Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Turkey Rice Soup


If I come to dinner at your house, I am going to help you clean up. It's just how I am. If I just enjoyed a turkey dinner at your house, I am totally going to motion to your turkey carcass and say, "You're not going to throw that away, right?" If you are going to throw it away, I'll ask you kindly for two garbage bags and I'll be taking a turkey carcass home with me like a distant relative to a redneck.
There is nothing in the world like soup that starts out as stock made from a carcass. Nothing. This is the soup I made from the Sannelli Christmas Turkey Carcass.
Ingredients
48 oz turkey stock (I make homemade - see my stock process and ingredients here, it's the same for a turkey)
turkey meat to your taste - I use about a cup and a half
5 carrots, not peeled, sliced into coins
2 TBS olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup celery
1 tbs minced garlic
1/2 cup - 1 cup frozen mixed veggies
1 can corn
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup rice - I used 3/4 cup brown minute rice and 1/4 cup white regular rice. I wanted to use wild rice but I was fresh out.
Directions
Preheat oven to 425. Toss carrots in 1 TBS olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put on a baking sheet. Roast for about 25 minutes. The roasting ends a depth of flavor to the soup. Remove and set aside.

Heat 1 TBS oil in a soup pot. Add onion and celery and saute over medium for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and let it go another minute or two.

Add stock, carrots, and frozen veggies to pot. Bring it up to a boil. Add rice and turkey and let cook for 12 minutes. Add corn and cook another two or three minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste.

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Haikuesday:
It's post-soup nap time.
Tryptophan makes me happy.
Rock a bye baby.
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Two must reads for you today: 
Steph's walk down obscure 90s TV shows memory lane. MFD insists I look like Brad from Hey Dude in profile, and I do. Go jog your memory.

Tomorrow: January recommendations. 

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

About that Dollar Shave Club

My mom brought me this Chi-Chi's sombrero from  her attic last night. RIP Chi-Chi's.
Update 11/13/17 - We no longer use the Dollar Shave Club monthly service because they are advertising on Sean Hannity's program and we do not support programs who provide shelter to pedophiles like Roy Moore. I placed an order with Dorco and that's how we'll go forward. 

Let me start by saying Tuesday sucks. And also that I was not compensated for this post or given a free product to try and review. I'm just passing what I consider to be a good deal on to you, dear readers.

I saw a blog post on a 'lil hoohaa about the Dollar Shave Club in December. What a genius idea for a stocking stuffer! I promptly signed MFD up. Mail fail - it came, I didn't squirrel it away, and I am into instant gratification so I said open it now! He's been using the razor blades for a month and likes them better than his former razors. Can I take a minute to say that I love that I have a husband who will play along with my desired blog photos?

Anyway...I typically buy Venus to the tune of $12+ per package and MFD uses Schick for $14+ per package. Buying razors always makes me mad because that's freaking highway robbery but if one does not want to walk around like a hairy Sasquatch it's a necessary expense. Could I use cheaper ones? I could. I could also shave my legs with a cheese grater. As I was saying...

Dollar Shave Club offers packages for $1/month, $6/month, or $9 for month. I chose the $6/month package for MFD. The initial package includes the razor and four blades, and four new blades arrive via mail every month. It's marketed towards men, but it's a great deal for women too. I thought let me get in on that, and bought a one off razor and pack of cartridges for myself. I'll just steal one of his or order another set to arrive with his monthly order whenever I'm running out. The razors are good and do what razors should do.

MFD's razor expenses went from $14/month down to $6/month, a savings of $96/year. I only buy cartridges every other month, so I went from $72/year to $36/year for an overall razor savings of $132/year. I love cutting costs like a boss wherever I can, especially if the product performs well at the lower price point.

If you want to save some cash, give Dollar Shave Club a try. I also learned that you can buy blades direct from Dorco USA, which supplies Dollar Shave Club, and if you buy in bulk you can save more - 6 packs of four blade razors for $28, free shipping over $25. So you can save $8 more over a period of six months if you choose. I will never remember when we're out, so I'm sticking with a monthly delivery from Dollar Shave Club that requires no thought or action from me.

