Hurricanes Are Fattening

Easy Vegetable Soup

Stress eating anyone? Has it happened to you? I'm finding it hard NOT to be stressed right now. We are still trying to get things done post storm—along with everyone else who needs contractors and tree services and insurance adjusters at the same time. Again, I am so aware that we are okay. We are the lucky ones. But it still has be be dealt with.

Every time I make the 30 minute trip into town, I ride through winding wooded country roads. I knew the storm blew hard through there. But after a couple of weeks, it looks even worse. But the green leaves are falling and the leaves on the downed trees have turned brown and have shriveled, so I can see more now. Huge root balls where big trees were uprooted are in the woods, in people's yards, in public spaces. Big gaping holes, enormous holes are left where the trees pulled up. No doubt what color our soil is here. We live in red clay territory.  

The news? All disturbing. I only watch the highlights in the morning now. We can't live in a hole or under a rock, but I can limit how much TV news I see. I think most of us are dealing a little more stress than usual right at this moment in time.

And that's how I found myself doing some major stress eating for the last couple of weeks. Then I visited the doctor several days ago and I had to step on the scales. Standard procedure. When I saw the number, I told the nurse that obviously hurricanes are fattening! She laughed and agreed. Junk food. More snacking because we weren't doing anything else for days. Eating what was the easiest to make, maybe without power. 

So last weekend I made a big pot of my "get back on track soup." The recipe has been on the blog for years. It was a WW recipe.  Over the years, I have tweaked it enough to share again. It's still a very light soup. But it's tasty and it's filling. I don't mind eating it for several days in a row. It really helps me move back into a better pattern. I don't have to think of what "healthy" recipe to cook for a few days. I promised Daddy-O  that while I eat this soup for days, I would make him anything he wanted. He doesn't love soup, but he will eat a small bowl as a side dish. At least I know he's getting vegetables.

EASY VEGETABLE SOUP

1 16- oz bag frozen vegetables for soup
1/2 medium head cabbage, finely chopped
1 medium onion, diced  (or 1/2 large onion)
1 15-oz can cut green beans, drained
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 pkg dry Ranch Dressing mix (all I had this time was dip mix)
1 tomato can full of water (swish to get all of the tomatoes) that's about 2 cups

1-quart low sodium chicken broth 
freshly ground black pepper, to taste 

Put all ingredients into a pot. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes or longer, until vegetables are as tender as you like them. We like ours cooked longer, until the cabbage is very tender. This time I probably let it simmer a little over an hour.

There is no meat in this. (Much to Daddy-O's dismay.) You can certainly add some. I have added cooked chicken, leftover roast, etc. But when I'm in this "less is more" mode, I prefer just the vegetables. In my mug of soup, I like to crumble two saltine crackers into it. That's how we ate soup growing up, so for me it's comfort food.

And last night I enjoyed "comfort food" for my soul. We had a concert at our church that had been scheduled months ago. The college students who sang had just gotten back to campus after it was closed for a couple of weeks to get things up and running. I sat in our very old sanctuary (built in 1857), looking at the evening sun stream through our beautiful stained glass windows and listened to the rich harmonies of old hymns. And I let the words "peace like a river...love like an ocean" seep into my being. 

 

What A Difference A Day Makes

Wednesday morning, Sept 25

 

Like so many people in our state and our neighboring states, last week didn't end like it started. I have photographed this barn hundreds and hundreds of times for years. I've documented the sunrise in all seasons. When I walk into the kitchen each morning to get coffee, the old barn and the sunrise is my first view of the day.

Saturday morning, Sept 28

Then on Friday morning my sky view was unlike anything we had ever seen. Hurricane Helene blew right over us. Here. Hundreds of miles from the coast. In a place where hurricanes don't exist. Until last week.Typically by the time a hurricane makes its way this far inland, it's no longer a hurricane. The storm has lost most of its fury and we might get rain and wind. Not this time.

We were lucky. I almost didn't share the photos of this barn because our damage looks minor when you see what happened in North Carolina. We have watched in horror at the complete destruction others are dealing with. Communities are trying to figure out how to get children back to school. Our schools here start next week, two weeks post storm. Just north of us, they are digging wells at schools to provide water in hopes of reopening in a few more weeks.

We have more significant damage across our farm. Barns will have to be torn down. Roof repairs need to happen. But our house was untouched. And we had a generator that ran for a week. We were among the lucky ones. I only want to say how quickly things can change. In ways that we can't predict. 

