A Very Quick Update

Hello Friends!

It has been a while... but I've been working and working and working... since my Husband didn't have a job... Well, he had two jobs, but they were only part-time, so those kind of don't really count as a Job job.  But now he has a Job job... so we're happy.  The only problem now - we have to move (about 280 miles north of where we are now).

But this is good for us!  (I keep trying to tell myself that - over and over again)  And it's good for you because I'll actually have time to write about my cookery and crafty adventures!  (And maybe a few more comics for fun)  Yup that's right, in about three weeks time the Lazy Wife will be back :D

Also, I wanted to do a little shout out to the people that commented because they found my blog on Pinterest.  I wasn't even on Pinterest myself, but people pinned the Honey Bran Muffins I made, so that's awesome!  Thanks to everyone that pinned my muffins!  You make me feel loved :D

Candied Almonds

As I was wondering what to do with my left over evaporated milk, I found a recipe for Candied Pecans that sounded pretty good.  But then I realized that I didn't have any pecans sitting around, and I didn't particularly want to go out an buy any because I'll be moving soon, and the fewer things I have to take with me, the better.  I did have a large bag of almonds though.  So I decided to adapt the recipe to almonds, pecans would work well too, of course.  The original recipe is here.  But I ended up doubling it (but I'll post the original proportions, because really, how often do people need 6 cups of candied almonds?), so that I could use up all the evaporated milk I had, and I added a few more spices, because really 1/4 tsp of cinnamon is not enough.

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Candied Almonds


3 Cups whole Almonds
1 cup sugar (1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 white)
1/4 cup Evaporated milk
2 Tbsp Water
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Cardamom
1 pinch Clove
1 pinch Cayenne pepper (if you want a slightly spicy sweet nut)

Hawaiian Sweet Bread

I was kneading bread yesterday, and I started thinking that my arms would probably look a lot better (read: less flabby) if I baked bread every day.  But then I realized that I'd also have to be eating the bread I made that day, which, I think, would cause some pretty intense weight gain.   Unless, of course, my evil plan of baking bread and delivering it to people came to fruition...

I love bread.  And one bread that I have a particular passion for is Hawaiian Sweet bread.  So, of course, when I saw a recipe for it, I decided that I should give it a try (since King's is SO expensive)... and I just happened to have a can of evaporated milk on hand - I don't know where it came from, I certainly didn't buy it - and I REALLY love Hawaiian Sweet bread...  I will admit that my bread isn't exactly like King's Hawaiian, but it does make up for it in cost.

I was trying to make medium sized sandwich rolls, but they puffed up a lot in my oven, so they definitely could have started out smaller.  Also, the recipe I used lied to me in a couple places, so I'm giving you *my* recipe that has corrections/lazy options included.  I found the recipe online, it said that it was a version adapted from The Food of Paradise, but now I can't find the site, so I can't link to it :P

In response to this post, I expect you all to be extremely sad that you don't live with me or close enough to me to get a sample of this bread...

Mini Pommes Anna

That's right! Potatoes! Not just any potatoes! Deliciously French potatoes, or rather Mini Pommes Anna.

Wikipedia tells us that "Pommes Anna is a classic French dish of sliced, layered potatoes cooked in a very large amount of melted butter."

I can't take full credit for this recipe, since I got the idea here: Bakers Royale

I changed the recipe a little, since I didn't have any Yukon Gold potatoes (those would be really good for this though) but I had a mixed bag of fingerling potatoes... and they were also very delicious.  And looked a little more like a real Pommes Anna instead of just a single stack of sliced potato.

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Mini Pommes Anna

BACON!

Today I realized that I had bacon in my refrigerator.  I wanted to eat the bacon, but couldn't be bothered to stand in front of the stove cooking it.  So I decided to bake the bacon :D

But I wasn't going to settle for just plain old bacon, I added maple syrup to one batch, and ginger syrup to a second batch!

To Bake Bacon: