1. I tried to make cookies but instead I came up with a new breed of cow.

 

 

All cows have a unique hide pattern, no two patterns are ever the same but have you ever heard of a black and brown cow with such defined patterns?  Yeah me neither.

I guess I have some indestructible Christmas ornaments for next year now.

 

 

2. I made my favorite maple pecan pie and for some reason one side lifted up.

 

 

Unlike the cows the pie tasted fine especially with maple whipped cream on top.

 

 

3. The toilet flush valve wasn’t working.

 

 

4. The toilet fill valve also stopped working.

 

 

5. My neighbor brought over a braided loaf of bread.

 

 

6. I was busy losing at Backgammon.

 

 

 

7. I went out to see the horses in the afternoon light. And stayed longer than I’d planned.

 

 

8. I had hockey.

 

 

9. I made more cookies

 

 

 

And they came out just fine.

 

 

10. I was busy sitting on the dock for this beautiful sunset.

 

 

 

That’s all for now,

I think I have to go feed the cows.

 

~PN

 

This might be the year I was too busy to get to making palmiers but I have finally made an eatable Christmas tree!

Super simple and fun to make. 

 

 

If you don’t count the dressing I’m planning to serve with it and don’t count the bacon bits I was thinking would be real nice sprinkled on top, it’s a three ingredient salad.

 

 

I saw a this Christmas tree done with cherry tomatoes and I’m sure that would be good too. When I saw the pomegranate I thought they would look like Christmas lights. 

 

 

 

 

I cut a bunch of broccoli florets and a few cauliflower florets and then re-cut them so that each one would stand up when I placed it on the plate.

 

 

arranged it in a tree shape on a plate.

 

 

Then carefully placed cauliflower pieces between the broccolis.

 

 

 

Last step, I Put the “lights” on the tree.

 

That’s all.

 

 

Broccoli Pomegranate Christmas tree salad

ingredients

 

• broccoli florets
• cauliflower florets
• about 1/4 of a pomegranate worth of seeds/berries

 

Cut broccoli florets flat on the bottom so they’ll stand up and arrange into a tree shape on a plate.

Cut cauliflower florets in half or more as necessary to make a little smaller than the broccoli pieces and arrange a few here and there throughout the tree.

Carefully set pomegranate seeds like strings of Christmas lights on the tree.

 

I drive by some elaborately decorated houses and tell my self “Next time I’ll stop and take pictures of them” and then the next time I drive by I say the same thing.

 

 

 

I finally stopped. 

 

 

 

 

8 pointed non-snow flakes, as far as I know snow flakes only come in with 6 points but never mind they’re still pretty.

 

 

Then just for fun I turned it to manual focus and intentionally unfocused to see what I’d get.

 

 

 

 

 

I may be wrong but I think that’s an inflatable camper on the left with Christmas lights on it.

 

 

Merry Christmas and thank you for taking a little time out of your day to come visit my blog.

 

I’ll leave you with this because it made me laugh:

 

Charlie Brown Christmas quotes

Gee, do they still make wooden Christmas trees? -Linus

 

I made this delicious pumpkin ice cream pie, the pie was good and the pie is gone. I refuse to buy frozen whipped topping so I just sorta made something up and didn’t measure a thing!

So I will do my best to tell you what I think I did.

 

 

I started with the blender, actually I made the whole thing in the blender. I put that much powdered milk in. I’d guess it was between half and a quarter cup. So how ‘bout we say a third?

 

 

Then I poured in maple syrup, maybe half a cup. I put a half cup of granulated sugar in too but I don’t have any photos of that so there’s no proof.

 

 

Next I added a bunch of pumpkin pie spices, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice and maybe nutmeg.

 

 

I put probably two cups of cooked pumpkin plus half a cup of left over pumpkin pie seasoned cooked sweet potato from a previous granola bar project.

 

 

Then I must have put in a cup or so of milk. I blended it and tasted it but something was still lacking. I added vanilla extract but it didn’t really change much. Then I added 2-3 big table spoons of vanilla powder! Wow, that was just what I was looking for now it had two distinct flavors, pumpkin and vanilla. I had another taste. No photos, I was busy licking the spoon.

 

 

I got out a couple pie dishes, I wasn’t really sure how much of this pumpkin stuff I’d just made.

 

 

I left a little room in case the freezing expanded it.

 

 

Then I fought with the freezer for somewhere to put them. I won eventually.

