settlers peace

Celebration Food

We had a milestone birthday this week, and there was NO interest in a big party or celebration drawing attention to it.  So a quiet dinner at home with the girls in his life was the request, along with my Pecan Chicken and an attempt to recreate a dessert from his childhood memories of the Cape May boardwalk.  

First up, the Pecan Chicken.  This recipe came to be as an assemblage of ideas from various recipes and hugely influenced by my mom's oven fried chicken that I grew up on.  Super simple, tender, juicy, and a buttery crust that will have you chipping away at every morsel left in the pan so that you can devour it.

I don't really measure anything in it, the key is to keep the portions somewhat equal between the rice krispies, pecans, and baking mix.  

For 4 chicken breasts, your will need about

1/2 cup Rice Krispie cereal

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

1/2 cup baking mix - I use Pamela's baking mix as it is gluten free, for those without that concern, use Bisquick

1/4 butter, melted

Lawry's Seasoned salt

Trim the chicken as desired.  Okay, so I always thought that dipping the 'meat' in milk or egg was simply to help the coating stick, turns out that there is some science to it.  If you let the meat-be it chicken or beef- soak in milk, half & half, or such, the lactic acid in the milk product begins to break down the tissue of the meat and causes it to be fork tender and juicy!  This is the big secret to 'old school cafe' chicken fried steak and chicken fried chicken.  For beef, I'd let it marinate for an hour or more, but for this recipe, I simply soak the chicken in milk or cream, whatever is handy, while I am assembling the coating mix.

First, put the rice krispie cereal in a baggie and crush by hand.  It's kinda like bubble wrap therapy, with the reward of a delicious meal to follow.  But don't go so far as to create dust, you want the cereal to still have some puffs left.  

Add the finely chopped pecans and the baking mix to the cereal and mix.  Dredge the chicken breasts in coating mix, it's fun to hear the snap, crackle, pop of the cereal as it encounters the moist chicken, and place in a butter baking dish.  Pile the remaining coating mix atop the breasts.  Season with the Lawry's seasoned salt and drizzle each breast with the melted butter, use it all.  Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes, or until the coating is nicely browned and chicken is done.

We served it along with roasted asparagus spears and a broccoli salad.  Yummy-licious!

For dessert, D. has often talked about an ice cream sandwich that he had as a kid.  A hot Belgian waffle with a slice of Neapolitan ice cream, dusted with powdered sugar.  He was so excited that he couldn't wait for the sugar dusting and gobbled it up.  The girls were both converts, too, we have a new ice cream sandwich in the house.

Such an enjoyable evening, favorite recipes, new creations, and the best dinner company ever.  

What's in your recipe box?

In my frustration to find something to prepare for dinner, I realized the chaos in my recipe box. No organization what-so-ever. Recipes on cards, torn from boxes, printed from the computer, and jotted on notepads. As I started sorting, no doubt a delay tactic in cooking, I found several repeated recipe cards. I'm fairly certain that someone must have asked for the recipe, I obligingly wrote in down then slacked in the delivery. Upon its rediscovery, I assumed that it was my original copy and simply stuck it back in the box.

My apologies to anyone that wanted a copy of my Orange Ball recipe. Of course, they are probably not even reading this, because I haven't made the darn things in over ten years! But just in case you are curious, here it is.

Orange Balls

1 - 12 ounce box of Vanilla Wafers, crushed fine

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup pecans, chopped fine

1 - 6 pounce can frozen orange juice, thawed - do not dilute.

Combine ingredients in order listed. Chill. Form into balls and roll in additional powdered sugar. Store in refrigerator or freezer. Serve chilled.

These are a yummy treat, the intense orange flavor goes well with hot tea or coffee. It's only due to my gluten issues that I have not made them in years.

Enjoy! I think we'll grab take out tonight, and work on a menu starting tomorrow.

 

A Taste of Fall

I don't know if it's the amazingly rich colors of fall or the thought of apples covered in caramel, but I can't seem to survive fall without a heavy dose of caramel candies.  I decided to try my hand at making some.

As it turns out, upon getting everything in a pan and a good boil going, I realized that my candy thermometer was broken.  Panic hit, but I wasn't going to bail and lose all of that wonderful buttery, creamy and sugary goodness.  With a few candy making notes and the memories of my Mom making candy, I managed a decent batch by testing the soft ball and hard ball stages by dropping bits of the mixture in a cup of water.

Welcome to sins sweet side.  It felt wonderful to have something edible when I was done, and to learn that I could do it the 'old' way.  I'm still hoping for a new candy thermometer in my stocking this Christmas, though.

What tastes do you enjoy in the fall?

