Sharing Others Magic 1/31/13

This week is another interesting date, all ones and threes.  I was just hoping there was another Thursday in January because, again, the months are speeding by. Hadn’t thought about needing five Thursdays this month to get my wish.

Since the cold weather, I have been hibernating more than usual which does not supply many magic moments.  So I am surviving on the ones that have developed from members of my family.  A son, daughter and three grandkids attended the March For Life in Washington D.C. this past week. They were very impressed with the experience. It is amazing how many thousands of caring people expressed  convictions by travelling there. I saw one comment that puzzled me.  One football player who was a victim of a hoax on a computer occupied national headlines for days, but the demonstration of thousands opposing the killing of thousands of innocent babies by abortion went unheralded.  Where are our values?

Another son has spent the entire month in Texas on a business venture. A daughter and son-in-law travelled to Washington state to visit their son who is in the military. The mobility of  everyone is a chunk of magic for me.  When I was their age, going to Ft. Wayne was a big deal. 

My later years were blessed with some travel.  I went to Alaska  and Hawaii with my husband. When my son was in the army in Germany for three years I had the privilege of visiting them. (Was very nervous flying over the ocean, because I can’t swim !!! ) I was excited about two unimaginable experiences. The first was when my husband and I, with  two of my siblings and their spouses flew to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, then went on a three day excursion on a wagon train in the Teton Mountains. Almost outdone by that was when 10 relatives, mostly my siblings and spouses drove to Alaska and were gone 6 ½ weeks! So I guess I should not be having sympathy pains because my age and bad weather are keeping me close to home now.

After an unusually quiet Sunday, I am doing this at an earlier hour than last week.  I have promised myself, to my kids delight, to rid my household of some things that are important to only me.  As I was looking through my collection of recipes,  I came across a sheet of heavy , very colorful paper with two interesting recipes.  I thought “Aha, if I use both of them I can recycle that paper!”  Don’t criticize. Every little bit helps.  Really, I have made a couple of trips to the free store also.  It is hardly noticeable though.

Now back to my recipes.  In case these do not interest you, remember that I passed on one that called for horseradish in whipped cream! That was almost enough for me to go on a hunger strike! An added encouragement of these is that they can both be made at the same time in the oven, take very little preparation time and a short baking time. Sounds ideal after a too long shopping trip some afternoon when your family is expecting more for supper than bologna sandwiches.

                        

OVEN FRIED DRUMSTICKS

¼ cup vegetable oil

½ cup all purpose baking mix

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon pepper

10 chicken drumsticks

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pour the vegetable oil evenly over bottom of 15 x 10 baking pan. Combine baking mix and seasonings. Mix well and put in paper bag.  Add the chicken, a few pieces at a time and shake to coat. Arrange on the prepared baking pan. Bake chicken, turning once, until juices run clear, about 30 minutes.

                     

APPLE CRUMBLE

FILLING:   4 large apples

                   2 tablespoons  firmly packed brown sugar

                   1 teaspoon cinnamon

TOPPING: 2/3  cup flour

                     1/3 cup rolled oats

                     3 tablespoons white sugar

                      1 stick of butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 2 quart baking dish. For the filling, peel, core and slice the apples. (I prefer Empire or Jonathon. Granny Smith are down low on my list, but are suggested. Layer the apples in baking dish. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over the apple slices. For the topping, place the flour, rolled oats white sugar and butter in a bowl and mix well. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the top. Bake until apples are softened, about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm. A dip of ice cream would be additional joy.

Enjoy the heat wave that the weather man has promised us this week..

Birthday, Anniversary, and Christmas All-in-One 1/24/13

So much for good intentions!  After a very quiet day, since I had seen most of my family at a delayed 85^th birthday celebration for my sister-in-law, I decided that there was no reason why I could not have this done early this evening. But as I glance at my watch, I see it is nearly 10:00 p.m. and I am just getting started. The main obstacles being the fact that I chose to sit in my easy chair with a book in my lap from which I intended to pick out some outstanding recipes for you.  An hour and a half later, I realized I had not turned a page nor made a decision, but I certainly felt rested.

Back to the birthday celebration...  My brother’s wife decided early in her life that she was going to get married on her 18^th birthday!  Two things were secondary. It happened to be on Christmas day, and she happened to be dating my brother! It lasted for 62 years until his death in 2007, producing  a bunch of very nice kids,  right next to mine!!  (it is probably a matter of prejudice as to which comes first!) Since December 25 was Christmas, her birthday and wedding anniversary, the family postponed the open house until this weekend at her home. It was a very pleasant afternoon with good food and congeniality among friends and relatives. Happy birthday again, Phyl.

A great shortcoming was noticeable with the absence of my sister, my only remaining sibling, who is a patient in the hospital following complications from knee surgery. We accuse her of spending her spare time thinking of health problems that others have not experienced.  Now I am sure a lot of people have a knee replacement. But she did hers a little differently.  After some complications, she had to go back for another surgery on the same knee and is in for a long recuperation. Her knee is in an immobilization cast and will be for six weeks while she cannot bend it. Work on a speedy recovery, Kork, (Margaret to you who do not follow our nicknames) while you cannot do much of anything else.

I imagine you are having some withdrawal symptoms after I used all main dishes last week. So I will try to remedy that with all desserts this week. I found them in a magazine that I have kept for several years just because I knew I was going to try them.!   Hope you do. They are both simple starting with a box mix.

                                    
PUMPKIN SQUARES

1 package ( 18 ¼ oz. ) yellowcake mix

¼ cup cooking oil

4 eggs

1 cup chopped English walnuts

1 can (15 oz.) solid pack pumpkin

1  can (14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Set aside ½ cup of the cake mix for filling. Combine the oil, one egg and remaining cake mix. Press into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan. Sprinkle with ½ cup walnuts. Combine pumpkin, milk, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, reserved cake mix and remaining three eggs. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with remaining walnuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 t0 50 minutes. Cool and

cut into squares.

                         
CARAMEL PECAN BARS

1 package yellow cake mix

½ cup softened butter

1 egg

FILLING: 1 can sweetened condensed milk

                 1 egg

                 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

                 1 cup chopped pecans

                 ½ cup brickle toffee bits

Combine cake mix, egg and vanilla until crumbly. Press into the bottom of a 9 x 13  inch baking pan. Beat milk, egg and vanilla until combined. Pour over crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

After listening to the weather forecast, I intend to hibernate most of the week.

OOPS! 1/17/13

I hope that you do not recognize me.  I do have a paper bag over my head to camouflage  my identity. Those who tried my recipe for the raspberry dessert last week are, no doubt, hoping that it is a plastic bag!!  I do extend my apology unless you are a better cook than I am.  I was unhappy with my results. I have always had a very strong conviction that if you put good things in a recipe you should be guaranteed positive results.  I am going to at least soften my preaching points on that theory.  I knew it would be delicious, so as I am trying to use up what I have on hand, I realized that I had everything that I needed to make this dessert. (I did substitute a package of strawberries that looked a little wilted in the freezer for the red raspberries but that part of my endeavor was successful.)  

There were two major flaws in my product.  First of all, I was not impressed with the dry vanilla wafer crumbs.  I had not thought about trying to spread a thick layer over the crumbs.  It stuck to my crumb mixture.  I was not going to let anything that simple get the best of me. I had made two 8 x 8 dishes instead of a large 9 x 13. I intended to be gracious and give one away! I melted the butter which made it easier to spread, but I put all of it on one. So I just mixed up another one for the other dish. I got it spread on, but when it chilled, it was too much butter and was too sweet. This might have been because I am quite conservative with my sugar intake.  The fruit mixture on top was quite as I had anticipated. If you are still reading, I would put butter in the wafer crumbs and bake it, use the recipe for the next layer that a lot of desserts call for with cream cheese, powdered sugar and whipped topping. The fruit topping is quite acceptable.  How could anything that sounded so simple and delicious have turned out like my endeavor? After such results, I think I felt like Notre Dame’s football team after Alabama got through with them!!

I have been on cloud nine with several compliments about Magic Moments. One was from a male cousin who follows me very closely and said” Max, don’t ever stop!” The other major one was from a lady whom I have never met who lives in Norway! When I was in junior high school her grandfather was engaged to my aunt, who never married. The two were classmates and he came back from the east coast to the reunions.  One year his granddaughter came with several family members from Norway but I did not meet them. One day our editor saw me and said that she had an email for me from someone she did not know but she would forward it to me.  When my brother Kenny died in 2007 my aunt had mailed her the column that I had written about him.  The email address for the paper was in the article.  She had lost contact with my aunt because the phone numbers that she had were not in service because she had gone to a nursing home. Her ingenuity prompted her to send a note to that address looking for information about my aunt. She was amazed when she got my reply.  My aunt died in December and Siri Anne and I have become email friends, with me sending her my column. It is amazing how I send it in the evening and early the next morning I have a reply back. The technology behind it is indeed a big box of magic! She told me how much she enjoyed just quitting what she should be doing and sitting down and reading my ramblings. She couldn’t believe my promise to stay out of the grocery store and use up what I already had, because she was doing the same thing. She had been eating a lot of Salmon Lasagna.  English is not her first language but she does a remarkable job of writing her thoughts and I am so impressed with our connection.  Does that make me an international columnist? I can hear my sister saying ,”Oh, don’t you bet on that”!!

