O'er the land of the fried and the home of the battered...

We used our deep fryer this weekend. We've used it a couple of times before but only for onion strings (YUM). On Saturday evening we thought we'd try to make a few things in our deep fryer since we had some time and have nothing else better to do on a Saturday night.

First, I made fried cheese. You know, mozarrella sticks? They were restaurant quality - very, very tasty. All it took was some egg, flour, breadcrumbs, cornstarch, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning to make the batter. We just bought a ton of string cheese at Costco so I cut about 8 of those in half then battered and deep fried them. I've got a picture for you...
Sorry that the picture is shadowy, but you get the idea. They were delicious. The next thing I fried I do not have a picture of because, for some reason, my camera decided to corrupt about 8 pictures on the SD card and the next item's pictures were some of them.

If you don't live in the south or didn't grow up anywhere near a Sonic Drive Thru, chances are you have never heard of a fried pickle. The very thought might disgust you. They are the very opposite of disgusting. Since I had so much mix left for the batter of the fried cheese, I decided to throw in some pickles and see how they turned out. I was pleasantly surprised. When I cut one in half, the pickle sat between a casing of breading, air, pickle, air, breading. I double-coated the cheese sticks and the pickles in the batter and they still turned out very good with a slightly crunchy outside and warm, tasty inside. Fry a pickle. You might like it. Next time I fry pickles I'll be sure to take pictures and not corrupt them.

If you don't like things on bones, turn away. If you're like me and love a hot wing every now and then, you may drool now. D and I have a good friend named John who used to host UW Husky football parties (I use the term "parties" loosely) at his condo in Fremont (a Seattle neighborhood). Every single time we'd go over there, John would be making hot wings: Teriyaki and HOT. As a matter of fact, John has been over in London for about 6 months but when he returned to the states for a visit and we hosted a "Good to see you, John" fiesta at our house, he brought hot wings. Bought at a wings place, yes, and not from John's personal deep fryer, but hot wings nonetheless. The hot wings John used to make were covered with a sauce that was amazing, so we asked what kind of sauce he used. Texas Pete's. Texas Pete's.

I didn't get a shot of the wings coated in Texas Pete's hot wing sauce, but I did get a picture of them on a break from frying in the deep fryer basket. I also, for your benefit, got a picture of the Texas Pete's wing sauce so you know where to go to get the sauce for your next batch of wings.

I'll be the first to admit that my intestines were not happy with my dinner choice on Saturday night. As a matter of fact, I think they're still mad at me. I'm attempting to swallow down some hot peppermint tea, but I can't get past the taste. It's just not very good!

I'll leave you with a sweet treat. On Saturday afternoon, while my good friend Shirley and I played a rousing game of Scrabble (rematch tonight - not that I think I can win!), D and his wonderful father (who, again, was taking time out of his busy Saturday) were in the garage - organizing. D got some peg board and a lot of really fancy organization gadgets from his parents for his birthday so he could clean it up a bit! He was really excited about these gadgets If you know my husband, you know he's very much a neat guy. And I don't just mean that he's pretty special and fascinating (although he is that, too!) - he likes everything to be in its place. I can't say that I blame him, but then I look at the conditions of that garage and I slap my hands to my face, let out a blood-curdling scream, and hit the road. It's really not that bad. The fact that I can pull my car into the garage and that D can make his way to his tool bench against the far wall must say something to attest to its non-hair-raising neatness. However, even though nothing in the garage is stacked so high that I can't see over it, the work bench was covered in miscellaneous tools and the shelves against the back wall are much the same - just littered with schtuff. Just having the new peg board up makes his garage look so much better...cleaner. So, thanks Papa B! Again, you helped us mucho!

Wow, I got off on a tangent. So, I was posting a recipe. These cookies are very, very good. What I love about them is that they stay VERY soft & chewy, even two days after baking if stored in an airtight container or freezer bag

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup quick cooking oats
Chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until just combined. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until just light brown. Don't over-bake. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy! I was going to make my Maple Oat Nut scones tonight, but David's coworker's birthday is tomorrow so I need to make a sheet cake for David to take in to work. I'm afraid I won't have time for both tonight!

In other news, I finally got my act together and wrote down a few chapters every night on our calendar that D & I could read our Bibles. It's supposed to be in chronological order so I thought we could have some great discussions about what we read as we are reading. We do our weekly Bible class studies for Sunday morning class and Wednesday evening class, but we have not gotten into the habit of sitting down and just opening the Word and reading from it together. I think I get in my mind that I'm "too busy" to sit down and read anything but in reality God should take #1 priority in my life and if I say I am "too busy" to read His word then I push Him back on my priority list. Not only will "eating the meat" help D & I grow together spiritually, I think it can only do wonders for our marriage, as well. I'm excited to begin!

Is Monday over yet?

Happy 1st Day of Fall! I love this time of year!