5/10/12

May 10 would have been our 65th wedding anniversary. Several of my high school classmates were fortunate enough to celebrate this milestone in their lives.  We extend best wishes to those who were so blessed.  My husband’s family had a magic day today by honoring the anniversary of Stan’s death by attending services at St. Mary’s with his widow , sister, brother, sisters-in law and many nieces and nephews.  Following Mass we congregated for coffee and rolls in the church basement. True to tradition they left us to turn out the lights a couple of hours later.  Since we have another tradition- we love to eat- we found nearly a dozen of us at Rita’s for lunch. It was a great time of sharing and enjoying old memories, making it difficult to explain that at 1:15 we were still not home from 8:30 church services. A few relatives continued to celebrate at Mary’s home.  It is wonderful to me when family enjoys each other to that extent.

Another magic experience takes us to the ridiculous side of life.  Since I use the dumb things I do quite often for basic ideas, one was mentioned at a recent meeting of my Home Extension Meeting.  Remember when I used corn starch for powdered sugar in my icing for cookies for a special occasion?  Well as someone mentioned that fact, out of nowhere a young member of the club approached me with a gift.  She had made two labels from powder blue cardboard about ten inches long and 1 ¼  inches wide with the names “POWDERED SUGAR” on one and “CORN STARCH” in royal blue letters on the other. They will look quite distinguished in my condiment cupboard above the microwave! To incriminate me further, in case I had trouble reading  the labels, she included a Dollar General magnifying glass!  Bet I don’t make that mistake again.  Thanks for your sense of humor and the effort it took to follow through on the idea, Linda!

I have a recipe that I use a lot with red hot candies, but this one is quite different, but should be very tasty.
                   
RED HOT APPLE SAUCE SALAD
2/3  cup red hot cinnamon candies
2 cups boiling water
1 package (6oz.) lemon Jello
2 cups applesauce
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped nuts
Dissolve candies in boiling water. Pour over Jello.
Stir until Jello is dissolved. Add apple sauce, stir until
 blended. Chill until firm.  Blend cream cheese, mayonnaise.
Mix in celery and nuts. Spread over top of Jello mixture.  Chill.
                    
MACARONI MIXED VEGETABLE CASSEROLE
1 cup raw macaroni, cooked according to package directions
1 package (10 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables, cooked
1 can cream of mushroom soup
6 Smoky link sausages, cut into slices
1 cup shredded Velveeta cheese
Cook macaroni and vegetables until done. Drain and mix together
with soup, meat and most of the cheese. Save some to sprinkle on top.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.