Happy Thanksgiving 2021 it came and went

So here it is. Thanksgiving Day 2021. Still in the midst of the Covid 19 breakout. Today however we are having a house full of love filled with our closets of family members. And since I am in "CAKE" mode I thought I would try this Anti-Gravity cake that I saw on Pinterest. Some of you may be interested in how I did it, so here goes...

It starts out with peanut butter Swiss buttercream sandwiched between a white butter cake and a topped with a peanut butter layer cake. This is just so you have an idea of what is inside.

The I added a crumb coat of chocolate Swiss buttercream on my layers of cake.  

                                      

Then I about 8 Kit Kat chocolate bars. I first broke them apart. I thought they may make a cleaner break if they were cold...but nope, They better and cleaner at room temperature. 

                                                

Turn the bars upside down and pipe a thin line of frosting on the back.

Place the bars on the sides of the crumb coated cake. Be sure to leave a spot about 4" wide with no bars just frosting. I placed them alternating the direction of the print so they could be read from either side.

                                         

Put an additional layer of frosting on the top and sprinkle with Reese Pieces Candies. Place more frosting on the 4" space the space that has no Kit Kat bars.

                                                   

Now this part is a little tricky. Using small handfuls of candies gently place them on the side "wall" of that 4" space. This will make it look as if they are cascading down the cake. Sprinkle additional candies around the bottom edge of the cake and plate, I just leave these pieces loose. People love to pick at these when they think you are not looking. ;)

                                               

Next place a straw or other long item just off center down into the cake. You can see that I used a straw. I pipe icing around the bottom an "built" layers of frosting and Reese Pieces up so it looks like they are pouring out onto the cake.

Top View

                                               

Side View

                                               

I remembered that I had some silicone leaf molds for fondant and decided to coat them with some milk chocolate morsels that I had in the pantry. This added a nice extra touch to the cake but you certainly don't need. them. Melt your chocolate in the microwave, place a rather thick layer on each side of the mold and place in the fridge until firm.

                

For the finishing touch I added just a folded sheet of paper to the top. I found this picture on line and just printed it out on my home computer. I folded it envelope style leaving one end open. It could say anything, Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, congrats...the sky is the limit. The paper just hangs on the bent end of the straw; it is not attached in any way.

This cake would be great with white Kit Kat's too. Filled with Skittles or Sixlets. Let your imagination run free and let me see the finished product if you make one.

I hope you and your family have a wonder day filled with all the blessings life has to offer. Happy Thanksgiving!

Pizza Day!

 Who doesn't love pizza day?

Making your own pizza is surprisingly easy.  I wonder, does Chef Boyardee still make pizza kits in a box? I remember those as a kid and even then they were terrible. But it was a different time and women had not learned to juggle their new and ever growing careers and family lives and I image pizza in a box had its place.

With ever soaring prices I still find it hard to swallow that pizza is coming in at $30 plus! What?! that's shear madness. I mean really, who needs them when you can make a crust of your own for pennies? Literally pennies. I made this crust for maybe .50 cents. Seriously and that's pushing it. 

So what do you say? Shall we make a pizza? I said heck yeah!

Pick out your toppings. Mine are little outside of the box but if you have never had corn on a pizza you don't know what you are missing! 

I prebake my crust for 10 minutes, be sure to poke holes in it with a fork or you'll end up with a puffed up round that resembles something that flew undetected through the night sky, kills your car battery and beams you up Scotty.

Spread on the pizza sauce of your choice, of course you could make your own fairly easy but in this case I had some left over jarred pasta sauce so that's what I'm using.

A tip I learned is to add a bit of cheese directly onto the sauce before adding the toppings and it will help everything stay in place a bit better. Seems to inhibit sliding.

Then add your toppings. I have here red onion, corn, red bell peppers, kalamata olives, and some vegan pepperoni that I made, a little homegrown....basil that is, top with what ever chesses you like. You don't have to stick to mozzarella. I use anything and everything that I have in the fridge. This one has a blend of mozzarella, leftover 3 cheese mix, and even a little Feta cheese. 

Bake for another 10 minutes and look at this beauty! Just the way I like it.

No soggy bottom nice crispy crust.

As you can tell I made this pizza using a lot of leftovers but even if I had intentionally purchased every item it would have come in at $3-4 maybe.

My dough recipe:

Put a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of sugar (helps to activate the yeast) and teaspoon of active dry yeast in a glass cup or jar, add 1/2 cup 120 degree water, stir and let set until you see bubbles. This only takes a few minutes. I use a glass 2 cup measuring cup.  

When it has a good amount of bubbles about 10 minutes or so add a tablespoon of oil and stir.

Mix in flour, start with about 1 cup and mix, adding flour until you can pick it up with your hands and it's not a sticky mess. Knead it out, just a bit adding flour as you go until it's not too sticky anymore and is a smooth solid ball. This only takes a minute, don't freak out we are not kneading bread here. Make it into a nice little ball then cover and let it rest for about 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile heat the oven to 425 degrees. I've used a baking stone with a bit of corn meal sprinkled on it but use what you like. I like a thin crust so I just roll it out to fit my stone and I'm done.

I prebake my crust, poking holes in it first, for about 10 minutes then add the toppings and bake until desired crispness. I start with 10 min and check on it, sometimes depending on the toppings I like it a little crispier so I leave it in a little longer. 

If you want a pan style pizza you will have to roll your dough to fit  whatever pen you have that has elevated sides. A cast-iron cast-iron pan works great. Add a generous amount of oil in the bottom of the pan, a couple tablespoons, cover and let your dough rise until doubled in size. Also bake this at a lower temp, aroud 375 degrees until crispy brown. Bon appétit!

Fly little birdie! Fly!

So this morning, long before sunrise, I get up and let my little dog out as is our usual routine. After a few minutes I hear him barking a strange bark, you know how dogs have different barks for different situations...well for one it's coming from the front yard. Which means he has gotten out of the backyard somehow. My first thought was the deer knocked down the fence again. So I go out to retrieve my beloved little Woofus from the front yard before he runs out into traffic. I step outside and there is a beautiful gray cat with shining yellow eyes on my porch. Mind you it's still pitch dark out side and all I can see are his eyes and the light shining on the outline of his fluffy little coat. He lets out a few quiet meows and doesn't run or cower, which I find odd.

After getting Woof to safety I dig out my flashlight to see if the fence in down in the back and I can't see anything. As I shine the light around 3 things, which I thought were bats, come flying out of the corner of the house. What a start they gave me! They flew around frantically in the dark and then off they went, not before raising by fear barometer rather rapidly. I decided that I had better wait until daylight to take a closer look at the fence after all its much too early in the day to tango with bats.

As I opened the backdoor to go inside 3 birds flew over my head and into my house! Straight through the laundry room and into the kitchen. What the heck?! It's 6 in the morning, still dark out, my dog is barking it's fool head off and I'm thinking how in the world am I going to get not one but three birds, that are flailing in utter terror out of my house?

What a place to land LOL

So I thought I'd try my fly technique. After all if it works on flies maybe it will work on birds too.

So the layout of the land is...there is a laundry room off the kitchen with a glass paned door between the two and then there is another door which leads to the back porch which has a small roof over it and then out into the yard.

The idea is to wrangle the birds into the laundry room and then out. So I turn off all the lights except for the one on the porch and the one in the laundry room hoping they will go toward the lights like flies do. So I'm waving my arm and shewing like a mad woman trying to get them headed in the right direction. Low and behold they "get it" they go into the laundry room. Ok good! Now the outside door is open but they stay in the laundry room. What? Why don't they go out? I'm shewing and waving, oh I hope the neighbors are not up watching, and they fly in circles land on just about everything out of reach, even on top of the door that leads to freedom, but will not go out. Then a faint meeeeooow comes from the bushes. LOL oh my. They won't go out because the cat with the shining yellow eyes is waiting for them. 

I gave the birds a few minutes to catch their breath and then I got a little more aggressive with my voice and radical arm waving until they began to fly out. The only problem was they were flying right back in! They feared the cat much more than me. One out, two in, three out and all back in, round and round they went until finally, impressed with myself, all 3 were out, or so I thought.

I settled back into my morning routine. I hear Woofus scratching and rearranging his bedding before settling down and all is well. A few minutes later I hear the dog again trying to get comfortable, then again, then again and then again. What the heck was he up to? So I go in to check on him and it wasn't him at all but another little bird perched on the blade of my ceiling fan looking as frightened as can be. So I go through the motions again and finally send him on his way. Now...finally everything is calm and as it should be.

Now you know how to not only get flies out of your house but birds too! Thank goodness it was dark outside and not daylight. Have a swooping good day!