Shoo-fly Cupcakes!

This recipe is from The Kindle Kitchen and you can find ongoing recipe requests/food talk on the Amazon/Kindle Recipe thread started by Annie & Joyce by clicking here.

Shoo-Fly Cupcakes - courtesy of Cloverleaf

2 1/2 c. flour, unsifted
1/2 c. margarine or butter, soft
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. boiling water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. soda

Mix flour, margarine, brown sugar and baking powder together, save 1/2 cup crumbs for on the top. Mix the remaining ingredients together and add to the first mixture, stir until mixed. (do not beat). Lumps will disappear. Fill each cupcake paper 3/4 full. Sprinkle 1 tsp. crumbs on top. Bake 375 degrees for 20 to 25 mins. Cinnamon can be sprinkled over top before baking. Makes 18 - 24 cupcakes.

When we have take out dinners as fund raisers, folks ask for these cupcakes for the desert with their dinners. This cupcake is also very good while having a cup of coffee.

Fox Reporter Chris O'Connell Attacked - Solution to Debt Talks

Reporter Chris O'Connell from Fox 29 is attacked during a live broadcast.

If you continue to watch the clip, Chris will relay that the house infested with live/dead animals permeates with a fetid odor. From what I can see, the inside of the house looks just horrible.

I have a great idea!!! Throw all our politicians in their to hammer out these debt talks. I bet they'd all agree to a deal within 5 minutes!!!

Fox 29 Reporter Attacked During Live Report: MyFoxPHILLY.com

It's Official: I Am Not A Lesbian

I'll be back soon. Still unwinding from a 13 hour car trip and 7 days loaded with nothing but estrogen and ovaries (translation: nothing but females ranging from 12 - 62) Brief appearances were made by testosterone - and those were such sweet nuggets of sanity that I have no doubt in my mind I would NEVER want to be a lesbian - and also made me apologize to John for all my previous moments of pouting/whining - and promising to never do it again.

But - I DID have a great time despite the moments of pouting/whining/temper tantrums that were directed AT me.

I leave you with this picture until I return a bit later in the week. It's of my little green tomatoes and the lady bug screen behind it. It makes me feel incredibly happy when I look at it. 1) Because I grew these tomatoes from freaking SEEDS! I've never grown anything from seeds before that actually LIVED. And 2) I love lady bugs. They bring luck. And who doesn't need a little luck?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cinnamon Rolls -

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

ROLLS:

4 cups Milk

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Canola Oil

9 cups All-purpose Flour

2 packages (4 1/2 Teaspoons) Active Dry Yeast

1 Tablespoon Salt

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Filling:

1 stick unsalted melted Butter

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Sugar

1tbsp cinnamon

1 teaspoon Salt

1-1/2 cup Chocolate Chunks

1 cup Chopped Pecans or Walnuts (we use mixture of both)

Icing

1 package softened 8 Ounce Cream Cheese

3 cups Powdered Sugar

1 stick Butter, Softened

1 cup Milk

2-1/2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

3/4 teaspoons Salt

The Action:

Mix milk, 1 cup sugar, and canola oil in a pan. Heat until very warm but not boiling. Allow to cool until slightly warm..

Sprinkle yeast over the surface of the liquid, then add in 8 cups flour. Stir gently until totally combined. Mixture will be very wet and sticky. Cover with a towel and allow to sit for 1 hour.

After an hour, add in an additional cup of flour, as well as the salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix until combined. Refrigerate dough, covered.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread 2tbsp of the melted butter in the bottom of pie pans or 9 x 13-inch baking dishes.

Divide dough in half. Keep other half in the fridge for another use (see our recipe for maple bacon cinnamon rolls!).

Turn dough onto a floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle and add vanilla to the rest of the melted butter. Pour mixture all over the surface of the dough. Spread evenly. Mix sugar and salt and sprinkle it over the butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon over mixture. Then sprinkle on the brown sugar, chocolate chips, and chopped nuts.

Roll dough toward you until it's in the shape of a tight log. Pinch the edges to seal. Slice into 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick rolls and lay, cut side down, in buttered baking dishes. Allow to rise for 20 minutes. Place in oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until deep golden brown on top.

Make the icing: Mix 1 stick butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt in an electric mixer or until smooth and pourable.

Remove rolls from oven and allow to sit five minutes before drizzle icing all over the rolls. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sundae School - Where Ice Cream is a Religious Experience

Sundae School - this place is a GEM and so far, hands down, the best place I've found for ice cream in Bucks AND Montgomery County.
A) - they have CMP's. If you're from coal country, you know what that is. If not, then get yourself to the Sundae School and try it!
The ice cream is thick and rich and comes in the standard flavors as well as a slew of creative flavors - red velvet cake (ohmygosh-had it-sooooo good!), birthday cake, cotton candy, almond joy, Playdough (looks like mulit colored Playdough!) Kids will love all the fun, different flavors to choose from.
Then of course, there are the standards - with many different variations - like butter pecan; there are at least 3 different versions of butter pecan.
They also have soft serve ice cream that blows away Dairy Queen soft serve!
Ice cream cakes, ice cream sandwiches, frozen bananas, OH! And they even have fudge people!
It might be a bit of a drive for some people but let me tell you why it's worth it: All the standard flavors PLUS really creative flavors - so much to choose from! Great sundae combinations. Super nice staff. Family owned. Great parking. Picnic area outside to eat.
There is also a feeling of nostalgia and comfort as soon as you walk in the door. And I promise you - once you've been there - it will become a tradition.

