Tuna Macaroni Salad, Mexican Layer Dip and A Week of Easy Cooking

I don't know about you, but I hate to cook when it's hot. That is a shame, of course, because I live in an area that reaches 100 degrees for 2 or 3 months of the year. I still have to cook, but I don't have to enjoy the sweat glistening around my temples (that was the most ladylike way I could put it).

This week we are eating 2 salads for dinner plus I am putting together some other easy meals because I am just not motivated.
Tuna Macaroni Salad:
1 lb macaroni, cooked
8 eggs, hard boiled & diced
2 cans tuna, drained
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
1/2 cup olives (these should be green, but I am using black this time)
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp dill weed
2 tsp prepared mustard
Mayo or Miracle Whip to moisten to desired consistancy
Directions: Mix it all together & chill.

Mexican Layer Dip:
1 can refried beans
guacamole (I have some from Costco in the freezer that has been calling me)
1 cup sour cream mixed with a package of taco seasoning
1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 cup diced green onions
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
1 cup sour cream, plain
parsley or cilantro for pretty
Layer exactly in order from top of the list to bottom. Serve with corn chips.

Other dinners:
Spaghetti
Chicken Salad on rolls
Chicken Caccatore over couscous
Sausage Stratta

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Homemade Pretzels

This evening, my soon to be high school son asked if he could make pretzels. He took a foods class last year and came home with all sorts of recipes. This one in particular, was a keeper. We will be having these again and again!

Homemade Pretzels:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbls sugar
1 Tbls instant yeast
Add dry ingredients to 1 cup hot water. Form into smooth ball. place in a plastic zip lock bag and let rest 30 minutes. Divide dought into 8 pieces. Rool into long ropes and form into pretzel knots. Dip into a mixture of 3/4 cup hot water , 1 Tbls sugar and 1 tsp baking soda. Place on greased baking sheets, sprinkle with coarse salt and let rise 10-15 minutes. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes. Brush with melted butter while hot. Tweet

Magic Apple Pie

Have you ever come to the end of the week or month and found yourself a little short on food? This is the perfect treat for such an occasion because it only calls for one apple. The recipe only calls for 5 ingredients, so it is easy on any budget.
Magic Apple Pie:
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 apple, peeled and diced
In a mixing bowl, beat egg. Add flour, sugar and powder. Stir in apple. Spread into greased 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
*Note: You could add raisins and cinnamon. You could substitute other fruit like peaches, blueberries, pears or strawberries. You could add nuts.

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3 Berry Coffee Cake

I don't usually make coffee cake very often...maybe two or three times a year. That has changed lately as I have been using up various items in my pantry. This fun coffee cake uses Bisquick and instant vanilla pudding; what a fun combo!

3 Berry Coffee Cake
3/4 cup sugar plus 3 Tbls, divided
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 cups frozen 3 berry combo from Costco (use raspberries, blueberrie or whatever you have on hand)
2 cups bisquick mix
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
2 Tbls oil
1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding
2 Tbls sugar
1/4 cold butter
In a saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sugar and cornstarch. Add berries and bring to a boil over medium. Boil for a few minutes, stirring constantly until thick and glossy. Remove from heat and allow to cool. In a mixing bowl, combine biscuit mix, mik, eggs, oil and remaining 3 Tbls sugar. Mix well. Spread 2/3 of this mixture in a greased 9 X 13 pan. Cover with berry mixture. Top with remaining 1/3 of batter. In a small bowl, combine pudding mix, 2 Tbls sugar and cut in cold butter with a fork or a pastry blender. Sprinkle over batter. Baker 350 for 35-40 minutes.


On a side note, I made these brownies for Wednesday's dessert. They were just your regular homemade brownie recipe, but I put milk chocolate chips on top before I baked them. It made the kids' eyes get big to see the "special" dessert.

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13 Things I Would Have Planted This Year

I love to garden. I love to plant and grow my own produce. I love to bottle, freeze and dehydrate the lovely things that come out of my garden. This year, I have one tomato plant. That's it. I figured that with me moving, and keeping as much positive energy focused on the sale of my house, that I wouldn't be here to harvest anything.

However, I didn't know at the end of last year that I would be moving. I didn't know that our own little economic infrastructure would crack and crumble. I bought seeds. I planned to do some intensive gardening. I planned to grow my squash vertically. I had such plans.

