Make Again

Like Money In The Bank!

2012-02-29T18:36:00.003-06:00

I lost my cooking jzjjzzzewzzjjjshzsh.

My j-oo-zsh.

Zshoozsh.

Jush.

I LOST MY COOKING MO-JO!!!

......

a.k.a........

Lately I've been tired of cooking.

Actually, more specifically, lately I've been tired. And our normal eating patterns have suffered.

Lately we have reached for pizza in a box on more than one occasion. Unheard of over here. Not that they're not good, but there's usually something slightly more enticing than that that we want to eat. But pizza in a box serves just fine when you're tired and out of mo-jo.

That Rachel Ray never seems to run out of mo-jo. She probably makes fairly good bucks out of being full of mo-jo. She makes those 1/2 hour meals look so easy but, really, does she do her own grocery shopping? How about the dishes? Her small cupboards are always full of every ingredient that she needs for that day's recipe - is she that good or is there some middle person involved in her efficiency?

I jest. Of course she has a middle man. Or two. Or fifty.

Well, I don't have a middle man.

Someone "pinned" something on Pinterest the other night that totally caught my attention. (I am still wading through this Pinterest thing....not really willing to spend lots of time checking stuff out but I do like seeing what my friends are pinning.)

Anyway, the concept is Slow Cooker Freezer Meal Cooking. Basically, these people are posting recipes of slow cooker meals that they are preparing in advance, freezing, then pulling out and popping into the slow cooker for a good hot meal 8 hours later or less. Some of them were actually preparing slow cooker meals for a month at a time. That's a lot of slow cooker meals.

Hmm.

I sorted through the first few recipes that I found and was a little skeptical as these gals were putting everything into their freezer bags, including uncooked potatoes. Their recipes were met with rave reviews but, I don't know, I don't always find that frozen potatoes turn out that well, and raw ones frozen then cooked? Well, obviously, I'm still skeptical. I really don't need a complete meal pre-prepared - it doesn't take much time to cook some potatoes, noodles or rice when the supper hour is right around the corner.

So I spent a couple of days coming up with my own plan. I committed to giving this concept a go and my target was to have 5 ziploced slow cooker meals in the freezer by the end of the week. When I got a few meat bargains at the grocery store today, I got started and already have 4 meals in the freezer. I will head back to the store on Friday to get some chicken to do a couple of chicken meals and then will consider the job done.

When I chose my recipes, I only selected ones that involved the meat and a marinade/sauce that only included fresh onions and/or garlic for vegetables. Basically, the meat went into the ziploc bag, raw, followed by seasonings/sauces/marinades. I rubbed the marinades into the meat so that the meat was covered, zipped up the bag and took it to the freezer. Before I will use a package, I will thaw the meat in the fridge overnight and then put it in the slow cooker for the day. I wrote the recipe title and cooking times/temps (high or low) on the ziploc bag. And I'm kind of excited! I tried a few combinations of things that I haven't tried before. It feels really nice going into a busy work week next week, knowing that a good meal will be within reach for anyone who is left at home to cook.

Curious as to what I've made so far?

Applesauce Pork Pieces - applesauce/Dijon mustard/sage based pork steaks
Honey Parmesan Pork Roast - honey, Parmesan cheese, basil, soy sauce infused pork roast
Cranberry Turkey Breast - cranberry sauce/onion soup mix over white meat
Rosemary Beef Roast

The Rosemary Beef Roast smelled amazing when I was preparing it. I haven't always been a fan of rosemary, but have been growing it in my garden for the last couple of years. I've tried to include it in small quantities in recipes and have developed a taste for it. The rosemary that I used today was some that I dried from last year's crop. I hope I didn't use too much but the roast was huge so I'm hoping it will balance out. Here's the recipe:

Rosemary Beef Roast

1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

5- to 6-lb beef boneless sirloin tip roast

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves (I used much less, dried)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

1 medium onion, sliced

1 cup beef flavored broth

3 tablespoons chili sauce

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 In small bowl, mix oil and Worcestershire sauce; brush over beef roast. Rub roast evenly with garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. In 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, add onion. Pour 1/4 cup of the broth over onion. Place beef roast on onion. Refrigerate remaining broth.

2 Cover and cook on Low heat setting 8 to 9 hours.

3 Remove beef from cooker; cover to keep warm. In small bowl, mix remaining 3/4 cup broth, the chili sauce and flour; stir into hot mixture in cooker. Increase heat setting to High. Cook uncovered 5 to 10 minutes or until thickened. Serve gravy with beef.

I will have to let you know how these turn out! For chicken meals, I want to do a Italian Cream Cheese one plus maybe a gumbo. But I have a couple more days to search for good recipes and to find inspiration. I'm hoping to have found some new family favorites. Preparing the food took an hour, hour and a half once I fiddled around with cutting up a large pork loin into smaller pieces and trimming it, etc.

Good food, waiting to be cooked is, really, like money in the bank. Better not hoard it! ;).

Of Birthdays and Growing Up

2012-02-21T12:36:00.000-06:00

Thirteen years ago the labor pains started around 8 p.m. as we left church and were heading out to our friends' place for coffee. "Surely this can't be labor!" I thought. Ridiculous thought, though, considering "baby" was already a week overdue.

Pains increased when we arrived at their home and I started pacing through their living room/kitchen, thinking I could 'walk it off'. Nope, couldn't be done.

Home we went for a few more rounds of pacing through our house before we decided that it might be a good idea to head to the hospital. By 1:30 a.m. "Andrew Jonathan Dynna" was born and I haven't been the same since.

It's amazing what motherhood does to us. Softens our hearts, brings out the 'mother bear' protective spirit, opens our eyes to new wonders.

Thirteen years ago, the new wonders were watching him grow, open his eyes, start to smile, coo. Take his first crawl, punch out a new tooth.

New wonders continue, though, even now.

I love watching this amazingly unique person surface. He surprises me many times with his quirky sense of humor, his tender hugs, his insight into "life", his talent, his own personal collection of memories.

Yup. I love this kid.

We've taken a bit of time to celebrate somewhat casually over the course of this week. We had supper with his paternal grandparents on Sunday; he had a friend sleepover last night and tomorrow we will head to Saskatoon to celebrate a little with his maternal grandparents/aunty-uncle.

My, how birthday celebrations have changed too.

Wow, those early birthdays were quite a show... decorating all manner of theme cakes, creating theme invitations, coming up with games/activities to, hopefully, entertain a houseful of hyper children, coming up with a long list of gift suggestions. Oy.

This year was simple.

On top of an (granted, pricier) electronics gift that he requested, he wanted....

............ready for it....

........

SOCKS.

And ONE friend to sleepover. And, by the way, "let's not tell him it's my birthday".

Whew.

How did that all happen?

Where is the hopeful little child, asking for a tow-truck cake, a specific list of Hot Wheels and 10 guests at the bowling alley?

Those were fun times.

This is fun, too.

He got his electronics gift, several packages of socks, one friend to sleepover and an independent trip to the movies to boot.

However, I did have to do one foodie thing for fun. And he wasn't too old or mature to enjoy it.

Thank you Pioneer Woman for the great idea!

Chocolate Cookies With Toppings

1 cup softened butter
1 cup icing sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla

Cream the above ingredients. Then add:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
Mix until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for as long as you want (I chilled mine for 1 - 11/2 hours).

Roll out to about 1/4" thickness and cut into rectangles. Place on a well greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. These cookies will not rise or spread. Remove to cooling rack to cool.

Toppings:
Melted chocolate wafers - I had a bowl of white chocolate and a bowl of milk chocolate
Crushed candy bits - I used crushed smarties, crushed reese's peanut bits, crushed Andes mint thins and candy coated mini chocolate chips.

Dip the cookie in to the melted wafers and then into crushed candy bowls of your choice.

You can either let them cool/harden or eat while the chocolate is still melted/warm.

Expect a bit of a mess! I have a few left over supplies so will melt the chocolate again and dip the cookies until there's nothing left to dip and let them cool/harden to enjoy for the rest of the ~~week~~ day.

Happy 13th birthday, Andrew! You can look on Pioneer Woman's site for a great picture of the cookies. I, myself, am more partial to this picture!

It Takes Imagination

2012-02-09T15:33:00.001-06:00

It takes imagination to be a good cook.

Or.

It takes imagination to come up with ideas to inspire a cook.

Or.

It takes imagination to think up things that must have been made before that you'd like to try to cook.

Or.

It takes an almost-13-year old son to dream up something that sounds a bit wild but makes you do a quick search on Google only to find that it's not wild at all, in fact, someone far more imaginative than you has already done it!!!!

Sigh.

Andrew came home from school yesterday, and proceeded to stand there, wishing to himself and to me that he could get some of that "CHOCOLATE POPCORN" like he's seen in the malls.

Andrew? Hello? I've never seen you be interested in the popcorn shop at any mall. I've never seen this "chocolate popcorn" that you're wishing upon a star for.

Apparently you've been shopping without me.

Regardless, this silly mama went looking on Google for inspiration. The very first search result was interesting enough to convince me that we could easily give it a try and I was able to inspire him with the information that, if he helped me, he'd be eating chocolate popcorn within 45 minutes or less.

We love popcorn here. Ben manages to twist my arms many nights with his request for "your WORLD FAMOUS popcorn, Mom"!! That means - hot air popcorn made with REAL butter, lightly salted. How do you refuse a request like that? I'm so flattered. World famous. Sheesh.

Another Ann (not my mom, Anne with an 'e') in my life first introduced me to homemade caramel corn back in the 1980's. We've been making it for years; my parents make it nearly every Christmas, and Dad gets horrified when I tell him that I've made my batch without peanuts. It's all about the peanuts for him.

Another person shared a terrific recipe for Poppycock and I make this often at Christmas, too. However, unlike caramel corn (where I can take or leave the peanuts behind), my poppycock has to be l-o-a-d-e-d with nice and salty mixed nuts. The more nuts the better. I love.

Once in awhile, I will make Peanut Butter Popcorn for Andrew. The peanut coating remains soft and gooey and is so yummy. I was going to say that I make it for Andrew and I to share, but there isn't very much sharing that goes on, to tell you the truth.

This Chocolate Popcorn recipe was a surprise hit for me. I know there are a surprising number of people who aren't in love with chocolate, and that's just fine. I'm not a chocaholic, by any means, but this is really nice. I think I possibly used more popped popcorn than they asked for in the recipe, which meant that it wasn't overly candied, which makes it a nice snack without being overbearing in the sweet department.

Here is:

Chocolate Popcorn

8 cups popped popcorn
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup syrup
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 250 F. Lightly grease or spray a rimmed cookie sheet.

Place popcorn into a large, metal bowl, and set aside.

Stir together the sugar, corn syrup, cocoa powder, and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla, then pour over the popcorn. Stir until the popcorn is well coated. Spread the popcorn into the prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring several times.

Remove from the oven, and allow to cool to room temperature. Break into small clumps, and store in an airtight container. IF you have any left to store, that is! ;)

I can see this being a real hit for sleepover parties!! Enjoy!

From Routine to Red!!!

2012-02-04T15:57:00.000-06:00

Had to brush up the design of the blog today. Seems I'm tired of the mundane. ;)

What do you think?

I wish I was a talented photographer; I see so many terrific pictures of every day things online, but I guess one has to start somewhere. I barely get a good picture out of a "point and shoot" camera and this monster we have is a little beyond point and shoot. I think it probably pays to snap and snap and snap many times a day to discover what works, etc.

I currently love red. If I have a choice about any purchase for my kitchen, it will undoubtedly be red. This is a wee taste of the red things I found around the house.

Ha ha, just looked up "red personality" and it is defined as this:

"Red personalities generally live up to their name; independent, dominant, feisty, outspoken, goal-orientated, risk-taker, efficient, persistent. A self-starter who enjoys a challenge and loves solving problems! They are likely to be pilots, politicians, CEO's or managing directors of firms, lawyers, military leaders etc etc."

Hmm, a military leader? My boys might say so when it comes to getting chores done!

Anyway, good fun for a Saturday afternoon!

Hope you enjoy the new design!

Epic Fail

2012-02-04T13:21:00.000-06:00

Oh boy, did I ever had an epic fail yesterday. I'm still recovering mentally. There's always a story....

Last weekend, Dean and I were at Break Forth in Edmonton. Break Forth is a huge non-denominational conference, with big sessions with well known speakers, small workshops, concerts, etc. Yeah, us and about 15 000 of our closest friends were there. ;) Oh man, it is such a good time, so much fun and the calibre of music and speakers is high. We went hard for 2 1/2 days; it starts Friday evening and goes all the way through until Sunday night, if you buy in on the Sunday night closing concert.

We opted for the Sunday night concert this year. Down Here blew me away, so good! How many stories are there that I could tell you about Down Here.... Amazing band. Look them up, and, while you're at it, check out Marc Martel and his upcoming adventures with the Queen Tribute Band. Starfield was next and were also enjoyable although I'm not familiar with their stuff. The main band that closed the night was Third Day. I've listened to a lot of their stuff over the years and was pumped up for them in an exhausted sort of fashion so when they hit the stage with a louder volume than I've experienced anywhere ever (and I've been to a LOT of concerts), we made an early exit about 3/4 of the way through their set. With a packed room of 12 to 15 thousand people, I don't think they noticed! My ears hurt. I've really never had that happen before. But, really, they were SO good. And we were so tired. And completely satisfied with all that we had been part of for the entire weekend, so missing 10-15 minutes of their concert really wasn't a hardship!

Monday morning we needed to say farewell to Edmonton and hit the road. On a whim, we headed to Whyte Avenue on the way out of town, hoping on hope that the Vietnamese Sub restaurant that Dean had been to in the summer would be open so that we could grab some food for the road. We were too early and would have had to wait around for another hour just for them to open, so decided to pursue one final adventure before returning to P.A.

We entered the correct search into the GPS and successfully found our way to an Italian Grocery Store. I didn't know that there was an Italian community in Edmonton to support it, but there are actually two Italian Grocery Stores. And these are the real deal. They are no tourist trap, there is nothing fancy about the store, other than it excels in, well, Italian foods.

Mommy.

I want to go back there.

Okay, there is an entire aisle of pastas. Every style, shape and color of pasta that you can think of and no Catelli to be found. Then there are shelves laden with tomatoes. Shelves entirely dedicated to olive oils, balsamic vinegars. An Italian deli, with Italian meats and Italian cheeses.

THEN, sigh, an Italian bakery.

Oh my word. The bakery. Dozens of loaves of rustic breads sitting out, freshly baked. We came home with two loaves of bread - one round flat loaf, dusted with flour on the top, and one loaf of olive herb bread. So tasty.

We also came home with dessert to share with Dean's parents and the boys for supper that night. And this is where I died.

We picked six different pieces from the selection - a stuffed cannoli, vanilla butter horn, vanilla layer torte, butterscotch layer cake, lemon layer cake and, the piece de resistance, a pistachio layered torte.

After we paid for our groceries, we picked up two cups of coffee to go from their cafe along with two croissants, drizzled with chocolate and sliced almonds, stuffed with nutella and hit the road, having left a mere $7.75 behind for our snack.

It was quiet for awhile. All of that savoring and chewing and sipping of good coffee.

There was so much to talk about on the way home; memories of the conference, things we learned, things we enjoyed, things that challenged us, layers of habits that we need to re-think. Good things. I love being shown that there are different ways to live than the way we've become comfortable with. One speaker told us that we trick ourselves into falling in love with the mundane because we're afraid to step out into new things. We can totally relate to that. We're hungry for freshness.

And so we arrived back home and were greeted with smiles and hugs from the boys. It's good to come home to love.

We sat down to supper and eagerly shared our experiences with anyone who was ready to listen. And then dessert came out.

We cut thin little slices off each piece so that we could each have a taste of everything. They were all wonderful, really wonderful. But the piece that took my breath away was the Pistachio Layered Torte. The dessert consisted of thin thin layers of a light cake, with 1-2 different fillings layered between the cake, repeated. Colored the palest shade of green, the delicate flavor of pistachio shone through. I was in heaven. I am not a cake fan, but this cake was heaven.

Later this week, I went on an internet search for a recipe that might come close to duplicating this treasure. The first results were easy to dismiss, being various concoctions of cake mixes mixed with pistachio pudding. Many versions of the classic pistachio pudding/cool whip/cream cheese dessert that we all made in the 90s appeared and were also easily eliminated. Once I added "Italian" to the "pistachio torte" search, the search became more refined and I eventually settled on a recipe that seemed as if it might come close to what we'd had. I bought the ingredients and settled down to bake yesterday afternoon.

On first glance, I thought everything was headed in the right direction. The cake itself seemed a pretty basic white cake recipe with pistachios added. It was to be baked in a loaf pan, which seemed okay as it had to be split into three layers anyway. When it came out of the oven, I was satisfied that it had risen enough and wasn't too dense. When I split it into three layers, though, I thought the layers were far too thick, but hey, a good filling could make anything work.

The filling was a simple mix of ricotta cheese (Italian, right?) and icing sugar/vanilla. This is where the whole thing really headed into disaster land. As I mixed the ricotta cheese with the icing sugar, it started to get rather runny. I added more and more icing sugar and whipped it more and added even more icing sugar and it just remained a watery soupy mess. By now my heart has sunk all the way to my slippers. It is obvious that it is far, far from the delicate light dessert that I had been treated to from the bakery. However, I pushed through, assembled the layers and put it in the fridge to set up. I was so discouraged and frustrated. Ben kept saying "I'm sorry that your cake didn't turn out". I sat on the couch and pouted ~~all night~~ for awhile then worked up the nerve to try a piece. Yeah. Nah. Epic fail. It is just one step away from a pistachio loaf. Not what I wanted at all.

But, if you're going to try to step out into new things and away from the mundane, you're not always going to be met with success, right? If I was really afraid of trying new things, I'd be eating chocolate chip cookies out of the bag.

I want more there to be more to my life than chocolate cookies from the bag.

I will go back to the drawing board on this one. As I've thought through the specific flavors that I can remember, I think that a plain white cake layered very thinly would be the starting base. Then I think that a butter cream filling laced with pistachios would have the body to support the thin layers of cake without taking away the flavor of the pistachios. Perhaps some sturdy whipped cream might be another layer/dimension as well.

I think I need more grant money.

I think I will be returning to the Italian Grocery Store in Edmonton.

I think, next time, I might buy the whole cake.

Try something new, take two! Your challenge for the week!

By Cracky, I'm Snacky!

2012-01-23T20:33:00.000-06:00

Funny how we get into moods when it comes to food!

We did a lot of eating this weekend. Really good eating.

On Saturday we finally decided to do our splurge of the winter and cook fresh lobster. It was a celebration of sorts, one that we had been waiting to do for awhile. The smaller lobsters were on sale at Superstore this week for $7.98/lb; we got them for an average of $10/lobster. We did a bit of reading up on the cooking process and asked a few questions of experienced lobster cooks AND recalled many things from the lobster lesson we'd heard on the lobster cruise we took in New Brunswick in July. It was my third time eating lobster and I enjoyed it the most, even more than when we were in the Maritimes. Maybe it was just nice to be in the comfort of my own home with people I love. Such a messy meal! The table needed a good scrub after we were done. And it was EASY to cook.

Sunday we had a long-overdue dinner party with 2 other couples. All of us are self-confessed foodies and we decided that, this time, we would cook together and we planned our menu accordingly. Dean and I hosted the party and "gnocchi" in an Italian sausage tomato sauce was the main course. Gnocchi is an Italian dish and Dean remembers learning this from Mario Batali's cooking show many years ago. It is a dumpling of sorts, with similar ingredients to a homemade noodle. The ingredients are Ricotta Cheese, flour and eggs mixed together, rolled into a rope, cut into 1" lengths and scored/marked with a fork. The sauce is Italian sausage, onions/celery/carrots and tomatoes. Plenty of fresh Parmesan cheese to top it all off and voila, there is one of our favorite comfort foods. So us girls got busy chopping vegetables and frying the sausage meat and the men rolled the gnocchi and a good time was had by all. One couple brought a lovely fresh salad, the other couple brought a terrific tiramisu. We dined. And then played a crazy round of "Quelf", our newest board game. Crazy, crazy game. Right Peaches?!! ;)

Today, much simpler fare pleased the boys. I became "Mother of the Year" when I made a double batch of Puffed Wheat Cake for Ben. I am convinced that there is no "bad" recipe for Puffed Wheat Cake and that the secret is all in the temperature of the burner and length of boiling time. I like to keep the temperature on med/low and boil the ingredients for 2 minutes max. Homemade hamburgers for supper also pleased Mr. B.

From Lobster to Hamburgers. It's nice to have a few culinary hits in a row!

But I'm the one who's insatiably hungry today. I don't know if my body wants to bulk up to brave the remainder of the winter cold or if I'm a big bunch of crazy hormones or what my issue is, but I just want to eat and eat and eat this weekend. Considering there are days when I don't have time/opportunity/appetite to do that, I've just gone ahead and done all kinds of crazy eating. You know, make hay while the sun shines, and all.

So I was sitting here after supper, thinking about food, and I decided that I'd really like to eat a.....a.....hmmm....just what am I craving right now? An "oatmeal chocolate chip cake".

I've never had an oatmeal chocolate chip cake before.

I've never heard of an oatmeal chocolate chip cake before.

BUT!!!!!

Google did NOT let me down! There IS such a thing as Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake!

So, while I'm telling you my dining menu from the weekend, the very cake I craved is baking in the oven and it smells delicious. The original recipe calls for cream cheese icing. While I'm usually all over that, I wanted something simple today, so am not sure that I'll add that. After all, this cake is, um, healthy, what with the oatmeal. Ahem. I can even trick myself into believing that.

Interesting technique in the recipe by the way. See for yourself! Here is:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

8 ounces chocolate chips

1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes, at room temperature

2 eggs, slightly beaten

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 & 1/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 & 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9″x13″ baking pan.

