Hop to It! - Hoppin' John Two Ways

There are lots of New Year's traditions - watching the ball drop at Times Square, making a champagne toast, kissing at midnight, and eating cabbage rolls or blackeyed peas with pork for dinner.  Cabbage and blackeyed peas are both supposed to bring good luck and prosperity.  Even though it's a New Year's tradition, I'll eat blackeyed peas any time!

One of my favorite ways to fix blackeyed peas is Hoppin' John, also known as Carolina peas and rice, but I like the vision of some guy hopping up and down.  I have two ways to make it - a lazy way, and a not-so-lazy way.  If you want an even less lazy way, you can start with dried blackeyed peas, but I'm too lazy for that!  Here's the lazy way:

Hoppin' John (super easy!)

2 15-oz cans of Marjorie Holmes Hoppin' John, undrained

10 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped

10 dashes of Tabasco sauce

3 T brown sugar

4 c cooked rice

Dump the first four ingredients into a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Serve over rice.

Hoppin' John (still easy!)

10 slices bacon, cut up

1/2 c chopped onion

1/2 c chopped celery

1/2 c chopped bell pepper

1/2 c chicken broth

1 15-oz can diced tomatoes and green chilies, undrained

2 15-oz cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

10 dashes of Tabasco sauce

3 T brown sugar

4 c cooked rice

In a 2-qt saucepan, cook the bacon until almost crisp.  Add the chopped vegetables and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the canned tomatoes, blackeyed peas, Tabasco, and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer 30 minutes.  Serve over rice.

More Canning - Apple Butter!!!

It's fall, new crop apples have arrived, and that means apple butter!!!  Apple butter is super easy to make.  The hardest part is peeling, coring, and slicing the apples, but it's worth the time and effort to have your own apple butter to put on your toast, dinner rolls, or fried biscuits.  (Apple butter was MADE for fried biscuits!)  If you want to try your hand at making preserves, apple butter is a good place to start - it doesn't require the exactitude of making jelly or jam, but still delivers the same satisfaction of self-sufficiency, plus you get to learn a new skill!  How awesome is THAT?

Here's the recipe I use.  It must be pretty good; when she was tiny, my oldest granddaughter used to eat it with a spoon like applesauce!

Apple Butter (about 6 12-oz jars)

6 c apple cider
6 lb apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1 1/2 c sugar
1T cinnamon
1 t ground allspice
1/4 t ground cloves

In a large pot, bring cider to a boil.  Add apples, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally about 45 minutes.  Add sugar and spices, stir until well blended.  Cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick and smooth, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

OR...

In the evening, place the apples and cider in a large (6 1/2-quart) slow cooker, and cook them on low overnight with the lid ajar.  In the morning, stir to break up the apples, add sugar and spices and stir until well blended.  Continue cooking on low with the lid ajar, stirring occasionally, until thick and smooth like applesauce.  Because slow cookers vary, I can't give you a specific timeframe.  My latest batch in the slow cooker took a total of 15 hours; however, I used 10 pounds of apples instead of 6 and adjusted the other ingredients (except the apple cider - I only had 7 cups).  You need to check the apples about once an hour to see how they are progressing!

I like my apple butter a little chunky, but you can use an immersion/stick blender to make it smoother, more like "store-bought."

TO CAN:  Ladle into clean jars, adjust the lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  Remove from the boiling water bath and let cool overnight before removing the rings.  (I know this is an abbreviated version of the process, but full instructions are available here).  

OR...

Ladle into freezer containers, let cool, and freeze.

Potato Leek Soup with Chicken

A while back, I saw an intriguing recipe for potato leek soup, so I bought some leeks a few days ago.  Not having ever worked with them before, I searched the internet and found a video showing which parts to use for what and how to clean them and cut them up.  

Leeks are grown in sandy soil and are really dirty.  If you look between the leaves of the tops, you'll see lots of black sand and dirt packed in there!  Following the video's directions, I cut off the dark green tops, rinsed them off, and froze them to use next time I make broth.  I cut off the tiny roots and threw them away.  The remaining part, the white and pale green part, had to be sliced up and cleaned.

The video showed cutting the leek lengthwise, slicing it, putting the slices into a bowl of cold water, and swishing them around.  The slices of leeks float on top of the water, and the sand and dirt sink to the bottom of the bowl.  You scoop the leeks out and put them in a strainer/colander and rinse them.  You don't want to just pour the bowl of water and leeks through the strainer/colander because then the dirt will be reintroduced into the leeks!  There was a LOAD of black sand in the bottom of the bowl when I was done swishing the sliced leeks around.  That simple process did a great job!

Anyway, this was an easy, tasty soup, and I learned about leeks - a bonus!  You could garnish the soup with sliced scallions if you want to make it pretty, but I don't usually go to those lengths.  I did, however, make garlic bread, using french bread made with the recipe in the previous post - YUM!

Potato Leek Soup with Chicken

4 slices bacon, chopped
2 large leeks, sliced
4 large potatoes, cubed
1 t dried thyme
2 t salt
1 t pepper
48 oz chicken broth
1 1/2 lb shredded cooked chicken breast
1 c heavy cream

In a 4-quart pan, cook bacon until crisp.  Add leeks and cook until soft, but not browned.  Add potatoes, seasonings, and broth.  Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.  

