Nearly all merchants start displaying Christmas items and creating a campaign to get your money even before Halloween. It seems that Thanksgiving in pushed into the background and not even mentioned. I hope this has not become a pattern in your heart. No matter how many things did not turn out as you had planned or asked for, you can always find many things which for which you can be very thankful. Consider your cup half full rather than half empty! A good attitude is essential for a happy, contented way of life and a happy home. Remember on Thursday to give special thanks for your many blessings, then keep the practice of being thankful each day to make it a primary part of your life.
For once, I had an idea prior to deadline time, but now I do not think I should mix it with serious thoughts of being grateful for the good things that have come our way. If I write it down, I will use it in the future. Otherwise it will be out of reach by the time I want to use it. Old age does have its drawbacks, but my cup is half full because there are many blessings to retirement.
I am certain that you have your Thanksgiving meal all planned, but I found a couple of ideas that you might use in case you want to be original with a new way to dress up your vegetable or in case you are just serving snacks later in the day.
BACON WRAPPED GREEN BEANS
¾ pound fresh green beans
4 strips of bacon
3 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon soy sauce
Place beans in a saucepan and cover with water.
Bring to a boil and cook for 8 minutes or until crisp
tender. Meanwhile cook bacon over medium heat
until cooked but not crisp. (about 3 minutes.) Remove
to paper towels. Drain beans. Place about 12 beans on
each bacon strip. Wrap bacon around beans and secure
with a toothpick. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Combine the butter, brown sugar, garlic salt and soy sauce.
Brush over the bundles. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15
minutes until the bacon is crisp. This makes only four
servings, so adjust to your amount of guests or family.
CARAMEL APPLE DIP
1 package,( 14 oz.) caramels
20 large marshmallows (2 cups miniature)
½ cup butter, melted
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Apple slices
Place caramels in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave,
uncovered, on high for 1 minute. Add marshmallows;
microwave for 1 minute or until marshmallows are
melted, stirring occasionally. Whisk in melted butter
and cream until combined. Serve with apple slices. This
recipe was tested on a 1100 watt recipe.
Wishing you all a very happy and grateful holiday with plenty of good food, fellowship and all family members present.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
11/17/11
Once again, I find myself a week short of where I should be. Last week should have included my thanks to all of you veterans, especially, my two brothers, now deceased, two sons, a good number of cousins and now a grandson who devoted a part of their life to serving our great country, protecting the liberties we all enjoy and take so much for granted. Why can’t we live in a world where greed for money and power, dishonesty and corruption do not exist. Or on a lesser scale, why as human beings can’t we resolve our differences without going to war with all of its bloodshed and devastation? Am I asking too much? Thanks again for those of you who gave so much.
I have been thinking, which might be dangerous, about what we have done to our world since I was a child. I am grateful that I was privileged to live in the times that I was growing up. This would be unimaginable for our youth of today. We had no money, no telephone, remember it was during a severe depression when a phone was something you could do without, not even any electricity. Just think what would be gone if you had no electronic doo-dads, not even any electricity in your home. But they were great years where we knew and enjoyed each other, even my six siblings without too much jangling, our neighbors for miles around us, were taught respect for our parents, grandparents, teachers, all persons in authority, went to church weekly, made do with mostly hand me down clothes (I got my first new winter coat when I was in the eighth grade and thought I was a princess.) Back then we seldom locked the doors to our home, the “wild” kids drank beer and smoked cigarettes! Drug addiction was almost unheard of. All of this seems an impossibility, but to those of us who lived it, we credit all of that to making us what we are today.
In both scenarios we needed food as nourishment. That has not changed. Yesterday, at a local church that was sponsoring a soup and salad luncheon, I talked to and acknowledged a number of my “farmer friends” from the years that I worked at the elevator. One remarked something about my recipes. His wife told me how they liked the recent one with apples, covered with batter. It was good besides being very simple. I told her that I was going through my cookbooks and found two that have only four ingredients. She said that those would be what she would like. So today, Donna, these are for you!