Heat 1 & 1/4 cups water to boiling. Place the oats and butter in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over oat mixture. Wait 30 seconds, then stir to moisten oats and melt the butter. Seat aside for 25-30 minutes,or until slightly cooled and oatmeal has absorbed some of the water. I've done recipes where you soak the oatmeal before adding to the rest of the ingredients, but adding the boiling water AND margarine was a first for me. Hmm!

Whisk eggs, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Fold in oatmeal, stirring until well combined. Fold in remaining flour, and then stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.

Whadya think? Cream cheese frosting or no cream cheese frosting?

I promise you from the bottom of my heart that I will insert some exercise and restraint into the rest of my week. Pinky swear. ;)

At least, I'll try......

In The Bleak Midwinter

2012-01-18T12:35:00.001-06:00

Can you sing that Christmas carol? I don't know who's version I like better - James Taylor's or Annie Lennox's.

James Taylor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qmtO6cebcU

or...

Annie Lennox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXgoyKdsAD4

The carol tells the story of a typical bleak winter's day that turned special with the arrival of the Messiah. Simplistic beauty.

Today is a bleak midwinter's day. With a wind chill of -47 this morning, we made the "never before" decision to not send the boys to school. Seems that school may not be that urgent in light of the rapid ability to get frostbitten. Tomorrow will be a different day; I will go to work regardless of the weather - no snow days for health care professionals! Perhaps the Arctic temperatures will turn a few things around for us at work and bring some health back to us there. Nothing like a good bout of frost to destroy a few viruses handily.

I am sharing a stew recipe today. I make this stew at least once per winter. I found it many years ago in a magazine and was inspired enough by the description to give it a try, even though it's far from a typical stew. My memory thinks that it's a fairly new recipe to our family. However, when I called my mom to get her to read me the recipe again (I have lost it several times) she and I had a bit of a chuckle over a shared memory.

Seems that many years ago I had told Mom about this recipe. She sounded interested in it so I decided that I would send it to her in the mail along with a little letter to break up the winter monotony, both for her and for me. I remember writing that letter to her, but it seemed like only a couple of years ago.

However.

In the letter, I told her that the boys and I were feeling rather "housebound" in the cold, cold winter. I told her that I had taken the boys down to the library and that we had borrowed some "videos" and that the boys were quite interested in the videos on "farming". Then I said that Andrew was "showing interest" in learning how to write his name and that he had mastered the "A" and the "W" but needed a lot of help with the rest of the letters in between.

Hmm.

I guess that is awhile ago.

Today, he is busy cleaning up his room and rearranging his furniture by himself. We went shopping yesterday to buy some trendy/slouchy toques for him to wear for the rest of the season, his idea (and he looks SO good). He looks me in the eye and only lacks about 1/2 inch in order to be the same height as me. He is a happy, fun and intelligent fella, one month away from his 13th birthday. And it seems that he has mastered all of the letters in his name between the A and the W.

Eight or so years ago, the boys and I stayed put during the winter and longed for something to break up the monotony. Today, the boys are home with us and we are all rather happy to be together for a change.

I like it when we get treasures in the middle of the bleak midwinter.

Here is:

Keilbasa Cabbage Stew

1/2 lb garlic sausage (or other smoked sausage of your choosing)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup water
1 Tbsp sugar
dash pepper
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 Tbsp flour

Brown the sausage in a dutch oven. Add potatoes, cabbage, onion, broth, 1/2 cup water, sugar and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through.

Add the kidney beans and continue to simmer briefly.

Whisk flour and 1/4 cup water together and add into the stew, stirring continuously. Bring to a low boil and stir until stew thickens.

Serve in bowls! It's a good occasion to drink a nice cup of Red Rose tea too! And cover up with a good blanket, read a good book and, especially, be with people you love!

"My Name Is Maureen and I'm A ....."

2012-01-08T19:13:00.000-06:00

Let's just sit around in a circle for a few minutes and reflect. Whenever you're ready, go ahead, say it out loud. Shy? Okay, I'll start first.

"My name is Maureen and I'm a .... hoarder."

Whew.

That felt good.

Just saying the words liberated me.

I feel you understand me better.

Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not the kind of hoarder that you're going to smugly watch on tv. (Although I did just haul 200 lbs of "stuff" to the dump yesterday out of the basement.)

No, I think I have mastered that kind of hoarding. The plan is simple - don't. Don't buy it. Don't use it? Don't keep it. And don't mentally add up how much that stuff cost as you throw it away or recycle/re purpose it.

No, I'm a hoarder of a different nature completely.

I buy groceries.

And then I hoard them.

I buy fresh broccoli on sale and then I admire it in my fridge for so long that, 3 weeks later, when I decide to use it, it has gone bad on me and/or I'm cutting off the bad parts so that I can use 25 cents worth of it so I at least get some value out of the original purchase. I buy egg nog and reeeealllly want to SAVE it because it's so special AND ONLY AVAILABLE SEASONALLY, too, and I save it for so long that, yeah, it's gone bad on me and no one gets to enjoy it. I buy a nice piece of fish and store it away in the freezer for months, saving it for some special day, and it gets freezer burned. Just now, I decided to make a pan of Baked Oatmeal and figured that I would throw in some frozen cranberries that I bought for a really good deal at Christmas and I just couldn't do it. I needed to save those cranberries for another occasion that might be more important than today.

Food in the fridge/freezer is like money to me. I don't want to use it unless I absolutely HAVE TO.

How weird is that.

How weird am I.

Don't answer that question. 'Kay?

Anyway, I am a believer in making a menu plan for a week at a time and only shopping for that week, using up everything I buy by the time the week is over.

I am also a believer in buying things when they're on sale, being smart with my moola. Thus, I do end up with a well stocked pantry. "To save money you have to spend money." My grocery shopping mantra.

I could easily live in a location where you go to the market every day to get your groceries. I like grocery shopping and buying and saving and storing and planning.....

I definitely spend a lot of time thinking about food and cooking and eating. Hmm.

Anyway, the recipe that I have for you today was prepared the other night as a result of looking in the fridge and realizing that I had a couple of things that needed to be used up. The ingredients in this recipe may surprise you, but don't be put off; the results are very tasty! Give it a try! (I give credit for this recipe to my sister, Elaine, who prepared it for us a couple of years back. Thanks E!)

Therefore, I'll call it:

Elaine's Asian Peanut Noodle Dish

360 grams uncooked spaghetti
2-3 cups chopped snow peas
1 cup red pepper strips (or cubes)
1/4 cup Catalina dressing
1 lb beef OR chicken strips
2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp soya sauce

Garnish:
4 green onions, sliced
4 Tbsp chopped peanuts

Cook the spaghetti. When you are 2 minutes away from the spaghetti being fully cooked, add the snow peas and peppers and boil for 2 more minutes. Drain.

While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the Catalina in a separate pan and cook the beef (or chicken). Add the peanut butter and soya sauce and stir to mix together/thicken slightly.

Toss the meat mixture with the cooked noodles. Add green onions and chopped peanuts to garnish and enjoy!

(Don't skip on the garnish; it adds another flavor dimension.)

Love, love this recipe.

We Will Have These Moments To Remember

2011-12-28T15:14:00.000-06:00

Apparently it's ?Wednesday? ?December 28? Who can tell, other than a logical look at the fridge calendar.

It is December 28 and I am teetering on the edge of post-Christmas blues. 'Tis nothing serious, nothing more than the expected post-Christmas come-down. We work so hard for Christmas to come and then it's over without much notice and we're faced with returning from extraordinary to ordinary. Sigh and sigh again.

We had many so good moments this year.

We enjoyed every minute with Dean's family on Dec. 24 and 26th. A fun memory of the 26th was going sledding with the kids and my brother-in-law (seems he and I, being the outlaws, have the outdoor gene), then playing a boisterous game of Telephone Pictionary after pizza supper. The later the night got, the funnier the game got. What a silly bunch of people. Love each one of them. On Christmas Eve, the oldest 4 grandchildren each gave a little Christmas concert on their instruments. My, they are growing up. I anticipate great music coming from each of them as they get older and start refining their interests even more.

My family was here for Christmas Day and it was also perfect. As much as I love to cook and try new recipes, my Christmas dinner was pretty ordinary. I brined the turkey again but by the time I sat down to eat it, my head was splitting with a weather-induced headache, and I really couldn't tell you if it was a good turkey or not. The table was pretty, though....

...and I'm still glowing a wee bit from Dad's comment "you outdid yourself, baby."

Seems kinda silly that he still calls me his baby when I'm 40some years old.

But I love it.

I loved, loved, loved having both families in our house over the Christmas days. The time with each of them went by too fast, but I know we were blessed to share time with them. Too many families are separated by distance, illness, death, conflict. We are blessed, blessed, blessed.

Andrew played with his cousins this year. Huh? Seems he has taken on the role of the "older cousin" and happily entertained them over the past few days. Where did that come from?

Both Andrew and Ben challenged my parents to Scrabble games Boxing Day morning. Good thing they didn't keep score and somehow the grandparents were pretty merciful towards the boys, accepting words never-before-seen-or-accepted on the Scrabble board. They're getting soft in their old age....never let ME get away with that, haha!

I managed to make 15 crocheted scarves/head bands for gifts this year. That was fun; yarn and colors and patterns are so fun to pick out with someone special in mind. Just for fun, I looked at some crochet patterns today....yeah, NOT INTERESTED JUST NOW, THANKS. I think I overdosed on crochet in December. Give me a month or two, I'll be back.

I used some Christmas gift $$ and bought a new kettle yesterday. And a new wallet. I can tell that I'm kinda blue/sentimental today because I'm having a hard time throwing the old ones out, even though they're completely worn out. The kettle was a wedding gift; I still remember opening it and can tell you exactly who it's from. It seems that we are getting to the stage in life where our wedding gifts are starting to show their age! The towels are faded out, the kettle stopped working, the mini food chopper's blades are too dull to be much good. How did us two young people end up with aged gifts? Guess we're not as young as we used to be. Hmm.

I suppose that we will all emerge back into regular life over the next few days. There are still a few things on my "to-do" list that have not been done yet. I'm ready for an evening full of board games. I've watched one good movie ("The Help"), but am ready for a couple more. Same with books. I've been enjoying the Starbucks Christmas Blend, but, yikes, the caffeine content seems to be hitting me pretty hard! I guess I better ease up on that one. Speaking of Starbucks, our coffee-loving friends will come to spend the day with us tomorrow and that will be really special. As I work Jan. 1, New Year's Eve will be a quiet celebration. And I'm more than ready for trips to the tobogganing hill, the skating rink and there may even be enough snow for snowshoeing.

And sometime between now and the new year, I will likely end up making a batch of Won Ton Soup. It's just one of those things that I like to take time to make during Christmas holidays. It's easier than you think and well worth the extra effort. In case you want to try it out for yourself, here is the recipe:

Wontons

1 lb ground pork

2 eggs

1/4 cup finely chopped green onion

2 Tbsp soy sauce

dash of salt and pepper

wonton wrappers, 454 g (usually found refrigerated in the grocery store)

In medium bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. If the mixture is too soft, add a few bread crumbs.

Place 1 tsp of the meat mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Moisten edges. Fold over, forming a triangle. Press edges to seal. Moisten bottom corners, pull gently together to overlap, and press together. Freeze or refrigerate until ready to use.

War Wonton Soup

1/2 medium head bok choy, chopped into small pieces. (I have also used cabbage and/or broccoli and/or a frozen asian blend of veggies).

2 green onions, sliced

4 medium mushrooms, sliced

6 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup corned beef (thinly sliced from the deli, then slivered)

1 box shrimp (225 gram)

Wontons

Add all sliced vegetables into a soup pot and add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes until veggies are soft. Add meat and simmer until heated through.

Bring back to a low boil and add wontons (about 32, don't overcrowd the pot, freeze the rest for another day). When the wontons are cooked, they will rise to the top. Serve immediately.

Hmm, if it wasn't for the fact that I promised Ben pork chops today, I'd be running to the store for wonton wrappers right now!

I hope your Christmas had some moments to remember, too.

And, by the way, I think that my Christmas was, indeed, peaceful.

Christmas Randoms

2011-12-20T20:19:00.003-06:00

Lots of things zinging through my brain as Christmas rapidly approaches.

Randomly:

1. Someone dear to me has told me many times this week to be at peace this Christmas. To not rush and worry and work, but to slow down, be patient, and aim for a peaceful existence. I cannot tell you how many times her words have barrelled through my brain. She knows what it's like to be busy, she's a hard worker, has kids, works, etc. But she is also going through a trial right now, the kind of trial that reminds you to not rush and worry and work, to slow down, be patient and aim for a peaceful existence. Her words have been God's words to me this year and I am thankful for her. Thanks JH-B!

2. Next year, I beg you, if you even hear me hint at the words "I should make everyone a _____________ for Christmas" - STOP ME PLEASE!!!!! If I say "we should just __________" remind me that no, we shouldn't just ___________". And extra shifts the week before Christmas? Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. I was asleep Friday night at 8:30. Seems I am not as young and agile as I used to be. Ahem.

3. On the way to work one day, "Dominick The Donkey" was playing on the holiday channel. In case you haven't heard the song, give it a quick listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok5rOO2v2dU

Good grief. At 6:45 IN THE MORNING my car is blasting with a Christmas donkey hee-hawing, over and over and over again. When I got to work, that song wouldn't leave my brain. And my work place is a noisy place - "NURSE, NURSE"....."buzzzzzzz" go the buzzers....."ring ring ring ring ring" goes the phone...."LA-DY, LAAAA-DDDDYYYY, LAAA-dy", "nurse can I have my pills NOW"? HEE HAW, HEE HAW, HEE HAW goes Dominick the Donkey....." Can you imagine? It was wild! Dominick the Donkey indeed. Dominick the Donkey should be ~~shot.~~ Silenced.

4. On the other end of the spectrum, Silent Night is moving me this year. I think perhaps that is because I have this "be at peace" thing on the brain in the midst of my craziness. It's a cry from deep in my soul - for silence.

5. The sound of childrens' voices is also moving me. My boys are growing up. Children are innocent and sweet and, well, they try hard and live eagerly. Good life lesson.

6. I never get everything done at Christmas. Each year, I get some things done, but I never get everything done. Some years, I don't decorate much but get all my cards out. Other years, I am so on target with my cards, but hardly decorate. I ALWAYS bake, but I never get all of my baking list done. At some point I have to stop myself or I will fall over in a heart attack. Truly. I am terribly ambitious at Christmas. Nauseatingly so.

7. No Christmas cards were mailed this year. Not one. However, if you want to see a Dynna slide show, click here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104099245676850185736/ChristmasEmail2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCPPzpdq15pCPgAE#

8. Sometimes I get Christmas cards from the most surprising people. I particularly get a tear in my eye out of cards from little old ladies at church. You think that they don't much notice or care much about me, but along comes a gracious card with lovely words and I am indeed touched and blessed to be on their Christmas card list. Maybe next year I should make them something.

....stop me now......I asked, right? ;)

9. Christmas traditions - I've worked so hard in my house to create at least some traditions that the boys could look back on and say "it isn't Christmas until....." Turns out they can't really answer that question with specific things/events very well other than opening gifts. I've pulled a few things out of boxes this year, expecting them to say "hey, I remember that!" and they really haven't remembered those things at all! That's partly because, well, some years I decorate more than others, etc., etc. and some of these treasures haven't seen the light of day for a couple of years. Time is fleeting. The one tradition that I do insist on, however, is putting up BOTH Christmas trees, as labor intensive as that both sounds and is. The upstairs is pretty and we all love it. The downstairs tree is full of sentimental decorations. We try to add something to it every year, something that represents something that we did or something that occurred during the past year. It was fun adding decorations from the Maritimes to our tree this year. Last year, we added a carpenter in honor of our renovation, the year before we added two birds in honor of Dean's bird-loving grandparents that had both passed away. That tree means a lot to us and we all decorate it and chat a lot while we do it. Must. Not. Stop. That. Tradition. Ever.

10. The one baking recipe that ALWAYS gets made every year is Whipped Shortbread Cookies. I like to try new recipes, I like to make things for each member of the family according to their food tastes. And I think the reason that I always make Whipped Shortbread Cookies is because it's MY favorite!

Well, no recipes to share with you today.

I really want to thank you for reading my silly little thoughts here. This blog has been both fun and challenging for me, something "new" to me in 2011! As long as my brain is connected to this, I'll strive to continue to write.

Merriest of Christmases to each of you beautiful souls. And, live in peace, live peacefully, stay cool, and be at peace this year.

Love ya!
Maureen

One more thing...

Very thankful that you asked for the RECIPE and not actual COOKIES....

Whipped Shortbread

1 cup butter, soft
1/4 cup corn starch
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine all your ingredients in a Kitchen Aid stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Turn it on. Walk away. Come back when it is the consistency of whipped cream, don't worry, it will get there with enough time if your butter is lovely and soft.

If you don't have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, you should ~~ask for one for Christmas~~ put everything in a bowl, combine with a spoon, then beat with a hand held mixer until it is the consistency of whipped cream. Endurance pays off! Don't walk away. Stand there. When it looks like small peas, keep standing there, mixing with your little mixer. By the next day, it should be good enough and although your feet may be sore, your cookie dough should be just about perfect.

;) (Get a stand mixer!)

Drop by tsps on a greased sheet and flatten slightly. I like to put colored sugar or sprinkles on top just to make it look pretty. Bake for 15 min. at 325 F.

There! Happy? ;)

I Blame My Mother

2011-11-29T19:14:00.003-06:00

I'm sitting at the island, with a seizing back. Good grief. I did it again. I baked all day.

I don't know what's into me lately. If I start a small-ish project, it just magically gets super sized right before my eyes.

Today's task was to start baking for the teachers at our school next week as part of the Parent Council teacher appreciation that happens monthly. I'm not bragging about my participation in this at all, in fact, this is our 8th year at the school and, ahem, my first year providing this snack. And, I'm only doing it because someone asked me to and I figured that I could ... so therefore I am, and, quite willingly, by the way. After being in the school for so many years, you come to appreciate the sense of family that develops and so I will do a small gesture to let them know we notice and respect them and all that they do for our boys and our family.

Anyway, it's taken me a long time to decide what to make for their snack time. Nobody can give me a firm answer on how many teachers/staff are on staff, but a wild guess at 43 + got me panicking. What on earth could I make for 43 people??? At one sitting? I thought about fresh cinnamon buns, but those are best hot out of the oven, and, they suggest the snack should be there first thing in the morning and I might be crazy but I'm not getting up at 0600 to make sure anyone has hot cinnamon buns by 0900. Sheesh. Dodged that crazy bullet.

After discussing it with my "baking advisers" (okay, my co-workers during coffee break), I decided that cakes would do the trick and then I spent some sleepless hours (unrelated) last night deciding on what cakes to bake. In fact, I had such a sleepless night last night that I nearly got up at 0600 to start my baking for the day. How's that for ironic?

Anyway, the long story made short is that, really, once you drag everything out to bake one, you might as well bake all four and be done with it.

And so, all four cakes are done. I made a chocolate zucchini cake - and plan to ice it with brown sugar icing for the retro vibe, ha ha! Cake #2 - hmm. Brain fart. What IS cake #2? Oh yes - Banana Chocolate Chip cake and I plan to drizzle it (via piping tip) with cream cheese frosting. Cake #3 - Pumpkin Streusel Cake that will be glazed with an orange/vanilla glaze. Cake #4 - Carrot Cake, also to be drizzled with cream cheese frosting.

And then...........

Then there was the nasty, devilishly so, Angel Food Cake that let me down.

This is where my mom and "blame" comes in.

Growing up, I loved Angel Food cake - 'twas my favorite cake and most often requested for my birthday.

My dear, sweet mother was, how do we say it nicely? ... not so good at baking Angel Food Cakes.

And so, as I grew older and eager to try making new things, it became my thrill to become the Angel Food Cake baker of the family. In fact, a few years ago, mom just gave me her angel food cake pan, seeing that it was fairly useless to her.

(Now I have to be up front and mention that I have never made an Angel Food cake from scratch. I make it from a box, and if your culinary respect for me just went flushing down the toilet, I understand if you click on the little "X" in the upper right hand corner, never to return again.)

When I told my mom this morning that I was going to make an Angel Food Cake for myself for my (a-word-that-sounds-like-"earth")-day tomorrow, she told me "well, I hope yours turns out. Mine always flopped." To which I replied "don't worry, mine ALWAYS turn out and have NEVER flopped."

Yup.

Mine flopped.

And that's why I blame my mom. I think she jinxed me.

....p.s. I couldn't live with the flop....so I made another one. And it's gorgeous!

See, Mom? ;)

Flop:
(I know what I did wrong - I didn't let it cool long enough before taking it out of the pan)

Success:

Victory is sweet!!!!!!!!!

Push Push Push

2011-11-17T18:16:00.000-06:00

I was standing at my stove this afternoon, making something for us to eat over the next two "fright" days (days where we are all going in different directions) and I realized that, food-wise, I do push my kids to try new things. We aren't a "meat and potatoes"-only family. I am constantly on the lookout for new recipes, new meals to serve, and, frankly, I just expect my family to follow me.

That backfires on me sometimes. I get all gung-ho about a new taste/flavor, find the recipe, shop for the ingredients, cook the meal and then, just as it's ready to hit the table, this feeling washes over me...I'm not sure they're gonna like this....oh oh.

This happened last summer ('10).

Summer of 2010 was the summer of our kitchen renovation. By the time July hit, the kitchen was completely demolished and there was literally no end in sight. I had no stove, no table, no counter top; the microwave was in the hallway, we washed dishes in the bathroom, the fridge was in the dining room. Everything on the main floor was covered in a thick layer of poly and dust. We walked on bare wood and lived day to day around the presence of the carpenter and his help. I remember taking a shower one morning, trying to get that done before the carpenters arrived. Right as I lathered up, the carpenter arrived, let himself in the front door and proceeded to do some work right outside the bathroom door. Ohhh, there were some crazy days.

