sciwitch: (books)
 ATT Computer Folk who know PCs...
My Mom is finally getting a new computer. She has a 2005 Dell running XP and uses Outlook Express for her email. Is there a way to export all her old messages into her new computer? This has tripped up the guy installing her new computer, so he has taken her new and old systems back to the shop to try and figure it out. Any ideas?
sciwitch: (Baking)
 There is an orchard nearby - so there are apples and apple butter in my house. What to do... what to do...

Apple Butter Bran Muffins
 
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup unprocessed oat bran
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup apple butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
3 tablespoons molasses
1 cup finely diced peeled apple
 
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place paper lines in standard muffin cups. Place cranberries in a small bowl and cover orange juice. Set aside.
 
Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in oat bran.
 
Whisk egg, milk, apple butter, brown sugar, oil and molasses in a large bowl until blended. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Drain the cranberries; add them and the diced apple to the bowl. Stir until just combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan about 2/3 to 3/4 full
 
Bake the muffins until the tops spring back when touched lightly, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges and turn the muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.
 
Makes 14 servings at  about 170 calories each.
sciwitch: (Cooking)
So - this recipe made a bit more than I thought it would. But hey, it tastes good and freezes well, so there really isn't any bad here.

Tortellini and Vegetable Soup

Cooking spray
1 chopped red pepper
1 chopped yellow pepper
1 chopped onion
1 peeled and chopped potato
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted
1 32-ounce box vegetable broth 
1-1/2 c water
1 teaspoon dried basil 
1 package of cheese and spinach tortellini
1 chopped zucchini
1 chopped summer squash
Salt to taste
 
Heat cooking spray in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add peppers, onion, potato and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minute. Add tomatoes, broth, water, and basil; bring to a rolling boil over high heat.

Add tortellini and cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions. 

Add zucchini and squash; return to a boil. Cook until the zucchini is crisp-tender, about 3 minutes.
 
Makes 9 1-1/2c servings at about 240 calories per serving
sciwitch: (Cooking)
The weather has cooled, so that means the soup pots are being hauled out again. This week's recipe uses carrot juice instead of stock or broth. This sucker is vegan and salt free (which means I added salt and think it would probably taste even better with a dash of Parmesan cheese). I based this on a recipe I found elsewhere on the net, but modified a bit after I realized she has listed WAY too little liquid for the recipe.

Enjoy

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Cooking Spray
5 garlic cloves, peeled
350 g red potatoes, diced 
2 peppers (red and yellow), diced 
1 pt Baby Bella Mushrooms, quartered
1⁄2 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 large red onion, cut into chunks
4 cups carrot juice
370 g roma tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon
 
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spray cooking oil over roasting pan. Add the garlic cloves to the roasting pan and roast until the oil begins to sizzle, about 5 minutes. 
 
Add the potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, and rosemary, and spray a bit more cooking oil over them. Roast until the potatoes begin to color and soften, about 15 minutes.
 
Add the zucchini and the onion, give them another spritz of cooking oil, and roast until the zucchini is tender, about 20 minutes.
 
In a soup pot, combine the carrot juice, tomatoes and tarragon. Spatula the roasted vegetable mixture into the  pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then let simmer 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.
 
Make 5 servings of about 1 1/2 cups each. 270 calories per serving. 
 

sciwitch: (Music)
One of my favorite versions of Carol of the Bells is Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 - a cheerfully head-banging version of an oh-so traditional carol. But what many people don't realize is that the album it came from "Christmas and Other Stories" has a very different sound. It also has a storyline.

The first song that get's me is "Old City Bar", about a bartender helping a lost runaway girl find her way home...

http://youtu.be/TsWlrkboY0k

The story picks up a few songs later with "This Christmas Day" which follows the father's reaction on learning that his runaway daughter is on her way home.

http://youtu.be/yF5H8I5Z4hE 

Both make me teary-eyed every time.
sciwitch: (Music)
I love Celtic music, and Anuna is one of my favorites. "Winter, Fire and Snow," their original take on one of Macdara Woods poems, is a wonderfully evocative piece.

http://youtu.be/bL28u1EadHY
sciwitch: (Music)
Along with my Winter Songs collection, I thought I'd also post a few of my favorite Christmas songs that for one reason or another are never played on mainstream radio.

