a gallon of molasses

i have a gallon of food service molasses.


it's heavy.

this is one gallon among four that i have leftover from the cafe business.


i also have nearly twenty cans of sweetened condensed milk.


ten pounds of peanut butter chips.


fifteen pounds of raisins.


ten boxes of cornstarch.


ten pounds of scharffen berger chocolate.


and a lot of little miscellaneous items.


since winter is coming to an end and it slightly saddens me, i have decided what better way to use up some of the molasses than to make some molasses cookies.  


plus, it's the only edible thing i know what to use molasses for.   besides using it as a microbe food source in Gaeumannomyces graminis disease management.  i'm a turf nerd.  what can i say?!?!

chewy molasses spice cookies – adapted from a cook’s illustrated recipe

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp fresh grated nutmeg
12 tbs. unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup molasses

½ cup granulated sugar, for rolling

preheat the oven to 375 degrees. line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (or silicone mat) and set aside.

in a medium size bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. 

in the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together until well blended – about 2 minutes. add the egg yolk and vanilla, and mix until incorporated. 

add the molasses, beat until blended. 

scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for another minute to insure that everything is well blended. reduce mixer speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat just until well mixed.

depending on your patience, cover and chill from 2 hours to overnight.  

once completely chilled, roll dough into tablespoon sized balls.

roll balls into granulated sugar right before baking.

no, i do not have freakishly small hands...they belong to my daughter. 

bake cookies for approximately 10-11 minutes, or until the edges are set but the centers still appear underdone. allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

bonus: they freeze well.

yield:  22 cookies


lemme know how they work out for you, if you give them a try.


up the ginger if you like a spicier cookie.


good night folks!


jill

tour de thrift shop

sing with me...

it's raining, it's pouring...

a mommy stuck inside is boooriiiiing.

i seriously hate when it rains.

when i had the cafe two years ago, it rained for a good part of the season.  however, since the cafe was amongst many antique and thrift shops, rainy days brought out the antique shoppers.

not sure why anyone would wanna cart around their finds in less than desirable weather.

but they did.

and today i dragged along my kids to a thrift shop in hightstown.

who would do such a thing? i know. but, i was desperate to get out.

my finds.

the plates were $2 a pop.  they just need some polishing.

i'd like to collect about ten plates and gather on a wall over a buffet or dresser in my bedroom.

this was $7.  it definitely needs to be sanded, primed (maybe), and i bought two cans of satin brushed nickel spray paint.

i hate magazines lying around the house.  i don't have any subscriptions, but hubby has a mess load of techie mags that i loathe.  normally, chicken nugget chews them up.  leaving me a mass of tiny little pieces of wet paper.  arggh.

sooo...needless to say, we need a place for magazines.

once this rain calms down, i'll take care of business when kiddos are napping...at the same time...which will only happen if i run these guys to the g-r-o-u-n-d!

tomorrow, i'm heading down the shore and plan on hitting up another thrift shop that helps support teen moms that get preggers.  i'm hoping this store is promising because it will be the closest one to us once we move.

jill

nastiness

i love cleaning really dirty things.

under the fridge. behind the oven.  the ceiling fan.  hvac vents.

the nastier, the better.

today, it was the front door carpet.

winter sure has done its toll to our white carpet.

before.

after.

i feel so refreshed.

anyone else share the same cleaning sentiment?

i was raised by a professional cleaning lady, so can you blame me?!?

jill

deals shmeals

my hubby's cousin's wife got me hooked.

it all started back when we visited his family in michigan this past thanksgiving.

i loved her diaper bag and all the cool things she had for her daughter.  granted, i was familiar with the things she had and knew those things were a bit pricy.

i felt cheap.  i never buy those things for my kids.

she came clean and admitted she had bit of an addiction with those daily internet deals you get sent to your email.

of the list she sent me...i am officially hooked on three sites.

like seriously hooked.

i check them every morning because...you know...you snooze, you lose.

ideeli

hautelook

ecobaby buys

the only thing is that they take some time to ship.  i bought a fleece jacket last week...

i'm still waiting for it.  patiently....not really.

ideeli and hautelook carry all different kind of things.

home furniture, kids clothing, make-up, vacations, lingerie, sunglasses, batteries (bahaha, just kidding)...the list goes on!

do you have a site you check out everyday?

get any good deals lately?

if you become hooked i will take full responsibility.

thanks for stopping by!

jill

wordless wednesday

well...partially wordless.  (i'm stealing this idea from becky)

can you guess how i spent my wednesday?

first person to guess right gets....

to be my best friend.  

aren't you excited?!?

sorry, i'm not like pioneer woman.  i don't give out $500 stand mixers just because. 

jill

***update***

we got a winner:

bane of my existence.

you guessed it.  laundry.