Now, for a foodie like me, you can imagine that the culinary side of me started to suffer from neglect. A co-worker brought something that she had made to work one day and raved about this new cookbook she was cooking through. So, my neglected little culinary psyche went and purchased the cookbook and sat for hours on end, at the beach, camping, anywhere, reading through the recipes and dreaming of being able to cook in a fully functioning kitchen again.

When it was time to go away to the lake, I made an ambitious list of things that I wanted to cook while camping and started to prepare a few things out of the new cookbook.

One recipe stood out in my mind and I was so excited to serve it for supper on one of the first nights at the lake. The boys seemed excited to try it out and I got busy making it. Not the easiest recipe to prepare at the lake, but, hey, I was used to no kitchen at home. Just to eat something new and exciting was worth the humongous extra effort that this recipe required.

I imagine that, by the time we sat down to eat, I was tired from the overly ambitious recipe. However, freshly cooked food! Who would not be excited about that????!!!!!

Well.

Um.

One of my boys, who shall remain nameless, was not excited. At all.

I served the dish and was promptly, VERY promptly, met with "I don't really like that."

"What? How could you NOT like that? What's the matter with you? Try it again!!!!" ....... push, push, push.

"No, Mom. It tastes funny. I thought I would like it but it's too ... {hot, spicy, flavorful, you know}".

And, being the mature person that I am, I handled his feedback extremely well.

I got up and left the table.

I took my plate and walked all the way down to the beach, by myself, and ate my supper, by myself, and watched the sun set over the lake, by myself. In silence.

Methinks I didn't handle that very well.

After awhile, Said Son appeared at my table-for-one and apologized for his discouraging words/attitude. Apparently, back at the campsite, the dishes were being done and supper was being cleaned up, and there was an apologetic attitude from the male crew, even though the other 2 had been complimentary. And so I returned, rather sheepishly.

Was that new and exciting recipe worth all of that drama? Probably not. I do need a reminder now and then that you can't force people to be adventurous in the taste department. And, try as I might, not all of my experiments are great. ;)

Anyway, to make this long story have a point, today I decided to make that very same recipe for myself to take to work for meals over the weekend. I had no expectations to share the meal, except with Mr. Dean, who could partake of some, IF he so chose. I picked up a few items at the store this afternoon and started to prep the food after school.

Said Son walked by, asked what I was making, and then said "You're making that again? I LOVE those!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

HUH?????????

Ginger-Pork Spring Rolls

1/4 cup hoisin sauce (Asian aisle)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp Asian chili-garlic sauce (Asian aisle)
1/4 cup water
1 bag coleslaw mix (or your own blend, it's cheaper, of cabbage and carrot, grated/thinly sliced)
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 pound ground pork
thumb size (or less) piece of fresh ginger, grated (fresh ginger is a fairly powerful flavor, so start with small amounts and increase if you wish)
12 rice paper wrappers (Asian aisle)

Combine hoisin sauce, soy sauce, chili-garlic sauce and water. In another bowl, combine cabbage/carrots and half of the green onions. Toss with a bit of the hoisin mixture.

Cook the pork in a skillet (no need to add salt). When nearly cooked, add 1/2 of the hoisin sauce mixture, the other half of the green onions and the grated ginger and cook until fragrant.

Add the pork mixture to the cabbage mixture and toss to mix. *If you want to add a bit to this recipe, cook a handful of rice noodles (fine noodles) and toss this with the meat/cabbage mixture*.

One by one, soak the rice paper wrappers in warm water until soft (about 10 seconds). Spread out on a towel or cutting board. Arrange about 1/2 cup filling on each wrapper. Fold in the sides and then roll up tightly, like a taco.

To serve, I mixed a bit of peanut butter in with the remaining hoisin sauce mixture - dip the rolls in the sauce. Serve room temperature or cold.

Not the easiest recipe to prepare but well worth the extra effort! The ingredients listed as being available in the Asian aisle are really not hard to find. There are so many cool things to explore in the foreign food departments!

In My Defense...

2011-11-10T22:20:00.002-06:00

In my defense....we have eaten rather healthily lately. Bland, wholesome, comfort foods.

In my defense...we have eaten almost every meal at home - no meals out.

In my defense....we had celery sticks for supper 2 NIGHTS IN A ROW!!!

So, you'll give me a little grace when I tell you I made a batch of homemade donuts tonight, right?

Ah, homemade donuts! I have so many memories attached!

I do sometimes wonder how much I would enjoy cooking/eating if I didn't have so many food-based memories and emotions attached to cooking and eating. Perhaps if I develop dementia somewhere along the way, I'll forget my food-based memories and become a fussy eater, turning my nose up at everything except toast and tea. That's not very hard to imagine; I know many sweet souls who survive rather nicely on toast and tea. But, hey, what's the fun in that? Who wants to end their years eating toast and tea when there are so many other tasty morsels to partake of? Not me! If you're around when I am aged, please, I beg you, keep feeding me garlic and fresh cinnamon buns and hearty roast beef and the odd chai tea latte. Thanks. And, please, make sure my coffee is dark and hot with just a splash of cream.

I'm glad we have that taken care of.

So, what kind of donut memories could I possibly have that are worth sharing?

Mom ("of course", you sigh) made donuts now and then. It wasn't a regular thing - maybe once a year or so. I remember coming off the school bus and into the house to find the deep fryer set up and mom ready to roll with a donut assembly line. I am sure she planned her day so that we'd be home to help her with the job. She'd usually have them cut and finishing their second rise and would do the frying. We'd drop the hot donuts into a brown paper bag with white sugar at the bottom and shake that bag until the donuts were covered in sweet sugar. Oooooohhhh. Is there ever a more tasty donut than one just retrieved from the bottom of the brown paper bag, still steaming hot, covered with sugar? I'm drooling, and I'm really rather full right now....

I don't know why I decided to make donuts myself. I never even dreamed about making donuts until I was married and a mom. I think I figured that it was one of those "you're a mom now, you should make homemade donuts" jobs.

On the day of my first donut attempt, I searched through our church cookbook and came upon Anne R.'s recipe for spudnuts. I remember reading that it called for mashed potatoes and I stewed and stewed about that ingredient. Should it just be potatoes mashed up? Or should it be potatoes mashed up like you would for supper with butter and milk? Oh, the dilemma. Like it really would make a difference. (I did manage to figure out that garlic mashed potatoes would probably not work. Yup, I figured that out all on my own!) So, to clarify this massive donut issue, I called Anne herself and asked her that very important question. Anne was (rest in peace, Anne) a lovely Polish lady. We went back a long way; she knew my grandparents; her husband carried both of my grandparents to their grave. She was old enough to be my grandparent. And, here I was, somewhere in my 30's, asking advice from a baker who could bake anyone under the table (figuratively, of course). She was a fine baker. I remember that I told her I was trying to make donuts that day and she replied that she was too! So we chatted about the recipe and she assured me that it really didn't make any difference about the mashed potatoes being just potatoes or having milk/butter added....I'm so sorry I asked such a silly question. But I made the donuts that day and was so happy with the results. That Sunday, Anne and I discussed how our batches had turned out, and I felt like I had earned a baker's notch in my proverbial belt that day.

Another day, I decided to attempt donuts again. My long time friend, Karen, was coming for coffee and it would be so nice to share fresh donuts over a cup of coffee and a visit. Both boys were young then and by the time Karen arrived, I was terribly behind in the donut job and totally stressed out. I begged her to help me. She and I fried donuts, every speck of dough, until they were all done. I felt horrible for asking for her help that day. I probably tackled a bigger job than I was capable of that day. I sent lots home with her for her to share with her husband; she worked hard beside me until the job was done. That's a good friend for ya.

Another day I made donuts during the school break when Andrew was in, oh, maybe Grade 1 or 2? I thought I'd make donuts during the school break as a treat for Andrew. Well, a friend of his came over to play that day and Andrew really didn't care all whether I made donuts or not. The friend, however, loved the donuts and asked for SEVERAL to take home to his sisters. They even came to the door, asking for more. ~~Brazen little kids.~~ I was, of course, happy to share....

Somehow, after awhile, the donut job became less daunting. I couldn't tell you how often I made donuts during those next few years, but often enough to know that I was capable of it. So, one day, a couple of years ago, when we needed a snack for the Youth Group, I stuck my neck out and said that I'd love to make fresh donuts for the group. I felt that the kids at Youth needed to experience fresh donuts from a mom's hands. In the world of chips and dip, nachos and cheese, they needed to know that there were good, old fashioned things that were special.

The day came for me to make them. Now, you need to understand that I didn't plan to make them ahead of time; I would make them at the church and they would eat them HOT. They needed to smell the hot oil. They needed to have their fingers coated with white sugary goodness. So, at home, I made a double or triple batch (I have blocked that detail out of my mind...) and set them to rise. I then hauled everything over to the church kitchen and rolled and cut them out, batch by batch, on the big island. I heated 3 different fryers and waited for the final rise and for the kids to arrive. I had no idea how many kids would come that night, but I was pretty sure I had made enough. The time came to start frying and I became a donut making monster. Plop, plop, plop went the raw donuts into one fryer, then the next, then the next. Flip, flip, flip - over went the donuts in one fryer and then the next and then the next. Shake, shake, shake - the donuts flew from fryers into the brown paper bags filled with white sugar and/or cinnamon sugar mixed. And the platters began to fill. "Do I have enough?" I wondered. "two donuts each, that's ALL you can have...to start," I told them. I fried donuts, I fried donut holes, I fried scraps of donut dough. And they kept coming back. "Um, are we allowed to have another one?" Over and over, that was the all-important question of the night. "Sure! Help yourself!" At the end of the night, there was not one scrap of donut left in any shape or form. They ate them all, the donuts, the holes, the scraps. And I felt that they, too, had passed a rite of passage - they ate homemade donuts, hot from the fryer, made by someone who cared enough about them to make homemade donuts.

I don't think I made donuts since then but Andrew was talking about donuts the other day and, hmm, we had a day off from school and work coming up..... So I asked him if he would like to make donuts with me. He said "sure" and I made plans for today. Meanwhile, he was invited to a sleepover last night. I reminded him about the donuts and he said we still would make them. I picked him up this afternoon and asked again if he was still game and he said YES!

So, tonight, Andrew and I made donuts. And he was such a donut baking trooper. We have passed another rite of passage - he and I made donuts together, as in, we worked side by side and got the job done. He helped make the dough, he rolled them out and cut them out and fried them and flipped them and placed them in the brown paper bags filled with sugar/cinnamon sugar and shook his heart out until they were covered with sweet sugary goodness.

And he added a new dimension to the tradition. He googled and found an awesome recipe for chocolate glaze for them. Here it is:

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk/cream
1 Tbsp corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla

Melt together in a sauce pan. When melted, add in 4 squares of sweetened chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted. Take off the heat and whisk in, slowly, 2 cups of icing sugar. Return to the heat (low) and stir until the mixture is fluid. Dip the donuts one by one into the chocolate and place on a cooling rack. Once the chocolate is set, keep in a cool spot for storage. I put the dipped donuts into the freezer to quick set the chocolate.

I'm going to bed a mostly content mother. The tradition of donut making with your kids continues now through my boy.

My other boy claims he doesn't like donuts. Sigh.

Can't have it all now, can we?!!

And, because someone asked, here is the donut recipe as well:

Feather Light Donuts by Anne R.

2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/2 cups warm millk
1 cup cold mashed potatoes
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
5-6 cups flour

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add potatoes, sugar, oil, salt, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and eggs. Mix well. Add enough flour to form a soft dough. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down; roll out on a flour board to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a donut cutter. Place on greased baking sheets or cloth covered cookie sheets. Cover and let rise about 45 minutes. Heat deep fryer to 375 F. Fry donuts until golden brown on both sides. Shake with sugar, cinnamon sugar, icing sugar or ice!

I Made This Up Myself...

2011-10-25T18:28:00.001-06:00

I know that I have given great (and well deserved) tributes to my sweet Mother on this blog for all of the amazing things I learned from her in the cooking department. She has taught me so much and I have so many good recipes that she deserves credit for.

This isn't one of those.

Well, okay, part of it comes from mom. But the premise, nope, I made it up myself.

Well, in essence, I didn't make the premise up.....

Okay, here's the story.

Chicken and dumplings. Enough said.

I did not grow up with chicken and dumplings. I grew up with chicken. I grew up with dumplings. I did NOT grow up with chicken and dumplings. Dumplings, at our house, were reserved for stew and maybe ??? soup?

But, I've heard so much about "chicken and dumplings". It sounds so....so....so downhome good. So it seems like a "mom thing" to make. Like making your kids drink their milk and eat their vegetables - all good mothers should serve chicken and dumplings now and then, for goodness sake.

I did talk to my mom about the notion but, hey, we were both a little clueless about what the meal actually means in terms of 'how to'. We tossed a few ideas back and forth and then I think, within a short time of each other, we both attempted our own individual version of it.

Yesterday was a day that called for Chicken and Dumplings. We all needed some comfort food.

My idea of Chicken and Dumplings includes the following:

I like to use chicken pieces. I had a few chicken thighs and a couple of chicken breasts in the freezer. I cut the breasts in to small (4-5 bites/piece) pieces. None of the chicken was completely thawed when I started, and I started the process somewhere around 2:30 in the afternoon.

Now, before I go on, I have to give a disclaimer here. *I like chicken on the bone*. There is someone in my family (who shall remain nameless but is my father-in-law) who does not like chicken on the bone. He has voiced his deep thoughts on the financial value of chicken-on-the-bone versus chicken breasts on more than one occasion. He is convinced that chicken breast is a better value in the $$ department, because you're getting all chicken and no bone. That may indeed be true. I, however, LOVE chicken on the bone. There is more flavor, the meat is moister, and cooks up more tenderly (grammar?) without overcooking. And, to prove my point, the chicken breast that I cooked in this dish yesterday was dry and stringy by the time I served it. The chicken on the bone was, well, falling-off-the-bone tender and delicious. But, different strokes for different folks. We're entitled to our own preferences in all things chicken.

And everything else, for that matter.

So, anyway, back to the pot. I used a nice heavy, cast iron dutch oven. Into the hot pot went a reasonable amount of olive oil, one onion, diced, and the chicken pieces, seasoned with salt and pepper and generously sprinkled with chicken bouillon. I sauteed them long enough to bring a bit of color to the chicken. Once they were lightly browned, I added enough water to the pot to pretty well cover the chicken and then turned the heat down to keep a low simmer going.

Then I walked away and did a bunch of other, somewhat boring things not worth writing down that may have included going grocery shopping and other such things.

About half an hour before supper (we ate around 5:30-6 p.m.) I turned the heat back up, made a flour/water roux and added that to the broth and brought it back to a good boil. When the broth/roux had thickened into gravy, I added the dumplings on top of the broth, covered the pot, kept the heat at a steady boil and walked away again for 20 minutes.

20 minutes passed and supper was ready!

It was food for the soul. It fed us and nourished us....

Ever have one of those meals that was "filling"? As in, it filled my tummy, but there was no tastiness/satisfaction attached?

This meal satisfied. Like a tonic.

So, that's my version of chicken and dumplings. Does anyone else out there make chicken and dumplings? If so, what's your recipe? Please share!

And, to give credit to dear Mother again (are there any royalties involved in this for her?), this is her dumpling recipe. I think perhaps these are categorized as baking powder dumplings - there are other dumplings that don't seem to rise like these do. Again, different traditions, right?

Dumplings

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp shortening
3/4 - 1 cup milk

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening to make crumbs (I actually used margarine this time with good results). Add in 3/4 cup milk and stir briefly with a fork. Add enough of the remaining milk to make the dough hold together. Drop by spoonful on top of simmering broth/gravy. Cover and steam for 20 minutes and DON'T LIFT THE LID. OR YOU WILL DIE!!!

Oh, sorry. I got carried away there for a minute.

Don't lift the lid - because Mom said so.

;)

For YOU....and You Know Who You Are!

2011-10-13T16:41:00.000-06:00

Well, well, well. My first "can you write a blog about _______________" request happened today!

I won't write a blog on request for just anybody.

Has to be someone special.

Now, moral dilemma, do I write this blog/share this recipe because the person is really special....

.....or because she obviously needs the help/recipe?

She asked me for a recipe today. She said "hey Maureen! (or something engaging like that) Can you blog about your recipe for AIR MILE BISCUITS? You gave me the recipe and I lost it."

Okay - you decide:

is she really special?
or does it seem she really needs the help?

"AIR MILE" BISCUITS? Really? And I gave you the recipe once and you lost it?

Tut tut.

I think she needs the help.

;)

Kidding, she IS very special, too. One of a kind, even. But for dignity's sake, let's just leave her name anonymous and simply mention that she is ~~an LPN at who works at HBH who lives not that far from me and we've worked together for many years and have shared a lot of laughs and great moments~~ kind of silly AND also a very great friend!

For her, and for the rest of you who might be mildly interested, here is the recipe for....

MILE HIGH BISCUITS (aka "Air Mile Biscuits", at least to ~~Alanna~~ my anonymous friend)

3 cups flour
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp salt
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup milk

Mix the dry ingredients together and cut in the shortening until it resembles crumbs. Mix the egg (slightly beaten) with the milk and add to dry ingredients. Stir to mix, then knead briefly until well combined. DO NOT OVER-MIX OR OVER-HANDLE. Roll out to 3/4 inch thick, cut into circles or squares or whatever shape floats your boat, and bake at 450 F for 12 minutes. That is one hot oven!

Seriously, these biscuits are wonder biscuits for me - they have never failed yet. They always come out nice and fluffy and rise well. And they were a great addition to last night's borscht!

Enjoy your week off, Ms. Anonymous! And get busy baking!

Just Like Mom

2011-10-12T19:35:00.002-06:00

My mom is a wonderful cook.

When we were growing up, we had everything when it came to good food. Everything = farm raised beef, pork, chickens, turkey and all organic (ha ha ha ha ha - organic = garden grown) vegetables. We were organic before there was organic. Our animals were grain fed and enjoyed their summer trips to the grassy pastures. Our gardens were never sprayed with chemicals, but were fed yearly with compost and well rotted cow manure. We never used Round Up to get rid of weeds; we picked them out one by one with our fingers and chopped their wicked heads off with a hoe.

On top of the fresh produce and meat, we had a wood cook stove in the kitchen. I never used to think it made much of a difference. Now I dream about loaves of bread browned from the heat of a wood stove - there was something in the flavor that you can't get out of an electric stove.

This post is making me feel old.

Anyway, back to my mom. She has always been a good cook and was definitely the person who inspired me to both cook AND enjoy cooking. I remember how she taught me. Besides all of the times when I had to help her with cooking and learned by watching, there was another way that she taught me how to cook.

She got a job.

And when she got a job, there was no one else to cook but me! She would write out in simple point form the "how to's" of making scalloped potatoes, macaroni with meat sauce, chili, etc., etc., etc. I remember even cooking for my aunts and uncles one time when they had to meet at our farm over some family business - I was a young girl, and they were pretty impressed that I had gone to the bother of a hot cooked meal. I shrugged it off as "it's nothing", but really, inside, I was bursting with pride that I had pulled off a meal for several people, and guests at that.

So when I left home, cooking for myself never intimidated me. I was reasonably proficient and very interested in experimenting with new foods.

New foods are easy - no precedent has been set. You get what you get and either you like it or you don't like it.

Trying to cook like mom - that's scary! You KNOW what mom's cooking tastes like and either your version of it measures up or it doesn't.

I've probably spent most of my grown up life trying to replicate some of mom's meals. My buns are good, but they aren't mom's. My stew - also good, but not mom's either. Tender beef steak - can't do it the same. Ben frequently reminds me "nope, not as good as Nana's" when it comes to things that both she and I cook. And that's okay. I can take it.

But, there are some things that really need to resemble mom's cooking. Foods that are family traditions, that represent "us", the familiar, the expected, the hand-me-down flavors of the generations.

Borscht is one of those things. I know that there are lots of good borscht recipes out there. But I want to make borscht like my mom.

Here is her version.

Let's call it:

Annie's Borscht (no one calls her Annie except her Ukrainian nieces and nephews, so we'll add it here to make the recipe authentic ;) )

12 cups beef broth
Beef from soup bone or stewing beef, small cubes, browned
1 onion, chopped
2-3 medium beets, shredded
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1-2 carrots, shredded
1 medium potato, shredded
2-3 whole tomatoes, chopped OR generous squirt of ketchup
1/2 cup (or more) vinegar OR dill pickle juice (I favor the dill pickle juice)
1-2 Tbsp dried dill (or fresh from the garden in season)
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients together and let simmer for a couple of hours to let the flavors meld. When nearly ready to serve, take about 4 cups of soup out of the pot and add cream milk to the 4 cups and stir to temper. When tempered, add it all back to the soup pot and stir to blend. May serve with a dollop of sour cream.

A few notes:
* one time when I made borscht, I couldn't get the right amount of tang/sour to the soup, no matter how much vinegar/pickle juice I added. My conclusion was that I may have used too many beets. Beets, being naturally sweet, sweetened the soup to the point that I couldn't counteract the sugar content enough to balance the flavors. Even though it's tempting to use a generous amount of beets, don't! Today I used one small beet and half of a large beet. The balance was much better.

* I saw a great recipe on TV years ago for making beef broth and I used that technique today. Take beef soup bones and place in a large, flat roaster along with a roughly cut onion (quartered is good), 2-3 carrots roughly cut, a couple of ribs of celery, salt and pepper and completely cover it all with water. Place the roaster in a very slow (250 F) oven for 8-10 hours and walk away. Do not cover the pan. The resulting broth is rich and flavorful with virtually no effort on your part. There is less foam in the end product and much better flavor than when you boil bones. The meat is tastier. You can do this in a slow oven over night and be ready to make the soup the next day. Discard the bones and vegetables; let the broth sit on the counter for a couple of hours and the fat rises to the top for easy skimming.

* Some people use pork for the soup base as well. Pork ribs are good, apparently. I think you would want to make sure you got the fat skimmed off very well.

