Thankful Thanksgiving 11/22/12

Let’s use this week to do something that we are very careless about doing.  That is right.  Count your blessings and express thanks for all that you have, instead of complaining about what you can’t have. It will produce a much happier frame of mind and make you acknowledge all of the magic moments in your life that you take for granted or maybe do not even notice. We should not have to wait for Thanksgiving Day to remind us. Why not set aside a special time each day to give thanks for the special things in life that have come your way?

May the day be special for you and your family enjoying and appreciating each other. My gathering will be small at noon, because half of my kids are sharing the noon meal with their in-laws. Since it is open house all day, some will stop in later for leftovers, but distance of traveling will make that impossible for some. Those that do not make it will be missed.

A reader asked for a recipe for Snickers dessert. I have heard of it but never made it. It is a bit on my no-no list so I did not save a recipe that I did see in a book. By not having the recipe, I was not tempted to make it. That brings me to one thing that I am thankful for. My daughter was here and showed me how to find recipes on the Internet and positioned a very prominent icon that I can just click on. That makes me thankful for two things.  First of all is the fact that I remembered what she told me. Also that I was smart enough to accomplish the intended task. Also ranking very highly is the fact that I can help my friend with her dilemma.  Maybe this will be in time for you to try it so you can have that something extra you were hoping for in your own Thanksgiving meal. I will give you two different recipes, so you can use the one that will fit your family’s preferences best.

                        

SNICKERS APPLE BANANA SALAD

6 cored, chopped apples, with skins

6 to 8 frozen mini Snicker bars

2 bananas sliced

1 container Cool Whip topping

Put frozen bars into a zip lock bag and break into small pieces with a rubber mallet. Mix apples, bananas and broken Snickers bars together. Just before serving, mix in Cool Whip topping. May add nuts if preferred.

                        

SNICKERS DESSERT

I (16 oz.) carton Cool Whip

1 pkg. (3 ½ oz.) French Vanilla Instant pudding

4 large apples, peeled and sliced,  (can leave peeling on 2 for color)

6 Snicker Bars, diced

Mix Cool Whip and pudding mix with beater. NO milk. Fold in apples and candy bars. Chill before serving.

May your Thanksgiving Day be filled with gratitude, pleasant family interaction, lots of good food and many blessings for the coming year.

Prayer, Politics, and Peanut Butter 11/15/12

I promised myself that I was not going into the area of politics. The campaign is over. I am certain that a lot of prayers were offered for different results.  Now we find ourselves dealing with the outcome. Perhaps a solution is that we should storm heaven daily with continued prayers that our President and Congress will do what we elected them for and get their heads and hearts on the  solutions that are the best for our country.  All of the good ideas do not come from your favorite side of the aisle, nor do all of the bad ideas come from your opponents. Each Sunday at our liturgy a prayer is offered for all of our elected officials during the Prayers of the Faithful.  Now let’s make it a daily petition.

This last week was full of magic moments for me. A special one was the fulfilling of a Christmas gift for last Christmas.  My daughter gave her aunt a gift of a meal at Red Lobster which is her favorite restaurant. She included me and her sisters. It was a fabulous venture and the only way it could have been better would have been if we could have managed to get all seven of us in the same available vehicle. To top that, the next day, when I was quietly attending to my own business, (no, I was not taking a nap, that was earlier!), I heard someone come in my front door. Lo and behold, it was my grandson who has been deployed (we do not know where) for several months with the Rangers, and his parents.  It was a great surprise.  He will be home for two weeks and can spend Thanksgiving Day with us!  Welcome home, Evan, even if it is for a short time.

Sunday a friend invited me to go with her to the Lutheran Church for their pie and soup luncheon for the benefit of The Foods Resource Bank, a Christian response to world hunger. I tell people that if they really do not want me, do not ask me because I tend to go! Besides, responding to world hunger there were many other benefits.  First they had about five kinds of soup.  My first inclination was to give me a ladle of each kind and stir it well. Then I narrowed it down to two favorites. Someone graciously prepared sugar-free pumpkin pie. My intelligent response reached for the sugar free.  My human nature remembered that a week or so ago my doctor was very pleased with my numbers that were the result of my blood work! So guess what?  When I arrived at my table to eat my selections, there was a beautiful piece of coconut cream pie that was just as delicious as it looked. If you might have made it, it was perfection.  Now tomorrow I will have two meals of oatmeal and cinnamon!  Besides an excellent choice of food, I saw so many people that I rarely see (including several of my farmer friends and a cousin of my husband) and the venture turned into a magic I ½  hours.

Now we can flow smoothly into the area of recipes. I changed my mind several times between a ten year old magazine and  an equally old church cookbook that I picked up at a garage sale.  Since my mind was settled on soups  today, here is one that I think I would like, also. Hope you agree. Really I used one recipe from each source.

