In Debbie's Kitchen: Praline Strips

You're gonna love these.

Today I have another installment of In YOUR Kitchen. Today, the kitchen in question is my sister-in-law Kim's mom Debbie's kitchen. She was headed into her holiday cooking and invited me over to take some photos. Of course, I jumped at the chance!

The cookbook.

Debbie first explained this recipe came from a circa 1960's "cooky book" put out by the Wisconsin Electric Power Company. This company put out a cooky book each year before Christmas for years and years back in the day to all of their customers. In fact, they have become quite the collector's item on eBay and other places. Debbie grew up in Wisconsin and has several of these from her mother's stash. She says they are a treasure trove of interesting and different holiday cookie recipes. They are really cool little books and so "retro" that I can see their appeal.

The recipe Debbie is doing for us today are the praline strips. I have been the lucky beneficiary of these tasty treats every year since Kim has been a part of S's family. She always brings her mother's creations over to my in-law's house, and this particular little treat is one of my favorite. It might be the favorite of mine, and I am now glad to know they are easy to make!

First steps - parchment and graham crackers.

The first thing Debbie suggests is to line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. She says this will save you a lot of hassle later. Then break the graham crackers into squares and fill the cookie sheet with the grahams.

Notice the graham squares are all facing the same way, in that the little perforations in the middle are all going the same way. This is important for later. So, when you put the grahams on the sheet, put them all in the same direction.

Next up - butter.

I told you that you were gonna like this recipe - here's one reason why - two sticks of butter are involved. It seems the more butter in a recipe on this here blog, the better you like it. So, this should put this recipe right towards the top of the list!

Put that butter on the stove to melt.

Once it begins to melt...

...add in the brown sugar.

Stir pretty much constantly until combined and it begins to boil.

Yes, that is a corndog in the toaster oven.
Kim's sister Kelsey was making it.

Once it boils, continue to cook for 2 minutes.

Then add in the pecans.

Once they are incorporated it's time to spread it onto the grahams.

Just spread it all over.

There is plenty of topping.

Then spread it out evenly over the graham crackers.

Debbie says you want to get it evenly spread out, but you don't have to worry too much about getting it all the way to the edge because when it goes in the oven it will spread out even more.

OK - ready for the oven!

Stick it in the warmed oven for 10 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven, it will look like this.
Set it down and let it cool...but not too much!

While still warm, pull the parchment off the cookie sheet.

Use a metal spatula to cut off the edges.

Use the spatula to slice the grahams along the perforations (in half) as well.

Until they are all separated.

And let them cool completely.
Or eat one right away. I won't tell.

That's it! You're finished! Easy, huh? And oh so tasty, sister. You're gonna be the bell of the Christmas cookie ball with these gems. You know you want to make them now. So go ahead. It'll be great!

Debbie's Praline Strips

24 whole graham crackers
1 cup (two sticks) butter
1 cup
brown sugar, packed
1 cup chopped pecans

Place graham cracker squares on a cookie sheet covered in
parchment paper, taking care to make sure they are all faced the same way. Place
butter and sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil two minutes. Stir in
pecans. Spread mixture evenly over the graham squares. Bake at 350 degrees for
10 minutes. Cut away and in half when warm.

So there you have it! Another holiday recipe for you, and a tasty, easy one at that! Thanks Debbie for letting me photograph your holiday baking. It was fun!

Best wishes to all of you for your Tuesday. I am feeling a bit better today, and that's a great thing! See you tomorrow.

The Sickness

So I've been unexpectedly sick all weekend with a kidney infection. So I have had little to no energy and mostly laid in the bed or on the couch. Napping. Or occasionally watching television. I've been really fun to be around. A barrel of activity, that's for sure.

The dogs looking dapper in their coats.

I have a couple of things to show you though. First, late last week one day, I decided I wanted to let my dogs go outside - it was sunny, but still a little cold. So I dragged out their outerwear. I know. This makes me strange that my dogs have outerwear. It makes me one of THOSE people. It's OK. I'm down with that. So included here are a couple of photos of them enjoying the weather in their cute little outfits.

