Family Reunion

I trekked off to a family reunion yesterday.  It was good to see folks I hadn't seen in a while - or even for years!

We shared some delicious food and some stimulating conversation and told and listened to some by-gone tales.

Since I forgot to ask permission to post photos to the web, I'm only sharing a couple which feature family members I'm sure won't mind.

Why is it that we never seem to take enough photos?  As I was editing this collection, I kept thinking that I hate I didn't get some posed group photos.  There was an old photo album from my grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary and a few other pictures there and it would be nice to have a few photos from this gathering to share with generations years from now.

We mentioned that we need to get together more often.  So, maybe there will be a next time.

Old-Fashioned Dishes for a Family Reunion

I've been craving old-time dishes lately.

Maybe it is because we have Mike has a garden and some of the produce is ripening and fresh garden veggies make me think of lots of the dishes that my grandmothers served up using their garden produce.

Maybe it is because I'm getting older and thinking more like the grandmother I am.

Maybe it is because I'm trying to stir up dishes which are more low-carb for Mike's diet and I'm finding lots of recipes just are not low-carb.  Like one I'm making today that I just love!

Who knows why but when I got out of bed this morning and strolled into the kitchen to prepare what I am taking to the family reunion, my thoughts went back and I started thinking of what I liked to eat when I was a girl and we had family gatherings more often.

One of those recipes I remember my grandmother serving when we would go to her house for Sunday Dinner - which was the meal right after church...

The noon-time meal...

Lunch as I call it today...

Wonder what happened to that tradition?  Maybe when we got older, and the family members got more numerous, and she and Granddaddy moved off to Unionville, the Sunday Dinners seemed to vanish.

Fast times and less family visiting, I guess.

She would always serve this dish at spring and summer visits and I remember it well - Macaroni Salad.  I never got her exact recipe for this dish or for how she fried the VERY BEST fried chicken in the south.

I really regret that now but I was young and times were fast and I didn't do a lot of the things I should have done way back then.

Well, today I found The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Macaroni Salad and it tastes very similar to my Muffa's.  So, I tweaked it a wee bit and it is very close.  Maybe next time I will add a bit of mustard or mustard powder or mustard seed to the dish and see if that is what it needs to be more Muffa-like.

I'm dashing off to the Family Reunion in just a wee bit.  I'll go off with my deviled eggs laid out in a flower pattern on a pretty white plate with a basketweave-patterened-edge, sprinkled with plenty of paprika and a little bit of parsley just like any well-trained southern woman.  In the other hand I'll have my Old-Fashioned Macaroni Salad in a pretty crock bowl nestled in a basket surrounded by ice like all self-respecting southern women would do.  We southern women know just how the old-fashioned dishes need to be presented even if we don't have the exact old-fashioned recipe and are concocting our very own version.

As I'm entering this post I'm thinking of one of my favorite children's picture books, We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past, by Jacqueline Woodson.  I know our reunion is probably going to be much like that story and we will be creating memories for the younger folks in our families.

Hope your Sunday is filled with warm memories of fun gatherings because I know it is probably going to be warm wherever you are if you are in the south today!

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.

Independence Day!

Hope you have a happy Fourth of July!

From our hearth to yours

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.

Garden Update!

A week or so ago we were in a state of panic!  Mike's tomatoes had been diagnosed with a disease.  He was frantic!

Now that he has treated them a couple of times with a copper sulfate spray, the initial distress has calmed.

Then, as luck would have it, we had a bit of a wind-storm later that week.  Sometimes we feel like that old Hee Haw song, "If it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all..."  The wind-storm blew over almost all of the little fence-tower-thingies that Mike had positioned around the tomato plants to support them.

Now the fear was that the plants were pulled out of the soil with roots exposed or were broken up and fruits knocked off the vine.

The two of us spent a bit of time uprighting (Is that a verb?) the plants and fence-tower-thingies.  Mike also drove some stakes in the ground and wired the fencing to the stake to support and hold them steady.  (Notice the deep ruts from our feet to the left of the plants in the photo above.)

It was not a pretty sight!  We were in mud up to our ankle bones setting the plants and fencing aright.  There were some mumblings and rumblings and some outright cursings in the garden that afternoon - no rambling that afternoon.  All the plants were saved and we only found a couple of ping-pong ball sized fruits were knocked off the vine, thank goodness!

At this point, many of the plants have climbed up through the fencing towers and are reaching out the top.  They are still blooming and we even noticed a pink fruit yesterday with much excitement.  This is a first year attempt at having a garden in this particular spot.  So, we are fighting Johnson Grass weeds and spend a bit of time pulling them and picking up rocks almost every afternoon.  We are mildly frustrated at the thought that we have a fungus in the soil that impacts Mike's precious tomatoes but I think this might be the best garden spot of all we have attempted here.

It is nice and flat.  The soil worked up beautifully.  We have a water spigot nearby.  The barn is nearby for storing gardening tools.  There is a nice shade tree.  Mike has started a mulch and composting pile in hopes of having a reserve to help prevent damage from the fungus next year.  You can see the wood shreds and chips piled up in the far-ground of the photo above.

In other gardening news, my purplish lilies have been blooming prolifically and are beautiful!

My hydrangea is also blooming beautifully.

My Aunt Mae lily has also been gorgeous.  She has bloomed - not just once...

...not just twice, but is on her third set of blooms!

Having plenty of rain and unseasonably low humidity and heat days has been such a blessing during these early summer days!

And finally, the children really were generous with this guy for Father's Day and he has enjoyed the bounty while embroiled in all his grass-cutting.  Stephen and his crew gave Mike this canopy to shade him while mowing.  Although not seen in this photo, the new grey T-shirt with the patriotic Tennessee T from Bryan and his crew is also a favorite.  Since I installed a radio app on his phone so he can stream his tunes, the headset that rests on his neck and has ear-buds attached from Bridgette and her crew has become a regular piece of his attire, too.  I think it might have been charging on this particular day - but now it is routinely set to charge each evening when Mike comes in so it will be ready for the next day.

So, when the gardener is happy, everybody is happier!

Well, honestly, I hope that by the time you are reading this, a ripe tomato is on my plate making me happier.  Yum!