Paula Dean's Savannah Cheesecake Cookies or Rather Bar

My daughter and I love anything cheesecake, so when Paula Dean made her Savannah Cheesecake cookies that required little more than mixing, I was like, I have to make those! Why is it that I'm always watching the Food Network during my 30 minute treadmill? Well, Sundays are the days that I cook up a big Sunday dinner, this week, my corned beef and roasted veggies with smashed red potatoes, delicious. Of course no big Sunday meal could come to a satisfying conclusion without something sweet so it was time to try those cookies. This is a perfect recipe to let your kids help.

Crust:

1 cup of flour

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans (I used walnuts because it was in the pantry)

1 stick of melted butter

Mix everything together-press into 13 x 9 pan (I used one that was slightly smaller because I wanted the cheesecake to be taller)

cook for 12-15 minutes at preheated-350 until lightly brown.

Filling:

2 8oz packages of cream cheese softened

1 cup of granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 t pure vanilla

Fresh berries

Beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth (with hand held electric mixer)

Add eggs and extract and beat till smooth.

Pour over crust

Bake for 30-35 minutes until top is lightly brown. Let cool completely before cutting. Add fresh strawberries or other fruits.

I thought the cream cheese filling wasn't as sweet as it should be but I think with fresh berries, it's a perfect compliment. Less of a cookie and more of a bar.

And now for my Big Sunday Dinner:

Corned Beef with roasted veggies and smashed red potatoes:

Cook corned beef according to package directions-about 3 hours in water

Boil red potatoes (whole) until tender but still firm, drain. In skillet, add olive oil and 1/2 stick of butter, add red potatoes whole in pan. With a large fork or wooden spatula, smash red potatoes till broken but still somewhat intact. Chop 4 cloves of garlic and sprinkle on top and add salt and pepper and onion powder. Cook till brown and has a nice crust.

Since my family is not to fond of boiled veggies with the corned beef, I roast them instead. Take about 6 stalks of celery, wash and cut into thirds leaving the leaves on. Peel six carrots and cut into thirds and if the bottoms are rather thick cut those in quarters so they will cook evenly. Sprinkle oil olive and salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, once corned beef has cooked, take out of pot, let rest and then slice. After slicing, I like to place the slices on top of the roasted veggies and put in oven on broil until the meat is firm and crusty, about 5 minutes. Hey, I like everything crusty. Serve and enjoy and hey, happy St. Paddy's Day!

Super Easy Caesar Salad Dressing

Getting my daughter to eat her salad is a challenge, but with my homemade Caesar Salad dressing, she loves her salad, even if it does has carrots in it. I used to make this dressing with raw eggs, but with all the scare over salmonella, I've sub mayo.

In food processor:
4 whole cloves of garlic-pulse till minced
Add-a good squeeze of anchovy paste (or use can anchovy about two fillets)
Pulse till mixed
Add about 2 cups of mayo (my measurements are approx since I just spoon the mayo in)
Generously sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top
Salt and pepper
Turn on processor-
While processor is running, slowly add olive oil (about 1 cup) till dressing looks yellow and smooth. Squeeze half lemon pulse till mixed. Add more salt and pepper and cheese to taste. If you accidentally add the olive oil too fast (this I've done when my daughter distracts me) dressing will become thin and separate. That's ok, it will just need to be shaken before dressing your salad. Otherwise, it should be somewhat thick. Enjoy!

