This week at Nana's- Pizza Night

WEATHER UPDATE:

The end of November. Cold and windy this week. Really windy.
The Humans have their new winter coats and the cat gets to stay in out of the cold for the winter nights. Reminder: Do NOT leave your pets outside at night. Its too cold for them. :(

I am NOT enjoying the outside weather because of the cold and the wind. Brrrrrrrrr. 

Winter is here and  its not my favorite season but we must contend with it.  

The local weather guy says that we are in for a very windy week. Booooooooooooo!

Cold wind. Go away!

OUTDOORS UPDATE:

It turned so cold that the big tree in the front yard dropped all of its leaves in one night. 

Plenty of leaves to rake. 

INDOORS PLANTS UPDATE:

The indoor greens are growing well. They are off to a good start. Grand daughter Eve had planted a tomato seed and its sprouted and is currently about 4 inches tall. The herbs have sprouted including the chives. Ive planted 4 varieties of lettuce and each have sprouted beautifully. I cant wait to see how the arugula grows. The spinach seems to be growing good and already I'm seeing spinach sprouts with two leaves . Salad should be happening in the weeks ahead. I hope.

Lettuce

PET UPDATE:

Did somebody say TUNA?

These pets are so much fun and easy to take care of. The days consist of Mauricio snuggling in his blanket, Missy snuggles in her cat bed, Wheezy warms up with the sun hitting his house just right. The fish have fresh water and clean tanks with new filters. Life is good for these cuties.

This past week was a good baking week. Let see here, I made flakey biscuits, chocolate frosted doughnuts with sprinkles, cake and pizza. I don't sit around and eat doughnuts and sweets all day. LOL. If I bake I give it to families. Most of the time it goes to a hungry neighbor. Lately, I have been getting flour in the giant mammoth size so that I can pretty much bake and cook without the worry of not having enough flour. 

Lets talk pizza. Saturday was a planned pizza and a movie night. One of my friends said no to tomato sauce. Whats a pizza without sauce. Right? LOL. So, I had to compromise and improvise. (That's what friends do). The pizza created had Alfredo sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese, decorated with ground dehydrated jalapenos and fresh mushrooms. No left overs.

The movie we watched: Von Ryan's Express (1965) - IMDb

A classic film. I uploaded it if anyone wants to watch it. Click Here.

 Pizza Bread

1 package of yeast, or quick rising yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon granulated sugar or honey

Combine yeast, warm water & sugar. Let this set for about 30 minutes. Then add the dry ingredients and combine it all together.

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour 

1/4 cup corn meal

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

Place in an oiled bowl and flip the dough ball to coat the other side. Let sit for 2 hours. Makes 2 thin crust large pizzas or 1 thick crust large pizza. Build your pizza, in this order - dough, sauce, cheese and then add toppings.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes. For crispy crust after 20 minutes shut off oven and let cook for another 5 minutes.

Tip: Re-heat pizza slices in a non stick skillet on top of the stove to keep crust crispy.

Alfredo Sauce

1 stick of butter
1 clove of minced garlic
1 pint of heavy cream
1 cup of fresh Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp cream cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper

Make Pasta to your liking. In a sauce pan over medium heat – melt butter and add garlic and cook for two minutes, then add in heavy cream and cream cheese and heat until bubbling, but do not boil. Add in Parmesan Cheese and mix until the cheese melts. Sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste.

Red Sauce Recipe 

Housekeeping Made Easy

Laundry Tip - Aspirin: Get Rid of Armpit Stains on T-Shirts
Grind up an aspirin tablet or two, then make a paste out of it using water, lemon or vinegar. Spread the paste on the stained area and let sit for an hour before washing.

Easy Sewing

Quick Stitch Doggy Bed

What Dogs Do When Your Away

PC Technical Advice

I repair computers/monitors and I dabble in writing code C+, and website designing, Java Script, HTML, etc. I'm NOT an expert at all. However, when it comes to computers I will try to figure out most operating systems and their works. My best computer advice is to keep things simple on your PC. Don't overload your PC with programs that you seldom or never use. Never, ever download something without researching the program because of virus and non compatible software issues . Keep your PC protected and clean from malware daily.