For the record, mom and I have developed a mutual respect for each other's cooking over the years. Several years ago, I made roast beef for her and dad when they came to visit, using my own slow cooker method. I knew the roast beef was good but I didn't give it any more thought.

A few weeks later, she told me "I've been trying and trying to make a roast beef that is as good as yours was, but I just can't get it right".

I've been living on that compliment for years!

Love you Mom!

Note To Self

2011-10-11T20:28:00.000-06:00

Once in awhile, I stumble across a good recipe that I enjoy very much but forget about very quickly because my head is too full of other important stuff.

True story.

So, this post is just for me. It will be my "note to self" prompt whenever the words "roast" and "turkey" come up in conversation. I'll say "what a minute! I think I wrote a blog post about that one time!" and will scurry through my list of posts and come up with this genius recipe that I made for Thanksgiving 2011 and loved too much to forget.

We spent Thanksgiving alone this year and that was just fine for us. It's been busy here lately and it was nice to not travel and fit a bunch of (very much enjoyed) visiting in over the course of a few days. I worked a Night shift on Sunday night so we decided to eat our turkey Saturday night. I asked the boys for some of their favorite foods so that I could be sure to include some hits for them in with the meal.

On Monday, Dean happened to mention that the item he loves most for Thanksgiving dinner is pumpkin pie. Hmm. I wish he would have told me that Saturday....there would have been some on the table for him. That would have been a particularly nice gesture on my behalf, thoughtful even, considering he doesn't like roast turkey.

How did I end up with a spouse who doesn't love turkey? I really enjoy making turkey dinner. I like the planning, the anticipation, the bird slowly roasting over the afternoon and making its' sudden "I'm done" declaration when the skin is browned just right and the drumsticks fall in surrender to the heat of the oven. I like the mad rush of getting the gravy done and mashing the potatoes, dishing everything up, keeping things hot and sitting down to a loaded table that groans under the aromas of roasted bird, dill pickles, hot vegetables, cool salads, with some luscious dessert peeking at you from the counter nearby with the teapot ready to dispense a lovely warm blend to finish the night. Sigh.

Unfortunately, the last turkey I roasted at the end of August was a dud. A very disappointing dud. I think I seriously under-seasoned it, but even the texture was just "uck". Nearly caused me to doubt my ability to cook a decent turkey and it just reassured Dean that turkey is indeed a flawed ingredient.

I have to make a believer out of him yet.

So, this time, I happened to be paging through a magazine that happened to be featuring Pioneer Woman. I don't love all of her recipes, but I do like a lot of them so I sat up and paid attention when I read the title of the turkey recipe. Truthfully, I didn't even end up following her recipe, but that's where the inspiration started that sent me on a Google search for a "Turkey Brine" recipe.

Wow, there are a lot of turkey brine recipes!

I remember my cousin, Janet, brining a turkey at a reunion a few years ago but she deep fried that turkey so I don't think I made the connection that a person could brine any ~~old~~ (woops, YOUNG IS BETTER) turkey on any occasion! By the way, according to Dean, that deep fried turkey is still the best turkey he's ever eaten. ... and another sigh escapes my lips....someday he'll like my turkey too.... ;)

As I said, there are a lot of brine recipes and some of them take the flavor in a totally different direction than I would have thought of, particularly by using orange juice, apple juice, orange zest/rind, etc., in the brine. Maybe I'll try going in that direction next time. For this time, Thanksgiving 2011, this was my recipe:

Turkey Brine

2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp EACH dried rosemary, dried sage and dried thyme
1-2 tbsp black peppercorns

Bring all of the above ingredients to a boil and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool to room temperature. I did this step the day before I was ready to start the brine process; you could do it the morning of the brine day, or flash cool it in the freezer if you have time to fuss with that. My work schedule didn't allow me those options so I prepared it on Thursday.

For brining the turkey, you need to allow at least 1 hour per pound of turkey of brining time. My turkey was a small 10 pound turkey, so I needed to brine the turkey for a minimum of 10 hours. I started to brine my turkey Friday night in the later evening. Place your thawed turkey in a pot large enough to hold the turkey in an upright position. Pour the prepared brine over the turkey. Now add enough cold water to the brine so that the turkey is completely submerged. Put it in the fridge until you are ready to start cooking the turkey.

On Saturday when I was ready to start cooking my turkey, I drained all of the brine off (throw it away) and then rinsed the turkey very well. I've been told that this rinsing step is ultra important. Once all of the brine is rinsed off, place the turkey in the roaster and don't add any other seasonings. Let it roast per usual (my little 10 pound turkey took about 3 hours at 350 F).

I found the end results to be far more flavorful than normal. In fact, even the boys commented that it was more flavorful than usual. That strikes me as a substantial marker for success.

Here's a couple of things to consider:
1. I did read that you could brine the turkey in 2 turkey bags (instead of a pot) - one to hold the brine and turkey in, and the second bag for insurance against leakage. I've never used turkey bags so can't speak from experience on how well they work.
2. My fridge was full, so I used a large pasta pot to hold the turkey and brine in and then placed that in my camping cooler surrounded by ice. Worked very well.
3. Feel free to add to/change the list of seasonings (other than you need to keep the sugar/salt/liquid ratio the same). If you don't like rosemary, don't use it. I wasn't sure about the thyme, but I did like it. Whatever seasonings/herbs you like to use to flavor your turkey with - add them to the brine and be creative! But, they say that you need to keep the salt content up, enough salt so that a raw egg would float in the water, and that's why it's so important to rinse the brine off. The turkey was NOT salty, by the way.

I'll be interested to hear if any of you have used this method already and what your results have been! And if I start talking turkey in the next few months, remind me to re-read my own post!

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

2011-10-05T20:07:00.001-06:00

I have had a lot of things to think about this week and the phrase that keeps crossing my mind is "ordinary to extraordinary".

Yesterday, I had a chance to spend some time in the afternoon with Ben in the back yard. He asked me to jump on the trampoline and, for once, I decided to join in on the fun instead of be buried in my chores. The day was sunny and warm, the leaves were (and still are) a beautiful color. The air smells of autumn. We laid on our backs and tried to imagine what the clouds looked like but, truly, there weren't any clouds to speak of so we really had to use our imagination on the one little wispy puff of cloud that there was in the north east. We jumped on the trampoline and made up challenges and giggled and laughed our way through the time we spent together. Lots of hugs later, we had exhausted our imagination and (my) energy and the normal day resumed.

Yesterday, it seemed rather ordinary to do that.

Today, it seems extraordinary. The sunny day. The fresh giggles. The free time with no other demands gasping for attention.

Yesterday Andrew helped me dig all of the carrots out of the garden so that he could work on his BMX bike trail through my garden (Lord help me). He worked hard with me and we sat together at supper talking about stuff and sharing some laughs over silly things that neither one of us remembers today.

Yesterday, it seemed rather ordinary to communicate like that with him.

Today, it seems extraordinary. The easy laughter, the companionship with my maturing 12 year old, as we worked together and talked and shared.

This weekend we celebrated my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Many things seemed to jump from ordinary to extraordinary that day. We prepared an ordinary meal, homemade. People gave many compliments on the food that seemed ordinary to us and somehow became extraordinary to the guests. We took an ordinary facility, and with a few golden touches, made it into an extraordinary reception room. Ordinary people came and filled the ordinary reception room and all of a sudden we were in the midst of a very extraordinary event.

And then there was the ordinary couple that we were there to honor.

I grew up thinking that my life was very ordinary. Normal. Maybe we even headed slightly to the left of center, being a simple farming family. We didn't HAVE much. We worked hard. Our parents were home every day - normal, right? We always had plenty of food, didn't everybody? We didn't fight but that must be normal, too. We grew up and left home and maintained very happy, loving relationships with our parents. We have always wanted to be with them. They seemed to want to be with us.

Mom and dad retired and had more time together. How will they cope with that?, I wondered. Hmm, they seem to be loving it. They have a never ending list of things to do together that they enjoy. They enjoy each other's company. Last year, when neither one of us could make it "home" for Christmas on Dec. 25, they said "we have each other, we'll be fine!" Is this normal?

And with a few simple glances back at our humble roots over the course of preparing this celebration, I have realized that this couple of 50 years is rather extraordinary. I see that they provided me with an extraordinary childhood. I see that they have exemplified an extraordinary marriage relationship. I see that they have given me an extraordinary upbringing. They have instilled in me an extraordinary belief in lengthy, HAPPY, extraordinary marriages.

It seems that I have been extraordinarily blessed with my heritage - and there's nothing more that an ordinary girl like me can say about that!! ;)

Ordinary to extraordinary - it's all how you look at it!

There Was An Old Lady....

2011-09-15T17:57:00.000-06:00

All day today I've been thinking of the poem called "There Was An Old Lady". (This has nothing to do with my work and has everything to do with my home.) The poem starts innocently enough:

"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly,

I don't know why she swallowed a fly,

I guess she'll die."

Soon, for the old lady, one thing leads to another, and swallowing the fly leads to swallowing a spider, which leads to swallowing a bird....and on and on it goes, until the old lady swallows a host of things:

"There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat...
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog...
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat...
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse -
She's dead, of course."

That old lady got carried away!

Today, I am that lady. I got carried away.

I tried to write a poem, stealing the poetic form from the old lady, but, hey, this is how the first stanza would have gone. I got stuck immediately.

"There was a young lady who planted a zucchini,

I don't know WHY she planted a zucchini,

I guess she'll _____?????????_____________"

Verse 2:

There was a young lady who had an apple tree,

I don't know WHY she had an apple tree.

She planted the apple tree to use the zucchini,

She planted the zucchini to feed the boys,

She had the boys to "_______????????_______".

I don't know WHY - she'll probably cry.

THE END.

Today's task was simply to bake a birthday cake for Dean. But here, in picture format, is the way the day went down:

1. Since I am going to do some baking, I should use some of those apples to make applesauce so that I can substitute applesauce for oil, seeing that I'm adding lots of moisture with other ingredients. Full pot of Applesauce complete - the world is my oyster! I'm saving money!

2. Before I get busy with Dean's birthday cake, I've been staring at all of those zucchini and dreaming about a chocolate zucchini cake. If I make that today, we can eat it tonight with supper and for snack and the boys might eat some, too!! Chocolate Zucchini Cake done.

3. Better not forget to get that birthday cake on the go for Mr. Dean. *Mystery Birthday Cake* done!

4. You know, there's lots of zucchini left and so many apples to deal with. How about I make an apple zucchini cake and take it to work on Monday! That would be fun! Better Google "apples", "zucchini" and "cake" and see if there is any such thing. Yup! Okay, here we go! Apple Zucchini Cake turned out nice!

5. Hey, I got a great idea! Why don't I bake through this 5 gallon pail of apples today?!!!!!! That is a great challenge!!!! What else can I make? Muffins! Hmm, I wonder if there is such a thing as apple zucchini muffins? Google search time again. Yup! Recipe says it will make 12, seems it made more.... I'll freeze them and take them to work for my coffee break. 22 Apple Zucchini Muffins ready to freeze.

6. Wow, 5 gallons is a lot of apples. What else could I make? That's lots more baking that I need to do... but I have to do it, it's such a good idea. Hey, I could make a Deep Dish Apple Pie, seeing that I still have one more pie crust left to use up in the fridge. Bonus, the recipe calls for 10 CUPS of apples! That should put a dent in the pail of apples.

7. Leftover scraps of pie crust! Cinnamon/sugar crusts coming right up! Darn, wish I could add apples and zucchini to this...

8. Okay, as a "nod" to my dear brother-in-law, Marc, I wonder if there is such a thing as Apple Scones? Time for another Google search. Wow! Sure enough! Mixed and ready, wish that would have made a bigger batch....wish I would have doubled the batch. Only took 2 small apples. I still have a ways to go with this pail of apples.... Don't think I'll even try adding zucchini to this. Wow, Andrew has already eaten almost a quarter of the batch.

9. Okay, this is IT. One last recipe. Do you think there might be a recipe for apple zucchini loaf? Last Google search. I'm wiped. Getting closer to the bottom of the apple pail... Apple and Zucchini Loaf coming right up. I'm getting dizzy. I think I'm a bit nauseous. I think I have a bit of a headache. I think I missed lunch...

I went from this......

To this......

I have made an executive decision, that, in spite of the fact that there are a handful of apples left at the bottom of the pail, I REACHED MY GOAL of baking through a 5 gallon pail of apples in a day!

Tomorrow - APPLE JUICE!!!!!!!!

Not.

Want one of those recipes? Ask me tomorrow. I'm too tired to post one today, thanks.

Quiet Moments In The Night

2011-09-12T18:55:00.000-06:00

The hallway is dark and the place is quiet. The wakeful moments of existence, looking different for each body here, have come to a quiet close and peaceful sleep pervades the atmosphere. I quietly attend to the people, one by one, trying to remind myself that the brisk pace of the day shift is not welcome here in the night. Night time is for rest, for the body, for the soul, for the spirit. Much courage is required from these old souls to live. They need their rest. They need some peace.

The last gentle soul's eyes lit up when she saw me. We have grown a loving friendship. She tells me how good it is to see me and how glad she is that I've come back home. Then she giggles and smiles, realizing that it is not my home that brings us together, but it is her home. I am, though, for the moment, family to her. I smile at the little slip up that she's spoken, knowing that someone who loves her, whether family by blood or by bond, will bring comfort to her as the night stretches before her. And I do love her.

As I tend to the next soul in the next room, I am aware that I've woken her from her rest. Oh that these medicines that heal and comfort and relieve pain could be given at another time, but the night may become unendurably uncomfortable if that were done. It seems that being in peaceful rest must be more important.

I stand in the hallway, making my marks in the book, accounting for each step of care that I've taken. I hear a gentle voice that causes me to stop all my markings and listen.

The room across the hall contains a quiet spirited gentleman who asks for little. He has spent his life alone. His days are now spent in his wheelchair, sitting in front of a cd player that plays old country tunes for most of the day. His smiles are golden, his gratitude always present no matter how small the service.

It is this humble man that is causing me to stop and listen. I strain to hear clearly, and stand outside his door long enough to hear....

..."thou wilt find a solace there".....

He's been singing to himself, lying in his bed, in the dark. I heard his voice, gruff, quiet, not missing neither word nor note.

It's like he wanted to sing a blessing over his spirit this night.

Or perhaps he wanted to remind himself that he has a friend in Jesus.

Perhaps he was reminiscing in his spirit, remembering songs, promises, lessons of faith from long ago.

Perhaps these faith things were, even, still ARE the things that bring him peace as he settles to sleep at night.

I am an intruder tonight in his private moment of worship. But the sound of his gruff voice, as he laid there and sang without fear or hesitation, has stuck with me all through my awake moments today. I think perhaps I was invited to participate. I think perhaps I was asked to hear, not only with my ears, but with my soul. To listen to the assurance he sang with his mortal weakness and eternal strength.

Peace to you tonight. Peace to him. Peace to me. Peace to us all.

That's Amore, eh?

2011-08-30T18:15:00.000-06:00

When the moon hits your eye
Like a big-a pizza pie
That's amore

There are a lot of pies happening in this house today, and let me tell you, that's amore. As in, that's not necessarily the food of love, but definitely a labor of love on my part.

I don't like making pies.

If you were to invite me to a potluck meal and if you asked me to bake a cake, I'd say "sure!" If you asked me if it would be a bother to make a cheesecake, I'd say "not at ALL! What kind would you like?" If you asked for a trifle, or a batch of cookies, or a tiramisu, or a layered jello dessert, or any such similar dessert option, I'd be delighted.

However, if you asked me to bring a pie, I'd cry for mommy.

I CAN bake pies. I know HOW to make pies. I'm even pretty good at pies. But I don't like making pies.

I think pies are high maintenance, really. All that "make sure your ingredients are chilled" and "only add enough liquid until it just comes together" and "don't handle the dough too much or it will be tough" - I don't know. That seems kinda high maintenance to me. There is no mercy with pie. No leniency that "if your ingredients aren't chilled it will all work out". No casual "add about 1 cup of liquid". Nope. Just rules, rules, rules, and you never know when you've crossed the line of too much liquid or handling or whatever until it's too late!!! Yeesh. I don't mind sticking to the rules in pretty much anything in life, but I don't like crossing that invisible line without knowing it. It's like the police officer who gives you a speeding ticket and tells you "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, we changed the speed limit on this road but we didn't put up the sign but you get the ticket even though you didn't know you were speeding." That's the same notion with pie crust. "Your pie crust is a complete failure because you added too much liquid and rolled it out too vigorously, but there's really no way to know that you added too much liquid or rolled it out too much until you sit down to taste it." WOW! Is that ever a lot of pressure to work under. And I don't like pressure.

Oh I know, there are some pie crust professionals out there. You're laughing at me right now, because there probably IS some way of getting the feel for pie crust. But frankly, I'm not interested because there is only one pie per year that I have to make and that's Peach Pie.

And that's what got me going on this pie theme today. The summer cannot pass by without one good feed of Peach Pie. I stumbled on the recipe quite a few years ago and, I don't know, it beckons to me every summer. A summer without Peach Pie is an opportunity wasted and that's a pressure I admittedly bow to pretty well every summer.

So, to make a long story longer, I bought my peaches on Friday and determined to make my pie during this week. Then my parents decided to come and visit me, they'll be here tomorrow. Then, on Sunday, I cooked a turkey. A big turkey. And then the whole pie thing just went silly on me.

My (short) Pie To-Do List This Morning:

1. Make a Peach Pie sometime.

2. Make a Peach Pie for Mom and Dad's visit on Wednesday.

3. Decide what to serve Mom and Dad for dinner on Wednesday. (think, think, think - leftover turkey...)

4. Decide that if I'm going to make Peach Pie for Mom and Dad's visit on Wednesday, I could try making a turkey pot pie for their dinner on Wednesday as well.

5. Realize that I will need to make a full batch of pie crust.

6. Hmm, if I have to cut up all of that turkey for the turkey pot pie, I may as well cut some up and make something for supper tonight. Hey how about.....

7. BBQ chicken (TURKEY) pizza!!!

8. Make pizza dough and let it rise.

9. Make big batch of pie crust. Chill.

10. Cut up turkey. Set aside.

11. Mix up ingredients for turkey pot pie filling. Set aside.

12. Peel peaches and mix up filling ingredients, getting it all wrong because I mis-read the instructions.

13. Go to Wal-Mart with Ben to pick something up. Oh, never mind, that's got nothing to do with pie.

14. Roll out pizza dough and finish assembling the toppings, enlisting help from hubby, because, after all, this pie thing is getting demanding.

15. Put the pizza pie in the oven. One for adults, one for kids.

16. Roll out the pie crust and fill it with the now-watery peach pie filling.

17. Take the pizza out of the oven. Call the family.

18. Put the Peach Pie in to the oven which is too hot, and realize that the filling will likely run all over the bottom of the oven, but it's too hot to fiddle with a tin foil "catcher".

19. Sit down, realizing that I don't feel like eating pizza pie or anything, for that matter.

Darn pie.

Well, it's too late. I did it. I made the pies. I smell the Peach Pie baking right now, and it smells pretty good. And I'll survive getting the rest of the turkey pot pie together tomorrow.

But don't count on getting any pie from me again, until, oh say, about next summer when peaches are in season again. And if you ever DO get a pie from me, be assured, it is a labor of love.....amore!! It could be one of my highest expressions of affection for you because there's no way I'd do that pie thing just for fun.

I close, making the most of this day, having sprinkled my face generously with a dash of flour, singing along with Dean Martin "When the moon hits your eye, like a big-a pizza pie, That's amore!!!" Can't you picture it?!! ;)

PEACH PIE

10 fresh peaches, pitted, peeled and sliced

1/3 cup flour

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup butter

Pastry for a double crust pie..

1. Mix flour, sugar and butter into crumb stage.

2. Place one crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Line the shell with some sliced peaches. Sprinkle some of the butter mixture on top of the peaches, then put more peaches on top of the crumb mixture. Continue layering until both the peaches and crumbs are gone.

3. Top with second layer of pie crust, either in lattice strips, or with a full layer of crust, venting the shell.

4. Brush small amount of coffee cream on the top crust and sprinkle a small amount of sugar on top.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until crust is golden. Allow pie to cool before slicing.

Another "First" Under Our Belts

2011-08-29T13:21:00.001-06:00

Well, we did it. We got the kids back to school for another year. Another "first day" in the new classroom, with the new teacher, with the new grouping of kids.

Andrew is in Grade 7 this year so he moved to a new wing of the school where he will have a locker and a bit more recess freedom than previously. A mother can only worry just a bit about that freedom. I mean, really? Do we really want to give Jr. High kids more freedom? I tease. Andrew is ready for it; hope the other Grade 7's are as well. And, for heaven sakes, I hope he remembers his combination for his locker.

Ben has moved into Grade 5 and has a teacher that Andrew never had, so it will be a welcome adventure to become acquainted with her. Two of Ben's most loyal friends are in his classroom; that makes me very happy.

Our family tradition has always been for both Dean and I to go with the boys on their first day of school to find out who their teachers are, who is in their class, etc. It's been a chance to visit with other parents and to get a wee taste of that first day of school excitement.

This year, we were not invited to come. Our presence was not desired. Not even a little bit.

Yup, they're growing up.

But we went anyway, we just made it a very quick trip. Quick glance at Ben's class list, said good-bye, and then moved on. Went inside to find which classroom Andrew was in (were we truly the only Grade 7/8 parents that did that? Maybe we ARE geeks), did not even look his way (or at least he didn't catch me). Shook hands with the principal, introduced ourselves to A's teacher, talked about how Andrew is one year away from being the Senior class of the school, shook our heads at that thought....and left.

Okay, just one very, teeny tiny, small lump in my throat.

