Magic Moments Goes International 2/27/13

My largest bunch of magic came this week from an unexpected source.  I sent my column and some extra notes and family photos to a friend in Oslo, Norway. I sent it on Friday and on Saturday I had an answer back from her!  Beats snail mail, doesn’t it? We have never met personally but I consider her a friend. My connection with her is almost magic.  Back in 2007, when I wrote a column about the death of my older brother, my aunt (who has a long association with her and her grandfather) sent her a copy of the column.  In recent years she lost contact with my aunt since she had to enter a nursing home and could no longer manage her cell phone.  She still had the copy of this article which had the email address of the Edgerton Earth on it.  She sent a note to that address looking for information about my aunt. The editor of the Earth graciously forwarded the email to me. Siri Anne was pleasantly surprised when she got an email from me.  We have become long distance friends, and my international connections have increased 100%.  Her mother insists that she forward it to her !  That makes 2 foreign contacts.

She suggested that I send her some suggestions for leftovers, or economy tips for cooking from my past.  When I was cooking for eleven that would have been an easy task.  Since for years I have been just meeting my own cooking needs, that will require more thinking.  One thing that came to mind quickly was when we were all still at home, my mother cooked a lot at noon, so we could have leftovers for supper.  Potatoes filled a requirement for almost every meal. When we had just plain boiled potatoes, which was often, she sliced the cold potatoes, browned cubes of stale bread in butter, added that to the potatoes in a skillet, with bacon grease and/or butter. Then break a couple of eggs over the top and stir as they heat.  It was a favorite of mine when I was very young.  My association with Siri Anne is a bit of magic. She does extremely well in her responses as she apologized that English is not her first language. I would rate her as an A-, since there are a few imperfections, but I always know what was intended.

Since we are talking about food and potatoes in particular, this would be a good place to give you a recipe for an enhancement of one of my favorite foods, scalloped potatoes. This is a short-cut I have never heard of nor tried, cooking the potatoes in the microwave before baking them in the oven. Sounds good to me.

                        

ELEGANT SCALLOPED POTATOES

8 large baking potatoes

6 tablespoons butter, cubed

6 tablespoons flour

1 to 2 teaspoons garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

3 ½ cups milk

12 oz. Velveeta cheese, cubed

1/3 cup crumbled cooked bacon

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup sliced green onions

Scrub and pierce potatoes. Place on microwave proof plate. Cook on  high for 15 minutes.( 1100 watt) Cool slightly. Melt the butter, stir in flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil, cook and stir until thickened. Add the cheese and bacon. Stir until cheese is melted and remove from heat. Cut potatoes in ¼ inch slices. Place a layer of potatoes in a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Cover with cheese mixture. Repeat layers. Top with cheddar cheese and onions. Bake uncovered for15 to 20 minutes.

We cannot leave out desserts, As I have to have my sugar professionally tested in two months,  I am trying to ignore desserts, so I did not try this one. But with such tasty ingredients why wouldn’t it be fantastic?

                        

ICE CREAM PIE

1   1/3  cups finely chopped peanuts

3 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons sugar

FILLING:  ¼ cup peanut butter

                   ¼ cup light corn syrup

                   ¼ cup flaked coconut

                    3 tablespoons chopped peanuts

                     1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened

                    Miniature chocolate bits or M&Ms/

Combine peanuts, butter and sugar. Press onto bottom and up the sides of a nine inch pie pan. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Combine peanut butter and corn syrup. Add coconut and chopped peanuts. Stir in ice cream just until combined. Spoon into crust. Cover and freeze until firm.  Just before serving Sprinkle with M&Ms or chocolate bits..

Thanks to all of you faithful readers for your encouragement.

