The Way To A Man's Heart

Several years ago the oven light started to stay on a lot. Replacing the bulb all the time was not a good option and the repairman said that the door was warped and would not close properly. The oven temperature could no longer be trusted so a stand alone oven thermometer was purchased. To cook anything in the oven, the cooking temperature was adjusted higher by 25 degrees.

A cookie monster lives in my house and it's name is CarGuy. Every week I bake up a batch cookies. The last several batches have been a struggle to get right. I thought that maybe the door had warped further but CarGuy did not believe it was the door but he gave no further thought (or help) on what the problem could rightly be.

Then came the tuna casserole. The oven temp was set 25 degrees higher to compensate for the warped door and the casserole baked for 30 minutes. Supper was served. With the first bite, I knew. I looked at CarGuy and asked "Is your's cold?". He nodded and I started to whinge about the oven as I popped the casserole into the microwave. Still no response from him.

I bought a new oven thermometer and installed it in place of the old one. The oven now had a 50 degree difference in temperature. Ackkk! The next batch of cookies were made the standard way except I leaned against the door to keep it closed. BTW, a good book comes in handy for this type of cooking. Sunday, another batch of cookies was made but I decided that I was not going to stand at the oven while they baked. The resulting cookies had underdone centers and overdone edges. CarGuy was not happy that his cookies changed.

I gave him an ultimatum: either fix the oven (new door hinge and oven element) or buy a new stove. One or the other. There will be no baking until something happens. He immediately googled parts for the range.

I'll keep you posted.

Take a piece of butter the size of a walnut...

'Tis the season to do some baking and while looking for an old brownie recipe, the realization hit that chaos reigned in the recipes.

Take a close look at that photo. What do you see? Recipes, lots and lots of recipes -- 5 generations of recipes. Starting in the lower left corner and circling to the right there is
• my recipe file in the yellow and green book
• my mother's recipe file in the white book
• Auntie's recipe file in the retro yellow box
• and a great-aunt's recipe file in the silver box that includes recipes from my great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.

"Take a piece of butter the size of a walnut" say some of the older recipes. "Cook to the hard crack stage" say others. One thing I noticed while perusing all these old recipes is that I come from a long, long line of cake makers. O my! the cake recipes I found!

So where is this post going, you may ask? You are looking at the beginnings of a cookbook. I plan to use digital scrapbooking techniques and then print the book out from one of the online book publishers. I spent a lot of time on the computer, this past weekend looking for ideas, embellishments, backgrounds, etc.

The dilemma is I may get fat(ter). Gotta test those recipes you know.

Basil: an essentual herb

Do you do basil? I love the stuff. I have grown it off and on over the years with varying results. In the past, I have never had a place to properly dry herbs: a dry, warm place with air circulation. This year we installed a Tuff Shed because we needed to get a lot of things out of the garage so CarGuy could work on the latest car. Yipee! I finally have a place to store all my tools and what-not. Plus it has the added benefit of being a drying shed.

Back to basil. I know that basil is best used fresh, but let's get real: I live in Colorado. Basil is an annual and it really only grows here for the months of July and August. June is a chancy month because of hail storms. I have made fresh pesto and I love to take a few leaves and chop them up into a green salad. Mmmm... But I have too much basil to use so I am drying it. Do you know how good that shed smells? Heaven!

I pull the plant out of the ground and rinse both it and the roots well. I then I tye a string around a bundle of plants just above the roots using a slip knot. To tighten it well, I swing it in a circle over my head which has the added benefit of flinging the water off the leaves. I then hang it from a nail in the shed.

You know, this reminds me of when I was a child. There was an old Victorian house in my grandfather's neighborhood. A pretty yellow house with white gingerbread trim. The old lady who lived there used to dry things on a string strung between the pillars on the front porch. I'm thinking that this lady was probably about the age I am now and not really an old lady. Every time I dry herbs or use my dehydrator to make fruit leather I think of this lady and the things she used to dry. I remember one thing that looked like human ears. Scared the daylights out of this 10 year old girl, I tell you. I wonder what it was she was drying that looked like ears? Any ideas?

Paula's Pesto
4 cups tightly packed basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup pine nuts, walnuts or almonds
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
6 sprigs parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Place the basil in a food blender, not a food processor. (Don't try this with dried basil, it won't work.) Add the oil, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and nuts. Blend until all are chopped very fine but not smooth. Remove from the blender and stir in the grated cheese.

Use in soups and on pasta.

Wonderful recipe from Vicky

Several months ago I tried a recipe that Vicky at LA Quilter posted. It is called "Crockpot Shredded Roast Beef". Rather than rewrite the recipe I am going to link to her post ( LA Quilter: Crockpot Shredded Roast Beef ) . Try this recipe, you won't be disappointed! It is so easy and soooo good. Makes the house smell wonderful. And don't let the crockpot lid slip out of your fingers!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Everyone seems to be posting their menu for Thanksgiving Dinner. The menu at our house is pretty standard and simple:
Roasted turkey with homemade herbal stuffing
Wine
Mashed garlic potatoes with homemade cream gravy
Wine
Tossed garden salad (dressing of your choice)
Wine
Pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream
More wine

How many can I expect for dinner?

Yesterday's Lunch

I found this recipe in a newsletter that a local mechanic sends out. LOL! You never know where you'll find a good one and this is definately a man pleaser. It is similar to a green chili but uses chicken instead of pork. It just sounded good so I made some up. Yum. The container is an older version of this and I loved it so much I bought 2! Anyway, here is the recipe:

Super Simple Crockpot Chicken*

Combine 1 package boneless, skinless chicken thighs, 1 can each: 15 oz Kuners black beans with cumin and chili spices, 4 oz diced green chiles and 15 oz diced tomatoes and 1 cup chicken broth or bouillon in a crockpot. Cook 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low. Serve with a warm tortilla.

*This was not quite spicy enough for us so I added some garlic powder and more chili powder plus a dash of cayenne. And since some of you probably don't have the Kuners brand since it is local to Colorado, any brand of black beans will do just add cumin and chili spices yourself. Kuners just makes it easy. I also found it a bit thin so I thickened it up with a sprinkle of potato flakes. YMMV

And if you're counting WW points: 2 pt / 1 cup serving

Food & Fabric

...don't mix.

Okay, now I have made this post fiber related. Sew, on another note have you ever had a recipe that whenever you made it the item just disappeared? You know the one I'm talking about: it doesn't leave the kitchen or if you are taking somewhere you threaten the family with dire consequences if they even look at it. This is one of those recipes. I clipped this from a women's magazine in the 1970's. It is that old. It was an advert for Duncan Hines cake mix. The recipe itself is written strangely so read it carefully (if you can't read it you can follow the link I've provided at the bottom of the post). Over the years I have different systems for cataloging my recipes so you will see various writing and check marks around the edges. I finally just gave up and stuck it in a book. I just wanted to share. Be aware that it is high in fat, calories and sugar. But then, that's what makes it good!

Spew alert! (don't have any food or beverage in your mouth when you follow the first link) when I was looking on the Duncan Hines site to see if this recipe was posted I found this! LOL! The Lemon Cheese Bars recipe is not on the Duncan Hines site but I did find it here. Sew enjoy the treat and let me know how you like it.

Here is a fun site by Pantone. Me? I'm ARCADIAN GREEN.
ARCADIAN GREEN (PANTONE® 14-0123): POWERFUL, EXCITING, SENSITIVE

Brownies, Yum!!

Don't those look good? I made this batch of brownies last night from a recipe on Shelly's blog. I didn't tweak the recipe at all even tho I'm at 4800+ feet in altitude. Yummy yum. Thanks Shelly!