7 Days: 7 Positive Things

A fellow blogger in Wales who writes I Knit, and Sew What?, writes a weekly "7 Days and 7 Positive Things", so I borrowed her theme.  Here goes:

1: The Texas Road Trip was completed, family visited, and I maneuvered through interstate and local traffic without incident.

2.  On the plane trip back to Colorado, I had trouble getting to the airport.  Long story short, I was the last person to board the plane, getting to the gate just as the door closed.  If that connection had been missed, it would have required not only a long delay, but a stayover in Denver.  Phew!

3.  I saw Bridesmaids TWICE because it was so funny.  What a hoot!

4.  Chive blossoms in our garden made up an onion flavored vinegar that we will use in balsamic vinegar and olive oil salad dressings.  Love the look and looking forward to the dressing!

(Vinegar pretty and pink and ready to strain after 3 days)

5.  I made up nine small batches of strawberry freezer jam that is delicious.  Here is how: 

• 3 and 2/3 cups of strawberries (washed, hulled, quartered)
• 4 Tbsp. freezer pectic
• 1 and 1/3 cups sugar
• Stir the sugar and pectin together, add the fruit, let stand 30 minutes, pour into containers and freeze

 
6.  Making small, slow progress on a Simple Scallops crocheted scarf:

7.  Our house and garden were spared over the night.  A huge limb off an old cottonwood tree in our back yard crashed to the ground around 1 AM.  We heard a loud noise that awakened us, but did not see anything in the dark.  This morning, we found this in the lower part of the back:

the broken tree trunk was 10 inches in width!

That could have caused some serious damage! We were very lucky.

Herbs of Provence

A friend sent my husband Herbs de Provence for Christmas.  It was a thoughtful gift that is a daily use as chicken dishes, eggs, and fish all benefit from a dash of this lovely mixture.  The crock contains finely ground thyme, rosemary, basil, savory and marjoram, and a small hit of lavender in the concoction. (Thank you, Dorothay!)

Coq au vin and this recipe with a whole chicken perched atop a beer can is one of the husband's specialties (he sometimes uses Herbs of Provence inside the chicken):

Currently in my little corner of the world we are growing:

• mint (LOADS of it)
• rosemary
• chives
• tarragon (the tag says "Texas Tarragon")
• parsley
• oregano
• sage
• cilantro
• garlic
• basil (hopefully the tiny seeds will provide the base for many containers of pesto)

Every time I try to grow thyme, it seems to fade in the heat.  Guess it needs a different spot.

Garden stakes with herb names imprinted on the front have faded over the years, so this is what I purchased from Amazon:

The ceramic labels have not yet arrived, so I went ahead over last weekend and planted some herbs with the old garden markers stuck in the soil.

Here are some recylcled window herb garden containers that perked up with Spray Paint refashioned by Centsational Girl:

Good idea, as I have several containers that could use a good slathering of paint to give them fresh faces.

Twig Art and Lime Buttermilk Chess Pie

SIL Jack sent me a link to twig art by Patrick Dougherty from North Carolina.  Jack took this picture of Dougherty's work displayed in Rock Hill, SC.   Cool picture, eh?

More Dougherty artwork:

From a linked link on the Deep Fried Kudzu website (i.e, the sidebar had a link) the original recipe for Lime Buttermilk Chess Pie was given, and since I am a big fan of chess pie, I just had to make it.  But I digress.  Here is the recipe from Ginger:

1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1-1/2 tsp cornstarch
splash good vanilla
pinch of kosher salt
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
3 large eggs
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp lime juice (I think I actually used a little more. Taste the mixture and add more if you think it needs it, but be careful.)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Mix the sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl, add vanilla and salt. Set aside.

In a Kitchenaid, mix buttermilk on low speed until frothy. Add eggs, butter, lime juice. Add dry ingredients. Don't mix for a long time - just incorporate. (my note: the idea is to keep all of this nice and cool. Frank says to cover and put the mixture in the refrigerator for two hours, but again, it was late in the evening.) Pour the mixture when it's nice and smooth into the pie crust. Bake at 300 degrees F.

The cookbook says that this needs to cook for 20-25 minutes, until the filling is just set but still jiggly in the center. At 25 minutes, this filling was only beginning to set at the very edges. It took about an hour for it to cook properly (and again, you don't want it to be completely set in the middle

Here is how it looked after an hour of cooking time:

but with three modifications: 1) added the zest of one lime; 2) covered the edges of the pie crust with foil; 3) cooked it for 60 minutes. Note: this pie was cooked at high altitude, so it took longer to bake.

Ginger at Deep Fried Kudzu says to let it set overnight and it will firm up.

A Party Invitation For Wills & Kate

Are you caught up in the Royal excitement of the wedding? If so, please come join in the party on April 29, 2011.  All details can be found here, where the party invitation says...

Let’s have a virtual tea ... to celebrate the Wedding of the New Millenium!

What are you knitting whilst preparing for the celebration? What are you reading (British literature, of course)? What are you planning for Aprll 29?

My husband and I will awake early (2 AM in the MST zone of the USA) and prepare a royal breakfast. Please bring a virtual British treat, along with the shared recipe, and join us for breakfast. We will discuss it all in the next week. Join in!

Supportive husband will be making a true English breakfast, including the full monty of

2 links good quality sausages

2 -3 slices bacon

2 flat mushrooms

1 -2 ripe tomato

1 large egg

1 slice bread

Optional Extras

1 slice black pudding
baked beans
cooked potato, thinly sliced

Later in the afternoon, we shall have scones and champagne!

And hats! Wear your hats!

One British Ravelry friend, HandWashOnly, said:

I work in a British boarding school. We will be at work on the 29th but we have the lessons off to watch the wedding (if we want) and are organising a whole school picnic lunch with bunting and plastic union jack bowler hats. We will be wearing red, white and blue!

I think regardless what people feel about the royals, the wedding is a fab reason to get together as a community!

So, because things might get a bit hectic as we try to sort our own celebrations, I am going to leave some bunting here and wish you a happy tea party!!

I shall be knitting on my V-Neck SummerTop Down Sweater whilst watching the festivities on the telly.

 

Please provide your virtual presence, complete with festive hat, perhaps a cucumber sandwith and an authentic English recipe. See you (virtually) around 2 AM here in the States. 

 

(No pajamas allowed.)

PS: Gifts for William and Kate may be given to their charitable trust that will support 26 charities of the couple’s choice, incorporating the armed forces, children, the elderly, art, sport and conservation.

Grandmother's Bread (with yeast and fairly sweet)

From the 1960's, this recipe was my favorite food item my grandmother made on a regular basis. I copied it down at the kitchen table while she spoke it. I knew I would want it later.  Boy, am I glad I did because I have used this recipe for these many years after she has been gone.  It is a real comfort food for me.

Favorite parts of the recipe include the words "beat with rolling pin" and the stains on the paper showing the age of the recipe.  And I do remember Mom beating the dough with a rolling pin!

Yesterday was cool and cloudy, and I made three loaves of this bread, although the original recipe said "Makes 4 loaves".

Loaves "under-cover"

All said and done, it was overcooked at 55 minutes (I confess to falling asleep while waiting for the stove buzzer), but still mighty tasty.

Honey Mustard Pretzel Snack

This is a very good recipe for all snackers.  I found it at Food.Com.  Here goes:

Ingredients:

12 cups miniature pretzel twists
2 tablespoons margarine (NOT low-fat)
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2 Spray a large roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray and put pretzels in it.
3 Combine margarine, mustard, honey, garlic salt and onion powder.
4 Microwave or heat on stove until hot.
5 Drizzle over pretzels while stirring carefully to coat well.
6 Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
7 Pour out onto waxed paper and quickly separate into a single layer.
8 Cool completely and store in sealed bags or container.

