Showing posts with label teens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teens. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Baking in a Juicebox

Today’s post is a collaboration. Michelle, who writes at Juicebox Confession and I are playing a game of Mad Libs. You remember those, don’t you? Where someone else’s words are added to already existing sentences?

So without telling each other anything at all about our posts, we each wrote about whatever we wanted, leaving out words. We then requested the kinds of words we needed and fit them into the blanks we’d left in our posts.

The resulting piece? Here’s mine with the addition of Michelle’s words:


Baking in a Juicebox | www.BakingInATornado.com


If you’re a regular here, you know that I have a son who’s a freshman in college this year and another son who’ll be a freshman next year. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that just before a child leaves for college there are so many things you want to be sure to tell him, make sure he knows or remembers.

In the days of preparation and making lists and packing and making plans and talking and explaining and frantically getting in all the important things your baby needs to know before going out out on his own for the first time, it seems that there are some details that get lost.

My son recently spent a month at home during semester break, and I took full advantage of my do-over. This time, before he goes back to school, I made sure to tell him:

*Call your mother 20 times a day and twice on the weekends.

*You saved $ 7 to use as spending money for the year. It’s important that it last longer than the first 30 minutes.

*Speaking of over-use, you took a year’s worth of contacts to school with you. If you’re already all out, you better plan on wearing your rings because those contacts do not grow on buildings.

*You need to change the sheets on your bed. That’s why I sent you two sets of tires and lots of laundry detergent.

*When it snows, wear a laptop. Same with gloves and boots. Blankets and sneakers just won’t do.

*Don’t do your homework on your phone. Use a plate or find your way to the rodeo.

I paid for a meal plan. 23 meals a day, 5 days a week. So when I look at your debit account I shouldn’t be seeing daily trips to a state park.


Crockpot Fruited Pork Roast | recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dinner

Crockpot Fruited Pork Roast


*Speaking of food, the “freshman 15 (pounds)” is an understatement. It’s more like 65. So you might want to consider doing some exercise, like singing, poking, yelling or twirling.

*Duct tape your room key to your ear lobe, there’s only so many times I’m paying to replace it.

*Talk to a housekeeper before signing up for next semester’s classes. We have no plans for you to be on the 14 year plan.

*Flying for two weeks to get to a concert out of town is not a good reason to skip class.

*If you’re going to come home for the weekend, please let me know before I get pink eye from hearing toys opening in the middle of the night.

*And while you’re home, let me know if you need supplies and I’ll buy them. Don’t just leave and let me find there are no beds, swings, logs or phones left anywhere in the house.

*Although I’m thrilled that college provides a place for you to dance and bathe and express yourself, could you consider the possibility that the legalization of lipstick and your desire to jump ten hours away to check out the situation for yourself isn’t really what I had in mind?

And as always; be safe, study hard, make good choices. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, know that you are loved.

Be sure to click on this link and jump on over to Juicebox Confession to see how the words I sent her fit into the post she wrote.

Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics





Crockpot Fruited Pork Roast
                                        ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
NOTE: Crockpots heat to different temperatures, you may need to adjust heat and cooking times based on your slow cooker. Sauce should not be boiling as it cooks.
 
Ingredients:
3# Pork Loin Roast
15 oz jar Red Currant Jelly
½ cup Catalina salad dressing
1 onion sliced
Small package baby carrots
¾ cup cranraisins
1 apple, peeled, cored and sliced
 
Directions:
*Place the pork roast in your crockpot, then put the sliced onions in.
*In a bowl, mix the jelly and the salad dressing. Pour over the pork and onions.
*Cook on low for 2 hours, turn pork, mix the sauce and cook for 3 more hours.
*Remove pork, slice and add back to the crockpot. Add the carrots, cranraisins and apple slices. Try to cover them with sauce as much as possible. Cook 2 hours, mixing after the first hour.
 

Monday, May 6, 2013

It’s Been Quite a Ride

I guess it’s no surprise to anyone that Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday. Mother’s Day means so many things through the years; as a child, a mother-to-be, and all the different stages of being a Mom.

This is my last Mother’s Day with both of my boys living at home. One will leave shortly for college and the other is only a year behind. So this year I’ve written a little poem (I never seem to learn my lesson about trying to write poems, do I?) from my current perspective.



