I thought last year went fast. Here we are again half through a new month. Surely hope we get that rain the weather man is promising. Each day I think my plants in my very small garden are shrinking instead of growing. They do not respond well to my cold water from the garden hose!
In case you have a short prayer list this week, please consider including a couple of issues from my list. Four of my kids are acting as chaperones for a mission trip to Pennsylvania. Two grandkids, one great granddaughter, at least 4 of my sister’s grandkids along with a number of Edgerton kids help make up a group of 37 who will be sleeping in a convent and spending their days doing maintenance work on homes for people who cannot physically or financially manage the repairs. Prayers are needed for a safe and successful week. Along with the physical activities, there is time for deepening their spiritual needs and personalities.
The annual Catholic Heart Work Camp is a favorite activity of many in our community. I baked 10 dozen cookies to help diminish the food expense list. I got in trouble trying to be efficient. I was so proud of myself when I had them all done and in the freezer several days ahead of schedule. Wouldn’t you know I had company for supper on Thursday and used a container of two dozen. So the last day in the afternoon found me quickly doing a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies that are quite simple to make. I was rewarded for my generosity because the extra one I had to make were the best of the bunch in my estimation. They all made a supper break on Saturday evening at my niece’s home in Elizabethtown where they all enjoyed a pizza meal.
The other request is for a quick healing of a son-in-law who was quite extensively burned on both arms from a malfunctioning hog roaster. We are grateful because it could have been much worse, but he does have a long painful recovery to endure.
Two of you readers supplied magic moments for me this past week. I was visiting the nursing home last Friday afternoon. When I came home I had a message on my answering machine to call a certain lady whom I know fairly well but do not have much contact with. When I returned her call she wanted to tell me that she had passed on my suggestion for cleaning strawberries with a drinking straw to her daughter who has arthritis in her hands and was having a difficult time cleaning her strawberries. Also, important to me, was her enjoyment of each week’s article. Then later in the local grocery store, I greeted an acquaintance whom I hadn’t seen for a long time. She made some pleasant comments and encouraged me to keep on doing this column. So here is at least one more!
As I was examining one of my cookbooks deciding if it should go in the “keep” pile or send it on its way, I was captivated by a couple of recipes that sounded like good eating , had only a few ingredients and would be easy to make. So I guess that book will be a keeper for a while longer.
QUICK CHICKEN PIE
1 ¾ cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 can (10 ¾ oz.) condensed chicken soup
1 cup cubed cooked chicken
1 egg, beaten
1 cup biscuit mix
½ cup milk
Combine vegetables, soup and chicken. Transfer
to an ungreased 9 inch pie plate. Combine egg,
milk and biscuit mix. Mix just until moistened.
Spread over chicken mixture. Bake at 375 for 30
to 35 minutes, or until golden brown.
PEACH PUDDING
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup milk
1 large can sliced peaches and juice
Melt butter in bottom of 2 quart baking dish. Mix
together sugar, flour, baking powder and milk. Pour
1 large can of sliced peaches and juice on top of the
batter. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. (Can use fresh peaches,
3 cups slightly sweetened.)
I just notice a hint for keeping strawberries fresh. Refrigerate them (unwashed) in an airtight container between layers of paper towels. Should keep up to ten days if stored this way.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
6/7/12
I do not know which direction this is going today. I have been struggling this morning with a concrete idea and not settling in on any pattern. This week had too many “Sundays” following last weekend’s trip to Kentucky, Memorial Day celebrations, graduation parties, a golden wedding celebration and a double birthday dinner in addition to the ordinary demands of living. I might mention a few highlights then just go on to recipes, which I have finally decided to use.
After attending the breakfast at the K of C Hall, several family members walked to the cemetery for the annual festivities. We dawdled too long visiting family gravesites and visiting. By the time we got to the downtown festivities they were winding down, but I was very impressed with the man who was singing . I am sorry to say that I never heard nor saw his name so I cannot give him his due credit. He has received a blessing that I always thought I would enjoy immensely if God had seen a possibility in granting me that talent. He sang so effortlessly and seemed to enjoy what he was doing. I was taking a nap when the music talents were distributed but I do enjoy other people using their blessing. A number of us posed with the hat collection and the image of Clem.