Puree the mixture, using either a blender (do it in batches, not filling the pitcher past half full) or an immersion/stick blender directly in the pan.  With the mixture in the pan, add cream and chicken, heat to a simmer, and serve.

Bakery-Style French Bread at Home (in Less Than an Hour!)

It's been a challenging couple of weeks since my last post.  Not only the election and the COVID surge, but THAT KNEE...!  Still no cooperation!  So it's back to the surgeon and the hospital, and instead of the hoped-for new knee replacement, it will be yet another antimicrobial spacer and another six weeks of IV antibiotics administered by yours truly, which will finish up RIGHT before Christmas.  Ugh.

Anyway, I'm kind of on a specialty bread kick.  Just like I said about hamburger buns in the previous post, it somehow seems like kind of an ordeal to run to the store to buy french bread, and even though it's not expensive, it still feels like you pay a lot for what you get, and making bread at home is time-consuming.

I've been on the lookout for a french bread recipe that doesn't take half the day, and I finally found one that takes less than an hour!!!  Yippee!!!  You don't have to knead it, and it only has to rise once, so it's super easy and fast, plus it has a lovely texture.

The recipe makes three big french loaves.  You can halve the recipe, make two smaller loaves, and still have loads of bread.

Bakery-Style French Bread

2 T yeast

1/2 c warm water (about 110 - 115 degrees)

2 c hot water (hot from the faucet)

3 T sugar

1 T salt

1/3 c vegetable oil (I use canola)

6 1/2 c bread flour

1 beaten egg

In a small bowl mix together the yeast and warm water and let it sit 5 - 10 minutes.  It should get foamy.  In a large bowl, combine the hot water, sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups of the flour.  Mix well.  Add the yeast mixture and the remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition.  I use a stand mixer, but that's not necessary.  Let the dough rest in the bowl 10 minutes.

Separate the dough into 3 pieces.  With a rolling pin, on a floured surface, roll each piece of dough into a 9" x 12" rectangle (this takes the place of kneading).  Roll each up like a jelly roll, tuck the ends under, shape into a french bread loaf and smooth out the edges.

Place shaped loaves seam-side-down on a sprayed baking sheet, well spaced apart.  Using a sharp chef's knife make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts across the top of each loaf.  Brush with the beaten egg.  Let rise uncovered in a warm place for 30 or 40 minutes.  Bake at 375 degrees 20 - 24 minutes.  Loaves should be light brown.

Remove from the oven and transfer from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool.

Homemade Hamburger Buns!

I don't like going to the store for hamburger buns.  I don't know why, but it always seems like such an ordeal to buy hamburger buns.  They seem so expensive for what they are - even the generic store brands seem kind of, well, high.  And then when we put sloppy joe filling on them, they fall apart.

So I started searching for recipes. But most homemade bread recipes take four hours to make, which again seems a little too much effort for hamburger buns, and what if I want them on the spur of the moment?  

Well, I found this recipe, and it fills the bill.  It's quick and easy and takes less than 45 minutes to make.  I tested it with my sloppy joe recipe, and the buns didn't disintegrate!

40-Minute Hamburger Buns

2 T active dry yeast

1 c warm water (110 to 115 degrees)

1/3 c vegetable oil

1/4 c sugar

1 large egg

2 t salt

3 to 4 c bread flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water.  Add oil and sugar, mix, and let stand for 5 minutes.  Add the egg, salt, and enough flour to form a soft dough.

On a floured surface, knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes.  Do not let rise.  Divide into  8  pieces, shape each into a ball, and place 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheets.  Cover and let rest 10 minutes.  Bake until golden brown, about 14-15 minutes.

Spray tops with non-stick spray or brush with vegetable oil or melted butter right out of the oven, then remove from pans to a wire rack to cool.

Persimmon Pudding - It's a Hoosier Thing!

One of our nephews texted me a couple of years ago asking for the recipe for "permission pudding."  I'm sure autocorrect caused that, but I got a big laugh out it!

If you're from the midwest, you've probably heard about persimmon pudding, even if you haven't ever eaten it.  It's a Hoosier thing, like sugar cream pie.  One of those regional things that natives take for granted and incomers need to learn about!

Persimmon pudding is "pudding" in the British sense, where "pudding" means "dessert."  Instead of a creamy custard-like dessert, it's more like a super-moist cake.

Mitchell, a small town in southern Indiana, puts on a persimmon festival in late September.   It's also home to Spring Mill State Park, and persimmon pudding is always on the menu at the Spring Mill Inn dining room.  The park is also home to a pioneer village, and at the beginning of the path to the village from the parking lot is a stand of persimmon trees.

Persimmon trees don't grow very tall.  In the late summer and fall, you'll find the 1 1/2-inch round, orange-y fruits hanging on the tree, but don't pick them!  Until they fall from the tree, they're super sour and will pucker up your mouth and shrivel your entire body (not really, but it will feel that way if you eat them)!  After the first hard frost, they'll fall, and at that point they are soft, sticky, and sweet, ready to be gathered and processed into pulp.

Those without a source of home-processed persimmon pulp can find it frozen at farm stands and markets.  We're lucky - another of our nephews has persimmon trees in his yard and he brings frozen pulp at Thanksgiving.

