It's January! And There's a Recipe!

This is a definite Foodie picture! 

 I made these for Christmas.  I used to make

a lot more but downsizing cramped my style!

It's January and time to address some topics specific to the new year.  But, what to choose!  I have been putting off this blog because I am overwhelmed with ideas!  HA!  Here are a few:

1.  Revisit my Bucket List from one of the first blogs I wrote after I retired.  This is kind of a catch 22--Energizing to start working towards checking off some but depressing because too many cost too much for my meager pocketbook!

2.  Talk about weight loss (a huge topic and advertising gimmick for the new year).  This is also kind of depressing.  I went in to get some stitches removed and had to weigh in.  I discovered I'd gained back about 15 lbs since my big loss after my revision surgery 2 years ago! I better put my money where my mouth is and try to deal with my vertical sleeve properly!

3.  Reminisce about many of our snowmobiling adventures!  I think that has possibilities.  Still not enough snow around here to actually snowmobile!

4.  Because I am a Foodie I can always write about food and recipes!  I actually am intending to add a recipe to this blog!

5.  Plans for exercising.  Yes, I do have some but I can't even motivate my self to write about them, let alone implement them!

6.  Write about my sewing adventures.  Now that I am living in town and have set up my sewing room this has a lot of possibilities.  I actually do have a plan for a couple blogs but I know some of my readers are not sewists (sewers has several meanings).  I would like to motivate them to take up this hobby but know it is futile to try with some of you! HA!

7.  Write about my Backwoods memories, also known as childhood memories.  I love doing this and as we grow older, I notice that my memories of certain incidents don't seem to match the memories of the other participants.  It's kind of interesting to hear their take on what happened as opposed to mine.  There are a wealth of stories from those days!

8.  "Fun family trip" memories! The Manville family trips and Christmas debacles are legendary in our family.  I'm sure all my readers can come up with some fun thoughts about their own "fun family adventures" as well!

Well, that just scratches the surface.  There are all those blogs I wrote and said I would continue in a later blog that I never did contine!  I also had some pretty cool blogs on the Blakeman Sewing and Vacuum sight that got lost when the sight was upgraded.  Now that I have rambled on I need some feedback from readers, friends and family as to what I should start with!  Today I think I will just post a recipe and a couple pictures and call it good.  Then I think I will go back and look at my bucket list just to see if I need to check some off and add some new ones!

  As I recall I said something about adding a new blog every day! I now know that is unrealistic for me.  I am too perfectionist about my writing and it takes me way too long to post a blog each day.  I have too many other things I like to do so I think it is more realistic to post every week or two.

  Anyway, here is my recipe for my Yogurt Sundae Breakfast.  It has developed over the last two years.  Here is the backstory.  Two years ago this month I had to have revision surgery from my lapband of 10 years to a vertical sleeve (a definite blog subject for later).  During the 10 years I had the lapband I never was able to eat breakfast.  Shortly after the surgery I spent several months with my college roommate, Annie, in Phoenix.  She is wheelchair bound and I helped her fix some of her meals although she could do her own breakfast.  I observed what she made every day except Sundays, but it didn't appeal to me. I thought with a few changes I might try it to see how my sleeve would react.  I tinkered with it and now I have my version of breakfast every morning and I do love it!

Ingredients for my breakfast

MEEMO'S YOGURT SUNDAE

1/2 Medium Banana

1/4 C. Noosa*Yogurt, vary the flavors

2 T. shelled roasted sunflower kernals

1/4 C. granola, i.e. Quaker's Simply Granola (I actually make my own)

Fresh sliced fruit or dried diced fruit, Craisins, raisins can be added with or used instead of bananas.

*I love Noosa!  I use the honey flavored or some of the flavors that are mixed with the spicy peppers!  Also Tart Cherry, Lemon, Lime, Mango, Strawberry Hibiscus, Raspberry Habenero, and some others.  You can use your favorite but I warn you, the Noosa is the best! Oh, and expensive unless it is on sale!

Layer the ingredients in a parfait glass or just mix them up in a bowl and enjoy!

