Home Canned Dill Relish

Last summer I embarked on a canning frenzy. I have canned in the past, but mostly the usual: green beans, carrots, beets, apple sauce, tomatoes. Last year, I made pizza sauce, salsa, tomato soup, Italian style tomatoes, plus dill pickle relish. As it will soon be harvest time for cucumbers, I thought I'd share the recipe I used. This relish is dilly, but a little sweet, too. It doesn't taste like store bought, but I like it better and will never bother to buy it again. I still have plenty (I made 2 double batches), so I won't be making it this year, but you can! Once you invest in the canning salt and spices, you will have enough ingredients to make TONS. Using your own cucumbers, you will save all sorts of money by making your own. Plus, you know what is in it.

Dill Pickle Relish
4 lb cucumbers
1/4 cup pickling salt (you must use non-iodized salt or it will turn a nasty color)
1/2 tsp turmeric (I used ground)
2 cups white vinegar (5%)
1/3 cup sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced (I used the jar stuff)
1 Tbsp dill seeds
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 1/2 cups onions
Scrub cucumbers and trim off ends and cut into chunks. In batches in a food processor, pulse cucumbers and onions 8 to 10 times to cut into 1/8 to 1/4" pieces.

In a large bowl, sprinkle cucumbers with salt and turmeric. Stir in 1 cup cold water and let stand for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Drain in large sieve. Rinse under cold water and drain again, pressing out moisture.
On a large saucepan bring vinegar, sugar, garlic, dill seeds and mustard seeds to a boil. Add cucumber mixture, return to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 30 minutes.
Ladle into half pint jars leaving a 1/2" headspace. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Adjust time according to altitude.
Makes About: 3 pints

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Cinnamon Swirl Bread

I have unleashed an inner baker that I didn't know existed. Today, I whipped up some of this amazing Cinnamon Swirl Bread for tomorrow's breakfast.

Adapted from AllRecipes.com: Cinnamon Swirl Bread:
1 cup warm water
2 packages yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp)
1 can evaporated milk (15 oz?)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter, melted
8 cups flour
milk or water
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbls cinnamon
In a large mixing bowl (or your mixer's bowl) dissolve yeast in water. Heat milk in microwave until bubbly, add sugar, salt, butter (it will melt in the milk), let cool to room temperature, add eggs and then pour entire thing into yeast. Add flour and mix until forms a stiff dough. Cover and let rise until doubled (1 hour). Punch down, roll out on floured surface to form a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Moisten with about 1 Tbls milk or water (use a pastry brush or your clean hand). Mix remaining 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon and liberally spread all over dough. Roll up tightly, like cinnamon rolls. Cut into 3 smaller or 2 larger loaves. Pinch the ends to seal. Place in greased loaf pans, cover and let rise another hour. Bake 350 degrees 45 minutes or until done (might be less time depending on your oven). Knock on it, and if it sounds hollow, it's done.
Butter the top to keep it soft. After about 5-10 minutes, remove from pan to cool on a wire rack. On my list of other baking hurdles to jump this week are English Muffins and Naan.
We will be having curry for dinner this week to go with the naan, plus pasta & crab sauce, manicotti, and the old 4th of July standby: hot dogs.

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Peach Crisp without Sugar

There are a lot of diabetics in my family. It runs in the family. Therefore, I try to make desserts once in a while that everyone can enjoy without as much guilt as usual ;-). This dish isn't terribly sweet and lets the flavor of the peaches shine through. If you choose to use fresh, you may have to alter the time a bit.

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup crystaline fructose
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups sliced frozen peaches
2 tsp minute tapioca
Place peaches in the bottom of a 9 X 9 pan. Sprinkle with tapioca and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Combine oats, flour, fructose, butter and remaining cinnamon in a bowl and combine with a pastry blender until nice and crumbly. Sprinkle over the peaches. Bake uncovered 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with sugar free vanilla ice cream if desired.

