Tumblr

I'm playing around on Tumblr. It seems pretty fun, and it's really easy to share multimedia items. You can check me out there at: http://mamieutah.tumblr.com/.  I think you can even add it to your RSS feed. I may do more over there for a little while, as I don't have the time or energy to do long posts on the regular blog right now. So yeah, go check that out!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Not MIA exactly...

Despite my intention to NOT be involved in a heavy schedule of work-related activities this summer, an opportunity came along that I couldn't pass up.

A new series of Math Endorsement courses begins today, so I'll be spending 45 hours IN MATH CLASS this week... I know, I know, you're all so jealous!

Then I'll get to do it again for a week in July, and then EVERY Monday evening during the school year, and then for two more weeks (45 hour-courses each week) next summer - wheeeeeeeee!

But THEN I'll have Math Endorsement on my teaching license, which opens up more classroom opportunities. Also, adding endorsements to our licenses is the only way we can raise our pay as teachers. Due to budget constraints, many districts have frozen "step" increases, so there's no incremental pay increases according to years of experience. There are still "lane" increases for additional education/endorsements. I already am at Master's degree plus 20 units AND have two endorsements, so really the only way to increase my salary at all is to complete another endorsement program.

I like teaching math, so I'm nerdily excited to be starting 270 hours of graduate-level course in math... yes, really! But, the blogging will probably slow down a bit for a while. I'll keep you posted on my progress... maybe you can help me with some homework???


~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Correction: Kalani's Coconut Cake

In the Kalani's Coconut Cake recipe published on 6/11/11, I made a small error - use an 8 ounce container of Cool-Whip (NOT 16 ounce). The original post has been corrected.

I served the cake today to a group of 15 at our house and it was a big hit - thanks Kalani!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Recipe: Jana's Blueberry Buckle

So, a friend of mine from high school - whom I have not seen in, uh,  24 years but thankyoufacebookhallelujah is in my (virtual) world again - posted a few times about making Blueberry Buckle to share with work colleagues. Blueberries? Breakfast baked goods? I WANT THAT! Oh.My.WORD! It is GOOD! She graciously allowed me to share the recipe here on my li' ol' blog - thanks Jana!

Jana's Blueberry Buckle

Batter ingredients:


• 3/4 c sugar

• 1/4 c butter

• 1 egg

• 1 T vanilla
• 
1 t almond extract (can be omitted, but adds a nice depth of flavor)
• 
1/2 c milk or sour cream (I used sour cream and it was excellent)
• 
1 1/2 c flour

• 2 t baking powder

• 1/2 t salt

• 1 c blueberries (fresh or frozen, see note below)



Streusel topping ingredients:

• 
1/2 c brown sugar

• 1/3 c flour
• 
1/2 t cinnamon

• 1/4 c butter, cut into 8 - 10 pieces

Directions:

1. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Thoroughly grease an 8" by 8" pan.
3. 

With an electric mixer, cream sugar, butter, egg until well- blended.  
4. Mix dry ingredients in a separate small bowl.  
5. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, alternating with milk/sour cream (1/3 dry, ½ dairy, 1/3 dry, ½ dairy, 1/3 dry).   Batter will be very stiff.
6. 

If using fresh berries, fold them gently into the batter and spread into pan.

 If using frozen berries, smooth half of batter into pan, sprinkle with berries, top with remaining batter (frozen berries will run and color the batter)


7. In a small bowl, mix streusel ingredients (with a pastry cutter or two knives) and sprinkle over the buckle.


8. Bake, uncovered for about 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.



(If doubling, use a 9" by 13" pan, and increase baking time to 45 minutes or so.)

Enjoy!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Recipe: Kalani's Coconut Cake

Earlier this week I posted about the decadent Coconut Caramel Cake from Jamie Cooks It Up - mmmmmm, was that ever good! Believe it or not, just a few weeks ago I had another coconut cake that was JUST AS GOOD!

My school had a little luncheon for all the parents who have volunteered in classrooms and at activities during the year. The school provided sandwiches and drinks, and teachers brought salads and desserts. In case you're wondering, my contribution was this Greek Orzo  Salad, which was a big hit. More on that in another post.

My colleague Kalani brought a DELICIOUS coconut cake - sooooooo yummy and refreshing! I knew the minute I saw it that it was going to be fabulous, and I also knew that Mr. Mamie would LOVE IT. I got the recipe from Kalani and made the cake myself a few days later. Sure enough, Mr. Mamie LOOOOOOVED IT!

Kalan's recipe was pretty minimal when she gave it to me.  I tried to add some detail, but any errors are mine and not hers. I think you'll do juuuuuuust fine though... oh, wait, your mouth is too stuffed full of cake to converse? Yeah, toldja this cake was awesome!

Kalani's Coconut Cake

Cake ingredients:

• 1 box white cake mix
  
• 1 box (3.4 oz) coconut pudding mix

Sauce ingredients:

• 1 can (12 oz) cream of coconut - available in the (alcoholic) drink mix section of the grocery store. I was able to find this easily in my local Walmartz (despite the fact that I live in a state with very archaic alcohol laws - NOT that there's alcohol in the cream of coconut). I used Coco Lopez brand.
• 1 can (14 oz)  sweetened condensed milk

Topping ingredients:

• 1 (8 oz) container Cool-Whip
• Toasted coconut (see below) 

Directions:

