Beautiful Saturday

It was an amazingly beautiful day today.  If it had been just a few degrees cooler and slightly less windy, you could call it a Robert Spaulding's Wife day.  

As it happened, it was beautiful enough that I managed to get myself moving enough to go walk some Pokémon Go routes out at the lake this morning.  It was such a pleasant morning -- cool, and low humidity, but I thought that wind was blowing like a wooly booger. 

So anyway, I walked the route twice because it was so short and got two route badges from it.  Then I dropped off four Pokémon in gyms, and came on home after that.  I'd thought about driving across the dam, but the wind was blowing so hard I was afraid it would blow me off the top of the levee.   OK, not really, but it was a pretty stout breeze.

After I got home, it was still cool enough to open my French doors and my kitchen window and let some fresh air into the house.   Then I got to work.  It's amazing how much you can get done when you're not absolutely crushed by oppressive heat and humidity.  But I'm sure you don't want to hear about the housework I did, so I'll show you this:  

I got all these hats tagged and boxed up, ready to send off to the Seaman's Church Institute for their Christmas At Sea program.  I didn't use safety pins this time...

Then I finally made a squash casserole out of the squash my coworker gave me a couple of weeks ago, and had some of that for lunch.  But the good news is, while I was getting some onion out of the freezer, I found one more container of that pastalaya Cody made me for Mother's Day!  That's going to be my supper tonight. 

Then I made a chocolate mousse that I found online.  It's really simple.  One cup whipping cream, 2 tbsp cocoa, 2 tbsp stevia, and half a tsp of vanilla.  Whip it until it forms stiff peaks then freeze for a few hours.  It's not super sweet as it is, but I think next time I'll add a bit more stevia.  

And finally, when they'd started clearing the woods behind my house, I'd taken the squirrel feeder down off of the pecan tree behind the fence.  I still haven't decided where to put it permanently, but this afternoon, I set it on the ground out by the back fence. 

 The squirrels have already found it, and I hope this will keep them from digging in my herb beds.  

Oh, and one last thing.  I was watching my friend Marcy's Vlog on YouTube and she mentioned another channel called Honeystead.  She grows a lot of herbs and such, and in one of her videos, she's talking about the benefits of lemon balm.  I made myself some lemon balm tea last night.   That's why I bought the stuff to begin with, but haven't really used it for that.  I've only been drying it and giving it to Cody for cooking.  She also mentioned making a tincture with it.  I need to go find that one and watch it, but right now, I'm about to go heat up that pastalaya and completely destroy my blood sugar levels. 

Laters.  

All Done

I woke up bright and early this morning with a cat yowling outside my bedroom door.  Not quite ready to get out of bed, I let her in and got back into bed.  Where I was as very quickly joined by the aforementioned yowling cat. 

Needless to say, I didn't get back to sleep.  Probably just as well, because I had quite a to-do list to get through. 

The first thing I did was to finish with the Christmas cards, and I'm pleased to report they've all been addressed and the first batch is already winging their way to their intended recipients.  I'm sending 48 this year, so I'm mailing the in batches so as to not overwhelm my mail carrier.  I considered driving into town and mailing them all at the post office, but didn't really want to get dressed.  Maybe I'll run them in Friday or Saturday, or maybe I won't.  Eh, I'll get them mailed eventually.  

On a slightly related note, look what I found.

The top card is my sister and her family.  Her oldest boy is the one who got married in August.  The bottom card is from my aunt and uncle -- my dad's oldest sister and her husband.  I have a hard time tossing old Christmas cards out, especially if they're photo cards like these. 

OK, back to my list.  The next thing I did was to make the first layer of my aunt's strawberry Jell-o salad.  So to speak.  Now, if you'll look in my right sidebar, you'll see a link to a post with a strawberry Jell-o salad recipe.  That is my aunt's recipe, but I've adapted it a bit.  The main thing I did was double it, because it's so popular, and I leave out the pineapple.  Oh, and I use fresh strawberries, not frozen. 

Other than that, it's my aunt's recipe.  

Once that was done and gelling in the fridge, I put together the broccoli casserole, because it's the most labor intensive.  One thing, I've never been able to cut an onion.  Naturally, I did what any red blooded American would do.  I looked up a Gordon Ramsay video on YouTube.  Man, he made it look so easy!

He was over there saying, "Cut the onion like this."  and I was over here saying, "Slow down!"  I kept having to pause the video, but in the end I did a pretty good job of cutting that onion.  Much better than I usually do.  The trick will be remembering how to do it next time.  Or I'll just have to look up the video again.  

Then I brined the turkey and made two pies and wonder of wonders, found room in the fridge for all of it.   Needless to say, between onion skins, bits of celery, banana peels, and strawberry tops, my composter got a good feed today.  

