Frequent Moves

The article written by Alonso Kramer
My husband and I have lived in several different places in Texas over the
years. We’re both originally from the Northeast
but have made a great life for ourselves here in the Lone Star State. His job
has moved us around a lot, but we’re glad we get to stay in this state. We
definitely like it here and hope that we never have to leave. I’m hoping that we
won’t have to move again any time soon, even if we get to stay in Texas. It
really is so much work that I am exhausted just thinking about it! Last time we
moved I was tasked with setting up all of our home utilities which was a lot of
work. Packing and moving everything is already so much work, and switching
utilities really puts the workload over the edge. When I was looking for texas electricity providers
I found out that we could actually choose what company we get our home electric
service from. Even though we have lived in Texas for years I never knew we had a
choice. I’m glad that I learned about the choice because we’ve saved a ton of
money since then because of it.

Caramel Apple Dessert

This is a very easy recipe for a yummy dessert! It's my first time to make a dessert using an instant pudding and wafers. It has been a tradition for us to have a pie as a dessert and it is always made with pudding and whipped cream or bought in store like the apple or pecan pie, our favorite. This time around, we get to eat a new, different and delicious dessert. Everyone loved it! It was easy to make and it was really tasty. You will love it because it has a lot of flavors. I followed the recipe below by Kraft but changed the ingredients mostly to non-fat, fatfree and sugar free ones.
60 NILLA Wafers, finely crushed (about 2 cups)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3-1/4 cupsmilk, divided
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping, divided
1 each red and green apple, chopped
1/4 cup PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts, chopped

MIX wafer crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Beat cream cheese, sugar and 1/4 cup milk with mixer until well blended. Stir in 1 cup COOL WHIP; spread over crust.

BEAT pudding mixes and remaining milk with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1/4 cup caramel topping. Spoon over cream cheese layer; top with remaining COOL WHIP.

REFRIGERATE 5 hours or until firm. Top with apples, nuts and remaining caramel topping just before serving.

Festive Yule Log Cake

It is my first Festive Yule Log Cake! A cake that I made from scratch, no cake mix or ready to use frosting. Preparing it took me longer than expected and I had fun making it. I enjoyed decorating and tasting it as well while making it. I had a few burns from heating and using right away the melted chocolate but it was not bad at all. After all, my cake came out pretty good and tasty! This is perfect for the holidays. You should make your cake next year. It's a different cake that everyone will surely love to try. It's easy to make too.

I really tried my best to use non-fat, fat-free, sugar free and low fat ingredients. Below is the original recipe I got from a recipe booklet at Albertson's. I believe it came from dessert.com.

4 squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, melted, cooled slightly and divided (I used a different brand semi-sweet morsels)
5 Nilla wafers
1 pkg. (8 oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 pkg. (3.4 oz) Jell-O Instant Pudding (I used a pkg of 1 0z sugar free vanilla instant pudding)
1 cup cold milk ( I used low fat milk)
1-1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping ( I used fat-free Albertson's brand whipped topping)
14 Honey Maid Honey Grahams, broken in half (28 squares) I used cinnamon flavor
1 square Baker's White Chocolate (I didn't use this)
1/4 cup fresh raspberries (I just opened a can of fruit cocktail with cherries)

Pipe small amount of semi-sweet chocolate into spiral design on wafers; refrigerate until ready to use. Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add remaining melted chocolate; mix well. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat pudding mix and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in COOL WHIP. Spread 1 rounded Tbsp. pudding mixture onto 1 graham square; cover with second graham square. Spread top with rounded Tbsp. pudding mixture. Repeat with remaining graham squares and pudding mixture to form 12-inch loaf. Stand on edge on platter; frost with cream cheese mixture to resemble log.

Run tines of fork over dessert to resemble tree bark. Freeze 4 hours or until firm. Meanwhile, make curls from white chocolate; refrigerate until ready to use.

Remove dessert from freezer 30 min. before serving; refrigerate until slightly softened. Decorate with wafers, chocolate curls and raspberries.

