Saturday, February 24, 2024

Do The Can Can!


After I shared the easy spiffed up Jiffy cornbread recipe, you were probably expecting some real cooking coming from my kitchen. Well, that hasn't happened yet.  I'm still in quick and simple mode. Too many other fun things to do.

We had family here for several days for the long Presidents Day weekend. Little Sister (who is now 13) sang a solo at our church while they were here visiting. They headed home on Tuesday. And came right back on Thursday to see Itzhak Perlman in concert. He was as good as when we saw him perform 20 years ago. A true master of his instrument. A legend. I'm so glad the granddaughters got to see him.


Daddy-O and I stayed in town for the night and had a wonderful get-away. The morning after the concert we visited the SC Upcountry History Museum. And I finally made it to the music museum located next door to the history museum. Oh my goodness! It was a little treasure box. 


I even got to play the wonderful Steinway grand and the Flemish harpsichord that were on display. 


Why on earth had I waited so long to see this museum? It's not all keyboard instruments. There is quite a collection of world music instruments on another level. We made our way home just as it started to rain. And we stopped at a favorite lunch spot as we got closer to the farm. So much good food at each meal.


While we ate lunch, I announced that dinner was cancelled! We had enjoyed a wonderful pre-concert dinner the evening before, a lovely breakfast at the hotel (complete with white tablecloths and stemmed glassware), plus our delicious lunch. Daddy-O said a bowl of cereal would be fine. Then when it was time to actually do something for dinner at home we remembered that we were out of milk. I had used the last to make a chicken pie for the Lenten luncheon at our church on Wednesday. 
 
We were too tired to want to go out again. Then I remembered an old busy day standby that was a favorite when our girls were school age. I usually made it when Daddy-O was away, so he didn't remember this. But he liked it well enough to choose this again for lunch today! I don't even have a name for the recipe. Suggestions???

Supper was on the table in 15 minutes.

CHILI FLAVORED BEANS  

1 can pinto beans, drained & rinsed
1 can light red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can corn, drained (I like shoepeg corn)
1 can diced tomatoes
*enough red enchilada sauce to reach the consistency you want (I used about 2/3 of the can)
1 teaspoon chili powder

Mix everything in a large pot and brung to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.


That's it! While that was simmering I heated one of those "ready in 90 seconds" bags of jasmine rice. We spooned the beans over the rice and topped with shredded cheese and sour cream.

*I have never used enchilada sauce to make this but it definitely need more liquid. The canned diced tomatoes have much less liquid than a can of whole tomatoes like I used years ago. I was out of tomato sauce which was the first thing I thought of. Tomato juice would be a reasonable choice. But all I found in the pantry was the enchilada sauce. And it couldn't have been better.

Same thing with the beans. You could use other varieties of beans. I happen to like this combination because of three different shaped and colors. But if I had been out of one of those, I would have used another kind. We are too far from town to make extra trips to the grocery store. You learn to adapt.










 

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Cornbread In A Jiffy

 

Goodness! How did two months pass without me posting here? Time seems to go by faster as I get older. And we've been crazy busy. But I do have a new recipe I want to tuck into my "online recipe box"—that would be the recipe index here on the blog. 

Since my last post we have celebrated Christmas, New Year's and three birthdays. Had family in residence for most of those big days. Who has time to write with toddlers in the house? I spent a long weekend at a knitting retreat. And I had a mother/daughter weekend away for an early milestone birthday. More doing. Less writing.


Yesterday was the begin of Lent. In our small town the churches that are located next to each other on Main Street join together for a service and lunch on each of the six Wednesdays of Lent. Our church serves the lunch the first two weeks. Our menu is always the same. The first week is a soup and cornbread lunch. I made a new-to-me cornbread recipe yesterday in addition to my usual one. Recipe is at the end of this blog.


When the house emptied out after the December/January holidays I picked up my knitting again. Several little baby hats were mailed to other states for friends expecting new grandchildren. Next on my "to knit" list are hats for another grandbaby and a great-grand baby! I've lost count of how many I've made, but I know it hovers around 100 now.


A big reason I've not posted as much is that I'm been pouring my time into a bucket list item. I want to play jazz piano. I've played piano forever. But jazz piano is a different creature. Currently I'm taking an online class. An actual class that includes homework. I'm learning Summertime now. Not this sheet music version—this is my music from the 1960s—but learning the song structure and learning how to improvise. It's a challenge. I can feel sparks in my little gray cells as I learn so many new things!


Daddy-O has been busy with a lake project. It was time to replace the lake wall. No one expected a record amount of rainfall just as this started. It's taking a while. Fingers crossed it all gets done before summer.


Now back to the new recipe. It was so easy. Yesterday I made two batches of my Corny Cornbread to take to church. Then decided it would be a good time to try this quick recipe also. The two of us in this household wouldn't eat an entire pan of it. But a church crowd might.