I think tomorrow when I cook the turkey, I'm going to stuff the cavity with some of those apples I'd originally bought for the deer.  Someone on Facebook had posted a meme basically asking what advice older cooks would give to someone cooking a turkey for the first time.  My advice was to not trust the pop-up timer, but get a good meat thermometer and use it.  Several people mentioned stuffing the cavity with apples to keep the turkey moist, so I decided to try it.  

I'm going to google some recipes as soon as I get off of here, which I should probably wrap this up and get busy, but before I go, here is your Thanksvember Twenty -second:  I'm thankful for those friends from my childhood who stuck with me, even though at one time, I was an obnoxious little not-nice person.  

And I'm thankful for the friends I made when I got older who helped me see how obnoxious I could be, and made me realize I don't want to be that way.  I still don't have great people skills, but hey, I'm a whole lot better than I used to be.

Turkish Delight

It all began with a meme…

No, let me back up a bit. It all began with a book— a children’s book entitled The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe by C. A. Lewis.   If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about, but for those of you who may not have, one of the children in the story is beguiled by the White Witch when she gives him enchanted Turkish Delight -- which is a candy. 

Ever since the book was published, there had been a debate on whether Turkish Delight is actually good or not.  Of course, there are two schools of thought on that.  Some people love it.  Others hate it.  There doesn't seem to be any in between. 

Kind of like with Peeps or Circus Peanuts...

But I digress.

A few weeks ago, one of my friends posted the meme below, 

and the discussion began again.  

Now, I've always loved Turkish Delight.  I make it every year for Christmas, and it's the one everyone requests over and over.  Of course, I've only made lemon flavored, because that's the recipe I have.  I'll post it down below.  From what I can tell, it's also a Christmas tradition in England.  Even the boy who played Edmund in the movie had said how much he was looking forward to shooting that scene, because he'd get to eat so much Turkish Delight.  

That was pretty much my only experience with the stuff, so I didn't really understand the animosity towards it.  However, in the discussion my friends were having, it seemed to me that the ones who liked it had only had homemade Turkish Delight, and those who thought it was horrible had only had store bought.  I've only had homemade, so you know what I had to do.  Yep, as soon as I got my tax return, I ordered some from Amazon. 

This stuff is actually made in Turkey, so it's as authentic as you can get.  It has four flavors:  lemon, orange, mint, and rose.  I opened the box, and this is what I saw. 

I'd originally planned on filming myself tasting these for the first time, but I didn't feel like fooling with setting up the camera and all, and besides, my vlogs don't seem to be that well received anyway, so you'll just have to read about it.  

Here's my verdict.  The orange, lemon, and mint were pretty good.  The flavors are a lot more subtle than say, orange slices or lemonheads, but overall I liked them.  The rose flavor, on the other hand, was as one of my friends described -- like eating soap.  It reminded me of the old Rose Milk Skin Care Cream (do they even still make that?) my grandma used to buy.  In other words, it was terrible. 

Overall, I'd say I guess it depends on which flavor you get.  Any flavor but rose will be OK.  Not really strongly flavored, but not terrible either. 

In other news, I finally got motivated and sewed the buttons onto the Calorimetries I'd already finished. 

I took them to work and let the coworkers who'd bought me yarn have the first pick.  I'll most likely wait until I have a bunch more before I take them in again.  We want to avoid the drama of last time. 

Finally, I was able to talk to my friend from Winona and she didn't have any damage to her house.  Still, they'd spent the night in a shelter after a family member called her and told her to go.  She kept talking about a storm chaser in the road, but she didn't know who he was.  I know it wasn't Ryan Hall, because he was live streaming on YouTube.  It might have been Reed Timmer, but he'd have had to absolutely fly down the road to get from Rolling Fork to Winona that fast.  

Brandon Copic was also in Rolling Fork, so I have no idea who it might have been.  My friend said that storm chasing is something she could see me doing, and I said, "If it had been a thing when I was younger, I'd totally do it. "   I'm too old now, and would have to stop to pee too many times...Oh, did I just say that out loud?  

And as promised, here is my recipe for lemon Turkish Delight.

 Turkish Delight

3 Envelopes Knox Unflavored Gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup hot water

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp lemon extract

Powdered Sugar

Line a plastic sandwich or similar sized box with plastic wrap.  This is very important as it's almost impossible to get the candy out of the box if you don't.   

Soften the gelatin in cold water and set aside.  In a medium saucepan, bring the hot water and granulated sugar to a boil, stirring constantly.  Lower the heat and add the salt.  Stir in the softened gelatin and stir until completely dissolved. 

 

Cook at a simmer for 20 minutes.  It's not necessary to continue stirring at this point. 

Remove from heat and let cool for ten minutes.   You can skim the foam if you want, but it isn't really necessary. Stir in the lemon juice and extract until well blended.  