And the greatest of these is love 2/14/13

Will wonders never cease?  Here I am with two ideas for me to work with.  Both are connected with important days this week. Guess I will let the dates decide which comes first. Midweek we have Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  

My daughter, who is a member of Our Lady Of Mercy in Fayette, planned months ago to have a parish mission on the Sunday before the beginning of Lent. My grandson, who grew up in Kendallville, graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in German and Theology. From his work at a retreat center after graduation he received a scholarship for his Masters and Doctorate Degree in Theology.  His studies are completed, but he is working on his required writings before he is awarded the degree. Anita decided to use this inside information and after a long time of planning, tonight we can say “Mission accomplished”.  A number of relatives from Edgerton attended the 8:30 Mass, along with a light breakfast and a soup and sandwich lunch.  Aaron very capably presented five hours of lectures, interaction with other guests and a little humor and several breaks. His main topic was how we can and should make Lent a happy time, bringing us closer to God and thus closer to greater happiness.  It was a great day with nearly 40 people attending, leaving with a greater understanding of their faith and the pattern to follow to greater spiritual involvement to bring our lives closer to God and  His plans for us and thus to a state of greater happiness.  Aaron, I am so glad you are a part of our family, but prouder of the work that God has done with you to serve Him and make us appreciate more what God has given to each of us.  It was a magic day indeed.

Now to the secular level we have on Thursday Valentine’s Day.  May each one of you have someone to love and be loved by in return. May I give you an abbreviated account of the love of my life?  When I moved to Edgerton in my sophomore year there was this boy who was a classmate and rode on  my school bus.  So what.  It was family rule that there would be no dating until we were 16. At that time in my life my mother died suddenly and my father told me I could not date until I was out of high school!  I believed him and put boys on the forbidden list.  When we were seniors, I asked him to exchange senior pictures. His answer was that he would if I would go with him to an employee’s Thanksgiving dinner of the Kroger store.  Yes, Edgerton used to have a Kroger store. It was in property that is probably part of the Huntington Bank. I  thought, “ O.K. he is a nice boy” but I had never even dreamed of dating him, but my Dad let me go. We dated a long time, just enjoying each other’s company, and there was no other “dream boat” on the horizon. When we realized there was something special between us , it was during World War II, we had no money, and there was the difference in our faiths, which we kept silently in the background.  

After five years of dating we had solved all but the money problem and decided that marriage was the plan that God had for us. During this period of dating, spending time with each other, sharing good times and heartaches, our feelings for each other turned into real deep love for each other.  This was a pattern that proved a statement I made when I told a relative who was considering marriage on a shorter relationship. He stated the fact, ”But I love her”!  I told him that it was more important that he LIKED her.  Like the person first, then it will grow into real love. This was my experience, except God had different plans and took him from me at a  young age of 57.  But the love never left my heart.  I hope you can be so lucky.

I received an email today touting the importance and power that is in the lowly lemon. Simply wash and freeze the whole lemon. When it is frozen grate it , peel and all. Then sprinkle it on your salads, fruit, soups, or anywhere you wish.  It claims many health benefits from general health to cancer cells. I won’t go into all of the claims, but I am going to keep the information and see if the predictions are true. On the other hand, I like lemons, we know they contain healthy vitamins and who knows unless you try it, they will probably make some foods taste better.

I noticed an eight year old magazine lying quietly on the lower shelf of my computer cabinet. It looks brand new so how did I know that I should keep it? After a quick inspection , I noticed a simple fish recipe that I thought you might like to try. Also, I don’t remember ever giving you a recipe for just fish and it is one of my  favorite kinds. I think both recipes are for two people,

                        

PARMESAN BAKED COD

4 cod fillets, four ounces each

2/3 cup mayonnaise

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup chopped green onion

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Place fillets in an 8 inch baking dish coated with nonstick spray. Combine mayonnaise, cheese, onions and Worcestershire sauce. Spoon over fillets. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for15 to 20 minutes.

Again, I could not resist this simple dessert recipe.

            

FRENCH VANILLA BREAD PUDDING

2 slices cinnamon raisin bread, cubed

1 egg

½ cup refrigerated French Vanilla nondairy creamer

1 caramel, cut into small pieces (What would two hurt?)

