Big Stuff!

I am ever so grateful that our children share pictures of what is going on in their lives.  I'm so thankful that they frequently send us videos and pictures to share windows into the lives of our grandchildren.  I think I am ever so much more grateful lately than ever before.

This past week we got some photos which shared some big stuff that is going on in Bryan and his family's life.  While they are somewhat accustomed to being at home more than most folks because Bryan and Jessica both work from home, the break from school and preschool and church and just getting out and about has still been a bit of a strain on them, I think.

Rainy days which keep the littles inside are always tough for children who thrive outdoors.  So, when Jessica sent this photo of Linley with her bowl of pop-pop this week, we couldn't help but laugh out loud.  Mike also said he wished he had a big ole bowl just like that and could sit beside her in front of the TV and munch all afternoon long during a rainy afternoon!  Big stuff for this girl!

Then, at the end of the week when the skies were blue and the temperature was warm, we got photos from Bryan sharing a bit about the fishing trip that he and Harris made, we had another opportunity to smile and enjoy.

I love the serious look on Harris's face and how he is holding his mouth just right to get the job done.  In the moving shot, we could hear Harris say, "Oh Gosh!" and when we saw the fish, we could certainly see why!

It seems like another boy was pretty excited about their haul as well!

After seeing the message below, I really wish I had seen the action shot of Jessica!  I recall a time when she and Bryan were visiting on a football Saturday and Mike fried fish.  She showed us how much she liked fried fish that day and I'll bet she got her fill at this old-fashioned fish fry as well!

Big stuff!

Laid Back and Quiet Holiday

With all the rain that was predicted for the holiday yesterday, Mike and I decided to stay home and have a laid back, quiet, and relaxing day.

We enjoyed a little shower during the morning but that only seemed to encourage the thermometer and the humidity level to rise.

Mike slipped out to a nearby farm stand and picked up some squash, since ours is still in the grow and bloom stage.  We diced up bell peppers, yellow squash, and onions and seasoned them up well and cooked them in a foil pouch on the grill.  To that we added burgers, smoked sausages, and hot dogs.  Plus, we had a fresh, vine-ripened tomato!  Yum!

Now, I must confess, when I say WE cooked, what I really mean is Mike cooked it all on the grill.  As you know, I don't grill.  We ate up and crashed in a stuffed-with-good-food coma in front of the TV to watch something via DVR while we listened to the muffled pops of neighbor's fireworks.

While Mike was grilling, though, I stirred up a deliciously, rich and gooey, yummy-to-the-max cake.  If you want to stir up one of the easiest, most delicious desserts you will ever pop your lips on, hop over to my recipe blog for this recipe for Turtle Cake.

Eat your heart out, Bryan!  (This cake used to be one of his favorites.)

While we wound up getting very little rain yesterday, we hope you enjoyed celebrating our freedom just as much as we did and also remembered that our freedom certainly doesn't come free.  Lots of folks paid the price for us and we are ever grateful for their sacrifice.

Because it's BBQ Season...

We pretty much use our grill year-round.

When I say we, I mean Mike.

I don't grill.

Well, I have a couple of times and almost had to call the fire department.

So, I refrain from it and since I ruined the gas side the last time I tried to grill when we almost called the local fire department of our gas and charcoal grill, Mike prevents me from grilling.

Mike is really good at cooking on the grill and he prefers to use charcoal to gas.  This kind-of-sort-of works out to my advantage.  So, every opportunity I get for him to do the cooking, I'm going to take advantage of it!

Since Mike's sugar levels went wonky and he began taking insulin daily, we have focused more on eating low-carb meals and a bit healthier preparation - which includes grilling.  So, we have landed on our favorite way to prepare what Mike used to call flavorless meat - boneless, skinless chicken breast.

About a year ago, our son and daughter-in-law mentioned that  they were taking a stab at some salt-brined chicken cooked on the grill.  I had read about this and was curious.  Especially curious after using The Pioneer Woman's Maple-Whiskey Turkey brine and it turned out so delicious.  Bryan and Jessica reported that their attempt turned out tasty and juicy.  So, I concocted my own brine recipe for chicken.

