returning

 It has been a practically perfect day - weather-wise.

Blue skies, light breeze, comfortable temperatures and a reason to rejoice.  

We went out for breakfast this morning to  celebrate my DH's birthday.  I won't divulge his age here, but he is a bit north of 'three score and ten'.  We chatted with a few friends at the coffee shop and returned home to find that a friend had left a bag full of just-the-right-size-cucumbers on our doorstep. (Love small town living.)

I'll be turning those into refrigerator pickles tomorrow (recipe below).

At this same friend's recommendation, I picked up some prime rib with au jus at our grocery store's deli.  Reheated in the juice with some garden fresh green beans and a salad with cherry tomatoes from our deck and other fixin's from the farmer's market, we ate al fresco on our deck.  Surround sound provided  by the birds, a fountain splashing in the background and a light breeze through the trees. Colorful coleus and flowers were visited by one of the neighborhood hummingbirds.

 It was fine dining at its finest.  A practically perfect day.

Refrigerator Pickles (not for canning)

I have used this recipe from a friend for years.  It is delicious and never lasts long.

12 medium cucumbers - sliced thin

1 green pepper - chopped

2 onions - chopped

4 TABLESPOONS salt

Let stand 2 hours.

Rinse 3 times - rinse very well.

Combine 2 C. white vinegar and 2 1/2 C. sugar.  Stir until dissolved.

Pour over cucumbers, pepper and onion and refrigerate.

I wish I could tell you how long this lasts.  All I know is not long!

not a food blog

Emboldened by Rachel's guest post on Annabel's blog, I decided to try my hand at homemade ravioli.

Although Rachel's instructions were very complete, I decided to leaf through my cookbooks and look for a ravioli recipe.  Unbelievably, the only cookbook that had one was my 1943 copy (formerly my mother-in-law's) of Joy of Cooking.

 Ravioli can be a carrier for almost anything.  Meats, cheeses, veggies.....

 I made a ricotta, egg, parsley and garlic filling.

 Brush with water.

 Cut with a pizza cutter.  I took a picture of the filled noodles boiling in water, but figured you didn't really need to see that.

Enjoy!

I need to make this again.  First of all, I have more filling left and more cheese.  Secondly, although I got my pasta dough pretty thin, I think with practice, I can improve.  I might try a pesto topping as well.  Love pesto.

Even though I do not want to turn this into a food blog, there will be occasional recipes on here.

This was not as difficult as I thought and much more flavorful than the stuff in a can!

Upcoming recipes will be gluten free and dairy free.  Both my daughter -in - love and my granddaughter are gluten and dairy intolerant and other members of the family prefer to eat that way.

So please check back!  Have you ever made homemade ravioli?

frozen with granola

 Three below zero this morning.  Wind chill of 20-25 BELOW zero.

Since I cannot zip my coat up thanks to my arm being in a sling, today will be spent at home; hopefully accomplishing a thing or two.

One thing on the to do list is homemade crockpot granola.  I thought the recipe was from Laine's letters, but now I can't find it.  Hmmm.

Single-handedly (literally), I have assembled the ingredients: old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick),

coconut oil, honey, vanilla.

These will be assembled in proper proportion in my ancient crock pot, vented with a chopstick ( to prevent moisture build up) and stirred every 30 minutes or so.

With the addition of vanilla and cinnamon, it will smell heavenly in here.

A very good way to start the month of December.

What is your favorite granola recipe?

what we are going to do when we grow up and Chocolate Nut Bars

We invited our newest neighbors over last night.  For a little bit of dessert and some planning..

They moved in a few months ago and we connected right away.  You know how it is when you meet someone and you feel like you've known them for a long time?   That.

Starting next week, we will be having a neighborhood Bible study.  With this couple and hopefully several others.  I am very excited about this opportunity and can't wait to see what GOD will do.  Now we know what we are going to do when we grow up.  :)

Please pray that GOD would draw the people He wants to have in this study and that we would be faithful in proclaiming His Word.

