Finishing the Cider

This is an update to my Hard Cider is Easy post.

We finally got around to bottling and kegging the hard cider. I think we waited longer than we should have to get to this point but we finally did it. This is what one of the one gallon jugs looked like after it fermented in the jug for about a month and a half (3 weeks would have sufficed). You can see that the yeast went crazy and bubbled out of the container (which is why an air-lock with a bubbler would have been better to use).

We started off by sanatizing everything we were going to use.


We then  boiled about 2 shot glasses of sugar with enough water to allow the sugar to dissolve, let it cool to room temperature and then poured the jug of cider into the pot.

Very carefully poured this mixture into the bottles.

And finally, we capped them and put them back into the temperature controlled freezer set to about 68*.


The reason we added sugar to the mixture was to allow the cider to get bubbly in the bottles. We tasted one of the bottles we did of the Raspberry Cider and I wasn't pleased with it yet, but it has potential. We'll let it sit a while. The regular apple cider that Craig did 5 gallons of, smelled WONDERFUL!! He kegged it and now we're letting it sit a while. I am sure we'll be enjoying it with company for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year!!

Cheeseburger Casserole

I am posting this recipe upon request. I had a facebook status saying that I was making this recipe because my Mom used to make it and I thought it was yummy so I wanted to try it. After making it I did have some thoughts so I'll post those too!

Cheeseburger Casserole (Serves 4-6)

6 Medium potatoes, cooked and cubed*
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
4 tablespoons A1 Steak Sauce (or equavalent)
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
6 slices processed American cheese

1. Spread cooked potatoes in buttered 8" x 12" shallow baking pan.
**The pan I used was not buttered, I don't see why you'd have to do this as nothing stuck to the pan I used (a glass pirex dish).
2. In 2-quart sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add milk, seasonings, and 2 tablespoons of A1. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Pour sauce over potatoes.
**I mixed all of these ingredients except for the flour and cooked it until just before boiling then slowly sifted in the flour - worked out fine and seemed faster.
3. Mix beef with remaining 2 tables spoons of A1. Form 6 patties. Arrainge on top of sauce/potatoes.
**It's much easier to just crumble the ground beef on top. I would even suggest adding a little more A1 to it if you like the flavor of A1.
4. Bake in preheated 375* oven for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
**Or in the microwave until beef is cooked thoroughly, which for me took about 20 minutes.
5. Place cheese slices over meat patties. Continue baking for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Ok.. my overall notes (per the way my Mom made this) and my suggestions:
- When you're cooking the potatoes, do it as if you were going to make mashed potatoes (peel, cube into bite size pieces and boil) only not quite as long. You don't want the potatoes to be mushy, but if you can cut them with the side of your fork then that should be good. Roughly a 20 minute boil.
- Pre-cooking the ground beef before putting on top of the potato mixture. This would ensure that the beef is cooked throughly and evenly. When I was cooking this (per recipe) it seemed to take a while for it to be cooked all the way and the edges were over cooked. You could also pour off the grease and it'd be a healthier dish.
- I used way more than six slices of cheese, I used enough to cover the top of the entire mixture. Everyone seems to love the cheese/ground beef part the best too, so the more cheese the better, I think. I even thought of just using shredded cheese over the top too (cheddar and mozzarella mix).
- My father in law suggested adding sliced ortega chili's to the mix, which sounded really good. Both he and my husband put salsa on their plates too. I imagine this meal would be great with anything you'd put on a cheeseburger.

So there you have it. Let me know if you end up trying this. It's super simple and most people like it.

Digital Scrap-booking Meetup

Well I checked off another item on my list:  "9. Attend a meetup for digital scrap-booking."

I have been interested in converting to digital scrap-booking for a while now and my mother in law bought me a 3 month membership and 8x8 storybook through Heritage Makers for my birthday in August. I am just now getting into it and will be activating my membership so that I have access to all of the fancy "papers" and embellishments. I had joined a meetup group for digital scrap-booking a while ago, not thinking it was part of the same Heritage Makers group and have had other things going on when they'd have meetups in my area, so I haven't been able to attend. They finally had one today at the Starbucks down the street from me so I decided to go to it. Last night I had been playing around with some pages trying to figure out the program on my own and did a pretty good job with the cover and five pages about our last vacation to Cabo San Lucas. When I showed up to the meetup, I met with two consultants and another meetup member who was getting a tutorial about the program. I sat down with one of the consultants and she began to show me how to use the program, I discovered that I knew more than I thought and she didn't have much new to teach me. I even showed her a few things I picked up on my own when I was playing with the program the night before. I guess the photoshop training I got in school paid off. The program they use is very similar to many of the features used in photoshop, although a lot of the short-key methods don't work - which is kind of annoying when I am used to using it that way...."ctrl+shift+v" works for some things but hitting "enter" when you're cropping doesn't work so you have to actually click "done" for it to work. Just a bit of getting used to.

