Hey, Look What I Found

I took these photos the second day (and before I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to the tops). That's right. The apple crisp lasted only two days. So what?

Photoless

I'm such a goober. I made delicious apple crisp and don't have the pictures to prove it. I remember taking the photos so I'm not exactly sure where they went. I downloaded (or is it uploaded?) the photos from my card and they weren't there. Did my husband switch the cards? Was the card not even in the camera during my photo shoot? Too many possibilities. It just makes me tired to think of it at all.

Regardless, you'll just have to trust me that it was beautiful--all warm and toasty and apple-y and spicy. It was such a throwback and so, so comforting. My mom made apple crisp a lot when we were growing up and it was one of my favorites. Mom's a busy lady this time of year so I didn't bother her for her recipe, but I did find Ina Garten's Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp recipe online. How could you go wrong with a dessert from Barefoot Contessa? She's a legend and her desserts are even more legendary. I halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 baking dish. I should have used better baking apples because I had to cook it 30 minutes longer than she says to, but when you decide you want apple crisp while shopping at Super Target and don't have the time or energy to go anywhere else afterwards, you just have to use the dumb produce they have there. Darn my spontaneity.

No Cake Walk

Elizabeth's elementary school is having their annual Fall Festival next weekend. The kindergarten and kindersteps classes are responsible for the Cake Walk booth. I was really looking forward to this because it's such a great excuse to make lots and lots of cakes and cookies. But today, she brings home the flyer asking for donations and everything has to be store bought. Remember when our moms sent homemade cupcakes to school on our birthdays? This is just one more reminder that I was born in the wrong era.

I wish a lot of things, but I really wish there weren't so many wackos out there that we can't bake our own cakes and cookies for our school's cake walk. I guess I'll have to go buy an uninspired, bland-tasting, over-frosted cake from the grocery store because our little town doesn't even have a decent bakery. Or maybe I'm wrong and just haven't found it yet. If you know of one in Chandler, please share. Otherwise, I'll be paying a visit to the bakery at Safeway within the next week. Boo.

A Festive Halloween Weekend

Our family doesn't really go all out for Halloween, but this year was different. We were invited to two family Halloween parties this weekend--one geared more towards the kids and the other required adult costumes and encouraged creativity with potluck dishes. Both parties were fun and may start a new family tradition of Halloween costumes for all.

To Jennifer's party (the one in which adult costumes were mandatory), I took these Vampire Cookies from Baking Bites. They tasted good and fit the creativity requirement, but they took a long time to make. I mixed the dough on Friday and baked the cookies Saturday morning because the baker indicated that these cookies are best the day they're made. I thought I'd just roll them out like sugar cookies and bake them with no problem. This dough is so sticky, though, that it was incredibly hard to work with. I was constanting putting the dough in and taking it out of the freezer so the process took about two hours. I'd like to say it was worth it, but I'm not sure. I was a little disappointed because I wanted the cookies to really bleed when you bit into them, but the jam was too congealed after baking. And they obviously didn't look just like the ones on Baking Bites.

As for our costumes, Elizabeth was a cute little witch and Matthew went as a football player. Here's a photo of Brian and me:

Only one couple knew who we were right away. (Thanks, Dan and Christine!) For others it took a few minutes of deep thinking while some just had no clue. Would you have known? No? Think 25-year old expired comedy. Nothing? How about Ghostbusters? If you're still drawing a blank, go rent one of the funniest movies of all time. If you haven't seen it since you were a kid, watch it again and it will be better than you remember it. You'll actually get all the jokes now.

If you still haven't guessed, we were the Keymaster and Gatekeeper of Gozer. Obviously, a loose interpretation.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Technically speaking, this is about roasting, but it's the first time I turned on my oven all week so it's close enough.

This recipe for Sticky Chicken is one of my family's favorties. It's so easy to make (dare I say set it and forget it?) and everyone loves it. Brian's Aunt Amy gave me bakeware and a cookbook as a bridal shower gift ten years ago. The book is a collection of recipes from her P.E.O. chapter in Minnesota. The Philanthropic Educational Organization promotes educational opportunities for women. I don't know Ms. Kim Carlson, but she makes a tasty sticky chicken.

