A MISTAKE AND A HACK

The hack first.  I think I mentioned that Monte made buttermilk biscuits in the cast iron pan a while back.  They were scrumptious!

Well, the recipe he used had a hack in it that I think is pure genius and def works.  And as you know I am not one to go on about recipes and such.  But this is so good I am passing it on.

You know when you are making pastry or biscuits etc... or any recipe that calls for you to break butter up into tiny pea sizes.  Well there is a fool proof easier way.  Melt the butter and and when its totally liquified, take your water, milk or buttermilk, and the liquid has to be ice cold, pour the melted butter/shortening into the ice cold liquid.  The butter instantly beads up into a zillion little balls!  You can then rechill the liquid (but it really doesn't need that) and pour it into your dry ingredients and voila!!.  Soooo much easier and not messy.  And it totally works!

Now for the mistake....but one that has turned out for the better.  Back a couple years I bought a mondo amazing bread machine.  That was when my lost boys were around a lot.  I used it royally until the boys were gone.  I had no need of it then. So I gave it to a friend of ours, and glad I did cuz...

I was in Canadian Tire the other day, not my fave store btw, and I saw a bread machine on sale.  Now that I have Monte and his friends again I decided to buy it.  I just used it for the first time today and it is utterly fantastic.  It makes a way better shaped loaf than the old one did and does every single thing the old one did.  And get this....I paid 250 for the old one.  I paid 69 bucks for this one!!!!  Crazy!!!

And this one, of course, has the dough setting.  So cinnamon buns and pizza crusts are in our future.  Not only that, I have the boys picking me a load of blackberries and this sucker makes jam!

My stove broke.  I turned it on yesterday to roast a couple of chickens and it wouldn't heat past 300.  Not only that the oven light is on and won't go off.  Sigh.  And the convection part quit working. (shovel list).  So I phoned the appliance place I used to use when we lived in Bamfield.  They will be coming sometime late next week.  But, you know, I have a deep electric frying pan, a slow cooker, a bbq, a turkey roaster....a bunch of ways to cook otherwise.  

I ended up cooking the chickens in the turkey roaster, bbq'ed the zucchini strips, cast ironed the big round brown mushrooms, copper potted the mashed taters, made stove top stuffing (never done that before and it was delicious!) and best of all, made quarts of milk chicken gravy.  Mmmmm....sorry...can you tell I am hungry?

I will quit now.  TTYL