BARBEQUE CUPS
1 pound lean (85% lean or better)
½ cup barbeque sauce
1 can refrigerated biscuits
¾ cup grated cheddar cheese.
Brown meat, drain fat. Add barbeque sauce
and set aside. Place biscuits in ungreased muffin
tins, pressing dough up the sides to edge of cup.
Spoon meat mixture into cups. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees.
BEEF PATTIES
1 pound ground beef chuck
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 tablespoons butter
Mix beef, potatoes and onion. Shape into patties.
Brown slowly in butter until desired doneness.
Hope these simple to do entrees capture your interest, and maybe save your reputation and happy home if you shop too long or get involved in a long telephone conversation with a friend!
Incidentally, I do have some reprints of my cook book, which includes the first 90 columns that were published way back in 1990. If interested give me a call.
I have been thinking, which might be dangerous, about what we have done to our world since I was a child. I am grateful that I was privileged to live in the times that I was growing up. This would be unimaginable for our youth of today. We had no money, no telephone, remember it was during a severe depression when a phone was something you could do without, not even any electricity. Just think what would be gone if you had no electronic doo-dads, not even any electricity in your home. But they were great years where we knew and enjoyed each other, even my six siblings without too much jangling, our neighbors for miles around us, were taught respect for our parents, grandparents, teachers, all persons in authority, went to church weekly, made do with mostly hand me down clothes (I got my first new winter coat when I was in the eighth grade and thought I was a princess.) Back then we seldom locked the doors to our home, the “wild” kids drank beer and smoked cigarettes! Drug addiction was almost unheard of. All of this seems an impossibility, but to those of us who lived it, we credit all of that to making us what we are today.
In both scenarios we needed food as nourishment. That has not changed. Yesterday, at a local church that was sponsoring a soup and salad luncheon, I talked to and acknowledged a number of my “farmer friends” from the years that I worked at the elevator. One remarked something about my recipes. His wife told me how they liked the recent one with apples, covered with batter. It was good besides being very simple. I told her that I was going through my cookbooks and found two that have only four ingredients. She said that those would be what she would like. So today, Donna, these are for you!
BARBEQUE CUPS
1 pound lean (85% lean or better)
½ cup barbeque sauce
1 can refrigerated biscuits
¾ cup grated cheddar cheese.
Brown meat, drain fat. Add barbeque sauce
and set aside. Place biscuits in ungreased muffin
tins, pressing dough up the sides to edge of cup.
Spoon meat mixture into cups. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees.
BEEF PATTIES
1 pound ground beef chuck
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons minced onion
2 tablespoons butter
Mix beef, potatoes and onion. Shape into patties.
Brown slowly in butter until desired doneness.
Hope these simple to do entrees capture your interest, and maybe save your reputation and happy home if you shop too long or get involved in a long telephone conversation with a friend!
Incidentally, I do have some reprints of my cook book, which includes the first 90 columns that were published way back in 1990. If interested give me a call.
11/10/11
I do not like to mention the word snow, but I am also aware of the fact that when it gets to November anything can happen. We had enough last year to last for two years! I love it when I do not have to go outside to drive anywhere or scoop my side walk. If it would only snow everywhere but on the roads, sidewalks, and my driveway I would be very content with winter! Know anywhere that I can submit an order with those qualifications? I did not think so!
