Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Sammiches make you feel good

"Ice cream" sammiches that is. I posted the recipe for lemon pie earlier. I made the comment that it would also be good with chocolate and made as lime filling. It really is! Since it was so good when I froze it, I decided to make ice cream sandwiches.

The top and bottom crust is a brownie mix, baked in a jellyroll sheet pan. I used a dough roller and flattened it and cut it in half.
You should line the pan with parchment paper or tin foil so you can flip it out of the pan. While the brownie crust was cooling, I made the filling.
Looks like a sci-fy egg doesn't it? This is 1 can of evaporated milk, 2 packages of lemon instant pudding and about a tablespoon of lime zest. When this is whisked together, it becomes thick. The second part of this is to mix vanilla and two 8 oz. packages of cream cheese until it's smooth. Add a thawed 12 oz. can of limeade concentrate to the cream cheese mixture and blend thoroughly.
To this mixture add the pudding mixture and beat until it's completely incorporated, scraping the bottom of the bowl occasionally. The mixture will be semi firm. You can refrigerate it until the brownies are completely cool.

Cover a cookie sheet pan with a sheet of tinfoil and place 1/2 of the flattened brownie. Plop the lime mixture on top and even out. Place the second half of the flattened brownie on top of the lime layer. At this point the mixture will ooze out the sides a little. You can pull the edges of the tin foil up to make a wall. Place the whole thing in the freezer.

When it is completely frozen, turn the whole thing out on a flat surface, flip it over and peel off the foil. Slice it into whatever size sandwiches you want. Put the slices in freezer bags or a plastic container with a lid and store in the freezer.

This filling could be used with 2 large cookies....make the individual sandwiches and freeze before wrapping. It makes a generous amount. The lime filling was not quite as tart as the lemon. I would think just about any kind of cookie would be good - buy them or bake them yourself. It was a pretty fun project!



Friday, August 27, 2010

Have you ever tried....

a biscuit fried? You take a can of the cheapo biscuits...just plain biscuits...drop them in hot oil and cook for just a few minutes. WOW! Really good with butter and that jam you made this summer.
I saved the oil I fried my okra in the other night. Heat it to about 350 degees (I used an electric skillet).

Place the biscuits in the hot grease...see how they start to puff.

Turn a time or two.


Lookin' pretty good!

All done....less than 5 minutes. The cornmeal stuck on the biscuits. You can do these in oil that has no crunchy stuff in it...sprinkle them with sugar or eat with butter and honey. They are super with fried chicken.

I fixed a beef roast last night, covered it with mushrooms and cooked it until it fell apart. I added gravy mix to make a thick gravy and broke the meat up in chunks. I made garlic mashed new potatoes with some of the skins left on and made slaw. We had hot beef sandwiches and I served the biscuits with raspberry blackberry jam. Gosh was it good!

Happy birthday to my daughter! She's STILL my baby!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Wow!

Hubby found a package of baby back ribs marked down to $5 because it was the expiration date. I rubbed them down with Worcestershire and sweet, smoky rub.
Hubby put them on the grill and I made baked beans and stuffed eggs.
I used three cans of pork and beans, Worcestershire, brown sugar, mustard, molasses, chopped onion and green pepper. I didn't have any bacon so I dotted the top with bacon grease from my freezer. They went in a 300 degree oven to slow cook.
We have found the best way to boil eggs is to fill your pan with cold water, submerge the eggs and add a teaspoon of salt. Bring them to a boil, cook for 5 to 7 minutes, move off the burner and let them sit until the water cools. They seem to peel easier and don't over cook.

I peel the eggs, cut in half and remove the yolks to a small bowl. I add finely diced onion, my sweet pickles, ground pepper, a little seasoning salt and Miracle Whip just to moisten the ingredients. You can add a little diced jalapeno for pep. If you like savory eggs, use dill pickle and mayonnaise. The consistency should be a fluffy mixture that will hold a shape.
Place the mixture in a plastic bag in one corner, gather the bag at the top of the mixture and cut a small piece off the end.
All you have to do is squeeze the bag over each egg and fill the yolk cavity. EASY!
Sprinkle with a little paprika or chili powder for a little color.

