Gift from Switzerland

Remember this? I HAD to have the pattern. Made ONE blasted fish cat bed. Thought I had destroyed the pattern 'cause I was never EVER going to make another.

One day, I received a message from JessicaQuilts over on the HGTV quilting forum. Rita in Switzerland was looking for the pattern. Jessica looked high and low. Alas, the discontinued pattern could not be found. THEN she remembered me.

I proudly sent the pattern across the pond to Rita in Switzerland. I received this earlier this week in return.Don't know about y'all, but I'm starting at the back of the book and working forward. Life is too short not to have dessert first!

Book and Bread

After our trip to the Hielands ;o) outside of Minden, Sam and I talked about Haggis. I picked up this cookbook at the Friends of the Daingerfield Public Library book sale a few years ago. I've never made anything out of it even though I do have two scones recipes that we really like. I can assure you that I won't be making Haggis.

How about Tossed Nettles? The Leek Pie does sound good. And using zucchini in the Marrow recipe sounds like it would work.This artisan bread recipe is not in the cookbook, but it was delicious for lunch. LOL! I looks like a ham doesn't it? I didn't have enough cornmeal on the peel and had a bit of trouble sliding it onto the pizza stone in the oven. Still tasted good!

I Cooked...Sorta

The very first time I had a can of this stuff: I made a face and reread the label. Hash. That is NOT the hash my mama made!! That stuff is a mushy, formless blob.

THIS is how to make hash...fried hash that is...for two of us, I peeled and cubed two Yukon Gold potatoes. Seasoned with salt and pepper (and whatever other seasoning you want to toss in). Browned them in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. When they were almost tender......added 2 or 3 slices of chopped onion. Sauteed that until the onions were transparent. Then added two servings of sliced and chopped leftover beef roast. I also poured in the leftover brown gravy and simmered all until heated through and through. Served on top of a slice of toast, it made a delicious lunch. This is about the only thing I put catsup/ketchup on any more. Wouldn't it be good with some garlic and/or any color of bell pepper?! If I'd thought about the garlic, I would've added it. Sam doesn't eat bell pepper (any color) unless it is green and cooked in a Cajun dish.

How about a cookbook with an All-American ingredient?

I Survived

Whew! Still had a bit of a tender tummy this morning, but other than not being very hungry this evening, I'm doing pretty good. I did find out that there is evidently a virus making its rounds at high school. The secretary said a teacher went home before the end of the day yesterday making the same statement..."If I could only throw up, I'd feel better." AHA! I resembled that remark Wednesday evening!! After I thought about it, I remember seeing a girl last Friday or this past Monday, she had one leg of her jeans rolled up about six inches. I asked if she was making a fashion statement...someone had thrown up and it splattered on her leg. Yucko...she was handling it pretty good I thought. She cleaned the leg of her jeans, rolled up the one cuff...and went about her day. LOL I've been quilting on Sherry's Rose!!! Progress photos later...if the crosshatching shows up on camera...

It's been a while since I showed off a cookbook. This one has some great old faithful recipes in it.

This and this should make all of us feel better. ;o)

Super Bowl Day

We aren't big football fans, but will be watching the game this weekend. And while we haven't anything against the Colts, we do hope the Saints win. Just 'cause.

I pulled a small piece of cooked pork loin out of the freezer last night and put it in the refrigerator to thaw. While the cabbage was frying, I sliced mushrooms for the second side. One day while in a kitchen gadget store, I noticed a mushroom slicer. I picked it up and looked at it. Put it back on the shelf. What did I need another slicer with a different shape in the plastic? I use my boiled egg slicer. Through trial and error I have found that you need to put the mushroom cap down, then slice. Jerry Lancon's Sauteed Mushrooms
(Jerry was the Cajun I worked with a few years back)

1/4 pound butter (I don't generally use this much)
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 pounds fresh mushrooms, sliced
4-5 tablespoons wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
dash of whatever else you want to put in it...;o)