Let's Make a Deal-Moving to Los Angeles

Let's Make a Deal is permanently moving to Los Angeles, because the show is having a hard time filling the seats here in Las Vegas, with taping two shows 4 days a week. When Donna went the second time, she said that after her show (her and her husband dressed in fifties outfits) they were asking the audience to stay for the second showing by offering free buffet tickets and other freebies. By then Donna said that her and Mark were so tired, since it is still a long process, 4 hours without food or drink, all she wanted to do was get the heck home and have a martini. Still no word when our show 1011 will air, but I am somewhat happy that I have 1/2 of our prizes, the TV and the Sony PS3. When my daughter hooked up the PS3, I was like what's it for? When I looked online to see how much the games cost, I was appalled at the price tags, $60.00 on up. But the other night, my daughter, she's 12 figured out that we could get the Internet on it. I'm like cool, maybe we can watch stuff on Hulu. We went out and bought a gift card for it so my daughter could buy some cheap online games. I can't let her wait for us to receive the second half of my winning prizes, the Beatles Rock Bank for PS3, so I let her buy a $20.00 gift card. When we came home and she activated the card, we found out that we could also rent movies. WOW, I never have to go to Blockbusters ever again. We rented "The Box". It's a 14 day rental, but after the movie is viewed it goes away within 24 hours. It takes about 20 minutes to download, so download it before you pop that popcorn. I'm still amazed that we can rent videos on it, so I guess the PS 3 is good for something. Still hoping that our show will air, maybe more towards the summer when the show goes on hiatus. Either way, they better not tax our prizes for the length of time we've had to wait!

Death by a Killer Whale

It sadden me when I heard of a trainer's death by a killer whale at Sea World. Years ago while putting myself through college, I worked at Sea World. I worked for the production department at Sea World, which meant I would be part of running the shows at the theme park, namely the Shamu show, the penguin show, the water fantasy show and the dolphin lagoon show. Summers consisted of running from show to show. The animals involved in the shows would have to “work” back to back shows, which meant during the summer months there are as many as 10 to 12 shows without a break. I know Sea World has done some wonderful research on marine animals. They are involved in the clean-up of oil spills, rescue animals, and they help educate the public about marine life. My question is however, must we insist on making these amazing marine mammals do tricks for their keep? Why do they have to jump through hoops, do the hula on their tail fins, let a trainers ride on their backs? How would you feel being pent up in a tank and made to perform many shows daily? These animals are God’s gift to planet Earth. I’ve seen first-hand the frustration of killer whales having to perform and turn their frustration on their trainers. I've witnessed trainers being pushed around the tank by a very angry killer whale. I think I heard some press people say that Tilly was not angry, that he was interested only in the trainers ponytail, that he was being playful. I think not. The public must be, should be educated on the captivity of these magnificient creatures and what their daily lives are like. We must stop animal entertainment to make a buck. Isn’t keeping a large animal in confinement animal abuse? These whales are meant to travel hundreds of miles a day, what must that whale feel like when he can barely swim in the tank that he's in? Aren’t we outraged when we see how cows and pigs being confined in a small area, without any means of turning around, don’t we call that animal abuse? Aren't we outraged at the puppy mills, when dogs are caged and sold for a buck? Then why aren’t we outraged when we see dolphins trained to do the hula on their tail fins to music for public amusement? Is it because the park is a nice place to visit and that makes it ok? How would you feel if your freedom was taken away and every day you were forced to perform tricks? I think not. We must stop the animal for amusement mentality and fight for these magnificent creatures.

Not to make light of the situation, but one of my jobs at Sea World was to perform the hula while dolphins did their hula on their tail fins. I shared a dressing room with a very irate chimp. Our dressing room was the hollowed out volcano in the show. I would go in to change into my costume, with the chimp in the cage awaiting for his appearance. While changing he would jump up and down and scream all kinds of monkey chatter. On a really bad days he would take his poop, roll it into balls and throw it at me. He was an angry chimp, he didn't want to go out on water skis being pulled around the volcano by dolphins he'd rather be in his home with other primates. But day after day, he would perform his tricks and day after day, I would be pulled out in a boat after the chimp exited his stage, by dolphins and do the hula with them, while they did backflips. Back then, it was a novelty, it was an interesting job. I had little interest in animal conservation and preservation. Gads, I could barely keep my cat fed. Today is a different story. I can barely get through that Emperor Penguin movie without shedding copious tears. I can't stand to watch Planet Earth when animals eat each other, even if it is Mother Nature's way. And so, I can't bring myself to support places like Sea World and circuses that profit off animal entertainment. Sure, places like that do educate the public but at what cost?