The Energy of Change

I have been so energized by some of the changes taking place in the house.  More and more projects and distractions, but very exciting.  In one of the big furniture moves, we had to unload all of our photos from the cabinet they were stored in.  Some in photo boxes, but many still in the packets from being developed!  Then add to the mix that neither of the girls have a baby book or scrapbook AND milestone birthdays THIS month, I hit panic mode.  

O. turned 18 last week and S. will be 16 this week.  So, in the midst of chaos, I've tackled a scrapbook of sorts for O.  And I do mean chaos.

As much as I'd like to think that it is about her, I think that it's turning out to be more of a love note to my daughter.  It's more my style than hers, but really, what can we possibly give them worth more than our hearts?  I'll let you know how it progresses.

Her birthday dessert was a real hit, we're still on a sugar high.

Butter Brickle Ice Cream Bars

2 1/2 Cups Crushed Rice Chex

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 butter, melted

1 cup pecans, broken into pieces

1 cup coconut

1/2 gallon Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Mix Chex, butter, brown sugar, pecans and coconut together in a 9 x 13 pan.  Toast in oven at 300* for 30 minutes.  Stir often to prevent burning.  After toasting, take out 1/3 crumbs and reserve.  Leave remaining crumbs in pan to cool.  Then spread 1/2 gallon softened ice cream on crumbs in pan, cover with remaining crumbs.  Freeze.  Remove from freezer a few minutes before serving.  Cut into bars and serve with caramel sauce.

Enjoy the days, the count down to a routine schedule that comes with school days is on!

Production

Seems as though all of the other hens have caught on to the laying of eggs.   I must say that they are doing a BEAUTIFUL job.

Sometimes I just marvel at them, the colors vary so slightly, each an individual creation, and yet such a simple egg.  They have been blessing us with enough that we cannot possibly eat them all.  It is a joy to share them with others and see the smile that creeps across their face when they look at the colors.  At some point, I can see these colors inspiring a creative project, but not just now.   I have been making Deviled Eggs at least once a week, if not more.  So since I can't share my eggs with you, I will share this.

Deviled Eggs

1 dozen eggs

3-4 oz cream cheese

mayonnaise-2 heaping spoons or so

mustard- a good squirt

salt- a dash

paprika or dill-enough to look pretty

To boil the eggs, I bring a large skillet of water to boiling with a dash of salt.  I add a teaspoon or so of vinegar( this helps them peel easier) and then the eggs, water should be covering the eggs, bring back to boiling, then turn to low and simmer for 20 minutes.  Drain, rinse and cool.

Peel the eggs and cut in half, placing yolks in a bowl.  I usually only use 9-10 of the yolks.  Mash with fork.  Mix with cream cheese, add a squirt of mustard, to taste, and enough mayonnaise to make it creamy.  I add a dash of salt, as well.  Spoon into egg white halves and sprinkle with paprika.  

For special occasions, I use a pastry bag and pipe it into the eggs with a fancy tip (this is when you want to make it really smooth, by pressing the yolks through a sieve with a wooden spoon).  Probably more than you wanted to know about my eggs-perience, but it's gray and wet outside and I wanted to share something!

Hope that you have a blessed day!

A bright assortment

My days have been bright compositions lately, aka lack of focus, but in a fun sense of color anyway.  Holiday plans have been coming together and decorations are getting done.  I opted to not use the same ol' same ornaments that we have used for years.  Didn't even put up the big tree.  I have pulled out my boxes of shiny bright ornaments and had fun rediscovering what I had in there.

 

In an attempt at simplicity, I stuck with the basic globe shape on the tree.

I also had a group of high school girls over for a cookie swap and graham cracker cottage building day this weekend.  Now that was colorful!  And all of the cookies were a big hit.  What good cooks!!!

There were Molasses Ginger Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Sugar Cookies, and Cereal cookies. 

 The candy disappeared quickly onto rooftops and into tummies!

I hope that your days are filled with colorful sweetness!  
 

 

Southern Comfort

I was not born in the south, but I was raised here.  My mom never cooked beans, and as a kid I never acquired a taste for them either, but as an adult I have.  Let me tell you, I have come across a recipe that will be a staple in our home, probably more suited to cooler temperatures outside, but yummy no matter what.

Tex-Mex Bean Soup

1 lb. pinto beans, rinsed, and pick over

12 oz. bacon, chopped (I used applewood smoked)

1 sweet yellow onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 jalapenos, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

4-14oz. cans chicken broth

3 cans water

fresh cilantro (I used half a bunch)

Saute bacon until crispy.  Remove from pan and drain.  In a small amount of the bacon grease, saute the onion, peppers, and garlic until tender.  Pour in chicken stock, water, bacon and beans, simmer until beans are tender, add cilantro near the end of cooking.  Serve warm with tortilla, cornbread or chips.

The mockingbirds are so fun to watch and listen to, I caught this one on the well.

