Welcome to the Farside

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Turkey Tacos

I hope everyone survived the opening day of Holiday hell.

Tacos
Turkey Tacos
Everyone loves a turkey taco
Sassy kids, finicky kids, kids that need a smack
Whiny kids, Ridlyn kids even kids with attitudes love
Tacos, turkey tacos.
The tacos kids love to crunch.

Ha ha, I wonder what creative meals show up using left over turkey? We were burned out on turkey after the sandwiches for lunch yesterday. I have been teasing the kids with turkey tacos and have grossed them out rather well.
For a change I did make Mexican food last night though. No turkey, lol. I just made beef enchiladas and beef tacos. I wanted something with turkey but used chicken instead. I invented a Mexican version of General Tsao chinese chicken which we ate on home made flour tortillas. I spiced it up rather well and it turned out to be a hit. The kids actually consumed all of it and the Ole Elpaso Taco filling went to the dog.

I'm thinking that today I will make some turkey soup even though I nwill probably be the only one to eat it.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pumpkin Bread

One of my favorite memories of a food while growing up was my mothers pumpkin bread. I have tried many recipes through the years and never had much success making it. It didn't matter how long I baked it or the heat, for some reason I could never get it right and always ended up with a gooey center.

I finally came up with a recipe that produces the best pumpkin bread and I made several loaves yesterday. I wasn't home when my daughters came home from school to find when I did arrive that most of one loaf that I had made in a bundt pan has almost been entirely eaten. I asked them how the pumpkin bread was and they gave me that surprised look, "pumpkin Bread, like we thought it was carrot cake". I didn't know whether to be offended or honored because I know that they love carrot cake. I also knew that it definitely had a very nice pumpkin flavor.

The recipe

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

       Ingredients

*   1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
    * 1 cup vegetable oil
    * 4 eggs
    * 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    * 3 cups white sugar
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
    * 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    * 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
    * 1 teaspoon baking powder



DIRECTIONS

   1. Combine pumpkin, oil and eggs. Sift together dry ingredients. Combine the two mixtures, blending thoroughly.
   2. Pour into 2 greased 9 x 5 x3 inch loaf pans and bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1 hour.

I didn't have a 9"x5"x3" bread pan. Mine is 9"x5"x5" and I filled it 3/4 full. I had enough of the mix left over to also fill a bundt pan half way. After baking for an hour I checked them and put a skewer into the one in the bread pan and it wasn't done. The one in the bundt pan wasn't either. I baked them for another ten minutes and the one in the bundt pan was done but not the one in the loaf pan. I baked the one in the deep loaf pan for a total of 1 1/2 hours before the skewer came out clean.

The reason for liking this recipe.... If anyone has seen my NY Apple cake recipe, besides for the pumpkin pie spices, it's almost the same recipe.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

It Takes Fifty Years To Learn...

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person who is nice to you but rude to a waiter is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.