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Saturday Stories: the 4th of July

When I think of the 4th of July, I can't help but think of the little town where my dad's sister lives, picnics and the annual firemen's parade. For many years, my parents made a point of going to New York to spend that holiday with his side of the family.
The charcoal barbeque would be lit, the lawn chairs spread across the lawn. Fribees, croquet and badminton sets appeared from the garage. A cooler would be filled with ice and assorted beverages and left by the backdoor for anyone to access. Potato chips, pretzels and french onion dip, potato salad, tossed salad, hotdogs and hamburgers always appeared on the menu.
Down a big hill from my aunt's house was the parade and an accompanying carnival of sorts. We'd trek down the hill to watch the parade and then pull ourselves back up the steep trail to the house to eat. I hated to have to go back up that hill. It seemed like a mountain to me.
After dark, the fireworks would begin. When I was really little, my parents would put me to bed in a spare bedroom only to have me start screaming when the fireworks began. I think I was 4 before I actually enjoyed the night display. I think I was 4 before my folks let me stay up to see it....I wonder how much correlation there is to that?
The last time I was there for the family picnic, I was a teenager. As I grew older, we moved further and further west and couldn't easily make the trip. Firework displays in other towns were and still are fun and beautiful, but my memories of those in that western New York town are my fondest. Tweet

Maple Bar Success

I asked my oldest what he wanted for breakfast one day this week, expectingthat he would say waffles or cinnamon rolls. Imagine my surprise when he said doughnuts. Luckily, he gave me a few days to think about it, find a recipe to try and build up my nerve to actually do it. I don't have a doughnut cutter and the thought of cutting out circles and then finding a smaller device to cut out the inner hole didn't sound like something I wanted to do. One of my kids' favorite kind of doughnuts is maple bars, so I decided to make those. I just had to combine a few different recipes.

Doughnuts:
4 1/2 tsp yeast (or 2 packages yeast)
1/4 cup warm water
1 can evaporated milk, room temp or a little warmer
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
5 cups flour
canola oil for frying
Dissolve yeast in warm water in mixer bowl. Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter and 2 cups flour. Beat on low until all mixed, then on a little higher speed for 2 more minutes, scaping bowl often. Add remaining flour and mix until smooth. Cover and let rise until double; about an hour. Dough will be sticky. Turn dough onto flour surface, roll out to 1/2 inch thick and cut into desired shapes. Cover with a towel and let rise another half hour. Heat oil to 350 degrees (here, the use of an electric fry pan or a deep fryer would have come in handy, but I used my candy thermometer to gauge the temperature.) Slide doughnuts into oil, four at a time and fry until golden; about 30 seconds each side if your oil is really hot. Remove to drain.
Maple Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp maple extract
1 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp milk

Drizzle glaze over doughnuts.  

Saving a trip to the store, using ingredients that I can pronounce, seeing the delight in eaters' eyes and learning a new skill works for me!
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Stuffed Bread

Okay, I have a new favorite way to use up leftovers. Janelle has said repeatedly how wonderful it is, but like bagels, I thought it might be too hard. Really, all I can say is the more I try, the easier things are to make/bake. Here is the recipe I used for my bread:
Mix 2 1/4 cups flour with 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt and 1 Tbsp instant yeast. Stir in 1 cup warm water and 1 Tbsp olive oil. Mix in enough of 1 more cup of flour to make a soft dough (I probably only used 1/2 cup more). Knead.
Roll out to a 10 X 14 rectangle ON YOUR BAKING SHEET. Put your filling on the middle third of the dough. In my case, I put a layer of American cheese, a layer of bbq pork and another layer of cheese. Cut the outer thirds into 1 inch strips equally on both sides. Alternating sides, criss cross over the filling. Cover with a towel and let rise 25 minutes. Bake 400 degrees for 25 minutes. I brushed butter over the top after baking to keep it soft. You could literally fill this with anything. I am thinking a Reuben-esque filling with sauerkraut, corned beef, Swiss cheese and thousand island dressing would be really good; so would meatballs and spaghetti sauce; so would turkey, gravy and stuffing....the possibilities are endless.

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Homemade Bagels

This post was a long time coming. I was vacillating between psyching myself up to making bagels and then I was convincing myself that they were just too hard to do. Finally, my son, the Musician, was rumaging through the cupboards, frige, freezer as teenagers are want to do and he said,"Boy, I wish we had some bagels to go with that cream cheese." Suddenly, I was in the kitchen saying that I'd make some.

