Giving Thanks

I am giving thanks for family. I am always glad when my son comes home from Boston, which he did last night. This year is special because we have a new member of the family, Maggie Louise, who was born just nine days ago. My daughter made a hat and sweater for the baby to wear home~

She didn't know if the baby was a girl or boy, so there was the decision to be made about a name.  Many were tried. Maggie fits just right~

Maggie spends most of her day eating and sleeping.  My daughter will sometimes catch her awake for a photo~

We are delivering Thanksgiving dinner to Maggie's house this year.  I think I'll go wake her up~

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Until further notice, I will be holding the baby~  

Unpacking

It's good to go away, and it's good to come home.  Then there's all the laundry, accumulated mail, sorting, and putting away that needs to be tended to.  This trip had an excellent element to the unpacking in the Fiesta!ware.  Some pieces are for me and some are for my daughter.  Look at the colors~

Ken picked out the sauceboat because it turns out he likes the color tangerine.  All the poppy pieces are for my daughter, as well as the red tray with handles and the medium sized bowls I now know are labeled "bistro."  The small bowls are my choice for berries, snacks, or ice cream.  Ken chose the bowls that have square bottoms; the red pitcher was my prize, although the oblong platter that is really a bread plate is fun, too.  The three pieces at the top of this second photo were special selections not bought as seconds~

Once the pieces were unpacked, washed, dried, and sorted as to who got what, I needed to make room in my cupboards.  Clearing out kitchen cupboards can be tiresome or fun, and in this case it was the latter.  I had to question why I am still hanging onto bowls we've had since the beginning but no longer use and how many drink glasses two people really need.  The goal has been to add color and usefulness, and our latest purchases accomplish both.

Fruitcake

The first word that comes to mind on Valentine's Day is not fruitcake.

But that's the word for the day this year.

Yesterday I finally got together all the ingredients necessary to make my mother's fruitcake recipe. It took some doing ~ my daughter gave me several containers of candied fruit she had stowed away. Over the course of several days it took me three trips to the store to remember grape jelly, grape juice, and white raisins. I usually have everything else on hand, though not always in the quantities I needed for this project.

It took two hours to mix the batter and four hours for the cake to bake. It cooled overnight and today I paired it with apple slices and wrapped it tightly in foil so it can "cure."

Fruitcake is for Christmas, right? And I thought about it then but couldn't get everything together in time.

When the kids were little I tried to do all the holiday baking in a timely fashion before the third week in December. As they got older life got busy, and one year we made Christmas cookies between Christmas and New Year's when we were all home and had the time to do it together. It was fun. The world didn't end. It was clear that self-imposed limitations weren't always the best idea.

So when my daughter and I started talking about how much we wished we had some fruitcake, it made sense to see about making one. While I didn't exactly plan to have it made for Valentine's Day, it fits that today is the day the fruitcake is wrapped up and on the shelf.

I think it will be ready to slice by St. Patrick's Day ~

Would You Like A Muffin With That?

In my house muffins are their own food group. They are good at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I have been known to make these delectable little treats the main course. Muffins are great snacks. I don't think I've ever met a muffin I didn't like, and right now our favorite muffin is the Apple Raisin Muffin found in I Remember...Recipes & Memories Cookbook published by the Maine Alzheimer's Association of Portland, Maine in 1999.

Apple Raisin Muffins
from Peggy Thompson of South Portland, Maine

3/4 cup vegetable oil [I use olive oil]
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon [or less if that suits your taste]
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups peeled, diced apples [any variety]
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tins. Beat together oil and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well blended. In another bowl stir flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to oil mixture, stirring just to combine. Stir in apples, raisins, and walnuts. Bake 20 to 25 minutes for regular-sized muffins, 15 to 16 minutes for mini muffins.

Enjoy!

