Lenten Kindness 2/25/15

My heart usually sings a merry tune when February is over. To me that means that winter is on its way out!  I certainly hope that the weather man cooperates with my thinking. We have had enough snow for one winter, but can count our blessings that we are not in Boston. I have been house bound so much this winter I feel that I should wear a name tag whenever I go to the grocery store. I have been attending church on Saturday night so many times I am afraid they have assigned my usual seat on Sunday morning to someone else.

Magic was pretty scarce at my house this week except for a surprise visit from my farmer and his wife and the kindness of neighbors who kept my sidewalk and driveway cleared.  I used to enjoy doing it myself but those days are behind me. Also, this year the drifts were too deep for my little snow “pusher” to make any impression.

This is the season of Lent.  Remember that it is more important than what you give up and do not do. We will be judged also on what we do for others in need and if we treat those with whom we come in contact and family members with honesty and kindness.

Since I am out of magical happenings and still have to do several things yet this evening, (I got my nose in a book and couldn’t get it out so a few necessities just stayed undone) guess we well turn to recipes.  How about a couple of casseroles that will carry us through the remaining cold days?

            

HAMBURGER SPAGHETTI CASSEROLE

1 pound hamburger

1 ½ cup cooked spaghetti

1 can tomato soup

1 small onion chopped

12 slices Velveeta cheese

2 teaspoons butter

1 teaspoon chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Brown onion and hamburger. Cook spaghetti and drain. Add spaghetti, soup, 6 slices of cheese and seasonings to hamburger. Stir until cheese melts. Put in casserole dish with 6 slices of cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

            

BAKED CHICKEN CASSEROLE

2 cups diced cooked chicken

2 cups diced celery

2 tablespoons chopped onion

½ cup chopped toasted almonds

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 can cream of chicken soup

½ cup water chestnuts, sliced

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

potato chips, crushed

Combine all ingredients except cheese and chips. Place in small buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheese and crushed chips. Bake at 350 degrees until hot and bubbly.

Keep smiling, spring is on its way.

Snow and Roses 2/19/15

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies by Taste of Home

After this brutal weekend I hope we can safely say that there will be only 6 more weeks of winter!  It was suggested that I not venture out for church, so I had my own private devotions with the aid of my television.  It is not the same but it fills the void created by staying home. I will do so for several more days according to the weather forecast.

I hope your Valentine’s Day was an uplifting day when you received and passed on the opportunity of letting people you love know they are important to you. Saturday was a real bummer weather-wise with a level 3 emergency declared, so that meant staying put was the order of the day.  I was sitting quietly in my lounge chair mentally assessing the probability of no company at all.  Imagine my surprise when the front door bell rang.  Standing there was a delivery man from a local nursery with a big smile on his face and a bouquet in his hand. Before snatching it quickly I ask him if he were not aware of a “level 3”.  His reply was, “Tell my boss that”.  

I was so curious to find out who sent me flowers, and I ripped off the tissue paper only to find a folded pink paper with my name and address on it. There was no card, so I unfolded, not too gently, the paper that was included.  There in big letters was the name of a Vietnam veteran who spent several months in action with my oldest son, Jim.  They formed an unusual friendship which has lasted all of these years. He lives in Los Angeles but comes to family weddings, etc., so we consider him family, too.  The flowers consisted of red roses, red buds, red carnations and greenery in a beautiful Valentine’s vase. It was a fantastic gesture which brought a few tears to my eyes.  A magic moment, indeed. It is still bringing pleasant thoughts as I see it daily. I will probably keep it on my dining room table until the red roses are dried and brown!  Thank you again, Carlos.

Since I have been housebound with just me, there is nothing else exciting to write about so l will just go to recipes. I have a new, to me, cookie recipe ready to bake for myself.  It is different than my favorite oatmeal, chocolate chip recipe, but it sounds as if it will be special.  I clipped it from a magazine a long time ago and do not remember which one, but the recipe has miraculously survived in my pile, I mean file of recipes to try.

            

PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL COOKIES

1 ½ cups shortening

1 ½ cups peanut butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons soda

1 teaspoon salt

Cram shortening and peanut butter. Add brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Combine oats, flour, soda and salt. Mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. (I could be tempted to add some chopped pecans!)

I have a cook book similar to the one I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. It has no date and has a small number of recipes but some of them intrigued me. Also some amounts suggest that they are from a number of years ago. Also directions are minimal. This one has possibilities if you are looking for ideas for meatless meals for Lent.

            

TUNA FISH POTATO CHIP CASSEROLE

1 ½ cups crushed potato chips

1 can tuna fish (I prefer Albacore)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup milk

Pour all ingredients into a buttered casserole dish. Mix together and top with more crushed potato chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Here is a very simple combination that you could whip up while preparing the rest of your meal. I have a hard time stretching my imagination around the combination of cherry pie filling and mandarin oranges. Make your own decision.

            

PINK SALAD

½ cup coconut

1 can cherry pie filling

1 ½ cups miniature marshmallows

1 can Mandarin oranges

1 ½ cup whipped topping

Mix and refrigerate.

Keep remembering that Spring is just around the corner.

Retreat Magic 2/12/15

Last week we had a magic Day!  My "little" sister was celebrating her 87^th birthday.  As my son-in-law says to me in our many talks, "This is for your ears only". She would probably prefer that you think she was much younger.  Her sons from Hebron, Kentucky and Ft. Wayne and her local daughter were gathering at her home to help her have a great day. They were furnishing the meal and invited and picked their Aunt Mary and me up at our homes, a courtesy offered because of our age and the abundance of snow. Following a tasty lunch of lasagna, salad, mixed fruit, garlic toast and Angel Food cake smothered in fruit pie filling and laden down with whipped topping, we couldn’t move so we just sat at the table and enjoyed each other.  It was a magic time just enjoying family and ended too soon. Margaret, may you continue to manage in  your own home and many thanks to Rita, Mike and Doug, for including two other little old ladies in your celebration.  It is fantastic to be included.

