Souper Fast Dinner (Beef Soup)

Some days I fancy myself a Martha Stewart/ Donna Reed/ Paula Deen hybrid like Domestic Power Ranger.  Other days I fancy myself a sloth, Pig Pen, a pampered Pure Blood with a host of House Elves.  I am actually neither, but if I had to pick, I am far more inclined to the lazier end of the spectrum. It doesn't, however, keep my from longing for that strike of lightning that will flip me into someone who doesn't have a huge pile of mismatched socks on her couch. 

Front Lines of House Elf Liberation

Most days, I put in my 8-9 hours of at the desk job, pick up the teen and "cook" dinner at the nearest (least repugnant) drive through window.  And it gives me MASSIVE bouts of Mommy Guilt.

Some days, however, I find my Power Morpher and get my butt in gear.  And that is where today's recipe originates.  It does not come from a link on Pinterest in any shape or fashion, though I am sure that some of those domestic diva's have figured this out.  It's not rocket surgery, folks.

This recipe is so easy I managed to put it together on my hour-long lunch break, after I had to go to the store  to acquire the goods.  When you factor in 15-20 minutes driving time to store, to home, back to office, and the fact I payed my electric bill on my way back out the door, it becomes pretty impressive time wise.

And it's teen approved most days.

You will need a crock pot-- the saving grace of working moms everywhere. I think mine is a 4 Quart.

Yields about four bowls, give or take, depending on what you add.

Souper Fast Beef Soup


Onion
Celery
Fresh Green Bean (mine are french)
Red Potatoes
1 can of V8
1 sm box of low sodium beef broth
garlic
seasoning to taste
1 lb of pre-cubed stew meat

I don't measure when I make this.  I use my nose and add according to what I think the teen will like today (it changes constantly, it's always a guess).  It's completely customizable and so easy I can't believe I didn't think of it years ago.

I put my cast iron skillet on medium-high with the onion, some garlic, and the stew meat.

While the meat is cooking up just a little (just past rare, I suppose), I turn my attention to the crock pot.  I broke a handful of beans and tossed them in with chopped celery, carrots, another half teaspoon-ish of garlic,and tiny red potatoes.  You can add more onion here, but I didn't.  

Add the can of V-8 and the broth and your seasoning.

Toss in the meat and onion-- I just dump the contents of the skillet right into the crock pot.

That's it.  Put the lid on it, turn it to low and let it go for 4-5 hours.  I cranked it up on high for about half an hour when I got home.

I wish I could say I pre-chopped all the veggies on Sunday, when I did all my meal prep for the week, but that would involve meal planning and effort. I bought pre-chopped food. It's still natural and it saved me a lot of time that I didn't have this afternoon.

I've used ground beef (lean).  I've also used spicy V8 with the regular.  I've cooked the meat covered in a french onion soup powder.  I've used frozen veggies.  I've used less water and thickened it up like stew.  Like I said, this recipe is customizable.

There you have it.

This is what we had left over.

Cat House

I have four cats.

Eryn Grace

Chance (back), Tommy (middle), Trouble (front)

Just like the Teen, there isn't a whole lot I wouldn't do for my cats.  They are as much a part of the family as the humans.

I learned early on they don't require special trips to Pet Smart for toys, though Chance did like the rabbit fur mice in his younger days.  Most of the time, they are content with ties to dresses or robes, or caps to water bottles, straws, boxes, my make up brushes, etc. Eryn has an affinity for pony tale holders and anything she can drop in the toilet.

I am always on the look out for practical ways to spoil my brats.  Knowing that most commercial products aimed at cat owners are a bust, I try to get creative.

And then one day, I was rolling through facebook and I found this link : DIY Cat Tent.  Seemed legit, so I pinned it to Pinterest.

I finally got around to digging out everything to complete the project today.  The source is basically just pictures, but it seems straight forward enough.  I gathered what I needed:  two wire hangers, a t-shirt, and my pliers.

The pics aren't great because I unexpectedly had to complete my project indoors, instead of outside, where there would have been better contrast than the hardwood floor.

First I straightened the wire hangers using my pliers.  I fashioned them into an X shape, using a small piece of duct tape to secure the top of the X.  I also bent the end into feet, like in the source material.

straighten the wire hanger

fashion into an X

Once they were bent, I tried to stand them up.  They slid back down into the X formation, above.  I tried it again.  Nope. Still sliding.