Acorn Squash And Sausage

This is a recipe that has evolved over many years. A friend shared it with me, and I have made changes so that by the time the casserole gets to the table all I have to do is eat and enjoy. The amount made here is enough for two because that's how many I usually cook for now. I use an 8 x 10 pan that is the perfect size ~

Acorn Squash and Sausage Casserole

1 medium sized acorn squash
a pound or so of ground sausage, spicy or sweet
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup of bread crumbs [I use dry stuffing mix]

Cut the squash in half, clean out the seeds, but leave the skin on. Make each half wet and turn upside down, with skin up, on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until squash is tender, about 45 minutes. While squash is baking, brown sausage and onion in a skillet. Once squash is cooked, remove from oven, peel, slice and place in single layer in greased casserole. Mix bread crumbs into sausage and spread over squash. Bake at 350 until hot through and nicely browned, about 30 minutes.

I haven't tried this with other kinds of squash because I like acorn, but it would probably work with your favorite. The recipe works with any kind of sausage, although if it's a mild flavor I do spice it up with basil and oregano.

Enjoy!

Self Indulgence

Three nights last week I made delicious dinners: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, fresh kale, and warm homemade applesauce on Wednesday; quesadillas, Spanish rice, and kale salad on Thursday; and baked acorn squash with sausage and breadcrumbs on Friday. I was on a roll.

Then we had leftovers all weekend. Saturday I made oatmeal cookies.

I still had enough tidbits this week to keep me fed and happy while Ken was out of town.

Tonight I made vegetable bean soup, with pinto beans left over from the quesadillas [a recipe that is so good I will share it when I get the cookbook, a computer, and my glasses in the same room], kale salad, and apple muffins [another new recipe that is wonderful].

There was a shift from the dread of having to make dinner to thinking about what might taste good for dinner. The only expectations were the ones I put on myself...

and I carried that thinking right into the first three days this week. I don't have a cold or the flu. I haven't just had surgery. In fact I'm in excellent health. That doesn't mean that I can't take a few days off once in a while.

I spent three days without one "should."

It was heaven.

I spent one whole day in my quiet house with nothing on my agenda other than reading Julia's blog from the beginning. I started reading her sometime last year because my daughter kept sharing funny vignettes about Julia's kids. I'd been curious about her story and decided to take time to read it, and I'm glad I did. Julia persevered. She said it might not make sense to others that she wasn't giving up, but that was okay. Though our situations are in no way alike, I totally understand her unwillingness to let go of her heart's desire.

That doesn't mean that it's not a good idea to take a break once in a while.

Other things I did this week included eating Twizzlers, going to the movies with my daughter, hanging quilts on the clothesline for that fresh air smell, enjoying Netflix offerings that I know don't interest Ken, and taking long baths.

I feel refreshed. The laundry got done today and the car will get inspected tomorrow.

The world goes on whether I'm paying attention or not.

Zucchini Relish

Back when we had two small children, Ken and I tried our hand at canning. We had a neighbor with a large garden, and he often shared his surplus. We canned tomatoes, green beans, pickles, and zucchini relish. My favorite of these was zucchini relish, which I hadn't thought about for many years...until my friend in town gave me two large zucchini. I couldn't resist ~ found the recipe, fired up the food processor [which we didn't have lo those many years ago when we grated everything by hand], and put together a batch of relish. It's hard to capture the beauty of this particular relish, and I finally resorted to taking a jar outside with the hope that the natural light would shine through the beautiful color ~

I will share the recipe with the caveat that it is sweet. I remembered that after a taste test, when I also remembered that I cut down on the sugar in the days when I made a second batch.

Zucchini Relish (makes 7 pints)

Grate 10 cups of zucchini and 4 cups of onion. In a large pan combine the two and add 5 Tbsp. pickling salt; let sit 8-10 hours.

Rinse and drain.

Grate 2 red peppers and 2 green peppers; add those to the zucchini and onion mix with 1 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 Tbsp. tumeric, 1/2 tsp. pepper, 5 cups sugar, and 2 1/2 cups white vinegar.