How to remove a malware infection:    

Disconnect your PC from the Internet and shut down your PC. You will need to boot into Windows Safe Mode. In Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP turn on your PC and as soon as you see anything on the screen press the F8 key repeatedly. You'll now see the Advanced Boot Options menu. Select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter. If you cant get to Safe Mode you can put your PC into Safe Mode in Configuration. Access this by Start, Run, type msconfig, select Boot INI, select Minimal Network. You need Network for Internet access. When you restart you computer it will go into Safe Mode function.

Of course most people who need Safe Mode will already have a problem with their PC. If you are already logged in and can see only a black screen, try this, hit CTRL, ALT, DEL to bring up the selection screen, and choose logout, restart. Then hold down the Shift key and you will be taken to the window via which you can choose Safe Mode.

Delete all temporary files.  Deleting temp files will speed up virus scanning, free disk space and may even delete malware. Select Start, All Programs (or just Programs), Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup. And choose to delete temporary files.

Reconnect to the Internet to download a malware scanner program. You need to use a different malware scanner to that which you have installed, since your current antivirus software hasn't detected the malware. After you download the malware scanner its important to disconnect from the Internet again before you run the new program. If you have access to another computer, to be entirely safe the best process is to download the malware scanner program on another computer, save it to a USB flash drive, and take the flash drive to the infected computer for downloading.

After downloading the malware scanner program, run the setup file and follow the wizard to install the program. Run the malware. Your PC should now be free of malware.

Sharing Amusing Bookmarks:

http://www.bankrate.com

6 reasons NOT to buy a smartphone.

 http://www.topdocumentaryfilms.com/

Top Documentary Films.

Weird videos I watch on the Internet:

This would be creepy in real life.

This Week at Nana's - The Dojo Show - Short Takes - Kid Snippets- Toasted Ravioli

Weather Update
November IS COLD!!!

The trees are changing into brilliant fall colors. 
The mornings are fresh and the days are chilly. Seriously, It's time to get out the winter coats, hats and mittens. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Whats Cooking?

This is the time of year, when we get a little crazy with pumpkins.I dehydrate pumpkin and use it to cook and make pumpkin chai tea mix. Cold weather and HOT CHAI LATTE really go together.

 

Oh yeah! Pumpkin, pumpkin pumpkin. Buhahaha!!!

 100 Pumpkin Recipes

Yes, I know you are not amused by my link to an endless supply of pumpkin recipes. But maybe someone out there has mounds of pumpkin to process. If I can help just one person then my link has been a success. LOL. Pumpkin Chai for everyone. Recipe here.

See a pumpkin cannon video HERE.

Good Cooking Tip:  
Club Soda: Make Your Breads Fluffier. When baking, where recipes call for water, add club soda instead to make pancakes, waffles and any other breads fluffier.

Toasted Ravioli

I'm serious. I just cant continue to bore people with my life. I know that you people could care less that I got up this morning and rolled out pizza ravioli to deep fry for easy freezer snacks. I know that...but here I am posting pics for you. The insanity of it all. Why, oh why must I torment you people. Recipe Here... feel free to cheat and buy frozen ravioli but fresh is the best.

I used my fancy ravioli gadget to make these delicious pockets of goodness. They freeze well and can be reheated in microwave or toaster oven. You can find ravioli presses online for under $20.00. The best kitchen investment you can make. This gadget will make you a superstar with family, friends and neighbors. 

Easy Ravioli Making with a Ravioli Plate

by John Mangiapane

Growing Vegetables Indoors

Is there anyone in the world that thinks growing edibles indoors is a bad idea?  Anybody can grow spinach, lettuce, sprouts, chives and herbs. Its simple and easy and I would love to see more people give it a try. Pictured here are some of my small containers that are growing greens. This could be a good indoor hobby for most people. 66 Things you can grow at home in containers.

