Princess Crown Braid

I was feeling experimental with Blockette's hair so I tried out a new braid.  I call it the crown braid, but the tutorial from Princess Hair Styles called it a "never ending French braid bun." 

I won't get into the hows and whatnot of how to make the braid because Princess Hair Styles has a great video tutorial, which explains the technique much better than I could.

 This is what I call the wonky side, where the braid ends.  I think I could have tucked it into the other part of the French braid a little better.  Over all, I think it's not too shabby for the first attempt.

 ...and the "nice" side.

The hairstyle took a bit longer than regular French braids. This is most likely due to the fact that it is awkward to braid the part by her neck and then up the "nice" side of the braid.  I had to have Blockette sit with her head down on her lap which she was not happy about.

 Blockette wore this hairstyle when we went out to visit her Grandparents.  We went out to dinner and a couple people stopped us and told us how cute her hair was, just like a princess.  I asked Blockette if it was worth the extra trouble to have her hair styled like this and she said she loved it as a sometimes fancy hair do.

By the end of the day her hair did sag a bit but held together through a few hours of vigorous playtime crawling on the floor playing with Grandma's spunky kitten. I don't think many hairstyles would survive those sort of crazy activities.

Oh and as for the short sleeves in the middle of winter?  It was nearly 60 the day this photo was taken. Crazy Chicago winters.

Drunk Pork Chops

I have been doing a bit of cleaning in my freezer making sure that some of the meat in there gets used before it goes bad.  It's sort of like shopping in your own kitchen.  To my surprise, I discovered three boneless thick cut pork chops!

This recipe from Rumbly in my Tummy for Drunk Pork Chops sounded like it would be fun to try.  We like cooking with beer, and Mrblocko got two six packs of Indio beer for free over Christmas.  (Heinekin has an office branch in the building he works in and every year they pass out a new brew.)

For some reason the chops didn't want to cook.  Because they were handled more than they should have the breading started to fall off.  What a bummer!  That's my favorite part.

Mrblocko and Blockette thought the chops were great.  Mrblocko even laddled the sauce over his mashed potatoes.

 And me...well...the sauce tasted ok.  Which was odd, because I thought it smelled bad.  Specifically, I thought it had that musky ammonia sent of cat pee. 

I'm sure this was some freaky thing of nature.  And my own broken-ness.  I repeatedly asked Mrblocko if he thought it smelled off.  He thought it smelled just fine. 

I can't figure out what the deal was.  I mean the ingredients in the sauce are pretty much the same things in certain BBQ sauce.  And I Like BBQ sauce.  It had to have been me.  Maybe my hormones were wild and crazy?  Maybe it's this cold that won't go away?  A Full Moon?  A case of the crazies?  I don't know.  I DO know if Blockette thought something smelled funky she would not have kept her opinion to herself!

Drunk Chops from Rumbly in my Tummy
5-6 pork chops- bone-in or boneless,- I used 3 thick cut boneless
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup of flour
1 bottle of beer
 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup ketchup
1 chicken bouillion cube
1 tsp hot sauce *to taste

Put a little bit of extra virgin olive oil in the bottom of a skillet. Combine the flour with the salt and pepper, dip each chop in the mixture, and place into the skillet to brown both sides.

While pork chops are browning, combine beer, ketchup, bouillion, hot sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl. Pour sauce mixture over the pork chops and simmer for 40-45 minutes.

Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.

Crockpot Soda Pop Chicken and Rice

I had seen this recipe for chicken and rice over at Six Sisters' Stuff last year and thought it sounded quick, easy and tasty.

 Maybe there is something off with my crockpot because neither the chicken or the rice wanted to cook.  After cooking the chicken on low for 3 hours and then on low for another 2 hours after I added the rice the chicken was still undercooked in parts and the rice was crunchy.

So I cranked the heat on the crockpot up to high for another hour and a half.  This cooked the chicken thoroughly, but the rice was still slightly underdone.

I was pretty hungry by this time so I decided to just live with the rice on the crunchy side.

Also, because I had to check on the chicken more than I wanted to, most of the chicken broke up into chunks.  I opted to shred the chicken into large pieces so they were more uniform.  This also allowed for an equal distribution of the sauce.

The sauce was ok.  I think it was on the bland side for our taste buds though.  When Blockette and I ate some of the leftovers, I added some lemon pepper and shredded Mexican cheese blend.  The cheese had a bit of jalapeno in it which gave the dish the flavor we thought it was lacking.

We also ate our portions with carrots as a chunky sort of dip.  This also added another flavor dimension with the added benefit of eating lots of veggies.