I always do that. I feel sad on the first day of school. It isn't just that I'm having separation issues. Frankly, this year, I was quite happy to have them return to school. But it's the marking of another milestone, another year under their belts, one more step away towards adulthood, one more step away from mom. Those are healthy steps. I'm glad my boys are capable, well developed kids who can grow up and step away from us. That is a good thing! But that doesn't mean it doesn't catch me every now and then.

So, I find myself doing what I love to do on the first day of school - planning what to feed those boys when they get home! I love to honor this day, this day of "firsts" for them, with familiar smells and tastes of home. As if they would forget that quickly?!! I'm thinking about Texas brownies for their after school snack and spaghetti & shrimp for supper.

Our "Spaghetti and Shrimp" supper was Dean's brain child, inspired by some Food Network Show several years ago. It has become our favorite go-to comfort food meal. I think it's the smell of the sauteing garlic that draws everyone in. The following is less a recipe, and more a ? procedure ? directive ?

Spaghetti and Shrimp a la Dynna

Cook enough spaghetti to feed your family. Simple enough?

While the spaghetti is cooking, saute 4, 5 (6, 7, 8 ??) cloves of garlic, finely minced, in several tablespoons of olive oil. Really, several tablespoons. Don't skimp!

When the garlic is soft, add in a generous handful of bacon pieces (not the crunchy artificial bacon bits, but the bits of real bacon, or else use leftovers of bacon from breakfast, ha ha, like there ever is any) and let them cook together. Sprinkle in a couple of pinches of crushed red pepper flakes.

Add in a shrimp ring and saute until the shrimp are pink and curled.

To the drained spaghetti, add in the entire contents of the garlic pan (i.e. do NOT drain the olive oil off) and toss. There is no "sauce" for this pasta - the oil mixture will distribute through the pasta and lightly coat it. And that's all the sauce you need. If the pasta looks a bit dry, add a bit more olive oil directly to the pasta and toss some more.

Sprinkle with plenty of freshly grated Parmesan cheese; grate some fresh pepper on top of that and serve it up. Mmm. Comfort food at its' best!

I'm willing to bet that this will be a meal that the boys will be cooking for themselves when they get their first apartment. And I'm willing to bet that there just may be more than one teeny weeny lump in my throat on that occasion. But maybe they'll invite me for supper?

To A Summer Friend

2011-08-15T14:31:00.001-06:00

To a summer friend....

I want you to know that I realize that the summer is coming to a close, and we are probably both a little disappointed in the results of our summer relationship opportunities.

I know that, given where we live, we only have limited opportunity to be together and that we need to make the most of the summer months, but I think the reality is that we both let each other down this year. Sorry to say that.

If I could get inside your head, I expect you'd tell me that I wasn't there when you needed me most. And I'd have to say, you're probably right. I was busy. I'm sorry. I didn't make the time for you. Other things got in the way. And I'm sure you feel neglected. I see it when I look at you. You don't have to say a word.

And me, well, I think you could have done better, too. It doesn't seem like you are very interested in giving me much in return either. Your efforts seem half hearted, in comparison to what I've come to expect from you.

We've been friends for so long. Why, getting to spend time with you in the summer goes back a long, long time. We've been at this for many years. And I've always said, if we can't do this summer thing right, then we shouldn't do it at all. I'm starting to wonder if we should meet up again next summer? We're taking chances here. I don't want either one of us to be let down again.

Hmmm....

This is awkward. I don't like the silence I'm getting from you.

Hello? Hello?????

This is the conversation that my vegetable garden and I had this afternoon.

It was intense.

Really, the amount of vegetables that is has produced for me is, well, somewhat embarrassing. Tomatoes the size of plums. Corn plants that don't even reach my shoulders, that have the tiniest of cobs. Peas came and went and have now rotted; kaput. Beans that, well, are doing their bean thing - growing and giving and then stopping, as only beans do.

However, on the other hand, there are beautiful cucumbers and blossoms that show promise of exceeding my expectations if the season holds, tasty potatoes that can't be beat, beets (pardon the homonym segue) that are gorgeous, begging to be made into beet pickles and Nana's borscht. Onions growing bigger than they have for the last several years. And zucchini, well, how shall we describe the zucchini? My mind is already sorting through the file folders of zucchini recipes and wondering who else would like some!

I accept full responsibility for the nasty condition of my yard this year and I do extend the heartiest of apologies to my neighbors who have to look at the eye-sore that it has been. I'm truly embarrassed.

However, the choice was:
      a) Stay home and garden all summer long.
      b) Go on the trip of a life time, plus fit in a few other lovely excursions on my days off.

We chose "B".

Which determined that:
      c) My yard and garden got left in the dust, so to speak.

No regrets.

None.

Nadda.

Maybe I'll garden better when I retire.

Or....maybe I'll travel more when I retire.

Or....maybe I'll assign the boys garden duty AND go travelling without them.

Or....maybe that garden site would be a lovely spot for a garage.

Or....maybe I'll just see what comes next summer, plant again in faith, stay home just a wee bit more than I did this year for the sake of my sanity (good heavens, that is a true statement), and meet my garden relationship somewhere in the middle.

All I know is that, tonight, for supper, I will peel 4 cobs of corn that I just picked at 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, then I might dig a couple of hills of potatoes at around 5:00 p.m. After that, I'll probably wash up a couple of tomatoes that ripened on the vine that literally fell into my hands at around 1:00, peel one "Super 8" cucumber that I twisted off the vine at 1:45, pull a small onion at the last minute, and mix that all together into a lovely fresh salad with mayo with a few pinches of dillweed that volunteers to grow every year. After supper, we might dish up some vanilla ice cream and slice up a few fresh strawberries that I found peeking out from underneath the ever-bearing strawberry plants, and when they say "ever-bearing", that is a promise you can take to the bank.

That, my friend, is a recipe for good eating that I am willing to make again, and again.

Kissy-kissy, sweet garden friend. I remain...

Your Faithful Summer Friend

(and that's a promise!)

The Dichotomy of Camping

2011-08-08T16:52:00.000-06:00

Well, well, our final summer adventure has ended. We finished our annual week-long trek to Emerald Lake in our tent trailer, situated in E2, thank you very much, our favorite camping spot on the campground due to it's lack of neighbors. I so like not having neighbors when we camp. This little site is stuck out there by itself, surrounded by bush, one that you're likely to drive right on by, unless you know what you're looking for. And that's how we like it. Come in and visit if you're invited, kindly walk on by if you're not!

We had a good week. The weather was good, except a wild storm Saturday night. We had a nice combination of visitors and time alone. I loaded up the Kobo with lots of good books and managed to finish....(ahem)....one book.....I over-planned and under-read! Lots of good visiting with our friends. The kids swam and tubed and went knee-boarding. I actually beat Dean at a game of Scrabble. (Huh?) We sat by the campfire a lot, and drank campfire coffee and took turns cooking some pretty fabulous meals.

I think I'm getting over the "this place is so beautiful, I hate to leave" mentality that hounded me for the first several years of our trips there. Now I hate to leave, but it's because we're parting with good friends. Our time there with them has become very special, and we miss them when we leave. And I see that as a "good thing" to quote Ms. Stewart.

On arriving home I started to giggle at some of the opposing thoughts that cross my mind as the week progresses. Here's a few samples of the things that go through my mind:

Day 1 - "I'm going to do a lot of walking while we're here, and maybe get in better shape. Hey, I might even drop a couple of pounds! Right on!"
       Day 3 - "I'm going to have ice cream twice a day and I don't care WHAT it does to me. Hard, flavored ice cream in the afternoon, soft ice cream in the evening. It's essential!"

Day 1 - "I am SO happy to be here in my little tent trailer. I don't care HOW humble it is. It's ours. And that's all we need. A bigger trailer/cabin would just give me a bigger headache. Thank you Lord, for my tent trailer!!!"
       Day 6 - "Oh, I hate this rain...I don't care what we have to do, next year we're buying a BIG trailer. On the other hand, the cabin down the road there can't be worth much more than $250,000.00 - think of all the winter vacations we could spend here. Yup, we'll dump the tent trailer and get into something FAR more appropriate. I've had enough of tenting."

Day 3 - "I can't believe what a great tan I'm getting! Just look under my watch strap, you'll just SEE how brown I am! Can't wait to show this tan off!"
      Day 4 - "Who am I kidding? I'm not going to take my watch off to show off my tan lines....?!?!?"

Day 2 - 8:30 a.m. "I'm so glad we bought all this wood. We're going to have a camp fire EVERY NIGHT!! And roast marshmallows, make smores, pop popcorn, drink hot chocolate. Let's do it all!"
     Day 2 - 9:30 p.m. "Yaaawwwnnn. Fire? No thanks. I'm too tired."

Day 1 - "Let's splurge and take a bunch of junk food. That's the fun thing to eat while we're at the beach!"
     Day 6 - "Ugh, chips again? I need REAL food....gross..."

Day 3 - "I just LOVE being one with nature! Hello squirrels! Hello birds! You're beautiful!"
     Day 5 - "HELP!!!!    THERE'S A FROG IN THE SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!!"

Day 2 - "I can't wait to try out this new recipe! I'm going to save this supper for the end of the week and we'll all REALLY enjoy this meal that we've never tried before!"
     Day 7 - (five minutes before supper) - "I don't think we're going to like this.....and the cooler is       empty....help."

Oh boy. You might be laughing at me, but it's true. Every statement is true. I'm blushing.

But I am glad that we can escape the usual for a little bit. A change is so refreshing. It challenges us, helps us see things with fresh eyes. We dream a little, escape reality for a while, but we land back on our feet without any major damage, other than a bit of sand in our swimsuit. I am a firm believer in the joys of camping. I have never regretted a minute that we've spent camping nor a dollar that it has cost us. Excellent investment on both sides.

I DID make a meal at the lake that was previously untried. And I DID serve it on the last night that we were there. However, we DID like it (except one young diner, who shall remain nameless, who said, and I quote: "I'm being good, because I'm eating it even though I don't really like it!" She's so very sweet; I love her spirit, even though she didn't like my supper. ;)

I've made Pulled Pork many times before but Dean and I were treated to some Pulled Pork earlier in the summer that went far beyond the tastiness that I had previously achieved. We did some research, and came up with something closer to the (new) goal of flavor that we were exposed to. The only disclaimer that I can insert here is that the "best" Pulled Pork that we've eaten was made by folks from the Carolinas, and was prepared for 24 hours in a smoker, so I don't think that I will ever achieve the exact same results in a slow cooker. The recipe that I'm sharing today comes fairly close, but a really good Pulled Pork is probably one shrouded in family secrets and there's probably some mystery ingredient that people "accidentally" forget to share in a recipe. But that's okay. Maybe mine will be MY family's favorite.

With great thanks to the Pioneer Woman and her fabulous cookbook, here is:

Spicy Pulled Pork

5-7 pound pork shoulder
1 whole onion, cut in quarters
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
1 - 2 Tbsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp liquid smoke* (aha! the missing ingredient! I'm told, though, that if you add too much, it will be too salty)

Combine everything from the onions through the white wine vinegar in a food processor and pulse until combined. (I did this step at home and put it in a jar in the cooler to use several days later). When ready to cook, add the teaspoon of liquid smoke to the paste and rub it all in to the pork shoulder. Place pork and all sauce ingredients into a slow cooker and let it cook on LOW for as long as possible. (I meant to cook mine overnight at the lake but there was an unfortunate extension cord *woops*. Mine probably cooked for a total of 8 - 12 hours. Who knows, really? I was at the lake. There was no clock on the wall to check cooking times.) Drain excess liquids off the pork about halfway through and re-add as necessary to keep it from drying out. When ready to serve, shred with a fork. Some of the previously drained liquids can be added back to the pork after it is shredded. Can also be served with BBQ sauce. I like to serve it on a bun with coleslaw on the side, but that's just me!

Or, eat it with ketchup, if you are one young diner who didn't really like it,who shall still remain unnamed. ;)

One final camping dichotomy for ya, from my heart...

Day 1 - "Good-bye Prince Albert. See ya later. Glad to see you behind me. Boy, do I need a break from you."
      Day 7 - "Hi P.A.!!!! Nice to be back HOME!!!!"

Good night, from E2!!!

Suggestions?

2011-07-25T17:41:00.000-06:00

We are back from Summer 2011 Adventure #2 - Family Camp at Living Waters Camp. If you remember this post (http://makeagain.blogspot.com/2011/05/wild-ride.html) - then you have a vague notion of where we were except this time we returned under much different circumstances! No cooking required from us this time!

Dean and I and the boys have attended this camp together for several years. Truthfully, I have attended this camp pretty faithfully since I was 9 years old, minus a few years when I wasn't able to go. Can't begin to guess how many years I have wandered around that camp, looking for several things - rest, friendships, faith-deepening opportunities. And now our boys are there, experiencing the same things we have. Pretty cool.

We are so blessed to have an ever-enlarging circle of friends there - they start out as "camp friends" and some/many make their way into being "life-long friends". Over the years we've seen each other go through challenging times and good times, we watch each others' kids grow up, we laugh a lot, pray together, cry together sometimes (okay, lots of times), eat (and how!), play, sit by the fire and tell stories, read, sit on the beach .... I guess we spend a lot of time together, eh?!! That's all a part of the refreshing that IS LWC Family Camp. So nice to be surrounded by loving people. It's a beautiful place to be.

That's why it's a bit of a let-down when it's all over. You participate in life with this precious circle of people ...... and then it's all over and you come home, back to "normal" (whatever that is).

Sigh.

Oh well. I guess I need to put on my big girl pants and carry on! So glad I have such good memories to draw on, though. I am blessed.

Soon we will be leaving for our third and final Summer 2011 Adventure #3 and I'm looking for help! (We've really packed a lot into Summer 2011; it's unusual for us to be doing so much.)

Adventure #3 is simply a week at the lake in our tent trailer. What I'm looking for is suggestions for cold lunches that can be hauled to the beach. Must be kid-friendly, i.e. no salads for these Dynna sons (sorry). The "Captain Obvious" idea is sandwiches but you can only do that for so many days. I want easy prep, easy storage, easy to eat, and easy clean up.

Hmm, and I'm wondering why it's so hard to fit ideas into those categories.... ?!?!?!!!

Surely there are experienced campers out there among you! Help! Throw me your ideas! Send me your recipes!

You would hate to see me waste away from lack of food..... ;)

For A Change

2011-07-16T19:16:00.003-06:00

Wow, I took a look at the last blog entry I did here and the date was June 12. June 12!!! Yikes! What have I been doing?!!!!

Well, let's see, there was work (+++), the end of school rush, more work, packing, travelling, returning, packing and getting ready to return again.

We took a major family vacation this year to the Maritimes. I wish I could share all 1800 photos and 45 minutes of home movies with you. I'm sure you're all dying to see them ALL. Right? Right???? Ah well, we have so many stories to tell, so many memories to cherish.

I seriously don't want to bore you here with the whole schtick. But I do want to show you a wee taste of some great moments.

The boys travelled so well and were great adventurers. I think the trip was well timed as their ages alone made them great travelling companions. It also brought us together after a long, crazy year.

You know, every kid struggles and succeeds in their own way. Andrew succeeds at school, but struggled this year with a class room of kids that were hard to be close friends with. And that bothered him. All the more reason why these unsolicited poses from him meant so much to me. He was so full of JOY!

These pictures, to me, tell the story of our trip. We found something special there and we found something yet undiscovered in ourselves - the joy of adventure and, yes, still living life with that "go for it" attitude.

That is so freeing.

I guess that's why Andrew's pictures mean so much to me. He has learned to celebrate the special moments with unbridled joy. Reflects the joy already present in his spirit. I love that.

And that's a good place to be. I'm proud of him. And I'm happy with our adventures. We all had moments like this. He was the only one to be overt about them.

Not that we didn't geek out a little bit over a few other things.....like seeing the young lady in this picture:

Isn't she gorgeous? Her husband's speech wasn't too shabby either. How exciting to be there for those moments. I think the image will appear larger if you double click on it.

We came home with stories, pictures, a lot of rocks, sunburns, some shells, and more rocks, accompanied by the slight concern that our rock-laden luggage might be too heavy for the plane. But we made it!

Sigh. How I'd love to tell you every story and show you every picture. But, we're friends, right? Ask me questions and I'll tell you stories, and next time I see you, I may urge you to sit down and browse through our photo albums whether you want to or not!

For now, this time, the last picture I'll leave you with is the only picture that may even slightly be related to cooking. With fond, fond memories of our last night, on the ocean, at Shediac, NB....

The Dynna Four, Canadian Travellers.

Savory, For A Change

2011-06-12T16:59:00.000-06:00

I've been glancing at my recipe index here and realize that I have posted a lot of recipes for baking, more than for cooking. Not sure why that is, but thought I'd balance that out with something from left field today.

It's a recipe for "Radish Dip". It is currently chilling in the fridge, and I'll be taking it to work tomorrow to eat with my veggies at supper time. It seemed like a seasonal thing to experiment with, although I've given up growing radishes in my garden as I am usually the only one who eats them and they bolt and go buggy so quickly. More economical to buy them when the mood strikes. However, store bought are nothing like the hot peppery garden ones that make you sweat and call for glasses of water. Funny how those root vegetables can pack such a punch (although I believe it is of the cabbage family?? Am I right?). I saw a TV show last night where a chef shared a restaurant known for it's extremely hot......seafood sauce/shrimp cocktail....of all things. From what I saw, it was the horseradish (quantities, I'm guessing) that packed the punch on that one. Isn't it amazing how the garden produces such incredible varieties of flavors and all from dried little seeds that look lifeless.

On a side note, I believe that seafood sauce is simply a combination of horseradish and ketchup. I often keep a jar of horseradish in the fridge and make up my own if I'm planning to do a seafood appetizer. Simple. Cheaper to make your own. I always like cheap.

Here is the recipe!

Radish Dip

1 cup halved/quartered radishes
1/2 cup sliced green onion
1/4 cup fresh parsley (I had to substitute dried, I think fresh would have been much better)
Whirl in a food processor until finely processed.
Add:
1/2 block of cream cheese, softened (125 gram total)
80-90 grams of feta cheese, crumbled
2 tsp lemon juice
s and p to taste.

Mash until softened; add vegetable mix and continue to blend/mash with a fork.
Serve with raw vegetables, crackers, pita breads.

Have fun experimenting!

Fritters, Must Share

2011-06-09T09:49:00.000-06:00

Due to popular demand (well, ONE of you, thanks Janelle!), I will share the recipe for rhubarb fritters today.

We were invited to our friends' home last night for supper and a swim. They are the friends I mentioned in the last post, the ones that we have made an annual tradition of eating a good batch of rhubarb fritters with.

It was a perfect evening at their place, always is. The sun shone warmly. We all had a dip in the pool and then delved into our burgers. While the kids had a second (and third...and fourth...and fifth) swim, the coffee was made and I began frying the fritters so that we could eat them fresh out of the fryer.

Mmmm. Fritters fresh from the fryer. There are no words.

There we sat. Icing sugar flying in any and every direction, as the fritters passed from bowl to mouth.The middle of the fritter, hot as lava. Sweet as, well, sugar. Tart as, well, rhubarb! Conversation came to a brief lull. We hunched around the our icing sugar infused fritters at the picnic table with the sounds of happy children in the background, the warm sun on our faces, good coffee in the cups and the familiarity of friendship long enjoyed. And fritters.

It isn't any friend that would sit around the picnic table with you, eating rhubarb fritters. But I think that when you've been friends with someone for so long, you stop needing to impress with culinary works of art, and you start to share many things of value - hearts, family traditions, trials. And, yup, we've shared all that with them.

I'd love to share fresh, hot fritters with more of you around the table. Anyone interested?

Here's the recipe, and, again, if you're going to make them, please share with a trusted friend!

Rhubarb Fritters

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup milk
3 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 cup diced rhubarb (small dice please)

Combine dry ingredients; add the egg and milk as per muffin method. If the batter is really tight, add a small amount of milk to loosen slightly; texture should be roughly of a muffin batter. Add diced fruit. Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil, turn when brown. Drain. Dip in white OR icing sugar to eat!

P.S. I have changed the blog format. I just had to. How can one write a blog about tasty food on a bland background? I really don't have the hang of this formatting thing yet, but I think I like the change, for now anyway. Finding myself a little more every time I'm on here.

Back In The Saddle Again

2011-06-05T19:57:00.000-06:00

Here I am, sitting down to write a few thoughts, realizing that a lot of time has gone by since I've last shared here.

The past couple of weeks have contained some pretty memorable events for us. The biggest event, without a doubt, was last Wednesday night where we and 64,996 of our closest friends sat down to listen to a little entertainment by a band named U2. It was spectacular, to say the least. So amazing on so many levels. I've had a hard time lassoing just one favorite moment, but perhaps it was when the entire stadium was belting out the lyrics to "Magnificent". Oh, we sang, we danced, we batted balloons around, we did about 7-8 rounds of "the wave", we waved our cell phones in the air during a tribute to the residents of Slave Lake, and we sang some more. We battled the several-thousand-people line up for the LTR and survived! An amazing time. So thankful we had the chance to go.

In just over 3 weeks, we'll be flying to the Maritimes for our first-ever major holiday.

Dean and the boys just picked up tickets to the WWE event in Saskatoon in August. A whole group of guys are going from here. Should be fun.

One of our favorite Christian bands is coming through Saskatoon in Oct. We'll have to go to that, too.

Ben asked me the other day if we are "richer" now than we used to be, because, after all, we're doing all this cool stuff, trips, concerts, etc.

Nope. Not at all. Snort. Richer? HA!

But I think we've turned a corner, at least for the moment. I think we have finally decided to live a little and to take those opportunities when they come our way, instead of living in the world of "aw, we should have gone...". We did that for a long time. Felt like we just couldn't possibly do "fill-in-the-blank" - too much money, too much time, too difficult. And, granted, our kids are big enough now that we have a lot more freedom to go. But we've also decided that we need to just GO. And we're taking the kids with us.

I sat in the West Edmonton Mall wave pool on Thursday afternoon, part of Ben's 10th birthday celebration, and was amazed at the joyful peace that was dwelling in my spirit. We Did It! We have learned how to have fun! Congratulations to us!

