What Shall We Bake Today?

Food 1 Minute

Our finally entry this month is Witch Fingers!

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Red decorating gel

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and extracts. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Divide dough into fourths. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll into 1-in. balls. Shape balls into 3×1/2-in. fingers. Using the flat tip of a table knife, make an indentation on 1 end of each for fingernail. With a knife, make 3 slashes in the middle of each finger for knuckle.

Place 2 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° until lightly browned, 20-25 minutes. Cool for 3 minutes. Squeeze a small amount of red gel on nail bed; press a sliced almond over gel for nail, allowing gel to ooze around nail. Remove to wire racks to cool.

ENJOY!

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Published by pat frederick

Published

69 thoughts on “What Shall We Bake Today?”

    1. Good morning! Still dark here, too – rainy night/morning w/temp @ 45. We’re not supposed to get much rain, tho, and it’s predicted to move to the east quickly. Still no sign of Wheezer – the tuna is untouched. Slept in my bed last night – it’s much firmer so I reckon it will take a few nights to adjust. Kind of tossed & turned but it was nice to have the extra room and a clock! I have one in my BR that projects the time on the ceiling, which is handy. All I have to do is roll over and look up! LOL

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Charlotte99

    October 28, 2025 5:55 am

    A woman from Somalia recruited other Somalians in Minnesota to operate a fraud scheme stealing $14 million dollars from American taxpayers

    They were using the stolen money to buy property in Kenya and other luxury items

    Asha Farhan Hassan “got her Somali neighbors in Minneapolis to sign their kid ups for autism treatments when they didn’t even have autism.

    – She then filed Medicare claims that said the kids were receiving treatments and she gave kickbacks to the families up to $1,500 bucks a month each

    – She ended up filing like $14 million in fake claims

    – She also did another half a million dollars in fake food bank claims on a food program

    She went nuts with the money including buying herself real estate in Kenya

    https://nitter.poast.org/WallStreetApes/status/1983051271696462191#m

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Charlotte99

    October 28, 2025 6:19 am

    Reply to  Charlotte99

    EBT Food Stamp recipients in New York have come out to protest changes to the SNAP program They say they don’t have time to work or volunteer 20 hours per week (Yet, they are able bodied enough to protest and have time to protest) “How can I work 80 hours if I have children?

    I have to pick my children from school and I have to take my kids to school. How am I going to work that many hours? It doesn’t make sense.”

    “Demonstrators rally and protest the forthcoming federal changes for those receiving government assistance to buy food. As part of the president’s big beautiful bill, Americans in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will now have to prove they are working, volunteering, or enrolled in an education program for at least 80 hours a month or risk losing their food stamps or SNAP benefits altogether” These excuses are wild…

    https://nitter.poast.org/WallStreetApes/status/1982956310590304683#m

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Madmani changes his story–but is still the victim

    “I was speaking about my aunt, I was speaking about Zehra Fuhi, my father’s cousin, who sadly passed away a few years ago,” Mamdani told reporters on Monday.

    “Fuhi means paternal aunt in Urdu and Hindi,” the New York Post reported.

    But Mamdani wasn’t done playing victim after claiming he was referring to his dead aunt… who is actually a distant cousin.

    He chastised Cuomo and critics for questioning his dubious story after it turned out his only aunt wasn’t even living in the US on 9/11.

    “And for the takeaway for my more than 10-minute address about Islamophobia in this race and in this city to be the question of my aunt tells you everything about Andrew Cuomo and his inability to reckon with a crisis of his own,” Mamdani said.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/10/mamdani-changes-dubious-story-about-his-hijab-wearing/

    Liked by 1 person

  8. EXCERPT: “The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday published its final report on its investigation into the Biden’s administration’s use of an autopen, concluding that at least some of the president’s orders were invalid and calling on the Justice Department to investigate.

    Earlier this year, the House Oversight Committee launched a probe into President Joe Biden’s alleged use of an autopen to sign pardons and other presidential orders during his waning days in office. 

