LaurenandLloyd.com

where our wasted time becomes your wasted time

Cooking

Remind me to eat this tomorrow.

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I had to go to WalMart to pick up 4 things: Litter, tv, taco shells, tomatoes. Litter, tv (for the toddler room – theirs died), taco shells, tomatoes. Litter, tv, taco shells, tomatoes. Litter, tv, taco shells, tomatoes. Ooo! Get a Heath bar, too, to put in ice cream like a Blizzard!

I came home with litter, a tv, taco shells, and tomatoes.

Dang it. So I figured ‘how hard could it be to make toffee’? A quick google search said you just boil sugar and butter together with a pinch of salt! Well, it’s harder than you’d think. This was my first attempt:

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This pan is too shallow. I didn’t stir it as it melted so they never incorporated and I burned it. Nice.

The second attempt was better, but I was impatient. I didn’t get it hot enough so it’s more hard caramel than toffee, and it doesn’t have enough chocolate on it. In my opinion, the toffee should be thinner than the chocolate.

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I spread the chocolate after it melted a bit,

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then put it in the fridge to harden. By this time I was mad because it was well after 7, so I wasn’t going to get to eat this.

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Chop, chop, chop. Stir, stir, stir. (See banner photo.) I put too much ‘toffee’ in for the little bit of ice cream I had in the pint, so I put in some of the ice cream we were supposed to take to Sam and Rachel’s on Thanksgiving. Sorry, guys.

So, I guess I’ll have ice cream for breakfast to test it. If only Little Lauren could see me now -I’m living the dream!

All Baked Goods Sunday

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Sunday was a day to be Becky Home-Ec-y. Church, groceries, laundry, then I made pie and a loaf of bread! I haven’t made bread in years!

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Mmmmmm, things made of flour. As I pulled the pie out of the oven I had a brief flash of the people who say to friends, “I baked a pie – will you help me finish it?” Bah. I don’t need friends to finish a pie. I just need time.

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The bread was eaten with some olive bruschetta stuff that I bought at Big Lots. Have you been to a Big Lots? That is a weird store – it’s like a dollar store that sells weird cheap stuff with a few surprisingly nice things thrown in. Hey, how’d I get sidetracked talking about shopping? Back to the baked goods.

It was good pie. It is almost gone. I just need a little more time.

Thanksgiving cocktail

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I am going to wow your taste buds! …Or maybe not. What do I know about how you like drinks to taste? Not much, that’s for sure. Well, read this anyway. At least it will fill a little time.

When I was a kid, we didn’t have pop very often. When we did, it was in 2-liter bottles (with the foam sleeves), and usually some kind of special occasion. Also, we did not have CranApple very often – usually just at Thanksgiving. The Hofmans are not big cranberry sauce or jelly people, but having the juice hits all the right flavor notes.

Anyway, drunk with the opportunity to have both these delicious drinks in the house at the same time, I invented…. (I didn’t have a name for it so I’m trying to come up with one now)…. CranApple Pepsi! Or CrAP… wait! That’s a bad word. Let’s rework this. PepCranAp! Gee – that’s not much better. I see why the people at Ocean Spray left the ‘n’ in. Ok, let’s just call it a Hyper Turkey. It consists of Pepsi with a splash of CranApple in it, and it is delicious.

(I bought the powder to see if it works just as well. It does not.)

Watermelon: how shall I cut thee?

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Pintrest has been all a-buzz with what is – arguably – the most clever way to cut up watermelon for a crowd. You just cut it in half, lay the cut side down and cut slices one way, turn 90 degrees (the watermelon, not you) and slice the other way. You end up with a nice selection of ‘sticks’. Just pick up a stick by the rind, eat away, then toss the rind bit. (These photos are from my first time. I lopped the outside off because it was so unripe.)

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You need a pretty sharp knife for this. The very last cut is a wee bit dangerous – there are lots of watermelon parts trying to slide around.

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There you go! Ready for snacking. (Note the juicy mess on the board, though.)

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I like this method, and have done it several times this summer. In fact, my only purchase in Kansas City was the green cutting board you see in the above picture. It has a nice lip all the way around and catches the juices. I can cut and serve on the same surface.

But I got to thinking, could you cut a watermelon up and not have to worry about the juice? Could I cut it like I cut up avocados?

Sure thing! This way makes cubes, not sticks. Slice watermelon in half, then cut interior slices one way (you can feel when you’re at the rind).

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Turn 90 degrees (the watermelon, not you. Sheesh, maybe you shouldn’t be holding a knife.) and slice the other way.

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Then go around the interior edge at a bit of an angle – pretend it’s a giant grapefruit. Mmmm….. giant grapefuit…..

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Then take a big serving spoon and scoop out some cubes. I tried to make them as cube-shaped as possible but then I realized I wasn’t getting graded on this. Scoop out the cubes into a bowl, but then take a regular spoon and eat all the yummy bits left behind.

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Not too shabby! Those two drops of juice on the counter? The only drops that didn’t stay in the rind. Win!

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Instant Coffee – I’m a fan.

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I ran out of the coffee bricks I was bragging about. The post in December showed a Folger’s brick, which was fine coffee. After that I bought two generic bricks from Super Saver in Lincoln, and I never thought I’d say it, but they were gross. Normally I love generic stuff – the price far outweighs any difference in taste – but not this time. This coffee had a distinctly….. ‘farmy’ aroma to it. It was like walking into the farm store and drinking coffee in the feed aisle. It was unnerving, but I am nothing if not cheap, so I drank those two bricks over the course of a couple months.

Well, I am out. I also forgot to buy coffee this weekend, so I’m working my way through a jar of freeze-dried stuff that I don’t remember ever buying. (It must be pretty old.) I like it. Zap a cup of water in the microwave, add a spoonful of coffee, a spoonful of sugar and a splash of milk – viola! I think this might be the way to go with summer coffee. I think this little jar will get me through the next couple of weeks.

Let’s talk tacos

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… because Lloyd does it wrong.

My method : Start with hot taco shells, baked in the oven for five minutes.
Add cheese (to melt to bottom).
Add meat.
Then lettuce, olives, tomatoes then sour cream.

Lloyd’s wrong method:
Smear hot taco shell with sour cream on the sides.
Lettuce on the bottom, then olives, then cheese then meat on top to melt the cheese. His rationale? “You want the heat to melt the cheese.”

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