I don't know that I would make this dish again.  I can never seem to get a slow cooker recipe that calls for rice to work out properly. Last time I had the opposite problem and the rice turned into gummy mush.  Although out of the two recipes that called for the rice to be cooked in the crockpot, I'd say this one was the winner.  At least I could reheat this dish in the microwave with a bit of water and steam the rice a bit more so it was fully cooked.  Once rice is over cooked and mushy there is no turning back.

Crockpot 7-up Chicken and Rice by Six Sisters' Stuff

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used 4)

10.5 oz. can of cream of chicken soup

12 oz. can of 7UP or lemon lime soda (I used Sprite Zero)

1 c. rice (Minute Rice is best apparently, but I only had regular long grain rice)

1/4 c. chicken broth (I had to use water as I was mistake that I had chicken stock in the freezer)

Place chicken breasts in the bottom of your slow cooker.  Cover with soup and 7UP.  Cover and cook for 2-3 hours on low.  Add rice and chicken broth and cook for 2-3 more hours until chicken is cooked through.

Chalkboard Journal Fail

This Christmas I decided to make something crafty for Blockette.  She loves journals and notebooks to write and draw in.  I thought that this Chalkboard journal from No.2 Pencil would be perfect.

Except that it wasn't.

I don't know what happened.

This time I followed the directions exactly.  Not even taking a single short cut.

I even used 6 coats of Martha Stewart chalkboard paint compared to the 4 in the tutorial.  Just in case.

I rubbed the surface with chalk and then wiped it off with a damp cloth.   Just like the directions say.

Then I wrote on the journal cover.  Seemed fine.  I erased it with a dry cloth.

So I wrapped it and it sat around for a week.

Blockette was so excited when she opened it along with a brand new box of colored crayola brand chalk.

So of course she grabbed a piece of chalk and went to town on the cover to see if it worked.

This is what happened:

If you look in the upper right hand corner you can see 2 games of tic tac toe she played with her father.

How sweet!

Only...

They will NOT come off.

I tried wiping it off with a dry cloth and paper towel.

Then I made it damp.

Neither thing got the chalk off.

I even tried rubbing more chalk on the cover with the side of the piece of chalk.  All that did was scratch the cover and change the hue to a slightly different shade of blue.

I don't know why it scratched the cover.  I wasn't using my super Hulk like strength super powers or anything.  Just a light gentle hand.  Maybe I AM the Hulk?

Any tips or suggestions about what I might have done wrong?  Or what I can do to fix this craft disaster?

America's Test Kitchen Pork Roast

It's been years and years since I've made a pot roast.  I always used to just stick the roast in one of those bags that come with seasonings in them.  I thought they tasted pretty good.  At least I thought so until I made this Roast with Peach Sauce from America's Test Kitchen.  There is absolutely no comparison.

This particular recipe uses a specific cut of meat called pork butt or Boston butt/shoulder.  Don't try to get all crazy and use something else.  America's Test Kitchen did all sorts of variations and the pork butt will result in the most tender meat when cooked low and slow.

 I know. I know.  The roast looks like it's burnt.  That's just the poor lighting in my kitchen.  The part that looks blackened is actually the caramelized cracklins.  I'm not usually one for gnawing on fat, but the fatty part of this roast was heavenly.  Crispity crunchy pieces of heaven.  Blockette didn't want to try any at first.  Then she saw the look on my face after I had a bite.  You know the one, where your eyes roll back in your skull.   Yeah, she changed her mind real quick.  Then she couldn't get enough of the tasty caramelized fat.

This roast was only about 4 lbs.  That was about half the size of the roast called for in the recipe.  I assumed that it would take less time to cook.  It didn't for some reason.  This roast took about 5 hours for the internal temperature to register 190F.

Those of you that cook a lot of pork are probably saying, why 190F?  The USDA says you only need to cook pork to 145F.  Well, that's true, but with this cut of meat, if you cook the roast slowly, the connective tissues won't break down until 190F.  Attempting to speed things up by upping the temp on your oven will only result in a hard dry brick of a roast....and sadness.

You will not believe how tender this roast is.  Man!  See how the bone is sticking out?  The roast practically fell apart when I removed it from the pan.  All I had to do was wiggle the bone the tiniest bit to remove it.  This was great because I had no idea how I was going to carve around that peculiarly shaped shoulder bone.

Blockette did not care for the sauce at all.  Who knows why, cause it was divine.  The sweet-tart flavors pared nicely with the salty savory meat.  I liked the sauce so much, I ate it on mashed potatoes, and even on toast one morning.

