Take Flight: Poetry Monday

 

 

 

Poetry Monday's once a week.

I bet you know which day.

I don't participate every time,

But today I've come out to play.

My friends assign each week a theme,

Butterflies is what they chose.

Now it's up to all of us,

to put our thoughts into prose.

 

 

Take Flight

Time with her little toddler,

is something Beth held dear,

looking for fun things to do,

with an educational flare.

When there was opening,

of a live butterfly display,

right in their home town even,

planned to go on the very first day.

"Mommy has something special,

a new place for us to try,

together we're going to learn,

all about the butterfly." 

"When we get up in the morning, 

I'll make a yummy pie,

refrigerate it while we're gone, 

then come home and try." 

 

French Vanilla Cheesecake (no bake)

But headstrong little children, 

like to learn in their own way.

Not always with the best results,

Beth found out the next day.

Stopped cold as in her kitchen,

there was such a shocking mess.

Yellow splotches everywhere.

What happened? Couldn't guess.

 

Covered in grease, her daughter,

tears running from each eye:

"I think that ours is broken, Mom,

this butter will not fly." 

 

 

 

Wait!

Read more poetry, 

you're not through.

Some talented writers

are in this crew:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings 

Mother Owl 

 

French Vanilla Cheesecake (no bake)       

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer cookie crumbs (about 36 cookies)

5 TBSP melted butter

12 oz cream cheese, softened

1 box (3.4 oz) French vanilla instant pudding mix

1 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt

2 TBSP powdered sugar

2 TBSP French vanilla coffee creamer

1/4 cup multicolored nonpareils, divided

OPT: additional cookies, nonpareils, and/or 1 TBSP caramel sauce for topping

Directions:
*Lightly grease a 9 inch pie dish. Mix the cookie crumbs and the melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

*Beat the cream cheese, pudding mix, yogurt, powdered sugar, and coffee creamer together. Gently mix in 2 TBSP of the nonpareils. Spread evenly into the prepared crust.

*OPT: decorate with vanilla wafers, nonpareils, and or drizzle with caramel sauce, if desired.

*Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. 

Words Without Letters

I wrote a blog post recently called Games Without Words. If I were writing a song, this would be the second verse, Words Without Letters.

 

It all started with a trip. No, not the vacation kind, the kind where you're walking out of a room, trip (over absolutely nothing, but we'll skip over that part), and smack the laptop you're holding in your hand into the door jam. Talented, I know.

 

I was fine, not even embarrassed because nobody saw, and everyone knows if no one witnesses you doing something embarrassing, it's the same as it never having happened. Well, unless you admit it publicly . . . like on your blog.

Anyway . . .

I did see a couple of cracks in the bottom and on the side of the keyboard (superglue doesn't work on laptops, FYI), but the laptop was working fine, so I went on my merry way.

Until a few weeks later. 

I was siin on he couch, ypin away, poaly wokin on a lo pos and makin los o poess. I don' look a wha I'm ypin when I ype, los in my own wold o houh, u I suppose you can imaine my supise when I looked up and saw, well, oledyook.

Ummm . . . seems some of my keys were not working. 

So I started banging on them. Because everyone knows that banging is always the solution when something doesn't work.

And it worked. I could bang on the keys when they didn't work and abracadabra.

Sadly, abracadabra solutions are, apparently, temporary.

Once it was clear that banging wasn't going to work forever, superglue had already failed, and the clip I'd attached to the broken side of the keyboard kept popping off and smacking me in the head, I knew I was in trouble.

And then I posted a recipe pic to my blog, not realizing that one of the letters not working had been left out of the recipe name. It said "ceam cheese." Ugh, had to delete the pic from my blog and all social media, fix it, and repost it everywhere. I was not amused.

As I looked into getting the keyboard fixed, I was both writing blog posts and responding to posts on my Baking In A Tornado FB page by typing what I wanted to say, going to a document where I'd stored the alphabet to copy the letters I needed, one by one, and pasting them into the sentences.

So, using just the short example from above, this is the amount of copying and pasting I had to do:

I was sitting on the couch, typing away, probably working on a blog post and making lots of progress. I don't look at what I'm typing when I type, lost in my own world of thought, but I suppose you can imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw, well, gobbledygook.

Let me tell you, that is an exhausting way to communicate. Do you have any idea how often you use "r," "t," "f," "g," "b," and "v"? 