My whole week seemed to be involved with food. My nephew and his son are putting a new roof on my neighbor’s house. Now wouldn’t you think that I should cook lunch for them? The first day I learned that my nephew was not feeling well and went home. No one should be on a complicated roof if you are not fully aware. So I told his son and another employee that I had never met that they could come for lunch. My cooking, however god or bad, sounded superior to their peanut butter sandwiches. I had baked an apple pie with crumb topping and had scalloped potatoes , meatloaf, hot rolls and fresh frozen corn from my freezer. They were very appreciative, especially of the pie. Besides that, the unknown employee cleared the table while I was finishing my pie! He was possibly feeling guilty about eating two pieces of pie. The next day Mark was back (maybe he heard about the pie.) I noticed they were all working so I baked another pie and went over to tell them that they could come for lunch again. They told me they were planning on leaving early, because of threatening rain and they could not tear any more roof off if it were going to rain. Now what is a diabetic going to do with a pie with sugar in the filling and the crumb topping. So I told them to come over when they finished and eat the pie. I did not have to twist their arms. The next day they were back. I told them to come for lunch but no more pie! We had mashed potatoes, gravy, minute steaks, beef and noodles, garlic toast and more corn. For dessert they had to be happy with left over sugar cut out cookies, shaped and decorated like pumpkins. My daughter had asked for 4 dozen for a church celebration at her church. She got the choice ones but my roofers were very content with the left overs. It was a pleasure to do it because they were so appreciative of the food and ate like threshers used to. It was a magic occasion for me.
Another place where food is the prime subject was at my grandfather’s descendants family reunion. There was a small crowd, with only one outside of my dad’s kids and grandkids present. A cousin’s wife from Akron , Indiana came and brought two delicious and different desserts. I mentioned that if she would send the recipes to me I would use them. I should be more like her, because in about three days I had the recipes. What is more outstanding, neither me nor my nosy old friend lost track of them. Now while I still have them in sight, we better stop and get them on the way to you. I think you will like them both.
TANGY FRUIT SALAD
2 tablespoons orange Tang
1 box INSTANT lemon pudding
1 large can fruit cocktail, drained, reserve juice
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained Reserve I cup fruit juice.
Stir Tang into juice. Add Lemon pudding. Mix and stir well. Add fruits and stir until blended. Refrigerate. If you want to be more elaborate you can add cut up bananas, dipped in pine- apple juice and drained maraschino cherries.
JUDY’S 3-LAYER KEEBLER BARS
1st layer: Keebler Club Crackers
2nd layer:
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 cup crushed graham crackers
¾ cup coconut (optional)
Line a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan with club crackers. Boil ingredients for layer 2 for five minutes. Do not stir too much or it will crystallize. Remove from heat and add coconut. Pour over crackers, spreading evenly. Add another layer of club crackers.
3rd layer:
2/3 cup peanut butter
½ cup chocolate bits
½ cut butterscotch chips
Melt together ingredients for layer three and spread over second layer of crackers. Cool. DO NOT BAKE. Cut into bars.
Thanks to Judy Haney, an in-law, but a very special person in her own right, much like her mother-in-law who was a favorite aunt of mine.
My whole week seemed to be involved with food. My nephew and his son are putting a new roof on my neighbor’s house. Now wouldn’t you think that I should cook lunch for them? The first day I learned that my nephew was not feeling well and went home. No one should be on a complicated roof if you are not fully aware. So I told his son and another employee that I had never met that they could come for lunch. My cooking, however god or bad, sounded superior to their peanut butter sandwiches. I had baked an apple pie with crumb topping and had scalloped potatoes , meatloaf, hot rolls and fresh frozen corn from my freezer. They were very appreciative, especially of the pie. Besides that, the unknown employee cleared the table while I was finishing my pie! He was possibly feeling guilty about eating two pieces of pie. The next day Mark was back (maybe he heard about the pie.) I noticed they were all working so I baked another pie and went over to tell them that they could come for lunch again. They told me they were planning on leaving early, because of threatening rain and they could not tear any more roof off if it were going to rain. Now what is a diabetic going to do with a pie with sugar in the filling and the crumb topping. So I told them to come over when they finished and eat the pie. I did not have to twist their arms. The next day they were back. I told them to come for lunch but no more pie! We had mashed potatoes, gravy, minute steaks, beef and noodles, garlic toast and more corn. For dessert they had to be happy with left over sugar cut out cookies, shaped and decorated like pumpkins. My daughter had asked for 4 dozen for a church celebration at her church. She got the choice ones but my roofers were very content with the left overs. It was a pleasure to do it because they were so appreciative of the food and ate like threshers used to. It was a magic occasion for me.