Last week at a special meeting of my Home Extension Club we listened to a report of an official officer who is responsible in eleven northeast Indiana counties covering meth misuse. I have read in the news about the apprehension of meth lab operations, but had never imagined the seriousness of the problem nor the nastiness and dangers of the drug itself. Wish my aged mind could have stored and recalled all of the information. My prayer is for any youth that are considering trying it and for the release of the drastic hold it grasps on anyone who has already chosen that danger. Meth lab has a different meaning to me now. It seems that it is just perhaps a 20 oz. soft drink bottle, that is readily available and small enough to be able to afford the ingredients needed. Most of the ingredients are found in most every household. They are very volatile if found along the road where someone has had to discard them quickly. If found do not attempt to pick them up yourself, but notify officials as they are very explosive.
I am downsizing my collection of cookbooks. Now I need to downsize the downsizing. Yesterday I sent a box of them with my son who is helping with a book sale for a Relay for Life project in his home town. As I was double checking a large very nice church sponsored book of old fashioned recipes, I noticed some very simple ideas from the era l that I grew up in where we made something from just what we had. Both of these I am going to try. Perhaps I have the cart before the horse and should have tried them before passing them on to you. If you don’t appreciate them just keep quiet!
THREE LAYERED DINNER
1 pound of lean hamburger
1 small head of cabbage
3 cups diced raw potatoes
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup of milk
Shred cabbage and place ½ of it in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Add 1/2 of the diced potatoes and them ½ of the hamburger. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each layer. Add remainder in the same order, with hamburger on top. Add milk and bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours or until potatoes are tender. (I might brown hamburger first, add water instead of milk.) There will be no icky, gooey, delicious desserts this week. Next is an idea that I have never seen before and I have all of the ingredients and am anxious to try it. Hope you are interested. also.
ECONOMY SAUSAGE LOAF
1 pound bulk sausage
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 onion, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
oatmeal
Mix all ingredients together and shape into a loaf. Roll in oatmeal. Place in a baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Hope you have been intrigued enough about cleaning strawberries with a drinking straw to try it. The idea has fostered a lot of community conversation and comments.
After attending the breakfast at the K of C Hall, several family members walked to the cemetery for the annual festivities. We dawdled too long visiting family gravesites and visiting. By the time we got to the downtown festivities they were winding down, but I was very impressed with the man who was singing . I am sorry to say that I never heard nor saw his name so I cannot give him his due credit. He has received a blessing that I always thought I would enjoy immensely if God had seen a possibility in granting me that talent. He sang so effortlessly and seemed to enjoy what he was doing. I was taking a nap when the music talents were distributed but I do enjoy other people using their blessing. A number of us posed with the hat collection and the image of Clem.
Last week at a special meeting of my Home Extension Club we listened to a report of an official officer who is responsible in eleven northeast Indiana counties covering meth misuse. I have read in the news about the apprehension of meth lab operations, but had never imagined the seriousness of the problem nor the nastiness and dangers of the drug itself. Wish my aged mind could have stored and recalled all of the information. My prayer is for any youth that are considering trying it and for the release of the drastic hold it grasps on anyone who has already chosen that danger. Meth lab has a different meaning to me now. It seems that it is just perhaps a 20 oz. soft drink bottle, that is readily available and small enough to be able to afford the ingredients needed. Most of the ingredients are found in most every household. They are very volatile if found along the road where someone has had to discard them quickly. If found do not attempt to pick them up yourself, but notify officials as they are very explosive.
I am downsizing my collection of cookbooks. Now I need to downsize the downsizing. Yesterday I sent a box of them with my son who is helping with a book sale for a Relay for Life project in his home town. As I was double checking a large very nice church sponsored book of old fashioned recipes, I noticed some very simple ideas from the era l that I grew up in where we made something from just what we had. Both of these I am going to try. Perhaps I have the cart before the horse and should have tried them before passing them on to you. If you don’t appreciate them just keep quiet!