Pour the mixture into the sandwich box, cover and let set until firm, usually overnight.  Remove from container and peel off plastic wrap.  Yes, this will be a bit difficult, but keep plugging away at it until it all comes off.  Cut the candy into squares and coat with the powdered sugar. 

Don't eat it all at once.  

Scrambling Eggs

I'm not sure what I ate yesterday that disagreed with me, but something sure did.  When the alarm went off way too early this morning after half a night running to the bathroom, I seriously considered staying in bed.  I mean, I didn't have to go in, because of my vacation day yesterday.  But I remembered how broke I am, so I got up and went to work. 

Just a couple of hours in, I was wondering what I was thinking -- then I thought again about how broke I was, and remembered what I was thinking.  It was only an 8 hour shift, but it seemed as long as a 12 hour shift.

Be that as it may, I made it through the day, and still have a whole weekend to look forward to, including four brand new cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies.  I'm going to have to figure out my DVR, and see if I can record two at the same time, because LSU plays Alabama also play at that time. 

Or, I'm sure one of the movies will be re-run, if not both. 

But that's not really what I wanted to talk to you about tonight.  See, yesterday morning before he left, Cody was looking for something for breakfast.  I was telling him what quick and easy things he could fix -- cereal, oatmeal, and the like.  The last thing I mentioned was, "Or you could scramble some eggs in the microwave."  He looked at me quizzically, and said, "You can scramble eggs in the microwave?" 

Yep.  I gave him a quick lesson, and he fixed himself some breakfast.  While he was eating, I posted the following on my Facebook feed:

I was surprised at how many people commented that they also did not know you could scramble eggs in the microwave.  In the spirit of the season, I will now present to you a quick egg scrambling lesson.

First off, crack two eggs into a microwave safe bowl.  You might be able to do larger quantities, but I've never tried it.  These instructions are for two.  Adjust your times accordingly.

OK, back to my lesson.

Crack two eggs into a microwave safe bowl.  Add milk, or cheese, salt and pepper, or whatever you usually add when scrambling them in a skillet, and whisk them until they are well blended.  The prep part is exactly the same as cooking them on a stove top.

Put the bowl into the microwave and cook for 30 seconds.  Gently stir the eggs, then cook for 15 seconds.  Stir, and cook for 5 more seconds.  Repeat until eggs are close to being done.  When the eggs start looking close to being done, reduce cooking time to 10 seconds between stirring.  You will want to take them out of the microwave before they are completely dry, the same as if you were cooking them in a skillet. 

Let them set a minute before eating.

There you have it.  You now know how to cook eggs in a microwave. 

Bon apetit!

Becky's Chicken And Dumplings

Lots of people keep on asking for my chicken and dumplings recipe.  Well, the problem is, I don't really use one.  I just kind of make it up as I go.  So, I thought I'd make that the subject of tonight's blog post.  How I make my chicken and dumplings.

Buy a rotisserie chicken from Wal-mart.  Eat the legs, thighs, and wings, because that's the good part.  I don't like the breast, so I have to do something else with it.  Usually I make it into soup, or chicken and dumplings, and here's how that works.

Pull off the breast and cut into bite sized pieces.  Put into refrigerator for later.  Wrap the remaining carcass in cheesecloth and secure with a tie.  Put it into a stock pot and cover with water.  Boil for a good long time, to get a nice, rich broth.  No, I don't time it.  I just boil it until it looks right.

If you don't have cheesecloth, just boil the carcass without it, but you'll want to strain your broth to get all the little bits of cartilage and skin and stuff out.

Dump some flour into a bowl.  Add a couple spoonfuls of shortening and some salt.  Sometimes I use cold butter.  Depends on how lazy I am, since the shortening is softer and therefore easier to cut into the flour. Anyway...

Cut the shortening into the flour until it's like little grains of sand.  Or peas.  Or something.  I just do it until it looks right.  Add some milk.  Not too much.  Mix it all into a stiff dough.  Turn the stiff dough out onto floured surface.  (I use parchment paper so I don't have to clean as much.)  Roll dough until it is very thin.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small rectangles.  They will puff up a lot when they're cooking, so make them about 1" by 1.5" or so. 

Put the cut up dumplings into a bowl, coating each one with flour so they don't stick together.  Pull your cheesecloth wrapped chicken carcass out of the broth and discard.  Add the dumplings one at a time until they are all in the broth.  There will probably be some flour left in the bottom of the bowl.  Whisk a little milk into the flour and add it to the boiling broth. 

Add your cut up chicken meat, and boil until the dumplings are no longer chewy.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Or whatever spices you like.  Some people add carrots and peas, but I don't. 

Turn off heat.  Let the chicken and dumplings cool.  Put in refrigerator until the next day.  Heat up and serve. 