I originally intended to make bagels following Smitten Kitchen's recipe, but instead I grabbed my trusty Joy of Cooking and followed that recipe. It took about an hour (less time than bread!) and the results were out of this world. All the family said I needed to keep on making homemade bagels from now on.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups water
2 tsp yeast
1 Tbls sugar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbls oil
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour Combine the water, yeast, sugar, oil and salt in the mixer. After a sponge has formed, add the 3 - 3 1/2 cups flour. The recipe says the dough will be smooth and elastic. Mine was not sticky at all. Let it sit in the bowl, covered for 15 minutes. Divide it into 8 pieces, roll into 10" snakes. Wet the ends and form into rings. Place on a floured baking sheet, cover and let rise 15 minutes.

Boil the bagels, 4 at a time in 4 quarts of water, 1 Tbls sugar, and 1 tsp salt Place the boiled bagels on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 20 minutes at 425 degrees. I made them again a few days later using another recipe (just as easy) that contained no oil (fat-free bagels!). I might have to make both at the same time to see which we really like better. This time, however, I made some mini-bagels which are a better suited size for my younger kids. I rolled the snakes 6 inches long.

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We will undoubtedly have more bagels often this week. Tweet

Breaded Pork Chops

This week, I did a little creating in the kitchen. I had a whole pork loin in my freezer, so I thawed it out and sliced a part of it into chops. The nice thing about doing this is I get to determine the thickness and amount of fat on each one. I sliced these about 1 inch thick.

I was doing some surfing through the bloggie world and found a nifty idea for homemade bread crumbs that I thought I'd try out. I have made bread crumbs before, but I had never buttered each slice before I put it through the food processor. I personally think that by doing so, I eliminated the need to dip the meat in something to make the breading stick to the meat.

So here's what I did:
3 sliced of bread, buttered and processed.
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 pork chops
Combine bread and seasonings in processor and pulse a few times to mix. Sprinkle crumbs on chops, flip them (breading stuck!!) and sprinkle the other sides. Bake uncovered 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until pork is done. These were so moist!

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Saturday Stories: A Little About The Thinker Son

My second son, The Thinker has been gone for a week to Boy Scout Camp. I have missed his hugs and his funny jokes, so I thought I'd tell a few stories about him.

When he was just a little tyke, he ran into things all of the time. He'd trip and hit his head and WHAM! a humungous goose-egg would appear. I had him into the pediatrician's for head x-rays twice before a doctor explained the signs of a concussion and/or a fractured skull. He also broke out in hives for no apparent reason. The allergist told me that he had hyper sensitive skin; gently drawing an X on his back with a fingernail would raise a welt. Another doctor said his body rushed too much fluids to wounds and that is why he bruises/swells so badly. In 2003, we decided to go to Disneyland over the Christmas holidays. On the day we were leaving, I got a call from The Thinker's school telling me that he had fallen and that I should come right away. He had been bumped from behind in the cafeteria and had fallen against a table, bounced off, hit the bench, bounced off and then hit the floor while holding a tray. He had the mother of all goose-eggs on his forehead. He hadn't lost consciousness, nor were his pupils dialated. He was completely coherent, so the school nurse, the pediatrician's nurse and I decided he was okay. We left on our trip. The next day, bruises had travelled down his forehead to his eyes. The following day, we reached Disneyland and he looked like a character off of Star Trek. His entire forehead was swollen, his eyes were purplish black, he was a sight. People stared at him the entire day.

On another occasion, The Thinker was outside with his brothers riding bicycles. We lived on the top of a hill that descended into a cul-de-sac. Bored by simply riding down the hill and back up, The Thinker convinced The Engineer to try riding up the hill with his eyes shut. That little ride didn't last long because a parked car got in the way. We still talk about the lessons to be learned from that incident and its application to life.

Finally, one day, a year or so ago, I heard the door from the garage into the house open and close. Thinking it was my husband, I called out to him. The Thinker came around the corner and in his deepest, prepubescent voice said, "Hi Honey, Give me a hug!" It was so silly and so sweet that we all burst out laughing.

Life has never been dull with The Thinker around. Tweet

French Toast Casserole

I had three leftover hoagie rolls that were getting stale, so I threw them into a french toast casserole. It is a wonderful way to use up bread that is on the verge of being thrown out.

4 cups torn bread
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
Put bread into greased casserole dish. Combine eggs, milk and syrup. Pour over bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Spoon into bowls and serve with your favorite topping. Check out these great Friday carnivals: foodie friday, friday feasts, food on friday, friday recipe swap frugal friday.