Let's Make a Deal-Prize Delivery

The other night, out of the blue, I got a call from Heather at Let's Make a Deal. Apparently they want to deliver my TV that I won. She said that they were closing the warehouse and were going to deliver the TV but the other prizes that I won would be delivered once our show aired. Of course I was so excited! I'm getting my TV, ha ha as I danced around the house. Finally reaping some reward for our appearance as contestants on that damn show! It's been what 5 months!! Yeah, but would they really air our show? Heather assured me that it would air in season one. I ask her when is the season over with then? June she replies. I'm guessing with the move to Los Angeles, tapings are falling behind for this season and they will have to air some of the earlier shows which includes ours. Yipee is all I can say for that, because if they hadn't moved from Las Vegas, I might not have gotten anything, so the move from Las Vegas was a good thing right? Donna's disappointed because she was trying to get on the show again because she wasn't really a contestant, just my side kick. Myself, I'm SOL, I will have to wait another 3 years to be eligible, thems the rules.

They told me they would be delivering the TV between the hours of 10-2. By one o'clock still no delivery. Then a call, Travis said they were having some sort of trouble. What could it be? Were they going to renege on giving me my TV? Finally after some kind of scrambling on their part they finally delivered the TV. Now mind you I wasn't home, so my husband accepted the TV. He called me and praised how nice they were, young kids, he said. Said that they told him the show was moving, because they couldn't make the show work here. Which was true, Donna told me they had a hard time filling the audience for the tapings. When I came home, the TV box was in the middle of the living room. I suspiciously spied duct tape on the box. Humm, looked opened and used. When I looked in the box, the TV was sloppily inside without the original packing. What?@! Was that a used TV? Did I just win a used TV? Hey what kind of show is this? When someone wins a car, is it a used car? I'm yelling at this point. How could they give a used prize. I bet all the scrambling before the delivery was probably because they couldn't find the remote for the TV. It was really insulting that Let's Make a Deal could deliver a prize that had been used on the show. The box was marked Show 1001, Act 4. The taping I went to was Show 1011, so obvious, this TV was the display model they used on the set. What a disappointment. Not only did we suffer the disappointment of our show not airing in a timely manner, now they do the low class thing and give away prizes that have been used. And I am supposed to pay taxes on a used prize? Very disappointing! That same night, Heather calls again, this time she says they have my PS3 and will deliver it later that evening. Of course I didn't want to be rude about the TV I had received that was in less than new condition, but told her that the TV was used. Her reply was that they checked it out to make sure it was in good condition. Yeah, but I didn't know when I won the prizes, that they were going to be used goods (I'm thinking). Of course this isn't her fault, so I didn't rant on like usually do, I was getting my PS3 (whatever that is?). All I could think of I wonder if that's going to be used to?

Travis, (he's a cutie) quietly knocks on the door, it's 9:30 by now and hands over the PS3. I say my thank yous and go back inside. Madison runs down stairs (since she has laid claim to it) and we look over the box. Humm, well, it looks like it hasn't been opened. I know what was happening. The people at Let's Make a Deal are moving to Los Angeles, and in order to move less, they got rid of their stuff here. On the one hand, at least I got some of my stuff but on the other hand, it has been a mix bag.

Being picked as a contestant, getting lucky and actually winning was thrilling, not showing our show, a total disappointment, and finally getting some of the prizes only to get used goods, totally horrible. LMAD, not a class act. They acted more like thugs that stole hot merchandise and were getting rid of it on the sly. Don't get me wrong, the TV looks good in my media niche, even if it does have a few scratches in it and appears to work just fine, but it's the principle of the whole thing, you expect when you win something that it's new and unused, but the whole thing was just a total misrepresentation and that's the real deal.

Let's Make a Deal Update

Update-still no go for our show # 1011 although I have called the girl at in the prize department so many times, and she's assured me that it will air. Today I disguised my voice, I used my awfully bad British accent (Donna was laughing hysterically) to complain to the recording on the phone that why are they showing reruns of shows that have already aired when they could show the September tapings. I'm sure the public would rather see a new episode even if it has flaws than to see a rerun. Geez, I looked up to see that Brian guy in his cow suit and I told Donna, damn this show was already on, watch he's gonna say "My parents named me Brian so there must be a reason, so I'm picking B", that was almost verbatim from my memory from watching it the first time!! Give me a break CBS, no one likes to watch game show reruns, you probably lost millions of viewers as they flipped the channel because like myself, recognized it! AIR OUR SHOW!!! 1011 from SEPT 25!!! We want our PRIZES!!!!!