Mix everything and bring to a boil. Simmer 30 minutes. Pack into hot jars and process 15 minutes in boiling water bath.

This is good with anything grilled, and we will enjoy it all winter long as a reminder of the taste of summer.

Blueberry Cake

A friend from town came for coffee this morning. It was good to have a chance to catch up on town politics and what's new in our lives. Each of us has been thinking about the other and we just needed to make time to get together.

For a treat I made my most recent go-to coffee cake, which I usually make when there will be more than one or two of us partaking of its deliciousness because I could eat much more than I should. This time of year, even before Maine's blueberries are ready, those marvelous juicy orbs are available in the produce section. And they are a super food, don't you know....

Here is the recipe from the I Remember...Recipes & Memories Cookbook published by the Maine Alzheimer's Association of Portland, Maine in 1999.

Melt In Your Mouth Blueberry Cake
from The Honorable Susan M. Collins, U.S. Senator

2 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cups fresh Maine blueberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat egg whites until stiff in a small glass bowl. Add about 1/4 cup sugar to keep them stiff. Set aside. In a larger bowl cream shortening and add salt and vanilla. Add remaining sugar gradually. Add unbeaten egg yolks and beat until light and creamy. Add dry ingredients, alternating with milk. Fold in beaten whites. Fold in fresh berries lightly floured. Turn into greased 8 x 8 inch pan and sprinkle top with sugar. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

Enjoy.

Taking Her Chances

My daughter's birthday is tomorrow. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, hoping she would pick something easy. I am not known for baking cakes. Pies, yes. Cookies, yes. Bread, yes. Cakes, no. She knew she was taking her chances when she sent me a link for a chocolate peanut butter cake. I decided to make it today just in case things didn't go as planned.

I corralled the ingredients ~

I was pleasantly surprised when the cakes came out of the pans as promised ~

and I was able to apply the peanut butter/cream cheese frosting without incident ~

The chocolate glaze pooled onto the plate more than it was supposed to ~

but I consider this project a success. The cake is setting up in the fridge to be enjoyed when we all get together tomorrow night. I will have no problem scooping extra chocolate onto each plate and calling it "presentation." Oh, there was a bit of chocolate left over that I will need to use up later on Breyer's vanilla ice cream....

Merry Christmas everyone!

Good Food For Every Day

This morning I started my day with oatmeal.

I have always been a cream-of-wheat kind of girl, which is my first choice for breakfast on a snow day.

Ken likes oatmeal. Until I figured out how to make oatmeal so I can eat it, I used to make cream of wheat for me and oatmeal for Ken. The kids could have whichever they wanted, and they usually opted for Cheerios.

Then I figured out that if I use a bit more water and cook it slowly, I can eat oatmeal, though I've never made it just for me.

Until today.

This week-end I flipped through Eat This Not That! by David Zinczenko, 2008. It's a fun book that makes suggestions about which foods to eat at chain restaurants, which prepared meals are better than others, and which snack foods are least bad for you. Little of this information pertains to how I eat on a regular basis, although I did learn that the crackers Ken and I like aren't the best for us.

The best information I got from this book was the list of "8 Foods You Should Eat Every Day." Spinach. Yogurt. Tomatoes. Carrots. Blueberries. Black Beans. Walnuts. Oats. I think it's a great list because I already like almost everything on it.

I don't like yogurt, no matter what I do to it or how often I try it.

And I was a little light in the oats department. I like my homemade granola but don't always have a ready supply.

So today I made oatmeal for breakfast. I like it with brown sugar and low-fat milk.

Then I went outside to shovel and rake rocks for two hours.

Oatmeal, my new energy food.