                        

CHEESY FLORET SOUP

3 cups fresh broccoli florets, cut as fine as you like

3 cups fresh cauliflower, cut as fine as you like

3 celery ribs, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups water

½ teaspoon celery salt

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

2- 1/3 cups milk

1 pound Velveeta cheese, cubed 

Combine the broccoli, cauliflower, celery, onion, water and celery salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter, stir in flour until smooth. Gradually stir n milk. Bring to a boil and cook 2 until thickened. Reduce heat and add cheese. Cook and stir until cheese is melted. Drain vegetables, add cheese sauce and heat through.

                        

PEANUT BUTTER CUP CAKES

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

¼ cup butter

¼ cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 cup sour milk

Combine flour and soda, set aside. Cream sugar, butter and peanut butter. Beat in egg. Add sour milk alternately with flour mixture. Bake at 350 degrees in cup cake pans lined with papers.

Makes 1 ½ dozen or can be baked in a 7 x 11 cake pan.

            ICING:  2 cups powdered sugar

                           ½ cup peanut butter

                           1 tablespoon soft butter

                           2 to 3 tablespoons hot water

One reader told me today that she likes to read about my experiences of long ago.  Nothing came to mind as I sat down to my computer, so Pat, I will work on that idea for another day just for you! I also found the recipe that you lost. Call me and I can give it to you, if you do not locate it otherwise.

Spontaneous occasions are often the most enjoyable! 11/8/12

Has anyone seen any unused magic hanging around?  I am in much need for a whole day of it!  We have my house about 65% back to normal. But the finishing touches seem to be the most difficult, getting the dishes back in the china cupboards, putting nails back in for the tiebacks on the curtains, most of all parting with the things that I really do not need but have a bit of  nostalgia clinging to them and do not really want to trash them. The day our local carpet specialist engineered the carpeting of my living and dining room I found myself trying to accomplish a few things in my kitchen maneuvering around my sofa, lounge chair,  entertainment center and TV in the middle of my kitchen! But I survived and now I am impressed with the finished results and realize how badly all of this really needed to be done.

It is amazing when you think that you are just a small pebble on a very large beach how many people noticed that something was going on at my home with all of people here carrying things out of my house, etc. Some assumed that I was moving out of town! Nope, you can’t get rid of me that easily.

Yesterday turned out to be a great day after I had assumed it would be very low key. After returning from our fall brunch at church and sadly realizing that I must have not won any prizes  since  I had not received any phone calls announcing that I was a big winner, I settled in for a lonely day. But I received a call from my daughter that she was coming to help put dishes back in the china closet, but she would be on a limited schedule.  We did more visiting than working but got that project started and created a magic couple of hours. Before long a son, his wife, daughter, son-in-law and my newest great grandchild whom I had never seen arrived for a visit. Luke Michael Digan, two months old was not really overly impressed with his great grandmother, but we will give him a little more time to accomplish that. 

Since it was late afternoon, my son who likes to cook,  inventoried the refrigerator for possibilities for a meal.  I had bought 2 pounds of fresh sausage at the brunch, my daughter had brought me a bag of their freshly dug red potatoes.  Before I knew what was happening he had made a delicious concoction of vegetables that I would not have thought of. He must have inherited the ability to make something out of what you have from his mother and grandmother! If you are a innovative cook, you could duplicate it from general directions.  He chopped the sausage and browned it, and removed the meat from the heavy Dutch oven. He had boiled the quartered red potatoes in a separate pan. Then he put the potatoes in the Dutch oven, added the meat, a can of cooked carrots, a can of creamed style corn, and a generous chunk of butter. I would probably have used some onion, but he is not an onion fan. With some garlic toast and mandarin oranges for dessert, we had a very tasty meal with no previous planning.  

Spontaneous occasions are often the most enjoyable.  They even did all of the dishes!

I had a 2005 magazine I was hoarding and decided to glance through it before I put it in the recycle pile and found a couple of interesting recipes. The first one is for my new friend Elsie, an exchange student from Africa, who is living with my daughter and son-in-law.  She thinks the nice soft chewy cookies that I make are “biscuits”!  A cookie has to be crunchy.  So here Elsie is a recipe that will fill your “cookie” definition.

                        

BUTTER PECAN COOKIES

¾ cup butter

1 package (3.4 oz.) instant butterscotch pudding mix

1 ¼ cups flour

½ cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and pudding mix.  Gradually beat in flour.  Fold in pecans. Roll into 1 ½  inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Flatten to ½ inch with a greased drinking glass. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until light brown. Great served with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Maybe even a glass of cold milk!

