Tapioca Pudding

Last night when Jacob was here, I got a hankering for tapioca and mentioned said hankering, and he said he liked tapioca, but not to make any just for him, and "you don't really want to go in there and make anything else, do you?" I said no, not really, so we just kept sitting on the couch and I filed away the part about him liking tapioca. I do a lot of filing away these days...he doesn't care much for Altoids, wintergreen Life Savers are his favorite, but he doesn't even know I remember that, I'm sure. And he likes tapioca. :)

So anyway, for the past hour or so, I've been reading my archives on my old blog. That's how you know you're hurting for entertainment, when you have fun reading your own old posts. Here's the tapioca pudding recipe, originally posted July 21, 2011.

I love Tapioca Pudding. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be blogging about it. I mean, would it make any sense for me to blog about something and say “Gee, this is really nasty, and I can’t stand it, but you really should make it anyway.” Yeah…that would be rather crazy.

Anyway, the other evening at supper, it hit me all of the sudden that I wanted tapioca pudding. We’ve seriously cut back on desserts…Dad said he wasn’t eating dessert again until after their anniversary (August 13th) so without him eating dessert, we just don’t cook fancy desserts. It’s killing me! Tapioca is good for you though, and if you cut the sugar the tiniest bit, sugar doesn’t even make the top three ingredients! Dad still didn’t eat it, and Mom and I are the only ones that like it, other than Dad. The other boys here just don’t know what good food is, and that’s all there is to it! So, I took our regular recipe and cut it by 1/3! It just makes enough to two people then, and it’s best fresh.

So, I started out with 1 cup of milk. Raw, of course…until I boiled it, anyway.

 

Add 2 Tablespoons of tapioca…

 

A pinch of salt. Actually, it’s 1/3 of 1/4 teaspoon. I figured a pinch was ok.

 

Whisk all that together and bring it to a boil.

 

While it’s coming to a boil, I got 2 tablespoons (actually, about 1 1/2 is what I did) of sugar ready, and beat 1 egg.

 

 

I also buttered two of the little ramekin things. There is absolutely no reason to butter your dishes…I just wanted to get a little butter in the recipe somehow and that’s what I came up with. Weird, I know.

 

Now, the milk and tapioca is boiling. While it boils, add the sugar slowly and whisk and simmer for 5 minutes.

 

 

Now, after 5 minutes, slooooowly whisk in some of the milk into the beaten egg.

 

Now turn around and whisk the hot egg and milk mix back into the remaining milk mixture. You don’t have to literally turn around. That was just a figure of speech.

 

Now, boil over lowest possible heat for 5-10 minutes, until it’s almost as thick as you’d like it to be.

 

Oh, it just looks so thick and creamy and eggy and YUMMY!

 

Now set it aside to cool, for about 15 minutes.

 

After that, add in 1/3 of 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla. RIIIGHT. If you’re like me, you’ll add about a tablespoon.

 

Now spoon it into your dishes and consume joyously.

 

When we had all of our own animals, this would be so yellow and pretty. In the spring, when the cows were on all of the new grass, the cream would be so gorgeously yellow, and I’ve been known to use half milk and half cream making this. Also, the chickens out on the grass would lay eggs that were bright orange, so the combination of all of that…yum! We still have good eggs and milk…but it’s not our’s!

Make this tonight…you will NOT be sorry!

~Kayla

Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

I made shrimp for supper tonight (it is Tuesday and thus a courting day. Well, every day is a courting day, but Tuesdays are one of our in person courting days. ;) ) and had planned on making this asparagus along with it, but brilliant me...a lot of my favorite recipes are on my old blog, NOT easy to get to. You have to just go through the whole blog page by page trying to find what you're looking for. Anyway, I did that this afternoon, so here's the repost! As soon as I found the old post I copied it and pasted here on this blog, for my reference, if nothing else! Maybe y'all will find it helpful as well! 

Originally posted May, 15, 2010. Wow...it's been a while since we'd had asparagus, apparently!!!

We like asparagus as a side dish, but don’t get it very often. When we do have it, I like to steam it and serve it with this hollandaise sauce. It was on sale this week, so I bought a bunch…or 3, actually. Here’s the recipe I use…

I cut the ends off the asparagus and get it on to steam. I’ve found it easier to leave them together to cut them up.

 

 

My computer is with me in the kitchen most of the time, and it’s a handy place to keep sticky notes with recipes!