    After three months of investigation that included interviews with President Biden’s senior aides, the panel’s chairman, GOP Rep. James Comer from Kentucky, came to suspect that what he and his colleagues had uncovered could be used as evidence to overturn some of those executive actions because those senior staff failed to prove the president knew what he was signing. 

    Comer: Many of Biden’s autopen orders were “invalid”

    Now, Comer says his committee’s final report proves that many of President Biden’s autopen orders were, in fact, invalid. 

    “The Biden Autopen Presidency will go down as one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history. As Americans saw President Biden’s decline with their own eyes, Biden’s inner circle sought to deceive the public, cover-up his decline, and took unauthorized executive actions with the autopen that are now invalid,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a statement. 

    “Executive actions performed by Biden White House staff and signed by autopen are null and void,” he added. “We are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough review of these executive actions and scrutinize key Biden aides who took the Fifth to hide their participation in the cover-up. We have provided Americans with transparency about the Biden Autopen Presidency, and now there must be accountability.”

    Comer and his Oversight Committee conducted 14 depositions and transcribed interviews with senior Biden White House staff—including two chiefs of staff, his personal physician, and senior advisors. The former president’s personal physician and first lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff each invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination under questioning by the GOP-led House Oversight Committee. 

    The Oversight Committee concluded that senior Biden White House staff illegally exercised the president’s authority on his behalf by directing the use of the autopen and failed to document the office’s decision-making processes…..”

    https://justthenews.com/government/congress/emb-5am-oversight-committee-deems-some-bidens-order-invalid-asks-doj-review

    Liked by 1 person

  9. (The Center Square) – “The Trump administration brought back a longer version of the U.S. citizenship test that was first administered in 2020. The new test, which went into effect for applicants after Oct. 20, reinstates the 2020 naturalization civics test put in place during President Donald Trump’s first administration.

    “American citizenship is the most sacred citizenship in the world and should only be reserved for aliens who will fully embrace our values and principles as a nation,” said Matthew Tragesser, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesman.

    Former President Joe Biden struck down the test’s administration in 2021 and reinstated a previous version from 2008. The Biden administration said the 2020 test could have created barriers to the naturalization process.

    On Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to evaluate immigrant assimilation programs and make recommendations to adjust them if necessary.

    The reinstated test increases the number of questions from 10 to 20 and requires applicants to get at least 12 answers correct. The test also expands the bank of possible questions from 100 to 128. The test is administered orally by a USCIS officer. Questions are chosen randomly from a range of topics including the Constitution, U.S. history and roles of Congress and the president.

    Some questions include:

    – “How many amendments does the U.S. Constitution have?”

    – “Who was the United States’ main rival during the Cold War?”

    – “What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?”

    The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 outlines the requirements for noncitizens to display an understanding of civics for naturalization. The law requires those seeking naturalization to have “a knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals of history, and of the principle and forms of government, of the United States.”

    While first implemented in 1952, some form of civics testing has been a requirement for naturalization since at least 1908. Early civics testing was disjointed and differed dramatically depending on the local judge who was administering the test.

    In the years following, several pieces of legislation were established to create a uniform civics test. The Internal Security Act of 1950 explicitly established civics knowledge as a requirement for naturalization in the United States. This was later implemented into the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1952. Most recently, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 shifted naturalization requirements from the courts to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials.

    Despite changes to the test’s length, the Trump administration will continue allowing a special exception for adults seeking naturalization who are 65 or older and have lived in the country for more than 20 years. Those residents will only have to answer 10 questions from a specially selected bank of 20 total.

    Non-citizens seeking naturalization status are also required to have a proficient grasp of the English language. The English-speaking provision has been in place since the establishment of the Naturalization Act in 1906.

    “By ensuring only those aliens who meet all eligibility requirements, including the ability to read, write, and speak English and understand U.S. government and civics, are able to naturalize, the American people can be assured that those joining us as fellow citizens are fully assimilated and will contribute to America’s greatness,” Tragesser said.”

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Excellent!!!!!