Everything is  better with ice cream.

Now on to kitchen things. My cooking keeps getting simpler and simpler. And the internet provides endless possibilities of 2 and 3 ingredient recipes. I am fully aware that these shortcut recipes are not gourmet kitchen creations. But they are tasty. Good enough to make again. Some days "good enough" is as all I require.

Apple Spice Cake

This quick cake popped up a couple of times in the last few weeks. I had a can of apple pie filling in my pantry that needed to be used sooner rather than later. (Can't remember why I bought it a year or so ago.) I made this the day before the storm not knowing it would be our treat for days while the power was out.

The original used nothing but a box of spice cake mix and a can of apple pie filling. It reminded me of the Pumpkin Spice Muffins we have made for years. I had to adjust to use what I had on hand. Here is what I did:

APPLE SPICE CAKE

1 box yellow cake mix

1 teaspoon apple pie spice

1 can apple pie filling

about 1/2 cup water, enough to be able to blend ingredients

Blend the apple pie spice into the dry cake mix. Cut the apples in the canned filling into bite-size pieces. If the apples in the brand you have are soft, you could mash them up. 

Stir pie filling and water into the cake mix. Spoon into a greased 2-qt baking dish. Bake at 350º for 30-ish minutes. I watched until it got brown on top.

Sometimes I do have spice cake mix on the shelf. But the yellow cake and apple pie spice was great. You could use pumpkin pie spice, too, or even cinnamon with a little nutmeg. USE WHAT YOU HAVE!

The original recipe didn't even use water. I could not even get the cake and pie filling mixed, so I added water, about 1/2 cup, like the pumpkin muffins. Enough to mix things together. It's still a stiff batter. I just realized you could copy the pumpkin muffin recipe even further and make muffins. 

Also keep this recipe in mind if your circle includes anyone with an egg allergy. No eggs here!

And then last night Mother Nature brought us another unexpected event. But this was a wonderful one. Way down in the Deep South we got a glimpse of the Northern Lights. 

The Grandmother Gig Greatest Hits

 Yes, I'm still here. Just staying busy. Or moving slower as I get older, therefore not getting as much done. Both poor excuses for not posting. But this morning as I was looking in the recipe index here I realized I need to keep up with sharing new recipes. It is easier for me to find them again here than it is to remember where I found the recipe originally.

But before I actually share a NEW recipe, I'm going to repost a blog from over a decade ago. Tomorrow is the first day of fall. The pumpkin farm down the road from us opens today. Mommy's family arrived here last night (fall break for them) and she was telling me she took pumpkin bread to her new neighbors. 

So here are some of my favorite pumpkin recipes. There are others on the blog that are also good. Pumpkin Pie Twists. Pumpkin Angel Food Cake. Pumpkin Ring Cake. Turkey Pumpkin Chili. I like them all, but you can't go wrong with these that I've been making for many years. The post below is also a reminder of how long I've been doing this blog!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

The Frost Is (Almost) On The Pumpkin

It's that time of year. Pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks. Look for pumpkin ice cream at Trader Joe's. It's time to make pumpkin pies, pumpkin cake, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin anything. I like it all.

I made these two loaves last night to take to church this morning for the before-Sunday School coffee time. Both daughters have made this recipe many times. When Mommy taught kindergarten, she took it for snack time when they were talking about "fall things" and all the five-year-olds loved it.

If you make it in 8-inch foil pans, you can get three loaves from one recipe--one for you and two for giving. And it freezes well.

Pumpkin Bread

3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 large eggs
1 (15-oz.) can pumpkin

Stir together flour and remaining ingredients in a large blow until smooth. Divide batter evenly between 2 greased and floured 9-inch loaf pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted into center of each loaf comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.

OR you can divide between three 8-inch foil loaf pans and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until done.


And because I like autumn and pumpkins so much, I'll share another favorite recipe. No photo of this one, because I haven't made it yet this year. But trust me, it is a wonderful dessert. We had it first when a friend served it at a bridal luncheon for Mommy. Even people who say they don't like pumpkin, like this one. Just don't tell them what it is until they have tasted it!

Pumpkin Crunch

(15-oz) can pumpkin
(12-oz) can evaporated milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Lightly grease the bottom of a 9x13-inch dish. Mix the above ingredients and pour into dish.
Sprinkle 1 box Duncan Hines Yellow cake mix (dry, right out of box) over pumpkin mixture.
Melt 1-1/2 sticks butter and pour over cake mix.
Sprinkle 1-1/2 cups chopped nuts over the butter.

Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Let cool completely.

Topping:
1 box powdered sugar
8-oz. cream cheese, softened
8-oz. Cool Whip
Mix cream cheese and sugar. Then fold in Cool Whip and spread over top of dessert. Refrigerate until serving time. Cut into squares to serve. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon or chopped nuts to garnish.


Take this to your next church dinner and let people try to figure out what it is. Besides good! And how could I talk about fall and pumpkins and not think about this poem. Remember this?

When The Frost is On The Punkin  by James Whitcomb Riley, 1853-1916 When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock, And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock, And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens, And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence; O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best, With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest, As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock, When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock. They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here— Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees, And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees; But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock— When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock. The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn, And the raspin’ of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn; The stubble in the furries—kindo’ lonesome-like, but still A-preachin’ sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill; The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed; The hosses in theyr stalls below—the clover over-head!— O, it sets my hart a-clickin’ like the tickin’ of a clock, When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock! Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps; And your cider-makin’ ’s over, and your wimmern-folks is through With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! ... I don’t know how to tell it—but ef sich a thing could be As the Angels wantin’ boardin’, and they’d call around on me— I’d want to ’commodate ’em—all the whole-indurin’ flock— When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock!

Lake, Family, Food

Tomato Corn Avocado Salad

Finally a new (to me) recipe. It tastes like summer.

  I often have all the ingredients on hand.

It only takes minutes to put together.

We paired the salad I made with Boars Head snack packs 

of meat and cheese and wedges of pita for 

the easiest porch dinner for two before we headed to the lake.

TOMATO, CORN, AVOCADO SALAD

1 large ear of corn--cook and cut off kernels

1 medium avocado, diced

1-1/2 cups diced cucumber

1 cup halved grape tomatoes

2 tablespoons diced onion, red or white

2 teaspoon olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I used lime)

salt and pepper to taste

Let corn cool. Then toss with remaining ingredients. 

Serve immediately. 

Want a peek at our lake time? Keep reading...

Notice anything new? Lots and lots of green grass. 

We had to replace the lake wall and pier over the winter. 

When that was finisbed, we had to redo the yard!

There was more food on the way for our annual July 4th gathering.

There were cousins everywhere. 

This was only one side of the porch.

It's good to see each other at least once a year.

Our family stayed longer.

Little Lady got to touch her first fish!

And she saw her very first rainbow. 

She had a very special week.

There was lots of lake time.

Thank goodness for the lake. The temps were scorching all week.

Little Brother had the most fun walking by himself between the cabins. 

We can see from porch to porch.

"Goin' to Daddy-O's house. Be right back!"

Storms and rain cooled us off a couple of nights. 

Another family lake stay is in the books.

 

To Cook Or Not To Cook...That Is My Question

Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta Bake

I'm getting lazier and lazier about cooking. But eating out brings it's own set of things I don't always want to do—getting dressed, driving to town, waiting on the food, etc. It can take longer to go out for dinner than cooking. So last week I tried a new recipe minutes after announcing I wan't cooking dinner. Cooking seemed to be the lesser effort.

The recipe was good enough that we ate it for two nights, then packed up the last bit and took it to the lake for a quick meal down there. We are getting the lake place ready for family that will head this way in a couple of days.

I found the recipe online—actually its found me. It popped up as I was browsing the 'net. You can check out the original recipe at Bowl Me Over. She has good notes about how she made it. This falls in the comfort food category. 

As I often do, my version of this recipe was based on what I had on hand. I plan to make it again sometime and actually try it as it was written. I'll give you the recipe I found, then tell you how I changed it. I've realize as I'm trying to learn improv on the piano, I've been doing improv in the kitchen for years!

GARLIC PARMESAN CHICKEN PASTA BAKE

1-lb rotini pasta, cooked and drained (save a cup of pasta water)

3 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded

2-15 oz jars Alfredo sauce

1 cup garlic parmesan sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 375º. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

While rotini is cooking, mix chicken, Alfredo sauce, garlic parmesan sauce, and half the mozzarella and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cooked and drained pasta, adding some of the saved water if needed. You want it creamy.

Pour mixture in to baking dish. Top with the remaining cheeses.

Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 20-35 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. 