We will be meeting for a meal, delving into the Word together and perhaps even singing.  I know a very cute worship leader we could invite (see above - doesn't he look like he's been doing that all his life?).

~~~~~~
The recipe for chocolate nut bars?  Coming right up.

  This recipe comes from my second oldest cookbook, a 1943 edition of Woman's Home Companion Cook Book  (the prices on Ebay range from $45 -$165!). It  too, tells you how to singe, draw and quarter a chicken; syrup is spelled sirup and ground beef  is referred to as 'hamburg'.  Unless you are talking about a beef patty, then it is hamburger. 

The editor expresses shock that 'even' a husband used a recipe in a previous edition of the book, but disappointingly, there are no recipes for squirrel or possum.  I'll have to rely on my other cookbook for those delicacies.

  However, I'd rather eat these bars that squirrel or possum.  You?

Chocolate Nut Bars

1 C. Flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 C. shortening

1 C. Brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 C. chopped walnuts or pecans

1 C. chocolate chips

Combine first four ingredients, set aside.  Cream shortening; add brown sugar gradually and mix thoroughly.  Add the egg.  Add vanilla, chopped nuts, and chocolate chips.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.  Spread the dough evenly into a greased and floured square pan 8x8x2.  Bake in a moderate oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or until browned.

When cool cut into bars and dust with confectioner's sugar.

the proof is in the pudding

                                                                  photo: wikipedia

I mentioned yesterday that the cookbook I'm using does not tell you to buy 3 pound bags (or these days 2.5 pounds)  of chicken breasts. Such a thing probably didn't exist.  More often than not, it instructs you to drawand singe your chicken, which means you go out in the back yard, ketch yerself a chicken, whack its head off then plucke and butcher it.

A lot of folks would probably go hungry if they had to get their food like this.

No microwave recipes in this cookbook either.  However there are lots of recipes for pickling, as well as preserving your food through dehydrating, salting and canning. And ground beef?  It is called 'hamburg'.

I did make the bread pudding last night.  Yum.

Recipes like this were probably developed by homemakers with a surplus of eggs and milk.  Add some stale bread and a handful of dried fruit and you've got yourself a nice treat.

Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding (old-fashioned in 1940, that is)
1 1/2 C. diced stale bread                                            1/2 C. sugar
3 C. milk, scalded                                                        1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten                                                              1/2 tsp. cinnamon
                                 1/2 C. raisins, nuts or coconut

Soak bread in milk in greased baking dish.  Combine eggs, sugar, salt and cinnamon; stir into bread mixture; add raisins and set in pan of hot water.  Bake in moderate oven (350) for 45-50 minutes or until knife comes out clean when inserted in center.

As per the recipes reccomendation and because I can get away with it now that I am gall bladder-less, I made a hard sauce to accompany the bread pudding.

Hard Sauce

1/3 C. butter
1 C. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 T. cream (I used half and half)

Cream butter until soft; gradually beat in sugar, then cream and vanilla, beating until fluffy. 

I spread this sauce (the consistency is more like a stiff frosting) over the bread pudding.

(The photo on top?  Bread pudding is beige and does not look very appetizing.  Looks can be deceiving.)

This stuff will stick to your ribs.  And probably your hips too, so eat in moderation - but enjoy every lip smacking bite.

And if you live in the Northwoods - Trig's has an acceptable bread pudding (with craisins!) from time to time.  In fact, since I am not there to buy it any more, they will probably have more than enough for y'all.

Enjoy!



hearing voices

During my childhood, Chicken Chow Mein came from a can.  And I liked it.

It never occurred to me to make it from scratch until I decided to actually put my many cookbooks to use and try out new recipes at least once a week.

I decided to go way back in time and use the oldest cookbook first.  Chicken was on sale so I baked several pounds of chicken and cut the meat off the bones.

The bones were then thrown into the stock pot along  with some celery, onions and carrots.  It is simmering away as I write this and soon I will have a half gallon or so of chicken stock which will be frozen in two cup portions.

The chicken meat has also been frozen in two cup portions, except for what I used for Chicken Chow Mein.

Before I share the recipe, I have to say that this is one fascinating cookbook.  It was written in 1940.  The Great Depression was over, but still a very vivid memory.

Food rationing had begun in Great Britain.
The movie Pinocchio was released.
Elmer Fudd m-m-m-ade his f-f-first appearance.
Winston Churchill told the House of Commons, "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

The very first McDonald's opened.
More 1940 events can be viewed here.
 
 
This cookbook has no recipes for 'boneless, skinless chicken breasts' . Recipes for creamed veggies or meat begin with a white sauce, not a can of soup.
 
I decided not to try the recipes for Possum, squirrel, or pickled cockscomb, though it is nice to know I have them if times get tough.
 

I love reading cookbooks and this one is no exception.   
Here is the recipe, which has been pronounced delicious by the man of the house.
 
1 C. celery strips                                              2 tsp.soy sauce
1 small onion, sliced                                          1/2 C. sliced mushrooms
1 green pepper, finely sliced                               2 C. shredded cooked chicken
2 C. Chicken stock                                           1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. salt                                                          2 T. water (I used about 1 tsp.)
1 can Chinese noodles
 
Cook celery, onion and  green pepper in stock 20 minutes; add salt, soy sauce, mushrooms, chicken and cornstarch mixed with water and cook 10 minutes stirring until thickened.  Serve on crisp noodles; garnish top with slices of breast meat if desired.  Yield: 6 portions.
 
The cookbook is America's Cook Book compiled by New York Herald Tribune Home Institute .
 
The next recipe I have my eye on?  Bread pudding.  Love bread pudding.  I'll let you know how that turns out.
~~~~~
 