Oatmeal Bread

It rained all last night and all day today. It has been a long, disappointing week. Today I needed comfort food, so I made a loaf of oatmeal bread. I am going to share the recipe because it's my favorite bread recipe from one of my favorite people.
Marie's Oatmeal Bread
Makes two loaves of bread. Recipe can be halved.
3 Tbsp. shortening
1 cup oats
2 tsp. salt (I never use this much)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 tsp. soda
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. yeast
7 - 8 cups flour

Put shortening, oats, and salt in a bowl. Mix molasses, soda, and 1/2 cup boiling water; add to bowl with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. When cool, add warm water that has had yeast added. Mix in flour. Knead 8 - 10 minutes. Rest on counter 10 minutes. Shape into loaves and turn into lightly greased bread pans. Rise once in pans until over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

A Photo And A Recipe

We lost internet service yesterday. I unplugged, replugged, and reset everything I could think of, and nothing helped. This morning I bit the bullet and called the phone company. It took a bit of work and a few false starts, but I got connected, when plugged into the modem but not while wireless. I called the wireless router company, and I got that up and running again, too. Then for the cost of $9.99 and another thirty minutes, in addition to the hour I'd already been on the phone, I "secured" our network. I didn't do this before now because I didn't want the hassle of password protection. With all the stuff flying around in cyberspace these days I thought it was a good idea. We'll see if Ken agrees with me later....
This post is following up on two things I promised my sons ~
The first is a photo of the wedding topper that Ken and I used on our cake:

The second is the recipe for a family favorite ~ chocolate chip brownies. I started making cookie batter into brownies over forty years ago, long before any company advertised this option. My reasoning was simple: my brothers couldn't eat all the "cookies" before I finished baking the last pan because they all came out at the same time!

Hershey's Chocolate Town Chip Cookie-Brownies

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet choc chips

Cream the butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the flour and baking soda to the creamed mixture. Add the chocolate pieces and blend well. Spread the batter in a greased 13" x 9" pan. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes; watch carefully at the end and remove from oven when golden brown and pulling away from the edges of the pan. Cut into squares and allow to cool, which makes them easier to take from the pan. Enjoy!

Monday Melting

We never lost power. Twenty miles south of us 37,000 have had no electricity for days, and 20 miles north of us homes and businesses have lost power for hours at a time. Other than a few small limbs down, we escaped unscathed.

I honored our good fortune with good old-fashioned domesticity. On Saturday I reorganized the closet in the family room to make room for various items and containers that have never had a permanent home. I made a space for the vacuum cleaner, that has roamed from room to room since we moved, and my new full-sized ironing board, because the table-top version I bought when we moved is just not working for me.

Saturday night I made crab cakes for dinner and oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. I baked peanut butter cookies on Sunday and tried a new recipe for chicken and sausage cassoulet for dinner, which passed with flying colors.

The temperatures over the week-end stayed well below freezing, single digits at night, although the sunshine made it seem warmer. On Sunday Ken asked if I wanted to go into town and walk around. I asked if he meant we should bundle up, get into a cold car, and drive 20 miles to a place where the power is still out. He said we could get a cup of coffee. I said I could make coffee.

Monday brought 50 degrees. The water poured off the roof, and the icy coating on the driveway turned to slush, which I managed to shovel off the steepest incline over the course of the afternoon.

Our road looks to be a string of potholes. I haven't been past the driveway since Wednesday, when I had studded snow tires put on my Outback. I've driven the last two winters with all-season tires, and I got the feeling last week that I was pushing my luck. I felt good about my decision when I handed T the keys to my car on Thursday.

Hunkering down is my default position. When in doubt, stay put.

Today I will hit the road again for a haircut and acupuncture. In between I will have coffee with my daughter, who is working nights this week and next. I have other errands to run, but I'm not sure I feel like braving the stores today. I think I will re-enter the fray with caution.

Peanut Butter Cups

As promised ~

The photo is a bit blurry but the best I could do. It gives you an idea of what a homemade peanut butter cup looks like. This batch had a bit too much peanut butter, which makes the bottom soft. I cut them up and keep them in the freezer. Each one is a delicious morsel of homemade peanut butter cup heaven.

