Absentee

 It's not that there's nothing going on..it's just that...there's nothing going on. ;-)

From the living room, it looked as though my Rhipsalis (just found out what's it's called after posting a photo on HGTV garden forum - smart people there)...anyway, it looked as though it had a fungus. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was blooming! Either that's the first time it has ever bloomed, or I just forgot. :-D Sometimes I'm like a baby goose - wake up in a different world every day.

I just had to brag once again on my delicious cornbread from scratch AND my cast iron. I have four cornstick pans and the divided pan which I use for scones as well. 

Christmas rolled around and I didn't know what to give the four commissioners. I take phone messages for them, distribute their mail, etc. I finally hit upon the idea of giving them a coupon for a "Sweet Thing" - a cake, a pie, one batch of cookies, or one batch of candy. The lone bachelor in the group cashed his coupon in last week for a buttermilk pie.  

Because my boss is actually the judge and she's is a very good boss, I gave her four coupons. She cashed in one this week for a batch of oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips instead of raisins. 

The post with the buttermilk pie recipe also has a crust recipe. While that is a good crust, sometimes I had trouble getting it moist enough. Too much water is one of those things that toughens pie pastry. When I got my KitchenAid food processor, I did some sleuthing for a recipe. I found a delicious recipe! 

I've been doing some sewing and other sewing related stuff, but can't post until after Isabel's second birthday party on Sunday just in case her parents visit here. :)

All recipe links can be find in the right sidebar.

Cookie Day!

Sam's favorite cookie - next to Snicker Doodles - is oatmeal. I found the best recipe on the inside lid of the Old Fashion Quaker Oats canister.

See those two pretty brown eggs? Fresh. From one of my neighbors. Isn't she sweet?! Now I know that there's no nutritional difference in a brown shelled egg and a white shelled egg...but don't the brown shells just remind you of your grandparents' place? Not really for me. My grandparents had Banty hens. I don't know why. Their eggs were much smaller. Don't care. I like the brown shells. Not one logical reason. Back when I had chickens I had Rhode Island Reds and Dominikers.

I was disappointed in this white parchment paper. The cookies stuck a bit on it. But not on the brown parchment paper below. shoulder shrug Go figure. First pans coming out of the oven.

Quality control!

Second batch ready to cook.

Yummy!

Gotta do QC on each batch fresh out of the oven!

Um....love fuzzy photos. No wrinkles. No makeup! (Don't look at the neck!!) DO look at the hair! I may have that fiber optic thing going on when the sun roof on the car is open, but I've got a lot of pepper left!!

Finally decided that the cookies were good enough for Sam and Elton so put a dozen in a container and carried it along with a jug of Gatorade to them.

Quilting All Day

...or so it seems. My neck and shoulders are tired.

I did take a break and cooked dinner (lunch for those of you not from Texas). Then I set out half a pound of butter to soften. While it was softening, I quilted for an hour. The butter? Oh. ;o) Another batch of those Oatmeal-Raisin cookies. Personally I would've preferred something with chocolate. Alas. No chocolate in the house except for Hershey's dark chocolate syrup for my morning milk.

Supper will be leftovers...or cookies and milk.
Sam has been enjoying his new HDTV watching more football. I bet he's watched more football the last two weekends than he watch all year last year.

I read a Barbara Michaels' book this weekend, Stitches in Time. Yes, it is quilt related! How DID you guess? ;o) I found this:

My whole life is in that quilt. All my joys and all my sorrows are stitched into those little pieces. My hopes and fears, my loves and hates. I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt knows about me.

I think of all the quilts that I've made that this one probably fulfills that statement for me. I started it while my first husband, Ron, was terminally ill. This Dresden Plate quilt has fabrics left from garment construction. I made Ron's shirts. He was a big man. I worked on a pattern until I got the fit he liked. As an adolescent, Jonathan wore western shirts. I've sewn for him since he was a little kid. I also made quite a bit of my own clothing. So, I had what I then called "scraps." Now, I am a seriously addicted quilter and have a wonderful "stash."




I finished piecing this top at Christ 40 Acres near Honobia Oklahoma - family camp - August 1996. Ron died from liver failure that November. I didn't quilt for a few years until after I remarried and a nephew and wife (Brian and Beth) were going to have their first baby. It is nice to be doing something I enjoy again.

Baking Cookies...