It's kind of a big deal.

Sometimes you have to give a little ($$, energy, effort) to get a little (joy, peace, memories).

We're finding the pay-off to be rather profound.

Hmm. I hardly want to give you a recipe. This blogging thing does something for me, too. Sigh.

However, I called this post "Back In The Saddle" because, in spite of all of the crazy things we've been able to do, there is nothing like coming home and getting back to normal. I'm itching to clean the house and get some yard work done this week. It's beckoning me. And, today, I was itching to do a little baking.

I always enjoy using the rhubarb when it's fresh in the spring. My family grew up with a marvelous tradition of rhubarb fritters - deep fried fritters dunked in icing sugar - sugary sweet and rhubarb-y tart. MMM. We have friends that we share these with every year now, and we'll be having these together on Wed. Dean must have wondered what kind of family he got himself into upon realizing that one of our piece de resistance of the culinary sort was a deep fried fritter!! No fancy cakes for the Letkeman clan! But he loves them now too!

(and ding went my oven timer...)

Today, though, I decided to try making rhubarb scones. They have literally just come out of the oven and look wonderful! I whipped up some cinnamon butter to go with them and I think a cup of tea would be fitting as well.

Here's the recipe!

Rhubarb Scones

2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk (being adventurous, I used 1/3 cup yogurt, 1/3 cup coffee cream and 1/3 cup milk)
1 cup rhubarb, diced small, tossed with 2 Tbsp sugar

Mix the first 3 dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the butter and cut together until mixture resembles a crumbly mix. Add in the 1 cup of liquid and work quickly to combine. Add rhubarb/sugar mixture and stir to mix.

Drop by tablespoon onto greased cookie sheet. I shook a small amount of white sugar on each scone to crisp up a bit.

Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes.

Cinnamon butter - I took a couple of tablespoons of soft margarine and mixed in about 1 tsp or so of cinnamon.

If this recipe happens to be a flop, which I doubt, I shall forever be in your debt for posting a recipe AS it was baking in the oven.

And, by the way, it smells wonderful in here. It's good to be home.

Wild Ride

2011-05-24T10:32:00.000-06:00

We have been on a bit of a wild ride since Thursday! A good wild ride, but a wild ride nonetheless.

Funny how some things come along your way and just seem right.

The short version of a potentially long story is that there has been a forest fire in our area. Our church Camp is in the neighborhood of the fire and the camp was asked to house and feed the fire fighters. Our friends are the Camp caretakers and, in the process, agreed to cook for the fire fighters and asked us if we could help.

There, that's the basic story. The end.

Well, no, it's been a wild ride, really! And I have loved every minute of it!

I consider myself to be a fairly experienced cook. I can cook for 12-15 people easily. I have cooked for a group of 25-30. But this time we were asked to cook for 50 HUNGRY fire fighters (which actually turns out to be more than 50 people once you add in the security guys and all of the camp/kitchen staff and our kids). In an industrial kitchen. With the closest grocery store about 20 minutes away. And they eat at 8 p.m.

Tracy has been our head cook. She's had the tremendous job of planning the meals, getting all of the groceries, communicating with the officials, and keeping the kitchen a happy place. Wow, good job, Tracy! She's also been the unlucky soul who, along with her husband and one other Camp staff member, has been rising at 4:30 a.m. to make breakfast for these guys. We arrive later in the day and help to make sandwiches for their bag lunches and then do the supper prep, service, and clean up. On a good day, there have been 3-5 adults cooking, plus 3-4 teenagers assisting with prep and dishes.

Oh, if you could see the sandwich making process. These guys eat their breakfast around 6-6:30, leave for the fire site at 7, and don't come back to camp until 8 p.m. so they have to have a hefty lunch to take with them. One bag lunch = 4 sandwiches (8 slices of bread) of meat, cheese and lettuce; 2 pieces of fruit and a granola bar. We can't fit it all in one brown bag. We get a pretty substantial assembly line going and it takes 1-2 hours of concerted effort. 16 loaves of sandwich bread. 200 sandwiches. One loaf at a time. Individually buttered, layered, wrapped, bagged.

Tracy has planned a great variety of suppers - chicken, lasagna, pork chops, burgers. But cooking for that many people has caused us to have to re-think how to do things, just from a quantity perspective. On the night that we had pork chops, I stood at the grill for about 2 1/2 hours frying pork chops non-stop, so you have to work ahead and figure out how to keep things warm without drying them out. We had a major panic moment on our first evening when, 25 minutes prior to serving time, the chicken breasts were still pink. Can you believe that we managed to get them on the table on time?!! You get creative and learn to think on the spot and improvise. That night, we ripped the tin foil off, dumped half the mushroom sauce out of the roasters, boosted the heat and sprinkled them with onion soup mix and served (on time) completely cooked chicken breasts in a lovely sauce, lightly browned. Whew.

Did I mention that these guys are hungry fire fighters? Oh. My. Goodness. I have never seen anyone eat such massive portions in my life! 2-3-4 chicken breasts. Plates FULL of potatoes, heaped with potatoes. The lasagna night - I won't quickly forget that night! We miscalculated how many lasagnas we actually had, and so served the men single pieces, much to their disappointment. When we made the call that there were seconds in abundance, they literally flooded the serving table with plates outstretched, eagerly asking for 1 - 2 more pieces. And the plates come to the dish counter clean. The only thing they aren't always wild about is dessert. Dessert appears to be optional. They love Caesar salad.

And I got one marriage proposal as a result of making coleslaw.

Yup. It's been a wild ride!

On a serious, from-my-heart, note - I am grateful for where the last year has brought us. You see, last year at this time, I was a completely burned out and broken soul. There were a lot of reasons for that, which don't really matter any more, but I was in such a broken place. We needed to pull apart from everything familiar and re-group, rest, try to put ourselves in a place where we could be restored. That wasn't easy. One of the places that we came to do all that was Camp last July. God, in His immensely loving way, brought us some of that restoration while we were there.

Another area that has healed my broken spirit has been that of finding fresh perspectives - via new/redeveloped friendships, new ways of thinking that had to come from my soul via letting go of the past, and new interests.

So, for me to return to Camp to cook (and not sing) for hungry fire fighting men with new friends - do you see why I am so grateful? I feel like this weekend has been the culmination of a long journey, as if God Himself arranged this weekend to remind me of how firmly He has set me on new ground.

Yup, it's been a wild ride indeed. No recipe for this post. Just stories, memories and a piece of my heart.

Sometimes You Have To Go The Extra Mile

2011-05-18T10:12:00.000-06:00

It seems we have all been going in a lot of directions around our house lately. The boys have been having a few school adventures that I have missed because I've been at work. Dean has been scooting off to Saskatoon, having P.A. rehearsals, and Skyping with some musician friends from Edmonton, working on a variety of music projects that are pretty interesting. I have been immersed in my own work responsibilities, working some challenging days. Dean and Andrew are currently at Band Camp. The boys and Dean had a Boys Sleepover at youth on the weekend. My garden has sent me a "you've neglected me" text. My sinuses and allergies aren't allowing me to step foot outside. We've had an unusual amount of supper company in the past few months. At least one of us has been in Saskatoon almost every week since April.

I am looking forward to a more peaceful week. Think I'll find it? Hard to say!

This isn't about the Dynna family and the demands on their time, though. We're ALL busy, and it's mostly of our own choosing.

But sometimes, to accomplish your own goals, you have to go the extra mile. We want to succeed in our careers, so we have to put the time in to do that. Hey, we have to pay our bills, so we have to work, right? We want our kids involved in healthy activities, and that takes effort and even takes time away from family time. We want to develop and nurture friendships, so we invite people into our home so that we can do that.

It all requires us to go the extra mile.

I was whining to my mom awhile ago about some things that I was tired of. While she was understanding in what I was saying, she also reminded me that sometimes we simply have to "endure" things because you just can't quit everything that occasionally pushes you beyond your limit.

I have a wise mom.

The recipe that I want to talk about today is one that I have made 3 times (I think) with varying degrees of success. It is "Broccoli Chicken Lasagna". The first time I made it, it was for a group of people who were coming here for a potluck of sorts, and I was trying to feed a large-ish group on a budget so was reasonably satisfied with the results, because I pulled it off without too much money invested and was happy with an alternative lasagna option that stood apart from the usual hamburger/tomato sauce lasagna thing.

The next time I tried it, I think I cheaped out on pretty much everything and the results were SO disappointing. That time, it turned into a bland bunch of noodley goo. Terribly disappointing.

This time, we were having company and I wanted something that I could make ahead in the day, it had to be chicken or pork, and I wanted leftovers to assist us into the coming week so I pulled the recipe out again and told myself that failure really was optional and that I could absolutely opt for this to be better than it was before. So I kicked it up a couple of notches (just small changes really) and decided to "go the extra mile". The two things that kicked it up for me were:
1. Basil pesto - I am working my way through my first jar and have enjoyed it so far
2. So sorry to say this - but I used pre-grated cheese. SORRY!!!! I am not a fan of that. I think it is expensive and perhaps not as fresh or nutritional as block cheese. I don't mind grating cheese. Grating cheese is cheaper. BUT, I was on a time constraint that day and I grabbed the bag and plopped it into my cart and decided not to examine that move any further. The end result, though, was that the 3 or 4 cheese combination in the lasagna was a real winner and took the cheesy part beyond the usual (somewhat mundane) mozzarella.

So, for your dining pleasure, here is:

Broccoli Chicken Lasagna

4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
3 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (fresh, please!)

Lasagna noodles (recommend oven-ready - why would you willingly add work to lasagna???)

2 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
2 chicken breasts, cubed
2-3 Tbsp basil pesto
2 cups broccoli, chopped

2-3 cups grated cheese (mozzarella, mixed, whatever floats your boat)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Sauce: Melt butter, stir in flour. Add milk and cook, whisking until smooth and thickening. Add broth and continue to stir until thick. Beat eggs in separate bowl; add a small amount of sauce to eggs to temper, then add entire egg mixture to white sauce. Go the extra mile and do the tempering eggs thing. If you don't, you may end up with scrambled eggs in a white sauce. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, s and p to taste.

Saute chicken in butter with onion and garlic. Stir in basil pesto and toss. Stir in broccoli and cook 5 minutes longer or until broccoli is tender. S and P to taste.

Layer in a 9 x 13 pan - sauce, grated cheese (mozzarella or mixed), noodles, chicken. Repeat. Finish with cheese.

Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Remove foil to brown a bit if desired. (What do I mean "IF desired"? What is better than lightly browned cheesy goodness? Brown it, for heaven sake!)

Go the extra mile on this one. If you don't want to buy basil pesto, it will still turn out good, but the basil pesto completely enhanced the recipe. I am sure you could saute the chicken with fresh or dried basil and get satisfying results as well. But the chicken, with only onion and garlic for flavoring, was bland on my previous attempts.

If you want this to be good......

Don't be stingy on the chicken; if 2 breasts looks like too little, use 3 breasts.
Don't be stingy on the broccoli either.
Don't be stingy on cheese either. That will NEVER do.
Don't be stingy on the salt and pepper either. You have to be careful with this, for sure, but under-seasoned food doesn't cut it.

Don't be stingy. Share with friends. Amen.

Bars From Mars

2011-05-10T12:45:00.000-06:00

Hay-lo!!

I'm in the mood for after-school-snack baking! I am hoping to make some very ordinary chocolate chip cookies today, but, whew, the kitchen is warming up in this heat! No, wait, I'm still in my pajamas and housecoat. That could be the heat issue...

Wanting to bake something to share with friends yesterday, my mind turned to a recipe that our Barclay cousins had shared with us on a camping trip a few years back. I don't make it often as I have to make a special trip to the store to get the main ingredient, but, yum, it is a nice treat now and then.

Hmm, what to call them. Mars Bars Bars. Barclay Bars. Barclays From Mars Bars. BarcMarsBars. Barclay Marclay Bars.

Ach!! They are bars made from Mars Bars.

Now everything is sounding ridiculous.

SO SIMPLE!! Here's the recipe!

4 Mars Bars, regular size
1/2 cup butter
3 1/2 cups Rice Krispies

Melt the Mars Bars together with the butter over medium heat. IF you melt these for too long, your bars will be faaarrrr tooooo crunchy. This is the voice of experience.

Toss the rice krispies with the melted mixture of Mars until well blended, and press into a well greased 9 x 9" pan.

Cool and cut.

Cool, huh?

Oranges and Lemons, Part 2!

2011-05-03T13:54:00.001-06:00

So that the "Oranges and Lemons" title from yesterday's post makes sense, let me share the other recipe that was on my mind yesterday when I said that I couldn't decide which recipe to share from our birthday supper!

We LOVE fish in this house! Love all kinds of fish. For a long time, our favorite splurge meal was a side of steel-head trout. We had no "extra special" way of preparing this fish, except olive oil, salt and pepper, and grilled on the barbecue until cooked to perfection. Then our grocery store stopped carrying those trout sides and we lived in deep sorrow for many months, even years, sobbing each time we passed the fresh fish section.

Nah. No sobbing. Just a little bit of sorrow. But, like a rejected lover, we had to move on.

We then moved in the direction of salmon - sides, fillets, whatever format we could get our hands on. Pretty easy to find, and even reasonably economical. My sister shared a recipe passed on to her, and, so, for those many moons where we could not cook trout, we cooked salmon like this:

Place salmon fillets on foil. Top with LOTS of minced garlic (mince really small if you can), salt and pepper, and LOTS of butter. Seal foil. BBQ or broil until almost done; open the foil and slather (don't be stingy) the fish with brown sugar. Re-seal the foil and continue to BBQ or broil until the brown sugar is melted. Be still my soul. So good.

And just as we were getting ready for a new approach to salmon, lo and behold, we found steel head trout at Costco last week! And it is still one glorious feed of fish! I think we'll buy in bulk next time we're there.

But.......getting back to Salmon for a minute......I found this recipe online last week as well, and it became the meal centerpiece for Donna's birthday supper.

Salmon With Orange Glaze

8 salmon fillets

Glaze:
1/2 cup orange marmalade
2 tsp oil (I used olive oil)
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
2 cloves garlic, finely minced (actually I grated them)
3 Tbsp white rice vinegar

Combine the glaze ingredients. Lay salmon fillets on a broiler pan, salt and pepper moderately. Brush one side of the fillets with the glaze and bake at 400 F for 10 minutes. Flip fillets, brush second side with the glaze and bake for 10 more minutes or until done. Serve, garnishing with thinly sliced green onions.

Next time I would be far more generous with the glaze. I probably used only 1/2 the glaze. In the future, I would use more with the basting steps, plus set some aside for additional application at the table, if so desired.

We served the orange glazed salmon with tri-color roasted baby potatoes (tossed with butter and onions and roasted at 400 until tender), broccoli salad, peas, and, of course, those lemon meringue cupcakes for dessert! Oranges and lemons and a few other things thrown in for good measure! I think I heard the bells of St. Clements as I ate this meal.

(Get it?....."oranges and lemons and the bells of St. Clements....") Sorry. A flash to my musical past from my ABC Beginner piano books.

Oh, how I love food.

Oranges and Lemons, Elections, Princes and Princesses and Other Odd Things

2011-05-02T21:40:00.000-06:00

Wow, there's been a lot happening in the news lately! We just finished watching the Election results, with our heads still reeling from the news of bin Laden and with visions of the beautiful Royal wedding still dancing through our heads. That's a lot of news!

We invited Dean's parents to come for supper tonight as his mom, Donna, had had a birthday while I was working this weekend. Even as I write, I'm still not sure which one of the 2 new recipes that I tried tonight I should share with you.

Okay. I thought about it. I know! And maybe I'll share the other recipe with you tomorrow?

Because Donna is a very important lady to me, and because she loves lemon meringue pie, and because it was her birthday celebration, I decided to attempt a cupcake recipe that would (hopefully) be special for my dear mother in law!

I had done an internet search a couple of mornings ago for this recipe. I ended up selecting 3 recipes and combining them to get the results that worked for me today. Don't be put off by the 3 part recipe. The cupcake batter is truly easy to work with, and that's coming from me, a 'cake-mix-is-good-enough" cake baker.

I present to you:

LEMON MERINGUE CUPCAKES

Step 1 - Cupcakes:
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 Tbsp grated lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk (guess where I bought mine? Grin!)

Prehead oven to 325 F. Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
Crema butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping the bowl as needed. Beat in zest and vanilla.
Add in flour in 3 batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk and lemon juice; beat until combined after each addition.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, about 3/4 full. Bake about 25 minutes. Cool completely.

Step 2 - Lemon Filling
I used store bought lemon curd (found in the jam aisle). You could make homemade lemon curd or lemon pie filling. The store bought curd is delicious and saved me some time today.
Using a paring knife, cut a cone shaped chunk out of each cupcake (about the circumference of your ring finger-ISH). Fill each hole with lemon curd.

Step 3 - Meringue
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
Whip egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks are formed.
Top each cupcake with meringue (I used a piping bag with no tip to pipe mine on. You could simply use a knife to spread it on.)
Heat oven to 400 F and place cupcakes back in the oven until the meringue browns.

Cool and serve.

Ideally, I would own one of those little kitchen torches that would brown the meringue without the cupcake being back in the oven as I found the bottom of the cupcakes darkened a little more than I wanted them to with being back in the oven for a few minutes. OR maybe the broiler is okay for browning meringue? I didn't have the opportunity to vigilantly watch them under the broiler so opted to not do that this time.

Also, I would have liked to have been more generous with the meringue and would consider making slightly more meringue than I did this time. However, maybe spreading meringue with a knife instead of a piping bag might have spread the meringue further?

All in all, they turned out really well and the cupcake base recipe is a DEFINITE "make again" standard recipe. I think it's probably a "no fail" cupcake recipe. I don't consider myself terribly gifted at making cakes from scratch and was very pleased with these. I expect that they will be even better tomorrow as the lemon flavor develops.

And, for heaven sakes, use fresh lemons and fresh lemon juice. I made lemon bars last week with lemon from a bottle and I was "soured" by the experience...it had no flavor. Fresh lemons, fresh lemon zest = lovely lemon flavor!

Happy baking!

Heavenly Smells

2011-04-21T19:38:00.000-06:00

I have just cooked my first meal using "Garam Masala" and the smells around here are heavenly! Mmmmm.

The last couple of weeks have been super busy for this household. Let me see, there's been work. More work. An overnight trip as a chaperone to a Jr. Youth retreat. And then more work!

I love my job. Seriously love it. I am so thankful that I make my living doing something that I really enjoy. The work can be hard and the days are long, but I usually come home spent, but satisfied.

I have said for years, though, that, once I'm finished my series of shifts for a stretch, I have trouble with re-entry. Working 12 hour shifts, the most shifts I will choose to work are 3 12 hour shifts in a row. That means that the day before I go to work, I spend the evening getting uniforms ready and organizing food to pack for 3 days worth of eating and then I go to bed early. I rise before anyone, leave before anyone, come home after everyone else, have some quick updates with the family and go to bed before anyone, only to get up the next day and do it all over again. By the time I have worked my third day in a row, I have spent long hours at work and short (wakeful, that is) hours at home and, while I try to wake up the next morning in wife and mom mode, it is nearly impossible to get my brain to turn off work mode.

Some days, I re-think stories that co-workers told, laughs we shared, really, just the good times we had while working.

Some days, my body is soooo tired that I can't hardly think a coherent thought.

Some days, my mind is spinning from the mentally draining demands that have been required of me, dealing with acutely ill residents and complicated days.

And some days, I'm lost in the sorrows and struggles of others. Reality bites.

I just finished 3 shifts yesterday and had good days. At the end of my last day, though, I had to stay and help another co-worker (Hi Alanna!) cover a shift that needed to be covered after we finished our own shifts. There are several older men on that unit, and they all look alike to me (I know they don't, but they're all grey haired men that walk, wear glasses and smell....sorry). One of these old fellas was having a bad day and started following us around as we were doing our work (and talking..). Obviously sad, I put my hand on his shoulder to try to alleviate his feelings of woe. Soon, it crossed my mind that he probably needed a hug and so we had a hug. A long hug. And he sobbed on my shoulder. And I patted his back. I don't know if either one of us know what he was crying about as his state of mind isn't terribly clear, but as the moment passed, he said so clearly "I used to think I was so strong...."

And I've been kind of choked up about that all day today. Heck, I'm kind of choked up now.

Why does this blog make me cry?

Life robs us of many things and it takes such great courage to grow old and take what life gives you. It means our bladders don't cooperate. Our speech skills waver. And our minds can be alert enough to know that we feel bad, but not alert enough to know why.

Please, please, next time you wander into a long term care facility and you get turned off by the sights and sounds and smells, please remember the vital lives that have been lived in those human shells. The stories are powerful and the souls are hugely relevant still. And they've been handed difficulties that they never asked for and they will endure them until the day they die.

And I love those old people, those old shells.

So, today, while trying to shake off the stories that I have left behind, I'm also anxious to re-acquaint myself with my home and my wife/mom roles. There's no more sure way for me to do that than to get cooking.

I have been thinking all during my work days about what I would be cooking today! I have been making menu plans for about 7 weeks in a row now, and one of our favorite Indian dishes, "Butter Chicken", was on the list for today. However, while shopping the other day, I didn't find my usual Butter Chicken mix packet that I love so dearly so I decided to do a quick Internet search to see if I could find something that may bring the same or similar results and I scored big time with this recipe! I challenge you to make it and to not be intimidated by a couple of listed ingredients.