Here are 13 things I would have planted:
1. Green Beans
2. Peas
3. Carrots
4. Beets
5. Cucumbers
6. Pumpkins
7. Green Peppers
8. Onions
9. Watermelon
10. Corn
11. Potatoes
12. Zucchini
13. Cantaloupe

Are you having a vegetable garden? What did you plant? Don't worry, I won't be jealous...well, maybe not much.
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Tater Surprise

I love recipes that are wide open to interpretation. This one is just such. You could add anything: onions, green peppers, fresh tomatoes, salsa, mushrooms, cheese of any sort, spinach, broccoli, chilies, ham, sausage, bacon, leftover chili, hamburger, anything you have leftover in the frige. That is the "surprise" in Tater Surprise: (basic cost= $1.72)
3 cups frozen shredded potatoes (32oz on sale $.99 used 1/3 = $.33)
4 eggs, beaten (on sale $.80/dozen = $.26)
4 slices deli ham, chopped (maybe $1)
1/2 onion (3 lbs for $1.49 = $.13)
3 Tbls olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Heat oil in skillet, add potatoes and onion. Cover and cook 5-7 minutes on medium. Uncover and flip potatoes. Add ham. Cover and cook 5-7 more minutes. Uncover, pour beaten egg all over, cover and cook 2-3 more minutes or until egg is set. Season with salt & pepper.
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Storing Things in the Freezer

I am not usually a product promoter, but I cannot tell you how thankful I am that the food industry started putting ziplock type closures on most frozen food bags. What a blessing it is to those of us who don't use an entire bag at a time. However, there are a few things that still don't have them. Generic bags of frozen vegetables, 5lb bags of cheese, some french fries are some to name a few. Enter the twixit type clip.
Pampered Chef sold these years ago and I bought a set. Then I found another set at a dollar store (don't you hate that?!). I have a sizable collection of them now. They are fabulous bag closers! Just remember not to get your fingers caught in them while you are closing them. It hurts like the dickens!
I will often buy the aforementioned 5lb bags of shredded cheese, bring them home and divide them up into 2 cup portions in quart sized ziplock bags and freeze them. I usually leave about 4 cups in the original bag, close it with a clip and put it in the refrigerator. These clips don't let anything in or out.
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Homemade Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

There is just nothing like homemade ice cream on a patriotic holiday...why is that? For any of you that have never tried making it, it's easy; I'll show you how. For those old pros, here is a great recipe.

Vanilla Custard Ice Cream
2 eggs
2 cups milk (I use nonfat and it works just fine)
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whipping cream or half & half
1/8 cup (that sounds like so much, but it's really 2 Tbls) pure vanilla extract
Beat eggs slightly in your saucepan and add milk and sugar.
Stir over medium heat until thermometer reaches 160 degrees or the mixture coats the back of your spoon and doesn't immediately fall off. When it's reached that point, put the pan in the fridge for 10 minutes to cool. Remove from fridge, add vanilla and cream. Pour mixture into cylinder of your ice cream machine. Freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Be sure to use lots of rock salt My ice cream maker takes about 45 minutes to make fairly firm ice cream. Tweet

Cinnamon Snaps + Menu

I hate to post just our menus...it seems so mundane. Who cares what we are eating if a few recipes arent' included?!
This week, I am putting an asterisk (*) by the new recipes which will be posted later. All others are on the site under their respective categories or an explanation is next to that menu item. I hope that doesn't make a lot of work for you, but linking recipes is the bane of my Sundays.
Breakfasts: * Hashbrown Surprise
Pancakes
Eggs & toast (over hard or scrambled with cheese)
*3 Berry Coffee Cake
French Toast
Waffles
baked blueberry oatmeal (from recipezaar- minus the sugar & blueberries plus raisins)

Dinners:
Hot Dogs, Suddenly Salad (ranch), baked beans (bush's)
Beef Stew (dinty moore) with *Garlic Cheese Biscuits
BBQ Chicken (shredded & mixed with Tony Roma's sauce), rice & green beans
*Oven Fried Fish, french fries (a la Kroger), peas & carrots
*Garlic Angel Hair Pasta. broccoli with hollandaise (from a mix), corn
Leftovers!!
Desserts:
*Homemade vanilla ice cream
*Speedy Brownies
*Blueberry Oat Bars
*Magic Apple Pie (takes only 1 apple!!)

Cinnamon Snaps (from last week) (recipe from Mar/Apr 2001 Country Woman magazine)
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
decorative coarse sugar
Cream sugar and shortening. Add egg and molasses. Combine dry ingredients and add. Scoop out onto ungreased cookie sheets, flatten and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 350 degrees for 9 minutes. These were gone (snap!) just like that!!

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Pumpkin Cookies with Butterscotch Morsels

I made these cookies this week in order to use up a half opened bag of butterscotch chips. I decided after looking at how few chips I actually had, however, to add chocolate chips as well. It turned out well and they didn't last 24 hours.

Pumpkin Cookies
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Grease cookie sheets. In a medium bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Add the pumpkin and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Then mix in the chips. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool for a minute on cookie sheets before transferring to cooling racks.

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Saturday Stories: Nonny and Pa

Well, it's May and I have only missed a few Saturday Stories this year...I think that's pretty good for a New Year's Resolution. Many of my previous ones haven't made it past February. For any of you not familiar with this, I made a goal of recording some of the stories of my family so they won't be lost when the older generations pass away.

My maternal paternal great-grandparents (does that make sense?) were known as Nonny and Pa. I never knew Nonny and only have a few recollections of Pa. I remember visiting him in his green house and then later accompanying Mamie and Bumpa to visit him in a rest home.