 

And I put on half a cup of butter to melt for the sauce…

 

4 egg yolks into the blender… (note: I wouldn’t use eggs from the store for this, since they are served raw in the sauce.)

 

And the juice of 1 lemon into the blender as well…

 

1/4 teaspoon of salt, as well as a pinch of white pepper…

 

 

When all of that is in the blender, you’re going to blend it for about 25 seconds or so…

 

Add the melted and cooled butter very slowly while the blender is running. Make sure the butter is cooled, unless you want scrambled eggs with your asparagus. Which you don’t.

 

Let the blender continue to run for another minute, until it looks smooth and shiny…

 

 

I put the steamed asparagus into a serving bowl and then poured the sauce over. If you scroll through these next 3 pictures fast enough, it may actually look like a movie…

 

 

 

And our finished meal…we had leftover chicken alfredo, with french bread and asparagus. Pretty good for leftovers, I think!

Napkins...

If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you may remember that ages and ages ago, I made and embroidered my family cloth napkins. At the time, I liked them...it's funny to look back at things you made ages and ages ago and say "geez...what was I thinking???!" 

Anyway, I just waded through the pages and pages of pictures I have and I found these pictures of said napkins.

Ew.

This past week, I decided it was high time to make another napkin, without even looking at these older napkins. This new napkin turned out well. I like him...I mean it a lot. It turned out pretty.

Well, then I got out the others. This ain't gonna work.

So, I did what any self-respecting embroiderer would do. I cut out all the old embroidery, washed and ironed the napkins, and did them over.

They all turned out nice, I think, although I'm certainly no embroiderer and you probably shouldn't look too closely.

Mama pitched a fit (honest) because she didn't get a flower, so I guess I'll be adding a flower to her's. I didn't know what I was doing and was just goofing off on mine, with the flower, but she wants one, so I guess she'll get one.

On the way home from Walmart the other day, I was being goofy with my iPod. Me being goofy is hard to imagine, I know, but I really was. I played with the picture in Instagram, which I happen to love. So, there's me.

Now looky here...I'm just about to write a whole post without mentioning *his* name! I don't even have to mention it though...he's in every line, isn't he?

:)

Oh, well. Y'all are right, you know. I am terribly, hopelessly, insanely, and completely head over heels in love. Life couldn't be better.

The Secret's Out...

Today was the day. A very exciting day. The day we've been waiting for for three weeks now.

A very special person signed some pretty important papers today.

You may have guessed, the very special person is Jacob.

He bought a house.

He bought a house.

He bought a HOUSE!

Our house.

Ok, rewind back to February 4th. Said special person texted me that morning, which was a Saturday. He asked what time he should come over. I asked him what time he was thinking, and he said "right now?" It was about 1pm, and I didn't think he was serious. He'd never been able to come earlier than about 3pm, so I kinda said "sure!" and then asked if he was thinking 3pm or so. Well, he really was serious, and when I figured that out, I really said "sure!" and went about drying my hair. It would've been dry by 3pm but you wouldn't have caught me complaining. ;)

Anyway, Jacob got here by 2pm or so and I was still cooking in the kitchen. So, he sat in the living room and I joined him as soon as I was finished. I walked in the living room and he had the biggest smile on his face. He said "I've got something to tell you....I bought a house!"

I think I said "are you serious?" He hadn't mentioned anything about buying a house, and that's the sort of thing he'd mention, you know!

He assured me he was, and started telling me about it all. Turns out, he'd seen it for sale just that morning, on his way home from work, and long story shorter, stopped and talked to the folks and told them he wanted to buy it! He was just the most adorable guy ever that day...he was nearly jumping with excitement all afternoon!

That's why he was so anxious to come see me as soon as possible, so he could tell me the incredible news! It's a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house, on 3/4 acre, with an outbuilding with electric. It's two places down from his parents' house. :) (it's about 40 minutes from my current habitation)

So anyway, that's the news...the big secret I've been keeping. We wanted to make sure everything was sure and final before telling everyone. :) He closed on the house today, and we're so very excited! He called me this afternoon to tell me it was all done, and that he was at Walmart...you know, just down the road...so he came and hung around for a while this evening. Mom and Dad were gone on a date tonight and the boys and I were just hanging around doing boring things, so he came and hung around with us.

We've got a little work to do on the house, but Jacob is so amazing, he can do anything. No, I'm not biased...why on earth would you think that??? Weirdos.