1. Garam Masala - simply a spice blend of the Indian variety. I had 2 choices in the spice/Asian/Indian aisle - I could buy a small spice jar of it for close to $4.00 or a great big bag (about 3 cups) of it in the Indian food section for $3.39. Seems like a good deal to me! And, by all means, come and get some if you want to try this out and don't want to buy the bag...seems I have a bit to spare.
Oh! And, by the way, Garam Masala is a mix of coriander, cumin, ginger, black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, bay leaves and black cardamom. No curry. Nothing "hot" in the spice category. Lovely fragrant blend.
2. Ginger garlic paste - also found in the Asian/Indian aisle, actually just found either Ginger paste OR Garlic paste. I bought the ginger paste and added fresh garlic to the recipe. The ginger flavor definitely needs to be there but I wonder about substituting with fresh ginger or even ginger powder? Could search a few more recipes before drawing a conclusion on that one.

All that to say that even here, in little ol' P.A., I found the ingredients. Here goes:

Butter Chicken

1 Tbsp oil
1/4 chopped onion
3 cloves garlic (my substitution)

2 Tbsp butter
2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp ginger paste
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin (I ran out, plan to include this next time)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 cup half and half cream
1 cup tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

chicken pieces (to serve 4)
1 more tsp garam masala

Heat oil in saucepan and saute onion and garlic. Stir in butter, lemon juice, ginger paste, 1 tsp garam masala, chili powder and cumin. Cook, stirring for one minute. Add tomato sauce and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in cream and yogurt, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper; remove from heat and set aside.

Brown chicken pieces in oil in large frying pan then sprinkle with 1 tsp garam masala and cook until cooked through (or do this step in the oven).

Toss chicken with sauce mixture and let simmer for a few minutes.

Serve on basmati rice.

I will NOT be buying the butter chicken mix packet any more. I WILL be using this recipe again, thus, it's a "Make Again"! The recipe is SO similar to the results we got from the packet, but this is more convenient, and, once again, a savings.

Please try it and tell me that garam masala fragrance isn't absolutely heavenly!

And, for the record, I'm glad to be home.

Feelin' It (or not?)

2011-04-12T17:36:00.000-06:00

Took the boys to shop in Saskatoon on Friday for mostly fun - browsing-type shopping. The one necessity, though, that we had to come home with, was a pair of dress pants for Ben. So, as the day slipped away and the opportunities for lots of clothes browsing disappeared, I decided to take him to Old Navy and hope for some casual khakis that he'd be happy with. Now, you have to know Ben. He wears skinny jeans. ONLY skinny jeans. That's it. Nothing else. And so, when I shoved a pair of straight legged clean front navy blue cotton khaki's in front of him and advised him to try them on, he obediently did that, but stated repeatedly, "I don't know, Mom, I'm just not feelin' it."

I came home from work last night and was thinking about the rest of the chip dip in the fridge and asked the boys if there were any chips left downstairs. Of course, silly me, the answer was "no" so I substituted some "Pita Crisps" and, while I sat there crunching on pitas instead of chips, trying to tell myself that it was every bit as good, I thought to myself - "I don't know, I'm just not feelin' it".

Today, while attempting to read the concluding book in a series of one of my favorite authors (Lynn Austin), the whole book seems to be full of alarmingly blatant violence and misery, and while I'm trying to read, I'm thinking to myself..."I'm just not feelin' this either."

Ever have one of those days when it comes to cooking?

Um, yeah, that's where I'm at today in regards to cooking supper! I mentally flicked through the file of supper possibilities. Chicken, nope, did that; pork - did that, too; beef - don't have much; order pizza? No, not feelin' that either.

And so, I have concluded that this day will not be a day of exciting new meals that will be made with my favorite apron on, music playing, dishes washed as they get dirtied. Nope. Today is a day of comfort food; cooking that is necessary to feed the body, and that ends up feeding the soul, too.

Surprisingly, when I told Dean what we were having, he was rather delighted. He's tired and feeling ickish in his sinuses, probably "not feelin' it" on a multitude of levels. Funny how comfort food comforts.

And so, may I present to you, SOUP.

SOUP

1 lb hamburger
1/2 - 1 onion (I used whatever I had in the fridge)
1 cup chopped celery
1 jar canned tomatoes (approx. 700 mls, and boy, I can't wait for tomatoes from the garden this far)
4 cups beef broth
leftover vegetables (today I used the rest of the bag of coleslaw mix)
1 1/2 cups uncooked macaroni
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the hamburger and onion in dutch oven. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add celery and saute a bit longer. Add tomatoes, broth, vegetables and bring to a boil. While at a rapid boil, add macaroni. Turn down to simmer and cook until macaroni is cooked through. Check for seasoning and add S and P if needed. I also added a pinch of dried basil. Whatever floats your boat.

This is so simple it's embarrassing. I have a lot of nerve to share this recipe on this space. But I do have to say that, while I love new recipes and variety, sometimes the most tried and true recipes do something for the tired soul. They simply nourish us and they relieve us of the need to be spectacular and give us permission to just provide a hot meal for the ones we love.

And, I'm all over that.

Works For Me

2011-04-05T18:26:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm back after a few days at work. It's always a challenge to get back into "home mode"; every bit as much of a challenge as it is to get back to work after a few days off.

I want to take time to thank the "Lucerne" company, by the way. They must have read my last blog, the one where I suggested that buttermilk should be sold in smaller containers than one litre. Lo and behold, when I went to Safeway yesterday, I was able to purchase a 500 ml container of buttermilk. Funny how Lucerne could read my entry from last week, and react so promptly. Great marketing on their part; I'm sure they'll be delighted with the free advertising that I'm giving them here in this space. ;)

I want to share my Cinnamon Bun recipe with you. The reason why I want to share it with you is largely selfish - my handwritten copy in my "little black book" is barely legible! I have used and used and used that recipe and the page is WELL stained with oil and flour and sugar.

I have been using my recipe for several years. Last fall, I started to experiment with Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Bun recipe found here. They turned out well, in fact, the preparation method in her recipe is really simple, especially for beginner cinnamon bun bakers. But, I keep going back to my own recipe. And that is because my recipe works for me.

There's a story behind that.

When Dean and I were first married, we had the pleasure of being friends with a special lady named Eileen. Dean worked with her, actually, and she spoiled him now and then by bringing fresh cinnamon buns to work to share. Now, I've always loved cinnamon buns; they are pretty much at the top of my list of comfort foods for me and Dean really loved them, too. So, being the devoted wife that I am, I set out to replicate Eileen's cinnamon buns. What greater gift could I give to my new husband than cinnamon buns "just" like Eileen's?

So, I tried baking some from "who-knows-where-I-got-the-recipe-from". Results - not that good.

Next step - get Eileen's recipe. Did that, made them. Results - "they don't taste quite like Eileen's", he said.

Hmm, next step - borrow Eileen's bread mixer. Did that, made them. Results - "nope, still not like Eileen's." Compare oven temperatures? Same temperatures, no difference.

What to do, what to do? Eileen told me to bake them in tin foil pans. Ahh. That must be the ticket! Did that. Results - "um.....no....still not like Eileen's."

All of this experimenting was resulting in a very discouraged cinnamon bun baker. This process of trying to bake like her was getting me nowhere fast.

Then one day I decided that my cinnamon buns did NOT have to taste "just like Eileen's" to be tasty. So, I gathered my courage and started to make them anyway, not being so concerned with replicating her results, but more concerned with getting into the routine of working with yeast dough. I started making buns on a regular basis. I made bread. I made focaccia, Stromboli. And cinnamon buns.

And here I am, many years later, and, you know what? I make REALLY GOOD cinnamon buns! My buns have changed from dry blobs of gooey dough into pillowy puffs of cinnamon-sugary goodness. Not to brag or anything, but......my, they're good!

I would never post this recipe as the "world's best cinnamon bun" recipe, though, for the above reason. I think that with all yeast dough recipes, it really does take a lot of practice to get it right, and the recipe probably doesn't have that much to do with it. It becomes more of an art to recognize when you've added enough flour, or when you've kneaded long enough, or to find out what kind of baking pans you get the best results out of, or what temperature your oven cooks them best at. So many variables.

So, for my own sake, here is my recipe for cinnamon buns. The rest of you - GO FIND YOUR OWN CINNAMON BUN RECIPE!!!!

Nah, you can use mine! Or Pioneer Woman's Or use your own recipe, but do what another friend does and let them rise in cream, mmmmmm! So many tricks to make these things good! Experiment and please, by all means, share your successes with me!

Basic Sweet Dough/Cinnamon Buns (I mix mine in a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer)

2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water
2 Tbsp yeast
Mix together to dissolve and let the yeast proof for about 10 minutes.

Scald:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine or oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
I scald mine in the microwave for about 1:30 min. Stir to dissolve.

In the bowl of the mixer, add:
3/4 cup cold water
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Yeast mixture
Milk mixture
Stir to combine.

Add in 2 cups of flour and mix with the dough hook to make a paste.
Add in 2 more cups of flour and continue to mix with the hook.
Add in 2 more cups of flour and continue to mix. The dough is starting to come together and should start to pull away from the walls of the mixing bowl.

Add flour in 1/4 cup increments at this point, until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl, but remains sticky to the touch. The mixer should not have to work terribly hard. Once you've reached that point, let it knead (on #2 setting) for 5 minutes. If, at any point, the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl, add more flour in small portions.

Once it has finished kneading for 5 minutes, place it in a well greased bowl, cover it and let it rise for one hour. I let mine rise in my oven with the door shut and the light ON.

After it has risen, divide into 2 portions. Roll out into a rectangle and slather with soft butter/margarine, then layer generous amounts of brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut into 12 pieces using a serrated knife (using a sawing motion, don't slice downwards) and place in a well greased 9 x 13 tin foil* pan. Repeat with the other portion of dough. Cover and return to the cold oven with the light on and let rise for another hour.

Remove from the oven. Preheat your oven to 350 F and then bake for 15-20 minutes.

*I really do find that cinnamon buns bake very nicely in tin foil pans. I always keep them on hand for this purpose. Yes, they wear out and need to be replaced, but you seem to get softer cinnamon buns in tin foil pans. I have experimented with other types of pans, and the tin foil gives the best results, IF you like soft buns.

I encourage you to find out what your cinnamon bun preferences are. A friend of mine loves her buns barely baked through, preferring them to be quite doughy. Other friends like theirs well browned (I lean towards that myself). Others like to ice them with cream cheese icing. Others like raisins or pecans in the filling. Others like them dripping with sticky filling. Considering all of those individual preferences, how can anyone say that they have the "best cinnamon bun" recipe? Find a good recipe for yourself and get baking! I know that I've found the recipe that works for me.

A Taste of the Past

2011-03-29T16:16:00.000-06:00

I got a letter in the mail today!! Yes, the mail - you know the box attached to the front of your house? It actually can contain interesting items besides bills and spam. Is junk mail of the paper variety called spam? Just wondering.

Anyway, I knew right away who it was from and what it was. It was a letter from my mom containing a recipe that I had asked for last week. My parents are retired and, on top of all of the exceptionally interesting things that we talk about that reflect our exceptionally interesting mutual lives, sometimes we take delight in talking about every-day events, like what we're going to make for supper, when and what we're going to bake next, and what's on sale at the Co-op this week. You know, the stuff that relationships thrive on, the ordinary being shared.

I guess I was telling them that I was trying to bake my way through a carton of buttermilk, wishing that buttermilk was sold in smaller cartons! They told me about some of the ways that they like to use buttermilk - like the "old German" dish of buttermilk in a bowl with boiled eggs sliced into it, served with a piece of bread to sop it all up. I've got one word for that dish: P-A-S-S. Then mom reminded me that she used to use buttermilk to make this cake that we literally grew up on - "Crumb Cake". I have gone searching through my recipe files, looking for a copy of this recipe a few times, and could never find it, thinking that it was strange because this was such a staple at home. I often substituted my spice cake craving by making the "Lazy Daisy" cake instead, which is good, but it's not mom's Crumb Cake.

So, when her handwritten copy of the recipe arrived in the mail this afternoon, I scanned the list of ingredients and knew that I had everything I needed to make this. I started to get myself organized, and the simplicity of the recipe struck me. It - is - so - simple. And, when I think about it further, that reflects the times in which we used this recipe. Back in those days, we baked crumb cakes to survive, almost. We were a farming family who worked hard. We didn't have much. In the spring, we managed a herd of cattle that had just had babies and filled the windowsills with tomato plants to kick-start the garden. In the summer, we worked hard in the huge garden and in the hay field. In the fall, we ALL harvested day after day until every speck of grain was in the bin. In the winter, we cared for our cattle again. There were no breaks. And we worked hard and we were hungry. So cakes and cookies weren't just after school treats, they were necessities to fuel us for the work that was required for this family to survive. Crumb cake showed up after school, for the 1/2 hour that Dad and Mom would stop their chores, have a cup of coffee, and sit with us to listen to our stories of school. Crumb cake was taken to the field in the harvest time with a quart sealer of coffee for Dad while he worked non-stop. Crumb cake was eaten for dessert after supper with a cup of sweet tea, after the cattle had been bedded down for the cold winter's night.

Today's bakers are making artistic rolled cookies, with lavish icing designs. They are baking cookies with chopped up chocolate bars inside to accelerate the "wow" factor. Layered cakes are getting higher and higher.

But my mom made us Crumb Cake, with milk that came from the cows in our barn or with the buttermilk from the butter she churned herself.

Okay, now I'm starting to get choked up.

And I'm starting to feel like I must have grown up in the Dark Ages.

They were different times, for sure.

So, for your nostalgic pleasure, here is a cake with a very simple list of ingredients, and a very rich set of memories for this chickie.

Crumb Cake

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup margarine.

Rub together into crumbs and take out 1 cup for topping.

Now add:
1 cup milk (soured with 1 tsp vinegar, or buttermilk if available)
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda OR baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins (soaked or boiled to plump)

Mix. Put into 9" square baking pan, greased. Sprinkle crumb mixture on top and pat down. Bake 30-40 minutes in a 350 F oven.

Mom says that it could also be made into muffins instead. She also says that it turns out better in a metal pan; the glass pan cooks it too fast and makes it dry out on the bottom. That's her story, and I'm stickin' to it.

Keep It Simple, Silly!

2011-03-27T21:49:00.000-06:00

We did, indeed, have dinner guests today! We really went from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C by the time the meal was served, but all things, including the guests, were in God's good timing!

Over the years of having guests in our home, I have learned to keep things simple, menu-wise. And, like my dear Mom, I am also learning that the more that I can do ahead of time, the less stress happens when the house is full of hungry people and I am trying to do 15000 things at once. I'm not very nice when I try to do 15000 things at once. People always used to ask me what they could do to help me; my reply was always "stay out of my kitchen". Sounds kinda snarky, now that I think about it. I think I would enjoy help more if our kitchen's floor space was bigger; even with our renovation, it's still a one-man spot. A two-man spot if it's Dean and I and we know what the other person is trying to accomplish.

Anyway......

My menu for today was:
1. Simple tossed salad (with baby greens for the lettuce because they look so pretty) and only 2-3 added vegetables
2. Dilled carrots. I am still using carrots from our garden and am determined to use the carrots up, instead of throw them away from spoiling in the fridge. I love dill weed with carrots. A splash of color and nice mild flavor to make the carrots a little more special.
3. Roasted garlic mashed potatoes
4. Honey Mustard Pecan Chicken (see recipe below)
5. Cream Puffs! Yup, I did it and they were marvelous! I served them with two different fillings - lemon filling and white chocolate/raspberry filling. Now that I've made cream puffs, I will definitely make them again for a nice light dessert that was economical. Next time I would only make one filling but I enjoyed the experiment of picking a flavor favorite. Surprisingly, lemon won today!

I picked up Ina Garten's recipe book "Barefoot Contessa Back To Basics" for $5.00 this week at El Tigre Gigante (title courtesy Dean). She reinforces the notion of keeping a menu simple with only one "star". I felt that this recipe was the "star" today and it is a really nice make-ahead option.

Honey Mustard Pecan Chicken
(serves 6)

2 eggs
2 Tbsp water
1 packet Shake and Bake (Regular or Extra Crispy)
1 cup finely chopped pecans
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Heat oven to 400 F.

Beat eggs and water in a shallow dish. Mix Shake and Bake with pecans in a separate shallow baking dish (a loaf pan worked really well). Dip chicken in eggs and then in coating mixture, turning to coat evenly on both sides of chicken breast. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet/broiler pan.

Bake for 18-25 minutes until chicken is done.

Honey Mustard Sauce

1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup whole grain mustard
1/4 cup honey
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
6 dashes Worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients together. Serve this sauce on or beside the chicken.

As far as making things ahead, I made the Sauce last night and refrigerated it overnight, helping the flavors to blend. I chopped the pecans and mixed them with the Shake and Bake last night as well, so that today I only had to coat the chicken and cook it. There was no gravy to make, no roast to carve, and the chicken was already in serving sized portions. That was nice.

The reward for my labors was having our guests rave over the chicken and go back for seconds. Makes me want to entertain more often. Maybe I should start planning now..... Who would like to come?

Things Meant To Be Shared

2011-03-25T10:09:00.000-06:00

Hello again, friends!

Normal routines have been circulating around here again lately, routines of work and laundry and grocery shopping, etc., etc. By now, you have probably picked up my love for food and for eating well, but that doesn't mean that every meal we eat is a feast. We have our very ordinary days and yesterday's supper was ..... LEFTOVERS!!! Or, more poetically, buffet, smorgasbord, all-you-can-eat courtesy "Le Fridge". The fridge is pretty well purged now, so we can start again with fresh meals.

We have extended a couple of dinner invitations for the weekend, but don't know if they are going to materialize yet. I have the menus planned, with the exception of the desserts. Dessert always leaves me searching endlessly for new ideas. I am "okay" at pie making but that is a labor of love, focus on the LABOR. We aren't a cake family, so that option never excites us too much. I love a good cheesecake, but hasn't that been overdone? I look back at some of the desserts that I enjoyed in the 1990's, and now they seem to all have the same ingredients - graham crusts, pudding, cool whip and cream cheese. I'd like to be a bit more sophisticated than that... I'm thinking about cream puffs, although the websites are scaring me a bit as apparently these can flop... Any suggestions?

I guess, though, the point of having dinner guests isn't only about the food - or seldom about the food. Some of the best memories I have of last summer are throwing meals together with friends while we camped together. She brought a bit of this and I brought a bit of that, and we sat down and shared what we had and we feasted - both on food and on the simple joy of companionship. The cool thing about cooking when you camp is that there isn't much pretense - you can only cook what you brought and fine dining seldom makes the cut when you plan for that.

One of the things that my camping friend (thanks Lorelie!!) shared with me was chai tea lattes. She introduced me to the boxed concentrate, and I went on a city-wide search for the stuff when I got home, before knowing that it was a Starbucks product. I just had to have some for myself and I so wanted to share my newfound addiction with anyone who came to visit! But, let me tell you, that stuff is kinda pricey. And it's caffeinated. Those are a couple strikes against it, although it is still cheaper to make it at home than to buy it at Starbucks.

It's a few months later now, and we have both found recipes to make our own concentrate. Wow, the savings is unreal. The flavor is more intense, and can be altered to suit your likings. I love the peppery flavor, so I go a bit heavy on that ingredient. I have also made mine decaff so that I can enjoy a latte any time of day/evening.

Here is the recipe:

Spiced Chai Tea Concentrate

4 1/2 cups water
1 stick cinnamon
1 piece fresh ginger, chopped (about the size of your thumb)
7 whole cardamom pods
2 whole star anise pods
10 whole cloves
1/4 tsp black pepper (or more, if you like it peppery!)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp orange zest
10 tea bags (I used decaff Red Rose. You could also use tea leaves - 10 tsp - of any tea blend that you like)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp vanilla

Bring the water to a boil. Add the spices and tea, remove from heat and let steep 15-20 minutes, depending on how strong you want it. Strain and add the brown sugar, honey and vanilla. Stir to combine.

Mix one part concentrate with one part milk. Heat and serve, or pour over ice for an iced option.

I store the concentrate in a pitcher in the fridge. I don't think it spoils; I've kept mine there for quite a few days/weeks.

Now, don't pass on this recipe just because of the length of the ingredient list! I went to Nutters and got everything I needed and, including the tea, it cost me well under $10, and I have enough to make at least 4 batches of the concentrate. For a price comparison, a one litre tetra pack box of the concentrate at Starbucks costs $6.99. I have enough ingredients to make at least 4 times that, for under $10.00 total.

But don't just make the concentrate; make it, and share it with a friend. And while you're sharing a cup of tea with a friend, share your thoughts, your dreams, your passions, your self. Share a cup while you're in the kitchen, in the car, at the lake. I know my life has been richer for the times I have shared with a friend. Like last night - when I had a cup of tea with a friend who I knew when we were teenagers, but then we grew up and lost touch and then found each other again and picked up where we left off, 30 years later. How cool is that? Thanks Evonne!

Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Panini's, Pass or Fail?

2011-03-21T21:24:00.000-06:00

I am a fan of Pioneer Woman. I think Dixie first pointed me in her direction (thanks, Dix!). She is one of the queens of the Cooking Blog world, having published a cook book, a fiction book, and having made many appearances on TV shows, including a ShowDown with Bobby Flay. She has a huge following and is both brilliant, relevant and, above all, entertaining.

Part of my daily routine is to read her blog and, well, find out "what's cookin' ". Did that this morning and knew that I'd like to try the panini recipe she posted today. In its' original format, it looked like a recipe that Dean and I would enjoy, verbatim. The boys, not so much. Their version would be pared down and simplified from the original. After a quick trip to the grocery store, supper prep began.

I'll show you the recipe, but after that, let's talk...

Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Panini's

2 chicken breasts

8 whole sundried tomatoes, packed in oil
3 Tbsp basil pesto
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper

2 red peppers*

1/4 cup mayonnaise
8 slices bread
softened butter
8 slices mozzarella

Combine the tomatoes, pesto, oil, juice and S and P in a mini-chopper and blend until smooth. Set 1/2 of the mixture aside. Flatten the chicken breasts into equal shaped pieces and marinate in the other half of the marinade mixture. Let marinate for as long as you can - a few hours or even overnight.

Roast and peel 2 red peppers [*OR buy roasted red peppers in a jar]. (If you don't know how to roast peppers, do an internet search on that. Simple process. I did mine under the broiler.) When roasted and peeled, slice into1" slices.