Saturday was a great spiritual day. My daughter was on a retreat team for the church at Assumption on route 20. She invited any of us who cared to attend. Only one daughter was free to go so she supplied my transportation. The theme of the retreat was “The Heart of a Woman”, with many scripture verses pointing out the place of women in God’s master plan of creation. It was so uplifting to share our faith and “God moments” with 40 other women.  Anita had asked me to share my “ Faith Story” but she had me at the end of the day.  After several other talks, I wondered “How can I follow those?”  But the Holy Spirit was with me and I held their attention which made me comfortable, making it a magic experience.

When I arrived home I had a message from my son who lives in Decatur. He and his wife and daughter who live in Indianapolis wanted to come visit me on Sunday morning and attend church with me. We had stopped for 5:00 o’clock Mass in Bryan on our way home to accommodate my daughter’s schedule. So they changed their plans and attended church on their way at a later hour and arrived at my house a little before eleven. I knew they had planned to take me to Rita’s for lunch, but Keith’s birthday was the “day after Kork’s” (a family joke we do not let  him forget from his childhood). When he was still at home before enlisting in the army, he loved potato soup with rivels and cheese. None of his family will eat it, so I made a recipe of it and was just finishing it when they arrived. He was happy for the special attention and took an ample supply home with him. Much joy can be found in the little unexpected, inexpensive incidents of special thoughts of caring.

I was so excited when I found a recipe for “vegetable meatloaf” for those of you who prefer to abstain from meat. Imagine my disappointment when the last item was one-half pound of ground beef!  Guess you need that for it to be MEAT loaf! It sounds good and a bit different so I decided to use it anyway. Also, it is a recipe for two people.

          

VEGETABLE MEATLOAF

1 slice bread, torn into small pieces

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup shredded carrot

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons finely chopped green pepper

2 tablespoons finely chopped celery

Salt, pepper, garlic powder

5 tablespoons ketchup

½ pound ground beef

Combine bread, egg, carrot, celery, onion, green pepper, ketchup and seasonings. Add beef and mix well. Form into a loaf and place in a 6 inch by 3 inch pan. Reserve some of the ketchup for on top if desired. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Serve with baked potatoes topped with shredded cheddar cheese.

This is one I have never heard of but it is in a 1990 cookbook, so maybe I lead a sheltered life!

          

CONFETTTE CHICKEN

1 ½ cups chicken, cooked and cubed

2 cans (14 ½  oz. each) seasoned tomatoes/onions

1 green pepper, chopped

Combine ingredients and season to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve over cooked rice.

Keep looking for magic. It will appear in unexpected places.

Almond Bark No Bake Cookies 2/5/15

Why does the weather man have to be so accurate when he predicts something so drastic?  I was certain that the worst of this would go north or south of us!  There must have been a bit of doubt because while I was out for a meal at the down town restaurant, I took advantage of the offer of going to church at 6:00 Saturday evening.  When I opened one eye this morning at the time I would have been leaving home I glanced out the window and ascertained that by golly this time it happened just like was predicted. So far today has been quite monotonous.  I made one phone call and had a return call from the same person. That is the total of my social activity.  To liven up my day, I cooked some beef and noodles and made some instant potatoes for my lunch. I fortified the potatoes with a large chunk of butter and used hot milk instead of water.  Not too bad!! I even watched a college basketball game.  The one I picked “just because” ended up winning so maybe that was my magic for the day.

With my isolated activities I have had a hard time running into much magic so think I will go back to one of my Christmas parties, really to a month or so before that.  At our regular monthly Homemakers Club meeting we had a guest speaker who was explaining their new program for pre-preschool kids-3 year olds!!  After her presentation she asked if there were any questions about the program.  I hate to let an opportunity go by without talking, so when no one else said anything I said I just wanted to make a statement.  I grew up in a home where we had only necessities, good parents but almost no toys, played jacks on the dining room table with hickory nuts and no ball! We had to use our imagination to fill our play hours and free time from daily chores. We didn’t even have kindergarten and all of my brothers and sisters turned out quite well.  She responded with the statement that I had my own answer—“good parents” who handled our situation well.  All kids aren’t so lucky. I have a secret pal who was tremendous with her gifts to me during the year. When I received my Christmas gift there was a bag with 6 or so small bags inside. In one was a Slinky, in another a bag of marbles, and a game of “jacks” with Two balls!  That is all that I recall that was in the bags.  I thought it was a very magical moment and thought she was trying to even the score years ago when I had her name.  I had purchased a flat wooden angel with golden wires for wings and halo, about 10 to 12 inches tall.  Inscribed on the angel were the words “God loves you and I am trying!!” She recently built a new home and we were guests there.  She pointed it out and said, “Yes, Max, there is my angel.”  My daughter asked for the marbles and I intend to someday see if I can mentally resurrect at least part of the game of jacks, now that I have two balls to bounce. I hope she didn’t get the marbles because she thought I had “lost mine”!!

I think that is a good place to return to food.  I had two soups picked out because of the weather, but by the time the paper comes out, I hope at least part of this snow has left us, at least most of the coldest weather is just a memory. If not I will look up those recipes again.  I am saving one for me to make anyway. One I am using today was supposed to be a meal for a bit over a dollar. You can tell it is an old cookbook because the seasonings would cost you more than that today.

            

UPSIDE DOWN MEAT PIE

1 pound ground beef

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped onion

¼ cup chopped green pepper

1 can (10 ¾ oz.)condensed tomato soup

1 teaspoon prepared mustard

1 ½ cups biscuit baking mix

1/3 cup water

3slices Velveeta Cheese, halved diagonally

Over medium heat, cook beef, celery, onion and green pepper until meat is no longer pink and the vegetables are tender.  Drain fat. Stir in soup and mustard. Transfer to a greased 9 inch pie plate. Combine biscuit mix and water until soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 9 inch circle. Place over the meat mixture and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for five minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen biscuit dough. Invert onto a serving platter. Arrange cheese slices in a pinwheel pattern. Garnish with green pepper rings if desired.

            

ALMOND BARK NO BAKE COOKIES

1 package (24 oz.) almond bark

1 cup peanut butter

8 cups Captain Krunch cereal

1 cup salted peanuts

Melt almond bark according to package directions. (I like to melt it in oven at 200 degrees.) Add peanut butter and mix. Remove from heat and stir in cereal and peanuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper.

Our county is only at level 2 emergency now. Guess they didn’t need my opinion.  See you next spring.