The first time we attempted this, Mike also had me shape up a couple of hamburgers and he added some hot dogs to the grill - just-in-case.  As it turned out, we both really wound up liking the chicken and have used some variation of the recipe over and over.

Using my Kroger ClickList coupon which offered hot dogs, buns, and lemonade, I ordered us some Pepperidge Farms onion rolls.  Then, I noticed there is a sweepstakes contest listed on the bag.  So, at lunchtime today I prepared and Tweeted out my image as the contest suggested.  (I usually only Tweet from my work account but didn't really think this seemed professional and decided to use my rarely accessed personal Twitter account.)  Not only was my sandwich absolutely delicious, but I hope to win big bucks!  I know that technically my version is not a burger but...Darn!  Doesn't it look tasty?

Unretouched image of my BBQ chunk chicken sandwich on an onion roll - it was yummy!

#RespectTheBunPromotion

I thought I'd pass the recipe along since it is BBQ season and folks might be grilling for the holiday.  Hop on over to my recipe blog to get the brine recipe.

Morning Smiles

I've had the morning smiles here lately.

Well, that is, after I get up and get going and work out the old-age, out-of-shape soreness.

What has been making me smile in the mornings when I'm not really a morning person?  Breakfast!

Well, yes.  Maybe part of that morning smile is because I get to lie abed till later and eat a leisurely breakfast long after the sun comes up because I'm on my summer break, ya'll!

Those late breakfast dates have allowed me to munch on cereal and fruit at a slow pace while sitting out on the back porch.  I have stirred up some beautiful blueberries and yogurt and sometimes even added home-made granola.  Some days I enjoy a nice omelet and the company of my husband.  Some special days I even have the privilege of being served a breakfast cooked by my hubby!

A special treat was provided a few months ago by Mike's friend, Big Willie D.  He gifted us with some breakfast muffins he had stirred up and baked himself.  I was delighted.  I was inspired!

So, I decided to take Big Willie D's verbal recollection of the recipe and tweak it to make it my own. Because it was my nature to put things off, I just now got around to posting the recipe, though.  I highly recommend these muffins to nudge your morning into smiles as well!  Just hop over to my recipe blog for more information and create your own yummy-ness and smiles.

A Little Along

Mike and I are having a Thanksgiving Feast right here at home this year.  Mama and Daddy changed up the day of their feast to try to accommodate some of the family but we already had plans.  So, the two of us will be feasting right here at home on Thursday.  We are not doing anything nearly so elaborate as the year we tackled Big Tom.  However, there are a few things that just mean Thanksgiving Feast to us.  So, on the menu this year for us is:

Turkey

Southern Cornbread Dressing

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Macaroni and Cheese

Cranberry Salad

Home-made Rolls

Pecan Pie

With a menu like that, we will eat rich all next week, probably!  Today I've stirred up the Cranberry Salad, 

the Southern Cornbread for the dressing, 

and cooked the sweet potatoes.  I figure if I do a little bit each day this week I won't be exhausted.  

Beef - It's What's for Dinner!

Had a yummy pot roast last night and will have roast beef sandwich for lunch today.  My favorite main dish is a beef roast!  For more info look HERE.

Not Really Irish

I know that on March 17, Saint Patrick's Day, almost everybody claims to be Irish.

I know that not everybody really is Irish.

I've embraced that and didn't succumb to the urge to have a Rueben sandwich for lunch...

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because I don't like kraut.  It just happens to be one of those Things We Do for Love.

I also didn't buy corned beef at the grocery when I went yesterday.

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because we already have a freezer full of beef.

I didn't even wear green.

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because the only green item I own is a silk scarf and this is spring break and I'm not dressing up this week if i can help it.

I did cave when it came to preparing a meal for my hubby, though.  The menu included pork chops, hash brown casserole, and cabbage.