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Haikuesday:
Razors. You need them.
Dollar Shave Club saves you cash.
Use it to buy shoes.
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I thought this was a good savings opportunity to pass on - every little bit counts, right?
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Sunday, January 19, 2014

Berry Cobbler

Sunday is a day that calls for dessert, am I right?

I'm a huge fan of fruit-based desserts. Last weekend I had some fresh blackberries I needed to use so I decided to do a cobbler after rooting around in the freezer and unearthing some frozen strawberries. This was so easy.

Ingredients
4 tbs butter (cut up into tbs increments)
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups berries - any kind, fresh or frozen. I used a mix and didn't thaw the frozen ones
1 TBS sugar
a bit of brown sugar crumbled between fingers

Directions
Heat oven to 350. Put the pieces of butter in the bottom of the dish you're using (I used a  dish) and let melt in the oven with the rack in the middle.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Add milk and vanilla and whisk until smooth. When butter is melted, remove dish from oven and pour batter in. Stir a bit.

Throw fruit on the top of the batter and sprinkle with 1 TBS sugar and then crumble a bit of brown sugar over top.

Bake until the batter gets brown and the fruit bubbles. It was about 47 minutes for me.

Serve warm (if you need to microwave individual plates, zap them at 20 seconds per) with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.

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Saturday, January 18, 2014

Bryski Pierogi


You guys, I have a Saturday treat for you! My friend Judy, a stylist in Jacksonville, FL, was kind enough to document her family's pierogi process. I've never made them and I've wanted to, so I'm grateful to Judy for writing it down and photographing it.

As a girl, Judy always helped her Grandmom and Mom (Mom is with Judy above) make pierogi (fun fact: pierogi is the plural) but never paid attention to the recipe. Her Grandmom died and her Mom couldn't remember how to tell me to make them. Judy's client gave her a Polish cookbook about 30 years ago and she recognized the ingredients. Judy and her daughter Meg have since played with the recipe and finally came up with this one that is like a taste of her childhood.

The moral of this story: write your recipes down! Thanks for sharing a piece of your family and heritage Judy!

INGREDIENTS
Filling
About 2 lbs potatoes, peeled, cut and boiled in salted water
1/2 C sour cream
1 C cottage cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
sauteed onions (1/2 small diced onion sauteed in 3 TBS melted butter)

Dough
2 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg (beaten, room temp)
1/2 C sour cream
1/4 C butter (chopped, room temp)

For Frying
2 sticks butter
4 C thinly sliced onions

DIRECTIONS
1. Peel, cut & boil potatoes in salted water. Let them cool and dry out a little.
2. While potatoes are boiling, chop onion & saute in melted butter.
3. Let them caramelize slightly.
4. To potatoes, add sour cream, cottage cheese, s/p and sauteed onions.  Mash with a potato masher until smoothly lumpy.

At this point, you can cover and refrigerate if prepping ahead.

Get one of these to make this fun and easy. The circle cutter/sealer is also a great idea. If you don't have a cutter, a round glass will work (please, not the wine glass) .

1.Mix together flour & salt, adding beaten egg.
2. Add cottage cheese, sour cream & chopped butter. (Fig 6)
3. Combine, then knead with hands, until smooth. You can use a mixer with a dough hook, but do NOT mix too long as you end up producing shoe leather. Trust me..I speak from ugly experience. Use your hands. (Fig 7)
3. Cover and refrigerate 1/2 hour.

THE WHOLE PROCESS
1. While dough is chillin' out, you can thinly slice 4 onions and put aside.
2. Start boiling water in a HUGE pot.
3. Take dough out of fridge, cut a section and roll out on a floured surface.
4. Cut circles with your handy dandy cutter or round glass, doing 4-5 at a time.
5. Roll each circle to an oblong shape.
6. Plot some filling like so. I use a small melon ball scooper.
7. Fold the dough over and seal. My cutter has innards that will seal, but you can pinch with fingers or use tines of a fork, like you do a pie. Please sure you seal completely or it's an ugly mess. Been there.
8. Make all pierogi while water gets to a boil. I salt my water as well.
9. Drop 3-4 at at time and when they rise to the top, remove with slotted spoon.
10. Drain on paper towels. This when I give you permission to use paper towels instead of cloth. Cloth ones can leave threads or knubbies in the dough..not good.
11. Melt about half stick of butter and dump in a handful of onions in a large pan. when onions soften, begin adding pierogi. Flip when a little toasty. Continue adding butter and onions as you cook pierogi as necessary.
12. Eat. We were a ketchup family, much to Grandmom Bryski's dismay. As I got older, I fell in love with the Polish addition of sour cream. My sister was a ketchup freak and I think she started that.

