The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Paper Casting

I've just uploaded these items to Etsy.  More to come.

I'm also working on a tutorial for anyone who wants to play with paper pulp at home!  That should be up (fingers crossed) later today, tomorrow at the latest. 

It's fun, and cheap, and something you can do with kids (yours, or the random ones that show up from time to time, looking for something to do).  Julia loves to help me or make her own creations.

Being. And Thanks.

Thank you, my friends.

I'm talking to those of you who read this post and responded, either in the comments section, or via email, or even with just a thought. 

Thank you.

I mostly meant wrote it to lead up to what my sister said at the end, which actually led to lots of laughter during that conversation.  I wrote all the other stuff - the glimpse into my mind right before the "has-not-been" conversation - because...well, because that's where I was.  That's where I am, at times, despite efforts to avoid it all.  What was originally intended to just be a silly post became something more.

I appreciate you all so much, all of you who come back here on a regular basis to read recipes or stories about my kids or the cats, or to look at my photos, or whatever.  Landing on Tastespotting is not really my life's purpose, despite the whining I did about it on Friday.  I was just having a little bit of a mental crisis, that's all.  A smidge of panic.  A soupçon of insanity. 

Some of your comments and emails made me cry.  Partly because they were so touching and kind, and partly because I felt like an idiot for even giving you a reason to write it.

But I guess we all have our George-Bailey-on-the-bridge moments, to one degree or another.

Thanks for being my Clarences.

I can't be a has-not-been. 

I'm still be-ing.

Vitamin C

The kids were watching Sponge Bob yesterday, and I happened to come into the room while this was on. 

It made me happy, so I thought I'd share.  :)

Paper Projects

Here's some of what I've been working on...

Feedback?

Has-Not-Been

It's so hard to break old habits, old thought patterns and old patterns of behaviors that happen in response to those old thought patterns.

I could make a quilt of all the old patterns I'm trying to change.

Maybe I should.

I was going to write a post about lists this morning.  I have so many lists to make...I need to make a list of all my lists.  And then do the lists.  Like, for example, I need to make a list of all the Christmas cookies I need to bake, and a list of everyone I need to send them to, and how many per household of each kind of cookie (some people have favorites, and so I add a few more of them to that house's package), and then a total of how many cookies from each recipe I need to make, which becomes a list of how many batches I need to make, and this leads to a list of how much flour and sugar and almonds and hazelnuts and butter and eggs and other ingredients I'll need.  That's just the cookies. 

Then there's my endless loop of a list of stuff that needs to be done around the house, things on a daily basis, weekly, monthly, eternally, neverendingly.  And I've started writing for Examiner.com (thank you, Susan, for the encouraging shove in that direction) and they want me to put up, on my little page, lists of links.  So now I need to make a list of the kinds of links I want to/should include, and then the lists of links within those link categories.  I don't even know where to begin.  I'm lucky I've done three posts, because for some reason - and you'd never guess it, judging by my amazing ability to blather on and on here on THIS site - it takes me forever to write a few sentences before I post the recipe I'm posting there.  And I'm not confined to just recipes, but I don't have my act together enough yet to write other stuff with any degree of authority.  I'm supposed to become (HAHAHAHAHAHA) a "go-to" person/place/thing for food related stuff in my area.  The only reason anyone "goes to" me is when they can't find socks or want a snack or they want their sibling to get off the computer so they can play on it.

And there's my list of ideas of Things To Do To Make This Blog Better.  I don't know if any of my ideas will improve it, but at least they give me one more list and more stuff to worry about.  I can never have too much of that.

But this wasn't supposed to be about lists.  Well it was, originally, but then it wasn't.

I'm supposed to be writing about other stuff.  Changing patterns and all that.  Which, if I felt like it, could be a whole new list, or lists.

Worrying would head the list.  I always have a nice box of worries I'm toting around on my back.  I keep the top of the box open, so that when I find a new worry, I can just toss it up over my shoulder and into the box so I don't lose it.  Because what would I do without stuff to worry about? 

