All in a morning

What a morning!

I gotta be honest, I'm liking the chickens less and less lately. They wake me up every morning at 6:15. Too early. They make noise until I come out and get them some fresh water and let them run around for a minute or two. The thing is, it seems I'm the only one in this house who wakes up to their noise and I definitely can't get back to sleep once they wake me. So every morning, I get out of bed, bitterly, and go outside to get them what they need.

I brought the kids to school this morning as usual and then I figured I'd stop at Safeway on my way home to grab some freebies and other great deals since today is the last day of the sale. As I'm checking out, Mike calls my cell phone to tell me that one of the kids left their lunch in the kitchen. So I ask him to pack it up and I can get it and bring it to school. The cashier was brand new. My order ended up taking 18 minutes to complete. I was patient, of course. The people behind me, not so much.

I get home, grab Ash's lunch and head back out to the school so that my oldest won't starve all day. That would be horrible.

Back at home again, I start on the cake order for the day. It's a simple design so I'm not stressed about it. I made the flower yesterday to give it time to dry. As I'm icing the cake, the school calls. Ash forgot his glasses and is getting a headache. They give him some tylenol for the headache and send him back to class. He'll need to remember the glasses for tomorrow. Inside, I'm breathing a sigh of relief that I don't have to drive all the way to and from the school again.

I got a new Christmas movie yesterday. Christmas in Connecticut. I put it in and watch from the kitchen while I finish the cake. Cute movie. Not very festive at all but it was still good.

Cake's done!



Now the kitchen is clean and reorganized. I swept and mopped all the floors. I have an apple cinnamon candle burning and another Christmas movie playing.

Absolutely cozy!

Funnel Cake!!!!

It's been just under a month since I last posted. Please accept my deepest apologies. There's just been a lot of stuff going on this past month that kept my mind far from the idea of blogging.

But today is different!!

Earlier today my sister-in-law had mentioned on facebook that they were headed to the fair. I asked her to eat a funnel cake for me since it had been years since I've gotten to eat one. Probably since I was a kid. I love funnel cakes so very much. My mind couldn't let go of the thought of them all day so I figured I had better just do something about it! Off to the cookbook shelf!

One of the very first gifts Mike got me when we were first married was this cookbook


It was a kind of strange first gift I suppose, but I was excited. I was obsessed with cooking shows and was constantly wanting to be in the kitchen baking. This cookbook has a ton of awesome bread recipes plus bunches of other tasty treats. One recipe happens to be for funnel cakes.

So today, I brought this cookbook out and Bella and I had a project.

First the ingredients.


Bella mixed the eggs, milk and vanilla in a large batter bowl (makes it easier for pouring later on)


You want to heat about an inch and a half of oil in a skillet to about 350.


Then you want to sift the dry ingredients over your wet ingredients.


>Tangent Alert< Wanna see one of my favorite kitchen tools? (Please don't mind my chipped nailpolish. I pick at my nails when I'm bored. Terrible habit, I know.)


It's a measuring spoon. It has two ends. One is tablespoons and the other is teaspoons. That's one reason why it's cool. Here's the reason it's awesome!





It's flexible and reverses to the half measurement of each side! So it's actually 4 measuring spoons in one. It's so great. I don't know what I did before it came into my baking life.

Anyway, mix the batter until it's nice and smooth. You want it to be the consistency of waffle batter this means depending on the weather, you may need to add more milk or more flour. I had to add a bit more milk this time.


Now, remember that oil you've been heating? 350 degrees, right? Good. There are several ways to get the batter into the oil I'm sure. I made the first one by actually using a funnel, but it was kind of messy and was pretty difficult to work with it. So then I just did a slow stream from the batter bowl spout. Hold your spout up higher for thinner streaks, closer for thicker streaks. You want to go around in circles and back and forth around the pan. Make any design you want, just get some batter cooking.
(That's me using the funnel method. Picture taken by Bella.)

Fry until it's golden brown on the bottom and flip it.


Mmmm. Golden brown and delicious.


Once the other side is cooked, remove it from the oil and let it drain on some paper toweling. Let it cool for a minute or two and then set it on a plate.


Cover with sifted powdered sugar or you could also do cinnamon sugar. I went all traditional baby! Dig in!


It really didn't take long for that one to disappear.


No worries. There's plenty of batter left. I got about 7 funnel cakes out of one recipe.

Would you like the recipe so you too can bring the taste of carnivals home?

Here you go then!

Funnel Cakes

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Vegetable oil for frying
Powdered Sugar or Cinnamon Sugar for topping.

Combine eggs, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat until well blended. Put flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a sifter. Sift over wet ingredients. Stir to mix until smooth. Add more milk or more flour if necessary. It should be the same consistency as waffle batter.

Add oil to a skillet and heat to 350 degrees. Carefully pour batter into the hot oil in a swirling or criss cross pattern to form the funnel cake. Fry until golden brown and crisp. Turn once. Remove to a paper towel to drain. Serve covered with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Enjoy!