You all remember the story of Goldie Locks and the Three Bears.... Someone had been intruding on the poor bear family and ate their porridge, sat in their chairs, and slept in their beds.
I can relate to the bear family because someone has been eating my winter garden of peas, carrots, and lettuce. The tender sprouts were growing so nicely. It was a little unnerving to get up each morning and see my tender plants plucked and dug right out of the ground. Ugh!
I called our city's animal control and they said if I caught the critter, they would release him into the hills. My neighbor came to the rescue with the trap and advice. The little critter was caught red handed and is now roaming the hills above the beautiful city of Duarte. We'll see if he has a mate, and if he does, hopefully we'll be able to reunite them soon.
You can read part II of this saga by clicking here
Pre-heat over to 400 F. Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients with beaters (milk, pumpkin, butter or margarine, egg). Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Stir in raisins last if desired. Line muffin tins with liners or grease with spray. Fill each up 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 min. Makes 12 muffins.
Purchase the boxed cake mix of your choice + whatever frosting you would like to pair with it (or make your own!)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine:
Cake mix of your choice
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs, beaten
Place walnut-sized balls of dough onto a baking sheet that has been sprayed with Pam (or whatever you prefer). Bake cookies for 8 - 10 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, move to a cooling rack until completely cool. Spread frosting onto the backside of a cookie and top it with another.
Typically makes about 45 cookies = 22 cookie sandwiches, plus a bonus cookie to eat as you frost. :)
Potatoes, peeled and diced (or leave on the skins if you use red potatoes)
Onion, cut into big slices
Carrots, peeled
Celery, cut in large chunks
Beef of some sort (I used browned ground beef. Stew meat would be awesome. Leftover roast would work, I'm sure.)
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 pkg. onion soup mix
Water
Seasonings to taste (I used pepper, Mrs. Dash, and Creole seasoning)
Throw everything in a crock pot and turn on low. Leave and go for a long, long hike. Come home, salivate as you pull into the driveway because you can already smell it, and eat three big bowls.
Ok, so maybe you can enjoy this even if you haven't been hiking all day. But it definitely tastes ten times better if you have.... :)
If you have some time on your hand, and want to make some cool Halloween cupcakes check out how to make them here . This web site has some pretty amazing ideas. I have a link to www.makeit-loveit.com on my sidebar to the right.
Pilar Fonbuena taught a canning class in Relief Society and told us about this recipe that she got years ago. I asked her to email me the recipe. Below is a copy of the email she sent me.
Here's the recipe for the Tomato Soup. I got this from Pam Hadfield in 1980 or 1981
1 lug tomatoes = about 15 lbs (I used 23 lbs in the last batch I made)
Cook the following vegetables separately
5 onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped
1 bunch celery, sliced
15 medium carrots, sliced
1 bunch parsley chopped - add to carrots after carrots are cooked
1 pkg pearled barley (I used 2 cups) - cook 10 minutes, then rinse
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
Add all ingredients together with 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup salt and simmer 10 minutes.
Bottle and process 15 minutes in steamer or water bath canner
Measurements are not exact, but turn out OK each time.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
I got this recipe off allrecipes.com. Click here for the link. The bread has a nice banana flavor because it uses lots of bananas. When I made the recipe this morning I used 5 medium sized bananas to get the 2 1/3 cups of mashed bananas called for in the recipe. I made muffins out of them instead of bread. I just lined muffin tins with cupcake papers and cooked them for 15- 18 minutes.
Click here for another banana muffin recipe found on this blog. It doesn't call for as many bananas, but I'm sure it's a good recipe too.
Add vinegar to sugar, whisk well. Add oil and salt Whisk everything long and fast unti it thickens to the consistency of Karo syrup.
Sugar almonds:
3 cups slivered almonds
1 cup sugar
Heat sugar in teflon coated sauce pan on low heat until melted. Add almonds and mix to coat. Remove from heat and let cool.
I was cleaning out my email inbox and saw this recipe from April Steimle that she sent last summer. We had it at the dinner that was served between stake conference sessions last August. I remember that it was really good. I would substitute rice vinegar for red wine vinegar. No one has officially taught me how to sugar almonds. I was happy to read the detailed instructions. I never knew the ratio of almonds to sugar and I didn't know that you should start melting the sugar before you add the almonds.
Fall is my favorite season. I love the fall weather, starting of a new school year, and planting my fall vegetables garden.
The one thing I will greatly miss about summer are the summer fruits. Almost EVERY DAY for dinner this summer I have served a fruit salad. Below is a picture of one we had last night.