Saute onion and garlic in butter. Add sliced (or whole if small) mushrooms. Add wine, soy sauce, and seasonings. Saute on low heat up to four hours. (I never saute it that long...generally just until the onions are translucent and the moisture has pretty much cooked out.) Plated and served with a homemade biscuit left over from breakfast.Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lard
3/4 cup buttermilk

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Cut in lard. Stir in buttermilk. Pat out on lightly floured board. Fold in half, pat out again to 1/2" thickness. Cut with biscuit cutters. Place in greased baking pan. Bake at 450 degrees F for 12 minutes.

** If you have no buttermilk, change the baking soda to 3 teaspoons baking powder and the buttermilk to plain drinking milk...what was once called 'sweet' milk.

How to fry cabbage...you don't really fry it...it's more like steamed. Cook 2 or more slices of bacon. When it is crispy, remove from pan. Add 1/2 head of chopped cabbage; stir to coat. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover with a lid. Cook over low heat until done to your desired crispness. Crumbled reserved bacon over top.

This is another inherited cookbook. I don't know where it came from, but it is interesting. The cover states "suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources." I don't know where they got the idea that we have limited food resources here. But I do know that certain areas of the world do have food shortages. I just thank God for the corner of the world where I live.

I was going to make some peanut brittle this afternoon. While pulling ingredients from the pantry I discovered that I had no corn syrup. It's on the grocery list and the ingredients for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are laid out ready to be used as soon as the butter softens. Sam will be happy...;o)

Enjoy the game!

Cajun Cooking

I got up this morning and got ready for school. Walked in and the secretary looked at me. "You're not scheduled today." I think I'm the one who made the error, but no problem. I dropped by the library and did a couple hours volunteer work. Stopped by the grocery store for a bell pepper. FINALLY! I spotted some mirlitons. Huh? You ask. In our stores they are called by the Spanish name...Chayotes...a squash. And the best that I can spell the pronunciation of the Cajun French mirliton is: mur' lay tawn Be sure to say it with a Cajun French accent. ;o)

When I got my Cajun cookbooks, I noticed some recipes for mirlitons. I asked my Cajun co-worker and Jerry told me what they were. Anyway, I purchased a couple along with the bell pepper and headed home. When I got home, Sam was in the shop. I called him and told him that lunch would be ready about 12:30. Of course I had to explain what I'd done.

Menu
Chicken Sauce Piquante
Mirliton Au Gratin
Rice
Orange stuff ;o)

Chicken Sauce Piquante
3 or 4 lb. hen, cut in pieces
cooking oil
2 small onions, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
2 buds garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 large can tomato paste
1 can mushrooms, medium size
salt, red pepper, black pepper
1/2 cup wine
Fry pieces of chicken in oil until brown. Remove chicken from pot. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and celery to oil and cook until transparent. Add other ingredients and chicken. Add seasoning. Cook over medium heat until tender, will take from 45 minutes to 1 hour. Serve with rice.

Just two of us, so I reduced the amount of ingredients. I intended to use some thighs I purchased, but they were in the freezer, and these two boneless skinless chicken breasts were in the refrigerator.
I put all the vegetables in the oil except for the fresh mushrooms. I'm not much on canned mushrooms. After the vegetables were almost transparent, I added the mushrooms.

Jonathan gave me this seasoning (from New Iberia, Louisiana) when he visited a loooong time ago it seems. It is very good on poultry.
The chicken piquante is simmering on the back burner. Time for the mirlitons.

This
is a mirliton.

Mirliton Au Gratin

mirliton
medium white sauce
buttered crumbs
salted water
grated Cheddar cheese

Wash mirliton and cut into cubes. Boil in one inch of boiling salted water until tender, about 10 or 15 minutes. Drain. Place in buttered baking dish. Cover with white sauce and sprinkle generously with grated cheese and some buttered crumbs. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and bake at this temperature for about 15 minutes.