Miracle Soup 1/29/15

I was thinking how fast the month of January was whizzing by until the snow started piling up this afternoon.  When I typed in the date, I felt a ripple of joy at the number of winter days we have behind us. A bigger dilemma is what in the world will I write about this week.  After the favorable response I received for last week’s (which I enjoyed doing immensely) I am way out in left field for a follow up. Guess you will have to understand that an occasional upbeat one is an exception and you can’t expect to get one every week.

The closest I can come to any magic in the ordinary things of an ordinary day was this morning as we were walking from the church to the open house at St. Mary’s school, one of my farmer friends from my years of employment at the elevator asked ME to help HIM across the patchy snow and ice covered street! I knew he was making friendly conversation but it made my day.  

When your mind is as blank as mine seems to be, the best thing to do is go to food. So I have resorted to one of my old cookbooks to find something that will brighten up these cold blustery days that are forecast for the coming week. Let’s start with a soup recipe. It is a favorite of those who are trying to lose weight, but any kind of soup is good on a cold day.

                    

MIRACLE SOUP

1 package of onion soup mix           

4 cups water                                          

2 carrots, finely chopped                  

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 cup chopped spinach

2 celery stalks, chopped                   

½ green pepper, chopped                

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

garlic powder, salt, pepper, etc.

Combine the onion soup mix and water. Bring to a boil and add all other ingredients.

Season with your favorite seasonings. Simmer for at least one hour.

For those of you who want something more substantial on a cold winter day, try

this bean casserole.

THREE BEAN CASSEROLE

1 can (14 oz.) pork and beans

1 can (14 0z.) lima beans

1 can (14 oz.) kidney beans

1 can (10 oz.) mushroom pieces, drained

8 bacon slices

2 medium onions chopped

¼ cup vinegar

1 cup brown sugar

Combine beans and mushrooms. Place in 2 ½ quart casserole. In a skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Remove slices and crumble. Reserve 2 tablespoons of drippings and saute onions. Return crumbled bacon to skillet and add vinegar and brown sugar. Cook slowly until thickened. Pour over bean mixture and combine well. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

In case anyone is looking for me the next week, I will be out looking for some magic. Also I should write it down!

Magical Edgerton Memories 1/22/15

Magic moments or a trip down memory lane??  It all started with an ordinary stop at the customer counter at the local Post Office. As I asked for a weight on a heavier than usual envelope to see if I needed extra postage, our new post master mentioned that he had something he thought I would be interested in!  I am not certain if it were my white hair hinting at my advanced age or if he might know about my interest in cooking and new recipes.  It seems that he had inadvertently become the owner of an old, old recipe book originating in Edgerton. It is unusual but he could not find a date in the whole publication.  He promised to bring it in to show me some day. One day he proudly had it in his possession, having rescued it from a box of things his wife had ready to go to the recycling bin, remonstrating her with the comment ” You can’t throw THAT away.”

I still can’t comprehend why he would give it to ME.  There were conditions attached that he did not want it back but he wanted to see what I wrote about it. I have been procrastinating about it not knowing just how to compile my thoughts and feelings. The time has arrived and after much thought and  mind changing here is what I have to offer.

The title of the book is “THE BEST IN COOKING”  in  Edgerton. It was promoted by the Edgerton Business and Professional Women’s Club. I knew personally or knew the names of most of the ladies who had contributed recipes. A big share of them have gone on to their eternal reward.  The list of advertisers brought back so many memories as I can remember when they were active businesses in our home town.  The only advertiser that I could think of to ask about when he thought it might have been printed was Karl’s Sinclair Service where the Huntington Bank Branch is now located. So I casually entered the antique shop where you can usually find Karl behind the counter and asked him if I could “pick his brain”.  He was very co-operative and said if he had advertised his station in this book it would have had to be in the  very early 1960’s as that is when he sold the business.  That is as close as I could come to a date. 

The list of most of the businesses with ads in the book really took me down Memory Lane because I can remember all of them as active Edgerton businesses.  How many can you remember?  The Edgerton State Bank (now Huntington), Bob’s Dairy Bar, Moffett’s Rexall Store, Gruver’s Market, (We had three grocery stores then.), Vic Miller’s Ford Sales, Day’s Furniture, Bible’s Sohio, Dolly’s Restaurant,  Edgerton Coin Laundry, Smart Shop (women’s apparel) Edgerton Lumber (on Depot Street), Day and Day (marketers of Sinclair products), Krill Funeral Home (been here ever since  1875!) and Fisher’s Implement Co. (Where the American Legion is now located and where I had my first job out of high school as bookkeeper for 25 cents an hour! That was more money than I ever had!)

Some of the ladies submitting recipes were important people in my life. Frances Sanders, my mother-in-law, who taught me many cooking tricks, Ethel Mowry, Uchrista Maxwell, Lucile Palmer, Home Economics teacher at Edgerton High School for many years,  Kate Lees, Hazel Brown, Post Mistress for many years, Harriet Fritch, Kathryn Flegal, Doris Flowers, Audrey Stark, Rose Walley, Mrs. Paul D. Krill, Bernice Schooley, my little brother’s school teacher, Sue Dietsch, better known now as Mrs. John Close,  Frances Dietsch, Mrs. Earl Landel, and Margaret Sanders, my little sister.

To honor a couple of others, I am using their recipe because I am tempted to try both of them.  One I will not include was from Odelia Wickerham which started out with 12 pounds of liver!!!

Now on to the other ideas. The first one is from Ruby Gruver whom I knew most of my life. When we both lived around Butler she was one of the big girls in my life. When we both ended up in Edgerton I admired her so much because she always looked as if she were immaculately groomed for a special occasion. I sneak down the alley to the grocery store, hoping no one will see me because I didn’t prepare for being out of the house!

            

CHINESE HAMBURGER HASH

Submitted by Ruby Gruver

1 pound ground beef

2 onions, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 can mushroom soup

1 can chicken soup

1 ½ cups water

½ cup uncooked rice

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ teaspoon pepper

Brown ground beef and onion in a small amount of shortening. Add other ingredients. Put in a casserole dish. Cover and bake at 35 degrees for 30 minutes. Cover with crisp Chinese noodles and bake for 15 minutes more.

The next recipe is similar to the one I had to bake when I was in 4-H in the mid 1930’s.