 

I do.

I could temporarily do some of my writing on my cell and on my tablet, but those weren't going to be long term solutions. I needed my laptop for longer pieces, and was getting nowhere in finding a way to get it fixed.

But the straw that broke the blogger's back? I'd worked out a recipe for a post and could not figure out what some of it said.

No bueno. BIG no bueno.

 

Mini Heart Cakes

 

 

Fast forward a long week of copying and pasting letters, partially writing blog posts in 3 different places, and one afternoon I was sitting on the couch, banging on the letter "t," and possibly muttering some not very nice words.

Hubs and my son asked what in the world I was doing. I explained.

"Be back in a minute," they said, walked out the door, came back about 1/2 hour later with a wireless keyboard.

Let me tell you, folks, Pat Sajak has been ripping people off for years. Wheel of Fortune charges $250 to buy a vowel? I got the whole damn alphabet. 

For 20 bucks.

Mini Heart Cakes         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 box (15.25 oz) white cake mix

1/2 cup oil

1 1/4 cups milk

1/4 cup sour cream

1 egg

3 egg whites

1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips, choppd

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

OPT: decorations of choice: colord sanding sugar, multicolored sprinkles or nonpareils, heart shaped candies, red hots

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a jellyroll baking pan.

*Mix together the cake mix, oil, milk, sour cream, egg, and egg whites. Once incorporated, beat for 2 minutes.

*Spread into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the center springs back to the touch. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for 10 minutes.

*Crush the white chocolate chips in a food processor or a clean coffee grinder. Place them with the heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Mix well. Continue to microwave at 10 second intervals until completely smooth.

*Whisk in the powdered sugar. Immediately pour over the cake and quickly spread evenly. Sprinkle with decorative topping of choice and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

*Using a medium sized heart shaped cookie cutter, cut hearts out of the cake. Use a spatula to move to a serving dish.

*Note: form the remaining cake in the pan into 1 inch balls and freeze to coat and make cake balls later.

Guilty Favors

  

 

Last Friday of the month is for

Monthly Poetry Group to rhyme.

Guilt's the theme I chose today. 

Hope my poem's not the crime.

 

As usual, this time I'll try,

a poem to write . . . or fudge.

Whether I'm successful or not,

you get to be the judge.

Guilty Favors

The party will be spectacular,

so much to celebrate.

We're now all vaccinated so,

no longer have to wait.

 

It took her more than just one day,

to make these treats, it's true. 

Nothing but the best for all,

her family (and some friends too).

 

First day prepped, second constructed,

and today was the big bake. 

Lined up in her kitchen were,

cookies, tartlets, and cake.

 

 

Vanilla Blueberry Tartlets

 

Satisfied (and also proud),

of the work that she had done.

Time to quickly shower then,

she'd happily greet everyone. 

Freshly dressed, back down she came,

to a shock! This cannot be.

A hole in everything she made,

Son holding a fork, with glee.

 

"You're guilty," she sputtered, eyes ablaze, 

So mad she could barely see.

"You're not a child, I raised you well.

How could you do this to me?" 

"You've made a mess and more than that,

you've ruined three days of work.

If you'd like to know what's good for you,

get rid of that guilty smirk."

 

"I know that when you look," he said

you see treats with a hole.

What you call guilt's a favor, though,

called quality control."

Before you go, more Guilt poetry:

 

Diane of On the Border shares Guilty. 

 

Vanilla Blueberry Tartlets

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

 

NOTE: These tartlets set best if made ahead and refrigerated overnight

Ingredients: 

2 refrigerated pie crusts, unbaked

3 TBSP cornstarch

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk (I used fat free)

3 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup powdered French vanilla creamer

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup frozen blueberries

 

OPT: whipped cream for serving

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place 24 tartlet liners onto a baking sheet.

*Roll out each pie crust to about 14 inches round. Using a 3 inch round cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles. If you don't get 12, roll out the remaining dough to make the rest.

*Press each crust round into and up the sides of the liners. Prick the bottoms with a fork. Bake for 8 minutes, cool completely.

*While the crusts are cooling, whisk together the 3 TBSP cold water and the cornstarch. Set aside.
*Whisk the evaporated milk, egg yolks, brown sugar, and salt in a pot over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Whisk in the powdered creamer and the vanilla.