I kid you not. That is the recipe as printed in the cookbook. I HATED recipes like that when I was learning to cook. At least this one doesn't say "bake in a moderate oven until done." Sheesh.

This is what I did:

2 mirlitons. Sam asked about peeling them but the recipe didn't say to peel so I didn't. I tasted it raw...very, very light squash flavor.

Medium White Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

Melt butter in a saute pan, whisk in flour and cook a few minutes so the white sauce won't taste like raw flour. Whisk in milk and cook until slightly thickened. (Okay...this is called "white sauce." I'm from Texas and call this gravy.) Add a little salt and pepper. Some people don't like the black pepper flakes in this and use white pepper. I don't have white pepper.

I added about 1/2 cup grated cheese to the sauce.

I haven't made bread lately and have NO bread crumbs. So I crushed a handful of saltine crackers. It didn't brown, but everything was bubbling, so I pulled it out of the oven. Ready to plate.Ready to serve.
The recipes came from this cookbook:
Oh...Almost forgot the Orange Stuff.

1 package of orange Jell-o (Regular or sugar-free) Do NOT make Jell-o
1 carton Cool-Whip (whichever variety of plain that you like: regular, fat-free, sugar-free)
About 1/4 pound cottage cheese
2 cans Mandarin oranges, drained

Pour the dry Jell-o over the Cool-Whip and stir until the Jell-o is incorporated into the Cool Whip. Spoon in the cottage cheese and orange slices. Stir. Refrigerate.

Speaking of Ice...

Once upon a time in a land far, far away... ;o) Sometimes it feels like that.

We don't get snow or ice very often in my corner of Texas. I generally say something like once every five to ten years. When it snows, we get wet snow. Not that dry stuff they call powder at the ski resorts. As long as the temp stays below freezing, we do pretty good. BUT the temperature does NOT stay below freezing the second day. Then when the temperatures drop below freezing at night, we get black ice on the roads and white ice in the yard.

Hard, white ice. I have fallen several times. Seems that the first one was before Jonathan. We had horses (and dogs - mostly redbone coon hounds) that had to be fed. I carefully skated out to the storage building and filled the buckets. Gingerly stepped out of the storage building, went behind to the stalls and fed both horses. I'm smiling. Too soon. As I round the corner of the building to put the buckets away, I slipped. Which would've been bad enough, but I banged into a 'pry bar' Ron had stabbed into the ground. It was as firmly in place as if it had been cemented in the ground. Not one bit of give. Oh...a pry bar is a piece of solid steel. You can comfortably wrap your hand around it. The other end has been flattened into a wedge-shape. Truck drivers who work in the oil field industry use it to pry or break loose the pipe loaded on their trailers to start it rolling off the trailer and onto the racks.

Back to the story. The bruise! OMGosh! The side of my thigh was bruised from hip to knee. I thought I was dying! Needless to say, Ron was told about the pry bar being in the wrong place and it was removed. ASAP

December 1983. I believe we set a record that year. Twenty or more days that the temperature never got above freezing. I went into labor during that time. A normal 40-45 minute trip took about four hours because of the black ice on the roads. I did not fall that year. Ron would not let me out of the house unless he had a grip on my arm. He walked me from the house to the car...from the car to the office...and back.

Another time, the rural mailman pulled up in the yard and beeped his horn. He had a package that wouldn't fit in the mailbox. If I remember correctly, Jonathan was a baby or really small child at this time. I carefully walked out the back door and maneuvered the steps. Skated across the yard and just as I put my hand on the front fender of his car, down I went. I heard his car door open and shouted, "NO! Don't get out. There's no reason for both of us to hit the ground." I pulled myself up, got the mail, and skated back to the house. No damage that time.

While we were gone this past weekend, I was in the mall in Sherman Texas...poor pathetic mall. Didn't have much going for it. Anyway, Baby Brother Joey (once upon a time known as The Brat), called to tell me that he heard that Sean Connery had been voted one of the sexiest men alive.