JIFFY QUICK CORNBREAD

2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 milk (whole, low-fat or fat-free)
2 eggs
3 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 375ยบ. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. (Spray the measuring tablespoon while you're at it.) 
Put all ingredients in a large bowl and stir to mix. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated but do not over mix.
Pour into prepared baking pan.
Bake for 25 minutes until slightly golden brown. Do not overtake!


That's it. So easy to stir up. It's a very different texture that my usual. Different taste also. But it's was good. It's nice to have options. I pretty much like all the cornbreads but the sweet ones fall further down my list. Surprisingly, this recipe isn't really sweet. Keep this version in mind for a busy day!








Monday, December 18, 2023

Merry Christmas To You All!


Busy days around here. We made an early Christmas visit to see the smallest ones 
and to attend their school  Christmas program.


Little Brother calls these his "ho ho toes" pajamas. 
Excellent description. See what you learn when you help fold laundry?


I delivered a couple of new caps for the littles.


We took apart a nativity nesting doll set
 and then looked at the tiniest Jesus that was in the center.
It was a good chance to talk about the Christmas story.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tbe older set will be here this week for Christmas. So many things to be squeezed into our time together. Music to prepare for church. Baking to get done. I've made my list and checked it twice. Fingers crossed I didn't forget anything. And it I did, it will be okay. I keep reminding myself...Christmas isn't about the list.

I'll see you back here after the holidays and after everyone gets back to their own homes. I'm looking forward to some new recipes. Some new adventures. Some new stories to share.



Merry Christmas!



 I 


 

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Thanksgiving Week And Our Cornbread Dressing

My hat loving youngest grandchild. 

Our house was full to the brim last week. Five grandchildren, ranging from 22 months to 23 years old. Daughters. Son-in-laws. It was loud, messy, chaotic and wonderful. The youngest set was here for over a week. The others were in and out for several days. And to top it off, the day after Thanksgiving, we had 15 men on our roof replacing the shingles. It sounded like Santa and his eight tiny reindeers plus his reindeer B-team.


For almost all of my long life, Thanksgiving was a big extended family affair. I remember years when there were 40+ people heaping plates from a long line of casseroles. But because we always went to that house for Thanksgiving, my turkey cooking skills were in the "yet to be explored" category. Since the large family gathering came to an end a few years ago I've still not cooked the turkey. We had a Covid year when I cooked a turkey breast. One year a son-in-law took charge, brining and roasting an heirloom turkey. And the other son-in-law fried a turkey for us a couple of years.

But this year, it came down to me. After looking at so many ways to roast the perfect turkey—wet brine, dry brine, oven bag, slow roast, cook at a higher temp than usual, etc.—I decided to go with tried and true. I followed the Butterball instructions to the letter. And it worked perfectly. Their method is straight forward. Pretty uncomplicated compared to some of the other directions. If it's my turn again next year, I'll know this way works.

The dressing is between the turkey and the fork.

Our menu was like so many others for the actual Thanksgiving meal. Turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs and my favorite part, dressing and gravy.

There is a huge debate—where the right answer is always "the kind my mama made"—about dressing vs stuffing. Stuffing goes inside the turkey. Dressing is baked in a dish and served beside the turkey. And the debate continues...sausage or no sausage, oysters or no oysters, apples or no fruit. Here in the South, dressing is most often made with cornbread. Every cook has their own version. Both my son-in-laws have recipes from their families. Both are good. But this year I made dressing like my mother made it.

Like many good cooks, Mother didn't have a written recipe. But several years before she died, she decided to write down recipes for some of her favorite dishes. I am so glad. She didn't write them down as she made them, measuring as she wrote. Instead I remember her sitting at the kitchen table, writing down how she remembered doing it. So the directions are not specific like modern recipes. 

In the interest of preserving her "recipe" I'm sharing it here. This dressing is uncomplicated but it was delicious. I hadn't made it in years and was happy it was as good as I remembered.

This is in my mother's handwriting. 

CORNBREAD DRESSING

1 9x9-inch pan of cornbread (I used the recipe on the White Lily self-rising cornmeal mix bag)
1 egg
*1/3 cup celery, chopped fine
*1 medium onion, chopped fine
*a little Pepperidge Farm seasoned herb stuffing mix
enough chicken or turkey broth to moisten (and make it "mushy")
I added a few shakes of ground sage

Crumble the cornbread with your fingers so that there are no large pieces. The texture is a fine crumb. Mix all ingredients together, adding enough broth to make the mixture "mushy." Put into a greased 9x9 pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned on top.  

Notes:
*Double everything for a 9x13 pan. And the cooking time was nearly double, too. My double batch filled a 9x13 dish, plus a 1-qt dish which went into the freezer.