Grow your salad in the kitchen

Growing Tip

Coffee Grounds: Fertilizer. Coffee is full of nutrients and vitamins that are very beneficial to soil. That’s why some people include it in compost piles. If you want to get the most out of your coffee, pour the grounds on areas where you want more grass or flowers.

Add some sprouts to your salad and pita pockets! Sprouts are very easy to grow. I rinse the sprouts and add fresh water every day as they grow. Here is a good growing sprouts video with happy music. Enjoy.

 How to grow bean sprouts

Fruits and veggies that grow weird

Outdoors Update

The big tree in the front yard has dropped it's leaves. Time to rake. A friend wants the leaves of this tree and claims that when the leaves are made into a tea it is very healing. I never heard of such a thing. Im not sure on that one. I will have to research this. TIME TO RAKE THE LEAVES.

Tending Pets

The pets are all doing great. They are cozy warm and well tended to. The above picture is Mauricio in his napping room. I noticed with the weather change the pets do not eat as much as they normally do. They are adorable. I have good pets...including Mean Missy. By the way, Skinny Ding Dongs (AKA Pedro the traitor) still comes to visit and fight with Missy. LOL. I heard Missy cat talking to him yesterday on the porch. I swear she was telling him, "You don't live here anymore!". If you have not heard cat talking it is most interesting. 

Video of Cat Talking

Housekeeping Made Easy

Tin Foil Ball: Replace Dryer Sheets Permanently. Instead of using a dryer sheet ball up one or a few sheets of tin foil and toss it in the dryer. It removes the static electricity from your clothes and one can last up to a year.

Easy Sewing

Make slippers out of a sweater. Click Here.

Sew fleece mittens.
Free mitten pattern

PC Technical Advice

I repair computers/monitors and I dabble in writing code C+, and website designing, Java Script, HTML, etc. I'm NOT an expert at all. However, when it comes to computers I will try to figure out most operating systems and their works. My best computer advice is to keep things simple on your PC. Don't overload your PC with programs that you seldom or never use. Never, ever download something without researching the program because of virus and non compatible reasons. Keep your PC protected and clean from malware daily.

Confession: I like Linux. LOL. I also really enjoy Sci-fi. :)


My favorite computer programs that help maintain a PC system.

CCleaner is the number-one tool for cleaning your PC.
It protects your privacy and makes your computer faster and more secure!

Free software. Use it everyday!

https://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

Cleanup

CleanUp! 4.5.2 Download 

How to clear the Firefox cache.
This is a good thing to know if you use the Firefox browser. Click here.

My favorite new to me PC search engine.

DuckDuckGo

The search engine that doesn't track you.

My favorite homepage.

http://www.homepage.com

I like this page and the Grands like it too.

My Operating System
I use WUBI on each PC that I have, as I like to not fully depend on Windows as an operating system. I like Ubuntu.

Sharing one of my bookmarks- www.openculture.com
700 Free Movies Online

Amusing Tech Project for Smartphone Holders 

Remember to download the app from Google cardboard.

How to make virtual realty goggles with card board and smartphone.

Plans here.

Lenses found here. 

I used a view master. It just made good sense, LOL. 

Weird videos I watch on the Internet

The Dojo Show Videos. I watch online...because they were made in Albuquerque, New Mexico and they make me laugh. 
http://www.enterthedojoshow.com/

and
The Hero Movie. One Take Movies
Homemade Hollywood blockbusters (all in one take).

and
Kid Snippets

Kung Fu Fighting Drills

The Hero Movie

Star Wars Cantina
(Makes me laugh every time).

People are Cookoo

Hallucinogen Honey Hunters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_b2i_FvYPw

People are amazingly crazy!

Check out this prank video.

Southwestern Cooking

Chile Rellenos

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 ounces beer
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2- 1 cup cheese, cheddar style
6 Hatch Chilies, charred and peeled
Canola oil, for frying

Directions:
Combine 1 cup of the flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl.

Gradually add the beer, whisking until the batter is smooth. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Make an incision the length of each chile and remove the stems and seeds. Stuff the cheese into chilies, and close with a wooden toothpick.