Baked Steak

It's my first time to try baking a steak and it turned out good! For today's meal, I made a potato salad with boiled eggs, baked the steak and heated some veges from a can. It was quicker for me to serve dinner that way. I don't have the ample time to prepare dinner always. So instead of grilling the steak, I just baked it for about 15-20 minutes in the oven (350 deg). Only spiced salt and pepper are added to the meat for the seasoning. It was good. I made the potato salad ahead of time, when I get the chance, and just refrigerate it so it is ready to serve anytime. It tasted so good with the steak and we had a nice dinner then.

New Butter I Love

I have been searching for the kind of butter that is served in restaurants and I could not find it in stores. Instead, I found one that tastes really good. It is similar to the restaurant butter but it is sweeter. I don't like cinnamon but because of this butter, I have learned to like it and I love it! This is my second tub of LandOlakes Cinnamon Sugar butter spread. I always have it on my whole wheat slice of toasted bread every morning. I eat it with fruits or eggs and a cup of low fat milk. Healthy meal isn't it? Yummy too!

Thanksgiving Left-Overs

Look at my plate! I swear, this will be my first and last plate of left-overs from the thanksgiving dinner. I have been in a diet to lose weight and the dinner was my excuse. Dieting is not easy for me who loves to cook and eat but it did work through discipline and determination. I lost 6 lbs so far and would want to lose more. I just had a baby girl a couple of months ago and I still have the baby weight and I am so determined to lose that. So I am eating 1,200-1,500 calories a day plus 300-500 cal since I am breastfeeding. So far, so good. I have loved the food I eat daily which are whole grains, eggs and low fat milk. For this day, since it feels like Thanksgiving still, I will enjoy this yummy plate of mashed potatoes, stuffing, ham and turkey with cranberry sauce and veges. Yum!

Looking For Rentals?

Looking for a place to rent in Calgary? If you are looking for Calgary Apartments, you might want to check out this website RentCalgary.com. This is a website that will help you search for places to rent. Most of the visitors at the site are people looking to rent a home in Calgary, Alberta.

It's nice to have online searches now. It helps us do things quickly. It makes us save energy, effort and even money. If we just let our hands do the walking, it is more convenient for us. With the help of the internet, looking for a place to rent has become less difficult. It's a time-saver and a savior. So keep on looking and searching online. Hope RentCalgary.com can help you.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

Here's a chicken soup recipe that I just made up. It has plenty of vegetables so it is endeed a healthy soup. My husband tried it and he liked it. He ate a bowl of this soup with crackers. I just ate it with a aslice of whole wheat bread. This is easy to cook and perfect for the cool weather.

4-6 pcs chicken breasts,in serving sizes
4 pcs chayote, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 pcs zuccini, cubed
red and green bell pepper, cubed
1 pcs chicken bouillon cube
4-6 cups water
cloves of garlic, minced
onion wedges

In a heated pot, stir-fry chicken until golden brown. Add garlic and onion. Cook the vegetable till tender-crisp. Add chayote and water and bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes until the vegetable is half-tender. Add zuccini and bell pepper and chicken bouillon cube; Stir. Simmer for a few minutes till vegetables are tender. Serve hot.

Online Education

After having two kids, I have been stuck at home. I seldom have time to cook and when I have, I have to make it quick. That is why I am preparing dishes which are easy to make. I can't wait for my kids to grow so I can make time for myself too. I am planning to go back to school and finish my masters degree. But my husband told me that I can still go back to studying now even if I stay at home. He said I can try online studying.

Online schools are pretty common nowadays. In our high technology world, people can do a lot of things using the computer and Internet. So online studying is very possible.

WaldenU.edu is only one of the schools offered online. I checked Walden University's online degree programs and I found out that they offer Masters in Education. I was an Education graduate and I would like to get a masters degree. It might be hard but there would be no harm in trying. Someday, I need to try it. So as of now, I have to learn about Walden University. Who knows in the future, I can obtain a masters degree through online education.

