Dackel Princess

The Perfect Key Lime Pie

I have searched high and low for a good classic Key Lime Pie recipe. Most were okay but nothing to write home about. So I started playing. I played and played with recipe’s until I got it right and here it is. For those of you who love this pie as much as I do and yet couldn’t find it outside of Florida you will love it. Of course for those with cholesterol problems, this is not for you. I have made it with both the fat free cream cheese and fat free condensed milk, but the egg yolks will still kill ya. A special note here. Use only Key Lime Juice. It can be found in some grocery stores bottled, and some specialty groceries will actually carry Key Limes. Regular Lime juice will not cut it! Anyway, save it and make it for a special occasion. I promise you will love it.

Key Lime Pie

1 graham cracker pie crust
8 ounce bar of cream cheese
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup Key Lime juice
1 can sweetened condensed milk
pinch cream of tarter

Beat cream cheese until soft and smooth. Add egg yolks. Beat this until it is completely smooth. Slowly add Key Lime juice, blending well, then add the condensed milk and cream of tarter. Blend until this mixture begins to thicken just a bit. Then pour into pie crust. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until pie has completely set. Cool on wire rack. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and a thin slice of lime.

Big Snow Storm? Who Knows…

Oh boy!

I woke up this morning and the weatherman is forecasting a huge snow storm for Monday night, Tuesday and into Wednesday! What is huge? 2 feet of snow! Add to that high winds. All this means, it will be one giant mess!

I’m going to encourage Hubby to call our friend, and snowplow driver to cover us on this storm. Hubby is just getting over the flu and certainly doesn’t need a relapse of it.

On Monday I go in for my six month check up with my doctor, and I will stock up on a few things, in the event we get snowed in for a few days. You know, bread, milk, eggs, and yogurt!

We also need to stock up on gasoline in the event we lose power and need to use the generator. I don’t usually go crazy when a bad storm is forecast, as the weather people tend to go overboard with their hype. However, it appears that everyone from the local weather people, to the national weather channels are saying the same thing. So, to be on the safe side, I’m stocking up.

Blue Bloods

It’s been a long week. I started in on Monday with a case of the flu. Yes, I did have the vaccine, but apparently the big-wigs at the CDC made a mistake with the recipe, so people are dropping like flies with this darn flu.

The good news is I am finally better, as is Hubby, and I imagine in a few more days I will be up and running.

Meanwhile, I’ve been watching a lot of TV.

I’ve discovered “Blue Bloods”. It’s a police show set in New York City, with Tom Selleck Donny Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, and Len Cario. They are the Reagan family. They work as police, and district attorneys and Police Commissioners. The stories are well written and the acting is great! I didn’t expect to like it, even though Hubby has been watching it for the last few years.

Since they have well over 100 episodes in the can, they are now being rerun on the cable channels. Thus the marathons I have been watching the last few days.

Check it out. If you like crime stories, with great acting, and not much gore, this is the show for you. They also focus on the closeness of the Reagan family and that really is a beautiful thing.

Baked Indian Pudding

Durgin Park is a well know restaurant in Boston. It’s been there forever, and the food is good old New England fare. Whenever we go, I always get their Indian Pudding. Here is the story behind it, and their recipe.

Durgin Park’s Indian pudding is the best there is. Dark brown with substantial gravity, it smells like roasted corn and tastes like the first
Thanksgiving. The long cooking time is necessary to soften the corn and for the flavors to meld. Although some restaurants add raisins or other
flavorings, the only traditional way to doll it up is with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting fast atop each hot serving. Tommy Ryan loves telling the
story about the time he was eating in New Hampshire-just a regular customer, unknown to the staff. He asked the waitress if they had any Indian pudding for dessert. “Well, we do,” she said reluctantly, but then she bent close and clued him into a secret: “Sir, if you want really good Indian pudding, I suggest you go to Durgin-Park.”

Just to keep the record straight: this is not a Native American dish adapted by the colonist cooks. Its name comes from the fact that early
settlers considered virtually anything made with corn to be Indian nature.

1 1/2 plus 1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup black molasses
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a bowl mix 1 1/2 cups of the milk with the molasses, sugar, butter, salt, baking powder, egg and cornmeal. Pour the mixture into a stone crock that has been well greased and bake until it boils. Heat and stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk. Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F and bake for 5 to 7 hours. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Throw Back Thursday

When I was 13 years old I went into the Hospital and had my Wisdom Teeth removed. They were impacted and a real bear to get out, thus the dental surgeon insisted that I go in for a few days. (I’m sure in this day and age, the Insurance Companies would not have allowed it, but…)

Anyway, I remember when I came to after the surgery and my face had already swollen, I could hardly open my mouth and forget about eating. Even the promises of ice cream couldn’t make me attempt it.

I was in for three days, heavily and happily medicated, and once I could at least swallow I was allowed to go home. I have a lot of sympathy for anyone going through four extractions at one time!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. American Idol is back for a 14th season. Are you watching? Have you ever watched? If you were to audition for the show (or were made to audition), what song would you sing?

I’ve never watched, and I won’t be. However, I’d sing, “Only Yesterday” by the Carpenters. It’s tremendously sad, that Karen Carpenter, never saw her own worth and beauty. Her voice was totally like no other.

2. Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

So when did you last have to ‘eat a frog’? Or two? How’d that work out?