I had a few other thoughts but this is taking up too much space so I will save them for next week.  That is if I write them down and write a note as to where I put the paper! I have picked out very simple recipes for this week that even I could not spoil. They are both very ordinary combinations that my mother would have cooked for us and like I prepared for my large family. Since for so many years I have just worried about myself, I still am amazed about the years that I prepared three meals a day for eleven people.

                        
GROUND BEEF MACARONI CASSEROLE

1 package (8oz.) elbow macaroni

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 can (15 oz.) Italian tomato sauce

1 egg

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

1 ½ cups milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook macaroni according to package directions. In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until no longer ink. Drain fat, stir in tomato sauce.  Heat through. Drain macaroni, transfer to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Combine egg, soup, milk, butter and parsley. Pour over macaroni. Spoon beef mixture over top. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

                        
SKILLET LASAGNA

¾ pound ground beef

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 can (14 ½  oz.) diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, garlic

2 jars (14 oz. each) spaghetti sauce

2/3 cup cream of onion soup, undiluted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 ¼ cups cottage cheese

¾ teaspoon Italian seasoning

9 no-cook lasagna noodles

½ cup shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook beef and garlic over medium heat. Drain. Stir in tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. Heat through. Transfer to bowl. Combine cottage cheese, soup, eggs and Italian seasoning. Return 1 cup of meat sauce to the skillet, spread evenly. Layer with 1 cup cottage cheese mixture, 1 ½ cups of meat sauce and half of the noodles. Top with the remaining meat sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, sprinkle with cheeses. Cover and let stand 2 minutes until cheese is melted.

Good luck with today’s recipes. Please forget that you ever saw the raspberry dessert recipe or at least forget where you heard about it.

Busy Day Casserole 1/13/13

I really need a bucket of magic right now.  Last evening while I was doing some neglected duties in the kitchen, similar to a day or two of dishes in the kitchen sink, I mentally composed a fantastic draft for this week’s paper.  Right now all I remember is that I had a few ideas that I thought would work. I have procrastinated for an hour and still my mind is a blank. The foremost thought that lingers is that a few years ago someone, I think it was a sister-in-law, gave me a nice hardback book of empty pages with the message accompanying it “Max, write it down.”  I enjoyed the humor of the time but now I realize how important that discarded advice was needed.  She was so smart and I thought she was kidding.

Since we are at the start of a new year maybe we should mention resolutions for improving ourselves.  This year I did not concentrate on any needed issues, but I did think about staying out of the grocery store until I use up all of the great bargains that I thought I needed.  My freezer and pantry cupboard are bulging and sometimes I think I hear grumbling noises coming from each one about overcrowding. So since I have milk, eggs, bread and a host of other “stuff” I am going to revert to the days of my childhood and when my kids were all home. I will look over the situation and decided what in the world can I make from the stuff I already have on hand, not what do I want to eat.    

I started last week and cooked a whole chicken that I had purchased from a grandson who owns a set of farm buildings and a small acreage. He had raised a few chickens that he had butchered and frozen.  They do not come any better than home grown ones and I was saving it for something special. My first thought was why was I not special enough to use it for. Also it was quite large, not like the pigeons that we quite often get, and I could visualize the space that I could use in case I read about a sale that I really could not resist.

Back to my chicken.  I also have a set of amber colored glass cookware that I seldom use which I was considering dropping off at the free store.  There is a large Dutch oven and my mind clicked into gear thinking, “Aha, I bet my chicken will fit in that.”  I covered it generously with Ken’s Honey Mustard Dressing, then sprinkled a large minced onion over the top.  I cooked it breast down, adding about a cup of water. I could not locate the glass lid so I covered it with foil and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about two hours.  I uncovered it to let it brown a bit.  Now one large chicken is a bit much for one little old lady. It was tender enough that I picked out the bones and ate perhaps more than the suggested amount for one person.  The next day I made some chicken sandwiches from the diced meat. My final entrée was a delight of the remaining meat, broth, and potatoes cooked until you might consider them overdone, seasoned with my favorite lemon pepper.  Lowry’s seasoning salt would be great or your favorite seasoning. 