Roasted Tomato Rotelle

This is another Rotelle dish that I have tried and added something. My husband and my son love this. I used healthy ingredients but added smoked beef sausage to make it tastier. It came out good and yummy. I am sure that you will like this too. A simple rotelle recipe and a quick dish to prepare for the family's dinner. I got this recipe from the Anthony's brand of rotelle's package. Also, I doubled the amount of ingredients and used 1 and a half cubes of chicken bouillon. I had no fresh basil and Parmesan cheese. It would be good if I had it. Below is the recipe:


1/2 (12-ounce) package Rotelle
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chicken-flavor instant bouillon and seasoning
2 cloves garlic; finely chopped
8 roma (plum) tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Grated Parmesan cheese



Cook rotelle as package directs; drain. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In small saucepan, combine water, oil, bouillon and garlic; heat until bouillon dissolves. In shallow baking pan, combine tomatoes, onion and bouillon mixture; stir gently. Bake 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Toss vegetables with hot rotelle, cooked sausage (optional) and basil. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Airsoft

Have you heard of Airsoft? I heard it before and saw it on TV shows and movies and even on news. But I haven't tried or seen it in person. What is Airsoft?

I checked godfatherairsoft.com to see what Airsoft is all about. So it is a sports that has been quite popular nowadays. I thought it was a way of cooking food but it's not. People use guns with paintballs as bullets and play with it. It's like a game on computers that there are two groups which are against each other and they have to shoot the enemies and gain their flag to win. No one will be harm in this game since paintballs are used instead of bullets that can kill. The guns used here are designed to shoot paintballs. They will know if you get hit because of the paintballs. Paint with a color will be marked on your clothes or body. It sounds fun but a bit painful too when you get hit. I saw people using it in movies and I know a few of my friends that play it. They are having fun and I would like to try it someday. I need to practice shooting first because I am not good at it. How about you?

Afritada by Mama Sita

This is a recipe that I have followed from the package of the Mama Sita's Menudo/Afritada mix. I just added a small can of pineapple chunks and a half cube of chicken bouillon. It tasted better than using the mix alone. I also added a cup of water. I ran out of bell pepper and green peas but still the dish was good. Here's the recipe:

1.1 lb chicken cut into serving pieces
1/2 cup cubed potatoes
1/2 cup cubed carrots
2 pcs cubed bell pepper
1/2 cup green peas

1) In a bowl, dissolve Mama Sita's Menudo/Afritada mix in water.
2) Fry potatoes and carrots in hot oil and set aside. In the same pan, stir-fry meat until golden brown.
3) Pour in dissolved mix. Cover and simmer until meat is tender. Add hot water, as needed.
4) Add fried potatoes and carrots, then the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 2 minutes. Serve hot.

Our Coffee Maker

My husband just bought a coffee maker. Our old coffee maker for more than 5 years is not working anymore. My husband tried to fix it but he failed. It is hard to change something which you have loved already to use. It was his favorite coffee maker. It makes good coffee too!

I am not a coffee drinker but I do take sips. I am only addicted to frappes and frappuccinos or any cold coffee drinks but not really drinking it all the time. My husband is the one who drinks more than 5 cups of coffee daily. So when the coffee maker was broken, he was like something important was missing in his life. We tried searching for krups coffee maker parts online, thinking that we could fix the part so he can still use his favorite coffee maker. But we haven't fixed it. We should have tried thegourmetdepotco.com for coffee maker parts but we did not. They offer coffee maker parts there and if we searched the site, we could have gotten the parts and fixed the coffee maker. Unfortunately, we got rid of the old coffee maker and my husband just bought a new one. He let go of his favorite one. He had no choice because he really wanted to make coffee that he can't wait for the old one to be fixed. Hope we can still use it in the future if the new one breaks, we might save the old one.

Camote Cue/Caramelized Sweet Potatoes

My brother and I used to sell these around the neighborhood when we were kids. Our mother cooked it. These sweet potatoes slices were fried in oil with caramelized brown sugar. Then skewed in bamboo sticks. There would be around 3-4 slices in each sticks and will be then sold. We visited homes and even shouted "Hot Camote Cue for sale." Each stick was 1 peso and we always come home empty handed but with a pocket filled with pesos. Those were the days. So every time I cook these, I remember it. Wants me to shout again "Hot sweet potatoes everyone?"