Echo in the 90's GAP sweatshirt and Ellie in the fashion forward sweater.

Also late last week S and I went to dinner over at Patrizio and I convinced him to try some pesto that came with my mozzerella tomato salad. He totally fell in love with it and wanted to make some at home. Had I been feeling better, I would have cataloged the whole process to share with you here. But since I was not feeling well, you get a photo of the final product. It was good, I have to say - a little garlicky, but good. S loved it. He's now totally into pesto. It's so funny.

The pesto.

I do hope to post some more holiday recipes this week if I can get up off the couch. We travel this week, so I have to get the house ready for the animal caregivers and get packed, etc. And then of course there's that little holiday called Christmas - also S's birthday - that comes at the end of the week. There's that too. So I hope to see you here later on this pre-holiday week for something more fun than kidney infections. Geez.

Best wishes for your Monday. See you tomorrow.

Holiday Recipes

I have a few more recipes to sneak in here before Christmas. But, I have not had a chance to process one for today. It's been a crazy week - I've been busy. But, I don't want you to go into the last weekend of the holidays without some more holiday recipe ideas.

You know I am a fan of several other cooking blog sites. So, I thought I would share some links with you of recipes I've seen lately on my favorite blogs that you might also like to try for the holidays. A win-win. You get a recipe or two and I don't have to feel guilty about not getting one up here for you today! So here we go!

First up, a couple of recipes from Smitten Kitchen. This one is perfect for those of you who receive fruit in the mail this time of year - what a simple, tasty recipe for some of those pears! I received some pears in the mail on Wednesday from a very nice person and intend to use Smitten's recipe on them to make them extra special! And, from just earlier this week - who wouldn't like to slurp down some of this wonderful sauce? Put it on ice cream, chocolate cake, or heck, just spoon some out of the pan and right into your mouth. Divine!

And, of course, from the Pioneer Woman - here is her tried and true cookie recipe. And, just so we don't completely go into sugar overload before this post is over, here is a main dish recipe from PW that sounds completely yummy.

Surfing on over to Bakerella's website, we find a delectable recipe for pecan pie that makes not one, not two but THREE pecan pies in one batch. Perfect for sharing.

Also perfect for the holidays, and another way to use one of my favorite vegetables - a sweet potato biscuit recipe from Something for Sanity. This isn't a cooking blog, but I couldn't do this post without mentioning this wonderful twist on a biscuit.

And, how about some gingerbread? You can find a wonderful recipe with an oh so cute photo over on Simply Recipes. Check it out for yourself.

Oh, and over at the New York Times, they posted this wonderful article about a layered holiday tradition that is not to be missed! I can't even imagine getting a cake to look like that!

Of course, all the big time cooks out there are posting holiday recipes to beat the band. So if you're not full up with holiday inspiration, go check out Rachael Ray, Martha Stewart, Paula Deen or any big time cook you please! There are so many wonderful holiday recipes out there you will have a hard time deciding what to cook first!

But we could put new holiday recipes aside and just dive on into baking the tried and true favorite this time of year or any time, really - go ahead and make some Toll House originals and call it a day. A fine day that would be, too.

So I hope I helped you get your holiday cooking juices flowing this Friday. Cook up a storm this weekend and tell me all about it! I'd love to hear about your favorite holiday recipes, and of course, I'd love to come photograph you cooking them too...just say the word and I'm there!

Best wishes for this last weekend before Christmas! See you next week.

Best of 2009 - March and April

Continuing the look back at 2009, today I'm reminiscing about March and April. March especially was a very full month. First, S was in the hospital at the top of the month. Then I went on tour with work to Florida and visited family while I was there. After that, I took an advance trip for another tour to Europe for two weeks, with S in tow. April was also pretty memorable. I took some photos of spring, of my friend Errika's daughter and, of course, we traveled to Indiana for my oldest niece's wedding. Man, were we busy last spring! Whew!