If you like Rueben sandwiches, here is a quick spinoff.

                        

RUEBEN CRESCENTS

1 tube (8 oz.) refrigerated crescent rolls

1 cup sauerkraut, rinsed, well drained and chopped

1 tablespoon Thousand Island salad dressing

4 slices Swiss cheese, cut into 1/2inch strips

8 slices deli corned beef

Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles. Combine kraut and salad dressing. Place two cheese slices across the short side of each triangle. Fold corned beef slices in half. Place over cheese. Top with sauerkraut  mixture. Roll up each from she short side. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes.

The magic day ended with an invitation to go out for a belated birthday celebration which I had to decline, but I am demanding a rain check!

Home and Food Makeover 11/1/12

Look at that date!! There will be a short intermission while I go get my winter coat out of storage. I really thought I needed it this morning as I was leaving the house for church in a  suit with a light jacket.  I did turn off the ignition, go back into the house and get a light coat that was easy to grab so I would not be late. I do not think that I am emotionally prepared for the start of cold weather, but may have to be ready quickly.

I just had a completely magic week. Just like a kid,  my birthday is special to me. Thank all of you who may have sent me a card, an email, a Facebook greeting, a phone call, stopped by the house or just happened to meet me about town and mention it.  Last May I impulsively purchased some new carpet for my dining room and living room. Several of my kids suggested that I not have it installed until they painted the walls in both rooms! It was a great idea but the idea got tabled and ignored. I suggested to a daughter that my birthday was approaching, so why didn’t they all work together to get my painting done instead of giving me birthday presents. So we had two magic days when those who were free came and removed the carpet, two of them wanted some of it for home projects of their own. Before I knew what was happening the old carpet was going out the door, furniture was packed into the small space of my front porch, the narrow space in my bedroom, a trailer parked in front of the house, and several kids (they are really adult, but will always be “my kids”)  were painting the woodwork, mopboards and windows.  Two worked later than they planned, so everything would be ready for a Saturday painting party. Also all of the dishes from two china cabinets were put in plastic tubs. Some of my belongings are on the front porch, some in the garage, some in the basement.  So can you understand that I do not know where anything is? This uncovered some more house repair jobs that have to be done. So I am going to have to pad my time sheet with Uncle Sam and try to stay afloat!

The special part of those two days was the specialness of family working together, enjoying each other and when we are together the most fabulous food appears. Another magic part of the day was when I saw three great-grand kids helping paint! No one interfered, so I also said nothing, When the adults painted over their art work, it disappeared.  It was a real enjoyment for them. Just hope they do not try it at home, when mom is not looking.

I am certain that when we get everything back together again, I will be more than happy with the project.  I doubt if I have enough years left to make it a wise investment but it will certainly be an enjoyable one. No doubt I will now spend more time in my living room enjoying the atmosphere instead of in the kitchen, doing dishes, mopping the floor and cooking.

That was a sneaky way to get to recipes but I have a couple I think you will like.  I think I was a grandmother before I ever  heard of beef stroganoff, but it is something that I like but have never made. Last week I saw this recipe and it sounds simple enough that I think I can master it, so why don’t you try it, too?  Also I am passing along the ultra peach pie recipe that I promised you last week.  See, my mind is not completely gone, just doesn’t work to top speed like it used to.
                       
BEEF STROGANOFF
5 tablespoons flour, divided
½ teaspoon salt
1 pound boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
½ cup chopped sweet onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 ¼  cup beef broth
1 cup (8oz.) sour cream
2 tablespoons sherry or beef broth
Hot cooked egg noodles or rice
Place 2 tablespoons flour and salt in a bag. Add beef a few pieces at a time and shake to coat. Brown beef in 2 tablespoons butter over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and onion. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add garlic, remove from heat and keep warm. In same skillet add remaining butter. Stir in tomato paste and remaining flour until smooth. Slowly add broth. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes, stirring. Return beef mixture to skillet. Add sour cream and broth or sherry. Heat through but do not boil. Serve with cooked  noodles or rice.
    
SOUR CREAM PEACH PECAN PIE
4 cups sliced peeled peaches
2 tablespoons peach preserves
1 cup sugar
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
3 egg yolks
¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
TOPPING:
½ cup flour
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
3 tablespoons chopped pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup cold butter
Line a 9 inch Pie plate with pastry from your favorite recipe and flute edges. Combine peaches and preserves. Place in pastry. Whisk sugar, sour cream,   egg yolks, flour and vanilla. Pour over peaches.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.   Combine the flour, sugars, pecans and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly and spread over pie. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean and topping is a golden brown. Cool for one hour.

Make your favorite salad, the beef stroganoff and finish your meal with a generous piece of the peach pie and make your family all “happy campers”.