WEEKEND RAMBLINGS DECEMBER 14, 2014

Oven baked I-Tail-ian Meatballs from Three Dog Bakery Cookbook

I-Tail-ian meatballs were made and given 3 paws approval from the pups.  I used a 1" cookie scoop to make them. I think they are too large for snacks so I cut them into quarters after I baked them.  The recipe had them cooked in a pan the entire time but I thought it would be better to bake them so I put them in the oven for 20 minutes after browning them in a pan.  I did keep out 3 whole cooked meatballs and frozen them for the pups Christmas meal.  The recipe I believe is intended for those that cook their dogs food daily and if you used these for a meal I would probably use a larger scoop or feed them several depending on the dog's size. I also found these to be extremely moist.  The next time I might use only one egg to bind them and see if that helps.  As you can see they sort of flattened into patties when I flipped them.

My baking today also included 4 mini loaves of banana bread.  I used a new recipe that I found on Not Quite Amish Living.  The pups got a bit of a loaf end and gave it 3 paws up too.  Oreo loves bananas so it's no surprise she likes banana bread and Tip loves bread of any type.  I added pecan chips to it, although not the cup they suggested.  I used a small bag so it was probably approximately 1/4 cup of chopped pecans if that much.  I think I bought the pecans for salads and hadn't used them so it was a good way to use them up.

While I was baking, I cleaned the shelves and drawers of the fridge.  I had some fruit go bad in the fruit drawer and wanted to sanitize the drawer and ended up cleaning the whole thing. It's a good thing to clean it out every couple months anyway so it was due. I'd like to get some drawer and shelf liners to make future cleaning easier. Unfortunately I didn't get the freezer inventoried like I'd hoped. At this point I honestly have no clue what's in there.  With Matt on a soft diet for the past several weeks we haven't been eating out of the freezer.

I was hoping Jordon would help me decorate the tree but he took off after I picked him up from work. Matt was working tonight. This year I chose to put it in the living room.  To protect the carpet from the needles I put a flannel bed sheet under it to catch the needles. I put the tree skirt over the top of the sheet in the front.  I decided to go simple this year on decorating and left 75% of my decorations in the tubs.  The tree looks a lot prettier in life then it does in this picture.  I had to take down and put away all the fall decorations and then reorganize the living a bit to clear that corner. Hopefully Matt doesn't get too upset.  He hates me reorganizing rooms.

While I was working I  watching Cranford on Amazon Prime.  I really like this BBC series and was disappointed to discover it only has 8 episodes total.  I finished season 1 today and unfortunately season 2 isn't free.  There's 3 episodes left of the series so I'll probably break down and pay for season 2. I may check the library to see if they have it before spending the money.  My other recent favorite was Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on Amazon Prime.  I finished up with the series last weekend.  Matt and I referred to as the "flapper mysteries".  I wanted to watch some Miss Marple mysteries but discovered the one I wanted is now no longer free.  Why is it everything I like has gone from free to rent for a fee?  After I finished watching Cranford I decided a Harry Potter marathon was my choice for relaxing so I popped a DVD in.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS DECEMBER 13, 2014

This week has been busy.  This was the first of my three 64 hour weeks and I have survived it although by Thursday I was pretty tired.  This too shall pass as the week of Christmas my hours at my second job drop to 16 and then the next week to 12.  Feast or famine it appears. I'm going to open my schedule up to working in Lawn & Garden to help ensure that I get hours.

We're still adjusting to Matt's schedule but things are starting to settle.  The one issue I'm not sure about is how we're going to work out is lunch.  By the time he gets up around 11, I'm starting to get hungry and he only wants his coffee (his breakfast) and isn't interested in eating until about 2.  As I typically take Jordon to work about 11:45, having my lunch after I get back makes more sense then starting work again and then taking another break.  It doesn't look like our idea of having a "family" lunch is going to work at this time.

Our weather has been warmer this week.  Temps this weekend are expected to be around 40'F.  Hopefully the snow will melt. The warmer temps are causing fog at night and in the morning.  I have a beautiful view of white covered trees out my window by my work computer from the fog freezing on the trees. Matt took this picture from outside.

Last night when I went to get Jordon from work there was a light mist and frozen ice on my windows.  Jordon went to take the garbage out for me and nearly fell on the deck from the freezing mist so although it can be really pretty, it can be dangerous as well.  This morning when I took him to work there was a thick fog and everything was still slick.  Thankfully the main road was not slippery.

I ran out of the peanut butter treats so I made up a new batch of biscuits for the pups.  This time I made Pumpkin Pie Biscuits from You Bake 'Em Dog Biscuits Cookbook by Janine Adams.  They smell divine! I made three dog shaped cookies and frozen them for Christmas Day for their dessert and the rest were bone shaped for daily treats.  There is a good amount of cinnamon and nutmeg in them so they smell just like a pumpkin pie.  These don't rise so you have to roll them thick to have a good thickness of biscuit.  The pups give them a thumbs up too.  My weekend baking plan is to make I-Tail-ian Meatballs from the Three Dog Bakery Cookbook.  I have the turkey thawing so hopefully these will get made up tomorrow.  I may see if I can get another batch of biscuits done too.