No-Bakes

When I worked as a bakery manager I loved their no-bakes...maybe a little too much :) They were the best thing we had in that place (along with the maple creamsticks). And even though I made 1000's of dozens of them, I never got tired of them. Of course everyone likes them some chocolate and peanut butter mixed up with sugar and butter and oats. It really is just one big piece of candy. Along with the other few different varieties of cookies and candies I also made Chocolate No-Bakes for Christmas this year. I'm sharing the recipe here. Hope you enjoy!

4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 sticks margarine
1 1/4 cups milk
2 cups creamy peanut butter
6 cups rolled quick oats
2 tsp. vanilla

*First...Make sure that all of your ingredients are measured out before cooking the no-bakes. Timing is of the essence when making them, because they can be too soft or too overcooked if there is any wait in the process of mixing them due to measuring things out after the mixture cooks.

*Second...In a large saucepan, mix together the sugar and cocoa till cocoa lumps are broken up well. Mix in milk and margarine. Cook over med-high, stir often and watch mixture closely. Bring to a boil and once you have a ROLLING BOIL start a timer for 2 1/2 minutes. Leave the mixture to boil and get your peanut butter, oats, and vanilla close by.

*Third...once timer is done, turn off heat and take saucepan off of stovetop. This is where you make your work fast with no interruptions until the no-bakes are scooped out. Mix in the peanut butter and vanilla. Stir peanut butter in till melted pretty well with just a few lumps left.

*Fourth...add oats. You may not need all of the oats here. Mix in enough to so that it still looks a little bit soupy, but not too much to make it look like a thick oatmeal.

*Fifth...scoop out no-bakes onto wax paper with clicky scooper whatever size you desire. Let the no-bakes cool and firm up. Eat and Enjoy!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Its a funny thing being in a state with no real "winter" conditions during the Christmas season. We've been having moderately cold weather, but I have yet to see any ice or snow. It rained for a few days and reminded me of a nice spring day in Ohio, with the overcast sky and cool rain. But nothing like the snow and ice that normally prevailed over the entire winter each year in Northeast Ohio.
Needless to say, I miss the snow and inclement conditions some days. I miss looking out the window in the morning to see how much snow we got overnight. I miss laying in bed and listening to the cars driving to work in the morning and trying to figure out how much snow is on the road by listening to their tires as they drive by. Lots of snow meant you could barely hear them as they snuck by the house. Or if the roadcrews had already been out you could hear the slushy snow underneath the tires. Here, I don't have cars drive by that much since I live in a gated apartment community, and there are no major roads right out my window (although within 1/4 mile there is major highways everywhere). Plus, I know that if I look out the window, it is probably going to be sunny and beautiful out. Of course no snow or ice to suprise me though.
Last night my Baby and I finished putting the Christmas lights on the tree, and it looks absolutely amazing.  He says that there are between 1600 and 1700 lights on it. He did most of the work of putting the lights on and I think there are 9 strands of lights added along with the 600 prelit lights that came with the tree. It is it's own source of heat in the living room as I watch it twinkle and flash and make this Christmas season somehow brighter. Christmas is his favorite time of year. His mother and him would decorate their Christmas trees with as many lights as they could fit on it and cover it with all the decorations they had stored away. They shared a love of Christmas together, and now that his mother is no longer with him, he continues the traditions that she gave to him.
So here are a few pictures of our tree pre-decorations. Enjoy :)

Memories in Insomnia

Last night I layed in bed unable to sleep and dealing with some insomnia. It's funny how thoughts past and present come to mind when you least expect them in the quiet and stillness of the night. When there is nothing else jumping in to take over thoughts and actions.
My mind went back to the hardware store by our house that my Uncle Steve worked at during high school and after called Rural Supply. We would often go there to visit and spend some time there, we went quite frequently because it was when Mom and Dad were building the log house and there was always some small item that they needed to get to finish something up. This hardware store was an old dusty store that smelled like man and tools, and rubber belts and dirt. I loved going there. What made it especially exciting was the big white rusty deep chest freezer right by the door of the store. I think it was to the left of the door when you went out even. What was inside were all kinds of ice cream treats. Popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream cones, orange pops, you name it. I don't know if the owner had a sweet tooth, or if he liked to see the smile on peoples faces when they took something from that freezer. My brother and I would literally open the lid and lean into that rusty wonder, letting cold frosty air cover our faces, looking for what we wanted when Mom or Dad gave us the go ahead.
I'm sure that Mom and Dad made us wait for the treats in the rusty white icebox till the end because, for one, that meant that we would be good until the end of the trip there. Plus any kid thinks that they will just eat up that treat, but in all reality every kid on the face of the earth makes a mess eating and inevitably Mom and Dad didn't want us dripping sticky ice cream on the ground or wiping grimy chocolate fingers on something on the shelf.
That rusty freezer caused such a warm and exciting memory. Amazing how life as a kid was filled with so much fun from a simple ice cream treat.

