Crock-Pot Potato Soup

As you know I am always looking for something to eat for lunch since I am not really a huge sandwich fan. Many weeks I just make a little something on Sunday afternoon and eat it most of the week. This time I found a recipe for Crock-pot Baked Potato Soup, recipe. It seemed like it would be easy and relatively cheap, so on the off chance that this was the worst thing ever I would not be out a million bucks. After mulling the recipe over for a few days I decided it would be a good one to try. 

I bought the stuff and then decided that it would be a wonderful idea to put the stuff in the crockpot anslet it be ready in the morning. It was pretty easy, I just tossed everything in the pot gave it a stir and went to bed. Now here is the thing that I forgot... the crockpot terrifies Lily. I mean full on panic attack. SO about 3AM she started shaking and panting. I was not amused. 

I am not proud of what happened next... I got up and tried to make the crockpot quit making noise. That worked for about an hour before the shaking started again. This time I was pretty mean and yelled at her. I tried to calm her by essentially smothering her. As you might expect, that didn't work it actually made it worse. Eventually I got up and started working around the house. Of course the love of my life went to sleep once I turned the music on. I was a little irritated since I couldn't go into work early since I had a pot of soup cooking. But I did laundry and cleaned some and just did menial tasks around the house for a few hours. It was nice to be so productive before I went to work.

Looks like soup

The soup: When I looked in there after the appointed time was up, I was underwhelmed. It did not look yummy, it was pretty chunky and the cream cheese did not help. Then I remembered that I have an immersion blender, which is for blending soups (not milkshakes, which is when I use it). So I popped that in there for a few seconds and then it looked good. Now I am excited about the soup.

Ready for lunch

I tossed some into the cups that I take to work and then put some sour cream, cheddar cheese, and bacon into a tupperware to add after I heated the soup. I thought long and hard about what type of bacon I wanted to get for this and realized that this was a perfect time for pre-cooked bacon. I just tore up a piece and it was just the right amount. 

I really liked this soup. I would however change a few things: I would probably replace some of the black pepper with some sort of Cajun seasoning. I am not a huge pepper fan so it was a bit heavy on the pepper for me, but that could have been that you only really add pepper. I am going to try and freeze the soup next time because this is the biggest pot of soup I have ever made. I will be sure to let you know how that goes. I am also going to try and put something on top of the lid so that it doesn't rattle and scare the dog. Poor thing, I can't believe that she is afraid of the crock pot. Actually, I totally can believe it, she is a weenie but I love her anyway. 

Christmas Tree Delivery

Several weeks before Thanksgiving I saw an Amazon Deal for delivery of Christmas Tree. The deal was $55 for a 5-6 foot Douglass Fir, that would be delivered to my front door (from this company). I thought about the deal for several weeks before deciding to buy it. I wan't going to buy the deal since it was more expensive than a normal tree but I realized with the short holiday season it would be hard to find a time when someone with a truck or SUV would be able to help my buy a tree. So I got it.

Originally, my Christmas tree was supposed to be delivered on Friday the 6th. That happened to be the day of the ice storm so it was postponed until Tuesday. I was so excited to get my tree.

When I got home from judging the science fair it was sitting by my front door just waiting for me. At this moment I realized that I might have made a slightly critical error: I had no idea how I was going to get the tree into the stand or into my house. But as a single woman, with a Ph.D., I decided that I would figure this out... because I am not a weakling.

What a champ

I put the tree into the stand without removing the wrapping and then moved into onto my back porch to unwrap it. As I cut off the wrapping I realized that there were a ton of needles so I shook the tree as best as I could and then I let it sit for a bit to let the branches relax. I gave the tree about an hour while I ran to the grocery store to buy the stuff for Chili because that sounded wonderful since it was still freezing.

At this point I have the tree in the house… time for another critical error. I like to put a trash bag under the tree so that if I spill any water it doesn't ruin the carpet or anything else. However, you need to pick the tree up in order to get the bag underneath. In the end I opted for the slide it under one side and then the other. This was not graceful but I made it happen.

Then it was time to decorate the tree. I tend to take a long time putting the lights on and making sure that everything is even. Yeah, that didn't happen this year. I think I finished decorating the tree in about 45 minutes (it usually takes me about 90 minutes). I just wanted to get the tree up and sit down to enjoy the lights.