And that's how I do it.

I hope you enjoy your home made chicken and dumplings.  Or if you prefer, Sweet Sue is pretty darn good, for canned crap.

Not Quite The Homestretch

I know blogging has been sparse this week, but you should probably thank me for that.  There just hasn't been that much to blog about. 

Unless you want to hear how I've suddenly become Hannah Homemaker lately.  I'm not sure what is going on, but I've been getting the urge to make stuff from scratch.  I think my hormones are out of balance or something.  I'm feeling really feminine.

Let's see, I made homemade potato soup.  I didn't even use a recipe.  I just kind of made it up.  It was pretty good.  Here is the recipe:

Peel and cut up some potatoes
Boil them in chicken broth
Melt some butter and saute some chopped up onion in it
Add to potatoes.
Whisk some flour into some milk and stir into potatoes
Add chopped ham or crumbled up bacon
Heat and eat

Yep.  That's how I cook. 

Then last night I made hot chocolate from scratch.  I made it in the microwave, but next time I'm going to make it on the stove.  The milk will get hotter and I think the chocolate will dissolve better. 

Now, the crazy thing...I'm going to buy a pie pumpkin and make my pumpkin pie from scratch.  I guess it's a good thing I get all domesticky the week before Thanksgiving.

Anyway...

I've decided to knit a hat and fingerless mitts for my brother in law Nathan.  The only question is which yarn?

I'm leaning towards the blue/brown.  I'm sure he has hats, but you can't have too many because Alaska, you know. 

Speaking of, I found something really cute for Yoke Wan, but I'm not going to post it until after Christmas, on the off chance that she might just this once read this blog. 

Now, I'm going to go have some fun checking my recipes and adding to my grocery list so I can cook my Thanksgiving stuff. 

Darn hormones...

All Cookied Out

That's what I am. After a weekend of almost nonstop baking, I am all cookied out.  It all started with the ubiquitous chocolate chip

and the it-wouldn't-be-Christmas-without-them snickerdoodles

and Former Group Leader Rod's special request peanut butter,

I made a couple of new recipes this year.  What, you may ask, are different about these?  Aren't they the same old cookie stamp cookies you make every year? 

Well, I may answer, they look like the same old cookie stamp cookies I make every year, but they aren't.  This is a shortbread recipe I found online, instead of the old butter cookie recipe I used to use.  The best thing about this one is that the recipe doesn't call for eggs.  Whew!  One less viable substitute I have to figure out. 

And the new recipe quest continues.  This one is called Frosted Crinkles, and I found it in an old magazine dated 1995. 

As with any new recipe, I'll have to make it a few times to get it just right.  The main thing with these is that the butterscotch topping didn't spread out as much as I thought it would.  If I make them again, I'll have to remember to spread it a little more. 

The story behind these is that I have a Christmas Cookie recipe book.  When I decided that I wanted to try a few new cookies this year,  I pulled out that book to look for some.  Thing is, there aren't any pictures in the book.  Just the recipes.  How can I tell if I want to make those cookies if I can't see if they look good?  Anyway, after flipping through it with no small measure of disgust, and wondering why I even keep the thing (anybody want it?), I was putting it back when I spotted the old magazine on the cookbook shelf. 

I picked it up and started looking through it, and spotted these.  They looked delicious, so I decided to try them.  They taste pretty good, but I'll have to tinker with the frosting to get it just right.

These, on the other hand, are definitely a keeper.

I got this recipe from my friend Amy, and they are so good!  They taste like Christmas exploded in your mouth. 

Gumdrop Cookies

3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped fruit-flavored or spiced gumdrops
2 egg whites

In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and 3/4 cup sugar.  Beat in extract.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture.  Stir in gumdrops.  In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.  Fold into dough.
  Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.  Yield: 3-1/2 dozen.

And now for your Music Monday...

Last night was our church choir Christmas program.  Cody was a shepherd in it  --um, correction, Cody was The Best Shepherd Evah in it.  This was one of the songs the choir sang.  



It's been one of my favorites for years, but this time, there was just something about it.  When the song says, "See the shepherds kneeling before Him", all the shepherds knelt before Him.

When the song says, "See the kings on bended knee,"  all the kings bent their knees. 

That's when it hit me.  You know how you know stuff in the back of your mind, but one day, it suddenly comes clear.  That's what happened.  I've always known it, but suddenly, seeing that picture in the church sanctuary before me, the mist in my mind dissipated and it became clear. 

The shepherds were the lowest of the low.  The outcasts of society.  Unaccepted, and unacceptable.  Yet the angel came to them first. 

The magi were the highest of the high.  Kings.  Wealthy.  So powerful that Herod -- and all of Jerusalem with him-- were frightened when they showed up.  Yet they knelt before THE King. 