Sundae School

401 W Schoolhouse Rd
Perkasie, PA 18944
(215) 723-4123

Martha - the Smiling Sheep from Down Under

I've met some spectacular people in the Amazon Kindle Community.

Carla is hands down, my favorite Aussie Kindler.

She is a Secondary School Instructor in NSW, Australia and has her own website. ReadWriteLearnWell.com

I love her because she has a wonderful heart, is as passionate about her Kitchen Aid as I am my Kitchen Aid, and because she continues to be my friend despite my shoddy grammar skills.

I fell in love with her profile picture on Facebook. I mean, I've never seen a sheep smile - but there is no doubt these sheep, especially Martha, is experiencing 'shear' happiness!!! I asked Carla if I could post this picture, because if this picture doesn't make you happy...well, you know my saying.

She sent me the picture along and had a little something to add...

I will be appointing Carla my Australian Czar as soon as I'm sworn into office...

G'Day!

'Aussie' Carla here. All the way from grazing country, rural NSW, Australia - which, in case you haven't been reading Miss Laura's blog regularly (BIG slap on the wrist if you have not ;-) happens to be her second most favourite country in the entire world - after the US of A, of course!

I keep saying to her: "Come visit me here in Australia! You know you want to! We must cook and dance to silly music videos!"

But it looks like I am going to have to wait for her Hose for Happiness campaign to be as successful as I know it will be, and she makes a Presidential visit Down Under.

Which would be kinda cool, when it happens, as we don't get too many visits from leaders of the Free World here on the farm.

Which, I have to say, is a real shame.

I mean, look at this pic (below). There is instant relaxation in these 'ere hills. Fresh grass, singing birds, cuddly animals….

This IS happiness central!

Come on! What is NOT to smile about these happy sheepy faces?

Seriously?

So here's Martha's (left) message to all her (would-be-if-they-knew-her) American fans:

"Chill! Enjoy life! Be Happy!"

Oh, and vote 1 - Laura Freed :-)

It's Peach Honey Jack Daniels Pie Time...

I made these mini peach pies from a book of Southern Jack Daniels that I found in the used bookstore in Doylestown. I can't begin to tell you how much I love the book ~ and I'm glad I broke my 'vow' not to buy anymore recipe books.

Also - the Jack Daniel's Honey? Tastes like a Bit o Honey candy - with a kick of course!

Oh, and that's also a jar full of homemade lemonade with a sprig of lemon thyme from my garden. 

                                                                                                                I just love summer. 

Killer? Thief: Mark Geisenheyner

Update: Since I posted this on July 4th - more information has been reported. It does seem as if Joseph Shay may have been connected to the crime - he served time for grand larceny (see link at end of story).

Here's something interesting about Mark Geisenheyner: he's been arrested many times since 1979 for burglary (that means his criminal career began when he was roughly 20 - but god knows how much trouble he got into as a juvenile) , breaking and entering, receiving stolen property, and basically - he had made a lifelong career of being a thief.

You can access his criminal history here:

http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/CP.aspx

Here's a link to the murder of Joseph Shay and Gregory Erdmann that occurred on July 2nd, 2011 in Gilbertsville, Douglass Township, Pennsylvania.

I love a murder mystery and spent most of Sunday doing my own police work (actually, I was procrastinating on the book I'm working on) and what I discovered about the family that Mark Geisenheyner 'allegedly' tried to murder (and 2 that he did murder) was that Monica and Paul Shay come from a family of peace loving liberal activists.

I know the media tried to jump in and speculated that the murder had something to do with Joesph Shay (they reported he was seen arguing with someone in front of his aparment building), but if I was betting girl, I'd say one of two things happened:

1) The Shay's probably had a liberal, forgiving heart, and knowing he had a criminal past, probably believed, as so many liberal's often do, that forgiveness and second (in Mark Geisenheyner's case over 18) chances are the path to redemption. The house on Renninger road had been in the family for years and the Shay's lived in New York City full time, where Paul owned a plumbing company and Monica taught at Pratt University. Occasionally, they would escape to Pennsylvania for the weekend where they worked at renovating the home. Perhaps Mark Geisenheyner worked for them doing odd jobs and he snapped and murdered the family over an accusation (was something missing? stolen?) Perhaps Paul Shay kept money from his business in the secluded farm home - enough money to kill five people.

OR

2) Mark Geisenheyner knew the area and knew the house was usually empty. Perhaps he snuck in, hoping to rob it, and was caught...

I doubt the second scenario though, as, I'm sure their must have been cars in the driveway and the murder/shootings occurred at 10:30 - still pretty early in the evening.

I'm sure the truth will come out in time...but one thing I'm sure of...a man like Mark Geisenheyner with over 18 arrests and many jail sentences shouldn't have been able to see the light of day - let alone 'allegedly' point the trigger at 5 innocent people.

He finally got what he deserved.

Link to Joesph Shay information.

Are You An 'A Hole' or a 'B Hole'?

Too funny not to share! If this doesn't make you happy - you probably suck!

p.s. - I really miss Hardees.