One of my worries, of course, is money.  It's an exhausting one, and one that I would love to be able to ignore.  And I'm trying NOT to worry about money, becaues worrying sends all kinds of negative energy out into the universe, and instead of just getting lost out there and never coming back, the negative stuff is like a boomerang, and no matter what, it always comes back and whacks you in the head.  So I'm working on that.  Working on NOT worrying about money, and sending positive thoughts out so that when the boomerang comes flying back at me, it'll just fly over me and drop some cash at my feet. 

And I've got my little Etsy store, and every so often I look at it and think "I really suck."  That's all.  Short and simple.  So I switch gears and think, well, then, I should make something else.  I shouldn't be making jewelry.  I don't even WEAR jewelry, at least not much.  I should do something else.

And you know, it would be great if I could sell cookies or something on there, but unfortunately, the laws about food production for retail here are super strict, and there's no way in hell I'm going to be licensed to make food to sell out of my own home because we've got cats, a lizard, fish, and small, boogery-nosed children who don't always cough or sneeze into their elbows, and sooner or later, I'd probably get busted on that and fined and I'd be broke and in disgrace.  So skip that. 

So I'm heading back to the fabric.  I've got projects in the works on that front.  And I've got other projects I'm working on, too, and some of them should actually get posted later today or tomorrow.  And that's all well and good and no one will buy them anyway because (see line in the paragraph two paragraphs before this one:  I suck.)

And there's all that negative thinking again, right, which I need to stop.  So I have been working on NOT thinking "I suck," since that will just boomerang out into the universe like a blinking message on a blimp, notifying all the other boomeranging energy from everyone else that "Jayne sucks, pass it on" and when all the boomerangs fly back to their owners, they'll either bonk them on the head or drop money at their feet, and they'll also say "Jayne sucks," and so no one will buy my crap stuff creations.  And it'll be all my fault.  So I'm trying NOT to think that, NOT to send that boomerang out into the universe.  I'm trying hard, people. 

But old habits, you know?  So hard to break.

I also worry - obsessively and unhealthily, I'm sure, about my blog stats.  My traffic.  My numbers.  If they dip down, I wonder why.  Why don't people LIKE ME ANY MORE???  What have I done?  Did I offend them?  Is my latest recipe unappetizing?  WHY IS NO ONE VISITING ME???  And of course this is all totally irrational, because I'm really NOT the center of anyone's universe, and lots of people actually DO OTHER THINGS besides read my blog every five minutes of the day.  But still.  I check.  I look at the number of visitors, the number of "actions" and where the traffic is coming from.  And then I worry more.  And wonder WHY there's no traffic coming from Tastespotting or Foodgawker or Photograzing and so on, when I submitted a couple different images to all of them recently and WHY HAVEN'T THEY ACCEPTED THEM???  So then I go check the status of the images and look at the rejected ones and the reasons they were rejected, and apparently I have become A BAD PHOTOGRAPHER.  My pictures are crap.  And I feel like I suddenly don't know how to take a decent picture any more.  Don't know.  Wouldn't know how to begin.  Composition?  Lighting?  What's that?  What does this button do?  Dum de dum de dum. 

And I was talking to my sister earlier this morning, which is a very good thing for me to do because when I'm crabby and irrational and heading for a mental breakdown, she goes right along and agrees with me about everything I'm saying.

So I'm telling her about this, how it's been, like, an eternity since Tastespotting, for instance, liked any of my pictures, and I can't remember exactly how the conversation went, but it was something like this:

Me: (whine whine whine worry worry worry) and Tastespotting doesn't even LIKE me any more.  I can't take good pictures any more.

Sister:  Yup.  It's over.  You're a has-been.

Me:  But I haven't even BEEN.

(silence)

Sister:  You're a has-not-been.

And then I laughed, because I get so wound up and ridiculous, and I need someone like my sister to make me see this from the outside, instead of my tightly wound and blinkered inside perspective.

So that's it. 

I'm a has-not-been.

And that's...okay. 

TWD - Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmolasses.

For the month of November, the Tuesdays With Dorie rules are a bit more relaxed - we can bake and post any of the month's recipes on any Tuesday we like.  You can find a list of all this month's recipes here, if you're curious. 