We spent a little bit of time walking down memory lane this weekend.  Pat hooked up Mom and Dad's VCR to our TV.  We watched VHS tapes of a 12 year old Jon singing a solo (so sweet) a 15 year old Nate acting (with confidence) as well as a tape of Pat's folks, cousin and two of his uncles.
 
So wonderful to hear those voices and see those precious loved ones.
 
  It has been a long time.

Martha and Mary moment #7

Luke 1:47:

"and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior"

The phrase 'God my (our) Savior' is found in several different places in Paul's writings in the New Testament.

1 Timothy 1:1:

"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior

and of Christ Jesus our hope."

1 Timothy 2:3:

"This is good, and pleases God our Savior."

Titus 1:3

"and at the appointed season He brought His word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,"

Titus 2:10

"and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive."

Titus 3:4

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He save us,"

Jude 25:

"to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen."

Mary reflected the teachings of the Old Testament as she spoke her inspired words.

She also pointed ahead to the teachings of the New.

Jesus Christ, LORD and Savior, His Birth, the pivotal point between the Old Covenant and the New.

Just think.

GOD - the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent Creator of the universe.

My (our) -personal, knows our name, loves and cares for us.

Savior - redeems, rescues and saves me (us) from our sins.

No wonder Mary's soul rejoiced. I feel some rejoicing coming on in my soul too!

~~~~~

On a more mundane Martha note, the recipe file box is much lighter. I threw out recipes from magazines and food boxes, figuring these would be available online. Worth keeping are hand written recipes from family and friends.

Like this one:

Crab Rangoon

6-8 Imitation crab legs (chopped fine)

8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

2 green onions (chopped fine - include tops)

1 T. sugar

dash pepper

Mix together with a little milk. Makes a great crab dip served on crackers.

OR... wrap a spoonful in a wonton skin (follow package directions) and fry in a little oil until golden brown.

Hint:

Keep wonton skins wrapped in a damp paper towel. They dry out easily.

Martha and Mary moment #6

Verse 47 of Luke chapter 1 contains Mary's proclamation:

" and my spirit rejoices in GOD my Savior,"

This phrase is found in two places in the Old Testament.

"Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in His salvation."

Psalm 35:9

"Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stall,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD

I will be joyful in GOD my Savior."

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Beautiful passage, verse 17 informs verse 18. This is not a rejoicing when everything is going right. This is a rejoicing when everything is going wrong. Very wrong.

Hard? You bet. But what a gift to be able to rejoice in GOD my Savior.

No matter what.

~~~~~

Today's Martha tip, at least for yours truly is: clean out your recipe box. I wanted to share a recipe with you today, but I can't find it. It is what I plan to bring to our Bible study potluck tomorrow. I've already purchased the ingredients, but can't find the recipe.

So, here is another to enjoy while you go 'a wassailing':

Wassail

1 gallon cider

1 C. orange juice

1/2 C. lemon juice

1 1/2 C. water

1/2 C. Honey

2 sticks cinnamon

4 slices ginger

6 cloves

6 whole allspice

Simmer one hour.

Strain and simmer 30 more minutes.

Martha and Mary moments #3

There are many benefits to being involved in the choir at church.

Friendships. Laughter. Sharing of burdens. Music - that is both up-lifting and thought provoking.

Our choir director requires that musicians in small groups memorize their music. The older I get, the harder this is. But I enjoy the discipline and spend time writing and re-writing the lyrics of the songs I am committing to memory.

Here is a verse I am contemplating this weekend. The tune is lively and joy-filled. The words also give life and joy.

You are Messiah, the Savior, Redeemer,

born of a virgin in Bethlehem's stall.

A humble servant exalted forever

You reign as King over all, over all.

(Kirk and Deby Dearman)

or another:

O Hope of the world, Emmanuel,

God here with us forever,

Shine, shine through the dark, into our hearts,

Jesus You are the Hope of the world.

(Gary Sadler and Jamie Harvill)

Consider choosing a Christmas hymn or sacred carol to meditate on this month, in addition to your regular devotions. It will help you focus on the One Who made Christmas, Christmas.

~~~~~~~

It is supposed to be rainy and chilly here this weekend. A perfect time to whip up some of these recipes from Pioneer Woman. You could make something new every day from now until Christmas and not run out of ideas. There are even gluten free recipes!

round 1

White powdery stuff. Snow? No, just an 'incident' with my mixer and some powdered sugar.

The floor was mopped more than once during my marathon baking/cooking spree on Monday. There may have been another 'incident' with a flour bag which was apparently not empty.

I really enjoyed my marathon baking/cooking day on Monday. It was gratifying to come back to my blog post to do list and check things off.

My aunt and uncle arrived Tuesday night under cover of darkness. We had terrific winds during that afternoon as well as an inch and a half of rain. Once everything calmed down the power went off for over an hour.

Since I knew my aunt and uncle would be eating supper on the road (well, actually in a restaurant), I planned to bring dessert down to Mom and Dad's. The cherry cheesecake I made the day before was perfect for this. This is more of a cheater cherry cheesecake - no crust and fewer calories. Fewer, as in, a million, not a billion.

Whip 1 C. whipping cream - set aside
Cream 8 oz. of cream cheese with 1 C. powdered sugar (some of which may land on the floor)
Add 1 tsp. vanilla and whipped cream to this.

I divided this mixture into 8 custard cups. Then topped off each one with a dollop of cherry pie filling (canned last summer after our neighbors generously allowed us to pick cherries from their trees).

Yummy.

The rain had stopped, but with the power off, it would have been difficult to get the car out of the garage (downside of garage door openers). So, we grabbed our Coleman battery powered lanterns and the dessert and walked down to Mom and Dad's.

The candles flickered in wall sconces and a few votives softly lit the living room. We sat and quietly chatted with the folks and my aunt and uncle. No telly noise, no fans, no fridge running. Peace and quiet and fellowship. I was disappointed when the power came back on.

A little cup of cherry cheesecake helped me get over it though.

Aunt B. and Uncle B. leave this morning. This afternoon, we pick Jon up from the airport.

This week just keeps getting funner and funner.

fast food

When I cook up a batch of rice, I frequently double the recipe and freeze half. When I buy a package of chicken breasts (on sale of course), I cook up the whole lot and freeze what we don't eat.

Last night, the cooking ahead came in very handy. My sweet neighbor and I went for a walk - normally a 45 minute endeavor. During our walk yesterday we stopped and talked to another neighbor. For a l-o-n-g time. We heard all the details of his recent open heart surgery (he is younger than I am!). Thankfully he is recovering well.

We continued walking and as my neighbor and I got ready to part ways, we talked for another 15 minutes or so. Then I went over to stop in and see the folks. We chatted a bit.

My plans were to have supper all ready by the time Pat came home. Ooops. He arrived when I did.

Soo...here is what I did with my chicken and rice (thawed the day before in the fridge):
The rice had been cooked with chopped onion (when I recipe calls for 1/2 C. of chopped onion, I chop the whole onion and thrown the extra in a freezer bag).
After thinly slicing the chicken breast, I sprinkled the rice and chicken with taco seasoning. Then I added about 1/2 C. of salsa.

I heated this through and then sprinkled it with grated cheese. Cooked it a little bit more until the cheese melted.

This was DELISH. And fast and easy. Perfect for those times when a 45 minute walk turns into a 90 minute excursion, right before supper.

I call it Mexican chicken (cuz I'm clever like that). It will be appearing again on our dinner table. Perhaps next time it will be called Mexican Turkey - a good way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers.
~~~~~
Also....fyi...let's say you are baking brownies in anticipation of 4 sets of company coming in the next two weeks (YAY! LOVE COMPANY!). And let's say you forget to put your glasses on when you pop the brownies in the oven and you set the temp. for 250* instead of 350*. And let's say 20 minutes later when you are ready to take the brownies out of the oven and you notice your miscalculation, but your sweet neighbor is waiting on you to walk with her....