Here's the recipe I got about 30 years ago from a friend of my parents.  There are plenty more recipes online, some more like regular cake, some wetter.  This is one of the moderately wet types, but by no means is it the wettest I've had.

Persimmon Pudding

1 c persimmon pulp

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 c milk

2 T melted butter

1/2 t vanilla

3/4 c sugar

1 c flour

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray an 8" x 8" baking pan.  Mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl.  Add the sugar and mix well.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the rest of the dry ingredients, then add to the wet mixture and mix well.  Pour into the baking pan.  Bake 1 hour.  The "pudding" will be VERY moist.  Serve warm with whipped cream.  Refrigerate to store.

Watercolor Redux - An Autumn Leaf Study

I've been playing with my watercolors again!

The watercolor study.

Our front yard is completely carpeted with maple leaves.  I went out, picked up and examined some leaves, looking for color and curl, and finally chose one.

The original leaf.

I sat down with my trusty mechanical pencil and sketched the chosen leaf, then mixed up some watercolors and applied a series of washes over the sketch.  

I'm pretty happy with the result!  

I haven't done any botanicals until now.  I may do some more to see whether this was a fluke.

Plenty of leaves to choose from!

French Onion Soup, Revisited

 When I hit the grocery recently, I saw Vidalia onions again.  Usually you think of Vidalias in the spring, but here it is, officially autumn, and there they were, big as life.  So I bought myself five pounds of Oniony Goodness from Georgia and made another batch of French onion soup.

Those Other People in the house aren't as fond of it as I am, so I figured I'd have to preserve it.  Well, the darned freezer is packed completely full, so I had to find another way to save the pot of soup.  In one of my canning/preserving books, there it was - French onion soup.  The recipe was almost identical to the one I use, and at the end there were canning directions!  So, I got out the pressure canner and making sure the soup had been brought to a boil, I put 3 quarts of boiling water and the canner's rack into the canner and filled jars with hot soup.  The canning procedure is the same as for broth, except the times are longer - 60 minutes for pints, 65 minutes for quarts. 

Ladle soup into each jar to 1 inch below the rim (if you're using a canning funnel, that's just below the bottom of the funnel).  Wipe any drips or spills off the jar's rim to ensure the lids will seal.  Place a lid on each jar, and tighten the ring to just finger tight.  Place the jars on the rack in the canner, close the lid, and turn on the heat, about medium-high.  Vent the canner according to its instructions. 

After venting 10 minutes, place the weight on the vent (yes, even a canner with a dial regulator will have a weight to place on the vent).  Allow the pressure to build to 10 pounds (a weighted regulator - the weight will rock gently on its own) or 11 pounds (a dial regulator).  The pressure relief valve will rise and lock the lid.  Start timing when the correct pressure has been reached.  Adjust the heat to maintain pressure. 

Process the jars, 60 minutes for pints and 65 minutes for quarts.  When the correct time has elapsed, turn off the heat and let the pressure release.  You won't be able to open the lid until the lid lock has dropped.  When it has dropped, wait an additional 10 minutes before opening the lid. 

Remove the jars from the canner.  Place them on a towel to cool.  Don't tighten or remove the rings.  Drape another towel over the jars to keep them out of any drafts.  You'll hear the lids click as they cool.  Let them sit overnight.  Don't touch them until then!  Check the lids to be sure they've sealed - they should be concave and stay that way.  You can remove the rings at this point. Label the jars and store them.  If any of the jars don't seal, you can put those in the refrigerator and use them within a couple of weeks, or reprocess.

Homemade 20-Minute Biscuits - A Quick and Easy Recipe

I've been looking for a good homemade biscuit recipe for a while.  I used to use refrigerated biscuit dough from a can, but some brands don't rise well, and others have an odd "off" flavor, so I wanted to get away from that.  I have nothing against using a mix to make biscuits, both drop biscuits and rolled and cut biscuits, but I'd rather not have to depend on it.  

I've tried other biscuit recipes, and they were okay, but nothing to write home about.  The first time I made these, they were a HUGE success.  Even though they are on the big side, there weren't any leftovers, unlike the ones from a refrigerated tube.  So, it looks like this is my new go-to for biscuits!

20-Minute Biscuits (makes 8)

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

1 t salt

1 T sugar

1/3 c butter

1 c milk

1 T butter, melted (for brushing biscuit tops)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet.  In a bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.  Using a pastry blender, two knives, or a fork, cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs.  Add half of milk and mix, then add the remaining milk and mix.  Do not overmix!  Overmixing will result in tough biscuits.

Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and knead GENTLY 15 - 20 times.  Roll or pat out 1 1/2" to 2" thick, and cut biscuits.  If you use a biscuit cutter, DON'T twist; just pressing straight down will let the biscuits rise taller.  If you don't use a biscuit cutter, you can cut the dough into squares with a knife or pastry/pizza cutter.

Place on baking sheet.  Bake at 425 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes.  Brush top of biscuits with melted butter as they come out of the oven.

7-Up Pound Cake (from Jeanne Robertson) - A New-to-Me Recipe

I love listening to Jeanne Robertson on YouTube.  She tells stories on herself that are downright hilarious!  Some of my favorites are "Don't Bungee Jump Naked," "Don't Mess with Broom People," "Sleeping in Tubes," and "Don't Send a Man to the Grocery Store," which is where I first heard about 7-Up Pound Cake.

