One day I'll have a dog again...

But for now I get my daily dose of 'puppy therapy' from Facebook. My first dose came through a friend who shared a beautiful pittie girl who was in need of some rescue named Selena.  Selena was rescued by Fighting for Dawn  as a heartworm positive stray who was scheduled to be euthanized and was pulled right before.  I was in love at first sight with that baby and I've been following FFD ever since. The good and bad thing is they're in Georgia. Good because I know there's no way I can bring a dog randomly home to my honey one day (I can't have pets where I live, but he's got two cats). Bad because I wish there was more I could do to help and volunteer.

While I can't have a dog of my own, what I can do is share my love for the FFD family and all the rescues I follow, share the good they do and spread the love. From Dawn's story to the story of Marilyn and the Muttleys and all the babies (not all are babies, but all dogs are babies to me that deserve love and companionship) that they rescue daily. A lot of these dogs come into rescue in poor shape, they need donations to pull the dogs from the shelters, for vetting and are always in need of fosters.

I follow a few rescues and most are out of state to me... Except one...which I know when the time is right and I see that baby that I know will be mine I'm gonna go and get her from there. 

I miss having a dog, The Kid loves dogs and gets his dose of puppy love whenever he visits his friends with dogs (which is a good lot of them)  I, on the other hand am puppyless :( so I get my puppy fix from pages like Fighting for Dawn, Puppy Breath Rescue, Big Fluffy Dog Rescue, Angels Among Us Pet Rescue ,New York Bully Crew, Bama Bully Rescue and the shelter/rescue where my honey got his oldest Kitty Tyler The Little Shelter.  I admire so much what these rescues do and I donate when I can.

If you're an animal lover, do what you can to support rescues like these and support your local shelters & rescues.  Shelters are always in need of supplies like blankets (but usually not comforters) Fleece blankets that you can get on clearance at Walmart for $2 sometimes or less. Collars, leashes, food, puppy pads and the like.  I know FFD has an amazon wishlist.

This is my Tuesday Shoutout to all these rescues.  I'm showing my love and respect for all they do and all the babies they save on a daily basis.  No dog deserves to be thrown away because they're sick or old, no dog deserves to be starved to death because the owners are too poor to afford food or just don't want the dog anymore.  No animal deserves to be left out in the cold to die because the people don't want them in the house.  If you can't take care of your pet find someone who will.  They are all living beings and deserve a good life.  Over these past few months I've seen some really sad stories, pictures of these babies when they're rescued and then of their amazing recoveries and have cried when they just couldn't be saved.

These animals can't speak for themselves so we have to be their voice.  Lets do the best we can for them.

Alright Winter, that's enough.

Since 2014 started I've missed now 4 days because of the snow.  This.is.Insanity!!

Due to a bunch of stuff that's been going on I am still without a car and I've been hoofing it to the train every day when I realized I was wasting $25 every week by taking the bus when it was faster to just walk to the train myself.  The only problem?  The train is over 2.5 miles away.

Under normal circumstances this isn't a horrible walk and I can get there in under 30 minutes.  In 5-8" of snow though, it's not impossible but frustrating.  The plows don't come around regularly, people neglect to shovel their sidewalks and while it's sometimes "safer" to walk in the street... it's really not because people can be real jerks.

So... once again today I'm home.  I couldn't catch a ride to the train and catching a bus proved to be unsuccessful without walking totally out of the way, getting splashed with slush from rude drivers that mock people that have to walk or not falling flat on your face on unshoveled and untreated walkways.

Today is one of those days when I'd (believe it it not) really rather be at work.  I have stuff to get done in my office, and while there's always stuff to get done at home I really didn't want to take another day off because of the damn weather :(


Just saw the snow totals for the area and we're averaging 3.5" already.

What's Your weather like?

The worlds worst can opener

Hi guys :)

Happy new year. 

Sorry it's a little dusty around here, I've had a lot going on but I try to post over at the fb page when I can. 

Today's post is about can openers. I used to always have a hand cranked one but when I started to grow my nails (when I finally kicked the horribly disgusting nail biting habit) my thumbnail always got trashed by using it. Fed up I bought an electric can opener. I've had it a few years and for probably since a week after I got it I've said I'm throwing it in the trash. 