The stories I have of them were told to me by my grandfather and my mom. Apparently, Pa missed his calling in life and should have been a farmer (he was an ice man). He loved horses, land and all other animals. He raised strawberries on Mamie and Bumpa's land. He loved to work in the soil. He couldn't go for a ride in the country without stopping at every fruit store. There was a dalmation dog owned by a man named Mr. Nice that loved Pa. When Pa would drive his ice route, the dog would wait for him and jump up into the front of Pa's truck and go on the route with him.

Nonny was not cut out to be domestic. According to the family, her cooking was, for the most part, atrocious. She would fry pork chops in a pan so the flames licked the sides of the pan. When smoke filled the house, she knew they were done. She always bought really nice sirloin roasts and put them into a special roasting pot with a sieve insert. She'd boil them all day. The left over liquid was made into a grayish gravy. The only seasonings she used were salt and pepper. You could cut her apple pies with a brick. She used so much cinnamon that those pies were the color of said bricks. She did have a date nut bread that everyone enjoyed (we don't have that recipe, sadly). She also made a bottled chili sauce that the family still makes today. I will share that recipe during canning season.

Growing up, Nonny's hair was long. So long, in fact, that it reached to her ankles. One year, she was singing with a choir at school and was standing at the back of the choir. When the stage crew started rolling up a backdrop between songs, her hair got caught in it. The concert came to an abrubt halt when Nonny started screaming. She was barely still on her tip-toes with her hair hanging above her. She cut it and kept it waist length the rest of her life. She always wore it up in a bun.

Nonny was a talented seamstress. It seems that most women of that era were. She made my mom 3 new dresses every year for school. Mom said they always smelled of homemade soap. Nonny used a treddle sewing machine.

Nonny was a school teacher before she married Pa. Nonny went to board where Pa was working as a farmhand. Pa's boss told him to go to the train station to pick up the new school marm and it was love at first sight. Nonny died 12 years before Pa. They had been married 60 years. Tweet

Hungarian Chicken

We had this last night for dinner along with some homemade spaetzles. The chicken was so moist and the sauce was great over the homemade noodles.
Hungarian Chicken:
6 Tbls flour
salt & pepper to taste
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 Tbls olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 5.5 oz can V-8 juice (or 3/4 cup tomato juice)
1 Tbls paprika
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
2/3 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup sour cream
Buttered Egg Noodles
Combine flour, salt & pepper in a shallow dish. Place pieces of chicken in dish and coat. Saute onion in 1 Tbls olive oil. Remove onion to a bowl and add remaining oil to skillet. Brown chicken on both sides. Combine V-8 juice, paprika, sugar and salt. Pour over chicken. Add bay leaf, broth and onion to pan. Cover and cook on low 45-60 minutes. Remove chicken to serving dish. Remove and discard bay leaf. Add sour cream to pan, stir and heat through, but don't boil. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve immediately.

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Peach Cobbler in a Muffin

The aroma that filled my house when these were baking was out of this world. Literally, I wished I could bottle that smell.
Peach Muffins
3 cups flour
1 Tbls cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup oil
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk (you can use regular milk)
2 cups peeled, pitted, chopped peaches (I used frozen, well thawed actually)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tins. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the oil, eggs, sugar and milk. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just moist. Fold in the peaches. Using a 1/3 cup, spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake 18-20 minutes. Let sit on the counter for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling wrack. Makes about 2 dozen.

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Herbed Cornish Pastries

My family doesn't eat a lot, yet. I say yet because I have 4 sons ages 10-14. Sometime soon, I am expecting my family to eat a ton. However, until then, we can't eat an entire family pack of pork chops in one sitting. This week, I thawed a family pack and saved out a few to cube and cook in these:

Herbed Cornish Pasties:
Dough:

2 cups flour
2/3 cup shortening
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
5-6 Tbls cold water
Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles wet sand. Add water, a little at a time, stirring with a fork until it is sticky enough to form a ball. Divide into 6 little balls to be rolled out to form pasties.

Filling:
3 cubed pork chops...would that be about a pound?
2 Tbls olive oil
2 Tbls flour
salt & pepper
1 cup water
1 can Veg-All mixed vegetables

Cook pork in oil. Remove meat from pan and add flour to pan drippings. Add water, stirring up all of the fond left in the pan. Add water and form a gravy. Add the vegetables and meat and then salt & pepper to taste.

Place about 1/2 cup of mixture on half of rolled out circles. Fold over dough and seal with fork along the edge. Repeat for all. Bake 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees.

(sorry, I always forget to take pictures until I am putting away the leftovers!!!)

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Kitchen Quiz for Thursday Thirteen

I found this fun cooking quiz while surfing through blogs. From all that I gathered, it originated at Brownie Points.

