Creating Magic 7/17/14

When you get to my age, you assume that you have seen and experienced everything worthwhile.  Wrong ! A few weekends ago, I attended a wedding in Ft. Wayne.  Between the wedding and the reception we decided to go to a local church and attend a Saturday evening Mass. A couple of us were above what you would call "young age". This would make Sunday morning simpler after a late night arrival home that evening.  It was a good decision and we found our group comfortably seated at Our Lady of Good Hope Church in a timely fashion. All was routine until time for the scripture readings.  I noticed a young (to me, possibly in her forties) lady being escorted to the lectern.  The man that was with her returned to his seat.  This was a bit out of the ordinary. She started reading in a clear, concise voice that was pleasant to listen to.  Then I observed that she was not looking at the  book, but straight forward. Upon closer observation, I realized that she was reading Braille with her fingers! When she finished the same man went to meet her and escorted her back to her seat. At that time I noticed a seeing eye dog was also with her.  What an experience and blessing that was for me.  Made me realize what a blessing I have that I can see and read with my less than perfect eye sight. It also pointed out what is possible to achieve even if we are dealt a less than perfect body. 

We are each given special talents and God will expect us to discover what they are and use them, thereby creating magic moments for us and special blessings for those who benefit from our achievements. Maxine Sanders

This reminded me of the motivational speech that I heard over 40 years ago.  The main theme was that you are just as good, but no better than anyone you meet. Also, no matter how low your opinion is of a given person there is something about that person that is a better person than you. Remember to count your blessings each day and make the best possible of any obstacles that come your way.  My experience of that service was an eye opener to me.

The day has been a long one, and I do not want to detract any from my special experience so we will go from food for the soul to food for the body. I really do not care for blueberries, but I read an article claiming that they were good for your memory.  Now who doesn’t need that?  It was ringing in my ears as I passed by some at our local grocery at a reasonable price.  My conscience made me go back and get some. I decided I could eat them in my daily breakfast of oatmeal and fruit of any kind. I put a small handful in my bowl of oatmeal. I had trouble eating the whole serving but I did manage it.  Guess what.  I gave the rest of them to my daughter who stopped by. She had just purchased ten pounds of them and put them in her freezer. I may try them in a coffee cake recipe that I have, but never again in oatmeal. Besides, I didn’t notice any improvement in my brainpower from the ones I did eat! That is no doubt expecting a lot from a small handful of berries.

I have a recipe for an apple dessert that is very simple to make and the picture is very tempting. Before long new apples will be in season and I won’t know what I did with the recipe even though I put it somewhere easy to find.

                        

APPLE CRUMBLE

FILLING:   

4 large apples, Granny Smith were suggested(I like Golden Delicious, Ida Red  better)

2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

TOPPING:  

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 stick of butter

Peel, core and slice the apples. Place in 2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the apples slices. Place the flour, rolled oats, sugar and butter in a bowl. Mix well. Bake at 400 degrees until apples are tender and topping is lightly browned (20 to 25 minutes.) Serve warm, preferably with ice cream.

I am too prejudiced to desserts. Had another one picked out, but will forfeit that choice to a healthy entrée. This will give the apple dessert something to rest on!

                   

WHITE CHILI

(Can it really be chili if it is white?) All I know is what I read.

1 pound ground turkey

2 can (15 oz.) great northern beans

1 can (16 oz.) white hominy

1 package Lawry’s chili seasoning

½ cup water

Brown turkey in skillet. Drain. Add undrained beans and hominy. Combine chili seasoning with ½ cup of water. Add to the chili. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Be the best you can be, no matter what hand your are dealt in the game of life.

Sausage and Sauerkraut 7/10/14

A big THANK YOU TO THE Methodist Church for their generosity in hosting a community appreciation day.  This was in thanksgiving for the community support given while recovering from the anguish suffered in the loss of their church to a fire and the rebuilding and dedication of their new church.  My daughter and I planned to attend but got wrong signals and had the wrong time in mind.  That is what white hair will do to you. (I do not think that coloring it will make any difference!)

I have a big secret that I will share with you if you promise to not tell my kids!! Last weekend I went to Ft. Wayne to a grand-nephew’s wedding. It made me nervous taking my billfold with my credit cards, etc., in case I was too relaxed to keep an eye on my purse constantly.  So I removed them and put them in a secure place.  I went shopping for groceries and to the post office to mail several things. On Friday evening, I realized that my billfold was not where I thought it should be. I became frantic and searched through my several purses and looked in all of the dumb places that I thought I might have put it.  Finally in desperation I cried out “God, here I am again, I need help”. In order to teach me a lesson, that help did not come immediately.  I had an eight o’clock appointment the next morning and hoped I could pay for my hair do with tears. I guess I should just go to bed and spend the next day searching. In my nervous attempt to go to bed, I noticed a purse which I seldom carry, protruding from a place that I had placed it out of sight the night before. Prayers of gratitude flooded from my lips and heart.  That was short lived because all of my credit cards, etc. that I had removed were not in my billfold!  So here goes another nervous search of the house. All that I remembered was having them in my hand a few days earlier when I removed them from my favorite stash spot!  I finally just gave up and went to bed, with my mind imagining all sorts of scary things about a missing credit card.  At least I now had cash to pay for my hair do.  I was surprised at the amount of sleep I did have. Just before I left the house, some unknown urge told me to move my paper towel dowel. Now I think it was my guardian angel, because clear at the back of the counter, nesting peacefully, were all of the things that I had removed from my bill fold. Prayers do get answered in God’s time not ours. I really think my nosey friend, whom I have not seen for quite a while, reminded  me of her existence and sneaked in and hid them from me.  I think I am going to have to hire someone to follow me around and tell me if I had it, what did I do with it!