            

GINGERBREAD

Submitted by Nora Hopkins

2 eggs

¾ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup pure New Orleans molasses

¾ cup melted shortening

2 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons ginger

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cloves

1 cup boiling water

Beat eggs, add the sugar, molasses and melted shortening. Add dry ingredients which have been mixed. Add the boiling water last. Put in greased baking pan or muffin cups.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

This brought to mind many people whom I do not ordinarily think about and was a very pleasant walk down memory lane.  Thank you for thinking of me, Chris.

Magic Belated Birthday Phone Call 11/27/14

May each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with plenty of good food and more important family sharing and caring. As usual I am hosting a dinner for all who can make it with open house the rest of the day (where you look after yourself at the abundantly supplied table of leftovers).  Expecting 35 to 40 people at 1:00!! Hope they bring a lot as I am not able to do what I usually do. I will make my usual traditional cranberry salad. Whatever happens it will be a magical day.

Talk about magic, I was amazed and delighted last week.  The phone rang and the caller ID read “Clarence” as I quickly answered. I have a niece whose husband is named Clarence and I was expecting it to be her. Imagine my excitement when I realized it was a voice from my past, but the Clarence was correct. During the 1950’s for 8 years we lived on a farm southwest of Melbern, which we rented , sharing the income from crops. The man who owned the land was an OLD, OLD man (he was  about 80!!) but he was at the farm several times a week.  He had a daughter who lived in Defiance and we saw her a number of times.  Years later, she and her husband built a home on some of the acreage. She still lives there alone and is now 104, with 105 quickly approaching!  We sent her an invitation to my 90^th birthday celebration. She was unable to attend and wanted to call me. What a thrill to hear her voice.  We had over a half hour chat catching up on her great state of health and both of our families. You made my day a very magic one, Margaret Bohn!

Today I had a food experience that perhaps I should not mention. It will spoil my image of those of you who think I know more about cooking than I do. Today I did not use what I really know. Last week’s recipe for the Frito meat balls intrigued me, but I did not want meat balls. I am not fond of corn chips but when I was at the local store I saw some small bags at 2 for $1.00. It would be worth it to try something so when I got home I found them in my grocery bag! First of all I had to crush them. I did not want to make a whole recipe and I had just enough chips to make a half recipe.

From then on it got dangerous. I thought I knew what the recipe stated so I put the soup in the meat. (It was supposed to be poured over the top.) That was not enough to stop me. I prepared my cast iron skillet on the small burner, then made three small burgers, I thought. With the soup in the meat they sprawled all over the skillet. So okay, I will have one big Frito burger. Remember me telling my daughters that you do not put something on the stove and then go into the living room.  I forgot to mention that you do not go to check something on the computer in your bedroom. My almost original concoction was well past the well done stage on the bottom. I quickly turned it over and watched it brown on the other side, trying not to look at the nearly burnt top edge. I know, I will cover it with the rest of the mushroom soup, so I can’t see it. Out of sight, out of mind.  Wrong.  Sometimes I say to myself, “I do not have to eat that”. But with hamburger costing $3.99 a pound, plus my dollar for chips, those thoughts helped me eat the whole thing. I offered it up as penance, but I think I am way ahead of the game with penance.

Now have I scared you out of using any recipe I might offer? In the case that I have not spoiled my reputation I will include a recipe for beets that I found in an Aro cookbook that was a Christmas present to me in 1989 from my daughter’s kids. (It was submitted by Doyle Wines.)  It will probably be a second cousin to Harvard beets.

           

SAUCY ORANGE BEETS

1 can of beets, 303

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon butter

6 tablespoons orange juice

¼ teaspoon salt

Mix flour and sugar together. Add orange juice a little at a time. Add butter and salt. Drain beets and add to the sauce. Heat on low heat until thickened.

                        

CLUB  CHICKEN

1 cup Club or Town House Crackers

1 package Italian salad dressing mix

2 to 3 pounds frying chicken

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Combine crackers and salad dressing mix in a large plastic bag. Shake 2 pieces of chicken at a time in the crumb mixture. Place chicken skin side up in a casserole dish. Drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 1 hour at 375 degrees.

After Thanksgiving Day you have my permission to proceed with your Christmas decorations, Christmas carols and lights. As for me I will get it done early in December. Each year I do less as I no longer have Christmas festivities at my home, but I want the house to look as if I know it is Christmas.

Beefy Hash Brown Pizza 11/13/14

First I will mention a golden wedding anniversary celebration near Warsaw, Indiana for my niece and her husband. These parties are always a delight to attend. The downside of it is that it makes me realize my age. My kids retiring, the next generation celebrating fifty years of marriage, great grandkids starting school.  Guess God has been good to me to allow me to experience all of this. Congratulations to Jean and Clarence and best wishes for many more.

Well, I am sad to report that my birthday magic has declined to a standstill.  A hearty thank you to all that contributed in any way to make it the fantastic magic event that it turned out to be. I can’t express in words the feelings I experienced from the “Happy Birthday” greetings on the street, hugs in church, many, many birthday cards, all of the hard work, planning and expense from my family for the reception and those of you who took the time and effort to attend. It will be the source of many great and magic memories. Now back to the real world!

This morning I attended the benefit brunch for my nephew’s grandson who is a patient at Riley Hospital. The food was abundant and delicious and of course I had to try it all. I came home to spend a quiet day, avoiding the temptation to stop at the Methodist Church for their soup and pie luncheon. The full feeling, besides the picture of a half of an apple pie on my kitchen counter, made me turn in at my own driveway.

In the middle of the afternoon, I was still not hungry, but my thoughts again returned to food. My guilty conscience would allow some things that were already sitting silently in my refrigerator. First I tried a cold dish of tapioca pudding. Not nearly as good as the warm one I had eaten before. Okay, I will try to finish the left over from Friday cottage cheese that I really like mixed generously with lime Jello and pears with the juice of the pears used as the cold water. That was better than the cold pudding but left me with a full stomach but still a hankering for something more substantial and hot.To fill that need, I got out my old, old Taste of Home Cookbook and found 2 main dishes I think you will like to try.  I am doing this much earlier than usual hoping that reading and mentally savoring the entrees will get me past bedtime. I would hate to have to go make me a 3 egg omelet!