I first heard of Celestial Navigations on the local NPR station in New Hampshire back in the late 80's. After a day of news and classical music, the evening DJs would play whatever they felt like - giving me the best music education ever. Late one winter's night, driving alone back to my dorm, this came on:

http://youtu.be/ITrwCNq9iBI


The next day I bought every album they had recorded at that point. I'm still a major fan.

Here's the Amazon page that lists all 10 of their albums. If you're a sucker for an incredible story teller, buy 'em all.

http://www.amazon.com/Celestial-Navigations/e/B000APWMX8/ref=ntt_mus_dp_pel
sciwitch: (Music)
I have loved Loreena McKennitt's voice and choice of lyrics for over 20 years. Her album "To Drive the Cold Winter Away" is one of my favorite "Winter Solstice" albums. The song that haunts me the most is "Snow".

http://youtu.be/JfXKEySv_wA

Then all is silent and the snow falls
Settling soft and slow
The evening deepens and the grey
Folds closer earth and sky
The world seems shrouded, far away.
sciwitch: (Music)
As much as I like Christmas music (not before Thanksgiving please) I also simply like songs with winter themes. I'll be posting a few links to snowy songs that make me happy.

First up, from when I was 8 - Gordon Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night"

http://youtu.be/_yQc-wGeYvk

Er.. also, the real lyric in the song is "where whorls of snow are falling" - but I like the version my eight-year-old sang along to.
sciwitch: (books)
I've been serious amused about the whole kerfuffle about the book "Fifty Shades of Grey" - it's like all these women who are buying the book never heard of the internet. Then I saw this and knew I wasn't the only who thought this...


Image
sciwitch: (Music)
I was bouncing around on You Tube listening to various and sundry songs that kept popping up from memory, when this one showed up. I remember my cousin LOVING this song back in the day. I remember liking it as well. I guess I wasn't paying attention to the WTF lyrics back then.



Remember kids, bear hunting is bad.
sciwitch: (Baking)
Birthday weekend, and Mom's up. Time to try another new waffle recipe. 
 
 
sciwitch: (Baking)
 Snowy weekend, a new waffle iron, and a full pantry. Whatever am I going to do with myself?

Cocoa Cherry Waffles )
sciwitch: (Baking)
 So, I may have had extra sauerkraut from the Bavarian Pork Chops recipe. And I don't know about you, but the ingredients from that recipe certainly sounded like the ingredients to a really good rye bread. And I had 8 hours until the pork chops were done. And I have a bread machine. You know where this is going.

Sauerkraut Rye Bread )
sciwitch: (Cooking)
 I have had a love/hate relationship with sauerkraut my whole life - I love its taste, I hate its texture. Hot dog cooked in sauerkraut = YUM. Hot dog with sauerkraut on it = EW EW Get it OFF!!. So the recipe below looked really appealing, you know, as long as I could make all the actual sauerkraut go away in the end.

Bavarian Pork Chops )
sciwitch: (Cooking)
So this weekend, a friend and I went to a restaurant supply store to browse and buy things we really didn't need (some women buy shoes and purses - I buy kitchen gadgets). I ended up getting a new mandolin and a few other bits and bobs. But what was really exciting was they now stocked a huge selections of olive oils and vinegars you could taste before you bought. I finally found an extra virgin olive oil that actually tastes like olives (from Portugal). And I bought a $20 bottle of Dark Cherry Balsamic Vinegar.

Which I then used all in one shot tonight.

Baked Dark Cherry Balsamic Chicken )
sciwitch: (Baking)
So, I'm back. Yes I know, it's been while. Life is life.

So for Christmas I got a Belgian waffle maker (one of few kitchen gadgets I didn't already own). One of my neighbors had me over for dinner last night, so I had her over for breakfast this morning. First time ever making waffles and they came out great.

Sweet Potato Pecan Waffles )

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