The Spice Satchel

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Wichita: Animals and Old Town

I went to Kansas to visit my Laura for her Spring Break (she's a special ed teacher), I hadn't seen her in well over a year, and we had such a great time. I miss her again already. I finally had an opportunity to take some new pictures, which I had been itching to do for a while! Tanganyika Wildlife Park and Old Town were both excellent photo spots.

The wildlife park is like a zoo, but more interactive, you get to be in many of the animals' habitats and see many more without fences, or get much closer than allowed at a zoo. The staff also walked around the park with animals to show

Wichita's Old Town was very industrial with big old buildings, a train station, and shopping. Just my camera's type of place. :)

There are also wonderfully beautiful sunsets.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Koleen wrote a cake recipe: breaking all the rules!

Sometimes it is worth it to break all the rules! Especially if Paul is out of town! Koleen is entering a cake contest for one of her farm magazines: the recipe she wrote is "Pumpkin Cake with Whipped Maple Frosting" and it is super delicious, moist and delicious! She wanted people to try it out, and make sure the wording made sense. Because I love my sister so dearly, I had Angela come over so we could bake a dairy cake! While Paul was in CA on a business trip.

And here is where the fun begins:

The cake it self is actually dairy free, it's the frosting that would kill my lovely husband. I couldn't find a pumpkin, in this area, this time of year, so we used a butternut squash- and toasted the seeds in the oven while the cake was baking. 7 people tried Angela and my Koleen Butternut Squash Cake, and every one of them loved it, loved it, loved it! I'm wishing my sister luck int he contest, and expressing my happiness that now this recipe is in my life! Maybe one day I will figure out how to make a delicious non-dairy maple (not too sweet) icing, so Paul can have a piece. Step one: experimenting with Coffee Rich, to see if it will whip. This cake is so good though, that it really doesn't even need frosting!
Although, it is really yummy, and makes the cake pretty!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day

Paul and I never really celebrate Valentine's Day, but this year we decided to have some fun. I have been working almost every weekend evening since I got a job to help us save money. Yesterday, I was scheduled out at 1pm, and there was a Red Wings game on our TV (that is very rare in this area)!
We have been looking for a Bordeaux that we would enjoy drinking with a baguette for a while, so we decided to spend our Valentine's Day picking one. We bought 4 bottles, and tried them all while we watched hockey and ate bread. I don't think we found the perfect Bordeaux yet, but we also didn't want to break the bank ;) It was a fun time.

It was amazing how different they all tasted. Our favorite of these 4 was the bronze medal winner- dry, slightly smoky light blackberry flavor.

Then for dinner, we made Asian Beef, a very simple recipe of thin steak- marinated in garlic, dark soy sauce, dry sherry and dark brown sugar. Served with fresh cucumber, radish and ginger (pickled ginger) relish, also with rice and mango. Steamed asparagus would also be a fantastic addition. It was pretty good with the Bordeaux too. Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday, February 11, 2011

The phone call

Last week I got a phone call from Koleen. She told me she sent me a mail, she wasn't going to tell me, but she couldn't wait anymore. When I got home the package was waiting. She had been crocheting a cover for the hot water bottle Mia likes to sleep with to help stay warm.
"I give up!" Koleen declares. :) She tried again and again, but the yarn is bumpy and it wasn't turning out right, so she sent me the yarn and the pattern, and the very cute (beautifully crocheted) flower she made to decorate the cover.

I finished the cover last night, and hope to get it to the post office this afternoon! I'm very happy to help my sister, and excited that they live in MI, so I'm sure Mia will have many more months of use before it really gets warm. I'm also happy that my sister has no problem just sending me a pattern and some yarn! It was quite a funny conversation, and while I'm sure she will figure out everything soon enough, I'm happy she turned to me with her dilemma!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

meatloaf

There are so many flavors in this meatloaf, it would be just as delicious as meatlessloaf, if you want to make it vegetarian.
1 lb. ground turkey, 1 egg, 3/4 C oats, 1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 C ketchup, handful roughly chopped parsley, 1 small onion diced, 1 small green or red bell pepper diced, 1 small carrot thinly sliced, 1 jalapeno minced, 2-3 cloves garlic minced, 1 tea. ground black pepper. Mix ingredients and place in square glass casserole dish. You can also add 1/2-1 tea. dried or 1-2 Tbl. fresh chopped marjoram, basil, oregano, thyme, and/or sage. Cover with 1 can stewed (no salt added) tomatoes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour, or until 170 degrees internal temp. and the consistency of meatloaf ;)

Goes great with spicy fried potatoes. Dice potatoes and some onion. Heat olive oil over medium heat, spice heated oil with cayenne and black pepper, and garlic powder. Add potatoes and fry until almost done, add onions and continue frying until potatoes are slightly crispy and onions are soft.

Paul and Cori