Author: Dackel Princess

Cake Mix Brownies

These brownies are so easy because they are start with a cake mix! I’ve tried making brownies before with a cake mix, but I’ve never had much luck until finding this recipe.
1 (18 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Spray a 13X9-inch pan with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, milk, butter, and eggs with an electric mixer.
4. Stir in chocolate chips (batter will be VERY thick).
5. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until brownies are done.
7. Cool completely and cut into squares.

The Dog Days Of Summer

You all probably think I pose Greta in these pictures. Truly, I don’t. Greta is such a ham, that we now keep our digital cameras all over the place to catch her every move, (or non move).




Today it was her stuffed basketball. She dragged this thing all over the house and then settled it up on the chair where she could snuggle it. This thing is larger than she is!




She finally fell asleep with this ball and once again I caught her with the camera.


Later in the day, Lily, an eight month old White German Shepherd, female came to visit us. She is a little smaller than Fritz and just a tad on the apricot side, but she is the sweetest little girl and I would have kept her in a heartbeat!



Fritz, Greta and Lily


The dogs played and played and got along so well. The funniest episode occurred when Greta was chasing the two big shepherds! That girl has no fear!



Fritz and Lily


I was amazed at how well all the dogs got along. There are times dogs will be snappy with each other, or not want to share their toys. This was not the case. All the dogs shared, and seemed to enjoy each other.



Two beautiful dogs


Sadly it soon was time for Lily and her owner to leave us. The two beautiful shepherds stood, one last time for a picture. What regal beasts they are!


Lily and Fritz

Snippets

The Peaches are coming in! Hubby went out and picked a medium basket of the large, ripe and juicy delights. Last year and this year as well, we will make Heavenly Jam, Brandied Peaches and then just can some. When we grocery shop, I will finish getting all the things I need to do this, including the, (hiccup) brandy!

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The lovely and talented Megan and her boyfriend, Jimbo came yesterday to share some food, some chatting and some wine. It was so much fun! We got to try batch #3 of the Mustard Pickles, and we also tried the Moonglow Pickles. Man of man, the Moonglow Pickles were some kind of good! I had only a few jars of this, and so I have decided that I need to make more. I will try to find some cheap pickling cukes to make up a new batch. I don’t think I will have 6 pints of cukes coming out of my garden in the next few days.
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Today was one of those really beautiful, warm, (upper 60’s) wonderful days. Instead of being like a day in August, it was more like late September. I will not complain, mind you, because I am not a hot weather fan. I like to be able to walk around in jeans and a shirt and not sweat to death. Today was like a breath of fresh air after the last few weeks of unbelievable heat! I say to the coming of Autumn, Bring It On!!!
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Have you ever noticed how there are movies you can watch again and again, or just have on while you’re working and you never get tired of them? Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets was on earlier and I had it turned on. I made dinner, I fed the dogs, and I could watch or not watch and not lose my place. Harry and Company are all friends now.
No sooner had that movie ended than Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban came on. So I switched over to that and have been watching/listening to that too.
I sure hope that JK Rowling doesn’t kill off Harry, Hermione or Ron. I would simply be heart broken if she did. There are other ways to end the series.
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Lastly, the next ten days will be busy ones as I prepare the house for my post operative down time. I’ve frozen some meals, and now I need to get all the laundry done, stock up on some simply meal components, and show Hubby a few little tricks to housekeeping, cooking and patient tending!

World Trade Center Movie

***UPDATED***
We just saw “World Trade Center”. It was about these two Port Authority Policemen. It was an incredible movie and Oliver Stone has a lot to be proud of. He did one heck of a job.
I would encourage you all to go out and see it. Sometimes I think it is easy to put the memories of that day in a box on a shelf in our minds. In a place where we do not have to think of it or remember that terrible day. I know almost everyone can remember where they were and what they were doing that day. For the two police officer’s, whose true story this is, you will see what it was like for the first responders. The men who paid a very high price for being there to serve and protect.
The critics have all given it high marks. I can understand why.

***My cousin, Janet Also saw the movie yesterday. She commented on her blog as well.
I know it is a hard movie to watch. Those memories are tough, but this movie is full of love, of hope and above all courage.***

Thirteen Of My Favorite Summertime Foods


1. Hamburgers with lettuce, tomatoes, and some of my mustard pickles on them
2. Hotdogs, with just the mustard pickles on them. (I’m sort of getting addicted to the Mustard Pickles!)
3. Homemade potato salad.
4. Stuffed eggs. (I love to eat these all year long!)
5. Iced tea. Ice cold!
6. A waffle cone of ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia please!
7. Fresh local Butter & Sugar corn. Although this year because of the poor growing conditions, the corn stinks!
8. Fresh local vegetables. My own or the local farm’s.
9. Watermelon. I like to eat this about once a year. Summer only.
10. Fried Bread Dough. The kind you get at summertime fairs.
11. Fresh local seafood. Clams and lobster are my favorite.
12. Salads. Almost any kind of salad makes me happy. Salads in the summer are perfect.
13. Fresh local berries. Strawberries are good, but I am almost getting to love blueberries better!

