Summer Traditions

Summer traditions at the lake. In a house that has seen 

four generations of this family enjoy summer fun.

Photos on the wall remind us of years gone by. 

Including a photo of Granddaddy with Mommy out for a swim 

when Mommy was the baby in the family.

And now Granddaddy gets to do it again with Baby Sister. (With help from Mommy and Big Sister.)

Early mornings are perfect for kayaking.

Neighbors kindly shared boiled peanuts, a Southern delicacy. We love them.

Big Sister reeled in a big one. Granddaddy took it off the hook.

Big Sister made this cake for our annual July 4th dinner. 

 

Ready for family to arrive.

We've been having this family gathering for over 25 years now.

 There is always plenty on the table. And plenty of time to visit with family.

Looks like Baby Sister enjoyed her first summer visit at the lake.

We're looking forward to many more with her.

Too Tired To Cook--But I Did

There are nights when I am too tired to cook and Granddaddy will say, "We'll just go get something." I appreciate the sentiment, but if we don't want pizza or a burger, it's quite a drive to dinner. At this point I usually check the refrigerator and see what I can find that requires little effort. 

Last night was one of those nights. I had pork tenderloin in the refrigerator that needed to be cooked anyway. I have absolutely THE best recipe for pork tenderloin but it requires several hours in a marinade. And it was already 5:30. So I tried something different.

Pork tenderloin cooks quickly. It's always tender. And leftovers are good. Can't beat that combination. Here's what I did...

Pork Tenderloin with Herb Rub

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 - 1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes (or use about a tbsp. of fresh minced if you have some)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 - 1 teaspoon paprika

salt, to taste

1 pork tenderloin, about 1-1/4 lb

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Mix all dry ingredients. Using dry hands, rub herb mix over all sides of tenderloin, pressing gently to make sure the herbs "stick."

In a large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. (If the garlic starts to burn, remove it from pan.) Put tenderloin in the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes until nicely browned on all sides. Use tongs to turn the meat. Move tenderloin to a roasting pan and bake for 20-30 minutes, until internal temp reaches 165-170 degrees. (I really do use a meat thermometer. Started checking after 20 minutes but mine took 30 minutes to reach the temp.)

Remove from oven and put a foil "tent" over the meat and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Slice and serve.

Feel free to adjust the herbs to suit your taste. Or what's in your pantry. But this is a good starting place.

This took about 15 minutes of prep and then it went into the oven while I sat down and rested. It would have taken longer than that to get to a restaurant. You can fix a quick salad or bake a potato to finish the meal. I lined my roasting pan with foil so the clean up was minimal. And now we have leftovers for tonight! 

The tenderloins I usually buy come with two in a package. This rub really does make enough for only one. Double the amounts if you want to cook them both. I put the other in the freezer. Might try a different rub next time---but this one was good. 

I'll give the marinade recipe later. It is our all time favorite! But it does mean I have to plan ahead. It's nice to have another option.

Baby Sister Says...

That was a nice afternoon nap. I'm all rested now. Guess it's time to start waking up.

 I didn't know Mimi came while I was asleep!

 I'm so glad to see her!

I like it when she's here to get me up. Hope she stays to play.

** All thoughts and words above are purely imagined by Mimi---although I'm pretty sure that's what she was thinking. 

Porches

Had an email chat this week with a Ravelry friend from upstate New York about the wonderful-ness of screened-in porches. I remember seeing an episode of House Hunters on HGTV once when a lady was looking at houses in South Carolina. She found a house she liked--except that it had a screened porch. She said if she bought that house, the first thing she would do was remove the screen. Hope someone explained to her WHY we screen in our porches. The outdoors belongs to the bugs--and they let us share it with them.

Granddaddy and I spent lots of time this weekend on porches. Last night at the lake. Tonight here at home. Totally different kinds of porches. Totally different kinds of wonderful.

At the lake...

 A place to watch the boats and the fishermen.

 A place to prop your feet up and knit or read a book.

A place to enjoy supper while it rains outside.

At home...

A place to listen to our favorite Saturday night radio show.

A place to enjoy Granddaddy's good grilled supper--which included vegetables 

from our garden.

A place to enjoy watching the rabbit family that lives in our back yard,
to watch the gliders in the evening sky, and a place to watch the hummingbirds.
It's my favorite spot in the house.

I had a 5'x5' excuse of a porch in my first apartment out of college and I thought it was fabulous. I didn't know what was yet to come. One of the perks of getting older turned out to be having better porches.


Random things I know:

Use dry hands and a dry paper towel on a dry ear of corn to easily remove the silk. Then rinse before cooking.

In The Kitchen Tonight

In the summer no one wants to stand over a hot stove. Probably no one wants to do that anyway. So here are a couple of quick and easy recipes. Short ingredient list. Short prep time. One recipe is one we've used for years and we are having for tonight's supper. The other is new to us this year and Big Sister made it by herself for their dinner last night. You have to try it. You can't let a 10-year-old outdo you!