The reviewers at the website all said the mustard flavor was not strong enough, so I added 1 tsp. dry mustard to the ingredients and REALLY liked it.

If you have food allergies, just use wheat free pretzels.

This reviewer said:

Oh wow! First off, I love, love, love the honey mustard and onion pretzel pieces from Snyder's of Hanover, but recently found out that they contain milk and dairy ingredients, which are not good for my IBS. I did a search for honey mustard pretzels and found this one and only recipe listed. After reading the reviews, I also decided to try some dry mustard; I think I used half a tsp, I forget because I made this last week and forgot to review it, hehe. The smell of this baking was heavenly. My bf tried one of these, and then snatched the Zip-loc bag out of my hand! He said 'get your own pretzels, these are mine!'

Try them, and I'll bet you will like them.

Apple Dumplings

You probably think that all thoughts of dessert the day before Thanksgiving in the US are on pumpkin pie. 

But this is what I'm going to do in a few minutes for breakfast (don't scold about the calories, ok?): apple dumplings.

This recipe is so easy and I love the syrup that covers the apple dumplings.  The weird part is that canned soda pop is added before cooking.
Here is the recipe and video from FoodTv:

Homemade Tomato Soup

For all these years, homemade tomato soup was not in my recipe file.  When you have good ol' Campbell's Tomato Soup in the can, why bother, right?  But friend Shirley convinced me that after I made tomato soup with garden vegetables, I'd be convinced it was worth the bother.

And Shirley supplied 6 orangish-yellowish heirloom tomatoes.

The how-to:

Peel 6 tomatoes by putting in boiling water for a minute. Retrieve, cool a bit and the skins fall off.

Saute 1/2 an onion in olive oil in one pan while the tomatoes are cooking on the stove top in another sauce pan.

Add 1 Tbsp sugar to the tomatoes

Make a quick roux by adding some flour into butter and stir along with some water until thick. You'll add this at the last to help the soup thicken.

Combine the onions to the tomatoes and then the roux and cook it all til thickened. Either dump into a blender or use an immersion blender to blend on top of the stove, leaving a few tomato chunks for texture.

Now add 1/8 tsp. baking soda, but don't ask me why.

Then add 1 can of evaporate milk to the soup and heat until it is hot, but DON'T BOIL the milk.  Salt and pepper and croutons on top!!

I'll make this again, especially if Shirley provides the tomatoes!

Pumpkin Cake and Candy Corn Fingerless Mitts

Weezalana at Ravelry gives a free, quick pattern for fingerless mitts on this website. It was fun to put in a few cabled stitches, but the screaming colors in the yarn obfuscated don't let those cables shine through.                So why would you NOT wear fingerless mitts? (Don't answer that.)

Here is my pair:

Jelliebean sold me the blue Faced Leicester 4 ply sock yarn, individually hand painted by none other than Jelliebean herself.  We passed pounds under the table in Cardiff, Wales, at the Knit Up held at a pub this month for this and other yarn bounty. It was great fun and the beer and camaraderie made it even more festive!

Jelliebean Yarns and her dye partner can be found here on Etsy - All Things Handmade.  I previously purchased some yarn from her long before I met her in the flesh, so it was a treat to get to meet that talented young lady while traveling.

Now for more orange goodness, go to Cooks.com for a sweet pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.

Yes, it has lots of butter and cream cheese and sugar in the frosting.  That is why it is so delicious.  My bargain is that I won't eat any  too much leftover Halloween candy if I eat cake.  But, my, my, that pumpkin cake is good.  We'll see if we can keep it around a day or two.

Can you tell that Libby is not crazy about the doorbell ringing tonight for tricksters? She and Mercy get in such a frenzy over that noise.

Nostalgia in the Fall with Fidget Pie

Since my children were small, every autumn brought out the baker in me and the need to make fidget pie. 