BEEFY HASH BROWN PIZZA

5 cups Frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed

1 can (10 ¾  oz.) cheddar cheese soup, undiluted

1 egg, slightly beaten

Salt and pepper to taste

2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 can, 4 oz.) mushroom slices and pieces, drained

1 can (15 oz.) pizza sauce

4 cups (16 oz. )  shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Combine potatoes, soup, egg, salt and pepper. Spread mixture into a greased 15 in x 10 inch baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes until lightly browned. Meanwhile, cook the beef, onion, and mushrooms until the meat is no longer pink. Stir the pizza sauce. Keep warm. Sprinkle 2 cups of the cheese over hot potato mixture. Spread meat mixture over the top, sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake5 to 10 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted.

  

At the benefit brunch the pancake detail had it right on this morning. My memories of those brought my attention to this recipe because I am partial to Golden delicious apples. Add them to pancakes and they would have to be good.

      

BAKED APPLE PANCAKES

1 cup pancake mix

2/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 medium Golden Delicious apple, peeled and sliced

Maple syrup

Combine pancake mix, milk ,oil and egg. In an ovenproof skillet, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and apple slices. Saute until sugar is dissolved. Pour batter over apple mixture. Cook, uncovered, at 350 degrees. For 12 minutes. Invert onto serving platter. Serve with syrup.

Guess I will finish my cottage cheese and go to bed early to control my cravings.

190 Birthday Cards and Counting 11/6/14

What do I mean by "magic moment"? How about a magic week? Would you believe that I am still getting birthday cards? Each one is as special as the first one I received. I kind of lost track of the actual number these past few days, but I am near if not exceeding 190!!! Just as amazing was the count of guests  at my birthday open house. We came up with a count of 242! When analyzing anything as spectacular as “my day”, there were a number that I was sure would be there but weren’t. Then the ones who amazed me by their attendance balanced out the day into one perfect one. But wait, there was one disappointment. I did not get to visit with many of you as I would have liked to. If that is true for you, stop in. I will clean off a chair, wash a cup and we will have coffee and talk till our heart’s content. If you doubt the number of cards, I have them all in one box. Stop in and count them yourself.  You may come up with more than I did. Next week I am going to take one whole day, reread them and cherish each one all over again.

Last Tuesday evening was my monthly meeting of my Home Extension Club. We were going to a special restaurant in Auburn and I very innocently went in where there were about 15 members waiting patiently for us to arrive. Almost immediately I felt someone behind me. The president had placed a crown on my head. They presented me with a bouquet of fall flowers, three balloons, a notepad and paid for my evening meal! What a special group of friends! Maybe being the oldest member has its advantages.

More important than all my partying, is our moral obligation and privilege of going to the polls to express our belief of who is most capable of managing our government. I hope you were an informed voter and all of you took advantage of the privilege and duty. I had some trouble trying to vote intelligently in some cases where there were damaging ads about an opponent and the next ad was his opponent being just as negative about him. Do we have to spend so many millions of dollars with this kind of campaigning when it is so unproductive and the money could have been spent much more wisely in a productive manner?

I will get off my soap box and turn to food where I am more nearly an expert. That gives me lots of room to improve. I shouldn’t tell you about an entre served at the excellent restaurant last week. I think it was (or could be) called Hawaiian chicken. It had cubes of chicken, pineapple chunks, I think a sweet/sour sauce and was delicious. A friend ahead of me took a generous portion. I was afraid to trust her judgment and took a much smaller serving. Darn! I decided that I can make that without a recipe! Wrong.  First of all I used 6 chicken legs that I browned to perfection, steamed it for an hour or so, deboned it and cut up the pieces.  Next when I went to add the pineapple chunks, the only resemblance I could find in my well stocked pantry was a can of crushed pineapple. I put in a small amount of brown sugar and thickened it with corn starch. It was edible and quite tasty, but it looked like only a third cousin of the dish I was trying to duplicate. I ate some of it but it was a disappointment. Returning to my inborn training that you do not throw out anything that is good food, I decided to cook some rice the next day. I heated my prize project and served it over the rice.  Not too bad, but do not think it will win any original cooking awards.

Now let’s go to some tried and true lab-tested ideas. Since I am so full of company food, we had a small impromptu gathering at my house tonight of a few relatives with snacks, real mashed potatoes and yummy beef and noodles made from the leftover baked steak from my party.  (I did not cook it.) So I am not even interested in desserts tonight, but I think you will like these two meat dishes that are very easy to make.

            

CLUB CHICKEN

I cup finely crushed Club or Town House crackers

1 package Italian salad dressing mix

3 pounds frying chicken

3 or four tablespoons melted butter

Combine crushed crackers and salad dressing mix in a large plastic bag. Shake 2 pieces of chicken at a time in the crumb mixture. Place chicken skin side up, in a casserole dish.  Drizzle with the melted butter. Bake for I hour at 375 degrees.

            

BEAN BOATS

2 cans (15 oz.) chili with beans

4 French rolls

¼ cup melted butter

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cut tops off each French roll. Hollow out each roll saving bread pieces. Brush inside and outside of rolls with butter. Mix I cup of the bread pieces with chili and fill loaves. Replace tops of rolls and wrap in aluminum foil. Bake on cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Removes tops and sprinkle with cheese. Replace tops and serve  hot.

Hope all of you were at the polls Tuesday!

Happy 90th Birthday Magic Maxine! 10/30/14

Maxine with chidren and spouses

Wow!!  What a magical celebration! Many thanks to all of my kids (and their spouses) for the many hours of planning and work involved in making my 90^th birthday so memorable. Also, thanks to those of you who took time to attend the open house.  No matter how much planning, work and expense you put into it, a party will not be a success if you have no people with which to share.  I am very humbled by the number of people who came, their kind words and the few tears that were shed. My only regret was that I was not able to spend more time with each of you.

The day started with worshipping together at 8:30, followed by a sit down dinner for nearly 90 close relatives in the church hall. Here I was eulogized by three daughters and one son which caused a few tears to drip on my shoulders. Following a delicious but simple dinner a sharp command by a daughter that they had less than a half hour to be ready for the open house. Without any complications a bit of magic took place and the hall turned into a party room! 

