GATOR: When you are baking a larger round cake, it is really helpful to have a center core to help it bake more evenly. They should have the item any where they sell cake decorating supplies and pans. Its about two or three inches in diameter, and flares at the top. You fill it with nuts and bolts, or cake whatever....(mine is filled with nails and nuts ang bolts!) and place it in the center of the cake pan, and then pour the batter around it. (don't forget to grease and flour it! ) The cake then bakes from the outside in and inside out. It makes it more even, and keeps it from drying out on the edges while getting the middle done. I usually bake larger layers in a lower temperature...like 325 instead of 350...to help keep it from over cooking the edges.
I don't even want to talk about dinner tonight...I was BAD BAD BAD! We went out for Mexican and I ate chips, salsa and more chips. Two steps forward, one and half back...seems like I would have learned by now....
Ok, so I didn't do so well for dinner last night. We went to california pizza kitchen. I split the Thai Salad and Thai Pizza (wheat crust) with my friend. She ordered a dessert to split and I only ate a few bites of the vanilla ice cream off the top. COuld have been better.
Jacob and Selah are both hanging on my leg wanting to be held, so I guess I'm not going to be able to post so much after all. GOign to try the chicken chilli tonoght.. I'll post some replies later.
Good morning...just a fly by as I am heading out to school in a few minutes. I agreed to come in and help a couple classes complete a project they started yesterday. I am hoping its not all day long...just a few hours and I can be home before lunch. I have company coming for dinner tonight. I have a chuck roast defrosting, and will either cut it up and make a stew, or cook it whole. Depends on how I feel when I get home.
Breakfast was a piece of crustless quiche and a quarter cup of leftover coffee. (yuck!- however, caffeine is caffeine!)
I'm back. Jake is down for an early nap, and Selah is reading her 'GO, Dog, GO! book. Nice...
Selah and I had a running discussion all day yesterday. GOes something like this....
Momma, Baby Jacob my son. (said very emphaticaly)
No, Selah. He's your brother, but he's my son.
No, momma. Dat MMMYYYY son....You his bwudder?
Well, I'm his Momma, so he's my son like you are my daughter.
Oh, no, Momma!! I not dowder. I Selah!
I could just eat her up she is so cute!!!
MONET- Have a great day at the school. Let me knwo about tomorrow. BTW, BOB didn't show me any love either... Must be busy. Who in the world would be busy this time of year??
Gator- I'll do that with the chicken stock. Great idea!! I don't like an automatic eather. Travis and I compromized with the Passat becuase it is Triptonic (Can be automatic or manual) I love driving a manual all of the way, but there is allot of Atlanta traffic.
Bob- You're awesome. Sorry about the fridge. YUCK!!!! We went camping a few months ago and, when I came home, the freezer was wide open the whole weekend!!! Not fun.
Good morning! 17 degrees and frosty out there- no big snowfall yet. I am disappointed!! Went up to see mom last night- just as I got there, they told me they were rushing her back to the hospital (she's in the brain injury rehab center) by ambulance b/c her blood pressure was sky high and they can't get it down. So I followed the ambulance and stayed with her in the ER while they checked everything out. Her HR was still high and her beats were off again. So frustrating. Finally, they got her BP down and they brought her back to the rehab center. She's doing fine this morning. They told us last night also, she will definitely NOT be home by Christmas- which really bummed my mom out. But they said if she's stable enough, we can take her home for the weekend for Christmas- so that made her happy. Soooo.... thats the scoop on mom this morning- again- thanks for asking about her and praying. I agree with Gator- everyone here is WONDERFUL!!!!
Well, I was wanting to eat everything in the house yesterday- got my TOM today- that explains it. I didn't do too bad, but portions were large.
That recipe with the chicken and beans looks AWESOME! Tomorrow I may make it!!! I made pea soup yesterday and added some wild rice . Yummy. I may be paying for all the beans I've been using lately when it comes to my hubby (if ya know what I mean!!!!) (Monet- we need a "tooting" smilie- this was close as I could get! LOL!)
OK- time to get some laundry done. Yuck. Better than dishes though. Hate those. I'll try back later..