Eggrolls

So... I found myself with a day off and looking for things to do. I decided that the paychecks just weren't going to get into the bank on their own so I deposited them. I then went to TJ Maxx and roamed around for awhile looking for gift ideas. I found a few things, a pine scented yankee candle, some skull bottle stoppers, jeans for me (Im a sucker for good jeans), and a nerf toy for my boyfriends lil 3 year old. I then went shopping at one of my favorite grocery stores called Sprouts Farmers Market. I got avocados, broccoli, celery, cauliflower, zucchini, roma tomatoes, blackberries, oranges among other goodies such as ear candles and garlic sourdough bread :) Then to get gas for my beastly gas guzzling truck. I got home and cleaned up the place a bit and moved around the 4 totes of Christmas decorations that will be going around the house and on the tree in the next couple days. I decided to try my hand at making chinese eggrolls after that and I think they turned out pretty decent. I took a couple pictures of the funtivities involved. The recipe ensues...

Gathering all the ingredients.

Cut up the cabbage and carrots and make the oil nice and hot.

Add all of the ingredients to the pan and cook till the cabbage is slightly wilted.

Let the mixture cool down and then prepare to wrap!

There we go making some eggrolls :)

Wrapped and ready to be fryed up to eat.

Mmmmm...look at those hot little rolls!

I ran out of cabbage mixture so I had some leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving and some velveeta!

Finished product, ready to eat! The top ones are the chinese eggrolls and the bottom ones are the mashed potato and cheese ones. They all turned out better than I thought. I could have wrapped up the cabbage eggrolls a little tighter, but I was afraid to tear the fragile eggroll wrappers. Fun stuff, I will definitely make them again. Heres the recipe for the chinese eggrolls if you are so inclined.

• 4 c. cabbage, coarsely chopped shopping list
• 1 or 2 tsp. red wine, optional shopping list
• 1 pkg. egg roll skins shopping list
• 2 carrots, grated shopping listshopping list
• 2 tbsp. soy sauceshopping list
• 1/2 c. chicken brothshopping list
• 1/2 tsp. saltshopping list
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp 5 spice powder
• 2 tsp stir fry sauceshopping list

How to make it

·       Into a large frying pan, place about 3 T. oil. Let oil get hot.

·       Throw everything into the pan, and saute until well blended and coated with oil/wilted just a tad bit---not completely shrunken, but just reduced by a bit. You don't want to over-cook. You're just looking to wilt everything a bit before the frying stage!

·       Remove from heat, pour vegetable/meat mixture into a colander and let drain into another bowl in the fridge until cool enough to handle.

·       Prepare wrappers by laying out on waxed/parchment paper.

·       Wet edges of each wrapper individually with a fingertip or small brush dipped in water.

·       Place approximately 3 tablespoons mixture in each wrapper, and seal egg rolls

·       At this point, you can either deep fry for a couple minutes, or fry in about a half-inch of hot oil until golden brown.

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Have it Good

I don't often think about how good I have it at work. I was so blessed to find jobs immediately when I moved to Fort Worth, and I soon found that they really loved my work ethic and how personable I was with people. I think there is something to midwestern work ethics that isn't always realized here. I work my butt off with every job I have, no matter the pay. I give 100% in it. It is my livelihood and I have been rewarded in the past with recognition in getting better positions and raises by my working hard. Unfortunately, I don't see that hard work ethic as much in those around me at my other jobs, people tell me that I'm working hard, to just sit down and let others take care of stuff, things like that. The winery loves to have me there and is looking to advance me in the future when they get everything grounded in the next few months with some major position changes of the owners. the owner suprised me the other day when he asked me to do an 8 wine tasting for a group of 12. He trusts that my wine knowledge is good enough to be able to share it with others (and he is a stickler for us knowing all the details about our wines). I love working there, we have a close knit crew and I've made some great friends. People who come in say that they love to be there because we have so much fun there, and really we do. We joke around, and there never seems to be any bad nights there. The managers want us to drink the wines (isnt that terrible?) and know our stuff. We sip wine all night as we work, and the customers love that we drink wine with them. All in all it's a great job, I have learned so much about wine and their regions, distinct tastes, terriore, varietals, bordeuxs, and all that good stuff. I always wanted to be more knowledgeable in wine, and I feel like I really have it now. There is so much more to learn, but I will get there. I really do have it good.