The ribs were perfecto...
The beans were well cooked...
And all in all it was pretty good!

It was so beautiful out last evening...cool with a breeze. Hubby took the ribs off (they had been wrapped for the last hour of cooking) and set them in the oven. Since I had everything else done, I got to enjoy the evening outside. We ate late and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Have a great day!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Yeah!


Good old spatchcock chicken, baked corn on the cob and fried okra...make you slap your pappy! I did lemon teriaki chicken this time...we had just picked the okra and I dredged it in seasoned corn meal and fried it. The corn was out of the freezer. The chicken was less than $4...so supper was cheap and plentiful. I have enough chicken left to make chicken salad or just re-heat. The okra bites the dust pretty quickly and I never seem to have any left to throw away. Same with the corn.

We had Little Man and Big Guy yesterday. It had turned off so nice we all went outside. Nice breeze and overcast...Little Man got a bucket and toted pea gravel all over the place - he looked like a miner when we went inside. Hubby gave him a cowboy hat and he walks around saying "Howdy Partner" and has a bandana tucked in his back pocket that he whips out and blows his nose on.

Thank Goodness for the babies...they keep us on our toes!

Have a great day!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Who stole the apples from the apple tree?

Hubby stole the apples from the apple tree. And they were good. I "fried" them in a skillet with butter,
sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar, added just a little water and put the lid on the pan. After the apples are cooked tender, skew the lid and let the water cook off. What you have left is a caramel-like sauce. Replace the lid and move off the heat.

They are good as a side or put a little whipped cream or ice cream for dessert.

Hubby also got some peppers from a friend and asked to have more stuffed green peppers. These peppers would not stand so I followed the directions for the regular peppers (boiled them in water for about 10 minutes) and cooled them down. I then split them length wise and removed the seeds and membrane. I then laid them on the bottom of a baking dish.

The filling, this time, was ground beef, onions and garlic, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, a can of drained mushrooms and a small can of tomato sauce. I mixed it all together and put a layer over the peppers. The topping is 1 small can of tomato sauce and 1 drained can of diced tomatoes seasoned with garlic and worcestershire. Spoon it over the meat mixture. It bakes at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes, sprinkle with parmesean cheese and serve.

It was very, very good and completely different from the peppers we had the other night. It re-heats very well so that will probably be lunch today.

It is raining right now and is so nice...everything was about to burn up and this will really help green up the yards and trees. Maybe we are about to cool down some, it's supposed to be in the 60's Thursday night. That will be a welcomed relief.

Have a great day!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Love those balloons...

so much that he's been sleeping with them.

Little Man spent the night last night...the balloons are now 4 days old and still up in the air. He went to bed with the tv on and passed out...he was outside in the sprinkler yesterday and was worn out. We had balloons in the face - balloons all over the bed  - and at 4:00 this morning I hung them on the night stand drawer. They are really neat when they get caught in the ceiling fan....sounds like a machine gun.

A neighbor brought over some fresh catfish last night...gonna have them tonight with oven fried new potatoes and slaw. Sounds good to me!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Birthday!


Little Man had a really cool birthday yesterday...note the Hollywood sunglasses and the "motorcycle". He couldn't carry all of his gifts at one time and we kept having to pick stuff up that he'd dropped.
                               
The green thing at his right hand is Wally. Wally is not in very good health - he's had several surgeries and is on his last leg. Daughter and I have both searched the internet looking for another but evidently Wally was one of a kind. He's a floppy hippo with tusks. Ducky, in his left hand, is not in much better shape. His beak is in tatters and will probably fall off with the next washing.

I have a story to tell. I was born in Memphis, TN...my parents lived in Tunica, MS, just by Memphis. We later moved to Kennett, MO, in the Bootheel of Missouri. When I started school, I became fast friends with some of my school mates. One of them was named Patricia Ann and one was Jacqueline Ann. My name is Patricia Ann. All three of us were born on May 31, 1949. All of us were born in Memphis in the same hospital, and we all had the same baby doctor. Patricia Ann's mother was our Girl Scout leader, from Brownies to Seniors. We all camped together, went to school together, had huge birthday parties together and generally acted like one big family. When I went to work at the state school for the severly handicapped, Patricia's mother was head teacher there. There was never a kinder, nicer and sparkier person in the world. She passed away yesterday at the age of 83.

