Merry Christmas to All! 12/20/12

As is the usual custom at Christmas time, I will just wish for you the best Christmas of all time.   My wishes for you were inspired by a card I received from a special niece of mine for my birthday. From the basic thought, I will develop my own perspective.  Christmas finds us scurrying around, trying to find the perfect gift for others. Most of the time it is quite simple what will really bring them a blessed holiday.

First I wish each of you a love-filled life. We all need to love and to be loved in return. Scripture tells us to love one another as ourselves, and as God has loved us.  Much joy and many magic moments can be found in  loving relationships.

I wish you peace. Being comfortable with what you believe in and the standards that you set for your life and dealing with others is a source of great contentment. Treat others as you wish to be treated.  Be kind to everyone that comes in to your life.

Next, may your life be controlled by a steadfast faith in God and His plan for our redemption.  Get your faith out of the corner and dust it off, polish and deepen it. More important share it with others.  In case you have shoved yours into a corner or worse, thrown it out, ask God for help in bringing it back to a priority in your life.

My final wish for you is joy, which can be readily supplied if you follow the first requirements of love, peace and faith.

So let’s just feed our souls today and let this be a recipe for a great life. May your Christmas be holy, merry and filled with great family connections. See you all in the new year of 2013!

Nutty as a Fruitcake!! 12/13/12

I see Christmas is sneaking up on us really fast.  I am certain that you all know I have really been trying to be good, but at that point I must rest my case. As I ponder over a few circumstances that I am afraid you might have heard about, I think the only thing left from me to do is to come clean and admit that you heard right. But why would anyone with the years of experience that I have had, be part of something that defies good sense. My only recourse is to blame my little sneaky friend who is always stirring in my business, making a mess of things.  I really had my Thanksgiving dinner plans under rigid control.  I had invited those who needed a place to share the noon meal to come to my house.  I carefully list what I am making and issue the  fact that whatever else they do not bring, we will not eat!  It always works wonderfully and we have more food than we know what to do with.  

I have a favorite recipe for Easy Meat Balls that I ordinarily have an extra one prepared in the freezer ready for unexpected guests. As the day approached, I began to think maybe I should use the two 8x 8 baking dishes full that I had prepared when I found a really good deal at the local grocery store on low fat ground beef.  So I intelligently took them from the freezer in advance so they would be ready to use for our noon meal.  So far, so good.  I even managed to have a time schedule so they would be ready the same time as my Honey Mustard Chicken that was already cooking in the oven.  I very confidently put the first one in the oven. As I was doing the second one, I removed the elastic bound plastic cover from the dish, I thought, ”Oh, Oh!” I did not remember removing the cover of the first one. Sure enough, and it was worse than I thought.  I had used Glad Wrap on that one and the whole thing had disintegrated except that that was clinging desperately to the sides of my dish.  There was none on the food, so I scraped off what I could and we ate it, but I am still digging off plastic from that dish! Reheating it was not a successful operation. 

Guess I am a slow learner and should really pay more attention to that little old lady that tries to help me when I really do not need any interference.  This time I was so proud of myself that I was doing Christmas cookies earlier than I ever start.  I keep my flour in a Tupper Ware container that holds over five pounds of flour. I was so proud of myself because I had put it back where it is stored instead of leaving it set on the counter where I was mixing cookies. It must have been her that put it back because I still needed it to roll out the cutout cookies. It is stored above the dryer and is a tricky reach for me, but I can master it with no problems. Wrong!  As I stretched to reach the container and pull it from the cupboard, wouldn’t you know that she had left the small flour sifter sitting on top of the container. It was less than half full , but I know there was more flour than that, and it landed directly on top of my head!  I think that I thought a bad word or two. Anyway, it was the first time that I washed my own hair at home since I retired and became a lady of leisure and luxury and have my hair done each Saturday morning.

Since both of these atrocities happened when I was preparing food, my advice will be carefully scanned, so I am going to use really simple recipes this time.  For years and years a favorite of mine is one that that my daughter told me about and we used it for her wedding reception. You may want to use it for your Christmas festivities.  I make it every year for a son-in-law’s birthday. I think I gave it to you years ago, but it might be a suggestion for you younger cooks.

                        

CHEESE AND BOILED EGG SPREAD

1 pound of Velveeta cheese

2 cups Miracle whip

4 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 tablespoon bacon bits, more if you prefer

Melt cheese in microwave at 50% power.  Do not over heat.  Stir in Miracle Whip and blend thoroughly.  Add eggs and bacon bits.  Serve with favorite crackers. To make a smaller amount of spread, just remember to use as much Miracle Whip as you use cheese and add egg and bacon bits according to your preference.

How about a dessert that takes only 15 minutes to prepare? Let it chill while you are preparing the rest of the meal.

                  

PISTACHIO CREAM PIE

1 prepared 9 inch graham cracker crust

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese

1 cup milk

1 package (3.4 oz.) pistachio instant pudding

1 can( 8 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups whipped topping

Toasted coconut

Mix the cream cheese, milk and pudding until smooth. Fold in drained pineapple.  Place in graham cracker crust. Spread top with whipped topping and sprinkle with coconut. Refrigerate until served.