These wild roses are growing in the pasture.  They have a very short bloom cycle, it looks like a pink cloud has settled in the trees along the property line when they do bloom.

And of course, another southern comfort is quilts.  Last week I helped sew quilts for US servicemen and women through the organization "Tribute to the Troops" created by Lori Shelton.  Small quilts are made to give to those serving our country, along with a Sharpie pen, to gather signatures and sentiments from those serving along side of them, as a memory quilt.  Lori's presentation at our guild was very inspiring and uplifting, her motivation and desire are from the heart as she seeks to share God's great love with those securing the freedoms, that we so often take for granted.  It was a pleasure to sew with our guild members that day and enjoy her company and stories that she shared.  I was also inspired to donate a quilt that I had made several years ago in a guild challenge, to be given to a serviceman/woman as they return home from the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.  What a feeling to think that I could possibly offer comfort to someone that has given so much to our country, and yet it feels like so little.  If you are so moved, you can contact Lori at   [email protected]

May you enjoy all of the comforts that are near and dear to you.

Life Rocks On

Back in December, I gave O. the job of downloading all of my music onto the computer.  In an effort to keep the cd's organized, I had her put a dot sticker on each case after downloading.  I decided that I would be kind and clean them off of each case as I took them in to resale, and began sticking them on a journal page.  I stopped after one page was filled, and inked over the dots, and removed them once again!  I wonder wether or not I can maintain my kindness effort with the ones remaining?  

Wow!  What a difference having all of my music in one place and so accessible!  But I must confess that I could NOT adjust to the earphones and had to get a dock.  The ability of surround sound in my ears, left me twisting and twitching trying to figure out what was making the noise around me.  Quite the site, I'm sure, but peace is in place now that it is  coming from a central location - not my head!  I've never understood the desire for surround sound, I once gave Dean an old drive-in movie speaker and told him that was as close to surround sound as I wanted.

Life has been busy with physical therapy for O. and surgery next week.  Both of the girls have 'friends' of the male gender that have been visiting frequently and that keeps me on my toes.  In an effort for some family bonding, we had them both over last weekend and we all paired up and decorated Easter Gingerbread Houses.  It really was a lot of fun and plenty of laughs to be had.  

I discovered that boys like to throw candy at icing and see if it will stick, they will eat the pieces that don't, and everything is a race.  I'm thinking that God knew what he was doing by giving us girls, but what a blessing to get to spend time with them all having fun.  Hope that your days are full of blessings and a little spring colored sugar!

It's Almost Over

This year has been a very good year for me.  I have grown in ways that I could not have imagined, and I feel so blessed to be able to continue on a path of growth.   I am anxious to see if 2009 will bring more of the same.  Oh, I hope and pray that it does, I don't want to be stuck ever again!  I have a few pictures to share of what we've been up too.

We attended an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party.  Wow, it is amazing just how many ugly sweaters are out there, but we couldn't manage to get one over O's head, she wasn't having any part of it!

Making and eating Crock Pot Peanut Clusters!

Layer in a crock pot

1 jar salted peanuts

1 jar unsalted peanuts

4 oz. German Sweet Chocolate

1 1/2 packages Almond Bark

1 pkg. Semi sweet Chocolate Chips

Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, do NOT lift lid or stir.  After 2 hours, stir and drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.  Trouble is, waiting about 2 more hours for them to set!  YUM!

S. has been busy working on art projects, I seem to be contemplating the ideas, and enjoying time with the camera!

O. has been downloading my 20+ year collection of cd's to the computer, I refuse to buy an ipod until I'm ready to use it, and the task has just been too daunting for me.

I've been getting some work done in my art journal, but realize that I have failed to take any photos of the pages, hope to share some next post!  May your new year be blessed in every way possible!

Sugar Coma

I would love to tell you that I have been up to something amazing, but I am in a sugar coma, and haven't done anything exciting.  We made Sticky Popcorn last night, and it turns out that I have no self control when I pass that huge bowl on the counter, hence the sugar coma.  So just in case you are in need of a day off, I'll share the recipe.

Sticky Popcorn

5 quarts popped popcorn, with unpopped kernels removed

1 cup butter

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups miniature marshmallows

2 cups nuts

1 cup M & M's or Reese's Pieces

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, bring butter, sugar, corn syrup and salt to a boil for 3 minutes;stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add vanilla, careful, it boils up a bit.  Then mix in the marshmallows until melted.

With popcorn in a very large bowl, pour mixture over it and then sprinkle on the nuts and M & M's, and stir like crazy until well combined.  Eat from the bowl, or make into popcorn balls.

Then sit around with that sugar haze looking at everything wondering, "should I take a picture of that and post it."  I answered, yes.  Here's a snap of the sticky popcorn and some vintage goodness around the house.