I got the bright idea at that point, to cap the little wire feet ends with duct tape, hoping it might (maybe) reduce the slippage, and protect my t-shirt from holes.  The result?  See picture above.

Thinking that the t-shirt would help, I began trying to shove the hangers into this epic t-shirt:

Do you know how hard it is to shove hangers into a t-shirt and keep the X formation?  Let me tell you, a mother of a toddler with five arm has it easier.  The hangers kept collapsing.  They wouldn't hold the X shape.  They slid; they fell.  I couldn't get the hole at the bottom for the entrance.  I was a little perturbed.

The inspiration picture has a cushion in the bottom. I started to suspect this was the key to the magic holding of the X shape. I didn't have one, and I wasn't about to purchase anything like a cushion for the cats, knowing my oldest would promptly do something foul.  But, I had a box from a case of water bottles.

I had to get a box

Ta Da!  The box held the hangers in the X formation!  And cats love boxes!

I taped the hanger into the corners:

And set off to shove the t-shirt over the frame.  I quickly found that my epic Goonies shirt was too small. So, I grabbed a shirt the teen had recently laid claim to.  This shirt was an XL. It took a minute, and some frustration, but I finally got the shirt over the frame and secured the back with a pony tale holder.  I left the arms open for paws and quick escapes.

As soon as I backed away from the tent, this is what happened:

What's this, Momma?

Blurry action shot of a paw stealing a ribbon

Eryn was the first one in the box.  She immediately saw the merit of using the box for a sneak attack on her brothers. She was in and out an arm hole so fast, Tommy had no idea what hit him.

Tommy was next in.  He's naturally high strung and a titch skittish, so he initially liked the idea of the covered box.  He also liked the arm hole escape.

Trouble peeked in.  Chance couldn't be bothered with it.  So, the initial reaction was 2 out of 4 cats liked the novelty of the idea.

The tent has been up for several hours and is thoroughly ignored.  The newness has worn off.  Going to leave it up for a day or two, to see if they reconsider, but it appears this idea was a flop.

Type Casting Shadows

I realize it's been a while since I've uploaded.  I have blogs and experiments for you, I just must find a moment to commit to writing and moving pictures around.  Bear with me, I will be back for more fun Pinterest things soon.

This post is not my usual banter.  With four posts, it's a little difficult to convince you, but I must assure you that it's not normal. 

I wish to refer you to another blog (Nightdreams & Daymares) and tell you a little story.

Growing up, I was biologically the oldest child in my family, but in my play and in some fantasies, I was the younger sibling.  I always felt that I would be a good little sister, though I clearly had the.... leadership skills (we'll just go with that) indicative of first born siblings.

You can imagine my glee when, in high school, I started "adopting" older siblings.  These were upper class men that took a small freshman under their wing and picked on me unmercifully, just as big brothers should.  And then one of my Bubba's introduced me to his college age sister.

It was pretty much squealing, and giggling, and love on the spot.  I got a big sis.  And she's been my big sis for getting close to 20 years (eeep!).  I passed out programs at her 1st wedding.  The very first baby shower I went to was for her daughter, my "niece," Sarah.

Sarah was an extraordinary kid. Bright. Artistic. Full of the right kind of Sass.  Not afraid to stick up for the underdog. For a someone so young, she related well to adults.  I remember talking to her at her mom's and step dad's wedding and having to remind myself I was talking to someone that still had diaper-butt when my daughter was born.  Sarah also had Type 1 Diabetes.

On Sept 16, 2011, a Friday morning. I got a call from my Bubba.  I had just gotten to work.  I was tired.  My best friend had just moved 185 miles away, and I still felt like my right arm was missing.  I had deadlines.  I didn't want to talk on the phone.  But we live in a day and age where phone calls to cell phones from texting family and friends equates to emergency.  The governor could not have stopped me from answering that call.

I will never forget those words, "We've lost Sarah.  Sarah's gone..."  I remember the rest of the call like watching a movie.  I remember dropping my phone on my desk and standing there for a minute.  Somehow I got around the corner and down a long hall to my Supervisor's office before I lost it.  By the time I got to her office, I felt like I was choking.

I don't remember getting home.  I barely remember texting my best friend, "911, text me when you wake up."  The next few days were a blur.  I only remember pieces.  Telling my daughter was one of the hardest things I had to do.  Going to the funeral was excruciating. I cried every time I pulled up facebook and saw a blue candle. 