Another place where food is the prime subject was at my grandfather’s descendants family reunion. There was a small crowd, with only one outside of my dad’s kids and grandkids present. A cousin’s wife from Akron , Indiana came and brought two delicious and different desserts. I mentioned that if she would send the recipes to me I would use them. I should be more like her, because in about three days I had the recipes. What is more outstanding, neither me nor my nosy old friend lost track of them. Now while I still have them in sight, we better stop and get them on the way to you. I think you will like them both.
TANGY FRUIT SALAD
2 tablespoons orange Tang
1 box INSTANT lemon pudding
1 large can fruit cocktail, drained, reserve juice
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained Reserve I cup fruit juice.
Stir Tang into juice. Add Lemon pudding. Mix and stir well. Add fruits and stir until blended. Refrigerate. If you want to be more elaborate you can add cut up bananas, dipped in pine- apple juice and drained maraschino cherries.
JUDY’S 3-LAYER KEEBLER BARS
1st layer: Keebler Club Crackers
2nd layer:
2/3 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 cup crushed graham crackers
¾ cup coconut (optional)
Line a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan with club crackers. Boil ingredients for layer 2 for five minutes. Do not stir too much or it will crystallize. Remove from heat and add coconut. Pour over crackers, spreading evenly. Add another layer of club crackers.
3rd layer:
2/3 cup peanut butter
½ cup chocolate bits
½ cut butterscotch chips
Melt together ingredients for layer three and spread over second layer of crackers. Cool. DO NOT BAKE. Cut into bars.
Thanks to Judy Haney, an in-law, but a very special person in her own right, much like her mother-in-law who was a favorite aunt of mine.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
11/3/11
I guess I was remiss last week for grumbling about having a birthday on Monday. It turned out to be a fantastic day. I received about 50 Face Book and E-mail greetings and a nice amount of cards. After spending an anticipated day at home, about 3:15 a daughter called and asked what I was doing for the day. She had planned to come on her lunch hour and that didn’t happen. She was concerned about my birthday being uneventful and suggested that she come after work and take my sister, sister-in-law and me out for supper here in town. A few minutes later another daughter called and said she would bring another sister-in-law for whom she is a caretaker and take me out for supper. So we agreed to combine the two invitations. When they picked me up at 5:30 the plans had changed and there were 15 relatives who helped me finish a great day, even if it were a Monday.
Another bit of magic occurred on Saturday as a final birthday celebration. My kids were planning a “work day for Mom” to do a number of things that I cannot accomplish myself. The day resulted in many complications and only a few were here but they accomplished much! My poor excuse of a garden completely disappeared. If you remember the rabbits ate off my green beans, my 40 gladiola bulbs produced plants but not one bloom, My ten tomato plants refused to grow, stayed a nice deep green until time to ripen then developed blight, my only tomatoes were first cousins to golf balls. I think that is enough to discourage me from even trying next year. A granddaughter dug my few onions, saved the flower bulbs, and cleared the patch of all debris. It looks nice enough to tempt me to try to plant a few things next summer. Another granddaughter rearranged my pantry cupboard and threw out a few older than recommended items, I am going to try to keep it in fairly good order at least until she comes back at Christmas time! Together two daughters washed my front porch windows and painted the front porch floor. The rest gathered some of the leaves, cleaned eaves and are working on a major product of camouflaging the area where the swimming pool used to be. They accomplished much, but also enjoyed the company of each other accented by plenty of good food at lunch time. Indeed it was a magic day.