We wound up having Parmesan-crusted pork chops that I cooked using Paul and Brenda Smith pork chops and adapted THIS recipe.

Well, maybe that was also done because I was too cold to go out and grill on a grey day that had started out with an icy deck.

The hubs loved the hash brown casserole so much that he almost ate half of it!  Half!  I used a new recipe that I found HERE.  It was just the right combination of crunchy-on-top and cheesey-gooey-in-the-middle.

Well, maybe I used that recipe because I couldn't find my old stand-by because I was cleaning out a couple of cabinets and reorganizing things to put Mike's sausage making mechanisms away.  (More on that in another post for another day.)

Mike also loved the cabbage.  I simply cut it into quarters.  Then, I put two of the quarters into my Dutch oven and added about an inch of water.  I covered it and set it to boiling.  When the cabbage quarters were beginning to look a wee bit limp and there was only enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, I dolloped a tablespoon of butter over the top, slathering it across the top of the peak of the quarter.  I sprinkled with some salt and pepper and returned the lid to the pot to finish melting the butter and allow the water to absorb into the cabbage.  (It was yummy if I must say so myself!)

Well, maybe I felt more of an urge to cook the cabbage because it had been in the fridge for a week than the fact that it was St. Patty's Day.

So, we were a little bit Irish even though we are not really Irish.  Isn't being ethnic yummy?

A Good Hint

Some people are lots better at taking hints than others.

My mother was absolutely G-R-E-A-T at taking a hint for our Christmas gift this year.

She and Daddy got us exactly what Mike and I wanted and needed!

Cookware!

The pots are nice and deep for boiling and simmering soups and beans and potatoes that I have made for dinner lately.

Mike likes the see-through lids and non-stick finish for when he cooks sausage and eggs like he did for breakfast this weekend.

Doesn't the blue color look designer-ish there in our kitchen?

Thanks for digging that box out of the pile of other colors, Daddy!

Didn't they do a great job picking out just what we wanted and needed and longed to have for our cooking efforts?

I may have been just a little helpful...

I may have given her a wonderful hint...

Well, after all, she does gift to LOTS of folks...and I appreciated the hints from the adult children's holiday lists

Aren't those copper knobs pretty?

I'm sure there are times when she wonders what would be the ideal gift...

I just thought I'd give her a little hint...

Just to help out...

So, I sent her this email:

One of the recent Big Lots ads...

Just a subtle little hint, don't you think!

Handy, Dandy, Fancy, Schmancy, Useful

One of these things is not like the others...

I know that is what this seems to be.

Yet, in all actuality, they really are all alike.

You see, they all are descriptors for my Christmas gift from Mike!

It is a beauty!

I have used it to make Wedding Cookies, bread, and sausage balls so far.   (Click on the links for the recipes.)  It is a work horse.  It is easy to clean.  I love it!

I've come up with a plan

Well, the pressure is on.  Yes, I'm talking about the pressure of...

the

Thanksgiving

Feast.

What is a woman to do?

I called Mama today and just came right out with it.

I didn't beat around the bush.

I just spit it out and admitted it.

I dialed the phone and said, "Mama, I need you to teach me how you make dressing."

There it was... out there.

Right in the open.

In front of God and everybody.

Now, I am married to a man who loves good old southern cooking.  He is an aficionado of the south.  He is a connoisseur of dredging, and battering, and frying, and gravy, and dressing, and such.  Everything he eats is compared to his grandmother's or his mother's or his Aunt Peg's.

So, when preparing the Thanksgiving Feast, I am expected to serve that kind of food and dressing. Never mind that when I was growing up, I was never the pupil of the kitchen.  I was always outside helping My Daddy at the barn.

Over the years I've grown to like cooking and can even prepare some fare with respectability.

Yet, making the dressing is one of those things that has put lots of pressure on my cooking skills.

Yes, me.

The one who doesn't fry anything but eggs and bacon - and sometimes burns that.

The one who has never made lots of those good old southern foods.

