a couple other cups and saucers. I will be putting this cup and saucer in my Etsy store in the next few days. It's Duchess Bone China made in England in the 70's. Searching other Etsy stores and seeing what prices are going for, for this particular tea cup and saucer, I might sell for $10 - $15....I'll probably check Ebay also. So I've got some more time to do more homework.

It's a very pretty little cup and saucer.....time to take some time to smell the roses with some "Earl Grey" tea and a crumpet with jelly. I think the English have a very wonderful tradition....a cup of tea at 4:00pm....yes, I should do that too.

Time to close here for awhile....talk to you later and keep looking up. The weekend is almost here. Cheers ~ Louise