Sunday, August 24, 2014

Zucchini Apple Crisp 8/21/14

I should have been a little quicker to thank you all for keeping that intruder out of my home for so long. She was back in full force recently. My son-in-law frequently gets my mail for me when he is on his recommended daily walk. He stopped in to see if I had picked up my mail, asked for my post office box key and said he would be right back. We usually enjoy a fresh cup of coffee on his visits. I knew he would be back shortly, so I got the coffee filter ready and trusted her to finish making the coffee while I prepared some crackers and cheese to enjoy with our coffee. As he arrived back,  I started to pour our coffee and noticed that only a small amount of it had entered the coffee pot.  I didn’t mention anything but was able to pour us each a cupful. Later on I decided I should examine the situation.  Lo and behold, you just can’t trust anyone else to do anything and do it right. My friend had not even put the filter in the coffee maker and the system was plugged with coffee grounds!  Have you ever tried to capture that many coffee grounds in a complicated maker?  It took me forever to get rid of them all.

I really shouldn’t mention her latest caper. It cost me most of my beer money!!  I will make the story as sort as possible. I knew my bathroom facilities were not working properly, but was managing.  When things got serious, I notified my plumber and fortunately he was able to come very soon. After some diligent work, he knew that there was something fast but he could not remove it. The only thing to do next was to replace it!  After his mission was accomplished, he took the damaged one to my trash container. He had broken it into pieces and came back in the house carrying the perpetrator.  You would never guess what that intruder had done.  He was holding up a lid to a condensed soup can!  Her only excuse was that she was rinsing the soup can, with the sink full of dishwater and clean dishes in the other half. So she poured the water in a pan and flushed it!  A very expensive misdemeanor. As close as I can figure it will cost each one of my kids $35.

A bright spot in my week to help alleviate my dampened spirit was a surprise visit from a daughter, who had brought lunch for both of us.  I just sat at the kitchen table and acted as if I were a guest.  She also brought a quart of pickled beets that she had canned from her garden.  Guess I will now go make some pickled eggs that I usually eat like popcorn. As long as there are any there I want to eat them. Thanks, Judy.

Today’s recipe comes from my sister’s granddaughter who made it for a family gathering. It came from Taste of Home and has apple in the title, but there are no apples in the ingredients. Thanks go to Dawn Blue.
          
ZUCCHINI APPLE CRISP
8 cups zucchini, cut like apple slices
¼ cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon nutmeg, (Dawn uses less)
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
TOPPING: 1½ cups packed brown sugar
                    1 cup flour
                    1 cup rolled oats
                    ½ cup butter, softened
Place sliced zucchini and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, about 15 minutes until tender. Add spices and sugar. Blend until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and place into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. For topping, combine brown sugar, flour, oats, and butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over zucchini. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped topping.
          
Due to the generosity of a long time friend and retired farmer, I received a generous supply of tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn, etc.   I turned to a recipe from my nephew who loves to cook. It is in my cookbook, but that was years ago and I am certain that there are new readers now. It is very tasty and very simple to make.  My thanks go to Richard G. and Mike S.
    
CUCUMBERS AND TOMATOES
2 to 3 average sized cucumbers (I used one long one)
1 medium to large onion
1 ½  teaspoons salt
1 large tomato, diced
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon seasoning salt
4 tablespoons Miracle Whip
Thinly slice onions and cucumbers. Add salt and cover with water. Let stand for one hour. Drain. Add diced tomato. Combine other ingredients and add to tomato and cucumber mixture. Chill for at least one hour. (I ate the whole thing!)

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