You can broil it for 2-3 minutes to brown the top--but be careful not to burn!

Remove pasta from oven and let rest, covered with foil, for 5 minutes before serving. 

As I typed this recipe out, I realized how much I improvised. I knew I was changing some ingredients because I had to. But I failed to read the part about covering the dish with foil before I baked it! When will I ever learn to read ALL of the recipe!!! Nevertheless, it was good. It would have been a little creamier if I had covered it. Next time I'll know.

Okay. Here are my variations: 

• I had cooked, cut up chicken breasts in the freezer. I thawed them in the microwave while the pasta was cooking.  
• I only used one jar of Alfredo and one jar of garlic parmesan Alfredo sauce.
• The recipe calls for 1 cup of garlic parmesan sauce. Next time I will look for that near the salad dressing and bbq sauces. Evidently it's condiment used for wings.
• I added 1/2 cup pasta water since I didn't have the extra cup of sauce. 
• Since I only had 2 cups of chicken, I added some frozen peas. They were okay, but not sure I would had them again. 
• I only had one cup of mozzarella so I used that and plus one cup of cheddar. 

Because I had cooked chicken in the freezer, this was just a dump it all together and mix recipe. So quick. You could also use rotisserie chicken. Next time I will find the garlic parmesan sauce. An extra cup of sauce would make it nice and creamy. Mine was getting close to being dry. More sauce. Use the foil. Both of those things would have helped.

I think this is a dish my younger grandchildren would like...chicken, pasta, cheesy sauce. Now that you've read how much I changed things up, go try your own variations. If I had found any broccoli in the refrigerator I might have added cooked, chopped broccoli to the dish instead of peas. Like many recipes, it's just a starting place. Make it your own!

We will have family here for the next couple of weeks. Doubt I'll post again for a while. 

UPDATE: When I was at the lake last week, I shopped at a large grocery store nearby. I found the parmesan garlic sauce this recipe actually calls for! It's a sauce for wings. Can't wait to try it again and see if it makes much difference.

Summer Things

Just a quick hello this morning. No new recipes. But I am making a grocery list right now while I sip my morning coffee. That's progress. We spent the weekend at our lake house trying to take care of some chores. And while we were there we got to watch a beautiful full moon rise over the lake. The reflection in the water gets me every time.

Last week I took a piano workshop. Five days, three hours each day. It was designed for piano teachers who wanted to be more creative in their teaching, who wanted to add jazz and blues to the traditional repertoire. I got to sit in and listen. What did I learn?

• I learned that in a 3-hour zoom meeting, my iPad Pro goes from 100% battery to 6%. I could do the class without being plugged in. Barely. As much as I complain about technology, it was amazing that each day I could attend a live class with participants in assorted time zones.

• I learned that when I relax my shoulders, my face looks thinner. Seriously. After sitting for hours each day looking at myself on zoom (I used the gallery setting a lot) I saw that I most often sat with my shoulders tensed up. And when I relaxed them, yes, my face looked thinner. When I taught guitar lessons I cautioned all students to relax their shoulders when they played. I could see that as they struggled to learn something new, the shoulders moved up toward their ears. And I would remind them to relax. I need to remind myself that shoulders reaching for the ears is never a good thing.

• I learned that even though I do not have a music degree like the piano teachers, I have learned a lot over the years. There are many ways to learn. Maybe I had less to "unlearn" than the classical pianists. <smile> Don't underestimate the body of knowledge you've acquired over your life, even when it didn't come with a grade or a degree. Experience counts.

This week I need to get back to regular life. Family will be here soon to spend some time with us at the lake. 

When Daddy-O had a new lake wall built over the winter, he added some steps to make it a little easier for kids to climb out of the lake. I am 100% sure this was not what he had in mind!

 New wall. New pier. New grass. Old owners. Now to make time to get down there. It's hay season here but the lake isn't far away. Whatever you are doing this summer, wherever you are spending your summer, enjoy it. Stay cool. Stay safe. Make memories. 

What's Happening In My Kitchen? Not Much.

In the last couple of weeks I've had local people say to me, "You haven't posted much on your blog lately. I really enjoy reading it." That made me smile. I don't read the statistics that I could find somewhere on this platform to see how many views a post has had. I don't keep up with how many subscribers I have. I have never monetized the blog. Notice there are no pesky ads? 