I loved having a tree the whole Christmas Season. Here are a few pics:

Taking down the tree was another adventure but it was nice to get it taken care of. Do you put up a tree? I love the smell of a Christmas tree and it makes me so happy to see the tree every time I walk out of my room.

Christmas Cookies

In my December goals I mentioned not eating too many cookies and having a plan for that. Over the years I have tried to figure out how to have cookies all season long that are still good and not all stale. My sister-in-law mentioned that she freezes cookie dough so I thought that I would give that a shot this season. The three cookies that I made this year were snicker doodles, peppermint patties, and my faithful sugar cookies.

Peppermint Patties

These are very easy, I followed the recipe from Pillsbury. I wanted to make the filling but that would have involved filling the cookies right before I ate them or they could have gotten soggy and who has time for all of that. But to make the cookies all I had to do was add a little flour to the dough and then red food coloring and peppermint extract to half of it. Once I froze the dough for a few minutes, I sliced all of the cookies. Some of which I baked and the rest went into the freezer. It was awesome whenever I wanted cookies I just popped a few into the oven for about 15 minutes.

Cookie Dough

Snicker doodles

I started making these cookies several years ago and have loved them ever since, I think it might be because they are make with a cake mix so they are so yummy. This recipe came from Betty Crocker. It is so easy, although this year I made it in my mixer and the dough is very sticky. I made a note on my recipe to mix this by hand otherwise it would be pretty sticky. The dough freezes really well, I just separated it into smaller portions and wrapped it in seran wrap. When I want cookies I let it thaw on the counter for a few minutes and the roll it in the cinnamon and sugar mixture and bake for a 12 minutes. I think you could roll all of the cookies and freeze them. It would involves less work in the end but I haven't tried that yet.

Sugar Cookies

In my family we have been eating these cookies since I was a child. The recipe is on a typed paper that my grandmother wrote for my mom when she gave her the cookie press (I think this is true, although it is possible that I just made this up and we got the recipe from someone else... who knows). My mom loves press cookies, the ones that you make with something like a gun (that shoots cookies and not bullets). I personally don't love making those cookies, it takes a ton of work and makes me crazy. I tend to make roll out cookies or cookie cutter cookies. I love them. I love them with sprinkles all over them. I hope to actually share this recipe with you eventually for something, maybe valentines day with some heart cookies.

My favorite thing it to lay next to my Christmas tree and eat cookies while I watch Christmas movies or just anything on TV. I am excited about trying different cookies every year and seeing something that might someday become a permanent part of my cookie life. I love cookies.

Icepocolypse 2013

Ice Day!

When I got home from Thanksgiving the weather was pretty nice, a few days later I realized that it was going to get cold… really cold. I will admit that I didn't pay much attention to what was coming down the pipe since I had lived in St. Louis so I know how to deal with snow. However, by Wednesday I realized that this wasn't going to be a snow storm it was going to be an ice storm. Ice is worse because it doesn't plow away.. not to mention that Dallas doesn't really have plows. 

Thursday dawns and the Weather Channel announces that Jim Cantore is in town for this. Now I know this is going to be a serious storm. Jim only goes to the best places (or the worst depending on your version of the weather). As the day goes on the weather gets worse and worse, I finally get out of work into some of the worst traffic that I have seen in weeks. I run into a grocery store on the way home to grab some bread, milk, cereal, cookie dough, and eggs. You know the essentials. Once I got home, I walked the dogs and made something for dinner. I has intended to hit up a Junior League thing but with the weather and the traffic I opted to stay in.

When I went to bed it was just raining a little. I was pretty sure that this was going to be just another one of those days where there is a whole lot of hype and then nothing. However, I woke up and there was white stuff… I want to say snow but I think it was ice and sleet unfortunately. In that moment, I knew that I was going to work from home in my PJs. Gotta love science. 

Still a little grass but mostly ice

As I took the pups for a walk (the black and white dog seen in some of these photos is named Thomas and I watched him for a few weeks while his owner was in the hospital) and we checked out what was happening around the pond.

The pond closest to our house froze!

A frozen pond and a tree fell over

Once we had seen all there was to see it was time to get down to business and get to work. I did a little work on my laptop (truthfully it was just enough to make it count as a work day). Then I made cookie dough for two different types of Christmas cookies. I froze some of it in the freezer so that I wouldn't eat all of my cookies at once. Then I spent the rest of the day snuggled up with my two dogs reading or watching TV.