What my Big Sis and family has gone through in the last year and a half is unimaginable. Heaven got one hell of an Angel on September 16.  Our lives are richer for having had her here for 14 years, and great things are happening in her memory.  But it's still not fair.

Type 1 Diabetes is cutting lives short.  My heart hearts every time I see a post, or I see a blue candle show up on facebook.  Children should always wake up in the mornings.  No mom should have to endure what my Big Sis has, but moms, dads, little brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and best friends are living this Hell every day. I urge you to read her blog and pass it along. Know the signs.  Don't let a doctor attempt to contradict your gut instinct.  Test those sugars.  Get treatment.  Pass it to your friends.



We gathered last September 16 to draw with side walk chalk, blow bubbles, and share cupcakes with kids at the local skate park.  A young girl came out with her Diabetic Alert Dog, and we laughed when he saw Big Sis's small, chew-toy sized dog and went bananas. I hope we will do the same every September 16.  
~~~~~~~~~~

Until there's a cure.

This Tip is a Shoe In

To be honest, I don't know where precisely I got this idea.  I can tell you it was on Pinterest somewhere, on a Pin, on a Board, in some section (Not Geek-- it didn't have Doctor Who on it).

I can also tell you I had the biggest DER! moment of my afternoon when I read the tip.

The concept is simple: use staggered suspension rods to suspend your shoes.

I love suspension rods.  I use them to hang long curtains in my tiny, non ADA acceptable doorways that have no doors (two in my house).  If I have a curtain in a window, it's on a suspension rod.  My shower curtain and it's valance are hung on suspension rods.  They are completely useful gadgets, especially in small spaces.

Now, my closet is one of those standard, narrow closets that come in a "hurry up and build 1950s suburbia" kind of house.  It has a shelf and some sort of rejected-for-plumbing pipe for a bar.  And, since I didn't think it was small enough, I shoved an old buy-it-at-the-Wal-Mart-build-it-at-Home entertainment center in there.

No longer an "entertainment center," the repurposed unit has cute fabric lined baskets for slips and pjs, places for decorative boxes filled with sheets, and places for hiding crap.  For as much hanging space as it takes up, it also provides valuable storage space.

The entertainment center has long been destined for my shoe collection.  I had always envisioned a plywood shelf, or something, in the TV compartment to hold shoes.  I never got around to adding the shelf, so I had a virtual Mount VaShoevious in the bottom portion of the entertainment center. I also have cats who like to punish me for leaving.  Suffice to say, I don't leave my shoes laying around on the off chance I have incited feline wrath.

This solution was much easier, and I completed the project in less than 5 minutes.  All I did was adjust the size of the first suspension rod to fit the cavity that once held a TV.  I hooked a heel on the rod, and used it to determine the placement of the second, like so:

That's it.

Final product is as it looks at the top.  Or, at least, that's what I will have you believe.  I do have more shoes, and it may or may not look that neat or well spaced.

Mmm... Beer Bread.

This is my favorite Pin recipe right now.  The moment I found it, I knew the author should be given her own billboard,  or reality show, or (at very least) the Nobel Peace Prize.

This recipe combines bread, And beer, And honey? 

Shut the Oven Door!

As soon as I saw the list of ingredients, I ran to my kitchen.  I had everything but honey.  Never fear, blog reader! I am the queen of reasonable substitutions.  Instead of honey, I had real maple syrup.  And I had a lonely bottle of Blue Moon's fall brew wasting away in my drawer.  Oh, and I mixed half the white flour with whole wheat (I may have... uh, run out of white).

I don't have pics of the first round, or the second, or the third...  but all of my trials have been good.  You'll just have to trust me on that.

I was instantly enchanted with the simplicity of this recipe. Part of the appeal is the inherent versatility: different brews, different sweeteners, add ins, toppings...

It's like the Sonic Drinks of Bread!

OK. OK. Not like Sonic*.

But it IS versatile.

I am sharing my Blueberry Wheat version.

1c whole wheat flour
2c all purpose flour (see notes below)
1tbs baking Powder
1tsp salt
2 tbs regular sugar
2 tbs honey (see notes below)
12 oz Wild Blue Blueberry Lager (see notes below)

4+ tbs butter (see notes below)

 Pre-heat oven to 350.

Butter melting in oven