    EXCERPT: “The attorneys general of 24 states filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the Trump administration’s attempt to stop the invasion-through-legal-loophole of “birthright citizenship.”

    Attorneys general Jonathan Skrmetti, R-Tenn., and Brenna Bird, R-Iowa, led the charge alongside nearly every Republican state attorney general in the country with the 37-page brief asking the nation’s high court to side with the Trump administration’s argument that the 14th Amendment clearly does not allow for any person born on American soil to automatically become an American citizen.

    After President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office properly interpreting the 14th Amendment, and discarding ridiculous left-wing arguments about “birthright citizenship” — which have allowed illegals to stay in the United States with anchor babies for decades — Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon sued in order to protect illegals over Americans.

    “The idea that citizenship is guaranteed to everyone born in the United States doesn’t square with the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment or the way many government officials and legal analysts understood the law when it was adopted after the Civil War,” Skrmetti said in a press release. “If you look at the law at the time, citizenship attached to kids whose parents were lawfully in the country. Each child born in this country is precious no matter their parents’ immigration status, but not every child is entitled to American citizenship. This case could allow the Supreme Court to resolve a constitutional question with far-reaching implications for the States and our nation.”

    After the four states sued, low-court tyrants in the federal judiciary decided to issue nationwide injunctions, which was met with a major rebuke at the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the challenge to “birthright citizenship” at the time, but is expected to decide whether to take the case in the coming weeks.

    The brief shows the history surrounding the ratification of the 14th Amendment and its Citizenship Clause from the 1860s through the early 1900s, laying out the proper understanding of the clause before it was twisted by opportunistic leftists who wanted to destroy the country by importing culturally unrecognizable people who refuse to assimilate.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. AWESOME!

      the historical context of the amendment HAS to be considered when deciding this issue. It’s what the legislature AT THAT TIME had in mind that should weigh the most heavily if and when SCOTUS takes it up.

      i don’t believe any other country allows this.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Liked by 1 person

    1. PRESIDENT TRUMP IN JAPAN: “I was just told by the Prime Minister that TOYOTA is going to be putting auto plants all over the United States — to the tune of over $10 BILLION!”

      The experts lose AGAIN.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. i got the first half of next month’s opens scheduled and talked to Mom. She still has a head cold somewhat, but she’s getting better because she went for breakfast and lunch today and she was skipping lunch the last couple of days–so her appetite is back. so that’s a good sign.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. (may or not be true…)

    so vote for a patch–use up all the emergency funds to only send out HALF the benefits? This lets the dems off the hook for now…meaning the repubs cave again. $5Billion in emergency funds–snap costs $9 Billion a MONTH. can none of them do math? and who decides WHO gets the funds and who doesn’t? or does everybody get half of what they normally do?

    FTA

    Dozens of Democratic attorneys general and governors are planning to sue President Donald Trump’s administration Tuesday over its decision to not tap emergency funds amid the government shutdown to keep food aid flowing to 42 million Americans next month, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of a public announcement.

    Trump officials concluded in a Friday memo that they cannot legally tap a $5 billion contingency fund for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program amid the shutdown to pay benefits in November. Some in the administration believe, with $9 billion needed to fund SNAP payments for the month, there is no time to distribute smaller payments to individual states.

    Senate Republicans are divided over whether to vote on a standalone bill to keep SNAP beneficiaries — many of whom live in rural and Hispanic-majority Republican districts — from losing assistance. Many argue Democrats will be at fault if the Friday deadline barrels past with no fix as they continue to push Democratic senators to vote for the stopgap spending bill the House passed last month.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/27/democrats-plan-to-sue-over-food-aid-as-gop-splits-on-legislative-patch-00624232

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Just The News: “Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Tuesday announced that he has referred more than 1,200 criminal cases related to election integrity to the Department of Justice for consideration of federal prosecution.

    The state election official’s recommendations include 1,084 noncitizens who appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio, including 167 noncitizens who appear to have voted in a federal election in the past four election cycles.