This is kind of a crazy cake recipe.  There is NO leavening agent in it to make it rise - no baking powder, no baking soda.  I kept looking at it to see what was going on.  It turns out that it's the carbonation in the 7-Up that makes it rise!  I did a little research and found a claim that you MUST use 7-Up because it supposedly has more carbonation than most lemon-lime sodas.  I don't know whether that's true, but after making the cake, all I can tell you is it works!  The cake rose just fine, has the right density for a pound cake, is moist, and it tastes great!  And no complaints from the guys, so it's a success.

7-Up Pound Cake

1 c butter

1/2 c shortening

3 c granulated sugar

1/4 t salt

5 eggs

1 1/2 t lemon extract

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

3 c all-purpose flour

7 oz 7-Up (almost one small can)

Glaze (optional)

1 c confectioner's sugar

1 T 7-Up

2 T lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (you'll turn it down when the cake goes in).  Grease and flour (or spray heavily with Baker's Joy or similar baking spray) a 10-inch Bundt pan.

Cream together the butter, shortening, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy (using a stand mixer will make this a LOT easier).  Add eggs, one at a time, and then the extracts.  Mix in the flour, alternating with the 7-Up.

Put the pan in the oven, turn the temperature down to 325 degrees (300 degrees in a convection oven), and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 65-75 minutes.

Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack (this is important to keep the cake from sticking to the pan!) for 20 minutes (NO MORE), then invert it onto a serving plate.

If glaze is desired, mix the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl.  Let the cake cool completely before drizzling the glaze over it. 

Tomatoes Out Our Ears - I'm canning like mad!!!

This spring I planted tomatoes and bell peppers because it seemed like the thing to do.  I planted Big Boy, Black Krim, Super Sauce, Steakhouse, and Super Steak tomatoes.  The Big Boys have been a little disappointing compared to other years, but the others are about to bury me, so I've been canning them.  

At 18 ounces, my Super Sauce tomatoes are too big to fit into a pint canning jar, as are my Steakhouse tomatoes, at over 1 1/2 pounds!

Here's a Super Sauce.

Here's a Steakhouse.

I usually can my tomatoes in a boiling water bath canner, but I also process them in a pressure canner.  It just depends on what I feel like using.  I processed my first two batches this year using the water bath canner, but I think I'll be using the pressure canner for the rest of them; it's a little faster and uses less water.

How I Can Tomatoes (Hot Pack)

Always select PERFECT tomatoes.  Slightly underripe is fine.  Overripe is a big no-no.  Don't worry about washing them really well, because you're going to remove the skins.  I rinse them off quickly to remove dirt.

If you don't have time to process your tomatoes right away, you can just freeze them whole in bags or containers.  When you thaw them, the skins will slip off easily - no blanching!  I usually don't do that because I keep my freezer pretty full of Other Things.

To remove the skins by blanching, fill a pot (about 6 quarts) with water and bring it to boiling.  Cut a 2-inch X on the blossom end of each tomato.  Using a fry basket, spider skimmer, or slotted spoon, dip tomatoes into the water for about 30 seconds.  Remove from the boiling water and immerse in ice water (I use a BIG bowl or the well-cleaned sink).  The skins should come right off.

I cut the tomatoes into quarters or halves and remove the seeds.  Put the first three or four tomatoes in the bottom of a pot and "squish 'em good" with a potato masher.  Heat them to a simmer.  As you cut up, core, and seed the rest of the tomatoes, put them in the pot.  Heat them all up to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.

Immediately ladle the tomatoes into canning jars to within 1 inch of the rim, wipe off the jar rim, place a lid and ring (two-piece lids) on the jars, place into the canner and process.  It will be easier if you use a canning funnel when you fill the jars.  Only use NEW lids - don't reuse them.

For a water bath canner, place the canner rack in the bottom of the canner.  Cover the jars with boiling water to at least 1 inch above their tops.  Bring the water to a moderate boil and keep it there for 20 minutes (pints) or 25 minutes (quarts).  When the processing time is over, turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

For a pressure canner, place the canner rack in the bottom of the canner, add 3 quarts (or the amount specified by your canner's instructions) of boiling water to the canner, place the jars in the canner, lock the lid.  Look for a steady stream of steam out of the vent.  Exhaust the air from the canner by allowing the steam to flow for 10 minutes.  Place the regulator weight on the vent.  Bring the pressure up to 10 pounds (using a three-piece regulator weight) or 11 pounds (using a gauge) for 10 minutes (pints or quarts) OR 15 pounds for 1 minute.  Check your canner's instructions.  After processing time is finished, turn off the burner or remove the canner (CAREFULLY - it's heavy!) from the heat.  The pressure will reduce until the air vent/cover lock drops.  Remove the weighted regulator and let sit for 2 minutes.  Remove the lid and let sit for 10 minutes.

Remove jars from the canner with a jar lifter and place on a dry dish towel on the counter.  Cover the jars with a second dish towel to keep the jars out of any drafts while they cool.  You may hear the lids click when they seal.  Let them sit overnight.  Check the lids for a seal.  The centers of the lids should stay down when you press on them.  Remove the rings, wipe down the jars, label, and store.  If a jar doesn't seal, either reprocess it or put it in the refrigerator and use as soon as possible.