From the lowest of the low, to the highest of the high, he gave himself to all of us.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only son..

He was the very first Christmas gift.  God's gift to the world.  That includes li'l ol' me.

And it includes you too. 

One small child in the land of a thousand...
One king bringing us life.*

*I know the in the song, the word is light.  I've sung it wrong for 30 years, but "life" just seems to fit better.  He said, "I have come that they might have LIFE, and have it more abundantly.

Monday Miscellany

Funny how at work I can think of all these things I want to blog about, but when I get home and sit down at the computer, I can't remember a single one of them.

Yeah, that's my life.

They've cut out all of our overtime at work.  That means, no more 4:15 mornings for me!  At least not for a couple of days, until they decide that yes, the brazers really do need to come in early.

Former Group Leader Rod has really had a rough couple of days.  He came in this morning and asked me how my weekend was.  I said it was OK, then asked him how his weekend was.  He said, "You don't want to know."  Then he walked around all day with those up and down wrinkles in his forehead --those are the bad kind-- so I'm making him some peanut butter cookies.

Those ought to make his world a little brighter. 

I made myself some liver and onions for supper.

Liver is one of those things I'd never had until I got grown.  My mother didn't make it.  She didn't make sausage gravy or tomato sandwiches, either.  What was she thinking? 

You know, I've tried all the tips and tricks for chopping onions without crying.  You name it, I've tried it.  None of them work for me.  I've just given up on that one.  I guess my eyes are just really sensitive. 

Speaking of, I made the Worlds Best Breakfast Casserole for them at work that last Friday when I was off.  They've been asking me all week when I was going to bring breakfast again.  I guess I'll have to get around to that soon.

But enough about food...



Here's a little something about me I'll bet you didn't know.  I've never been a big jewelry person.  But that's something you probably did know.  The part you probably didn't know is that I love anklets.

I always have.   Having something around my ankle makes me feel almost...um...sexy.  So does wearing cutoff blue jeans, but we won't go there...

When I was in the Navy, I had quite the little side business going.  I made friendship bracelets out of DMC cross stitch/embroidery thread.  Most people wore them on their wrists.  I wore mine on --you guessed it-- my ankles. 


I'm up to 434 books on my Kindle, and so far, I've paid a total of $2.07.  I wasn't sure if they would do it, but yes they did.  Amazon actually charged my credit card  $.01.  Yep, that is one penny. 

Right now, I'm reading Right Ho, Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse.


I got another knitting commission going.  A friend of mine has her own yarn dying business and she wants samples knit of the yarn, so's people can see kind of what it will look like worked up, and the different things you can do with such yarns.  She sells sock and lace weight yarn.  I volunteered to make, um, yeah...a hat.  Betcha didn't see that one coming, did you?

One last thing before I go: 

The World's Best Breakfast Casserole

2 cans crescent rolls
1 lb ground sausage (your choice of flavors)
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese

Preheat oven to 375'.  Line the bottom of a baking dish with one can of the crescent rolls.  Bake 5-7 minutes, or until they just begin turning brown.  Meanwhile, brown the ground sausage and drain the grease.  Melt the cream cheese into the sausage and stir until well blended.  Put into baking dish and top with the other can of crescent rolls.  Bake 15 or so minutes until the rolls are well browned.

Try not to eat it all at once. 

.

Chocolate Cake In A Mug

You gotta try this!

4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa

1 egg

3 Tbsp milk
3 Tbsp oil

Combine dry ingredients in a large mug. Add egg and mix well.  Add milk and oil an mix well.

Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes. 

Don't make too often. 

Cookies

By request, here is the recipe for the cookies I made Sunday.

1 cup butter--softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.

Mix in flour, 1 cup at a time.

Bake at 350' for 10-12 minutes.

Because I am allergic to eggs, I used ground flax seed and water as a substitute. It worked great, and gave the cookies a really rich flavor. This recipe works well with cookie stamps.

Guess Who?

Guess who finally showed up today? That's right. The washing machine repairman. After waiting over a month, it took him about two minutes to fix my machine. It wasn't but a wire that had come loose from the starter switch. I could have told them that. Actually, I probably could have fixed it myself, but I figured that if I tried to work on it I would have voided the warranty.

Funny thing, the guy said he'd have been here long time ago except that they'd been trying and trying to call me and I wouldn't answer the phone. I'm afraid I had to throw the BS flag on that one. I checked my caller ID on both phones, and his number wasn't on either. Then he said they'd been trying to such and such number, which was my cell phone, because they didn't have my home phone number. Again, I had to throw down the BS flag. When I called them way back in October, the girl who answered told me that he'd been trying to call. At that point, I gave them my home phone number, since I can't get cell reception at work. I was thinking they could leave a message if I wasn't home. So they had my home and cell numbers. No excuse there. At least not one I'm buying.