Here's the recipe:

2 sticks butter or margarine, melted

2 cups confectioner sugar

1 1/3 cups crushed graham crackers

1 cup peanut butter

Mix above ingredients and spread in a greased 9" x 13" pan.

Melt 12 oz. chocolate bits. Spread over base mixture. Refrigerate. Cut into squares.

Makes 30-36 squares.

I used to make these at Christmastime to share with friends. I ran across the recipe when I was cleaning out my recipe file. If I cut them into small pieces and keep them in the freezer, they last a long time. I wanted to make them this fall to impress my youngest son, who hasn't been impressed by anything I've done lately. By the look on his face when he licked his fingers, my plan worked. Priceless.

Making Pies

This is possibly the best fresh raspberry pie I have ever made. It could be because I bought the berries, which came with good karma, from the local farmer's market. Or it might be that I paid attention to how I prepared the berries for the pie. Whatever the reason, it is some good.

Before I share the recipe, let me share that making pies is my thing. For some reason I have always been able to make pie crust and turn out a delicious pie. I can make cookies, too, of the simple variety: chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, oatmeal. And while they taste good, my cookies vary in texture and size and taste from batch to batch. Cakes are another story altogether. As my family can verify, there is a 50-50 chance that a cake I bake will turn out the way it's supposed to. More often than not the cake tastes okay, but it rarely looks like the picture that accompanies the recipe. My husband has learned to ask for a birthday pie.

I started making pies as a teen-ager. I pulled out my mother's Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and followed the directions for a basic pie crust. I don't remember what kind of pie I first made, but it was a success so I used that pie crust recipe from then on. I now cut back on the shortening, and the crust is just as good.

For a double crust, I measure two cups of flour and sift into a bowl; cut in 1/2 cup of no-trans-fat Crisco; stir in 7 Tbsp of cold water just until blended and dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half. Roll out half on floured board or counter to fit 9 or 10 inch pie plate. Fill with desired filling. Roll out other half of dough and place on top. Crimp the edges together. Cut slits to allow steam to escape. Bake as directed. *I almost always make this recipe, either for a double crust pie or for two single crust pies. If I need a single crust I cut this recipe in half.

Yesterday, when I bought the raspberries, I realized I was going to have to use them right away. We've had an abundance of rain, which has left berries almost overripe on the vine. Once home I put one pint at a time in a strainer and placed the strainer in cold water to gently wash and pick over the berries. Then I spread the washed berries out on paper towels to drain while I washed the next pint. I'm not usually this careful but I didn't want to waste any of the fruit, and the careful handling meant very few berries had to be discarded.

I had other projects going on in the kitchen so I did something else I rarely do - I layered the berries in a bowl with sugar: 1/4 cup sugar, one-half of the berries, 1/4 cup sugar, one-half of the berries, topped with 1/4 cup sugar. Then I covered the bowl and left it one the counter. It was over an hour before I got back to the raspberries, which had started making juice. In another container I mixed 6 Tbsp of flour with 3 Tbsp of sugar, and then I gently folded that into the berries. I turned the fruit into a prepared pie plate, dotted with 1 Tbsp of butter cut into several small pieces, and topped with the second crust. The pie was supposed to bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, and then at 350 for 20-30 minutes longer. My oven, a convection oven that I still am learning to use, was already on so temps and times got confused. Follow the recommended time at each temperature, and check at 20 minutes to see if the crust is brown. Berry pies are done when the crust is done, unlike an apple pie where it matters if the apples are done, too.

I let the pie sit for a couple hours, to cool and gel a bit. Later, Ken and I enjoyed pie and ice cream. It was one of those culinary experiences where you hope you've discovered a bottomless pie plate and can enjoy raspberry pie until you've had your fill. Or, when you run out of pie, you hope you can find two more pints of raspberries. Or blueberries....