Smoked Salmon Fettucine

This is a relatively new recipe for us, but it's a keeper. It's like having a restaurant in your kitchen...and you are a 5 star chef.

Smoked Salmon Fettuccine
12 oz fettucine pasta, cooked
2 Tbls butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
Milk as needed to thin
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 lb smoked salmon, chopped
1 10oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 Tbls dried oregano
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (optional)

Melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and saute. Blend in cream cheese. Add milk to thin to desired consistancy. Add Parmesan. crumble salmon into cheese mixture. Stir in spinahc and oregano. Cook and stir about 3 minutes or until heated through. Serve over pasta.

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Saturday Stories: My Dad vs. the FBI

Welcome to another Saturday Story day on my blog. This is a pet project of mine, a resolution or sorts, to record my family lore. As always, I have to put in a word of encouragement to all of you to do the same. Record them now, while you still remember them; one story at a time.

Today, I want to tell you a story about my dad. He grew up in a tiny village in New York. His mom, Granny, worked as a telephone operator in a nearby town when Dad was little. She often took Dad to work with her. Back in those days, it was safer to allow a four year old to wander about unsupervised.

One day, being the curious youngster that he was, he left the office where Granny was working. He saw the mailman going down the street putting mail in the boxes. It looked like fun to him, so he followed. At each mailbox, he'd reach in, grab the letters, and tear them into pieces. Down the lane he went, destroying everyone's mail. Now at this point the story gets a bit fuzzy. Some versions say that Dad did this for a couple of days in a row until the FBI was called in to investigate. Other versions say that this was a one time offense and that it was witnessed by a neighbor who called the local authorities. Either way, someone showed up at his house. Dad's older sisters told him the policeman was "coming to get him," so he hid behind a chair while the adults talked. I imagine there was a meeting with the paddle, too, but that was left out of the tale.

I must say, this was just the beginning of a childhood full of adventures.

If you'd like to join in, I finally figured out how to get a new Mr. Linky....
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Show & Tell: Old Serving Bowls

As I have said before, I love dishes. These have been in my family for a couple of generations and although I am not sure how safe they are to use, I love to see them in my cupboard because of the memories they bring to mind.
This one is especially used and from the looks of it, wants to retire to a shelf to be admired from afar.
This one always had boiled or mashed potatoes in it. Looking at it, I can just taste the chicken dinner at my grandmother's house! I like the ridges on the outside. It has a lot of character.
This one has a delicate little floral pattern on the inside. I love inside patterns. It's like the bowl is rewarding us for eating the food it offers.

Visit more show & tells on Kelli's blog There Is No Place Like Home. Tweet

Refried Beans minus the Refry

I love refried beans. They go so well on nachos, in burritos, over rice, under cheese...refried beans love prepositions! I don't want to fuss and slave all day making them. On the other hand, I don't want to open a can and stare at that cylindrical shaped glob. Solution: get out the crockpot!

Slow Cooker Refried Beans:
1 onion, peeled and quartered
3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed and picked over (for little stones)
2 Tbls minced garlic
1 1/2 Tbls salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
9 cups water (maybe more if, like mine, your slow cooker cooks hot)

Place all but the water in the crockpot, pour water over, stir to combine. Cook on high for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, reserving cooking liquid. Mash with potato masher or put through a food processor (I do the latter and include the onions), adding reserved liquid as needed to achieve desired consistency. These will keep in the frige for a couple of days. You can also freeze them.

Overwhelmed with Joy is hosting Favorite Ingredient Friday
The Grocery Cart Challenge is hosting the Friday Recipe Swap. Tweet

Curtain Makeover

When we moved into our house, none of the windows had any treatments. I love curtains and drapes. I think they add so much to a room. The Good Guy, however, likes to have as much light come in from the windows as possible. As a compromise, I bought valances for every window. I bought tab-tops for our kitchen/family room windows. I liked them but because my middle name is El Cheapo-Squeako, I didn't buy pretty rods on which to hang them. After staring at them for a few months, I decided maybe if I added some color, I could camouflage the problem (which by the way, only I could see). I bought some red fabric to sew on the bottom. Time went by and I didn't finish the project. Finally, last week, I decided to totally remake the curtains and get rid of the tab tops. I actually turned them upside down and used the hem as the part on the rod. I wish I had some before pictures to show you, but here is how they turned out.



So, if you have something in your home that you don't like, see if you can give it a makeover.