So, as I've already said, we're so very excited to have our house, and I'm excited to finally be able to share it here. Life is good.

I Hate Colds and...

And I love Valentine's Day. ;)

Let's see...the Sunday before Valentine's Day, I went to Jacob's family's house for a party. They had a bunch of people over there and all the married folks played the newlywed game. Being the only unmarried couple there, we got plenty of teasing...Jacob's sisters thought it would be a great idea to set us up in the middle of the room and ask us questions about each other. Thankfully, we didn't have to endure that!We had a good time just hanging out with everyone, being teased something awful, and eating too much. :)

Monday, I asked Jacob if he wanted to come Tuesday instead of Wednesday, you know...being that Tuesday was Valentine's Day and all. I thought it would be kinda cheesy not to see him on our first Valentine's Day ever! He said sure, so we planned on it. Actually, he said "what's tomorrow :)" and I said "Tuesday!" I planned a nice meal and dressed up a little fancier than usual, and Dad made sure to tell me to be prepared for anything...in other words, don't cry or be mad at him if he doesn't do anything for Valentine's Day! Dad also said not to measure other guys by him (dad) because no one would ever compare...

(Later, when I told Jacob what Dad had told me, he said "You didn't really think I'd forget Valentine's Day, did you?!")

So, Tuesday afternoon, I met Jacob out on the porch like I always do when he comes over, and he had an armful of "stuff" and said "I got you something..."

:D

So, a necklace...and a big box (a heart, actually) full of chocolates...and the saaahweeetest card you've ever seen...only you're not going to see it. Ahem. :) It was really nice.

We had a great time Tuesday, but we always have a great time when we're together. Tuesday afternoon, Jacob's phone quit texting, and he couldn't get it to work at all. It's been on and off for the past couple weeks, but it always ends up working again. Well, not this time...after a few days, he had to go buy a new phone and it took forever to get it switched over, which means we had to go 6 days without texting at all. I was on the verge of going crazy! We did end up talking on the phone more, which was nice. :)

Last Thursday, I went over to his family's house for the first time, just me, just to hang out. I've been there several times over the past few months, but always at a get-together or something. Actually, I take that back...when I went to the funeral with them in November, I hung around in the afternoon afterwards and had a nice time, just sitting and visiting with his family. Anyway, this time was different...I was going for the sole purpose of them getting to know me. Jacob and I had talked about the fact that I needed to spend more time with his family, after all, I'll be around them a lot! I had talked to his mom on the phone the previous week and she mentioned it too, that they wanted to spend more time with me, so I knew I really needed to spend time over there. So anyway...

Earlier Thursday, I kinda felt like I might be getting the cold the boys had had, so I took some medicine before I went over there, around 4pm. I felt ok, not too great, but ok....but then I started feeling a little dizzy later in the evening. I didn't think too much about it...it was just when I got up off the couch or something, but I mentioned it to Jacob. Well, his mom heard, and she got worried...actually, they all got worried! So, in a hour or so, when I said I needed to be going home, they said "I don't think so!" They were worried about me driving feeling dizzy, so Jacob drove me home (40 minutes one way) and his dad followed to take him back home. Awww. He's sweet. Actually, he said it was fun, and has mentioned that maybe I should get someone to drop me off at their house so that he can drive me home again. ;) He borrowed his brother's phone when he got home, to text and check on me. (I can just hear you oohhing and aahhing!)

So, that was the beginning of my cold. I spent the next day in bed pretty much, and Jacob went to work with one of his cousins. He didn't have texting, remember, and I was down about that. Just after lunchtime, I was half asleep in my bed and my phone rings.

:)

Yes, it was Jacob, calling me from work, just to check on me and see how I was feeling. We talked again that night (Friday) and then he called me again Saturday morning to see how I was. He said then he might not be able to come since I was sick...taking it home to 10 other people wouldn't be nice or fun, understandably! I understood, but I was a tiny bit sad, even though I felt awful and looked like death warmed over. He said he'd talk to his mom later and see what she thought. Well, he called back that afternoon and said he'd come, if I still wanted him to come.