You can use all kinds of fillings and adjust this recipe as you like. My grandmother filled with cooked sauerkraut she made herself in her terracotta crock. This recipe can be dessert or a meal.

MFD loves the pierogi so I'm going to have to make these ASAP. They look much better than Mrs. T's, no? I'm thinking of making a big batch and flash freezing them so we have them on hand.

If you have a beloved family recipe you'd like to share, please get in touch with me!

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Friday, January 17, 2014

Friday Five: Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes


We all know we should clean our makeup brushes. Dirt bags like me forget about this chore amid the places to go, people to see, and Extreme Cheapskates marathons to watch on TLC. Then I break out, wonder WTF is going on, and realize I need to clean my filthy brushes. I'm here to remind you to clean yours too. If you want to do it quick and dirty, I'm sure you have everything you need on hand right now.

You'll need:
Baby shampoo or Dish liquid (I would typically use baby shampoo, but I didn't have any in the house)
New sponge
kitchen towel
napkins or paper towels

1. Put dish liquid on your damp sponge. Run the bristles of your brush under lukewarm water with your brush angled down. Do not fully submerge your brush or get the barrel of it wet.
2. Work your brush against the sponge.
3. Run the bristles under water, massaging them with your fingers. Again, angle the brush down and don't get the barrel fully wet.
4. Dab it on a napkin or paper towel. If it doesn't dab clear, repeat the process.
5. Reshape bristles and lay flat to dry. I leave mine overnight. Before doing the next brush, clean your sponge and reapply dish liquid because this grossness is now on it:
Easy, right? I have no excuse for not doing it more often. Except getting immersed in weird TV shows on the weekend and general living of life.

Cheers to the freakin' weekend.

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Linking up with Joy as always, and the Northeast Bloggers






Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Shit MFD said this week


When I ask him to stop blocking the TV during the final dance scene of Dirty Dancing:
What? You've never seen this before?

When I wake him up from a very long Sunday nap:
What should I be doing? Watching the stupid Property Brothers?

Eating fruit cobbler I made Sunday and pointing at me with his spoon:
You know what? You should open up a fucking Honey's Sit-n-Eat type thing.

After not looking for the Gavescon at all. This can also be applied to keys, mouse, money, lighters, iPhone charger, ankle brace, whatever:
MFD: Where's the Gavescon?
Me: In the paisley box next to the pink box.
MFD: I don't see a pink box. This? (touches a tan box right next to the pink box)
Me: No.
MFD: What the fuck? Are we playing hide and seek with the medicine now?

Via text about a package we were expecting:
Me: I think the lamp arrived.
MFD: Wish it was a leg lamp...
When I told him I was doing a shit you say blog.
Oh. That's good.

Haikuesday:
Why can't men find things?
Age old question, am I right?
Just fucking look, men.

AND and and...check me out at Insert Classy Here where I'm sharing Hausfrauing Tips & Tricks today.

Tomorrow: bitches eating crackers. See you then. I hope your Tuesday doesn't suck hard.

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Linking up for
Voyage of the Mee Mee

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Ain't no shame, ladies do your thing. Just make sure you ahead of thegame.

Did you know Missy Elliott wrote that song for me? I'm Maisel, and I'm here to tell you all about me. I can sum it up best by saying it's all about me. When I don't get my way, or when I get a wild hair up my ass, my alter ego Hazel will terrorize everyone and everything in sight like a tiny devil. Like Queen Bey says, Who runs the world? Girls. 
I'm 11 pounds of pure firecracker. I use all my weight to bulldoze everything in my path. I lure you in with my tiny stature, batting my eyes and holding my dainty little spotted paw up. You think I'm bashful and sweet, so you lean down and boom! I jump up and bite you on the nose because I need to keep the people on their toes. Do you see my Hazel eyes? Homie don't play.
Most days I bebop around, looking for things to get into. I'm intensely interested in everything. I just got here at the end of August and I've been trying to take over since. I tear ass around like a wild jackal, going as fast as I can on my tiny little legs, knocking blankets and pillows off couches, putting things in my mouth and shaking the bejesus out of them. I get moody sometimes, and that sounds like this:
Things are awesome here in my new home - I have the run of the house, the food is tops, they leave the TV on for us, and my clothes befit my scrappy diva status. I also have these brothers now. I really really want to be their best friend, but since I just turned four and they're older, I don't think they're ready for this jelly. I bullied Geege into letting make my debut here today before him. Bitches get what they want! King Gus already left his mark here.
I love my new parents. The Lady runs this house. Who runs the world? Girls. When she says something to me, I slow my roll because she's in charge. I try to stay on her good side but she does not like Hazel at all. I don't get it. Bitches unite! Can I get a hell yeah?