1. Make the cake mix as directed on the box.  Use whole eggs, not egg whites. Add in the box of coconut pudding as you mix the cake.
2. Bake cake as directed on box (use a 9" x 13" cake pan, NOT two rounds). While cake is baking, stir together sauce ingredients until well-blended.
3. When cake is done baking, remove from oven and immediately (while the cake is still hot) use  the round handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all over the top of the cake - about an inch apart from each other.
4. Pour the sauce over the cake and let it sit for several hours/over night. You can cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil; just don't let the foil get stuck to the top of the cake.
5. The next day get the Cool-Whip out to defrost. You need it defrosted and spreadable to complete the cake.
6. While the Cool-Whip is defrosting, make the toasted coconut: Preheat the oven to 300. Spread a thin layer of coconut on a baking sheet - choose your biggest baking sheet so that you can toast lotsa coconut! Bake the coconut in the 300 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes, making sure to stir every FIVE minutes. Failure to stir and monitor will result in icky, sticky, burned coconut. It only took 15 minutes in my oven, so be careful!
7. Spread defrosted Cool-Whip on cake and then sprinkle toasted coconut over Cool-Whip.
8. Store uneaten cake covered and in the refrigerator.
9. ENJOY!!!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)

Recipe: Strawberry Freezer Jam

This last week I tried making strawberry freezer jam - for the first time! I KNOW, given where I live, home canning is practically REQUIRED, so what took me so long? Sorry, I'm a slow learner. As a matter of fact, Mrs. Igor and I had our first canning experience PERIOD just a couple of weeks ago - she had gotten 25 pounds of tomatoes as an add-on to a Bountiful Basket one week, and SOMETHING had to be done with them. Mrs. Igor has the equipment (thanks to her mom) and she purchased canning jars, lids, and rings. I just showed up to help a little and then enjoy the bounty! We made some really yummy salsa, and definitely be doing it again the next time there's a bulk purchase of tomatoes available.

But I digress... my friend Kalani (whose fabulous coconut cake recipe will be making an appearance here on the blog tomorrow) made some sugar-free strawberry freezer jam and it was SOOOOOO yummy! I was way jealous. Then I said... DUH, I can do that too! Except, I didn't plan ahead very well and buy a big bag o' Splenda from Costco. But I suddenly had my strawberries from Bountiful Basket over the weekend and needed to DO something with them. So, I made "regular" strawberry freezer jam instead.

We bought "100% Natural Sure-Jell Premium Fruit Pectin" from the Walmartz. Sadly, Sure-Jell is a brand owned by the giant food conglomerate Kr*ft, NOT my favorite type of company to support, but at the moment it was what was available. We'll be looking into sources of fruit pectin from more palatable companies and I'll let you know what I find out.  ANYHOO, having looked at various recipes on the interwebz, it seemed like a good idea to just use the recipe that came in the box of pectin - no need to get fancy. I was kinda bugged though, because you (that is, I) had to bounce around between sections of the package insert in order to follow the recipe.  So THEN, being the generous person I am, I figured I could make all y'alls' lives easier by recreating the recipe RIGHT HERE.

NOTHING about this recipe is original - it is STRAIGHT off of the insert out of the package of Sure-Jell, just organized in a slightly more linear manner. 'Cause I like a recipe that's STRAIGHTFORWARD, dontcha know?

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Equipment:

• Large mixing bowl
• Knife 
• Cutting board
• Potato masher OR food processor
• Liquid measuring cup
• Dry measuring cups
• Small saucepan
• Small ladle - like a gravy ladle you would use at the dinner table
• Canning funnel - OPTIONAL
• Containers for the jam - need to be freezer-safe. I used 8-ounce screw-top freezer canning jars made by Ball (pictured above, with the nifty purple lids, and YES! containers are awesome, thankyouverymuch Mrs. Stuff I Love!), I filled all five of my new Ball freezer containers and had a little jam leftover, so I used a small empty jar (from my VAST collection) for the "overage." THAT jar went into the 'fridge for immediate consumption.
• Dampened kitchen towel

Ingredients:

•  One box of 100% Natural Sure-Jell Premium Fruit Pectin
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 pints fresh, ripe strawberries - DON'T use old/poor-quality fruit; your jam will NOT have the fresh, bright flavor you want if you use crappy fruit!
• 4 cups white sugar

Directions:

1. Thoroughly wash and dry the containers you will be using for your jam.
   
2. Wash and remove stems/leaves from strawberries.
3. Mash the strawberries with a potato masher  (in a bowl), OR - easier! - run them through your food processor. Don't liquify them, you want a rough-ish texture. As you mash/process the berries, put them (post-mash) into a 1-cup LIQUID measuring cup. You will need EXACTLY two cups of mashed berries.
4. Once the two cups of mashed berries are in a mixing bowl, pour EXACTLY four cups of white sugar into the bowl. Again, measure carefully!
5. Stir the berry/sugar mixture until it is well-combined. Set a timer for 10 minutes and let the berry/sugar mix sit and rest. You may do the same.
6. After 10 minutes, give the berries another stir and then turn your attention to the pectin. Put 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan and then add the box of pectin.  
7. Heat on high until water/pectin comes to a boil, stirring constantly. The pectin may start out a little lumpy; don't worry, it will incorporate into the water. Boil water/pectin for one minute, stirring constantly.
8. Remove pan from heat, and pour pectin mixture into berry/sugar mixture. STIR, STIR, STIR until the sugar is completely dissolved - about 3 minutes. A few sugar crystals may remain. You now have jam!
9. Ladle jam into containers, leaving 1/2 inch of headroom at the top to allow for expansion during freezing. A canning funnel comes in handy here if you happen to have one. Wipe off any slops on the container with a clean, damp kitchen towel. Put the lids on the containers.
10. Let jam stand at room temperature for 24 hours to "set." Jam can be refrigerated for up to 3 weeks or frozen for up to one year. Thaw in the refrigerator before use. Be sure to share with friends!

~Mamie "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro!" (Hunter S. Thompson)