As I searched for recipes, I noticed a cookbook that my aunt gave us for a 25th wedding anniversary present. That would date it back to at least 1975. It included a couple of unique apple recipes. Since apples are abundant now maybe you will be looking for some new ideas for preparing them.
APPLE CRUNCH
Dice fine enough apples to cover the bottom of an 8 x 10
inch baking dish to a depth of at least one inch. Dot with butter.
Mix together the following until you have a course crumb mixture.
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
Cover the apples with the crumbs. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 350
degrees until apples are done. No time was mentioned but I would suggest
about 30 minutes.
HEAVENLY APPLE SALAD
2 packages lemon Jello
1 cup hot water
16 marshmallows, diced (I would suggest miniatures)
1 cup cold water
1 can (9 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained
2 large apples, diced
½ cup chopped nuts
Dissolve Jello in hot water. Add marshmallows and stir until dissolved. Stir
In cold water and chill until partially set. Add remaining ingredients and
chill until firm.
TOPPING:
¾ cup sugar
Juice of I lemon
2 eggs, beaten
8 ounces whipped topping
Beat sugar, eggs, lemon juice together. Cook until thick in double boiler.
Cool. Fold in whipped topping and spread over top of chilled Jello.
Have you noticed the demolishing of the school house that was built three years before I moved to Edgerton in 1940 and attended high school there? As he was looking at the debris, my son remarked, “That building was built to last and last!” So goes progress.
Another bit of magic occurred on Saturday as a final birthday celebration. My kids were planning a “work day for Mom” to do a number of things that I cannot accomplish myself. The day resulted in many complications and only a few were here but they accomplished much! My poor excuse of a garden completely disappeared. If you remember the rabbits ate off my green beans, my 40 gladiola bulbs produced plants but not one bloom, My ten tomato plants refused to grow, stayed a nice deep green until time to ripen then developed blight, my only tomatoes were first cousins to golf balls. I think that is enough to discourage me from even trying next year. A granddaughter dug my few onions, saved the flower bulbs, and cleared the patch of all debris. It looks nice enough to tempt me to try to plant a few things next summer. Another granddaughter rearranged my pantry cupboard and threw out a few older than recommended items, I am going to try to keep it in fairly good order at least until she comes back at Christmas time! Together two daughters washed my front porch windows and painted the front porch floor. The rest gathered some of the leaves, cleaned eaves and are working on a major product of camouflaging the area where the swimming pool used to be. They accomplished much, but also enjoyed the company of each other accented by plenty of good food at lunch time. Indeed it was a magic day.
As I searched for recipes, I noticed a cookbook that my aunt gave us for a 25th wedding anniversary present. That would date it back to at least 1975. It included a couple of unique apple recipes. Since apples are abundant now maybe you will be looking for some new ideas for preparing them.
APPLE CRUNCH
Dice fine enough apples to cover the bottom of an 8 x 10
inch baking dish to a depth of at least one inch. Dot with butter.
Mix together the following until you have a course crumb mixture.
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
Cover the apples with the crumbs. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 350
degrees until apples are done. No time was mentioned but I would suggest
about 30 minutes.
HEAVENLY APPLE SALAD
2 packages lemon Jello
1 cup hot water
16 marshmallows, diced (I would suggest miniatures)
1 cup cold water
1 can (9 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained
2 large apples, diced
½ cup chopped nuts
Dissolve Jello in hot water. Add marshmallows and stir until dissolved. Stir
In cold water and chill until partially set. Add remaining ingredients and
chill until firm.
TOPPING:
¾ cup sugar
Juice of I lemon
2 eggs, beaten
8 ounces whipped topping
Beat sugar, eggs, lemon juice together. Cook until thick in double boiler.
Cool. Fold in whipped topping and spread over top of chilled Jello.
Have you noticed the demolishing of the school house that was built three years before I moved to Edgerton in 1940 and attended high school there? As he was looking at the debris, my son remarked, “That building was built to last and last!” So goes progress.
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