There were two blessings, I used what I already had purchased and it made my menu planning for the next few days non-existent allowing time for a few more games of solitaire and Free Cell on my computer!  Sorry, Free Store, you will have to wait because I am now using the smaller glass sauce pans to cook in.  Maybe you should watch to see what dumpster my kids put them in.

Today I took down most of my Christmas things, but I hate the job of packing them away. The last things to go will be my nativity sets. One I leave on display year round because it is a central part of our Christian faith. The house will look dull until I get acclimated to the normal appearance of things. One of these warm days I will take down the garland on my patio fence.

I spent an unusual time selecting recipes for today. I thought I should do something to synchronize my attraction to desserts, but I could not resist the urge to include one.  In case you do not appreciate the ones I chose, just remember I could have used one I am afraid to send out without trying and the other one was for Pickled Ring Bologna!!  Enjoy my dessert, both recipes are simple and easy to prepare.

                           

BUSY DAY CASSEROLE

1 pound lean ground beef

1 onion, diced

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can mixed vegetables (I would prefer a small bag of frozen ones)

Tater tots

Salt and pepper as desired

Fry beef and onion over low heat, until nearly done. Drain off excess fat. Add soup and vegetables. Pour into a baking casserole. Top with Tater Tots. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

             

FAVORITE RASPBERRY DESSERT

1 package vanilla wafers

½ cup butter

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 carton (8 oz.) whipped topping

1 cup chopped nuts

1 package of frozen raspberries

(could use other fruit of your choice)

Roll wafers into crumbs and layer them in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Mix butter and powdered sugar and spread over wafer crumbs. Add nuts and berries to whipped topping and spread over top. Let stand for several hours.

Again may 2013 be a fantastic year with many blessings for each of you and your families.

A Clean Slate 1/3/13

Today’s date is a bit unusual and reminds us that here we have a clean slate to start a brand new year.  Hope we can erase some bloopers and the damage from them and create a fantastic year better than the last one. Maybe you were luckier than I happened to be and didn’t make any bad decisions.  There always seems to be room for improvement in some category. Hope we all accomplish it for a bigger and better 2013.

Christmas is nearly in the past, although I keep my Christmas things on display until after January 6^th , the day we celebrate the wise men finding the birth place of Christ and bringing Him gifts, originating the practice of giving Christmas gifts to those we love. Hope your Christmas brought you much family time and heartwarming joy. 

We had our usual celebration at Mike and Becky’s home where we can all be seated in the same room for a Christmas Brunch.  This year was special because a grandson from Texas who comes only every other year was here with his family and a granddaughter who lives in Maryland was able to be here  She brought with her one of three Chinese exchange students she and her husband are hosting.  It was a special day marred only by a few who could not make it because of surgery and working schedules. It was a great day. Hope your celebration was perfect.

I am certain that after the many celebrations that always demand food, nothing seems to excite us.  I purchased some bulk sausage, intending to make a special entrée, but could not find the recipe.  So I resorted to my scrap books of my columns and fond one that had nothing to do with sausage, but it sounded so simple and easy to make it aroused my interest to fill my dietary needs on an especially lazy day, and I happened to have all of the ingredients in my pantry.  I was more than pleased with it and made it again today with a minor addition.  It makes enough for two and I enjoyed the warm up the next day more than the original sampling.  Hope you are tempted to try it.  It was in the year of 2003 that I gave it to you.  I did not remember it at all and am not certain that I had made it, but it is going to be a regular on my menus now.

                        

FRIDAY TUNA SPECIAL

1 cup crushed cracker crumbs

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can of tuna, (I prefer Albacore)

3 eggs, slightly beaten

Combine all ingredients.  Place in a generously buttered, small casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. In my efforts today, I added about a cup of left over peas. I rated the trial a success.

I looked in an old recipe book and was interested in the pictures of several new combinations until I noticed that they called for either blue cheese or horseradish.   So I looked further and came across something that I do approve of.

                        

CHICKEN SALAD CROISSANT SANDWICHES

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

¾ cup chopped apple

¾ cup dried cranberries

¾ cup mayonnaise

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup chopped celery

I tablespoon chopped onion

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon curry powder

6 lettuce leaves

6 croissants, split

Combine chicken, apple, cranberries, mayonnaise, walnuts, lemon juice, onion and curry powder. Place the lettuce on the croissants. Top with chicken salad and other half of croissant.

May the new year of 2013 bring you and yours only good things.