You see, when I want some of those things, I just call my Mama and ask her when she is going to have that and hint at a time when I would be available to come by and eat it.

As soon as I admitted that I needed a lesson, Mama began rattling off instruction.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  I need you to teach me to make dressing.

Mama:  Well, you make your cornbread.  Then, you crumble it up.  Chop up some onion and celery and put it in a frying pan with some butter and saute it...

Me:  How much onion?

Mama:  Oh...a pretty good sized one.

Me:  How much celery?

Mama:  Ah...about the same amount as your onion.

Me:  A half-cup?  How many stalks?

Mama:  Well, it just depends...

I keep asking questions till I get her hemmed up a bit and then...

Mama:  Do you just want me to make it for you?

Me:  No, Mama, I'm not going to learn how to do this any younger!

Mama:  Now, add some chicken broth.

Me:  How much?  One of those boxes?  More?

Mama:  Well, just till it looks the right consistency...

I keep asking questions till I get something a bit more specific and then...

Mama:  Just taste it, now, to be sure it is flavored to your liking...

Me:  Mama, I only eat a spoonful of this each year.  I'm not really all that crazy about dressing.  How am I supposed to know if it is flavored well?

Finally, I get enough instruction that I feel like I can probably prepare it with some respectability and I trek off to the grocery store to pick up the last few items I need to complete my feast.

Then, I called my mother-in-law about another matter altogether.  She asked me a couple of questions...

MIL:  Have you thawed your turkey?

Me:  I put it in the fridge this morning.

MIL:  Well, I guess you can soak it in some water Wednesday afternoon to thaw it the rest of the way.  Are you going to soak it in anything else?

Me:  Oh, yes, yes, of course.

MIL:  The recipe I use is in that Historical Society Cookbook...

and she proceeded to recite it from memory and share her method of preparing dressing - without precise measurements, of course!

So, once again, a bit of anxiety creeps into my bones about...

the dressing.

When Mike got home, I shared the highlights of these conversations with him.  Immediately he began calling my favorite sister-in-law, JoAnn, and asked her how she makes dressing.

She began to describe her method as she was driving home for the day.  Her recipe sounds very similar to my mother's and mother-in-law's.  So, I begin to chime in and make comparisons.  Her recipe is just a tad bit different but very close to both the aforementioned recipes.

So, I've come up with a plan.  I will do somewhat of a compilation of each of their methods.  Then, if it turns out well, I will just smile and say I adapted their recipes and tweaked it a bit to make it my own.  If it turns out to be a disaster, I'll say that I followed JoAnn's recipe and it just isn't as good as either of theirs.  After all, JoAnn will not be there when we share the Thanksgiving Feast.  She will be out sharing her delicious dressing with her family across town.

That is my plan and I'm sticking to it!

Grown Ups

Well, this year, Mike and I are going to be the grown ups at Thanksgiving.  I've been the grown-up one other time when Mom and Daddy were remodeling/adding on to their kitchen and it was gutted down to the dirt under the floor.  That time, though, I was in graduate school and had two teenagers at home.  There was only us chickens and I just cooked a turkey breast and the side dishes and my family was satisfied with Stove Top.  Nobody expected it to be like the Pilgrims and nobody ever even dreamed it would be as good as Mama's.  We were just all glad to have some of the traditional sorts of foods and get together.  I don't think that would fly these days.

These days, folks seem to think that I should know how to pull together the traditional Pilgrim sort of meal and really expect it to sort of resemble Mama's.  These days folks seem to think I might ought to know what I'm doing.  These days, folks want the whole turkey and traditional sides and dressing.

Yes, dressing.

That is one of those dishes that has never really been my favorite.  I generally eat about one or two helpings of it per year.  I started out eating it just to be polite even thought I didn't really like the taste of it.  I have grown to appreciate the taste of it at this stage of my life, though.

I know.

How can I claim to be a southern woman if I don't like dressing?

For goodness sake!  It is a staple of holiday side dishes!