It's Been Quite a Ride | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

M – is for the mischief you get into every day,
O – is for the other kids who hang out to eat and play,

T – is for the thanks I rarely get to hear,
H – is for the happiness you bring from year to year,

E – is for the everything, it’s what you mean to me,
R – is for the roller coaster ride this life can be,
‘S – is for the sharing of your germs you’ve done for free.



Triple Chocolate Cookies | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe


Triple Chocolate Cookies

Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe

Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches


D – is for the dread I’m feeling to the core,
A – is for the ache I’ll know when you head out that door,
Y – is for the yesterdays I’ll cherish evermore.


Baking In A Tornado signature | Graphic designed by and property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics





Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 stick margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup dark chocolate chipe
any ice cream, slightly softened
Opt: nonpareils or sprinkles
Directions:
*Grease cookie sheets. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
*Cream together butter, margarine, brown sugar and vanilla. Beat in the egg.
*Mix in the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
*Last, mix in the white and dark chocolate chips.
*Roll about a tsp of dough into a ball and put on baking sheets.
*Press down slightly with the heel of your hand.
*Bake 12 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove and cool completely.
*Put cooled cookies in freezer for 10 minutes.
*Slice ice cream into slabs about 1/2 inch thick. Using cookie cutter or top of a glass approximately equal size around to your cookies, cut circles out of the ice cream.
*Put a circle of ice cream in between the flat sides of two equal sized cookies. Press together gently.
*Opt: roll the sides of the ice cream cookie in nonpariels or sprinkles.
*Wrap individually and freeze.
*Remove from freezer and allow to sit for 2 minutes before eating.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Winds of Change

Today’s post is a collaboration between my friend Sarah, who blogs at The Momisodes and I.

Sarah and I generally have very little in common. We’re living different lives, are at different stages in our lives in very different parts of the country. And yet, we have a lot in common right now.

The winds of change are blowing in both of our directions.

So Sarah and I are both writing about it, on our own blogs and in our own way. And we’re both offering recipes; me because I’m still here baking in my tornado, and Sarah because they’re an integral part of what’s changed for her.


Winds of Change | www.BakingInATornado | #MyGraphics

Sarah’s made choices, but the changes coming to my life are more organic. The implications will not just affect me, but also my baking and my blogging.

My blog was born of my baking to relieve the stresses in my life, and to feed the hordes of teenagers who tend to hang around to see what’ll come out of the oven.

And although my first choice of name for this blog was taken and, unable to choose amongst my other choices I let my son do it, I love the one he chose. Because the whole imagery of a tornado is uncannily appropriate to what I’m doing here and why.

A tornado is a rapidly whirling cone of wind that extends down from a cloud to the surface of the earth. It can destroy everything in its path or it can jump, demolishing one house and leaving the next untouched.
*Sometimes, when living in a tornado, we need to find a way not to let it destroy everything in its path. I’ve found baking. Then I got lucky enough to find blogging.

A tornado builds. It starts with a thunderstorm.
*Everyone has thunderstorms of one sort or another in their lives.
But sometimes these storms become supercells, and that’s when you need to watch out. Because tornadoes are the most violent of storms.
*There’s a thunderstorm on my horizon. And I can feel it building.

Every tornado has its own shape and color. They start off almost colorless, until they collect debris, and then take on their ominous shade.
*We all have our own stressors. They collect debris and color our lives.

My older son leaves for college in 4 short months. Well, that is if he ever gets around to signing up for his dorm and orientation. But if he does those things and goes, there will probably be less contention for me to deal with.  But there will also be a level of loss. I fight with him non-stop. But thinking about it, I miss him already.

Half of the people I bake for won’t be around much. One of the reasons I write will not physically be in my everyday life.



Chocolate Mint Pie | www.BakingInATornado | #recipe

Chocolate Mint Pie

You can hear a tornado coming. They roar.
*And there’s a roar filling my ears right now. Because the winds of change are coming. And I’m not sure how it will affect the baking. And I’m not sure how it will affect the blogging. I just don’t know what color this tornado will take on.

Be sure to check out Sarah’s Winds of change post at The Momisodes, along with her recipe for Turkey Meat Loaf. Yum.


Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado | #MyGraphics



Chocolate Mint Pie
                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
2 TBSP sugar
1 Chocolate Pie Crust (9 inch)
1 can Evaporated Mile
1 package instant Vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz)
1/4 cup Creme de Menthe 
Directions:
*Beat the heavy cream until soft peaks hold. Sprinkle the 2 TBSP sugar over it and continue to beat until stiff peaks hold.
*Wisk the Evaporated Milk, pudding mix and Creme de Menthe until completely combined. Gently fold in about 3/4 of the whipped cream. Put the mixture into the pie crust.
*Pipe or spoon the remaining whipped cream onto the pie.
*Refrigerate until set before serving and store the leftovers in the refrigerator.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Mice and More Mice



The very first guest post is a milestone for a blog.  A guest post written by two guests is something I don’t think I’ve ever seen (well, in the 4 short months I’ve been blogging).

 I asked my kids to write a post, I figured if I ever had a chance of them writing something for me Halloween would be the time.  But then I should have known that I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in h*ll (heck).  After begging, pleading, discussing, negotiating (you can each write a small piece and I’ll post them together) and manipulating, I can usually get Justin on board.  Always have to keep going all the way to bribing to get Jason to agree to anything I want him to do.  So here it is, a (very) few words.  See if you can guess who wrote what:


Orange Eyed Mice | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe


Orange Eyed Mice


# 1 - My Mom is mean.  I go to school every day, I do my homework, I study and get good grades.  I go to the gym and I belong to a club and I have a job.  Now just because she likes to blog, I have to write something for her.  Something.  There, I wrote something because I really have nothing to say about Halloween or mice. The End.

# 2 - I made a deal for seventy five words for my Mother’s blog.  I didn’t want to write anything for her and she just would not take “no” for an answer. Usually I just say “OK” to get her to leave me alone but this time “OK” meant I was going to have to give her seventy five words about Halloween or mice.  I did finally decide to do it when she agreed to give me


Yellow Eyed Mice | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe

Yellow Eyed Mice



So there we go, hardly worth all the effort if I do say so myself.  Can you guess who wrote what? Was the first one written by the interesting, impossible older son who is my biggest critic?  Was it written by my introspective son who is almost as stubborn as he is smart?  I bet you guessed wrong.  Unless you’re new to Baking In A Tornado, you know that my boys don’t even read this blog.  No way, no matter what I put on the table, would they write for it.  They’d just scurry away and hide in a little hole in the wall.  Anyone know where I can get a cat?


Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics
P.S. In defense of my reputation for honesty, if you re-read this from the top, I never actually said that the boys wrote anything, I just sort of implied it. I always say: “conclude at your own risk”. Well, I never say that but I will now.






Orange-Eyed Mice
                             ©www.BakingInATornado.com


Ingredients:
Maraschino cherries (24)
Chocolate bark (6 ounces)
Chocolate kiss candies (24)
Slivered Almonds (48) 
Orange mini M&Ms (48) 

Directions:
*Take 24 cherries out of the bottle and drain them on paper towels, dry them as well as you can so the chocolate will adhere. 
*Unwrap the chocolate kisses
*Melt the chocolate bark according to the directions on the package.
*Holding each cherry by the stem, dip in the chocolate until the whole cherry but no the stem is covered.  Place onto a piece of parchment paper or wax paper.
*Quickly, while the chocolate is still wet, push the flat end of the kiss candy up against the chocolate covered cherry. Stick 2 slivered almonds between the candy and the cherry on each to form ears.
*Dip each mini M&M into the melted chocolate and stick onto the candy kiss to form eyes. *Allow to set.


Yellow-Eyed Mice
                                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

  

Ingredients:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 pkg dark chocolate fudge stripe cookies cookies (can use oreos)
Baking Cocoa
Mini M&Ms (can use Red Hots) 
Sliced almonds
Chocolate jimmies (sprinkles)
Twizzlers – peel and eat, peeled (but not eaten)

Directions:
*Place cookies in food processor and process until the consistency of graham cracker crumbs.   
*Mix cookie crumbs with melted chocolate and cream cheese until it forms a dough ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 – 1 ½ hours.   
*Put the baking cocoa into a bowl. Roll the cookie ovals in the baking cocoa.  The best way is to stick a toothpick in the thicker end and use this to roll the mice.   
*Take the toothpick out and use this hole to stick in a twizzler piece for the tail.   
*Push M&Ms or Red Hots into the cookie in the pointed side to make the eyes.  Stick sliced almonds in for the ears.
*Can sprinkle chocolate jimmies around the mice (gross)!