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Warm Delights for a Fraction of the Cost

About 5 years ago, Albertsons and Betty Crocker did a very sneaky thing to me. They ran a special on Warm Delights for about $.69/big package. It was a bargain and I bought 10 for my boys to make when they wanted to "cook." Little did I know that that little treat would result in years of teasing for more. Never again have I seen them so cheap, so, frankly, never again have I bought them. I endured the teasing until in desperation, I went searching for a homemade version.

For the price of one cake mix (about a $1 or less) and a few extras (like 1 tsp of hot fudge sauce or jam or caramel sauce),my kids can whip up anywhere from 6 to 8 warm delights. Oh, how I love to save money!!!
Warm Delights:
1/4 cup cake mix (any flavor)
1/8 cup water
1-2 tsp filling of your choice: caramel, hot fudge, strawberry jam, coconut, marshmallow, nuts, peanut butter, choc chips, your imagination can go wild here.
In microwave safe cereal sized bowl, stir water into cake mix. Dollop on the filling. Microwave for 1 minute. (time may differ with each microwave...start low so you don't burn it). Filling will be HOT, so let sit 3 minutes before eating. Here we have chocolate cake with hot fudge and strawberry filling and yellow cake mix with caramel filling. The yellow one cooked too long (I cannot tell my teenager anything these days!), so it sort of exploded all over.

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Making Your Own Ground Beef

WARNING: Post Contains Pictures of Raw Meat.
Here's the dilemma I faced: Ground beef 80% lean (which for some reason is now called extra lean?) was $1.88/lb in the big family packs and Boneless Beef Chuck Roasts were $1.79 (and a whole lot leaner, I might add). So what did I do? I bought the chuck and made ground chuck!!

I cut the beef into workable sized pieces. I placed it in my food processor with the sharp metal blade and ground it up. By the time I ground it all, I had almost 4 pounds of hamburger (guess what we are eating this week?!), very little mess, and fresh leaner ground meat than I could ever find at the store for the price I paid. Visit We are THAT Family for Works for Me Wednesday
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Rainbow Jello

Here are some links to some meals we are having this week. Southwestern Spaghetti
Zucchini Sausage pasta
I am also going to make this Jell-o concoction. It's a recipe I got from a friend over 20 years ago.

Rainbow Jello
1 small package each lime, orange and red jello made separately with 1 cup hot water and 1/2 cup cold water.
1 small package lemon jello
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup hot pineapple juice
2 cups cool whip
Combine lemon jello, sugar and pineapple juice in a pan. Bring to a boil. Put in a bowl set until it starts to firm up and fold in 2 cups cool whip. Cut other 3 jellos into 1/2 inch squares, fold into lemon mix, spread into 9 X 13 pan and refrigerate until set.

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Chocaroon Pie

I found this recipe while I was in college. It is rich and very chocolaty; just what a bunch of coeds need after a hard week of finals. Actually, it's good anytime.

Chocaroon Pie
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 cups coconut
Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave. Stir in eggs, sugar, flour and vanilla. pour into greased 9 inch pie plate. Mix milk and coconut; spoon over chocolate mixture, leaving 1/2 to 1 inch border around the edge. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool and cut.

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Saturday Stories: This Cook's Beginnings

I was not allowed to do a lot in the kitchen when I was a little girl. I'm not sure why I wasn't in the kitchen stirring right along side my Mom. It just didn't happen. I was an only child and I spent a lot of time with my friends and the tv.

I do remember, vividly, the first time I ever got to help in the kitchen. Mom asked me to grease a pan for her. I must have been about 6 years old. Mom handed me the pan and the container of shortening and told me to grease it. I asked her if she meant all of the sides and she said yes. A few minutes later, I handed her a very slippery 8 X 8 metal pan greased inside and out. Needless to say, I don't remember helping in that kitchen ever again.

When I was 8, we lived in a different house. That Christmas, I received my first cookbook: Betty Crocker's Cookbook for Boys and Girls. After that, everything happened at once; I was suddenly doing the dishes way more than I wanted to and I was cooking a meal for the family once a month or so. I started getting cookbooks every Christmas after that; Irish, Italian, crepes, community cookbooks, cream cheese and campbell's soup cookbooks. I had a regular little library of cookbooks by the time I left the house and set up a kitchen of my own.