Years ago, I had frogs legs. Didn’t really care for them, which is probably why I haven’t had them since.

3. If you were going on safari, what is the number one animal you’d want to see?

Elephants. I love elephants. They are my favorite at the Zoo. There is something so sweet and lovable about them.

4. January 21st is National Granola Bar Day. I know. Do you like granola bars? Chewy or crunchy? Your favorite flavor? How about regular granola? Let’s exhaust this topic in honor of the holiday okay?

Like granola. Not so much the bars as the real thing. I like Nature Valley High Protein Granola!

5. If only:

Chocolate wasn’t fattening! LOL!

6. You can add one item to your bedroom. What will it be? Keep it family friendly please.

A new mattress and box spring. I think it’s time, but I keep putting it off because of expenditures like, a new gas stove, new dishwasher, new fridge! But sometime soon, it will be time!

7. What is one thing you’ve enjoyed about winter thus far? If it’s not winter in your corner of the globe, what season is it, and what is something you’ve enjoyed about whatever season it happens to be?

I love the first snow fall. You know, the one where you go out and stand in the silence as the snow falls around you. Now the snow, ice and slush, is just a pain. I’m ready for spring! But that first snow fall, is truly magical!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I was going to go in to my doctor’s today, but as I have come down with the flu, I was going to call and reschedule. Then I got a phone call from his office, rescheduling me as my doctor has the flu. Apparently the flu shot did not work this year as they did not know the flu germs were mutating. Hubby is terribly sick with the flu and all he does is sleep, cough and repeat!

Lili Age 10 Months

After months of trying to crate train Lili, she has finally decided that her crate is a nice place to be, and frequently just goes in and takes a nap! It sort of shocked me when she started to do this, but it is nice too.

Actually a lot of things have changed about Lili the last few weeks. She is walking much better on her leash and no longer pulls me over. (Thank goodness for that! My back was giving out!)

Lili age 10 months old.

She is being kinder to the dackels, and best of all, she is being kinder to me! You know, don’t bite the hands that feed you? Or don’t tick off the mother who takes care of you!

Lili is now on normal dog food. Whatever it was that made her so sick when she came to us, is over. Her breeder used a true raw diet and I am wondering if Lili got some sort of food poisoning from it, that held on and on.

Anyway, she is now a normal dog, eating normal food and pooping like a normal pup! Yay!! And best of all, after months of having a hyper dog, she is starting to relax.

I admit there were times I was near my wits end. I feel that both Lili and I got ripped off, as far as enjoying her puppyhood. She was never your sleepy, sweet, sluggish, puppy, filled with love and kisses. At times it was really hard to love her. (That being said, you must understand I love animals and this was very hard on me!)

Now we are getting our bearings, and establishing a relationship and I am really starting to like/love this dog. She is sweet (in a weird sort of way), and loving (also in a strange way), but we’re getting there.

All that said, she is also beautiful! Pure white with just a tiny dollop of apricot on the tip of her tail!

Windows 8.1

I’ve been trying to adapt to Windows 8.1. There is quite the learning curve, after knowing Windows XP, backwards, forward, and upside down! However, I love having a laptop that is fast, uses logical settings, and makes filing this so much easier.

I started backing up my files weekly, because I am still making mistakes and I don’t want to lose my work. Fortunately I have a new plug and play device with 1 Tera Byte of space on it and I am using that to place all my files.

My new laptop. The Asus.

I think that this would actually be fairly easy for Hubby to use. I wasn’t sure at first, as he likes Windows XP, but we all know that his laptops days are numbered and eventually he will need a new machine. I think he will be surprised at how well 8.1 works.

Meanwhile, I’m just enjoying the Asus machine, and I am happy with it. There is only one thing I would change. I would have a full size keyboard, and not a smaller one with numbers on the right side.

American Sniper

Hubby and I went out to the movies on Friday. We both were interested in seeing American Sniper. I think Clint Eastwood is a great and rare type of director, and Bradley Cooper has been one of my favorite actors since I saw him in Silver Linings Playbook.

This movie was hard to watch. As it was a true story and was set during the first 10 years after 9/11, it deals with war. There is nothing pretty or gallant about war, and yet, here was a man who believed in God, Country and Family.

The acting, the direction and the cinematography were amazing! It isn’t an easy film to watch, but one that everyone should see.

The Love/Hate Relationship With My Cable Company

I hate my cable company. All they do is raise rates and the service is abysmal! It actually wasn’t bad when we first moved in. We had basic cable, and our Internet with them. However, since the advent of “Digital” service it has very quickly gone to hell.

It started a couple of years ago, now. They announced that all channels would be broadcasting in digital. But if you had cable you would be fine. The cable company would unscramble the signal.

This year it was announced that if you had an “old” TV you would need a box to open the signal. For the first year or so the boxes will be free of charge and then…well, I imagine they will want to charge for them, as they charge for the Internet modem.

Of course if you have a new flat screen TV with a Qam tuner, you can simply unlock the signal that way.

Our bill used to be (15 years ago) $60.00 for both TV and Internet service. Now it is $120.00 and that is just with basic cable and the Internet.

I’m thinking we should go satellite for all the TV, both local and movies, etc. Then we would only have to use our cable company for the Internet. I wish we had alternatives, but being so far in the country, we have very few options!

At least I can watch movies and old TV shows on the TV in our bedroom on the Wifi. I sure have been enjoying that.