*Mother always stressed the importance of chopping the celery and onion fine. She said no one wants to bite into a big piece of celery. 

*I had a thought during the night! I did a reverse weigh of the stuffing I had left to figure out how much I used! It was right at 1 cup for a 9x9 pan of cornbread.

*It can be mixed the day before and refrigerated until it's time to bake. Adjust your time if baking straight from the refrigerator. 

 

And that's all she told me! Sometimes she added a little mashed cooked sweet potato to keep the dressing moist. (Instead of the can of chicken soup folks use now.) Last week I used the herb stuffing mix. How much you ask? About that much! I know you hate answers like that, but I can't tell you any more. 

And how much broth? For my double batch it was a little over a quart. I was using boxes of Swansons and I had to open the 2nd box. It always takes more than I think. 
A better question would be "how do I know when I've added enough?" My mother only said "mushy." I would add "but not soupy." Mine sloshed around a little in the dish when I put it in the refrigerator.

If you are brave enough to make this recipe that doesn't have precise amounts, remember that my mother never measured anything. So it's unlikely the amounts she used would have been exactly the same each time. And it always worked. I don't think precise is a requirement here.

As I sit here writing this a few days after our Thanksgiving feast, I am truly giving thanks for so many things. Let us all live in a season of thanksgiving all year long.











 

Friday, November 17, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving!


This is as far as I've gotten with my Thanksgiving prep. We will have a full house next week—a toddler, a preschooler, a 4th grader, a teenager, the recent college graduate and the parents of these children. I should have menus planned for the entire week by now. But I don't. There's still tomorrow.

But I decided today that on Wednesday night we should have a snacky kind of supper. The little kids eat really early. The rest of us eat later. And I'm not even sure who will be on hand that night. Appetizer foods should give us a lot of flexibility. And hopefully keep the kitchen relatively free for Thursday's cooking. 

Here are some of our favorite finger foods. The links will take you to the blog post that includes the recipe. Sometimes the recipe is way down in the post, but it's there. I wish I had a "print" button for the recipes, but this blog is a low-tech as they come.


Chicken Dip. — a substantial food that easy to put together. It's done in a slow cooker. Serve with crackers.

Ham Delights — this edges into "real food." Also good made with turkey. Can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen.

Lavash Crackers — a new recipe! Easy to make crackers. This time I'll season with cinnamon sugar and serve with Boars Head Pumpkin Pie Hummus.

Easy Smoked Salmon Herb Appetizers — easy enough for a 3-year-old to make. (But she ate them as fast as she made them!)

Pumpkin-Shaped Baked Brie En Croรปte — seriously, this is made for a Thanksgiving table. Ridiculously easy and ridiculously delicious. Serve with crackers and apple slices.


We can decide which ones we want to make in a day or two. I anticipate a trip to the grocery store every day anyway. We can add a veggie tray and maybe some chicken nuggets for the kids. The little ones and the big ones.

There is much to be thankful for this year although sometimes it seems the world is falling apart. After a peek at the morning news, I turn it off for the rest of the day and let my thoughts be aware of the wonder and the joy to be found in our surroundings. Find your joy.

Happy Thanksgiving!







 

Thursday, November 2, 2023

Doing Mimi Things

Sock Pumpkins

I got home last weekend after staying with the middle grandchildren while the parents traveled. At ages 9 and 13, they are easy to care for. The hardest part is all of the chauffeuring that age requires. I had forgotten at that stage of mothering how much of the day is spent in the car.

But on the weekend we stayed put. Before I left home I saw a craft I wanted to try with the girls, The first morning while they were at school I made a trip to buy supplies—one pack of kids socks, some cinnamon sticks, heavy duty thread and long tapestry needles. I brought a small bag of fiberfill from home.


All of the adorable pumpkins in the bowl were made from the same size socks. The amount of stuffing and the length of cuff you cut off makes the difference. The girls kept making them bigger and bigger.


It's all done with a tiny bit of hand sewing. The girls had learned some basic sewing stitches this summer during Mimi Camp, so they were ready. The hardest part of sewing during Mimi Camp was making the knot in the end of the thread. This is one time a big lumpy knot is what you need to keep the thread from pulling through. We used our thread doubled, too. 


If you google "sock pumpkins" you'll find many links to directions. As you'd expect, they are all slightly different. But you only need the basics. I saw a quick how-to reel on Instagram and that was all I needed. I'd share the link but I can't find the one I watched. Trust me, it's really easy. 


Remember the lavash crackers I told you about in the last blog post? Baby Girl asked if we could make some with cinnamon sugar. Man, was she on to something. These little crackers are super crispy and slightly sweet. Then I discovered this pumpkin pie spice hummus at their grocery store. As a life long pumpkin pie lover, let me say this was awesome! A perfect dip for these little crackers. 