Use within 18 months to two years.  They'll be just fine that long.  

That Darned Knee! And Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies - A New-to-Me Recipe

I haven't been posting regularly the past couple of weeks because we've had yet ANOTHER setback with The Knee That Won't Cooperate.  

After the first replacement, infection, debridement, wound vac, once-a-day IV antibiotics (administered by yours truly, about five minutes each time), removal of the knee implant, installation of an antimicrobial spacer, twice-a-day IV antibiotics (again, administered by yours truly, taking about 1 1/2 hours each time), and finally a new replacement, more infection was discovered three weeks ago.  So, out came the nice new implant and another spacer took its place.  

Now I'm giving yet another IV antibiotic, this time by the old-fashioned drip method, three times a day, over four hours each time, which means I have to do something with the IV every four hours, around the clock.  Can you imagine being hooked up to an IV bag twelve hours a day?  UGH.  I don't know whether I'd have the patience.

Anyway, it's getting really, really OLD.

And on top of that, my tomato plants are PRODUCING, so I'm also trying to fit in canning sessions.  I have a couple dozen of the monster tomatoes waiting for me on the kitchen counter, and a bunch more staring at me from the garden through the back windows.  The plants look more and more disreputable, and the tomatoes look more and more red, ripe, and HUGE every day.

But for something different, I decided to try a new cookie recipe.  After all, cookies are pretty quick and easy, and these just sounded interesting.  That Man has been scarfing them down, so I guess that's a pretty good endorsement!

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/8 c (1 c plus 2 T) all-purpose flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 c refrigerated butter, diced

1/4 c granulated sugar

1/2 c dark brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 t vanilla extract

1 1/2 c (7-oz bag) Decas Farms Julienne Cut Baking Cranberries

1 c white chocolate chips (the original recipe called for 1/2 c, but, hey, chocolate!)

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter, then add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat well.  Slowly add the flour mixture and blend.  Stir in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheets, leaving about an inch between them.  Bake 10 to 12 minutes.  Allow to cool on the cookies sheets before removing.

Taco Pie - An Instant Pot Recipe (A Pot-in-Pot Experience)

 I've been experimenting with my Instant Pot some more.  One of the techniques I hadn't tried yet is "pot-in-pot," which is pretty much what it sounds like - you put what you're cooking in a pot or a pan, which you then put in the Instant Pot's insert - hence, "pot-in-pot."

This recipe is supposedly a big favorite of Instant Pot fanatics.  The original comes from a cookbook written by Ruth "Rootitoot" McCusker, who passed away earlier this year.  I tweaked it very slightly to use up some leftover rice and decided to keep it as a regular ingredient.  

This recipe calls for a springform pan.  For my 8-quart Instant Pot, I use an 8 1/2-inch springform pan, which just fits.  You have to make sure whatever pan you use has about a 1/4-inch space between it and the insert so steam can circulate.

I tried it out on Those Guys and there weren't any complaints - success!  (Actually, they both said it was pretty good.)

Instant Pot Taco Pie

1 lb ground beef

1 package taco seasoning (I used Ortega)

1/3 c water

4 flour or soft corn tortillas

1 can (16-oz) refried beans (I used Rosarita fat-free traditional style)

1 1/2 c cooked rice (I used leftover cilantro lime rice)

1/2 c enchilada sauce (optional)

2 c shredded cheddar or jack cheese

In a skillet, brown the ground beef and break it up.  When the beef is completely cooked, add the water and taco seasoning and stir until it has thickened.  Put the minimum amount of water required for your Instant Pot (1 1/2 c for a 6-quart pot; 2 c for an 8-quart pot) into the insert.

Spray your springform pan with non-stick spray and put a tortilla in the bottom (if using smaller tortillas, tear additional tortillas to cover the pan bottom).  Build three layers by spreading in this order after the first tortilla:  1/3 of the refried beans, 1/3 of the meat mixture, 1/3 of the rice, 1/3 of the enchilada sauce, 1/2 cup of cheese, and one tortilla.  Reserve the last 1/2 cup of cheese for later.

Press down gently on the last tortilla to smooth it all out, then cover the pan with foil and place on a silicone trivet with long handles.  Place the trivet and pan into the pot insert.  Close the lid and set the valve to Sealing.  Press the Pressure Cook (or Manual) button.  Make sure the pressure is set to High.  Adjust the cooking time to 20 minutes.  After the cooking time ends, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then switch the valve to Venting to release the rest of the pressure.

Set the top oven rack about 8 inches from the broiler element.  Remove the pan from the pot, remove the foil, and spread the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese across the top.  Place on the top oven rack and broil a few minutes, watching closely so it doesn't burn.  Remove the pan from the oven when nicely browned and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before removing the pan's outer ring and serving.

Slice into 8 wedges and serve with your favorite taco fixings:  lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, etc., or leave it alone!

Curried Chicken Salad

There used to be a place in downtown Indianapolis called The Educated Sandwich where a group of us often walked for lunch, and one of my favorites was their Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich.  They only had it occasionally, so after searching a while, I found a recipe that pretty much duplicates the spicy-savory-sweet goodness I loved.  I couldn't just WAIT until they decided to make it, right?