The Father is wrapped around my finger and lets me do whatever I want because I am small and cute and he wants a dog that likes him the best. Plus he picked me up from my old house and loved me when I was very smelly and had skin conditions. The Lady feeds me coconut oil and I am a fine sleek machine now. I like to commune with them both very closely even though lots of times The Father swoops in and takes me away from The Lady because he wants his own dog and the brothers flock to The Lady like bookends.
Like all self-respecting females, I have rules for living.

Rule one: Listen carefully. Do not F with me when I'm sleeping or in a vegetative state. I used to sleep on a crate pad in a kitchen, and now these people have bought me an enormous king sized bed because they know it's what a diva deserves. If you come near me when I'm sleeping, I will growl and I may cut a bitch! Who's house? MAE'S HOUSE. And sometimes RUN'S HOUSE. Much love to you Rev Run.
Rule two: All the things are mine.
What else? I am an insinuator like Gus, and if you move me from where I want to be I will scramble right back there cause baby there ain't no mountain high enough to keep me from getting to you. Otherwise, play with me, treat me like the diva I am, and let me sleep on top of you for warmth and we'll be solid.
I didn't choose the pug life. The pug life chose me. The people think I'm a pug/Boston mix but I know what I am: Maisel, the one and only tiny tower of terror.

Tomorrow The Lady is back and she has some announcements and a giveaway. Come back tomorrow or Hazel will be all up in your grill.

Peace out -
Mae Mae Cray Cray aka Maisie aka Mae aka MeMa aka Maisel
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Linking up for Pets Are People Too
Jade and Oak

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

How do I love Dirty Dancing? Let me count the ways.

-Amazing music
-When Doc Houseman is wrong, he says he's wrong
-How ridiculous Lisa is throughout
-Newman as the Kellerman's announcer
-When Johnny breaks the window in his car and Baby says YOU'RE WIIIILLLLD

-When Baby gets told to go back to her playpen
-The two old ladies throwing off their fur stoles and dancing together at the end
-When Johnny tells Robbie the creep he's not worth a punch

-The dance scene in Johnny's room
-It made references to melons something that didn't involve boobs
-When Baby mocks how Johnny was as a teacher in the Sylvia/Mickey scene
-How I can feel my hatred for Dr. Houseman burn in me with the fire of a thousand suns when Baby is making her impassioned speech and he is staring stubbornly at the lake like a curmudgeonly hypocritical douche
-Johnny's hands in pockets pose and when he does this

-At Kellerman's the friendships last long as the mountain stands
-How Robbie refers to it as The Penny Situation
-Max's lisp

-How cute those thieving Schumachers are
-How you can't tell Jennifer Grey hated The Swayze before filming
-How Baby's mom finally gets some ass about her and tells her husband to sit down when Johnny is making his I always do the last dance speech

-The lift
-I love it as much today as the first time I saw it many moons ago

I've obviously spent a lot of time watching this movie. It's my favorite! Much to MFD's chagrin, I watch it every time it's on TV even though I own it.

What's your favorite Dirty Dancing moment? When it's not on doesn't count.

Check out the giveaway pinned to the top of my facebook page - a random winner who (of course likes the page but also) comments and lets me know what they want to see more of on the blog will win a Naked Basics Palette. Because we can't all be fancy dancer eye shadow users, am I right? Winner will be chosen tomorrow morning at 10, so gets to steppin'.

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Linking up with Kathy for Humpday Confessions 

Linking up with Shanna for Random Wednesday
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