This pattern of making a fidget pie with apples and potatoes first started when we lived in Michigan and the fall season brimmed with gorgeous pumpkins seen along the roadside.  Of course, apples and apple cider were in abundance, too.

Here is a scanned page of a fidget pie recipe that must be over thirty years old, and still resides in my jumbled hodgepodge of recipes that cannot be discarded:

My husband has played along with the "Season of Fidget Pie" each September, and made an excellent one last week.  He wrote the recipe and has pictures of his pie here.

The main ingredients are potatoes, apples, diced ham, onions, a bit of apple cider, and a buttery pie crust.  It was delicious!

Jell-O Mold with 10 Layers

This is from Craftzine, including the Jell-O mold picture.

How To Make Stuff - Ten Layer Jello from Rarebit Productions on Vimeo.


Wow.  If you thought the video was lengthy, think how long it would take to make this dessert.

Ginger Crunch via Crafternoon Tea with GrannyG

A favorite podcast cached on my MP3 player is Crafternoon Tea with GrannyG. GrannyG is from New Zealand and has that unique accent which is so charming.  Just be aware that certain words she says are a bit of a puzzle until you begin to understand her patois. Case in point: she says "REED" and the word means the color red.

She is delightful and full of information.  Listening to her and a friend talk about an old time recipe for ginger crunch interested me enough to print out her recipe and give it a go. 

GrannyG's recipe can be found here.

Conversions: oven to 375 degrees F

Sugar for shortbread: 125 gm butter = 1/2 cup butter

Butter for Icing: 75 gm butter = 1/3 cup butter

Bron Marshall, another New Zealander who cooks and photographs, says of this nostalgic recipe:.

Ginger Crunch is a well loved slice found in most cafes, bakeries and tearooms around New Zealand. There are several versions and as many variations on different recipes, however here is my recipe, which I believe to be fairly true to ‘the original’.

Marshall's recipe can be accessed here.

GrannyG's Ginger Crunch cookies:

Glitter Graphics

A nice fall treat; they really are easy and tasty!

Fourth of July Patriotism

Cupcake picture courtesy of Ginger:

On Ginger's blog, she gives the easy recipe of how to create these patriotic cupcakes!

Is your American flag flying outside?

Just a Little Something I Whipped Up

Not much trouble, but this tasty dip was sent to me by Pat McCarroll:

HOT PECAN SPREAD

3 8-ounce pkgs. cream cheese, softened
6 TBS. milk
3 pkgs. Leo’s or Carl Buddig sliced beef, cut into small pieces
¾ cup finely chopped green pepper
6 Tbs. dried minced onion
1 ½ tsp. garlic salt
¾ tsp. pepper
1 ½ cup sour cream

Combine cream cheese and milk; mix well. Stir in beef, green pepper, onion, and seasonings. Blend well. Fold in sour cream and spoon into baking dish. When ready to serve, bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Top with 1 ½ cup chopped pecans that have been sautéed in 6 Tbs. margarine and 2 tsp. salt. Serve hot with Wheat Thins. (From the cookbook Collectibles by Mary Pittman, Van Alstyne, TX)

This is a close up of the exhausted lady chef on the lid of the appetizer casserole dish:

"Oh, it's nothing, just a little something I whipped up" ... and on the bottom of the dish ... "~ s i g h ~"

It made a lot, but we managed to scarf it up!

Tuna Sauce, Courtesy of Dr. Gemma

One of my favorite podcasters, Dr. Gemma, talked last week about her box of community supported agriculture (CSA) organic foods and gave a recipe for tuna to be used as a tomato topping.  The original recipe can be found here.

Tuna Sauce for Very Ripe Tomatoes:

1 egg
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp salt
1 c olive oil
7 ounce can dark-meat tuna in oil
1 anchovy fillet
2 Tbsp capers

Put egg, juice, & mustard in blender. Process 1 minute.