When I was a kid, my mom used to pack the little boxes of SunMaid raisins in our lunches, and I always ate them all.  Then we'd blow into the box through the top to make a kazoo-like noise!  I don't know when I started picking them out of my food, but there you are.  I leave them out of this recipe because I don't like their texture when they're included in a recipe and partially rehydrate, but that's my personal weirdness.

Curried Chicken Salad (6 servings)

3/4 c mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

2 T curry powder

1 lb cooked, cubed chicken breast

1 large apple, cored and chopped

1 1/2 chopped celery (about 4 ribs)

1/3 c raisins (optional)

1/4 c green onion, chopped

Mix the mayonnaise and curry powder together, then stir in the remaining ingredients.  Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Egg Bread

A long, long time ago, I had a DAK bread machine, and I used to make the most wonderful bread from one of the recipes that came with it - "Golden Egg Bread."  I made a few tweaks to it over time, until the product was exactly what I wanted.  

Added gluten makes the bread rise higher.  Potato flakes make the bread more moist and tender.  Most flour in the grocery stores is unbleached, but bleached bread flour (if you can find it) makes the bread rise higher I buy mine from a food service company in 25-pound bags.

The original recipe made the equivalent of two loaves - it was a LARGE bread machine.  The directions here have been halved.

[NOTE:  These directions are for my KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus.  If you have a KitchenAid Artisan mixer, use speed 2 for the kneading phase.] 

Egg Bread (1 loaf)

2 1/4 t (1 pkt) yeast (rapid rise or bread machine type)

3 1/2 c bread flour

1/4 c plain unflavored potato flakes (Hungry Jack or Idahoan are both good)

4 t vital wheat gluten (I use Hodgson Mill)

1 1/2 t salt

4 T sugar or honey

5 T melted butter (or 1/3 c canola oil)

3/4 c warm milk (or water)

2 eggs (room temperature)

Put ingredients in the mixer bowl in the order listed.  Using the flat paddle, mix on speed 2 until all is incorporated into a shaggy mass.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, scrape the bottom of the bowl, and scrape off the flat paddle.  Switch the flat paddle for the dough hook and knead on speed 1 for 5 minutes.  Stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl again, then continue kneading at speed 1 for an additional 5 minutes.  The dough should be smooth, elastic, and a little sticky.

While kneading, spray a large bowl with non-stick spray.  When kneading is finished, transfer the dough from the mixer bowl to the sprayed bowl, and turn it to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours until doubled.  [NOTE:  Some newer ranges have a bread proofing setting for the oven.  This gives you a consistent controlled environment for the rising bread.]

After the first rise, lightly flour a work surface, punch down the dough, and scrape it out onto the floured surface.  Fold in the edges a couple of times, then shape into a loaf and place into a 9" x 5" or 8" x 4" loaf pan sprayed with non-stick spray.  Cover again as before, but spraying the plastic wrap so it won't stick to the dough as it rises.  Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes (it should rise to about 1 inch above the pan rim).  Bake at 350 degrees (preheated) 40 minutes.  

Take from the oven and remove from the pan onto a wire rack.  If you want a softer, more tender crust, rub some butter over the top of the hot loaf, then cover loosely with plastic wrap until cooled.  Slice with a serrated knife so you don't mash the loaf down.

[TIP:  I use the same piece of plastic wrap for both the rising and the cooling phases of the process.  No need to waste plastic wrap!  Alternatively, you can use a damp linen dish towel if you want to be even more eco-friendly, but I find the plastic wrap does a better job.]

More Watercolor Fun!

When I was a kid, about 11 years old, my aunt Thelma gave me a coloring book of pictures of national parks and a big tin of watercolors.  I remember it had a picture of Mesa Verde on the cover, and the tin must have had thirty or forty little pans of paint and a brush.  I LOVED that gift!

I got to thinking about those paints and that coloring book, and decided to order some national parks coloring books (yes, that's plural!) and the first one arrived last weekend. I sat down with my cheapo Crayola paints and played with the first picture. I used too much water and the paints bled through to the other side of the thin paper - rats.  But there's no picture there so that's okay.

The Crayola paints didn't do too badly, did they?

I used watercolor pencils on the second picture, then "activated" them today with water and a brush. The colors became way more vibrant after the water! I didn't use as much water for that picture, so there wasn't any bleed-through.  Anyway, it was fun!  I'll be experimenting some more.

Here are the watercolor pencil pictures before and after adding water.

Yum-Yum Chicken - A Quick and Easy, Mostly Pantry Staples Recipe

That Girl told me about a dish she made - shrimp and yum-yum sauce over pasta.  I didn't go looking

for the sauce, but during my last foraging trip to Sam's Club, I walked past a BIG bottle of yum-yum sauce and decided to give it a try.  I already had some chicken breasts thawed, ready to cook for dinner, so that's what I used.  

It's a quick, easy, fairly brainless thing you throw together with just a few ingredients.  There are recipes online for yum-yum sauce if you want to make your own.  But the deal here is something you can pull together with minimum time and effort.

[NOTE:  I know this looks different from my earlier recipe posts, but the platform has been "streamlined," and now I can't control the line spacing!  We will see how this shakes out.]

