Wednesday, October 31, 2012

cheers

Happy Halloween everyone!
Are you ready for all the little ghosts and goblins that will be knocking at your door later today?
 
 
 
Boy...nothing could stop my kids when they were young on Halloween night.
They were like two postmen...
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night
stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
 


Our family has had some fun times over the years for Halloween...
we are a little bit like the Munsters and the Adams family.
 
 
But enough of that...
lets get cooking.
 
Halloween night usually means homemade soup at our house.
We get a few bites between monsters knocking at our door.
 
Tonight I'm serving it with beer bread.
Have you ever had Tastefully Simple's beer bread?
It's delicious and too expensive $.
 
I like cooking with beer and prefer the taste of the dark ones in my recipes.
 
 
So I went looking for a taste-alike recipe for it and came up with this one.
 
Beer Bread
2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 heaping tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 bottle of beer
 
Heat oven to 375, grease the pan. Whisk the dry ingredients together and add the beer stirring slowly until mixed. Pour into the bread pan and bake for 35 minutes then turn the loaf and bake for another 25 minutes. Bake until the toothpick is clean and the loaf is golden brown.
 
Like Tastefully Simples...
I add a tablespoon of melted butter over the top before baking.
 
 
Reminder: If you don't want your baked goods to taste like your
Great Aunt Winifred's...
only use the freshest of ingredients.
 
 
Enjoy all those trick-or-treaters tonight...
and try not to get tricked.
b

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Sweet Goodness From Mississippi

We were given a big box 
of Mississippi Sweet Potatoes!

The sweet couple 
that brought them for us
said, "Y'all were so kind to us 
for letting us hunt on your land last year,
we brought you some of 
the best sweet potatoes in the world!"




So last night we had
sweet potatoes
squash
and 
pork chops

I have never fixed them before,
so I had to do a little looking around
for different recipes first....

I found this one in the ladies guild cook book....



(don't you love the old recipe card I found?)

I was lucky enough to come across
this card on Nana Moon Shop blog
(thanks Danylle!)
you can download it free from her site
if you are interested.
I downloaded her recipe card then
used photo shop to type 
Mrs. D.D. Fokken's recipe
for Boiled Sweet Potatoes on the card

( and this is why it takes me all day to cook supper)

anyhooo....
after several blog land distractions...

I managed to do my own thing with the 
sweet taters...

I wrapped them in foil, baked 1 hour
(along side my squash)
then smothered them 
with butter, brown sugar,
a little salt and pepper,

(isn't that how any
good German cook would do it?)

back in the oven to 
melt it all together....





MMMMMMM!!!!!!

Delicious.

Sweet Goodness
from
some sweet folks
from Mississippi,
Thank Roy and Patsy!!





Y'all Come Back Now!!
Lisa





Wednesday, October 10, 2012

chilly weather

When the weather turns chilly
we make chili at our house.
 I always make a big pot of it because we all know...
 the longer chili sets the better it gets.
Mom always made hers in a large cast iron kettle on the stove.
No recipe needed for chili is there?
Everyone has their own likes and dislikes.
Chili
ground beef
lots of onions and peppers
we like celery in ours (the way mom made it)
chili beans and black beans
whole tomatoes, preferably fresh
 chili seasoning
celery salt
salt and pepper
and here's my secret...a little sugar
A good cook knows that everything tastes better with a pinch of sugar in it right?
Mother used kidney beans...
 I don't think they had the assortment of beans then like we have now?
My sister adds potatoes to hers...
that is just so wrong!
My Mr. likes his HOT...
I have to hide the chili powder!
 I like to eat mine with a fork
never add water.
And if you need a few extra calories...
and don't we all?
Serve your chili with grated cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips..
Enjoy...
b


Time to write a letter



Dear Lovely,

When did I sign up for such a crazy life?
Could somebody please pull my file
and find the form I signed
 that said...
"you are hereby informed
your life will be hectic and crazy,
if you are up for it 
sign here:"

I was obviously delusional when
I signed said form
and would appreciate
you stamping it 
CANCELED!!

Now that that's off my chest
I can sit down with 
a cup of tea
and write my dear sister
a letter!
(just like the old days)

Your card is in the mail, Sis!
Love, 
Lisa