(and stuffed animals.)

it owns me.

i can't seem to get on top of it.  i have accepted that it will be part of my routine for the next twenty years to wake up, turn on the coffee maker, open blinds, and throw in a load of laundry.

hubby has a new job.  so he has new work clothes that require a bit more work.  like ironing.  his last job was government issued uniforms that never required to be ironed.

even after spending a few nights in the dryer.  it was awesome.

then there's the kids clothes.  

then towels.

and dish towels.

and sheets.

and....

sigh.

our laundry room right now is just the closet off of our spare bathroom that just fits the washer and dryer.  it gets the job done.

however, i'd love to do something with the laundry room/mud room in our future home.  i am really hoping my fil, who's home we're buying, is going to leave behind his ridiculously awesome washer/dryer.

here are some things that have caught my eye.

 storage.  yay.

i like this piece to hold linens, maybe not in the laundry room...but i still like it. 

love. love. love.

i like the cabinets above the machines with the counter and sink.  i prefer a large basin sink, though.

cute idea.  needs more storage shelves

this makes me smile.  

so there you have it folks.  the first line of business in our new home will be the bathroom/mudroom/laundry room.  

hubby doesn't know it yet.  

in order for this whole "happy wife is a happy life" thing to work out, i need my laundry room before he gets his smoke room/man cave/garage...blah blah blah. 

unless, of course, he plans on doing the laundry down there:)  

what are your dreams for your laundry room?  c'mon, i know deep down in there you have some!  please share.  

do you share the same sentiment towards laundry as myself?  i need support here, girls!  what's your routine for laundry if one exists?

thanks for stopping by.

jill

Jesus is my homeboy

for anyone who semi follows me, knows i don't capitalize.  i usually don't make exceptions, not even a big t for tablespoon.

Jesus.  He is the exception.

this pic is painfully awkward.  but it cracks me up.

Jesus is a huge part of my life.

(He died for my sins, the least i can do is capitalize His name.)

i grew up going to sunday school.  probably the same reason everyone else went:  parents wanted us out of the house.  i never really understood the whole Jesus thing.  i got confirmed into the presbyterian church, but i had no idea what the heck it meant.

v.i.p. pews, perhaps?

once i got confirmed into the presbyterian church in eight grade, i stopped going to anything having to do with the church.  the idea in my head of what church was, was a group of boring people (mostly old ladies with blue hair) singing hymns and preaching directly out of the bible and not saying anything relevant to me.   then there was also the kid in my high school that was all about Jesus. in an obnoxious, wwjd, in your face kind of way.  i feel bad that i thought that about the kid, but now i
get it.

my parents weren't Godly people, either.  i don't think they ever spoke of Jesus when it wasn't in vain.

it wasn't until rob and i were married a few months that we found a church. (more like the church found us.)  we wouldn't have done it on our own, but how do you say "no thanks" to a neighbor who  keeps inviting you?!?  i'm pretty convinced God put our neighbor in our life to annoy us about going.  we finally went just to shut him up and if you know who i'm talking about...it's pretty hard to shut him up.

we went.  we loved it.  we've been hooked on this Jesus thing for four years now.

it has been life changing.

i am a different person.  i feel it in my bones.

i'm kinder.  gentler.

my heart breaks for people who are hurting.

not sure what my marriage would look like if we didn't have Christ in our life.  the model of marriage that was imprinted in my head was that of my parents.   to say the least,  that marriage didn't turn out so great.  i am grateful for learning how to communicate in love.  without it,  a marriage can't survive.

right now, rob and i are part of 217church in hamilton, nj.  it is the daughter church of the church we used to attend.

church service is held at the amc movie theater.  that alone is a cool enough reason to come and check it out.  it is a little weird smelling popcorn while worshiping the Lord.  but, cool nonetheless.

they just had their grand opening yesterday.  it is pretty amazing to see how one idea of a church plant turns into something so...well....amazing.

i could write a whole entire post about the wonderful things that are happening and the lives 217church is transforming, but i'll save that for another day.  let's just say its legendary.

here's the article that came out today in the paper.

i wasn't able to go to the church in the morning since i was finishing up the celebration cake for the grand opening event, but was pleasantly surprised to hear hubby made a recommitment to Christ during the service.  since it's always better to do anything as a team, i am also recommitting myself.