Skyler and Kara helped to assemble my
bathroom cabinets while they were here!
My decorating is slowly coming together!

Fried Mush

Fried Mush with butter and Maple Syrup!

I’ve been missing my dad lately. He’s been gone for over 10 years but is still in many of our memories. He was a huge family man and I didn’t realize that all the “little” things he did for all of us were not the norm in most families. Mom was the main cook of the family and a dedicated “foodie” (that’s where I get it from) but Dad was the breakfast maker in our family!

Dad was always finding different breakfast recipes to serve us. He had his grandmother’s 100 year old cookbook and would browse through it to get his ideas. He wasn’t into the modern breakfast casserole types of recipes. He would try out these recipes or use our favorites on the weekends. During the week when we all got up early to go to work or school, he made the same thing every morning but that is a whole story for another blog! My siblings and cousins who lived with my parents for awhile are probably smiling right now!  

Even when my dad was in his nineties and living in Florida he would get up and pick fresh grapefruits from his trees ( he was a Master Gardener) and halve them, cut around each section and serve them in china saucers with special spoons for all of us who were visiting him!  By then he was getting pretty slow but we stayed out of the kitchen until he called us to breakfast. He would go out and pick fresh flowers for the table and have it set properly. Mom taught him well!

   

Some of my dad’s favorite breakfasts were different egg dishes and pancakes, but the ones that stick in my mind were hoe cakes, which I cannot make like his and fried mush which I had a craving for this week. It is easy to make but you do have to plan ahead now days. Back in the “olden days” I think fried mush was a way to use up leftovers. I’m thinking we had hot cornmeal mush for breakfast and there was a lot leftover, ha! Not really a favorite in the family I guess!  Anyway, the next day we would have fried mush with maple syrup that we tapped from our maple trees (which was another one of Dad’s projects). Yummmm!  Today, as I was making my fried mush, I realized that the molded (not moldy!) block of mush looked and tasted like Polenta!  Hmmmm!  I never thought about that before—I guess I could go to the store and buy a block of it from the refrigerated section....

Here is the way Dad made it and how I do it—pretty simple.

 Fried Mush

1 Cup cornmeal

4 Cups water

1 tsp. Salt

Follow directions on the box for Corn Meal Mush.

When the mush is cooked butter a large loaf pan and pack the mush in it. Refrigerate it overnight or until it is chilled and set up.

Sorry, I can't make it rotate but you get the idea.
My slices

Nice and crispy!

 Unmold the block of cornmeal and slice into about 1/4 inch slices. Fry in butter or bacon grease until golden brown and crispy on the edges.

 Serve with butter and syrup or jam and jelly. You know I love it with maple syrup! Wrap the rest of the block in plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for later!  I haven’t tried freezing it but I think that might work too. 

I think I will look up Hoe Cakes on the internet and give them another try.  I never could get them to be as thin and crispy as Dad's were but am willing to give it another shot!  Have a great day! See you at my next blog!

One Way to Idle Away An Afternoon

Here I am learning how to paint with watercolors on a cruise.

I am just a little embarrassed to do a show and tell on this story but here goes:

Yesterday the planned afternoon event here at the rehab center was "Painting With Cheryl".  Annie and I didn't pay much attention to it because we both must have had some kind of traumatic art experience in our youth and are definitely stick figure types  of drawers.  Annie claims she can't draw a straight line with a ruler and I just knew I had never had much formal training in the basics of drawing and painting.  It seems my early art experiences were mostly craft type things, although I do remember having to take some basic art class in college that had to do with the color wheel. There was also a class where I had to plan a house with all the furnishings and draw the outside elevations for it.  I pulled an all-nighter  on that, and my sister-in-law, Barbara Ann, had to come to my rescue and help me brick in the house exterior at the last minute to get the project done on time.

When I was on my cruise in the Panama Canal I got talked into taking a watercolor class with some friends I met on board.  We had a great time with a lot of laughs. I have to say the teacher was great, and I did learn a few basics, although my finished products certainly wouldn't win any prizes but were quite colorful. 

My friend Anasuya laughing it up in watercolor class on the cruise.

Back to Annie and I ignoring the call for the painting class.  About 10 minutes after the announcement a lady came to our door in an apron and invited us to come down and paint.  We both let her know we were not painters but she was not going to take no for an answer.  She told us she could teach anyone to paint and she didn't have anyone show up so we were it!  I remembered my friend Tory the art teacher in Owyhee and Wendover telling me the same thing.  I also thought about all the fun we had in the watercolor class so I ended up talking Annie into giving it a shot.

 

Penny's Work of Art.

By the time we got down to the rehab room where Cheryl had set up the painting table there were 3 others we had met on the way and talked into going too.  Cheryl had a painting she had done of the desert in fog at sunset that we were using as a guide.  It turned out that one lady was quite an artist and the rest of us were not.  We had a fine time and some good laughs.  It was very enjoyable and we got to take our pictures home with us.  Our families will certainly be fighting over who will get our lovely sunset pictures!  Cheryl did teach us some techniques and provided all the paint, brushes, canvases, and good advice while we painted.  I do think with the proper teacher I could learn to like to paint.  Maybe I need to stock up on supplies and go on You Tube........

 

Annie's Work of Art

On another note, here is something both Annie and I are much better at.  This is a recipe that Annie has made for many occasions through the years and people clamor for the recipe.  It is quite simple but delicious! 

 

This is more my speed.  I made some sushi on that cruise.

      Snicker  Cake

1 German Chocolate cake mix

1 pkg. Caramels (14 oz.) 52 caramels

1 stick margarine

1/3 C. milk

¾ C. Chocolate bits or just shake from bag if you like lots of     chocolate

1 C Nuts chopped

Mix cake mix according to directions.  Pour half of batter into 9”X 13” greased pan.  Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Melt caramels with margarine and milk in the microwave for about ten minutes checking often to see when melted.  Pour over the baked cake, sprinkle with chocolate bits and chopped nuts.  Dot with remaining cake mix on top.  Bake additional 20 minutes at 250 degrees and 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

From Ann Tenant

Sorry, I don't have any pictures for you of this cake.  But you can use your imagination all you Snickers lovers!

 

An impressionistic study in art class on a rocking ship.  HEHEHE!

Happy Fourth of July With A Lovely Summer Recipe

Ooooh!  Aaaaaaaah!  How I do love fireworks!

 On this day before the Fourth of July I am thinking about some of my favorite Fourths.  When I was young and living in Milwaukee I remember staying at home and making home-made ice cream.  We had the old fashioned hand crank kind of freezer and I remember taking turns sitting on it while Dad did the cranking.  Getting to lick the dasher after Mum took it out was a favorite thing for the whole family.

  After dark we would lay on blankets in the yard and watch the sky.  In those days every suburb and small town around Milwaukee had their own fireworks.  We lived on the outskirts very near the State Fair Park which had great fireworks.  Of course the biggest ones were down on the lake shore.  Anyway, we could see fireworks all over the sky from all these venues.  It was great.  After that we had sparklers for all the neighborhood kids.  Guess what, none of us ever got hurt but then our parents used common sense and stressed safety to us even back then.

Four generations picnicing on the Fourth of July in Twin Falls, ID.

Other memories include spending the Fourth in the old Laramie hospital 4 days after Danny was born, Watching home done fireworks in the mountains of Pennsylvania with my cousins at their summer cottages, watching some of our teenage summer workers on the ranch shoot off fireworks up on the Delaney Butte adjacent to the ranch, and going to Steamboat Springs with our grand kids and other relatives to watch the best fireworks around shot off the top of the ski jump mountains.  One year was memorable when a huge thunderstorm came up during the fireworks so we had the lightning show along with the fireworks over at Steamboat!