Somehow for fifty-four years I have kept that on the down-low and squeaked by, I guess.

Anyway, this year, Mike and I are hosting the Thanksgiving Feast.  We are the Grown-Ups.  The Grandparents.

I don't have any qualms about the turkey.  After all, we have cooked Big Tom and it turned out delicious.  So, cooking a normal sized turkey should be a breeze.  I have looked at all the resources for preparing a good turkey - Pioneer Woman, Martha, the Neely's, etc. I have delved into all the cookbook sources I have here -  Paula Deen's, Martha's, Blue Willow Inn's, Betty Crocker's, Better Homes and Garden's, Nolensville Historical Society's - just to name a few.  So, I think I'm ready to roll with my turkey.

I have prepared most of the sides at one time or the other - sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, squash casserole, macaroni and cheese, cranberry salad, rolls, etc.  All of that has been attempted with success at some point in my past.  So, no worries there.

I do have just a wee bit of nagging anxiety about the dressing, though.

Yes, the dressing.

Mike tried to make me feel better and offered, "it can't be that hard.  Lots of different people have cooked it for our family gatherings."

Yeah.

Sure.

Lots of people have made it for our family gatherings over the years, too.  I guess he just hasn't been in the loop, though.  You know what I'm talking about.  That cluster of folks who are together lingering in the kitchen or over at the table after everybody's belly is full and the children have been bundled and bustled outside to do their running and the men are kicked back in front of the television and half dozing.

That little cluster of women who are sharing recipes and talking about their children or grandchildren.  That little cluster of women who are sitting over to the side nursing a slice of pie.  Those three or four who are cleaning up the last little bit.  One is washing the pan the rolls were baking on and one has the dish towel to dry and another is sorting the silverware and putting it back in the drawer.  You know the clusters of women I'm talking about.

One year they quietly muttered about one of the aunt's dressing because it was, "just a little on the dry side."  Another time somebody's eyebrows climbed up their forehead as they murmured that the dressing was, "a bit on the runny side."  Yet another time, somebody twitched a little and whispered that the dressing was, "just too bland."  Still another time, somebody snarled a bit and out of the side of her mouth uttered that the dressing, "had too much sage."  I've heard it called, "cooked plum to death," or "not quite done," and "just too chunky," and lots of other things.  I know you've heard the same sort of thing, now haven't you?

So, the pressure is on.

Being a grown up is tough!

Independence Day Celebration and Zucchinis

Well, the nation's birthday celebration sloshed by me.  Mike had to work.  Yuck!

He said, "Maybe if we work on July 4 we can have off Saturday AND Sunday."

I paused only briefly to think about that.  Don't you think something is wrong if he has to work on a national holiday in order to have two days off that he is supposed to have off anyway?

My gripe session about that is over but I would like to have caused a few fireworks with the powers that be over there at the warehouse!

Anyway, yesterday was a sloshy, mushy, rainy day here at the ole homestead.  So, Toby and I spent the day in the kitchen.

Yesterday we had put all of that bushel of yellow squash in the freezer.  Lots of slicing, blanching, chilling, and bagging going on over here.

This was only the first batch...

Then, today, we (meaning I) began work on the bushel of zucchini.  I sliced up some zucchini and dipped it into buttermilk and tossed it into a cornmeal mixture and laid the slices out on a wax paper/cookie sheet.  You can see a tutorial HERE.

I also made Lemon Zucchini Bread using a recipe by NancyCreative.  It is absolutely divine!

Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze

I tried another zucchini bread recipe that my friend Joann G gave me.  It is delicious and she says it freezes well.  You can see that recipe HERE.

I pinned a couple more recipes on my Recipes to Try Pinterest Board that I'm going to give a try.

On another note, Bridgette and family have gone on V-cation and Lillie and Lydia sported their 'zucchinis' (really it was a tankini but guess what was a more familiar term...)  today and went to the hotel pool!

Finally, when Mike got home from work at about eight-thirty, he told me to look out front to see what was going on and this is what I saw:

Yep, there was a roadblock set up right in front of our house!