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A Productive Day

Tuesday was full of action.
It started in the basement with a fun filled morning of ironing. I always promise myself that I will iron stuff as they come out of the dryer. The trouble is, I’m lazy. I hang the shirts up and then leave them to be ironed “at a future time”. Lately the “future time” kept going on and on until this morning. It was either iron or my clothes rack was going collapse under the weight and fall to the floor. So after coffee and breakfast I headed to the basement.
I always think the basement is a cool place. I was wearing shorts and a tank top and there I was standing at the ironing board in my nice cool basement sweating like a race horse. I even had to stop and wipe my brow several times to keep from dripping on the clothes.
Was this ironing sweat or another hot flash? I’m not sure, but I can tell you it was uncomfortable!

After we had lunch I decided to sit an watch “All My Children” before I started my afternoon project. The soap was pretty good today, although I think that Jackson should just leave Jonathan and Lily alone. Apparently I am the only one who thinks they make a nice couple.

After the soap, I got out the vegetables that were soaking to make the Mustard Pickles.

I drained and rinsed them and then brought the vegetables to a boil. I once again drained them and then made the mustard sauce. Now the mustard sauce is a big deal. You don’t want it to burn, so you must cook it on a low heat and stir constantly until it thickens. So, I stirred and stirred and stirred. For an hour I stirred until it was thick and then I added the vegetables. I cooked it until it was thoroughly heated and then Hubby helped me put it in jars and seal them. This entire process took me 2 1/2 hours! 10 pints of these wonderful pickles! This batch looks good and I have high hopes that it will be just as tasty as the first one I made.

So it’s been a productive day and I can go to bed tonight and feel happy that I actually got all of these things done. Especially the Soap Opera watching. I mean ironing and pickle making are good, but the Soap watching? Yeah, there’s the important stuff, right?

This & That Tuesday

This must be vacation week.
I went to all my usual blog reads and no one is around. Maybe they’re around, and like me find that the dog days of summer leaves them little to write about. At least in the winter one can write about the injustice of snow, below zero temperatures and ones attempts to stay warm.
In the summer? You are just hot. Hot and cranky. Or lucky enough to be on vacaction.

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I’d hoped to be writing about my incredible weight loss, the fact that I was now looking like a slim, trim, bathing beauty, but that’s not going to happen quite that fast. I’m watching what I eat, but it’s taking me far longer than the two thousand previous diets I have been on. I’m blaming menopause for the slowdown of my metabolism. After all in my 20’s I had the metabolism of a, well, a 20 year old, and I could pretty much eat what I wanted and not gain weight. Now, well, since you all know how old I am I won’t hedge here, I’m a 47 year old woman, and my metabolism has slowed to a snails pace. It’s just not right.
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I’m making another batch of Mustard Pickles with the good recipe. I have the vegetables cut up and will be making the pickles later today. Hmmmmmm! I just love Mustard Pickles. At least my homemade Mustard Pickles. I saw some in a store a while back and bought them thinking they would be good and they were terrible! But mine? Hmmmmmm!
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The garden is slowly winding down. I’m pretty sure I won’t have many more cucumbers or summer squash. My Butternut Squash look good and I should have maybe a dozen or so.
My tomatoes are now starting to come on and they are so sweet and juicy. It’s amazing how fantastic real, ripe tomatoes can taste.
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I woke up on Monday morning with a stiff neck. I probably slept wrong. When I was a kid my Grandmother would tell me she had a cold in her neck when she felt like this. She would also have colds in her ears, back or shoulder. If she had an ache, it was a cold. And she had all sorts of home remedies. The one I remember best was lambs wool that she would stuff in her ear when it had a “cold”.
So this stiff neck has me thinking of her.

Musical Failure

It was one of those days where the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the dogs were frolicking in the back yard and life was good. That was until I tried to carry 2 glasses of orange juice, our silverware and leberwurst into the family room as I was preparing breakfast. Suddenly the juice was in the air, and then on me and on the floor and my perfect day, which had started a mere hour before was shot.
Now I was philosophical enough to know that this wasn’t the end of the world. Into every life a little orange juice must fall, right? So I said, “Oh jeeze, look what I just did!” Then I set about mopping up the floor. No simple job when you’re mopping up orange juice due to the high sugar content. One must mop well or have sticky feet.
Okay. I finished with that and actually got to eat my breakfast and finish my coffee before I started the days work. Nothing dramatic, just some laundry and bed making, and since today I wasn’t stressed I thought I would take some recently purchased music and download that onto a CD. Well, guess what? Good old Itunes had changed their format again and I can’t convert the files. Now I don’t mind buying a song for 99¢, but I really hate buying the song and then not being able to use it on my own CD player! Back in the old days I would buy a 45 record for 45¢ and then I owned that record, unless of course my sister or brother “borrowed” it from me. Tell me, you more savvy computer musical wonders, how the heck can I unlock these tunes so I can play them on my car CD player? My car’s player does not do MP4. And I’ll be darned if I’m going to go out and buy an Ipod. It’s wrong to be forced to do that so I can listen to an old recording of the Monkees sing “Daydream Believer” in the privacy of my own car!
By my third hour on this problem, my blood pressure was up and I was ready to chew on nails!
What had happened to the bright and beautiful day?
I put the problem away. I sat down with a cup of tea and tried to relax. But it’s right there. Even now. Picking at my brain, torturing me, driving me insane. When will it end?
I sure hope I can sleep, and if I do, I pray I do not dream of Ipods dancing through my head!