And so it begins...Ya'll know I work in an elementary school and this time of year we get "Thank you" presents from parents in the form of baked goods galore. Also, teachers are bringing in goodies. AAAHHHH! What's a girl to do. This morning there was an apple wedges and dip. I tried one wedge with just a tiny amount of dip. It was pretty good, but different from the traditional caramel. It was not too hard to pass on. Then our lead nurse sent us all a book of insporation for nurses with wintergreen lifesavers in the pack as well. So you open the package and out rains the lifesavers. I've only had one so far!
Toni-I'm glad to have my shopping done for my kids. I need to by Rachel one more smallish $10-15 item to even her up.
Tech- Hope your house is sparlking clean today!
Bob- So sorry about your fridge. A few years ago we lost ours. Was warmer in the fridge than in the house!
Cindy-Would love the cookie recipe..PB is my favorite!
Gator- My husband can make you some of his homemade cough syrup. He takes a little scotch in a jar and adds lemon and homey or crushed peppermint. Keep in the fridge and dose as needed!
Monet-The chili recipe sounds great! How do you make your quiche?
Talithat-Your kids soud so cute! Hope you get to feeling better as your pregnancy progresses!
Munch-Good luck with your mom and hope she sontinues to feel better!
Oh my gosh a blanket of beautiful white snow has come this morning. We live a mile down a hill and DH had to come back from work this morning and get our 4 wheel drive scout instead of the van. Its still spitting out snow hours later. So we have about an inch. Hope it goes away soon but its so cold think it will be here for a few days. That means DH will have to take me grocery shopping tomorrow afternoon when he gets off work. Sorry I can't write more but got to get busy......
I'm home today...went to work, stopped at Mickyd's for breakfast and ...well...let's just say thisl...the back door trots have grabbed me like you neve cover could imagine!!!! I'm going to work on Saturday!
MONET.....SORRY....DIDN'T MEAN TO OVER LOOK YOU!!!
i'M OFF TO RECLINE AN TRY TO FEEL BETTER...i'LL BE BACK LATER!!
I am back from helping the two classes. They did pretty well. I wanted to strangle a couple kids who kept using blue, then white paint though. The paints are cake tempra, and I had to pick out the white cakes over and over to clean them off! Then, one little first grader had these beautiful colors on hers...but kept brushing and brushing...I finally took it away from her to preserve some of the pretty colors she had used. She was getting it all muddied by her brushing. A couple of the first graders washed all the pans, and brushes and organized them for me. They are so sweet! So, I am home, and feeling a bit tired. I really OUGHT to try and get some shopping done, but I don't feel like it.
OOOHHH NNNOOO! I just found out that one of my orders I placed for a gift for Rachel has been cancelled and my account credited, which is great; but I need it for Christmas! I reordered it from Amazon.com and they guarantee it to get here before Dec. 23. (as long as it doesn't get cancelled again, right? )
Monet- I am watching the weather like a hawk! Normally I just sit and wait it out. Whatever happens, happens. Right? Well today just happens to be the day Sean went down to the Andersonville Civil War prison camp and will not be home from the field trip till 7:45 pm. I hope the weather does not get bad because they are 3 hours away! I am going to fix a meatball soup tonight. It has a can of italian style tomatoes and spinach in it, I've never tried it. Then I will sit and wait, glued to the TV!
The snow is coming...any moment... glad I got home before it started !
I had a odd night last night. I felt great yesterday Im mean really good . I was excited about going for my step class. About 20 min into it I got weak legged and slightly nausous. I really didnt feel good..real quick like. Well good thing my dd was there ( and her co worker) who are both nurses so I was in good hands at least..but she told me to just take it easy or sit down but I took a few minute break and finished but with not much energy. I felt totally fine on my way home. So that was odd ( speically since this was my 4th/5th week of doing these classes) but then there was another odd thing. I woke up at 1am last night with the most horrific charlie horse/leg cramp I have ever had. It probably lasted 6-7 minutes and it had me in tears it was so bad. Ive gotton one in just my calf before but this was down my whole lower leg and going through my foot. It would tighten like my leg and foot were twisting like youd twist out a wet towel then it would start to relax and then start again ..over and over in that time frame. All I could do was sit there and pray for it to stop. It was crazy. What in the world brought those two things on. Should I be worried?