Stephen and Bonnie fired off a couple of fireworks up on the hill - a warm-up for Saturday, I guess.

Here is what Toby did all day:

Then, when folks started shooting fireworks all around us, he had to look out the window of the back doors and give a few woofs!

Hope your day was exciting and festive.

Trying Something New

Sometimes I feel like I get into a rut.  I don't know what makes me do it.  I find I wear the same three outfits in a rotation or I prepare the same handful of meals in a rotation.  Isn't it nice sometimes to just shake things up?

Well, I had gotten a little bit tired of being in my menu/recipe rut.  So, I started recording Paula Deen's cooking shows and The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  I also started following The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond's, blog.  I also started pinning almost every recipe I thought would be remotely easy and sinfully delicious on Pinterest.  I also started clipping recipes for my ZipList recipe collection.  The next thing I did was go back through all this amalgamation of ideas I had collected.  Then, I made a list of things I wanted to try first - well all the main dishes, anyway.

(As you can see, at one point I got this list confused with my grocery list!)

Of course I first wanted to try all those chocolaty, gooey, delicious desserts first!  But, I forced myself to only look for something to spice up the meal part of our menu.

Then, I began to access those online recipes I had pinned and clipped and bookmarked and we have been shaking things up around here.  The good news is, Mike even commented that he liked the way we have been eating lately!

The first thing I tried was something that claimed to be lower in calories and looked simple and tasty.

You can find the recipe for Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs HERE.

I made those Chicken Kabobs and they were indeed Yummy!  We at them over a rice pilaf and had a side of fresh pineapple chunks and it was a delicious, lower calorie meal for us.

The next thing I tried was Baked Cheesy Chicken Chimichangas.  See, I was sticking to the lower calorie version of one of our favorites.  Aren't you proud of me?  I was.  They did indeed turn out to be tasty and in some ways better than that you could get at a restaurant - You know except I did the grocery shopping for ingredients instead of somebody else and I did the cooking instead of somebody else and I did the clean-up instead of somebody else.  You can find the Chimichanga recipe I adapted HERE and my version HERE.

To celebrate Father's Day and honor Mike and my Daddy, I tried Loaded Nachos with home-made Pico de Gallo and we had a Nacho buffet for everybody to enjoy.  I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe and you can find that HERE.  It was an easy feast for a crowd and seemed to be gobbled up with gusto by everybody!  Plus, there were leftovers that Mike and I had the next day.

Doesn't this chunky Pico de Gallo look delicious?  It was!

Even after that we still had leftovers.  Now, I LOVE leftovers but Mike is good for one revisit but rarely any more after that.  So, I took the beef and bean filling and created Chimichangas by adapting the other new recipe.  You can find my newly adapted recipe HERE.

I'll share some more of what we have been trying that is new in later posts.  Or, you can go to Recipes Out of the Blue if you just cannot wait.

Tried a New Recipe

I tried out a new recipe and it proved to be simple, tasty, and delicious.  It also has fewer calories than the traditional version because instead of frying it is baked.  Yum! 

Baked Chimichangas

Of course, I could think of loads of ways to change it up...like add a side of Mexican or Spanish rice or smother it with a cheese sauce.  Then, there goes the calories I would save in baking instead of frying... 

It was a delicious meal with a side of chopped lettuce topped with some pico and an ear of corn just like it came out.  Look HERE if you want to try the recipe!

Recipes and Shopping

I'd like to be more deliberate in my menu planning.  I like to cook but I just don't like to plan.  I admit it:  I'm not good at it.  I'm terrible at it!  I am hoping that a new tool I stumbled upon is going to be of help.  Have you ever heard of ZipList? 

It is sort of an online file cabinet for recipes and will even help you to create a shopping list using the ingredients listed in your selected recipes.  Sort of like the pinning tool for Pinterest, there is a ZipList Recipe Clipper button that you can drag to your toolbar which makes it super easy to use. 