Included in this salad is:
Watermellon
Cantalope
Honey dew melon
Green grapes
Other fruits that I have included in other salads are:
Pineapple
Bananas
Strawberries
Kiwi
Red grapes
Apricots
Peaches
Nectarines
Mango
In our town of Duarte, we have local food markets that sell produce at a fraction of the cost of grocery store chains. I can go into one of these markets and for $20 have a basket full of fresh fruits and vegetables to last the week.
We have a lime tree in our neighbor's yard that hangs over our fence. We love to slice a few up and squirt some lime juice our our fruit salads to give it a lime zip to the salad.
Lisa served fruit for a work event the other day. She said she served about 100 people for $22. She went to a local market that sold fresh fruit. She bought watermelon, cantaloupes, honey dew melons, grapes, and pineapple. She said she would have bought strawberries but the market didn't have any that day. Then she cut the fruit into big chunks and put them on skewers, and served the skewers off a serving platter. That was a great idea to serve lots of people fruit.
Goodbye summer and fruit salad. Hello fall and homemade apple sauce and apple crisp. (Made from apples grown on our apple tree in our back yard.)
I saw this in the paper from Mary Hunt's column entitled: Ordinary Ingredients Can Produce Magic Results . debtproofliving.com
If you haven't experienced the power of original blue Dawn plus white vinegar, you are in for a treat. Remove the top of a plastic spray bottle, and fill half of it with white vinegar. Carefully heat it in the microwave until the vinegar is hot, taking care not to melt the bottle.
Fill the rest of the bottle with blue Dawn liquid dishwashing soap. Apply the top tightly. Gently shake the bottle to mix. That's it. You now have a powerful cleaning product that will melt soap scum and tub and shower buildup and clean sinks, appliances, and just about anything else. Just spray it on, scrub, rinse and be amazed. For tough soap scum buildup, spray the mixture on and allow it to sit as long as overnight. The scrub and rinse.
9/17/10 I made this and used it to clean my tub and stovetop. I thought that 50/50 ratio of Dawn to white vinegar is too strong on the Dawn. I since have tried a 5% Dawn to 95% vinegar ratio and it worked a lot better. The other way was just too soapy.
I saw this in the paper from Mary Hunt's column entitled:Ordinary Ingredients Can Produce Magic Results . debtproofliving.com
Here's a recipe for weed-killer that has the power of Roundup for a fraction of the price. Mix 2 cups of ordinary table salt into 1 gallon of white vinegar that has 5 percent acidity. Add 8 drops of liquid dish washing soap.
Label it, and keep it out of the reach of children. This is not toxic, but it will kill any and all vegetation, even the good stuff, so be careful where you spray it.
Another caution: Spraying this multiple times in the same area will sterilize the soil so that nothing will grow there for a long time. It is ideal for killing weeds that grow between cracks in your sidewalk and other areas where you don't want vegetation.
I think I'll whip me up a batch and spray the brick path in my front yard!
Mix all other ingredients together and pour over chicken.
Cook on High for 5-7 hours.
Remove chicken and shred with fork. Serve on flour tortilla, with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa...the works.
My sister-in-law, Brittney, is queen of finding AWESOME recipes. I don't have to look for recipes...I just wait until she serves a yummy dish to Dave and I, and then I know it's a good enough recipe to steal! "The boys" LOVE this meal...and "the girls" love how easy, quick, and satisfying it is!
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked tri-color spiral pasta
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
2 large tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup Italian-style salad dressing
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
Cook pasta in large pot of boiling water until al dente. Rinse under cold water, and drain.
Mix chopped carrots, celery, cucumber, green pepper, tomatoes, and onion together in large bowl.
Combine cooled pasta and vegetables together in large bowl. Pour Italian dressing over mixture, add Parmesan cheese and mix well.
Chill for one hour before serving.
I got this recipe from allrecipes.com atthis link. The original recipe called for 2 (16 ounce) bottles of Italian-style salad dressing. That was way too much dressing, so I changed it to 1 cup. That might even be too much. You could just add it to taste. Also, the recipe didn't call for sliced olives, but I noticed in the picture that was posted with the recipe that olives were added. I bet you could add what every garden vegetables you would like to this recipe that you think would make it taste good.
1. Give some to your friends and neighbors who would like some fresh garden tomatoes.
2. Freeze the rest to use later when you make a pot spaghetti or chili on a winter's night.
This post will tell you how to get from this....
....to this.