Miss that recipe? Here is is again. Yes, this one is good enough to share two times in a row.

LAVASH CRACKERS

 1 package Joseph's Lavash Bread
 Pam olive oil spray
 Seasoning of your choice, such as cinnamon sugar, Everything but the Bagel or Ranch 

Preheat oven to 375ยบ.
Put one sheet of lavash onto a sheet of parchment paper. Use pizza cutter to cut into cracker size pieces. Spray with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with seasoning. Carefully slide parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes until lightly browned.  
Watch closely because they can burn easily! I rotate the sheet while baking.


Anthology Throw, by Curious Handmade

And I finally finished this circular blanket! I took the giant basket holding this work-in-progress with me to babysit. I was happy to get some extra knitting time while the girls were in school.

I started it last November so it was nearly a year from beginning to end. I will confess that it spent a good while in time out as my interest lagged. For you knitters out there, this is made of fingering weight yarn, nearly 500g. It's 5 ft. in diameter. So very glad to be finished. So very happy with the finished blanket. 









Monday, October 16, 2023

The Kindness Of Knitters

Finished with love. ❤️
This little heart marks where Bev's knitting ended and the new knitting started. 
We will mark each project like this, to honor the work she did.

I am moving in slow motion this morning after an intense—but totally wonderful—weekend. Two knitting friends drove up from Atlanta to help make and carry out a plan to deal with all the yarn left when our dear friend Bev passed away a couple of years ago. We had all met at a knitting retreat years ago and attended other retreats together. Knitting retreats are meant for learning new skills and making new friends. If you're lucky, these friendships will last a lifetime.  

This was a fraction of the yarn we sorted. If you knit and are like most knitters, you have accumulated a yarn stash. Likely more yarn than you could possibly knit in your lifetime.

Luxury yarns bought on travels around the globe, souvenir yarns, and yarns bought with specific projects in mind. Those were often bagged along with the pattern and needles. So much yarn. And so many memories. We had fun telling stories and laughing about the experiences we shared. 

In addition to sorting the yarns, these amazing friends also worked to complete unfinished projects, like this colorful blanket. There are multiple names for this blanket pattern, but I like the one that calls it "The Kindness of Knitters Blanket." This one truly is. We are still working on some other projects that could be taken home and finished after our weekend was over. But they will all be done soon and returned to her family.

Porch knitting before dawn.

The first night we watched a movie while the blanket knitting was happening. The last morning the knitted started before the sun came up as we raced to complete what we wanted to do. And in between the first night and the last morning, it was non-stop yarn sorting.
    
 

These knitting friends were also wonderful houseguests. They knew we had a lot of work to do. And to make the weekend easier for me, they brought food. Homemade muffins and fruit for breakfast, butternut squash soup and chicken salad for lunches. 


I made these crackers in case we needed an afternoon snack. (We did.) I have loved these! If you count WW points, an entire sheet of lavash made into crackers is 2 points. I never eat that many at one time.

LAVASH CRACKERS

 1 package Joseph's Lavash Bread
 Pam olive oil spray
 Seasoning of your choice, such as Everything but the Bagel or Ranch

Preheat oven to 375ยบ.
Put one sheet of lavash onto a sheet of parchment paper. Use pizza cutter to cut into cracker size pieces. Spray with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with seasoning. Carefully slide parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes until lightly browned.  
Watch closely because they can burn easily! I rotate the sheet while baking.

These are so crisp and they stay that way. Such a good snack when you want a crunch in your mouth.


There were nearly as many knitting notions as there was yarn. That was all sorted and packaged in to 40 sets to be used for goodies at a knitting retreat.


And while they were hard at work sorting and counting and packaging, I was busy in the kitchen. We took a break in the late afternoon, sharing good memories of our friend as we shared an appetizer.


These ladies brought breakfast and lunches. My job was to provide dinner. I tried to keep it easy and healthy. All of the food I made is here on the blog and I've linked the recipes. The first night I made Chicken Taco Soup and baked the Artisan Bread that I love. (I originally got the recipe from one of these friends!) 

The next night we invited another local knitting friend to join us for dinner. After the baked brie, I made Tuscan Garlic Chicken, roasted potatoes, watermelon feta salad...and these girls twisted my arm and I baked another loaf of bread!

The entire weekend we felt Bev smiling down on us, chuckling from time to time as we tired to figure out what she was doing...forensic knitting, detective work, mind reading. It took all of our skills. And I am sure that she would approve of how we shared the yarn—some went to friends who knew and loved her, some went to high school knitters who have not experienced the pleasure of using "good" yarn, and some went to knitters with limited budgets for indulging their hobby. Another batch was packaged for use later at an event. My dining room no longer looks like a yarn shop. The table is finally empty! 




 
**If you are looking for the lavash, this is what the package looks like. I found it in the deli section, near the pita breads and wraps.