Cooking
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Banana Stuffed French Toast
We eat this French toast once a year – every Christmas morning. It’s our Rausin family tradition. While Eric cooked, I practiced taking pictures with my new Cowboy table top studio. My family got tired of watching me take hundreds of pictures from all different angles trying to catch the perfect light. New Years Goal #1: Become a better photographer. Notice I wrote photographer and not cook. Ingredients: Sugar 2 Tab. – Sugar 1/2 Cup 2 Tab. Water Butter 2 Tab. – Butter 1/2 stick Unsalted 2 Large ripe bananas (peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick rounds) 1 One Pound unsliced egg bread (Cut into 6 slices) 2 Cups of Whole…
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The 12 Pounds of Christmas
This little carol is brought to you by my bathroom scale which insists on climbing to new heights. I’m telling myself it has to be muscle from all the weights I’ve been lifting. Those gallons of egg nog and apple cider are really heavy. On the first pound of Christmas, my true love gave to me… A bag of Cape Cod potato chips On the second pound of Christmas, my true love gave to me… Two Fudge Ritz crackers On the third pound of Christmas, my true love gave to me… Three no-bake cookies On the fourth pound of Christmas, my true love gave to me… Four pumpkin muffins On the…
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Epic Success Cake!
Here’s Kai’s birthday Epic Success Cake from last year. I just spent the past three days without home internet service and I learned three things. I don’t like checking Facebook and email on my phone. Too addicting. A part of me likes to be out of touch. Suddenly, I realized my whole life could be one status update after another. I’m not even close to being witty enough to make a trip to the gym or grocery shopping sound interesting. Although yesterday I could have contributed an interesting post as my iPhone went flying behind me twice while I was running on the treadmill. Just try to listen to “All For the Best” from Godspell without going faster and faster and…
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Pizzelles!
Every Christmas my grandfather made pizzelles. I can still picture him carrying containers full of cookies up the basement stairs. “Mangia!” he’d say in his booming Italian voice. Then he’d hand out cookies to everyone. I miss him. So every Christmas I make pizzelles in his honor. This year I decided to experiment a little. It actually turned out well – much better than my Epic Fail Fall Cake. Whew! I decided I would create different fillings to sandwich in between two pizzelles and have Eric and Arielle taste test them to see which was their favorite. Notice I wrote Eric and Arielle… not me. First let me begin with the traditional…
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Apple Pie With Zest
I cheated on this post. Eric made the pie and took the pictures. I think I was at the gym while he spent the afternoon in the kitchen. It works for us. I get to be out of the house but still in my own world, running on the treadmill to my favorite tunes, and he gets to watch football all afternoon while he cooks. I have issues with the noise of TV for hours… and hours. Peace-Ruiner, however, loves noise. Here’s his delicious pie recipe and pictures. Apple Pie – New Fashioned from Epicurious.com. Ingredients: 1 15-Ounce package of Pie Crusts – Let sit at room temp. 15 min. 2 1/4 Pounds…
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Ornaments or Auto Air Fresheners?
This post contains several ideas for an ornament recipe I found on Martha Stewart’s holiday website. The ornaments have a strong cinnamon smell and can be used to decorate a Christmas tree or as a car air freshener to keep you in the holiday spirit as you shop. Teachers, these ornaments are easy and inexpensive to make. If you are looking for a project that will include all of your students regardless of religion – keep reading… Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian is the story of a man who captured beautiful photographs of snowflakes. Wilson A. Bentley was the first to discover that no two snowflakes are alike. (A wonderful lesson for…