The guy apologized for the confusion, and told me that the one I'd talked to before was his son-in-law Matt. The one who came today owned the business, and Matt had been trying to help him out with it some. From the tone of his voice and the look on his face, I gather he is none too pleased with Matt's help.

No matter, I finally have a working washer again, and put it to use washing Cody's sheets--the only thing left that was dirty, since I'd washed this morning at B and J's house.

After they left, I put together my Sweet Potato Delight, but I won't bake it until in the morning. With the leftover potatoes, I made a sweet potato pie. MMMMM....





Some of you may be wondering why I don't post the recipe of what I made that day. Well, the simple truth is, when I decided to post daily recipes this week, I got my cookbooks out and typed them all in the same day. I just saved each post as a draft, and am publishing it on the appropriate day. So, the posts don't always coincide with what I cooked that day. But no matter. They're there, and that's what counts.




That being said, now for the recipe of the day:

What would Thanksgiving be without pumpkin pie? I usually use the recipe from the back of the Pumpkin can.

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 large eggs

1 can (15 oz) LIBBY'S 100% pure pumpkin

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1 unbaked 9 inch deep dish pie shell

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell. Bake in a preheated 425' F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350'F; bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Since this always makes more filling than the pie crust will hold, I put the rest in custard cups and bake them like a custard. It usually fills up two cups, and they are a big treat around our house.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving everyone, filled with food, football, friends and family. Love to all of you!
*
*

My Little Chef

Our mission today was to make a pumpkin pie. Cody asked if he could help, and I told him to go for it.

So with minimal supervision and a bit of instruction, my little chef made his first pumpkin pie.

Cody isn't much for cooking, but he does like to bake. He was mighty proud of this pie. Looks good, doesn't it?

Buck paid me the nicest compliment on his blog today. He said,

I strongly suspect Becky is one of those women near and dear to my heart: a Southern cook...and most likely a great Southern cook, from the look of things.

Aww, thanks, Buck. Not to sound braggadocious, but I do a fairly decent job of following a recipe. I've even been known to make up stuff from time to time. I sometimes season meat with the "sniff and dump" method. That is where I take the spices off my shelf, sniff them, and if I think the smell like what I want, I dump some on the meat. (Long years ago, when B was out of town, J came over to my house and asked what I was fixing for lunch. I was making Manwiches, and he started dumping spices and stuff into the meat. It ended up being the awfullest tasting stuff I ever put into my mouth. It was so bad, the dog wouldn't even eat it. J ate a whole plate and didn't complain, but neither did he ask for seconds. He's never helped me cook since.)

Funny thing is, my mother was not a good cook. She cooked everything...well...well done. Hamburgers like hockey pucks. Cookies that had to be soaked in milk to make them soft enough to eat. Roast beef like boot leather. Moreover, she did not want me to help her cook. Not only could I not help, I was not even allowed in the kitchen while she was cooking. She always said it was more work to try to get me to do anything right than to just do it herself. As a result, I didn't learn to cook until I was grown.

I remember having a conversation with my Mammaw when I was about 12. She was appalled that I didn't know how to cook yet. She informed me that her daughters could cook entire meals by that age. What could I tell her?

So I didn't learn to cook until I was grown. I sort of taught myself out of necessity, but I just seem to have a knack for it.

I'm a good cook, like football, and hate to shop--especially for clothes. Who'da thunk I'd still be single after all that?

As you may remember, yesterday I made my first pecan pies. This is the recipe I used. It was printed in the Dear Abby column of the local newspaper some 10 years ago. I've kept it all these years, and finally got around to making it:

Abby's Famous Pecan Pie

9 inch unbaked pie shell

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 heaping cup pecan halves

Heat oven to 350'.

In a large bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and vanilla; mix well. Pour filling into pie crusts sprinkle with pecan halves. Bake at 350' for 45-50 minutes or until center is set.

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Checkup Time

No, not for the trees. For me. At the doctor. It was time for my annual physical.

It was actually past time, since I usually do them in April or May. I'd put it off over and over again this year. Life just seemed too busy. I'm mostly healthy. My blood pressure is good, despite everyone on my father's side of the family having high blood pressure. They'll get the results of my other blood work in a few days.

My dad wanted to protect us when we were younger. He didn't want to be a burden to us, but at times like this, I really wish he'd told us about some of his physical problems, especially the kind that tend to run in families. Like diabetes. I know at one time he was told he was borderline diabetic. The last few years of his life, he ate foods formulated for diabetics. He never took insulin, but some diabetes can be controlled by diet. I just wish I knew. My doctor and I are keeping an eye on my sugar, just to be on the safe side, but I wish I knew.