It is possible to leave the brownies in the oven, turn the heat off, walk two loops of your neighborhood (almost two miles) and stop in and take the brownies out of the oven. They will be just fine!

Just in case you should ever need this information.....you heard it here first. :)

canning peaches

Today the peaches are ready. Perfect! I'll be canning them today.

And...in a blackbelt tightwad move, I'll be saving the peels for this:

Peach Honey

Ingredients:

8 cups peach juice (from peelings)
4 cups sugar

Method: Save all washed, sound pieces and peelings from fruit used for preserves and pickles. Cover with water and cook slowly in a covered saucepot until soft. Then put in a cheesecloth bag and press to remove all juice. Drip the juice through a jelly bag and measure. Place in a sauce-pan and heat. When it boils vigorously, add sugar at the rate of half as much sugar as juice. Boil rapidly until the consistency of honey. Pour into hot jars, leaving 1⁄4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids.

Process (10 minutes boiling water bath for pints)

lemon meringue was my idea

In anticipation of my aunt's second visit in a week, I had decided to make a lemon meringue pie. The previous weekend's banana cream was tasty, but not pretty. I wanted to master pretty.

But, on Friday, after running a ton of errands and finishing two Bible study lessons, and walking three miles with my neighbor, I was feeling lazy. I knew I should go ahead and pre-bake a pie crust, but it occurred to me that I didn't even really like pie crust. And pie crusts contain a lot of calories. Fat calories. Who needs that?

(Cue the ''Windows 7 - it was my idea' commercial with ethereal music playing in the background and swap out a beautiful super model for me.)

I thought to myself, 'Why do I need a pie crust with the lemon meringue?' Why can't I just make lemon meringue?'

So, I did.


And served them in little custard cups. So pretty, so easy. Soooo yummy.

And it was my idea. ~smile~

My sister blogged about my niece's weekend appendectomy here.

mmmm...

last year's beautiful wreath from Lora

Sitting here in front of the computer with a steaming cup of tea and a piece of cranberry bread slathered with cream cheese. Mmm. Yeah, I'll start that diet tomorrow.

Yesterday, while the fam was out touring the countryside, I dealt with the turkey carcass. Into the canning kettle it went, with 12 cups of water. I cooked it for about an hour and a half and then strained the broth and picked the carcass clean (not my favorite job). In the meantime I assembled the ingredients for polevka (soup) a densely flavored soup that my wonderful friend Joyce made for us when we were in Czech Republic on a short term mission trip in '95.

Puree onion, celery, carrots and parsley, in blender in water. Reserve water. I used one onion, two stalks of celery and three carrots which was more than enough. This becomes the 'soup mix'.

Use 2 T. 'soup mix'.
2 T. chicken soup base (I used my turkey broth instead)
6 C. water (part reserved water)

Boil 10 minutes.

In small pan melt 3 T. butter , add 3 T. flour and one egg. Whisk this mixture briskly into soup. This makes little dumpling flakes.

