9/22/11

The weeks certainly do roll past quickly. Last evening I was working on a project that I had put off conquering. That left my mind in a completely different direction. There is not enough of it left to spread in more than one place. So I quickly chose two recipes and a thought flashed through my extended mind which I quickly grasped and calmly went to bed thinking that I had everything under control. I awakened in the wee hours this morning with my subconscious nudging me that I still had this job to do. I was tempted to just pull the covers up tightly and pretend that I had a free day. That did not happen and I also could not recall what I had decided to focus on this week. That was scary enough to really wake me up. As I pondered deeply and discarded a few substituted ideas, my original idea floated past. So I scrambled (only to me it was a “scramble” - to those of you who already have your day well on its way it was more like slow motion) out of bed and here I am much earlier than I ever planned before my thoughts vanish again.

The past couple of months my family has been interacting on a project that has brought much magic into focus. We walked to California to visit my niece who lives in a San Diego suburb! Now you all know we did not actually physically accomplish this. We had a Healthy Heart walking program. Those of us who wanted to participate wore pedometers and each week reported our steps to headquarters which were tallied into miles and mapped out across the good old USA. This created special interest to those participating and inspired us to walk more than we otherwise would. Each week one of us was granted a Healthy Heart award for major distance accomplishments. You can imagine that my contribution was the bottom of the list every week, but I got two awards! One for participating, that was easy. The other one was for valor above and beyond the call of duty. My numbers were so insignificant that I walked to Dollar General and back when I didn’t even want nor buy anything! My best week was a total of 14 miles. My daughter who was the headmaster each week made an itinerary of the area we covered with pictures of that area which we could download. I appreciated her efforts of an interesting account of each week’s journey. The imaginary antics of each of those participating and the interaction between us was full of magic. Now we are in California so how do we get home? One is going to try for a buddy pass on Delta from his brother. As for me I stated “I am tired, I am going to hitchhike home.” We have one problem. Kay enjoyed our fantasy journey and visit, but has double dared us to make it a reality.

After all of that walking I am certain that we need some nourishment. So I have suggested a quickly prepared snack to munch on while you prepare something more lasting. It is also time for pumpkin to appear on our menus, so I am offering one that is easier to do than make a pie, but will fulfill that pumpkin urge.

PEANUT BUTTER POPCORN
2 quarts popped popcorn
1 tablespoon peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
2 tablespoons butter
In a small sauce pan, melt butter and peanut butter
until smooth. Pour over popcorn and mix well. Add a bit
of salt if desired.

PUMPKIN DELIGHT
½ stick of butter, melted
Graham crackers
12 ounces whipped topping
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 large can pumpkin (not pie mix)
½ cup milk
2 packages instant vanilla pudding mix
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
Line bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish with graham
crackers. Melt butter and brush over crackers.( I’m tempted
to make a graham cracker crust).Beat cream cheese, add spices
to pumpkin and add to cream cheese. Add sugar, milk and sprinkle
in dry pudding mix. Mix in the pumpkin and cheese mixture.
Blend well. Fold in whipped topping. Pour over crackers, cover
with plastic wrap and chill overnight.

This is great. It is all finished and ordinarily I would just be crawling, not scrambling out of bed!