Sticky Chicken

1 small frying chicken (2-3 lbs)

1 T salt

2 t oregano

2 t paprika

2 t thyme

1 t fresh ground pepper

1 t garlic powder

1 t rosemary

1 t basil

season salt, dill, lemon pepper (may be added if you like)

1 large onion, chopped

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Rinse and dry entire chicken. Rub the herb mixture over the skin and inside the cavity of the fryer completely. Place in a plastic bag and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. When ready to cook, remove from bag, chop onion, and place in cavity. Truss legs and roast 4-5 hours in 250-275 degree oven, basting now and again.* Spice mix may be stored for use when needed.

*I roasted this chicken for 5 hours at 250 degrees. I also tented it with foil and added a half cup water to the pan to keep it from drying out.

I Have Not Forsaken You

I just haven't had much time to bake lately. My friends are blogging about Fall Break, so I might as well, too. Our public school year starts at the end of July. Nine weeks later, there's Fall Break--a two and a half week vacation. It sounds great, and I'm sure the kids will appreciate it in a few years, but right now Elizabeth is missing school. Every day she asks when school starts again. She misses her teachers and misses her classmates. Kindergarten is fun so I don't blame her. Fortunately for us, my in-laws were in town for most of the vacation so the kids were entertained and I had some time to breathe. Other moms were not so lucky. (That's my shout out to you, Jennifer.) If no one comes to visit us next year, we may have to take a little trip. I like to do travel research so I may begin exploring the possibilities as early as tonight.

In the meantime, here's something I made this weekend. These Butterscotch Blondies aren't anything to write home about, but I guess I'm going to do it anyway. Maybe it's because I halved the recipe. Or maybe I just don't like the browned butter flavor. My easy-going husband who rarely criticizes anything I bake even said, "They need something." Neither of us has yet to figure out what that is, though.

Search Words

Occasionally (or three or four times a day), I check Site Meter to find out who's reading my blog. Mostly it's people I know, and I thank you all for caring enough to read about what I have to say. But sometimes someone from South Africa or Germany or Australia clicks on my blog. I call those 'random hits.' I'm always excited to get random hits and I look at their search words that brought them to My Little Batch of Sky.

To be honest, my blog hit an all time random hits high when Matthew broke his leg. There were a lot of searches for 'broken leg' or 'leg cast.' Of course, they certainly didn't stick around to see what I was baking, but I still thought it was neat.

What I find a bit surprising is that the second most popular search words are 'Oprah's favorite desserts.' I wrote about some brownies a few months ago and mentioned in passing that they were one of Oprah's favorite things. Do people really care what Oprah eats for dessert? No. I think it has more to do with the fact that some women see her as some kind of lifestyle guru. Read this article for specifics. I don't have anything against Oprah and, honestly, I don't know much about her. I just don't understand why she influences so many women. Maybe I should watch her show to find out. But will I lose my free will?

I'm curious. Please take the poll on the right. I wonder what kind of random hits I'll have now. Yikes.

Elizabeth's Birthday Bash

Elizabeth enjoyed her 5th birthday party. She chose a flower theme so we borrowed a canopy from a neighbor and dressed it up for a garden party. The kids made ladybug snacks and had these begonia and carnation cupcakes. Then they planted petunias in pots to take home as party favors. All in all, I think it was a success.

If you're interested in making these flower petal cupcakes, watch this video. I don't know how to post a video straight onto my blog but it's not too much trouble to click on the link, right?

Birthday Cake

Elizabeth's 5th birthday is approaching quickly. She's having a party with just a few friends and classmates this weekend. She can't wait and I'm stressed out. We're going with cupcakes this year and I'll post pictures later, but for now I'm going to show you her cake from last year. Just because I'm so proud of it. It took me about five hours just to decorate the darn thing, but because she was so excited, it was worth the time.