 

 

Once it’s frozen, serve.

 

Pumpkin Ice cream pie, without ice cream

 

ingredients

 

• 1/2 cup powdered milk
• 2 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• cinnamon
• pinch of cloves
• ginger
• allspice
• 1 cup or so milk
• 2-3 big tablespoons vanilla powder

 

Blend all together in a blender. Taste and adjust for taste and consistency. Pour into pie dishes. freeze until firm. Serve.

 

I was thinking about Oscar and Maggie the Bassets today.   I haven’t seen them in a couple of years .

 

 

This is Oscar with Maggie in the background.

 

 

They love everybody

 

 

and everybody loves them.

 

I was told Oscar and Maggie have their own twitter accounts so I looked for them and they certainly do.

They tweet pertinent daily news and life events from a basset prospective:

Maggie ‏@MaggieTheBasset

Holy kennel cough! Do you see the size of that Great Dane? Hey Dane! How's the weather up there? HAWBowowHAR!

Oscar ‏@OscarTheBasset

@MaggieTheBasset I like kids. They're cuddly, friendly, and not too chewy.

 

If you have nothing better to do and don’t mind reading their dog rated tweets check them out at

@MaggieTheBasset  @OscarTheBasset

 

If this isn’t the best way to eat quiche it certainly is a good way.

This quiche was severely adapted from Martha Stewart's  Goat Cheese Quiche with Hash-Brown Crust

 

 

butter well a 9”x 2 1/2 “ spring-form pan;  attach strips of waxed paper to the buttered sides of the pan, and trim paper to level with top of pan; and butter the paper generously.

The photos  on the right are accidentally reversed, please look at them counter-clockwise starting from the butter cube and every thing will be right.

 

 

 

mix one egg in a medium-size bowl, then add the drained potatoes and soft butter .

 

 

mix it all together:  the fork looks proper, but clean hands do a quicker job of it; mix in some salt and pepper, which I forgot until several steps later, oh, well.

 

 

line the pan with the potato mixture; in a warmed 375 degree oven, bake 20-25 minutes or until the top edge begins to brown nicely

 

 

while that cooks, mix the rest of the eggs in the same now empty bowl,  add drained cottage cheese

 

 

and the other cheeses

 

 

Grab some fresh parsley , chop it up

 

 

and the chopped parsley,

 

 

pepper,

 

 

and salt; mix well.

 

 

 

I should have let it get browner, but I thought it might get too brown on the second baking, but it did not

 

 

sprinkle bacon in pan.

 

 

then pour in the egg and cheese mixture

 

 

Return to the oven and continue cooking for about 45 minutes, or when eggs are set.

 

 

 

remove from oven, let cool a few minutes; then release sides of pan

 

 

 

and peel away waxed paper

 

 

Let cool

 

 

and serve.

 

 

 

Serve with zucchini ribbons if you like zucchini ribbons or just want something green on the plate.

 

Hash-Brown-Crust Quiche

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Goat Cheese Quiche with Hash-Brown Crust.

ingredients 

• 1 1-lb package frozen hash browns, liquid squeezed out
• 2 Tbsp. soft butter, plus more for the pan
• 1 cup cottage cheese, drained
• 1 cup mixed shredded cheeses: Swiss, sharp cheddar, mozzarella
• 1/2 cup crisp bacon, broken into bits 
• 8 eggs  
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley    
• salt and pepper 

 

Butter a 9"x2 1/2" springform pan; cut strips of waxed paper to fit pan and stick them to the butter, overlapping when needed and buttering the overlap; trim paper if needed.
   Crack one egg in a medium-sized bowl and beat; add drained potatoes, soft butter and a bit of salt and pepper. Then pat into pan; bake in a warmed 375 degree oven and bake 20-25 minutes, when the top edge should begin to brown.

Meanwhile mix the rest of the eggs in the same now empty bowl, add drained cottage cheese and the other cheeses, parsley, salt and pepper.

    Remove from oven, sprinkle bacon on bottom of pan and pour egg and cheese mixture over and smooth the top.
   Return to oven and cook about 45 minutes or until eggs are set
   Remove from oven and let cool a few minutes; then release sides of pan and carefully peel away waxed paper and Serve.

 

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This post is linked to the blog hop event, Cook like a Star, organised by some fun bloggers: Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats. Do you love to cook or bake like Martha Stewart? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from Martha Stewart's food website or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of December 2012. For more details, please see this.