Well DUH!

This is the first cookbook I had the privilege to work on.

Good for the Soul was compiled while I worked at U. S. Contractors in Clute Texas. Proceeds were for a charitable reason that I've forgotten now. I contacted the employees...in the main building, outlaying buildings, and the field...for recipes. They were typed, proofed, and bound at the office. The title was selected because not only was the food good for the soul, but blank spaces were filled in with Bible verses and hymns. (Family owned company...VERY GOOD people!)

We had such good cooks! Several employees in the main office had a Friday morning breakfast club. We rotated providing breakfast for the group; ie, four or five of us would cook for everyone this Friday...another four/five the next Friday...etc. This cookbook contains many of our favorite recipes.

A Trip to Lowes

Perhaps I should say...yet another trip to Lowes. LOL Seems that for the last year we've made more trips to Lowes and The Home Depot (mostly Lowes) than even the grocery store. I KNOW that I've been in Lowes more than Hancock's and Hobby Lobby combined. Something is very, very wrong with THAT!

Finally! I have a rug for my living room. While Sam was checking out lumber and tools, I browsed through several other sections. Having purchased our home in 2004 and getting everything setup to suit me, home improvement doesn't do much for me. But...I've been wanting a rug for the living room since we moved here. I found this.

Doesn't it look like a quilt?! When I showed it to Sam...along with my other choices, he said something about the geometrics. He started looking at Oriental/Persian style rugs and asking, "What style is our house?" Hahahahaha My answer is always, "My style." That reply does not make him a happy man. But...I got MY rug! What's the old saying, "When Mama's happy, everybody's happy." And we all know the reverse of that statement!

While I was browsing, I passed one of the kiosks in the kitchen/bath area. Three - what do they call them now because they are no longer 'clerks,'??? - associates. Three associates were sitting around the desk. One asked, "Could we help you?" I kinda shrugged my shoulders and said, "Husband's shopping." As I walked away, I heard them quietly laughing. In my head I replayed what I'd said. Walked a few more steps. OH! I walked back to them:

"I don't know what you heard. But I am not 'husband shopping'! My husband'S shopping. I got one of them. I sure don't want another." I was right. They had missed the s on husband's. LOL After finding Sam and steering him towards the rugs, I passed the associates again. "I found one." And grinned. Sam looked like "what?" So I told him that I was husband shopping.

Don't know if I've mentioned it here, but I have definitely loudly voiced it many, many times over the last 5 1/2 years...tile floors are hard, cold, and loud. I do NOT like them! Whatever happened to the warmth of wood? Hmmm?

Another cookbook...

This was a dollar purchase at the Friends of the Daingerfield Public Library's annual book sale. I know the ladies who submitted recipes for this book back in 1984. Unfortunately, we no longer have a hospital. Shortly after that time, the less informed majority voted to create a hospital district. Our hospital (Hospital in the Pines) became legally associated (and encumbered) with another hospital in the county. Our hospital was solvent. The other was severely in debt. When bankruptcy was filed, can you say goodbye to both hospitals? What a shame!

Hummmm...

Not much going on today or yesterday. Nice and slow and easy. It's been colder longer than normal for my corner of Texas. We generally have a week or so of cold or coolish weather, then it warms up. Well...it hasn't warmed up yet. I am just so glad that we don't do firewood in a fireplace or wood burning heater any more. What a mess! This house is so well-built and insulated that our propane consumption is extremely low. The electric bill is nearly 1/3 of what it runs in the hot as hell summers we generally have.

You can see people dressed in all styles in weather like this. I went off without my camera yesterday...rats. As I pulled into a parking slot at the grocery store, I looked up. He had on shorts and a t-shirt. The little boy he was carrying had on long pants and a long-sleeve t-shirt. She had on a velour (LOL...yes velour!) track suit and a coat over that. And...she was a young woman. Velour! Is it in style again? Shudder?!

