carrot bread/cake~

I wish the computers had smellavision ~ then you could smell how delish my house smell right now.  I just whipped up a big double batch of carrot bread (5 loaves) and it left the nicest aroma while baking.

Here's the recipe: It makes a big batch!  It will make 2 loaf pans and 6 cupcakes or 2 bundt cakes or doubled will make 5 loaves 

CARROT BREAD/CAKE

4 Cups raw fine grated carrots

1 (20 oz.) can of crushed pineapple w/ juice

1 1/2 Cups Vegetable Oil

3 Cups white sugar

6 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

3 Cups Flour

3 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 Cups raisins

1 Cups flaked coconut

Step By Step

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease and flour two 10 inch Bundt pans or 2 loaf pans and 6 muffin tins or if doubled 5 loaf pans.

2.  Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, combine carrots, pineapple, oil and sugar.  Add eggs, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Beat well.

4.  Add the flour mixture and mix well.  Stir in the raisins and coconut.

5.  Pour into prepared greased and floured pans.  Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

If Bundt cake or muffins ~ allow to cool completely before frosting with Cream Cheese Frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 block of cream cheese (softened)

1/2 pound confectioners sugar

1/2 C. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

milk

Cream the butter, vanilla and cream cheese.  Slowly beat in the powdered sugar adding a little milk if necessary to make desired thickness.

~~~~~~~~~

I also had to do a little patching job on Old Mr. Acid Pants.  Explanation ~ Dear Hubby is an engineer in the steam plant at the paper mill.  On occasion he has to work with some pretty caustic chemicals.  If he gets just the tiniest splash of acid on his blue jeans it will start out as just a little hole and by the end of the shift it will turn into a big hole.  If I went out and bought new pants for him every time he got splashed with acid ... I'd have to get a divorce; because I sure couldn't afford him.

So.... I sew patches on his work pants.

Here's a before:

and the After:

Not the prettiest looking pair of jeans; but good enough for his dirty job.

~~~~~~~~~~

What else is new in the north woods ~ oh yeah...

Sam got the Thanksgiving turkey ~ and no Chuck... it doesn't say ButterBall on it's butt.

Until next time...

So it goes in my neck of the woods.

~mel

salt crystal garden & crayon sculpture~

My friend Dee made a post about doing a crystal growing project and it reminded me of the salt crystal gardens that we would grow as kids.  I think I was in 4-H or the girl scouts, or possibly it was a science project in school when I first learned how to make a salt garden.  After some digging around, I found the recipe.

image taken from the web

Mix Together:

4 tablespoons salt

4 tablespoons liquid bluing (it's in the laundry detergent area at the store)

4 tablespoons water

4 tablespoon ammonia


Place a couple pieces of porous rock or a couple pieces of charcoal briquettes in a shallow glass or plastic bowl.  
Pour the mixture over.  If you want colored crystals add just a few drops of various colors of liquid food coloring on the rock.  

Crystals will begin to grow in six hours and continue for up to a week, depending on the humidity, temperature, and how much airflow is present. Better air flow ... better crystals. To concentrate crystal growth on the charcoal and avoid them forming on the edge of the plate, coat the plate with Vaseline.

Briquettes aren't very good at drawing the liquid up so be sure to keep the level of the liquid at least half way up the side of the briquette.

Most recipes suggest sprinkling two more tablespoons of salt over the charcoal and on the first or second day to get the crystal growth off to a faster start.