• Metal or Non-Stick? Metal, definitely. I am trying to rid my kitchen of all teflon. After my move, I will be completely teflon free.
• Cast Iron or Stainless? Both, actually. I think each has great uses.
• Cutting Board: Wood or Silicone? Silicone.
• Knife: Carbon Steel or Stainless? Forged carbon steel, please...from Germany if possible
• KitchenAid or Hand Mixer? I only use a hand mixer for quickly beating eggs. My Professional 6 quart KitchenAid is my best kitchen friend.
• Apron or Whoops? Whoops. Although I own many great aprons, I hardly ever remember to put them on before I make messes.
• Sandwich or Wrap? Sandwich. There are so many more choices with a sandwich. I have never enjoyed peanut butter and jelly on a spinach tortilla.
• Pancakes: Applesauce or Syrup? Neither. I'd rather have a little butter and fresh fruit.
• Chili: beans or no? Beans, Beans, Beans ~ definitely.
• Chicken: white or dark? White, if I have the choice. Either if I am a guest.
• PB & ______? Fresh slices of strawberries on homemade whole wheat.
• Fridge: Side by Side, Freezer on Top or Freezer on Bottom? Side by side with a water dispenser.
• Cake: scratch or mix? Mostly mixes, but it depends on what the family wants.

Thursday-13.com is the place to find more.

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More Bulk Storage Ideas

Last week, I wrote a post about getting plastic storage buckets from your local bakery. I am including some pictures below as well as another cheap and easy way to store bulk food. Here is an old raspberry bucket that is now a powdered sugar container.

This one is now home to granulated sugar.

I have stored these buckets in laundry rooms, under stairs, in the garage and in the basement. Now they are at the bottom of built in pantry shelves.

Another great storage container is the unappreciated Christmas popcorn tin. Most of us have received one or two in our lifetimes....they also tend to go on sale for Cheap after the holidays. This one stores chocolate chips (that I got during an amazing sale)

This specialty tin (Halloween) holds specialty chips (vanilla, butterscotch, peanut butter, milk chocolate):

I also use these for raisins and pasta.

Most of these tins were gifts, so they didn't cost a thing.

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Where's the Squash Lasagne

I live in an area where squash grows and grows and grows. One plant can end up as big as my dining room table. Having said that, you won't be surprised that I am still using zucchini from 2 years ago and yellow squash from last year. I am desperate to get it out of my freezer before the new season starts. (maybe we will have moved away by then...hope hope hope) Anyway, I bake with squash a lot, but I throw it dinners and serve it to unsuspecting kiddos, too.

Where's The Squash Lasagne
1 pound ground beef
2 large zucchini, shredded (that's about 4-6 cups frozen)
1 onion, chopped
1 14.5oz can tomatoes, diced
2 cups water
1 large can (12oz) tomato paste
1 tsp parsley
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
9 lasagne noodles, cooked (I may as well tell you that 1. I never cook lasagne beforehand 2. I am not going to use lasagne noodles this time....penne sounds good)
1 carton ricotta or cottage cheese (having tried really fresh ricotta, I have a hard time using the grocery store stuff)
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmesan
In a skillet, cook beef, zucchini, onion and garlic (because I am using frozen zucchini, I won't add it until the meat is cooked). Stir in tomatoes, water, tomato paste, and seasonings. bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spread 1 cup meat sauce in a greased 9 X 13 pan. Arrange three noodles over sauce. spread with a third of meat sauce, tp with half of the ricotta. Sprinkle with a third of the cheeses. Repeat. Top with remaining noodles, meat sauce and cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover, bake 15 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

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Company Vegetable Casserole

Company Vegetable Casserole
1 15oz can cut green beans
2 cups frozen corn (or 1 15oz can corn)
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tlbs dehydrated onion flakes (or 1/2 med onion, chopped fine)
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
Combine vegetables, soup, sour cream, cheese and onion and pour into an ungreased 2 quart casserole dish. Top with almonds. Bake, uncovered, 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Visit the organized junkie for menu mania
As the weather starts to heat up around here, I am starting to look for meals that don't warm up the house as much. I try to bake after dinner so the house has the entire night to cool down. My goal is to leave the air conditioner off as long as I can this year. Some of these meals will heat up the house, some will be great on hot days.
I will post some of the other recipes throughout the week.
breakfasts:
pancakes
french toast
eggs & toast
baked blueberry oatmeal
peach muffins
waffles
cooked oatmeal

desserts:
blueberry milkshakes
pumpkin cookies
ice cream with toppings
cinnamon snaps
cake with frosting

dinners:
spaghetti, spinach
pork chops, company vegetable casserole (see below)
herbed cornish pasties (using leftover pork)
Hungarian chicken over spaetzle, beets
where's the squash lasagne
C.O.R.N.
chicken soup in the crockpot with bread & butter

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Asparagus Soup: it's easier than you think!

A lovely friend shared this recipe with me 10 years ago. I have been making it ever since.

