This snowy evening calls for a sweet treat

I’ve been craving “blonde” brownies for some time now, but had successfully resisted the urge to bake them--until tonight.  With snow falling, a good book calling my name, and no place else I needed to be, I caved. 

These brownies are a family favorite and are ridiculously easy to bake.  They require just a few basic ingredients, then you can dress them up with chocolate chips or dried cranberries if you want to.  I’ll bet white chocolate chips would be good in them too.

 I know a big scoop of vanilla or butter pecan ice cream is good with blonde brownies while they’re still warm. 

Here’s the very simple recipe, if case you wanna give ‘em a try…

Blonde Brownies

¾ cup flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, ¼ tsp. salt, ¼ cup butter, 1 cup packed light brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla, ½ cup chopped nuts

Mix flour, baking powder and salt.  (I omit baking powder and salt if I’m using self-rising flour.) Set flour mixture aside.  In a saucepan, melt butter; remove from heat.  Stir in sugar until well mixed.  Beat in egg and vanilla until blended.  Stir in flour mixture, then nuts. Toss in some chocolate chips or dried cranberries, if desired.  Spread in greased 8 x8 x 2 inch pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.   Double all ingredients to fill a 9 x 13 inch pan. 

I’ll bet you can’t sit still and eat these.

This book's curious form makes it a quick but provocative read

What really interesting book I finished today: “The Call.”

Who wrote said interesting book: Yannick Murphy

What I thought the book would be about judging from the title:  Some religious experience, perhaps a compulsion to become a minister or something. 

What the book is actually about:  A veterinarian who lives in rural New England and frequently gets calls to come and doctor some sick beast.  The vet has a wife, a son, two daughters, and two black Newfoundland dogs.   

What eventful ways the family’s lives are turned upside down: The veterinarian’s son is shot from a tree stand and goes into a coma. The vet periodically imagines that he catches glimpses of a spaceship outside in his yard. (Or does he really?)

Who the vet’s sometimes moody and impatient wife reminded me of: Myself. 

What the book made me do on more than one occasion: Laugh out loud. 

Interesting facts I learned about animals from reading this book: Alpacas can die of fright, such as might be caused from a thunderstorm.  Horses can show symptoms of rabies from eating moldy hay. 

Why I am writing this review in such an unorthodox manner:  Read the book for yourself and you will find out.   

Mysteries I will not solve for you in case you should read the book yourself: Does the boy awaken from the coma?  Do they ever figure out who shot the boy?  Is the spaceship real?  Who steps into the story to further complicate the lives of the veterinarian and his family? 

A gal's best friend

Daisy loves snow.

Brrr…yesterday was 62 degrees; this afternoon the snow’s coming down sideways—so goes Kentucky’s fickle weather. 

I really had to push myself to take a walk after supper tonight.  I’m sure people driving by must have thought, “Look at the nut case, she’s lost her mind.” 

Oh, well. 

My dogs don’t seem to mind the cold.  They stayed right with me, as they always do.  Daisy, our chocolate lab, thrives on the cold weather, which seems to make her more hyper than ever. 

 She’s always ready to show her retriever side whenever I throw a rock or stick, but the past few times we’ve gone walking, she’s taken it upon herself to carry the same big rock around the loop as she walks beside me. 

This rock is one of her own choosing, and is almost as big as her head. It must hurt her jaws to carry it for so long, but she does it anyway.  I think she’s handicapping herself to keep pace with me.  As long as she carries the rock, she stays right by my side. Without it to weigh her down, she’s all over the place.  The only way she can slow herself down is to carry that rock, and she picks it up without being asked. 

What a lesson in loyalty, patience, and acceptance—Daisy, my BFF.   

A wordless Wednesday post...

Just because I love the exuberance of youth expressed in this photo...and because a bit of exuberance might be just what we need on a rainy Wednesday...

After 11 weeks in NICU, a homecoming could be near

It’s hard to believe our little grandson has been in the hospital so long.  He was born with CDH on October 24, and has never been out of the NICU—well, there was that one week when he was across the hall on the PICU side while he was on ECMO. 

I’m sure the 78 days the baby  has been in the hospital probably feels like a lifetime to his parents, who’ve spent most of that time away from their home, either at the hospital or at a friend’s house who has an extra bedroom. 

Baby Clay has been doing well for some time now, but there’s been a lot of paperwork and follow-up care to arrange.  The staff has also been waiting for the home ventilator to arrive at the hospital.  It’s supposed to be there tomorrow.  Those of us who will be helping care for the baby will be trained in its use and how to troubleshoot if a problem arises. 

Although I’m excited about having little Clay finally come home, I’ll admit I’m a little nervous.  We’re not nurses by profession, but we’ll have to be for a while, until he’s well enough for us to be ordinary parents and grandparents.  We’ll just have to take each day as it comes and hope for the best!

What if the New Year began in April?

Ahhh...April!

Do you ever wish that the start of the New Year came in a different season?  Springtime would be a good time to make resolutions to get fit, because the weather is warming up and all of nature is renewing itself too. 

However, I can think of a disadvantage or two to beginning a new year in spring. 

First of all, we’d have all winter to gain weight.  Without the motivation to get fit in January, most of us would still have that to do when the weather gets nice.  Then we’d be even more embarrassed to fit our pasty legs into shorts. 

Secondly, who wants to clean and organize when it gets warm outside?  I suppose lots of people still spring clean, but I want to have mine done by then, so I can focus on planting the garden or taking wildflower walks. 

 I think I’ll stick with January as the best time to start a new year.  It helps us stay focused while the dark evenings of winter drag on.

Sunday afternoon, a “souper time”

 

This afternoon, after filling out the FAFSA for the seventh consecutive year, I coerced Chelsea and her boyfriend Taylor into helping me chop vegetables for a winter soup.  Because I’m still harvesting plenty of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage from the garden, I made a soup I’ll call “Creamy Winter Vegetable Soup.” 

I didn’t use a recipe, but I based it on the concept of a cream of broccoli soup.

We chopped a half dozen potatoes, a large onion, a head of broccoli, a head of cauliflower, a head of cabbage, 3 stalks of celery, a couple of carrots and a turnip and dumped it all into a large stock pot.

Does this sound like peasant food or what? But I love good honest grub like this.

 I seasoned the veggies with a couple or three tablespoons of olive oil, a tablespoon of butter, some salt and pepper, some Mrs. Dash, some seasoned salt and plenty of pepper, all to taste. 

I barely covered the vegetables with about a quart of water, then boiled them until soft. Lots of good vegetable-y flavored water cooked out of the veggies, creating a flavorful broth. The thing that really gave our soup a creamy richness, though, is the block of cream cheese I sneaked in toward the end. I used the reduced fat kind because it’s what I had on hand.  Besides, it’s softer and melts more quickly.

This concoction made a big pot of soup, and I thought I’d have plenty to send back to campus with Chelsea, but everyone liked it so much that there isn’t much left.   

Our baby girl is back off to college tomorrow.  *Sniff*

I’m sure going to miss having her around.