THREE LAYERED DINNER
1 pound of lean hamburger
1 small head of cabbage
3 cups diced raw potatoes
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup of milk
Shred cabbage and place ½ of it in the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Add 1/2 of the diced potatoes and them ½ of the hamburger. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each layer. Add remainder in the same order, with hamburger on top. Add milk and bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours or until potatoes are tender. (I might brown hamburger first, add water instead of milk.) There will be no icky, gooey, delicious desserts this week. Next is an idea that I have never seen before and I have all of the ingredients and am anxious to try it. Hope you are interested. also.
ECONOMY SAUSAGE LOAF
1 pound bulk sausage
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 onion, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon poultry seasoning
oatmeal
Mix all ingredients together and shape into a loaf. Roll in oatmeal. Place in a baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Hope you have been intrigued enough about cleaning strawberries with a drinking straw to try it. The idea has fostered a lot of community conversation and comments.
5/31/12
As I check my calendar to get the right date, I notice that there are five Tuesdays, five Wednesdays and five Thursdays in May this year. I think that is some sort of a record, but I won’t attempt to
throw out any record data. I am struggling with a change in plans which was going to allow me to sleep on the idea of just waiting until Monday morning to do this. I just received a late invitation to fill up my day tomorrow starting at 8:00 A.M! So that means back to the computer at a late hour.
I have started a nice habit of covering many miles away from home. I think many of you know that my sister has a set of triplet great grandkids in Kentucky born two months premature in January. There are two boys and a girl. My sister had not seen them and her daughter and son-in-law were taking her down to see them and be a guest at their baptism on Sunday, and visit for a few days. There were obligations in Edgerton, especially a high school graduation, so they were going down and back the same day. They graciously asked me and my sister-in-law if we wanted to go along. I had said a definite “Yes” even before the invitations was completely uttered. We left home at 8:30 a.m. and arrived back home at 9:30 p.m. It was a hurried trip but was a fantastic experience, witnessing another of God’s great miracles. I would rank it above the wonderment of my airplane rides!!
Another Magic Moment of the trip was my first experience of witnessing the windmills that create electricity in the Payne—Van Wert area. That is much different than reading about them. If you agree with the idea or not, it is something out of the ordinary to witness. They come in the same category with me as my electric iron. When I plug in my iron, I do not understand why it gets hot, but that certainly does not keep me from using the iron! Maybe we will have to wait to see what history has to say about this phenomenon.
I forgot to mention something quite simple but I had not experienced it in my 87 years of living. While visiting in North Carolina, My friend showed me how she cleans strawberries! Use a firm drinking straw and push it up through the strawberry which will remove the berry leaves and takes out the center of the berry. I was so enamored with the idea that I bought some straws at my local grocery, only to find that they were a bit fragile. On my trip to Kentucky, we stopped for a quick bite to eat going and coming home at a Wendy’s and Burger King. They were exactly what I thought I needed, so I put my straw in my purse instead of putting it in the garbage container. She also says she washes them in water with a wee bit of dishwashing soap, then rinses them thoroughly.
This is another sneaky way to get to recipes, but I cleaned my berries this way and now I am going to tell you what I did with them for my dessert.
STRAWBERRY DESSERT
1 carton of strawberries, cleaned and diced
2 bananas, diced
1 cup strawberry glaze, I use sugar free
½ carton (8 oz.) whipped topping
¼ cup chopped pecans
Prepare fruit and mix with other ingredients. Serve immediately. If you are making it for only one person, do not make the whole recipe. Just use your intuition on quantities. This is the way I like it, but it does not keep well over night and tends to get watery.
Do you remember the light brownies that I told you about that I needed to do an autopsy on before I gave you the recipe? Well, I got the results back from the laboratory and the biggest criticism was that they were over baked. I am not certain whether I did not set my timer correctly or that I used a glass baking dish and should have turned down the temperature. Then another problem turned up. My nosey friend was stirring in my things again and I could not find the clipping with the recipe on it! It turned up today from somewhere, so I am including it this week. I can’t trust her to not mess things up again. I think you will really like them, just watch them closely and do not over bake. They came highly recommended from two generations of a family.