Still, although I was able to make brownies, pizza, crepes, cookies and a few other things, it wasn't until I was cooking meals daily that I actually learned to cook. I thought I knew a lot more than I did, I should say. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Case in point: my Mom used to make a wine substitue using grape juice and a few other things. I never gave it my full attention until, as a newlywed, I attempted to make some cod for my sweet husband and the recipe called for wine. He was so excited that we were having fish. What he didn't know, though, until his first fateful bite, was that my wine substitute that day was vinegar. I completely ruined the meal, gave up on making anything that called for wine and basicly didn't cook fish for another 4 or 5 years.

Luckily, time, practice and study are good teachers. Tweet

The Peanut Pizazz: A Cool Summer Drink

When I was a little girl, we lived in Thailand. I was too young to take quinine to prevent malaria, so my parents invented this drink using quinine water. My dad called me "peanut," so the name they chose for this concoction was the Peanut Pizazz. It is surprisingly refreshing even if you aren't fighting a tropical disease. You can find Schwepps Quinine on the soda pop aisle of any big grocery store, but DO NOT drink it if you are pregnant.

Peanut Pizazz
Tang orange drink mix
quinine or seltzer or soda water
limes
Put 1 Tbls tang in a 10 oz glass, pour fizzy water (which ever you choose to use) over and stir to mix. Add juice of 1/2 lime. Add ice cubes if desired.

This is a great alternative to real pop. Tang still has tons of sugar of course, but it at least has vitamin C in it!! Kids love to make it themselves, too. It's a great summer drink.
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Baby Wipes

I ran out of baby wipes on purpose this week. I know that sounds weird, but, as I keep saying, I am trying to use things up. Ideally, my little girl would be potty trained by now, however, she appears to have no intention of being completely trained any time soon. She goes on her potty 75% of the time, so we don't use as many wipes as we did when she was strictly in diapers. I have paper towels coming out my ears, so I have started making my own wipes.

Homemade Baby Wipes:
2 1/2 cups boiling water
2 Tbls baby oil
2 Tbls baby wash
1/2 roll paper towels (normal sized roll, not super mega double roll)
Add oil and soap to boiling water. Place paper towels in a plastic container (an old baby wipes container would work, but I am using a rubbermaid cannister)
Pour water mixture over wipes. Let cool completely before using!!!

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A Well Supplied First Aid Cupboard Works for Me

Last Thursday, I did a random post for the Thursday 13 meme and received some comments that got me thinking. I mentioned 13 things in my medicine cabinet. These weren't my big medicine supplies, these were just some things I had in the mirrored cabinet in my master bathroom. Some of the comments said I was well prepared. I thought I'd do a post on my real medicine supplies.

For fevers, I have infant, junior chewable and adult strength tylenol and ibuprofin. Alternating the two fights fevers better than either by themselves. I also have some tylenol pm to help my older family members at night when they are sick.
For headaches, I have aspirin and excedrin. Sometimes caffeine helps headaches better than plain aspirin.
For allergies, I have claritin, breathe right nasal strips, cortisone for hives, and benedryl in liquid and tablet form.
For sore throats, I have lozenges and cough drops, plus sore throat spray.
I have calamine lotion and meat tenderizer for bug bites.
I have hydrogen peroxide, bactine spray, neosporin, bandaids of all styles and sizes, gauze and 1st aid tape for wounds. There are also some ace bandages, splints, slings and a heating pad for other injuries.
I have pepto bismal and tums for sour tummies.
I still buy real sudafed (with photo id!) and have vicks vapor rub for stuffy noses.
For burns, I have aloe and lavender essential oil.
Other supplies I have are a cool mist vaporizer, a digital thermometer, an otoscope for looking in ears...I can recognize an ear infection with great accuracy now, tweezers and needles for slivers, salt for mouth sores (gargling in warm salt water is a great cure) and ice packs in the freezer.
When someone suddenly gets sick, we are always ready. Often it's bedtime when a sad boy comes knocking on my door complaining of some malady. There is no time to rush off to the store and buy a remedy. Croupy coughs, skinned knees, hives; we have seen them all. Being prepared keeps me from panicking and a calm mom means calmer kids.
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Blueberry Oat Bars

We are having these for dessert tomorrow night. They are basicly a thickened blueberry sauce between two layers of oatmeal crisp...YUM!

