Monday, September 06, 2010

Labor Day, Comfort Food, Etc.


Good morning! Getting ready to go labor on this Labor day, I'm working. Hoping for a quiet and maybe even a short day but there are no guarantees, I'm on 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. My parents are having a fish fry so if all goes well, I'll make it there in time for dinner.
The Mr. is spending a little time with his parents and daboyz are probably going to sleep much of the day away. Jay had rather a rotten week at work last week so he's been thankful for a long weekend and praying for a better week ahead.
I made greens for work and a giant pot cooks down to approximately a tablespoon full. I guess that is what comes of a recipe that starts with "get a mess of greens." Maybe I underestimated the volume of a mess. Although you could still call what I created a mess. I'm taking in my tablespoonful of greens and will deal with the mockery. I also made a delicious pan of banana bread so if people aren't nice to me, I won't share that!
Speaking of goodies, I made a loaf of apricot walnut for my mom, craisin raisin nut for Dean's parents and 2 loaves of a new experiment of mine-trail mix bread. I may have overcooked it, it seems a little dry. But such is the way of experiments. I took a basic quick bread and zested a large orange and then juiced it to divide between two pans. Then I added a bag equally divided between the two of Target brand trail mix (cranberry/pecan/white chocolate.) It tastes good, could use some tweaking but worth making again. The banana bread was a recipe from allrecipes.com (cathy's banana bread) however, halfway in I realized I didn't have enough sour cream. So I dumped in a 6 ounce container of pineapple greek yogurt and added an extra banana. It is delicious! It makes a 9x11 pan. I'm keeping half for the family and taking half to work.
Finally, I made crumbly lemon squares from the Pioneerwoman blog. I usually make classic lemon squares with a cream cheese based crust and powdered sugar on top. These are heartier. Oats in the crust and then sprinkling the crust mix on top as well. The lemon layer is a can of sweetened condensed milk whisked with the zest and juice of two lemons (I added extra zest, only the zest of one lemon was required in the recipe.) They are wonderful. Not the more delicate version I'm used to so it's a matter of taste. Jay preferred them because he liked the crumbly top and felt they were more substantial.
A bit pot of chicken and noodles and a pot roast yesterday rounded out a weekend of baking and comfort food. Speaking of comfort food, we got a fire pit and enjoyed the cool evenings around a fire making s'more. Too much more comfort and I'm never going to be able to snap my jeans!
Well, better get myself in gear and face the workday. Maybe the sooner I get there, the sooner I can come home? Wherever you are today, have a wonderful day!


The Pioneer Woman's Crumbly Lemon Squares Recipe!

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