I'm starting off with the Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies, selected by Pamela of Cookies with Boys.  She'll be posting the recipe on her blog at some point this month, or you can refer to pages 76-77 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking:  From My Home to Yours if you can't wait that long. 

You might think with all the Halloween sweets and treats around here, I'd have no interest in cookie-baking for a while.  Well, that's partly right - I have no interest in the candy at all any more (once I'd snitched the good stuff from the kids' stashes, I was done), and as for cookies, well, I'd had enough of the frosted variety for sure.  I didn't want any kid stuff.  I wanted a grown-up cookie.  And that's just what these crisp, darkly sweet cookies are - cookies for grown-ups.

They're a lot like gingersnaps (or "chimpersnacks" as Julia calls them) - thin and crisp and spicy.  Great for dunking, if you are so inclined, in cold milk,  hot coffee, hot tea - or whatever you prefer.

I made them yesterday before Julia and I made these leftover candy concoctions, and they were very easy to put together.

First, I whisked together my dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and pepper.  The recipe calls for a pinch ("small or not so small") of cracked or coarsely ground black pepper.  I didn't pinch.  I think I put in about 8 grinds' worth from the pepper mill.  I really love pepper.

And in the bowl of my KA stand mixer, I creamed the butter...

 
added the brown sugar and the molasses...

And beat them all together for a couple of minutes.

And then I ate it all.  No I didn't really.

Julia popped in to get something from the fridge and make a face at me.  She wasn't interested in helping me, though.

I continued on, with the adding of the egg,

and then the dry ingredients,

 
being careful not to over-mix.  And here's my dough:

Now, Dorie says to divide it into two portions and wrap them in plastic, then either freeze them for half an hour or refrigerate for an hour.  I went a slightly different route.  I rolled each portion up in a sheet of parchment paper, like so:

I stowed one portion in the freezer for another time, and put the second portion in the fridge for about an hour.

I didn't divide the dough into twelve, either.  I just sliced about a quarter-inch-thick piece, cut that in half, and rolled each portion into a ball before rolling it in sugar.  I wanted a lot of smaller cookies, rather than a dozen larger ones.  I flattened them, as directed, with the bottom of a glass, and popped them in the oven.

Mine baked perfectly in 12 minutes.  While they were still warm, there was a bit of chewiness to the bite, but once they'd cooled, they were completely dry and crisp.

I'm already thinking of adding these to my great big long list of Christmas cookies that I send out every year.  I know, I don't really NEED to add another cookie, but it's always good to change things up a bit.  And these, while they are similar to some of the other hard, spiced cookies I make, are definitely different because of the molasses flavor.  So I'm considering it.

I'll keep you posted.

And in the meantime, you should head on over to the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll and start checking out what other people have baked this first week. 

And come back here next week - I am 99% sure I'll be making the Cran-Apple Crisps next.

Halloween Haul Cookies

 
I spent part of today baking cookies.

Alex finally went back to school today, and I'll probably send Julia back tomorrow.  They're both still congested, with some coughing and sneezing, but if I keep them home til that's gone, they won't be going back to school til July.  They need a change of scenery.  And I need a bit of silence.

But today Julia and I were home together.  And at some point, when she had opened Alex's magic kit and was whining that SHE had wanted a magic kit for Christmas last year and NO ONE GOT HER ONE and she REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVES MAGIC (all this is news to me), I asked if she wanted to help make cookies.  After all, baking is a sort of magic, right?  Right!

But first I had her wash her hands really well.  Because, you know, she's five, and she's been sick, coughing and sneezing and sort of blowing her nose correctly, but, like I said, she's five, and I don't need any additional ingredients in the cookies I'm baking, you know?

After she'd scrubbed, I made sure she was suited up properly.

(I was also going to have her wear these long, heavy-duty rubber gloves that Bill used to use when he cleaned our big fish tank, but I couldn't find them.)

Anyway, once Julia was thoroughly disinfected and masked, we headed into the dining room to dig through the Halloween candy.  For snacks?  No, for the cookies.