Pork Chops & Brown Rice

1/2 cup regular rice
1 can beef consomme
3 or 4 boneless pork chops
slices of onion and green pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put rice in a 1-1/2 quart baking dish. Pour most of the consomme over the rice. Brown the pork chops quickly in a hot skillet. Put the chops on the rice, top each with a slice of onion and a couple of pepper strips. Pour the remaining consomme over the chops. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

The nice thing about this recipe--other than it is delicious--is that it is well suited to smaller families. And it only takes a few minutes to get it ready for the oven. Then you can go do something else for an hour. If you choose to double it, leftovers freeze well. Because the pork chops bake in liquid, they are always tender. We've been making this for years and years.

And now, here is Big Sister's recipe. She has made this three times since Christmas. Hmmm...... Looks like Big Sister's recipe is more complicated than mine.

White Chicken & Broccoli Pizza

1-1/2 cups fresh broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
2 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup Alfredo sauce
1 (12-oz.) baked pizza crust, such as Mama Mary's
2 cups shredded Italian-blend cheese
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Place  pizza crust on a baking pan. Stir mushrooms, chicken and broccoli into Alfredo sauce. Spread over pizza crust. Sprinkle cheeses over the top. Mix basil, oregano and garlic salt and sprinkle over cheese. Bake 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Slice and serve.

If you buy pre-sliced mushrooms, a bag of broccoli florets and use leftover or rotisserie chicken, this a quick fix, too.


Random Things I Know:



Seeds from a bell pepper can be left to dry and then used as potato chips in a doll house. Very tiny potato chips.

Squash

Only two squash plants in the garden. Just two plants.

Thankfully just two plants. 

But when you pick twice a day, that's a lot of squash. 

So we've eaten lots of squash in the last few days. Everything starts about the same way. Slice your squash, a zucchini (we planted that also) and an onion. I added some fresh thyme and rosemary because I had that in the garden, too. Then I sprinkled everything with House Seasoning. I sprinkle nearly everything with House Seasoning.

Monday night it was just a simple side dish. Heat a little olive oil in the pan and then add the vegetables and cook on medium high until they begin to brown. The heat needs to be high enough to brown and and low enough for them to cook to tender-crisp before they're too brown. (The browned part is where much of the flavor comes from.) We had this with a burger that Granddaddy grilled while I manned the stove. Supper on the table in 15 minutes!

Saturday night there was no supper plan. But there was squash. I quickly sauteed boneless chicken breasts while the water for the pasta came to a boil. (House Seasoning on the chicken, too.) Then while the penne boiled, I cooked the squash, zucchini and onion same as above. Cut the cooked chicken into bite-size pieces and mix with hot cooked and drained penne, vegetables and a jar of Alfredo sauce. Sprinkle a little minced parsley on top. 

This one dish meal was so good--creamy and delicious--and considering where we live, it was faster than going out for dinner. About 20 minutes from deciding what to cook to sitting down at the table.

Sunday's squash harvest rode all the way to Atlanta. I read on Jessica's blog that she used it to make veggie fried rice on Monday.  (Ha! Another colorful Monday.)

On Monday afternoon I delivered the morning's squash harvest to Mommy so that she could make baby food. Baby Sister loves squash. Wonder if she will love Granddaddy's squash even more? Squash grown with love.

This is only three days worth of squash. There is still some in the refrigerator. And there will be more ready to pick in the morning. More squash....  

Got any squash recipes you'd like to share with me?

Peaceful Easy Feeling

Here is "the dress." Finished on Saturday afternoon for Sunday morning's christening. If there had been more time I would have added hand feather stitching, but maybe it's nicer that I stopped when I did. Sometimes less is more. I was happy that Jessica was home to make photographs.

Today will be a very slow day around here. Or at least a "no stress" day. Last week was a rush to make a gown that Mommy wants to save forever. No pressure there. I had not done this kind of sewing in 20 years. But a couple of phone calls to my friend Doris  and four phone calls to Gail at the Bernina dealer and I was on my way.  

 

The best help was remembering that many years ago I had purchased Martha Pullen's book on French sewing by machine. The book, untouched for years, was high on a shelf and covered with dust but on the inside was treasure! There were drawings and instructions for everything I needed to know. As I began to work, my hands began to fall into old rhythms, remembering how this was done. I made dresses using these techniques for my own daughters when they were little.

Remember the beautiful old cap in yesterday's post? Last night a cousin read the blog and then emailed me a photo of her mother (my aunt) wearing that same cap. Her mother, born in 1914, was about two years old in the photo. My cousin had never seen the cap (don't think she knew it still existed) but recognized it from the photo. How very special for both of us.

And yesterday, after the beautiful christening, we enjoyed wonderful family time as all the grandparents and aunts went to lunch with Baby Sister and her family to celebrate baby's day and Father's Day. Then afternoon storms blew through bringing much needed rain.

As the rain slowed and the wind died down, Granddaddy called for me to hurry. He wanted me to see the rainbow. Peaceful sky after the storm. Peaceful time after a busy weekend.