Keep the machine running and add 1/4 c olive oil in a stream of droplets.. Then add the rest of the oil gradually.

Add remaining ingredients, 1 at a time, with the machine running. (I do stop it to add the tuna).

Get it all nicely liquified, then refrigerate the sauce to thicken. Serve over sliced, ripe tomatoes with lemon slices and black olives as garnishes.

So, with modifications using three cans of 5 oz. tuna (i.e., doubling the recipe) and using HALF of the amount of specified olive oil, it turned out pretty darn good. And instead of anchovies, I substituted Thai fish oil. Don't leave out the capers, though.

I really cannot imagine using TWO cups of olive oil, along with the tuna in oil...you would basically have an oil dip. 

Here is a picture of the TUNA SAUCE (with half the required oil in original recipe):

Served with bread, tomatoes, and lettuce (and olives) ... it was tasty, gosh darn it!

And to link with Ravelry, here is my second Ishbel shawl with three repeats of Chart A completed in lace weight kid merino and silk fiber:

The fibers are splitting, yikes!

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UPDATE      UPDATE     UPDATE     UPDATE      UPDATE      UPDATE

If you came to visit because I friended you on Ravelry, that is so very nice of you.  Don't you love Dr. Gemma??

Mint used in Main Dish

Thai  Beef-Mint Salad (we like it as an entree):

The recipe shown above is an easy one that we make frequently in the spring and summer when mint is plentiful.  This recipe is from a book K's Kwisine, authored by Harry Kaiserian, a Maine columnist.  It can be purchased here.

Harry says in the foreword of the book:

These recipes are all favorites of somebody, somewhere. The best of the best, so to speak. They represent many, many years of cooking and dining experience and were submitted by a lot of wonderful people for the K's Kwisine column that continues to run since its start in 1987.

Daughter Heidy and I were fortunate to spend a week with Harry Kaiserian and his wife at the Italian Cooking School Scula di Cucina "La Bottega del 30" north of Sienna, Italy learning how to make some traditional Italian dishes. 

Harry was just getting this book printed when we met, so of course I had to purchase the compilations of his favorite recipes.   Every recipe in his book K's Kwisine is a keeper. Give the Thai Beef-Mint a try, and like Harry says: "be bold" and enjoy!

You might also be interested in the recipes we learned to prepare in the villa a Sesta at their cooking school.  The book of Italian recipes is available at the Scula di Cucina website located here.

The Arches National Park

This week included a trip to Moab, Utah and Arches National Park, a short visit from a Denver friend, and a new recipe that was pretty tasty.

Regarding the park, the above site says:

Arches contains one of the largest concentrations of natural sandstone arches in the world. The arches and numerous other extraordinary geologic features, such as spires, pinnacles, pedestals and balanced rocks, are highlighted in striking foreground and background views created by contrasting colors, landforms and textures. With the addition of the Lost Spring Canyon area, the park is 76,519 acres in size.

Above is a picture of The Three Gossips, one of many unique rock formations found in the park.

Water and ice, extreme temperatures and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery of Arches National Park. On clear days with blue skies, it is hard to imagine such violent forces, or the 100 million years of erosion that created this land that boasts the greatest density of natural arches in the world. The more than 2,000 cataloged arches range in size from a three-foot opening, the minimum considered an arch, to the longest one, Landscape Arch, which measures 306 feet from base to base. New arches are being formed and old ones are being destroyed. Erosion and weathering are relatively slow but are relentlessly creating dynamic landforms that gradually change through time. Occasionally change occurs more dramatically. In 1991 a slab of rock about 60 feet long, 11 feet wide and 4 feet thick fell from the underside of Landscape Arch, leaving behind an even thinner ribbon of rock. Delicate Arch, an isolated remnant of a bygone fin, stands on the brink of a canyon, with the dramatic La Sal Mountains for a backdrop. Towering spires, pinnacles and balanced rocks perched atop seemingly inadequate bases vie with the arches as scenic spectacles.