Blueberry Oat Bars
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter
2 cups frozen blueberries
2 Tbls cornstarch
2 Tbls lemon juice
Combine flour, oatmeal, 1 cup brown sugar and baking soda. Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender. Remove 2 cups of mixture for topping, press remaining portion into a greased 9 X 13 pan. In a saucepan, combine blueberries, remaining sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch. Bring to a boil, stir constantly until thickened. Spread over crust. Sprinkle reserved topping over blueberry layer. Bake 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool before cutting or you will have a mess. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

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Garden Fritatta and Cream of Summer Squash Soup

I have set a general date to move (end of July) and have decided to completely empty my garage freezer ASAP. That being said, my biggest obstacle is that blasted zucchini/yellow squash. I did another inventory of my stock and I have 8 bags of sliced and 3 bags of shredded squash. I suppose considering that I probably started out with over 40 bags, that isn't too bad, but I can't stand the idea of throwing out food, so I have to use it up. This week and next I am cramming it into every meal I can. Look out family!

I am also roasting the 20 pound turkey that has been in my freezer since November. That will be the base for a few meals, too.

Cream of Summer Squash Soup:
1 pound summer squash cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 cups water
1 medium onion
1 tsp chicken bouillon granules
2 cans evaporated milk
1 Tbls butter
In a large pot, boil squash, water, onion, and bouillon. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 4 minutes or until zucchini is tender. (Note: because I am using frozen, it will already be tender; even mushy. I just need to make sure the bouillon is dissolved and the onion is tender). In a food processor, puree soup in batches. return all to the pan. Add milk and butter; cook and stir until butter is melted. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired. (Note: if using fresh squash, you can freeze this soup. Just thaw in frige overnight, heat and stir over medium heat until warmed through)

For breakfast one morning we are having this Garden Frittata:
1 cup yellow squash, sliced
1 cup zucchini, sliced
1 small onion, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 medium tomato, sliced
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tsp basil
1 garlic clove, minced
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
In a pan, saute the squash and onion until tender. Transfer to a greased 9 inch pie plate. Top with mozzerella and tomato. Comvine eggs, milk basil, garlic, salt & pepper. pour over the cheese and tomato. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake uncovered 375 for 45-50 minutes or until center is set. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Other meals this week include:
Traditional turkey dinner (made in an electric roaster on the counter so as to avoid heating up the house). This will also use up some frozen mashed potatoes I have.
Turkey Macaroni Bake (like mac & cheese but with turkey, mushrooms and a homemade cheese sauce)
Turkey & Dumplings
Zucchini Hamburger pie (seasoned hamburger, tomatoes and zucchini in a 2 crust pie)
Zucchini Egg Bake (basicly a quiche)
Apricot Glazed Fish

Next week, there will be at least 2 more squash meals....If I don't have a mutiny first.
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Simple Meal: Sausage Strata

I made this for Saturday night's dinner. It is probably most often a breakfast dish, but this also makes a simple supper after a busy day.

Sausage Strata:
1 lb bulk breakfast sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's lowfat version and loved not having too much fat in this dish!)
8 slices of bread (I used homemade bread, so it was thicker and denser than store bought would be)
1 tsp prepared mustard (this flavor is still quite noticable in the finished dish, I think I will use 1/2 next time)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can evaporated milk
4 eggs, beaten

Place slices of bread in the botom of 9 X 13 greased pan. Brown sausage, drain. Add mustard to meat. Sprinkle over bread. Put cheese on top of meat. Combine beaten eggs and milk and pour over everything. Bake uncovered 350 degrees 30 minutes.

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Saturday Story: Turn Around is Fair Play

Today's story is a short one.

When I was a little girl, my parents took me on a long trip to Disney World. I don't remember how many days we stayed there, as the trip involved seeing old friends and historic sites as well. I remember snip-its of the experience such as the Haunted House and the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. A few things stand out, however.

I must digress slightly here and confess that I don't like roller coasters. It's not just a mental thing, it's physical, too. I can't tolerate g-force at all. When I was 3, my mom took me on a baby roller coaster, you know, the tiny, slow, little kind. I started screaming immediately and Mom asked the operater to stop it, but he didn't and I fainted. I never go on roller coasters.

So, back to this Disney experience. I was completely ignorant of what kind of rides were located at this wonderful theme park. I had never been to a big one and frankly, I don't think Disney World was that old at the time. Anyway, Dad and I left mom sitting on a bench and started walking into this tunnel. He told me it was a space ride. As we walked through this tunnel, there were space scenes behind glass windows. I thought maybe it was going to be like "It's a Small World" only in outer space. Finally we got to the end of the tunnel and there it was. A roller coaster. We had been winding our way up into Space Mountain. I wanted to run, I wanted to go find my Mom, but I could only go forward. I endured a heart rending few minutes of darkness and flashing lights and burrowing into my father's arm. Ugh.