*Reduce heat to medium low, then whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Continue whisking until the filling is thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

*Spread approximately 1/2 cup blueberries onto the bottom of the cooled tartlet crusts. Fill the crusts about 2/3 of the way full with the filling. Top with the remaining blueberries and press them gently into the filling.

*Refrigerate for at least 3 hours but sets best if refrigerated overnight. 

*OPT: serve topped with whipped cream.

Power Outages and Freshly Cut Toenails

Winter storms are serious business. Especially ice storms like the one we had last month. Mainly because the threat of power outage in the middle of a cold snap is daunting. There are so many things that need to be done to be as prepared as we can be because, honestly, with ice on the roads there's no way any of us are leaving the house whether we have electricity or not. 

We don't have a generator. We talked about it but it but it made no sense realistically. We lose our power maybe once every few years and it's out more than an hour rarely. The last time I used my Ninja Pioneer Woman skills was 4 years ago. 

So prolonged power loss doesn't happen often, but when you have advanced notice that it's probable, you need to work fast. Work smart. Be prepared. Whether it's an ice storm, a snow storm or even a spring severe thunderstorm, here are some things I've learned will help get you through: 

1) Move the good liquor to the front of the cabinet.

2) Charge the batteries on all devices, hand held kid electronics and don't forget those hand held adult-only devices. Everyone will need to be entertained. Everyone. Or things are gonna get really ugly really fast.

3) Fill the bathtub with water for toilet flushing. Take my word on this one, I learned it the hard way last time. I may be getting old and forgetful but there are some things that stay with you.

4) Have flashlights available. It's not a power outage if someone in the family is not blinded by a flashlight to the eyes.

5) Pile all of the spare blankets onto your bed. When it comes to cold toes, it's every man woman for themselves. The kids can play a fun new game called "wear every pair of your socks to bed." You're a mom, sell it, you've convinced them of worse.

6) Make something delicious. Do not be an idiot standing in a bare-shelved store fighting to the death over the last loaf of bread or gallon of milk. Who the hell wants to ride out a treacherous storm eating bread and drinking milk anyway. This is a storm, not prison. Besides, everyone knows calories consumed in the pitch black in an emergency situation do not count. 

Crockpot Vanilla Yogurt Cake

Are you with me so far? Here's the other side of the coin. Don't waste your time and energy, there are things you do not need to do to prepare for a power outage. Take my word for it because, chalk it up to stress, but, of course, I did them all.

1) Cut your toenails. Because if the lights stay out for more than a day I could end up looking like one of those terrifying pictures you see on FB of someone whose toe nails are so long they resemble a foot long pig's tail?

2) Shave your legs. How counterproductive is this? Hair keeps you warm, right?

3) Wash every stitch of laundry in the house. In case we all have to wear all of our clothes at once?

4) Fill the cars with gas. Because although we're going absolutely nowhere in an ice storm, it's important to have all car gas tanks full.

5) Back the cars into the garage. Not only do we need full tanks of gas in those cars we won't be using, but it's very important that they be facing out.

6) Thread every hot dog and sausage in the house onto skewers and place by the fireplace. You know, just in case the power's out so long you need some protein. Warning: you may want to be sure you have TWO bathtubs filled with water if you follow my lead on this one.

7) Empty all of the trash cans in the house. Because you may need to throw something out in the dark and what will you do if the waste basket is full. Yeah, I hear myself. Does it make it worse if I admit that this one actually made sense at the time?

Oh, and by the way. If you're really, truly, completely prepared . . . that's the time you won't lose your power.

Crockpot Vanilla Yogurt Cake         
                                    ©www.BakingInATornado.com

 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix
2 (5.3 oz each) containers of vanilla greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup oil
3 eggs
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
*Spray crockpot with non-stick spray. Turn on to high.
*Vigorously whisk together the cake mix, yogurt, vanilla, water, oil and eggs. Mix in the white chocolate chips.
*Pour evenly into crock pot, then turn down to low.
*Put a paper towel over the crockpot so that the cover holds the towel up under the cover. It shouldn't be anywhere near the cake. This is to keep the condensation from the top from falling into the cake. Check and replace the paper towel every now and then.
*Cook on low for approximately 4 hours.
*NOTE: check regularly after about 3 hours as times vary depending on size of crockpot and differences in heat levels. It's done when the center springs back to the touch.
*Serve warm.