Gator- You know when my dad first passed away , all I could do was talk about him and Id cry and cry my dh finally said "would you stop talking about him/it ( the whole dying thing) , Youd feel better if youd stop" and Id tell him that I wanted to talk about it. But now I find myself trying not to think about him too much or talk about him because it does make me so sad and the tears start all over again just like the first day. I have tried to play his cds in the car and I become a emotional wreck. Im waiting for the day that I can listen to one the whole way through. I miss him so terribly much and still can hardly believe he is gone. Im sure my Mom is 100x more than me but she is a very strong woman and holds together well. Shes never been one to wear her emotions on her sleeve.
I agree..everyone here is GREAT !!
I hope you feel better soon
Monet- thats interesting about the cake. I learn so many new things reading your posts. Ive never bake a big cake but one never knows.
Talitha- we had a frozen California pizza tonight ( same company Im assuming) they are delish. I tried not to eat much crust. It was garlic chicken, very garlicky
Munch- So sorry to hear that your mom has had some complications. I will keep her and you in my prayers.
Thin- Here it is.. ( it is my moms recipe)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup p butter
1/2 cup sugar ( I used splenda)
1/2 cup brown sugar ( used splenda brown sugar)
Cream all together
add 1 egg ( or 2 egg whites)
1/4 cup white flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup bran flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
mix well... roll into balls ...flatten with fork...350 10-12 minutes
Note: I added red colored sugar to mine with the fork..since Im doing my for Christmas.
Ive made a meatball soup before and its wonderful.
Toni- our blizzard just started...want some more?
Heading to make some more Christmas cookies. One more set of those to do and then a old fashioned black N white Pistachio bark and Im done baking...
oh for you southerners...heres the start of our blizzard... Ill take another in the morning ( hope this isnt too big)
Last edited by Cindylcing; 12-08-2005 at 04:13 PM.
THIN: They are not predicting snow...so I think we are going to be just plain wet! I have been to Andersonville many times. It has a certain overwhelming saddness in the air there. So many died... I hope they don't get caught in traffic! Even if it started snowing, they ought to be ok. With all the cars on the expressway, the snow will not stick!
CINDY: Baking big cakes is not really hard. The largest I ever made served over 1000! I have not done any holiday baking this year. I may try your PB cookies, though. Tom loves peanut butter! If I added dark chocolate to them, he would be in heaven!
Cindy, the thing at the step class might have been that your heart rate just got a little too high. That sounds kinda like something that happenned to me one time when I was lifting some heavy weights and my heart rate got over the 80% rate. It made me feel kinda faint, like I could have passed out. You just have to stop and rest a bit until your heart rate slows down a bit. The charley horse may have just been a coincidence. Do you have a phys. coming up. You could mention to your doctor what happenned. Part of good health is being able to get your heart rate higher without it going into that danger zone.
Actually I was just at my gyno monday for a follow up...so dont have plans going back to any dr until March lol. Ok... I monitor my heartrate when Im using the machines at the gym and I try to stay between 117- 128, sometimes it will slip up to 130ish but I slow down and bring it back to that zone so thats how I have been training. Now with the step class I have no idea what zone Im in but I know I work alot harder because im pouring sweat and my face is really red. Do you think I could of just been overheated? I was wearing sweats and sweater type top with 3/4 sleeves rolled up. Usually I either wear sweats and a short sleeve tshirt or shorts and a tshirt. I have one level on the step maybe I should go back to it just on the floor Im trying so hard to get in shape. I hate to go backwards.
) The cake then bakes from the outside in and inside out. It makes it more even, and keeps it from drying out on the edges while getting the middle done. I usually bake larger layers in a lower temperature...like 325 instead of 350...to help keep it from over cooking the edges. 
Went up to see mom last night- just as I got there, they told me they were rushing her back to the hospital (she's in the brain injury rehab center) by ambulance b/c her blood pressure was sky high and they can't get it down. So I followed the ambulance and stayed with her in the ER while they checked everything out. Her HR was still high and her beats were off again. So frustrating. Finally, they got her BP down and they brought her back to the rehab center. She's doing fine this morning. They told us last night also, she will definitely NOT be home by Christmas- which really bummed my mom out. But they said if she's stable enough, we can take her home for the weekend for Christmas- so that made her happy. Soooo.... thats the scoop on mom this morning- again- thanks for asking about her and praying. I agree with Gator- everyone here is WONDERFUL!!!! 
(Monet- we need a "tooting" smilie- this was close as I could get! LOL!) 
I've only had one so far!
)
