Furry poopers

Some of my favorite babes.

Elliot, the spooky Lisa-stalker baby. Currently curled up between my knees. Hates tuna and other stereotypical cat-friendly foods. Hates any manual interference with tail or paws. Loves conversations, hot sauce, pickles, and hissing at anyone who manually interferes with tail or paws.


Ziva, the barn pup, who is as sweet as she looks. I've only met her once, but I'd keep her.

Pledge, the happy boy. Same story as Ziva, minus the "pup" part.

Max The Skittish, abandoned abuse victim, now happily installed in his perfect forever home. Eats more treats than any mammal should, very chatty, enjoys snacking on pillow stuffing.

Delilah, aka DillyDog, aka DilDil, and I'm sure someone has slipped and called her Dildo at some point. She is precious, very happy, somewhat older, and rather gassy.

Beer Butt Chicken

Beer Butt Chicken, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

This makes the most moist delicious chicken!! You can also cook it in the oven.

Ingredients

* 1 stick butter, cut into chunks
* 3-4 cloves garlic
* Chicken seasoning (I use Montreal Chicken Seasoning)
*kosher or sea salt and pepper to rub on chicken
* 1 (12 fluid ounce) can beer
* 1 (4 pound) whole chicken

Directions

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for low heat.
2.Rub the chicken with the salt and seasonings mixture.
3. use most of the garlic and butter and Slide chunks of butter and whole cloves of garlic under the skin.
4. Melt about 3 tbs of the butter with 2 more cloves of garlic and use to baste the chicken while it cooks.
5. Discard 1/2 the beer, leaving the remainder in the can. Place can on a disposable baking sheet. Set chicken on can, inserting can into the cavity of the chicken.

Place baking sheet with beer and chicken on the prepared grill. Cook over low heat for about 3 hours, or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C).

Thin Mint Icebox Cake

Thin Mint Icebox Cake, originally uploaded by queenofthemoodswingset2.

It is ridiculously hot right now and I was looking for a no-bake dessert so that I wouldn't have to turn the oven on. I found a recipe and changed it a bit and it turned out really well. It tastes like thin mints!

Thin Mint Icebox Cake
Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
Mint and regular Oreo Cookies (about 12-14 of each)
2 tbsp butter
14 ounces semisweet chocolate (you can use chips, but will need some to shave)
2 containers (15 ounces each) part-skim ricotta cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp mint extract

Directions
Prepare pan: Remove sides from a 9-inch round springform pan (see note, below). Place a sheet of waxed paper over bottom, leaving an overhang; lock sides onto bottom, firmly securing paper. Spray inside of pan with cooking spray; line sides with a strip of waxed paper 28 inches long and 4 inches wide.
Crush or use food processor to crush 12-14 regular Oreo cookies, combine with 2 tbsp melted butter and press into the prepared spring form pan.
Crush and reserve 12-14 mint oreos for filling
Make chocolate-ricotta mixture:
Break 12 ounces of chocolate into pieces. Place in a heatproof medium bowl set over, not in, a pan of simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted, 8 to 10 minutes.
In a food processor, blend ricotta until very smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl.
Add warm chocolate; blend until smooth.
In a large bowl, beat cream with 1/2 tsp mint extract until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in chocolate-ricotta mixture.
Spoon half the chocolate-ricotta mixture on top of Oreo crust; smooth top. Cover with remaining crushed oreos; top with remaining chocolate-ricotta mixture, and smooth top. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 2 days.
Before serving, release sides of pan and remove waxed paper from sides. Using bottom piece of waxed paper, pull cake onto a platter; with a metal spatula, lift cake and remove waxed paper.
Using a vegetable peeler, shave remaining 2 ounces chocolate over top of cake. With a knife dipped in hot water, cut cake into 10 slices (wipe off knife, and dip in hot water after each slice).
Serve with Mint Whipped Cream.

Mint Whipped Cream:
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp mint extract
Whip cream and sugar until almost stiff. Add mint extract; beat until cream holds peaks.


Edited from
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=a804640093b0f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/no-bake-desserts#slide_8

Mom's Sugar Cookies

Mom making apricot filled sugar cookies for Grandma.

One Dough, Two Ways

The cold, wet winter yielded a ton of peaches a few weeks ago, and now the cucumbers, tomatoes, and basil are coming in daily for harvest. I made up some dough last night and so we feasted today on pizza with peach ricotta focaccia for dessert. Yum.

Basic Focaccia/Pizza dough

1 ¼ cups warm water

1 packet yeast

3 to 3 ½ cup(s) bread flour

1 Tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

Cornmeal to sprinkle on baking stone

Dissolve sugar into water.

Add yeast, allow to soften and begin to blossom on top of the water.

Stir in salt, and add enough flour to make soft dough.

Turn out onto floured surface, and knead for about 5 minutes until indentation in dough will spring back. (At this point, dough can be refrigerated over night in a plastic back sprayed with cooking oil. If refrigerated, allow to sit for an hour to warm up before shaping.) Allow dough to rise until almost doubled, about an hour, until indentation in dough does not spring back. Divide into two balls. Sprinkle baking stone with cornmeal, stretch one of the balls to form a round, let rest on baking stone while you prepare topping and preheat oven.

Peach Ricotta Focaccia

Servings: 8

(WW Points Value: 5)

Ingredients

3 cups fresh (frozen) sliced peaches

1/2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp Corn Starch

1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3 Tbsp butter

Slice and toss peaches in sugar.

Pour peach juice liquid into a small bowl, stir in corn starch until smooth.

Melt butter, add to liquid, microwave for 3 minutes until it begins to thicken.

Spread ricotta cheese over focaccia dough.

Spread peaches over ricotta cheese.

Spoon thickened syrup over peaches.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 425° for 10- 20 minutes until crust looks done.

Turkey Sausage & Bacon Pizza

Servings: 8

(WW Points Value: 6)

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

5 garlic cloves, chopped

1 Tbsp basil

1 Tbsp fresh oregano

1 cup(s) Classico Tomato And Basil Pasta Sauce

1 cup(s) part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/4 large Vidalia onion, sliced thin

2 medium tomatoes, sliced

3 turkey sausage, sweet, cooked

4 small slices Canadian style bacon, chopped

Cook & chop up turkey sausage & Canadian bacon.

Chop & slice veggies and herbs.

Toss chopped garlic and herbs in olive oil, spread on dough.

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over dough.

Spread tomato sauce over dough.

Sprinkle pie with mozzarella cheese.

Distribute remaining ingredients on pie.

Bake at 425° for 10- 20 minutes until crust looks done.