In a large deep skillet, pour oil until half full. Heat over medium heat until hot.

Dredge chilies in remaining flour, shake off excess, dip in batter, and fry until golden, approximately 1 minute per side.

Drain on paper towels and season with salt.

 Green Chile Cheese Tamales

3 cups Masa mix
2 cups warm water
1 cup oil (vegetable or olive oil)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup of vegetable stock

Filling: 2 cups of chopped green chile, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1-2 tsp of salt.

Fill each corn husk with 1/4 cup masa batter and two tablespoon of green chile filling and two tablespoons of shredded pepper jack cheese. Sometimes, I use parchment paper if I don't have corn husk on hand. Cut in 8 x 8 squares. Bring the 2 corners of the paper at the ends of the rectangle up to encase the green chile and cheese with the tamale dough. Fold the corners together a couple of times. Fold the other sides over to cover the seam and turn right side up. Continue this process with the remaining dough and filling.

Steam according to your steamer. My steamer takes 1 hour on high but some steamers may take up to two hours. This recipe makes 12 medium sized tamales.

Per Sarah Brewer's request...
 Red Chile Sauce

   16 medium dried New Mexico chilies (about 4 ounces)
    6 garlic cloves
    1 teaspoon dried oregano
    1/4 teaspoon black pepper, fresh ground
    1/8 teaspoon cumin, fresh ground
    3 2/3 cups vegetable broth
    1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
    1 teaspoon salt
   
Put chilies into a bowl and cover with hot water and let rehydrate for 30 minutes, pour off all water and discard. In a blender add chilies, garlic, oregano, pepper and cumin, add 2/3 cup of the broth and process to a smooth puree, scraping and stirring every few seconds (In a blender you may need to add a little more broth until everything is moving). With a rubber spatula, work the puree through a medium mesh strainer into a bowl, discard skins and seeds left in the strainer.

Heat oil in a medium-sized pot over medium heat and then add the puree. Cook stirring constantly, as the puree sears, reduces and darkens to an attractive earthy brick red paste, usually about 7 minutes. Stir in remaining 3 cups of broth, partially cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes. Taste and season with salt and sugar to taste.


Calabacitas (Squash & Green Chile)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 cups fresh corn , cut from the cob (3-4 ears)
1 pound small zucchinis diced
1 pound yellow summer squash, diced
1 cup of chopped medium heat green chiles
2 large tomatoes, diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar jack cheese

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet.
2. Add the onions and garlic and saute over medium heat until the onions are translucent.
3. Add the corn and cook 5 minutes.
4. Stir in the zucchini, yellow squash, and green chile.
5. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.
6. Stir in the diced tomatoes.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Sprinkle the cheese over all and let sit in the pan until the cheese is melted.
9. Serve immediately.

Nana's No Fail Brownie Recipe.

No Fail Brownies

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp water
1/2 cup sugar
Combine the above ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a boil stirring to blend smooth.
Remove pan from heat.

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
Pour in the chips and stir melted chips until smooth and creamy.

2/3 cup flour
1/4 Tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
2 eggs
1 Tsp vanilla
Combine these ingredients into the melted chocolate chips. Stir well until batter is smooth with no lumps. Pour batter in to a prepared brownie pan that has been lined with foil and oiled with vegetable oil.

Bake at 325* degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. Remove the baked brownies from oven and sprinkle 1/2 cup chocolate chips on top and let cool.

The Grands always say....Nana, make more brownies!
 

What's Cookin at Nana's? Zucchini Nut Bread.

Zucchini Nut Bread

2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup canola oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 * F. Oil two (8-in x 4-in) loaf pans and line the bottom of each with parchment paper. I also use my large muffin pan to make zucchini muffins.
Mix zucchini, applesauce, oil, eggs, vanilla, and sugar until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredients except the walnuts until well blended. Fold in walnuts. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake 50-60 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing loaves and cooling completely on wire racks.

Yield: 2 loaves or 16 large muffins

 More of Nana's recipes.