I got it in target and probably paid $15-20 for it and it's the crappiest can opener. I have to literally push the can through 99% of the time and on the off chance I get a can to completely go around it's like a freaking miracle. It leaves sharp gnarly edges and I can tell you it's amazing I haven't needed stitches yet from the condition this thing leaves cans in. 

Why haven't I replaced it? Simple... It's the last thing on my mind when I go to target or shop on amazon. With a good recommendation I'll happily go out of my way to get one... Or at least add it to my shopping list. 

So... I ask y'all. What's a good electric can opener? I would ideally like one that's not doing to possibly slice my finger open with gnarly and sharp edges like this one. I don't need bells and whistles and I also don't want to spend a ton of money on something I use maybe once or twice a week. 

Orange cardamom crinkles

I decided to make these cookies today because they looked so delicious in the little ebook I got from The American Butter Institute.  I love citrus cookies, lemon bars.. Mmm, my absolute favorite.  I had all the ingredients I needed at home and so I whipped them up this afternoon.

They had a very bright, sunny flavor but they were lacking in the cardamom department.  I even ground fresh cardamom, but the flavor just wasn't there.  I'm thinking 1/4 tsp wasn't enough.. or my cardamom is just past it's prime.

My kid, on the other hand, LOVES these cookies.  I'd be safe to say by now he's gobbled up about half of them.  For him I'll try again tomorrow... after we run to the mall (I know, I know.. but it MUST be done) and the grocery store for a few quick things (which will include another fresh orange and hopefully some fresh cardamom.)  I'm thinking that instead of drizzling them with chocolate as the recipe states I'm gonna sandwich them with some instead :)

Ingredients:

zest of 1 orange
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with
parchment paper.
In small bowl, rub orange zest into sugar until it resembles
wet sand. In large bowl, cream butter and zesty sugar until
light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, egg and orange juice. Scrape
sides and continue mixing. Stir in cardamom, salt, baking
powder, baking soda and flour until just combined.
Pour powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll heaping
1 teaspoon of dough into ball, roll in powdered sugar, and
place on prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between
each cookie. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake about 10 minutes, until bottoms begin to brown and
cookies aren’t shiny in center. Remove from oven and transfer
to wire rack to cool completely.
Once all cookies are baked and cooled, melt chocolate in
microwave-safe bowl in microwave for 20 second intervals
until mostly melted. Stir until completely melted. Transfer
to sandwich bag. Snip corner and pipe swirls over cooled
cookies. Serve!

The Great Food blogger cookie swap... Recipe

I was so incredibly excited to be a part of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this year.  It's been So exciting to not only receive 3 dozen of amazingly delicious cookies, but to research some new recipes of my own and share them. These are very similar to the Mexican Chocolate Cherry Cookies that I've been making for years.

For my cookies I made Mostaccioli Cookies, which are Italian chocolate spice cookies.  Delicious chocolate cookies spiced with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.  Because I was shipping the cookies, I did not glaze them.

MOSTACCIOLI COOKIES
Adapted from here


2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground clove
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
11/2 tsp salt
8 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups All Purpose flour
1/2 cups toasted walnuts
1 3/4 cups mini chocolate chips

For the glaze:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 300F.

In a large mixing bowl, vigorously mix all ingredients, less the flour, nuts and chocolate chips. Slowly add flour  to form a cookie dough. Once the dough is combined, mix in the walnuts and chocolate chips.

Roll your dough into balls 1 1/2-inches in diameter and place on a sheet tray. To keep them from rolling, carefully smush the balls onto the sheet tray.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are just about to crack.

Remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack.

Optional glaze:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of simmering water (a double boiler). Whisk the chocolate until melted and smooth. Then whisk in the heavy cream and salt until the mixture is homogenous.

Dip the top of your cookie into the glaze, then put it back on the cooling rack to dry completely (15-20 minutes).

Store in an airtight container.

______________________________________________________________________________

I forgot the slips with the bloggers who sent me cookies.. I will update the post tonight with who sent me delicious cookies :)