I found a web site that explains how to freeze tomatoes much better than I could. You can get to the site by clicking here or you can read how to do it below.
Freezing is the easiest and safest way to preserve tomatoes from your garden or the farmers market. Freezing locks in summer fresh flavor and nutrients so you can enjoy delicious tomatoes in soups and sauces all winter long!
Things You'll Need:
Fresh tomatoes
Serrated paring knife
Stockpot
Boiling water
Large bowl of ice water
Zip closure freezer bags
Step 1
Vine ripened tomatoes taste best fresh or frozen. If you didn't grow your own tomatoes, pay a visit to your local farmer's market for a wide selection of ripe tomatoes. Pick tomatoes that are fully colored and tender, but not mushy or soft.
Step 2
Clean the tomatoes by rinsing them individually under a stream of running water. Gently rub the surface of the fruit to remove any soil. If you aren't sure if the tomatoes are organic, wash them with a mild fruit and vegetable cleaner to help remove pesticide and herbicide residues, then rinse well.
Step 3
Pop the stem off the tomatoes. If it is stubborn, use a knife to carefully remove the stem.
Step 4
Fill a stockpot with water and bring it to a rapid boil. Dip 2 to 3 tomatoes at a time into the water. Remove the tomatoes from the pot with a slotted spoon when the skins begin to loosen (after about 30 seconds).
Step 5
Plunge the tomatoes immediately into an ice water bath. This stops the tomatoes from cooking and further loosens the skins.
Step 6
Slide the skins off the tomatoes and compost them. Use a serrated knife to remove any stubborn bits of peel and cut out the core of the tomato. At this point you can freeze the tomatoes whole or cut them into halves or quarters.
Step 7
Pack the tomatoes into freezer bags, leaving one inch of headroom at the top of the bag. Freezer bags that have a zipper seal work best. Squeeze the air of the bag and zip the top close.
Step 8
Save room in your freezer by laying the bags of tomatoes flat on a freezer shelf. Once frozen, stack the bags wherever you would like in the freezer. Frozen tomatoes stay fresh for up to one year and taste best cooked into soups, stews, and sauces.
When I do step 6, I take it one step further and after I quarter the tomatoes and put them in a big bowl. Then I take my clean hands and squish them all up. (who likes big chunks of tomatoes in your spaghetti sauce? Not my kids!) Then I ladle them into a quart ziploc bag. Walmart brand are a cheaper price. (Be sure you squeeze the air out of the bag.)
2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
Mix and spread into 13x9 pan. Chill
Filling:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature 2 cups powdered sugar
Cream together. It will crumble at first, but keep mixing until smooth. Spread on crust.
Topping:
1 container of whipped topping 1 can (15 oz.) pineapple, crushed or chunks (your choice) 1-2 bananas Strawberries or other fruit Ice cream topping Nuts or toffee bits Maraschino cherries
Slice bananas on filling, top with pineapple and then any other fruit you want. Spread with whipped topping. Drizzle with either chocolate, caramel, butterscotch sauce or favorite ice cream topping. Sprinkle with nuts and garnish with cherries.
This is a super dish to make up in the morning. Then, when dinner time comes and everyone is hot and tired, just set this dish on the table. Voila! Dinner is served.
Pasta Veggie Fruit Salad
1 1/2 cups uncooked spiral pasta 1 1/2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed 1 1/2 cups celery, chopped 1 cup green grapes, halved 1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained 1 can (6 oz.) water chestnuts, drained 1/4 cup green pepper, chopped 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
Dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup ranch dressing Salt and pepper to taste
Cook the pasta. While it is cooking, chop rest of ingredients and mix. Mix dressing together. Add pasta and mix everything. Chill. Garnish with toasted slivered almonds if desired.
Living on a Dime Newsletter has done it again. I found this in my email and it looks like a great, easy, delicious summer time dish. www.LivingOnADime.com
We had a work party at our house this this past week. I used these flower blooms from our yard as table center pieces. I was happy with the way they turned out and you can't beat the price....free! (You could also use canning jars with raffia bows to put the flowers in.)
Does any one know the name of the flowers? They are always in bloom around the 4th of July and make great center pieces this time of year.
Julie Cole let me know that this type of flower is called, agapantha. She said, "They come in purple and white....once you grow them, the 'bulbs' multiply. They are easy to separate and then you have more. Very easy to grow." Thanks, Julie for the information!
2 cups nuts (I use unsalted dry roasted peanuts from Walmart)
In a double boiler, melt white chocolate and shortening.