i'm not sure what recommitting ourselves will look like, but i am looking forward to doing this with my hubby.  we make a good team.

i'd love to know where are you with your faith.

thanks for stopping by...good night.

jill

tortilla de patatas

my daughter just had a play-date with two little girls from her pre-school class.  both of the moms stay at home, as well as myself, so it was nice to have adult conversation before noon.

although i wasn't expecting to be fed, i was pleasantly surprised at the lovely lunch she had prepared for us.  a hot lunch.  ftw.

two words:  spanish.  tortilla.

omg.

if i was alone and didn't care about people judging me, i would have scarfed down both of them...with my bare hands.

before i even tasted it, i asked if she had ketchup.

(jill rule #235 says if it has potatoes in it, it must be dipped in ketchup.) i know, i'm so american.

while she was getting the ketchup i took a bite.  i was in heaven.

again.  omg.

for first time in my life, i said never mind to the ketchup.

i need to share with you one of the best any-time meals i have had.  breakfast.  lunch.  dinner.  dessert, possibly.

after doing a little research combined with the advice the hosting mom gave me, i was able to come up with a delicious spanish tortilla.  ugly looking, but delicious.

first thing, first.  there is no actual "tortilla." whether it be corn or flour.  none.  

stick to potatoes like yellows or red news.  from my limited experience i thought russet (what i had on hand) did not hold up well after frying.

use a mandoline. the slicing kind.  not the musical kind.  it will make your slices uniform.  uniform = pretty.

who needs toys when we have cat bowls and mandoline boxes?

he's such a boy.

i neglected to take a picture of him playing with the bowl of yogurt...on my white carpet.

my stove cooks on the hot side, plus with a cast iron pan, i fried the potato slices on medium low.  

fry them just enough so that they are slightly brown on the outside.  lay them on paper towels.  yes, meli...this is when paper towels are better than cut up bath towels:)

once all the potatoes are done, toss in garlic and onion.  saute until soft and translucent.  

layer the cooked potatoes in a circular pattern around the pan. 

add your egg/milk mixture.

shake the pan gently to get the egg in between the potato layers.

i had a major fail.  i walked away to change a diaper and the pan got too hot.  the bottom stuck when i went to flip.

so, what you should do to make the tortilla flip easier.

• be sure to have enough olive oil coating the pan
• stay away form cast iron.  go with non-stick.

this is the general idea of what the spanish tortilla should look like.  i tried.

this is what it is suppose to look like.

here's the recipe i followed.  well...at least i tried to follow. 

have you tried spanish tortilla before?  was it authentic?  part of a tapas meal?

i feel like i'm the only one who has never had one before.  

i'm so uncultured.  sigh.

love to hear your experience with it.

thanks for stopping by,

jill

spring is a comin'

dang, it was warm today.  who would have thought in the middle of february we'd be in the sixties?!  then on top of that, one of my most favorite things to see in the winter is when they put up the seed rack at our local supermarket.

which tells me, spring is a comin'.  woot. woot.

look at all the other goodies they have.

for the budding gardener.

planning my garden is no longer in the back of my mind. but rather, slowly creeping towards the front.  which reminds me, i never cleaned out the plot we had at our community garden.  

so i did a drive by.

all of our crap is still there.  covered in snow, but it's still there. 

if these weren't hybrids, i'd totally save them for this upcoming season.  they were vanilla marigolds.

these guys are thai, lemon, and red rubin basil.  i will come by again with baggies to save the seeds.

we were suppose to have everything cleared out by december fifteenth.  however, it snowed while we went away for thanksgiving and it never melted.  i can't be bothered with taking down a plot with two kiddos, frozen ground, and getting "betty white" dirty inside.  (if you look close enough, you can see her in the background.) 

such is life.  

what i would like to grow this year since i will have a permanent garden:

• ramapo tomatoes
• dahlias that don't taste good to the neighborhood ungulates 
• roses that can defend themselves against black rot 
• zucchini that can defend themselves against those darn cucumber beetles
• eggplant that can defend themselves against those darn flea beetles
• zinnias that can defend themselves against those darn japanese beetles
• spring peas
• onions
• garlic
• potatoes
• sweeeeet potatoes
• poppies

that'll do it for now. 

how wonderful will it be to walk out my back door and water my garden.  heck, the irrigation will probably be able to water it most days.  gone are the days of carting two kids across town to water a garden.  

good bye, community garden, it was nice to have met you.  

so, whatchu growin' this year?

jill