Cream Puffs

I love cream puffs and make them for many family dinners, especially Easter dinner.  So simple, and everybody loves them.  All you need are some basic ingredients and a strong right arm.   I showed my ten year old son how to make them yesterday.  He thought it was like magic! 

You only need some very basic ingredients - hard margarine, eggs, water and flour



Bring the water to a good boil, and dump in the flour all at once.  Mix until you get a soft dough that looks like this.

Then, remove from heat.  I usually wait a minute and let it cool just a tiny bit, then add all four eggs.  Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon.  It will look like a yucky eggy mess (see photo above), but keep stirring and beating with your spoon.  Magically, everything will come together and form a smooth batter.

Drop by 1/4 cupful's on a baking sheet.  I used a large ice cream scoop.

This is what they look like after baking.

Yum.

Fill with sliced, sweetened strawberries and whipped cream.  :-)

I use the recipe in my old orange Betty Crocker cookbook.


Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup  all-purpose flour
4 eggs

Heat oven to 400ºF. In 2 1/2-quart saucepan, heat water and butter to rolling boil. Stir in flour; reduce heat to low. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball; remove from heat.  Wait a minute or so to cool slightly.  Beat in eggs, all at once; continue beating until smooth.


 On ungreased cookie sheet (I find it easiest to line a cookie sheet with parchment paper), drop dough by slightly less than 1/4 cupfuls about 3 inches apart. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool away from draft, about 30 minutes.

Cut off top third of each puff and pull out any strands of soft dough. Fill puffs with filling; replace tops. Cover; refrigerate until serving. Store covered in refrigerator.

Why not win Westcott this Wednesday?

Leave a comment on the Canadian Scrapbooker facebook page here for your chance to win this great prize from Westcott!!  And who doesn't need a great pair of new scissors and a paper trimmer!!!   Deadline is midnight, Friday April 23.

Gas Pains

The older you get, the faster time goes, but I swear it just seems like yesterday when I was so shocked about gasoline prices reaching over $1 a liter that I did this layout.  But it's been almost exactly five years......  and gas prices have bounced around a bit since then.  Over a buck, under a buck, over a buck, under a buck, but generally staying pretty close to that dollar mark.  Now we seem to be moving into new uncharted territory with $115.9 per liter (which apparently is cheap for Canadians) and rumor has it that this price will soon be a fond but distant memory.  Anyway, I really should do more layouts about costs of living and day to day life.  They are pretty neat to look back on.

Alphabet stamps are gelatins, little cars are Stampin Up

An odd bird

Our gentle giant of a cat, Charlie loves to be outside.  I cracked up laughing when I looked out my kitchen window last week (yes it is mid-April and that is snow on the ground) to see him camped out in the bird feeder.  He spent a few hours in there, waiting for some poor foolish bird-brain to land, but somehow I doubt that happened.  Nice try, Charlie.  Very innovative thinking.  ;-)

Bo Bunny Giveaway

Every Wednesday, Canadian Scrapbooker magazine will be giving away a prize package to one of their Facebook fans!   The prize up for grabs this week is this gorgeous package from Bo Bunny featuring their AD Lib line! I love it, it makes me happy with it's bright and cheerful colours!!!  (and the way it's snowing here today, I need all the cheering and happiness I can get.  ;-))

To win this prize package – visit the Canadian Scrapbooker facebook page and leave a comment under the WHY NOT WIN WEDNESDAYS!!!! post. You have until Friday April 15th Midnight to leave your comment!  Click here to leave a comment!
Good luck everyone!

A Couple of Slow Cooker Recipes

Someone passed a copy of Family Circle magazine to me last month.  I haven't seen an issue in a very long time, and there were some slow cooker recipes that really appealed to me.  I tweaked them slightly and made some delicious suppers.  The kids wouldn't eat them because there were mushrooms (ACK!) in the first dish and beans (YIKES!) in the second, but the adults quite enjoyed their food.  So, for those that smelled the beef stroganoff cooking one day and asked for the recipe, here it is.  And the other one I tried, Pork and Black Beans, was delicious and fast and I will definitely make it again.


Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

1 1/2 pounds beef round or top sirloin steak, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 package (14 ounces) white mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste (I use ketchup, because I don't want to open a whole can of tomato paste for this)
11/2 cup low-sodium beef broth (I use the ready to use stuff in the waxed cartons)
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1. Combine beef, mushrooms, onions, tomato paste, broth and 3 tablespoons of the soy sauce in slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or on LOW for 6 hours or until beef is tender.

2. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce, cornstarch and black pepper; whisk into slow cooker bowl and cook an additional 30 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Serve over egg noodles or rice and sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

 
Black Beans & Pork

Makes: 6 servings
Prep: 15 minutes
Slow Cook: 4 hours on HIGH or 6 hours on LOW

1 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 onion, chopped
2 cans  black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with green chilies (the only brand I found at SaveOne foods was Western Family)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 cups cooked white rice (optional)

1. In a slow cooker bowl, toss together pork, chili powder, coriander, salt and pepper. Stir in onion, beans, tomatoes and 1 1/4 cups water. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or on LOW for 6 hours.
2. Stir in cilantro. Using a potato masher, mash beans slightly until mixture is thickened. Serve bean mixture over rice, if desired.