All these years I've written it because I enjoy the process of writing. And the length of these posts suit me well. (Did I tell you that I wrote a newspaper column back in the day?) Occasionally I will look back through the 13 years of blog entries and I can see how my family has changed. How it's grown. I frequently look up recipes here—both with the index and the little search box that lives in the top left corner of each post.

My days are different now than they were way back when I started this blog. I think I said last blog post that I haven't tried new recipes lately Because I just don't cook as much as I did. We don't eat as much as we did. Sometimes now instead of cooking supper, we have a snacky supper.

Charcuterie boards or food boards, if you will, are so popular now. In my house these "boards" often coincide with cleaning out the refrigerator. Or making do the night before I grocery shop. I'm trying to squeak one more meal out of what's on hand.

When I arrange my bits and bobs of what's in the fridge on a tray, it's looks like fun. It looks like a treat. Picture what it would look like if I set the bag of pretzel chips, the box of crackers, the jar of jam and the bottle of ranch dressing out. Same foods. But I can guarantee those bags and boxes wouldn't get an "Oh, wow!" from Daddy-O. It's all in the presentation.

I love trays and own so many sizes and shapes. But sometimes I will just grab a cookie sheet or a pizza pan because it's handy. Choose your board or pan, arrange your food neatly, think about the colors when you lay it out. And if possible make sure to have different textures, like crunchy crackers and celery and creamy dip, soft cheese and hard carrot sticks. 

If I were doing this for a party or gathering, I would be much more intentional about on what goes on the board. But the photo above was our actual "dinner for two" a couple of weeks ago. It's as basic as you can get.

Here is another meal suitable for an "I don't want to cook" night. Last week I swore there was nothing here to cook. Daddy-O offered to take me out, but I couldn't think of one restaurant that tempted me. So I looked around the kitchen and spied a container of grape tomatoes. 

And in just under 30 minutes we were sitting down to dinner. This recipe calls for ingredients that are staples in my kitchen—spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, etc. I didn't have the fresh mozzarella it calls for so I subbed shredded mozzarella. Not quite as good, but it worked. If I had not had basil growing in our yard I might have sprinkled on some dried basil. Think beyond the recipe!!!

Be aware that this recipe doesn't make a lot. It feeds the two of us. I have stretched it to feed three by making a big salad to serve along with it.

GRAPE TOMATOES & PASTA (serves 2 to 3)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups grape tomatoes

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, cut in thin strips

salt & pepper to taste

pinch of sugar (optional)

3 tablespoon fresh grated parmesan 

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

fresh mozzarella pearls

8 oz. thin spaghetti

Heat oil in a large skillet to low. Add garlic, stir and cook about 2 minutes, being careful not to burn it. Add whole grape tomatoes. Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes until tomatoes begin to soften. Break up some of the tomatoes. (I used a potato masher to mash up some of the tomatoes—maybe half of them. This releases juices that will help make a sauce.) Season with salt and pepper, add a pinch of sugar if tomatoes are very acidic. Stir in basil.

Cover and let simmer 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes are soft. Grate fresh parmesan over the sauce. Add balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine.

While sauce is simmering, cook spaghetti to al dente. Using tongs lift cooked spaghetti straight into the sauce. (Save a little pasta cooking water and add a spoonful or two to thin sauce if you need to.) Remove skillet from heat. Toss cooked spaghetti with tomato sauce. Poke mozzarella pearls down into the pasta. Cover and let sit a few minutes to let mozzarella melt.

Top with more Parmesan and garnish with basil. Serve.

And our last resort dinner when the fridge is empty is some kind of breakfast food. We spent one night at the lake last weekend. Now THAT is a truly empty kitchen. We have barely been down there this year. But the previous visit I had left a loaf of cinnamon bread in the freezer and I had bought a half dozen eggs that were still good. Daddy-O made French toast that night. He first told me that he couldn't make it because we didn't have any milk (he usually adds milk to the eggs.) I told him to splash a little water in the eggs instead. Think beyond the recipe!!! Beyond your usual. 

There is a little knitting still going on. These delightfully cool days are perfect for porch knitting.  We try to spend as much time on the porch as possible on these perfect days. Knitting. Reading. I even take a keyboard out there and practice piano sometimes.

Some of you have been interested in my jazz journey. The online piano platform I enjoy offers a monthly song "challenge." Four weeks to learn a new tune. I don't always do the monthly song but I love this month's choice, Blue Skies. I'm working on the piano version, but my ukulele version is ready now.