We discussed my suspected allergy to eggs, and I asked the doctor if it was really necessary to get me tested. He said there wasn't because there isn't any shots or anything to treat that. I explained that my concerns were not so much about eating them, but thinking ahead to the future when I would want to take the flu shot. How would it affect me then, and what my options would be. He asked if I'd ever had flu shots before and how I reacted to them. I replied that yes, I'd had to have them while I was in the Navy and got so sick from them. Of course, the corpsmen would always ask if I was allergic to eggs, and I always replied no because I hadn't made that connection yet. I thought I was just getting the flu from the shot, since my symptoms mimic flu symptoms. I can be a bit slow on the uptake sometimes. I also mentioned that I got kind of sick the last time I took aspirin, and he decided to refer me to an allergist. He said aspirin allergies can be a big deal. I guess that's because so many other medications are chemically similar to aspirin. That could also why the ibuprofen I was taking was making my chest and stomach hurt. Anyway, he said I can discuss my concerns with the allergist and decide then whether I really need to be tested, and also what my options on future immunizations are, etc. etc.

After my physical, I decided to get my oil changed since I was already in town. I spent more time doing that than I did at the doctor. Almost three hours I waited...That sort of threw my schedule for the day waaaay off. I did get two pecan pies made. The first one turned out a little dark, so I made another one. It looked a lot better, so we'll save it for Thanksgiving and eat the other one.


While I was dusting my Fall/Thanksgiving decorations, I noticed that Cody had added his unique touch to this fake pumpkin.


Well, the colors match perfectly, so I left it there.

Strawberry Jello Salad

1 box strawberry Jello

1 cup hot water

1 box frozen strawberries

3 bananas, sliced

1 can crushed pineapple, drained

8 oz sour cream

Prepare Jello according to box directions. Let jell slightly. Add strawberries, bananas, and pineapple to jello. Put half the jello into a serving dish. Smooth sour cream over jello and pour remaining jello over sour cream. Chill. I usually double this and it still doesn't last very long.

The Dallas Cowboys

hand Peyton Manning and his Indianapolis Colts their first loss of the season. This was a big game around here because, while I am a die hard Cowboy fan, I do like Peyton Manning, too.

Truth be told, I expected the Colts to run all over the Cowboys, but Dallas pulled it out 21-14. The thing is, yesterday when we bought the stockings, I didn't know they were playing each other today.

Cody presented quite a picture yesterday in Wal-mart. He had on a Mississippi State t-shirt and an LSU hat, and was carrying around a Colts stocking and a Cowboys stocking. One of the employees told Cody he needed a new outfit. He said that MS State lost to Arkansas, and LSU was going to lose to Ole Miss later that day. (They didn't, by the way). When we showed him the stockings, he said that the Colts stocking was ok, but I could keep the Dallas one. I told him that I would keep it, thank you very much. I wonder what that man is thinking now.

Some of you may think we are getting a bit carried away, but in our house, even Katie likes football:

In knitting news, I got my sister's scarf blocked and unpinned without any further input from the dog with muddy feet.

This is the staggered fern lace panel from 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar with a garter stitch border. What makes this scarf special to me is that I designed (sort of) and started it last summer while Carole was here for my black belt test.

And finally, I bring you the recipe of the day:

Broccoli Casserole

1 cup uncooked rice

1 stick butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 pkg frozen chopped broccoli (thawed)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8 oz Cheez Whiz

Cook rice and set aside. Saute onions and celery in butter. In a casserole dish, mix all ingredients together and cook at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

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Golly What A Day

I'd actually planned on taking things a bit easy today, but I ended up busier than ever! I won't bore you with the details of lugging four loads of laundry over to B's , or of copying my band night tape onto 5 DVDs so B can take them to Texas only to discover that she'd left early this morning...


No, I'll start when the excitement did--when J came home from hunting with this goodly sized buck. Yes it is a spike (and yes they are legal in MS), but it was a big buck none the less.



J and his younger son M cleaned it,

And Cody gave me this look when I suggested he help.

Today's was a beautiful, cloudless blue. This is what it looked like from B and J's house:

After all that, I came inside and blocked this scarf, which will be my sister's Christmas present.


I nearlykilled lost my dog over this one. I washed the scarf and started pinning it out to dry in the snake/computer room, using about a gazillion pins. I was about 3/4 done when the dog walked in and put two huge muddy footprints right in the middle of said scarf. After a few choice words I'll not repeat here, I unpinned the gazillion pins, rewashed the scarf, and started pinning again. This time, I shut the door despite the supplemental heat for the snakes making the room uncomfortably warm with the door closed.

About the time I got finished, Cody requested that we go shopping in the next town up the highway. Since we needed to get him a long sleeve white t shirt for band anyway and I can't find one in Grenada, we went.

