3-2-12

7:30am


I made doughnuts for breakfast this morning.
They were really easy to make.
Take a can of regular biscuits and remove
the center of biscuits. I used a 2 liter
pop bottle lid. Warm a couple inches of
oil in a sauce pan. Gently drop biscuits along
with the center holes into oil and cook
til golden brown, flipping to cook both sides.
Remove from sauce pan and lay on paper towel
to absorb any extra oil.
In a small bowl add 1/2 cup powdered sugar,
1/2 tsp vanilla, about a tsp cocoa and enough milk to make a glaze.
All these ingredients are approximate as I just
dumped into the bowl and didn't measure.
Spoon this over the doughnuts and add sprinkles.




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12:00pm


Kept Jonathan home from school due to a raspy cough
and congestion. Took him to urgent care which
gave him an antibiotics for bronchitis.


I found out today I won ZILCH, NOTHING, NADA
for winning the bake contest!! Even though
the flier they passed around said staff and residents could enter,
they had anticipated a resident winning
so that they could knock off a portion of their rent.
So I was right yesterday for thinking that.
They went ahead and gave the prize to the second place
winner who was a resident. And that resident didn't even
bake a sweet treat. It was a freaking cracker that tasted
horrible (yes I did sample all the entries!).
A cracker for Pete's sake that was harder than a rock.
Cardboard has a better taste than that thing did.
And I'm not saying that because I didn't get a prize.
Those were the comments my family had made about it
when we sampled it and put in our votes.
I voted for a cheesecake with fruit topping
and a chocolate crust.
Do I think that it is unfair after going through
all the trouble and spending money on the ingredients
for this cake, hell yes! Life's unfair I know but
I don't want to cause a scene at my hubby's work.
I can walk away with the satisfaction that I DID WIN
and I can continue to do bake off's with that in mind.
You know I would even settle for a printed certificate
that said I won the bake off, it's better than nothing.
Buy me a cheap Dollar Tree blue ribbon, something
for the acknowledgement that we did enter and win
and got soooo many comments from the staff about how
great it was and was voted the best by staff and residents.
They all sure didn't mind grubbing on my cake and never
once thought to turn it away saying they really wanted
a resident to win.
Nothing like having your bubble burst that's for sure.
Won't be doing this again anytime soon for that place.

My winnings with bake off's so far-

-Betty Crocker cookie mix contest. (top 10 finalist)
-Taste of Home quick bread contest. (3rd place)
-Nestle Toll House Halloween contest using ready made cookie dough (top 10 finalist)
-Nestle Toll House Christmas contest using Toll House products (top 10 finalist)
-Bake Off at Hubby's work (first place)

Not a contest but featured in Taste of Home's magazine
three times.

And this one is not cooking related-

Downy scent contest (grand prize winner) I came up with the Citrus Spice Glow scent.

It take my contests pretty seriously so you can imagine
how I feel today after being let down with this recent one.


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4:30pm


Tonight's supper-

Breaded pork chops with country gravy, steak potatoes and
mushroom rice with broccoli.


For the pork chops-

I dumped potato chip crumbs, Italian bread crumbs and
parmesan cheese into the food processor and pulsed.

Dip and coat pork chops in ranch dressing
then dip and coat with crumbs. Sprinkle with
salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Place into a greased casserole dish and
spray cooking spray on top of pork chops.
Bake.

Next-

Slice potatoes into wedges. Coat with cooking
spray or oil. Place in single layer
onto cookie sheet. Sprinkle salt, pepper and
garlic powder on top. Bake.


Then-

Chop up a 1/2 cup of broccoli and place
into sauce pan with water. Boil til tender.
Drain water. Add in contents of mushroom
rice mix and make according to package directions.

In a small saucepan mix up 2 cups of country gravy.
Instead of 2 cups of water added to the mix
I added 1 cup milk, a 1/2 cup sour cream
and 1/2 cup water.

Serve chops with country gravy on top with a side
of potato wedges
and a side of broccoli, mushroom rice.


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