I also added turkey meat, one chopped potato and some chewy sweet corn from the freezer.

A hearty and surprisingly rich soup. My nephew ate 3 bowls full. Twas good if I say so myself.

After we get our errand running done this morning, I think we will be decorating Mom and Dad's house for Christmas. Should be fun!

I'm so glad Al Gore invented the internet

photo by Patrick - the butterfly whisperer

So, I had some chicken breasts in the fridge and I wanted to do something different. Since I canned beaucoup de peach jam last summer and the two of us don't go through nearly as much jam as the five of us used to back in the day...I decided to see if I could find a recipe with chicken and peach jam.

Ignoring the 20+ cookbooks in the cupboard, I went straight for the computer and typed peach jam and chicken into the search engine. Got a winner.

Grilled Chicken with Spicy Peach Glaze:

* 2 cups peach preserves or jam
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 1 small jalapeno, finely chopped
* Salt and freshly ground pepper
* 8 Frenched" chicken breasts
* 4 ripe peaches, cut in half and pitted

Directions

Combine Spicy Peach Glaze ingredients in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Reserve 1/2 cup.

Preheat grill. Brush the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place skin-side down and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, until golden brown. Turn over and continue cooking for 5 to 6 minutes. Brush both sides with the peach glaze and continue cooking an additional 4 to 5 minutes.

Place peach halves, cut side down on the grill and grill for 2 minutes. Turn over and brush with the reserved 1/2 cup of peach glaze, grill for 3 to 4 more minutes until peaches are soft.

Love, love, love this dish. I served this over a bed of spaghetti. Make sure you make enough (and invite me over). Suzi, we are so having this at your house next week. Make sure you have plenty of insulin on hand. I'll cook.

I didn't have any peppers, didn't grill the peach halves and I think apricot jam would yield an equally yummy meal. Oh, and I didn't measure anything so YMMV.

Thank you so much Mr. Gore.
*****
Mom, Dad, KimmeeSue the wonderdog and I are headed to Pigeon Forge today to hang out with my aunts and cousins. Can't wait!

*I have no idea why there are asterisks in front of all the ingredients.

looking

My neighbor and I have the same shopping philosophy:

You do not have to buy anything to enjoy the trip. We looked and looked and looked, but spent nary a dime.

Until supper.

Ruby Tuesday's chicken florentine is so good. With white cheddar mashed potatoes. And sugar snap peas.

The light sauce over the chicken florentine contained spinach and artichoke. If it were socially acceptable, I probably would have picked up the plate and licked it - that sauce was so good. I spent a few minutes surfing for copycat recipes, but so far haven't found any. I am determined though. Those mashed potatoes? Don't make the same mistake I did and look at the calorie and fat content. It might diminish your experience (though not your waistline). However, I will say that they were worth every bit of the 274 calories (144 in fat).

My mouth still waters.

Now, I am on a mission. To find or duplicate that recipe. And the next time I go shopping, I will probably have to actually buy something.

Larger clothes.

a little bit of this, a splash of that....

Oooops.

Someone (that would be me since I am the cook around here) didn't put the little plastic thingy back of the Worcestershire sauce. So instead of the teaspoon or so that I normally add to my meatloaf, out came a tablespoon or so.

Not being one to waste food, I decided to just let it be.

It was the best meatloaf I ever made.

Here is my 'recipe':
1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
3/4 cup oatmeal
1 egg
a really big splash of Worcestershire sauce (guesstimating 1-2 T.)
1 tsp. rather old onion powder...for some reason I was out of onions. I'm never out of onions!

Mix together with your hands and put in a loaf pan. Spread top of loaf with ketchup.
Bake at 350* for one hour.

It was so juicy and flavorful and tender! And the best part about meatloaf is meatloaf sandwiches the day after. With plenty of ketchup.

Regarding the never being out of onions bit...any time I chop an onion for a recipe, I put whatever I don't use into a freezer bag to use later. It is easy to break off a chunk of chopped onion and throw it into this or that. Unfortunately my freezer bag of onions was empty. Much as I would love to blame this on someone else, I can't. My bad. So I used my really old (had to chop it up with a knife) onion powder and it worked just fine.