1 tablespoon chopped pecans

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Place bread cubes in two greased custard cups. Whisk egg with nondairy creamer. Pour over bread cubes. Sprinkle with caramel pieces, nuts and cinnamon. Dot with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Or until bubbly and brown.

Why not try to increase the ingredients and bake it in an 8 inch

baking dish? I would like more than a custard cup full!

May both your Valentine’s day and Lenten preparation for Easter be filled with magic and deeper spiritual experiences.

2/7/13

After spending a great deal of time fine tuning some comments about the Super Bowl game, I decided to put them in file 13.  First of all, I am not a football fan. Until last evening  I had never watched a Super Bowl game. All I knew about either team was that brothers were rival coaches. No one is more surprised than I am that I watched the whole thing. I was impressed with the surge of talent from the underdogs after the break from no lights, hoping they would go on to win. Since it looked more like a war than a game and I was extremely disappointed in the half time show, let’s just say that next year I am going to read a book or try to find a good love story on a less known channel.

Yesterday reinforced my belief in the theory that much magic can be found in the ordinary things in life. I went to church, sat in my usual spot, but noticed an unfamiliar lady who entered my pew and smiled graciously as she knelt beside me. I silently nodded a hello to her. When the service was over she turned to me and said “Have a wonderful day”. When I asked if she were just passing through Edgerton or happened to be one of our three parish members, she introduced her husband and said they were  members of our sister parish to the north.  It was a familiar name, but I had never met the couple. Her response to my name was “Maxine!! You must write Magic Moments. I get the Edgerton paper and read your column every week”!  She had nice things to say about both , the Earth, a very nice hometown paper, and Magic Moments.  I just gave her my best smile and believed everything she was saying! A magic moment indeed.

To fill out a great day, my niece and her husband, because of our advanced ages and the snow covered roads, provided transportation to the Hicksville hospital for my sister-in-law and me. We wanted to visit my sister who is having a lengthy convalescence from a second surgery following complications from a knee replacement. To celebrate her upcoming 85^th birthday on the next day, we took an angel food cake with pineapple, pudding and whipped topping for filling between layers and frosting. Coffee was supplied from the cafeteria and we had a nice quiet celebration.  To every ones delight we decided to not sing “Happy Birthday”!!  Another evaluation of her progress is to be held on Tuesday to decide the next step of her recuperation.

Serving the birthday cake brings us to a nice introduction to food.  I have a very simple, perhaps not as inspiring as a dessert like the cake we just mentioned, but healthier idea for an everyday meal.  Perhaps not something you would want to impress guests with but I have it on my regular list of things to eat, especially for those of you who might eat alone.  My daughter is on a very, very limited diet. She comes to visit me often, sometimes I fix her lunch and she suggested it as something that she can eat.  For your health’s sake, do try it.  I read an article about foods that stated that kidney beans are shaped like a kidney, hence their name, and are very beneficial for kidney health.  I ate it because it tasted good.

                        

KIDNEY BEANS AND RICE

2/3  cup rice

3 cups water

1 can dark red kidney beans, with juice

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons butter

Bring water to boiling.  Add rice and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is tender but not sticky. Add kidney beans and butter. Serve with peas and/or a salad and fruit.  A simple to prepare meal and a healthy one.

Are potatoes as appetizing to you as they are to me? I can’t imagine anything that you could do to them to make me not like them.  Well, maybe scorch them!  I clipped this recipe  from a bag of shredded hash browns to make when I have more people to feed than just me.  Should make a nice dish to take to a potluck dinner.

                        

CHEEESY HASH BROWNS

1 package shredded hash brown potatoes

                       (enough to serve 8 to 10)

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

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

¾ cup sour cream

¼ cup butter, melted

TOPPING:   1 ½ cups corn flakes, crushed

                       2 tablespoons melted butter

Combine all ingredients. Mix well. Pour into greased 2 quart glass baking dish. Stir together corn flakes and melted butter. Spread evenly over potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

           

Enjoy the snow as it looks as if we  are going to have plenty of it. This should be a good casserole for a cold snowy winter evening .