There was a considerable amount of drippings remaining after preparing the peach sauce.  I didn't want to waste it so I made crock pot lentil soup, replacing part of the stock called for in the recipe for the defatted jus. I don't know how, but the jus gave the soup an almost beef-y taste.  (How does that work if the jus was from pork???) I'll be saving the jus from roasts to use in lentil soup again for sure.

Pork Roast from America's Test Kitchen
1 bone-in pork butt, 6 to 8 pounds
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
Ground black pepper

Peach Sauce
10 ounces frozen peaches, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 2 cups) or 2 fresh peaches, cut in 1/2" wedges (I used frozen)
2 cups dry white wine (I used Arbor Mist Peach Chardonnay)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard

1. FOR THE ROAST: Using sharp knife, cut slits 1 inch apart in crosshatch pattern in fat cap of roast, being careful not to cut into meat. Combine salt and brown sugar in medium bowl. Rub salt mixture over entire pork shoulder and into slits. Wrap roast tightly in double layer of plastic wrap, place on rimmed baking sheet, and refrigerate at least 12 and up to 24 hours.

2. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Unwrap roast and brush off any excess salt mixture from surface. Season roast with pepper. Transfer roast to V-rack coated with nonstick cooking spray set in large roasting pan and add 1 quart water to roasting pan. (I didn't have a v-rack that fit into my smaller roasting pan so i made a large ring out of foil so the meat would be up off the bottom of the pan.  This worked really well for me.)

3. Cook roast, basting twice during cooking, until meat is extremely tender and instant-read thermometer inserted into roast near but not touching bone registers 190 degrees, 5 to 6 hours. Transfer roast to carving board and let rest, loosely tented with foil, 1 hour. Transfer liquid in roasting pan to fat separator and let stand 5 minutes. Pour off ¼ cup jus; discard fat and reserve remaining jus for another use.

4. FOR THE SAUCE: Bring peaches, wine, granulated sugar, ¼ cup vinegar, ¼ cup defatted jus, and thyme to simmer in small saucepan; cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced to 2 cups, about 30 minutes. Stir in remaining tablespoon vinegar and mustard. Remove thyme, cover, and keep warm.

5. Using sharp paring knife, cut around inverted T-shaped bone until it can be pulled free from roast (use clean kitchen towel to grasp bone). Using serrated knife, slice roast. Serve, passing sauce separately.

Pumpkin Crisp

I made this pumpkin crisp from Rachael Schultz when we went out to see my Mother-in-law back in December.

I was slightly overwhelmed with all the baking I had lined up for myself (see here, here and here).  I wanted something I could whip up the night before with minimal effort.

Boy did this ever fit the bill.  It's a dump and go sort of recipe.  Not only was this super easy to throw together, the flavor was amazing.  I think a big part of that may have been that I used a box of caramel cake mix instead of the yellow cake mix as suggested in the original recipe.

Why I had that box of caramel cake mix in the pantry, I just don't know.  I must have purchased it for something specific and then promptly forgot what it was!

Anyhow, I highly suggest using the caramel cake mix if you can find it.  I know it's hit or miss at the store by me.  I'll be keeping my eye out for more caramel cake mix as my mother-in-law suggested insisted I make this again.  I'm more than happy to oblige.


Pumpkin Crisp from Rachel Schultz
Serves 9-10
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 package cake mix - caramel if you can find it
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup butter, melted
Whipped cream(optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour into a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin mixture in an even layer. Arrange pecans on cake mix. Pour butter evenly over pecans, moistening all the cake mix. (I found the best way to make sure all the cake mix was covered was to use a spoon and drizzle.  If I had poured it  from a bowl or measuring cup I would have had pools of butter in spots and dry cake mix in others.) Bake for 70-80 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool and top with whipped cream. Serve warm. (We ate ours room temp and found it needed no whipped topping of any kind.)

The sky isn't falling...anymore.

 When we bought the house we are living in now, the stairwell by the dinning room and kitchen had a nasty crack.  We had the crack repaired, but 7 years later, it came back.  Back with a vengeance.  It brought a few friends with it too.

The ceiling is actually worse than the picture shows.  You can't see the small cracks connecting up to the larger one.  The larger one looks darker because the dry wall is actually sagging.  If you stomped up the stairs little bits of dry wall would fall on your head.  Not good times.

Here's what it looks like now:

The part where the dry wall was sagging wasn't attached to anything!  Not so good. 

However, now the hallway needs to be painted.  Bleck.  The up side is the ceiling in the kitchen and dining room are repainted.  The stain from the green yogurt Blockette flicked onto the ceiling as a toddler are no more!  Yay!

Of course, now that the ceiling isn't going to cave in on us the kitchen sink has started leaking and an outlet stopped working.  Isn't that how it goes? When you cross one thing off the to-do list, two more things get added.