While oven is pre-heating, I melt the butter in the baking pan, right in the oven, for just a few minutes.

Keep an eye on that butter! Don't let it burn.  I remove it when it is mostly melted.

Flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, honey

While butter is turning into melty, liquid gold, mix dry ingredients until just combined.  Here, I jumped the gun and added the honey before I mixed the dry ingredients.  It still worked, but I don't recommend doing this, OK?

Did you take the butter out of the oven?   If so, set aside. You'll need it in just a minute.  If not, do it now!

fizzy, purple Wild Blue is added to mix

Once dry ingredients are combined, add the wet.  I add the sweetener, then the beer.  I suppose you can do it in any order.  Because I am using a (blue) fruit lager, my beer is purple.  Don't be alarmed by the color.  It is not the blood of a purple, singing dinosaur, no matter what my teenager says.
 
 Mix with fork until all the dry is combined with the wet ingredients.  The dough will form a sticky blob in the bottom of the bowl.

Next, dump the lump into your loaf pan, right on top of that melted butter.

I add a little more melted butter to the top, too.  Butter IS good. 

 Bake at 350 30-40 minutes until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.  I invert mine on a plate right away when I bake with my beloved silicone loaf pan.   The outside is nice and brown and crusty, and the inside is soft. 

finished product

 While this was cooking, I made the best topping in the world for this bread (or at least thus far): homemade sweet butter.  I simply mixed heavy whipping cream, agave syrup, and cinnamon in a clean jelly jar.  I didn't measure any thing.  Just added.  And then I shook it.  And shook it.  And shook it.  It takes a while, but the end product is worth it.  Once it forms a solid lump, pour off remaining liquid and refrigerate until you're ready to use it.

Cream, agave, cinnamon

Sweet Cinnamon Butter

  Try it with honey and cinnamon!  I've made it to where it tastes just like Texas Roadhouse's honey- cinnamon butter, only without the powdered sugar.  

I've also made it with a dollup of blueberry preserves.  Home made  blueberry butter gets the stamp of approval from a most discerning critic-in-residence, much to my chagrin (to see the critic, scroll down). 



 NOTES:
 Flour:  I have tried 3c All Purpose; 3c Whole Wheat; 1.5c wheat, 1.5c all purpose; and(like this recipe) 1c wheat, 2c all purpose.  They all have worked well.  Wheat gives it a hearty, heavier texture.  My teen hates it.  I prefer it.  The 3c all purpose was kind of gummy to me.  I was called insane, though.  Truely, I was. By everyone else that tried it.

Liquid Sweetener:  I've used honey, agave, and  pure maple syrup.  My honey is raw, and as local as I can find in my supermarket.  My agave syrup is organic.  With the REAL maple syrup, I had to add an extra tbs. Don't use pancake syrup. 0_o

Tonight's selection

Beer: I've yet to use a beer that didn't turn out well.  I usually use what's on hand, or what strikes me at United's build your own 6 pack station.  That's how I found the Wild Blue.  It comes in blackberry and raspberry, too.  I sipped the blackberry and it tasted like a stout Arbor Mist Blackberry Merlot.  Very good, but I am not sure I could drink a whole bottle.  But, it will make a great bread.  I've not actually consumed the Wild Blue as a beverage.  I keep baking it in bread!  Monty Python's Holy GrAle was good, but didn't make me say "Ni!"  I prefer sweet or dark beers. The next time I am near a Central Market, I am scoring a Lambic (cherry, strawberry, or peach) and giving that a go. Shiner Bock is also on my list of beers to try VERY soon.

Butter: REAL  BUTTER.  People, do NOT consume that vegetable oil crap! It's almost plastic.  Real butter will not kill you.  You may reduce the amount.  I go for over kill.  Yummy, yummy over kill.

Pan:  My pan is 9"x5".  When I baked in paper loaf pans (found at Central Market), I made two smaller loafs that baked for about 25 minutes and had to cool them before I tore them out of those hateful skins of dead trees.  Needless to say, acquiring another silicone loaf pan is high on my priority list. 

 Did you try something different?  Let me know!  I would love to hear your cheers and jeers.

"Don't leave your blueberry butter unattended.  It's my favorite."

*If you're in an area that's not cool enough to have a Sonic, it's a drive-in restaurant that has thousands of drink combinations (398, 929 combinations, or so they say).  You can go all crazy and stuff, if you want.  Or you could be cool like me, on the rare occasion I drink cokes, and order a Dr Pepper with real cherries.  Sonics are the new DQs for small towns around here.  It used to be you weren't a real town without a DQ, but now a Sonic gives you credibility.  I live in a town with NUMEROUS Sonics, but no Central Market.  :(