BTW, 'they' say you should replace your spices every year or two. Don't listen to them. Spices may lose a little bit of flavor, but that is easily remedied by adding more than you would normally use.
~~~~~~

And in other news....sure hope Northwest gets its act together before I fly to (hopefully!) Minneapolis on November 12. I'll be babysitting Joshua at great-aunt Suzi's house for a week. Counting the days (19)!

pesto change-o

Our garden got off to a good start this year. But then things fizzled. We had a bad case of tomato blight and could hardly harvest a decent sized tomato. Thankfully we had 3 or 4 cherry tomato plants and they did great. We need to do some soil improvement this fall and study up on some of the bugs that gave us trouble. The great thing about zone 7 is a longer growing season, but we have more trouble with bugs and fungi and blights than we did up north.

We are learning.

The basil and the garlic did great though. I harvested the garlic the other day and a bunch of basil before the deluge (3 inches of rain last Saturday). Our home smells like an Italian restaurant. Yum!

I made up a batch of pesto using this recipe (adapted from Simply in Season):

1 C. packed fresh basil leaves and tender stems
1-3 cloves garlic
1/3 C. pine nuts, walnuts or hazelnuts (toasted)
3-6 T. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt

Finely chop in food processor (not having one of these - I used the blender).
Add 1/3 C. olive oil while blender is running.

If I was any kind of a good blogger, I would have taken a picture of the bruschetta* I made with this. But it was so good, we devoured it.

*Spread pesto on thinly sliced French bread; top with a slice of tomato and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and golden. Devour.

barrel of fun

the porch at Cracker Barrel

We met up with my sister-in-law Cheryl and my niece Emilee at Cracker Barrel for lunch yesterday. Emilee, who is 4, is very entertaining. She seems to always be singing or humming a song. Of late it has been 'You Are Holy', but yesterday it was 'I'm in the Lord's Army' - a VBS/camp type of song. She was shocked when I sang along, knowing not only the words but the motions.

"I may never march in the infantry,
Ride in the cavalry,
Shoot the artillery,
I may never fly o'er the enemy,
but I'm in the Lord's army.
Yes, Sir!"

"How do you know that song?" she asked.
I don't remember where I learned that song, but it sounds like it has its origins during WWII, doesn't it?
~~~~~
Rainy day today. Time to cook up some fried apples:
1 C. apples sliced thin
1 T. butter
2 T. brown sugar
1/8 C. orange juice
Bring juice, sugar and butter to a boil in skillet (cast iron of course). Turn down heat and add apple slices. Stir every once in a while (with a wooden spoon of course) and they should be ready to eat in about 5 minutes when apple slices are tender/crisp.

Yum.
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And since it is a rainy day, you may as well do some hand sewing. Can't work in the garden after all. I like the looks of this.
Especially since it is free!

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I'd appreciate your prayers for a Northwoods friend of mine. I don't have all the details, but apparently she fell off a ladder. Her girls found her unconscious. Concussion and broken sternum. As far as I know she is still in the hospital. Any updates Northwoods friends?

two lovely ladies dressed in polka dots

rhubarb bars and other sweet things

Here is the promised recipe for rhubarb bars.
I used the fourth recipe from the top. When I make this again, I will line the pan with parchment paper. Even though I greased the pan and there was butter in the crust, I had a difficult time removing the bars from the pan.

And as I mentioned before, these are delicious (reminiscent of lemon bars), but not very appetizing in appearance. Next time I think I will garnish each square with a strawberry slice.

And speaking of sweet things!! Look at this picture I 'borrowed' from Kristi's facebook wall. Who cares about rhubarb bars when you can stare at this delightful little boy!

I looked through some of Jon's baby pics yesterday and see a strong resemblance. When I get around to scanning a photo or two, I'll post them and let you be the judge.

See how Josh curls his toes - his daddy did/does that too!

Trees are being planted today. We think. It is supposed to be in the lower 90's, but the weather lady cheerfully announced that 'it will feel more like 100-105'. Yippee. We will keep the plants and people plied with water and sweet tea respectively.

Then we will retreat into the house to 'stare a hole' in the above picture.