For example, I found a recipe on The Pioneer Woman called The Marlboro Man Sandwich.  With the recipe page staring at you from your computer screen, click on the button of your ZipList Recipe Clipper and it will cause a pop-up screen to appear. 

You can choose to add it to your recipes or to your shopping list.  I add to my recipes.  Then, I peruse my recipes and click to add to my list.  The list can be edited.  It can be sorted by area of the store such as Dairy, Meat, Produce, etc.  You can put the store areas in your preferred shopping order.  You can add stores where you frequently shop and look for grocery deals.  You can add odd items that are not listed in the recipes you have tagged.  It will generate the list for you.  I simply emailed my list to myself and pulled it up when I got to the store!

HERE is a tutorial by the ZipList folks that explains how it works.  I'm thinking this is a handy dandy little tool and it might help me to plan my menus and conquer my shopping headaches a wee bit!

My Mis-Adventures in Feast Preparing

How is it that I got to be "The Grandmother" whose house everybody comes over the river and through the woods to see on the holiday?  Wasn't it just the day before yesterday I was the young girl flipping around and grumping because we had to get all our work done so we could go to MY grandmother's house over the river and through the woods.  Because I'm sure it was JUST yesterday that I was forcing my own children to get all their chores done so we could go to my mother's house over the river and through the woods.  How did this happen?  How come I didn't get that "grandmother" training where all the food comes out tasting like Martha or Ina prepared it and looking like Norman Rockwell painted it?  How on earth did those ancestors get everything prepared and done at the same time?  When did they sweep the dust bunnies up off the floor?  When did they swish the layer of dust off the furniture?  When did they scrub the toilets and wipe the water spots and toothpaste off the bathroom sinks?  How is it that they were still standing upright and smiling when we arrived and not bent over, aching, and frowning and cursing as they realized they hadn't prepared something?  Why didn't somebody give me THAT training?

Our children are coming to celebrate Christmas and exchange gifts and eat the feast I'm preparing tomorrow.  We're having two types of ham, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn, green beans, rolls, desserts and cranberry salad.  (Well, at least that is what I've got planned!  Right now we might just have hams, a loaf of sour dough bread from the grocery, and cranberry salad while we sit on the unswept floor and try not to disturb the protective layer of dust on the furniture.)

When the holidays roll around, some foods are just...expected.  Cranberries at Christmas and Thanksgiving are expected.  I'm glad because I like cranberries at any time of the year - and especially at these holiday feasts!  One of my favorite dishes from childhood is a congealed salad my mother made with cranberry sauce.  Here is my mis-adventure at trying to recapture that delicacy:

• Gather your ingredients.

 

• Mumble a few curses under your breath because nobody on earth will know or care except you and Toby because you are the only two around and Toby won't tell anybody.  The curses are mumbled when you realize that you accidentally picked up jellied cranberry sauce instead of whole cranberry sauce and because you got cherry gelatin instead of black cherry gelatin.  You are determined to make this work.  So, you don't go back to the store but just persevere!
• Following the directions on the gelatin, boil two cups of water in a microwavable mixing bowl.
• While this is zapping, open the crushed pineapple and whole cranberry sauce jellied sauce and mumble a few more curses.
• Mix the pineapple and sauce together smushing the lumpy sauce against the side and bottom of a beautiful glass bowl to get rid of those lumps.

• Carefully remove the boiling water from the microwave because if you slosh it and it spills on your toes, you will have to loudly mumble curse words and Toby will run over to make sure you are alright and look at you like you are crazy.
• Mix the gelatin into the boiling water completely.
• Sprinkle the chopped pecans atop the pineapple/lumpy cranberry sauce mix and mash your lips together because you keep thinking that it would be so much better with the whole cranberries in it.
• Suddenly feel all warm and genius-like because you have a brilliant idea - dried cranberries!

• Drop a handful, or two, or three...Oh, what the heck!  Drop a good four handfuls into the hot gelatin liquid and let them sit for a minute while you wipe up the splatters of stickiness that you caused.

