A Genius Blog-Salsa

A Genius Blog

I am posting this here so I can refer to it when I am ready to make some. SALSA!

I will let you know how it turns out.

Hot Spice Tea!

Yesterday morning sure was gloomy, then by noon it was snowing what looked like powder sugar dropping in our drive way. For about an hour or so the snow fell and then by chance out came the sun for the rest of the day. Now don't get me wrong it still was very cold out like the 20's but the sky was as blue as ever for the rest of the afternoon. During the "snow falling" I decided I needed to make something to get me through this winter day, so I got into my cookbooks and found this recipe. I think I made the right choice, I would say looking outside with Kendall as she jabbered at the snow and I sipped on my Tea was the perfect blend to a funny winter day in Central Oregon.

HOT SPICE TEA

In a large saucepan, bring 3 cups water and a 1/12 inch piece fresh ginger (unpeeled), halved lengthwise, to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 8 minutes or so.

Add 4 tea bags ( I used black tea), 1 cinnamon stick, 8 whole cloves, 1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns. and 2 cups low-fat milk (2 percent).

Steep over med-low heat until fragrant, about 6 minutes.

Strain through a sieve; discard solids.

Stir in 1/4 cup honey. Serve hot, I put remaining into a glass jar and kept in the fridge until today when I warmed up the remaining tea and enjoyed 2 more cups.

Hot Spice Tea originally found in Everydayfoods.com 

Let me know what you think. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Here's to a sweet cup of afternoon tea,

Betty Jo

Spiced Carrot Muffins - WOW!!!

This is probably the best carrot cake-muffin I have had, the good part is you don't have to add the cream cheese frosting. It taste's great with out it :).

The recipe calls for 2/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt, I didn't have any on hand so I sure 2/3 cup low-fat sour cream and added 1/4 cup 2% milk. It all worked out just fine. 

The great thing about this recipe, it is OK to freeze the dough mixture in the muffin cups here is how you do it:    Using the muffin pan, line however many muffins you want to freeze with muffin liners, fill the individual muffin liners almost to the top, place the pan in the freezer. In 45 minutes to 1 hour take out the pan and put the frozen uncooked muffins in a zip lock bag, try to get as much air out of the bag while closing as possible. Return batter filled cups to freezer until ready to bake.  When ready put frozen batter cups back into the muffin pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. 

Recipe -   http://www.marthastewart.com/337237/spiced-carrot-muffins 

You won't be sorry!

Happy baking,

Betty Jo

The Holiday's of 2012

Family Christmas! Our 4 wonderful Grandchildren!!!!

12pm good bye 2012, HELLO 2013!

New Years Eve fun times.

Enjoying New Years Eve with a few good friends. 

Glenn's mirror ball and fog machine...silly isn't he.

Laying down in the snow for just a moment while snowshoeing with Andrew and Sara, by the look on my face you would think I was heading down the mountain,   lol..

Glenn and I are excited to see what happens in 2013 at our house...

HAPPY NEW YEAR READERS11

The search for the not so perfect Christmas Tree!

Each Christmas Season Glenn and I look forward to heading up in the mountains to get our Christmas Tree. For the past few years we have taken Lucy, our oldest grand daughter with us. Lucy has been given the privilege; to pick out and bring home her families tree also.  It's fun to watch her walk through the snow (if there is any) or up the hill trying to find just the right tree. This year she was smart and brought her own tape measure so she was sure to get a 6 - 7 foot tree.

Is this tree the right height Grandma?

We feel very fortunate to live in a area where the mountains are almost in our backyard. Throughout the year this area is our main source of "fun".  Not only do we get our Christmas Tree from the mountains we also enjoy camping, hiking and snow shoeing along with other fun activities :)...

Grandpa wait for me!

If you were to look at our tree, you might smile and think well there is a not so perfect tree, but to us it is exactly what we were looking for. I hope we will be able to keep doing this well into the future with the rest of our grand kids, but I am not so sure all the kids parents will want that oh so, "not so perfect Christmas Tree" for their homes. That's ok we did raise our kids to be "self-thinkers" (that is a whole other post),  so be it, Lol. 

Make sure and tie them on good, we don't want to have one fall off

Our Perfect Not So Perfect Christmas Tree.

No matter what kind of tree you choose for your home, I am sure it's is as beautiful as our Christmas Tree we brought home from the mountains..Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!


   

Halloween was in the house!

HALLOWEEN IN OUR HOUSE

Enjoy taking a look at my Halloween Villa's, I have received from my loving husband over the years.

- Zelda's Wax Museum-

-Village Witch Way Flight School-

-Halloween Hay Ride-

-Black Cat Dinner-

Costumes for sale!

-Trick or Treaters Bobbing for Apples-

-Mickey Mouse's Haunted Mansion-

All of these fun villa's are the creative work of Department 56, the detail is just fascinating to me.  I toy with mentioning to my husband that Department 56 also creates fun Christmas Villa's, but having just the Halloween ones makes them even more special to me. Hope you have enjoyed the photos as much as I like having them set out each Halloween!

Thanks for stopping by my blog, Betty

Homemade Kahlua

In September I started the process of making my own Kahlua and yesterday November 7th I was finished. After a few taste tests I can assure you it's "some pretty good stuff". I followed the recipe, link below, with a few of my own adjustments added. I used Stoleys Vanilla Vodka and Starbucks french roast coffee beans.

Can't you just smell the coffee boiling in the picture on the right.  Coffee aroma filled the house for the next few days.









As you can see from the photo below, I used a fruit canning strainer because that is what I had on hand. I think for next year I will invest in a beverage strainer, since I had to strain this liquid 4 times before all the coffee debris was gone.  I guess you could use instant coffee, if you didn't want to go through the bother of straining. We are not instant coffee drinkers so that would not work for us. If you are asking yourself how would you know? I would always be saying to myself "I should of used coffee beans instead":).

Kahlua 2012
I reused some maple syrup glass jars I have been saving so some time . 

 Talking to my friend Lisa last night she told me how she likes her Kahlua served. Pour a shot or two of Kahlua over ice into a glass then slowly pour the same amount of 1/2 & 1/2 milk into the same glass then top with a drop or two of some more Kahlua. Yum Yum! I have to say.  

If you would like to have your fridge filled with enough Kahlua to last the winter & to give as gifts for the holidays follow this recipe from Ski Bum Kitchen. 

www.mylikeasaskibum.com/from-the-ski-bum-kitchen-homemade-Kahlua-vodka-and-coffee-deliciousness.

Happy Wintertime!  Betty