Grill the chicken breasts until cooked through and then slice on the diagonal. Set aside.

Combine the second half of the marinade mixture with 1/4 cup mayo.

Butter the bread as for grilled cheese sandwiches. On the inside of the sandwich, layer the mayo mixture, sliced chicken, slices of red peppers and top with mozzarella slices. Top with the second piece of bread and toast until golden brown.

Now, let's talk:

Half way into prep of this recipe, I said to Dean "this is more work than cooking a turkey dinner". For amount of steps that this recipe requires to yield, let's face it, a SIMPLE SANDWICH, I am tempted to give it a "fail". Maybe I was tired by that time of the day. I don't know. But it seemed fairly labor intensive. Broil the peppers, peel the peppers, slice the peppers. Make the marinade. Flatten the chicken breasts. Marinate the chicken breasts. Cook the chicken breasts. Slice the chicken breasts. Butter the bread. Mayonnaise the bread. Slice the cheese. Layer, layer, layer. HMMMM. DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS...

Once we sat down for supper, my "fail" rating quickly became an "oh-this-is-ever-so-good-of-course-it-is-a-pass". It really IS tasty. Really.

So, when Dean asked if it is a "Make Again" recipe, I had a hard time answering that question. No question, buying jarred roasted red peppers would ease the work load. Making the marinade and marinating the chicken overnight would spread the work out over a couple of days, if you are inclined to be organized. ...Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not.... I've often thought that it would be a quick kitchen tip to grill a whole package of chicken breasts as soon as you get home from the store, slice and freeze them, and use for salads or other recipes that require cooked chicken. Or, maybe you could skip the marinating step and simply add the flavors of the sundried tomatoes/pesto in the mayonnaise mixture alone. That would help, too.

So there, my first "I'm not sure" rating for this "Make Again" blog that is supposed to provide you with recipes that are ALL "Make Again" quality! The point to be made here is that, flavor-wise, it's fantastic. Work-wise, not as fantastic as I'd like it to be. Are there ways to work with the ingredients/prep that will make it more friendly? I think so. So, yes, "Make Again" - Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Panini's. Go for it!

(I don't have a panini grill, by the way. You could brown the sandwich on a griddle, or in a frying pan, and it is recommended that you place another pan on top of the sandwich to weigh it down, I guess to brown and compact it like a panini grill would do. We used our George Foreman grill with fantastic results. Once, we attempted a panini sandwich in our waffle maker with mediocre results.)

To read Pioneer Woman's far more entertaining blog post of this recipe, follow this link: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

Baked Oatmeal

2011-03-21T11:21:00.000-06:00

Hello again from my perch at the island! Coffee is my neighbor, along with hubby at his laptop playing, once again, interesting guitar vids on his laptop. The kids are half awake, half asleep, with no school today and nothing specific on the agenda except returning their sleepover friend to his home sometime today.

I love breakfast! I seriously lay in bed some days, thinking about what I will eat when I get up. I sigh through my morning coffee, savoring every steaming hot sip, sputtering at the cold stuff that remains at the bottom of the cup. But I love a morning when no one has to be anywhere and you can take time to stray from the normal toast and cold cereal options.

This following recipe was served at a ladies' retreat that I was at a year ago. I returned home from the retreat and, thanks to the World Wide Web, quickly found a comparative recipe and have been cooking it for breakfast on occasion ever since.

Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients

½ cups Vegetable Oil
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 whole Eggs
1-¼ cup Milk
¼ teaspoons Salt
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
3-½ cups Quick Cooking Oats
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
¼ cups Maple Syrup (I think this is optional; it is plenty sweet as is)
1 dash Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Beat together oil, brown sugar and eggs. Stir in milk. Mix in salt, baking powder, oats, cinnamon, vanilla and syrup. Pour into a greased 9-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees until firm, about 30 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm with milk.

I often add some "add-ins" - fresh or dried blueberries, a diced apple, a handful of sliced almonds, raisins, dried apricots....the sky is the limit for creativity with add-ins.

One pan of this is good for 9-10 (ish) servings. Since the boys are largely uninterested in anything so delicious, we eat it fresh for breakfast one day and then refrigerate it and heat-and-serve the leftovers for the rest of the week. I really like taking it to work for my morning break ("second breakfast" as Merry and Pippin would say...name that movie....)!

"Eat Again" Dutch Baby Pancake

2011-03-16T16:23:00.000-06:00

Supper is prepped for tonight. Parent/teacher interviews are done for another semester (and the boys are so awesome! Teachers are too!). I got my baking done yesterday and came close to a cinnamon crisis in regards to the Snickerdoodles! I ran out. Yikes! That has never happened. I always have extra cinnamon stashed somewhere. I actually have 2 different cinnamon shakers for different purposes. There's the big cinnamon shaker for the "use cinnamon in large quantities when making cinnamon buns" and the small shaker for "just a pinch" cookies and cakes. Regardless, I used every spec of cinnamon I could find in the house and managed to get them all coated sufficiently and they went over well with the family. Andrew had a friend over they kept coming back for more cookies, especially the friend, so I finally told the friend to "GET YOUR FILTHY FINGERS OUT OF THE COOKIES!!!" Actually, it was more like "you've had enough...no more...thanks so much."

I baked one more thing yesterday that I want to share with you, but I think I want to try it again, giving the recipe a few tweaks before putting it on here as a family favorite.

I offered today's post to someone else to write as a guest blog, but that offer was denied so I'll post it myself! This recipe will be labelled as an "eat again" recipe instead of a "make again", since I didn't make it in the first place. Dean was strolling through the internet this morning and found this recipe and promptly got busy and made it for our breakfast. Hot out of the oven, it was yummy ++ !! And he got to use his favorite kitchen tool - one of our (many) cast iron frying pans.

Ladies and gentleman, from Dean's kitchen to yours, here's Dutch Baby Pancakes

3 Tbsp butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. In oven proof skillet/cast iron pan, melt the 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat; set aside.
3. In a blender, combine eggs, milk, flour, salt, vanilla and sugar. Blend until foamy, about one minute.
4. Pour batter into skillet; bake 20 minutes, until pancake is lightly browned and puffed.
5. Dot butter on baked pancake and sprinkle with icing sugar (or can you imagine sugar and cinnamon?!!)

The pancake will fall when removed from the oven but don't worry about that. Serve immediately. Serves 3-4.

Thanks for breakfast, Dean!

Sun, Sledding, Snow Forts, Sleeplessness, Steve, Stew and Snickerdoodles

2011-03-15T09:51:00.001-06:00

It's been busy since my last post. Don't give up on me! I do plan to be faithful!

Today's post is brought to you by the letter "S"; and is a non-all-inclusive list of why I've not posted for a week!

Sun - finally came out and warmed up my world. Which, of course, led me to spend the weekend...

Sledding! I told the boys that I'd be going and that somebody better come with me! (No, I don't think I actually said that... I think I said something about loving their company, and we'd have fun and yadda yadda...) Anyway, they came with me, we sledded and I loved every minute. What am I going to do when they have left home? The hill is so close to the house, maybe I'll slip away and go alone while all the neighborhood kids are in school. I DID have their company sledding, which is more than I can say for my time spent making...

Snow Forts! After Dean and the boys spent far too long shoveling the back deck area to prevent horrible spring thaw leaks into the basement, there were such luscious piles of snow in the back yard. I begged Ben to come and help me and got half hearted efforts from him. So, all by my lonesome, I made a couple of snow forts. Hmm. Even as I type this, it seems a little ridiculous that I did that for my own entertainment. But I did! And such cool spots for a snowy hideout. I think I'll head there sometime today between the call of the washing machine and the dirty floors... Ben thought the whole idea was boring. Huh?? Where did that boy come from?

Sleeplessness hit me squarely between the eyes, even after all of that outdoorsy stuff and totally interfered with my life and happiness. Seriously, who invited her to the party?

Steve (Bell, that is) drew us to Saskatoon for his concert last night and what a concert it was. The quality and depth of musicianship between him and his band is amazing and so enjoyable. Got to sit with my sister (see all the "S" words I'm hitting on?!!) Uplifting time.

Stew - good old reliable, nourishing stew is on the menu for today. No new recipe to share for this meal, but being the cooking geek that I am, I am going to ditch the slow cooker again and experiment making stew in my Kitchen Aid cast iron dutch oven again in a slow oven (about 300 F). I've been a major fan of my slow cooker for stew for years now, but this dutch oven is interfering with that love affair. There is something to be said for a slow roast that mellows the flavors in a different manner than you get in a slow cooker.

Snickerdoodles are on my to-do list today, too. I think Snickerdoodles are the "middle child" of the cookie world. Not as popular as the "center of the cookie universe" like chocolate chip, and not as fussy and time consuming as a rolled and decorated sugar cookie (have you been watching some of the cookie decorating that is going on in the internet these days??!!!) Snickerdoodles are a cookie hit in this house, even with Mr. Ben, who comes up with all sorts of likes and dislikes. They are a great cookie to make when the pantry is low on all the expensive chocolate/nuts, etc. that other recipes call for. To me, they are simple, satisfying comfort food, and you can be sure that there will be a good cup of tea to be had when they are finished. (Hey, maybe tomorrow's post will be for my Chai Tea Latte concentrate? Can't be beat!)

Snickerdoodles

1 cup softened butter/marg
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and first amount of sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time.

Mix in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Shape into 1 inch balls.

Stir remaining sugar and cinnamon together in a small dish Roll balls in mixture to coat. Place on cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Bake at 400 F for 7 to 8 minutes.

Timing Is Everything

2011-03-08T11:31:00.001-06:00

Timing is everything.

My work shoes have worn out and my feet and legs are increasingly sore after shifts. I am one fussy gal when it comes to work shoes; they HAVE to be better than "okay"; we walk so much during a day, our feet really take a beating. So, yesterday I decided to begin the search for the perfect shoe (where is Cinderella's prince with the magic glass slipper that only fits me???) My search led me to Wal-mart, hoping that there would be some Dr. Scholl's wonder for a few bucks that would do the job. I tried on every shoe possible. Off came the boot, on went the size 8 1/2; off came the size 8 1/2, on came the boot. Up and down the aisle I went, searching for the perfect fit. Took longer than I wanted it to and eliminated the opportunity to go to another shoe store. Next stop was Superstore. I'm pretty organized when I grocery shop but I got all the way to the end of the store and realized that I had to re-trace my steps and make at least 3 stops on my way back to the checkout. So I did that and stood in a long line up, texting Dean that I'd be late because I was in a long line up and, yeah, grr.

Then I looked in the line up next to me and did a double take when I saw an old classmate. Now, I hate to tell on myself, but I've been out of high school for more-than-25-less-than-30 years-ish. ISH. Ahem. In spite of living an hour away from my home town, I have lost touch with pretty well all my classmates. My delight was immeasurable as Geraldine and I stood in the line-up, with silly grins on our faces, repeating to each other "How ARE you?" "I'm good!! How are YOU?" back and forth until we could get out of the silly line-up and really talk.

It. Was. So. Nice. We beamed. We laughed. We didn't want to leave. It's probably been 20 years since we've seen each other. "Give me a call sometime.... we'll have coffee!" We beamed some more. Shared a hug and giggled our way to our vehicles, wow, a lot richer than we were before.

I'm glad my shoes wore out. If I still had good shoes, I would have missed her.

And now a very silly segue into today's recipe!

When "timing is everything" and you think you don't have enough time for anything homemade, consider this one!

HAM AND BEAN SOUP

Place 1 meaty ham bone, one chopped onion and 3-4 chopped carrots in a soup pot and cover with water, bringing to a boil. Add in one pound of dried beans and return to a boil. Boil for 10-15 minutes. Turn down to a simmer. (Chances are you won't have to add ANY salt to this soup. Taste first!)

Walk away.
Come back. Stir the pot.
Walk away.
Repeat, for about 3-4 hours.
The end.

How can you say you don't have time for that?!! But at the end of the day, you can dust a little flour on your face, wipe the sweat off your brow and exclaim how wonderful it is for your family to sit down to a pot of fresh homemade soup, and remind them how hard you work to make HOMEMADE soup, and gently suggest that, really, they should do the dishes.

Timing is everything.

White Chicken Chili

2011-03-07T13:46:00.000-06:00

....and I'm back...! Had a great weekend at work; putting my apron back on.

Today's recipe is a long time family favorite. If you have ever been invited to our home and came back more than once, you were probably served this meal. It is always a crowd favorite and I don't think there's ever been a soul who didn't like the meal.

Now that I've said that, maybe one of you has eaten it at my house, and didn't like it. Hmm.

Well, maybe there's the ODD person that didn't like it, but I can't help that, ha ha! I love it. It's my blog. Here's the recipe!

White Chili

3-4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 medium chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 (15 ounce) cans white beans, rinsed and drained (any white or non-brown bean will do)
2 cups chicken broth
2 (4 ounce) cans green chilies, chopped
1 tsp salt, cumin and oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

Saute chicken, onion and garlic in a little bit of oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and milk. Serves 6.

A freshly baked focaccia break goes nicely with this meal. Don't leave out the cumin! Makes the dish.

This will be Tuesday's meal at our house. If you want a sample, ring the bell!

China, Crystal, and the Company...Of My Thoughts

2011-03-03T12:36:00.000-06:00

Spent the last hour or more washing out the china cabinet and most of the contents. I told you that washing dishes is therapeutic and the place of much thinking! And, I have been thinking about many things.

The gorgeous china platter was a wedding gift from friends; he is from Hungary, and they brought the platter back from their European trip shortly before our wedding. I remember their visit not long before our wedding, where they brought over the gift, correctly assuming that, with its' fine bone china content, the platter would best be given in person to avoid accidents and so that they could explain the story behind this beautiful piece. We don't use it often, but when I do, it's with recognition of the fineness of the dish.

Oh, what's this? A little (and I mean little) silver platter - a gift from a Bible School friend at our graduation. Comes from her home town in Manitoba (Neepawa). A symbol of friendship developed while we did our gratis duty of "tables and trays" and became friends while we washed and dried and straightened. I use this platter to serve dainties, small pieces of Christmas goodies. Too bad my boys don't understand "small dainties". Their idea of a treat is a half pan of puffed wheat cake in one sitting. ;)

Hmm, countless crystal serving pieces, all wedding gifts. We treasure them all and use almost all of them. I remember opening the box of one gift and finding a crystal bowl, very similar to the bowl that I watched, in horror, sell at my parents' garage sale. "Mom, you CAN'T sell that bowl!" Too late. The buyer wouldn't sell it back to me, even though she knew I was sad to see it go. My mom wisely told me that I was getting married shortly and that I'd get my own treasures, and told me to let it go. Nine or so months later, I did get my own, practically identical, crystal bowl and the hidden surprise was a hand embroidered tablecloth from my favorite aunt tucked underneath. She passed away shortly after Ben was born. Treasures.

Mostly what's coursing through my brain is the amount of times we have sat at our dining room table with a table full of company, using all our china, silver and crystal, set with nice tablecloths with matching napkins. Our tastes have changed over the years and I even had to throw a tablecloth away the other day, due to a huge "can't cover it with a placemat any longer" stain! Food is for sharing, china is for using, tablecloths are to be enjoyed. But I digress. My thoughts have turned largely to Dynna birthday gatherings. Dean's family enjoys celebrating birthdays and we have hosted many birthday parties. First came the adult celebrations where we managed to fit around the table. Then the children started to be born and a high chair would be placed in the corner. Then more children arrived; high chairs, booster seats, and plastic cups started to appear at the table, along with bibs and paper napkins. Twelve of us regularly sat around the table, occasionally 13. More children encouraged the older children to sit like grown ups, but we spared them the stress of having to use crystal. A few kids may have banged on the china plates, thinking they were Corelle, but nothing was the worse for wear. One table became two tables pushed together. Serving tables were squeezed into every available spot so that the (china and crystal) serving dishes could be circulated around the small table then set aside. The older kids grew older, and were allowed china and crystal settings.....

And then, kind of one by one, kind of "all of a sudden" it all changed. Granny left us. And we carried on. Then Grandpa left us. Vanders moved away....and here we are, celebrating birthdays with 6 of us. Two grandparents, two parents, two kids. Sigh. It HAS changed. Oh, we still use the china and crystal but, shhh, sometimes we just go out instead of cook! I don't regret where we are now; it's all good. It's just different. And washing all that crystal and china just brought a rush of memories of where we've been.

I think that there is something here still important to Dean and I, and that is to live with purpose, or live purposefully. We WANT company at our table. We WANT people to tell us that they felt special when they came here with the table set with special things. We WANT the joy of hosting special events here, where our table and food is given as a gift, an extension of who we are, given to you. And we also know that beautiful tables don't make or break friendships either. This stage of our life, quite frankly, more embraces the Jr. Youth nights of 12 year olds drinking koolaid out of a styrofoam cup and eating chips off a napkin! And I love that too!

So, no recipe in this post. Maybe later! It's been good to think about some happy memories! Happy hosting! Wipe the dust off of some of those treasures you have and enjoy!

Spicy Shrimp Po' Boys

2011-03-02T10:17:00.000-06:00

I will be the first to admit that repetitious meals don't cut it for me. I have occasionally started to keep a data base of all of the meals that we enjoy eating, according to beef/pork/chicken, so that I can regularly circulate the recipes that we use for suppers. The list is long and seldom gets referred to because there are just SO many more food ideas that I want to try. And, sigh, there are also everyone's favorite meals, and comfort foods, and "cook in a hurry" or on a budget, and yada yada yada. So, supper can't always be exciting, but sometimes a new meal idea/change is as good as taking a holiday for me. Aren't I a cheap date?!!

Last week when we were all home on winter break, I did try something new and everyone ate it! We have watched a lot of Food Network shows and I had always heard of Po' Boy sandwiches, a meal from the Deep Southern States. I tried a lobster one at Amy's awhile back and thought that it wasn't actually all that exotic which started the wheels turning. When I saw a recipe for a Shrimp variation, it looked like something we could do and all enjoy as we all love shrimp.

Shrimp Po' Boys

Remoulade Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp grainy mustard
1 tbsp pickle juice
dash cayenne pepper
dash tabasco sauce

500 grams shrimp *
Cajun seasoning blend

soft sausage buns
sliced tomatoes
lettuce

This recipe is adapted from Annie's Eats.

The recipe initially called for a couple more things in the remoulade, but I was trying to cook family friendly, so avoided the fresh garlic and horseradish, although they would be great additions.

I sauted the shrimp in olive oil, sprinkling with enough Cajun seasoning to color the shrimp. Again, if it were just Dean and I eating the shrimp, I would have been quite a bit more generous with the Cajun seasoning.

*The shrimp I used this time were simply small shrimp from Superstore's shrimp rings, after pulling the tails off. I have to say that this was a FAIL in regards to shrimp! To make the shrimp participating characters in this sandwich, you need a big shrimp. These cooked up too small and we used 2 rings of shrimp and were still not quite satisfied with having got enough shrimp per bun. Next time I will splurge on a larger count of shrimp and I think we'll all be happy.

Mayo, lettuce and tomatoes on each bun; enough shrimp per person on top of that, and you have delved into a Deep Southern dish very simply. I would recommend a nice soft bun in whatever shape/size you choose; complements the texture of the dish.

This is definitely a "Make Again" recipe, maybe even this summer at the lake? Simple and satisfying! Enjoy!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

2011-03-01T20:05:00.000-06:00

The winter has been long and I was eager for an old soup favorite that I hadn't made for a long time. The soup brought back a lot of memories of a certain chapter in my life, not quite forgotten, but it seems like a life time ago.

I remember many delightful lunch visits with a friend. She was on the Board of Directors of the agency that I worked for and would regularly invite me over for lunch to discuss "business", and personal discussions wound up present at the table as well. She was a high society (truly) classy lady; I was a young girl in my 20's. In spite of our many differences, we shared a lot of stories about our lives during those lunches. She prayed for me and I prayed for her.

Everything you ate at her home was made extra special by her careful preparation and (always) incredible presentation/table setting. A favorite was her tuna salad on a toasted bagel; still wonder what that secret ingredient was, but I'm suspicious that it was pecans and I KNOW it was also dill. Yum.

Somewhere in my house is her exact recipe for this soup. I don't know where that is (!) but Google was kind enough to fill in the details.

BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 small carrot, chopped finely
Splash of olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk, room temperature
1/2 pound chopped frozen or fresh broccoli
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 pound of cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Heat olive oil in soup pot on medium low heat.
2. Add onion, carrot, and salt. Saute until onions and carrots are soft.
3. In separate pot, melt butter on medium low heat.
4. Add flour to melted butter a bit at a time. Mix well to prevent lumps.
5. Cook flour and butter mixture for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
6. Slowly add milk to flour and butter, mixing thoroughly as you go to remove lumps.
7. When all the milk is added, return it to the heat, and gently warm it up.
8. When the milk, butter and flour mixture (white sauce) is hot, begin to add the cheese a bit at a time. Allow it to melt in before adding more.
9. When onions and carrots are done cooking, add chicken stock and broccoli. Turn up heat to medium-high.
10. Slowly add the cheese sauce to the soup, mixing thoroughly as you do so to avoid lumps.
11. Add pepper, and more salt if necessary.

I added the cheese directly to the broccoli/white sauce mixture and stirred to melt. Following, I used my immersion blender to puree. Added a bit more shredded cheese when I served up.

Thanks, Marilyn, for the soup! Thanks, more, for the memories and friendship!

My Plan!

2011-03-01T17:32:00.000-06:00

I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I am not a recipe creator. I do not come up with new ideas on my own. But I love to cook and I love to surf the internet, which is resulting in some great new menu and baking ideas. So, this blog is all about sharing what I’ve found to be recipes good enough to Make Again. I will share my resources with you. Once in a blue moon, there may be an original recipe, or at least an original take on an established recipe, but mostly I have many influences to thank for a growing collection of fabulous recipes.