• Go ahead and wet a paper towel and wipe it up off the floor, too, because if you don't you will be cursing later at the sticky spot.  While you are wiping the counter and before you get to the floor you will notice that SOMEBODY has already spilled something else and there is a trail of drippiness going down the side of the cabinet and at the base there on the floor.  (Not you, of course.  SOMEBODY else did this because you would never leave a mess like that and forget about it till it dried and looked all yucky to be discovered later and cause somebody else to mumble curses!)  Then, get you another wad of paper towels and scrub the counter and the floor good.

• Pour the liquid gelatin and softened, dried cranberries into the pineapple/sauce/pecan mixture and give it a good stir.
• Get more paper towels and clean up the mess you made trying to pour, stir, and take a picture at the same time because you don't have that much coordination and Lord knows you don't want somebody else to come along and find the sticky mess YOU made!
• Give the whole concoction a good stir and carefully shift the beautiful bowl and mixture over to the fridge so it can begin to 'set up' and get all jelly-like.

• Leave it in the fridge for about an hour and give it another gentle stir to mix in the pecans that have all floated to the top.  Be careful not to trip over the dog when you get to this step or you might almost tip the entire concoction out onto the floor and mumble more curse words. 
• Cover with that clear plastic wrap that gets all clingy to itself and you have to stretch and pull and tear the first piece and then mumble curse words as you wad it up and throw it away before you get a nice flat piece stretched across the top of the bowl and tear it off the roll. 
• Smile to yourself and say, "Now!" to Toby because you feel a sense of accomplishment at having one dish ready for all the family.

*Note:  I stressed that you should put this in a pretty glass bowl.  That is something that my mother and grandmothers taught me in the training to be THE GRANDMOTHER.  Presentation is important.  You eat with your eyes before you do with your mouth.  A colorful food like this adds to the appearance of the table or buffet and everything looks and tastes better in a beautiful bowl!  No southern woman worth her salt would even consider not having something for the holidays served in a beautiful bowl!

*Another Note:  It is easy to forget this dish because it is one of the first you prepared and it gets pushed to the back of the fridge and everything else will be coming off the stove or out of the oven.  So, make yourself a note and post it somewhere that somebody in the family will see and remember to take it out of the fridge before you eat because it is a dish that you and THE GRANDFATHER would get absolutely sick of if you had to eat it - just the two of you.  Yes, this is the voice of experience speaking because I remember my mother and grandmother making just this mistake!  Let's hope I don't tomorrow!

I would advise you to prepare this dish near the beginning of your preparation stages so that you can feel that sense of accomplishment because there are loads of other dishes, lots of cleaning, and gifts to finish wrapping and beribboning and you will feel overwhelmed at all you have to do.  You are going to need that little triumph!  Trust me.  I know.  I am THE GRANDMOTHER now!

Happy Feast Preparation to all you other GRANDMOTHERS! 

(If you would like this recipe in a more concise form, you could just go HERE.)

Update on Mike's Project

Mike took on a project back in the summer.  You can read about that HERE.  Well, for several days I have been meaning to post an update to that project.  Here it is:

His first two eggs!

We have been enjoying eggs for about three weeks, now.  At first there were just a couple.  Then, four and finally there was a steady seven for several days.  Yesterday there were eight!  So, his girls are up to producing at 80%. 

They progressed to the point that I took a dozen deviled eggs to the family Thanksgiving feast today.  These eggs are delicious any way we prepare them!

What do you do with leftovers?

I've always been one who likes leftovers - for as long as I can remember.  It means I have a meal with very little effort. 

I was home alone because Mike was working - on a weekend - again.  So, it was wonderful to have leftovers to just heat and eat. 

HERE is what I did with some leftover pork loin for lunch. 

Hot Pocket

More of it will be sauced up with some bar-b-que sauce and served up to load up a baked potato for dinner.

I wonder how many days I can stretch the leftovers from this weekend to feed us...