What can an old lady do with a day that has no social obligations and no expectations of any company?  I decided to fix me something to eat.  First of all, there were a few potatoes that had been in my special bin for them too long.  I decided to make a little potato salad. After chopping an onion, some celery that had been in the refrigerator too long, (salvaged it by having it wrapped in aluminum foil, which I had a long time ago read in a cooking hint column), shredding a carrot, adding some shredded cheese, pickle relish and several hard boiled eggs I had more than I had planned without adding the potatoes.  That did not stop me. I made some homemade dressing like my mother used to make. The end result was darned good potato salad but four times as much as I had planned on. My daughter stopped in so I sent a generous container home with her and plan to give some more to another daughter who is a caretaker for my sister-in-law who loves potato salad. Guess too much is easier solved than not enough!

While we are on the food subject, I purchased three ears of fresh corn at the local grocery. Yesterday I decided to do one in the microwave with the husk on for two minutes.  That was a success, so I went down memory lane and remembered when we were kids growing up we ate peanut butter on our “roasting ears”.  I think I mentioned that once in my column and lost a good friend from it. That is exaggerated, because he has since gone on to his heavenly reward but he just looked at me and shook his head and said. “Boy, I do not know about anyone who eats peanut butter on corn!”  Remembering this, I cautiously put peanut butter on three rows of my buttered corn. Guess what, the next thing I knew I was putting it on the rest of the ear.  Don’t turn up your nose until you try it. Also, do not ask my sister, who is my only sibling left, because I am over three years older than she, so I remember things like that better. Don’t tell her that I said so.

Let’s just continue with food and try this simple entrée. Oh, yes. I did try the rice and peas one that I gave you a few weeks ago. I was so skeptical of it that I was so pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was. It sounded as if it might have been all that that was in the house to make a meal of. I grew up on that kind of meals and served a great many to my family.  The only criticism that I would make was that I would put less rice in it.

                        

SAUSAGE AND SAUERKRAUT

1 pound smoked sausage

1 jar (32 oz.) sauerkraut, drained

2 cups unpeeled potatoes, thinly sliced

½ cup sliced onion, more if you prefer

Place sauerkraut in large casserole.  Top with onions and potatoes. Cut sausage into serving pieces and place on top of the potatoes and onions. Cover and cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until potatoes are tender.

Serving is Magic 7/3/14

Goodbye, June.  The months are passing so quickly.  Seems as if it were only a few weeks ago that all we could do was complain about the snow, snow, snow. 

Saturday afternoon I was a part of bringing June to an end and the beginning of a great life together for my sister’s grandson, Kurt and his fiancé, Mackenzie at a beautiful wedding and reception in Ft. Wayne. It is such a blessing to be included in other people’s magic moments. Many good wishes go with the couple on their new chapter of Life.

I was faced today with the thoughts of it being a long, lonely day. Wrong.  I received a phone call from an acquaintance who wanted to stop in for a signature. We turned it into a very enjoyable visit by increasing our friendship to a higher level. I was reminded of the fact that she was the daughter of a past member, whom I had greatly admired, of a group that I attended.  Time passed quickly and was soon followed by the arrival of my son and his wife. They were entertaining their three small grandkids who live in North Carolina who with their mother are visiting Kendallville with their grandparents. (Dad had to stay home and work. No vacations on a new job.) They planned to stay for supper and brought part of the “fixings” along because they are on a very limited diet. They wanted to see Uncle Steve since he had helped move them from South Bend to North Carolina. 

Seems odd how quickly we forget the curiosity of preschool kids in an unfamiliar environment.  Things got moved that no one has noticed in years.  There is always something great about a surprise visit.  Ruth and Peg left the kitchen cleaner than it was when they came. Hurry back John Paul. Natalie, Evie and Judah!

I also had a magic day last week. A daughter-in-law gave me a Christmas present of a day of cleaning!  She told me that she was coming last Tuesday and I had planned to have her wash the windows in the kitchen, (which I can no longer do myself) and wash down the front of the kitchen cupboards. That would be a small miracle for me.  Instead she “spring cleaned’ the whole dining area besides washing down the cupboards. It was a fantastic gift to me.

Would you believe that the magazine I lost track of a couple of weeks ago finally resurfaced?  I think I remember the recipes I had chosen.  The first one is one I have never heard about, but maybe I have lived a sheltered life.  Sounds good to me. Think I would like it even without the ham.

              

HAM WITH MIXED FRUIT

2 pounds fully cooked ham steaks, cut into serving size pieces

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 can (21 oz.) apple pie filling

1 can (15 oz. ) fruit cocktail, drained

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

Cook ham in oil over high heat, for 3-4 minutes on each side. Meanwhile, combine pie filling, fruit cocktail, brown sugar and butter. Microwave, uncovered on high for 1 to 2 minutes, or until heated through, stirring twice. Serve with the ham. This is a ten year old recipe so sizes of cans of fruit might vary with those of today.

Here is a quick Stove Top Supper that can be prepared very quickly and economically.

                        

VEGETABLE HAM MEDLEY

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni

1 cup diced fully cooked ham

1 tablespoon minced fresh basil

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 package (10 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables

¼ cup sour cream

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, over medium heat, cook the ham, basil and garlic powder in butter for five minutes. Add vegetables, cook until tender, stirring occasionally. Drain macaroni: add to the skillet. Stir sour cream and ¼ cp of the cheese. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and let stand until cheese is melted.  Enjoy.

Remember that one of the best gifts that you can give to your elderly parents is doing something for them that they can no longer do for themselves!