I said "you're funny!" :cough cough cough cough sniff:

So he came Saturday and we had pizzas. I so did not feel like cooking and Jacob told me not to, but the only other alternative at that point (other than making popcorn or something silly like that) was to go buy pizzas, and dad said he would...but then "homemade sure is better...." So, I made pizzas. I didn't fix my hair nice or put even the tiniest smidgen of makeup on (I only wear tiny smidgens anyway) and I coughed and sniffed and moaned and groaned...and he still came back today. I think that's a good sign. ;)

Let's see...Sunday we stayed home. Everyone that had been sick, even if they weren't still feeling bad and sick (like me) had a horrid cough that sounds like we've been smoking for years and years. This strain of cold has a nasty nasty cough that we can't seem to shake. The boys have had it now for a couple weeks, I guess.

For the time being, Jacob and I are visiting Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday...he comes here Tuesday and Saturday and I go there Thursday, as well as whenever I'm over there on Sundays. It's hard getting as comfortable in someone else's family as you are in your own, but that's what we're working on! Jacob is comfortable here, and feels at home (as far as I know!) but I need more work! Dad's trying to keep up with who's going where when and since it's changed a couple times in the past couple weeks, it's taking some work! This morning, I came into the kitchen, and he and mom were standing there, and he said "ok, mom says Jacob's coming today?" <nod> "and you're going over there Thursday?" <nod> "well, I'm trying to take your mom on a date and I'm trying to work around your and Jacob's schedule!" He was being funny about it, and the way he said it was goofy. Maybe you had to be here... :) Anyway, Mom and Dad love Jacob and are still enthusiastic about everything that's going on. It's definitely different, with me being gone over there sometimes, but it's all good. It's all great, really! I guess it's all part of changing phases in life. Not that I'm complaining!

We're still just as happy as ever...actually happier, I think...if that were possible, and we're both very excited about that little secret I mentioned in my last post. I should be able to tell y'all soon...probably by the end of this week. It's killing me! The problem is, we're waiting to hear from something or someone else, so it's not exactly set in stone yet, although it kinda is... Grr....I just want to say it already!!!

I haven't taken hardly any pictures lately, which is why there aren't any on my blog, obviously. I take ones of Jacob, mostly on my iPod, but he says those look goofy and "don't put them anywhere!" meaning here on my blog, I assume! They're cute and you don't get to see them...nananananana. I need to get back to cooking tutorials and the kitchen pictures! I still need to get pictures of our new kitchen island....I'm waiting on the kitchen to be clean. Haha...just kidding, the kitchen stays fairly clean. I just keep forgetting to get pictures of the island. I honestly don't know how we lived without it! I think I'm going to need one in my kitchen on day. Maybe I should start a list...

That'll do for now, I'm sure...now that I've written a small booklet summing up the past couple weeks. I do still do other things, you know...other than talk to my amazing man. I scrubbed the floors in the house today (took 3 hours) and I've been sewing for hours every day. A sewing room...that's on my list, too.

Talk to y'all later! 

Hi!

Ok, here's February's post.

Haha...just kidding. I might do better this month. Maybe.

You see, my life's pretty normal for me these days. So, I just don't write about it! I'm sure that y'all will eventually get tired of hearing about my wonderful man (such a foreign concept to me...what's wrong with you people anyway???) and if I write anything, that's what's going to come out, no bones about it!

Let's see...cooking. I haven't cooked much out of the ordinary lately. My family still makes fun of me, saying we only eat good on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but they're terribly wrong. They just don't think about every other night of the week, or something. Take tonight, for example...PW's pork chops, or maybe Tuesday, when we had Alabama Shrimp Bake. Yeah, they're really hurting for good food around here.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I did try PW's stuffed mushrooms. Believe it or not, I'd never made stuffed mushrooms. I'm good at trying new recipes on Jacob. He's so wonderful though (told you) he's great about anything I make. I've made a couple things he's not crazy about (shocker...he doesn't love guacamole or spicy mustard with egg rolls! I don't know what to do!) but he's super sweet and jokes with me about it. (I read years ago that guys tease the girls they like. I think it's true. ;) ) A couple times I've made stuff everyone else wasn't crazy about, and he'd eat more just to make me feel better, I think. I make ugly stuff and he says "it still tastes good!" Like I said I'd say...he is truly wonderful.

I'm sorry...I was talking about mushrooms! I was already into making them when Jacob got here yesterday. After I helped him change the light bulbs in the van he was driving (ok, ok....so I watched. I handed him a bulb. That's helping, right?) he came in and told me how nasty the filling looked while I was mixing it up (he was dead on, too) and then tasted it for me. (Such a sweetie. Yes, I'm hopeless. Thanks for noticing.) Then he helped me fill them. Well, if you notice on PW's recipe, these are "spicy." Well, only if you aren't distracted by a very handsome man making eyes at you while you're mixing said filling and saying funny things to make you smile....because if you weren't distracted by said amazing guy, you wouldn't forget the hot sauce. I don't forget things in recipes. I'm calm and collected while cooking.