Asparagus Soup:
1/2 cup butter
4 medium onions, chopped
6 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 pounds fresh asparagus, coarsely chopped
Melt butter in heavy, large pot over medium high heat. Add onions; saute until tender, about 10 minutes. Add 6 cups broth and chopped asparagus. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook until tender (about 10 minutes). Cool slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in blender. Return soup to pot. (You can also use an immersion blender instead) Thin with 1/2 cup broth. Season with salt & pepper. Serve with a dollup of sour cream.

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Saturday Stories: A Tail of Two Kitties

About 6 years ago, we decided we were ready for a pet. The Good Guy and I had had a cat when we were first married and decided that we'd like to have another. I put out the word among friends that we were thinking about getting a cat and before I could say, "Boo," a friend called me about a so-called desperate situation.

On a very rainy night (in Washington, that may have been at 4 in the afternoon, as it gets dark WAY too early there in the winter), I got a call saying that if I didn't go get this really great cat, it was going to the pound. It was declawed (which, at the time I thought was a must) and didn't shed and was great with kids. Later, I found out that the only one of those things that was really true was the declawed part. Anyway, I packed all four of my kids up in the car and headed out into the dark for the 25 minute drive it would take to rescue this kitty. Needless to say, the boys were extremely excited to be getting a pet.

When we arrived at this friend of a friend's apartment, we found "Jasper" and his then owners, a young couple with their toddler daughter. This couple had gotten "Jasper" from a shelter. He had been dumped on the side of the road with his brother. They had had him declawed and their little girl had learned to walk by chasing the cat. (Can you say, "Run, Kristen, this isn't going to be a good family cat?!) No, I was caught. The boys were already invested, the owners were moving to a place that didn't allow pets and he was such a cute cat.

We took him home and on the way decided that "Jasper" was too hard to remember, but Casper (as in the Friendly Ghost) wasn't, so he became Casper.

The first thing he did was run under the bed in my room and there he pretty much stayed. The boys were devestated that this wonderful pet didn't want anything to do with their rambunctious love. What we learned was, that declawed cats are often psychologically damaged and this guy was as neurotic as they came. He ceventually came out and sat on me and licked and licked and licked; himself, my hand, anything that got near his mouth. When the boys tried to get near him, though, he took off for the safety of under the bed. After about a month of this, the complaints started coming in from all of the boys. I convinced the Good Guy that we needed to go to the Humane Society and find another, friendlier cat. We went one bright Saturday morning and sat in the "cat room" and found a delightful young black cat called "Minuit." (that's midnight in French). We adopted him and brought him home and changed his name to Malcolm. He was very affectionate. I noticed after a day, though, that he had something really gross coming out of his bum...tapeworms. I rushed him to the vet. He had a shot and in the process of losing the tapeworm, lost all of his affection for humans. He became Casper's pet. Now, the funny thing about that was that Casper didn't want anything to do with this new guy.

Malcolm would plop down on Casper and go to sleep. Casper, of course, would lick him like a mother cat. It was all a young (barely a year old) cat could want. Can I say that at this point my sons decided that cats were a rip-off?

The Good Guy said that it probably would have been better if we had never gotten either one. I was already hooked on both. I compromised by saying I'd find a better home for Casper. And I did. I found a single guy that worked from home that was something of a recluse. It was a match made in Heaven. Casper went to live with him and came out of his funny cat shell. He no longer had any noise to scare him. After a week, I heard that he acted as if he owned his new home...and I said good for him!

Meanwhile, back at our house, Malcolm became a people cat without another cat to occupy his time. He started sitting in my lap occasionally and sleeping on the bed instead of under it. He started coming out a bit when the boys were home. He generally hasn't ever warmed up to the whirlwind activity of the boys.

After Princess Pat was born, Malcolm seemed to take it that she was an appendage of me. He accepted her without blinking an eye. She hugs him and tackles him and pets him the wrong way and he never does anything but occasionally bat at her with his claws tucked in. He has to be the most mellow cat I have ever seen. He lives mostly in my room, but he ventures out to the family room with the family everyday. He lets the boys pet him and has generally been a great cat. He is 7 years old now, and I hope he has many more years left with us.

Furry Friday Friends

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Mock Fried Chicken

I love fried chicken. In so many ways it speaks to my soul. However, I cringe at the thought of all of that fat. And, if you take the skin off fried chicken, what's the point of frying it in the first place? Here is my answer. This is fried chicken and gravy without the fried part. It is fabulous served with mashed potatoes.