...again. Sam requested Oatmeal Raisin cookies. Yep, same recipe as before. I made all of them with raisins since I was out of chocolate chips. I confess. I am a chocoholic. I have a small plastic cup that probably holds 1/4 cup. I raid the chocolate chips. No small children live in my home. Jonathan moved out years ago. Sam tolerates chocolate, but it is not his favorite...see Note below. With no one else in the house...I am the only one I can blame when the chocolate runs out.

Once again, the cookies lasted only a couple of days! I shared them with my mother. Elton and Carol had a few. Alas, Sam and I devoured the majority. He normally doesn't eat that many sweets, but I swear that he has been inhaling them!

Note: Before Sam and I married, I asked him if he liked chocolate. He said, "Not really." I seriously considered calling the marriage off. I fully believe that you can not fully trust someone who says that they do not care for chocolate. He said, "I'll stay out of yours."

Okay! Sounds like a great relationship.

Except - He LIED!!!

The year after our marriage Sam, Jonathan, and I hooked up to the camper and went to Colorado for vacation. Did you know that Montrose Colorado is the home of a Russell Stover candy factory? And that out front, they have a factory store? With candy, candy, candy! The majority of which is C H O C O L A T E???!!! I spend $40 - $50 every time we visit which is about once a year. That first visit I purchased bags and bags of Pecan Delights...pecans, caramel, and - yep, you guessed it - C H O C O L A T E!!! Whenever we would eat a meal in the camper, I would be nice and polite and offer ONE of my Pecan Delights to Sam and Jonathan. I thought I would be losing only ONE with each offer...Jonathan likes chocolate too. To my absolute horror Sam held his hand out. Not for ONE, but he wanted TWO! TWO of MY Pecan Delights with pecans, caramel, and C H O C O L A T E!!! I was dumb-founded.

I was right. You absolutely can NOT trust someone who says that they don't care for chocolate much.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We don't have anyone coming to the house. Jonathan is working his new job in Lake Jackson so he can't come up. Then I found out that Joey and Marilyn had other plans and so did my mother. We seldom know about Sam's kids' plans until the last minute, so he said, "Let's go out to eat." Suits me! We will probably go to Luby's in Longview...I still want dressing. ;o) If his son with girlfriend and daughter with husband decide to come over, we'll all go out to eat!

I did cook one day this week. First:

OATMEAL COOKIES

1/2 pound butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teapoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups old fashioned oats, uncooked

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; add to butter mixture. Mix well.

At this point you are supposed to stir in 1 cup raisins. I divided the batter in half. In one half, I stirred in 1/2 cup raisins. In the other half, I stirred in 1/2 cup or so of sem-sweet chocolate chips. ;o)

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungeased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack. Store sealed.

I forgot to take photos while mixing and baking. And you won't find a photo of them being eaten. IF I had enough left to take a photo of now, I would.


For supper that night, I made chicken and dumplings. I've never made a good homemade dumpling. My drop dumplings always just cooked apart and we had chicken with 'thickening.' So, I've always cheated using cheap canned biscuits or flour tortillas cut into strips. Until...Cooking With Friends...the cookbook the Friends of the Daingerfield Public Library compiled and had published.

This recipe was submitted by Harthia Bockman who got it from her Aunt Lena Leach. Aunt Lena - I called her that too - lived across the road from my first husband, Ron, and me while we lived in the last house that we rented from Aunt Lena's niece. Tying into an old friendship, I am excited to have Aunt Lena's recipe for dumplings. I am going to post with more accurate measurements than "enough flour to make a thick dough"...

The cookbook calls this "Tim's Favorite Chicken and Dumplings." I am going to call it:

AUNT LENA'S DUMPLINGS

1 cup milk
4 tablespoons melted shortening or oil (I need to fess up...I use lard)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3-4 cups flour

Mix dough ingredients until very stiff. Pour out onto floured board and knead in enough flour to make the dough less sticky. Roll out in thin layer. Slice into strips. Drop dough strips into boiling broth. Continue to boil. After you have all the dumplings in the broth, turn it down to a low boil and cook 10 to 15 minutes. Taste test a dumpling to make certain that they are done. Here, the recipe says to add a stick of butter and 1/2 cup milk...I did not - see note about the lard. ;o) Add chicken and let simmer a few minutes.

I boiled a whole fryer in enough water seasoned with salt and pepper to cover adding chopped onion, celery, and carrots. When the fryer was cooked, I took it out to cool and picked the meat off the bones. I used only half the meat for my pot of dumplings.

I guess you can put anything in this that you want. I had a portobella mushroom that had to be cooked so I diced it and added it to the broth. We liked it...