Watching the weather channel to see if we are going to freeze

Reading with Lily

On Sunday, Watermark had church live-streamed on the internet (they canceled the in person services due to the ice). I admit that I often go to church in my PJs from my couch, I love having coffee and hearing the word of God. But on this Sunday the roads were still pretty terrible and most of the parking lots were terrible around town. So, the dogs and I sat on the couch and listened to Todd. It was so nice to not feel the pressure to get out and go to church in the ice. 

Church

Doggie snuggles and the word of God, what else could I want

In the afternoon the roads were finally a little better so I finally got out of the apartment. I ran by the hospital to see Thomas's dad, John, for a few minutes. The roads were not terrible but all of the bridges and any parking structures were horrific. I didn't stay out too long, which was probably a good choice. But on Monday morning it was time to get back to life and I had to get back to work. 

My dad asked me which was worse the snow or the ice and I went with the ice. Here is why: in the north there are plows that can remove the snow and actually treat the roads. Also, I find that once the snow is plowed out of the way the roads are fine. When they are icy… you have to wait until it melts and you kinda hope that it doesn't refreeze over night. I am a firm believer in being safe and not risking my life in the ice so I stayed home and enjoyed a few days at home. I also didn't want to wreck my new ride. 

Really December, Really

As per usual yet another month has gone by with just a few posts. I don't even know what happened. That is lie, I know what happened: December was pretty short (only three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas), the dog sitting, the ice storm, and a whole host of other things that happened. But I have high hopes for this month and the new year. I also think that I am going to try and scale back the amount of blogs that I write to something more manageable like three a week and the occasional bonus blog. Who knows how this is going to go but I still enjoy writing this blog so I guess here is to another month where I fail at this.

As per usual it is time for a few photos to tide you over:

look at the ice

My Christmas Tree

I hope that your December was good and that you were able to spend some time with your families, I loved getting to hang out with my family. I am looking forward to getting to what 2014 will bring, I think there are going to be some great things happening.

Cane Rosso

As you know one of my fellow post-docs and I enjoy trying out restaurants and for our December dinner we chose Cane Rosso (featured on DDD on Food Network). I will admit that we had been trying to go here for several months but our lives have been just a bit crazy recently. But it finally happened and it was wonderful.

There are two locations: Deep Ellum and Lakewood. We choose Deep Ellum, mainly because it is the original and closer to work (also we can pretend we are cool by going to dinner in a cool part of town). Parking is a nightmare in that area so be prepared for that.

The atmosphere is great, I felt as if I popped into someones house for dinner and it seemed really cosy. This is a pizza place, but it serves neopolitan pizza: very thin crust with lots of toppings that you have to eat with a fork.

We got an appetizer. I think we got the focaccia, which was good. We were both starving so. It is essentially a pizza crust with some olive oil drizzled on it after it comes out of the oven.

So good

I got a pizza with sausage, tomatoes, and mushrooms. This was delish. I would totally eat this again. I ate about half of the pizza and took the rest home as leftovers and it was still good then.

Saumya got a different pizza (she doesn't eat meat so we couldn't share) with peppers and different veggies. I think enjoyed hers as well and only finished about half of it.

This place definitely earns the post-doc seal of approval. I would eat here again and will probably be taking my guests here if they crave pizza. I was very very happy with everything about this place. Let me know if you give this a try.

Blueberry dump cake

My mom and I decided to try a different version of the apple dump cake that I brought last year to thanksgiving at work, which you can read about here. She got blueberry pie filling and an angel food cake mix. I didn't love the cake last year but I will admit that it wasn't terrible so I had medium hopes for this. My mom's friend had made this for her and she liked it, so we were golden. I will admit that I was just a tad concerned about it since the recipe was mix together and bake. Oh well, what could go wrong.

Gotta love two ingredient cakes!

Well, for starters the cake turned purple.

 But let's get real, purple isn't bad. So we just pressed on and baked the cake for a while until it looked done. I think it was about 40 minutes around 350, perhaps.

After lunch we got around to eating the cake. I am not a fan.

 The cake had a really odd texture and the flavor was not the best thing I had ever had. My thought on these cakes is:
-if you are on a diet this is kinda like cake
-if you love canned pie filling, this is for you
-if you are not a fan of canned pie filling this will taste like a cheap substitute for yummy cake.

I have decided that I will not be making anymore of these cakes, the two ingredient thing is cool but they just don't taste good. This doesn't mean the I will never try this or something like this again, I probably will but it will just be a while. Have you ever made one of these cakes? Did you like it?