The other consultants were at a loss as far as what they could teach me, 'cause I already knew more than they thought I did. The consultant that my mother in law purchased the gift from did teach me a few things and I can't wait to get started using the new techniques. They suggested I'd make a good consultant, too - I am considering it, but would prefer to have a steady M-F full time job before doing it. It would for sure be more of a hobby thing for me and I have plenty of friends who may find this way of keeping their memories useful. They also have many gift ideas and greeting card templates available!! I know I wouldn't be making enough as a consultant for it to be better than what I am getting through unemployment, plus there arent any benefits so that would be the deal breaker. Once I get a full time job though, I will consider this on the side. I know it'd be worth it because I could get all of my own personal projects done at a cheaper price, if not free. That in itself would be awesome!!

I will most likely attend more meetups with this group, they are fun people to be around and if they aren't actually teaching me anything about the program or products, I can actually get a lot of my projects done without distractions!!

Day 32 of 1001

A month into my list, what's going on?

1.Get a job, any job...and then what I really want when it becomes available!
Well, technically I am still unemployed. My friend Laurel let me know about the job she does packing GoVino wine glasses and I've been going two days a week for the last two weeks or so and will be working four days this next week. They are paying me cash so it won't affect my unemployment and it's work! It's nothing permanent, just extra cash.

14.See a Broadway show live at least once:
Saw Disney's The Lion King at the Civic Theater in San Diego.

32.Learn to use my 4 cup coffee maker properly:
I did this on 10/14/09  and learned that it was a quantity of ground coffee beans issue (ex: follow instructions in book, not on bag of coffee beans) and not the coffee makers fault. I also figured out how to set the delay brew so it'll brew before I even get up. It's such a simple machine, I can't believe it took me 3 years to actually take the time to figure it out. Now I just need to find coffee I like - Starbucks Breakfast Blend is too weak.

41.Learn how to sew:
Well I did another sewing project for my Halloween costume this year and learned a bit more than I already knew. I also learned that I knew more than I thought I did when I helped my friend Krystle with her costume. We shopped for a pattern and materials we'd need and did a pretty good job of finding things (with minor help of a friendly shopper in the store). Later in the evening I realized I knew how to lay and cut out a pattern and found myself showing her how to do bits here and there (we had help from my Moms friend Carol for the majority of it though). Marked as 1/2 complete, it'll be full once I am confident enough to have a sewing project I can do without questions or hesitation.

50.Go camping:
We went camping over the first weekend in October for TVHA's first Oktoberfest.

79.Pay off credit cards:
All but ONE left (it helps when you don't pay/have your mortgage) ;-)

89.Sell all of the items we currently have on craigslist
Well, I actually weeded through everything we had posted and decided to good-will a lot of it, but I posted a bunch of other items which I have sold 3 of 5 higher priced items so far. The miscellaneous little stuff remains.

93.Improve posture (get back brace thing):
I've purchased and used the back brace a few times. It's difficult to wear for long periods of time but I am working on it! I need to figure out a way to get the bottom straps to not fall when I move around in the thing (it causes the brace to not work as it should). Marked this as 1/2 complete.

ON-GOING:

10.Read a book (borrowed from friends) once a month [0/32]:
Well, I actually borrowed the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) novels by Charlaine Harris from Krystle a while ago - WOW now that I think about it I borrowed them four months ago! She was also going to lend me her copy of Twilight so I could catch up before New Moon comes out, but she forgot. Either way I still haven't read anything for this month, I've been way too busy with moving, packing, birthaversary, and the side gig to even have a moment for myself. I'll try to read two books next month to make up for it.

28.Bake a different cake, cookies, muffins or brownies once a month [1/32]:
I baked Honey Bars on 09/29 and I am counting this as my October baking, as it was for an October event and was the second try in two days at the same thing and I was baked out by the time I was done with it.Now that we've moved and shared all of our food we have double of everything - powdered sugar, sugar, flour, baking this and that...so I'll be baking up a storm.

30.Paint my toe nails a new color each month [1/32]:
I thought I'd get festive for Halloween:

(P.S. those are bats on the left and a haunted mansion with a ghost on the right)

31.Wear my hair down at least once a week:
So far so good - Although I wouldn't be able to tell you which days. The point is that I need to NOT wear my hair in a pony tail so often and I am slowly working on it.

37.Take 24 pictures per month of random/interesting people/objects/places etc [0/32]:
Oops. But I did take lots of pictures of Birthaversary, the dogs, and for sale items...just nothing too interesting.

55.Have an outing/event with a minimum of two friends once a month [1/32]:
Craig and I went to see Couples Retreat with my bestest and her boyfriend on 10/09

92.Take 30 minutes everyday to do a chore/clean:
Yea I didn't think this one would happen either. Again, the point isn't the daily activity, it's just a matter of teaching myself new habits. I've been packing instead of cleaning - if that counts (it is a chore to pack)? And since moving I have been keeping our stuff tidy, which is a new thing for me.

100.Update my blog when I complete items on this list [4/101]
I've been updating the main list as I complete things, but this is my detailed progress update.