Add more of the salt-bluing-ammonia-water mix starting on the third day to keep the crystals growing. Be careful to avoid dripping any of the new solution on the growing crystals or they will be damaged. In time the crystals may grow over the sides of the bowl.
~~~~~~

As a kid, my siblings and I were always puttering around making things ... some of our 'projects' were really cool and some were down right dangerous.  Why my Mom let us do some of them I don't know. I guess you could say that she didn't mind us exploring what would happen; and what better way to learn than by experimentation.  Here's one particular project that was one of my favorites.

I call it the:

Melted Crayon Sculpture

Of course, if you try this ~ it's at your own risk.  I only burnt myself a couple times doing it and I learned really fast how to hold my hands when I made the plunge.

Here's what we'd do:

First ~ fill the kitchen sink full with cold water.


Then ~


Take little pieces of broken crayons and put them on an aluminum pie plate.  Cover the bottom of the pan with the crayons. Carefully, notice the word CAREFULLY you put the pie plate on the stove burner over low heat and melt the crayons.  Do not stir them.  They make a swirl of color as they melt.


Now ~ the dangerous, adventurous, inquisitive part:


Take the HOT pie plate off the burner.  Make sure you're using some old potholders that you don't mind getting wet.  


Carefully ... notice the word CAREFULLY again ...

Hold the pie plate so you just have a grip on it and try to keep your hands as far away from the edges as possible.



In one big motion PLUNGE the pie plate under the water. 


The melted crayon wax will rise to the surface and harden as it rises.  


Tip your creation over to let the excess water drip off.


Your creation is now ready to be decorated with tiny little toys such as miniature nicknacks like deer, bear, dolls,  glass menageries, etc... limited only by your imagination.  

Like I said ~ if you try this ~ please be careful.  Hot melted crayon wax stuck to your arm is quite painful.  


Like Mom would say, "bet you don't burn yourself like that again" ... lesson learned.


Even though I only had a few burn incidents it never stopped me from making these.  I use to just love seeing what different color combo's I could come up with.  I also use to like experimenting with how I would make the plunge into the cold water.  If you gave the pie plate just a little twisting action as it went in you could get a spiral looking sculpture.  


Ahh .... such memories.
Until next time....
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

 

menace~

After struggling with my blog it finally seems to be up and running smoothly again.  sighhhhhhhhhhhh of relief..... there are a few things in life that I really enjoy doing ... and blogging has turned out to be one of them.   I get a feeling of withdrawal if I can't get onto my blog or worse yet ... if I'm unable to connect to the internet.  How did I ever become so dependent upon this piece of technology?

I guess dependency upon something isn't bad; or is it?  I know I would live ... it certainly wouldn't kill me if I didn't have access to the world wide web but just knowing it's there makes me want to have it.

What the heck am I getting at here?  Talking about a dependency to the internet?  What's up Mel??? Spill your guts ... okay... 

Time for a true confession ~


I have a dependency on a horrible menace and I have been battling it for over 30 years going on what feels 300 years.

The blasted cigarettes!!!

How many times am I going to quit and really stay a quitter?????  Some days it really drives me insane!!  

Two years ago...

Dear Hubby, Slim was smoking  2 packs of cigs a day and I was smoking a pack ... sometimes a pack and a half a day.  

We both took the prescription drug Chantix ... and it worked.... for Slim anyways.  He hasn't had a smoke in over 2 years.  Myself on the other hand, sometimes I get such a craving it drives me goofy... yes... goofier than I normally am. 

I had a sit down chat on several occasions about this with my doctor about how bad these cravings of mine were.  Then he made the fatal mistake of showing me some of my medical records ... one of them being some xrays of my lungs.  He said that if he didn't know that I had smoked that long ... he never would have guessed it... because my lungs show absolutely no evidence of me ever having a smoking history.  

I know ... that doesn't give me the go ahead on smoking; but somehow in the back of my brain it just makes it that much harder to resist.  

My doc then put me on the prescription drug Buproprion.  This is an antidepressant drug.  I had a lot of stuff going on in my life at the time and it did seem to help.  It helped with my unbearable cravings and my feeling of such doom after all the trouble I was going through with my heart.  Yep... my heart... I know... and you still want to go and put a cigarette in your mouth and light up with a bum ticker.  What the hell is the matter with me??  I know ALL the do's and don'ts of what I should and shouldn't be doing.... but some days I really can't stand this!!!!! 

After a year or so on the Buproprion I started having some bad side effects from it ~ and I'm still wanting to have a smoke on occasion.  My doc then told me that I was better off having the cigarette when I really craved it ~ then taking the pills.... so that's what I did.  I'd slip away and smoke behind every ones back.

I'm no way smoking like I used to though.  Now a pack of cigs would last me over a week ... instead of a day.  Sometimes... a pack of cigs will even get me through 2 weeks ... and I keep on trying to quit.  I even go sometimes now up to 2 months ~ but damn, damn damn... what is the matter with me ...  I just can't seem to quit them 100%. 

I have such a dependency on them and it just gnaws at me that I give in to the cravings when I do.  I'm just like a bad alcoholic.  I take a drag on a cigarette and it just makes my whole demeanor change.  It relaxes me and makes me feel like I can cope better with things going on around me.  I KNOW... this is a cop out... but it's my cop out ... and it's really how I feel.

It's embarassing... it's such a feeling of shame... I let everyone around me down... but worse thing about it is how I let myself down.

Well...

This afternoon, after lunch ~ Slim went to lay down for awhile to catch a few zzz's before he has to go to work tonight on the graveyard shift at the paper mill.  I went in on the bed and snuggled up with him for a few minutes and he just casually says,  "your hair smells like smoke."

Dang... right away... I get on the defensive ~

"Well I did just come in from checking the woodstove. You know ... any time you walk out in that bait shop it smells like smoke in there...  and I was out there too, just a few minutes ago.  The kids are out there all the time and Sam and Sara both smoke and half of their friends that are always over here smoke in there too."

He just gives me the "well okay... you don't have to get all defensive on me about it ... I just mentioned that your hair smelled like smoke."

Then I did it ... after two years of sneaking around like a school girl behind his back ... I came clean with my confession about having a cigarette now and then. 

OMG ... now I really feel like crap.

I know he's going to be a pain about this ~ and he's going to be harping on me about it.

I know he's right . . .   but I hate how it's so easy for some people to quit and others have such a hard time; but I hated lying about this to him all this time. 

Right away... he tells me,"You're quitting! You think I didn't have cravings when I was quitting; you'll get over it.  You're quitting!"

Dang... as if I haven't tried. 

I wish I would have just kept my big mouth shut.

Oh gosh ... I'm in a pickle now. 

The cat is out of the bag.

Sorry to have dragged you into the drama of my life; but that's what you get for being so dependent on blogging. Ha!

Until next time....

So it goes in my neck of the woods.

~mel