The Daily Hairball
- So tired of the damn baby trees! Someone shoot me now. #
Archive for June, 2008
There’s just so many of them
Every time I look at the landscaping around this house, I think of the sentence, “There’s just so many of them!” Can’t recall precisely where it comes from, but I am pretty sure it’s a movie.
Anyway, I have been fighting what feels like a losing battle. You see, our neighborhood has a lot of old trees. Let me qualify that: a lot of old MAPLE trees. The whirly-bird trees. For two weeks now, ever since we laid fresh mulch, I have pulled approximately ninety billion baby maple trees out of various parts of flowerbeds and my garden. Daily. DAILY, PEOPLE. They are even sprouting in the lawn.
Every spare moment I have, it seems, is spent in pursuit of these little green bastards.
Anyone have a suggestion on getting rid of these things, without killing my flowers and bushes? And without burning the whole place down, starting over with a new house and yard, and placing the whole place in a dome?
Mama took too long
Sometimes, I get home from work and all I want to do is vegetate on the couch for an hour or two before starting dinner. Today was one of those days.
I sat down with a book and The Gidge and slowly began to decompress from a trying day at the office. By the time I decided I was hungry, it was too late to make anything fresh. And not because of the time of day.
A sleepy Sylvester took over my cutting board. I just didn’t have the heart to boot him off.
It’s a good thing I had Cool Ranch Doritos and Jelly Bellys in the house.
It could happen to you, so don’t laugh.
A natural pairing
Peanut butter and chocolate go together like…well, peanut butter and chocolate! This past Sunday, I had two helpers in the kitchen; we made a revamped (and much better, in my opinion) version of my temptation cupcakes (check this post for the changes) and adapted another recipe from the family cookbook. Both recipes turned out excellent, but by the time we were done eating lunch (a stew of sorts with Italian sausage, broccoli rabe, cannellini beans, and shell pasta, among other things), licking our fingers, sampling cupcakes, and tasting the following bar recipe, we were all pretty much sick.
Danger ahead - yummy but oh so rich. And easy as pie.
Peanut Butter Candy Bars
Adapted from the family cookbook
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups gluten-free oatmeal
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×13 pan and set aside.
Combine all ingredients except the peanut butter and chocolate chips. Press into the prepared pan and bake for 18 to 24 minutes, or until the center of the bars jiggles lightly). Remove from the oven and spread the peanut butter over the top of the bars. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the peanut butter and allow to soften. When the chocolate chips have softened/melted, swirl the chocolate into the peanut butter using a toothpick or skewer.