    LaRose said nearly 100 other people also appeared to have voted in a federal election twice in two separate states, and 16 people who allegedly voted twice in Ohio in the same election. 

    “Ohio has earned its reputation as the Gold Standard, and our Election Integrity Unit continues to prove why,” LaRose said. “We work tirelessly to ensure that every eligible voter’s voice is heard, and anyone who tries to cheat the system will face serious consequences.”

    The secretary said another 14 people appeared to have voted in a federal election after the date of their death, four people allegedly engaged in ballot harvesting and two have registered at a residence where they were not entitled to register.”

    Liked by 1 person

  28. “The Bragby sword, a bronze sword uncovered in Bragby, Sweden, 1700-1500 BC”

    “Australian Blue Grouper”

    “A high-speed motorcycle chase ended in a caught-on-video wipeout on a Los Angeles freeway after an armed man who was threatening a woman shot and killed a responding officer Monday. The rider sped past traffic on the 210 Freeway at speeds up to 170 mph before slamming into an oncoming car. Sheriff’s deputies were responding to a domestic violence report of an armed Hispanic man threatening a woman in the suburb of Rancho Cucamonga when the suspect began shooting at the officers, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said.

    “One deputy was struck and was airlifted to a hospital. The suspect fled the location on a motorcycle and was pursued along the eastbound 210-freeway.” The perp – who initial reports said robbed a shopping mall – wove through afternoon traffic before taking his hands off the handlebars to adjust a backpack, the video shows.

    That’s when he slammed into the back of a sedan – sending the jerkoff ass-over-teakettle, cartwheeling through the air and skidding onto his back before the bike rolled over him, a wheel seeming to miss his head by inches. The car that clipped the motorcycle was being driven by an off-duty narcotics officer conducting a “legal intervention,” the sheriff’s department later clarified.”

    Liked by 1 person

  30. While I was reading in my recliner, Wheezer snuck back in and finished the tuna! He must have found another safe place to sleep.

    Liked by 1 person

  31. Just The News: “A federal judge on Tuesday indefinitely blocked President Donald Trump from firing federal workers amid a government shutdown, expanding on her previous ruling that temporarily halted the terminations.

    U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled earlier this month that the firings had a “human cost that could not be tolerated,” after the government went into a formal shutdown when the Senate failed to pass a House-passed bill that provides funding through Nov. 21.

    Illston, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, sided with government employee unions in the ruling, who asked her to stop the administration from carrying out its reductions in force amid a lawsuit, The Hill reported.

    Illston claimed in a hearing that the firings, which were expected to impact approximately 4,000 employees, were “political retribution.” The judge also said that she believes the administration’s efforts to fire the employees will be deemed illegal and an overstep of executive authority.”

    Liked by 1 person

  32. FloridaFredOutWest

    October 28, 2025 4:18 pm

    BREAKING: Senate Judiciary is investigating the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for funneling millions of dollars to Chinese PLA fronts in violation of IRS rules against charities funding foreign governments under Foundation’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit charter

    https://www.grassley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/grassley_to_gates_foundation_-_foreign_funding.pdf

    Liked by 1 person

  33. this JUDGE does NOT direct ICE nor determine when they think they are under sufficient attack to deploy tear gas! This Chief is being extremely compliant. I’d tell her to go to h*ll.

    article

    CHICAGO — U.S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, who appeared in federal court on Tuesday sporting his trademark dark green uniform and crew cut, seems likely to become a regular presence there.

    U.S. District Court judge Sara Ellis ordered Bovino, the Border Patrol sector chief overseeing the agency’s operations in Chicago and previously in Los Angeles, to appear in federal court each weekday at 6 p.m. to report on daily immigration operations. She also ordered that he turn over all agents’ use of force reports from Sept. 2 through Oct. 25, as well as the bodycam footage corresponding to those reports, by Friday.