LIGHT BROWNIES
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped English walnuts
Cream butter and sugar. Let cool for a few minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into egg mixture. Stir in chips and nuts. Batter will be quite stiff. Pour batter into 9 x 13 greased baking pan. If desired sprinkle top with more nuts and chocolate bits. Bake 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted has moist crumbs. Let cool and cut into squares.
Best wishes are extended to all graduates of Edgerton High School. May your futures be as successful as you strive to make them.
throw out any record data. I am struggling with a change in plans which was going to allow me to sleep on the idea of just waiting until Monday morning to do this. I just received a late invitation to fill up my day tomorrow starting at 8:00 A.M! So that means back to the computer at a late hour.
I have started a nice habit of covering many miles away from home. I think many of you know that my sister has a set of triplet great grandkids in Kentucky born two months premature in January. There are two boys and a girl. My sister had not seen them and her daughter and son-in-law were taking her down to see them and be a guest at their baptism on Sunday, and visit for a few days. There were obligations in Edgerton, especially a high school graduation, so they were going down and back the same day. They graciously asked me and my sister-in-law if we wanted to go along. I had said a definite “Yes” even before the invitations was completely uttered. We left home at 8:30 a.m. and arrived back home at 9:30 p.m. It was a hurried trip but was a fantastic experience, witnessing another of God’s great miracles. I would rank it above the wonderment of my airplane rides!!
Another Magic Moment of the trip was my first experience of witnessing the windmills that create electricity in the Payne—Van Wert area. That is much different than reading about them. If you agree with the idea or not, it is something out of the ordinary to witness. They come in the same category with me as my electric iron. When I plug in my iron, I do not understand why it gets hot, but that certainly does not keep me from using the iron! Maybe we will have to wait to see what history has to say about this phenomenon.
I forgot to mention something quite simple but I had not experienced it in my 87 years of living. While visiting in North Carolina, My friend showed me how she cleans strawberries! Use a firm drinking straw and push it up through the strawberry which will remove the berry leaves and takes out the center of the berry. I was so enamored with the idea that I bought some straws at my local grocery, only to find that they were a bit fragile. On my trip to Kentucky, we stopped for a quick bite to eat going and coming home at a Wendy’s and Burger King. They were exactly what I thought I needed, so I put my straw in my purse instead of putting it in the garbage container. She also says she washes them in water with a wee bit of dishwashing soap, then rinses them thoroughly.
This is another sneaky way to get to recipes, but I cleaned my berries this way and now I am going to tell you what I did with them for my dessert.
STRAWBERRY DESSERT
1 carton of strawberries, cleaned and diced
2 bananas, diced
1 cup strawberry glaze, I use sugar free
½ carton (8 oz.) whipped topping
¼ cup chopped pecans
Prepare fruit and mix with other ingredients. Serve immediately. If you are making it for only one person, do not make the whole recipe. Just use your intuition on quantities. This is the way I like it, but it does not keep well over night and tends to get watery.
Do you remember the light brownies that I told you about that I needed to do an autopsy on before I gave you the recipe? Well, I got the results back from the laboratory and the biggest criticism was that they were over baked. I am not certain whether I did not set my timer correctly or that I used a glass baking dish and should have turned down the temperature. Then another problem turned up. My nosey friend was stirring in my things again and I could not find the clipping with the recipe on it! It turned up today from somewhere, so I am including it this week. I can’t trust her to not mess things up again. I think you will really like them, just watch them closely and do not over bake. They came highly recommended from two generations of a family.
LIGHT BROWNIES
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped English walnuts
Cream butter and sugar. Let cool for a few minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into egg mixture. Stir in chips and nuts. Batter will be quite stiff. Pour batter into 9 x 13 greased baking pan. If desired sprinkle top with more nuts and chocolate bits. Bake 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted has moist crumbs. Let cool and cut into squares.
Best wishes are extended to all graduates of Edgerton High School. May your futures be as successful as you strive to make them.
5/24/12
I still do not believe I really did it! My oldest son asked me if I kept up my friendship with a couple that I knew before my marriage. I worked with Pat in the Production Control Office of the Magnavox Co. for several years in the 1940’s. She was maid of honor at our wedding and soon after that moved to Chicago with her parents. She moved to Chicago, married a retired Navy Lieutenant, then moved to Boston, New Jersey and they have now retired in Washington, North Carolina. His next question was ”Why don’t you go visit them?” With the enlargements of the airports, the diminishing number of flights, my advanced age and the fact that I would be flying “standby” I quickly said that I would not go alone. When he said he would go with me, plans began to form and last Tuesday morning at five o’clock we were on our way to Ft. Wayne to the airport, going to Atlanta, then on to North Carolina.
We kept alive our friendship and we had visited them in all of these locations and they have been to our home several times, once since I lived in Edgerton. Jim had not seen them since he was a kid and it had been at least 15 years since I had seen them. It was almost as if we saw each other yearly as we spent a few days with them. My friend was lamenting the fact that we were staying such a short time. I reminded her that I had heard her mother say that guests are like fish-----after three days they stink! They were perfect hosts, so guess we left in time.
They live near the Outer Banks and there is an awful lot of water. They had planned to spend the only full day that we would be there on their boat. There is water everywhere, but when I asked about the ocean they informed me that this was all rivers, but they could have fooled me. The weather forecast was threatening, but the sun was shining and it was a very pleasant experience until a big black cloud appeared and a rumble of thunder, so we turned around and went back because they told us it was not nice to be out when it was storming. On Wednesday mornings they go to Mass at 8:30 then they have what they call “MOM’s and POP’s” at the church hall with coffee and each week someone brings rolls, cookies, etc. A very nice custom and we got to meet a number of their friends who were all very gracious to us.
Again I got to experience the wonder of flying, all of that weight of the plane, hundreds of people aboard and all of it a mile high travelling at great speed, as peaceful as sitting in your living room.
The return trip brought some problems as the first flight we planned to make was over booked so they had to drive us 2 hours to Raleigh, which made us miss our planned flight back to Ft. Wayne. We arrived home about 6 hours later than we had planned but it was a great three days.
On Sunday my sister and I were asked to do one of our skits at St. Michael’s Church at Waterloo for their Mother / Daughter Dinner. With me being gone the preceding days, we were quite busy on Saturday. We did not know that there was other entertainment, a young mother who writes her own music and sings. So our shenanigans made the program a bit long, but we were favorably received. There are a bunch of good cooks there because the food was way above average.
Now maybe that was a sneaky way to get to recipes, but it was a true statement. Is your rhubarb a bit inadequate this year? At first I thought I wasn’t going to have any because my peony bushes are fantastic and they dwarf the tiny showing of rhubarb. The stalks are spindly but there might be enough for a pie. I found this recipe for a cake that I want to try so maybe there won’t be any pie.
RHUBARB STRAWBERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE
5 cups rhubarb, diced
¾ cup sugar
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 box white or yellow cake mix
1 box (3 oz.) strawberry Jello, dry (can use raspberry)
Whipped topping
Mix rhubarb, sugar, Jello and marshmallows. Put in 9 x 13
cake pan. Mix cake according to box directions and
pour over rhubarb mixture. Bake at 350 for I hour and
15 minutes, or until done. Cool. Flip over and serve with
whipped topping.
If you are looking for a different way to serve potatoes, perhaps this recipe will appeal to you. It sounds different than any I have used.
SOUR CREAM HASHBROWNS
1 2# package of hash brown potatoes
1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream
1 (8 oz.) package shredded cheddar cheese
I can cream of mushroom or chicken soup
½ cup chopped onions
Salt and pepper to taste
Bacon or bacon bits (optional)
Mix all ingredients together except cheese.
Put in 9 x 13 baking pan. Top with cheese.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
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