I would hope that you all have the opportunity to know and love somebody like Mrs. Parmenter. She was a true inspiration and guide. She had a wonderful knack of living life to the fullest. She will be sadly missed.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Looky, Looky

We are finally getting rain! I saw these clouds roll in and got so excited I had to take a picture (finally got some batteries). It started to sprinkle while I was outside.


Hubby and Little Man were out and about early this morning. When they came in Hubby said it was pouring in Tulsa. They made a stop in Bixby and he said it was raining hard there. So far here in beautiful downtown Glenpool it is raining steadily.

An update on the lemon pie...we had some last night after supper. I was uncertain about the texture - it wasn't what I had expected after being refrigerated for 24 hours - SO I covered the thing up and put it in the freezer. What a difference that made! It didn't exactly taste like sherbet or ice cream...it was creamy and cold and good! I will make it again, but I think a dark chocolate wafer crust will give it a little oomph.

(Looks like I forgot how to use my camera) This is the frozen pie I had for breakfast this morning...along with a leftover stuffed green pepper. Not very good breakfast food, but I got up at 5 a.m. so it was really lunch time for me.

I'm going to go outside and get rained on!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Oooh, pie!


This is one of my dogs, Suzy.I am still experiencing a lack of batteries...I just wanted to give you something to look at.

Got hungry for something sweet today. I had seen a recipe for a re-make on lemon icebox pie, so I thought that sounded good. IT IS! Very simple to make, and I have already thought of a variation that sounds good too.

1 (12 oz.) can of evaporated milk
2 (3.4 oz.) packages lemon instant mix
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 (12 oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 (9 inch) graham cracker pie crust

Whisk together evaporated milk, both boxes of pudding mix and the lemon zest in a bowl until mixture is thickened - about 2 minutes.

Beat softened cream cheese and vanilla with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Add thawed lemonade concentrate, beating until smooth. Add the milk mixture and beat until well blended. Pour into crust, cover and chill until firm. Serve each slice with whipped cream.

Now. The filling is very good - tart and sweet. I was thinking a lime pie would be pretty good too. You could just substitute limeade for the lemonade, lime zest for the lemon zest, and use a chocolate crumb crust instead of graham cracker. You would have to add a little food coloring to make it green. The lime taste should over ride the lemon pudding, especially with the use of the fresh lime zest.

You could also make it in a square cake pan, and scoop it out or cut it in squares. I have also made the old fashioned Eagle Brand, lemon juice (or lime juice) and 1 egg pie, folding in a carton of whipped topping. It makes the pie a lot fluffier and adds mass.

I miss my camera.

Friday, August 13, 2010

SOME DUMMY

forgot to buy batteries for her camera. I made a pasta salad last night and had everything all cut up and placed....went to take a picture so I could describe the whole thing and TA DA...no power. Oh, well.

I make this salad a lot...it's very good and goes with about anything. It's really good for a crowd because you can make as much or as little as you want.

Bowtie pasta (or any of the shapes, shells are good too)
cucumbers
tomatoes
dill pickles
onion
black olives
celery
ranch dressing
pepper

I boiled, drained and cooled about a half a box of pasta, and added about 1/2 to 3/4 of cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, black olives and onion. Chopped up of course. I use about 3 dill pickle strips chopped - you can use slices - and pepper to taste. Mix everything together and pour on as much ranch dressing as it take to moisten everything. It holds well in the fridge....really good with barbecue.

This heat is about to get to me...if I go outside I melt. The dogs stand at the door and look at me like please don't make me go out. Hubby has been coming home in the early afternoon so he doesn't have to work in the hottest part of the day.

My kids are at the intern stage of their culinary training....son-in-law will be at Wolfgang Puck's new restaurant in Brookside. Daughter will be a Mamadou's here in Glenpool. She has worked for them for quite some time and will be learning the business end. I'm sure they are both happy school is winding down for them. I'm very proud of them both...working, National Guard, school and two babies...I don't see how they do it.