Things started happening on Thursday when I heard a rap on my front door. The UPS man was leaving and there was good sized package on the porch. I had not ordered anything and hurriedly tore open the box.  Imagine my bewilderment when I saw a huge bouquet of Stargazer Lilies with a lovely vase included. Now I was more bewildered.  Inside was a note that they were from my computer only connection with a now friend in Oslo, Norway! They are now opening into something spectacular. I had never seen any before and they are indeed lovely.  Thank you, Siri Anne.

Maxine with Stargazer lillies

After we (I should say “they”)  had everything packed up and removed, my son asked if it were okay if some of them came to my house. I readily agreed and about a dozen relatives came and they ordered pizza. So my party ended about 9:30 and I immediately fell into bed. What a celebration. Thanks to all of you who helped make it so fantastic.

I had a favorable comment from a reader about last week’s Apple crumb pie. Since I have no recipes selected and the same book is opened at my computer, I will select another one from it. Hope you and I are lucky with this week’s selection. I have heard of people freezing the makings for an apple pie, but I have never tried it.  Let's all do a few. Will save time when you decided to quickly produce one.

            

APPLE PIE FILLING

6 apples peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ to 1 cup sugar

Mix and place in a zip lock freezer bag. Place in freezer until ready to use.

            

CHUCK WAGON BEANS

2 pounds ground beef, browned and drained

2 pounds bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 onions, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup catsup

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon mustard

½ cup brown sugar

1 can pork and beans

1 can lima beans

1 can butter beans

I can kidney beans

Put in crock pot, stir together and  summer.

My thanks to Diane Beverly and Lavern Goebel for the recipes and to all of you who made my celebration so unforgettable.

Kenny's kids and spouses

Grandkids of Russell Jennings

Some grands and greats

Max and Kork

Judy's family

Kork and family

Pudding Cookies 10/16/14

Yikes!!  Here we have used up half of a new month. That means winter is closer and I am not ready for any more snow! Hope the weather forecasters don’t know what they are talking about and it won’t be another one like last year. I should be like my brother told me once in his slow laid back manner, “Don’t get excited until you see you have a real reason to be!”  So I guess I will just enjoy the nice fall days that we have still coming.

Today was a real empty day after a weekly schedule that I could barely keep up with.  It started with a lovely lunch at the Senior Center for all of the October anniversaries and birthdays. Since I was an honored guest with a birthday, it was extra special.  I keep thinking that I should go more often but I do not know today that I want to go tomorrow, so I can’t make a reservation! Besides that program is for OLD folks!!  My thanks go to all involved with that program and Hillside Living for providing games and prizes.

When I got home I had a phone call from my daughter who wanted to come to my house on Friday during her lunch hour to pick up a photo that she needed. I quickly said I would be home. Then she hesitatingly asked if I could also have 4 dozen rolled and cut out heart cookies made for a retreat she was planning. Her lunch hour is late and I could easily have them baked, frosted and packaged for her to pick up. The big bump in the road came when I remembered that I had a 10:30 appointment the next day for a perm!  I suddenly shifted gears and baked the cookies late Thursday evening, got up earlier than planned on Friday morning to get them frosted. Guess what. I was at my appointment one minute early! Came home and had them in plastic containers for her to pick up. Now time for relaxing in my new lounge chair. Rest time was quite short because I had made plans with another daughter and her husband to go to Angola to see my cousin who is a resident of Lakeside Nursing Home. They were going to pick me up shortly after three! We had a very nice visit with my cousin and her daughter, even though we stayed longer than we had planned because it was nearly time for her evening meal. To finish the evening we did some shopping and had a nice meal at Ruby Tuesday. By the time we got home it was nearly bedtime so I could not start anything that I had already ignored doing. It was a good day, but Saturday morning I had to fix food for my family reunion that could make a whole column of magic moments, which I will have to leave for another day. Thanks to Steve and Barb for all of their work and expense.

I changed my mind four times about recipes, but think I have settled on a couple. First, you have heard that you should put your actions where  your mouth is. Last week I mentioned that you should teach your young kids to do simple recipes, so they will be proud of their accomplishment and develop a desire to learn more difficult projects. So first of all is a recipe that you can start them on. Maybe you will like to try it just because it is so simple.

                        

PUDDING COOKIES

1 package (3 oz.) instant chocolate pudding

1 cup biscuit mix (Bisquick)

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 egg

Hershey’s chocolate kisses

Extra sugar

Mix pudding, biscuit mix, oil and egg. Shape into I inch balls and roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes at 350 degrees. As soon as they come from the oven, place a Hershey kiss in the center of each cookie. You could experiment with different flavored pudding, like vanilla.

Next is a simple meat loaf recipe.  I had an unusual one picked out but decided I should try it myself before suggesting it to you.

            

SIMPLE MEAT LOAF

1 ½  pounds ground beef

¾ cup oatmeal

2 eggs

½ cup chopped onion

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules

¼ cup barbecue sauce

¼ cup ketchup

¼ cup tomato juice

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Pack firmly into a loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes.

Tomorrow (after I sleep in) I will try to put the place back in a small degree of order.  After church today, I hid a few things, washed a few dishes and made my bed, so in case someone stopped in they would not report me to the health authorities. I can always plead that “it is just the way I like it!”

Western Style Beef and Beans 10/9/14

I am still a slow learner but I am starting this about two hours earlier than last week.  Maybe by spring I will have managed a better schedule.

Last week was a rather slow one compared to my usual hurry scurry days. It started out with a routine doctor’s appointment. I got an A-plus with a three months in advance appointment! My numbers were "excellent" with permission to do just like I have been doing. I guess that means cheating on my sugar allowance and resting a lot in my lounge chair!! Oh well, It has  served me well so far. Had to ignore my lounge chair a bit yesterday and this morning.  My kids were coming again to finish scheduling an important celebration for an amazing milestone in my life. There were too many pairs of shoes and newspapers in the living room, and the kitchen floor looked as if someone had been making mud pies. (Remember those that we made when we were lacking of toys and we played house and made mud pies in discarded zinc Mason jars lids baked in an imaginary oven! Those were special days that kids now can’t imagine.)  I “slop mopped” the kitchen so they would not report me to the health authorities. It was a great day filled with memories and laughter.