Let's Make A Deal

The other day at work, Donna and I both noticed that the new Let's Make a Deal was being taped at the Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas. I went on the website and saw that they had free tickets for the taping to be contestants, all you have to do is sign up for tickets and you get an email confirming the tickets. On the website you can chose the date and time you want to attend. I signed up for a 2:30 taping on a Saturday. I signed up and called Andy. When I told him we were going to be contestants, he was like, I'm not going to do that! What a party pooper!
Why are husbands such a drag? So Donna signed us up, heck why not, we could both take off work, after all it's not every day you get a chance to be a contestant. We came up with the idea (don't know for sure whose idea it was) to be babies. The rules said that homemade costumes were "encouraged". How more homemade could a diaper be? We ran down to the local Halloween Mart and picked up some gigantic pacifiers and a bonnet (more in the Betsy Ross style). Donna had to buy sheets to make her diaper, me, I fitted into my king size pillow case, altho my ass was flat as a pancake (had to stuff my diaper with towels, very uncomfortable to sit! Nothing like walking with a wad between your legs!). We wore black tights and a pink top, fashioned bibs out of napkins and wore our famous purple/pink wigs. I looked like a cross between a scary baby and a scary french maid! Donna looked like she was was a baby swathed in a loin cloth. That diaper of hers looked like it had a load that kept wanting to migrate down to her knees. I thought we looked so scary and ridiculous. I told her why is it we can never be glamorous? The tickets said that the door opened at 10:00, and after hearing horror stories that lines for game shows can be crazy long, we decide to get there at 7:30 am. I was like thinking if there are thousands of people, I wasn't waiting, diaper or no diaper. We walked through the casino, people were staring, pointing and looking like they were watching a car wreck, (come on people, haven't you ever seen girls in diapers!). We get there and there is not a single person there. The game show people told us to come back at 9:30 which was just a well because I forgot our fantastic sign at home and Donna needed to make adjustments to her baggy, saggy diaper. We get back at 9:30 and stand in line. When the lane opens, we are contestants 1 & 2. We fill out the paperwork. One of the forms was tell us something funny or interesting about yourself. I was drawing a blank. Ya, I know there is something funny and interesting about me, I just can't think of it! After we make our way to the photo line where our pictures are taken, then past security to a second seating area. There a producer comes out and casually chats with each of the contestants while a second producer takes notes in the background. Donna and I being first, chat with her and then she moves on. Of course we were so fired up, we were chattering like two chipmunks, when the producers told us to shut up! Ok, so we were a little hyper! We were so funny, we could be our own comedy team, we could have our own talk show, we made them laugh and everyone like our costumes.
Next its on the the next holding area right before you get into the studio. There we waited about another hour. Donna and I had to go to the bathroom several times. Do you know how hard it is to take off a diaper?
Next they let us into the studio. By then there were about 158 total contestants. Donna and I were in seats 1 & 2 and prominently in the front row, how awesome is that? For the first 30 minutes, the stage director makes us go through a series of cues, laughter, shock, applause, hooting and shouting. And the Oscar goes to....Boy my throat was so sore. We're both sweating buckets in the chilly studio. I was getting pit stains! I could feel that my shiny face was blinding the camera. I must say it was about that time our energy started to wane, we were quickly becoming cranky babies, not to mention the fact that from 7:30 on we really didn't get to eat or drink anything.
