<center><br><h1>Snowman Cake</h1><br><br><br><br></center><br><br>[color:green]"...or am I a butterfly that's dreaming she's a woman?"</font color=green> [color:green]. . . _ _ _ . . .</font color=green><br>

You're welcome. Hope you enjoy it. After I got used to having them baked, I ordered the fried wings in a restaurant and couldn't even eat them. They were too greasy, lol.<br><br><br><br><br>

I experienced the same phenomenon when I went on a low fat diet prior <br>to my Gall Bladder operation years ago. <br><br>Following the operation, when I wanted to try a few of my old favorites<br>I couldn't even stand Potato Chips for all the greasy taste that I had never <br>even noticed before that.<br><br>Recalling that experience has really peeked my interest... this healthy<br>diet may not be so bad after all. It'll take a few techniques adjustments.<br><br>I'm sure we'll both be the better for it in the end.<br><br><br><br>[color:green]"...or am I a butterfly that's dreaming she's a woman?"</font color=green> [color:green]. . . _ _ _ . . .</font color=green><br>

<A HREF=http://www.neatorama.com/2008/01/09/edible-googly-eyes/>[color:TEAL]<U>Eat your deity!</U></FONT></A><br><br><IMG SRC=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2092/2180954633_a0bc094177_o.jpg><br><br>

Heh! I think I'll have to add some 'googly eye' cookies to my repertoire.<br><br>

Keep this going, I'm loving these recipes<br><br>

OK, I remember I forgot to post a full recipe for German potato salad. I married into German Apple Farmers from Virginia so I will add the changes we make to the standard GPS at the end.<br><br>INGREDIENTS<br> 4 potatoes<br> 4 slices bacon<br> 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour<br> 2 tablespoons white sugar<br> 1/3 cup water<br> 1/4 cup white wine vinegar<br> 1/2 cup chopped green onions<br> salt and pepper to taste<br> <br> DIRECTIONS<br> 1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes; cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool and chop.<br> 2. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. Reserve bacon fat.<br> 3. Add the flour, sugar, water and vinegar to skillet and cook in reserved bacon fat over medium heat until dressing is thick.<br> 4. Add bacon, potatoes and green onions to skillet and stir until coated. Cook until heated and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.<br><br>Tricks: We always have home made sweet pickles in the house and about a half cup of those pickles all diced up is a great addition.<br>The other killer trick is thick sliced bacon overcooked so it goes all crumbly. You should not be able to bend. The absolutue best bacon we get from smokehouse.com It is the Pepper coated City Bacon. Even better (but some might not be able to handle country) is the thick sliced country bacon. Is it weird to by bacon on the internet? Totally loopy but I did it once and have never bought bacon from anywhere else again. There hams are great too. (Make sure you have a southerner in your house if you go attic ham. A Yankee will sqeal "too salty" but I learned to love it with eggs in the morning and red eye gravy.) The prices seem expensive but the taste per dollar makes it a bargain. We get an attic ham packed in slices and it might last a year with a slice or two every few saturday mornings.<br><br>

OKEY DOKEY!<br><br>Any One Else Into GINGERBREAD HOUSES?<br><br>While it may seem a bit passed THE Season, but you must understand that it takes a good deal<br>of time to gather the fixtures and various decorations, such as Wilton Piping Tips & Disposable <br>Piping Bags and a board to build it on. Then you need to create a pattern, and cut it out, by<br>that time you'll prolly be into next fall, and ready to haunt the shops for the candy decorations.<br><br>What's distinctly different about the recipe I use, is that it's not the soft cakey type, but rather<br>a tasty yet very rigid material, almost like plywood, that you can roll out very thin, and glue<br>together using Royal Icing into a very sturdy structure that can support lots of candy and/or<br>structural details, such as window-boxes, shutters, multiple tiers & roofs, yet still be be<br>busted up and munched with tea or hot coco as the winter progresses. In fact a few times, I filled<br>the outter structure with candy, and busted it open like a Pinida at the Annual Christmas Party.<br>Another year I constructed a BirdHouse around a nest made of chocolate coated pretzels, formed <br>by arranging the pretzels in a bowl & heating it for about 20 seconds in the microwave oven<br>to melt the chocolate, then allowed to cool & removed from the bowl. The house was constructed<br>around the nest, and it was filled to overflowing with Milk and Dark DOVE chocolate eggs.<br><br>The Royal Icing Recipe also has extraordinary tensile strength that sets quickly, and doubles as<br>both the "Glue" to hold it together, and as one of the main decorations in it's own right, since it's<br>initially SNOW White... but can be tinted or colored any shade or hue, which TAD-A-DA lends<br>it self to Fun Structures of EASTER, or Garden Parties, Or Bridal & Baby Showers, which<br>brings up the "SUGAR ARTS" although that may be reserved for the TRULY INSANE! (like me.)<br><br><br><br><br>[color:green]"...or am I a butterfly that's dreaming she's a woman?"</font color=green> [color:green]. . . _ _ _ . . .</font color=green><br>

<h2>GINGERBREAD RECIPE</h2><br>YEILD: Approx. 6 1/2 Cups of Dough<br>(Enough to Make 1 Small Simple House)<br><br>1 c. all-vegetable shortening (Crisco)<br>1 c. sugar<br>1 tsp. baking powder<br>1 tsp, salt<br>1 c. unsulphered molasses (light or dark,<br> the only difference will be the shade <br> of brown of the resulting gingerbread.)<br>1 tsp. ground ginger<br>1 tsp. cinnamon<br>5 c. flour<br>4 Tbs. water<br><br>MIX: the first 7 ingredients in your mixer until smooth, then add water, then add <br>in the flour a cup at a time, until it becomes too stiff for the mixer, and finish adding <br>the flour, kneading by hand.<br><br>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<br><br>ROLL OUT: the dough to 1/4” for decorative parts (doors etc.) 3/8” for supporting <br>walls and roofs.<br><br>TIP: The less you move the dough, the more they will retain their shape.<br>I roll them out on Parchment Paper and then cut out the shapes, and lift the entire <br>thing right onto the cookie sheet.<br>You can even roll them out right on the cookie sheet (front or back) cut the shapes, <br>and put them right into the oven.<br><br>TIP: I use a yard-stick from a paint-store, that is between 1/4”-3/8” thick, and <br>sawed it in half.<br>I set them to the width of my rolling pin and just roll out the dough to that thickness.<br><br>CUT: place the paper pattern unto rolled out dough. Work from the center-outward, <br>cutting out the windows before the outer edges to cut down on distortion!<br>TIP: Using a good sharp knife will result in clean sides, and good corner angles.<br><br><br>BAKE: 350o F. for 10-15 min.**<br>depending on size thickness, true oven temperature, type of cookie sheet. <br><br>**tiny pieces, for shutters & doors may take 5 min. larger pieces 20 min.<br>I strongly suggest baking them separately.<br>Watch it, and remove pieces as they become browned at the edges.<br><br>Hot gingerbread it always soft, you have to wait until it cools to test for hardness.<br>It can be set back in the oven for additional cooking if necessary.<br><br>_________________________________________________________________<br><h2>ROYAL ICING RECIPE</h2><br>2 pounds confectioner’s 10X powdered sugar<br>4 Tbs. meringue powder *<br>10-12 Tbs. warm water<br><br>In a spotlessly grease-free mixing bowl, <br>MIX: Sugar and meringue powder. Add water.<br>BEAT: Until the icing forms stiff peaks. <br>(6-8 min. w/heavy duty mixer. 10-12 min. w/hand held mixer)<br><br>Keep the icing bowl covered with a damp towel while it is being used, and keep <br>it in an airtight container when it isn’t.<br>(There is no need to refrigerate it) you can rebeat it, or mix well with a spoon <br>before using it again. <br><br>TIP: When doubling the recipe, DON’T automatically double the water.<br>Often that can lead to runny icing. Use about 2/3s the amount of water at first, <br>and add more if it’s too dry.<br><br>* meringue powder is a dried egg white product used in place of fresh egg whites<br>that does away with the danger of salmonella inherent in using uncooked egg products.<br>It's available in craft stores that carry Wilton Cake Decorating Products<br><br>[color:green]"...or am I a butterfly that's dreaming she's a woman?"</font color=green> [color:green]. . . _ _ _ . . .</font color=green><br>

OH MY FLIPPIN' MEATBALL!<br><br>Your posts aren't using the <TT><B><center></B></TT> tags!<br><br>