Hugs and Kisses: February Poetry

It's poetry time again and if ever there was an occasion for poetry, the upcoming celebration of Valentine's Day is it. In fact, I wrote my first poem on this blog, Ode to a Reader, 4 years ago, as a love poem to all of you who take the time to support this blog. Well, that's not technically true. My first poem, Words I Never Want to Say Again, was written earlier but was such a fail, so badly misunderstood, that I had to edit the post to add a disclaimer. And assure friends and family via emails and FB private messages that my older son was not in jail.

Moving on.

Today, as my contribution to this month's poetry challenge, I'm hoping at the very least that I won't be frantically adding a disclaimer to this piece. I set the bar low, I know. That's probably for the best.

Our group theme this month is Friends and Family. Read on. If you dare . . .

Roses are a classic sign,
That our true love is divine,
Their scent in winter is sublime
And a favorite of mine.

A loving toast, bubbly champagne,
Two or three till none remains,
always wins a romantic campaign,
Veuve Cliquot, I can't refrain.

Baubles are a way to go,
diamonds have me at "hello",
a jewelry box can make me glow
whatever is inside, bravo.

Fancy dinner, restaurant fare,
Bartenders, waiters attend with care
worth dressing up, fixing my hair,
'cause it leaves my own sink bare.

Don't forget the mushy card.
Though choosing one may just be hard,
don't be shy, no holds barred
with words of love you must bombard.

Box of chocolates, any sweet
The "must have" of Valentine eats.
Induces romance, feel the heat,
a sweet dessert is hard to beat.

 Raspberry Fudgy Brownie Hearts

In the end, I have to say
To my loved ones, if I may,
If you want to make my day,
Hugs and Kisses are the way.

Before you go, click on these links to more poetry by some of my friends: 

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares Friends and Family "How I Love Ya". 


Diane of On the Border shares Toast. 


Kristina of The Angrivated Mom shares Influenced Insanity. 

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Friends are Family.

Raspberry Fudgy Brownie Hearts

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe


NOTE: You will need a heart shaped cookie cutter. If you don't have one, you can decorate these as brownie squares.


 
Ingredients:
baking cocoa for flouring pan
4  ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter
1/2 stick margarine
2/3 cup raspberry jam
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup flour
OPT: a few drops of red food coloring

1 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup raspberry jam
1/2 tsp raspberry extract
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 cups powdered sugar

OPT: candies, sprinkles and nonpareils for decoration 

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (with baking cocoa) a 10 X 15 jellyroll pan.
*Melt together the unsweetened chocolate, 1 stick of butter and the margarine in microwave. Stir until completely smooth.
*Stir in 2/3 cup of jam and vanilla. Once incorporated, stir in the sugar, then the eggs. Finally add the flour. 
*Pour evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour.
*Beat the second stick of butter, remaining 1/3 cup of jam, extract and heavy cream until smooth.
*Slowly, starting at the lowest speed, beat in the powdered sugar. If the frosting is too thick you can add a little milk. If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar. Add a few drops of red food coloring if desired.
*Spread the frosting onto the brownies. Cut into squares or use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out hearts.
*With a large spatula, remove the brownie squares or hearts from the pan. Decorate as desired.

Strawberry Hot Fudge Pie: Love is in the Air Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends theme collaborations. Each month a group of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about this partnership is that it’s not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may have a recipe, sewing tutorial, crafts projects, book review and/or a technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is Love is in the Air.

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here’s a peek at what we all came up with:

I made Strawberry Hot Fudge Pie:

Strawberry Hot Fudge Pie

Food is love. Cliche, I know, but for a reason. I believe it. Hell, I live it. Whenever College Boy is here for dinner I always try to make his favorites. And when PurDude is home for vacation I go all out. Seeing him enjoy what I  make . . . even getting up in the morning to see how many of his favorite snacks have disappeared overnight . . . brings me joy. 

And when PurDude flies back to school I always put some snacks into his backpack for him to find along the way. I imagine his smile when he finds it. Well, except that one time it almost got him strip searched. You see, he LOVES my Cinnamon Cranraisin Pumpkin Bread. I had made 2 loaves for Thanksgiving and there was about 2/3 of a loaf left. I wrapped it in plastic wrap, then in foil and snuck it into PurDude's backpack. Seems TSA frowns upon young men with large tinfoil wrapped rectangles going through security. Something about it looking like an explosive. Who knew? Well, according to PurDude I should have, but . . . ummmm . . . live and learn?

Anyhooo, all this to say that, really, although I often struggle to find a recipe to fit our theme, or I may have a recipe I want to share but bend myself into a pretzel making it fit the theme, that was not the case today. Food is love. Anything I shared would be an expression of Love is in the Air.

But Valentine's Day is coming up so I wanted to be sure to share something really special. I hope you think that's what I've come up with here. I decided to try this Strawberry Hot Fudge Pie for two reasons. First, strawberry and chocolate seems like the quintessential Valentines pairing. And second because although we don't eat a lot of ice cream when it's cold out, everyone loves when I make a batch of my homemade hot fudge, so I do that at least 2 or 3 times over the winter months. This pie was inspired by those hot fudgy sundaes.

I made a simple crust by crushing thin vanilla oreos in the food processor.

You can buy hot fudge, but I made my own Homemade Hot Fudge.

If you can find fresh strawberries, that's great. I buy them in the summer when they're less expensive and freeze them myself. If using frozen, be sure to drain well.

Beat the cream cheese and fudge layer until smooth.

Beat the heavy cream, add the strawberries, then fold into the hot fudge mixture. Pour over the crust, then smooth out.

Refrigerate. To serve, heat up more hot fudge and drizzle over the top. Grab a plate, two forks and share with your true love! 

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:



Kia of Think in English shares Stories of Falling in Love with a Second Language.

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Things I Hate But Do Anyway.

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares her recipe for Chocolate Cherry Muffins.

Kristin of Little Mama Jama shares how to make Glass Milk Bottle Vases. 

 Melissa of My Heartfelt Sentiments shares how to make Handmade Treats.

 
Rabia of The Lieber Family blog shares how to make a mixed media art collage Two Become One.

                   

Strawberry Hot Fudge Pie

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
30 vanilla thin oreos
3 TBSP melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

2 8 oz blocks of cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup hot fudge sauce, room temperature
       My Homemade Hot Fudge recipe HERE
1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped strawberries

OPT: additional hot fudge sauce for serving

Directions:
*Place the Oreos into a food processor and process to crumbs. Mix with the melted butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Press into and barely up the side of a springform pan. Refrigerate.
*Beat the cream cheese, hot fudge sauce and 1/4 cup powdered sugar until smooth.
*In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the other 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla and beat until stiff peaks hold. Fold in the strawberries.
*Fold the whipped cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture. Pour into prepared crust. Even out and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
*To serve: heat additional hot fudge sauce. Remove the sides of the pan, slice pie and drizzle with the warm hot fudge sauce.
 

Secret Subject Swap: Let Me Count the Ways

Welcome a Secret Subject Swap. This month 14 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. Read through mine and at the bottom you’ll find links to all of today’s other Secret Subject participants.

My subject is: I'm thankful I'm a blogger because . . .
It was submitted by: Dawn of Spatulas on Parade.

Ahhh, blogging. How do I love thee, let me count the ways.

Truth is, it's not a starry eyed, everlasting love. It's very much an up and down, sometimes rewarding and sometimes contentious relationship. There are times when we're so in sync, when I have so much to say, so many recipes to share, I wonder what I did before I had a place to share. There are times when she's a cruel taskmaster, when I've got nothin' and have to really wrack my brain or risk losing the rhythm of maintaining a schedule of posts my readers have come to rely on (you have, haven't you?). 

I cannot tell you how many times I've been a heartbeat from walking away. I cannot tell you how many times I have said that this blog has saved my life.
 
Like a hearty bowl of soup on a cold winter night, this blog has the ability to provide comfort, to warm me all the way to my bones.

Crockpot Beef Shank Pea Soup

I don't want to be cliche. Yes, the connections I've made here with both readers and other writers are incredibly valuable on a personal level. And I don't want to make points I've already made many times before. My tag line, "when all the walls are caving in, what could it hurt to bake?" says a lot. This blog provides me with a distraction from the stress that constantly threatens to overwhelm me. It's a place for a non-creative person to be creative and to share the resulting recipes so many have asked for. It's an outlet for my thoughts, sense of humor, endless opinions and just plain silliness. Whatever my mood, this blog is here for me. Mine.

So without being repetitive or cliche, why am I thankful I'm a blogger? Let me count the ways:

1) I love thee to beyond the depth and breadth and height of my stress.
 
2) I love thee for the end of my being would be nigh without thee as my scapegoat.

3) I love thee to the level of every night's need to place yet another meal on the table.

4) I love thee when out of sight, as you keep my cell phone binging announcements of spam comments.

5) I love thee when my most quiet need to cry or scream or explode requires either giving someone the finger or banging away at the keyboard.

6) I love thee freely. Although I'd prefer to be paid.

7) I love thee purely. As you do not answer back or manipulate (yeah, I'm looking at you, boys) or reject in any way that which I share with you.

8) I love thee with a passion for sarcasm that rarely bodes well when spoken freely in public.

9) I love thee with my grief and I love thee with my joys.

10) I love thee through smiles and tears as all of my life comes pouring out and yet you remain. For you are me. And I am you.


Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy 

Spatulas on Parade

The Diary of an Alzheimer's Caregiver  

The Lieber Family Blog 
Sparkly Poetic Weirdo 
Simply Shannon 
 The Bergham Chronicles
Confessions of a part time working mom 
Not That Sarah Michelle 
Southern Belle Charm
The Angrivated Mom
When I Grow Up 
Climaxed

Crockpot Beef Shank Pea Soup

                                            ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup medium barley
1/2 cup baby dried lima beans
2 cups dried split peas
2# bone in beef shanks
5 tsp salt 
2 1/2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 celery sticks, washed and finely chopped
1 bag (10 oz) frozen chopped onions

OPT: warm biscuits for serving
OPT: french fried onions for serving

Directions:
*Place the barley, lima beans and split peas into a strainer. Rinse well and strain.
*Place 12 cups water in a large crockpot. Stir in the salt, barley, lima beans, split peas and carrots, celery and onion. 
*Add the beef shanks and turn the slow cooker on to high. Cook for one hour. 
*Reduce heat to medium and cook for 6 hours, stirring now and then.
*Remove the beef shanks, discard the bones and cut the meat into bite sized pieces. 
*Gently dab the top of the soup with paper towels to remove some of the fat. Return the beef to the pot and cook for 2 more hours or until the vegetables have softened and the soup has thickened. 
*Serve or cool, refrigerate, skim the fat from the top and reheat the next day.
*Options for serving: sprinkle top with crushed french fried onions and/or take top off of a warm baked biscuit, pour soup over the bottom, then add the top.