Then the taping begins. Wayne Brady comes out. He is really cute but is slimmer than what he looks like on TV. The camera really does add 10 pounds! His legs are really skinny and his shoes were pointy and very shiny (I bet they were real patent leather!). Wayne comes out and asks for the first person to show him a nickel. A girl shouts and he gives her $500.00. The next contestant wins a golf cart. The taping is done in segments, with a couple of breaks. One time when Wayne came out, I happened to catch his attention and he said Hi to me! The next thing I knew, he was pointing to me, cute baby (cute baby?). Surely he wasn't looking at me (he had to be looking at miz boobs two seats away, but he was! OMGOMG! I go up and he offers up 70th anniversary edition of the "Wizard of Oz". He asks me, if I've seen the Wizard of Oz, of course! He asks me what is my favorite part. There I freeze like deer caught in the headlight? The entire studio waits for my answer. I meekly say, "The Woods". I couldn't believe my ears! Am I that lame? I was so frozen at that moment I couldn't think of a single thing! Wayne went on to make some jokes, of which I have no idea what he was saying, only that the audience was laughing ( at me or at him?). Next he says, he will give me the dvd which has money in it or I can trade it away to contestant Danielle, and play for what is behind door 3, which opens to a trip to Puerto Vallarta. I scream like I just won a trip around the world or something for heavens sake! Gwad, what a nit wit I am! At first I'm not understanding, I have to play for the trip? I ask Wayne what are the chances? Lame comment # 2! He says, what am I, a poker dealer? I give away the dvd to Danielle. Cut to break. Next they bring out a board with 6 cards on it. Wayne says I have to pick three that match. At first I'm thinking they are picture cards, you know horse, donkey, cow, but they are playing cards (uh dud!). I ask Donna for a number, she picks 3. I pick 5 and 1 and tell him that they add to 9 which is Chinese for luck, lame comment # 3! He turns over card 3 which is a 4 and then turns over card 1 which is another 4. Then he turns over a card that I didn't pick which is another 4. The audience is screaming. He then tells me, I can chose to continue or pick what's behind door number 2 which opens to a plasma tv, Beatles collection, PlayStation, electric guitar and drums. I'm stunned. What should I do, continue on for the trip or pick the sure thing. All I could think of, if Andy were here, he would have picked the correct cards. Sure thing, gamble, sure thing, gamble... Moments feel like hours, when I tell Wayne, I'll take door 2! The audience is clapping! He turns over my last card and it is a King. I jump up and down like some crazy whacked out contestant on some game show. I just won an electronic package!!! I scamper back to my seat, Donna and I hug! It is so hard to be in the moment, everything you learn goes out the window. I became jello, mush, a mind full of split pea soup and therefore the lamest contestant in game show history.
Danielle now has my dvd that I gave to her. Wayne sweetens the deal and gives her another dvd which has money in it. He tells her she can keep the dvd's or trade it for door 1. She trades the dvds, which he opens and both only held $1.00!!! We were so relieved, because if there were thousands of dollars in it I would have cried! Danielle gets a exercise package. And lastly, he ask Danielle if she would like to be the big trader of the game and give up her door for a prize that is worth $23,000! Who wouldn't? She goes for it and wins the car! Game over. All in all, it was fun, but a really long process that started at 9 and ended at 3:30. The chances of getting called on are pretty slim unless you can be the first with something that Wayne asks for. For the Donna's we got really lucky. Somehow the planets must have been aligned just right, the signs were all in the right place and we somehow Karma came to us, we got really lucky. The four people left the line and we moved into seats 1 & 2. We sat in the front row, we had our sign, and I caught the eye of Wayne who probably noticed our purple wigs. I'm glad Danielle, who was dressed like Pocahontas, won the car, she was standing in line with us, chatted with us and deserved to win (stay at home mom), plus she was really nice, good for her! The only thing is that I'm sure when I watch our show, I'm going to look like the biggest nerd on national TV. UGH! I'm so stupid-the woods!
By the way, you can't trade in your prizes for cash. All prizes are shipped to your address, so my daughter eagerly awaits her PlayStation, my husband and I will enjoy our plasma TV and Donna will get the collectors edition of the Beatles. All in all a good day for the Donna's!-Single D
Go to the Tropicana Casino (Las Vegas) website (link below)-click on the Let's Make a Deal banner and click the show you want to attend. After entering your info, you get an email confirmation stating what time to show up and the contest rules. You can also get paid to sit in the audience if they don't have enough to fill the studio at the rate of $40.00 for 4 hours. I believe there is a number on the website you can call if you want to be a paid audience member.
http://www.ocatv.com/shows/show/269
ps-Our airdate has postponed-when??? Who knows!!!