For My First Trick... Upholstery Cleaner

Trying to decide which of my hundreds of Pinterest Pins is important enough to be my inaugural project is no easy task.

About as easy as teaching Twitter how to spell inaugural.

Actually, it wasn't so much a matter of ease, as remembering to document my experiments.

Prior to starting this blog, I actually took pictures of a trial run with an upholstery cleaner (right before I learned to spell that word, too).

I found this Link with a simple cleaner that seemed harmless enough.  I mean, my seats are AWFUL.  The ingredients are common household ingredients.  I had most of them, anyway.

Did I mention my seats were nasty? As in you probably should have had a haz-mat suit on before you put your butt there?

Eeeeeew.

I bought this car when I was going to college (full time), still working an 8-5 job, and the mother of a young elementary student. I was in my car A LOT. I consumed copious amounts of coffee to keep me sane during the endless onslaught of singing Barbie tunes in my car (although, to be fair to my daughter, I was also subjected to endless Pink Floyd, Barlow Girl, or the Les Mis Broadway soundtrack, depending on her mood); I changed into my work clothes in my car (ill advised whilst driving); I put what little makeup I wore on in my car; I did homework in my car; I ate in my car; I... well, you have the picture. Over time, maintaining my upholstery became less of a priority.  I was busy!  My front seat was a receptacle for what I needed at my finger tips at the moment.  Enter fast food stains, coffee stains, coke stains, mystery stains from the kid, coffee stains, ink, coffee stains, red Texas clay, coffee stains...

Quite frankly, it's embarrassing.  I want to call them the worst seats in town, but I know that's not true.  I live in a town with 3 universities, branches of a major state university's grad school, two technical schools, and a junior college... and an airbase.  That's a lot of  nasty car potential driving around.  So, major-bad, but not the worst.
 
I was primed for a good cleaner.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I was primed for ANY cleaner that might, maybe, sort of clean my seats.  I don't have to tell you I was grateful to find the link pinned to the DIY section.

So, I purchased what ingredients I didn't have (club soda), mixed up the cleaner, and went outside on a bitter-freaking cold, but sunny, day.  I started with my front passenger seat:

What color is that?

Spray. Spray. Spray.  Scrub...

I tried to scrub in a circular motion, like the blog says, but my seats were having none of that. I scrubbed back and forth, front to back.  

My first impression echoed my concerns upon reading the recipe.  1 cup of liquid dawn is a lot of sudsy soap.  I was scrubbing up some seriously foul foam.  It didn't smell good, either.  The vinegar was a bit overwhelming.

Don't ask. Just scrub.

So, I went and grabbed this tiny (read: no power) 1 gallon wet vac that was sitting in my carport.  It plugs into the outlet in my car, so it was handy.  I used it to suck up nasty foam.

I was worried about the soap making the fabric stiff, so I sprayed a little water on it.  Don't do that! More foam.  Lots more foam.  So much foam.  My little wet vac hated me. 

I scrubbed and sucked up foam for a good 10-15 minutes-- remember my seats were revolting. 

The picture of progress

What did I see?  Progress!  It was working.  It smelled, but it was working!  I stayed with the back section of the seat (area with the brush laying on it in pics, above) I quit when my hands got too cold to scrub any longer, left the windows down, and went about my Sunday.

When the seats had dried a bit, I saw REMARKABLE progress.  No more big ugly coke/coffee/food stains where I scrubbed.

This cleaner works.  It was a lot of scrubbing, but it works better than the commercial products I tried in my previous vehicle.  I chose to think of the the scrubbing as an arm workout.

The smell, however, was gag-tastic.  It was strong for the first couple of days, but has faded. More than a week later, I can still detect a (very) faint odor when the car warms up.

Cue the dramatics from the teen.  She refused to sit in the front seat for the first four days.  She has threatened my sanity if I ever use the cleaner again...

But the back seat, her realm/closet/locker/dining room, is even worse.

We All Start Somewhere

Bit plain right now.  Trying to get this thing up and running.  I have a couple of stories to share about my experiments from Pinterest. Bear with me.  More coming soon.