Erin, JJ and Ozzie at Steamboat Springs waiting for the fireworks on the Fourth of July

 Oh and who can forget running for your life up in the fairground grandstand in Walden when the volunteer firemen tried their hand at shooting off fireworks and wayward ones might come at you right into the stands!  There are so many different experiences now that I think of it.  I could go on and on.  One last memory was when I had students in Boston over the Fourth.  What a sight that was with all the small boats on the James River, the Boston Pops Orchestra playing in the Park with more that a million people along the river, on the river, and in the parks.  The music of the 1812 Overture and spectacular fireworks was overwhelming.  So much for the reminiscing now for a great hot weather recipe not normally associated with the Fourth of July!

This is how Bob enjoys watching the fireworks at Steamboat Springs.  None of that fresh air for him!

This is a recipe that Carla came up with here in Phoenix where it was pretty hot even in late April.  We didn't want to heat up the kitchen and were too busy running back and forth to the hospital, so it was convenient to just stop at the store on the way home.  Of course when I am at the cabin I need to do the chicken cooking at home, but then it isn't that hot up there even in the middle of summer.

Carla's Curried Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 broasted chicken from the grocery store 

1/2 - 1 cup seedless grape halves

1 apple cored and cubed

1/2 cup celery, chopped ( this is my addition--Carla doesn't do celery!)

1/2 cup glazed or sugared pecans, chopped

1/2 cup Craisins

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2- 1 tsp. curry powder 

1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions:

1.  Remove the chicken from the bones and cube.  I would guess you would get more than you need for this recipe so you could use it for enchiladas or fajitas.  Use about 2-3 cups of chicken.  Put it in your salad bowl.

2.  Cut grapes in half, chop your apple and celery and put these in the bowl with chicken.

3.  Chop your pecans into nice size pieces so you know what they are in the salad.  Add them and the craisins into the bowl.

4.  Stir the curry powder into the mayonnaise and then stir into the chicken mixture.

5. Whip the cream into soft peaks and then fold into the salad.

Keep chilled, serve and enjoy!

The whipped cream makes the difference in this recipe.  It is delicious.

So what are we doing tomorrow here in Phoenix for the Fourth of July?  Our plans are pretty quiet.  Watch Happy Feet 2, watch the Diamondbacks play the Padres on TV,  go to Outback for dinner and watch fireworks on TV.  Too hot outside and we can't see any fireworks from this part of town......

I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July holiday this year!      

A Tasty Breakfast Treat

Alyssa, Natalie and Samara show off their "100 days of school" necklaces they made with candy.

 Annie and I have been going through a lot of the recipes she has cut out of the newspaper and came upon a really good breakfast recipe for a variation on French toast.  I tried it a couple times and think it is a winner.  Here it is:

Scrambled French Toast

From Phoenix Living, August 21 2010

Ingredients

3-4 slices stale bread with crust (French bread is delicious)

2 large eggs, well beaten

1/2 cup milk or cream

1/4 tsp. salt

4 slices crisp bacon, fried and crumbled

Butter and maple syrup

In a skillet, fry bacon until crisp, reserving bacon fat.

Cut bread into small cubes and place in a bowl.  In another bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and salt until well blended.  Pour egg mixture over bread cubes and gently toss with fingers or a spoon to coat all cubes.

Reheat bacon fat in the skillet.  Add soaked bread cubes and cook on medium-high, turning occasionally until cubes are set and well browned.

Crumble bacon and sprinkle over each serving.

Serve with warm maple syrup and plenty of butter.

" It's a Facebook Thing"

This picture was taken June 30, 2011.  It is the high line going up over Buffalo Pass.  We have never seen this much snow this late in the year!

This spring we have been having a lot of issues with our phones.  I have written about the cell phone problems in earlier posts. See There's No {lace Like Home and Update on Cell Phone Situation  but now I want to talk about our home (land line) phone. (Click on these links to read more about my cellphone woes!)

As soon as we got home in late May we noticed our phone would get a lot of static on  it while we were talking and then it would cut us off.  This is a usual problem every spring and it takes maybe a month for the repairman to find the problem and get it fixed so we are quite used to it.  We had reported it maybe 2 or 3 times so far this spring and were assured they were working on it so no big deal.

About 10 days ago, first thing in the morning, Bob picked up the phone to call our neighbors who are on the same phone line.  He got a message about no longer being in service and hung up.  He was going to try again but discovered the phone was completely dead.  This would not have been too much of a problem except we had friends coming to visit that afternoon and they needed to call us to get directions for driving out here!  As mentioned in our cell phone blogs our cell phone was useless at the cabin and our neighbor's phone wasn't working either.  Bob finally suggested I should email one of our kids or all of them and tell them to call the repair department.  That would have been good if I could be sure any of them would check their emails before the evening.  Then I hit on a great idea.  I would put out a plea on Facebook!  Someone from Walden is always online and maybe they would call for me.

I put up my status and went to do the dishes,  I decided I'd see if anyone had seen it and lo and behold There were all kind of responses!  Former students and friends were asking what company, my phone number, etc.  I posted all the info including the repair department  phone number.  I went back to my dishes and a little while later I checked again.  At least 2 people were on the phone with them and writing on Facebook telling me what to do and adding their own assessments of the situation ("the lady I'm talking to is stupid"; "The woman I'm talking to thinks it is a hoot that we are doing this on Facebook!") .  I guess the phone company received quite a few calls about my phone that day and one of the callers explained it to the lady like this:  "It's a Facebook thing!"

Not more than 15 minutes later our phone had a dial tone!  By early afternoon The phone guy called to see if we had service!  Pretty fast for our area!  And shortly after, our friends were on the phone getting directions to our cabin!  Not bad for North Park, huh? Truly, A Facebook Thing !  Footnote:  Another phone company thing; The next morning our phone was dead again!  Within the hour, without any Facebook prompting it was back in service and we have only gotten occasional static since!

Just a a quick update on the cell phone.  Jim changed our service to Verizon.  While I was in Steamboat on Monday I got a new Verizon  cellphone (a Samsung very similar to the ATT one--but of course with different technology!) .  It works!  Even at our dining room table and in many parts of the house.  It is not perfect but is so much better.  We are all much happier cell phone users now!

Here's a recipe to celebrate our Fun on Facebook days!  This is a very quick and easy recipe, but quite delicious.  I made about double the topping that the recipe calls for  and it was yummy!  This recipe comes from allrecipes.com.

Some great muffins that are really easy to make!

Banana Praline Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup chopped pecans*
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar*
• 1 tablespoon sour cream*, I didn't have sour cream so used heavy cream.  Someone else used plain yogurt.
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 small ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups packaged pancake mix, I used Quick Mix (similar to Bisquick)
• * I doubled these

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine pecans, brown sugar and sour cream; set aside. Combine egg, bananas, sugar and oil; mix well. Stir in pancake mix just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Drop 1 teaspoon of pecan mixture into center of each muffin. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until muffins test done.  I put more than 1 tsp. of pecan mixture.

Yummy, moist, muffins with a tasty crunch!

Pug's Tuna-Mac Salad

A great meal for a warm summer evening or a winter lunch with a bowl of tomato basil soup!

My mom, Pug, was a registered dietitian. When she got us all up into school, she took a job as dietitian for the Milwaukee County School system's School Lunch Program.  She planned menus, trained the cooks, ordered the food and in general supervised the whole program for a number of schools out in the county.  She also had some of the catholic schools around town.  I inherited all her standardized recipes when she died but by then I had learned many of the favorite recipes they used because we also had them at home.

Kim and I were busy today working in her new garden, watering her lawn and running errands.  It was hot (in the upper 80s) and we realized we had not come up with anything to eat for supper.  Neither of us was in the mood to cook so I suggested one of the all time favorites at her schools, hoping the girls would enjoy it too.  It's called Tuna-Mac Salad and Mom let me in on the secret ingredient that makes it so delicious.  I am willing to share it with you.  This is kind of a "cleaning out the refrigerator" type of recipe.  So you can get as creative as you want.  I am writing this so Kim will have it to make again since she and the girls did like it and that is not always the case with the girls!

PUG'S TUNA-MAC SALAD

Ingredients:

1/2 LB. ELBOW MACARONI OR SMALL SHELLS

3 CANS (5 OZ) TUNA

1/2 CUP CHOPPED CELERY

1/4 CUP CHOPPED DILL PICKLES

1/4-1/3 CUP CHOPPED CARROTS

1/4-1/3 CUP FROZEN PEAS, COOKED

1 CUP SHREDDED CHEESE (I LIKE CHEDDAR)

1/2 CUP MAYONNAISE

1/4 CUP PICKLE JUICE

SALT AND PEPPER TO TASTE

SECRET INGREDIENT--SEE BELOW

You can add chopped onion, sliced radishes, diced chunks of cheese, sweet pickles instead of dill, olives, chopped leftover Easter eggs or any other favorite item you want.  You can also leave out some ingredients (like celery, Carla, or peas, Erin) if you don't want them.

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.  Put tuna, all chopped vegetables, peas, cheese, and macaroni in a big bowl, toss lightly.  Mix mayonnaise and pickle juice in a small bowl.  Add to the tuna mixture and toss to coat everything.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Now for the secret ingredient----  Sprinkle 3 Tablespoons of sugar over the top and then stir in.  Do not put the sugar in with the mayo, it HAS to go over the top at the end.  My Mom told me that was the secret.  And she was the boss of the kitchen as all our family knew!

A very colorful way to get a nutritious meal.

Some thoughts on recent movies and Pug's "non-chili chili"

The last couple of days I have been getting my "Lord of the Rings" fix!  About once every year or two I have to borrow the set from Thomas or back awhile ago from Brendin and Darcy to see it again!  I read the book before the series came out and have to admit that I cried at the end--in front of students!  Here's what went down.  Our school had a policy of every Wednesday in every class we spent the first 15 minutes reading.  I was strict about it and for several years I devoted my reading time to the whole Lord of The Rings!  After several years I came to the end.  It was sad but also I cried because it did end!  Some of the kids noticed so I had to explain.  I loved the movies (which doesn't happen a lot after I have read the book).  The scenery is absolutely outrageous and I have a goal to go to New Zealand to visit the areas where they filmed these movies!   I am jealous of Paul who did just that a year or so ago!

 Since we have been up in Casper I have seen some more recent movies.  Here are my thoughts on them.  The new True Grit :  I liked it and would watch it again.  I tried not to make comparisons to the old one with John Wayne.  The photography is great.  I especially liked the starry night scenes toward the end as Rooster was taking the girl for help after the snake bite.  I liked the stilted way Rooster and some others spoke like it was real "old timey".  By the way, I heard some young men discussing the movie as we were leaving the theater.   One said the snake scene wasn't as good as the old one; but I must say the snakes were much scarier!

Inception:  We watched this one on a DVD that Carla had.  It is a mind blowing, must see movie!  You have to stay with it the whole way.  No talking, leaving for a break or anything like that!  Very riveting. The ending will be a topic for discussion for years to come! I'm guessing there will be some Academy Award nominations on this one--especially for the screen play!

 

Gulliver's Travels in 3-D: This was the first recent 3-D movie I have seen.  The movie features Jack Black as Gulliver.  It is a fun movie but does not follow the book!  It is updated to make it identifiable with the younger group of viewers, and only covers the Lilliput part of the book although there is a very short part with the giant people.  Some good laughs and lots of fun!  I have to say the 3-D did not come out and grab me.  It would have been just as good without it, but I did like this movie.

Looking out the front door on a -17 degree day.  I just stuck my camera out so I didn't get as cold!

It has been very cold here lately.   Below zero and not getting any warmer even in the sun!  We have had Carla's chili which is delicious and I may have to give you that recipe another day because today I need to do the following recipe!  This is Pug's recipe that we grew up on.  I never experienced true chili until I went off to college!  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE spicy chili but that was never an option in our house!  Dad had ulcers when he was quite young and Mom was a dietitian and took her job seriously.  By the time we all came along Dad was healed but Mom continued to cook with no spices including pepper!  This is her version of chili as we knew it.  My sister still makes it and sent me this "heritage" recipe.

Pug's Chili 

Here's Pug's chili. You can do it with dried kidney beans, but for  quickness, and her method was always canned. Also, she just put everything in the pot and cooked it. No browning of onions and celery with the meat (which I usually do), but it tastes about the same. So here goes.  Lynn

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
2 or 3 cans of kidney beans (never had any proportions, so just use more of what you like)
1 #10 (I think she means #2 1/2 can--#10 is like a gallon!) can of tomatoes
3-5 stalks of celery - chopped
1 large onion - chopped
salt to taste (remember, she Never used pepper.)

Pug's Method

Cook the beef in a little oil in the bottom of a pot large enough to accommodate all the ingredients. Dump everything else in on top. Stir. Bring to boil on high, stirring occasionally. Turn down heat and simmer till it's the right consistency.

You should just try it once as is. It should tickle your memory buds. Of course we all add favorite ingredients, but that's the real recipe. 

I never made it this way--too bland-- but maybe it is good for a change or when you can't eat spicy foods!  Lynn used to serve it to guests when she lived in New York City!

Izzy's squirrel tree in the back yard.  It was -17 degrees when I took this!

An "Old School" Recipe

Carla gives me advice

An "Old School" dinner with a twist.

I just felt like I had to add a recipe today and asked Carla which one she remembered most.  She said she supposed I'd already put on Porcupine Meatballs.  Oh my gosh, no I haven't!  This brings back a lot of memories.  It is the first recipe Mom (Pug) had us make and so I followed her example and taught my children to make them, too.  I guess JJ followed my example and had Micah making them when he was young.  Now he has to call me to get the recipe every so often!

Here's my story of the first meal I ever cooked.  Mom had a meeting that was going to be late so she decided I finally was old enough to cook a whole dinner for the family.  I guess I must have been around 9 or 10 but I really don't remember.  She suggested the menu and told me how to do everything so I was psyched to be the cook!  I was making porcupine meatballs and baked potatoes.  Everything went according to Pug's plan.  The potatoes went in the 400 degree oven 1 hour before we were to eat and I got the meatballs on the stove to cook at the proper time.  I set the table and all was ready.  Pug came home and I proudly opened the oven door to get out the potatoes and I discovered a disaster!  The potatoes had exploded all over the oven!  I guess I had forgotten one of the cardinal rules of potato baking.  You must poke them with a fork so they can let the steam out and won't blow up.  I then had another lesson in how to clean the oven.  Never again did I forget this rule!  The meatballs turned out perfect so they became a standby for me.  Here is the recipe:

PORCUPINE MEATBALLS

Ingredients:

An easy inexpensive menu idea.

1 egg beaten

1 10 3/4 oz. can condensed tomato soup*

1/4 Cup long grain rice--I use Uncle Ben's

1/4 tsp. onion powder--I use about 1/4 C.finely chopped onions

3/4 tsp. pepper

1 pound hamburger

Directions:

Combine egg, 1/4 C. of soup, uncooked rice, onion, and pepper.  Add hamburger and mix well. 

Adding all the ingredients except the sauce.

Shape into about 20 meatballs.  Put into a large pot or skillet* . 

I don't need this big of a pan!

Mix the rest of the soup with 1/2 C. water or enough to cover meat balls and pour over them.  Bring to boiling, cover and reduce heat to a simmer.

Ready to cover and cook.  I added the Argyle sauce to the tomato soup to give it a "twist".

I cooked it 25 minutes instead of the 20 set on the timer for Casper.

  Cook for about 20 minutes or until all pink is gone from meat and rice is tender.  (takes longer up in North Park!).   Skim off any fat and serve.

*Hints:  I use a pressure cooker up at the cabin and cook for about 12 minutes.  You can use tomato sauce instead of soup, add some Italian spices to your sauce before cooking and serve with Parmesan cheese.  You could also add a teaspoon or so of Worchestershire sauce instead of Italian seasoning for a little zip or maybe some chili powder or cumin.  Now that I am thinking about it, I think I will use some of my Argyle Sauce**   instead of the soup!!  That sounds yummy!

** See my blog for recipe: 9/29/10

All set for a nice dinner when we get home from the matinee at the movies.