Frugal Fridays are happening at Biblical Womanhood. Tweet

13 Unusual Bean Recipes ~ Desserts?!

I had a lot of fun finding this week's 13: Baked Bean Desserts! Betcha didn't know there were actually that many. I have linked each one to the recipe. I have only tried one or two, so I am not endorsing, just informing.
1. Spicy Bean Cake
2. Citrus Bean Cake (1 & 2 are variations of the same recipe and are found at the same site)
3. Pinto Bean Pie (like a mock pecan pie)
4. Pinto Bean Fudge
5. Black Bean Brownies
6. Pork & Beans Cake (I am not sure this sounds very good)
7. Garbanzo Bean Chocolate Cake (GF)
8. Butter Bean Custard Pie (mock pumpkin pie)
9. Cherokee Bean Bread (a quick bread)
10. Pinto Bean Bread (a yeast bread)
11. Oatmeal and Bean Raisin Cookies
12. Breakfast Bean Cookies
13. Bean Maple-nut Candy

If you decide to try any of these, be sure to come back and tell me about it. I am very curious!

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How Our Family Is Meeting Our New Years Resolutions

For the first time ever, we sat down as a family and made some goals that each of us could work on. I limited our list to three items. All 4 boys had to agree to cooperate and try to start or stop doing whatever was on the list (so did the Good Guy, but, hey, he wouldn't be call the Good Guy if he weren't a great helper). We took ideas from everyone and finally settled on our list. Our little family meeting was then over and we went on our merry way...except, as the Mom, I needed to help everyone meet those resolutions. So what's a girl to do if she doesn't want to harp 4 hours a day? I made signs. I hung them everywhere.... by lightswitches, on cupboards, by the game TV, you name it. And it's worked wonders. Here they are: For more ideas about how to better run your household, check out Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer. Tweet

My 100th Post: Recipe for KFC Original Recipe Chicken Clone

I am in the midst of a serious effort to lose weight, so for my 100th post, I am treating myself with the thought of eating KFC's Original Recipe greasy, fattening chicken while I eat my sensible, good for me food.

You don't have to be so deprived however. I found this recipe in a newspaper years ago. It makes really tasty chicken.

KFC Original Recipe Herbs:
2 T paprika
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp basil
1 tsp sage
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp allspice
Mix all ingredients and store in a glass jar. When ready to make your fried chicken, add 2 Tbls to your flour. Fry or oven-fry chicken as you normally would.

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday is hosted by Blessed with Grace
Tasty Tuesdays is hosted by Forever Wherever Tweet

Tip of the Week: Cleaning Your Kitchen Sponge

If the title of my blog didn't give me away, I will admit now once and for all that I am cheap. Frugal sound so much better, but the fact is, I hate to spend money on silly things ~ like kitchen sponges. I have tried not to use them. I have and use a Pampered Chef plastic scraper and I have and use lots of dish rags. I just can't give up my sponges.
So, in order to get my money's worth out of them, I use them until they are falling apart. My only problem is the germs they harbor. Solution: Microwave them! Wet your sponge, put it in the microwave for 1 minute and Presto! no more germs (okay 99.99999% no more germs). Remember, it has to be wet or it will catch on fire! Here is an official article to back me up: USDA

Head on over to Tammy's Recipes for all sorts of kitchen tips. Tweet

Easy Beef Stroganoff

Sometimes my family goes on strike and demands "non-blog" food.  In other words, they want an old stand-by; something that they are used to and love.  I often rely on stroganoff for an easy meal. I don't usually use a recipe. Occasionally, I will look at one, to see if I can improve the old stand by. Here is my recipe or method or whatever you want to call it:

1 lb meat...hamburger, thinly sliced beef, ground turkey, browned
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream or seasoned dip
2 Tbls ketchup
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp thyme
salt & pepper to taste
enough milk to thin to desired consistancy
sometimes I add an envelope of onion soup mix...it's a good add.
After browning the meat, throw all of the other ingredients into the pan and cook over medium until bubbly. Serve over noodles, pasta, rice, barley, potatoes, millet, couscous or toast. Tweet

Saving the Potatoes

When potatoes go on sale for 15 cents a pound, I buy them. Last November, they were cheap enough for me to buy 40 pounds. The problem is, I don't cook them fast enough to save them from going bad. I store them in the garage in the winter, where temperatures plunge. Yesterday, I thought I'd better check on them. I am so glad I did. Many were rotten.

So, how to save 25+ pounds of potatoes that have to be cooked NOW! First, I sorted through them and discarded the bad ones. Next, I threw as many as would fit into the oven to bake. When they were done, I mashed them with cheese and cream cheese and put them into 3 gallon-sized ziploc bags. Then, I made twiced baked potatoes by roasting them with olive oil, cutting them in half, mixing the centers with sour cream and cheese. I put the filling into as many as I could (2 more gallon-sized ziplocs) and then put the remaining skins in a ziploc for "crispy potato skins". I sliced another 20 potatoes and cooked them in heavy skillets. I added dehydrated onions, eggs, sour cream and cream cheese and poured them into 3 square foil dishes. All of these are now in my freezer.

Finally, I peeled all of the rest and boiled them. I mashed 2/3 for dinner/leftovers. The other 1/3 became potato dumplings.

Potato Dumplings:
4 cups boiled potatoes, mashed or pressed through ricer
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
For pingpong sized balls. Drop into salted boiling water and cook for 12-15 minutes. Serve with butter or slice and fry or sop with gravy.
I am flash freezing them and then putting them in yet more ziploc bags.

So, although I didn't originally plan to do it this way, I ended up with about a dozen side dishes that will be easy to pull out of the freezer and cook or bake.
Head on over to 3 Sides of Crazy for Simply Delicious Sunday or Happy to Be @ Home for The Sunday Swap. Tweet

Saturday Stories: Why I Hate Snakes

As a new years resolution, I am commiting family stories to print each Saturday. There are so many good tales that get lost from one generation to the next because memories fail and the story tellers pass away. I am on a mission to not let that happen in my family. I challenge you to do the same. Collect the family lore and record it. If you choose to do it on your blog, feel free to link back to mine.

Today, I am telling a story about me.

When I was a little girl, my father was sent to fight in the Vietnam Conflict. He left us on a base in the Northeast for months at a time. He'd return for a short while and then have to return to the war. After a few rotations, he wrote a letter to my mom and asked her to come over to Thailand, where other military wives were staying. She packed us up and we boarded a plane that took up across the USA to Tokyo to Bangkok. We stayed in an apartment complex literally carved out of the jungle. There was a high wall all around the living area; on the other side was wilderness. When Mom asked why there were little lizards on the ceilings of our living quarters, she was told, "Geckos are good. When they are around, it is safe. When they leave, there is a snake nearby. Remember, 98% of the snakes are poisonous and the other 2% will squeeze you to death."

That was just the beginning of my adventures with the slithering wildlife of Thailand. My dad took us to a nearby base and showed us "Iron Mike," the python they found while clearing jungle for a runway. To my little girl eyes, he was a monster. He had just eaten when we saw him, so he had a bulge of undigested dinner. My active imagination pictured him eating little girls for a snack.

One night, after an evening out at a nearby restaurant, my parents and I were walking home to our apartment. My mother stopped suddenly and started pointing her finger, all the while saying, "Ngoo!" over and over. Dad and I thought she'd lost her mind and was saying, "Moo!" Finally, she yelled "SNAKE!" Dad grabbed a nearby folding chair and beat the thing to death. The next day, we went back to see it. It was a young cobra.

As if that weren't enough, one morning, mom and I decided to go swimming. In our complex, there were little square footbaths all around the pool. We were expected to wash off the dirt on our feet before entering the pool. We did it everyday. We didn't even think about it after a while. Step in, step out, get in the pool. Well, this day, I saw something move in the water of the footbath. I told my mom, but she brushed me off. I got more insistant that there was a snake in the footbath. She thought it was my imagination and patiently told me not to worry, that if there was a snake, it was probably dead. I became almost hysterical that there was something alive in that footbath, so mom went over to the office and got the manager. He and a string of other people came out to the pool area. They had a long hooked pole with them. They looked in the footbath and, using the pole, lifted out a live snake, walked over to the tall wall and dropped it over on the other side. The manager said it was a viper, "a three stepper: you get bitten, walk three steps and die."

Years later, as a tween, we lived in Missouri. We had a corner lot with an open storm drain in the curb on the front of our house. One day, while mom was mowing the front lawn, she came upon a cottonmouth. It was frightened by the mower and quickly slithered down the grass to the drain. I could never walk out by that part of the lawn again.

Fast forward a few decades. I was in Washington state, picking blackberries on the side of a road. All of a sudden, I noticed a snake skin a foot from my feet. Now, I knew that there were no poisonous snakes in our area of the state. The logical part of my mind KNEW it was just a garter snake skin and that the actual snake was probably hiding, but I was literally paralyzed. It took me minutes before I could take one step backward and then another. I finally got far enough away from the skin so I could turn to the Good Guy and say, "I am not picking another berry. I have to leave this place. Sorry."

