Dolly's birthday

My poodle, Dolly and I have the same birthday. She turned 12 on Valentine's day. Both her brothers, Cooper and Colt, were in attendance at her birthday party. I baked a cake. They seemed to enjoy it. The boys liked my cooking more than Dolly did, though.






Dog Birthday Cake Recipe
2c flour
4 jars baby food (any meat)
1 can dog food
½ c honey
½ c olive oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 T baking powder

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes in a sheet cake pan. Ice with a paste of dog food and garnish with dog biscuits.

TV- Oh how I love thee!

Well, I sure haven't blogged lately. The reason- cable. See, Ryan and I neither one had cable at our houses, so we watched alot of movies. And, NBC. We could pick that up with rabbit ears. Well, about 3 weeks ago he got cable... and it is the SUPER cable package. The phone company is now offering cable, and they have great introductory offers. So, to all my friends.. that's where I've been.



I now feel like I'm a part of society, watching Desperate Housewives, Dancing with the Stars, Grey's Anatomy, and the Hills. I feel like my intelligence is shrinking some, but I sure am enjoying it.



Other shows I love



Clean House on Style--

Okay, so I thought that this woman was a drag queen, but I still have great fun watching her.




Flip that House, Property Ladder, etc. -- if only I had the money and guts to flip a house. Love watching those people make my year's salary (or it many times multiplied) in only a month or two.


Wedding shows- Married Away, Say Yes to the Dress, Who's Wedding Is It Anyway? Love them... usually can't convince Ryan to watch with me though...but he will sometimes watch Married Away.



Fashion shows- How Do I Look, What not to Wear



Cooking shows- believe it or not... the girl who can't cook water watches Food Network sometimes. Ryan will watch this, no complaints. He is learning things he will probably try, and hoping it will sink in for me. We really enjoyed Sandra Lee and Paula Dean on Sunday. I think I definitely need a semi-homemade cookbook.

Soup Weather

It has been so rainy and cold. All I wanted last night for supper was SOUP. Warm, filling, yummy soup.

Remember my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days? Well, cooking one meal a week was on there.

Here's what I made (also tried new recipe)

Cream of Mushroom Soup (CD Kitchen)

Ingredients:
8 ounces mushrooms
4 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion -- chopped
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup water
1 can condensed chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
Snipped parsley

Directions:
Slice enough mushrooms to measure 1 cup; chop remaining mushrooms. Cook and stir sliced mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of the butter in 3-quart saucepan over low heat until golden brown. Remove mushrooms with slotted spoon. Cook and stir chopped mushrooms and onion in remaining butter until onion is tender. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in water and broth. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in half-and-half and sliced mushrooms; heat just until hot. DO NOT BOIL. Garnish each serving with parsley.

Well, I obviously didn't garnish with parsley. But, Ryan loved it. We don't agree on soups; he loves thick, creamy soups. And, generally they have dairy products that hurt my stomach. Since, I figured this would hurt my stomach if I ate a full serving size.

I made some chicken and wild rice soup. I used this packet of stuff and added a can of carrots, can of green beans and some cooked chicken. It was really yummy.

Funny story about chicken and wild rice soup-- He got home from a business trip late one evening, and I had started making this soup. Well, within minutes of eating it, he got very sick. Stuff coming out both ends at the same time. Right before he had left, he had been told his appendix was inflamed, but not enough to remove it. I called his mom and let her know I thought it was time for us to go to the hospital. Well, about 10 minutes after that, I got sick too. Evidentally, I used the old milk in the refrigerator, and gave us both food poisoning! I still haven't lived it down, and he was hesitant to eat the chicken soup last night.