I figured it would be fun (and required, food/mommy blogger that I am) to make some sort of cookies using up some of the Halloween candy.  Susan and her adorable son, Seven, made brownies with some of their candy, but I wanted to make cookies.  Alex has been asking for cookies with M&Ms in them for a while now, and I figured, in addition to M&Ms, I could add lots of other bits of chocolatey goodness.

Here's what we started with.  Eleven little packages.  Julia set to work unwrapping them and setting them all out on a little cutting board while I mixed the dry ingredients.

I put a cup of all-purpose flour, a cup of whole wheat flour, and 3 cups of old-fashioned oats in the food processor...added half a teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of baking soda...and processed for maybe a minute.  I didn't pulverize the oats entirely, I just chopped them up a bit.

I left that where it was over on one part of the counter and moved over to the KA stand mixer area. 

I put two sticks of unsalted butter in the bowl of the larger mixer and beat that til it was creamy, then I added a cup each of white sugar and light brown sugar and mixed it all together until it was creamy. 

 
Next, I added in two eggs, one at a time, scraping down in between additions,

 
and finally a teaspoon and a half of vanilla. 

By this time, Julia had finished unwrapping the candy.

 
Yes, her mask is gone.  She promised to follow the CDC guidelines and cough or sneeze into her elbow (the elbow farthest from the cookie dough at any given moment) so I let her remove it.

Here's the candy:

 
 Next, we took a moment to take pictures of each other.  

 
Back to the cookies.

I added my dry ingredients to the wet mixture in the bowl, and combined them until the flour was just incorporated.

Time to chop the candy!

I chopped, and Julia put the pieces in the bowl.  

We diced there wasn't enough candy for the amount of cookie dough, so I sent Julia on a reconnaissance mission.  She returned with more candy, and after one more trip to the other room (where the candy was), we had the right amount. 

I mixed the candy into the dough with a very sturdy rubber spatula, and Julia made faces at me.

She cracks me up, when she's not making my head explode.  Some day maybe I'll post a video of her Little Old Man impression.  I cannot NOT laugh at it.

But I digress.

We chilled the dough for about an hour and then - very simply - took small chunks of dough, pressed them gently into little balls, and placed them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

I baked them at 350 degrees F for about 12-14 minutes, until they were golden brown and any candy showing was melty-looking. 

That's a technical term.  Melty-looking.

I baked off a few dozen of these - the rest of the dough is in the fridge.  I will probably put that in the freezer, unless the remaining cookies disappear by tomorrow.  I don't think they will - the kids are asleep and Bill doesn't seem to be in a cookie-devouring mood.

Julia was so-so about them.  She's kind of funny about cookies.  I never know what will appeal to her and what won't. 

Alex sucked down three in about half a minute when he got home from school and would have had more if I wasn't such a tough, strict parent.  I knew he would like these, once he got over his indignation about our pilfering of his candy.

Bill liked them, as well.  I think he only had two, though.  With maturity comes restraint.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Sorry.

And oh, yes, I tried the cookies, too, and I was pretty happy with them. 

I'm glad I included the oatmeal.  (I decided to put oatmeal and whole wheat flour in the cookies to balance out all the candy I knew I'd be using.  You know, so they'd be HEALTHY.)  I almost chopped up some walnuts to throw in as well, but there were nuts in come of the candy bars, so I figured I'd save the walnuts for something else.

Next I'll have to use up some of the other candy - the fruity stuff. 

But for now, everyone here seems pretty happy (so-so is close enough) with the cookies.

 

Got a Cold? What Kind Do You Have? Because There IS a Difference.

Well, this may not be funny to everyone, but it cracks me up every time I watch it. 

Or even when I don't, because I've got it memorized, nearly. 

And because I live with one of them. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I laugh so hard i cry. 

Saw this recently ondooce and I just had to link to it as well.

A Word to the Wise (from The Stupid)

When you're very tired, and you're trying to make a nice oven roasted chicken dinner (with stuffing) for your sick family, don't jab that bag of giblets you're holding in your left hand with a knife.  Use the scissors.  Or bad things might happen.

Sometimes There's Sugar Mixed in With the Spice