The spirit finally got to me and I started decorating for Christmas.  Since I am having no celebrations at my home, I am doing less than usual.  I like them during the season. But I hate removing them and packing them away. I enjoy seeing all of the ones a lot of you so laboriously produce.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 12/6/12

God picked another apple from my family tree this past week. Anna Mae Platt, 96, of Butler, Indiana, passed into eternity last Tuesday morning. She was the youngest sibling of my mother and the last of my direct ancestors, named after her grandmother, and always went by both names. She was survived by 6 nieces, which included my sister and myself. She lived a very active life until the last three years when she became a resident of Laurels of DeKalb in Butler. She retired from Indiana and Michigan Electric Company after approximately 40 years of service at the age of 60. She also was the organizer of the local Red Cross Blood drive for many years at which  she  diligently gave her best. Her parents were two of my favorite “old people”, (They both died 20 years younger than I am!!)  Grandma and Granddad Dick, formally known as Mr. and Mrs. Richard Platt.

For 45 years she was an expected guest at my family’s Christmas celebration.  It was the time of our three hour fast before receiving communion and we started  having a 6:00 A.M. breakfast, then the kids opened their gifts then we all went to Mass at 10:00.  I got an inspiration that since she had never spent Christmas morning with a bunch of kids,  I invited her to come to our breakfast. She readily accepted and was a guest for the next 25 years or so and never missed a Christmas morning.  After my family grew too much to get into my home, she still came to our celebrations until she could no longer care for herself and had to go to the nursing home. She always brought a huge box of “unnecessary” groceries that we did not buy because of the difficulty of spreading one wage to cover the needs of eleven people. She thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids go through the box, elated over the marshmallows, box mixes, sugar coated cereal, Quick chocolate drink mix, etc. She stated later that it was not nearly as much fun when I finally went to work to help out with the family finances and we did step out of our rigid budget occasionally.

She was a unique individual, happiest when she was in charge and will be greatly missed.  May she rest in peace.

I will give you two of her favorite recipes.  They happen to be in my cook book, but there are a lot of new readers who would not have one since that was published in 1992. (incidentally we sold 900 of them!)  The bread recipe she made by the dozens and gave them away.  I still enjoy it and bake it occasionally since I have the uncontrollable desire to sit down and eat the whole thing while it is still warm. It can’t be beat if you toast it and spread it generously with real butter.

                                    

DILLY BREAD

1 package yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 cup cottage cheese

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 tablespoon butter

2 teaspoon dill seed

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon soda

1 unbeaten egg

2 ¼ to 2 ½  cups flour

Soften yeast in warm water. Heat cottage cheese to lukewarm. Add all ingredients, adding flour last. (From my upbringing, I think all bread needs to be kneeded, so I do.)  Cover and let rise in a warm place for 50 to 60 minutes. Mix down, turn into a greased glass loaf pan. Let rise 30 to 40 minutes. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees until crust is golden brown. Brush top crust with butter. 

This is delicious toasted and served with soups and is a great way to use cottage cheese that has slipped past the “use by” date”. I freeze the cottage cheese and make the bread at a convenient time.

A real favorite of hers was broccoli noodle soup and I made it frequently for her while at the nursing home. She would eat this even after she refused to eat most food that was offered to her.  Hope you like it that well.

                        

BROCCOLI NODLE SOUP

¼ cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon butter

3 ½ cups water

1 tablespoon instant chicken bouillon

¼ teaspoon garlic powder  (I use more)

2 cups fine egg noodles

1 (10 oz.) package frozen broccoli

2 cups milk

1 can (10 ¾ oz.) cream of chicken soup

½ pound Velveeta Cheese

salt and pepper to taste

In a large Dutch oven, sauté onion until tender, but do not brown. Stir in water, garlic powder and bouillon. Add noodles. Cook uncovered, for five minutes. Add frozen broccoli. (I use fresh broccoli, cook until crisp tender and add broccoli and water that I cook it in.) Return to boiling, cook for three minutes. Stir in milk and chicken soup. Add cut up cheese and cook over low heat until cheese melts, stirring occasionally.

Again, rest in peace Aunt Anna Mae, you will always live in our memories.

11/29/12

Hope your holiday weekend was all that you hoped it would be.  Mine turned out to be greater.  I was expecting a small guest list because of distance and other commitments but had between 25 and 30 for the noon meal. Later in the day another 25 dropped in.  The latecomers were invited to fill a plate with leftovers and I showed them how to work the microwave. A lazy approach but it worked.

On Sunday my sister, sister-in –law and  I  were invited by a family of nieces and nephews to be “special guests” at their Thanksgiving celebration. My niece and her husband from Pennsylvania were visiting her mother, so they chauffeured all of us to the rural home of our nephew and his wife. It was a magical afternoon and we felt privileged to be included.

After a weekend of food and more food, I was captivated with a very simple, low calorie, healthy recipe.  I especially liked the simplicity of the fruit combination with a 5 minute preparation time, which also, sounds attractive and tasty.

                        

FRUIT  MELODY

1 ½ cups strawberries, halved or quartered

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 medium banana, sliced

¾ cup green grapes

1 can (21 oz.) peach pie filling

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Especially attractive in a clear compote dish. I have a deep respect for potatoes, no matter what you do to them. So this recipe jumped from the pages of my book with such vivacity (yes, there is such a word) that I could not ignore it.  I am just as eager to prepare and taste it. Another asset is that there are only five ingredients.

                                    

CHEESY SAUSAGE POTATOES

3 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 pound bulk pork sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

¼ cup butter, melted

2 cups ( 8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer, uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Crumble sausage a skillet and add onion. Cook over medium heat until no longer pink, Drain off fat. Drain potatoes and arrange in a 9 x 13 in baking dish. Drizzle with butter. Add sausage and stir gently. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Right at this moment my sister is preparing for surgery for a knee replacement. My heart and mind are full of prayers for a successful venture to free her of much pain and regain mobility.  Her usual comment is “Now I am not sick, I just can’t walk!”