In no particular order, these are my favorite posts:

Sunrise, Take Two
One of the most amazing mornings I've ever experienced.

Leaves of Mounts
This place was phenomenal and the leaves were maybe the best part.

Mmmm....STRAWBERRIES
What's more fun than eating fresh, ripe strawberries with children?

Chandelier
One of my obsession photo posts.

Stonehenge
Just because it's Stonehenge

Random Europe Downloads, Day Three
Some of my favorite Europe photos in this lot.

Miss Sydney
Errika's sweet daughter.

Indiana Wedding Weekend
My sweet niece, all grown up.

And in no particular order, these are my favorite photos from March and April:

One of the many Mounts Botanical Garden leaves.
I printed this one, cropped as a square, and it's even more stunning that way.


A bee on an orange flower, Mounts Botanical Garden


This is one of my favorite photos ever.
The whole group (found here) are favorites, really.


A church in West Palm Beach.


One of the chandelier.


Stonehenge


Dusk in Amsterdam


Prayer candles, Cologne Cathedral


S inside the Holocaust Memorial, Berlin


A church window at Amber and John's wedding.


The new Mr. and Mrs.


My nieces Cora and Veda with their pretty Mama.


My brother Bob at his daughter's wedding.


The cake.


And last but not least - one...


...and two of Miss Sydney. What a smile.

OK. I have to stop. That's enough. Man, those two months were jam packed! Again, I had a fun time looking back.

I hope to have another recipe for you tomorrow, but it might not happen. The recipes might have to wait until next week...we'll see...whatever the outcome, I hope you have a great Thursday, and I'll see you here tomorrow.

A Progress Snapshot

So last week I lost another 2.8 pounds to officially exceed my goal of 25 pounds lost by Christmas. The total lost was 26.4 pounds. I am very proud of this accomplishment. Given the number of holiday parties, traveling, Christmas meals, etc that are coming my way the next 2.5 weeks, I have decided to "worry" about the diet per se until the first of the year. I will watch my portions, etc, and hope to not GAIN weight, but I am not going to beat myself up about the holiday eating either. So, the plan is, on Jan 1, to be the same weight I am today. That's the plan.

I talked to my brother Steve on the phone Saturday morning. At moment he called, he asked what I was doing, and I was making myself an english muffin for breakfast. I then said to him, "It's not on the diet, but I'm eating it anyway."

Then he said, "You know, it's sort of hard to tell what sort of progress you're making on that diet by only seeing photos of your HANDS on the blog. I mean, I guess they look a little thinner, but it's hard to tell." To this I laughed and laughed. He's so funny! But I also guess he has a point. I did tell him that with only photos of my hands, he would be even more amazed when he saw me in person next week!

But, at this juncture in the weight loss journey, I thought I would post a photo of myself and the supposed progress. As much as it pains me to post photos of myself on this here blog. But I'm going to do it. Today's the day. Here we go.

Here is the "before" photo.

My mom took this at the State Fair of Texas about ten days before I started the diet. So, it's a pretty good "before" photo, I think. I think my face, especially, looks very, very fat in this photo. And my middle, too. OK, really, the whole package. Moving on...

Yesterday I had the day off and met S at his office for lunch. It was there I asked him to take a couple of photos of me with the purse camera. I originally thought we could snap some photos outside, but it was COLD in Dallas yesterday sister! And I wasn't going to stand outside for anything. So we took them in his office. It's a lovely backdrop. And all the photos he took were a little blurry. So, this is the best of the bunch. I think it shows some progress:

View 1


View 2

I still have a long way to go before I'd call that girl "skinny." As a matter of fact, I think I am about 2 pounds away from going from "obese" to "overweight" according to the BMI calculator. Thank you BMI for that esteem booster. But, I am thinner. 26.4 pounds thinner - a toddler of weight thinner - and that's a good start.

So there you have it. Happy Wednesday. See you tomorrow.