I told you last week that my oldest son had a birthday this week. Since I did not see nor talk to him, I decided to bake him a cake to celebrate today. He really likes apple pie so I had a small miniature one (with a small piece missing) that I gave him when he came in. He smiled and acted as if he appreciated the joke. There was a whole one resting in the oven for a surprise later on.  Wouldn’t you know, he brought Kentucky Fried Chicken to eat later and wanted to keep it warm so  he walked over to my stove and opened the oven door!  There sat my apple pie gazing back at him.  We all laughed and he shared it with anyone who wanted a sample.  An experience that has not improved one iota over the years is our vocal talent, but we all sang Happy Birthday with lots of love and best wishes drowning out the poor musical ability. If you have never heard a rendition of that song by the Sanders family you are one lucky person!

Better save some room for a couple of recipes. I had two yummy desserts picked out and the adage of my youth rang in my ears, “Practice what you preach”! So I put one way back in my mind to use  for the fall holidays and picked on an entrée for the dessert to rest on. This is a large amount to serve 10, so you can cut it in half easily.

            

WESTERN STYLE BEEF and BEANS

3 pounds lean ground beef

2 medium onions. Chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules

2/3 cup boiling water

2 cans (28 ounces each) baked beans with molasses

1 ½ cups ketchup

¼ cup prepared mustard

3 garlic cloves, minced (I would use garlic powder)

Salt and pepper to taste

½ pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, cook beef, onions and celery until the meat is no longer pink and the vegetables are tender. Drain. Dissolve bouillon on water and add to the meat mixture. Add the beans, ketchup, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. Cover and bake at 350 for 60 minutes.  Top with crumbled bacon.

I should have been quicker with this one when bananas were 25 cents a pound at our local grocery! I think this recipe will be good enough that you can splurge on 3 bananas!! Maybe you should buy 6 because the recipe says it freezes well and you can bake two at the same time.

           

BANANA SQUARES

2 eggs, separated

2/3 cup shortening

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup sour milk

½ 0teaspoon vanilla flavoring

12 cup chopped walnuts

Whipped topping, sliced bananas, optional

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Set aside. Cream shortening and sugar, Beat in egg yolks and mix well. Add mashed bananas. Combine flour and soda. Add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk. Add vanilla. Fold in egg whites. Fold in nuts. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. If desired, garnish with whipped topping and sliced bananas.  (To make sour milk, place 1 teaspoon of white vinegar in a measuring cup. Add enough milk to make ¼ cup.)

Encourage your young kids to experiment with simple recipes. Their success will build confidence to try more difficult things and thereby form a love of cooking.  We need to teach them something besides having their noses in a cell phone!

Happy Birthday and Adoption! 10/2/14

Typing the date for this week really made me sit up and take notice. I hadn’t even thought about the month changing this soon and I have a son with a birthday on the first.  Now I won’t be embarrassed by forgetting.  His main weakness is Dutch Apple Pie - just maybe I can find enough energy somewhere to come up with one. He is supposed to be losing weight, so I will make him promise, in ink,  to be very generous in sharing.  In case I do not get it done, I will say right here, “Happy Birthday, Jim”.  That will save postage money, too.

I hope this coming week is not a duplication of last week, I attended three funerals!  A maternal cousin, a lifelong friend and the dad of longtime co-worker all answered the supreme call.  May they all rest in peace. 

Today was more of a fun day, although it was a busy one for an OLD lady. Following regular Sunday Worship, with a number of family members I enjoyed our annual chicken and ham dinner at the church.  A real treat was that I got to see one of my newer great grandsons whom I have seen only a couple of times. He was not particularly impressed with my presence.  Immediately following that my daughter took me to Ft. Wayne to the home of a young friend who with her husband and their family have received finalization of the adoption of a special needs two-year-old son, Ezekiel.  They were having an open house to celebrate the occasion.  I was very pleased with the offer of my daughter to take me without me even having to ask for the favor. There were two other magic moments of the day.  First of all the OLD Testament reading at church was about Ezekiel.  I thought it was very fitting for my plans for the day. Secondly, I had never met their new son. His new mother was holding him and he reached out for me to take him. A real thrill of the day for me, even though it was only a short time until he realized his mother was much nicer. I think so, too. Mostly because she is the granddaughter of a special friend of mine who has also answered the supreme call and she continues to be very kind to me even though I am much older than she is.

We hurried home to attend an almost over “half birthday” party for my great granddaughter who is six months old already. Enough relatives were still there that it took us over an hour to decide that we should hurry home. Now this brings us to the issue of recipes.  I am still full of ham and chicken so there will have to be a short, or maybe long intermission while I find something that inspires me. In moments like this I usually turn to my out of date annual Taste of Home books that I am using for shower gifts for my grandkids when they get married.

Maybe I wasn’t as full of chicken and ham as I thought. At least it didn’t take me long to find a brunch recipe that surprised me because it calls for yogurt.  I have tried and I just can’t appreciate the stuff. If you served it to me in your home, I would eat it, but I will not buy it.  In this recipe there are enough ingredients that I do appreciate that it will overcome my dislike for the yogurt.

            

HAM and CHEESE SQUARES

1 ½ cups cubed fully cooked ham

1 carton (6 ounces) plain yogurt

¼ cup crushed saltines (about 6)

¼ cup shredded Swiss cheese

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

6 eggs

Combine ham, yogurt, crushed crackers, cheese, melted butter and caraway seeds.  Beat eggs until lemon colored. Fold into ham mixture. Transfer to a greased 8 inch baking dish.  Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into serving squares.

Here us a new switch for pumpkin pie that will be in time for the seasonal treat of pumpkin pie.

            

CARAMEL-CRUNCH PUMPKIN PIE

¾ cup packed brown sugar, divided

½  cup finely chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 unbaked 9 inch pastry shell

3 3ggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon rum extract

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1 ½ cups whipping cream

Additional chopped walnuts, optional

Combine ¼ cup brown sugar, walnuts and butter. Press into bottom of pastry shell. Whisk eggs, pumpkin, rum extract, cinnamon, salt, ginger and remaining brown sugar. Stir in whipping cream. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes longer. Cool on wire rack. Garnish with whipped topping and additional walnuts.