But Dad got his. That night, we went to one of the Disney restaurants. Dad ordered something colorful, I don't remember what. We ate our dinner and prepared to leave when Dad realized that he had been wearing white pants, not brown. And the napkins were brown, not white. Yes, you guessed it. Throughout the meal, dad had been wiping his hands on his pants and not his napkin. Tweet

Instant Mashed Beans

I made a Mexican Layer dip for dinner earlier in the week. I didn't have any refried beans in the house but I did have about 200+ lbs of dried beans. In about 10 minutes, I had really cheap fat-free refried beans. NOTE:The following can be done in a blender if it's strong enough; test out about 5 beans in the bottom of your blender and see if it can handle it. Do not put more than 1/4 cup in at a time!

I started with 1 cup of whole dried pinto beans. I put them through my wheat grinder and got about 1 1/2 cups of bean flour. Then, I mixed the flour with 2 cups of cool water and then added it to 2 cups of boiling water. I stirred it with a whisk until it boiled, reduced the heat and cooked 4 more minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. For flavor, I added a package of taco seasoning (1/4 cup bulk bought at Costco) and then made the dip according to the recipe. These inexpensive beans are great for burritos or any other place you would use refried beans.

This is participating in the Make It from Scratch Carnival at It's Frugal being Green. Tweet

Honey Cocoa Cake with Fudge Frosting

 This cake recipe comes from the 1939 edition of The American Woman's Cookbook. It was the cake I asked for as a birthday cake for years. It always crumbles a little.  It is not a terribly moist cake.  Honey tends to dry things out, in my opinion.  However, the fudge frosting, which comes from a vintage Eagle Brand Milk recipe booklet, matched up perfectly with the cake.  Mom always made a round two layer cake for me.  After making the fudge frosting recipe, I realized that Mom must have at least doubled that recipe, if not tripled it because the layers of frosting were THICK!  In my photos, I only had enough frosting for the top and middle and the thickness was mediocre at best.  The taste, though, was just as wonderful as ever.  There are a lot of happy birthdays wrapped up in this cake.

Honey Cocoa Cake: (from the American Woman's Cookbook)
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup sour milk (use buttermilk)
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In a mixing bowl, cream shortening, sugar, eggs and honey. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk. Bake in 2 round prepared pans at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Cool completely.  You may want to consider freezing the cake layers before frosting because they may crumble slightly.

Fudge Frosting:(from Eagle Brand Milk)
1 can sweetened condensed milk

6 Tbsp cocoa
2 Tbsp butter
dash salt
1 Tbsp water 
1/2 tsp vanilla
Cook all ingredients, except vanilla,  in a double boiler until thick, this will take at least 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Cool, then spread on cake.

I am joining Joy of Desserts for her Vintage Recipe Thursday Tweet

Some Recipes for Kids in the Kitchen

To fight off the attacks of boredom that occasionally hit during summer vacation, I sometimes offer my kids things to do in the kitchen (other than washing the dishes, that is!). Here are a few things we have done in the past.

1. Homemade Soft Pretzels
2. Peanut Butter Candy (great as an edible play dough)
3. Finger painting with instant pudding
4. Ice Cream in a Bag or can
5. Fudge in a Bag
6. Homemade milkshakes (the kids love to drop in fruit or help pour the milk into the blender, help cover it, push the buttons and of course divide it into equal portions)
7. Sandwich Roll Ups: Let the kids roll a rolling pin over a slice of bread until it it really thin. Spread on the sandwich fillings or layer a piece of meat and roll up.
8. Depression Cookies: Hand the kids a bunch of graham crackers and a tub of frosting.
9. For children too young to see through this activity, fill a spray bottle with water and hand them a sponge. They will have a ball mopping your floor.
10. Also for younger children, fill the sink with a bit of water and more dish soap than usual and let them "wash" the dishes. They will have a ball standing on a chair helping Mom. (it always gets back to cleaning up the messes we make, doesn't it!)

For more ways to beat the summer boredom blues, visit We are THAT Family for a themed Works for Me Wednesday.
And visit Feels Like Home for Grace's Kitchen. Tweet