Yum-Yum Chicken

2 T canola oil

2 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips or cubes, as desired

3 T minced garlic

1 T red pepper flakes

2 c bottled yum-yum sauce

2 t sesame oil

8 oz pasta (your choice - I used farfalle), cooked per package directions

Heat oil in a 12" skillet or a 14" wok on medium heat, add minced garlic and cook one minute.  Add chicken, brown on both sides, and cook thoroughly.  Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.  Turn heat down to low and add sauce.  If you don't turn the heat down enough, the sauce will separate.  When heated through, remove from heat, stir in sesame oil, and serve over pasta.

more teeny tiny watercolor fun!

I'm working on my watercolors again!  Back to the artist's paints.  

A lot of the painting I'm doing right now is mainly just exercises.  I section my block of watercolor paper with artist's masking tape and do the exercises/practice in smaller rectangles.  I practice brushstrokes and different techniques and materials.

I always start out with washes - flat and graduated, wet in wet, wet on dry, single and multiple colors.  Some are better than others - it's just practice, after all (and I need a LOT of it!) - but it's fun.

My skies always need work, so I was practicing that the other day, and when I was done, a couple of them begged to be turned into little scenes.  Again, nothing exciting, but FUN.  

Not my best rendering of a sailboat.
Just playin' around with the exercise.

I kind of like this one.
Again, just playin' around with paints.

I'm having FUN and experimenting with the paint for now.  There ARE some things I'm planning to make into "real" pictures.  Just need some guts to get started!

Key Lime Pie - A New-to-Me (and EASY!) Recipe

When I go to Florida, I make a point of trying key lime pie at restaurants because I LOVE it, and you don't find it here at home.  I love the sweet/tart filling, the graham cracker crust, and the whipped cream on top.  YUM!

I finally decided it might be fun to try to make my own key lime pie.  First of all, of course, you need key lime juice.  Not from the limes you're used to seeing in the grocery.  Key limes are actually a different species from "regular" limes.

Key limes are also known as Mexican or West Indian limes and grow in tropical and subtropical areas.  Key limes grown in Florida are also more aromatic (sort of floral) and the juice is more tart but less acidic than grocery store limes.  They are small and spherical, light yellow when ripe instead of green, have more seeds, and have a much thinner skin, which means they don't store well.  Key limes are grown in Florida, parts of California, and Mexico, but the ones grown in Florida's alkaline soil are less bitter and juicier than the ones grown in Mexico and California.

Grocery store limes are called Persian or Tahiti limes and are larger and more acidic than Florida Key limes.   They are large, dark green, oval-shaped, and juicy.  They have thick skins that help them keep longer and ship more conveniently than Key limes.  Each Persian lime contains two to three tablespoons of juice, compared to two to three teaspoons in a Key lime.

You can substitute lime juice for key lime juice in recipes, and the taste won't be all that different, especially in sweet recipes like Key Lime Pie, but I really wanted to use real Key lime juice for my first try at making it, so I found bottled (GASP!  Heresy!) Key lime juice and used that.  

Nellie & Joe's Key Lime Pie (Baked)

9" graham cracker crust

14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

3 egg yolks (no whites are used)

1/2 c Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and lime juice.  Blend well until smooth.  Pour filling into graham cracker pie crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Allow to stand 10 minutes before refrigerating.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.  Top with whipped cream.

Something's Gotta Give - Part 2

What do Milk Duds have to do with this?
Read on - you'll see!

When it rains, it pours, they say.

After last week's ordeal (exactly one week ago!) I thought maybe I was over the hump.  Hmmmm...  Guess not.

I've been having some niggling car issues that I've put off a few weeks - after all, I'm not driving much.  I fill up the gas tank about once a month, compared to once a week when I was working!  So I wasn't in a HUGE hurry when the oil change notification popped up on the dashboard display.  I mean, it comes up when the oil life is still supposedly at 20 percent.  Well, I'm not getting it changed until it's a LOT closer to ZERO!

And for a couple of months, when I turn the car, there has been this subtle "thump" from the right rear quarter of the car.  I suspected something in the rear suspension.  Oh, goody.

In the past two weeks, when the car's not moving, the dash display has started showing TWO new notifications:  "Traction Contol Off" and "Service Brake System."  Plus the red idiot light "BRAKES" came on at the same time.  Oh, GOODY.

Yesterday, while I was running some errands, I flipped on my right turn signal, and it started blinking like crazy.  Heavy sigh.  One of the bulbs had burned out.  Good grief. What next???

I'd planned to take the car to the shop this week anyway, so I called and made an appointment to have it looked at today.  By gosh, I was going to remove these low-level automotive anxieties from my brain!

And here's where the
Milk Duds come in.

Then last night, while I was watching an old movie and munching Milk Duds, I lost a crown.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  Are you kidding me???  Of course, I had to extract the crown from a caramel-y Milk Dud - FUN.  So I called the dentist.  Because it was late at night (well, honestly, early this morning!), I left a message.

This morning, I took the car to the shop, and That Man followed me to take me back home.  Shortly after gingerly eating a bagel for breakfast, I got The Call - come to the dentist's office at 9:00 - ohyespleaseandthankyou!!!