Los Angeles City Schools Old Fashioned Crumb Cake

Ah, grade school lunches, the stuff of many a fond memory. One of my favorite grade school lunches was tuna boats with a cheddar cheese sail and crumb cake with milk. Don't know if it was the cute triangle of cheddar cheese or the tuna salad in a hot dog bun or the delicious buttery crumb cake that made this particular lunch stand out, but I seem to remember it with great fondness. The lunch room in my school had a stage on which different color flags stood. Green meant all was well in the lunch room with the noise level at a acceptable level. A yellow flag meant beware the noise level was rising and red of course meant shut your traps or else! One sunny lunch day, happily ensconced with my favorite tunaboat lunch, crumb cake and carton of milk, I remember I was blowing bubbles in my milk carton, engrossed in this activity for what a few seconds, maybe minutes, when I noticed the lunch room become eerily quite. As I looked down into my carton which seemed to have an unnatural hold on my attention, I noticed two black sensible shoes tapping rapidly by my side. I automatically look toward the stage where a red flag stood like a terrible exclamation point. I quickly looked at Miss Sensible two shoes, whose prickly red fingernails pointed to the principle's office. No words needed to be exchanged as a pitying hush filled the cafeteria, as all eyes spied my leaving my lunch and my beloved tunaboat with it's cheddar cheese triangular sail and buttery crumb cake as I headed for the office where I would spend the remainder of my lunch hour stomach protesting in it's emptiness. All these years have been spent in search of that crumb cake recipe of which the following comes pretty darn close and at least gives me some sort of redemption solace when eating it.

2 1/2 c flour

1 c brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 t salt

1 t nutmeg

3/4 c oil

2 t cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1 egg

1 c buttermilk

Combine flour, sugars, salt, nutmeg and oil in bowl. Remove 1/2 cup of the mixture from bowl and add to it 1 t of cinnamon and set aside as topping.

Combine remaining 1 t of cinnamon, baking soda, egg and buttermilk (or milk and yogurt/sour cream combination) and blend well. Add flour mixture, do not over mix.

Spoon batter into greased 13x9" pan, sprinkle with reserved topping and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.

Let cool slightly before cutting and sit back, enjoy and reminisce!

The Difference Between Husbands and Wives or At Least In My House

The other day when I was vacuuming, I was thinking about the differences between me and my husband when it comes to everyday household stuff. Why is it that men think so differently than women and have their priorities so skewed? Here's what I've noticed.

We have a two story house, so when I don't want to go upstairs, I will leave stuff at the bottom to be taken up whenever anyone goes up. Of course this never happens because my husband and daughter never seem to notice there are things piling up at the bottom of the stairs until I yell will someone take this up!

I can come home and not be in the house for more than 5 minutes and know exactly where the dogs have either peed or pooped in the house (accidentally of course). Like the one time I came home from work at 5 and my husband had been home since 2. I could smell a horrible smell and went right to the source, a big runny mess of dog poo in the dining room. Andy of course was in the next room, happily watching TV. When I asked him, can't you smell that? He's like smell what? Although he claims that his smell is his strongest sense, guess not when it comes to dog poo.


Men suffer what I call the Scarlett O'Hara syndrome, or there's always tomorrow. Like when I wanted to move the huge prehistoric dinosaurs of a TV out of the house when we got our new plasma. Instead it sat in my husband's man office for over a month, when I finally had it with vacuuming around that thing and moved it myself into the garage, but not before screaming for him to help me. Man mantra, do we have to do it now?

Never notices when the couch pillows are smashed, never notices dust bunnies multiplying in the corner, doesn't care if the air conditioner filters are changed, if colors are mixed with the whites in the wash, doesn't care if there are grease spots on the cook top or if the counters are cluttered with mail. Doesn't know that there is an order to the pantry, cans with cans, chips with chips, bake goods with baked goods, there is? Yes dear, there is. And doesn't notice that the sweating water glass is leaving a permanent water mark on the desk.

But on the infrequent occasion when he does clean the bathroom sinks or when he does do a load of laundry, horrors, he will puff up chest and be expected to be thanked for doing the mundane task of housework. And if I say, does anyone ever thank me for vacuuming, mopping, taking the dishes out of the dishwasher, cleaning the oven, change the bedding, cleaning out the closets, so forth and so on, he looks at me like I'm speaking Martian. So I've learned to appreciate the small stuff, take it when it's given like small life pearls and chalk it up to a different points of view. What else can I do?

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