Glorious Week

Mama made the long flight to Texas to visit me for a week. She left on Monday and it was so hard to see her go. We had a great time. We went antique mall shopping and found some cool things, we went to the botanical gardens where they have an amazing japanese zen garden, I took her to my winery that I work at and we drank wine and ate cheese, olives, and crackers. The tastes that I poured must have been a little too heavy. Mama may have imbibed just a little too much wine, but I wanted her to try some that I thought she would enjoy. We laughed and joked for hours there. We played uno for a few nights and found a book that asks questions like, "if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what food would you choose to eat a day that would keep the doctor away instead?" We drove out to Mineral Wells State Park and went hiking on the rocky terrain, we went to the overlooks and took pictures of Lake Mineral Wells. We walked around an abandoned haunted hotel that has been standing since the early 1900's. We went and ate way too much every day, but we had fun with trying a bunch of new places. So, yes, I thought about kidnapping her and making her stay here. If there were anything that I could change, I would change this distance between us. I miss, more than anything, not being able to just go and see my family and friends whenever I want to. Because the best part, the very best part was seeing her smiling face all day and putting my arms around her as much as I could. Being in her presence, enjoying our time together, that is what matters. It wouldn't have mattered that we went anywhere, or did anything. Just to have that glorious week was perfect.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil

He tells me that I was never the one he truly wanted. Stubborn intent and decisions change the course of lives. They cut ties that can never be mended. He never wants to see, hear, or speak to this "evil" that is me. I wish that I hadn't thought that those little monkey trinkets were just something cute with a little life lesson. They play a much larger lesson in life. I see that I am an evil in someones life now. So much so that they never want to see, hear or speak to me again. Ever.

Whats New?

What's new? How do I answer that question? Cause for almost a year I haven't found the words to write anything on this blog. So "new" a year ago is totally different than "new" last week. So I guess I share what is on my mind at this point in "new".

Those close to me know that I have been working 2 jobs, one as a certified nurse aide at a rehabilitation center, and the other as a server at a full production winery. I love working at the winery. I've really built up my knowledge and tastes of wines, and the atmosphere there, the friends I work with and everything about it is just so agreeable to me. They also really like me there and want me to pick up more days and possibly take on some more responsibilities as time goes on. I've come to very much dislike the nurse aide job for various reasons, so I went on the search for another job. 

Good and bad is the fact that I live right next to a mall. Bad being that I live by a mall and traffic is stupid crazy. Good being that they are building a new restaurant/brewery in the parking lot of the mall and I applied and was hired to be a server there starting on Halloween. They are just finishing up the building of it and from everyone I have talked to it is a fun place to work, and they make decent money there. I like it for the fact that they have their own line of microbrews that are pretty dang tasty if i may say so myself. I went there and enjoyed a few of their concoctions recently :) So,  I'm excited to say I can quit the nursing job, and start working less hours a week as a server there and keep the winery job too. This will also give me more freedom to pursue my nursing school career and find that college out there that will take me with over 120 credits under my belt. I am excited to start this new phase, even though it has been long overdue and I already should be done with college and the extreme mess that it has become. But I have amazing support, and lots of potential colleges around here to work with.

I also have someone really special in my life that tries to help me forget that I am so far away from my family and friends. Unfortunately that isn't always possible and each day is a struggle for me to just be happy with where I am and not think about the past, but dwell on what I have now and make it the best that I can. He keeps me smiling and happy, he wants to and does spend time with me, we have so much in common, and also have a ton that we are totally opposite on. But that just makes for an interesting mix. I still have my closest friends that I get to talk to not nearly as much as I want to. My Mama is coming to visit me in a month and I am so excited to have her with me for a week. I may just kidnap her and make her stay here forever :) So much has changed, I am still overwhelmed by life sometimes, but all in all, life is good.