Have a cool day!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I stuffed...

green peppers last night.
Cut the top and core out of the peppers. You can use a spoon to get the pithy part out, rinse well to get all the seeds out.
Brown the ground beef...you don't have to cook it to death. I added the chopped onions and cooked til they were translucent.
Put your peppers in boiling water or use a steamer. Cook just until they get a little tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and drain. Place in a baking dish.
I seasoned the ground beef with a little Worcestershire sauce, pepper and garlic, then added about a cup of my salsa.

Put the seasoned ground beef mixture in each pepper, gently packing down as you go. NOW...this is where Hubby and I don't see eye to eye. I think ketchup should be one of the seven basic food groups. He, on the other hand, does not share my fondness. I would have put ketchup or a ketchup mixture on top of this like you would on a meatloaf. But in the interest of not seeing him curl his upper lip at the sight of baked on ketchup on the peppers, I left them plain. You can use your favorite barbecue sauce if you like.

I added a little water to the baking dish and cut up some new potatoes and laid around the peppers, baked them at 350 degrees until the potatoes were done.

When the peppers and potatoes were done I sprinkled them with american and white american cheese and returned to the oven just until the cheese was melted. They don't take very long to cook since everything is already cooked before assembly.

Some people like rice in them, some like them with Italian seasonings, some people like a little tomato sauce or drained canned tomatoes in the meat mixture. These would have been good with Spanish rice as a side but I just didn't have it in me. Fresh tomatoes were pretty good with them.

It's supposed to be dangerously hot today...guess I'll stay in and pout.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Bless Kansas!

We found out where the corn came from...Olathe, KS. No wonder it tasted as fresh and sweet as it was...it was almost local.


We had teriaki chicken breasts which I baked in the oven. I stripped some of the husk off my corn, topped it with butter, pepper, a little garlic salt and cajun seasoning. I put it in the oven with the chicken and baked it about 30 minutes (the oven was on 325). When the butter melts, it carries the seasonings and butter down around the whole ear. It was pretty tasty!

Gonna do stuffed bell peppers tonight - I was not in the mood to do any more salsa right now, so I needed to use the peppers I bought. When I do something like this, I usually make enough to have leftovers - they re-heat well. 

It's too dang hot to do anything active right now...SO, I sit at my little computer and farm on Facebook. My daughter got me hooked on it and I am trying my best to become a wealthy land baron. It's been really fun - I have grown everything in make believe, raised horses and cattle, bought a crop duster, and on and on and on. It kills time! I'm about ready to start painting again, we have been working sporadically on the kitchen and I need to see something finished soon.

Stay cool!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Oh My Goodness!

I didn't want to stay cool yesterday, so I decided to try out some mixed berry jam. It was only 100 degrees plus yesterday. I thawed out my raspberries and blackberries. I put the raspberries through the food mill and got the prettiest pulp you ever saw. I crushed the blackberries with a potato masher.

I added my 7 cups of sugar and put it on the stove.

I just followed the same old recipe...cooked it to a rolling boil that can't be stirred down, added the liquid pectin and timed for 1 minute after it returned to a rolling boil.

The aroma was unreal...and the color was beautiful. I ended up with 8 half pint jars and an oddball I put in the fridge which we had with breakfast this morning. Very, very tasty...and filled with a lot of love.

Elderberries are supposed to be coming off this month...we are going to go elderberry hunting if we can. They are all over Oklahoma and I think I may have seen some at our favorite fishing hole. We will take our fishing poles with us in case we don't locate berries.

Have a great Monday!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Salsa Day

I made salsa yesterday and I tweaked the recipe a little. Since we will not have the on-going tomato crop, I used half drained diced canned tomatoes and half fresh tomatoes I had frozen. It was every bit as good as the original and still had the good summer tomato taste. So I still have enough for 3 more batches in the freezer.
This is the boiling water bath...I made all pints to can, we had a quart I didn't process - just put it in the fridge, and a small bowl we ate. Pints process for 15 minutes.

This is me in my torn up kitchen....we took the wall out and are slowly but surely finishing it. Those jars are hot, hot, hot!
It really turned out great...I got 8 pints in addition to the quart and bowl.