I need to get to the grocery store for black-eyed peas to cook January 1...speaking of food...

Today's cookbook is from someone who catered in the Lake Jackson area. In the seven years I lived there, I attended many events she catered; wedding receptions, business events, etc. EVERYTHING was delicious. When she got out of the business, the cookbook was compiled and sold.

How would you like to have this at your groom's table?!

Cooking

Looks like chocolate doesn't it?! But it's not! It's roux! How does a Cajun make chili? First he starts with a roux.
This is going to be gumbo though. I cheated with the roux. When Drew down in Freeport/Lake Jackson told me that he used jarred roux...well, if it was good enough for a real life Cajun, then it's good enough for me. Besides, it saves an hour! I forgot to look for andouille, so just put some bacon grease in the bottom of my soup pot; added a cup of roux and a tablespoon of Penzey's seafood soup base. When it got hot, I whisked in a quart of water. The added chopped celery, bell pepper, and onion; along with some minced garlic. Don't forget the salt, pepper, and some kind of fire...I use a seasoning mix Sam's sister Linda makes. What else...Oh! Two bay leaves.
I added a couple of cooked chicken breasts that were hiding out in the freezer. Chopped them and threw them in the pot. Let that simmer an hour or so before adding the shrimp and sliced okra.
If you are not an okra fan, omit it. If you liked tomatoes, add some diced. A recipe is a guideline, not rocket science! Did you pay any attention to the shrimp in the above photo? It's Tony Chachere's...wild shrimp caught off the coast of Louisiana. Try very, very hard not to purchase Chinese shrimp.I made a pan of rice, then we sat down and ate...didn't get a photo of it 'plated.' This is going into the refrigerator for tomorrow's lunch. (I'm not cooking a big meal until Saturday when John and Brook may come in. I also put a couple of 1 quart freezer containers aside in the freezer for future meals.
While the gumbo was cooking, I did some more baking. Another of my New York style cheesecakes. I was excited to try my new glass-bottom springform pan. (More about that later.) The crust is a sweet pastry. Set aside 2/3 cup in the refrigerator and pat the remainder in the bottom of the pan.
Bake it, cool, spread the remaining dough around the sides.
Pour in the filling and bake.
Cool a bit, run a thin-blade knife around the perimeter and try to release the latch. Well, the latch released but the damn pan didn't. Sam had to help me get it open. Then I had to take a long blade knife to cut the cheesecake from the bottom. It stuck. This is the springform pan from hell! As good an idea as I thought the smooth glass bottom was...I won't be using this again. I was so ticked off that I forgot to take a photo. Tomorrow...

My other metal pan was (1) Made in Germany and (2) was a thicker metal. This pan was (1) Made in Taiwan and (2) was so thin I thought it would bend when we were trying to get it to slide open enough to release the bottom. This is Norpro. Pass it by!
Faked you out with the chocolate look-a-like earlier, so here's the real thing. FUDGE!! Waiting on it to cool.
All cooled and sliced and missing a piece or two. whistle whistle whistle
The recipe can't be simpler. It came out of this cookbook.
The best recipes are the desserts, of course! German Sweet Chocolate Cake, Original Banana Pudding...

It Sold!

Yeppers...it's gone. It's a bit melancholy, but I do not regret the decision AT ALL!

Yeah. It's the cookbook that came with my KitchenAid stand mixer. First stand mixer I've ever had having used that avocado green handheld mixer since 1971...the mixer that fell off the kitchen island, hit the ceramic tile floor, yet lived to mix it up another day. ;o)

This cookbook gave me renewed confidence in pie crust. Prior to the recipe in this book, my pie dough was hit or miss...miss most of the time. It was always a patched up leaking mess that was not the least bit flakey.

The book also has a delicious plain pound cake in it. I always bake it in two loaf pans. We eat on one and I wrap and freeze the other for dessert emergencies.