So here's the status as it stands right now!  The dentist cemented the crown back on.  (That Man told me it probably popped off from all the recent stress - HA!)  I was in and out of there in 30 minutes, and it feels fine - like nothing had happened at all.  

I was right about the car's suspension.  The rear shocks were leaking, the right sway bar link was broken, and the control arms were loose.  All those repairs require an alignment, too.  For the brakes, the master cylinder was leaking into the vacuum booster, and that affects the anti-lock brakes and traction control.  The bad turn signal bulb was the right rear, and the oil and filter have been already been changed.  Whew!!!

I'll get the car back tomorrow, and I'll be some mega-bucks poorer, but it's all necessary stuff if I intend to keep the car - and I DO.  

The car only has 201,000 miles on it.  After all this, I should be able to squeeze another 100,000 out of it, don'tcha think?

It's Magnetic!

It's Back-to-School time - one of my favorite seasons!  It's a dangerous time for me to go into nearly any store.  All those pens, mechanical pencils, notebooks, rulers, erasers, and graph paper do something to me.  I want them all!!!

So far, I've shown great restraint.  I've bought only one mechanical pencil, one package of gel pens (10 assorted colors), one 3-subject spiral notebook, three packages of magnets, a box of 96 Crayola crayons, and 3 slap bracelets/rulers.  I rationalized buying the crayons and slap bracelets by telling myself they are for The Grands, then I went back and bought another slap bracelet for myself.  I couldn't resist - it has sharks on it!  And The Grands will never see those crayons.

The "worst" things I bought, though, were the magnets!  For some reason, they just CALLED to me.  I have plenty of magnets on my refrigerator, but when I see one/some I like, that's immaterial.  Here is a selection of SOME of the magnets on my fridge:

 

It's a disease.

MUST.  HAVE.  MORE.  MAGNETS.

Something's Gotta Give

As if all the STUFF going on in the world weren't enough.

The coronavirus is starting to surge again, and things like toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies are becoming scarce, and my foraging trips are getting longer and longer.  Protests over social justice have been ongoing for over two months now and the social media are uglier and uglier.  The church denomination I belong to is getting ready to split, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that.  The economy is unsettled.  There is so much uncertainty in all facets of life that we're all kind of walking on the edge.

So I've had a frustrating week.  After days of rain, the weather has finally cleared up, but then That Man and I had a "discussion" about the financials of removing the buckeye tree that snapped off.  And the next day, his cell phone bit the dust - the battery wouldn't hold a charge more than a couple of hours on standby, and it's a phone with a battery that couldn't be replaced, of course.  He's been back at work for nearly three weeks, and working third shift, he sleeps during the day so I was left with the fabulous job of securing a new phone.  When That Girl was here at the beginning of July, we drove to the Verizon store where she stood in line outside and waited her turn to buy a new phone.  It took some time, but she got it done. 

Well, things have changed since then!

You can't just show up and buy a phone anymore.  I had to go online, figure out what phones were acceptable, then figure out what phones were actually available nearby (he wanted it ASAP), then order one and pick it up curbside.

Easy, right?

Well, it SHOULD have been, but...!  When I'd click on a specific phone, a different one would come up.  When I finally got a phone and a case into the online shopping cart and agreed to this that and the other, I clicked on "Proceed to Secure Checkout," and wound up on the same page.  I checked and checked, but I hadn't missed filling in any fields or checking any boxes.  So how come I couldn't Proceed to the Secure Checkout? 

I started working on this project at 9:00 in the morning.  By noon, I hadn't been able to even get a phone into the cart!  I was working on a laptop, and I was to the point of pounding the keyboard with my fist (NOT my typical solution to computer troubles) and almost throwing it across the room and against the wall.  I was so frustrated and angry I couldn't stop tears from coming.

Finally, I gave up and called Verizon.  The nice lady on the phone said three-quarters of the calls she'd gotten that day were about trouble with the website.  She placed my order and we crossed our fingers - it went through!

The hard part was over!  HA.

 In about an hour, the email arrived - come get the phone.  I drove to the store, got the phone, drove home, and started activating the beast.  During the activation, you can copy your setting and apps just by having the old phone and the new phone next to each other.  Things were going according to plan, but then the new phone tried to pull the settings and apps from MY phone!  GREAT.  More frustration and tears until I figured out how to back out of the activation mode and start over. 

When it was all over, it was 5:00, and I was mentally and emotionally exhausted.  The next day, I felt like I had a hangover!  I was completely worthless.

So why did it affect me so strongly? 

Well, like I said at the beginning of this post, we're all walking on the edge. The stress that's become the white-noise background of our lives and keeps us on the edge.  I'd found a precarious balance on the tightrope, and the phone fiasco was just enough to push me over that edge. 

Oh, it was definitely annoying and way too time consuming, but was it something to cry over?  No, but when you're overwhelmed,something's gotta give, and it did.

The Mid-Summer Yard and Garden Tour - Something's Growing! (Part 2)

The garden, which had an inauspicious start and was so sparse just a few weeks ago, is starting to really look like something's happening!  The peppers are peppering and the tomatoes are tomato-ing!

The garden has nearly exploded with growth!  There are tomatoes and peppers all over the plants.  I'm looking forward to the harvest!