We also found some corn...of all places...WalMart. We bought a few ears to test...it was yellow and white, clean, and the raw kernels were sweet. (I snitched one). I put them on top of the fresh greenbeans and new potatoes and steamed it. It was very, very good. It was also only $.30 an ear, making a bushel only $18 as opposed to the $25 price at the produce store. We are trying not to be hogs, but we are going to go back and get more to freeze. I cut the stalk end and the top end off and freeze it in freezer bags. It holds very well like that and all we have to do is wash it and put it on the grill.

Sure would be nice if we had a little rain in the near future. Have a glorious day!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Uh-Oh!

We finally went grocery shopping and boy did we get a surprise. We went to Aldi's first and got a few canned goods we needed to restock. On the way back home we went to the produce store to get a few things. I have never been so disappointed in my life...we had called about a bushel of corn and they told us they still had plenty. Evidently, between the time we called and the time we got there...the bushels were gone, and what was out I wouldn't have. It was wormy and looked like it had been picked sometime last week. Plus, it was $.79 an ear. Squash was $2 a pound and nearly everything in there was high as a cat's back.

They did have really nice green peppers and onions, so I got enough to make two batches of salsa with the tomatoes I froze.  Their tomatoes were $2 per pound, and a half bushel was $15. I would have been afraid to can with them...they were soft and some were starting to "bruise" (just about to go bad).

So, I'm very, very proud of what we were able to put in the freezer. I did buy some fresh green beans, they were pretty nice, and I got enough new potatoes to cook on top of the beans.
I watched TV while I snapped the beans. This colander I have belonged to my Mother...she had it before I was born so I guess it qualifies as an antique. One leg is missing and it has dents all over it, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Wash the beans and set them to drain.

Put them in a pan with a lid, salt and pepper them, put in a chunk of onion and season with bacon drippings. Add water just to the top of the beans, place over medium to low heat, cover and cook and cook and cook. We like them slow cooked for about a half a day. When they get done, set them off the heat. At supper time, make sure they have plenty of liquid, put them back on the burner and when they start producing steam, place your cleaned new potatoes on top and cover. Don't peel the new potatoes...just cut out any eyes or spots you don't want. I salt the potatoes and let them cook for about 20 minutes. You can skew the lid a little to get rid of the excess liquid.

I had a very nice pork roast in the freezer and will bake it, have the beans and new potatoes and sliced tomatoes for dinner.

We only spent $36.30 at Aldi's...I got 2 lbs. of real butter @ $1.99 per lb., 2 lbs. of fresh strawberries @ $.99 per lb., pasta, assorted canned goods, wheat crackers, 2 cake mixes, and snacks.

At Country Mart, we got 10 lbs. of ground chuck for $21 which they broke down into 1 pound portions and packaged for free, 4 cans of tuna @ $.49 each, cilantro for the salsa, 2 bags of chips, a whole fryer, hot links and bologna, a bag of salad and a large head of cabbage. We spent $41.28 and have $18.31 left on the card. I have to get some ground cumin and oregano at WalMart, so I should still have enough left to buy milk and bread later on.

This afternoon - can salsa!


Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Well it's official.....

tomatoes out, okra in. Services will be held this afternoon following the demise of our tomato plants. Despite dramatic attention and TLC, the heat was just too much. They have just quit producing. We have been debating whether or not to re-till and plant something, but until the heat breaks I don't see much future in it. The okra, on the other hand, is thriving and bountiful.
We are getting about a half gallon every day right now. If it doesn't get picked every day, we have to pitch the huge pods so I either check early in the morning or late afternoon. I still can't get used to the color, but it surely is nice okra.

Hubby promises we will go grocery shopping this afternoon...going to try for corn today. My daughter and son-in-law's friend who lives with them polished off a quart of my salsa overnight, so my daughter wants to make him a double batch he can call his own. Since I don't have enough tomatoes to make it, we're going to check the produce place and see if we can buy a bushel. We only have one jar left here - and I have enough for two batches in my freezer, so I've got to get moving on the canning operation. The stuff is that good...it doesn't last very long.
This is Little Man...he doesn't have anything to do with tomatoes or okra, but isn't he cute! He spent the night with us Saturday night...helped Pawpaw water the yard. We had to change his clothes twice because he wasn't very accurate with the hose. I think he even watered Pawpaw.

Stay cool!