    The exchange highlights the mounting tensions between immigration officials and residents across the Chicago area, particularly after Bovino and immigration agents were captured on video and in photos deploying chemical agents in numerous residential neighborhoods. Attorneys argued the actions were in violation of Ellis’ temporary restraining order issued on Oct. 6 which said immigration authorities must curb the use of tear gas and chemical agents when they are not under threat, especially where the general public could be affected.

    In that order Ellis also instructed immigration agents to wear — and turn on — their body cameras.

    That led to one of Tuesday’s most revealing questions: Did Bovino, as the head of the operation in Chicago, have a body camera on the day he was recorded?

    “I do not, ma’am, no,” he replied. Nor did he have training, he said. On body cameras, Bovino said he did not know how many of his 201 agents in Chicago did not have them, but that he believed 99% did have them.Bovino committed to getting his agents equipped.

    After Ellis noted he is leading the operation in Chicago and not wearing a camera, Bovino agreed he would get one — and the training for it — by Friday.

    That instance of apparent noncompliance, added to what the judge characterized as an excessive use of tear gas, often deployed without warning and in instances, she believed, where it was not warranted. From the bench, the judge laid out evidence she’s seen of immigration operations since then, saying it was “difficult for me to see the force being used is necessary.”

    Ellis told Bovino that he must have not understood her temporary restraining order she previously entered, and reread it to him as he looked on, occasionally nodding and often saying: “Yes, ma’am.”

    Bovino and Customs and Border Protection officials previously defended the recent use of tear gas and other tactics, arguing the agents were under threat and thus not in violation of the judge’s order. In some cases, witnesses have contested those claims and also said they were given no warning before tear gas was used.

    Ellis on Tuesday pointed to recent incidents across Chicago that she believed may have been in violation of her order that tear gas not be used on protesters who don’t present a threat and that ample warning be given when it is deployed.

    A federal agent throws a tear gas canister during clashes with community members on Chicago’s South Side on Oct. 14.
    A federal agent throws a tear gas canister during clashes with community members on Chicago’s South Side on Oct. 14. Jim Vondruska / Reuters

    “Kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade don’t pose an immediate threat” to a law enforcement officer, she said, referencing a weekend incident in Old Irving Park neighborhood, a safer part of Chicago. “Those kids were tear gassed on their way to celebrate Halloween in their local school parking lot,” she later added, noting the fear the kids must have felt.

    Christopher Lynch, a government attorney, told Ellis Tuesday that tear gas was being used to restore safety “in highly volatile situations.”Recommended

    When Bovino left the courtroom, Ellis warned the government that on Halloween she didn’t want to see disturbances from immigration officials around children.

    Ellis very carefully outlined statement after statement from witnesses describing their interactions with immigration agents. She said a through line she’s seen was that “there was no warning given” before a chemical agent was used.

    “Get back” or “get out of here,” she said, were not appropriate warnings. Agents must announce they’re about to use chemical weapons and give the crowd time to leave.

    Ellis also asked Bovino for ways to better wear identifiers on their uniforms, saying she had difficulty finding them when reviewing videos or photos.

    Bovino said he had directed his agents to wear identifying numbers in a conspicuous manner on their uniforms and agreed to make sure to make it as clear as possible in the future.

    On dealing with journalists, Ellis said: “They need to be left alone to do their jobs.”

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/border-patrol-bovino-tear-gas-use-chicago-ellis-questioning-rcna240036

    Like

  35. “New shopping carts will eliminate cashier jobs in America: With these shopping carts you scan all your items as you shop and put them into the cart. It even has a scale for fruits and vegetables Once done you complete payment on the cart – it even accepts EBT Food Stamps.”

    Liked by 1 person

  36. “In the brutal heat of Arizona’s desert, bobcats have learned an unlikely trick for survival, they sleep on cactus. The tall saguaros and spiny chollas give them what the ground can’t: safety, shade, and a clear view of their surroundings. Perched above the reach of coyotes and snakes, the cactus acts like a natural watchtower, keeping them cool and protected in a landscape that offers little comfort.

    It’s a strange sight, but it makes perfect sense. In the desert, every advantage counts, even if it comes with a few needles.”

    Liked by 1 person

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