My New Camera Bag

I am in love.  I have been coveting a purse like camera bag for some time now.  I figured they would be so handy when doing any kind of travelling, or even coming to work!  These bags don't look like a camera bag but give some good protection to your dSLR and associated equipment..  I always feel a little odd going into downtown Los Angeles or Chicago with my Canon slung over my shoulder - it feels like a big neon sign - TOURIST!!!  ROB ME!!!   LOL, well really, when you have many $$$$  worth of photographic equipment hanging around your neck, it feels kind of weird.

Anyway, I have been looking around for a while, nothing seemed quite right (too small, too ugly, too expensive) and then I found a bag I just loved on Etsy, at Porteen Gear.   It seemed perfect.  Robyn Porteen is an award-winning photographer who designed a wonderful camera bag and is now custom making them for others.  Beautiful design, roomy enough to store a dSLR body, a couple of lenses, an external flash and miscellaneous purse type stuff, and custom made with your choice of fabrics, leathers and other materials.  So many options that it will take a long time for the indecisive to choose........  so many stunning combinations that I wish I could afford a handful of these camera bags.

I ordered one as a birthday present for myself and it came yesterday.  Happy early brithday to me.  If you want one for yourself, plan ahead.  This was not a fast process - after I ordered the bag, it took about three weeks to make, and then took about four weeks through the US and Canada postal systems.  Thank goodness it is here safe and sound, beautifully wrapped with a small zippered pouch and card case included.  Definitely worth the wait, and I'd recommend a Porteen camera bag to anyone.  Here's some quick photo's I took:

I don't have a suitable photo showing how much stuff you can put into this bag, but it's substantial!  If you're interested, this particular bag design was chosen with a bit of help from Robyn from the choices on her website here and features Brown Medallion fabric, chocolate brown leather, brown strap, cinnamon interior and brown waxed canvas. 

A Few Layouts

Just a couple of projects that I did last year that I don't think I ever posted.

This one cracks me up every time I look at it.  Harry Potter was all the rage in my house for years, and the kids would run around and cast spells at each other at the top of their lungs.......  I know them all, they are indelibly etched in my brain.

This one used some paper clips as kind of a swing like embellishment, paper and stickers are by Fancy Pants and the birds are done with Stampin Up's Design Studio.  I'm not much of a digi scrapbooker, but I love the idea of being able to manipulate SU images in Design Studio, make them different colours, mirror images of each other and fiddle with the final size before printing and cutting out.  Fun!

This layout is all about the View from the Airplane Window from Salt Lake City to Edmonton.  The plane was mostly empty, the sky was pretty clear, and I amused myself by taking photos all the way home.

The Hotel Figueroa

When I was in Los Angeles in January for CHA, the Craft and Hobby Association trade show, the Canadian Scrapbooker team stayed at the Hotel Figueroa close to the LA Convention Center.  Wow, what an interesting experience!  I loved it!   It was like no other hotel I have ever stayed at.  It was built in 1925 as a YWCA residence, but has been renovated to a funky Moroccan oasis.   Not much to look at from the outside, but stepping through the door into the lobby, you felt like you had arrived in Casablanca or Tangiers.... The lobby, the bar, the elevators, the rooms were totally unique and definitely not found in your neighborhood Holiday Inn.   Here's a few photos - it was quite dim in the hotel, as one would expect for a shady retreat in Africa - so the photos are perhaps not the greatest, but you will get the idea.  My room was small and convent like, but very clean and interesting and perfect for a single traveller.  The suites were simply gorgeous.  Stay here if you get a chance.  Take ear plugs though, the hotel is right in the middle of Los Angeles, and my country girl ears had trouble getting used to the street noise outside my hotel room.

Even the elevators were special!

Another birthday card

Can I just say, I love the Stampin Up 'In Colors" this year?   There's just something about how the Pear Pizzazz blends with the Peach Parfait and the Poppy Parade.........  now that's a whole lot of alliteration in one sentence, but the green does look really good with the peach and the red.  LOL

So anyway, this year I purchased a pile of the in color cardstock,  patterned paper and the ribbon, and when I need to make a card quickly, it is my 'go to' pile.  Everything matches with everything else, I don't spend an hour looking for just the right shade of ribbon or a particular sheet of patterned paper.  And with a border punch and the awesome stamps Repeat After Me by MyStampBox that I wrote about last week, I can make 'em fancy without much effort (and without digging out my sewing machine).  This is the birthday card I made yesterday, but I have made sympathy cards and get well cards using a similar design - the colors are suitable for just about anything.  I just print out whatever sentiment I need on a scrap of SU kraft cardstock (oh oops, it's called CrumbCake now), cut it out with a Spellbinders Nestability oval, touch up the edges with a bit of ink or gilding pen and call it a day.

Cardstock, patterned paper, ink, flower punch by Stampin Up, Fiskars border punch, SU and Prima ribbon,  mystamp Box stamps to add the zigzag stitching.