Cut-out Cookies and Copper Bottom Pans 9/25/14

Here I am, only 2 hours earlier than last week.  Guess I am a slow learner. I am in the midst of a major project that demands my full attention. So even if it is Sunday, I found myself creating a big mess in my house that is necessary to combat a bigger problem.  It is too late to go into it in detail but I promise to fill you in on how well I accomplish my goal.

Friday was a very special day. One of my daughter's friend’s daughter is getting married in a week or so. She wanted homemade, frosted, cut-out sugar cookies for her reception.  Now how do you suppose anyone would have thought of me to help with that project?  The bride was not able to get excused from her job to help. Her mother brought the batter already mixed. The three of us rolled out, cut, baked and frosted over 12 dozen of the little critters.  No that is not right - they were mostly fall leaves, a few acorns and the rest just cookies. I pleaded old age and mostly just sat at the kitchen table and frosted, but I was mighty proud of the finished product. Hope the bride-to-be was, too.  Could you believe we ordered in lunch? They shoved a few things back on the dining room table to make room for us to eat, but there was no cooking room.

I am looking for a good excuse, but I am saying that I was so pleased that they thought I could be of some help that I forgot my hair dresser had changed my appointment from Saturday morning to Friday! When she realized that I was late after 24 years of being a tad early, she called and I thought one of those words that my mother would not let me say. She will probably tell you that I at least whispered it. It was so near the time my guests would be arriving and I still had to “slop mop”  the kitchen because there were several place that I feared they might fall off.  So I am struggling for a whole week on my own.  Zandra made me promise I would wear a sign that read, “Zandra did not do this”!  I cried a bit and my niece helped me a little with her curling iron, but I can sure spoil a hairdo by sleeping.

So let’s go to food where I have a bit more talent. Since the clock is zooming past my bedtime and several of you have mentioned that you like the few ingredient and few instructions recipes.  So I went to that department for help.  I found two that are as simple as can be, but I have never tried them, so you are on our own.

      

HOT DOG STEW

1 package beef hot dogs, cut in ½ inch pieces

3 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced

2 tablespoons flour

½ cup water

Brown hot dogs in ungreased skillet. (I might use a tad of butter). Add sliced potatoes. Mix flour and water until smooth. Pour over hot dog and potato mixture. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer until potatoes are done. ( I am so addicted to Velveeta cheese, I would probably cautiously add a bit after it is cooked.)

            

POTATO CHIP CHICKEN

2 to 3 pounds chicken pieces, skin removed

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups potato chips, crushed

¼ teaspoon garlic salt

Mix crushed chips with garlic salt. (Flavored chips, such as sour cream and onion can be used.) Dip chicken in melted butter and roll in potato chips. Place on baking sheet. Pour remaining butter and chips over the chicken. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Don’t forget about using Bar Keeper’s Friend for cleaning copper bottom pans and coffee and tea stains from Corelle cups. I also use it for plain stainless steel pans and the bottoms of Club Aluminum pans. It works best if you do this at each washing.  But sometimes lack of energy and time prohibits this and it takes a little more effort when you do. Just dip the pan in your dish water and sprinkle cleanser on the pan. Then rub it with your finger tips. As long as the paste turns black, you are getting dirt off.  I may have crossed the line, but today I was doing dishes and I was not happy with a couple of plated silver soup spoons that I bought years ago at a garage sale. I decided to use them for every day.  I was surprised how nice it cleaned them.  It might shock the silver ware company that I was spoiling the value of the spoons but I only paid a dollar for 4 spoons and I do not plan on selling them.

Happy 24th Magic Moments 9/18/14

Guess what happened between last week’s Magic Moments and this week. We passed the 24^th anniversary of me trying my ability to write a newspaper column!  Shall we try for 25? If God grants me that many days and keeps my mind at least fairly in good working order we will see what happens. A great big thank you to you readers who have expressed enjoyment from it and appreciation for some good recipes.

The clock on the wall is registering a very late hour. So I have the dilemma of just going to bed and getting up early, or struggling to keep awake and then retiring with a clear agenda and sleeping later in the morning. Unless I go to sleep and fall off my computer chair, I think I will do this in the wee hours of the morning.  I have a stupid reason for all of this.  This week one of my daughters was here when I was on a social call and left me a box of books.  She recommended a particular novel that was easy reading. I seem to have this peculiar characteristic of not being able to put down a book once I start reading it.  It was a short novel (I thought) but it took me several hours longer than  intended, so now I will have to suffer the consequences of my poor decision.

I really am not ready for chilly weather.  It brings back too many memories of last winter’s snow. I did weaken and turn on my heat the other morning. I have this other odd conception of life, “ If I have a nickel, I am going to be warm."  I looked in my purse and there were 2 quarters in it so I turned up the thermostat and enjoyed every degree.

Even with the price of food rising so dramatically, I do hate to quit eating. I will assume that you are on the same page and will send you some more recipes. We will start with a simple to make one, followed by  a nice rich, ooey, gooey, dessert.

                    

POOR MAN’S STEAK

2 pounds hamburger

2/3 cup of cracker crumbs

2/3 cup of water

1 can mushroom or chicken soup

½ cup water

Salt, pepper,  garlic or onion powder to taste

Mix hamburger, cracker crumbs, water and seasonings. Pat into a square pan. Put in refrigerator for several hours. Cut into squares. Roll in flour and brown in skillet. Cover with soup mixed with ½ cup water. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

            

FAVORITE LAYERED SQUARES

½ cup melted butter

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

1 ½ cups flaked coconut

½ cup chocolate chips

½ cup butterscotch chips

10 ounces sweetened condensed milk

1 cup chopped pecans

Pour melted butter into a 9 x 13 pan. Press crumbs into butter. Layer the coconut, baking chips, milk and pecans over the crumbs. Do not mix the layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. As squares cool, loosen the edges, so the milk does not stick to the pan. Refrigerate until needed. Cut into squares.

In case you are lucky to have a one pound Tupperware Cheese Keeper (I found one at a garage sale) it will keep two opened  chunk cheese packages in perfect condition until you have used all of it.  I have, in the past, had to throw away too much of it because It was not rewrapped securely enough.  That will help save nickels so you can turn your heat on earlier.