With a year ending, it is only natural to look back on what happened during the previous year. However, since 2009 is the year ending, there is also an entire decade to look back on. As I look back, it is amazing how much my life has changed. I thought I’d share a few memories of each year of the past decade.

Read more of this article »

Today’s Cooking With TechyDad is a two for one deal. You might recall a few months back when we went apple picking and came home with a ton of apples. Well, they didn’t go to waste. (For the most part. A few wound up getting tossed when they went bad.) I made, among other things, homemade applesauce and crispy apple skins.

Let’s start with the apple sauce. First, gather your ingredients. Apples, sugar and cinnamon.

Next, peel and chop your apples. Don’t discard those skins, though. We’re going to use them later. Put the chopped apples in a slow cooker.

Add in a cup of sugar, a teaspoon or two of cinnamon, and a cup of water.

Next, cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

When you’re done, enjoy warm or cold, by itself or over ice cream. Oh and the juices released make a wonderful drink all on their own!

Now on to those apple skins. Cover a baking tray with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Place the skins on the tray and spray them with cooking spray.

Top all of this with some cinnamon sugar. (If you don’t have any, just mix your own. It’s what I do. The container’s just from a one time cinnamon sugar purchase I made years back.)

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until the skins get crispy. You’ll want to flip them over every few minutes to keep them from burning.

When you’re done, let them cool and then enjoy!

In the cold, winter weather, a nice, warm soup can really hit the spot. Especially if said soup is full of cheesy goodness! First, let’s gather our ingredients.

For the record, that’s 2 sticks of butter, 1 cup of flour, 6 cups of milk, 3 cups of chicken broth (or, as I used, No-Chicken Broth), 3 to 4 cups of shredded chedder cheese, two packages of frozen broccoli and salt and pepper (to taste).

Now toss the butter into a nice, big pot on medium heat and let it melt.

Once the butter is melted, mix in the flour and cook this for awhile.

Once this has browned, mix in the Chicken/No-Chicken broth and milk. (Yes, I know the photo shows 4 cups of milk. I added 2 additional cups but didn’t take a photo of that.)

Make sure you keep stirring. I’ve found that stopping stirring lets the flour/butter mixture (aka the rue) settle to the bottom of the pot. The resulting soup will be much more watery and you’ll have more bottom-of-pot gunk to clean up. Neither of these outcomes is very desireable.

You can also add in your pepper now.

It will seem like you’re stirring forever, but eventually the soup-to-be will start to bubble. Once it does, add in your shredded chedder cheese.

Resist the urge to nibble on some….. Ok, maybe just one bite. YUM!

Keep stirring until the cheese melts. This won’t take long. Once it has melted, toss in the frozen broccoli florets.

Keep stirring the soup until the florets cook. This shouldn’t take too long at all. Now simply ladle into bowls and serve. With crackers, if desired.

By the way, there’s a variation that we’ve done, which we actually like better than Broccoli Cheddar Soup. Use cauliflower florets instead of broccoli florets. Then, when the florets have cooked in the soup, use an immersion blender to puree some (not all) of the florets. The cauliflower’s taste blends (no pun intended) into the overall soup better and the pureed cauliflower is easier to sneak by fussy palates of kids. Either way, this soup is full of cheesy goodness.

Credit where credit is due: This recipe was sent to me by kileigh7.

By now, everyone who celebrates Chanukah or Christmas should have opened their gifts. My Aloha Friday question today is a simple one: What did you get?

As a bonus, here’s a little Holiday/New Year’s Greeting from the TechyDad/TheAngelForever family to yours:

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #19

Tonight, Christian families all over the world will celebrate Christmas. Of course, my family and I are Jewish so we don’t celebrate this holiday. We don’t put up a tree. We don’t roast chestnuts or sing carols. And we definitely don’t await the arrival of a jolly plump visitor via chimney. However, we do have some traditions that we follow during Christmas.

Our first tradition involves Christmas eve. Every store in town seems to be closed, so we seek out the ones that are open. Usually, this means a Chinese restaurant. Yes, that stereotype of Jews eating Chinese food on Christmas is true for us. Some might dream of Christmas ham. I dream of Christmas lo mein perhaps with some sushi. Ok, I know sushi is Japanese, but the local Chinese Buffet place has some good sushi too.

Our next tradition takes place the next morning. We watch (and/or DVR for later viewing) the Christmas parade. You don’t need to celebrate the holiday to appreciate the parade.

The next tradition is that I’ll go to work instead of having the day off. Why, you ask? Why not simply take the day off and enjoy it with my family? Well, no one else is in during Christmas. That means that I can get a lot of work done uninterrupted. Plus, my office’s cafeteria gives out free lunches and pies to people who work on Christmas day. Lastly, I can take the day off another day. Perhaps I will use that day off for an extended trip (like to see my parents) or perhaps I’ll simply spend it with my family when more places are open. Either way, working on Christmas is a win-win for me.

What are your unusual Christmas traditions?

(BTW, sorry for the poor photo quality. These pics were taken by using cell phone as I made and sliced fudge.)

It seems to happen to me constantly. I have something I enjoy doing. It’s just something I do during my free time. I’m enjoying doing it. Then I begin to wonder: “Can I make money doing this?” Before you can say “Business Opportunity”, I’m mentally mapping out how my business would run. I’m calculating costs and projecting profits. In short, I’ve turned my hobby into a job – even if only in my mind. Of course, eventually, reality comes crashing in.

Read more of this article »

During the giveaway I ran, I promised that I’d soon be reviewing the Talkin’ Sid The Science Kid plush as soon as I received it.  Well, it took a little longer than expected, mainly due to Chanukah swamping my kids with new toys.  They went into overload mode and I knew I wouldn’t get a good opinion out of them right then and there.  So I waited for the toy high to die down and then had them play with Talkin’ Sid. Read more of this article »

Ok, just kidding.  JSL’s not really going to join Laurie Berkner.  He does, however, seem intent on practicing just in case Laurie stops by asking him to join the band.  Hey, it could happen.    Meanwhile, he’ll just keep jamming and singing.

In case you’re wondering, that’s the My Family video by Laurie Berkner in the background playing on Nick Jr.  I tried turning the volume down so JSL’s singing would come through better, but JSL complained that he couldn’t hear.  This was also taken at about 8pm so JSL was fighting off sleep by rocking out with Laurie Berkner music.

The holiday season is a time to celebrate, get together with friends and family, and eat some wonderful comfort food.  Chanukah just isn’t Chanukah to me without eating latkes (even if they are store-bought frozen).  I’d like to get a jelly donut tradition included in there too. 

Different people have different traditions, so my Aloha Friday question is: What foods do you like eating during the holiday season?  What foods do you like making during the holiday season?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #18