Fine Arts, Good Food, Long Lives, Lasting Marriages, GOD IS GOOD 8/23/12

This past week has been a rather quiet one with a good number of days with very few social obligations.  Now wouldn’t you think that would be a great opportunity to get some deep but ignored cleaning done?  I had great plans, even wrote down a few, but do you know what happened?  I forgot to start them!  Oh, well this is another week, maybe I will activate those plans. (Please note that I slipped a “maybe” into that statement. That is enough to make me more relaxed.)

Last Monday was a great day for me.  Due to  a desire from a casual friend of mine who wanted to see a musical stage play in Shipshewana, Indiana, a group of seven friends made her suggestion a reality. I left home at 3:00 P.M. to join a car pool near Auburn.  We arrived at our destination to indulge in a family style dinner at the Blue Gate Restaurant, featuring chicken and ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, green beans, freshly home baked bread, topped off with our choice of pie.  I chose a new experience of vanilla cream pudding over crushed red raspberries with whipped topping. To be great pie for me, it has to have above average crust.  It met all of this criteria.  It was a real treat that slipped down by itself after over eating of the fabulous home cooked meal.  I kept watching and I saw no calories nor sugar, so I enjoyed every bite.

We made a hasty exit from the dining hall upstairs to the Blue Gate Theater where we were mesmerized by the performance of The Confession, a story of an Amish family who had raised their adopted daughter without her ever knowing of her origin. The cast included all professional actors and trained musicians which made the next nearly three hours go by rapidly. Many thanks to several of my friends who made it possible for me to be a part of such an evening. It was a rather expensive evening, but I decided it would cost each of my kids only $5.75!  It rained harder than I have seen it rain all summer most of the way home, which made it later than I had thought I would be and it was past midnight when I quietly slipped into the house, turning only the minimum of lights on and crawled into bed hoping no neighbors saw this little old lady in such circumstances. There is another play scheduled with an  Amish background for September through November. Do not be surprised if we go back again.  I will have to fudge my time sheet for extra funds, but I think I can make it if I stay out of the grocery stores.

My week ended with a very full schedule for Sunday.  I had declined one invitation for a celebration for two special friends who  have been married for over 65 years, and were celebrating both of their advanced birthdays. I have known them since I was a sophomore in high school and was disappointed that I had already accepted an invitation for a baby shower for a first child of one of my granddaughters.  I could not possibly honor both invitations since one was in Kendallville. When my daughter picked me up for the shower she said she intended to get me back to Edgerton in time to get to the birthday party!  We made it at the last moment and were graciously received by Bob and Marcella Koerner and their family. May they have many good memories of the day. We hurried from there to the church basement for a 40th wedding anniversary celebration. Again we were the last guests to arrive but, were glad we made the extra effort to help them celebrate. Congratulations to you, Larry and Viv Welch.

We ate at only two of the parties, but I came home with no intentions of having anymore food. It was even difficult to think of any food that I thought you might be interested in.  It will surprise you that for a change I ignored all of the desserts that usually attract my first thoughts. I have eaten, and made occasionally, poppy seed chicken but this is a bit different as this uses diced chicken instead of whole pieces. It makes a large amount so maybe you can divide it in half or maybe freeze some of it before you bake it.   It suggests chicken breasts, but I am going to use a mixture of both white and dark meat, because that is what I like best.  The salad recipe is one that I have never tried but has possibilities.  The title fascinated me, too.
                                  
POPPY SEED CHICKEN
About 7 to 8 pounds of chicken, cooked and diced
1 ½  cups sour cream
2 tablespoons poppy seed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
½ cup chicken broth
1 ½ sleeves butter flavored crackers, crushed
1 stick butter
Place cooked and diced or shredded chicken in a 9 x 13 pan. Mix chicken soup, sour cream, poppy seed and broth. Pour this mixture over the chicken. Sprinkle crushed crackers on top. Drizzle butter over all. ( I usually just mix the butter and crackers.  The recipe called for “2 cream cheese” but did not mention it when giving directions.)  Maybe some little old white haired lady turned in this recipe!  I am going to try it with at least 1 (8 ounce) package and then make a final decision.

Why don’t you live dangerously?
                      
HILLBILLY PINEAPPLE SLAW
I head shredded cabbage
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1 small onion, shredded
½ cup mayonnaise, more if needed
Salt and pepper if desired
1 package mini marshmallows (Use your own discretion as to size.)
Combine cabbage and onion. Stir in pineapple. Add mayonnaise. Stir in marshmallows. Enjoy.