Merry Christmas to All! 12/20/12

As is the usual custom at Christmas time, I will just wish for you the best Christmas of all time.   My wishes for you were inspired by a card I received from a special niece of mine for my birthday. From the basic thought, I will develop my own perspective.  Christmas finds us scurrying around, trying to find the perfect gift for others. Most of the time it is quite simple what will really bring them a blessed holiday.

First I wish each of you a love-filled life. We all need to love and to be loved in return. Scripture tells us to love one another as ourselves, and as God has loved us.  Much joy and many magic moments can be found in  loving relationships.

I wish you peace. Being comfortable with what you believe in and the standards that you set for your life and dealing with others is a source of great contentment. Treat others as you wish to be treated.  Be kind to everyone that comes in to your life.

Next, may your life be controlled by a steadfast faith in God and His plan for our redemption.  Get your faith out of the corner and dust it off, polish and deepen it. More important share it with others.  In case you have shoved yours into a corner or worse, thrown it out, ask God for help in bringing it back to a priority in your life.

My final wish for you is joy, which can be readily supplied if you follow the first requirements of love, peace and faith.

So let’s just feed our souls today and let this be a recipe for a great life. May your Christmas be holy, merry and filled with great family connections. See you all in the new year of 2013!

Nutty as a Fruitcake!! 12/13/12

I see Christmas is sneaking up on us really fast.  I am certain that you all know I have really been trying to be good, but at that point I must rest my case. As I ponder over a few circumstances that I am afraid you might have heard about, I think the only thing left from me to do is to come clean and admit that you heard right. But why would anyone with the years of experience that I have had, be part of something that defies good sense. My only recourse is to blame my little sneaky friend who is always stirring in my business, making a mess of things.  I really had my Thanksgiving dinner plans under rigid control.  I had invited those who needed a place to share the noon meal to come to my house.  I carefully list what I am making and issue the  fact that whatever else they do not bring, we will not eat!  It always works wonderfully and we have more food than we know what to do with.  

I have a favorite recipe for Easy Meat Balls that I ordinarily have an extra one prepared in the freezer ready for unexpected guests. As the day approached, I began to think maybe I should use the two 8x 8 baking dishes full that I had prepared when I found a really good deal at the local grocery store on low fat ground beef.  So I intelligently took them from the freezer in advance so they would be ready to use for our noon meal.  So far, so good.  I even managed to have a time schedule so they would be ready the same time as my Honey Mustard Chicken that was already cooking in the oven.  I very confidently put the first one in the oven. As I was doing the second one, I removed the elastic bound plastic cover from the dish, I thought, ”Oh, Oh!” I did not remember removing the cover of the first one. Sure enough, and it was worse than I thought.  I had used Glad Wrap on that one and the whole thing had disintegrated except that that was clinging desperately to the sides of my dish.  There was none on the food, so I scraped off what I could and we ate it, but I am still digging off plastic from that dish! Reheating it was not a successful operation. 

Guess I am a slow learner and should really pay more attention to that little old lady that tries to help me when I really do not need any interference.  This time I was so proud of myself that I was doing Christmas cookies earlier than I ever start.  I keep my flour in a Tupper Ware container that holds over five pounds of flour. I was so proud of myself because I had put it back where it is stored instead of leaving it set on the counter where I was mixing cookies. It must have been her that put it back because I still needed it to roll out the cutout cookies. It is stored above the dryer and is a tricky reach for me, but I can master it with no problems. Wrong!  As I stretched to reach the container and pull it from the cupboard, wouldn’t you know that she had left the small flour sifter sitting on top of the container. It was less than half full , but I know there was more flour than that, and it landed directly on top of my head!  I think that I thought a bad word or two. Anyway, it was the first time that I washed my own hair at home since I retired and became a lady of leisure and luxury and have my hair done each Saturday morning.

Since both of these atrocities happened when I was preparing food, my advice will be carefully scanned, so I am going to use really simple recipes this time.  For years and years a favorite of mine is one that that my daughter told me about and we used it for her wedding reception. You may want to use it for your Christmas festivities.  I make it every year for a son-in-law’s birthday. I think I gave it to you years ago, but it might be a suggestion for you younger cooks.

                        

CHEESE AND BOILED EGG SPREAD

1 pound of Velveeta cheese

2 cups Miracle whip

4 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 tablespoon bacon bits, more if you prefer

Melt cheese in microwave at 50% power.  Do not over heat.  Stir in Miracle Whip and blend thoroughly.  Add eggs and bacon bits.  Serve with favorite crackers. To make a smaller amount of spread, just remember to use as much Miracle Whip as you use cheese and add egg and bacon bits according to your preference.

How about a dessert that takes only 15 minutes to prepare? Let it chill while you are preparing the rest of the meal.

                  

PISTACHIO CREAM PIE

1 prepared 9 inch graham cracker crust

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese

1 cup milk

1 package (3.4 oz.) pistachio instant pudding

1 can( 8 oz.) crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups whipped topping

Toasted coconut

Mix the cream cheese, milk and pudding until smooth. Fold in drained pineapple.  Place in graham cracker crust. Spread top with whipped topping and sprinkle with coconut. Refrigerate until served.

The spirit finally got to me and I started decorating for Christmas.  Since I am having no celebrations at my home, I am doing less than usual.  I like them during the season. But I hate removing them and packing them away. I enjoy seeing all of the ones a lot of you so laboriously produce.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 12/6/12

God picked another apple from my family tree this past week. Anna Mae Platt, 96, of Butler, Indiana, passed into eternity last Tuesday morning. She was the youngest sibling of my mother and the last of my direct ancestors, named after her grandmother, and always went by both names. She was survived by 6 nieces, which included my sister and myself. She lived a very active life until the last three years when she became a resident of Laurels of DeKalb in Butler. She retired from Indiana and Michigan Electric Company after approximately 40 years of service at the age of 60. She also was the organizer of the local Red Cross Blood drive for many years at which  she  diligently gave her best. Her parents were two of my favorite “old people”, (They both died 20 years younger than I am!!)  Grandma and Granddad Dick, formally known as Mr. and Mrs. Richard Platt.

For 45 years she was an expected guest at my family’s Christmas celebration.  It was the time of our three hour fast before receiving communion and we started  having a 6:00 A.M. breakfast, then the kids opened their gifts then we all went to Mass at 10:00.  I got an inspiration that since she had never spent Christmas morning with a bunch of kids,  I invited her to come to our breakfast. She readily accepted and was a guest for the next 25 years or so and never missed a Christmas morning.  After my family grew too much to get into my home, she still came to our celebrations until she could no longer care for herself and had to go to the nursing home. She always brought a huge box of “unnecessary” groceries that we did not buy because of the difficulty of spreading one wage to cover the needs of eleven people. She thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids go through the box, elated over the marshmallows, box mixes, sugar coated cereal, Quick chocolate drink mix, etc. She stated later that it was not nearly as much fun when I finally went to work to help out with the family finances and we did step out of our rigid budget occasionally.

She was a unique individual, happiest when she was in charge and will be greatly missed.  May she rest in peace.

I will give you two of her favorite recipes.  They happen to be in my cook book, but there are a lot of new readers who would not have one since that was published in 1992. (incidentally we sold 900 of them!)  The bread recipe she made by the dozens and gave them away.  I still enjoy it and bake it occasionally since I have the uncontrollable desire to sit down and eat the whole thing while it is still warm. It can’t be beat if you toast it and spread it generously with real butter.

                                    

DILLY BREAD

1 package yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 cup cottage cheese

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon minced onion

1 tablespoon butter

2 teaspoon dill seed

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon soda

1 unbeaten egg

2 ¼ to 2 ½  cups flour

Soften yeast in warm water. Heat cottage cheese to lukewarm. Add all ingredients, adding flour last. (From my upbringing, I think all bread needs to be kneeded, so I do.)  Cover and let rise in a warm place for 50 to 60 minutes. Mix down, turn into a greased glass loaf pan. Let rise 30 to 40 minutes. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees until crust is golden brown. Brush top crust with butter. 

This is delicious toasted and served with soups and is a great way to use cottage cheese that has slipped past the “use by” date”. I freeze the cottage cheese and make the bread at a convenient time.

A real favorite of hers was broccoli noodle soup and I made it frequently for her while at the nursing home. She would eat this even after she refused to eat most food that was offered to her.  Hope you like it that well.

                        

BROCCOLI NODLE SOUP

¼ cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon butter

3 ½ cups water

1 tablespoon instant chicken bouillon

¼ teaspoon garlic powder  (I use more)

2 cups fine egg noodles

1 (10 oz.) package frozen broccoli

2 cups milk

1 can (10 ¾ oz.) cream of chicken soup

½ pound Velveeta Cheese

salt and pepper to taste

In a large Dutch oven, sauté onion until tender, but do not brown. Stir in water, garlic powder and bouillon. Add noodles. Cook uncovered, for five minutes. Add frozen broccoli. (I use fresh broccoli, cook until crisp tender and add broccoli and water that I cook it in.) Return to boiling, cook for three minutes. Stir in milk and chicken soup. Add cut up cheese and cook over low heat until cheese melts, stirring occasionally.

Again, rest in peace Aunt Anna Mae, you will always live in our memories.

11/29/12

Hope your holiday weekend was all that you hoped it would be.  Mine turned out to be greater.  I was expecting a small guest list because of distance and other commitments but had between 25 and 30 for the noon meal. Later in the day another 25 dropped in.  The latecomers were invited to fill a plate with leftovers and I showed them how to work the microwave. A lazy approach but it worked.

On Sunday my sister, sister-in –law and  I  were invited by a family of nieces and nephews to be “special guests” at their Thanksgiving celebration. My niece and her husband from Pennsylvania were visiting her mother, so they chauffeured all of us to the rural home of our nephew and his wife. It was a magical afternoon and we felt privileged to be included.

After a weekend of food and more food, I was captivated with a very simple, low calorie, healthy recipe.  I especially liked the simplicity of the fruit combination with a 5 minute preparation time, which also, sounds attractive and tasty.

                        

FRUIT  MELODY

1 ½ cups strawberries, halved or quartered

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 medium banana, sliced

¾ cup green grapes

1 can (21 oz.) peach pie filling

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Especially attractive in a clear compote dish. I have a deep respect for potatoes, no matter what you do to them. So this recipe jumped from the pages of my book with such vivacity (yes, there is such a word) that I could not ignore it.  I am just as eager to prepare and taste it. Another asset is that there are only five ingredients.

                                    

CHEESY SAUSAGE POTATOES

3 pounds potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 pound bulk pork sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

¼ cup butter, melted

2 cups ( 8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer, uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender. Crumble sausage a skillet and add onion. Cook over medium heat until no longer pink, Drain off fat. Drain potatoes and arrange in a 9 x 13 in baking dish. Drizzle with butter. Add sausage and stir gently. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Right at this moment my sister is preparing for surgery for a knee replacement. My heart and mind are full of prayers for a successful venture to free her of much pain and regain mobility.  Her usual comment is “Now I am not sick, I just can’t walk!” 

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!