The weather was sunny and warm and a perfect day for a car trip and sightseeing.

Here is a quick recipe that was ready for us when we returned home, since the crockpot did the cooking:

Tangy Chicken

2 ½ - 3 lb. meaty chicken (boneless thighs or a package of frozen, skinless, boneless chicken pieces)
¼ tsp. salt
½ of a 12 oz. can frozen lemonade (3/4 cup)
5 oz. can of chopped green chilies
3 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp. Ketchup
1 Tbsp. vinegar
2 Tbsp. corn starch
2 Tbsp. cold water
Put chicken pieces in slow cooker. In small bowl combine lemonade, sugar, ketchup, salt, vinegar and green chilies. Pour over chicken. Cook on low 6-7 hours or on high for 3-3 ½ hours. Take chicken out, cover and keep warm. Put the sauce in a small pan, skim off fat, combine corn starch and water and stir into liquid. Cook til thick and bubbly. Cook for 2 minutes more and pour over chicken.

Cashews or peanuts added at the last with a garnish of chopped green onions tops it off!  Served with rice, this is a fast and tasty dinner. (Thank you for the recipe, Darlene.)

Dutch Mustard Soup

A friend visited Germany several years ago and was impressed with a mustard soup she had enjoyed several times while on both the cruise ship and in the local towns.  She never found a recipe using mustard as the main ingredient, so my husband, The Cook, found one and made it very quickly.  We consumed it on a painting break, and she was impressed with the flavor and happy that he had found a replication of the recipe she remembered.

Here is the recipe from Dutch Mustard Soup:

Ingredients:

4 cups water
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 tablespoons coarse grain mustard, with whole mustard grains
1/2 cup spreadable soft cheese, you want it to melt well
4 tablespoons cornstarch
salt and pepper
1 spring onion, chopped

Directions:

1  Bring water to boil.
2  Add creme fraiche, mustard and cheese.
3  Stir until smooth.
4  Add cornstarch.
5  Continue stirring.
6  When soup thickens, add salt and pepper to taste.
7  Garnish with chopped spring onion.

 Substitutions: sour cream and cream cheese in equal proportions saves a search (and also saves money) for creme fraiche.  Velveeta cheese could also be substitued, and will result in a more yellow color.

We ate it so quickly that I failed to get a picture of the soup, so this one will do from Flickr:

Potica: Famous Christmas Bread from Russia

Our neighbor Mary, shown below with the pups, gave us her delicious home made potica bread.  I am eating it now (warmed) with coffee.  It is delicious!

This is a picture of the dessert bread:

This site gives the time and labor intensive recipe for potica. 

Mary was born in Denver, although her parents came from Russia.  Mary said her mother made this bread for Christmas both in the "Old" country and after they immigrated to the USA.  Mary and her siblings were reared in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Merry Christmas!

Gift Mixes for Christmas

Below is a quick recipe for neighborly gift giving.  Carol Lewis in Cary, NC sent me this last year.  It is yummy.

Caramel Snack Mix

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white corn syrup
1 C. packed brown sugar
1 C. chopped pecans
1 C. almonds
1 (12 oz) pkg. Crispix cereal

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Spray a large roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray. In glass bowl, mix butter, white and brown sugars and microwave for 2 minutes, or until butter melts. Place the cereal, pecans and almonds onto the roasting pan and pour melted butter mixture over the cereal and nuts, gently mixing until all are well coated. Bake for one hour and stir every 15 minutes.

As the snack cools, be sure to continue to stir so that the mix will not harden in one big lump. (Double the recipe because it goes fast!)

Gene's homemade cookies, instant low-cal spiced tea mix, this crispix snack, some hot cocoa mix and a dog toy or two for our neighborhood Fidos rounds out the festive gift baskets lined with seasonal napkins.