Mock Fried Chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup + 2 Tbls flour
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 cup evaporated skim milk
1/4 cup egg substitute or 1 egg or 2 egg whites
1 cup chicken broth
salt & pepper to taste
Place the chicken on a flat surface and use a meat mallet to pound each half to 1/4 inch thickness. (It you don't have a meat mallet, put the meat in a ziplock bag, cover it with a towel and pound it with a real hammer) Combine the flour, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper in a shallow dish (like a pie plate), stirring to mix well. Remove 2 Tbls of the flour mixture and put it into a small jar with a tight fitting lid (or a tupperware container with a lid that seals well) along with the evaporated milk and shake well. Set aside. Dip chicken into egg and then in flour mixture to coat. Coat a nonstick skillet with PAM and preheat over medium high heat (but remember that teflon shouldn't be too hot or it gives off poisonous stuff....Really a cast iron skillet is the ideal here, if you have one). Cook chicken in skillet 2-3 minutes of each side or until nicely browned. Pour broth over chicken, reduce heat to low and add milk mixture. Stir to mix, but try not to knock anything off the chicken. Cover and simmer 10 minutes or until chicken is done and gravy is thick. I am going to have to make this next week, it is making me hungry!

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13 Feelings About a New Kind of Adventure

Tomorrow, I am expecting my first shipment of growth hormone to arrive for The Comedian Son. This has been a long awaited event. It took 4 pediatricians before one said, "you might be right, your son is really small." Below are the emotions I am feeling about the entire thing ... hopefully I will reach 13.

1. anxious - that we see results soon
2. excited - that a solution may be at hand
3. thrilled - that the feelings of inferiority that my son has may be aleviated
4. scared - that I will do something wrong
5. frustrated - that it took so long to get doctors to listen to me
6. elated - that the insurance is paying for it
7. interested - in learning a new albeit weird skill
8. glad - that the name calling and teasing about size may soon stop
9. amused - that he said he'd be just like his grandparent that takes insulin shots daily
10. squeamish - that I have to administer these shots
11. vigilant - in the amount of instructions I have to absorb
12. curious - as to how many of you may know someone who has had to take growth hormone shots?
13. sad & proud that my sweet little boy has to endure the discomfort of shots daily until he is 18 but that he has a great big brave attitude towards it

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Buying in Bulk, Storing in Bulk

It is usually in our best interest to buy food in bulk: sugar, flour, pasta, rice, etc. Pound for pound, bigger bags almost always cost less. So, we go to Costco or Sam's Club or we get together with neighbors or church friends and buy from a co-op or make a big group order from some mail order grain store. The thing is, after we get home with our 25lb bags of brown sugar and rice, what do we do with them? If we leave them in the paper sacks they came in, chances are they will either tear or some vermin of some sort will get into them.

I advocate pouring your product into a storage container. Some places sell white buckets for just that purpose, but the best place to get them is your local bakery. Did you know? Bakeries get buckets full of fillings and frostings. These are obviously food grade plastic (a must when storing food!!) and what do bakeries do with them? They throw them out! I went to my local Safeway in WA and asked for some and they just gave them to me. On another occasion, I had to pay $1 per bucket, but that is still cheap.

You will want to wash them out thoroughly, but you will have a great way to store bulk foods for long term. Put some bay leaves in your grains to keep out meal fly larvae. Bugs can't live in sugar, so that can be stored all by itself.

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Coffee Cake That Tastes Like Donuts???

I made this for my kids' breakfast this morning and received all sorts of oohs and aahs. I was a bit skeptical about the recipe at first, simply because every coffee cake I have ever made had cinnamon in it and this one doesn't. However, the teaser above the recipe said it was reminiscent of old fashioned cake donuts and who can resist that?! I am glad that I went ahead and made it, because it is now on the list of "approved" breakfasts. Best of all, it doesn't have anything unusual or expensive in it.

Coffee Cake #2305473 (just kidding):

1/2 cup butter, softened (and who ever takes the time to get out the butter 1/2 hour before you start baking? Just nuke it for 10 seconds, but do soften it somehow unless you want to see parts of your beaters flinging themselves as lethal projectiles across your kitchen [speaking from experience!])
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup buttermilk (aka milk with a splash of lemon juice!)
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and 1 cup sugar until fluffy. Combine egg and buttermilk and add. Combine dry ingredients and then add. Spread into a greased 9X9 pan and then cover with remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until done.
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Crockpot Lentil Stew

This is an easy cheap meatless meal that goes great with homemade bread or biscuits.
Lentil Stew a la crockpot:
3 cups water or veggie broth or chicken broth
1 can Italian tomatoes, undrained
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine (Note: I don't drink, and I don't have alcohol in the house, but I will use dealcoholized wine on occasion in recipes. Trader Joes sells some great stuff in the juice aisle. If you totally don't want to use it, use beef broth or the juice that comes in mushrooms cans or water)
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp red pepper
3/4 tsp basil
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 pound lentils, rinsed
Combine all ingredients in a crockpot. Cook on low 10-12 hours. Salt and pepper to taste and add more liquid if too much seems to have evaporated.
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60 minute cinnamon rolls

These things saved me late Thursday night when I realized I had cinnamon rolls on the menu for Friday morning. There was no way at 8:45pm that I was going to spend 3 hours making my usual recipe. This quick version is actually quite tasty, says the gang.

I got the recipe from a friend years ago.  She would make them up in huge batches and give away a tin foil pan to each of her friends.  I loved it when she came to visit!!!