The first place we went to is Wal-mart. Since Batesville is a bigger town than Grenada, they often have things we don't get down here, and well, our Christmas stockings were getting a bit bedraggled anyway...


Baltimore...uh Indianapolis Colts for Cody,


and Dallas Cowboys for me. I'm a die hard Dallas Cowboy fan. Not the Cowboys of today, mind you, but the old Cowboys. The Tom Landry Cowboys. The Cowboys of Roger Staubach and Drew Pearson. The Doomsday Defense Cowboys of Harvey Martin, Randy White, and Ed "Too Tall" Jones. The Cowboys of Back in the Day...
Speaking of back in the day, there was a girl at work yesterday who had a t-shirt on. It said "Back in the Day" and had a picture of Pac-man on it. I had to laugh. I could have a Back in the Day t-shirt with Pong on it. Buck could have one with an abacus on it.
Finally, I finished off the evening making a batch of these cookies:

I just love those cookie stamps. I'd always gotten so frustrated with regular cookie cutters because they never acted like I wanted them to. But these stamps are soooo easy, and turn out just right every time.
For your recipe of the day, this is the recipe I use with my stamped cookies:
Butter Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes with an electric mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour, one cup at a time, until well blended. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and stamp. Bake at 350' for 8-10 minutes.
These are not really sweet cookies. They're more like a tea cake, but are one of our holiday favorites.
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I'm Free! I'm Free!

Well, until December 4th. Today was our last day of work before Thanksgiving. We are caught up enough on our scheduled work that they gave us all of next week off. I have vacation the week after that, so I don't have to go back for 17 days. I'm going to be ruined. The longer I'm off, the less I want to go back.

I actually had a productive afternoon. We got off at lunch (11:00 AM), and I was able to clean Slider's tank and measure him. I can't believe I haven't measured him in 6 months. I'm usually more diligent than that. Anyway, he had grown a whopping 8" since his last measurement, and he now is 41" long.

Then I finished baby Paul's hat and lined all four up for a picture:


I did Paul's a little different. I knit the ribbing flat, then switched to DPNs and did the body of the hat in the round. Once I was finished, I had the little bit of seam to sew up, but it wasn't like having a big honking wad of junk going up the back of your head. The ribbing was much tighter doing it this way, too. Still not perfect, but it's getting better. I think it must be this yarn. I've never had this much trouble with ribbing before.



Speaking of yarn, I was in Wal-mart and found some alpaca blend. I was a bit disappointed with it. Granted, it was mostly acrylic, but I still figured it'd be softer than it was. I didn't buy any. I want to start using more natural fibers, but 1) they can be way expensive, and 2) I have to use up my stash first. I was doing pretty good using up my stash until my mother cleaned out her closet and sent me her stash. So my stash is about triple what it was at this time last year.

I managed to get ahold of the GE people again. They are going to find someone different to send out. They are also going to send me $25 for the inconvenience of having to wait so long to get my washer fixed.

Yesterday I posted the recipe for Sweet Potato Delight. Since I always overestimate the amount of sweet potatoes needed for that recipe, I usually have enough to make a couple of today's recipe:

Sweet Potato Pie

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Combine butter, sugar, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl. Add potatoes and eggs. Beat until smooth. Gradually add milk and vanilla, beating well. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350' for 1 hour until set.

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Grocery Shopping

Tomorrow is my last regularly scheduled grocery shopping day before Thanksgiving. Do you know what that means? That means that B and I spent the evening discussing menus and deciding who would cook what. Then I came home and got out my cookbooks, checked the ingredients lists of my chosen recipes, and made my shopping list. That's almost as much fun as Thanksgiving itself, except that there's no football on.

As a special treat, for your drooling pleasure, I'll post one of our traditional family recipes each day between now and Thanksgiving, until I run out of recipes, that is. So, without further ado, here is today's Traditional Family Thanksgiving Recipe:

Sweet Potato Delight

3 c. sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter (4 tbsp)
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients and place into a buttered 8x8" baking dish.

Topping:

1/2 c brown sugar
1/3 c flour
1/3 c butter (approx 3 tbsp)
1 cup chopped nuts

Mix well and spread on top of sweet potatoes. Bake at 350' for 30-35 minutes.

Try not to eat it all at once.

P.S. I posted a few recipes last year around this time. I have gone back and added labels to those posts, so for a page with all my recipes, just click the label. Or for a specific one, click the link in the sidebar.
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I Could Live on This--Literally

Broccoli Salad

3 c chopped broccoli--florets only
1 purple onion, chopped
1 12 oz pkg bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 c grated cheddar cheese

Toss together and use with the following dressing:

Broccoli Salad Dressing

1 c mayonnaise
1/4 c sugar
2 tbsp vinegar

A couple more Christmas pictures:

The throw that Angie crochetted and Cody with the drawing I did for him: