Two more introductions...

Well, more like one new introduction, and a few more details on an old friend.

First for the new. It has been brought to my attention that I did not include my Mom on my initial cast of characters post. This was not because I'm lazy (see a recurring theme here, I am NEVER lazy...even when I am. Don't try to do the math there, just accept it as the gospel truth. This is, after all, MY revival), but because unfortunately, she happens to live 2000 miles away in the land of sunshine, and lollipops known as Ohio. One day, we, too, will get to live there again, with green grass, and yards larger than postage stamps, but for now, we're stuck 2000 miles away. Because of this distance, it's unlikely that she will be tasting many of my new recipes, but I would be remiss not to include her, because most of the "oldie, but goodie" recipes I'll post here are from her brain, and not my own. And, I am sending her some of the peanut butter cookies that I will be posting shortly. So, here she is, my beautiful Mom, who informed me today that her parents took her to ACTUAL Southern tent revivals when she was little, so if anyone can speak knowledgeably about fire, and brimstone, it's her.
Here she is, with my sweet little Ashlyn (aka The Tempter), when she was only 2 weeks old (Ashlyn, not my Mamma!)



As for the old friend, it has come to my attention that many of you had not heard of the amazing machine that is the Bosch Universal Plus Mixer. Which is a sin. Seriously, if you love to bake, you MUST have a Bosch. Especially if you love bread. I could not make bread without this machine. Of course, it does much more than make bread, but it's why I HAD to have it. I won't even tell you the things I had to do to for Santa (aka my sweet Jonny) in order to have this amazing device come down the chimney. If I did that, we'd all need more than a revival to come out forgiven. Anywhoo...This device is simply wonderful. It's like a KitchenAid Stand Mixer on steroids. For bread, it kneads bread PERFECTLY in no-time flat, and most importantly, NO WORK for you! For large batches of cookies, it simply can't be beat. You can triple, and even quadruple your chocolate chip cookie recipe in here, with no problem. It also comes with a blender attachment, that makes the most powerful blender I've ever used. Not to mention the several other attachments you can purchase. I have the food processing attachment that allows me to grate cheese, potatoes, onions, and just about anything else you can think of quickly, and most importantly painlessly. I don't think anyone's missing that nice iron-y taste of blood in their latkes. I'm going to show you a few links/videos on the mixer so you can get acquainted, and then give you some time to plan what you need to do to for Santa in order to have this come down your chimney, but I'm only going to do it if you PROMISE me you won't faint when you see the price. I don't want to have to start putting legal disclaimers in here for the head injuries if you do. I'm not a doctor yet, I don't want to be uninsurable when I apply for that malpractice insurance! Also, you should know that these machines last FOREVER. Seriously, my mother-in-law's Bosch is over 20 years old, and still works as it it were brand new. Yes, TWENTY years old. That's almost as old as me, and still works like new, which, incidentally, is more than I can say for myself!

Okay, here is a good website that lists a lot of the features of the Bosch, but I'll warn you, it's wordy!

http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/Bosch_Universal_Plus_Mixer_MUM6N10UC.aspx

Here are a couple of youtube videos of the Bosch in action. You'll have to excuse the uber weird people in the videos, but it's early in the morning, I'm not dressed, nor do I have make-up on, so I assure, a demonstration by me right now, would be even weirder.

Kneading Pizza Dough:



Making NINE loaves of bread at once: (there are three of these videos, and they are LONG, but it will give you the idea)



The blender attachment:


Next time I make a double batch of cookies in the Bosch, I'll make a video of it, to show you how awesome it is!

I promise to post the recipe for the AMAZING peanut butter cookies I made from Smitten Kitchen's website, they are really wonderful. Make them ASAP, and then don't get on the scale for at least a week.