I can stand inches from a glassed in snake at a zoo. I can even act like an interested spectator at a reptile show for scouts. I simply cannot, however be friendly to a snake. Don't ask me to touch it. Don't expect me to be able to stand next to one in the wild. I don't care if it is 6 inches long and harmless. I DON'T LIKE SNAKES!!! Tweet

Show & Tell: Heirloom Tablecloth

Today, I want to share with you a tablecloth my grandmother made for me as a wedding present. She originally planned for it to be a bedspread coverlet, but I called her in February and told her I was getting married in April and that just wasn't enough time. She worked feverishly and finished this squarish/rectangular piece and called it a tablecloth. I call it beautiful. I am completely crochet/knit challenged. I am so thankful that my grandmother, who has since passed away, took the time to create such a masterpiece.

You can see the tiny stitching she used:

The edges are scalloped.

Each square made separately then meshed together. ( I don't know crochet lingo)

I can't even imagine the hours she put into this.

It's truly a treasure.

Visit Kellishouse for some fun show & tell.

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Baked Lentil Casserole

Times are tough all over. Food is expensive and paychecks are dwindling and in some cases disappearing. We are eating more beans, lentils and split peas than ever. Sometimes, I appease the Good Guy and put meat in it, sometimes, I don't. This is a great CHEAP and tasty recipe given to me a decade ago by a dear friend. It is tried and true.

Baked Lentils
1 cup lentils, sorted
1/2 cup rice
3 cups water
bay leaf
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 16oz can diced tomatoes
1 sliced carrot
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 tsp parsley
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
In a GREASED 9 X 13 pan, cover and bake the first 10 ingredients at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, green pepper and parsley. Cover again and bake one hour. Stir in the cheese and bake uncovered another 5 minutes or until melted.

I can't wait to make this for dinner, I am already drooling.
Visit Biblical Womanhood for more frugal tips and recipes. Grocery Cart Challenge is also hosting a recipe swap today. Tweet

My Favorite Cookbooks

I am wondering how many kitchen/food related 13's I can think of...I think I have quite a few more in me. This week is dedicated to my cooking library. I have many, many cookbooks. Although the Internet is convenient, and I have found many great recipes online, I have a thing for books. I like to hold them in my hands and turn the pages. I like to look at the pictures and mark my favorite recipes with a note or a post-it or a paperclip. It was hard to pick just 13, so I cheated a little.
1. My absolute favorite cookbook is one that my mom wrote for me when I left home. She penned some of her best recipes for me to use and treasure.

2. As a reference book, this is my go-to book:

3. For kid friendly recipes, this one is great:

4. When I want to make everything from scratch, I use these:

5. When I want to wax nostalgic and make friends' recipes, I use these:

6. When I want to enjoy looking at pictures and finding great recipes, I use these. I have 24 of these books and don't have a particular favorite, so I lumped them together:

7. When I want to make something tasty but healthy, I use this:

8. When I want to make something tasty and totally unhealthy, I use this:

9. When I am pressed for time, I use this:

10. When I want a copy of one recipe, but not the whole book, I use this:

11. When I want to find a recipe for good home cooking, I refer to this:

12. When I want a commercial recipe (Kellogg's, Pillsbury, etc), I go here:

13. When I want to cook like my mom, but don't want to ask for a recipe, I go here:

Head on over here for more Thursday Thirteens.

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Root Beer Cookies

I mentioned these in a Thursday Thirteen and had a few requests for the recipe. These are an all or nothing cookie - you either LOVE them or think they are gross. The recipe comes out of a 30 year old Betty Crocker Cookbook for Boys and Girls.

Root Beer Cookies
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup water 1 tsp root beer extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Root Beer Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cp butter
1 1/2 tsp root beer extract
2 Tbls hot water

Cream brown sugar and butter. Add eggs, water and extract. Combine dry ingredients and add. Refrigerate at least one hour. Bake on a GREASED cookie sheet, 6-8 minutes at 400 degrees. While baking, prepare glaze: Mix butter and sugar. Add extract and water. Spoon glaze over cookies. Watch out, these are addicting!
NOTE: Rootbeer extract is in the spice section of your grocery store, next to the other extracts. It is normally used to make homemade rootbeer.

Check out BlessedwithGrace for Tempt your Tummy Tuesday and Tammy's Recipes for Tuesday Tips and ForeverWherever for Tasty Tuesdays Tweet

Easy Trifle

We almost always serve trifle on St. Patrick's Day. Although it's called "tippy parson" and doused with some form of alcohol in my Irish cookbook, we serve it without. Served in an official trifle bowl , it gives the impression of elegance. No one needs to know that you didn't slave in the kitchen all day.

Trifle:
2 Sara Lee or Entenmann's pound cakes
Strawberries (fresh is best, but frozen are acceptable)
1 pkg cook & serve vanilla pudding, prepared
Homemade Custard: 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbls flour
1 can evaporated milk
2 beaten eggs
2 tsp vanilla
CoolWhip

For homemade custard: combine sugar, salt and flour in a microwavable bowl. Stir in can of milk. Microwave in 2 minute increments until thickened. Add a little to your eggs to temper them, then pour in eggs. Microwave another 3 minutes. Add vanilla.

Combine homemade custard and packaged pudding. This is a knock-out combination.

Cut pound cake half lengthwise then cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange it over the bottom of the bowl and up the sides. I stack them on top of each other to the top edge of the bowl all the way around. Fill your now lined bowl with 1/2 the pudding mixture. Top with strawberries and then lay another layer of cake over the berries. Add the rest of the pudding and more berries. Top with cool whip and either arrange fresh berries in a pretty circle or sprinkle with colored sprinkles if you used frozen berries. Refrigerate a few hours before serving to let the pudding soak into the cake.

Visit Life as Mom for St. Patrick's Day treats. Tweet

Chicken Tetrazzini

Each year after Thanksgiving or Christmas or maybe both, my husband will ask me to make Tetrazzini.  There are lots of variations out there, but this is by far my family's favorite.  My mom started making it when I was a little girl.  I have carried on without much change.  Sometimes I use green onions instead of yellow.  Sometimes I use fresh mushrooms instead of canned.  Basically, though, I use this recipe.  It turns out deliciously every time.

This is a REALLY good recipe:
Chicken/Turkey Tetrazzini:
1 diced onion
1 can mushrooms
4 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp parsley
2 cups cooked chicken or turkey
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
12oz pkg spaghetti, cooked.
Parmesan cheese
Saute onion and mushrooms in butter. Add parsley and meat. Cover and let sit off heat 10 minutes. Stir in soup and sour cream. Add spaghetti. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve. Tweet

Peach Kuchen

Peach Kuchen
As my final official "clean out the freezer" dish, I am using peaches from my mom's trees.
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk
2 cups sliced peaches (can be fresh, frozen or canned)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Combine dry ingredients and add them alternately with milk. Pour into a greased springform pan. Arrange peaches on top of batter, gently pressing them into batter. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top. Bake 350 degrees 40-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing sides of pan. Serve warm with whipped cream.

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Saturday Stories: Gram (plus her Sugar Cookie Recipe)

Welcome to another edition of Saturday Stories. One of my resolutions this year is to record more of the stories of my family for future generations to enjoy. I invite any who want to do the same to join in

Today's story is about my great grandmother, Gram. I have snippets of her life recorded from things both my mom and my grandmother have told me. I remember her quite well actually, but the tales of her younger years were much more exciting to me than the respectable senior citizen I knew

Gram was a gracious woman. One of her trees was marked during the Great Depression meaning that she would give a meal to any who asked. All of the cousins (my mom's generation) tried to visit Gram's house at the same time. She always gave everyone what they wanted to eat: Kool-aid, potato chips, watermelon, sugar or molasses cookies. She ate more unusual things like sour cream (not the kind you buy, but SOURED cream) on toast or sugar sandwiches (butter and brown sugar on bread). She was allergic to poultry; it made her violently ill.

On Halloween, Gram would send her kids out to trick-or-treat and then put a sheet over her head and hide behind a nearby row of quince trees. She would jump out and scare them on their way home. One year, a horse whinnied and that sent the kids running. She didn't get a chance to frighten them that year.

Gram was a recognized artist in her town. She painted murals in all of her bedrooms. At Christmas she went all out and won the town "best display" award many times. I am lucky enough to have some of her pieces.

On Christmas Eve, she'd have the entire family over for dinner. She provided the meat and everyone else brought potluck. She gave each grandchild and later, each great-grandchild a gift. She'd hire someone to dress up as Santa and hand out the presents. When my mom was engaged to my dad, she had him act as Santa.

Gram's Sugar Cookies:
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla
3-3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg, milk, lemon extract and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add. Mix well. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick and cut into round shapes. Sprinkle with sugar and bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

If you choose to play along, just leave a link in the comments and I will add it to this post. Mr. Linky does not like me. Tweet