Stir the white chocolate mixture until blended and smooth.
In the meantime, combine all the cereal and nuts in a very large bowl.
Pour melted white chocolate over the cereal and nuts, gently stirring to coat all pieces.
Scoop mixture out onto large cookie sheets or jelly roll pans to set.
After the white chocolate has hardened, break into pieces and store in a large airtight container or Ziploc-type bags.
Enjoy!
I had this treat years ago when I attended a PTA function at Temple City High School when Scott was working there. I was told that the delicious treat I ate was called White Trash. I have looked for the recipe on and off until I finally found the recipe.
My input for the recipe is this: For the quality white chocolate that is listed above, I used Almond Bark that I got at Walmart. (It came in a 1 1/2 lb. pkg) I don't add the shortening. I don't use a double boiler to melt the almond Bark. I follow the microwave melting direction on the back of the Almond Bark package.
You will love this treat!
ps Someone asked me why I used Almond Bark instead of white chocolate. I used it because they looked like they were the same thing, except white chocolate chips were A LOT more expensive. I looked up the definition of Almond Bark on wikipedia and this is what it said:
Almond Bark (also known as vanilla flavored candy coating) is an artificial chocolate made with vegetable fats instead of cocoa butter and with coloring and flavors added. It can be found in 1.5 pound packages, in blocks, or in round discs where candy supplies or holiday nuts and crackers are sold. The confection is commonly used to cover or dip fruits, nuts, cookies, or crackers, in place of real chocolate. It can also be used with peanut butter and crackers, as with this recipe.
* 1 cup heavy cream * 1/4 cup powdered sugar * 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation:
Whip cream until almost stiff. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until cream holds peaks. Spread over top of cooled pie or dollop on bread pudding, gingerbread, cobblers, or other desserts.
When I grew up, I learned how to make whipped cream by watching my mom put in a glug of vanilla and a bit of powdered sugar into the whipping cream. Several people have asked me how to make whipped cream, so I looked it up on the Internet and posted it here. Beware: if you whip the cream too much you'll turn it into butter. I think every cook has done that at least once. (I have) When ever a recipe calls for cool whip, I'll usually use whipped cream instead. Cool whip is too fake for me.
Click on the above newspaper and read the letter to the editor: Lunches by Mom
In case you can't read the article, this is what it says:
Lunches by Mom
The Guest View article by Trulie Ankerbery about school lunches caught my eye. (May 5) She said, “Millions of families do not have the funds to send their children to school with nutritious homemade lunches.”
I disagree with that statement.
It is possible to make nutritious homemade lunches for a minimal cost with a little time, effort, and planning. My six children are living proof of that. We don’t need another government program feeding our children their school lunches.
What we need is mothers and fathers taking care of their families.
Added Aug, 2023
In 2014 my daughter wrote an essay about, "The Power of Lunches". Click here to go to our family blog where I posted her essay. It was a payday for me.
I know this isn't a recipe post, but SERVICE is a sure recipe for happiness. Our family was privileged to participate in the Helping Hands Service Day in California and Hawaii. A fun time was had by all. Our stake helped at the Peck Road Water Conservation Park in El Monte.
This video (produced by another stake) captures the spirit of the day. Just watching it will make you happy.
2-3 red potatoes per person, depending on size
Butter
Parsley or green onions
Peel a strip around the middle of each potato if you want to prevent cracking. Boil potatoes until tender (about 15 minutes). Drain. Toss with butter until coated. You can sprinkle with parsley or green onions.
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen peas, thawed 2 celery ribs, sliced 1 cup cauliflower, in small pieces 3 green onions, sliced 1/2 cup ranch dressing 1/4 cup sour cream 4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Combine first four ingredients. Combine dressing and sour cream; pour over salad and mix well. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Before serving garnish with bacon and sunflower seeds.
I got this recipe from Living on a Dime Newsletter. ( I haven't tried it yet, but you can be sure I will.)
1 prepared angel food cake (about 10 inches)
1 (3.4 oz.) box lemon pudding
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
1 can (21 oz.) cherry or strawberry pie filling
Tear cake into pieces and place in a 13x9 pan. Mix pudding, milk and sour cream, beating until thick. Spread over cake, then spoon pie filling on top. Chill until ready to serve.
You could make this in layers in a large glass bowl for something special. This is also a good recipe to store in with your Christmas or Fourth of July recipes.
I got this recipe from Living on a Dime Newsletter. ( I haven't tried it yet, but you can be sure I will.)