Most of the time.

It's the pheromones, at least, that's what Debi Pearl says. I haven't personally studied out the science behind it.

Anyway, I forgot the hot sauce and I'm blaming it on my boyfriend. He's terribly distracting.

So, our stuff mushrooms weren't spicy in the least. I knew Dad and I and Jacob were the only ones that would like them at all, and I think Jacob liked them most...unless he just carried on that much just for me. Which wouldn't be unheard of, considering. I got them out of the oven, placed them on the counter, Jacob popped one in. I looked at him carefully for his approval (strictly approval) and he said one word, around his mushroom.

"WONDERFUL!"

That'll work. That'll definitely work. I smiled.

Anyway, you should try those mushrooms sometime. They're pretty good. :) They might be better if you remember the hot sauce. ;)

Last night I made BBQ sandwiches for our main dish. When we butchered our pigs last time, we packaged up bones that had a little meat on them, instead of taking hours to clean the bones really well, or worse...throwing them away. When I make BBQ, I just cook several bones in a roaster for hours and hours, most of the time covered with the BBQ spice rub. Then I sort through all the meat, fat, and bone, and get out the meat. (Duh) Well, that's not really the most fun job to do, honestly. I highly recommending finding a cute guy that loves to help everyone, especially his special girl. It makes the job much more enjoyable. We double-teamed that roaster full of meat and had it done in...well, it still took a while, but under the circumstances, I didn't mind too much. ;) We had fun.

Ok, enough about last night's meal. Let's see...last week Jacob came Wednesday and Saturday, and spent nearly all day Sunday with me as well. He got to meet some friends of ours that came for a visit, and he went to church with me Sunday morning. Someone told me to get a better camera because he was cuter than my pictures made him look. Is that possible? I've tried to tell y'all!

What else...in the past month or so, Dad and Dave built us an island in our kitchen. I stained it to match everything else and put an obscene amount of polyurethane on the countertop, and Mom says it still needs more. (We have plywood countertops.) It looks nice and one of these days I'll get a picture of it on here for y'all to see. Or you could just come visit. On a Wednesday or Saturday, preferably. You know, since that's the only time my family eats well. ;)

You wouldn't believe the food jokes going around here these days, I mean, besides the one about them not eating good. I guess seeing that the possibility (I don't think that's the right word though) of me not being here for...um...ever is a lot more real these days. We keep saying things like Dad will call me up and want to know if I have any chocolate chip cookies made....things like that. (Mom's been on this diet and I think he's a little scared of his future menu, maybe?)

Speaking of Mom's diet, she's been eating good and running...yeah running. Like 3.1 miles, kind of running. I went with her today and it could be considered attempted manslaughter. She tried to kill me.  I told her it wasn't exactly fair that I just jump in and go with her after she's been doing it long enough to actually do it. I don't remember, but I think she probably said something motherly and loving like, "Life's not fair, get over it, ya sissy!" I don't know...maybe that's just what I heard as she ran on past me. I think I was suffering from oxygen deprivation so my senses probably couldn't be trusted. I texted Jacob and told him she was trying to kill me, but he was working so I didn't get much sympathy.

By the way, if you want to scare your girlfriend silly, it happens best if your phone quits working when you're on the way home late at night, your brother's asleep so you can't use his phone, and you don't text to tell her that you got home safe and goodnight (like you've done every night for the past few months.) She'll go crazy picturing all kinds of scary scenarios, including, but not limited to, your vehicle upside down in a ravine somewhere, stuff like that. Not that I'd know, but I imagine that would be scary. ;)

It's time for me to get supper finished up and on the table, so I'll close for now. I'm sure there's something else I wanted say, but I can't think of it right now. Oh, I apparently have a piece of glass embedded in the tip of my thumb and it hurts. How's that for news???

Talk to all y'all later!
~Kayla

P.S. I'm keeping a huge wonderful secret right now, too, and it's terrible that I can't tell y'all yet! No jumping to conclusions....here's a hint. It doesn't include a sparkly circle. Well, not really. ;) Hopefully I'll be able to let the proverbial cat out of the bag before too long! We're excited!