60 Minute Cinnamon Rolls:
4 1/2 cups flour
3 Tbls sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbls yeast
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
Mix 3 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast. In a microwave safe bowl, combine milk, water and butter. Heat until hot enough to melt the butter. Note: I let it sit on the counter as the butter melted in the residual heat of nuking it for 2 minutes. Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture. Mix. Continue adding flour until dough is not sticky. Knead with mixer or by hand for 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl and let rise 15 minutes.
Roll dough out; brush with 1/4 cup melted butter, and sprinkle enough brown sugar to cover and then sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll like a jelly roll and slice with dental floss into 12 rolls. Place into a greased 9 X 13 pan and let rise in a slightly warmed oven (turn on to lowest setting while making the dough and then turn it off) for 15 minutes. Turn on oven to 425 degrees and bake 15 minutes. Let cool.
Frost with 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar mixed with 1/2 stick butter and water to desired consistency. I didn't frost them until morning as the kids like the frosting gooey.

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A New Take on No Bake Cookies

As I alluded to earlier in the week, I am on a quest to use up some of my half used bags of food in my pantry. I found a great sounding no bake cookie on allrecipes.com, but as usual, I had to change it a little.

Non Chocolate No Bake Cookies:
1/3 cup butter
1/2 bag of mini marshmallows
1 cup white chocolate chips
2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup coconut
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
Melt the marshmallows, butter and chips in the microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes (depending on the power of your microwave, it may take a bit more or less). Stir until smooth. Add the peanut butter and vanilla and mix well. Add the coconut and oatmeal. You may need to use your hands to get it all incorporated. Form golfball sized balls and place on waxed paper or a silpat pad. Refrigerate if necessary. Mine were so firm that I just left them on the counter.
Note: You could leave out the peanut butter and still have a great cookie.

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Easy Fruit Salad

I'm not much into Mother's Day. I think it stems from the years I was childless and had to put up with the pitying looks from other women. Even now, as a full-fledged real mom, I don't like it. I'd much rather get flowers on March 5 or Sept 23 just because someone wanted to give them to me than on a designated "have to" day. Ok, now that I've climbed off my soapbox, here is an easy fun spring recipe that most everyone enjoys.

Easy Fruit Salad:
1 can peach pie filling
3 firm bananas sliced ( I omit these and put in mangoes or something else I like)
2 cups strawberries, halved
1 cup seedless green grapes
Combine everything and chill until serving.

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13 Things I Will Miss When I Move

This week, although I am a bit premature, I am waxing nostalgic and thinking about what I will miss once I have moved.

1. Living on a lake.
2. Looking out my window and seeing snow covered mountains.
3. Living in a huge safe neighborhood with tons of kids.
4. Cheap food in the grocery stores. I pay $1.48 for a gallon of milk, $.69/lb for chicken hindquarters, $1.69 for a container (albeit not the size it used to be) of ice cream. I won't see those prices where we are headed.
5. Great doctors for my children. I know that we will find doctors we like in the new place, but we have seen some great things happen here. I actually had doctors Listen to me here.
6. 2nd run movie theaters where we can see movies for $1.
7. Birds. We happen to live on the migratory route of tons of birds. We have trees in our backyard that often have yellow, red or blue colored birds perching in them. Our front flower garden is a favorite of the hummingbirds.
8. Big windows on a southern exposure. They save so much in light and heat.
9. Snowy winters. The kids absolutely love building snow forts and slides in our yard.
10. Grass. I might be terribly allergic to it, but it's a lot easier to sit on grass than pebbles.
11. My kids being able to earn spending money by taking care of neighbors' yards.
12. Being so close to the Good Guy's extended family. This was a great opportunity for my kids to get to know their 2nd cousins.
13. Having a double oven. I won't miss having a too big house, but my kitchen is a lovely one.

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Goulash (my family's version)

With all of the vast information on the internet and despite a cabinet full of cookbooks, sometimes the recipe I want is in the possession of someone else. Today's recipe for Goulash is just such a case. I had to get on the telephone to get this one ~ mainly because in my zealous "disacquisition" (my word) of stuff, I got rid of the one cookbook that had it in it.

Goulash: (a very frugal meal):
1 lb cooked elbow macaroni
1 lb hamburger
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green pepper
28 oz or 2 15oz cans tomato sauce
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp prepared mustard
1 Tbls ketchup
Brown hamburger. Drain most of the fat and then add the vegetables and cook until onion is transluscent. Add tomato sauce, herbs, salt, pepper, mustard and ketchup. Bring to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes. Add cooked macaroni.
We like to serve this with homemade croutons (cut slices of bread into little squares and brown in butter or olive oil). Toss them into the goulash.
You could also put the entire thing into an ovenproof dish and top with shredded mozzerella and parmesan and bake 20 minutes at 350.

This recipe is linked to
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Blessed with Grace: Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday
Raising 4 Godly Men: Tightwad Tuesday
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French Toast

I know. Everyone knows how to make French Toast, but let me tell you about this recipe anyway... you won't be sorry.

First of all, homemade bread, sliced thick, is one of the best breads to use. However, there are some good store bought breads. Orowheat's buttermilk bread is good, so is anything labeled "Texas toast." I digress.

For 12 slices : 2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
cinnamon/sugar mixture (2 tsp cinnamon in 1/2 cup sugar is plenty)
In a shallow bowl (I use a 9 X 9 metal pan), beat eggs with a fork, then add milk and vanilla and stir. Dip bread sliced in the egg mixture and then place on a buttered griddle or frying pan. Immediately sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and flip. Sprinkle other side with cinnamon. When that side is cooked, flip and cook other side. Serve with real maple syrup.

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Taco Soup

I didn't know how much I liked Taco Soup until recently. I had read many recipes for it, but hadn't actually tried it. This is good stuff! And it's easy and it's cheap and it's not terribly fattening.

Taco Soup:
1 pound ground beef, browned with
1 large onion, diced
1 package taco seasoning
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 small can diced green chilies
1 can corn
1 can kidney beans
3 14 oz cans stewed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp cumin
Add the remaining ingredients to the ground beef and simmer 30 minutes.

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Saturday Stories: Alton & Marion

This past month, my great aunt Marion died. She was married to my grandfather's twin brother Alton. Alton died years ago. Marion was the last of that generation on Bumpa's side.
Alton and Marion lived about a mile away from Mamie and Bumpa. The twins couldn't stand to be any farther apart than that. Marion and Alton had a little yellow hhouse with their antique shop right behind it in a yellow cottage. There was an old abandoned church just a bit further back. I used to look at it out their dining room window and wonder about its history.
Marion always had Archway molasses cookies and tea for visitors. I used to play with a Raggedy Ann and Andy set, knitted raibow colored squares and a barrel of monkeys every time we visited. They never had any children of their own. Their house was Not a child's play place.
You had to walk up about 10 steps to enter their home. the entry hall was big an dlined with antiques. Then you wnet straight into their living room. It was the entire middle section of the house. Of to the right were 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. To the left was the dining room and kitchen.
They had 2 paintings I'll always remember. One was called "Twinkletoes." It was, in my youthful opinion, a horrid picture that always frightened me. Actually, it was a portrait of a little boy who had just taken a bit of a bitter orange. What a scowl! The other portrait was of a beautiful lady. She looked so kind.
In the 1950's there was a huge tree in their front yard into which my mom's sister, Marilyn and her friend crashed, killing my aunt. Alton cut it down immediately. The stump was always there as a horrid memorial.
After Alton's heart attack in the 1980s, they sold their business and decided to move to a retirement apartment. Bumpa couldn't stand the idea that they would be so far away (15 minutes!), so he and Mamie sold their house, too and moved into the same complex.
Alton died in 2001. Marion continued to live there until she was unable to take care of herself. She went blind and was in poor health. All of here wonderful antiques were recently auctioned off and wow, the economy took a toll on what they brought in. The beautiful lady painting went for the most money at $7000. The really valuable painting that mom had always tried to buy from them (worth upwards of $50,000) didn't bring much at all (We suspect no one knew what it was, or that a dealer got a great deal and kept his mouth shut!). Oh well, stuff is just stuff in the end. We certainly can't take it with us when we go. Tweet

Making Restaurant Food At Home: Roast Beef on Wecks

My parents both grew up in Western New York, the only place on earth that serves Roast Beef on Kummelweck buns (Wecks for short). Every time we went "home" to New York, we stopped at a certain diner and had some. It was tradition. It was part of the entire feel of going home.
I haven't been back to New York since 1990. Living on the west coast and raising a family just hasn't allowed for such a luxury. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when amongst a group of cookbooks I checked out of the local library, I found a recipe for Beef on Wecks. I had an aha moment and said "duh!" to myself when I figured that I could make them myself. I even called my mom and shared the recipe with her.

Quick Kummelwecks:
1 cup water
1 Tbls cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup Kosher salt mixed with 2 Tbls caraway seeds
12 fresh kaiser rolls
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring water to a boil, add cornstarch paste to water. Boil until thickened. Brush tops of rolls with paste. Sprinkle with salt mixture. Heat rolls for 3-4 minutes. (the point is to make the salt and caraway stick to the bun).

Roast Beef for the Weck Sandwich: 4-6 pounds eye of round
salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Let meat come to room temperature. Place in a rack in a roasting pan. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Add 1/4 cup water to the pan. Place meat in oven and immediately lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Cook until thermometer reads 120 degrees. Let stand covered for 10-15 minutes before slicing thin. Serve on Kummelweck buns with horseradish.

There are a ton of copycat recipes floating around cyberspace. Save some money by searching out your favorites. I figure I save about $1500 by making these sandwiches at home and not traveling to their source (LOL!).

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